[harper’s blockade] liberals still scratching their heads

Discovered an excellent rightish Canadian site: Halls of Macadamia. If you want Canadian comment: The Liberals are trying to find out how Prime Minister Stephen Harper is making all these decisions without polling the matter beforehand. "There's gotta be some secret", Lib operators are saying. "Does he have a thousand citizens locked up and instantly available to answer his diabolical questions? Is he flipping a loonie? When told that Harper was simply making decisions based on principle, bewildered Libs were seen huddling and muttering in Ottawa nightspots ... trying to crack the code behind this mysterious concept. Principle? They’d heard the word somewhere before. It’s an entertaining read.

[gruzia] ulterior motives behind this whole biz

Gen Andrei Popov said "We are ready to thwart any possible attempts to penetrate our facilities using all means, including shoot to kill." Moscow has recalled its ambassador, evacuated its citizens and denounced Georgia as a "bandit" state. Ties had already been strained over Georgia's bid to join Nato and Vladimir Putin said Sunday, in his first public comment on the crisis, that the Georgian leadership had been encouraged by unidentified foreign sponsors. Precisely - just look at the logic. Georgia is clearly seeking foreign capital and the 4th player is just sitting there, all too willing to hand it out - bundles of it, in exchange for the soul of a nation.

[austria] centre-left win, immigration more important than business

Caneletto’s painting also here

Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel's campaign emphasis on staying the course on business-friendly tax cuts and playing up his image as a safe pair of hands stumbled on discontent over widening income gaps and Muslim immigration. "People in Austria believe that we are a rich and wealthy country, but not everything is distributed evenly," Social Democrat leader Alfred Gusenbauer said on Austrian TV. "And therefore people want a correction." So the Social Democrats gained 35.7 per cent and are now the government. Schuessel himself seems to have ended his career after a particularly dirty campaign from both sides. Interesting how immigration is the main agenda in so many countries just now, particularly that of Muslims and interesting about Austria’s 20th century history. The business implications are also significant.

[shinawatra] surprising gaff led to removal

Easy with hindsight and yet Peter Kneisel’s piece in the Boston Globe is interesting. Entitled Never leave Home in the Autumn, he says it was a surprising oversight by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra that led to his overthrow. He had used his fortune to consolidate power, but neglected to firm up his popularity as he fiddled with the military promotion lists, which are always leaked in September and published in October. Generals get restless in October, particularly if their careers are at risk. Ranking coups was a popular sport at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand in the 1970s. Around an Indian buffet laid on by the Oriental Hotel, journalists, spies, diplomats, and expatriates would compare the latest coup with the one from the previous October. Oct. 14th, 1973 is remembered as the “Day of Great Sorrow”, when 41 people died. Shinawatra must have been supremely arrogant or supremely stupid or both.

[double standards] over congressman mark foley

This is pathetic. US society openly promotes and protects same-sex relationships these days, then turns around and castigates participants. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, should pull her head in, stop making political capital out of it and ensure there are no witch hunts or show trials from her side of politics. The man himself had to be either a fool, brazen or both so everyone just let the investigation quietly run its course. This is a personal matter, not political, that’s all.

[monday] just an extension of the weekend

Monday, the best of days, brisk, productive and rewarding, once again to meet colleagues from last week for a laugh and a drink, then morning tea, short of 11 o’clock, then the first pleasant extended lunch of the week. Too much to do? Yes but we'll do it, calmly and effectively - the flurry of hard work and so soon the evening, ignoring the commuter crush and looking forward to a convivial hour with friends after dealing with the children and the morrow or else a good film before retiring. So quickly it passed and so suddenly we’re catapulted into Tuesday and then the mid-week breather. Thursday and Friday then press more closely and the joy of the weekend break beckons. Have a great Monday, maligned day of pleasure. I shall, as the sun has just broken out from behind the clouds and filled the living room with light.