Canada’s Mounties are in the midst of dismantling an Ottawa-based Al-Qaeda arm run by an X-ray technician. Terrorism in boring old Canada sounds off, but so too does the USA hysteria against theCordova mosque dedicated to a reach out to other religions in the Abrahamic tradition, Christianity and Judaism. It is planned for a site near City Hall Park, which, if you insist on it, is two long blocks from the World Trade Center site. But being named Cordova hearkens back to the Golden Age of Spain when members of the montheistic religions lived side by side an exchanged ideas.
Here is what George Washington would have written, (as he in fact did to the Touro Jewish Synagogue established in Newport, RI) backin the 18th century when Jews were considered exotic and possibly heathen or dangerous:
“The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for giving to Mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection, should demean themselves as good citizens.
“May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”
Pres. Obama’s remarks on the planned Cordoba Mosque are right in the US tradition of giving bigotry no sanction.
After my article about Portugal yesterday to try to prove that there ain’t no such thing as PIIGS markets, today the news hit that the Fernandes pencil factory, aged more than 100 years, has closed its doors forever. Portugal cannot compete in pencils against the world. But unlike its next door neighbor, Spain, or Greece and Ireland, where the economies are shrinking, Poruguese GNP is picking itself up from the ground, however slowly. And its banks can raise money without having to pay over the odds, as it happening today to Irish banks in what Bloomberg calls “a vicious circle.”
The world Gold Council notes that demand for the precious metal is up 36 % this year from European concern about currencies, with boosts to both physical gold and ETFs investing in the stuff. If you really believe Apocalypse is imminent, gold may make more sense than shrinking T-bills, but neither is likely to help get the global economy out of its funk. Stocks, which finally did a bit of rallying yesterday, at least get juices flowing.
European markets picked up the trend today.
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There will be no blog Friday.
