Happy New Year From Phoenix

Spending some time in cold Phoenix. The temp actually got down to below freezing for this year's Fiesta Bowl Parade. As I wrote in earlier years, going to the annual parade is like going back to the fifties. Cheerleaders, marching bands, horses, floats, Sheriff Joe, politicians ( the governor, mayor etc.), football stars, the Shriners in small cars, police, etc.. you name it, it is on parade. It's good old fashion Americana at its best and I love it.

Hope everyone has a great 2011. It should be an interesting one politically in the USA, and who knows, maybe in Canada.. The minority government must be due for its periodic re-election and the Liberal party for a new leader. So I am looking forward to it all.

Happy New Year!

Barack Obama and Same Sex Marriage

The political year seems to have ended very well for President Obama. Because of Republican co-operation he got his (amended) tax bill through, DADT was repealed, the Smart Treaty was approved, as was the bill to assist 9/11 first responders. It is interesting to consider why all of this has happened after the Nov mid-terms and why Obama has had more success with compromise now than before. It seems that the "party of no" has become the "party of yes". Interesting.

In his year end Press Conference, Obama was, as usual, very impressive. Smart and articulate. He answered the questions very adroitly. On one answer, however, Obama, in my opinion, fared very poorly - the one dealing with same sex marriage.

Obama continues to "struggle" with this issue, but apparently, from his answer, seems to still be opposed. Or in the least he is not prepared to come out, defend it and say he is in favour.

My question is simple: What in the world is the source of this "struggle"? For a person who speaks so passionately about fundamental values, basic dignity, and human rights, in relation to topics such as immigration reform, Don't Ask Don't Tell, redistribution of wealth, and education and health care rights, you would think that the issue of gay marriage would be an absolute no brainer. For persons truly committed to human rights and dignity for all, there is no question that gays and lesbian couples who want to make a marriage commitment to one another, should be free to do so. Marriage is obviously meaningful to them and deprives no-one else of anything. Traditionalists or religious people can continue to think it is wrong, weird, sinful or whatever, but so what? Gay marriage has nothing to do with them. It is simply none of their business.

So back to Obama. What is behind his "struggle"? Political expediency? Getting re-elected? His own personal religious beliefs? His links to his community? Bigotry? Indifference to the rights of others? Is he disingenuous when he talks about basic values and dignity?

Whatever the answer is, it is not good. This is not a small point. It goes to the heart of who President Obama is and what he really believes and is prepared to put himself on the line for.

Back Home

Back home from Australia.

Tort Law conference in Sydney was quite impressive. Good line-up of speakers, including Lord Hoffmann, recently retired from the House of Lords. Lord Hoffmann is well known for his erudite tort law judgments, particularly in reference to issues of causation and public authority liability. Lord Hoffmann gave an excellent account of the economic torts, with particular reference to OBG v Allan. The Chief Justice of the Australian High Court, Chief Justice French, opened the two day conference with a very thorough and scholarly talk, over viewing the conference themes. My topic was on public authority liability discussing the Canadian experience, which is quite unique in the Commonwealth.

Kudos to the organizers, Jamie Edelman (Oxford) and Simone Degeling (UNSW) for a great job.

Soon back to politics.

Happy New Year!

Aussie Update

A little travel update.

Adelaide visit was great. Irene's etching exhibit at Port Adelaide at the Jackalope Gallery was very well done. Wonderful gallery, lots of attendees, great wines and cheese etc. The owners Kathy and Nancy did a great job.

Kangaroo Island visit - saw lots of animals on a beautiful island. Kangaroos, koalas, echidnas, seals, sea lions, birds, etc. Also beautiful, beautiful beaches.

Now in Sydney for the tort law conference. Excellent program. Starts tomorrow..

Big news here - the tragedy with the boat refugees. Unbelievable what people will do to leave despotic terrible regimes. Story is still developing.

More later.

Off to Adelaide

First some travel notes. Leaving Tasmania today for Adelaide. Went up East Coast for a couple of days to Freycinet National Park. Gorgeous beaches.. white sand for miles, and turquoise waters. The sand squeaked as you walked on it. Shore birds (eg the Pied Oystercatcher) nesting on the beach. But if you come you can leave your "bathers" at home.. water is freezing.

Had dinner last night with a mate who lives in Burnie. John Dewar, used to teach at U of Alberta and worked at the Law Reform Institute. Really good bloke. Finished off a lot of Tassie wine.

Ok.. now to current affairs.

Julian Assange has gone from wanted man to international cult hero. Thousands signing petition defending him. It has become a free speech and presumption of innocence issue. The belief is that the US wants him, will try to extradite him from Sweden, bring him back to US for trial. Obama Administration is not getting good press here over this whole affair.

Oprah tour continues. Apparently the Aussie tax payer is funding this thing to the tune of $3,000,000.00. Governments say it is good for tourism.. will bring throngs of Americans here. Sure.

I see that Congress has defeated DADT. That seems to put Obama Administration between rock and hard place. They could have let court ruling striking it down alone ( as I suggested ). But no.. they wanted to leave it to Congress. Well now what? Obama administration should have thought their strategy out a few steps ahead.

Cheers.

Julian And Oprah

Two big names in the news down under.

Julian Assange, Wikileaks founder, is front page on today's The Australian. Assange, an Australian citizen, has condemned his government for not stepping up to the plate to defend him against "the numerous public threats of violence against him". In an article published in The Australian, he notes for example the numerous calls in the US for him to be "taken out" by US special forces, and a call by "an advisor to the Canadian Prime Minister's office" that he be assassinated. The Australian angle is interesting. I wonder how the Canadian government would have reacted if Assange were a Canadian citizen?

Then there is the Oprah tour. About 300 Oprah fans, both from the US and Canada, are visting Australia compliments of Oprah. Although apparently mocked by Australia's "elites", the editorial in The Australian commends Oprah for the impact that this "extraordinary woman" has had on her fans. She is noted as having "pioneered discussion of social issues once taboo on mainstream American television". So there it is. All I can add is "good on you, Oprah".

DOWN UNDER

Quick report from Hobart, Tasmania.

I am in Australia for tort law conference, and Irene has art exhibit in Adelaide. Came to Tasmania for a few days. Hobart is a picturesque, charming place. But haven't explored much yet.

Few interesting notes. Everybody here seems to be from someplace else. Our waitress last night from Flagstaff. She came to school here because she thought it was going to be like Hawaii. She got over it in a few months. Now likes it. Our hotel check in clerk is from Regina. Why he would have wanted to leave is beyond me. The waiter in Sydney was from England. Restaurant manager from South Africa. So we are still on the lookout for a real Tasmanian devil.

On the Sydney-Hobart flight watched two hours of live Fox News. O'Reilly, Hannity, Greta. No CNN. No MSNBC. Curious.

I guess big news back in US is Obama's cave in on Bush tax cuts. I gather Dems on the left are unhappy.. very unhappy. Hillary, where are you?? Will keep on eye on that.

Thats it for now. Just wanted to say hello. Hello.

"GET OVER IT"

I said it before Charles Blow of the New York Times did. I disagree with Charles Blow on a bunch of things. I also give Sarah Palin a lot more credit than he does.

But having said all of that, I agree with his recent piece in the New York Times totally. Advice to the anti-Paliners out there (whether on the "left" or the "right"):

"GET OVER IT"!

