Being casual

Today's topic is chilling. Being laid back. And, in general, not being an absolute mental. What inspires this train of thought, beyond it being a life philosophy, is a story I recently heard about John McCain.

For the truly ignorant among you McCain was the Republican nominee for President against Barack Obama last year. Obviously he was beaten and now his Holiness Obama has the top job. Part of his campaign for Presidency was his staunch opposition to gay marriage. However it has become blatantly obvious his own family seriously disagrees with him, his own daughter is gay and wishes to marry and his wife recently appeared in a campaign to remove the ban on same sex marriage in California.

A question that springs to mind is: why can't McCain let it go? Why does it matter? Does it make any difference to anyone? Of course not but McCain and people like him worldwide insist on opposing it and getting all worked up for no reason. Instead of allowing everyone to be happy they would rather cause confrontation and discontent.

Doubtless this divide in opinion causes no small amount of family argument. But instead of supporting his daughter or simply letting her and other gays across America get on with there lives he insists on vigorously opposing same sex marriage.

So if McCain would just relax if everyone could be a little more casual about others choices wouldn't we all get on much better without trying to intrude in peoples preferences or interrupt the flow of life? The same can naturally be applied to virtually everything. From relationships to your choice of cake (an incredibly serious issue) being casual helps everyone.

So be casual. Be happy.

Oops he did it again

The less popular younger Conservative version of Tony Blair. Who am I talking about? David Cameron obviously. Why is he in the headlines again? Well because has once again stunned the nation with his ability to hammer another nail into the coffin of what should be an easy landslide victory come June/July. His newest policy is a "brazenly elitist" approach to teaching in essence denying training to graduates with poor degrees. While this is highly idealistic it is also impratical and reflects Camerons role as leader of the Conservative party. Its his job to come up with policies like this but should the common voter simply accept or ignore them because they wish to remove the unpopular Gordon Brown from office? This is of course up to the voters but they may wish to think carefully about the repercussions of electing such a man.

The Current Situation

With a now irrelevant exam out of the way Politics looms again to the forefront of my mind. Thus I have decided to look at the top stories of the moment and so I went to my trusty friend google news and found these headlines:

France and America bicker as Haiti aid fails to reach city

No Bush-Blair deal signed in blood at Crawford, says Jonathan Powell

Taliban militants open fire in Kabul

I would like to quickly look at all 3 of these stories.

The Bush-Blair story while an embaressing and regrettable part of history is not one to be dwelt on; Bush will be remembered as brutal but heroic and Blair as a liar and a scumbag, such is the fates of our leaders.

Taliban militants will for some time continue open fire on people who don't deserve it, they are freedom fighters in their own minds after all. I will look at Afghanistan another time.

Haiti is the subject of the moment. Through the fault of no one the small overcrowded island nation has been ravaged by an earthquake it was unavoidable in the short term. Haiti is an artificial nation a result of French colonisation and Frances later abandonment of the colony. Filled with the descendants of slaves it was never designed for a population of this size and therefore has never evolved beyond an agricultural based society. It is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and it shows. Now with everyone tightening their purse strings in light of the recession, little aid is on its way and so thousands remain trapped beneath the rubble and tens of thousands more live in abject poverty. Never forget Haiti for while it is tragic in the short term it is also symbolic of the wider problem of poverty and the devastation it causes when disaster strikes.