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Sunday, November 30, 2008

The End of the World continues






We lost our collective minds.

The week of November 24th to November 30th, 2008 has been an extraordinary one.

We turned on our television sets to the most violent channel, the news channels, and we could not believe our eyes. The People of Paradise were up in arms rioting in the streets and occupying the main airport and air traffic control tower. Thailand descended into mayhem and violence and insanity. The cause being that the people consider that their government is corrupt and untrustworthy, and they are demanding that the government step down so that free elections can be held again

The Prime Minister has declared that he won’t do that. Even though the commander of the army has suggested that perhaps he should in the interest of peace quit while he has his head, the Prime Minister is having none of it.

It was the people who put him in his position of power, and having done so they now realize that they made a mistake. So, they are seeking to undo that mistake and to try again. The Prime Minister can’t see it. He is determined to stay the course, but he and his entire government are in hiding, so that should be enough of a hint that he is facing a Mission Impossible. The unrest will evaporate with the resignation of the government. Any reasonable thinking person would think he would do so.

Wednesday arrived in Mumbai (Bombay) India, which I have always thought of as a bizarre culture, and as the day opened several young men arrived by boats with guns a blazing. Their only mission seems to have been to kill as many people as possible, especially foreigners, and not to stop until they themselves were killed. For a little more than three days the horror continued. They targeted the best hotels, particularly the Taj Mahal which is the symbol of safety in India, and systematically went room-to-room non-stop killing. They attacked the Jewish centre, and left behind four innocents dead, and they ran in the street and into restaurants shooting to kill anyone and everyone.

Meanwhile, over in Nigeria a sudden outburst of violence in the country left 300 people dead. The reasons behind that are not as yet clear, but perhaps its all just part of the worldwide madness, be it financial, social or religious, it makes me feel like crying out “The sky is falling, Chicken Little, The sky is falling!”

The thing that I will predict is that there are many more chapters coming, so expect more on this topic in the near future.

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Retail Therapy




Women call shopping Retail Therapy and we men all smile as though it’s a woman thing, until we come to realise that we have not personally bought anything for too long and we have the urge to go out and spend. Oh Dear!

Life is complicated, while at the same time it is so simple. In every country around the world we are controlled by the same emotions and urges and instincts. We need sleep; we need to eat and drink and pass time in the W.C. We need company, both intimate and platonic, and we need things. We must shop!

I don’t pretend to know a thing about how shopping affects women, that’s just too complicated for a mere man to understand. However, for some reason shopping malls are getting bigger and more sexed up to the point that they are a destination within themselves. In America, where shopping is religion, entertainment, and an absolute necessity, the ultimate in shopping opportunity resides in The Mall of America, located in Minnesota.

Normally, shops are located within a town where we park and go walkabout. Mall of America have gone over the top with the idea, and effectively they have built a town that they call a Mall. Here are a few facts:
- It’s such a grand size that 32 Boeing 747’s could safely be parked within it.
- Seven full stadiums the size of Yankee Stadium could fit within its perimeters.
- Walking distance around each level: 57 miles. There are four levels.
- If a shopper were to visit each store and spend no more than ten minutes, it would take 86 hours to complete a visit to all 520 stores.
- There are more than 50 restaurants plus another 36 speciality food stores.
- There are hotels at Mall of America.
- There are big entertainment centres in the mall.

This sounds like a super-size city to me. However, it was built on the premise that people would continue to live way beyond their means, and on credit. Getting credit was no problem. Credit card offers arrived by the bag full with pre-approval. In order to pay off parts of card purchases people simply took another card or borrowed from the bank. Then one day, as any junior accountant could have foreseen, came the reckoning. People with enormous debts could no longer pay the piper and the whole house of cards came falling down.

We now have a worldwide crisis and new words to ponder, such as “toxic loans” and “credit crunch”. Suddenly, all over the world the sky is falling. Banks are folding one after the other and mega-companies are in trouble, companies so large that they cannot be allowed to go into liquidation because the loss of jobs and assets would be cataclysmic.

So, what comes next? People still have to have stuff, and they must still obey their natural instincts. But our very way of doing business is being called into question. The jobless rate is about the only thing on the rise. We have lived with two major experiments for many years. They are the capitalist and the communist systems. The communist system has failed, as more and more of the former communist states become capitalist in their thinking. However, now we seem to be seeing our way of life showing major cracks. Where is all this headed? No-one knows!

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael

Sunday, November 16, 2008

What’s Wrong with America’s Politics?



I have had ten days to take in the win of President-elect Obama and I am still getting used to the idea. Fundamentally the concept of a black man as the president of a country is no big deal. Even South Africa achieved that before America. No one has had to tell black Americans that they are worthy of the office, as are women, but the breakthrough came when a long held pre-condition for that office was broken, that being that you had to be white and male. The only other man who could have pulled that off and had even greater support was Colin Powell, but he didn’t want to put his family through all that the American people and press will put Obama through. As he said, he just didn’t have the fire in the belly for it. A great number of us interpreted that to mean that he was too smart.

But, Mr Obama is President-elect and is raring to take over and get well stuck in. The last time an American president engendered such hope was with President J.F. Kennedy. I think that with Mr. Obama the level of expectation is even higher, and that’s a lot to live up to.

So, what is wrong with American politics?

Firstly, the process is simply too dammed expensive. Between the two front-runners they raised and mostly spent a billion dollars, and the campaign went on for nearly two years. And then, there were all those others who ran hard and spent big.

