WorldTraveler

Debates about dominance

2011-08-22T14:54:00.001+02:00

I was bored at some point last night so I started flipping channels. No, that isn’t exactly how it was, I was really flipping channels because what I was watching had been interrupted by commercials and I am not having that. As I was going by CNN, I noticed that there was some form of group debate on the current economic issues that the United States is going through or facing however it should be described.

There was all this talk if America was bowing out from world leadership and dominance and what that means and how they could come back and etc. A yawn was my response. I am so tired of this empire talk that seems to keep on repeating itself over and over again. Everyone keeps seeing the sun setting on the American Empire as we know it and here comes another dark age again right?

I am not buying it. Not yet anyways. I don’t think China is really as strong as everyone is betting on them being. I still think America has a couple of Aces up their sleeves and if the right people play them at the right time, that things will be back up and running in no time. I also think that Europe should stop waiting for the United States to act on all things, be it economics, social politics, or international issues. Europe should do their thing. Why should we expect someone else to do all our work for us?

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I realize that I sometimes get funny looks when I tell people that I wanted to live in Europe. I guess its always that notion that the other side of the pond is always so much more intriguing. Luckily for me, I come from both sides and since I can’t live in both at the same time, I picked the one that appealed to me the most. Best decision of my life says I.

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Doom and Gloom

2011-08-10T12:25:00.000+02:00

Things aren’t good. Everyday I get slapped in the face with harsh economic news with very dark and evil predictions of things to come. I think it’s a bit early to prophesy doom, but on the other hand the indicators aren’t exactly pointing up at the moment.

The governments of Europe and the United States are all talking about restraint and cutting spending. The problem with such a course of action is that it will inevitably hurt the poorest of the poor and mean nothing to the rich. If we look closer at the United States as a whole, the current political philosophy being espoused by the right wing block and from some centrists is some form of Beatlesque “Let it be” mentality. Where am I going with all this? Well for starters the infrastructure of the United States could use a serious upgrade (ports, rail, and airports), but no one is willing to shell out the cash for it. These kinds of things allow the creation of jobs and allow for the creation of jobs in the private sector as well as it allows for better production and shipping options for firms.

However, the populist scream of the moment is that we do nothing, because in the United States the notion is that government is the problem (I seem to recall it was the private sector that got us into the whole mess but hey why go against the rage on the street). Since we won’t be building for the future, I am going to continue the dark prophesies with my own: if you don’t build it, they (prosperity) won’t be coming.

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The GOP field for 2012!

2011-06-29T22:37:00.002+02:00

There is an election coming next year and I am not feeling all so great about it. The good news is that the economy is slowly recovering and Obama has honestly done quite well, while the bad news is that the GOP is going to throw everything at him including the kitchen sink to try and knock him out. Can they do it? Well, to be fair, stranger things have happened in American politics.

So far the only real election news is about the candidates who will be running against the President. They don’t seem like much at the moment, but given enough air time they might be able to come across as ready, willing, and able to do the job (that is what media consultants and advisors are for). What I am wondering is, besides the obvious claims of “he’s a socialist and he’s destroying our country,” what the GOP message is? I know that they all don’t want to raise taxes, which means their understanding of economics is juvenile at best, but besides that I don’t really see what their visions and goals are. Being the anti-incumbent only works when the incumbent was really unpopular.

Mitt Romney is the one who has been getting the most buzz of the gang up to this point and that doesn’t bode well for the GOP. Romney is boring and average at best. He doesn’t really shine in any way and what is worse at this time in history is that he is a moderate in a party that doesn’t like moderates very much. How is Mitt going to show that he can be a tough nut on the international scene, when he is the inspiration for Obama’s “socialist” health care system? Add to all this that he is a Mormon (which is a cult by the way), and I start to believe that his whole presidential campaign is just a bunch of fluff that the wind hasn’t blown away quite yet.

Could Newt Gingrich be a contender then maybe? The man is a debacle as a person so I find it hard to believe that he will be able to inspire people to dream of America in new ways. Sure his bark is loud and ugly, but his bite is pretty wimpy and its really kind of sad that he wanted to drag his terrible personal life through the limelight one more time. Then again that is exactly what the presidential race is a good time for: airing your dirty laundry. Newt has a closet full, a houseful, and a couple of summer cottages full to be sure. Hope he can handle the scrutiny!

Tim Pawlenty reminds me of a long and exhausting yawn that you witness from the person sitting next to you towards the end of a long transatlantic flight. Ditto for Paul Ryan. Plus Ryan doesn’t know how to count which the CBO has proved a couple of times now.

Michelle Bachmann is a time bomb that has ticking for quite some time now and is just waiting for the right camera angle to explode. Its just a question of when the Americans who vote for her are going to realize that she is insanely weird, and that her views on the world are at odds with most normal people. It’s a shame that no one has made a documentary about her yet. It wouldn’t even need a sarcastic narrator to get the audience laughing.

The GOP field for 2012!

2011-06-29T22:37:00.000+02:00

Sunday Hate

2011-04-24T10:51:00.002+02:00

I hate Sundays. I think I have kind of always hated Sundays. One reason for this is that the next day is Monday. That means either back to school or back to work. As if the coming week wasn’t bad enough, there is always the issue of what one should do on a Sunday. A lot of stores are closed or have bad opening hours; so shopping is out, and besides who wants to jostle with a bunch of other people on their day off.

Should one spend the day in the park? Well if you like being surrounded by a sea of blankets in the summer full of people just like you. Should one go to a café? The cafes are always full with people brunching their way through the early part of the day and then later by big groups of people meeting up to socialize. There is nothing wrong with any of this; it’s just that I want something else when I have free time.

I usually don’t go skating on Sundays at least not during the early nice spring weather. Why? Because the skatepark in my area is so packed that it becomes unbearable. Once upon a time I lived in a city with a skatepark that was open 24 hours; that is they left the lights on. That was quite a while ago and those days are passed and to be honest I don’t really miss that place.

The ideal days off then are from Monday to Thursday. The weekend is a good time to work and then you can take off and enjoy what everyone else can’t because you are free.

Here is the updated reading list:

1. ~~I Married a Communist~~ by Phillip Roth (finished)

2. ~~Freedom~~ by Jonathan Franzen (finished)

3. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (non-fiction)

4. Going After Cacciato by Tim O´Brien

5. The Green House by Mario Vargas Lhosa (hard to find in English)

6. Grimms Wörter by Günter Grass

7. Buddha’s Little Finger by Victor Pelevin (taken a break for now)

8. ~~Lord Jim~~ by Joseph Conrad (finished)

9. ~~Invisible~~ by Paul Auster (finished)

10. ~~The Widows of Eastwick~~ by John Updike

11. Peeling the Onion by Günter Grass (currently reading)

12. ~~The Blind Assassin: a Novel~~ by Margaret Atwood (finished)

13. ~~Villages~~ by John Updike (finished)

14. The Sorrows of an American by Siri Hustvedt

15. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

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Late Update

2011-03-31T13:38:00.001+02:00

It is time for an update. I was in Spain for about two weeks and couldn’t think of anything good to write, plus I was trying to write a bit of fiction. That went ok, but I am not really satisfied with my work: I never seem to be. I expect perfection from myself. I hate doing things half assed. I think this is a positive attribute that I possess, but at the same time I can see that it also holds me back from trying new things here and there. What usually goes along with this type of attitude is the fear of failure. I don’t know why I have that. To fail is to be human and everyone will sooner or later. The trick is to learn how to turn that failure into a future desire to succeed again. I am talking in clichés here and will just give the book list as it currently stands.

Reading list 2011:

1. ~~I Married a Communist~~ by Phillip Roth (finished)

2. ~~Freedom~~ by Jonathan Franzen (finished)

3. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (non-fiction)

4. Going After Cacciato by Tim O´Brien

5. The Green House by Mario Vargas Lhosa (hard to find in English)

6. Grimms Wörter by Günter Grass

7. Buddha’s Little Finger by Victor Pelevin (taken a break for now)

8. ~~Lord Jim~~ by Joseph Conrad (finished)

9. ~~Invisible~~ by Paul Auster (finished)

10. ~~The Widows of Eastwick~~ by John Updike (finished)

11. Peeling the Onion by Günter Grass (currently reading)

12. ~~The Blind Assassin: a Novel~~ by Margaret Atwood (finished)

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Idiocy vs Islam (which one is worse?)

2011-03-08T15:56:00.004+01:00

I thought for a few days that I could do it: that I could just stop writing about the idiocy that is American politics. Reading news nowadays generally results in my blood boiling to the point that I don’t feel like doing anything at all. It isn’t healthy, and yet I keep doing it.

Today I read an article about a woman with the name Brigitte Gabriel (she uses a fake name). I wanted to go ahead and quote something that she said. I thought perhaps some of you might find it interesting, as I know that I did.

“America has been infiltrated on all levels by radicals who wish to harm America,” she said. “They have infiltrated us at the C.I.A., at the F.B.I., at the Pentagon, at the State Department. They are being radicalized in radical mosques in our cities and communities within the United States.” -NY Times

My first reaction to this was to start laughing and I am not talking about a light chuckle here either, I mean serious eardrum splitting laughter. Then after I let it sink in a bit I realized something more serious about this: history is just repeating itself in a very sad way. Does anyone remember the McCarthy era? It was that wonderful time in American history where the HUAC in the government blacklisted people because of their personal political beliefs. Its really hard to believe this today, since Americans are brought up on some kind of steady diet of freedom, liberty, and justice since the moment they are born, that it was possible their own citizens had been forced out of earning their daily bread.

So how was the HUAC really any different than Pete King’s Congressional hearings this coming Thursday on Muslims? I don’t really know yet, but to be honest I am not looking forward to finding out either. If America were really the great country that the Republicans keep telling us it is, then why is it threatened by a religion? This is all really a waste of space to be honest and the truth is that you cannot really reason with idiots like Gabriel or King: they are right and you are wrong end of discussion. What we can do on the other hand is ignore them and the people who vote for King would be wise to stop doing so: the man is not completely there.

If people live in America and choose to follow a religion, then they are free to do so. Of course they are not allowed to kill because of their religion, but we have laws for that kind of thing like most nations around the world do. Holding a hearing on the threat of a religion really amounts to nothing less than fear mongering. Of course that was what the HUAC was all about anyway.

All this got me thinking about a song by Bob Dylan: Talkin John Birch Paranoid blues.

Substitute the word Muslims for commies or reds and you get just about what the right wing sentiment is at the moment. Things don’t change at the core they just acquire new shapes.

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American Politics and Debt

2011-03-03T17:05:00.001+01:00

The US Political Media are obsessed with talking about debt, debt, and debt. Its almost like they woke up one morning and were like “oh, shit we have debt, we really didn’t know that.” Then on top of that, there has been this continuous, and its not ending any time soon, talk about cutting this and cutting that. The list of things that is going to be cut looks oddly like the usual Republican wish list. Planned Parenthood? Oh, yeah because that took up so much money.

There are two things that aren’t up for discussion on the Republican side of the spectrum: the defense budget and raising taxes. I agree there are things that could be cut, but the real problem the Americans are having has to do with the fact that the Republicans cut taxes and then maxed out their credit card. Irresponsible, but that’s what that party stands for.

I have realized something from watching American politics: it’s a circus act, and a freak circus act at that. That idiots and fools are given so much time to spew garbage, lies (I am looking at you Huckabee), and wallow in their own stupidity is a great portrait of a country that seems to be stuck in the toilet. To be honest, I am not sure a people as stupid as the Americans deserve a country so rich and free as what they currently have. With all that being said, I am going to try to write about other things on this blog for a while. I will let the idiots take care of themselves.

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If she only had a brain!

2011-03-02T10:25:00.003+01:00

I am in the mood to be particularly vile today. I want to tear something or someone to pieces. I got out of bed after attending a great concert yesterday and the only thing that I can really think of doing is ripping someone to shreds. I mean this figuratively of course. I have chosen my weapon this morning as well for this deserved ripping: the written word, which as we shall soon see is the appropriate tool. I have chosen my target: Bristol Palin. Let the ripping commence!

She’s got a book deal and it’s for a memoir. Pardon my limited understanding of the literary world and the American system as a whole, but I have somehow been under the false impression my whole life that someone writes a memoir after they have accomplished something memorable in their life that probably effected others as well. Usually a memoir would include some great event. Think Mandela, Gandhi, or even someone as horrible as Silvio Berlusconi (but he does have stuff to write about). Bristol Palin though, what does she have? Well to be fair and balanced like her dear mother’s devoted channel, she was on Dancing with the Stars (or something like that) wasn’t she? Besides that she got knocked up, in what may or may not be the most famous out of wedlock pregnancy since the virgin birth (in America dear readers only in America), by a ~~head case~~ redneck named Levi Johnson.

Add to this that she is Sarah Palin´s daughter and suddenly we have a book taking shape. Wait, I still haven’t seen anything here that is really memorable at all! Maybe someone should tell her that this is what a diary is for: people’s lives that aren’t good enough to be memoirs. We live in a capitalist society and it’s the markets that decide whether or not a book like this comes to fruition (or comes to term). That means that someone at a conservative book company decided that this was really good enough to sell. I don’t know what this proves more than that the worst and most tasteless garbage sells pretty well apparently. Are they even going to pretend that Bristol is going to do the writing? Will Bristol even read the book? I would like to go on and mention that this girl is obviously a nitwit for allowing someone to do this ~~for~~ to her, but then when you think about it this might be how the Palins are planning to pay for her college, since they don’t make enough between Sarah’s Fox News skits and all those speaking fees. Desperate times call for desperate measures and so as the rest of America suffers in the midst of economic stagnation, they will have to do so with more information about the Palins on the front shelf at Borders.

Was Bristol famous before she got knocked up or was it during her first trimester? That anyone cares so much is a shame, and if any other politician’s kids have ever written books like this then shame on them as well. America is a place where nonsense is being sold for profit. Where can I cash in?

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Trains again and books of course

2011-03-01T13:12:00.003+01:00

Thinking about the issue with the funding for trains and public transport in the United States. Why can’t they just give the money to the states that really want it? There must be some governors and states that can come up with a plan for the future, where they want to invest in and diversify their various transportation networks. Its one thing to call a train system socialist and all that political jumbo designed to ignore the actual issues at hand, but its another to consider that these kind of things might be really useful to have in the future.

The notion that urban development in the US is to be entirely based on the Automobile in the future is pretty laughable to be honest: you can only fit so many cars in an area. Where are we going to keep parking all the cars? The list of problems with not diversifying the transport options keeps growing. Is there anyone who is listening? I hear crickets chirping.

I have finished reading Joseph Conrad’s novel Lord Jim. For anyone who enjoyed Heart of Darkness I can honestly say that from everything else I have read from him, this was the closest in magnitude (and yet it still didn’t quite make it). Now I have moved on to the Widows of Eastwick by John Updike. After that it will time for Günter Grass in German for the first time.

The Reading List as it stands:

1. ~~I Married a Communist~~ by Phillip Roth (finished)

2. ~~Freedom~~ by Jonathan Franzen (finished)

3. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (non-fiction)

4. Going After Cacciato by Tim O´Brien

5. The Green House by Mario Vargas Lhosa (hard to find in English)

6. Grimms Wörter by Günter Grass

7. Buddha’s Little Finger by Victor Pelevin (taken a break for now)

8. ~~Lord Jim~~ by Joseph Conrad (finished)

9. ~~Invisible~~ by Paul Auster (finished)

10. The Widows of Eastwick by John Updike (currently reading)

11. Peeling the Onion by Günter Grass

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Guttenberg revisited!

2011-02-26T13:07:00.001+01:00

I have been doing some more thinking about this plagiarism thing with Guttenberg. Basically I have started comparing the political systems and their processes in Germany and Italy. Is this an oversimplified way of thinking about things? Yes, without a doubt the two countries cannot simply be thrown together and thought of as having similarities. So why did I take the whole thing in that direction? I thought about Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. He is the scandal man of Europe. Everyone knows the man is rotten to the core and that while it may not be so in the case of money, the way he uses media and treats women has led to most people viewing the whole Italian democracy as something as a farce: if you can keep getting elected to office with all this baggage then you must be doing something right.

Now then, moving on to Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg. I should add first that he is no longer a Dr! No, once the University of Bayreuth had discovered and reviewed how much plagiarism was in his dissertation, they stripped him pretty fast. Lets be honest, it’s a major scandal. It’s something that most politicians wouldn’t survive. So why is he still defense minister? Well for one thing he is so popular among the CSU/CDU that they are well aware that if they lose him as the poster boy, then they are all but done for in the next set of elections. That begs the question though: are these two parties more interested in the next round of voting than they are in the integrity of their own leaders, and by extension Germany’s leaders? It certainly appears so.

