A Muslim for president of the United States

Whenever a country because of war is gripped by hysteria, we should always be careful about jumping on bandwagons that fuel hatred for other faiths and people.

Real leadership, like being a good parent, does not always mean saying yes or agreeing with everything. Sometimes you have to make difficult decisions because you consider it in the best interest of the child. That is what we call leadership.

Collin Powell, who disgraced himself in 2003 in the UN when he attempted to drive a case for war by holding up a vial that could contain anthrax, showed that type of leadership on Sunday.

“Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is ‘No. That’s not America.’ Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she can be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion he’s a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.”

A question was asked to John McCain, the Republican contender for the White House, if he would vote for a Muslim candidate for president.

His reply: “I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles, personally, I prefer someone who has a grounding in my faith.” He took back a few days later what he said: “I would vote for a Muslim if he or she was the candidate best able to lead the country and defend our political values.”

(I think it is funny when the US media or anyone claims that McCain is a maverick because he stood up against torture, climate change and other issues. Isn’t it a NORMAL thing that a politician should speak out against such matters?)

Let’s drive the question now to Finland: Could a Muslim child born in Finland ever aspire to become president?

The answer to that question, I believe, reveals a lot about our society and how we see ourselves and others.

A futuristic solution to the integration of foreigners in Finland

Owing to the recalcitrant attitude of some readers of this blog that foreigners are a threat to Finland and that they should throw away their culture and embrace Finnish ways and life, for them I would like to propose a futuristic model of integration.

Finnish technology firms should start thinking about investing time in building the “language-and-culture chip” that can be implanted in a person’s brain and resolve all those sticky cultural and language issues.

With the help of this  chip, which he can switch on and off at will, can be purchased for an extra cost to fit your specific regional language needs (Helsinki, Turku slang or Rauma dialect) wherever and whenever you want. You do not need to take those boring language courses because the chip will help you speak Finnish in a jiffy.

But perfectly fluent Finnish in regional variations is not enough without the culture adapter.It works like any electric adapter at an extra-extra price, giving you cultural spice and meaning to your Finnish language. You will know exactly when to laugh, cry, smile or simply shut up with the help of the adapter.

Who said that learning and acting Finnish is difficult! With the language-and-culture chip Finland will be able to eat and have its cake when it comes to foreigners!

Global financial turmoil and the United States

Owing to the financial turmoil that has unsettled global markets and put a squeeze on credit, a valid question arises: who will be the winners and the losers?

I do not believe that we are going to head for a 1930-type depression. However, I cannot fail to recognize a parallel with what happened with the demise of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and the United States today. Certainly both are two different cases but they share something in common: their fall from grace as the strongest economic (USA) and military power (USA/USSR) in the world.

You do not have to be an economist to understand that a debt of $10 trillion is untenable to keep financing costly war efforts abroad. Iraq alone is costing the US taxpayers close to $1 trillion.

So what does this all mean? It means that the economic power of the US will shift to Asia (China) and to Europe at the cost of the former. So, President George W. Bush is not only responsible for plundering the country into a war in Iraq, but causing the demise of the Untied States as the strongest economic power on Earth.

The November 4 presidential elections will be a watershed for the future of the United States. It can chose the same path (McCain) or a new one (Obama). Probably one of the scariest things about the new path is that we do not know what it is.

Does Finland and Europe need a civil rights movement?

One of the things that has surprised me about this blog are the overtly racist comments. These types of opinions resemble how some whites saw blacks in the United States before the civil rights movement. I do not think it has anything to do with expressing one’s opinions freely nor that some Finns and Europeans are too blunt or sincere.

Even when we deal with people from our same national group, we do not go around insulting them because we know that it is counterproductive and only creates conflict. Would you want to integrate and embrace the values of a society if it is openly hostile to you?

If we want good relations, we have to know how to moderate our thoughts and take the other person into consideration. It is that easy, folks. It does not need political correctness or any magic tricks — only consideration for others.

Some people in Finland and Europe think that it is still “politically correct” to openly insult other national groups with their racist opinions. Here is an example of a comment I picked up recently from another blog:

Certainly there is discrimination in Finland, hatred for the Russians, chauvinism as well as other things – but what of it? Couldn’t we point out that these things are part of Finnish culture? Since they are a part of our official culture, we could make a point that they have to be protected from immigrants. It could certainly work that way – or maybe not?

Taking into account the racial cleansing we saw in the former Yugoslavia and horrors like the Holocaust, Europe can learn a lot from the United States and Canada about how to resolve long blistering race issues. Possibly a civil rights movement in Europe would help wipe out much of the overt racism that exists mostly unscathed.

The day will come when a blacks, Muslims, people from all religions, dark and white people from any nation will be able to walk the streets of Finland and Europe as equals. Certainly the most important step in this direction is accepting and respecting each others diversity.

Sarah Palin fought with empty soundbites against Joe Biden

Both vice presidential candidates, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, sqared off their only debate on Thursday night. If you were expecting Palin to cave in and cry you were going to be disappointed. However, even though the Republican candidate held her own against Biden, her answers were without substance.

She used an old trick when debating: do not answer the question.

One of the matters that worried me were Palin’s answers on climate change: “I’m not one to attribute every activity of man to the changes in the climate,” she said. “There is something to be said, also, for man’s activities, but also for the cyclical temperature changes on our planet. But there are real changes going on in our climate, and I don’t want to argue about the causes.”

Biden hit back with a: “I think it is man-made,” he said. “I think it’s clearly man-made.”

If you want to read about the debate check the New York Times or reader’s reaction at the Washington Post.

Biden said it well. He felt that the United States is at a crossroads. We can follow the same path as the Bush administration or erase those ruinous years by electing Barak Obama.

I think he is right. This will be a very important election.