enforced secularism, RNC and the 'lympics

it appears as though the french are being targeted for their approach to freedom from religion. the american press describes the hostage-taking as directly related to the french's enforced secularism. I find it most intruiging that in our country you can serve as an agent of the state while wearing ritual garb while the french are trying to restrict even citizens from wearing ritual garb in public/state spaces such as schools. obviously there has been much debate over the particular case of the french law, and indeed I have an interest in exploring the nuances in liberalism that could allow for these two seemingly contradictory approaches to freedom and religion that western countries like france and canada use. besides this today there are close to half a million people marching in manhattan against bush and the war. as the Republican national convention is set to open, and bush is set to run for reelection in earnest, I draw to your attention a few crucial items. although most polling indicates bush and kerry are neck and neck in key states, and it seems as though the election campaign is already underway, let us not forget that the final sixty days (which starts soon) are far more cutthroat. what is most remarkable, however, is not the bickering between candidates bush and kerry, it is how much money kerry has amassed between june 20 and july 31. at the beginning of the summer (and for the last while now) W. has been ahead of kerry in receipts and cash on hand by vast sums. in the cash on hand category, W had a $50M USD lead on kerry as of june 20; however as of July 31 kerry is now the one on top (for the first time) with $121M, while W has $111M. however, both candidates have now accepted federal matching funds totalling $75M apiece, which really evens out the playing field for the next 10 weeks. up until these new funding reports were analysed and released by www.opensecrets.org i was fully believing that W was going to win. combined with the crappy economy and high oil prices, i now have more hope for the fake democrat john kerry. november will come soon enough. as for the 'lympics, i have enjoyed them. though i was unimpressed when stephen owen our far-too-inexperienced-and-dispassionate minister for amateur sport said he wouldn't increase funding; not because i think we have unlimited funds to spend, but because i think we need to recognize that despite our budgetary crises and increasing needs in key depts such as health, education, etc we are still one of the richest countries in the world: far too rich and wealthy to think that hosting the 'lympics is no big deal, but competing in them is too much. that's all for today

deaths, computers, etc

Recently, my computer died. The hard drives that Dell ships with their machines are notoriously weak; but it's those dell prices that tempts the poor guy like me. anyway, now i've got other computers up and running to fill the gap of the laptop. well well... maybe it'll be a mac next time This story, which I heard today, blew me away. I don't really know what to say about it, but it kind of creeps me out. it's nice in a way that now the industry of death which has been ripping people off for a long time will have some affordable competition; but it's still so weird that costco would provide... ugh...

buoys, guests, mideast...

This certainly instills comfort in the folks who work and live off of the ocean all over the atlantic provinces. the story lists october as the deadline for fixing the buoys, which strikes me as rather ambitious since they have all been busted for so long. i just can't believe it's taken anyone this long to get something done about it. in the middle east, someone in the israeli press has realised that israel's interest in popularizing arafat and the PA is relevent and urgent in making military-security policy as well as working towards peace. This article clearly links the popularization of arafat on the part of the sharon administration to the planned withdrawal from gaza and the need for stability there. Surely palestinians also wish to use the withdrawal and subsequent self-governance to demonstrate that Palestine can be a viable state and so forth. this would of course increase pressure on israel to disengage from the west bank. although most are choosing to wait out the gaza plan to see if it actually comes to fruition - the labor-likud coalition talks appear troubled. nonetheless, arafat is preferable to most israelis than a hamas-led government. and arafat in power is appealing to his enemies who wish to see him fail. either way, popularizing arafat at least detracts from hamas and jihad support, and clearly israelis are going to be into it. In terms of its actual influence on a peaceful settlement, that remains to be seen; but it appears that the only item on the agenda is the disengagement from gaza. internal PA strife notwithstanding, israelis and palestinians are slowly lurching towards some sort of new status and relationship. back here, i've been busy with many surprise visitors and guests. a total of 20 in the past three days. after just getting back from manhattan, sackville somehow seems more populated - a welcome change as it eases the withdrawal from city life.

road trip

just returned from a road trip down to nyc. it was quite adventuresome. picked up some parking tickets, went to queens (for moma), and did other usual manhattan stuff. anyway, i have felt totally disconnected while on vacation (which is the point) but i feel like i've got a lot of catching up to do. though from the little news i have read/watched since i returned, it seems as though the summer news cycle is in full swing, and not much is happening. boston during the dnc was a quick stop. every truck on the 93 inbound was searched before getting into boston. the traffic, on the other hand, was smooth... can't believe the big dig is almost finished. okay, will have more in days to come, tres busy with work...