Ahmadinejad or the other option

I read an interview with Moussavi about two weeks before the election. Its funny to hear the GOP hyping this guy up as the person who would be able to bring peace and harmony to the region. Would he be better than the incumbent? Without a doubt, yet he is by no means what the GOP think of as a free leader. Look up the interview in Der Spiegel and make up your own mind.

There is still the question of whether or not the election was rigged or not. From everything I have read and heard, it was rigged. Shame on those who did it, it makes them look stupid and weak.

John Fante

I read the Road to Los Angeles when I was still in undergrad at FSU. It was part of a creative writing course and it was supposed to get us into exploring new ways of writing prose. At the time I had a sort of love/hate relationship to the book and though I knew that Fante had written some more stories using the same character, I didn't jump at any opportunities to read on.

That all changed three days ago. I was at the Berlin Library and looking for books in English which can be a trying experience (to be fair they have a great selection but you have to order most of them in advance if you want to get them, so browsing is not the optimal way to do things) and there it was in front of me: Fante's Ask the Dust. I picked it up with a feeling in my gut that this was probably not going to be the most exciting book I had read recently but whatever it was there and why not have a go. I had a go and its been a rollercoaster of an experience. The prose is straight from Fante's mind and onto the paper. At times it becomes impossible to separate the author from the main character Arturo Bandini (essentially himself, but in fiction format). At other times I was so lost in the story that I couldn't put the book down.

Note: its not for the weak of heart, and not for people who like happy endings. After all its John Fante and there is a good reason that Charles Bukowski thought he was god.

The Wedding Approacheth

And I am feeling it every minute. The thesis is done, stamped and over with. My provisional degree is on my desk and within the next three months the official one will arrive. Haven't decided whether or not to hang it on the wall: this always struck me as a lame thing to do.

Was sitting at my desk trying to figure out directions to two doctor's offices where I had to go and pick up some reinbursements for various reasons, and while I was doing this the sound of a trumpet and an accordian slowly made its way up the street. That is why the window is open almost 24/7: to hear the street life. Anyway I finally looked out and saw three guys making their way past all the cafes; two of them playing a barely perceptible tune, the other collecting money in a disposable Starbucks cup. They were being modest and only went with a grande. Didn't help their music. Saw the same group perform in a park. They approach some people having a perfectly good day and annoy them until they pay some money. All the while they wear the creepiest smiles and seem very into what they are playing.

Some strange person requested me on Facebook. Have no idea why and honestly find it annoying that someone I don't know in any way would think I would like to be friends.

Musings of a Master

Seems like the elections might have been rigged in good ole Iran, but who is really surprised?

Leaving Lund in the morning with a one way ticket to Berlin. Bout time for that one really.

Berlin better have a better summer this year than last. I am tired of getting rained on. I feel like a lot skating is in store for me and that the mini ramp at YAAM is going to have some hot sessions as well as the Warschauer Benches.

Getting married in less than a month and it is going to be amazing. Can't wait to see everyone who is invited.

Now I get to find out what a Master's degree means in terms of jobs. Going to be exciting. Thinking about a Sustainability Advisory company for the Surf industry. Any excuse to see the inside of a wave barrel.

The conspiracy theorists

I will name at least three of them. While their party is out of power and in the wilderness, they are promoting conspiracy theories for their eager uneducated listeners. Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Michael Savage. They all imagine that the government is fascist (or when they want another word they turn to communist or socialist anything to fit the moment). The best part is that quite a few million people sit around listening to these "prophets" words of wisdom.

Hilarious actually.

Tin foil hat

Listening to a speech by Sarah Palin. Now, don't misunderstand me, I don't agree with just about any of her ideas of how the country should be run or with her ideas of how to interact with the world (someone who hasn't traveled to other countries doesn't have much clout in telling me how the world works). Basically what I am trying to say is that I will never vote for her.

Listening to her speech however is pure pleasure. To hear her talk about how government is ruinning our lives and destroying our "freedoms" and being weak to all these enemies who are just waiting to pounce for no good reason at all. Its like listening to that homeless person on the street with the tin foil hat on his head so the government can't send signals or hear his thoughts. The bum is Sarah Palin and if you look closely enough she and the rest of her choir all have homemade tin foil hats on. I just hope the audience is smart enough not to believe the bum

Americans with Guns

So now you can carry your guns in national parks. Its jolly great is what I say. That stupidity goes this far. That a bunch of paranoid nuts get to buy handguns in sport stores and then carry them around in their everyday lives. Not to keep wild animals away. Not to protect themselves from gang wars (how many of these NRA guys really live in an inner city). No they want the guns so they can feel masculine and tough. A gun is a symbol of power. Without it they are simply not men. For them the loss of a gun is the same as testicular cancer: a loss of manhood. The gun then is truly a phallic symbol in every sense. Just like rape is a control method used by men in prison, so the gun is a feeling of being in control in their everyday lives. To them this is the freedom promised by America: the myth of the wild west never disappeared. They traded the horses and wide open plains for pick-up trucks and interstates. The thing that bothers me is they don't seem to be using their brains for much.

