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Regular readers of Sparrow Chat will be aware of my views on America’s puerile obsession with firearms. Prior to the blog moving from Blogger, I wrote a number of articles highlighting the killing of children in American schools. The articles were entitled “Guns Save Lives”, that being the idiotic motto of the National Rifle Association, an organization intent on maintaining a deathgrip on the American government.

Today, news of yet another killing. This one at The Henry Foss High School in Tacoma, Washington. So far the facts are scanty, but the BBC reports the story HERE.

When will Americans grow up and accept responsibility for their own lives, and those of their children?

Filed under: Wasted lives

Am I the only one to find the pretentiousness and eulogy surrounding the death of Gerald Ford conspicuously false, and typical of everything issuing out of Washington these days? Listening to the speeches from aging – though as yet still breathing – ex-presidents, it rapidly became obvious the whole caboodle was just a dress rehearsal for the next one.

America has buried two ex-presidents since I came to live here. Reagan’s was tedious, and Ford’s simply a re-run of Reagan’s, though with different extras playing the minor parts.

The notion that Gerald Ford was a jolly decent fellow, super-glued the consensual flow of political eloquence flowing over the flag-draped coffin in Washington’s National Cathedral today. It says little for the others, if this is what sets him apart from the rest. The present incumbent, George W Bush, said,

“In President Ford, the world saw the best of America.”

At that moment, the world may not have needed to stray far to view the worst.

To the rest of the world, Gerald Ford was a fill-in. The shame heaped on America by his predecessor was best alleviated by a caretaker president who did and said little, just allowing the disease spread by Nixon to naturally heal. In that sense, he was without doubt a good president, at least so far as the rest of the world was concerned.

Tomorrow all the ceremonies will be over and Gerald Ford will finally be allowed to rest in peace. If he were listening to the words spouted about him today, he would probably have understood the falsehood and hypocrisy emanating from certain distinguished figures, queuing for their turn at the lectern. He may well have allowed himself a wry smile.

As Tom Brokaw so honestly stated:

“Gerald Ford brought to the political arena no demons, no hidden agenda, no hit-list or acts of vengeance.”

That fact, more than any other, set Gerald Ford apart from most of his eulogists today.

Filed under: Dead presidents

The usual trend among journalists and writers at his time of year is one of optimistic speculation. The old year has just ended; surely the new one offers hope of a brighter future, a new beginning, a fresh raison d’etre.

It would be hard to imagine, certainly on a global level, that things could get any worse, so perhaps cautious optimism is not so unrealistic. On the other hand, there is little to suggest much will improve over the next twelve months. Conjecture falls short of certainty, but some speculative bets might tempt even the most prudent gambler. For example, the thousand-to-one odds offered by some bookmakers that George W Bush’s much awaited “New Plan” for winning the war in Iraq will fetch Americans and Iraqis out onto the streets cheering. I have failed to uncover even one writer sufficiently optimistic to suggest he may possibly have the answer – and at the right moment will produce it with a flourish, like a white rabbit from up some sleazy magician’s sleeve.

Then, there’s the vexed question of global warming. To date, the only admission from the White House that the planet is heating up at an alarming rate has been a tentative agreement to render the polar bear an endangered species. Terrific for the polar bear, but what about us? Has it still not sunk into our president’s thick Texas skull that polar bears may not be the only species endangered by global warming? Obviously not, though following a recent hasty retreat from his ranch due to a very unseasonal tornado threat, he was observed to gaze skywards with a far-away look that might possibly have hinted at a passing………thought?

Perhaps there is yet a ray of hope for the world in 2007.

Filed under: Optimistic pessimism