God’s mysterious ways. The new South African soccer/football federation boss in his first comments in his new job boldly says “I’m going to listen more than to speak because God gave us 2 ears.” Yeah, that’s what he said. Straight forward guy. But hey, if he believes God gave him his ears, can he please advise us who gave him his tongue?
From God to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi should be simple. I mean we are talking about a conservative, Catholic leader here. And in Rome, in the shadow of the Vatican. Silvio’s sexual desires have been all over the media over the last months, especially his private parties with too many young women with too little clothes on.
The Italian public broadcaster RAI wants to air this week an interview with a call-girl (that’s the polished word for prostitute) speaking out about her night with Silvio. Berlusconi’s Communication Minister Claudio Scajola wants the program banned. She claims that press freedom doesn’t give anybody, and certainly not a hooker, the freedom to insult. You know the saying ‘where there is smoke there is fire’. Plenty of smoke here. I mean the smoke detectors are going of left, right and centre. Maybe they should organise a TV debate between Silvio and the call-girl, so every side can have their say and utter their denials or claims. That would make for really big entertaining TV, and guaranteed more viewers than Sunday mass. And Berlusconi owns a few TV stations, so what is he waiting for? I thought traditional Italian men would love to prove their world reputation of being full of lust and perfect lover boys. But maybe there are less flattery details Silvio wants to hide from the outside world. Although at his elderly age we would understand he might need a little help from the Viagras of this world. Come on Silvio, the last decade (or was it longer than that?) we had Bill Clinton and his cigar, give us something sexier than that! Prove us that the image of the Italian stallion is still standing strong. Just for public relations’ sake.
Meanwhile going north. Across the Alps and rushing through Switzerland to get to Germany.
They had elections last Sunday. A real solid example of what multi-party democracy should be. No riots, no rejection of results, no fraud, no stuffed ballot boxes, no soldiers on the streets, no threats of a coup, no voting matters in front of the High Court, no re-counts. Free and fair elections. Prime Minister, or Chancellor I think they call it in Germany, Angela Merkel won and thus will serve another term in office. She is likely to swap coalition partners. Drop the Social Democrats for the more right leaning Free Democrats. So instead of a so called centre-left cabinet, Merkel is expected to form a centre-right government. And as in a solid democracy needs be, such a change just happens without too much upheaval. Without threats of army intervention or stock exchange crashes. A real example of true democracy. Well done to Germany. All as smooth as a BMW on the highway.
Meanwhile I wonder when they might announce the election results in Afghanistan. German troops are there as part of NATO to try to defend the rocky nation against a re-grouping of the Taliban. The international community is also there to help build democratic institutions. But that goal is seriously under threat the longer we wait to hear who wins these elections and how much fraud there really was. And then once there is a winner what credibility and real representation does that new president then have? All shaky for now.
Sex, politics and a bit of God. It seems inevitably connected throughout world history. Human behaviour is too often pretty predictable and a dizzy merry go round and round.
Throw out. For once this is not about tunes I played in my car or heard on the radio. This is about music I am dying to hear. Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame has started a band with Josh Homme from Queens Of The Stone Age and old-timer John Paul Jones from the legendary Led Zeppelin. Just putting these 3 lads in a studio and jamming away is a positively frightful idea. The 3 formed Them Crooked Vultures, are touring places and are expected to release an album before the end of this year. Dave has returned behind his drum kit, just like in his Nirvana days. Josh stays on guitar, and JPJ seems still to have the stamina to hit his bass strings. Vocal duties I guess will be shared by Josh and Dave. Amazing combination of talent. This album has to be fantastic. That’s the scary bit. Those 3 lads together have no choice but to produce something magical. High expectations.
C-Ya
collateral – in the final moments of September 2009
Message from the cave
Here we go again. It’s becoming repetitive and very déjà-vu.
The United Cavemen, aka Al-Qaeda, have sent out another video message to the world. Who cares anymore about their ramblings? It is getting boring, nonsensical, nearly farcical. But anyway if it keeps them happy and keeps the spirit in the cave going, so be it.
In the latest Cavemen Video Services’ production Osama’s offspring predict the downfall of Barack Obama. The Muslim world will take him down, they claim. Well of course in the solid tradition of freedom of speech they have the right to utter whatever they want to utter. I rather believe that Obama’s stumble will be orchestrated by the frustrated, panicking, bunker-mentalist right-wingers in the US and their money wasting lobbies, than by the Muslim brotherhood. But anyway, opinions are opinions and there are trillions of them.
The 106-minute video message from the cavemen is entitled “The West and the Dark Tunnel”. Nearly sounds like a cheap remake of the Star Wars series. Or a videogame spinoff of a 2nd class Hollywood sci-fi thriller with diseases, aliens and unsolved mysteries. Harry Potter meets District 9.
I think Al-Qaeda is nervous that Obama has much more popularity in the Muslim and Arab worlds than warmonger Bush Jr. Remember the cavemen wanted Bush-clone John McCain to win the US presidential race last year. For them this would have been easier to get support and membership to fight the Sarah Palin brigade than it is now to challenge the Obama camp. But Al-Qaeda lost their plot. Sorry boys. The Democrats took the White House. And on top of that a black man. And on top of that the black man came to Cairo and held a speech reaching out to the Arabs. That’s like taking the carpet from under the feet of the cavemen. They must have cold feet now.
One of the bearded men in the video says that “Unfortunately for the Democrats, and judging by their first seven-and-a-half months at the helm of the sinking American ship, the prognosis doesn't look good." Cavemen’s political poetry. At least we know the cave residents are keeping an eye on the news developments across the world. An informed caveman is a better one!
From Al-Qaeda and Obama to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and the UN is really just an ant step away.
So the annual bash at the United Nations in New York is happening this week. Presidents, Prime Ministers, dictators, left-wingers and right-wingers, idealists and pragmatists, dreamers and realists, Kings and old-style royal fools,... they all gather in the Big Apple for champagne, caviar, 5th Avenue shopping and some useless speeches. A circus of disgrace and waste. Waste of money, time and air. The ultimate blah-blah-blah summit of summits. And they do that every year. It’s the merry-go-round-and-round of cynicism.
We had Libyan leader Ghadaffi (I have seen many different spellings of his name in fact) going off the rails. We had the Iranian nuke freak attacking the usual enemies. We had mad Bob from Zimbabwe blaming the whole world except himself for the downfall of a beautiful nation. We had British PM Brown focusing hard on Iran’s nuke dreams to avoid too much focus on his growing dislike back on the streets of Britain. We heard very few political leaders speaking out against the coup in Honduras. Wondering why. Not sexy enough?
And then we had Israeli Prime Minister, warmonger and spin doctor deluxe Benjamin Netanyahu. He cleverly used the hype over Iran’s nuke plans to spin as much possible about his ‘evil’ neighbour to avoid to say too much about the death peace initiative between himself and the Palestinians. He certainly did not commit a half millimetre of sense by announcing, not even hinting, a freeze of Jewish settlement constructions. The big thorn in too many eyes and hearts. Obama and many around the world had hoped at least some gesture from Netanyahu. But nothing came. Nothing. The bunker mentality remains. Armed to the teeth and hearts filled with hate.
Netanyahu criticised the UN for not speaking out against Palestinian, especially Hamas, violence. He demanded UN resolutions against Hamas. It’s pretty evil spin coming from an Israeli PM. Since many years Israel has rejected calls and resolutions from the UN Security Council. But now he wants the UN to issue a resolution on Hamas. Get real. Stop the half-truths and the pack the crap. If you want UN action now, why not as a starter go back to Resolution 242 from 1967? A demand to withdraw from occupied territories. Those territories Israel still occupies today.
And how ridiculous is it to demand UN action now when you just rejected a UN investigative report by South African top judge Goldstone into the war on Gaza from earlier this year. Goldstone by the way who has serious credentials and comes from Jewish decent. It’s spin of the disgusting kind.
Announce a freeze of settlements and then demand that Hamas recognises the State of Israel. That would be a positive, bold move. Leaders lead. Good leaders lead good. Have the guts to break the mould and give peace a chance. Give hope a chance. Too many words and deeds from too many, especially right-wing, Israeli governments are a real disgrace to the victims of the Holocaust. Their ashes should be the fertile ground for an honest Jewish State, not for an oppressive one. And yes get solid military structures in place to defend yourself against mad denialists like Iran. But don’t cage the Palestinians into a camp and starve them to misery. Their prison-like conditions will only built hate and anger.
