Lumberjack

I had a lot of interesting feedback from yesterday's awareness raising about the Kurds, much of it positive, people who know Turkish or Iraqi Kurds who have made a good life outside of Kurdistan, but not all. A friend sent me a story of two Iraqi Kurds that she knows, who sought asylum in Britain but who, in circumstances that remind one of Dickensian England, ended up in gaol.

Now here's the thing. There are over 60 million people living in Great Britain. It's very crowded. You literally could not accept everyone into the country who wants to live there. So you end up with the situation where people have to be treated as numbers, faceless, nameless, unless they are the people you know. But when people seek asylum, it's not just because they think they can earn more, it's because they face persecution in their own countries.
Between the western countries, why can't we pass on some of what we have?
It's difficult to share isn't it?
Let's face it, some don't want to share even with their own compatriots. Look at the fight Obama is having to give basic healthcare as a right to the neediest in his country. Look at the lengths the super rich go to to avoid taxes. Look at the salary and payment demands of the famous. Do we ever get to a point where we simply have enough?

Let's go back to Obambi. One of the stumbling blocks seems to be over reproductive rights. Why should public money be spent to fund abortions?
Ok, well, the U.S., like Canada, is very proud of their separation of Church and State. Fair enough, I think I can understand that. But the only logical objection to abortion on demand is a religious one. Even if you are an atheist and yet believe that no life should be taken, although I can't think of any philosophical reason for that stance, but let's say it is so, then the foetus must be able to survive unassisted outside of the mother's body to be considered as a separate life. And considerations of quality of life would also have to be taken into account.
SO why is a religious argument allowed to override a humanitarian one?

And going back to our lovely National Anthem, it seems we are an international laughing stock. Nothing we don't deserve, but I certainly like the suggestion to adopt Monty Python's 'Lumberjack Song' instead.

And a propos of nothing, just that I happened to be reminded of it on Tuesday, I invite you to revisit the classic Catherine Tate sketch, 'Our John's a Gay Man Now', mostly for the sheer brilliance of it, but if not, then just for the superb Northern Irish accents.