reed writes

THE GREAT DODDERERS

The United States and Iran have now had 2 important diplomatic meetings on the deteriorating security situation in Iraq- a largely Shi’ite country like Iran, thanks to the American invasion.

Iraq’s fragile government, which is caught in the middle, has been pressing for more meetings between the two nations with the greatest influence over its future.

The get-togethers have broken the 27-year diplomatic freeze between the U.S. and Iran, but they have not broken the myopic worldview espoused by the leadership of both Iran and the United States. Both governments are as belligerant as ever in their public rhetoric.

The government of Iran is fixated on its hatred of Israel and the government of the United States is fixated on its support for Israel.

Ali Khamenei is a doddering religious leader who doubles as the head of Iran’s government. He faces a growing opposition movement amongst his own people.

George W. Bush is a doddering political leader who doubles as God’s  representative on earth. He faces a growing opposition movement amongst his own people.

Both men operate behind the curve of history and wear the dark glasses of hubris and ignorance.

Both are living examples of why politics and religion ought to be understood as mutually exclusive ideas.

Both "men" believe that they have God on their side and that they are doing God’s work on earth.

Poor God.

FEMME LIBRE

Ever since Nicolas Sarkozy won the French election and became Le President, the French and European public have been wondering about his wife.

Everyone was asking questions. After all, a couple of years ago she had run off to New York with a business executive (male of course). Tongues wagged but her "petite affaire" didn’t have the slightest effect on her husband’s political success.

But then, the French are very tolerant of these things; it’s said that even the Mistresses have mistresses in France.

In the United States or Canada of course that would have been a huge scandal and the media would have disembowelled both husband and wife and likely the lover as well…hanging their entrails out on the front pages for all to see.

Not in France.

It’s now apparent that Mme Sarkozy will be quite active in a number of ways and apparently Me Sarkozy doesn’t mind sharing the spotlight with Mme. Today she is in Libya trying to persuade Muammar Gaddhafi to release a group of nurses and doctors who have been falsely accused of causing an outbreak of Aids in a Libyan childrens’ hospital.

She will likely succeed and no doubt in the future, we are going to hear a great deal more about

her.

BUSH GETS CALLED FOR BLAMING DEMOCRATS FOR IRAQ

There are times when a commentator hits a truth nail squarely on the head and then hammers it home so compellingly that one is left speechless by the razor sharpness of his mind.

One such time was last evening.

It’s been clear for awhile that George Bush knows the war in Iraq was a mistake…and he and his people have been looking for someone or something to blame. In a word – a scapegoat.

The word has its origins back in biblical times – you can find it in the Old Testament book of Leviticus. Some scribe or other told a tale of woe in which he intoned the following: “And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness”. Bush did this when he had an underling blame Hilary Clinton for undermining troop morale in Iraq by advocating a timetable for withdrawal.

Mr. Bush would like Hilary and the American people to take responsibility for the looming failure in Iraq…but there are still some in the U.S. withe the courage to speak out.

The commentator is an articulate man,  by the name of Keith Olberman, who broadcasts on MSNBC from Los Angeles. On Thursday, Olberman reminded George Bush that He- George W. Bush has no business attempting to “scapegoat” anyone.

It’s Bush’s War

JURY FINDS COMRADE BLACK GUILTY

(one small step for U.S. Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, one giant step for the rule of law).

We don’t know if Conrad Black suffers from triskaidekaphobia like one of his his heroes- Napoleon,-but this Friday the 13th. spelled doom for the Lord. He faces a possible 35 years in the Big House. His "friends are weeping for him…including his high priced lawyer  everyone calls "Fast Eddie".

And it’s such an incestuous little clique too…Lord Black and his cronies…they’ve been hanging out at the Ritz Hotel in Chicago- anxiously awaiting this day.