Oh and the UN bash had another show-element. The gathering voted unanimously for a nuke-free world. Can we all stand up and clap our hands now please. What a load of rubbish. Nice headlines and perfect champagne popping moment, but so detached from reality and so derailed by spin that it’s close to vomit. Let’s have a nuke-free worlds says Russia, the US, the UK, Israel, Iran, India, Pakistan, China, France,... It’s comedy central at the UN.
Let’s stay in NY for a bit.
CNN’s Christiane Amanpour interviewed mad Bob from Zimbabwe. You would kind of look forward to such an interview because mad Bob doesn’t give many interviews and you have the perception that Amanpour would do a hard-hitting job. Wrong. It was polished crap. Amanpour even got some of her basic facts wrong! And she didn’t go deep enough. It looked so much she was fishing for that 15 second headlining soundbite instead of having a solid discussion with the dictator. Really disappointing.
Anyway. The world is still spinning around. Human behaviour remains a tricky minefield of lost hope, disillusion and tons of spin. And champagne of course.
Throw out. NY’s Maximum Penalty hit the underground punkrock scene in 1989 with a bang. Hard-hitting with melodic rhythms and a unique vocal sound. Then after some years they disappeared. Well they are back. And with another bang. Their new album “Life & Times” is about to be released and is as solid as a rock. I’ve been privileged to have heard it already. 15 Tunes of solid punkrock with still that unique melodic voice of Jim Williams (a Muslim by the way). Nice to have them back.
C-Ya
collateral – as September 2009 is facing its showdown
The United Cavemen, aka Al-Qaeda, have sent out another video message to the world. Who cares anymore about their ramblings? It is getting boring, nonsensical, nearly farcical. But anyway if it keeps them happy and keeps the spirit in the cave going, so be it.
In the latest Cavemen Video Services’ production Osama’s offspring predict the downfall of Barack Obama. The Muslim world will take him down, they claim. Well of course in the solid tradition of freedom of speech they have the right to utter whatever they want to utter. I rather believe that Obama’s stumble will be orchestrated by the frustrated, panicking, bunker-mentalist right-wingers in the US and their money wasting lobbies, than by the Muslim brotherhood. But anyway, opinions are opinions and there are trillions of them.
The 106-minute video message from the cavemen is entitled “The West and the Dark Tunnel”. Nearly sounds like a cheap remake of the Star Wars series. Or a videogame spinoff of a 2nd class Hollywood sci-fi thriller with diseases, aliens and unsolved mysteries. Harry Potter meets District 9.
I think Al-Qaeda is nervous that Obama has much more popularity in the Muslim and Arab worlds than warmonger Bush Jr. Remember the cavemen wanted Bush-clone John McCain to win the US presidential race last year. For them this would have been easier to get support and membership to fight the Sarah Palin brigade than it is now to challenge the Obama camp. But Al-Qaeda lost their plot. Sorry boys. The Democrats took the White House. And on top of that a black man. And on top of that the black man came to Cairo and held a speech reaching out to the Arabs. That’s like taking the carpet from under the feet of the cavemen. They must have cold feet now.
One of the bearded men in the video says that “Unfortunately for the Democrats, and judging by their first seven-and-a-half months at the helm of the sinking American ship, the prognosis doesn't look good." Cavemen’s political poetry. At least we know the cave residents are keeping an eye on the news developments across the world. An informed caveman is a better one!
From Al-Qaeda and Obama to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and the UN is really just an ant step away.
So the annual bash at the United Nations in New York is happening this week. Presidents, Prime Ministers, dictators, left-wingers and right-wingers, idealists and pragmatists, dreamers and realists, Kings and old-style royal fools,... they all gather in the Big Apple for champagne, caviar, 5th Avenue shopping and some useless speeches. A circus of disgrace and waste. Waste of money, time and air. The ultimate blah-blah-blah summit of summits. And they do that every year. It’s the merry-go-round-and-round of cynicism.
We had Libyan leader Ghadaffi (I have seen many different spellings of his name in fact) going off the rails. We had the Iranian nuke freak attacking the usual enemies. We had mad Bob from Zimbabwe blaming the whole world except himself for the downfall of a beautiful nation. We had British PM Brown focusing hard on Iran’s nuke dreams to avoid too much focus on his growing dislike back on the streets of Britain. We heard very few political leaders speaking out against the coup in Honduras. Wondering why. Not sexy enough?
And then we had Israeli Prime Minister, warmonger and spin doctor deluxe Benjamin Netanyahu. He cleverly used the hype over Iran’s nuke plans to spin as much possible about his ‘evil’ neighbour to avoid to say too much about the death peace initiative between himself and the Palestinians. He certainly did not commit a half millimetre of sense by announcing, not even hinting, a freeze of Jewish settlement constructions. The big thorn in too many eyes and hearts. Obama and many around the world had hoped at least some gesture from Netanyahu. But nothing came. Nothing. The bunker mentality remains. Armed to the teeth and hearts filled with hate.
Netanyahu criticised the UN for not speaking out against Palestinian, especially Hamas, violence. He demanded UN resolutions against Hamas. It’s pretty evil spin coming from an Israeli PM. Since many years Israel has rejected calls and resolutions from the UN Security Council. But now he wants the UN to issue a resolution on Hamas. Get real. Stop the half-truths and the pack the crap. If you want UN action now, why not as a starter go back to Resolution 242 from 1967? A demand to withdraw from occupied territories. Those territories Israel still occupies today.
And how ridiculous is it to demand UN action now when you just rejected a UN investigative report by South African top judge Goldstone into the war on Gaza from earlier this year. Goldstone by the way who has serious credentials and comes from Jewish decent. It’s spin of the disgusting kind.
Announce a freeze of settlements and then demand that Hamas recognises the State of Israel. That would be a positive, bold move. Leaders lead. Good leaders lead good. Have the guts to break the mould and give peace a chance. Give hope a chance. Too many words and deeds from too many, especially right-wing, Israeli governments are a real disgrace to the victims of the Holocaust. Their ashes should be the fertile ground for an honest Jewish State, not for an oppressive one. And yes get solid military structures in place to defend yourself against mad denialists like Iran. But don’t cage the Palestinians into a camp and starve them to misery. Their prison-like conditions will only built hate and anger.
Oh and the UN bash had another show-element. The gathering voted unanimously for a nuke-free world. Can we all stand up and clap our hands now please. What a load of rubbish. Nice headlines and perfect champagne popping moment, but so detached from reality and so derailed by spin that it’s close to vomit. Let’s have a nuke-free worlds says Russia, the US, the UK, Israel, Iran, India, Pakistan, China, France,... It’s comedy central at the UN.
Let’s stay in NY for a bit.
CNN’s Christiane Amanpour interviewed mad Bob from Zimbabwe. You would kind of look forward to such an interview because mad Bob doesn’t give many interviews and you have the perception that Amanpour would do a hard-hitting job. Wrong. It was polished crap. Amanpour even got some of her basic facts wrong! And she didn’t go deep enough. It looked so much she was fishing for that 15 second headlining soundbite instead of having a solid discussion with the dictator. Really disappointing.
Anyway. The world is still spinning around. Human behaviour remains a tricky minefield of lost hope, disillusion and tons of spin. And champagne of course.
Throw out. NY’s Maximum Penalty hit the underground punkrock scene in 1989 with a bang. Hard-hitting with melodic rhythms and a unique vocal sound. Then after some years they disappeared. Well they are back. And with another bang. Their new album “Life & Times” is about to be released and is as solid as a rock. I’ve been privileged to have heard it already. 15 Tunes of solid punkrock with still that unique melodic voice of Jim Williams (a Muslim by the way). Nice to have them back.
C-Ya
collateral – as September 2009 is facing its showdown
The needle
Moments of so called quietness. Calm before the storm?
Or maybe news reports, news flashes, newspaper articles, web reports, radio bulletins, and news headlines haven’t been that catchy recently. Anyway....
The Afghan election just seems to be sliding deeper and deeper into confusion and misty depths of credibility loss. Still no final result and thus still no announcement on who is the next elected president. Outgoing president Karzai said that he feels the process is still smooth and hasn’t lost any integrity. He has to be on another planet or on serious medication, because nearly daily there are official reports of official complaints of election fraud. The whole process seems seriously undermined and losing credibility day by day, drip by drip. Of course Karzai has to say that as he sees himself as the winner of these elections and thus as the next president. A ruler with seriously damaged credibility. A president in a sand castle that is being blown to pieces by the mountain winds. And the bearded Taliban are just watching from the hilltops.