Read his piece.

The Media's Obsession With Palin

It seems that almost everyday I look at the CNN website, there is at least one story about Sarah Palin. Examples of such juicy headlines include: "Rollins: Sarah Palin, you're no Reagan"; "Palin Lashes Out At The Media"; "Palin Delivers A Gaffe Filled Message"; "Palin Ratings Rebound"; "Palin's Intentions Questioned As She Heads Back To Iowa"; "Palin Hauls In Nearly $500k In Just Over A Month"; "Barbara Bush Tells Palin To Stay In Alaska"; "Rove Calls Actions By Palin Smart"; "Palin Must Be Stopped Says Scarborough"; "Palin Slams Obama Administration Over Wikileaks Fiasco"; "McCain Compares Palin To Reagan"; "Romney Takes A Swing At Palin" and on and on and on.

And that, my friends, is from only CNN, only from the last couple of days, and only after I spent about 15 minutes searching. Can you imagine what I would have turned up if I had done some real research and looked at other sources?

If you were a visitor from Mars and saw all of this Palin attention , you would legitimately wonder: "Who the heck is Sarah Palin? Boy, this Sarah must be a very, very important person!!"

And you might be surprised to find out, well, no. Palin WAS the governor of Alaska (population 700,000 - less than Edmonton Alberta!) Palin now holds no political office. She actually holds no political, governmental, bureaucratic, or any other office at all. She might not even have an office. She is not a big shot company executive. She ran for Vice-President and lost.(The winning Vice President, Joe Biden, is hardly ever talked about by the way.) She "might" run for President in 2012, but she will most likely not get her own party's nomination and if she did, by some fluke, she would get clobbered in a national Presidential election. So she is very unlikely to hold any political office ever, ever again.

So why all the fuss, you might ask? Well, frankly, I do not know. I am sure legions of future PhD students in political science, sociology, philosophy, psychology, anthropology etc. will spend years studying the topic of the "Sarah Palin Mystique" and try to find out why there is this incredible media Sarah Palin obsession.

You might also be interested in finding out, as was I, that this media obsession does not seem to be met with the same obsession by members of the ordinary public. In the Yahoo Buzz Index of top recent Yahoo searches, Sarah Palin's name does not even show up in the top 20. "Tony Parker" shows up. "Eva Longoria Parker" shows up. "Eliza Dushku" shows up. "Nina Garcia De Castellanos" shows up. But not Sarah Palin. (And please, please do not ask me who these people are. I do not know.) So go figure.

WikiLeaks and Canada

As far as I can tell, no-one in the world is gossiping about us. At least not much.

So what! It doesn't mean they don't care about us (does it?). It certainly does not mean that we are not important. I am sure we are on their minds now and then.. I am sure of it. At least I think we are. Aren't we?

Oh, wait! There is something. Secret cables will suggest that people think we have an inferiority complex! Ha! I told you. WE are IMPORTANT! (aren't we?)

And so what if we have an "Alice in Wonderland" view of the world! I love Alice in Wonderland. And I am sure most Canadians far prefer the Mad Hatters tea party to the Americans' current tea party.

So get out there Canadians and paint the roses red. Well not now of course. Its winter. But when Spring comes to Edmonton in mid-June, I will be out there with my paint can.

Alberta's "cookie monster"

The Province of Alberta is now experiencing a raging controversy over our health care system. In particular, Albertans are up in arms over the situation facing patients in Alberta hospitals emergency wards. Stories of patients dying in Alberta hospital emergency rooms have made front page news, across Canada. The situation has become very embarrassing for the provincial Conservative government, especially because
one of its own members, a doctor himself, and parliamentary assistant to the health minister, has been highly critical and public about the situation. He got booted from the caucus as the price to be paid for his conduct.

A particularly interesting aspect to the story concerns Mr. Stephen Duckett, who is the CEO of Alberta Health Services, the top bureaucrat who oversees the health care system in Alberta. When he was approached by news reporters about the emergency room crisis, Mr. Duckett was eating a cookie. Rather than responding to reporters' questions about the situation, he quite pointedly told them that he was too busy eating his cookie. He in fact waved the cookie in their faces to emphasis his point. A U-Tube spoof video on the cookie incident has become a must watch.

Now in truth the emergency room crisis in Alberta seems from all reports to be very
serious. Whether Mr. Duckett answers reporters' questions or chooses to continue to munch on his cookie is not the problem which needs to be dealt with. Nevertheless it is interesting to watch how this cookie eating episode has enraged Albertans, more so than the stories of people dying while waiting for treatment. It's as if the incident was just the triggering event; the event that took the cork out of the bottle and let all of the public's anger about government and bureaucracy come out. It's one thing for Martha or Henry Albertan to try to get their heads around a situation as complicated as fixing Alberta's health care system. But the public knows when its concerns are being blown off and dismissed.

Mr. Duckett has apologized. This I do not think will be enough to calm angry Albertans. Whether it will be the catalyst for our own little tea party, remains to be seen.

First they came for FOX

FOX NEWS has been the bane of liberals at MSNBC and other bastions of the extreme left for a long time. You will recall the White House war against FOX which I commented upon in earlier posts. The attempt to isolate FOX failed miserably, and only helped shoot its ratings through the roof. Apparently FOX had 7,000,000 viewers for its election night analysis, topping even the main stream media (NBC,ABC,CBS) by millions. There also have been attempts by other groups to organize boycotts of FOX NEWS. None of this has worked.

All of these efforts to marginalize FOX were welcomed by MSNBC and others. I like to switch between US news channels to see what is being said about the world (i.e. the United States); so I routinely switch between CNN, MSNBC, and FOX. CNN is the most balanced and has been trying hard to move its coverage more to the center away from its traditional left leaning biases. Anderson Cooper and John King are especially good. MSNBC and FOX are totally predictable. Tune into MSNBC at any time of night and you will see a rant against the Republicans, with zero effort at balance. Tune into FOX and you will see a similar thing from the right, but with some occasional effort at presenting an opposite viewpoint ( e.g. Juan Williams and Alan Colmes).
MSNBC spends a lot of its airtime attacking FOX.

So it must have come as a great shock to those at MSNBC to hear Democrat Jay Rockefeller tell a Senate Committee that cable news has been "dumbing down America" and that he would like to see the FCC to tell FOX and MSNBC, "Out, off,end, goodbye". That is, get them both off the air. (They do that in other countries after all).

Maybe those at MSNBC and the left who want to marginalize and ultimately silence FOX will now wake up and smell the coffee. For as the old saying goes: "First they came for FOX".

A fractured party

Nancy Pelosi was today re-elected by her Democratic colleagues as their leader in the House: 150-43.

Her re-election was opposed by about 30% of her colleagues, who voted for the other candidate. 68 of her colleagues wanted to delay today's vote. Nevertheless, Pelosi pressed ahead.

This split does not bode well for the Democrats.

You can't teach old dogs new tricks

Although the Republicans were branded as the "party of no" by the Dems, many of President Obama's problems in his first two years came from resistance to change from within his own party.

The current "ear mark" issue illustrates that not much has changed, despite the drubbing that the Democrats took in the mid-terms. You will recall that candidate Obama was for change, including ending ear-marks. This was not done in his first budget. There were ear-marks galore. Now there is a proposal by the Republican caucus to ban ear-marks. And guess who is firmly opposed? Good old Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader in the Senate. According to Senator Reid, he has "an obligation to the people of Nevada... not to some bureaucrat with green eyeshades".

