Hamartia, Catastrophe and Catharsis

Geraldine Ferraro Shouldn't Step Down

2008-03-12T03:09:00.004-04:00

We should all have expected the republicans to play the name-game; what I’m referring to is Bill Cunningham (no relation to Billy Cunningham) and Steve King (no relation to Stephen King) deriding Barack Obama because of his middle name. But the remarks coming from the Clinton camp? Well, when former President Bill Clinton discounts South Carolina because Jesse Jackson had previously won that state, when Hillary says John McCain is ready to be Commander-in-Chief but Obama isn’t, when Mark Penn equates Obama to Ken Starr, and when former vice-presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro says if Barack weren’t black nobody would be voting for him, I think it’s time we all took a breather.
At this moment, Barack Obama has won the popular vote, the most states and the most delegates. Any other candidate opposing him would have given up the challenge, but Hillary isn’t just any other candidate. She has gone from inevitable to probable to even-money to underdog to spoiler. If she keeps it up, she’ll go down in history as one of the most destructive-to-the-democratic-party candidates since George Wallace. (I’m not that old, but I study History!)
So I don’t want Geraldine Ferraro to step aside - at this point, it would be too little too late. There’s only one way we democrats can hang on to our slim chances of winning in November, and that’s for Hillary to quit the race - immediately.

On the Unknowable

2008-03-10T06:22:00.003-04:00

Is God’s name Jehovah, Allah, maybe An, Set or Saturn; or maybe something else? More to the point, when you say “God”, to whom or what are you referring? Is he or she perfect, all-knowing, all-powerful, holy, pure, good, eternal; and if so, what implications do those attributes bring to our reality?
“The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it.”
“There is no God but Allah.”
“I am the Lord your God. Thou shall have no other gods before me.”
Is there one God, or three-in-one, or ten thousand?
If God created man, who created God?
Anyone who says they know all the answers is either naïve or insane. Better to admit that we don’t know; that we can’t prove the existence - or nonexistence - of God.
I realize that logic occupies a tiny place in today’s world and that rhetoric far outweighs reason. Religion is man’s excuse for a multitude of sins; and will be till the end of time…

Where We Are

2008-03-09T03:42:00.003-04:00

John McCain is a grumpy old man... Barack Obama is a Muslim... Hillary Clinton is a monster... Welcome to Election 2008.
We’ve got bloggers on the Left saying climate change is a serious problem, the economy is crumbling, we need health-care for everyone, and let’s put an end to the war in Iraq. We’ve got bloggers on the Right saying there is no such thing as global warming, the economy will be fine very soon, health-care is for commies, and the only way America can be safe is by using all our troops to continue our occupation of Iraq.
The top candidates seem adept at only one thing: name-calling.
We’re already a second-tier nation on so many fronts it is hubris to say America is the greatest nation on earth. I love America, but let’s be real. Our country is engaged in two wars, our debt to China is in the trillions of dollars, our dollar is practically worthless, foreclosures were only this bad once before, and that was at the end of WW II, we can no longer “buy American”, because we don’t make anything anymore, “No Child Left Behind” has left most of our children behind, and worst of all, I think, we have very few friends beyond our borders.
So who’s gonna fix this mess? Senator Get-off-my-lawn, Senator All-we-need-is-hope, or Senator Hope-is-not-the-answer?