What has Guttenberg done to defend himself? Not a thing worth reporting. He claimed it was at a time in his life when he was very busy (because only he has such times and that we should forgive him because of it). I highly doubt that if you tell a police officer anywhere in Germany that you were speeding because you were busy that they are going to say “oh, so sorry, can I accompany you and make sure you arrive on time.” It is highly doubtful. Lets go back to the Italy thing. I hear a lot of jokes about the Italians and their pathetic leader here in Germany from the Germans, but what I don’t hear is the sound of real outrage from Mr. Guttenberg’s own party demanding that he stop defiling their party (and by extension their democracy) with his mere presence. At least step down from the ministerial post. Better people have been fired for less.

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To doctor or not to Doctor...

2011-02-23T14:00:00.001+01:00

There has been some big news brewing in Germany the last couple of days. CSU darling Theodor zu Guttenberg, a shooting star of the conservative movement and possibly the next chancellor, has been accused of plagiarizing. To make things as clear as possible he has been accused of plagiarizing several different parts of his doctoral thesis. I wasn’t very aware about how plagiarizing is dealt with in German universities until this case came up and now that I am learning, I am quite surprised to be honest. It seems that they are a bit more relaxed with these kinds of things. A lot of people have even been coming to his defense and claiming that this is somehow politically motivated.

Why would anyone ever have sympathy on a plagiarizer, especially when they have used their doctoral thesis to propel them to the place where they are today. As far as the accusations go that this is somehow politically motivated, it seems strange to have to ask this question but whatever: either he did or he didn’t plagiarize. If there is one small sentence somewhere in the thesis then that is one thing, now if there are several paragraphs worth of stolen sentences then I would say this seems like a slam-dunk case of a person loosing his doctorate. It would be even funnier if Merkel fired him after that. Of course like most politicians these days, he seems to not have anything stick to him too long. He is like Merkel in that sense: both of them are made out of Teflon.

Now Guttenberg has given up his “Dr” title, but while that seems a bit hasty (the university gives and takes those kinds of things), it isn’t as if he is out of the danger just yet. For one thing the man has lied to everyone, made the university he attended look really bad, and is now trying to simply take away his title as if that will magically fix everything. If he remains in power that will say a lot about German attitudes toward their possible next chancellor.

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Rick Scott and the Train to nowhere...

2011-02-17T13:22:00.001+01:00

The governor of Florida, Rick “the crook” Scott, has turned down federal money for a high-speed rail link between Tampa and Orlando. My first reaction was: well big surprise here, a Republican/Tea Party governor turning down an infrastructure project. Since reading the article though, I have been giving the entire project a little extra thought.

At this moment in time there are places in the United States where high-speed rail would work (the Northeast corridor for instance) and places where it wouldn’t work (the Dakotas?). Arguments about density and cost-benefit and all that can be made over and over again and most times the numbers aren’t too thrilling if you are a train advocate. That being said there are some other issues that need to be taken into account when you have a project of this nature. First and foremost it’s an infrastructure project meaning an investment in the future. If you build something for the long term, then a lot of your long-range projections will be off because we aren’t fortunetellers who can peer into the future. One of the Republican arguments against rail investments is that it won’t be competitive. Yeah, I can see the point, but is the interstate system competitive? I don’t really think so, but I don’t hear anyone (but I could be deaf) yelling that we need private roads everywhere to compete with the federal roads.

Does anyone reading this know where I could find a chart comparing subsidies that road, airports, and rail receive per year? I would love to have a look at what the numbers say. Remember that development as a whole follows the pattern that the government lays out. If you don’t believe that then you just have to take into account that suburbs, the way we have them today, wouldn’t be possible without highways and the interstate system (and cheap oil but that is another post for another day). The American low-density existence wouldn’t be possible without this system. So why can’t we offer the Americans another option: that they wouldn’t have to live in the suburbs and could ride a train? I thought Americans liked freedom of choice. I hope they spend all that federal money somewhere else, where the people like having jobs and would like to diversify their transport options for any variety of reasons, plus they like offering their kids new futures. Didn’t America used to be about optimism?

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Reading List

2011-02-16T17:56:00.002+01:00

Short post today to save time. There is nothing much going on for a report or comment. We still have no real information about how our water-damaged apartment is going to be fixed. The Champions League game tonight between Arsenal and Barcelona should be a wonder to behold. Barcelona should win to be honest. Would love to see the Englishmen win this one and then take the Camp Nou by storm. Not going to happen?

Here is the reading list as it stands for 2011:

1. ~~I Married a Communist~~ by Phillip Roth (finished)

2. ~~Freedom~~ by Jonathan Franzen (finished)

3. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (non-fiction)

4. Going After Cacciato by Tim O´Brien

5. The Green House by Mario Vargas Lhosa (hard to find in English)

6. Grimms Wörter by Günter Grass

7. Buddha’s Little Finger by Victor Pelevin (taken a break for now)

8. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad (currently reading)

9. ~~Invisible~~ by Paul Auster (finished)

This is currently all I've got, so I would love some tips from anyone reading this blog.

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Brooks, what are you saying?

2011-02-15T13:57:00.002+01:00

Just finished reading David Brooks latest column in the NY Times. It’s an interesting observation on a book by Tyler Cowen called “The Great Stagnation” that I have yet to read. I wanted to add a few thoughts of my own to Brooks ideas. The idea of the book is that as society in the United States has changed from an industrial and manufacturing base to a more consumer oriented society we have lost a few things. First off, more people now choosing careers that create fewer jobs. For instance that manufacturing nowadays is reliant on less people and that jobs for other companies require less people. This isn’t really surprising at all. In many ways its merely a confirmation of the fact that more of the jobs we used to do by hand, or that were labor intensive, are now being done by computer controlled robots or have moved overseas. Is there really a big surprise in that Mr. Brooks?

Brooks then seems fascinated by this in the sense that he thinks there was some sort of golden age. That according to Cowen’s book, and Brooks seemingly agrees, the economic growth accomplished by the United States up to the seventies was done cheaply. Ok, that may be the case when you run it through certain economic modeling, but as most people can figure out for themselves the problem lies with what your pricing mechanism is. For instance we have built a society based around the Automobile. What if we then run out of cheap fuel? Then our very way of life at the moment, which is (has been?) extremely cheap in the United States (a post-industrial nation), suddenly becomes more expensive. Once again how one makes such calculations so as to conclude that things were cheap seems tricky at best. Add to this that the nostalgia for the way things used to be is usually based on a false understanding of the past. To belabor the point: how we view the past is always dependent on our current situation, both when it comes to means and how we are doing in terms of psychology.

For example, I am unemployed at the moment and have a hard time finding work in the field that I studied. Therefore I tend to conclude, at the moment, that I have done something wrong during my academic years and that this is having an affect at this moment. Whether or not this notion is based on reality is another thing. Were I to be employed I would instead conclude that I had studied exactly the right thing at the right time. To be fair to Brooks I should probably read that book…

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Life takes a strange bounce

2011-02-14T22:51:00.002+01:00

It’s been lovely today. Its just one of those days where it didn’t really matter how much you got right to start with or for how long for that matter. You come home at five in the afternoon. Your wife is cleaning up the bathroom. You wonder why and then you have a look. A pipe somewhere in the ceiling has burst or something like that and suddenly the whole bathroom has been destroyed. Like I said, at that moment in time it doesn’t matter anymore how much had been accomplished that day, because the rest of it is ruined.

You try to smoke a cigarillo, the kind you really like, the kind you like to enjoy because they are easy to enjoy. It’s impossible at this point to enjoy anything. You have applied for something from the Tax Office. It was supposed to arrive eight days ago. It’s holding up your payments from a job you did last month. You call them, and the first two times they transfer you to a phone line that eventually hangs up on you. You call them back the next day. You finally reach the person who processed your paperwork. They tell you that there isn’t anything they can do, since it is someone else in another department somewhere that sends out the official document with the special number that you kind of needed a week ago.

Sometimes the ball doesn’t go into the open goal when you kick it from four meters out. It bounces off one post and then the other before it runs out back onto the field and a defender clears it away. Football can sometimes be a great metaphor for life. I keep hitting the posts at the moment. It’s so close and yet it seems that really its always so far away.

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Things of present

2011-02-09T18:09:00.002+01:00

I haven´t found the drive to write anything on this blog recently. I don´t really know why. I have been writing though. Its been a long time since I got beyond writing one page of fiction and then finding myself stuck in writers block. I haven´t had an aha moment though: instead I just pushed through the garbage (and there is a lot of it) and found that there was something to write about after all. I am writing about Latvia. No that isn´t true actually. I am trying to write about people´s experiences with Latvia. Whether its a way to achieve an understanding for myself or whether or not it actually becomes something worth reading will hang on me.

I will try to have another post soon about the Swedish national team. The B-team easily demolished Cyprus´ A-team so lets see what the A-team can do to the Ukraine. I am stoked.

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A wish list or an article about the Swedish National Team

2011-02-02T13:51:00.003+01:00

There has been a slight hint of spring in the air the last couple of days. It could be the lack of snow (though its still freezing outside) or it could be that the first real Internationals are being played next week. I think its a combination of the two. As a follower of team Sweden (BlåGult) I have been reading as many articles as possible about the selected squad and what can be expected from them. I tend to drift from euphoric phases of optimism to the deepest depths of pessimism. I want to see Sweden at Euro 2012. To get there, its going to take a lot of heart and hard work. Its also going to take a bit of luck.

Sweden isn´t bad really, but they aren´t world beaters at the moment. The 4-1 loss in Amsterdam at the hands of the Netherlands was a good reminder or wake up call about the quality we have at the moment. Sure there are stars in the team, players even who have the potential to be something great. The problem I see is that many of them aren´t taking that final step up. I will grant that its easy to sit here and couch-coach. I don´t see the practices and I don´t get to watch all the games. I wish I did though. I wish I were a players scout.

For Sweden to reach Euro 2012 I think a few things have to happen. First we need to find a solution to the right back. Right now we are playing a young guy from Rosenborg BK named Mikael Lustig. He is still young enough where he can be developed, but I think that Adam Johansson from IFK Göteborg is a better option. I think he is more mature and a better defender than what Lustig is at the moment. A strong and solid defensive back four is the kind of base that Sweden needs to have if they are going to have a chance to hang with the bigger teams. You have to be able to rely on the back four to hold down the ship when the storms are raging. If you can´t rely on them, then there will be no solid effort on scoring once you get one or two of those rare chances against a top ten side. Sweden´s other problem is the midfield. Anders Svensson needs to stay because without him at the moment there isn´t much holding the whole thing together. I also have to admit I like Kim Källström, though he has a nasty habit of disappearing or being over-eager at times. If he can get his game together when it matters he is one hell of an asset. One player who needs to take a solid step forward in his personal development and really grab the bull by the horns is Rasmus Elm. He has had a lot of injury problmes and fitness issues the last season and a half, but it seems he is finally starting to move forward again.

The question is can he be what the national team needs: a playmaker? The same question mark hangs over his Alkmaar teammates head Pontus Wernbloom. Sure he has been good against average sides such as Hungary, but can he really put his play into a higher gear when the shit storm is raging? These are the kinds of questions that Sweden needs to answer in these two games next week. What about Bajrami and Sebastian Larsson? I am still not sure they are really the answer. I am hoping though, hoping really hard. The next challenge coming our way to Euro 2012 is Moldova. Sounds easy on paper, but its three points that we can´t be without. Its three points we have to have.

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Saturday Post

2011-01-08T18:43:00.004+01:00

Its Saturday and its been a pretty productive day by my own standards. I am right in the middle of making delicious vegetarian lasagna for Clara, myself, and two friends of ours. At the same time I am also making vegetable broth from all the leftover vegetables we have collected over the last week and a half. This is one of those things that remain a work in progress. This is the fourth time I have made it and I am still learning how to do it and what the combination for a good taste is. This time I added some stalks of rosemary. We will see if it adds anything to it. I want to make my kitchen into a place where I do most, if not all of the cooking from scratch. Sometimes that is not possible, and sometimes there is simply not enough time. There is a massive difference in taste, and taking the broth as an example, last week we made a soup using the broth as a base and then adding some more fresh vegetables and pasta and letting them simmer some. The final taste was incredible and not even comparable to store bought broth.

I haven’t watched a single episode of Sarah Palin’s Alaska (I think that’s the name) but I can’t help but wonder if she runs for president, will she then have a reality show about how the whole thing goes? What would that be called? Sarah Palin Goes to Washington? Sarah Palin’s Washington? If anyone has any good ideas then please post them below.

The new congress spent some time reading the constitution for everyone to hear. I like that Time Magazine asks the question as to whether or not there is some kind of Constitution Cult that is rearing its head right now in the US. The quote at the end by Jefferson is pretty damning of the whole “original interpretation” idea. Well there will always be nuts among us, now we have people who fall for the American Religion. Classic.

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First Post

2011-01-04T15:47:00.005+01:00

The New Year is here. It brought with it large explosions that lasted up to around four in the morning and then piles and piles of dirty snow and the wrappers and leftovers of the fireworks. The city, of course, is the one who will have to clean the whole thing up like they do every year. I think this is probably one of those ironic moments in Germany, a land so proud about being clean: that on New Year’s eve and day its ok to litter. Going to the baker in the morning was like walking through a bar just after they closed: half empty bottles and cups lined the street.

My first book of 2011 I actually started in 2010. It was Phillip Roth’s “I Married a Communist.” It was only the second Roth novel that I have ever read, but I will admit that it won’t be the last. While at times the story line was bland, the characters themselves kept the thing afloat and all the insights into the McCarthy era were extremely interesting and irritating at the same time. It will forever be one of those classic ideas to me that a country can call itself the greatest on earth and then turn around and tell its own people what they have to believe in order to be permitted to work.

That’s the thing I want to point out as we begin the new year: that our end results or present versions of old projects often have little to do with their origins and history. The original United States allowed for slavery and gave no votes to women, and yet if you speak to some people, they would give up everything they had to go back to that time of constitutional purity. I am guessing that most of these people have no background in American history beyond the third grade.

The book list for 2011 will keep the books that weren’t finished from last year as well.

1. ~~I Married a Communist~~ ~~by Phillip Roth (finished)~~

2. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (considering buying this after all the reviews it got)

3. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (non-fiction)

4. Going After Cacciato by Tim O´Brien

5. The Green House by Mario Vargas Lhosa (hard to find in English)

6. Grimms Wörter by Günter Grass

7. Buddha’s Little Finger by Victor Pelevin (Currently reading in German)

Finally an apology for today’s post, I know it isn’t that great or fiery or whatever, but it’s the first one of the year so it needed to be gotten out of the way.

First picture of the year was a great success as well: Quiche with tomatoes, Asiago cheese, and spinach.

Not Impressed

2010-12-12T15:56:00.000+01:00

So there was this guy who blew himself up in downtown Stockholm yesterday. Apparently he blew up his car as well. I am pretty sure that when you act as a terrorist you are supposed to maximize the amount of damage you cause to your attended targets. This is especially true if you are a suicide bomber, as this man appears to have been. The idea is not just to wreck your own car and injure two witnesses.

Now all the questions are starting to sound like this “did he have an accomplice, like say Al-Qaida or something like that helping him out?” This is where one should be prepared for endless analysis and conjecture. The Swedish media is salivating. My first guess is that this was a lonely (read isolated) young man who thought this was somehow his only course of action. I also have to go by the assumption that he was a nut job. The meaning here is obvious: he failed to do more than make second page headlines after the first evening outside of Sweden. Apparently he was upset about Lars Vilks. Well that is fine, it is ok to dislike someone else’s artwork, but that is in no way a justifiable reason to blow yourself up.

If you don’t like freedom of speech there are plenty of shit countries that one can go live in and please don’t understand me wrong: I don’t like religion, but I believe that these people have a right to believe what they want to believe, but it isn’t allowed to affect others in a physically harmful way. Ever. Period. I believe in freedom of speech and I think it should be protected, and that includes mocking religions. To be honest: if your religion can’t take a joke or any kind of criticism for that matter, then there is something wrong with that religion to begin with.