It’s a tough one for the international force that is there to keep the peace and to strengthen the democratic process and institutions. But that process now is like a leaking ship. Democracy in post-Taliban Afghanistan got a serious knock on the head. Confusion reigns. Credibility adrift. Respect dwindling. International support under pressure. Population losing hope and faith in democracy. Detached. What a dilemma for the international forces. Should they stay or should they go? Their dream of a solid democratic society is under attack from within. Fraud. Corruption. Legitimisation. Doubts. Fears. But going means likely the return of the Taliban. Which is pretty bad news for Afghanistan (especially for its female citizens) as well as for the region – especially rocky Pakistan with its own Taliban issues up in its northern region and the border mountains with Afghanistan. And when Pakistan gets more nervous and instable, neighbouring India gets edgier too. It’s the regional domino effect.
From disillusioned Afghan voters to angry European milk farmers. All happening at the same time on this little planet called Earth.
Spotted a photo of Belgian milk producers disposing of thousands of milk onto empty fields. What a waste! They say that producing milk is not worth it anymore because the milk price is too low. What a damn waste! I think German milk farmers did the same thing some days later. Angry copy cats. Why not distributing all that milk for free on markets around the country. Or free to schools. Or free to homeless shelters. Just wasting it away like they have done is an insult to the poor and the hungry on this globe.
Farmers seem always angry and complaining and agitated and in a foul mood. Maybe they drink not enough milk. Or maybe they don’t enjoy the joy of a good piece of cheese.
Human behaviour is a joke. Sour milk.
From one liquid to another. Venezuela has made a deal with China for some oil exploration in the Latin American nation. Washington must be getting nervous again. Last week or so Russia and Venezuela signed a missile deal. Now China comes drilling for oil in the US backyard. That Chavez guy is pushing the button. Of course no complaints because if you are hated by some you look for help and friendship somewhere else. It’s the way the cookie crumbles. China better watch out president Chavez doesn’t nationalise the oil fields once China did all the labour. But maybe Chavez behaves better within the circle of red star allies. The Sarah Palin brigade must be steaming. Steaming of hate. Lock and loaded. That creeping red monster is still alive. They thought uncle Reagan killed the commie dragon when the Soviet empire collapsed. But as the 21st Century gets rolling Russia is slowly back on the map, China’s might is growing faster than the muscles of a body builder on steroids, and Chavez is spreading the evil commie word in America’s garden. And on top of that the US voted for a black, Democrat president who wants to close Guantanamo, maybe talk to evil Iran, and put health reform before Congress. I think the reborn-Christian churches in the US have just gained thousands of new members. Living in fear of a black man in the White House and the creeping, advancing commies. The world must be coming to an end! God must have mercy for these poor American right wingers. Soon Bush Jr will hit the bottle again and Cheney will relocate to Argentina where he will start a colony with former Nazi offsprings. The world will never be the same again. Amen.
Oh, and on top of that the lethal injection for an inmate on death row in Ohio failed. The executioner could not find a vein! There are really no guarantees anymore.
I think the vein-less death row show has now turned into a legal battle. Should he die or should he live. The guy’s head must be spinning. I thought those executioners had some creativity. The needle doesn’t work, let’s move on to the next option. Bullet in the head. The death row machinery cannot be stopped because of a vein issue. Get real.
What a world out there. Afghanistan is a mess. Milk is being wasted in the north while people are starving in the south. Chavez is reaching out to the reds in China and Russia, while the Republicans are increasingly turning to prayers for some urgent answers. And the criminal didn’t die as per plan and his life is now a tussle between courts. The new world in all its glory. May we all have mercy. And some alcohol and Prozac too please. Urgency requested.
Oh and let’s not forget this story from India. A gambler in the east of this vast nation ‘lost’ his teenage daughter as he lost a poker game. I mean, he put his daughter as a price in a poker game. Collateral. How nuts is that? He had lost all his money, kept playing and came up with this ‘bright’ idea to put his own daughter forward as a price. It’s beyond reality. And the winner of the card game just happily ‘collects’ the daughter as his winning price and walks away with her. The cops are now looking for the girl. They should arrest the father and exchange him with the vein-less death row inmate in Ohio.
Human behaviour needs a very urgent reality check. Are we advancing the human race or is it two steps forward and three steps back?
Throw out. Had The Dents’ “Time for biting“ cd in my car this week. Boston tunes from 2006. Straightforward, uncompromised punkrock with female vocals. A kind of Ramones / Lunachicks / L7 combination. Good for driving.
C-Ya
collateral - 2nd half of September 2009
Or maybe news reports, news flashes, newspaper articles, web reports, radio bulletins, and news headlines haven’t been that catchy recently. Anyway....
The Afghan election just seems to be sliding deeper and deeper into confusion and misty depths of credibility loss. Still no final result and thus still no announcement on who is the next elected president. Outgoing president Karzai said that he feels the process is still smooth and hasn’t lost any integrity. He has to be on another planet or on serious medication, because nearly daily there are official reports of official complaints of election fraud. The whole process seems seriously undermined and losing credibility day by day, drip by drip. Of course Karzai has to say that as he sees himself as the winner of these elections and thus as the next president. A ruler with seriously damaged credibility. A president in a sand castle that is being blown to pieces by the mountain winds. And the bearded Taliban are just watching from the hilltops.
It’s a tough one for the international force that is there to keep the peace and to strengthen the democratic process and institutions. But that process now is like a leaking ship. Democracy in post-Taliban Afghanistan got a serious knock on the head. Confusion reigns. Credibility adrift. Respect dwindling. International support under pressure. Population losing hope and faith in democracy. Detached. What a dilemma for the international forces. Should they stay or should they go? Their dream of a solid democratic society is under attack from within. Fraud. Corruption. Legitimisation. Doubts. Fears. But going means likely the return of the Taliban. Which is pretty bad news for Afghanistan (especially for its female citizens) as well as for the region – especially rocky Pakistan with its own Taliban issues up in its northern region and the border mountains with Afghanistan. And when Pakistan gets more nervous and instable, neighbouring India gets edgier too. It’s the regional domino effect.
From disillusioned Afghan voters to angry European milk farmers. All happening at the same time on this little planet called Earth.
Spotted a photo of Belgian milk producers disposing of thousands of milk onto empty fields. What a waste! They say that producing milk is not worth it anymore because the milk price is too low. What a damn waste! I think German milk farmers did the same thing some days later. Angry copy cats. Why not distributing all that milk for free on markets around the country. Or free to schools. Or free to homeless shelters. Just wasting it away like they have done is an insult to the poor and the hungry on this globe.
Farmers seem always angry and complaining and agitated and in a foul mood. Maybe they drink not enough milk. Or maybe they don’t enjoy the joy of a good piece of cheese.
Human behaviour is a joke. Sour milk.
From one liquid to another. Venezuela has made a deal with China for some oil exploration in the Latin American nation. Washington must be getting nervous again. Last week or so Russia and Venezuela signed a missile deal. Now China comes drilling for oil in the US backyard. That Chavez guy is pushing the button. Of course no complaints because if you are hated by some you look for help and friendship somewhere else. It’s the way the cookie crumbles. China better watch out president Chavez doesn’t nationalise the oil fields once China did all the labour. But maybe Chavez behaves better within the circle of red star allies. The Sarah Palin brigade must be steaming. Steaming of hate. Lock and loaded. That creeping red monster is still alive. They thought uncle Reagan killed the commie dragon when the Soviet empire collapsed. But as the 21st Century gets rolling Russia is slowly back on the map, China’s might is growing faster than the muscles of a body builder on steroids, and Chavez is spreading the evil commie word in America’s garden. And on top of that the US voted for a black, Democrat president who wants to close Guantanamo, maybe talk to evil Iran, and put health reform before Congress. I think the reborn-Christian churches in the US have just gained thousands of new members. Living in fear of a black man in the White House and the creeping, advancing commies. The world must be coming to an end! God must have mercy for these poor American right wingers. Soon Bush Jr will hit the bottle again and Cheney will relocate to Argentina where he will start a colony with former Nazi offsprings. The world will never be the same again. Amen.
Oh, and on top of that the lethal injection for an inmate on death row in Ohio failed. The executioner could not find a vein! There are really no guarantees anymore.
I think the vein-less death row show has now turned into a legal battle. Should he die or should he live. The guy’s head must be spinning. I thought those executioners had some creativity. The needle doesn’t work, let’s move on to the next option. Bullet in the head. The death row machinery cannot be stopped because of a vein issue. Get real.
What a world out there. Afghanistan is a mess. Milk is being wasted in the north while people are starving in the south. Chavez is reaching out to the reds in China and Russia, while the Republicans are increasingly turning to prayers for some urgent answers. And the criminal didn’t die as per plan and his life is now a tussle between courts. The new world in all its glory. May we all have mercy. And some alcohol and Prozac too please. Urgency requested.
