Things on my mind: Krauthammer and Tarantino

Let us begin with Charles Krauthammer. This man is arguably one of the few conservative intellectuals left in a party that is slowly but surely turning into right-wing bottom dwellers. He went ahead this week and made the comment that "Environmentalism is the new socialism." Of course the lovely hosts that had him on their show didn´t really question him on such a broad statement (with all due respect, his bed buddies at Fox News don´t know how to ask serious questions). What could this really mean? For one thing it could mean that there is some conspiracy (like the Reds in the days of yore) to take over the world with Environmentalism as the banner to unite us all. That would be what is known as a conspiracy theory. Is Krauthammer that dumb or is he playing to the generally white, middle aged male audience who is watching? He could be suggesting it is a threat to our freedom (which is the standard Republican playing card) like socialism was (that is of course a matter for another debate). How would he imply freedom here though?

Most likely he is suggesting that governments are using environmentalism to interfere with our everyday lives and ability to make a living. Because you own a piece of land does not mean you can do whatever you like with it. For instance if I wanted to build my own nuclear powerplant on my property, it does not mean that my rights are violated if the government says no (instead it means they are looking out for a more common good). Of course now I am a socialist by making the suggestion that government is for the benefit of their own citizens. If it wasn´t then there would be no point in having it (as we could all do so much better). The market economy of the world has failed to solve our problems and instead of curing our cancer has given us viagra.

Let us return to the environmentalism. There is no secret group of environmentalists infiltrating the government in an attempt to take over. This is Fox News fantasy at best and pure stupidity at its worst. Note also that a clean planet would be a lot better for people then some smog chocked world where industry is given all its desires on a silver plate.

To other things then. I recently watched Tarantino´s Inglorious Basterds and had some after thoughts. The only actor worth a damn was the German who played Hans Landa SS. Tarantino plays with history here and the effect is actually disturbing: in his version a crack group of violent murderers is able to end the war and by doing so will have an SS officer, whose job it was to track down Jews, as the allied hero. Seen from that angle the story falls apart. I would have preferred a western approach that stressed character development a bit more. The time issue could have been stretched a bit more and not hurt the overall final version. Tarantino can do better than this, a lot better.

Todays Profile: a man who is a threat to the very country he claims to serve

Ladies and Gentlemen, today I present you with Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) as the biggest threat to the United States. Of course Mr. Inhofe doesn´t think of himself this way in the least and instead thinks of himself as someone who is protecting the United States from everything Mr. Inhofe is against (which is a lot of things). If the right wing dominionist movement would ever have a sympathetic ear in the US government, that ear would certainly belong to Inhofe.

He believes that the United States is a Christian nation (despite the founding fathers saying otherwise) and he does not believe in Climate Change (no not one little bit). In fact he believes it to be the biggest hoax ever played against the United States (right behind his belief that there is no separation of church and state). This also makes Mr. Inhofe a conspiracy theorist: meaning he believes that there is a giant conspiracy between the media (so wise to lump them all together) and scientists to destroy the US government´s standing through climate change laws. He is also an avid hater of gay people and thinks in fact that they should be discriminated against. Anyone who votes for such a man should take a good long look in the mirror and ask themselves whether or not they are in touch with reality.

Weekend Approaching

The weekend is essentially here, well I mean at 16:00 on a Friday I am going to call WEEKEND! Of course in my case this means that tonight I am off and then I have work Saturday and Sunday. After Sunday I will be officially unemployed as the pizzeria I am working at for the moment is simply not making enough money to have me working there. Cést la vie says I.

Its too bad of course, but this just means that I will have to put more effort into finding a real job which its about time to find. There is also a messy fight going on between the owners at the pizzeria and while I like them both, I do not wish to witness the whole disintegrate first hand. So this weekend maybe I will go for a swim or maybe for a little skate (depending on the weather of course).


Otherwise not much else going on. I went to see 1. FC Köln play Hertha BSC a few weeks ago and here is a photo from said event.

Centrism, the death of the US, and how I feel

This notion of bi-partisanship is dead in the US and for the time it should remain that way. Why comes the shout from the peanut gallery? The Republican party has fuck-all when it comes to answers as to how to solve things. No thats not right, they have exactly the same ideas they had eight years ago and even earlier all the way back to Reagan; lower the taxes and everything will solve itself. This idea that one persons personal greed can translate into fulfilling the needs of others is so beyond idiotic that its amazing they can still sell it.

The way they do it is have you believe that starting now, you can be a millionaire before you know it. Everyone can is the fairy tale line that has been the staple of the conservative party. Never mind that they are only interested in helping certain types of people and would like rights only for those who agree with them (or how else can DADT or Protection for Heterosexual Marriages be explained). Worse is the fear of Islam, while they want the churches to have all kinds of rights.

The US will slowly recede on the world horizon if it doesn´t get its shit together in a hurry. If they were to elect someone completely lacking in answers (even afraid to give her own opinion) like Palin it will only speed up the process. This isn´t an admonishment of failure or an I give up statement no I will opt for the John Paul-Jones route: I have not yet begun to fight. I will oppose these empty nationalist parties and their attempt to dictate how people live their lives (because telling people what is and what is not accepted sexuality is about as far from freedom as one can get).