Another thing that would-be radicals should take into consideration is that when you go around blowing yourselves up like this, it doesn’t do the people left behind any good. Suicide bombing has not solved any problems, instead it has the opposite effect: it makes people like your cause even less. It makes you seem strange. Its even stranger to a computer addicted Western world that can’t understand the fondness a few extremists have with a weird, sullen man in a cave somewhere in what is left of Afghanistan. Think about it, how is your family going to be treated after you kill someone else because of your religion. Terrorism is a way of destroying the societies we live in today, but what they aim to replace it with is so much worse than any of the problems we are currently facing. I just hope the Swedes don’t overreact now, but I won’t be surprised if they do. The Sverige Demokraterna are going to eat it up like jello!

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Neruda for Saturday

2010-12-11T00:04:00.003+01:00

From Isla Negra: Memorial de Isla Negra

Exiles! Distance

Grows thicker.

We breathe air through a wound.

To live is a necessary obligation.

So, a spirit without roots is an injustice.

It rejects the beauty that is offered it.

It searches for its own unfortunate country

And only there knows martyrdom or quiet.

-Pablo Neruda “Exiles”

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Friday Post

2010-12-10T16:46:00.000+01:00

I am on my second coffee for the day and I do believe its time for a post about that there reading list. I am currently reading Phillip K. Dick´s novel Ubik, which is probably going to take me until Wednesday at the earliest to finish. The story seems fantastic, but I am just not in the reading mood today. I still haven’t gotten a shot at the Franzen novel which I am guessing has to do with the amount of people trying to read it and I just didn’t get to my reservation fast enough. What will probably happen now is that because I have heard so much about the book, I won’t enjoy it and secondly I probably know too much about the story. Here is the reading list with one new addition:

1. ~~Der Kleine Brüder~~ by Sven Regener (finished)

2. ~~The Witches of Eastwick~~ by John Updike (finished)

3. ~~The Handmaid´s Tale~~ by Margaret Atwood (finished)

4. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (considering buying this after all the reviews it got)

5. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (non-fiction)

6. ~~The Man in the High Castle~~ by Philip K. Dick (orig. Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said)

7. ~~The 158-Pound Marriage~~ by John Irving (finished)

8. Going After Cacciato by Tim O´Brien

9. The Green House by Mario Vargas Lhosa

10. Grimms Wörter by Günter Grass

11. ~~Wait Until Spring, Bandini~~ by John Fante (finished)

12. ~~Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep~~ by Philip K. Dick(finished)

13. Ubik by Philip K. Dick

14. ~~The Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch~~ by Philip K. Dick (finished)

15. ~~Porno~~ by Irvine Welsh (finished)

So I finally got around to reading the sequel to Trainspotting, which I consider to be Mr. Welsh’s best novel to date. All in all I am not so impressed. I will admit it was entertaining and all that, but it was quite a departure from the original. By that I mean that Trainspotting was a fantastic story told through remarkable characters, while Porno was the same characters but nine years older and without a great story. Hard but fair.

Tonight I am having dinner with some friends at Lei e Lui in Mitte. It’s the same restaurant that catered my wedding. The food is always fantastic and I am looking forward to great food and seeing good friends. Hopefully I will take some photos.

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FIFA and Wikileaks

2010-12-03T16:32:00.001+01:00

So the world cup went to Russia and Qatar. Since those will be the summers when I will supposedly have some money in the bank, it’s too bad that the destination to watch either Germany or Sweden (both?) play is going to be either of these.

Now to be blatantly honest, Russia has some breathtaking nature and to go hiking or canoeing on some of those rivers would be amazing beyond words. It’s the cities (other than St. Petersburg) and the anti-foreign mindset that bothers me the most about Russia. Not to mention the levels of corruption. This is before we even start talking about Qatar! I am guessing it will be the first world cup with tea and coffee as a sponsor, and no beers served on the premises. Fifa goes where the money goes and right now that isn’t in the US, Spain, or England. The only real surprise here is really that China didn’t make a bid, because given the odds they would have had a good chance as well. Bizarre.

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The Wikileaks “scandal” seems to be dominating the headlines in most of the western countries, or at least in the countries where I read the newspapers. Maybe it’s just me but I don’t quite get what the big deal is. Please open your diplomacy and international affairs textbooks to page 1: every nation looks out for its best interests 100% of the time. While the descriptions of the heads of state may have been cruel, it wasn’t as if we didn’t assume that this was how the leaders view one another. The real scandal here is with those who act outraged and pretend as if the USA is some sort of beacon of enlightenment. Its not and never has been. We really should accept that, it would be so much healthier than believing the American religion.

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Book Review: The Handmaid´s Tale by Margaret Atwood

2010-12-02T13:09:00.007+01:00

In our society today we can look around us and see the obsession that our fellow humans spend on conspiracy theories and the fear of a new totalitarian society. People like Glenn Beck spend hours of their time trying to convince followers that a person like Barack Obama is a socialist who will, if given the chance, turn the United States into a Third Reich or a Stalinist Communist land. Whether or not one takes such arguments seriously or not, the point that fear mongers are allowed so much time to spout them is what is worrisome. As citizens we should be involved in our democracy and take good care in understanding what our politicians are advocating for. That is a significant departure from lying and pretending that something sinister is at work when the reality is otherwise. Case in point: the 2010 midterms where the democratic party lost their majority in congress, proving that democracy is just as alive and well as it was before. I bring this up as an example to show that paranoid thinking is easy to indulge in today, mainly because fact checking often seems to be virtue long forgotten by today’s media. The inability to fairly consider differences of opinion and the conservative American principle of rejecting other countries ideas because they are too “European” is where we are today.

Now onto the dystopian novel that is The Handmaid’s Tale. Atwood paints a picture of an American society where a group of fundamentalist Christians have taken over the United States government, using the excuse that society has become too liberal and too free to be able to carry on. This sect, or better put paramilitary organization, of fundamentalists quickly goes about turning the US into a theocracy in many ways reminiscent of present day Iran, though as the book goes on even more extreme in substance and action. Women, within the first couple of weeks of the take-over, have their rights taken away. All the things that women’s suffrage fought long and hard for vanish almost over night. This fundamental aspect of the story then draws our focus away from the more historic aspects of what such a take-over would imply and takes us to the narrator, who relates her experience of the oppression. She doesn’t attempt to be a hero; in fact all she really wants is to have her husband and child returned to her. At times, she even appears to accept the new political regime of oppression as it is and instead looks to her survival first. To be fair in many ways Atwood is more exploring the way women have been oppressed through time, than she is the practical implications of a Theocracy. This is one of the strengths of the novel.

One of the parts that had the biggest impact on me was the idea that a society like this is only truly capable of coming about when the elements needed for its realization are already in place. Christianity historically has not always been very favorable to intelligent and strong women, despite what the more recent teachings of the church would lead us to believe (and they have made significant strides in some of these areas). Still there remains in American and in Europe this nostalgia, it’s fair to call it sexist, that things were better previously in the organization of the “traditional” gender roles. Then again, this is itself the most common fallacy in the appropriation of history by fundamentalists and conservatives: things were actually better before and we were happier without our current freedoms. Its one of the ideas, expressed by the oppressors in the novel, that there are two types of freedom: “freedom to” and “freedom from.” The kind of freedom we had in the liberal USA in the book was freedom to and what they are given by the fundamentalists is freedom from. This is a typical argument we can spot today in the arguments of those who want to tell women how they should dress: that requiring women to cover up gives them freedom is the most normal argument for heard for the veil. Going along with this is the notion that women are to blame for the horrible treatment they are often afforded by men: they dress provocatively and that is why men rape them. This horrible idea doesn’t deserve further explanation as it never has and never will hold any substance.

Atwood also deals with a very important topic in the idea of the control and possession of a person’s body by others. In the case in the book, the women of the Republic of Gilead have lost their ability to choose sexual partners (and preferences) and are either forced into arranged marriages or used to produce offspring for those at the top who are unable to do so for a variety of reasons. Perhaps this is the greatest fear that Atwood expresses: the fear of losing control of ones body. The narrator can accept the significant changes to her society, but what she has the most trouble with is that others want to control her body and dictate how she should care for it. The other idea expressed somewhere in the midst of this is that the men in our society were unhappy with the way things were going: that they no longer felt satisfied with their lives. That such a problem would necessitate oppression is laughable and disturbing all at the same time: and yet it’s been a kind of rationalization used by oppressive regimes before. The notion that those who impose repression are doing it for our best is as old as humanity itself.

For those who have not read the novel I don’t want to write too much more and destroy it for you, but I do on the other hand want to recommend it as a reminder that we should remain active and not give fundamentalism or false historical narratives about our nation’s past the chance to gain ground in our society.

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Tuesday´s Photo of the Week!

2010-11-30T11:48:00.004+01:00

I have worked in Restaurants as a cook for several years now. It’s an experience that gives me a strong sense of what is and what isn’t good, quality food. Something I have learned while living in Europe, both as a consumer and as a cook, is that restaurants located on tourist shopping streets tend not to have good food. Instead they sell something more like an idea and you just happen to get food along with that idea or concept. Now of course there may be exceptions to every rule, however I don’t think this is one of them:

Add to this that they specialize in schnitzel and then also have pizza. I don’t get how the two fit together so well.

Taking a train ride for ten hours (to and return) gave me plenty of time to read so here is the reading list as it stands:

1. ~~Der Kleine Brüder~~ by Sven Regener (finished)

2. ~~The Witches of Eastwick~~ by John Updike (finished)

3. ~~The Handmaid´s Tale~~ by Margaret Atwood (finished)

4. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (considering buying this after all the reviews it got)

5. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (non-fiction)

6. ~~The Man in the High Castle~~ by Philip K. Dick (orig. Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said)

7. ~~The 158-Pound Marriage~~ by John Irving (finished)

8. Going After Cacciato by Tim O´Brien

9. The Green House by Mario Vargas Lhosa

10. Grimms Wörter by Günter Grass

11. ~~Wait Until Spring, Bandini~~ by John Fante (finished)

12. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick

13. Ubik by Philip K. Dick

14. ~~The Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch~~ by Philip K. Dick (finished)

I am currently on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Dick, which will be followed by Ubik. The Handmaid’s Tale by Atwood was so good that it’s going to get a review in this blog tomorrow so watch for it.

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Cologne

2010-11-26T19:02:00.005+01:00

Its been snowing softly all day. Its cold outside and on the surfaces elevated above the ground, on parked car roofs and other inanimate objects, it’s staying. It’s still too warm to stay on the paved streets or sidewalks that are still busy. The minute the sun pokes its head through the overcast, grey skies is the moment that it will be gone even from those places. Its only November, there will still be plenty of time for blizzards and freezing weather.

Cologne is on the list of things to do tomorrow. It’s going to be a quick little weekend. The train rolls out around eight in the morning and then we arrive sometime after noon. There will be some time spent with friends and family. On Sunday there is mass and Clara’s cousin will go through some Catholic ceremony-not one that I am familiar with. Cologne is a place that I don’t care to live in but love to visit. It’s a small city yet it retains a feeling of its own steadily eroding self-importance. It was once one of the greatest cities in Europe. My how the mighty have fallen.

Sometimes, when living in foreign countries, we learn to make the most out of the small things. For instance: we learn to laugh at the signs that incorporate two languages at once. Sometimes it’s done to be cool, as if the native word wouldn’t suffice, a pattern all to common in Sweden, and others it’s done just for humor. This is probably one of the latter:

I am more than halfway through The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. It’s been fantastic this far and once I finish with it, I will write a post or two reviewing it. Have a lovely weekend.

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Thursday´s Nameless Post

2010-11-25T15:28:00.002+01:00

I finished the novel The Man in the High Castle last night. It’s a chilling reminder of what life might have been like, had there been a different ending to the Second World War. Of course the problem with a book like that is that while the scenario suggested is plausible, so are an endless number of other outcomes. Sometimes history turns and pivots on such small moments of time and singular events, while at others there is more than meets the eye, and sometimes we never know exactly what lead to today.

Earlier, I was sitting on the bus on my way home from the unemployment office, which wasn’t so bad when you consider the horror stories that some people tell about the bureaucracy here. In any case, I was still thinking about the future and the various shapes that the future is capable of taking and I realized that most of them, when we sit and imagine them, come out as being dystopias. Especially in this day and age of cynicism: every future is a dystopia of some sort waiting to happen, every utopia we can imagine must have some dark side to it. Why is that? Is it possible that the future is always unpredictable, meaning beyond our control, and therefore to be feared? Or is it the unknown part of the future that leads to the fear of it? This kind of thinking is what I imagine is responsible for the conservative movements continuous worship of the past. The notion that it was better before and so we should return to that is ingrained together with a fear of the future. It also seems like it has some kind of control elements to it: when everything is defined and understood; then it is safe. Isn’t that why we often dislike new art or new music? Because we haven’t fully been able to make sense of or understand it yet?

Perhaps it’s simpler than all of the above reasoning. We know too much about our past, we have seen what humans are capable of toward one another and toward nature; therefore we assume we will not get any better than we already are (and the idea that we are somehow doing better than before is dependant on what measurements are being taken and by whom).

Here is the reading list as it currently stands:

1. ~~Der Kleine Brüder~~ by Sven Regener (finished)

2. ~~The Witches of Eastwick~~ by John Updike (finished)

3. The Handmaid´s Tale by Margaret Atwood (currently reading)

4. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (considering buying this after all the reviews it got)

5. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (non-fiction)

6. ~~The Man in the High Castle~~ by Philip K. Dick (orig. Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said)

7. ~~The 158-Pound Marriage~~ by John Irving

8. Going After Cacciato by Tim O´Brien

9. The Green House by Mario Vargas Lhosa

10. Grimms Wörter by Günter Grass

11. ~~Wait Until Spring, Bandini~~ by John Fante

12. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick

13. Ubik by Philip K. Dick

14. The Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick

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A Wild World or a post about international issues...

2010-11-23T18:23:00.001+01:00

When I think of international affairs, I try to view the subject in terms of rational thinking. It would be wiser to say that I think of the areas of soft power, hard power, and diplomacy as areas where there is room for a lot of negotiation. This unfortunately leads to me thinking that every state actor is looking to achieve something that to them is logical and will increase their trade, security, etc. The problem with this thinking is when certain state actors seem to be insane. Take Russia for instance, whenever they are playing hardball about something its because their desires aren’t being realized enough to compromise on something with the US and usually when something decent is offered they are willing to work with it (the new Start treaty, though now its congress that is irrational).

This little monologue was designed to bring the topic to the state actor known globally as North Korea. For every day that goes by, it seems like the leaders of that country are more and more determined to blow themselves up and take the world with them. There has been a lot of talk about there being a new leader in the works and all, but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t still be acting rationally. The whole idea behind having the nuclear option is so that you don’t have to use it. Essentially: the threat of the best possible offense is really a defense. So why are they suddenly shelling South Korea? Why did they sink that ship a few months ago? What are they hoping to achieve?

Is it possible that they live in an imaginative world where they can shell the South, take pictures of the smoke, and show it all to their citizens, suggesting that they are winning the fifty-year old conflict (date check please!)? Whatever it is that they are up to, it doesn’t look very positive for anyone involved.

Now, try translating this international view of rationality to the people involved with terrorism. Sure they have made their pleas pretty clear (every time we get a video from a cave somewhere), but there is no way that those demands are going to be met. This suggests that they are no longer operating under the guise of logic. In fact I am going to go ahead and say that they aren’t. They are operating under the guise of a religious dogma. I am not going to sit here and condemn religion, I am not a fan, but I don’t have a problem with people who chose to believe what they want to about the universe. What I do have a problem with however is when that belief threatens the lives of others. Perhaps what is most comical about the century we live in, is that a bunch of bearded men in a cave, somewhere in a desert, have the power to affect how we go to work some mornings-and all because they seem to think their god gave them a right to interfere. It’s a wild world.

Speaking of wild: when I moved back to Europe from the United States, Ireland was hailed as the prime example of how the free market could change a country and put it on a course to greatness. Well the bubble has popped, and to be honest I can see how it can be fun to watch a meltdown like this up close.

Jonathan Chait really enjoys the way that the right wing economists had written about Ireland then and now. I am a fan as well, especially since the joke is now on them.

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Monday Update

2010-11-22T20:45:00.003+01:00

The weekend was a mix of work and pleasure and now that Monday is here, I find myself stuck with something like a cold/cough and the fact that I am expected to work a short shift tomorrow. That means I am going to have to hope for a good night´s rest and dream myself well. To put it another, more truthfull way: I am going to have to work while sick. The reality of that is that billions of people around the world do that daily. In many jobs or countries there are no sick absences allowed. Why, are you sick? Well we´ll just get someone else. Luckily for me that isn´t my case, but I still need the money.