Stuck in Lund

I am here for about two weeks much to my own disappointment. I am tired of university towns. Ok, I will admit that when you live in Berlin its hard for everything else to in any way come close to the feelings that Germany's capital can provide. I have my defence on Monday. Then after that its a waiting game until Friday when graduation takes place. Then on the fifteenth its back to Berlin and the opening of the job hunting season.

I just had a genius idea that could one day make me a lot of money: A thesis coach job. What I mean is that I would be paid to coach people through their theses. Since professional coaching seems to be in right now in the business world, I can't think of any reason why this wouldn't work in the student world as well. Think about all these students with too much money on their hands and procrastinating like there was a thousand tomorrows, it could work.

Saturday at 20:00 Sweden plays Denmark in a world cup qualifier that quite frankly Sweden has to win. Otherwise we can kiss South Africa goodbye in which case I will be cheering for Germany. This game is going to hang on one man: Mr. Ibrahimovic. If he has a good game then the Danes are going to lose. If he has a bad game it can end 0-0 which no one likes (except the Danes of course). Anyway its time for a Swedish win. We have the squad quality for it so I want to see some goals.

Last day...

This is the last day to work on my thesis and its ending one minute at a time. Every second that goes by is a missed opportunity to add, edit, or remove words and sentences. What would happen if I just stopped now, cold and walked away from it. Left it to die on this old computer. What if I never bothered to turn it on again? Is it failure if you choose not to follow through?

This is highly unlikely to happen of course. In a minute or two I will return to the work at hand and try to establish which sentences go where, which sentences have to go, and which have to be created.

I hate this thing and it really is consuming my life, one second at a time, as it marches on toward the Monday high noon deadline.

Intolerant religion

The title sounds harsh. This is not an anti-religious post. Its time to talk about Liberty University, the school of Falwell. This last week they banned a group of students who had organized a student Democrat group. The thing is the group had already been around for a while and there had not been any problems with them before. Note that the republican group was not banned. So what is going on here? First Liberty is a private institution and therefore has the right to say who can and who cannot be represented on campus, however if they in any way accept federal funding than I think that they have to allow groups like these.

The statement that is really being made here is that one cannot be an accepted Christian and a Democrat in the eyes of the people running Liberty. They are also saying it is completely in line with Christian teaching to be a Republican. How do they come up with this line of reasoning? I really do want to understand this but I have to say it looks like they are taking a real black and white approach to such issues. This is not a black and white kind of world.

Secondly they are doing something that a university should not be trying to do: they are indoctrinating. Wait don't get me wrong I know most professors lean one way or another in university life, I am not an idiot who is suggesting there should be no bias. However if what you preach is real, then you should allow for a powerful debate so that it can be tested. Banning a group is only pouring gasoline on a fire: are they willing to play with the fire?

Listening but not hearing anything...

I watched part of Cheney´s speech yesterday and then I read different pundits opinions on it. It seemed like a good deal of people really think this old man really did some great things for this country. Supposedly he kept millions of American´s from being killed and so on by torturing people, no to him they are just terrorists...

Turns out he was full of his usual lying and distorting on these issues. I am not buying what he is saying for a minute. Why? Because he tortures and because he seems to think that the only way of doing things is the way he would like to do things. Its really sad to think this ego-maniac was a heartbeat from the presidency. We would have really seen what a fascist government looks like. What about all these conservative pundits? Obviously they are listening to their religious neo-con god figure and when god speaks they all say amen because in their small minority the ends always justify the means.

Conservative thinking

Was reading a conservative blog by some common fox news commentator. She noted that the bust of the group trying to blow up synagogues in New York was something he inherited from Bush. What I imagine she would have said if they hadn´t been stopped would have been it was all Obama´s fault. They tend to use some great reasoning.