Secondly, it is extremely divisive. Those important debates were not friendly and a lot of very negative things were said that resonated with voters. It is very difficult to get a straight answer from anyone in America. There are only Republican and Democratic answers. To get a straight and reasoned answer to the question “Don’t you think we’re having a lovely day?” would most likely bring the most puzzling responses.

After all the shouting and money spent, the country can still end up with a Bush. Many people seem to think that he was the bottom of the barrel, the absolute worst of all America’s presidents. Now I’m sure that he achieved many very positive things during his two terms in office. Other than having confidence in Colin Powell and Condeleeza Rice, I just can’t think of much else at the moment because the Iraqi war keeps getting in the way. I’m certain that was the biggest mistake that he made, and that was brought home by the fact that the stated purpose for going to war was weapons of mass destruction. When no such weapons could be found the reason was changed to getting rid of Saddam and his government to save the Iraqi people.

Well, the world is a better place just because that lot have gone, but America was not requested to do that bit of housekeeping. You simply do not send your people into harm’s way on a pretext.

The campaigning process goes on for far too long. Most free world countries take up to six weeks to campaign and to vote. This last election went on for about two years in America. By November 4th the world was so weary of it we just wanted it to be over.

The principal is usually in such danger that protecting the president and his family is an around the clock matter. As personable and charming as President-elect Obama is, he will never again be able to freely walk among the people and feel their warmth. That is because there are organizations now plotting on how to end it all as their hatred is so sick and warped that they are rabid and completely out of reason and control.

However, there’s no turning the clock back regardless of what happens. As the poet once said, there is no thing as powerful as an idea whose time has come. It was always a losing proposition that the occupant of the White House had to be male and white. By those conditions it was guaranteed that some of the past occupants would be ill-chosen for the job.

Ironically, the most prevalent criticism of Mr. Obama was that he was not experienced enough. Ask any black man or woman how many times in their lives have they heard that one as an excuse not to get the job. Half of the time you were not even allowed anywhere near the resources to big yourself up, so no surprise that you were lacking. The truth is that to hold the office of President of The United States, and, (as some will say) leader of the free world, no one has sufficient experience beforehand. This is a position that calls on judgement, and the mere fact that President-elect Obama could marshal a team to get himself elected is exactly the right qualifications of an administrator to manage the White House just fine.

I am expecting great things from Mr Obama, and I wish he, and his team all the very best. The first order of business is to fix America’s shattered image in the world. So far, so good!

Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael

Sunday, November 9, 2008

"Free at Last! Free at Last!"






I am making a fairly safe assumption that everyone in the world knows that it was the late, and very great orator, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr who uttered those words as part of his historic ”I have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Washington Monument so very many years ago.

The point that he was making was that no one is free until we are all free. On November 4th, 2008 that dream came true as a black man was judged on the content of his character and not on the colour of his skin. On that day America finally grew up. Even South Africa attained that maturity ahead of America, and that must have surely given America a sense of being isolated. The Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke for us all as he could not contain his tears of joy, and neither could I. Frankly, it was too much to hope for. In my sixty-nine years I could not contemplate that it could ever happen in America, and I held my breath every step of the way.

It’s true that others have been pumped up sufficiently to make a run, but it always seemed like such a vain effort. I lived through all the troubles of America and took the slings and arrows of people who were so arrogant towards black people as to treat us as animals, as beasts of burden that we had to tell them that we are men and women, just like them in structure, but that we had a heart.

The arrogance of much of white America was such that the ultimate symbol of attainment and ambition is named The White House. Coincidence? I think not, but that all changed as President-elect Barack Hussein Obama prepares to take up his office in his 47th year, as the youngest ever person to do so, and as the 44th president of the United States of America, and as many will call him, the leader of the free world. He calls himself the skinny kid with the funny sounding name. His father is a black Kenyan and his mother a white American. Little did these two people, who are both deceased, know what their love would give the world.

President-elect Obama is no ordinary young man. In the words of the poet, “Cometh the moment, Cometh the Man.” He ran on a platform called “Time for Change” and simply by getting more than sixty-two million people to vote for him, compared to John McCain’s fifty-five million, he has given America and the world a quantum step forward in change. In the all-important electoral votes he garnered 349 to John McCain’s 162. That’s slightly more than a two to one majority. The American people spoke loudly and America moved forward.

This is no mere exercise in window dressing. People have such high expectations from his administration that there is bound to be some disappointment, but the one thing that is certain: Change in the way that Washington does business has arrived. The Democratic party have clear majorities in both the House of Representatives and The Senate so whatever they want to do should be possible.

Let me pause here to reiterate my fears: I am on record as having said that I didn’t really want the senator to win because it would place his life in mortal danger and that of his family. For me it would have been more than enough for him to have fought a good fight and then conceded the White House to John McCain. By having done so he would have proven the point that America is ready for a black president. His life has been in constant danger throughout the campaign, and I don’t want him to have to pay the ultimate price for uplifting an entire race and an entire country. However, I am more than certain that he knows the risks.

The other concern of mine is that he is inheriting a White House that is besieged with overwhelming problems, none of which are his fault or due to his judgement, but which he will be held accountable. By extension the entire Negro race that is now so elated by his success will also be held to account. There’s more than the usual weight to be carried by this young and very energetic man. Because he had to be so good to get to where he is, I think that I am justified in placing my confidence in his ability to succeed where no other person can.

So, Congratulations! President-elect Obama. I add my voice is wishing you a successful first four years so that you will be ready for the second half of your baptism by fire. As for America, it still has one or two things to do, such as electing its first woman president.

Copyright (c) 2008 Eugene Carmichael