Sure it gets lonely at times but I remember there are others out there who care about standing against a system that perpetuates injustice and even mistreats its own citizens.

Been a month

Well its been about a month since anything has happened on this blog. It isn´t that I haven´t had anything to write about, I just haven´t taken the opportunity, but it seems that I am back now and ready for the minimum two-a-week post schedule. Maybe the whole thing would be better if I had an editor breathing down my neck.

I just finished John Irving´s "Until I Find You" and I think that I can honestly say it was the worst book I have read in a really long time. The characters seemed very shallow and the story line at times became just too unbelievable. I am still somewhere in the middle of Atwood´s "The Tent" and I just started Jonathan Franzen´s "The Corrections." I have a lot of reading ahead of me. I want to get a hold of Atwood´s "After the Flood" which is the sequel to "Oryx and Crake" (which had to be the best book I had read in a long time).

"Oryx and Crake" is easily described as a post-apocalyptic novel. The tone throughout is somewhat sarcastic and there are two periods that are explored: what happened leading up to the event that killed off civilization and then what happened after. The narrator is the person who believes himself to be the only survivor. The book takes a negative view of transnational corporations and their influence on politics (or power to control politics) as well as how run-away greed is able to lead to bio-engineering. The book also uses the overuse of resources as a central theme to what drives humanity into the squalid conditions found in the novel. While I have never read Atwood before this, I imagine that it is one of her best works.

In sport, the little nation of Slovenia managed to knock out the Russians from the World Cup and this, while the only upset in the playoffs, was a great moment in sports history (actually just great that the overrated Russians were revealed for what they really are: just average with a lot of luck).

Well that is about it for this post.

Coffee, Starbucks, and Sweden

Its not exactly big news or anything but it seems that Starbucks has decided to open its first store in Sweden. Where are they going to do so? At Arlanda (Stockholm) airport. To start with a side note before I continue with this discussion on the meaning of Starbucks and so on: I used to drink Starbucks coffee about once a week when I lived in the US. It was within walking distance from my house and no other cafe´s were. Now back to the situation.

Sweden is a nation of coffee drinkers. The last time I heard any statistics concerning coffee, it was that Finland was the biggest consumer per head while Sweden was second. I grew up watching my Swedish elders consume copious amounts of the black gold (usually in percolator form). As someone noted on The Local-We can coffee!

So now comes Starbucks, which has stores all over the world and they chose to go into the Swedish market. Well almost Swedish, Arlanda Airport is pretty far from being downtown. There are already big chains that sell coffee like starbucks already in place. My wife worked for Wayne´s coffee when I met her, actually coffee can be seen as one of the reasons we are together. So what is the problem with Starbucks and I note here that I am not writing this to bash the US or anything like that. No, I am approaching this from a coffee consumer standpoint.

1. Their coffee product is not as good as what the Swedes already have. Swedish coffee is tastier and less expensive than Starbucks prices will be.

2. They have a very corporate and scrubbed identity. There is nothing unique about a starbucks cafe i.e. they are the McDonalds of coffee. Wherever you go it will be the same.

3. They are anti-labor. This means that they have been against attempts by their baristas to unionize. This kind of thinking also makes it difficult for them on the Swedish market.

4. They are anti-competition. Every corporation is. They set up as many shops in an area as possible to weed out all the competition and become the only chain (not that Swedish chains are better about this).

5. If we go back to the product part again, we can also add that they are not about supporting the individual: employees are easily replaceable and are not encouraged to be creative in their barista skills. This is where independent coffee shops hold the edge for two reasons: they are more open to innovation and they are able to do things that could be controversial in a corporate setting.

I don´t live in Sweden anymore, but if I did I would not drink Starbucks coffee. I would also try to avoid the other chains. Mass produced food is not exactly something the human race should be proud of in the way that it is sold at McDonalds and Starbucks.

Why will the Swede´s love it? Because they are afflicted by a peculiar love/hate relationship with America. They will talk garbage about it, then give them record profits as soon as the first store is opened at Stureplan.

Sleepy Sundays

The canal water was still, the swans like specks of white drifting slowly on its mirrored surface. The path is wet from fall rain and like an unfinished clay pot, awaiting an oven to reach its final firm texture. This is what it is like to wander through a sunday. Two books in my bag, listening to the occasional passing cars, distant sirens, and foreigners talking fantasy football, making my way through the streets. In Berlin a new sight is always around the corner; something new to be experienced and a hidden neighborhood to be discovered. I tread carefully on this city´s cobbled streets.

Above me and along the canal:lofts with their big windows. Some lit, others black and cold. Lives happen there. Families come, paint the walls, share laughter and tears. They share living and dying. Someone else takes their place and repeat. Every corner, every stickered lampost, and fall browned leaf is a poem waiting to happen. This is what it is like to wander through a Sunday.