Category: Uncategorized
Opus Restaurant
I had a delightful dinner at Opus Restaurant in Birmingham. It was clearly the hot spot for the evening. I was joined by Ben Thornton and Scott Dodsworth from the FH London office. At the next table was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, who gave a firey speech a the convention earlier in the day. He mocked Gordon Brown over his economic policies,
which are showing the same signs as the banking collapse in the U.S.
The conversation at our table was lively. We concluded that Western civilization is doomed. Time to learn Mandarin.
At The British Conservative Conference
I’m blogging from inside the Annual British Conservative Conference. Conservatives here are very different from American conservatives. The best evidence is that there are booths for the British Humanist Society and the British Secular Society, both commited to advance the cause of non-religious people in England. Such booths at a Republican meeting in the U.S. would probably invite prayer vigils for the souls of the damned individuals working at them.
In fairness, you wouldn’t see such booths at a Democratic meeting either. Here in Europe, the Enlightenment goes on, much to the frustration of Pope Benedict.
Birmingham, England
I have just arrived in Birmingham, England for the Conservative Party Conference. Here’s a shot from my hotel, the Radisson. 
Guess what? They are going through exactly the same financial crisis we are facing, except that here it’s the conservatives attacking labour in the same way Democrats are attacking Republicans in the U.S.
My driver here was a big Labour supporter from Nigeria. He had the convention on the radio and we were listening to a speech by the shadow chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, and was shouting at it. “The Tories are heartless!!” he shouted.
Debate Reaction
Obama as Don Corleone
For the record, it wasn’t a “caretaker” that came to see the Don, it was an undertaker.
I endorse his other movie picks, as well.
Quote of the Day
Despite having its claim exposed in nearly every media outlet, the McCain campaign continued to assert it anyway, day after day, dozens of times in all. It was as if Bill Clinton had persisted in his claim that he did not have sexual relations with that woman even after the appearance of the semen-stained dress.
Lisbon Treaty
This is a little outside the scope of this blog, but I would invite readers to look into events in Europe, specifically Ireland, regarding the Lisbon Treaty. Click here to learn more about it. It’s a very consequential treaty that streamline the operations of the European Union. Regular readers of this blog will recall an earlier reference to the treaty from the visit we made to the home of one of the leaders of the “No” coalition.
Ireland’s no vote shocked all of Europe and some feared it threatened the future of the EU. I have a good friend, a passionate Irishman, who strongly supports the treaty and was deeply disappointed, and to some degree embarrassed, by the vote.
I offer his pithy status report below:
re Lisbon – they will throw us a few crumbs. Declan and the IRA will declare victory and that they now feel they can support the treaty. We will vote Yes and then get back to being at the centre of Europe again. Just like the economy is now good for Obama, its good here too for Lisbon as we realise we cannot stand alone and that we are no longer as attractive to foreign investors because we are no longer the shining light of Europe – having shot ourselves in the foot ( as the Irish have been inclined to do for hundreds of years )
Kmiec’s Account
Here are his “Catholic” reasons for supporting Obama:
Condemned for announcing to the world that I intended to vote for a man who I thought lived the Beatitudes. A black man; a caring man; a talented man. A man different from my conservative self and yet calling me to find the best of that self. A man who, in so many ways, asks to care for the least advantaged as he seeks the public responsibility to carry with him, as if it was his own burden the plight of the marginalized and unemployed worker, the uninsured, the widowed mother grieving over a son lost in Iraq. Their hurts, far worse than mine. It was wrong to be damned; to be excluded from the grace of the sacrament of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all I could think was the old Tolstoy folk wisdom “God knows the truth, but waits.”
Character?
As in the primaries, he has been reduced to basics, and they have served him well over the past two months. His best hope of winning is to make the campaign a test of character.
Has he not been paying attention? Can he still suggest that McCain possesses the superior “character” in this race? With all the deceit and hypocrisy pouring out of the McCain, how can he possibly run on “character?”
Come on!