In another of her posts she commented about losing freedom because of the MPG regulations in cars. Plus she also tried to use statistics about highway fatalities to prove that higher regulations would lead to less safe cars. Actually this is a good case of correlations: its actually bad car design that leads to fatalities not the car size. Then there is this notion of freedoms that they are really clinging to like it was the only tune they knew how to whistle; suddenly they won´t be able to choose gas guzzlers. Hmm, so its ok to be able to drive badly engineered vehicles that pollute (and thus affect everyone around them) but not ok to regulate these things. So why don´t we get rid of rules on public decency (they would argue that its morality that counts (but remember theirs not someone elses)) but yet at the same time it is a freedom that is lost. What about people who don´t want to drive cars yet can´t lead the same lives as those who do? Apparently they have no freedom of choice. I could go on and on.

Irony

I think the funniest thing that is taking place right now in the world of the media is the presence of Mr. Ventura in the spotlight. Why is it amusing? One of the people who has actually done combat time, been waterboarded (in training), and served in high office in this country is putting out a very strong argument against torture. His notion: if this country is going to stand for some principles then you can´t do this. Exactly, but what is scary is that the right wing seems totally happy with torture under the excuse that they were afraid of a ticking time bomb. Is it ok to torture someone when you are afraid? Seems an easy way out.

The democrats are losing their chance to make a statement by helping to close Guantanamo Bay. They are also losing their credibility as a strong party. Keep it up and we´ve blown the next election.

Excusing torture (a post about brothers)

When I was a child, between the ages of 5 and 12, my brother and I constantly irritated one another. Many times he irritated me to the point where I finally decided that I had had enough and that I would hit him to make him stop. To me this seemed like a perfectly rational reason for hitting my brother but to my father it just wasn´t very convincing.

We hear an excuse like this quite often on tv and the news now (usually by republicans) that torturing (you can call it whatever you want Cheney but lipstick on it doesn´t make the pig anything else) is justified if it a.) gets answers and b.) saves lives. By hitting my brother I also usually was correct that he would stop bothering me, the only problem: I don´t have the right to hit people. Police officers don´t have the right to strike people in custody. The U.S. Government doesn´t have the right to torture people that they have taken into custody. We have signed treaties against it and we have prosecuted others who have employed the same techniques. If ever there is a more conventional war where U.S. soldiers are captured and these same torture tactics are applied to them, there will be outrage when we can´t prosecute these people later on down the road if we don´t deal with our own dirty laundry now.

Finally, I am ashamed of my country for not coming out harder against these things and I am ashamed of leaders who took the easy way out instead of going the hard road that they always talk about and is the reason we elect them in the first place.

Political Thoughts (again I know)

Seems like most people are referring to them as "harsh interrogation techniques" and yet in other wars that America has fought they were considered torture and anyone who was caught on the other side doing them was sentenced for war crimes. My how times have changed for "God's nation" (complete and utter sarcastic remark written with a snear on my face).

Unfortunately we are learning the same lesson we learned under Clinton, to do something you usually have to come center. Too bad, because there is so much that needs to be done and a harsh and firm stance would be nice, very nice.

The Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy should be removed from the military now, immediately, without further pause. Why are we waiting, whose interests are being protected by this? If we are worried about losing servicemen who will quit in "disgust" (bigots is the right word for that type) then we are being silly: if bigotry is a reason to stop serving your country then we shouldn't want them there in the first place.

Cheney please keep on talking, everytime you open up you let us see just what a monster you really are. Republican redemption will come when they tell Limbaugh he isn't welcome and that the former VP is a lunatic.

McDonalds Claim: in the ballpark

Today I was wasting time and avoiding my thesis so I read for a bit from Time magazine's online articles. They had an interview with the person at McDonalds who is responsible for their recent entrance into the specialty coffee market.

Their claim: While our coffee is not Starbucks quality its about a dollar cheaper per drink and the quality is in the ballpark.

A reminder to McDonalds: A ballpark can be a very big place.

Bachmann and the beast

Michele Bachmann, the politician from Minnesota, who would do well to talk a lot less. This is the classic stereotypical case of the far-right American politician who really buys into the whole idea that the United States is created by God and is somehow his country. Historically, people who have bought these types of arguments usually become known as dangerous nationalists. In the US though nationalism has its own party: they are called the Republicans. Do you doubt me? Then read some of their websites or listen to their leaders rant and rave about end times and the need to be at war permanently and so on.

My real question though is how does someone like Bachmann get elected? She is well educated(far more so than Palin) and she appears to have some kind of radical right wing base that either has no problem listening to her lies or believes them themselves. What really bothers me is that Minnesota is a normal state, they have a lot of well educated individuals so how does someone like this make it into power. Its a mystery.

