tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post7689369908903578585..comments2024-03-18T20:18:14.088-04:00Comments on Northern Reflections: The Trials of JeremiahOwen Grayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-89537442153622817582010-08-20T02:18:24.108-04:002010-08-20T02:18:24.108-04:00"Palin lives on another planet than the one I..."Palin lives on another planet than the one I grew up on."<br /><br />But perhaps she lives on the planet you were <em>born</em> on: the one your parents hoped would have changed by now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-11052071760085985572010-08-20T02:03:50.846-04:002010-08-20T02:03:50.846-04:00I read today that Sarah Palin is now defending Dr....I read today that Sarah Palin is now defending Dr. Laura's use of the N word.<br /><br />My parents made it clear to me -- at a very young age -- that that word was never to be used by anyone in our family.<br /><br />Ms. Palin lives on another planet than the one I grew up on.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-69010613650946719002010-08-20T01:28:43.834-04:002010-08-20T01:28:43.834-04:00"Americans often seem denizens of a different..."Americans often seem denizens of a different planet than the one which we Canadians and the rest of the civilized world inhabit."<br /><br />I think that the issue is that two sizable and perhaps nearly equal chunks of the American populace inhabit very different worlds. One portion--the portion who helped put Obama in office--lives more or less in the world we inhabit. The other... lives in a world in which the end times are at hand, the planet earth is 6000 years old, and a non-American-citizen-Kenyan-born-fascist-communist-muslim-satanist-antichrist has snuck into the White House to destroy America from within.<br /><br />I'm increasingly convinced that the problem is less ideological as it is epistemological.<br /><br />It's enough to make an agnostic-secular-humanist type guy like myself ... pray.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-8338102758119053882010-08-17T13:45:58.077-04:002010-08-17T13:45:58.077-04:00I share your confusion about what is happening in ...I share your confusion about what is happening in the United States. <br /><br />The furor over the mosque in New York reminds me of the heyday of the "know nothings" -- the 1850's -- when popular opinion held that allowing Catholic immigrants into the country was the equivalent of Benedict Arnold surrendering to the Vatican.<br /><br />On the subject of the economic solutions proposed by the deficit hawks -- who, by the way, are alive and well in Ottawa -- all I can do is repeat George Santayana's well worn warning: those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35117130.post-90986312896630036672010-08-17T12:35:10.800-04:002010-08-17T12:35:10.800-04:00As a Canadian who visits his son's family in t...As a Canadian who visits his son's family in the USA every year, who has for years watched both CNN and FOX TV news, reads various American papers on line, and who should therefore have some notion about who will win what in their country's next election, I must admit that I haven't a clue. The more I see and hear of Americans, the less I understand who they are.<br /><br />How, for example, could any of the following things be a possible reason for losing an election in a democracy supposedly dedicated to the equality and happiness of all its citizens: providing the destitute with health care; stressing the importance of freedom of religion; curbing the risky practices of a banking system which sacrifices the many to the interests of the few; addressing the abuses of racism?<br /><br />How could any of the following be an election winner: allowing as a fundamental right a country's populace to go about as highly armed as any of the bandits in any of the most lawless countries on Earth; in the interests of national pride, pursuing questionable and expensive wars which waste both people and material resources;in a time of financial need, cutting the taxes of only the wealthiest citizens; allowing, possibly encouraging the unfettered use of fossil fuels to the detriment of the entire world? <br /><br />Americans often seem denizens of a different planet than the one which we Canadians and the rest of the civilized world inhabit.<br /><br />For the sake of that civilized world, I hope Americans cast their ballots in a way which the rest of us would approve. If they do vote that way, chances are they will have voted wisely.<br /><br />I feel so strongly about this matter, that I would like to advise Americans to vote as I just implied. But as any blockhead might guess, not only would they not vote wisely, but (if I understand anything about them), they'd do the "American thing" and declare war, and so I'll just keep quiet about it.Mister Bignoreply@blogger.com