I was startled to head down to breakfast at our hotel here in Port Huron, only to look up at the television to see CNN proclaim: “Russia Invades Georgia”.
I knew pretty instantly which Georgia CNN was talking about (the Caucuses republic, not the U.S. state), but I do wonder how many people out there blanched and thought about calling their cousins in Atlanta, but I digress.
CNN isn’t treating this like the start of World War III. When I told Erin this, we switched to CNN in our rooms, and were frustrated to have to wait half an hour, wading through news about the American presidential campaign, and an unfortunate bus crash in Texas. But I’m sure people in the know are disturbed.
Georgia was going to join NATO in a matter of months, and had Russia invaded then, I’m sure things would have gotten a lot more tense. Indeed, Georgia’s pending NATO membership may have had something to do with Russia’s timing. But I’m sure the Bush Administration is having to walk on eggshells here. Georgia is still a key American ally. The country has a lot of troops in Iraq. And Georgia’s president is asking for help. Helping Georgia is the right thing to do, but how do you stand up to Russia? I don’t have much confidence in the Bush Administration’s ability to do so, but it would be a difficult thing to do, while not tipping us into war with another superpower, whoever was the president.
But it illustrates Russia’s growing slip back into dictatorship and belligerence. I suspect nothing will be done beyond the diplomatic to try and help Georgia. That’s unfortunate, and it may not do much more than delay the inevitable.
Thank You Stockwell Day
I’d like to thank Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day for the steps he took to block the Westboro Baptist Church from coming to Canada and protesting the funeral of Tim McLean, the unfortunate 20-year-old brutally murdered on board a Greyhound bus late last month. You made the right call, and Canadians everywhere are thankful.
The Westboro Baptist Church are the perpetual embarrassment of Christians everywhere, even though their crazy pastor, Fred Phelps, publicly severed his connections with organized Christianity, not to mention reality, early in his descent into madness. It is frustrating to see these people rejoice in their unChristian hatred, and rejoice in the fact that they are reviled by most Americans.
Phelps-Roper said she does not mind that her family is reviled by the majority of Americans. She claimed she rejoices when people say they despise and hate her family.
“I say, ‘cha ching.’ That goes in our bank. God gives us tokens of his love,” she said.
(link)
These people are just a step away from doing something severely criminal, I’m sure of it. As NDP MP Pat Martin says, they’re almost as bad as the original murderer. And like the original murderer, I have to ask: how do you deal with people like that? Who are almost certainly beyond redemption.
If these people enjoy being hated, then I’d seriously consider supporting a venture that would send them flowers. Innundate them with flowers. I’m serious. Make them have to shove aside huge piles in order to get into and out of their church.
And let all the flowers have the same message: “God loves everyone. Even you.”
That might be a good way to strike back.
(Thanks to Matt Grady for sending on the Phelps information)