Good luck, Mr. President. With old hands like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi leading your party back to the future, 2012 should be very interesting.

Latest spin on election results

One of the more interesting spins on the mid-term election results is that this was not a vote for the Republicans, but a vote against the Democrats. This seems to be supported by polling which shows that although voters were rejecting the Democratic candidates, they were not accepting the Republicans' policies.

This spin reminds me of the cute "Ally bank" commercials with the kids. In one of them, the mean man offers ice cream to one of two kids but not to the other, even though "new" kids are supposed to get free ice cream. When the kid who is left out complains that he is also "new", the mean guy says: "yeah, but he is newer".

So, yes, the Republicans were rejected; but the Dems were "more" rejected. And in a two party system, that makes the Republicans the winners. They get the ice cream.

(Of course the Republicans spun the 2008 general election in the same way. The population was not voting for Obama's policies, but were rejecting George Bush's.)

All Quiet On the Southern Front

I have been spending a few days down in Arizona, which is quickly becoming Canada's 11th province. It soon should have more Canadians than P.E.I. Things pretty quiet here - post-election let down, I guess. Economy seems truly to be in the doldrums, and you can see it everywhere. I just read for example in my homeowner's newsletter that the massive hotel complex/resort and adjacent golf course up the hill from our little place is on the auction block, its owner toying with bankruptcy. My little Newsletter also informs me that there is an approximately 20% delinquency rate in the payment of home owners association fees. This usually means higher fees for those who are still paying with fewer services. Which leads to more delinquencies, which leads to higher fees, which leads to more delinquencies.. you get the picture.

But it is beautiful here. Sunny, warm, bright, and relaxing.. a weekend break from home and work which is great.

On the political front, I am fascinated by Nancy Pelosi's stubborn refusal to give up her House leadership post. Her party took a drubbing in her House of Representatives. She is a polarizing figure. There are many in her own party who want her to step aside. She is feeding into the narrative that Washington will simply not change. So why does she stay on? Ego. She thinks she is the "best" person to lead her party into 2012, and preserve the achievements of the last two years. Why she thinks this is beyond me. And the fact that she holds on at the clear expense of her party's interest and probably that of the President as well, explains politicians and their disconnect with reality. Confident, isn't she?

Oh well. I am going to do some pruning.

A "talking head" takes a hit

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann is the latest casualty in the purge of talking heads, pundits, and press people guilty of crossing a moving line of inappropriate behaviour. In this case, Olbermann was in violation of NBC's policy which requires staff to seek permission from the NBC mucky-mucks before they can make donations to political candidates. Olbermann made three donations to Democratic candidates without seeking prior approval. Olbermann was immediately suspended without pay from hosting his show "Countdown".

Let me be up-front on this. I intensely dislike Keith Olbermann. I find him to be exceptionally insulting, smarmy and sarcastic, even for the world of "extreme talking heads" which he inhabits, where these attributes are generally highly valued. His over the top rant against Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown for example was beyond the pale. For those of you who did not follow this, Olbermann described Scott Brown as an "irresponsible,homophobic,racist, reactionary,ex-nude model, tea bagging supporter of violence against women and against politicians with whom he disagrees". The attack was so out of line and unfair that it provoked a fellow MSNBC commentator, Joe Scarborough, to call Olbermann out on it, characterizing his comments as "rhetorical extremism", which must be discouraged. The incident led NOT to Olbermann's discipline or suspension, but to NBC's President calling Joe Scarborough's public criticism of Keith Olbermann as "unprofessional behaviour" which will "not be tolerated". Can you believe that? It was Joe Scarborough, not Keith Olbermann who almost got suspended back then.

NBC's policy of not allowing their pundits and talking heads to donate to political campaigns because it might create a conflict of interest in their on air presentations is ridiculous. Anyone who watches MSNBC or FOX realizes that all of their talking head shows (as opposed to news broadcasts by real reporters) whether the ones hosted by Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, or Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, or those hosted by O'Reilly, Hannity, or Beck on FOX are nothing more than free infomercials for their respective political sides. Olbermann's $2500.00 donations to three candidates is nothing compared to the free air time and promotion he gives to the Democratic candidates and their positions every night for one hour on MSNBC to a million viewers. The same can be said for FOX although in FOX's case there are a heck of lot more viewers making their infomercials a lot more valuable. The $2500 donation is a drop in the bucket, the policy is ludicrously hypocritical, and Olbermann should be and probably will be re-instated.

FOLLOW-UP:

Olbermann will be back Tuesday.

FOLLOW-UP:

What happened to the NBC policy of no public criticism of the NBC family? See Olbermann's most recent statement.

Some post-election musings

Nothing profound to say, but I guess I should have "a post-election musings" post to go with my pre-election one. (Thanks Scott for your musings, posted as a comment to my last post. As usual pithy and to the point.)

I found the evening interesting enough. Outcome overall was predicted accurately by polls. So no big surprises. That took away from the drama.

I was interested in the television coverage. Shifted from CNN to MSNBC to Fox. Found Fox coverage to be dull and unimaginative, so I didn't spend much time there. MSNBC "coverage" was interesting. Was not so much analysis and news; more like a rant with lots of sarcasm and rolling of eyes. Found it somewhat entertaining, so went there a lot. CNN had the best coverage for information and analysis. Lots of different points of views, and CNN tried to take a serious look at what was happening. In addition, all the moving maps, magic walls, and colours gave it a nice circus like atmosphere. A little too much yelling weakened the show. Do they really need 10 people yakking at the same time?

I think some lessons were learned by all sides. The tea party/Republicans discovered that weak candidates (e.g. O'Donnell and Angle) will lose even in an historic sweep election. This will be important for next time around. Should improve their choices of candidates. The Democrats have learned the obvious - that unless the economy i.e. jobs, housing, improves a lot in the next two years, the President will likely be a one term President. The public is simply not buying the "it would have been much worse had we not done what we did" message. Can the economy improve enough in two years to change the anti-Administration sentiment? No idea. The Republicans have learned that they can win in 2012. This should bring out some people who might otherwise have sat the next one out. As for Bill and Hillary, something tells me that there was schadenfreude
in yesterday's outcome. Bill cannot be accused of sitting on his hands and as for Hillary, I wouldn't count her out for 2012.

I warned you.. nothing profound or original.

Some pre-election musings

Listening to the spin-meisters pre-election rationalizations on what they think will happen on Tuesday, i.e. massive Republican gains in the House and some gains in the Senate as well, is entertaining. Some Democrats have been able to convince themselves that losing is actually winning. The reasoning behind this is that this will give the President a better chance for re-election in 2012 because he will again be able to blame the Republicans for the country's woes. This argument has some force; as we saw from the 2008 Presidential election, and what we are seeing again, is that it is easier to run against something than to run for something. The "strategy" of losing the mid-terms may work. It is apparent from recent polls that the President needs to do something to improve his re-election chances.

