Now I’m awake while you’re asleep, dreaming of election
day and your all-important vote! Almost 30 million Americans have taken
advantage of the chance for early voting – that would be me! And now it’s up to
all of you – the public electorate. May the best man for the four years ahead win!
(that is until the electoral college steps in and interferes . . . )
For me, my take on current events comes straight
from the BBC - always interesting to hear what they have to say, in particular to
their take on American matters, especially as my background comes from quite a
different perspective than theirs. One really great thing I have noticed about
British politics is that, seeing as how the ENTIRE country is equal in scope to
a single state entity back in the states, politics are basically local. It is a
common thing to see even the highest government officials interviewed, and/or
taken to task, on television and radio on a daily basis. Deliberating on their
own political arena, I heard spoken today the phrase, ‘politics by Facebook.’
This was said in reference to a remark the Prime Minister made expressing fears that a
"witch-hunt" against gay people could result from online comments regarding
the purported undisclosed knowledge of child abuse allegations made against
persons in the highest of government positions – that he saw it as
underhanded to condemn someone anonymously over the internet without confronting
them straight on. If you stay on top of things, and watch and listen, you are guaranteed
of being astutely aware of exactly what is going on in the country – and that’s
a good thing!
Here’s another political concept new to me: a shadow
cabinet. Guess where I got wind of that? Yep, you’ve got it - BBC. It seems that
many countries have this institution, where a senior group of opposition spokespeople form an alternative cabinet to
the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the
Cabinet. Members of a shadow cabinet are often but not always
appointed to a Cabinet post if and when their party gets into government. It is
the Shadow Cabinet's responsibility to pass criticism on the current government
and its respective legislation, as well as offering alternative policies.
A member of this Cabinet is referred to as a shadow minister. Wow! way
to keep your government in check – seems like a very useful approach!
Today, in week 7 of Philip’s class, we considered the impact of Grecian philosophy (much of which has to do with logos – rationality or reason) on the development of Christian ideas. Clement of Alexandria, 150-215 A.D., proposed that if, having faith, you cannot provide a rational accounting of your believe, it is worth nothing – in other words, invalid (discounting totally, to my way of thinking, the mission of the Holy Ghost).
Today, in week 7 of Philip’s class, we considered the impact of Grecian philosophy (much of which has to do with logos – rationality or reason) on the development of Christian ideas. Clement of Alexandria, 150-215 A.D., proposed that if, having faith, you cannot provide a rational accounting of your believe, it is worth nothing – in other words, invalid (discounting totally, to my way of thinking, the mission of the Holy Ghost).
Had an exciting, unexpected adventure
tonight when around 8:30 or so the power suddenly blipped off. I had been
talking amicably with Erin on Skype, when suddenly we were cut off interminably.
It takes you a couple minutes to realize what is going on. In instances like
this, I always start by thinking it’s me, something I’ve done. Then I looked
out from my rooftop perch through an upstairs window and saw that the street
below, of those stately houses, was utterly and completely dark. Kind of
eerie. Wasn’t me, I guessed!
Made my way downstairs to see
what was going on there. Encountered Phil, the student, in the blackness of the
kitchen, trying to finish the supper he’d been preparing. (Luckily the power
outage had not happened just as he was preparing to stick his meal in the oven!)
I fumbled around in my cupboards, feeling for my little kitchen torch. (Hurrah,
for having sorted them recently – otherwise, forget it!) Found it, then shared
with Phil so he could finish what he’d started. (Makes one glad for whatever
emergency preparedness they might have taken – deliberately or otherwise!) He
retired to his room to watch a DVD on whatever stored power he had left remaining
on his computer. As I had been involved with Erin too intently to have eaten
myself, I stayed downstairs in the murkiness and made myself a PB&J,
supplemented by an entire can of baked beans, aka pork and beans, minus the
‘pork.’ Yum! Myfanwy was having several older ladies over for a game of bridge game. (She
reported that this type of incident had NEVER happened before - in her
experience.) Just as I came downstairs
she had been pulling out some candlesticks. Before long I heard them giggling
and carrying on like a bunch of school girls - delightfully amusing – didn’t
put a damper on their fun in the least!
Took my torch
(flashlight) on up to my bedroom in the sky, whereupon I immediately remembered
that I also happened to have a clandestine candle and got it going forthwith.
Talking with Phil later, who had been making calls to various friends, it seems
a substation close to a railway stop had caught on fire, causing a blackout for
some areas of the city. (A call to Leah revealed that they were not having
the same excitement at their house. Helps solidify in your mind the necessity of having those
emergency essentials ready to grab at a moment’s notice!) When Philip, the
professor, came up around 10:00, I asked him how it’d been up on campus,
assuming that’s where he’d been. You could see some lights up there, so Phil
and I concluded that they had their own power source. Philip, actually it
turned out, had been out to dinner with friends – no problem with power. However,
when he went to take the train back towards Selly Oak, he discovered all were
grounded due to the proximity of the fire to the rail line, and had had to take
the pokey route – the bus – to get home. After puttering around a bit, I was
just getting ready to cuddle down in bed to try and do a little reading when
the power suddenly exploded back on. (For fun - you should all try it!)
[Follow-up: I was talking with Phil, almost a week
later, asking how he felt his week had gone. (His department had had a
scheduled week of no classes, sort of like reading days before finals at BYU.)
He said that ever since the fire in the substation, when the university had
begun using its own generated emergency power, electrical efficacy had been
greatly reduced. It seems that, to date, the damage at the burned-out station
has not been rectified, with power for the affected areas of the city still
being borrowed from ancillary substations.
Phil said that though internet had been available on campus, you
couldn’t plug in your computer, so it wasn’t much use – and this five days
since the incident occurred. And who knows how long this is going to go on?
‘But, at least’, he volunteered, ‘we had lights.’ Poor guy – you get this week
to make some headway and look what happens. It’s just not fair!]
Photos_
1- early voting
2- Obama vs Romney – who will win?!