Oh and let’s not forget this story from India. A gambler in the east of this vast nation ‘lost’ his teenage daughter as he lost a poker game. I mean, he put his daughter as a price in a poker game. Collateral. How nuts is that? He had lost all his money, kept playing and came up with this ‘bright’ idea to put his own daughter forward as a price. It’s beyond reality. And the winner of the card game just happily ‘collects’ the daughter as his winning price and walks away with her. The cops are now looking for the girl. They should arrest the father and exchange him with the vein-less death row inmate in Ohio.
Human behaviour needs a very urgent reality check. Are we advancing the human race or is it two steps forward and three steps back?
Throw out. Had The Dents’ “Time for biting“ cd in my car this week. Boston tunes from 2006. Straightforward, uncompromised punkrock with female vocals. A kind of Ramones / Lunachicks / L7 combination. Good for driving.
C-Ya
collateral - 2nd half of September 2009
Guilty as charged!
When things go wrong they often go awfully wrong. The saga of South African athlete Casper Semanya who won the 800 meters final at the Berlin world championships is just raging on and on. And it is getting murkier and uglier, and some sports and political officials start getting lost in their own spin and lies and excuses.
And sadly the lovely Semanya is just lost in this rotten mix of politics and sports. The well-being of this young athlete seems to be abandoned by all. The day before the final in Berlin all hell broke loose. Australian papers put her gender in doubt. Semanya didn’t care and just did what she came to do in the German capital. Run and win. Got the gold medal and went home.
But the row sadly was hijacked by politics and a can of ugly worms was opened. Shouts of racism, abuse, double standards and colonial attitudes were thrown in the mix. The spin and the insults pushed the truth to the backroom. The international athletics federation announced that a gender test would be done and the results announced in November. South Africa went mad as hell.
Now an Australian paper revealed that those tests show that Semanya is inter-sex. She has no ovaries but small male genitals on the inside – which is a cancerous threat. So she is a female but with some male parts. It’s rare but it can happen. Obviously such revelation is – far and foremost – the most shocking for Semanya herself. And for her family. Especially living in rural South Africa such revelations can bring about unpleasant looks, comments and actions by the community. But the revelations got hijacked by ugly politics. Once again.
The South African sports minister calls the media together, blames the press for publishing the revelations, and threatens with world war 3 if Semanya’s sports future is threatened. The waters are getting murkier, the spin more complex and the web of lies wider.
What the minister avoids is that South Africa’s own athletics federation earlier this year did a gender test on Semanya without telling her. How ugly is that?!? Pure and simple abuse of the upper echelon. Hiding this disgust but screaming and shouting racism after Berlin. It’s pretty rotten to the core.
So let’s cut the crap and face reality. As ugly as it is, and how hard the spin is trying to avoid to look in the mirror.
The international athletics federation stands accused of leaking the results of the gender test. Human rights violation. Guilty!
The South African athletics body stands accused of lying about the gender test they did on Semanya before Berlin. Basic human violation. And it stands accused of racist slur. And it stands accused of not putting Semanya’s well-being (mentally and physically) at the heart of the matter. Guilty on all accounts!
The South African minister stands accused of crying wolf and attacking the messenger – the media. And he stands accused of talking tough without even first looking into the abuse by the South African athletics body back at home before even Semanya took the gold medal. Guilty!
A total rot that should be dealt with firmly and harshly. It’s all so sick and sad. Politics and sports sadly get mixed together. Hijacked. Taking down to the gutter. Used and abused. Just look at the history of the Olympics and you will see how the purity and innocence of sports never even makes a chance to survive a second. Human behaviour is an ugly affair.
My heart goes out to Semanya. Used by many. Abandoned by many. Be strong girl, and just be yourself. Respect!
And amidst the row a South African trashy magazine takes it one step further into the rot. They decided, for an undisclosed amount of cash, to publish a photo-spray of Semanya with a “real” female look: long hair, high heels, jewellery,... The ultimate abuse to push the “image” of how a women “should “ look. The ultimate abuse of the fight for gender equality. What a load of stinking crap! I hope at least Semanya got good cash for it but I fear the dirty tactics that might have been used towards her to accept doing such a photo shoot. Burn that magazine, burn!
Wow. That’s just a rotten situation. Ugly to the core.
Moving on. I see that that the fight for and against Obama’s health care plan is still raging across the US of A. Demonstrations in DC. Cries of socialism. The banners of a me-me-me society stand out. People seem madly obsessed about any State role. Sometimes I wonder how they want to built any type of society if there cannot be a central governing body. You need some kind of central hand on the steering wheel otherwise there won’t be any society but just a pile of individuals busy with only themselves. Still don’t get it what is so evil about trying that all American citizens can access some kind of medical aid.
Sports, politics, healthcare. From there to military games feels strangely an easy thing to do. Venezuelan president-for-life Chavez has bought Russian missiles. It must make Washington nervous. What hurts me is again the money wasted on arms and political machismo instead of lifting people out of poverty and investing in schools, hospitals, roads, housing. Cold war emotions in the 21st Century.
Back to Africa.
Hot seems unsafe. Kenya has banned the condom brand Hot. A Zambian product but produced in the United Kingdom. The name might have increased passion and lust, but using Hot’s condoms seemed as unsafe as just not using any latex protection at all. Official tests were done and Hot was proven deadly. And thus banned. Don’t play with people’s lives! Wonder where the blame lies. The Zambian company or the British manufacturer.
From sex in Kenya to suicides in France. A mind on the run. But all about human behavior.
The French labour minister Darcos is to meet the boss of France Telecom, the country’s largest telecommunications company. Nothing special at first sight.
But the minister is worried about the level of suicides amongst the company’s staff. It seems working for France Telecom is a stressful affair. 23 Employees have killed themselves since the beginning of 2008. Trade unions blame management for being tough and unreasonable on its staff since privatisation just over 10 years ago. France Telecom managers have looked for a way out of this bad publicity and went onto the internet. They did dome Google search and announced that the rate of suicides within the company is the same as the national average and thus..... no problem. So forget the hype and just move on. Just keep the body bags handy.
It’s a mad world out there. Political hijackings of a gold medal saga. Nightmares of creeping socialism in the US. I wonder when the first helpline for this will be opened in America. Chavez and his rockets. Conservative America must be having serious nightmares. Visions of communist evil through Obama’s health plan. And visions of communist rocket attacks from the US backyard. And they thought they had won the cold war under cowboy Ronald Reagan. Nightmares! But I’m sure some big pharmaceutical company in the US will come up with the ‘anti-left sleeping pill’. Another great opportunity to cash in. Cash in on fear. The US is really the land of endless opportunities. Meanwhile Kenya is Hot-less. And suicidal stress in France. And the world just keeps spinning. Dizzy. Gimme some medication of dizziness please. Dazed. A blur.
Human behaviour is a never-ending source of inspiration, frustration and madness. Is there any medication against humans?
Throw out. Wow, what a beauty! Pearl Jam covering Neil Young’s all time classic “Rockin’ in the free world” live in Melbourne in 2006 with a guest appearance by Bono. U2’s frontman was on his personal ‘Make Poverty History’ tour and jumped on stage to give the audience a unique performance alongside Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder. Rock history. And I just heard Pearl Jam’s new album “Backspacer”. To be released in the coming days. Great tunes. First reaction is that this album is much better than their last studio release. Pearl Jam is still going strong. Nearly 20 years now.
C-Ya
collateral – around September half-way mark
And sadly the lovely Semanya is just lost in this rotten mix of politics and sports. The well-being of this young athlete seems to be abandoned by all. The day before the final in Berlin all hell broke loose. Australian papers put her gender in doubt. Semanya didn’t care and just did what she came to do in the German capital. Run and win. Got the gold medal and went home.
But the row sadly was hijacked by politics and a can of ugly worms was opened. Shouts of racism, abuse, double standards and colonial attitudes were thrown in the mix. The spin and the insults pushed the truth to the backroom. The international athletics federation announced that a gender test would be done and the results announced in November. South Africa went mad as hell.
Now an Australian paper revealed that those tests show that Semanya is inter-sex. She has no ovaries but small male genitals on the inside – which is a cancerous threat. So she is a female but with some male parts. It’s rare but it can happen. Obviously such revelation is – far and foremost – the most shocking for Semanya herself. And for her family. Especially living in rural South Africa such revelations can bring about unpleasant looks, comments and actions by the community. But the revelations got hijacked by ugly politics. Once again.