Another common theme from pundits, especially those on the left, is that the reason that the Republicans will likely make huge gains is that the "messaging" from the Obama administration has been poor, not that his policies have been. According to this line of argument, those who have turned away from the Democrats have done so because they don't understand the tremendous things the President and Congress have done for them in the last 18 months. Here I am not referring to Republicans who would not have supported the Administration no matter what it accomplished, but honest to goodness independents, young people and others who have no ideological bone to pick. The argument that they have failed simply to understand the situation is not very kind to them, aside from being a pretty bad messaging strategy.

I also have been thinking about Arlen Specter the past few days. He as you will recall was a Republican senator for decades. He decided to quit the Republicans and become a Democrat. Saw no future for himself as a Republican. He then lost the primary to run as a Democrat in Pennsylvania. And guess what? The Republican candidate has a very good chance of winning that seat. Reminds me of all the times I switched from one queue to another while waiting at customs or security, only to find out that the line I switched to was really slow. Oh well. Bad guess.

Follow-up on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

Further to my posting on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed today to continue the stay requested by the Obama administration. The policy thus continues in effect.

American Energy

I wish we Canadians could import some American energy. I do not mean oil, gas ,or coal. I am referring to the "people energy" that electrifies that country on a regular basis.

It is the week-end before the November mid-term elections and the folks down there are engaged. Rallies are taking place all over the country, whether it is the "Rally to Restore Sanity" organized by America's "most influential" man, Jon Stewart and his comic pal Stephen Colbert, or the Tea Party Express RV Tours (which some - not me - might call Rallies to Create Insanity). The media are all over these happenings, and the blogs are bursting with stuff.

Yes, Canada is a great place to live (aside from the horrible weather), and I do not plan to leave, even if the Americans would let me in. The USA, as they say, is a great place to visit, but would you really want to live there? So I am staying put, and will survive the monotony of on-going political dead-lock and periodic visits from the Royals. But that does not mean I cannot enjoy the southern excitement and pretend I am part of it all. So while many of you might be sitting on the edges of your seats waiting for the Grey Cup (in Edmonton, in November, outdoors!), or for the arrival of the Great Pumpkin, I cannot wait until Tuesday, November 2. I will be glued to the television set.

President Obama and The Daily Show

I just watched President Obama on the Daily Show. Not a bad half hour. Not exactly riveting, a bit boring at times, but interesting nevertheless.

A few preliminary observations. I thought Jon Stewart did a very good job in asking some tough questions and not letting the President off the hook too easily. This is no mean feat. Obama is the President of the United States after all, and the audience was clearly with him - no shoe throwers out there. Stewart, without being rude, was able to get across his disappointment with the President's performance to date. This put the President on the defensive and I doubt that his responses, frequently a bit long winded, changed any minds out there about this common concern. Stewart joked quite a bit about the overblown campaign rhetoric - "we are the ones we have been waiting for" type of thing. He made his point quite effectively. Part of Obama's problem now is the incredibly unrealistic expectations which the Obama campaign itself created about his transformative Presidency.

Stewart let a couple of obvious points go. President Obama blamed a lot of his troubles on the so-called 60 vote "requirement" to get things through in the Senate. Stewart could have noted that Obama had his 60 votes until Scott Brown's victory in January 2010. The trouble with getting his agenda through was at least up until then, with his own party, not with the Republicans. As well the refrain often heard from the Obama administration is that these have been the two toughest years since the Great Depression. This historical narrative skips over World War II, the Vietnam war, and a few other weighty problems which Presidents have faced. But I do not fault Stewart. He was not there to debate the President, and I think he did a good job in "keeping the President honest" while still giving the President his chance to speak.

As for the President, I also give him credit. He was a good sport to go on the show, and as usual exhibited his intelligence. Although defensive, he got his points across.

Good television; but certainly not a game changer for next week.

A Tale of Two Cities

Although Canadian political stories frankly seem rather boring to me compared to what is going on with our neighbour to the south, occasionally a Canadian political happening catches my eye. That happened this past week when cowtown elected Naheed Nenshi as its new mayor, while Torontonians were busy electing Rob Ford as their new guy. Now I know very little of either man aside from what I have been reading about them in the past few days. In fact, before this week I had never even heard of either of them. But this seems to be newsworthy. And when was the last time one could say that about a Canadian municipal election?

Nenshi is reportedly "young, funny, educated, a visible minority" and apparently the first Muslim mayor of a major Canadian city. The "Muslim" part is apparently no big deal to Calgarians. I think this is typical of Western Canadian attitudes to diversity and multiculturalism. As I have noted before in a letter which I wrote years ago to the Edmonton Journal, since moving to Edmonton in 1973, my family and I have experienced nothing but an open and tolerant society in Alberta, one which welcomes diversity. Unlike my experience with anti-Semitism as I was growing up in Montreal, my children never faced any anti-Semitic taunts while attending public schools in Edmonton. Being Jewish, Muslim, gay, a woman, or whatever, has not stopped anybody in Alberta from rising to the top. All one has to do is look at Alberta's highest court judges, Presidents of universities, mayors of cities, Lieutenant-Governors of the Province, to see that being a member of a minority group has not been a disadvantage.

What might be more surprising in the election of Nenshi as mayor of Calgary is not that he is a Muslim, but that he apparently is a liberal thinker, a university professor, a person interested in assisting non-profit companies and so on, - not your typical stereotype of the super conservative, corporate obsessed, wild west, gun toting, Calgarian.

While Calgary was electing Mayor Nenshi, Torontonians were electing Mayor Rob Ford. Now again I do not know much about the man, other than what I have been able to glean about him from recent newspaper reports. He seems to be fiscally very conservative, frequently irreverent, and certainly controversial. His election has the good people of Toronto buzzing.

So there it is. An interesting Canadian political story. Now back to the U.S. mid-terms next week.

Rights Delayed Are Rights Denied

On September 9, 2010, a judge of the Federal District Court ruled that the U.S. military's "don't ask don't tell" policy was unconstitutional. In her decision, Judge Virginia Phillips noted that the policy infringed "the fundamental rights of United States service members in many ways." It violated their guarantee of due process, and their free speech rights. [See: "Judge Rules That Military Policy Violates Rights of Gays, New York Times, September 9, 2010]

The judge's decision was followed by her ruling in October that the U.S. military must stop enforcing the "don't ask don't tell" policy. The judge ruled that this order was the only way "to prevent the continued violation of their (gay service members') rights". [See: "Judge orders don't ask don't tell injunction" Associated Press, October 12 2010]

Despite the opinion of some US legal experts that the Obama administration need not and might not appeal the order, the Obama administration did appeal. On October 20, a Federal Court of Appeal panel granted the Administration's request and stayed the order pending a full appeal of Judge Phillips' decision. Thus the unconstitutional discriminatory policy went back into effect. [See: "Appeal Court delays injunction against "don't ask don't tell" CNN US Oct. 21 2010]

President Obama promised in his campaign to end the "don't ask don't tell" policy. Despite progress towards achieving that result (recall it has been over 21 months since Obama went into office), the policy still is in effect. Obama is still in favour of ending the policy and has promised that it will be done "on his watch". This of course will happen. There is wide agreement that the policy should end, and after Judge Phillips' decision I would assume that there will be even fewer out there who will continue to defend it. There are of course reasons given for the Obama's administration's opposition to Judge Phillips' order, including respect for the roles of the judiciary and Congress, the need for an "orderly" end to the policy, and the need for the Department of Defense to finish its review of the policy.

