vincenzo’s blog

I must say I'm enjoying these Primary battles. The see-sawing results, the twists and turns. My heart went out to Hilary when all looked lost in New Hampshire. I'm over that now! The Clinton campaign is losing its way. I'm now wanting to know more about Obama. But apart from change (duh!) where does he stand on the issues that are important to me. He's more pro-Israel than Bush, and thinks biofuels are some kind of environmental solution. And of course, Clinton is no better on these same issues. On the positive side, both appear to be free traders, reading between the lines (as we must). Unlike Mr Edwards. Let's just hope when Edwards has gone, neither leading candidate will feel it necessary to go after protectionist votes.

Unbelievably, I am also developing a liking for McCain. For the simple reason he is the only candidate who says what he thinks. What a contrast with Romney, who thinks whatever you say. The Republican machine hates McCain. The way things are going, they must eventually back him, or lose big time. And some of them would much rather lose! Talk about poetic justice.

We are well into winter now. The battle with the falling leaves is over. No more raking. Sooner or later the trees run out of ammo, but they put up such a show of firepower. The temperatures are down. Some good rain. We had one good snowfall in December and another two weeks ago. The kids want a couple more. Preferably on a school day.

I got to go back to El Paso on the MLK weekend, my first trip back since we left there in '04. The family sent me on my own so I could run with the Hash again. Gave me an incentive to get back to running. I don't get to Hash here very often. The local Hash is on the wrong side of town for us.

Generally making progress with other New Year projects as well. Let's hope I can keep it up.  

Annapolis, the venue for this week's Middle East peace conference is just 80 kilometres south of where we live. Annapolis is the State capital of Maryland as well as an important naval base and training establishment. It forms a geographic triangle with Baltimore and Washington.

Make no mistake, this conference is a complete waste of time. The two sides, Israel and Palestine, are irreconcilable. They both want the same land (and the same water). When it comes to law and justice the Palestinians hold all the cards. But that counts for nothing in the face of military might and Israel's unconditional US backing. Israel presently occupies all the land and has no intention of giving up an inch. This sham event can only result in further humiliation and misery for the Palestinian people.  

The whole exercise is an attempt by a discredited White House to make George Bush look like an international statesman. When the conference fails George Bush will wring his hands and say "We tried", blaming the failure on the two sides. Not unlike Pontius Pilate, 2000 years ago. The fact is that the failure will be America's and America's alone. Bush, like Pilate, is the only one who has the power to deliver a just solution to this conflict. 

What Bush has to do is to declare US support for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, based on the pre-1967 boundaries, and bang the heads together of the two sides until they accept the compromise. If the man was half genuine and had real moral courage, that would be the right thing to do. Instead the US will just sit there, falsely representing itself as an even broker. When in fact, America is wholly and unconditionally committed to backing Israel no matter what.

Once again we find ourselves asking, is Bush really that cunning and evil, or just an incompetent fool? Either way, this week's leader in the Economist magazine makes it harder for him to plead ignorance in this instance. The editorial sets out a real case for him to answer.

And the world deserves an answer!

Congratulations to Kevin Rudd and the Australian Labor Party on their electoral victory!

Apparently the Senate remains in the hands of the conservatives for the time being. But it won't be long before Labor can pull the troops out of Iraq and sign up for Kyoto, leaving Bush and the Republicans even more isolated on these key issues.

Now, when can we get the Republic back on the agenda?

I'm a dual citizen now. Which means I get to vote in two countries. I travel to Washington this Friday to vote in the Australian Federal election. Then in the New Year I will be voting in the Democratic primary here.

I will probably be voting for Hilary. I like Obama but would prefer someone with more experience. Don't like Edwards at all. He's even more pro-Israel than the rest, and more protectionist. Of course none of them are saying anything I like. They're all doing what they accuse Hilary of doing, or rather not doing. No one is proposing anything bold. Because any specific proposal for change will bring out a huge protest vote from those who have something to lose. It's a matter of guessing will they actually do bold things when they get elected. Hilary has the best possible experience for the job and knows exactly what she will have to deal with.

So I envision Hilary signs on our front lawn before too long. I'm just hoping my neighbour (opposite) is one of those Republicans who respects the views of others. We know he's a Republican from the stickers on his cars. He still has his Ehrlich stickers from the State Governor's race last year. Along with his ex-military and patriotic stickers, not to mention the Ten Commandments. I hoping that means he believes in Love Thy Neighbour and Thou Shalt Not Kill!

For the moment all eyes will be on Iowa. The media is really frustrated with Hillary's strong lead in the polls and, in turn, the Democrats strong lead over the Republicans. They want a contest. So there is a big spin on at the moment pushing Obama ahead in the polls. Maybe he is. I don't know. But even if she runs second or third, it seems unlikely any of the other candidates will make any major dent in Hilary's huge lead everywhere else. She would have to be a very distant third in Iowa for the result to have any spillover effect in other states. And after Iowa, the other candidates will have very little time to build up momentum. Thanks to Arnie, most of the big states have now brought their primaries forward. So all those little states like New Hampshire, who got so much attention by being early, will quickly become history. This time around we could know the winner as early as February. Which gives more time to feast on the Republicans.

Once it gets to October in the US, you know you can forget about new projects until next year. It's starting to get cold and the leaves are falling. First you're gearing up for Halloween (end of October). Daylight saving ends and you're counting down to Thanksgiving (end of November). Before you know it, you're racing to get ready for Christmas (end of December). And the year is over....