from the hip

Every day is important. All events taking place have a place in space and time. But some days are more important than others. And some events influence other events more and have greater ramifications and consequences than others.

Today, I believe, is the day when the most important event of this decade is taking place. Today is the day of the election of the next American president.

At this juncture, with the financial crisis, the American depression, and all the challenges facing the US and the rest of the world, the choice of the new American president is far more important than in any normal election year. Not only to America and the Americans, but to peoples and nations all over the world. The choice will determine how the current crisis will be handled, how America will face the challenges of becoming again a modern nation, with modern welfare, educational and health systems, as well as the future position and role of America on the larger international scene.

I am not an American. I am not able to do much to influence the outcome of this election. I can not vote. So, today, I sit, wait, watch, and hope. And I feel strongly the powerlessness associated with the role of the spectator.

I have been following the campaigns for the presidential election in the US for a while. While I find much to appreciate and much good, it is also somewhat sad to follow it. The sad part, to my mind, concerns the missing half or so of the American population.

There is much talk about the rich, both from Barack Obama and from John McCain. Their viewpoints differ considerably. But they do talk about the rich.

And both candidates talk about the middle class. A lot. About how the solution to the current crisis in the US resides with the well being of the American middle class. About how the middle class must be strong enough economically to be able to afford to give their children education. And so on and so forth.

But neither of the candidates spends much time discussing the poor in the US. They don’t talk about their numbers. They don’t discuss their living conditions. The houses they loose in foreclosures. They don’t discuss what they will do for them. They don’t even disagree about them - because they simply don’t discuss them.

And this is what I think is sad. Very sad.

I have discussed this with people. The most rational explanation I am able to get is that the poor don’t count in the election. So the candidates don’t bother spending time discussing them. And then, when I hear that, it is easy to think that they probably will not count in the next election either, so there is no reason to do anything for them between elections or talk about them in the next campaign either. I guess.

So, effectively, half or so (we can always fight over the exact percentage, but that is not my point here) of the population in the US don’t count, from a political perspective. They don’t matter, because they hardly ever vote. The don’t get to be visible. They don’t get to be the target of reforms aimed to improve their conditions. Indeed, it is easy to think that to the extent their chances,  as opposed to the chances of the middle class, improves, it is simply a result of a drip down or spillover effect of changes instituted for the benefit of others.

What a terrible waste of human resources this is! What a waste of talent! What a waste of happiness! How sad. For the United States of America.

How long can the United States continue like this in a knowledge and competence economy? Why the concern with energy saving and recycling of resources when such a large proportion of the greatest resource of all is hardly maintained and definitely not used efficiently?

Many things may be said about Italy’s Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi (71), and, indeed, much has been said. But one thing is for sure: He likes beautiful women! An apppreciation of beauty he shares with most of his countrymen, I am sure (and a few others, as well).

Now he has appointed the very beautiful, conservative and talented Mara Carfagna (32) as his minister for equality. But not only that - at a dinner party he also said that if he had been single, he would have like to marry her. That’s a slightly unusual way for a prime minister to speak of his ministers, I would say. And, clearly also a statement his wife was not to pleased with, and made quite a lot of noise about.

Beautiful Mara Carfagna has a future, like most people. She has been a TV-hostess and a top-less model. And now she is, I would think, the most beautiful minister in any government in OECD. That really has to count for something in Italy?!?

And there is no rule anywhere stating that ministers of equality must be ugly, is there?

Mara Carfagna……Italy’s next Minister for something or other.

Rightwingers and ex-model in Italian cabinet

The minister of justice in Norway has proposed criminalizing the purchase of sexual services. The law proposes imposing fines and up to six months in jail for anyone convicted of paying a prostitute for sex. The law is in line with a “Sex Purchase Law” passed by neighboring Sweden in 1999, which has been the subject of intense interest in Europe and elsewhere.

Justice Minister Knut Storberget said in presenting the proposed law: “People are not a commodity and criminalizing the purchase of sex would make it less attractive for human traffickers to look to Norway.”

I am not sure I like the law. I don’t really know how smart it is to criminalize people for buying sex. But at least that part of the law I respect. The part I have strong objections to, is the part that says that the law should apply to Norwegians visiting other countries as well. This is strange as a legal principle.

I mean, if a Norwegian drive a car at 160 km/hour on a German highway, this is legal in Germany but illegal in Norway. But people do not get punished for it when they return home to Norway. Same for smoking cannabis in Amsterdam. And so on. But now the government proposes that when a Norwegian does something in a foreign country that is legal in that country, he is to be punished when he returns home?

And, in addition to the very strange legal principle involved, there is also the almost impossible situation with respect to implementation. Are Dutch policemen supposed to look out for Norwegians buying sex, when that purchase is legal in the Netherlands? And the same in other countries, of course.

So, seems to me, the only people who will be punished for this are the ones admitting to have done it - some honest guys - and people who are informed about by friends that can’t be trusted or enemies, and then some few others more or less randomly.

To me it seems strange and not very smart to put in place a law that punishes the honest and rewards informers. Is that how the socialist government in Norway wants Norway to become?

The Danish newspaper Politiken has an article today that is a character analysis of the candidates for the post of Mayor in the great city of London. The next mayor will be either “Red-Ken” Livingstone, the current mayor, or the challenger, Boris Johnson.

Boris Johnson is described by Politiken as a popular, conservative party clown with a pronounced upper class accent. Johnson likes to participate in comedy programs on TV, and makes lots of statements that he later has to apologize for. Like the one about the population of Papua New Guinea being cannibals. According to the polls, he seems to be leading the race for the moment.

The other challenger, supported by Elton John, is a homosexual ex-police boss, Brian Paddick. Polls, unfortunately, indicate that he has no chances of winning.

Red-Ken is an admirer of Venezuela’s president Chavez and Cub’s Fidel Castro. He is known, according to Politiken, for having stated that President Bush is the greatest known threat to humankind.

Tony Travis, a professor at the London School of Economics, says that as people in the UK are so concerned with celebrity and personality, Boris Johnson has a good chance of winning.

What an election! Seem to me like the good folks of London will have to exercise their democratic powers by choosing among bad and worse.

Alternatively, if Politiken is wrong, the next mayor of London, whoever he may be, seems to have a slight image problem in Denmark.

Corruption seems to be everywhere. Now a corruption case is shaking little Denmark as well. On Greenland, it turns out that the Greenland Government (”Grønlands Hjemmestyre”) sold houses to politicians and top bureaucrats for roughly half their real value.

A legal report, by Nuna Advokernes, concludes that this practice was unlawful. Big surprise. The report concludes that the selling of public property to individuals has to take place at the real market value.

For a while the Government at Greenland sought to block the investigation. Now that it’s on the table, the opposition in Greenland demands the resignation of the sitting government.

They should.