For those who missed it…

No, I'm not referring to the debates this week. I'm thinking of the story that was circulating in the NY Sun (here) and the International Herald Tribune (here). Now that the name Kwasniewski is familiar to 61 million Americans (Bush mentioned the Polish president twice in the course of the debate), I want to note here that Kwasniewski is one of the front-runners to replace Kofi Annan when Annan’s term is up in two years.

What, you think it’s too soon to be mentioning a replacement? Hey, if Jay Leno could announce the new host for the Tonight Show five years hence, we may certainly speculate who the new leader will be at the UN.

Of course, many are denying that Kwasniewski is a real contender. They have to. The conventional wisdom is that early-mentioned front-runners are just a smoke screen for the real candidates. In reality though, Poland has a real shot at it. Why? The cynical reason that has been offered is that the United States has to agree to the selected person. The same United States that is tired of having Kofi Annan publicly state to the General Assembly that the US has violated international law. The same United States that loves loves loves Kwasniewski’s unwavering loyalty to American foreign policy (no matter what the policy is, or who articulates it). The less cynical explanation is that Eastern Europe has never had a turn at heading the international organization. The closest Poland itself came to leading the UN was in the 1970s when a Pole was selected to serve as under-secretary general. Yes, well, I’ll let it go at that. There’s obviously a juicy story there, but not one for this post.

Another frontrunner now, btw, is the Iranian President, Khatani. Is this ludicrous? According to the NYSun, an American diplomat commented: "We had a Nazi, why not a representative of a terrorist state?" (The reference here is to the Austrian Kurt Waldheim, secretary general during the 1970s).

Thirty-first street pre-election diary*

a simple sign on a quiet, I hope, Sunday 

Thirty-one days before the election and I am going to write a post about why I do not especially like cats. If you are a cat person, go ahead and get angry. I know people are really devoted to their animals. I was amused the other day when a cat owner said to me – “oh, my cat is different, he’s really more like a dog than a cat.”

That says it all, doesn’t it?

Several of my neighbors have cats and because I have many places where birds rest in my yard, the cats are often here, waiting. Look at this creepy animal, photographed by me just five minutes ago.

you're telling me that this is the face of a friend? 

Once, during some social gathering, I was complaining about the cats in my yard. I don’t want to alienate my neighbors, but I do wish that if carnage is to take place, it would not happen in my bird-populated yard. I understand the laws of nature, I just don’t always want to participate in the destruction of the weaker species. I eat meat occasionally, isn’t that enough of a bow toward Darwinism?

The hostess of said social gathering laughed and said yes, indeed, you can’t keep a cat from doing what nature imbued in him (she has a tomcat). Her cat cannot be restrained, she tells me. He goes out each night and preys. He is, she says, a predator.

Thank you for that clarification.

Thirty-one days before the election and I am very much aware of the role of predators in this presidential race. Webster on line says this about predators: “one that preys, destroys, or devours.” I think I’ve come across some this week-end. I am now using this post to announce again: I do not, for this reason, feel warmly about cats. It seems to me that harboring predators is unhealthy.

(If you have tamed your cat to diffuse –rather than encourage – his or her aggressive tendencies, you are forgiven. In fact, you have entered the realm of sainthood as far as I’m concerned. I don’t care if it flies in the face of nature. Aggression should be tamed.)

(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)