The South African sports minister calls the media together, blames the press for publishing the revelations, and threatens with world war 3 if Semanya’s sports future is threatened. The waters are getting murkier, the spin more complex and the web of lies wider.
What the minister avoids is that South Africa’s own athletics federation earlier this year did a gender test on Semanya without telling her. How ugly is that?!? Pure and simple abuse of the upper echelon. Hiding this disgust but screaming and shouting racism after Berlin. It’s pretty rotten to the core.
So let’s cut the crap and face reality. As ugly as it is, and how hard the spin is trying to avoid to look in the mirror.
The international athletics federation stands accused of leaking the results of the gender test. Human rights violation. Guilty!
The South African athletics body stands accused of lying about the gender test they did on Semanya before Berlin. Basic human violation. And it stands accused of racist slur. And it stands accused of not putting Semanya’s well-being (mentally and physically) at the heart of the matter. Guilty on all accounts!
The South African minister stands accused of crying wolf and attacking the messenger – the media. And he stands accused of talking tough without even first looking into the abuse by the South African athletics body back at home before even Semanya took the gold medal. Guilty!
A total rot that should be dealt with firmly and harshly. It’s all so sick and sad. Politics and sports sadly get mixed together. Hijacked. Taking down to the gutter. Used and abused. Just look at the history of the Olympics and you will see how the purity and innocence of sports never even makes a chance to survive a second. Human behaviour is an ugly affair.
My heart goes out to Semanya. Used by many. Abandoned by many. Be strong girl, and just be yourself. Respect!
And amidst the row a South African trashy magazine takes it one step further into the rot. They decided, for an undisclosed amount of cash, to publish a photo-spray of Semanya with a “real” female look: long hair, high heels, jewellery,... The ultimate abuse to push the “image” of how a women “should “ look. The ultimate abuse of the fight for gender equality. What a load of stinking crap! I hope at least Semanya got good cash for it but I fear the dirty tactics that might have been used towards her to accept doing such a photo shoot. Burn that magazine, burn!
Wow. That’s just a rotten situation. Ugly to the core.
Moving on. I see that that the fight for and against Obama’s health care plan is still raging across the US of A. Demonstrations in DC. Cries of socialism. The banners of a me-me-me society stand out. People seem madly obsessed about any State role. Sometimes I wonder how they want to built any type of society if there cannot be a central governing body. You need some kind of central hand on the steering wheel otherwise there won’t be any society but just a pile of individuals busy with only themselves. Still don’t get it what is so evil about trying that all American citizens can access some kind of medical aid.
Sports, politics, healthcare. From there to military games feels strangely an easy thing to do. Venezuelan president-for-life Chavez has bought Russian missiles. It must make Washington nervous. What hurts me is again the money wasted on arms and political machismo instead of lifting people out of poverty and investing in schools, hospitals, roads, housing. Cold war emotions in the 21st Century.
Back to Africa.
Hot seems unsafe. Kenya has banned the condom brand Hot. A Zambian product but produced in the United Kingdom. The name might have increased passion and lust, but using Hot’s condoms seemed as unsafe as just not using any latex protection at all. Official tests were done and Hot was proven deadly. And thus banned. Don’t play with people’s lives! Wonder where the blame lies. The Zambian company or the British manufacturer.
From sex in Kenya to suicides in France. A mind on the run. But all about human behavior.
The French labour minister Darcos is to meet the boss of France Telecom, the country’s largest telecommunications company. Nothing special at first sight.
But the minister is worried about the level of suicides amongst the company’s staff. It seems working for France Telecom is a stressful affair. 23 Employees have killed themselves since the beginning of 2008. Trade unions blame management for being tough and unreasonable on its staff since privatisation just over 10 years ago. France Telecom managers have looked for a way out of this bad publicity and went onto the internet. They did dome Google search and announced that the rate of suicides within the company is the same as the national average and thus..... no problem. So forget the hype and just move on. Just keep the body bags handy.
It’s a mad world out there. Political hijackings of a gold medal saga. Nightmares of creeping socialism in the US. I wonder when the first helpline for this will be opened in America. Chavez and his rockets. Conservative America must be having serious nightmares. Visions of communist evil through Obama’s health plan. And visions of communist rocket attacks from the US backyard. And they thought they had won the cold war under cowboy Ronald Reagan. Nightmares! But I’m sure some big pharmaceutical company in the US will come up with the ‘anti-left sleeping pill’. Another great opportunity to cash in. Cash in on fear. The US is really the land of endless opportunities. Meanwhile Kenya is Hot-less. And suicidal stress in France. And the world just keeps spinning. Dizzy. Gimme some medication of dizziness please. Dazed. A blur.
Human behaviour is a never-ending source of inspiration, frustration and madness. Is there any medication against humans?
Throw out. Wow, what a beauty! Pearl Jam covering Neil Young’s all time classic “Rockin’ in the free world” live in Melbourne in 2006 with a guest appearance by Bono. U2’s frontman was on his personal ‘Make Poverty History’ tour and jumped on stage to give the audience a unique performance alongside Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder. Rock history. And I just heard Pearl Jam’s new album “Backspacer”. To be released in the coming days. Great tunes. First reaction is that this album is much better than their last studio release. Pearl Jam is still going strong. Nearly 20 years now.
C-Ya
collateral – around September half-way mark
Winston
Putting that X on the ballot paper is serious business. It’s a very vital part of building a democratic, just society. Be it in darkest Africa, or be it in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Speaking of Afghanistan. The elections there seem a distant memory but still no final results. The counting is still ongoing. Mad. It’s poisonous to take such a long time to count the X’s. The longer you wait the more tension and stories – true or false – of unfairness and rigging. Already now there are hundreds of official complaints that have been lodged. Doubts if it all went right or wrong are growing. And the releasing of results drip by drip doesn’t help as it fuels the tensions and rumours and doubts and speculations. Afghanistan on the edge.
So we are still waiting. But ever-growing doubts that whoever wins these elections will not be accepted by all – especially amidst the pile of complaints of election fraud. And what’s next? The international force troop level was increased to improve safety during the election period. But what’s next? These extra troops can’t stay there for too long. Especially as pressure back home from where these troops come - be it Germany or the UK or the US – is growing to bring the boys (and girls) back home. The vision of a long, endless mission is growing. The ghost of Vietnam is creeping down the graveyards and into the communities. There is no easy solution. And certainly not as the international community keeps making mistakes with civilians casualties by error-airstrikes, and keeps changing its social and economic policy and approach towards the farming community across Afghanistan. And amidst all that the poppy culture is just growing and growing across the land. Hello heroin addicts!
Every second of every day. That is how democracy is built. Not by blitz actions or political propaganda. It’s a process that needs nourishing on a constant basis.
Elections soon also in Germany. The issue of troop presence in Afghanistan is playing heavily in the election race in Europe’s heartland. But current prime minister Merkel seems reasonably solid and very hopeful to stay in office. Germany is a great example of stability and solid democracy. Coming out of the ashes of world war two and fascism it has turned into some kind of model state. Not that it is paradise and all is perfect. It just has built up very solid democratic, social and judicial structures from which many countries can learn. It has somewhat an external image of a boring place, but Germany as a nation with its schools, hospitals, social benefits, voting rights, workers rights, free market approach,... has done very well. No doubt about that. Respect where respect is due.
From a good example to a rotten one. The one puts the other one in perspective.
Gabon on Africa’s west coast. A dictatorship since independence. The longest serving man-in-power of Africa. A fiefdom of an undemocratic ruler protected by its former coloniser France amidst a pool of harsh poverty. So the president-king dies. Old age. Under pressure of changing times elections are organised. The dictator’s son wants to continue the family reign. He wins the elections, but in Gabon a single majority wins. So you don’t need more than 50% percent to take the crown. Whoever got the most votes - even if it only represents 40% of the casted votes – takes it all. And the dictator’s son wins. Takes the power. Elections to continue a royal-style rule. Violent clashes and deaths in Gabon’s 2nd city. But the world moves on. Gabon’s vast majority goes back to survival mode. The pool of poverty just doesn’t dry up. And the ruling family - and its supporting maffia - can continue to cash in on Gabon’s oil wealth and use private jets to go to Paris for hair treatments, dentist appointments and lavish parties with caviar and French champagne. Meanwhile the masses fight for the rotten crumbs on the city’s trash site.
Speaking of oil. I picked up that some American senator or member of Congress is angry that Scotland released the Libyan Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds. The killer is apparently at heaven’s door (or wherever he goes after his last breath) because of cancer. Remember the dude was sentenced to life for being the orchestrator of the bombing of the Pan Am flight over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. I think it was in the 80s. And it was a bloodbath.
