The failure of the government's financial rescue bill yesterday took me by surprise.  I knew that conservative members of Congress were opposed to it but I assumed most members would vote for it even as they held their noses.  I also knew from media reports that the majority of Americans also opposed the bill, or what they thought it represented, but I figured this was a knee-jerk reaction that would be rectified by their representatives in Congress.  I was mistaken on both counts.  The public's opposition strikes me as a classic demonstration of ignorance and undisciplined emotion.  The opposition by conservative members of Congress, many of whom are fearful they will lose their seats in the upcoming election, reflects pure selfishness. And the idea that for reasons of ideology members would allow millions of ordinary citizens to lose their life savings is incredible to me.

   


           This young lady is about to die and be re-born, rise up cleansed of bad karma and ready to make a fresh start in life.  So I learned from a report in this morning's New York Times.  The dying and resurrection and second birth are metaphorical, much like the Christian rite of baptism.  The young lady lies down in a coffin for a few moments while Buddhist monks chant a dirge.  "As I lay there and listened to the chanting of the monks, I felt relaxed," she said later. "When I got up, I was thinking of good things. I felt released." The resurrection rite is offered daily at a Buddhist temple not far from Bangkok.  On weekends as many as 700 people a day pay a little more than $5 for the ceremony. A professor at Chulalanghorn University observes that "people are looking for their own expression of Buddhism that could be relevant to their lives."

         
          I have lost patience with John McCain.  He has "suspended" his campaign (you can be sure his aides have not!) and wants to postpone the public debate with Barack Obama scheduled for tomorrow evening, so that he can return to Washington and help solve the financial crisis.  He's not even on the Senate banking committee that is the primary group charged with working with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve on the issue! From my point of view, this is pure grandstanding.  More than that, it reveals the erratic, impulsive character of a man who would like to manage the affairs of a nation involved in two wars and a host of other challenges. According to news reports this morning, the two political parties are close to an agreement with the Treasury and the Federal Reserve -- and this before McCain even arrives back in Washington after missing nearly 500 votes on the Senate floor so far this year.

           Who is the unluckiest fella around today?  We can't be sure.  We won't know until November 4th.  But we do know it will one of the two men presently contesting the presidency, Barack Obama or John McCain. For whoever wins will inherit a government that will allow for little or no opportunity to fulfill the aspirations and promises of either man -- not to mention the American citizenry.  The U.S. administration has amassed a debt of 700 billion dollars for the war in Iraq.  And now, in the wake of this past week's economic meltdown, is preparing to impose another 700 billion dollar bailout of the financial system.  This means, as nearly as I can tell, that there will be no money available for either Obama or McCain to deal with the "change" both men have been touting.  Instead, they can only leave an intolerable indebtedness to our children and grandchildren.  In an earlier day President Lyndon Johnson tried to wage a "war on poverty" and a war in Viet Nam at the same time and failed miserably.  The next president will have his hands full trying to figure out how to deal with a nearly one and a half trillion dollar debt.  There will be nothing left over for infrastructure, health care, education, and energy/environmenal issues -- the very issues that cry out for change.  There is a verse in the Bible that goes something like this: God gave them the desires of their hearts, but sent bitterness into their souls.  I'm afraid that Obama or McCain face four years of bitter frustration. So does the American public.  We the people can blame the government, or the greed of Wall Street, but at bottom we have ourselves to blame.  For we are a people who spend but do not save.  We amass person credit card debt in order to aquire "things" beyond our means. Wall Street and the U.S. government are merely the profligate extension of ourselves.

 

          The worst of the financial crisis seems to be over. President Bush hasn't had much to say about it, but the Secretary of the Treasury and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank have provided energetic leadership.  But the hard part is still ahead: developing a long-term fix.  I can't imagine any Republican administration being able to do this, not even one led by a self-proclaimed reformer.  And it is debatable whether the Democrats are up to the challenge.  Meanwhile, many of us ordinary folk have been hit rather hard.  For Georgia and me, times are difficult now because Georgia has had to retire, so both of us are now living on very fixed incomes, and rather meager ones at that.  Home values have fallen, so it is a bad time for us to be thinking about selling our house and moving to a cheaper area like Virginia.  And Wall Street has shrunk our IRA significantly.  On the other hand, one has only to look around to realize that millions upon millions of people on this planet are in financially worse shape than we are.  So we thank the Lord for our blessings and pray for those who live in abject poverty.