The Germany-Sweden game ended a 0-0 draw. To put it another way: it was really boring, but because of its tight defensive strategy, it was exactly what Sweden needed after that 4-1 drubbing by the Netherlands. There will be no more Internationals untill January something. Until then, there will be the local leagues and Champions league to look forward too. Champions league is on tomorrow by the way.

The reading is slow this week, but maybe if I stay sick long enough I can saw through a few books here before December rears its ugly head. Christmas is looming as well, and I have no money whatsoever. Its looking like its going to have to be a very creative Christmas when it comes to gifts.

Ideas anyone?

As someone who bicycles daily (or did till my bike bit the big one) I found this article quite worth the read. Its always amusing to hear the types of negative responses that bicycling causes with car drivers.

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Imminent Friendly

2010-11-17T15:44:00.001+01:00

Today, at 20:30 CET, the Swedish National Team is taking on the German National Team. I want to say a few things and make a prediction. Starting with the prediction seems like a good idea: 3-1 to Germany. Its true that Germany may be down a few superstars, but their replacements are, to say the least, more than adequate. Sweden will get a late goal and it will come from a cheap corner that Germany let them have when the game was over anyway. This is the last international of the year, the Germans don’t want to lose and the Swedes need to prove that they still have some fight left in them. I would love it if Sweden were able to eek out a draw. Denmark tied Germany 2-2 this year in Copenhagen, so it’s far from impossible.

From the Sweden squad, I am hoping that Oscar Wendt shows he can dominate at this level and that Ola Toivonen, Pontus Wernbloom, and Rasmus Elm also show it. Hamren, the Sweden coach has said he wants to see some attitude. I would like to see that as well. Too bad attitude won’t be enough.

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Let a Conservative tell you how it is...

2010-11-15T16:50:00.003+01:00

There are times that I feel like I just sit here and harp on and on about the current conservative movement in the United States. I´m pretty sure I´ve covered every angle. Of course to be sure that my dear readers don´t just think that I am the only one seeing things this way, I bring you David Frum, former speech writer of President Bush, and I quote...

"Too often, conservatives dupe themselves. They wrap themselves in closed information systems based upon pretend information. In this closed information system, banks can collapse without injuring the rest of the economy, tax cuts always pay for themselves and Congressional earmarks cause the federal budget deficit. Even the market collapse has not shaken some conservatives out of their closed information system. It enfolded them more closely within it. This is how to understand the Glenn Beck phenomenon. Every day, Beck offers alternative knowledge — an alternative history of the United States and the world, an alternative system of economics, an alternative reality. As corporate profits soar, the closed information system insists that the free-enterprise system is under assault. As prices slump, we are warned of imminent hyperinflation. As black Americans are crushed under Depression-level unemployment, the administration’s policies are condemned by some conservatives as an outburst of Kenyan racial revenge against the white overlord."

Want more? Read it right from the horses mouth. I have to conclude I am impressed. Of course in no way do I agree with everything he is saying, but still its damn well written and has a good point.

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2010-11-12T14:50:00.002+01:00

It’s going to be one of those weekends that contains a bit of work, a bit of play, and some of those in between things. Clara has an exhibition at a fair for green products and companies so I am going to help out with that. Then on Saturday I have to work from 15-19 or something like that. This evening I am helping set up the exhibition for starters. I am thinking about calling up a couple of friends for a beer or two, but we’ll see what happens.

I am planning on getting a lot of reading done this weekend and last night I managed to finish The 158 Pound Marriage by John Irving. I put that one down and began, this morning, to read Wait Until Spring, Bandini by John Fante (I am a growing fan of his work).

On to the reading list update:

1. ~~Der Kleine Brüder~~ by Sven Regener (finished)

2. ~~The Witches of Eastwick~~ by John Updike (finished)

3. The Handmaid´s Tale by Margaret Atwood (on order from the library)

4. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (considering buying this after all the reviews it got)

5. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (non-fiction)

6. Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick

7. ~~The 158-Pound Marriage~~ by John Irving

8. Going After Cacciato by Tim O´Brien

9. The Green House by Mario Vargas Lhosa

10. Grimms Wörter by Günter Grass

11. Wait Until Spring, Bandini by John Fante

The list is starting to grow, but the newest addition shouldn’t take more than a weekend to saw through.

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A free-market policy proposal for Alliansen

2010-11-09T12:14:00.002+01:00

For those who read this blog, you are probably aware that I am not one of the bigger fans of the current Swedish government. While the respective parties have certainly come center to get the current majority that they have, and add to this that the left of center parties did a particularly pathetic job of selling their reasoning as to why they should be running the country, I am still not sold on a lot of the ideas. That having been said, I have a proposal for Alliansen, one that I think that even they should like: privatize the selling of alcohol in Sweden. To put it in other words: get rid of Systembolaget.

Now I do appreciate that the Systembolaget has a perfectly good selection of wine, hell its even better than most stores I have visited in Germany or the United States, but I don’t think the government has any business selling alcohol. Now if the pharmacies were sold off (which I was against for the sole reason that they would end up becoming chains and not do a whit of good for small business owners), and the company that produced Absolut Vodka (a company which made a profit no less), then I don’t see a good reason for holding onto Systemet. There would likely be a big kafuffle in the Riksdag about how all Swedes are natural born alcoholics and how they wouldn’t be able to handle buying beer past 20:00 on a Friday night. I just don’t buy this argument. I believe that behavioral patterns would change according to the situation and rules that would be put in place. Take the case of Germany: they love to drink but they also know how to work. One final note: regulate the market so that supermarket chains can´t buy up the market. Make it a small business thing.

Now to other things, namely the reading list. This is what it looks like as of this moment:

1. ~~Der Kleine Brüder~~ by Sven Regener (finished)

2. ~~The Witches of Eastwick~~ by John Updike (finished)

3. The Handmaid´s Tale by Margaret Atwood

4. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (considering buying this after all the reviews it got)

5. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (non-fiction)

6. Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick

7. A Widow for One Year by John Irving (switched to The 158 Pound Marriage)

8. Going After Cacciato by Tim O´Brien

9. The Green House by Mario Vargas Lhosa

10. Grimms Wörter by Günter Grass

Of course as I said I may or may not be able to read all these books before Christmas.

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Name-calling

2010-11-05T11:22:00.001+01:00

I am in the midst of some form of political debate on Facebook, which is a really bad idea in the best of times. I won’t give all the details here but let me say that the debater has suggested that the President is a socialist. I would like to mention before going any further that the President before was called a fascist. Neither is correct. To use such terms out of context and without proper background is to cheapen the arguments made by either side (and to cheapen the suffering of those who were oppressed in such systems). In the case of Obama he bailed out Wall Street and kept the automotive industry alive (something that his predecessor was quite happy to do as well as I recall). Now when he enacted a health care reform that was eerily similar to the Republican suggestion in 1994 and also to that of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney he is a socialist? That is weak tea by any standards.

This is all before we go into definitions of what Socialist really means: the political ideology that the means of production should be owned publicly (or common owned) and regulated as such. What I continuously fail to see in the United States is this actually taking place. The case of General Motors could be used here, but that is also being put back on the market because the government doesn’t want to be involved in things like running a business. The democrat idea then is to regulate private industry (like all governments have always done) through laws and/or taxes (carrots and sticks). The degree of the regulation required is the difference between the parties and not that they are massively opposed sides in a war for the American soul (as the radio show hosts would like to paint the whole thing). Both sides want what’s best for America. Is this really so hard to understand?

To add to the healthcare question, if the insurance companies had done such a good job, then there wouldn’t have been a need for government interference. However as the health care system in the United States affects the government, it was therefore the government’s job to act to reduce its deficit and to better the ways that American citizens are treated. The Obama plan did that really well on paper so lets give it time to work in reality. There was no public option because a. it would have been impossible to get in the senate and b. I don’t think Obama believes in that because he as he himself has demonstrated in other policy: he is a capitalist.

Can we stop name-calling as a way to disagree over policy? Lets talk about numbers instead of listening to blowhards tell us who is good and who is evil. I think the American people are smart enough to decide these things by themselves.

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Musings of a Thursday

2010-11-04T10:52:00.002+01:00

Unbelievable I just managed to lose an entire post just as I finished it. The main point of the post that should be here is that the Republican Party should really thank their chief strategist for his work this election cycle. The Democrats should start demanding that the President illustrate why the choices made were necessary and stop letting the Republicans control that debate in the media.

I also wanted to recommend the book I am currently reading: The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike. It has been pure magic so far (pun intended).

Also, today, I have been musing over why American Evangelicals are so entwined with the Republican and conservative movements. It is something that I completely fail to understand. How does Ayn Rand mix with the Bible? I am at a loss.

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P.S. Great read for today: by Gail Collins at the NY Times

P.P.S. Another thing to check out: by Paul Krugman at the NY Times

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Welcome to the Flood

2010-11-03T12:25:00.003+01:00

Lets dig a bit deeper into the results of election night. The Republican Tsunami was there all right and yet it didn’t get the Senate. That means that we are in some kind of a deadlock. Somebody is going to have to play ball to make things happen. Who that someone is remains to be seen, as does what the offers and ideas are that are to be played over.

Remember that when any party (in the US only two are really represented on paper) gains a majority, it means that a significant proportion of its members are part of what could be called true party supporters and the rest are some form of loose coalition members (the Blue Dog Democrats are this to the Democratic Party). So now the Republicans have to deal with a bunch of people that they might not have to during their time in the opposition. In other words they have added to their majority by opening their arms to people who are not the usual Republican fit. The Tea Party fits this role.

For those Democratic supporters who were bitter because they hadn’t been given a cake that they could have and eat as well by Obama, and therefore didn’t vote I say this: shame on you. You have put back the chance to make real change once again. I had a lot of hope in 2008, in 2010 not as much, but I still voted because a Republican future is not something that I have any interest in being a part of.

To belabor a point that needs to be exhausted beyond anything else in the circus that is America: fear, ignorance, and hate won an election. To those who voted based on those things it’s really sad that you call yourselves Americans. In a century where information and knowledge seems to be just the click of a mouse away, we seem to be turning to garbage more and more often. Europe is laughing, and while the typical Republican thing would be to ask snidely who are they, I find myself thinking that they have every reason to laugh. A country that takes Tea Partiers and their queen Sarah Palin this seriously deserves to be laughed at.

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The Big Day

2010-11-02T17:43:00.003+01:00

At this point it’s too late to start wondering what could have been. The elections are upon us and the predictions are only pointing one way. The Democrats might as well go ahead and put a disaster stamp in the party’s history book for this chapter. I for one have been impressed with what they have accomplished, and I am not some person who believes that change happens overnight. The Republican Party will at best take the House and the Senate today and at worst only takes the House. That will be enough to bring a gloom to my hope for further progressive change. We will see stagnation in American politics as the Republicans bask in their conquest and then realize that it won’t be as easy as they had thought all this time. The Tea Party will be frothing at the mouth like zombies over their shoulders and when they misstep they will pay for it.

I wonder how long it takes before they go centrist? Will they compromise? What will compromise cost them? How long before the coalition they have built frays? It’s going to be a very interesting two years to say the least.

I am ashamed of my country. I had big hopes after the cowboy was gone that we were going in the right direction, that reason and intellect might even be something to admire once again. I was wrong. People like Glenn Beck, Limbaugh, and Hannity exist on the airwaves because people are willing to listen to that garbage. They want their politicians and policies to be as simple as a two hour-long radio show. They want to know who to hate. Hate is something that is growing in America. Its strange how instead of moving forward and trying to improve our lives we have turned to hating our neighbors, to blaming them for our bad choices, and hating on anyone and anything that comes from outside our own limited spheres of knowledge. Der Spiegel has an article today about the end of the American Dream. Its one of the most frank and forthright articles I have read about America in a long time. I recommend it to everyone who reads this blog. The gist of it is this: Americans have lived beyond their means for decades now. They used to brag about it to the rest of the world. Now economic reality has finally caught up with them and instead of change they are just going to get mad and vote for the same party that encouraged the bad behavior from the beginning.

I hope everyone who is reading this is voting today.

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A Tsunami, a reading list, and the great adventure

2010-11-01T17:04:00.003+01:00

Its Monday today. Tomorrow is Tuesday any which way you want to turn it. Tomorrow is also election day in the US. According to most reports (thus began a sentence that would be frowned on by most high school teachers) the Democrats are heading for a pounding at the bottom of a Tsunami like wave of Republican resurgence. Time is the lesson that American politicians and strategists aren´t learning very well from. In a two party system you can beat your opponent to a pulp. To use another boxing metaphor: you can even have the luxury of having him out on his feet. The problem is there is no way to deliver a real knock-out blow. Leaving the boxing metaphors aside, its worth remembering that both parties are known to come back strong from what is about to happen tomorrow. The Democrats had a good run and while I personally felt they got a lot done (though I would have preferred more) a lot of people don´t share my sentiment. Now let the Republican resurgence take on the arrogant tone of the winner and may they be like that famous wolf who huffed and puffed but couldn´t blow the brick house down.

On a side note, we are now going to hear a never ending stream about how they are going to really cut government spending and how its really going to make America more free and richer and so on etc etc. Now we turn to a former governor of Florida Jeb Bush for the most idiotic quote of the day: "The only privilege that I was born with was to be a citizen of the greatest nation in human history." I wonder if he came up with that himself or if he had some speech writer do it for him. Either way its about the most preposterous thing I have heard someone like that say in a while. The man was born with a silver spoon in his mouth to say the least. This is the dumbest thing I have heard in a long time.

I finished Der Kleine Brüder by Sven Regener and have since moved on to Cannery Row by Steinbeck in German. After/during that I have Updike´s The Witches of Eastwick to look forward to and honestly I think I will start it pretty soon (as in tonight).

In other news that might be interesting I am no longer a pizza baker. Due to disagreements between employer and employee I now find myself in a search for a new job. Any clues or hints or flat out great ideas would be kindly appreciated.

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P. S. I also picked up an old classic: For a Few Dollars More. Little did I know that it was starring the legendary/infamous Klaus Kinski. Hell, had I not seen that I might not have checked it out.

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Reading and the Weekend

2010-10-22T18:25:00.002+02:00

What are your weekend plans? These days I hardly get any comments at all on this blog, and when I do they are spam 99% of the time. So if there is anyone out there that still reads this, please take a few seconds and make a comment or two about your plans. For myself, the minute I publish this post I am off to bake pizzas for four hours and then I will come home around midnight exhausted. On Saturday I am working from 15:00 till 19:30 and afterwards I am not sure what I will be doing.

On Sunday, Clara and I have a brunch planned with some friends. That will be fun and it will give us a chance to get together and see some people that we unfortunately don´t see often enough. As for the rest of Sunday? I have no honest idea, probably double check my German homework and do some reading. Maybe another blog post?

I just finised Der Kleine Bruder by Sven Regener. My first opinion was that it was quite funny but not quite as good as the first one had been. Of course that is always the complaint against sequels and I admit that for me this is a cliche that rings true. Next I am going to read either the Witches of Eastwick by John Updike or Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. Both are sure to be quite entertaining. I wish you all a great weekend.

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Who Built It?

2010-10-17T19:23:00.002+02:00

Reading about the end of the New Jersey-New York Tunnel project thanks to Chris Christie. When I first heard about the end of this project I didn´t like it one bit. Rail is necessary for future growth, especially in areas like NY and NJ where there is not necessarily any extra capacity for new highways. So why cancel this project that provided jobs? Christie was on about it exceeding costs, but while that is certainly the case (most infrastructure projects carry hidden costs and underestimates), it doesn´t really tell the whole story. More fundamentally its about a world view and a lot of political posturing. Republican voters want this kind of savings and it is one of the reasons that a man like Christie was elected in the first place. However its possible that the money can´t simply be moved to other projects anyway: they were for this project solely.

I am reading an article about America´s economical woes on Spiegel at the moment. Its in German and deals with the issues of today. It notes the anti-tax, anti-big government feeling that the Tea Party is screaming (echoed by the Tea Party/Republican leadership). In the end it uses the cancelling of the bridge as a metaphor for the death of the American Dream in a way. The country is unable to realize its dreams of being a top nation among nations any longer. Considering that the Republican plans got us to what we have today, how then are the further realization of their dreams going to help us any? They don´t have the answer except by using the familiar Ayn Rand idea that we need to tell Government to get out of the way. So I start to wonder than just who it was who built the infrastructure in America? Who built the highways, the ports, the hoover dam, and all that good stuff? Well it wasn´t private companies that is for sure. At this point I am really curious as to whether or not the Tea Party is really going to be happy with what they are about to get? We´ll leave the social issues for another posting.