So the US politician now madly screams that Scotland – who had the legal authority and not London – released the mass killer to ‘soften’ possible oil deals between the UK and Libya in the near future. So he claims that a trade deal is at the heart of the release and thus that British trade opportunities have torpedoed British justice.
It’s pretty thick coming from a US politician. The whole American foreign policy is based on business deals and trade opportunities. Who the hell is this American politician to become holier than thou? It’s ridiculous. Look inside your own policy making first before going on a verbal rampage against others.
Of course trade relations always play a role in political decisions. And with political decisions I mean the wider set of policy making, and thus also political undercurrents of judicial decisions, or political aspects of human rights criticism, or trade reasons to ‘export’ democracy or keep silent on dictators. It’s all over the world the same tune. Big bucks drives policy.
So can this US politician just shut up and get real. Double standards freak! Taking ‘ethical’ advice on foreign policy decision from a US senator or Congress member is like asking Italian prime minister and loverboy Berlusconi guidelines on being faithful. Or asking China advice on multi-party democracy. Or Sudan about internal war crimes. Or Zimbabwe’s nutter Mugabe about fair elections and solid economic policies. Or Canada about football aka soccer. Or Iran about fair trials for political opponents. Or Venezuelan president Chavez about free media. Or India about traffic regulations. It’s all a sour joke.
Human behaviour is a sickening process of being deaf, dumb and blind.
And what is all this fuss about Obama’s video to kids about the importance of doing well at school and studying hard. What’s all this rightwing venom about socialism and indoctrinating kids? Where were these same loudmouths when cowboy Reagan, Bush Sr, and Bush Jr all went to schools themselves to address kids directly? I didn’t hear those scaremongers then. Nice and quiet back then.
And Bush Jr even held the schoolbook upside down in front of the youngsters. Remember that famous picture of Bush Jr in the classroom on that day of infamy – 9/11? What an example is that to the youth of America? I am your president but can’t even recognize I am holding a children’s book upside down. What about that? Too dumb to recognize dumbness.
Rightwing, conservative America still just can’t grip reality that a black man is in the white house. It is just beyond their wildest dreams. Reality has crossed the Rubicon. Talking communism and indoctrination about Obama’s “learn good”- speech to school kids, but no word about brainwash when they teach about God & guns to their own children. Just a bunch of frustrated, narrow minded cavemen. And keep in mind we are not talking about the Republican party in the good old Eisenhower tradition. No, the Republican party has turned into a nasty frustrated fringe clan for the likes of cold war addict Palin, torturer Cheney and muscle freak Schwarzenegger. Welcome to reality.
I heard somebody on the radio yesterday saying the classic line that today was the first day of the rest of his life. First price for smartness. Yesterday was also the most recent day of your past. And tomorrow is the second day of the rest of your life. If tomorrow comes! Wow, give that guy a medal for being so smart that I just can’t grasp his intellectual capacity. Kick that.
From school kids, Palin, elections and dirty politics to a pigeon. All in a day’s work.
This is a cool one. South Africa isn’t taking top prices for its internet speed nor for its internet roll out nor for its sky high internet costs. It’s far down on the world scale for all of those.
So there was this one small company that got fed up with its slow, “professional” internet connection through South Africa’s state telecoms company Telkom. So a frustrated employee joked that it would be faster to send the documents with a pigeon. Old style.
Well the joke was put to the test. And here enters Winston the pigeon into the fray. Winston got a 4 gig document put on his leg – on a small USB stick or something like that. The pigeon was released in an office with the goal to fly to another office some distance away. At the same time of Winston’s release the office in the destination location would start downloading that same document.
So you see where this is going, right? Winston reaches destination after a 2 hour flight. As he (or maybe it was a she) clocks in the downloading of that document has only done 4% so far. 4% Of the 4 gig size document. After 2 hours! Kick that. Winston for president!! Telkom board up for resignation please.
Throw out. For no specific reason I decided to listen to Avoid One Thing’s self titled debut album from 2002. Boston tunes with vocals and bass by Joe Gittleman who is more known for his 4 string action in Boston’s famous ska-rock band The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Avoid One Thing brings catchy punk rock. Like it.
C-Ya
collateral – September 2009
Speaking of Afghanistan. The elections there seem a distant memory but still no final results. The counting is still ongoing. Mad. It’s poisonous to take such a long time to count the X’s. The longer you wait the more tension and stories – true or false – of unfairness and rigging. Already now there are hundreds of official complaints that have been lodged. Doubts if it all went right or wrong are growing. And the releasing of results drip by drip doesn’t help as it fuels the tensions and rumours and doubts and speculations. Afghanistan on the edge.
So we are still waiting. But ever-growing doubts that whoever wins these elections will not be accepted by all – especially amidst the pile of complaints of election fraud. And what’s next? The international force troop level was increased to improve safety during the election period. But what’s next? These extra troops can’t stay there for too long. Especially as pressure back home from where these troops come - be it Germany or the UK or the US – is growing to bring the boys (and girls) back home. The vision of a long, endless mission is growing. The ghost of Vietnam is creeping down the graveyards and into the communities. There is no easy solution. And certainly not as the international community keeps making mistakes with civilians casualties by error-airstrikes, and keeps changing its social and economic policy and approach towards the farming community across Afghanistan. And amidst all that the poppy culture is just growing and growing across the land. Hello heroin addicts!
Every second of every day. That is how democracy is built. Not by blitz actions or political propaganda. It’s a process that needs nourishing on a constant basis.
Elections soon also in Germany. The issue of troop presence in Afghanistan is playing heavily in the election race in Europe’s heartland. But current prime minister Merkel seems reasonably solid and very hopeful to stay in office. Germany is a great example of stability and solid democracy. Coming out of the ashes of world war two and fascism it has turned into some kind of model state. Not that it is paradise and all is perfect. It just has built up very solid democratic, social and judicial structures from which many countries can learn. It has somewhat an external image of a boring place, but Germany as a nation with its schools, hospitals, social benefits, voting rights, workers rights, free market approach,... has done very well. No doubt about that. Respect where respect is due.
From a good example to a rotten one. The one puts the other one in perspective.
Gabon on Africa’s west coast. A dictatorship since independence. The longest serving man-in-power of Africa. A fiefdom of an undemocratic ruler protected by its former coloniser France amidst a pool of harsh poverty. So the president-king dies. Old age. Under pressure of changing times elections are organised. The dictator’s son wants to continue the family reign. He wins the elections, but in Gabon a single majority wins. So you don’t need more than 50% percent to take the crown. Whoever got the most votes - even if it only represents 40% of the casted votes – takes it all. And the dictator’s son wins. Takes the power. Elections to continue a royal-style rule. Violent clashes and deaths in Gabon’s 2nd city. But the world moves on. Gabon’s vast majority goes back to survival mode. The pool of poverty just doesn’t dry up. And the ruling family - and its supporting maffia - can continue to cash in on Gabon’s oil wealth and use private jets to go to Paris for hair treatments, dentist appointments and lavish parties with caviar and French champagne. Meanwhile the masses fight for the rotten crumbs on the city’s trash site.
Speaking of oil. I picked up that some American senator or member of Congress is angry that Scotland released the Libyan Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds. The killer is apparently at heaven’s door (or wherever he goes after his last breath) because of cancer. Remember the dude was sentenced to life for being the orchestrator of the bombing of the Pan Am flight over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. I think it was in the 80s. And it was a bloodbath.
So the US politician now madly screams that Scotland – who had the legal authority and not London – released the mass killer to ‘soften’ possible oil deals between the UK and Libya in the near future. So he claims that a trade deal is at the heart of the release and thus that British trade opportunities have torpedoed British justice.
It’s pretty thick coming from a US politician. The whole American foreign policy is based on business deals and trade opportunities. Who the hell is this American politician to become holier than thou? It’s ridiculous. Look inside your own policy making first before going on a verbal rampage against others.
Of course trade relations always play a role in political decisions. And with political decisions I mean the wider set of policy making, and thus also political undercurrents of judicial decisions, or political aspects of human rights criticism, or trade reasons to ‘export’ democracy or keep silent on dictators. It’s all over the world the same tune. Big bucks drives policy.
So can this US politician just shut up and get real. Double standards freak! Taking ‘ethical’ advice on foreign policy decision from a US senator or Congress member is like asking Italian prime minister and loverboy Berlusconi guidelines on being faithful. Or asking China advice on multi-party democracy. Or Sudan about internal war crimes. Or Zimbabwe’s nutter Mugabe about fair elections and solid economic policies. Or Canada about football aka soccer. Or Iran about fair trials for political opponents. Or Venezuelan president Chavez about free media. Or India about traffic regulations. It’s all a sour joke.
