Let's make happy time

Great picture It's good to see a genuinely smiling face.

I'm tired of harping on Republicans John "W" McCain and Sarah Palin. Yawn. So, what happens when a nation's economy collapses? I guess we'll find out. I suspect we'll lose credibility on the international scene- not only economically, but also politically, militarily (because we can hardly afford what we've got goin on already, if at all), and -worst of all-- culturally.

I say 'worst of all' because culture is the only thing we really export in mass these days. Movies, TV and music. Why will this suffer as the result of electing Republican John McCain? Because we will be trying so hard to keep our little fantasy-world inflated that nothing of any value or relevance will come out. Conducting diplomacy with America will be like trying to have a conversation with a sweaty child molester in a Barney costume.

The rest of the world will shortly become just as disaffected with our political system as we already are. In other words, no one will care about the US. The eyes of the rest of the world will stop caring about what we do; they'll turn to other channels, for the same reasons we don't care about what our country does, either: because we don't feel that our voices count. And that's voter apathy.

I'm still holding to my prediction that the Republican party is coming apart. McCain will take the election, but it'll be dubious at best, and hopefully contested, but the truth of the matter will be that economic conservatives will split their votes between Ron Paul and Bob Barr, while evangelicals will split theirs between dinner at home (not voting) and Sarah Palin. It's conceivable that Palin could be the last Republican president, if she follows McCain.

Her presidency will be largely ineffectual, though, because the voting public won't elect another Republican majority in congress for a while, even if the party doesn't disintegrate, so congress won't be the lap-dog that it has been of late. I hope.

Today is the Feast Day of St Joseph of Cupertino. Joseph (1603-63) was barred by his Franciscan superiors from public worship due to his habit of levitating, utterly disrupting the service and distracting the congregation. Once, according to a witness, he 'flew like a bird on the high altar, where he embraced the tabernacle.' On another occasion, he flew into an olive tree and remained kneeling on a branch for half an hour.