There he was the other night, before dinner- being interviewed exclusively by a "breathless" Theresa Tedesco, a reporter from one of the newspapers he used to own…The National Post. And before he gets furious about an omission…he actually founded the National Post as a conservative mouthpiece for his own news and views. No doubt, he would deny that he had any influence there at all. It is to laugh.

Black answered no relevant questions in the Tedesco talk…although he did opine that he had given some thought (albeit not much) to what life would be like in prison.

You have to be very careful with Comrade Black. He sues at the drop of a hat. But now that he’s on the other side of the dock…found guilty of some rather exotic crimes,he may be playing things a bit closer to his Toronto/London/New York/Chicago/Palm Beach/San Quentin vest.

Black’s support has come from a variety of quarters, including unindicted war criminal Henry Kissinger, real estate magnate and erstwhile TV star Donald Trump, and other American "luminaries", including a Roman Catholic Cardinal. Hmmmmmm.

Interestingly, Black spoke about his daughter as his "fiercely serious" supporter, whom Theresa descibes as "statuesque". He then mentioned his present wife Barbara Amiel, almost as an afterthought. He was also reported to be happy to have his former wife Joanna in his corner, along with her current husband George Jonas (an ex-intimate friend of Barbara…..all too much isn’t it).

I met the great Lord once myself- when he was still just a Mister. Back in the 70’s when he was trying to figure out how to get his soft quick little pinkies on the pension fund surplus enjoyed by Dominion Store employees.

The occasion was drinks and dinner at the home of John Bassett – my nominal boss when I worked at CTV. The reason for my invitation that night was my recent return from Beirut. I had done an interview with Yasser Arafat and John thought it would be amusing to hear a first-hand account.

My main recollection of the evening was of the litany of disparaging remarks the two Mr.B’s made about Arafat in particular and Arabs in general. Black referred to them in his Churchillian way, as dirty, scruffy people who dressed in a bizarre fashion.

There were also of course, the usual disparaging remarks about Canada, a country Black said he loathed. His dislike of most things Canadian is especially delicious in the light of his current experience with the justice system in America, a country he always idolized as being somewhere between Utopia and heaven.

I met the pre-facelift Barabara way back when she was an underling, clawing her way up at The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto.

Needless to say, I have always found them both somewhat distasteful.

My prediction is that Mr. Black will get 7 years of prison time. With good behaviour, he could be out in 5.

(I believe I can hear those Dominion Store employees cheering now.)

I am pondering this case and will write more about it as soon as  my emotions settle down.

Cheers.

OH THE HYPOCRISY OF IT ALL AND THE TRAGEDY

The lost lives, the tortured souls, the cruelty and selfishness of it all.  The women burned at the stake and the men beheaded and disembowelled. The children destroyed and the families wrecked. All wrapped up in the gauzy veil of religious claims.

In the wake of Khomeini’s Islamic excesses, Israel’s "chosen one" status, and Bush’s claim to being in God’s favour, Pope Benedict has now demonstrated once and for all, just how bankrupt all of organized religion really is. Muslims, Jews and  Christians alike have demonstrated in the most ample ways, the "sins of selfishness and pride"

Their  lust for power knows no bounds.

Now Benedict has announced that he is the only Pope and the Catholic Church is the only true Christian Church because the others do not have "apostolic succession".

He defines Pontiff_ication just byshowing himself on the Vatican balcony.

His statement about Roman Catholic Supremacy- because of his direct lineage to Jesus, puts him squarely in the religious idiot box along with the most fanatical Muslims and Zionist Jews. He is engendering the same kind of rivalry within Christianity, which is now so evident between Sunni and Shia and amongst Israelis who seek to recreate the Biblical myths.

It’s all about claims to legitimacy.  It’s like trying to prove parenthood in the days before there was DNA.

In a word, it’s pathetic.

Let us pray.

Let us pray as George Carlin would pray…to Joe Peschi- someone "who looks like he can get things done". (That’s a joke).

But seriously,  let’s notify our leaders that we reject their B______t.

Cheers