Human behaviour is a sickening process of being deaf, dumb and blind.
And what is all this fuss about Obama’s video to kids about the importance of doing well at school and studying hard. What’s all this rightwing venom about socialism and indoctrinating kids? Where were these same loudmouths when cowboy Reagan, Bush Sr, and Bush Jr all went to schools themselves to address kids directly? I didn’t hear those scaremongers then. Nice and quiet back then.
And Bush Jr even held the schoolbook upside down in front of the youngsters. Remember that famous picture of Bush Jr in the classroom on that day of infamy – 9/11? What an example is that to the youth of America? I am your president but can’t even recognize I am holding a children’s book upside down. What about that? Too dumb to recognize dumbness.
Rightwing, conservative America still just can’t grip reality that a black man is in the white house. It is just beyond their wildest dreams. Reality has crossed the Rubicon. Talking communism and indoctrination about Obama’s “learn good”- speech to school kids, but no word about brainwash when they teach about God & guns to their own children. Just a bunch of frustrated, narrow minded cavemen. And keep in mind we are not talking about the Republican party in the good old Eisenhower tradition. No, the Republican party has turned into a nasty frustrated fringe clan for the likes of cold war addict Palin, torturer Cheney and muscle freak Schwarzenegger. Welcome to reality.
I heard somebody on the radio yesterday saying the classic line that today was the first day of the rest of his life. First price for smartness. Yesterday was also the most recent day of your past. And tomorrow is the second day of the rest of your life. If tomorrow comes! Wow, give that guy a medal for being so smart that I just can’t grasp his intellectual capacity. Kick that.
From school kids, Palin, elections and dirty politics to a pigeon. All in a day’s work.
This is a cool one. South Africa isn’t taking top prices for its internet speed nor for its internet roll out nor for its sky high internet costs. It’s far down on the world scale for all of those.
So there was this one small company that got fed up with its slow, “professional” internet connection through South Africa’s state telecoms company Telkom. So a frustrated employee joked that it would be faster to send the documents with a pigeon. Old style.
Well the joke was put to the test. And here enters Winston the pigeon into the fray. Winston got a 4 gig document put on his leg – on a small USB stick or something like that. The pigeon was released in an office with the goal to fly to another office some distance away. At the same time of Winston’s release the office in the destination location would start downloading that same document.
So you see where this is going, right? Winston reaches destination after a 2 hour flight. As he (or maybe it was a she) clocks in the downloading of that document has only done 4% so far. 4% Of the 4 gig size document. After 2 hours! Kick that. Winston for president!! Telkom board up for resignation please.
Throw out. For no specific reason I decided to listen to Avoid One Thing’s self titled debut album from 2002. Boston tunes with vocals and bass by Joe Gittleman who is more known for his 4 string action in Boston’s famous ska-rock band The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Avoid One Thing brings catchy punk rock. Like it.
C-Ya
collateral – September 2009
Sum of all fears
Using fear to win votes. It’s sickening and disgusting.
Former US homeland security boss Tom Ridge claims in a new book that high-end officials of George Bush Jr pressured him to raise the so called terror alert level before the American presidential elections of 2004. These were the elections Bush won against Democrat Kerry. It started Bush’s second, devastating term in office.
How sick is that? Use the state apparatus to spread fear, create worries and crudely play on people’s survival emotions in the hope to win the elections. If North Korea or Zimbabwe or Iran would do this, the White House would scream and shout for days and days. Threats of war and annihilation would be uttered.
What effect would such heightened terror scare have had on the US stock exchange, on people’s travel plans, on racism, on hate,…? Mad. Politics is always and everywhere a dirty game, but this is criminal.
Ridge specifically mentions Donald Rumsfeld, who was US Secretary of Defense back then, and then Attorney General John Ashcroft as the culprits in these ugly mind games. Rumsfeld warmongering and narrow-minded worldview was very public during Bush’s presidency. He only believed in God and guns. Supremacy from a fascist kind.
The pressure from the Bush aides to raise the terror alert before the poll was already back in 2004 questioned by many as a disgusting move to try to shift the attention from the failing war in Iraq to the war on terror. Hiding failing policy decisions behind patriotism, religion, and so called traditional values – whatever that really means. It’s emotional blackmail at a grand scale.
Ugly manipulation of the State’s mechanisms for simplistic electoral gain. It’s rot. Pure, stinking rot. I wonder in which chapter of the Bible Bush finds spiritual approval for such actions.
Investigate, charge, bring to justice, sentence, lock away.
And add to that Bush’s aides openly lying to the UN Security Council about Iraq’s links to caveman Bin Laden and about Saddam’s readiness to have nukes. Fabrication of lies. Rot! Taking your country and its citizens to war based on lies is a criminal act. It’s treason. As simple as that. Treason of the highest kind. And not too long in history treason got the death penalty. Back at the ranch in Texas Bush Jr is still trying to get the blood of his hands. Corrupted soul.
Human behaviour is sadly again a sadly affair.
From terror alerts to plane crash alerts is a very small step.
The fire brigade from the Dutch town of Edelburg was in full swing. Red alert. All men to station. A women had called in and said she witnessed a plane crash.
This was a tragedy the local fire boys (and maybe girls too) had never to tackle before. This was a first and it was big. So of they went full speed and with all sirens and blue lights on. Racing to the crash site and alerting neighbouring towns that extra help might be needed. This would be a long day and a long night. Stories of death, destruction, heroism and loss would be told to the next generation of fire fighters in Edelburg.
Or so it seemed.
As they drove and drove, no crashed plane was spotted. No smoke, no fire, no pieces of metal. Nothing. Nowhere. Not a living soul nor dead ones.
It all became clear soon after. The eye witness did indeed saw a plane crash. But it was a model plane that crashed. One of those toy planes that people pilot from a distance on the ground with one of those remote controls. Maybe the eye witness needs new glasses.
From plane crashes to emotional crashes. Just a heart beat away.
The newspaper calls it a date from hell. Maybe not really that dramatic, although pretty bad. Maybe the grill flamed burgers added the hellish atmosphere.
The town is Detroit (in the US) and the joint is Buffalo Wild Wings. Girl goes out on a first date with a man. It happens all the time. Sometimes it leads to love and marriage. Sometimes it ends up being a big disappointment. Sometimes there is a one night stand and that’s all. But this was a date with a differrent outcome. Less predictable.
No clue how the meal and the conversation went. But as the dinner-date comes to an end the man asks the girl for her car keys as he says he left his wallet in her Chevrolet. A real gentleman she thinks as he seems willing to pay for the dinner. Recession or no recession, the traditional rules of the game still apply.
Or so it seems.
The gentleman doesn’t come back to the Buffalo Wild Wings but hits the road with her Chevrolet. Not so gentle in the end it seems. So the girl ends up the evening with no date and no car. But justice prevails. And the not so gentle man gets caught and will face the strong arm of the law. Nice try but fools like that can spend some time behind bars thinking twice about love and life.
Speaking of an encounter from hell. A real one this time. An unbelievable one. Too much beyond imagination but sadly real. Very real. Brutally real. Criminally real. Insanely real.
If you haven’t heard of the story, you’ve lived either on Mars or in a cave over the last days. 18 Years ago an 11 year old girl gets kidnapped. Last week she is found alive. She was kidnapped by a sex offender. That’s the polite word. Call it a sexual monster. A sexual nutcase. A sexual freak. MonsterPhillip Garrido kept her in a secluded part of his Californian garden in tents and storerooms. Caged like an animal. And he raped her. Which resulted in fathering two kids with his kidnapped victim. Two kids, now teeangers, whom never been to school or an ice cream shop, or played with other kids. Two kids whom have no clue about the world out there. Madness. Delirium. So sad it’s beyond grasping.
Oh yeah, monster Garrido was married too. The wife seems just detached from reality as much as he is. But the top of all this misery is that Garrido was sentenced to 50 years in jail sometime in the 80s for sex crimes. But guess what, he was released after 11 years. Kick that! So he was released from jail after serving only one fifth of his sentence (for sex crimes!) and went straight back to his old, evil ways and kidnapped that little girl called Jaycee Lee.
Jaycee Lee has now been re-united with her family. It is impossible to even remotely imagine how that must have been. And now these 2 kids, fathered by a rapist and till now grown up like caged animals, must catch up with reality. Catch up with the world out there. Live, learn, play, feel, know, understand. How do they cope with this tragedy?
