There was no news to report from the San Diego newspaper about the ultimate fate of the Mount Soledad Cross today, but the title link shows that the blogosphere is not about to give up on the subject. I've decided to leave the whole issue to heaven for the moment. Events far away have absorbed my attention.
Beruit, Lebanon looks like Times Square on New Year's Eve, only on a much larger scale. Wow. I wonder what inspired all these people to take to the streets, waving hundreds of Lebanese flags?
The assassination last month of their former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri last month surely acted as part of the catalyst. But I suspect that those purple fingers in Iraq on January 30 may have made a significant contribution to this mass movement of the Lebanese people towards demanding their freedom and independence from Syria.
Symbols have the ability to inspire for good or to influence for evil. The swastika is the classic example of the latter. The galvanizing power behind inspiring symbols such as the cross, the flag, the red AIDS ribbons, and the yellow troop ribbons are emotional forces to be reckoned with.
If you asked the close to one million Lebanese demonstrators in Beirut, they might tell you that the purple index fingers of the Iraqi voters have pointed them in this direction.