It must be upsetting to many, as it is to me, that ending a policy which has been declared to be a breach of fundamental constitutional rights, which discriminates against gays, which few Americans support, and which will ultimately end anyway, will continue to be held up for the reasons given. Every day of delay means another day that the fundamental constitutional rights of gay service members will be denied.

Freedom of speech is great, unless you choose to exercise it.

Freedom of speech is a great right. But be careful before you exercise it.

Juan Williams is the latest journalist/commentator to learn that harsh lesson. National Public Radio fired Juan for a comment he made on Fox to Bill O'Reilly. Juan stated that he gets "nervous" or "worried" when he gets on a plane and sees another passenger in Muslim garb. That was it. Goodbye Juan. After ten years on National Public Radio, Juan Williams is fired within a couple of days of making his comment.

Juan is only the latest casualty to suffer the loss of a job for something he or she said. A few weeks ago Rick Sanchez of CNN got fired for calling Jon Stewart a bigot and suggesting that people like Jon, i.e. Jewish people, control the media. Sanchez, who apparently had been a target of Stewart's The Daily Show made the comments in a lively interview on talk radio.

Then there was Helen Thomas. Helen got fired by Hearst News for telling a reporter in a sort of impromptu sidewalk interview that Jews should go back to countries from where they came, including Eastern European countries, where millions had been killed in the Holocaust.

And before Helen Thomas there was employee Shirley Sherrod. She got summarily fired from the Department of Agriculture for comments she had made earlier which some thought were racist (against whites). When the true meaning of her statements were made clear, Shirley was offered her job back.

No-one has a "right" to keep their jobs and subject to actions for wrongful dismissal or human rights violations, employers should be able to fire who they want. But should all of the above have been fired for what they said?

Let me start with the easiest case first - Shirley Sherrod. I think everyone agrees that her firing by the Obama administration was rash, precipitous and uncalled for. No-one defended it - neither on the left nor the right.

The other cases are less clear. Helen Thomas' comments were hateful and ignorant, and I for one was happy to see her go. Had she been kept on at Hearst, I think she would have been very ineffective as a White House press correspondent, with no credibility. She would not have done her employer any good. At the age of 90, she was probably well past her "best before" date anyway and there were few if any defenders as far I am aware.

Rick Sanchez's comments were flippant and ill considered, but probably not fireable speech. After all, Jon Stewart makes his living by insulting others and in my view is fair game. Sanchez's comments about Jews controlling the media, which were sort of obscure, were stupid because Jews don't control the media. And what is wrong with controlling the media anyway, even if we did?

Juan Williams' firing was inexcusable. He is a well regarded civil rights advocate, has made it crystal clear on Fox News that he is totally opposed to racial profiling and scapegoating, and no-one, I mean no-one, can doubt his bona fides. That he feels "nervous" or "worried" when he is on a plane with someone in "Muslim garb" seems very weird to me, but hey, if that's how he feels, that's how he feels. One cannot isolate however that one sentence from Juan Williams' clear beliefs in civil rights and equality which he frequently espouses. If he was a bigot, he would not have lasted on politically correct NPR for ten years.

NPR made a huge mistake. It is time for fellow journalists on NPR and on other networks to stand up for Juan. It would be great if other NPR reporters refused to work for NPR until Juan Williams is offered his job back. I hope that happens, but doubt that it will.

THE TROUBLE WITH SMART PEOPLE

Left wing pundits and politicians frustrated with the continued inability and stubborn refusal of the American voter to understand and appreciate the accomplishments of President Obama and the Democratically controlled Congress, have turned to insult. This is apparently their last last ditch effort to get their message across before the November 2 mid-term elections.

Maureen Dowd in her recent op-ed piece in the New York Times "Making Ignorance Chic" whined that "Sarah Palin has made ignorance fashionable". Joe Klein in his Times op-ed was even more forthright. In his piece entitled "Ignorance As Authenticity" Klein writes that "there is something profoundly diseased about a society that idolizes its ignoramuses and disdains its experts". Even President Obama, in a much more moderate and temperate manner, blames his administration's failure to get through to the folks, on his politics, not his policies. In other words, the Administration has failed to dumb it down enough.

The American voter can perhaps be excused for disdaining its experts. After all experts have taken America into two wars, one of which is increasingly becoming out of control, a gzillion dollar debt and deficit, high unemployment, and a massive housing crisis. So why not try something new and completely different? How much worse can it get? At least that's what the unwashed masses must be thinking and with just cause.

In a recent speech to University of Alberta law students, Justice Thomas Cromwell of the Supreme Court of Canada told his audience that a lawyer's most important attribute is good judgment. Perhaps the same applies to politicians. Good judgment is what the American people are looking for in their politicians. It matters little to them whether their candidates can wax on about their favourite Supreme Court judgments, name the current leaders of other countries, or can draw a map of the world. That's the stuff for professors and advisers. If successful, the politicians will be able to afford to hire all the experts they need to educate them. They can learn all that important stuff from them once in office.

One might in fact argue that the problem with smart people is that they think they do not need to listen to or take the advice of others. Why should they? They know soooo much. I for one would rather be led by a person who knows what they did not know, than one who knows everything.

Joe Klein and Maureen Dowd provide excellent illustrations of my point about good judgment. Do they really think that being obnoxious is going to help their cause? Are the dummies out there going to be enlightened by the insults and change their minds about which politicians to support? Of course not. Anyone with good judgment will realize that this will only energize these folks and broaden the base. President Obama learned that lesson in the Pennsylvania primary against Clinton. I am sure he is none too pleased with the type of support he and his party are getting from the likes of Joe Klein and Maureen Dowd. As they say "with friends like these, who needs enemies".

WELCOME TO SIKKIM

IRENE'S FINAL E-MAIL FROM INDIA:

Afghanistan and Sikkim were two countries that I dreamed of visiting since
childhood. Afghanistan because of the book "Caravans" by A.J. Cronin (if I
remember correctly) and Sikkim because of the National Geographic coverage
when the monarch married an American, Hope Cook, around the same time that
Grace Kelly was married to Prince Rainer of Monaco.

It looks doubtful that I will ever make it to Afghanistan but Sikkim
remained possible. Sikkim ceased to be an independent nation and became part
of India in 1975. Sikkim is tucked into the northeast corner of India, in
the Himalayas, wedged between Tibet and Bhutan. On the map, it does not seem
that far from Calcutta.

Lewis and I had enough of car and plane travel for awhile. Our bodies were
still shaking for a long time after the 9 days on the roads of Orissa and
our wallet was a bit drained by the flight from Bhubaneswar to Calcutta. It
seemed that it was the perfect time to travel by train.

Our friend (and travel agent in Orissa) booked us 2 tickets on the
Kanchanjunga Express from Calcutta to Shiliguri... eight hours 2nd class *air
conditioned*. From Shiliguri we would need a car or Jeep. This sounded
a lot better than the train we took on our last
trip: Deradhun to Varanasi...22 hours, 2nd class non a/c!

The only downside to the train that I saw was that it departed Sealdah
Station, Calcutta at 6:35 AM. Even the driver who was going to take us said
that he didn't mind if we took a taxi instead. We packed our bags after
dinner, instructed the hotel staff to wake us at 5 and pretended to get a
few hours of sleep.