Oh yeah I forgot. Garrido claimed that he found God when he left jail after 11 years. Sorry but God wont save you this time (hopefully). I don’t think kidnapping, rape and locking people up in your backyard are anywhere in God’s scripts. Correction. The scrips of his disciples I should say otherwise I get all those religious people getting into blasphemy mode.
And for Garrido and his wife. No mercy. No mercy at all. Zero. They are not humans. They are even less than animals. Much less. Animals kill their prey, they don’t keep them locked till insanity. Castration of sexual offenders might be an option to think about. I am a strong defender of human rights, but “neutralising” their sexual “weaponry” seems an acceptable way to go for sexual predators like Garrido.
Human behavior is a mystery. Too often an insanely sad mystery.
Throw out. As I spotted some remarks about the US punkrock band Down By Law on a music blog, I dropped the band’s “punkrockacademyfightsong” (yes written like that) in my car cd recently. It’s been a while since I listened to Down By Law, but I was reminded that I indeed do like them. The album I listened to is from 1994. Down By Law was Dave Smalley’s band after his milestone efforts with so called emo-core outfit Dag Nasty more than 20 years ago. Smalley entered the underground punk scene in the early 80s with a band called D.Y.S., and besides Dag Nasty and Down By Law he also played in All and in the kind-of-mod-revival-project The Sharpshooters. For me Dag Nasty’s 1986 debut album “Can I Say” remains Smalley’s best overall. Purely amazing tunes with great lyrics. Punkrock history.
C-Ya
collateral – some day in the 36th week of 2009
Former US homeland security boss Tom Ridge claims in a new book that high-end officials of George Bush Jr pressured him to raise the so called terror alert level before the American presidential elections of 2004. These were the elections Bush won against Democrat Kerry. It started Bush’s second, devastating term in office.
How sick is that? Use the state apparatus to spread fear, create worries and crudely play on people’s survival emotions in the hope to win the elections. If North Korea or Zimbabwe or Iran would do this, the White House would scream and shout for days and days. Threats of war and annihilation would be uttered.
What effect would such heightened terror scare have had on the US stock exchange, on people’s travel plans, on racism, on hate,…? Mad. Politics is always and everywhere a dirty game, but this is criminal.
Ridge specifically mentions Donald Rumsfeld, who was US Secretary of Defense back then, and then Attorney General John Ashcroft as the culprits in these ugly mind games. Rumsfeld warmongering and narrow-minded worldview was very public during Bush’s presidency. He only believed in God and guns. Supremacy from a fascist kind.
The pressure from the Bush aides to raise the terror alert before the poll was already back in 2004 questioned by many as a disgusting move to try to shift the attention from the failing war in Iraq to the war on terror. Hiding failing policy decisions behind patriotism, religion, and so called traditional values – whatever that really means. It’s emotional blackmail at a grand scale.
Ugly manipulation of the State’s mechanisms for simplistic electoral gain. It’s rot. Pure, stinking rot. I wonder in which chapter of the Bible Bush finds spiritual approval for such actions.
Investigate, charge, bring to justice, sentence, lock away.
And add to that Bush’s aides openly lying to the UN Security Council about Iraq’s links to caveman Bin Laden and about Saddam’s readiness to have nukes. Fabrication of lies. Rot! Taking your country and its citizens to war based on lies is a criminal act. It’s treason. As simple as that. Treason of the highest kind. And not too long in history treason got the death penalty. Back at the ranch in Texas Bush Jr is still trying to get the blood of his hands. Corrupted soul.
Human behaviour is sadly again a sadly affair.
From terror alerts to plane crash alerts is a very small step.
The fire brigade from the Dutch town of Edelburg was in full swing. Red alert. All men to station. A women had called in and said she witnessed a plane crash.
This was a tragedy the local fire boys (and maybe girls too) had never to tackle before. This was a first and it was big. So of they went full speed and with all sirens and blue lights on. Racing to the crash site and alerting neighbouring towns that extra help might be needed. This would be a long day and a long night. Stories of death, destruction, heroism and loss would be told to the next generation of fire fighters in Edelburg.
Or so it seemed.
As they drove and drove, no crashed plane was spotted. No smoke, no fire, no pieces of metal. Nothing. Nowhere. Not a living soul nor dead ones.
It all became clear soon after. The eye witness did indeed saw a plane crash. But it was a model plane that crashed. One of those toy planes that people pilot from a distance on the ground with one of those remote controls. Maybe the eye witness needs new glasses.
From plane crashes to emotional crashes. Just a heart beat away.
The newspaper calls it a date from hell. Maybe not really that dramatic, although pretty bad. Maybe the grill flamed burgers added the hellish atmosphere.
The town is Detroit (in the US) and the joint is Buffalo Wild Wings. Girl goes out on a first date with a man. It happens all the time. Sometimes it leads to love and marriage. Sometimes it ends up being a big disappointment. Sometimes there is a one night stand and that’s all. But this was a date with a differrent outcome. Less predictable.
No clue how the meal and the conversation went. But as the dinner-date comes to an end the man asks the girl for her car keys as he says he left his wallet in her Chevrolet. A real gentleman she thinks as he seems willing to pay for the dinner. Recession or no recession, the traditional rules of the game still apply.
Or so it seems.
The gentleman doesn’t come back to the Buffalo Wild Wings but hits the road with her Chevrolet. Not so gentle in the end it seems. So the girl ends up the evening with no date and no car. But justice prevails. And the not so gentle man gets caught and will face the strong arm of the law. Nice try but fools like that can spend some time behind bars thinking twice about love and life.
Speaking of an encounter from hell. A real one this time. An unbelievable one. Too much beyond imagination but sadly real. Very real. Brutally real. Criminally real. Insanely real.
If you haven’t heard of the story, you’ve lived either on Mars or in a cave over the last days. 18 Years ago an 11 year old girl gets kidnapped. Last week she is found alive. She was kidnapped by a sex offender. That’s the polite word. Call it a sexual monster. A sexual nutcase. A sexual freak. MonsterPhillip Garrido kept her in a secluded part of his Californian garden in tents and storerooms. Caged like an animal. And he raped her. Which resulted in fathering two kids with his kidnapped victim. Two kids, now teeangers, whom never been to school or an ice cream shop, or played with other kids. Two kids whom have no clue about the world out there. Madness. Delirium. So sad it’s beyond grasping.
Oh yeah, monster Garrido was married too. The wife seems just detached from reality as much as he is. But the top of all this misery is that Garrido was sentenced to 50 years in jail sometime in the 80s for sex crimes. But guess what, he was released after 11 years. Kick that! So he was released from jail after serving only one fifth of his sentence (for sex crimes!) and went straight back to his old, evil ways and kidnapped that little girl called Jaycee Lee.
Jaycee Lee has now been re-united with her family. It is impossible to even remotely imagine how that must have been. And now these 2 kids, fathered by a rapist and till now grown up like caged animals, must catch up with reality. Catch up with the world out there. Live, learn, play, feel, know, understand. How do they cope with this tragedy?
Oh yeah I forgot. Garrido claimed that he found God when he left jail after 11 years. Sorry but God wont save you this time (hopefully). I don’t think kidnapping, rape and locking people up in your backyard are anywhere in God’s scripts. Correction. The scrips of his disciples I should say otherwise I get all those religious people getting into blasphemy mode.
And for Garrido and his wife. No mercy. No mercy at all. Zero. They are not humans. They are even less than animals. Much less. Animals kill their prey, they don’t keep them locked till insanity. Castration of sexual offenders might be an option to think about. I am a strong defender of human rights, but “neutralising” their sexual “weaponry” seems an acceptable way to go for sexual predators like Garrido.
Human behavior is a mystery. Too often an insanely sad mystery.
Throw out. As I spotted some remarks about the US punkrock band Down By Law on a music blog, I dropped the band’s “punkrockacademyfightsong” (yes written like that) in my car cd recently. It’s been a while since I listened to Down By Law, but I was reminded that I indeed do like them. The album I listened to is from 1994. Down By Law was Dave Smalley’s band after his milestone efforts with so called emo-core outfit Dag Nasty more than 20 years ago. Smalley entered the underground punk scene in the early 80s with a band called D.Y.S., and besides Dag Nasty and Down By Law he also played in All and in the kind-of-mod-revival-project The Sharpshooters. For me Dag Nasty’s 1986 debut album “Can I Say” remains Smalley’s best overall. Purely amazing tunes with great lyrics. Punkrock history.
C-Ya
collateral – some day in the 36th week of 2009
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