[Leica] the prime minister of where?

[marcsmall at comcast.net (Marc James Small)]

At 10:48 PM 2/12/2007, grduprey@mchsi.com wrote:
 >Actually, I don't care much for Prime Rib.  I'm afraid I do not agree
 >with Kyle on not knowing of the Australian Prime Ministers remarks.
 >Just about everyone I know mentioned him and his remarks today at
 >work.  My own thoughts were, Why does he even care this early in the
 >running.  Who knows if Obama will even survive the gauntlet between
 >now and the election.  Also, since he mentioned he would remove the
 >soldiers by March of '08, is a bit of a streach, since if he did win,
 >he would not even have been elected by that date as the election is in
 >November, not March.

Gene

Let us set the sneering aside.  Most USians do 
not know the name of their own President, much 
less that of foreign Chiefs of Government.  I 
would be surprised to learn that half of the US 
populace knew who Queen Elizabeth I/II 
was.  However, the USian media is hammered by 
these folks constantly.  Tony Blair is all over 
the airwaves here to the point where his UK 
nickname of "Phoney Tony" has emigrated across 
the Great Puddle.  It does no good to make fun of 
him.  We USians are forced to deal with Canada 
and several of the last Canadian PM's have been 
royal pains in the craw to us, especially Trudeau and Chretien.  So what?

Let it all rest.  Most of us on this List are 
mature enough to have grown beyond tossing bones 
of contention about each other's national 
leaders.  I recognize that the LUG is, at its 
heart, a rather left-wing group but for the all 
of it, can we just not poke fun at each other's 
national leaders?  I could say more but shan't, 
in accord with Brian's suggestion that there 
really are times to sit on your hands.  We might 
well have Australians on the LUG who happen to 
support the Australian Prime Minister, so why 
should anyone want to demean their feelings?

Let us avoid politics, whether US or Canadian or 
Australian or Azerbanazhi.  Now,if you guys DO 
want to get geared up, I'm your boy!  But I 
suspect that Brian would then send us over to the 
neo-Marxist LUG Forum, and what joy would there 
be in that?  How many times can we bow our heads 
to the grave of the dead  Lenin?

Let us let the politics alone.  Yes, a bunch of 
us know the names of the Prime Ministers of the 
various shards of the British Empre -- for 
heavens' sakes, I do subscribe to THE ECONOMIST, 
a dangerously left-wing journal in my estimation 
but I read it for the same reason I read the 
WASHINGTON POST:  a "dangerous right-winger" is, 
in reality, a mushy moderate, and a "strong voice 
for liberty" is Robert Mugabe or Fidel Castro or 
the like.  I understand their cant and I can 
interpret and I do appreciate their book reviews and death notice.

In short, the Australian political discussion has 
gone on far enough.  And he will win the next 
elections, too, but let's talk about that AFTER the next election, okay?

Marc


msmall@aya.yale.edu
Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!