It was all remarkably easy. Sealdah Station was bustling even at 6 AM but
the electonic board displayed the Kachanjunga EXPRESS' departure at 6:35 AM
from platform 9A. We sat on the floor with the other travellers and waited
for the train to come. There is one thing that you can count on in India and
that is the railway system! The train arrived on time. There were crowds
jostling forwards and backwards but gradually a line seemed to form in front
of the 2nd class carriages non-airconditioned. Lewis and I pressed on
down the track looking for the telltale sign of a/c compartments - the
sealed
windows.

Sure enough, about 10 cars down, we saw a sealed window unit...and a
computer printout sheet listing passenger names and seat assignments. There
we were Klar, L and Klar, I in seats 35 and 36. How efficient is that! The
car began to fill up. There was a lot of movement on the platform of goods
being hauled, people bustling, hawkers selling foodstuffs but soon I felt
the train start up. I looked down at my watch: 6:35 AM.

There were lots of surprises on this train ride, some good, some not so. On
the good side were the sheets, blanket and towel provided to each passenger.
Lots of people toiled the aisle selling cookies, candies, chai, coffee so we
were not neglected and had entertainment to boot. The toilet stall
actually had a toilet seat, no toilet paper however.

The not so good part was that the train was scheduled to
arrive in Shiliguri at 6:15 PM making it almost 12 hours to travel 600 kms.
It meant too that we would arrive in the dark and have to decide whether to
go on the mountain roads at dusk.

Our neighbours on the train all said that it was best to find a hotel for
the night because there were no Jeeps at the train station and we would lose
time going to the right station.They had all sorts of worries, concerns and
lots of misinformation.

When the train finally arrived (on the dot) we were swarmed by touts
offering cars to
Darjeeling or Gangtok (Sikkim) . Within minutes we were installed in a Toyota
Qualis (similar to a small land cruiser) of questionable vintage. Our driver
was about 30, lean, and unusually silent. The drive was to take 4-5 hours
and according to the travel agent in Orissa, the roads were good (obviously
he has not made the trip).

The road was fine for about 45 minutes but then we began to gain altitude
and the road became steep and sinuous with tight hairpin turns and dropoffs
heading into darkness.

The growing nightfall made it hard to see the countryside but it was heavily
forested at times. The occasional roadside stall lit up with an electric
bulb but nothing in the way of towns to speak of.

Then after about 2.5 hours, the driver pulled over in front of a row of
stalls and said: Break. Want tea? It was more a statement than a question.
We got out and went into a small "restaurant'" , the term is used quite
loosely. We had been up since 5 AM and had only eaten a bit of leftover rice
from dinner the night before as well as some cookies I had stashed in my
bag. Who knew what would be open when we reached Gangtok. So we pulled out 2
red plastic lawn chairs and sat at the arborite table, swept away some of
the flies and ordered vegetable momos (Tibetan dumplings) and black tea.
Maybe it was the lack of sleep or lack of food but they remain among the
best momos we have had so far!

Back into the car we scrambled and back to the crumbling, twisting roads.
Many parts had rock piles occupying 1/2 the area, a sign of future
improvements. During the daylight hours, men would be using a sledgehammers
to break up the rocks. Women would load the gravel and sand onto baskets on
their head and saunter down the steep hillside to fill the potholes. At
night , the rocks were just another obstacle on the road.

The benefit of night travel on these roads is that the headlights illuminate
beyond the tight curves giving oncoming traffic a hint of what is to come.
Our driver was slow, steady and cautious. We were far from the fastest
vehicle on the road and I was quite grateful for that.

At 9:30 PM we saw the sign "Welcome to Sikkim" at one end of a small
bridge. At the other end was a levered barrier. We stopped at the gate
and handed our passports to the driver who handed them to the border
guard. He looked at them and barked :"permits!!". We pointed to our
Indian visas. "permits for Sikkim?!" Although the guidebooks mentioned
permits obtainable at the border as well as a variety of tourism
offices, we had been informed that they were no longer necessary.
..apparently we were wrong.

We asked to buy them at the border. I think that the guard had been
waiting his whole career to give us his reply because he seemed to
shout it with glee:"Shiliguri. Back to Shiliguri. Office closed.
Office open 8 AM!" He repeated Shiliguri with the staccato of a
machine gun.

What were we to do? We drove the 40 minutes back to the momo
restaurant. The row of houses and foodstalls were shut tight in the
darkness. We did the only sensible thing: the driver slept in the
front seat, Lewis in the middle, and I slept with the luggage in the
back!

We were awake early and got to the West Bengal/Sikkim border by 7 AM.
Our driver spoke to the border guard who suggested we go and have
breakfast at the Sikkim hotel right next to the border office. We did
just that. The restaurant manager went and arranged our permit for
Sikkim. We went back to the border guard with our passports and
permits at 8 AM and he called over the permit official --- the same
fellow who had wanted to send us back to Shiliguri.

He noted the permit numbers in a book and said something about last
night. I said we slept in the car...but why couldn't he have let us
stay in the hotel?? He replied: Office close 8 PM. Welcome to Sikkim.

The marriage didn't last. - the king and Hope Cook.

A HOTEL IN CALCUTTA

IRENE'S FOURTH MESSAGE FROM INDIA:

Yet another report from India:
With memories of "City of Joy" by Dominique Lapierre in mind, we expected to NOT like Calcutta and were steeling ourselves to its onslaught. On the cab ride into town we commented to each other about how we seemed to like the city already! That was a surprise. The city seemed more intimate and manageable than either Delhi or Mumbai. In speaking to Indians about their cities, a number of them referred to Calcutta as a "city with soul" and a "laid back atmosphere".

Yes, there are still slum areas in Calcutta but we did not see the miles of shacks that line the airport around Mumbai. Apparently in the 1970's as East Pakistan was fighting to become Bangladesh, more than 4,000,000 refugees fled to Calcutta and completely inundated the city's infrastructure. There is still much poverty here and yes, there are people sleeping on the sidewalks, but many of the shantytowns and slum areas have been cleaned up.

Traffic is less of a nightmare as bus lanes and taxi zones are being created. Somehow, the city is more approachable than some of the other chaotic places we have been to.

The Fairlawn Hotel:
We tried repeatedly to book a room at the classic and inexpensive historied Fairlawn Hotel and our efforts paid off. We had read that it was a quirky place to stay and were looking forward to the experience. We did not know what to expect as our cab rounded the corner of the white classic India Museum and turned up Sudder St. The sidestreet was lined with a mix of storefronts and 2-3 storied buildings that left little space for sidewalk. There was a green iron gate in a wall. The driver honked and someone opened the gate. The cab turned sharply in to a little courtyard. At the back was an area obscured by high shrubs and what appeared to be a 2 story victorian house with an open veranda and entry. The Fairlawn Hotel has been owned by Violet Smith's family since 1936 - and I do not think there has been a thorough housecleaning or garage sale since!

We presented our passports and signed the usual registration while trying to read framed histories of the building! Our double room with a/c was 2800 rupees (app.$67.00) including breakfast and high tea. We followed the bellboy up the carpeted stairs past hundreds of framed bits of memorablia that lined the walls - photographs of notables, framed letters from Dominique Lapierre, posters of "City of Joy". photos of film stars and actors, family photos of Violet Smith, her parents, her children and grandchildren, framed articles from newspapers around the world about the hotel...one could spend hours just getting upstairs!