          On a completely different issue: ABC News tonight had a story on Angels.  It appears that two-thirds of all Americans (Pew Foundation poll) believe in angels and demons.  I do not.  The reasons are too lengthy to outline here, but some time ago I wrote a brief article not on angels but on the devil, entitled, Why I Don't Believe in the Devil.  I think you can access it, if you wish, at http://waldronscott.net/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/thedevil.2.doc

          
 

 

          Georgia's daughter Lynn is up from Miami, visiting us for a couple of days. We'll go out to a Lebanese restaurant for dinner tonight, God willing. Nothing beats Lebanese cuisine.

          There can be no doubt that the USA is in the midst of a financial meltdown -- surely the most serious since the Great Depression of 1929, the year I was born.  It amazes me how ineptly our leaders have handled this -- slapping one band-aid after another on Wall Street's follies. And of course it doesn't help that we are spending tens of millions of dollars a day on a foolish war in Iraq. Meanwhile in Afghanistan the Taliban grow stronger day by day and America ends up killing scores of civilians in the tribal areas of Pakistan in a futile effort to "get" Osama bin Laden.

           

 

          Even through seven years have passed, commemorating the 9/11 attack on the two World Trade Center buildings in lower Manhattan is still a major event here in the New York metro area.  I sympathize with the families who lost loved ones that day, for their pain is never lost.  At the same time, I continue to be appalled by the decision our government made in the aftermath of the attack, to seek revenge by waging war in Iraq. More than 4,000 American troops have been killed -- one-third more than the loss of life on 9/11. At least 94,000 Iraqi civilians have died, and more than four million Iraqis displaced, now living is starkly reduced circumstances in Jordan, Syria and elsewhere, not knowing when they will be able to return home. Finally, I note that America has spend one trillion dollars so far on this war.  A trillion is one thousand billion! It is almost impossible to comprehend such waste -- funds that could have been expended on education, health care, infrastructure, and job creation here at home -- or just as usefully expended on combatting poverty and disease in many places around the globe. 

          A couple of months ago I wrote about a neighbor of ours, Mohmmad Qatanani, the imam of the Islamic Center here in Paterson.  He was facing a deportation trial by the U.S. government on the grounds of having terrorist connections.  Everyone in this city knew that charge was absurd.  Nevertheless the trial went ahead.  Yesterday a federal judge ruled that Qatanai had not been proved to have terrorist connectons and granted him permanent legal residency.  Patersonians are happy about the decision.  Qatanani is a moderate and well-liked leader in our community. Not all such trials have ended so happily but we are glad this one did.

          We watched the Republican Convention again this evening. Romney was so-so; Huckabee better and funnier; Guiliana with plenty of red meat. But the night's star was Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, the nominee for vice president.  She was poised and articulate, obviously an experienced speaker -- and a real barracuda, which is what vice presidents are supposed to be during campaign season. I don't think McCain made a mistake in selecting her.  I am interested to know how my eldest daughter, Melody, reacts to her.  For Melody, like Mrs. Palin, is also the mother of a Down's Syndrome child.  And Mrs. Palin promised all such mothers that if she is elected V.P., they will have an ardent advocate in the White House.

          No doubt about it: an eventful long Labor Day weekend.  McCain's surprise nomination of a virtually unknown (female) governor as his running mate.  Hurricane Gustav, which also turned out to surprisingly less horrific than we expected.  And tonight, the first full night of the Republican convention in St. Paul.
          The conventioneers were bouyed by the meeting, which in its way was surprising, for the main speakers of the evening both highlighted the need for reform in Washington.  It appears that McCain's fall campaign will make the case that he is actually the better reformer than Obama. We shall see how this plays out.