Link to the Spiegel article

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European Cup Qualifying and Immigration

2010-10-13T11:53:00.003+02:00

There are two things on my mind today. One is the disastrous game that Sweden played against the Netherlands yesterday and the other is immigration. Lets start with the game. Almost everyone had agreed in advance that there was only a very small chance that Sweden could really beat Holland. Stranger things had happened of course, but when one weighed up the levels of the players on both squads, it quickly became obvious that Holland had a significant advantage. Sweden also walked into their trap: they played the game and Holland just waited for any mistakes, and when the mistakes came, well wow. That is called being efficient. Nevertheless, I applaud the Swedes for trying and I think it can be a good lesson for the team if they are willing to take heed. I also think that it shows what the football academies in Sweden need to be promoting: a fast, pass-intensive game with a focus on two-way play, as well as a strong sense of team.

Now to immigration: Horst Seehofer has been making a splash and following in the footsteps of Thilo Sarrazin by making negative comments about Muslim immigrants. As an immigrant myself, I find these comments so oversimplifying that its almost unbelievable that the antagonists get so much air time. On the other hand I wonder if this isn´t just a bit of clever posturing and trying to redefine themselves within their respective parties (note that Sarrazin lost his parties support and Seehofer is still in command). To elaborate on that further: I wonder if this is not simply a way for Seehofer to attempt to get Christian Democrat voters and other conservatives to believe there is some sort of threat coming from the "others" who are coming to Germany. This way he can energize his base. Its more an American political move than a typical European one, which is why I am not super certain about it. Still I keep a wary eye on the whole thing. A political party using the name of Christ is rather presumptuous in any case.

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Wanderings and wonderings

2010-10-11T17:01:00.006+02:00

Sometimes I wonder if I really should keep writing this blog. I want to write more about thouroughly researched topics, but most of the time I just churn out a series of rants in paragraph and sentence form. This trend is not likely to be discontinued. On Saturday I received an email that meant a lot to me. It wasn´t from any potential employers to tell me that I was being considered for a post somewhere, no in fact it came from the government of Florida. It was an email to let me know that my request for an absentee ballott had been received and that I was therefore going to be voting in the coming elections. Joy immediately descended upon me and I knew that I would not be among those who sit back and say well things went bad and I didn´t do anything about it. I don´t need to state who I am going to be voting for, anyone who reads this blog could figure that out in a heart beat.

In any case my family was here over the weekend, except for my sister who is at Bible School in a small town somewhere in the woods of Småland. Here is a picture my brother took of me trying on some pretentious glasses.

Of course the glasses turned out to be too pretentious but I may as well admit that I am looking for something like those in the near future.

I have decided to publish my reading goal for the rest of the year. Here are some of the books I want to read before 2011:

1. Der Kleine Brüder by Sven Regener
2. The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike
3. The Handmaid´s Tale by Margaret Atwood
4. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
5. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (non-fiction)
6. Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
7. A Widow for One Year by John Irving
8. Going After Cacciato by Tim O´Brien
9. The Green House by Mario Vargas Lhosa
10. Grimms Wörter by Günter Grass

This is of course a list of books I would like to read, it doesn´t mean I will be able to finish them all. I am also taking recommendations. Leave an idea as a comment.

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Valet 2010 eller hur Sverige vek ner sig

2010-09-21T14:54:00.004+02:00

Jag får börja den här posten med att be om ursäkt. Min Svenska borde vara mycket bättre än det rost belägna paragraferna som era ögon kommer att rulla över här nedanför. Men det får vara som det är. Det som sägas måste är för viktigt för att skriva på Engelska. Nånting hemskt har hänt ett av mina land. Sverige Demokraterna har fått plats i Riksdagen för första gången i vår historia. Alltså ett parti som öppet är emot immigranter (främlingsfientligt som det annars heter) har tagit plats i ett land som länge hävdat sig som ett öppet och välkommnande samhälle. Det är bland dom fegaste sakerna vi någonsin gjort.

Jag ska inte försöka bluffa er som läser det här med iden att Sverige har fram tills idag varit ett land utan rasister eller hat. Det är bara att se tillbaka på vad som hände när vi började öppna våra gränser: det hatet som alltid funnits under ytan började långsamt att sippra utt. Nu har elefanten i rummet som ingen talar om blivit det stora samtallsämnet. Det är långt ifrån lätt att få det att försvinna. Jag ber också till dom borgerliga och till dom i oppositionen att man tar det här tillfället för att förklara varför vi ska vara ett öppet och mångkulturellt samhälle. Om vi gör fel nu och bara ignorerar dom här frågorna som väktes av detta val så har vi gjort precis som Sverige Demokraterna vill.

Nån som jag känner försökte förklara för mig att främlingsfientlighet inte var lika med rasism. Att ogilla andra för att dom inte är Svenska (på nåt gammalmodigt definerat sätt) är också en form av rasism. Nu får vi hoppas att våra politiker gör det modiga och tar denna uppgift på allvar. Vi ska jobba tillsammans för att avvekla denna rasism som bubblat upp till ytan. Vi ska inte bygga ett lock på det hela och låtsas att vi inte har nåt att göra med det hela eller att det inte finns. Rasismen kommer bara att överkommas när vi tar det på allvar och samtidigt inte viker ner oss när det blir som mest obekvämt att göra nåt åt det.

A steady oncoming storm and other things

2010-09-02T10:53:00.002+02:00

If you are the democratic party, at this point it would probably be time to panic. The president doesn´t seem to know how to take control of the situation and the media is frothing at the mouth everytime a report comes out showing the republicans are closing in on the house and senate. Ok well this did happen before in the Clinton years, but lets be real americans and only remember as far back as three years max. In any case, the Democrats did real things while they were in office such as the healthcare reform which is going to cost them. Changing things always has a price. So lets all welcome back the republican party: a bunch of stuffy, white lets-change-nothing-because-everything-is-perfect kind of party. There seems to be no stopping the storm.

In other news fall is here. No the leaves aren´t turning brown (the sky is gray more than fifty percent of the time though), but the tourists are thinning out and there is a cold bite to the air that wasn´t there just two weeks ago.

Sweden plays its first Euro-qualifier against Hungary on Friday. Sweden should win this one but you never know till that final whistle. Here´s hoping that the next blog post will be about the joy of having three points on the road to Ukraine.

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A pack of wild horses

2010-08-26T10:43:00.002+02:00

I am sitting here in Berlin, a city drenched in rain and listening to the cars drive by on the wet pavement. I am trying to think clearly. That seems to be difficult this morning. One reason could be that I haven´t had my morning coffee. I checked the container we keep the coffee beans in and it wasn´t enough to make a full cup. I am also not in a mood to run to the store. So it goes.

I read this article in the New York Times. Its shocking and eye-opening while at the same time only really yawn provoking. Its about all the lies that Americans believe about Obama and the Democrats at the moment. There are some things there that I can only hope we will be laughing about in ten to fifteen years. There is this feeling in my gut though that we may not be in the end. That when these lies keep popping up in the future we´ll have to grown and wonder what kind of mindless idiots we are dealing with. In this day and age, and with the access that americans have to the internet and news sources, the fact that so many of them are capable of believing these kind of lies says a lot about the nation as a whole. For me its once again a reminder of why I am where I am.

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The children running the orphanage or the Ground Zero Mosque manufactured controversy

2010-08-18T18:56:00.002+02:00

There is a mosque being built in a location near the area in New York known as Ground Zero. That is the spot where the twin towers used to be. Remember those buildings that had two planes flown into them and then collapsed once the heat proved to much for the steel girders. A tragedy and an attack all at the same time. Now there is some controversy about one of the buildings in the area. Sometimes I wonder how America became as strong as it did. I wonder how it got so many things done when the politicians are arguing about this kind of garbage.

Arguments I have heard against it: Islam(or muslims) were the ones who attacked America. Actually this is a crock of you-know-what, it was Al Qaeda that attacked, not a religion. Religions are not tangible objects that can attack buildings. Its insensitive is another argument. Muslims died there as well so this makes it even stupider. Plus its private property and the owner is not a radical but a very big moderate. Not allowing it would be an act of bigotry and intolerance. Another argument: more than 50% of americans don´t want it. Majority is always right? guess we´d have no interracial marriage then either, or still segregated schools, and the list goes on. To be honest I haven´t heard a good argument yet. What a bunch of loonies running that country. Further proof that for all the talk, most of the time you only tolerate things that are similiar to yourself.

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In search of the Aha moment

2010-08-10T12:48:00.002+02:00

It could be called a quest. Or some sort of journey. Or maybe, when over-analyzed, a goal driven search for a meaningful occupation. Translation: I am looking for a job. I spend my days, in between working two restaurant jobs and trying to occasionally skateboard (not happening today) looking for work. I am not just interested in a job for its own sake, though at this point a more solid income that doesn´t rely on the weather wouldn´t hurt anyone. I want a job that when I wake up in the morning I don´t lie there in bed thinking; shit I have to get dressed up in uncomfortable clothes and go to a workplace somewhere far off where I do something I don´t even enjoy. Millions around the world face this dilemma. I have faced it before (though arguably the pay wasn´t as good back then).

What is all this about then? I am looking for the Aha moment: that point in time when I am looking through job adds and I see a position that really gets me going. A job offering that has my name written all over it. A job whose central work area is something I will take to like a hobby as opposed to a career. Does it exist? Well not so far, or someone else has it and isn´t willing to let it go. As Kurt Vonnegut would say: "So it goes."

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Saturday Clouds

2010-08-07T12:08:00.002+02:00

Its been raining bad weather since sometime yesterday morning. You wake up slowly, stumble around the house trying to figure out what all you have to do. Get dressed, go to the market, and then go to work for a few hours. The rain starts pouring and your shift gets cut short. No big deal really, a bit more free time is always appreciated. Though the money would have been nice as well. Every month is a massive effort that seems to end with just the right amount of money on the positive balance. A term one could use is making ends meet, or scraping by. Anyway you want to look at it, it comes down to survival. I don´t look at it that way though. I pretend I am in some form of bohemian lifestyle.

After the month and a half football withdrawal following the end of the world cup, two of europes leagues are back in business today: the French and the Dutch. Not that I will watch any of those games though as that would entail piss poor streams on some server that is going to crash at any minute. Too bad, but Bundesliga is just around the corner. There is also a national team friendly next week. Sweden meets Scotland. Zlatan is back. Its going to be fun.

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Have some Tea, America!

2010-08-03T23:05:00.003+02:00

When I read any article on any news site about the current tea party phenomenon I remember exactly why I left the United States. I left the loon bin to the loonies. Don´t misunderstand me here, Europe is full of loonies. Its crawling with them. The difference is that they don´t have the same loud screaming presence that they have in the US. They don´t have someone like Limbaugh or Beck poisoning the airwaves with their constant spewing of hate and rage (as they make millions from it).

The Tea party claims to be real americans. Sarah Palin claims to be the real america. If that is the real america: this conservative, pseudo Randian America, then I want no part. Period. I want out. If the republicans storm back in to office and fall all over each other trying to help the rich people out and at the same time trying to encourage only the kind of lifestyles that Dr. Dobson prescribes, then I want out. I am sick of a nation that talks about its tolerance and then does the opposite. I am sick of a nation that talks about peace when holding a gun to someone else´s head. Sick to death.

The republicans are looking good the polls say. Says a lot about America doesn´t it!

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All good things....

2010-07-16T11:17:00.002+02:00

Spain won the 2010 world cup. That was completely deserved. A country that has for the last fifty years (and probably more) produced so many spectacular football players has finally won its first world cup. They also look like they might continue to be unstoppable, though as history has often shown, time does things to winning teams that fans would like to forget. For what its worth though, Spain deserved that World Cup.

In about a month or month and a half, most of the leagues in Europe will be in full swing again and the qualifiers for the next European Cup will be underway. The Swedish national team missed the World Cup and has now added a new coach and started to bring in a younger generation of players. This bodes well for our chances of reaching Poland/Ukraine 2012. We have to face Hungary, Holland, Finland, Moldova, and San Marino. We will probably lose to Holland who have one of the best teams in the world at the moment. Otherwise our chances look solid to go through as the second place team in the group. Oh, and to boost things just a bit in advance Zlatan is back. This is good news for the national team which was missing a key player for the new system which will be 4-2-3-1 like most other international teams. Personally I am looking forward to the qualifiers and the up coming friendlies. Its going to be a good time all around.

As for me I have worked every day this week and it will be nice to have a weekend skating with my Stockholm crew who is on visit for eight days starting on Saturday. Lots of skateboarding to be done!

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Props to Spain

2010-07-08T15:40:00.003+02:00

How to begin this? Spain deserved to win that game. Germany fell to far back in hopes that it would be able to stop the play and counter, however in doing so, they let the Spanish run wild with the ball. You never let the spanish run wild with the ball. Until a team learns to do that, they will continue to feel the pain of La Furia Roja. Spain will probably also win the world cup because besides beating Brazil (and lets be honest they weren´t that great) Holland haven´t done all that much to prove they are real contenders. Then again thats the way it goes at world cups sometimes: luck of the draw can lead to match-ups that allow teams to reach the final easier than others.

All the same I have had a fantastic world cup. I have watched every germany game with friends and most of them in public viewing. Its been a blast and to be honest this is the way a world cup should be enjoyed. The vibes on the streets here in Berlin has been fantastic. The German team can now focus on the third place game (which they should win). They should also remember that they have been the most consistent team in the world for almost a decade now. A silver in 2002, a bronze in 2006, and now a chance for another bronze in 2010. Not a thing there to be ashamed of. Next time its going to be a far more experienced team (dare I recall that Spain were quite young in 2006 and came back in 2010 a better side...). Anyway Germany thank you for a wonderful world cup and please finish it with class by beating the snot out of Uruguay and please get that record for Klose he deserves it!

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Die Mannschaft keeps the world cup alive

2010-07-05T10:34:00.002+02:00

I remember 2008, I had just returned to Berlin after a holiday and had arrived in time to find a tv set for the european cup final. It was Spain vs Germany. To be honest I didn´t favor germany´s chances: despite getting that far they had done so in a way that was much less impressive than Spain´s own journey. Sure enough the Spaniards controlled the game and there was this feeling all through the game that there was really no chance that there would be an equalizer at any time. There wasn´t any question either of it being a fair outcome: Spain played the pants off the Germans.

Fast-forward to 2010. A world cup in South Africa. A lot of talk about how much Spain was a favorite to win the world cup and despite the all-star roster they have, a lot of unimpressive games. They lost to switzerland to start things off and haven´t been a high scoring team. One of their strikers has been god awful and the team just isn´t clicking in the same way it was in 2008. Now look at Germany, and at this point I still want to point out that I am a skeptic of Germany actually winning. So much can happen in those ninety minutes of play. Germany has impressed. They dismantled England and Argentina, and have been growing as a team as the tournament has progressed. 2002 they made the final only to lose in the last minute. 2006 they took third place. Now its 2010 and they have their best team in a long time. Germany has a good chance to take it all. I am close to believing in that fourth star on their jerseys after this tournament.

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Dog Days

2010-07-02T11:53:00.004+02:00

Welcome to the once weekly update of this lovely blog. I spent a portion of this morning, which is going to end seven minutes from now, listening to various songs by Josh Ritter and David Gray. Both of them amazing musicians, oh to see them live. I am still somewhere in the middle of the Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller. To best describe it, one would use the words pure madness, but then again I don´t see enough madness around me at the moment to not need some of that craziness. The sun is beating down on the street outside my third story window and life is stirring in ways typical of a Berlin Friday.

I have the day off and am contemplating a swim trip to a lake or watching the two quarterfinal games of the 2010 world cup. Not sure which is actually going to happen at this point. Recently I have been suffering from bouts of procrastination and that has affected the output of this blog as well. My apologies to all the readers, its the dog days of summer.

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Fridays

2010-06-25T14:28:00.002+02:00

I am in the first fifty pages of Henry Miller´s Tropic of Capricorn and I can only say that I feel inspired, the tone, the sarcasm, the voice: its all perfect. The man knew how to write. As for me? I am stuck on this blog pretending that one day I will write a novel. I can say a thousand times over that I am just trying to find the story, or looking for the right voice for the narration. Its all a crock of shit, and its been cooking for quite sometime now. To look at the whole thing from a spanish perspective: you can´t have a bull fight until you get inside the ring. The ring is this computer, the bull is my inner-laziness, and my matador´s outfit is the keys. Until there is a confrontation, its going to be a lonely day at the ring.

On to the world cup in all its glory. Germany made it through! What a nervy game that was. Lots of indecisivness from both sides and only a single moment of individual brilliance to finish it off. My thoughts always go back to Mr. Linnekers quote about the germans always winning on penalties, well hopefully they can do better than that against England. Sunday will tell all.