The upstairs contained several guestrooms, each door hidden behind a floral curtain, as well as a large salon with Victorian settees, armchairs, and coffee tables and a canopied square veranda which overlooked the "garden" (now a beer garden!). Off the salon was a walkway which led to a 2 story row of guestrooms behind the main house. The walls of the public areas were also crammed with framed memorabilia as well as glass-fronted cabinets containing everything from boxes of souvenir silver spoons to oriental tourist tchatchies and children's school projects!

Our room was large with a sitting area as well as a desk and armoire. Over the bed hung a portrait of a turbanned maharaja with an imposing mustache. There would be no tomfoolery under his watch! Even though the linoleum on the floor was peeling in several places, the room was spotless. There was a glass bookshelf with a variety of books left by travellers of all nationalities. We left a large volume on Indian Tort law that Lewis had acquired in Hyderabad and been lugging around as well as the memoirs that an academic had gifted to Lewis and we borrowed a guidebook for a few days.

We enjoyed meeting Violet Smith. Approaching her 90th birthday, she still is downstairs at breakfast to greet her guests and go over the books with her staff. She is more than eager to relate the story of the Fairlawn...I think she enjoys the notoriety of her age and tells you lots of details whether you are interested or not. There were a few details which made us bond with the hotel.

The land was acquired in 1798 and the house was erected in 1803 by a British family and served as their home for a generation. Then the building was used a a court house, a "sadar" in Bengali. This became distorted into "sudder" and became the name of the street, Sudder St. As Calcutta grew, the neighbourhood became a Jewish enclave and the home passed through a succession of Jewish owners. 1915 saw a flood of Armenians flee Turkey and move to India including Violet Smith's parents and the area around Sudder St. absorbed them as well. Today Violet Smith is one of the last of the Armenians and Mr. Nahoum who owns Nahoum's bakery down the street is the last of the Jews.

Violet's mother began the hotel and built the annex at the back. During the second world war, the Fairlawn was used to house Canadian troops and was called Canada House for the duration. After the war, the hotel was restored to its intended use. It is one of those places where locals as well as tourists enjoy the atmosphere.

We met a number of other guests there including a judge from Texas, a woman from Brussels who had spent 2 years volunteering in Bengal at a handicapped children's centre and a Canadian woman from Stratford who was about to spend her week in Calcutta volunteering at Mother Teresa's hospital.

I will not be getting a commission from the hotel but would readily recommend it to anyone heading to Calcutta.

Best,
Irene

THE INDIANIZATION OF LEWIS

HERE IS IRENE'S THIRD INDIA E-MAIL POSTING:

There was no reason to be shocked when Lewis came down to the hotel lobby barefoot for tea yesterday. He was initially skeptical as to whether we should be returning to India on this trip rather than heading to a new destination altogether. With every new movie we saw that was set in India and every news report from India, he remembered more and more the things that did not appeal to him in India. The country does indeed show some of the worst, ugliest, most revolting aspects of mankind but it also has the most exquisite, appealing and beautiful.

India somehow manages to seduce you. It works its way into your soul and permeates your being. It has been interesting to watch as India transforms Lewis. I think that the first sign was the head wagging! When an Indian person is following a conversation, the head inclines slightly and with moderate speed from side to side (ear towards shoulder). I would be relating something to Lewis and suddenly realize that his head was wagging!!

More inscrutable is the swivel. Think of nodding "no" but only turn your head slowly and go just half way....then stop. Is that a "yes" or a "no" or an indication of disinterest? I am still not sure but Lewis seems to be adopting that habit too!

Then, when I would tell Lew a story , he would start saying "aachaa" (the Indian version of "uh-huh"). He says it even when we are talking with Indians. It is now a part of his lexicon. The latest is "tee-kay" (okay, fine) which is stated frequently.

Before we left on the trip, Lew vowed that this trip would be easier than the last one...that we would not make it so hard on ourselves. We would stay in more upscale places and have reservations made ahead of time. I did reserve a hotel in Delhi for our arrival but getting a room at the lovely Hotel Ganges View in Varanasi was impossible so I booked us in at the basic Sahi River View Guest House next door(1200R or about $27). We went to make dinner reservations at the Ganges View and were told that there had been a cancellation. A room was available for 3100R. "Why on earth should we change! We have checked in already and why pay 3 times the price! What more do we need?" was Lewis' reaction. I can understand that- why live excessively in a country where so many lack basic necessities. I had not thought of Lewis as the new Gandhi.

Our carry-on luggage is now straining at the zippers and is increasingly hard to "carry on". Lewis has begun to collect "dhokra". I do feel badly for our kids because this new collection of primitive handcast metal sculptures will occupy a large space in the garage sale they will have to hold to liquidate our estate.At the tribal markets in Orissa Lewis was in full form negotiating for the figurines.

And the food....!!!! Usually Lewis complains about the food in India. All of that heavily spiced and sauced food! But now he has rediscovered his love of Indian Chinese food (Chindian, I call it). It is a bit sweeter, saucier and without the heavy soy base of the Chinese food we usually have at home. Chindian, chindian, chindian. He eats heartily and feels great. He also now maintains that he will stay a vegetarian....well with chicken....and maybe shrimp....fish perhaps...eggs definitely. Am I am losing him to India?

On our last day with car, driver and guide in Orissa, we stopped at a roadside dhaba (eatery) for a lunch break. Lew and I weren't hungry so we waited at a little drink shack at the side of the highway (another story there) and sipped our Thumbs Up (coca cola equivalent). " Just a minute". said Lewis and he got up. I looked over and there he was standing next to a pile of garbage and debris , his back to the road and with that unmistakable posture of a male marking his territory.

I think the Indianization of Lewis is complete.

DELHI UNDERGROUND

IRENE'S SECOND POST FROM INDIA:

At present, we are in the NE state of Orissa and we are visiting
the tribal area. It is fascinating and very far removed from the email
I had prepared when I was last at an internet facility. Nevertheless,
I will proceed in order of the voyage. Just to keep you well informed
our itinerary is Delhi - Varanasi- Hyderabad- Bhubaneswar (Orissa)-
Calcutta - Gangtok (Sikkim) - Darjeeling - Delhi (perphaps a change or
two as we proceed. We are still relatively healthy!

Lewis was to meet with the vice chancellor (dean) of law at the National Law
Unversity, Delhi. We had imagined going to an old British colonial building
in the heart of Delhi perhaps with a leafy green courtyard. Instead we were
told that NLU Delhi is located in Dwarka - a remote suburb not far from the
airport.

Delhi above ground can be a very challenging experience. As our friend
Suhail told us," Delhi is not as organized as Mumbai. In Mumbai they do lane
driving". In Delhi, road traffic is a free for all. I often feel that the
vehicle I am riding is a ball in a multi-ball pinball game and someone else
is pulling the pin and tilting the surface. Cars clog every available
opening between the curbs creating ever changing flows of traffic. Gridlock
is not uncommon. Vehicles fight for supremacy and priority. Suhail's sage
advice to us: "Take the metro". Lewis had been told that the law school was
"just opposite the metro station" so we decided to try our luck.

