American Views Abroad

 
Do It Like Putin. Sign Kyoto! Large front page photo in today's International Herald Tribune shows Greenpeace activists in Hamburg protesting the US refusal to ratify the Kyoto treaty around a partly submerged replica of the Statue of Liberty on the lake in front of the US General Consulate. Also on the front page Expat Voters Face Range of Snags....'overseas voters are facing a number of problems that are unusual and, in some cases, highly irregular, according to Americans abroad and election monitors in the US.'

The headline in the leading article in today's online New York Times: Big GOP Bid to Challenge Voters at Polls in Key State. It reports 'Ohio election officials said they had never seen so large a drive to prepare for Election Day challenges. They said they were scrambling yesterday to be ready for disruptions in the voting process as well as alarms and complaints among voters. Some officials said they worried that the challenges could discourage or even frighten others waiting to vote.'

In The Election and America's Future www.nybooks.com, the editors of The New York Review of Books asked some of their contributors for their views for what has been called 'the most consequential election in decades.' Ian Buruma, Norman Mailer and Thomas Powers, among others, have written powerful commentaries.

Last evening the German news on the second channel, ZDF, showed Christian Fundmentalists demonstrating in Washington, DC. They were praying, at times it appeared even wailing, for Bush's re-election. When interviewed, they proclaimed it was homosexuality and abortion rights that were the root of all that's wrong with the US today. At this point my German husband groaned. He asked if I knew of this group. Well, yes, of course, but it isn't something I mention very often here. Hamburg and Berlin both have mayors who are homosexual. In Hamburg's case a far right wing politican tried using this factor to blackmail him at the beginning of this year. It backfired totally. The governing coalition collapsed, new elections were called, and the mayor won a clear majority. Actually winning a majority is rare in a society that doesn't run on a 'winner take all' policy and where there are more than two political parties. What's interesting here is that the mayor belongs to the slightly right of center Christian Democratic Union. The first time he won he had ousted the coalition of Social Democrats and the Green Party, the latter which pushes equality for homosexuals. The last election showed all of the traditional parties gave a clear veto to using anyone's sexual orientation as a tool to defeat someone. More to the point, a clear majority of the people voiced the same. There is a certain line you don't cross and misusing people's private lives for political advantage is abhorred here.

- posted by Gloria @ 1:33 PM