I am off to shopping and other such fun and exciting things such as working on a Friday night. May your weekends be merry!

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Wednesdays are for Show downs...

2010-06-21T17:31:00.002+02:00

Germany looked brilliant in their first game. They looked good in their second one and still lost. So it comes down to Wednesday. It comes down to Ghana. It comes down to ninety minutes and eleven men against another set of eleven. It comes down, to some degree, on the referee quality. It comes down to nerves and will and all that jazz. I am so nervous I can´t think about much else. Football has that effect sometimes.

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World Cup 2010

2010-06-11T11:26:00.002+02:00

By now every newspaper has been running their stories and special takes on the 2010 World Cup so I won´t drone on about it too much. I´ll admit that I have Football Fever. Due to work schedules and odd hours here and there, the first game I will be able to watch will be Germany against Australia. Its going to be magnificent, its going to be wonderful, in a way that only a world cup can be. I don´t think Brazil is going to do it this time, Spain is looking hot, Holland is on the rise, Denmark will be a bottom dweller along with France and Portugal. The drama is here and now and that month of magic that comes once every four years is here. I only wish I could watch every game.

In the middle of May

2010-05-19T13:25:00.003+02:00

Sorry about not updating this blog for a long time. I can´t really say that I have been so busy that it would have been impossible to write a line or two, more like I just didn´t take that time necessary. This is of course a confession for being lazy. So what is going on? I am working at a pizzeria and once or twice a week at an ice cream cafe, then besides this I do the occasional work at a catering company. To be honest I haven´t been doing enough reading recently. At night when I climb into bed around 11 or so I just turn out the light and pass out. I have been skating a lot recently as well. It was something that was missing in my life and now I have been doing it enough to reach a level I haven´t been at for about three years. To be honest though I am not back to the level I was at in the fall/winter of 2006. It is getting close though.

To football: the world cup is beginning soon. Sweden won´t be there so I will be for the Germans. There isn´t much to say about the German team (always pretty solid) so I thought I would write a note or two about what I hope the Swedes do. First they have a new coach in Erik Hamren and while new coaches don´t always solve all the problems, they can be a breath of fresh air and a step in the right direction. So what is Sweden´s biggest problem then? The lack of a strong team sense and the ability of key players stepping up when called upon. We are also in some kind of generation shift at the moment, but the new kids just aren´t quite there yet. We need someone to step up and take the reigns (or as we say in swedish: visa vart skåpet ska stå). I am waiting for Wernbloom and Bajrami and one or two others to show some heart and determination. Our big stars are also a problem: Ibrahimovic had an alright season at Barcelona, but is now in the middle of a sea of rumours none of which can be completely dismissed, and Marcus Berg has got to step up his game pretty mightily from the garbage he has shown so far at Hamburg. We expect more from such players. Of course Sweden has come back from dark patches before so there is no reason to think they cannot do the same now as well.

The IIHF Championships are taking place right now and Sweden is going to meet Denmark in the quarterfinal on Thursday. If we don´t win it will be one of the biggest embarrasments in our Ice Hockey history. I will admit though that I had all but written this team off after those shaky performances against Norway and France, but the last three games have pulled us together and our young players have shown a lot of heart. Pääjärvi-Svensson, Ekman-Larsson, and Hedman have been standouts and will be big stars in the years to come. I think there is a chance we win the gold but if we take a bronze only, I can live with that: as long as they leave it all on the ice.

To books. I am reading the Poisonwood Bible, Herr Lehmann, and finishing off Moby Dick all at the same time. I recently finished my first novel from Stanislaus Lem, Solaris, which I have to say was fantastic and I recommend it for anyone looking for a good book to read.

That is that and I hope that the summer finally shows up here one of these days as all this gray weather is killing the mood. Though at the same time, even with the gray skies I have been skating pretty damn good.

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Readings and things

2010-04-28T13:16:00.002+02:00

So while this is the third time I am reading Moby Dick, it is still a hard book to get through. For that reason I am also reading other books at the same time. Right now I am reading Stanislaw Lem´s Solaris (afterwards I am going to track down the famous Soviet movie and I will review that here as well). So far I have to admit I am pretty impressed with Solaris. Its one of those books that you approach with a skeptics view-given the large amount of amazing reviews it gets, but that I am finding have good reason to them. I don´t want to give away plot lines but am just going to say that I really recommend it and I am not even half way through.

I am going to Cologne this weekend and will be there until wednesday. Hopefully though I can update with some photos and stuff. I will watch some football this weekend and try to do some skating in Cologne. Of course we are really there to visit family so that is going to be fun as well. If the weather holds up like this tomorrow then I am going skating again. Landed some really good stuff the other day, stuff I hadn´t done in years.

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Obama as the white whale, but who is Ahab?

2010-04-27T13:08:00.002+02:00

I am reading Moby Dick for the third time right now. Since the value of a novel is often found in its interpretations, I am going to apply a modern one to a classic. Of course Melville could never have foreseen the tea party and the anger of people when their illusions of America were revealed to be 1950´s fantasies, all the same Moby Dick fits the current discourse really well.

I begin then with Obama as the white whale. This isn´t too hard. He is different from all the other previous whales that the whalers have hunted. Rumours surround his presence in different parts of the world. He is thought to be a destroyer by some. However, since he has appeared he has been gaining a name and a reputation. When he reached his peak, the election or in the book the first fight with Ahab, he changed everything. That brings us to Ahab. He is none other than Dick Cheney. A man with a limited vision of reality who is so possessed with his need for revenge for what he considers a purposeful attack on himself. This attack on Ahab I translate as the American people voting the neo-cons out. Cheney cannot let go of the whole thing and so he is able to bring others to the same fanatical point of rage (the tea party or nowadays most of the republican party). He tells them they have to get the White Whale. The ship always has been and always will be America. Cheney, as Ahab, is willing to take the ship (America) down with all hands rather than see it not doing his will.

Ok so this is all just for fun. But what drives a maniac like Cheney or Ahab? Their wounded pride?
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A well worn path

2010-04-26T20:31:00.003+02:00

Monday strikes again. I had to work so I didn´t have to sit around all day thinking about how I don´t have a job. Actually I do have a job, but I mean more like a real job. Whatever that is. I have never had one actually. A real job would consist of me doing something that is related to geography and the environment. Preferrably some kind of research. Of course in the world of jobs its all about who you know and as an immigrant, I don´t know anyone.

Lets put all that aside for a minute. Instead I think about the tea party in the US and Bill Maher´s condemnation of the whole movement. He makes the point that they really can´t talk about deficit reduction until they are willing to give up what is essentially the American Empire. If we can´t decide what to cut, but never tackle a standing army that is indeed to big when considered alongside what it is used, then we aren´t really proposing any real solutions. He noted, and I thought this part was quite good, that the defense industry is really a set of welfare payments. So then the question is what percentage of the military industrial complex (and I mean the whole shebang here) is republican and/or right wing? Maher also noted that the whole thing is geared to fight Russia back in the 70´s. Despite these words of wisdom I doubt the teabaggers will actually ever call for any reductions in this sector. Then what about NASA? Is getting a base on the moon or planting a flag on Mars really that important? Nope. If we want to reduce the budget, lets use the money where its needed and not on male sci-fi fantasies.

Here is hoping the weather is nice tomorrow because I can hear my skateboard on the other side of the room calling my name. No its not really calling my name. Inanimate objects don´t do such things, but all the same I have an itch to take it for a ride.

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Friday: or how to go through the motions

2010-04-23T12:16:00.002+02:00

Lets begin with facts. The sun is shinning. The trees are in bloom. Its nearing the end of april and the summer is starting to break through here and there. In the parks the smell of grilled meat and charcoal smoke floats by occasionally amid the screams of running children on green grass and the silent areas where couples wrap themselves in blankets. The streets are unusually quiet for a Friday and its as if there is some holiday feeling over the whole city. We have left the facts behind. I am sad and don´t know why. The job hunt is getting to me. I know I should call the companies and places I have applied to but don´t want to. The fear of rejection? The sinking feeling of inadequacy sinking in to all my pores? Something like that.

Amid other things that are let downs these days: the Swedish National football team. Its hard to argue that anyone really deserves a place on that team these days. Everytime we play a nation that could be considered blueberry in quality we get a run for the money. Right now I am not at all convinced that we will be taking part in Euro 2012. A lot of people have to step up and reach another dimension of playing. I don´t see that happening. To continue the football line: Barcelona are two goals down in the semifinal of the Champions League. I am going to write them off now. Inter Milan with a genius in Mourinho is going to get to the final and there they are going to play an über-close game with Bayern that will be a toss up. It might even go to penalties. That is my prediction anyway. Enjoy the weekend.

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Skateboarding!

2010-04-20T11:54:00.003+02:00

Its official. The sun is out and I don´t have to serve ice cream or bake pizzas today, so that can mean only two things. First I am working on further job applications (which even when I am doing nothing else, I am still working on) and secondly I am going to go skate at Hasenheide where I haven´t been in a week and a half. Just looking out the window at the bloomind trees, I know that that itch is slowly coming back.

In other news I finished Margaret Atwood´s sequel to Oryx and Crake titled The Year of the Flood. While its always extremely difficult to write a sequel to such an amazing book, I thought that she did pretty well in the end. Some of the story arcs seemed a bit simplified, but all in all it held a high standard and the ending was acceptable. Recommended though to get it you have to read the first one first.

Today is Market Day on the Maybachufer and I am wondering if I need anything at all today? The answer is probably no, now to the question of do I want anything. Well the answer to that doesn´t need to be stated literally. To everyone out there reading this: Enjoy a beautiful spring day.

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Delusions of Grandeur, mass fantasy, and the right wing

2010-04-15T10:23:00.003+02:00

Its all the same thing. Yesterday Sarah went to Boston to give a little Tea Party speech near the site of the original event. Personally I am wondering whether she shook the dust off her feet when she left that liberal Mecca or whether it is now a sacred site of the right thanks to the election of Scott Brown (from whom much will expected....). In any case I took another thinker about the people and ideas that make up this right wing hate fest and thought I would talk about them a bit today.

Lets start with the socialism/fascism claims. I am constantly wondering where they get their evidence for this? To this day I still haven´t heard a decent argument for this, but that hasn´t stopped it being shouted from every pulpit they can find (and radio station, and fox news, etc.). I am therefore forced to conclude that these people are living in a giant bubble of fantasy. What they imagine in their head they conclude is also actually going on in the streets. This is the same affliction that many terminally ill homeless people suffer from.

Then there are the ideas about the constitution and lets go back to the constitution and it was better back then. To be honest they are practicioners of the Great American Religion. The first principle of the religion is that America is so special that it is unlike any other nation. When your worldview starts like this it invariably leads to the conclusion that all other nations are incomplete, bad, or even evil. The second principle of the religion is that the US can do nothing wrong on the world stage. The third principle is that American will only be great as long as its tied to some Randian view of capitalism and individuality. Going back to the constitution then is some kind of purification rite of the Great American Cult (cough, religion). The problem (one of many) with this view of America is that first it idealizes a kind of country that would look like The Andy Griffith Show and ignores the complicated real life that a constantly changing and dynamic nation faces. It also ignores history but that is for another post.

What I am trying to illustrate here is that the Tea Party, Fox News, and Sarah Palin are all living in a cocoon they built for themselves with a worldview that never really existed the way they wish it had. Tough shit, you lost the election, and this is the real life (its not black and white).

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Yoga Wednesdays

2010-04-14T17:00:00.002+02:00

On wednesdays I do yoga. Its something I started with a little over a year ago. I had wanted to do it before but never had the courage to do it on my own. Enter Clara who wanted to do it as well and when we signed up for a course at the local community college (German VHS) we didn´t really know much about it. After a few weeks we were hooked. Now in the mornings I usually start my day by doing a few exercises. We do Iyengar yoga and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to be more flexible, add another dimension to their physical training, as well as learn something new.

Tomorrow is Thursday and if the weather finally gets a bit nicer, I am going to have a nice skate session. First though I have to hand deliver a job application I have been working on for a while now.

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Pots Damn

2010-04-11T12:23:00.008+02:00

R. Gusarevs once took a bus ride to get to my wedding that involved him temporarily being on a street in Berlin called Waidmanslusterdam or something like that. Of course to the ear that is not so used to German, he sat up and thought Wild Mans Lust Damn! This of course led to a whole new level of sillyness in Berlin with all the different names of things (names that really mean very different things in english or can be perceived as meaning odd things). Lustgarten is another favorite. Anyway this weekend we had visitors from Sweden, Marie and Pekka Lindgren and we took them to the small city of Potsdam. Or as its known in this blog post Pots Damn.

We also went to the Dutch Quarter which is an older part of the town that is good for walking around in and having a coffee. Went to a restaurant called the Flying Dutchman (rather cliche for a dutch restaurant). The food was what could be called average, but as the guests were far better than so it was still a nice time.
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Friday is Market Day

2010-04-09T12:43:00.006+02:00

This blog has long suffered from a lack of photos detailing the happenings in Berlin. One reason is that I am shy about using the camera. Well no more, here are the days of point and click. Today is Friday and it is market day in my neighborhood. Turkish vegetable mongers fight for space among cheese sellers and licorice stands. Here are a few of the photos I took.

If the weather holds up i.e. no rain today, then I might even have a chance to get a little skate in. Here is hoping.

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Knee Slapper of the week

2010-04-07T12:22:00.003+02:00

I didn´t really expect to follow up on the last post so quickly but apparently I am wrong (irony). So here is the first source. Of course this means that you have to believe the heritage foundation first of all. My question: Are you still a think tank if you leave out the thinking?

Two friends of mine are coming from Sweden and are staying till Sunday. Its going to be a fun week. Now its time to clean the house and have a little skate.

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Socialism is all you got

2010-04-06T12:30:00.003+02:00

Its one of those mistakes I make over and over again: I read an article about anything that the President is doing and then when I am through with the article I scroll down to skim the comments. Here and there I find a few who agree, a few who disagree(at a constructive level), and then a bunch of comments about socialism taking over. Now I am going to go ahead and make the claim that anyone lobbing socialist at the current government is A.) unaware of what real socialism looks like and B.) have no understanding of the positions that the Republicans have taken in previous decades. On the issue of health care for instance the President´s plan, Obamacare, is the Republican idea from 1993. So the Republicans were socialists back then but now they are not. What about Romneycare? Hmm. I am going to take this a step further: if you want to keep screaming socialist thats fine, but at least be able to provide some kind of evidence for it evidence that doesn´t include Hannity/Rush said...

That the political debate on news websites has degenerated to this level is telling in many ways. It tells me that a lot of voters have no real idea of the political process or what government really does. It tells me they have no idea about American history and all the instances where government has failed to protect its citizens from con men who are out to take as much from everyone else as possible. The idea that less government is the golden goose is probably the most common religion that right wing groups share.

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monday, monday

2010-04-05T18:55:00.003+02:00

I wanted to go skateboarding today. I woke up and looked toward the curtain covered window in hopes of being greeted by rays of sunlight glancing off the walls. Nope, it was overcast and what was worse, if I sat and listened to the cars rolling by I could hear the sound of tires on a wet street. Rain it was and rain it stayed until half an hour ago. I am hoping it stays sunny tomorrow and then I will take on Hasenheide skatepark.

Easter was so so. Don´t get me wrong the brunch was fun and the pesto quiche that I made was fantastic (could have used a bit more salt says the critical cook within me), but at the same time it wasn´t great because Clara was laying at home sick. She wasn´t on deaths doorstep or anything, but she wasn´t feeling good and that dragged the feeling down a few notches.

Tomorrow I will try to begin a new week day schedule. Get up between 7:30 and 8:00. Do yoga/short workout for twenty to thirty minutes. Breakfast. Write for half hour. Job search. Write applications. Have all this done by two o´clock in the afternoon. That is the goal anyway. If it happens or not is another thing.

To reading: I am halfway through Moby Dick right now and already I know which book I want to read next. I am going to read Margaret Atwood´s The Year of the flood. Anyway that is all for now, its just one of those slow Mondays.

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Easter Brunch: my contribution

2010-04-03T23:25:00.003+02:00

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and therefore its Easter Brunch time. While its only the second time in Berlin that we are doing this its still a nice tradition. I am hoping the weather is going to be nice so we can sit outside and enjoy the weather and general mood of the city. Of course I have to work tomorrow evening but thats life when you have a restaurant job. Here is a picture of the Anders family contribution to the Easter Brunch. Hint: it includes pesto and no meat! While I don´t generally think its a good idea to bring something new to a party without having sampled it first, if you know what you are doing i.e. know how to make quiche and know how to use pesto, then this isn´t a problem. I am looking forward to the reactions.

