The United States is in the middle of a historic avalanche of change while navigating an unprecedented landscape of political and ideological conflict. The acrimony and impact on individual moods grow daily. I have become resigned to pundits shouting at each other, uncivil discourse and a governance process that has brought our most important institutions into gridlock. You and I are daily witnesses the ugliest and most disgusting expressions of our body politic.
The ‘bottom line’ I hear
Today is President’s Day and the pundits are engaged in a ranking of our nation’s presidents as if it were the ‘leader board’ in a PGA tournament. I think this illustrates our national compulsion with polls and pundits compiling endless opinions and assessments about almost everything. For better or for worse, our president is the person that can shape the direction and potentially the destiny of our nation and the world. It is a thankless and paradoxical job in many ways.
Almost everyone I know who has traveled to or lived in the developing world have stories about their experience being close to levels of poverty most of us cannot imagine. When asked how they dealt with it, most said they were only able to confront it by “disconnecting” — going into a kind of blind zone where they “tune out” the death and suffering. Indeed, how do most of us deal with statistics such as a more than a billion people live on less than $2.50 a day
No. This is not a discussion about his or anyone’s sexual orientation. This about living heterogeneous or homogeneous lives and whether there is any room in the political arena for generous listening and respect for someone else’s point of view. This is an inquiry into how we think about life and the world and the current state of our Uncivil society.
A couple of years ago I wrote a blog called “Free Speech: Who’s Listening” in which I pointed to the fact that
In Joel Chandler Harris’ Uncle Remus stories, Br’er Fox strikes out when his plan to catch Br’er Rabbit using the “Tar-Baby” backfires. Instead, the “clever” fox traps himself in what he’d created to the point of being totally stuck in a situation from which he cannot free himself, preventing any move that doesn’t worsen the situation. This seems to me an apt metaphor for what’s playing out in the Republican Primary race and America’s
A reminder to join Kathryn Mahoney, UNHCR public information officer
in Djibouti, tomorrow for a live Twitter Q&A session. Kathryn is
from New York and has been working in Djibouti assisting and protecting
refugees since May 2009. Send in your questions to her by email ([email protected]) in advance, or if
you use Twitters, send a tweet and add the ‘#askunhcr’ hashtag. In North
America, the event will run:
2 pm EST
1 pm CST
12 noon MST
11
am PST
Finding safe, healthy and green products is all the rage today. Considering a lot of our weekly spending goes to food, personal care and household products, it would be great to be able to learn more about what we really are investing in and get expert advice on what are the best buys from a green perspective. We came across a website worth using called GoodGuide. On it, you can search for over 70,000 products, create your own "Favorites"
The C.D. Howe Institute recently released their recommendations on how to break the deadlock in the Canadian pension system. With many citizens not saving enough for retirement, provinces, lobby groups and retirement gurus alike are looking to increase tax-deferred saving, improve access to good retirement saving plans, and modernize the rules governing
retirement income. The federal and provincial governments have committed to finalize their options by May after nation-wide public consultations.
A few faces glimpsed in the crowds…
The view from downtown Vancouver’s Olympic media hub
A little bit of patriotric display
And security everywhere…