If we were dubious about Delhi aboveground, what chaos would reign below? We
venture out of our tranquil Golf Links neighbourhood and flag a passing
rickshaw. A brief negociation of fare takes place and we speed off to
Paligiri Maidans Metro station.It is surrounded by lots of rickshaws, cars
and buses at the entrance. We passed through, put our knapsack on the Xray
belt, Lewis walks to the "gents'" scanner and I to the "ladies". I received
a very timid frisking from a bashful young woman in a khaki uniform who
averts her eyes.

We proceed to the wicket to purchase our tokens - fare is the equivalent of
50 cents. We follow the signs to the platform to await our train. The
station is spacious and CLEAN!!! An LED display announces the time of
the next train. A prim voice announces its arrival in Hindi and then repeats
it in English. Should we be expecting something more sinister? Where is
India?

The train is quiet and modern. There are maps above each door and stops
illuminate as we travel along the 45 stop length. Announcements in Hindi and
English rattle off the various stops and ask passenger : "Please do not sit
on car floors"..., "Remember to yield your seat to the physically
handicapped, the elderly and ladies"..."Kindly refrain from spitting in the
cars or in the station". It seems that every stop elicits a new request!

The metro ride to Dwarka 14 takes over 45 minutes. We are amazed at the
expanse of Delhi. The metro runs below ground in central Delhi but soon
climbs its way above most of the buildings and we are treated to quite a
view. Endless buildings are punctuated by occasional squares of green. Only
one unpleasant slum on the way to Dwarka. Innuumerable temples, huge white
gleaming stupas or red sandstone pyramidal temple entryways with gigantic
painted cement Shivas, Durgas, and Kalis. And just before Dwarka stop is an
area with sheds and yards housing dozens of water buffalo. We cannot figure
out if it is the Delhi Dairy or a stockyard.Suddenly the buildings, by some
unheard agreement, disappear - there is an expanse of open undeveloped land:
Dwarka 14.

We descend from the spanking clean, steel and glass metro station to a
dusty, treeless, featureless development zone. A few bicycle rickshaws are
in a line across the street, their drivers sleeping in the heat.We can see
several cement blocks of buildings rising in the distance , a mile or so
away. We rouse a driver and we perch awkwardly on the narrow board that
masquerades as a seat. We are grateful for the rickshaw's awning as the sun
is now very hot. Our driver rises on his pedals, leans heavily, and we begin
our progress to the newest law school in India...by bicycle.

Looking over my shoulder, I marvel at the constant contrast of India: the
most modern hand in hand with the old. Leaving a clean efficient metro with
computer driven trains that run on time to catch a dilapidated bicycle that
will bring us to the campus of the law university! And we could not have
made it to Lewis' appointment without either.

Irene

Mr. and Mrs. Magoo Do India 2

Hello Everyone:

I know it's been a long time. But the Pundit is back. Irene and I spent the last few months in India and Phoenix. While we were in India, Irene sent a series of e-mails to friends describing her experiences. They make for interesting reading. I thought that it would be a good, non-controversial, way to return to punditry by posting her India memoirs on the blog. So here it is: the first one. Hope you enjoy them, and if you do, pass it on.

The Sounds of Delhi:

I think of this trip as " Mr. and Mrs. Magoo Do India 2" . Our first trip, 4 years ago, despite everyone's warnings and dire predictions went so smoothly that we were perhaps deluded into thinking that travel in India was a piece of cake.

We have been here for over a week. Four days spent in Delhi and three in Varanasi and maybe we are indeed the Magoos but we find travel here to be easy to manage and ever fascinating.

Arriving at the modern Indira Gandhi airport was smooth...not even a line up at immigration. Having only carry-on luggage for the month meant we could immediate proceed to the "Prepaid Taxi" counter. We gave the address of our hotel and paid the required amount to the ticket seller. We brought our receipt to the first in line at the queue and our second trip to India was underway!

Our taxi was one of the typical Delhi fleet. The cars look like 1958 Vauxhalls or Holdens that have been bashed around, scavenged, and generally mistreated but manage to run on determination alone (not unlike much of the Indian populace).

After a few kilometers, the driver made a swift stop at a gas station. Drivers never seem to like investing too much money on fuel - obviously they are not confident that they will be able to find another paying customer among the 1.4 billion people here. In reality, they often rent their cars and rickshaws to use for a few hours in the hope of making a few rupees in that time. Obviously they do not want to leave too much fuel in the tank for the next renter.

We fueled up, asked directions to the Delhi neighbourhood a few times, and finally made it to the Ahuja Residency. The hotel is small - a converted house in a leafy residential and central neighbourhood, the Golf Links, near the Khan Market. It became our oasis in Delhi.

The area is completely gated and each block of the neighbourhood is built around its own small park.

On our first morning, I woke at 5:30 AM and listened to the sounds of our new world. It was as though a symphony was being created outside. First there was a distant staccato-a wavering musical teletype of a muezzin supported by a soft, far-off bass of a train. These sounds soon quieted and a swelling chorus of birdsong took over filling the airspace. Over a period of time the birdsong reached a crescendo and then lapsed as the sky gradually filled with colour and our day began.

Watching the birds from our rooftop terrace was a real pleasure in Delhi. We had forgotten the variety of species. There were green parrots thrusting into the air , squawking and flying in pairs from park to park; mynas hopping about; kite hawks soaring and crows and magpies gurgling from the branches, smaller birds warbled.

As we walked through the neighbourhood on our way to the market area, the cacaphony of traffic waited for us just beyond the gate. One step out and the honking of horns becomes relentless! Honks of cars, beeps of auto rickshaws, meeps of scooters, and bells of bicycles all colliding and assaulting eardrums. It seems as though the din will never diminish until at the end of the day, we again cross the threshold into our neighbourhood and the pastoral sounds take over.

With best wishes to you all from a world away,
Irene

I Have Been Golfing With Tiger

Some of you may be wondering where I have been. No posts for a while. I confess. I have been playing golf with Tiger on his yacht "Privacy". Hence no blogging. The yacht has a great course - bit long (7000 yards) - but then Tiger is a good driver (the golfing type). I played terribly. Kept hitting it into the water. Tiger and I made a pact. I would come out and blog again when he resumed golf. I broke the pact.

I am in Phoenix. We have had lots of guests over the holidays, and great weather, but now it's back to work. Reading tort cases on line. Who cares if it's sunny and in the 70's (sorry, in the 20's) outside. Nothing beats a good tort case, I say.

Lots have been going on of course that I could be commenting on. What's with the Conservatives, eh? I leave and they have a 15 point lead and three weeks later, all squared. I guess its that "proroguing" thing again. Worked last time for Harper. Pressed his luck I guess.

I get a lot of cable chatter here. Frankly, I am getting sick of it. The polarization in the media in the USA is over the top. Haiti of course is the big story. An unbelievable tragedy. Yet even that can be politicized. Nut bars like Rush Limbaugh come out with moronic theories about Obama being more concerned about Haiti than he was the underwear would be bomber because of race. Democrats praise Obama for his speedy response drawing negative analogies to Bush and Katrina. The cable networks boast about their complete 24/7 coverage of the tragedy running the same clips over and over. Health care debate seems to have taken a bit of a side line but it seems like it will happen. I guess the interesting race to watch is in Massachusetts Tuesday. If the Republican wins, that is big stuff. Might be bad for the health care bill.

Anyway, just wanted to say hello. Hello.