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Market Day

2010-03-30T11:57:00.003+02:00

Today is Tuesday and the street market around the corner from my house is in full swing by now. All the vendors are lined up with their various goods ranging from vegetables, grains, cheap clothing, and various regional specialties and cheeses. Sometimes there is nothing better than to take a stroll through before it gets to crowded, before the vegetable mongers yell their prices at you, and just take everything in. My personal favorites are the cheese stands, there are usually two and one of them specializes in Austrian Bergkäse, and then the Dutch Licorice stand. Oh, I should of course mention the italian stand with all the fresh pastas.

Today I have to go apply for new jobs. Not the kind of jobs I really want, but more the kind of jobs that I can actually obtain for the summer months: cafe work or kitchen assistant positions. Its not what I wanted to be doing at this point but it seems like it is the only answer at the moment. So then I´ll print out a few CV´s and be on my way. Maybe I will walk through the market as well.

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Health Care reform: morning thoughts

2010-03-22T10:39:00.003+01:00

I don´t know at what time they voted. I was asleep at that point. I have no idea if there is a live stream where you can watch the voting process. I probably should have stayed up to watch it but I had a good feeling about it so I thought well I´ll sleep on it. We got it. After all these years and all this waiting, finally there is some real reform going on. Its not perfect and its not as far as it could be, but its a step in the right direction. I send out a sincere thank you to all the people who made this happen.

Now to the other side... I have been reading about the protests taking place outside the capital. At what point is it ok to call anyone a nigger or a faggot? I am not going to sit here and pretend that I didn´t believe these right wing tea partiers capable of this type of behavior, and the fact that it happened is just further proof of the kind of people that are involved in that movement. As for the republican media, claiming its socialism or communism or whatever their flavor of the month is: you are so blind, so ignorant, and beyond anything else so stupid that you don´t even know what those things are. To the Republican party: this is your chance to win over America. Go out there and tell the people how you want to make sure they are only a disease away from bankruptcy and that honestly you could care less about them. If you win a massive landslide in November it will be a sad day in a country that is actually starting to move forward again after stagnating for so long. I sincerely hope voters will see the truth about your party once and for all.

Anyways today is a day of celebration!

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Amid the waves and sun

2010-03-17T11:06:00.007+01:00

I don´t know how to begin this. At times I struggle to fully realize my own thoughts and find that I fall back to the land of cliches. A land from where it is hard to recover one´s poise. I will try, I will struggle, I will let these thoughts loose, I will let them grow.

An island group. An isolated island group somewhere in the middle of the pacific. A population of natives with a very structured society. A society that put a great emphasis on their greatest resource: the ocean. A society that strove to be as close to the ocean and all its gifts as possible. Perhaps in this day of Avatar and Dances with Wolves there is nothing easier than to over-romanticize an indigenous group, to make them seem more enlightened than their evil conquerors, to make them seem closer to nature. I don´t deny this may be the case, but let me have this limb and we´ll see if it will hold the weight I place on it.

Once upon a time there was island people whose love for the sea was evident even to the first European eyes. Captain Cook noted in his notes that the Hawaiians rode waves on pieces of wood. Once upon a time there was an island people who didn´t have Christianity and to the Christian world this meant only one thing: they were in need of missionaries. Indeed the missionaries came and they even fought amongst themselves to the point that the catholic priests were persecuted under instructions from the calvinist missionaries. At this point we have not even arrived at the lowest point of this story. The missionaries could not leave the people as they were. The missionaries felt the Hawaiians were lazy and so they did everything they could to destroy their ocean loving culture. They discouraged them from surfing the waves, an action that had kept them healthy and fit. They did what they thought would be good for them: tried to turn them into images of protestantism. Then the United States took its first step towards becoming an empire and seized the islands. This was only the beginning of the decline.

Amid all the chaos, there were those who clung to the old ways and despite the influx of outsiders, the dietary changes that wreaked havoc on the native population, and the colonialism that took place they kept the old traditions around. The person whose name is most evoked for bringing back the art of surfing is Duke Kahanamoku and perhaps it was his simple love of the ocean that helped most in the revival. There were many others of course who struggled to bring back to the islands what the people had lost and I will say from my visit that there is still have a long way to go to restore all that was lost. All my respect goes out to those men and women who love those islands and are trying to restore the ecosystems and culture.

Big Week and Champions League

2010-03-16T11:35:00.003+01:00

Given the current situation in the United States, I will be willing to say that Obama´s presidency and the Democratic party are both at stake over health care. They are gambling with high stakes, but if they want to get something done then this is how it has to be. The Republicans are trying to frame a vote for health care as political suicide. They are hopefully smarter than to really believe that. It is important to remember to beware of friendly republicans offering advice. I have talked about health care reform a lot on this blog. Its an issue that I care a lot about, an issue that is too big to be ignored the way the republican party will do if they win this one. Any democrat who doesn´t vote for this bill will lose my vote. I will instead vote for the green party if this bill is dropped. To any lawmakers reading this, as unlikely as that is, it is better to be voted out for doing something(and something important at that) than to be voted out for being a coward(in hopes of saving your seat) and enforcing an awful status quo.

This week is Champions League again and its going to be a glorious two days. Tonight I will try to watch Chelsea take on Inter Milan in London. The Germans are all supporting Chelsea due to the fact that their national team captain plays for them. I do like Inter Milan´s coach Jose Mourinho, but all the same I give Chelsea the win on this one and the progression to the next round. On Wednesday Barcelona hosts Stuttgart and I don´t really have to explain who the Germans are going to be cheering for in this case. My head tells me Barcelona wins and I would like that, but Stuttgart haven´t come this far only to back down. It could be a close one. My hope though is that Ibrahimovic gets it together and has a masterful game. It would be fun to see him back in his fall form once again.

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and here comes Monday

2010-03-15T10:15:00.003+01:00

It was a nice little weekend if I do say so myself. I managed to not read too much news, and spent my time doing things that are more fun. Such as watching Bundesliga and the last two movies of Stieg Larsson´s Millenium trilogy. Good stuff. Now its Monday again and while I did work five hours last night in pure madness at a swing concert in a pizzeria, I am feeling ready to go.

About the swing concert. The band playing was Old Fish and the location was Ron Telesky Canadian Pizza. I have never seen a venue so packed in my life and people were still outside trying to get in. We had to stop baking during the bands sets, but that didn´t matter because during the breaks everyone was consuming massive amounts of beer. The experience of working there reminds me more and more of Fatih Akin´s amazing 2010 film Soul Kitchen. I love it!

To other things...

Paul Ryan, the new posterboy for the GOP, has his ideas cut to ribbons by the CBO and its not pretty. Nor is the fact that the republican parties "new ideas" are just going to increase the deficit. Lovely, but oh wait aren´t they the party that got us here in the first place. Another Randite bites the dust.

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Random Honeymoon Photos

2010-03-12T12:41:00.003+01:00

Thursdays

2010-03-11T15:23:00.003+01:00

I just finished Günter Grass´novel My Century and while I cannot say that it is one of his better works, I would say that it was worth the read for anyone interested in German history. Its a bit fiction and a bit history as every year of the 20th century is essentially two to three pages in a voice of someone who explains what they see as the biggest event and how they experienced it. My favorite is the professor explaining to his class about the student revolt of 1968 and about "that writer with the walrus mustache who´d sold out to the Social Democrats." Living in Berlin of course makes one painfully aware of 68 for the most obvious reason that Dutschke was active and assasinated here.

Sometimes it becomes easy to walk through Berlin and be deluded by the festive atmosphere and forget all the things that have taken place here. Some good, some awful. Many of those who became martyr´s for different causes have their names on streets here such Rosa-Luxembourg str. or Rudi Dutschke str. Or how about the protests against the shah a few years before 68 when the police stood by and watched the pro-Iranians beat the leftists with wooden sticks. Times have changed haven´t they?

I am trying to write a paper about my thoughts after reading Rand´s Atlas Shrugged, but that is difficult because while time has marched on and the vision she had has never materialized, it remains difficult to determine how she would respond to the world as it is today. I am also working on applications for jobs. There is nothing worse than writing job applications.

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Making Change Happen

2010-03-09T11:07:00.003+01:00

During my no-so-far-back-days in grad school I had this class that I really didn´t like. It was called Make Change Happen, and while its easy to dislike hard classes, this one was supposed to be more practical. The goal was to come up with a project that would change the world in some way: it could be at the local level or it could reach higher than that. My teammate for this project was already eyeing a thesis on building codes in Sweden and so since she already had some knowledge on the topic, we took on the building codes in Lund County, Sweden. We submitted a citizen´s proposal complete with our reasons and a social theory background drawing on Rawlsian concepts of inter-generational justice. Our proposal passed. Granted the green party came up with a better idea that would have been more rigid, and which both my teammate and I would have preferred. We didn´t let that bother us so much because we had gotten something done. We had made that change even if it was just a baby step in a certain direction.

Health care reform in the United States. Its not the bill I want, but if I was in the house of representatives, I would vote for it. A baby step in the right direction is better than a status quo that hurts a lot of people. As for people being against it I have two things to say about that: a. do they really know that much about it (who are their sources?) and b. even if people aren´t gung-ho about something does not mean we shouldn´t improve on something that desperately needs it.

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Sunday Thoughts: Politics to Swedish National Football Team

2010-03-07T13:49:00.004+01:00

Sunday, Sunday in Berlin. The sun was there to greet me this morning and then by lunch time it had hidden itself behind the cloud ceiling that is the ever present reminder that winter is not quite gone yet. I am thinking about things. Some things, and most certainly not all things.

Terrorist trials. In the US there is some strange idea that the terrorists should not be tried in civilian courts as this may somehow lead to them being found innocent. Does the US government not have enough evidence to convict them? What does that say about all the money spent on these wars so far? Have these same courts not convicted terrorists, both foreign and domestic, in the past? I am guessing that the alternative option is to try the "terrorists" in some kind of military tribunal that has yet to be fully legalized? Apparently the great United States has some kind of court system that is inadequate for justice to be served. What does this mean for conservatives who are so quick to defend all parts of the US? Does a military tribunal guarantee an automatic conviction? If such is the case, then how is justice being served. I thought the US was supposed to be better than these scummy terrorists.

Liz Cheney and her father are the worst things to happen to the world since McCarthy and his witch hunts. Remember how many lives that ruined in a "free" country where people were supposed to be able to believe what they wanted? These are two pathetic people being given too much attention. Keep America Safe sounds like some neo-fascist organization that even Orwell would have had trouble coming up with. Sometimes I imagine that humans learn from history and that we improve throughout the centuries. What I am learning is that this is not the case, human stupidity is unchanged by technology and by those who yearn to improve the world. Have a look around and smell the stupidity in the air: its growing.

Sometimes I get too into football. I begin to hope that the Swedish National Team will recapture its far gone glory days. The last couple of friendlies has proved the complete opposite: we have a bunch of players with limited talent who don´t seem to know how to play with heart. I know that could be harsh but that is my observation. There are lots of national teams that play only with heart, where the players realize that they only get a few chances to suceed in that environment and they take every chance seriously. Sweden on the other hand looks like a bunch of overpaid athletes continuosly underperforming. Well that is my Sunday.

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Freaky Friday´s second post...

2010-03-05T11:52:00.004+01:00

I am supposed to be working on an application letter but the health care issues are forcing themselves into my head and I can think of little else. I am also aware that I am increasingly frustrated by all the lies and deceit that have been used against this bill. I am aware that there are interest groups who are against this bill for various reasons, and I don´t blame them for being against it: that is their ideological stand point and they are welcome to it.

What I cannot accept as being constructive is the lying or making up numbers that have nothing to do with reality to confuse and divide American taxpayers against this bill. Its easy to say that one party is evil in the United States, no matter what side of the divide one stands on. However, lets be honest both parties want the best for the country. Am I being a little too much Pollyannaesque here? Possibly, but I stand by that. The difference is that the parties have different ideas on how to achieve it. Neither vision is perfect. Politics and government will not fix everything. Neither will a pure free market. However if our discussions on these things would be policy related instead of fear mongering, we could elevate the debate and bring out the best in the nation instead of calling each other names.

All that aside its time for the elected majority party to do what they were voted in to do and what they have been for for the last half century: health care reform. Get it done!

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Lets push things forward

2010-03-05T09:33:00.004+01:00

Health care, health care, health care. I voted for Obama to get this done. I voted for the democrats to get this done. I want it done. Stop bickering and get this thing through.

Interesting article about the wack-job patriot groups springing up in the US. When I read about these kinds of idiots I remember why I left the US and why I don´t have plans on going back. I don´t need to have these kinds of fools around. In the world today there are billions of idiots, but I will try to chose the ones I want to be surrounded with and its not a bunch of angry old white people who want to carry guns around like the wild west. People advocating conspiracy theories come across as individuals who don´t know how to use their brains beyond menial tasks like cooking food and using the restroom. Those of you involved in these kinds of things, pull your heads out of your asses and do some thinking. I am tired of a dialogue about politics crippled by right wingers who have no talking point but keep reguritating the word socialist and fascist interchangeably. Its bullshit and you know it.

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Thoughts on Rand and Atlas

2010-03-04T16:45:00.003+01:00

I am somewhere past the middle point of Atlas Shrugged so while I am going to make some observations here, its worth noting that they are still in their infancy and will have to wait till I finish the book to mature.

What I really find interesting is Rand was an atheist and so in her book up until this point there is no mention of religion as part of the character´s lives. I wonder if the conservatives who see her works as so important are also atheists or if they ignore that part of her works (the lack of a higher being)? The other thing that I am really wondering about is that Rand takes a very high opinion of science and what those who work with it are capable of doing which compared to the loud screaming in the streets and online chat rooms about how scientists are just about their own agenda, is very different.

Her simple approach to characters that the heroine not be a loud mouth who tries to portray herself as a simple, average person stands in remarked contrast to the people who are the supposed champions of the free market today. I doubt that Rand would take a very high view of Beck or his fellow radio hosts, devoted fans that they are. I also doubt she would see any use in a politician like Palin who on a regular basis shows disdain for anyone who has attained higher education than herself while at the same time posing as an average person. Rand doesn´t think very highly of average people. The saviors of her world are the elite and not the masses. Interesting.

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Bring on the Week

2010-03-01T13:28:00.003+01:00

Back at the desk looking for jobs. The mind-numbing, seemingly endless search for jobs.

Yesterday was Movie Night and the highlight had to be Lemon Tree. Its an Israeli film and I highly recommend it. Of course the problem I find with things that deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are that they are often quick to pick a side or to oversimplify a complex problem. With Lemon Tree, director Eran Riklis manages to focus mainly on the characters themselves and in the end tells a story whose ending while not the fairytale we want remains something all too real.

I also watched Canada win the gold medal in ice hockey at the winter Olympics in Vancouver. The US put up a great fight and they threw everything they had at the Canadians only to find it wasn´t quite enough. To read this article one would think Canada has taken back the mantel as greatest hockey nation in the world. I don´t really think they ever lost it. With a tournament this size, its often the case that the nation that has a group of players in peak form will win. This is also the reason that other super powers did so bad this Olympics. All this brings me to my final point which is that while these two sides seemed hot here and there is a lot of talk about Sochi 2014, it is important to remember that holding onto the gold is quite difficult.

All the same the US played with a lot of heart and they certainly deserved their silver medals though not a one of them looked happy to receive them.

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Cyniscism on Climate and what about DADT?

2010-02-24T13:09:00.003+01:00

There are days like today when I wake up and see that its been snowing throughout the night (or at least the early morning). I see the white city landscape and after I´ve had a breakfast of fresh baked German bread I sit down and turn on the computer and read that the belief that Climate Change is taking place is shrinking in two different polls.

What is the reason? Some are suggesting its the "evidence" in the East Anglia emails scandal (to which many have posed the question: what evidence to deaf ears). Or perhaps its the snow outside my door and outside many doors in the world this winter season? To be honest climate change is not my area of expertise, but I wonder if it really was the case that the whole thing was such a hoax, that some solid evidence for it couldn´t be uncovered. If George Bush and the neo-con boys couldn´t expose it (and imagine the things it would have done for the party had they uncovered that leftist plot{please note irony here}) then I am wondering if there might not be something really going on. I love to hear non-scientists yell themselves blue in the face about the issue, love to hear them talk about the controversy as they call it, I love it so much I have a new idea for how to deal with climate change and its associated ills: lets just ignore it.

Why? Because obviously there isn't enough political will to change things anyhow. Business as usual prevails in the world we live in, so lets just let this one go. To be honest it won't be our problem anyway. Someone else will have to deal with it. Thats the nice thing about pollution: if I can't see the landfill, it isn't there. If my shit is washed down the toilet, it ceases to exist. The trash truck that empties the garbage twice a week is magic and everything inside it just vanishes. If we ignore Climate Change I am sure it will just fix itself.

I was shocked(no I have become unshockable in my cyniscism) to discover this morning that two generals had spoken out against the potential repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT). These two homophobes have this idea that its going to disturb the armed forces somehow. Are they assuming that there are no gays there and suddenly they will be forced to accept all these gay recruits? No other "western" country has a law as stupid as DADT and they are all doing fine. If they are concerned that a significant portion of the military is homophobic and will drop out because they have to serve with homosexuals, then wouldn't it be a welcome change to get rid of the bigots in uniform. Can we start with these two generals? The military would be better off immediately.

Lets end this on a happier, more interesting note on culture and art: In Berlin.

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Is it possible something might actually happen?

2010-02-23T15:16:00.002+01:00

Health Care Reform: it was alive, it was happening, it was dead, it was a failure with a capital F, rumors, rumors, its alive, its back, its possible? Krugman certainly thinks so and he explains very simply that its theoretically only a few steps away from being reality. This is of course the situation that we are in: Brown being voted in was certainly a hick-up for the whole thing, but it doesn´t hide the fact that both the house and the senate have already passed bills for health care reform. All that has to happen is the House passes the Senate bill and Obama signs it into law. Of course there is still to be some going ons before, but that is how government works.

What happens if this scenario goes down? The conservatives will freak out. By the way that last link is to The New Republic which I just discovered is a great source of in-depth analysis on current events in the US (from a left viewpoint). There was an article on the website with some remarkable insights into the tea party´s approach to things at the moment as well as Palin´s notion of the real Americans. I give two of the quotes below here:

"Populism that bases its criticisms on a preference for one segment of the populace is merely another special interest."

"The wisdom of a policy is not determined by its social origin."

Both of those quotes are by Leon Wieseltier.

The Tea Party´s approach (and Sarah Palin´s) that they somehow represent the real Americans is false for so many obvious reasons. I, and many others like me are also real Americans, and I want nothing to do with those embarassing demonstraters. Here is a great take on the whole movement by Mark Halperin at Time Magazine.

Now to important matters. Team Sweden have made it to the Quarterfinals where they will without a doubt be facing Slovakia. If we win, and I think its possible, we play either Russia or Canada. I think it ends in the Semi-finals. I would love another gold, but we´ll have to wait a bit for that. Good luck Tre Kronor, you´re gonna need it.

Back in Germany and been thinking...

2010-02-16T09:25:00.003+01:00

I made a mistake in Hawaii. I was sitting in the car and driving around Maui and I thought that maybe it would be interesting to listen to all this famous right wing radio hosts. So I did and on the first one I was greeted with trumpets and an announcement that the host was involved in taking back America from socialism and from there it just went down into the mud never to recover. I noticed myself gripping the steering wheel tighter as they talked about how bad everything was, how the country was disappearing, and so on. Then I remembered something: isn´t a lot of this just the same rhetoric that was present with Clinton. The kind of rhetoric we forget about because it never got beyond rhetoric, it never reached any kind of substance.

That brings me to the Tea Party. I just finished reading this article in the New York Times. I also watched some of the highlights from the convention they had. Its a conspiracy theorists playground. All the aluminum foil hat kids are there. They keep talking about the government being unconstitutional, about it taking away their liberties, etc. I didn´t see any of that in the US. Don´t get me wrong. There are plenty of things the government does that I don´t agree with. That is why I vote. I also think highly of these people for caring. I only wish they were informed. I wish they knew what they were talking about. I wish they had facts. I wish they weren´t just all white (I am sure there are minorities there as well but that is not the face I am seeing, or the one they are presenting). I wish they could present some kind of interesting arguments for the things they stand for. They don´t. They are about fear and anger; fear of their own fantasies and anger about things they chose not to understand.

When the Tea Party has something of substance to say it will be interesting to hear it. Until then they are just another right wing movement that honestly won´t be anything different than the republican party we have now. Congrats on renaming yourselves.

Joe Klein making an incredible point about the Queen of the movement.

To quote someone I much respect about her: "She´s just an embarrassment."

Sweden took their first Gold in Vancouver. Congrats to Charlotte Kalla and she deserved it.

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Perry vs. Schwarzenegger

2010-01-21T11:43:00.002+01:00

I know this blog has already asked anyone to produce any logical reasoning as to why same-sex marriage should not be allowed. I also know that no one has yet produced anything to discuss. Therefore I find myself reading fascinatedly about the court case currently taking place in California known as Perry vs. Schwarzenegger. This is the challenge to the infamous Prop 8 thing run and promoted by those opposed to same sex marriage. Its now in its 8th day and is likely to go on for another two weeks. I thought I would provide some links to those who are writing about it. This will also provide some logic into how those against are thinking. I welcome all discussion on this blog.

A site with background info.

Here is a site with daily summaries. (Note: this blog is not exclusively about the case)

Of course we live in the world of Twitter.

Another blog following the trial.

Thats what I have for today. I will post relevant articles as I find them or as the readers here post theirs in the comments section.
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Tuesday and they are off to the polls

2010-01-19T12:02:00.003+01:00

Its special election day in Massachusets and it may spell the end of the filibuster proof majority. If so it means a lot of things. First, it means that Americans are actually ok with the status quo. Apparently things are great, because why else would you vote for the party that got us into this mess and whose only policy idea(s) are lower taxes and a family norm that never really existed? Is it to spite the democrats because they weren´t able to instantly change things for the better? If so then its a pretty childish way to do it. Very childish actually.

To think that we could have passed a government run health care the first try is like imagining that the day Castro dies, everything will instantly be great in Cuba. Its overly simplistic and if voters are mad that reality wasn´t black and white then they should re-evaluate how they perceive reality. Give the man a chance and don´t go back to the garbage we just dumped. Thats what dogs do.

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Monday of Worry

2010-01-17T19:18:00.005+01:00

This is an odd Monday. I am sitting here at my desk in Berlin listening to the cars making their way through the snowy seats and thinking about politics. Right now I wish that I didn´t care about politics or about any of the issues out there. That I just did my job, got my paycheck and lived frivolously in the land of consumerism. As long as my piece of the pie was big enough then who cares about anything else right. Anyway I mean whatever party is in will do ok anyhow. Right?

Unfortunately this is not the case. I do care about issues. I do care about people getting stepped on and who have no one looking out for them. I do care about religious majorities forcing their lifestyles on others. I do care about all the lies that are printed in newspapers. The purpose of this post is to talk about the special election for the Senate seat in Massachussets. The Republican candidate is apparently ahead at the moment and the election is tomorrow. If the Democrats lose this one, there will only be one thing to say: it is their own fault. They have not shown what they are capable of and have all but given away health care reform because of it. If the Republicans win they are not going to stop talking about it for the next five years (at least).

Who is Scott Brown, the Republican candidate? He is your usual right winger: obssessed with making sure only heterosexualls are treated equal, all talk about pro-life, and of course against everything that Obama stands for. He is the kind of reason I left the US. While I may have had some hope for that country after the Presidential election, it seems that the usual suspects are creeping back in and if they get back the power, the whole place is going back to the gutter.

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The revolution will not be televised-and that is too bad

2010-01-14T16:57:00.003+01:00

In the US at the moment there is a court battle looming in California that will likely make its way all the way to the Supreme Court. This means that whatever outcome it has, it will have an impact in all states. Let me repeat that: it will have an impact in all states. The court case comes as a response to a slight majority of California voters stripping away the law allowing same-sex marriage. This was known as Prop 8. It was an overturning of the California State Supreme Court which had found that marriage as a right could not be limited to heterosexuals.

Now what I am hoping will happen is that this goes to the Supreme Court and that it finds that a group of citizens cannot strip the rights of another group of citizens. However its going to be a long way there. There was some hope that the trial would be shown live on youtube which I would thoroughly enjoyed. Why? Watching these people, who claim that traditional marriage is under threat, try to make up a lot of garbage to appeal to the bigots in American society. I have asked before on Facebook and I will ask again here now, can anyone come up with a decent argument why homosexual marriage should not be allowed that is not based on religion? If you are able to, then please post it here. Otherwise, I am going to continue concluding that this is all about hating a group of people based on their sexuality.

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Sarah Palin given a rope by Fox-the hanging she´ll do herself.

2010-01-13T15:10:00.004+01:00

Fox News has gone out and hired Sarah Palin. This means they have become that place where has been conservative governors go to die: they´ve already got Huckabee so I guess Romney is next. She already noted on O´Reilly that people are against her because of her "commonsense, conservative solutions." For those who need a translation that is newspeak for "I ain´t got any."

As far as it being sexism that is the reason for her detractors, that is probably the funniest thing I have heard. If a male had said all the stupid types of things that Palin has said, he would also get the same amount of reaction out of people. Dan Quayle is a good example. My question for Fox News is why they feel like they need to offer Sarah Palin a rope to hang her career with. She´s played coy about whether or not she is going to run for president and now with her joining the right wing network it seems that she is resigning herself to position of the pundit.

Knowing what she does know, she should provide hours and hours of amusement for the American and world media as they devour her tasty soundbites. Now for the question of the day: if you wanted to commit political suicide why would you do it this way?
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America as Gods country

2010-01-12T12:42:00.002+01:00

Its a common illness that afflicts some Americans where they have started to believe that their nation is some kind of new promised land from the judeo-christian god. I am always fascinated when I come across this type of idiocy and arrogance. Most often because its reminiscent of the type of propaganda that was being spewed by Nazis like Joseph Goebbels. Lets move past recent history though and go back to the civil war era. Lets go to a place called Sand Creek. Lets introduce a man named John Chivington, a US army colonel as well being a Methodist Preacher.

In 1864 he and his men massacred 133 Indians of which 105 were women or children. I am not going to go into full detail here but I want to point out some of the highpoints of this great American deed; that they cut of private parts and displayed them on sticks as well using male genitals for tobacco pouches. I hadn´t heard about this before but having learned about it made me so sick that I had to share it.
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Liars!

2010-01-08T22:31:00.005+01:00

We now have three quite well known Republicans coming out with the out-of-this-world claim that there were no terrorist attacks under "W." Dana Perino, Mary Matalin, and now most recently Rudy Giuliani have made this ridiculous statement. Are they pretending to be stupid or are they assuming that the American people are so dumb that they can´t remember 9/11 and Richard Reid´s rather big shoes? What is even more pathetic is that the media can´t even call them out for their idiocy but just sits there and lets them talk. To the three above mentioned persons I will say this to your face: bunch of lying snakes!
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I love it, I simply love it

2010-01-06T11:25:00.003+01:00

Reading and thinking about politics can really be best described as a pill that is a downer. Today however the approach taken will be that it is best to smile at one´s adversaries and to approach problems as things that can be solved as opposed to unmovable objects.

Let us begin with something my brother noted: that no matter which party is in power in the US the country will not disappear or change all that much. This is actually true for most democratic nations. Spain is a good instance, Zapatero and socialists have been in power for a while and they have not made Spain into a communist country. That is why the next time I hear these people moaning about the US becoming a communist country I am going to laugh my ass off. What would be nice in the US would be the conservative party actually having ideas beyond what they call "traditional families" and lower taxes. Actually what would really be amazing is if the libertarian wing truly jumped away from the conservative wing and started their own party. Then we could see who the intolerant people are.

A funny thing happened the other day in Washington: a transgender person was appointed by the president to a high position and these conservatives went well ape shit. How can he do this they asked? He is just doing this as a token gesture, or he is killing his voters off by turning off those independent conservatives, they screamed. I love it. Keep screaming so that we know who the intolerant are and we can then stop listening to them. Here is the article by the way on the transgender thing.
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Potential Work?

2010-01-04T11:19:00.003+01:00

Sometimes I wish I could work for a right-wing institute say like the famous or infamous (depends on the source) CATO institute. I would be able to sit around all day dreaming up paranoid theories about how the world is slowly being destroyed and how the US is not what it once was and so on. I would be able to sit around and draw up plans for invading countries that didn´t do things just the way we said they should. I would use such ill-thought through theories as Samuel Huntington´s Clash of Civilizations.

His is truly a sad state of affairs. Ideology will not be what we fight over, it will be our cultures that are clashing. Sometimes I wonder if Huntington ever left the rock he was born under. Of course that is ignorance on my part no doubt. As is typical with anyone who reached as high heights as Mr. Huntington did, I am sure he was what republicans would call one of those Ivy-League elitists. However just because he went to a fantastic school does not make him the old wise man. To imagine that several cultures cannot live together at the same time, is to imagine that we are all so inflexible that eventually we will just kill each other for these differences. Instead history will happily point out to any reader just how often cultures can share time and space. Perhaps it is a right wing view like that of CATO and others that is incapable of allowing others to share it with them. Wouldn´t that be a shock? That the intolerance was waiting right there at home the whole time.
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2010: Every minute counts

2010-01-02T16:41:00.003+01:00

There are the elections coming up in 2010 and everyone is saying the democrats aren´t going to be doing so well. Things aren´t going so well in the US at the moment and now there is this narrative that the Democratic party won´t be able to hang onto its majority. Its been a rough year for a president, but Obama has done remarkably well for having the decks stacked against him. Of course a lot still remains to be done, but from my position it still looks better than what we had before.

Now suppose that the Republicans get back in power. What then? They have not presented a single solid policy to turn anything around. In fact, their policy will be either the same as that of G. W. or they will continue to swing further to the right. This will be very dangerous for the United States as well as for the rest of the world. This religion of the Republicans that free market capitalism is the answer to all of our problems is the most ludicrous religion around. No other religion would even make such a claim. If the Republicans get back in then there is going to be another four years of failed policies instead of waiting for those that the new President will put in place. Are Americans really that impatient that they will run right back into the arms of yesterdays failures?
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2009: year of the conspiracy

2010-01-01T17:18:00.002+01:00

The last year was an excellent time for conspiracy theories. Up to this point there has been no real reliable assessment of why these lies and half-truths are allowed to flourish and go on being believed by the idiots in todays society. Perhaps instead the focus should be on why humans are capable in believing in something so obviously false and yet not let it have any effect on the rest of their lives. For instance the Birthers. Here you have a group of people who believe that the U.S. President was born overseas and is therefore not fit for command, even though his birth certificate has been shown publically and verified by neutral groups. Yet most of these idiots (because that is what you would have to be to believe in this) have jobs and houses in the suburbs and families and so on. In other walks of life they are something like normal (normal is always a relative concept) yet when it comes to this one thing they are incapable of accepting the truth.

Another conspiracy theory that has been making the rounds is the one about Acorn stealing the election. A fantasticly exciting theory, but for the fact that there is nothing there. Or the stolen-climate-change-emails-disproves-global-warming. Except that now that the dust has settled there is still no proof that anything was done that was illegal of wrong. No matter these conspiracies will still be with us in 2010. Today I have come to present the newest conspiracy theory making the rounds on conservative american blogs (oh ye bastions of fear mongering and lies). If one takes the time to read the full article, one will also be amazed to discover why it isn´t even news at all. Here it is, and a Happy New Year.
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Just what might they be smoking?

2009-12-30T23:04:00.003+01:00

President Obama is picking up criticism for his handling of the attempted terrorist attack by such characters as Dick Cheney, Pete Hoekstra, and a couple of the other losers on the right. That Dick Cheney can contribute anything meaningful to the world is doubtful at best and a sorry indictment of the garbage the media likes to spew forth. Anyway the Republicans are trying to use this to their advantage, despite the fact that the democrats did not act in this way when a similar event occurred. I give you Politico´s take on it as well as Time´s Joe Klein.

I am afraid for the United States. If this party ever gets back in power there is no telling what they might stoop to. With a Republican at the helm it seems that there is a middle ages just around the corner. German political commentators have noted that they have never heard a condemning like the one Obama has made of the governments after this incident. Nice to hear some honesty, instead of continuously talking about brave men and women and so on...

On a happier note the Winter Olympics are coming up and Sweden has a pretty nice team that is going to play for the repeat of the gold medal from Torino. Peter Forsberg made the squad and for those who don´t remember what this man is capable of I give you this video to remind you of the time he took his first olympic gold back in 94. A real classic but watch it for Forsberg´s second shoot-out goal.
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WorldTraveler

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