1st of May

Well its possible that we were in the news, well not me of course, but my neighborhood. Not really my neighborhood either but the neighborhood next to mine. There were these guys you see, and they were dressed in black and wearing ski-masks and they decided to do what people dressed like this on May Day usually do; they scooped out the cobblestones from the street and sidewalk and started throwing them at a few of the 5000 police officers dressed in what they call riot gear. Anyway by the time I got there, around 10 p.m., things had quieted down and there was a block party where I live and we thought well the rioting is already over so why not go check out the area and see what is going on now.

It was a standoff. People all over the square, many of them having nothing to do with the rioters, just waiting for a fight. Waiting in the eerie darkness with no cars on the roads, a helicopter circling somewhere above, and several hundred police officers blocking off several of the streets. We finished our beer and went home. When we turned on the news the next morning, we learned that we had just been in the eye of the storm and that it got worse before it was all over. 200 were arrested. Most of the stores were still boarded up on Sunday.

A welcome change

Today this blog will leave behind politics for a post or two...

Its time to talk about Ice Hockey. The IIHF world championships are on and I have been trying to keep up with them, even watch them when I can (Germans aren't all that crazy about it). So part of the time I have watched the games from LNT (Latvian TV which streams some of the games online for free).

Anyway this looks like another bleak year for Team Sweden. We have once again a rather average group of NHLers and KHL and even a few from the SHL. So we crushed Austria, then lost in a shootout to Latvia (for the first time in history by the way), and then against all odds came back from a 2-5 deficit and beat the USA in overtime 6-5. Not bad, so now today around 16:15 we get to take on Russia. If we lose (high probability) we have to beat Switzerland and France to have any hope for advancing (note that beating those two would be a walk in the park with our top A team available).

It might be a very short World Championship this year.

Disturbing at best

Certain conservative news programs have been running with the idea that it is immigrants who are bringing the flu. This is really racist and a sick, uneducated guess. Its stuff like this that leads to violence and hate. It also provides good ratings, because people want some kind of conspiracy theory to live by. Take Michael Savage, he is proposing that its Al Qaeda at work. Somehow, in a cave somewhere in Pakistan, they have managed to figure out how to make a flu virus and then they set it off in Mexico. Does that even sound like it stands a chance. The only bright note in all this racism and idiocy is Fox New's anchor Shepherd Smith who has been the only voice of reason on the network. Here's to you Smith, may some better network scoop you up one of these days.

Here is to you Glenn

This will be the first edition of the Paranoid awards (a.k.a The John McCarthy Prize). This months goes to none other than Glenn Beck. Congratulations on making up news (none anywhere other than Fox as lying) and proving the point continuosly that you don't need a brain to be a personality on TV. I bet your stomach rises to your mouth everytime you hear there is a White House press conference, where you fear the outcome will be the announcement of the end of the US as you imagine it to be. Here is hoping that your ranting and raving is just losing more of the conservatives and that the rest of us will see your party for what it really is; a bunch of paranoid pre-teens.

Torture

I am really impressed that Dick Cheney is continually seeking out the spotlight and trying to paint a better picture of himself. I am also continually impressed that so many Americans have decided for themselves that what we did was not torture (even though after WWII we prosecuted Japanese for waterboarding as well as our own soldiers after Vietnam). The thing that is really sick with denying that it was torture is that these people are probably the same ones who believe in manifest destiny (get over yourselves America is just another country).

Lets look at another country that has done extremely horrible things: Nazi Germany, but I would be willing to wager that if they had managed to surrender without the Allies taking full control, there would have been no Nuremberg trials and no one brought to justice. People would even have said, no what we did wasn´t really all that bad, hell it was even necessary. The sense of guilt that Germany finally took on was not something they immediately accepted, but had to be pushed on them from the Allies. That was necessary. In the US however the officers will get away with it because they followed orders (that excuse didn´t fly at Nuremberg). I know these are two very different examples but the idea about guilt and accepting the truth is the same. I am happy the US has a president who isn´t arrogant and can even admit that the US makes plenty of mistakes. Refreshing difference from Cheneyism.

Gingrich

He is not what he was yet wishes and hopes and thinks that he could be. The once and future king? No doubt all the recent jockeying by Newt G. is meant to set up his bid to be President in 2012. The sad thing is that we really don´t need someone like him in that office. By now the world would have been destroyed (he would have attacked N. Korea), Cuba would have been invaded (because after all people everywhere just want the freedom that GW had on tap), and there would likely be no Venezuela as well. Obama is soft he says. I say Newt is looking more like his namesake every minute. First off Obama has presented and acted in a manner worthy of a President, and second the actions he has taken have not shown any signs of weakness. If being strong means making threats and ignoring others then the Republican party is a group of bullies.

Now getting down to things I find really interesting is Newt´s accusation that Chavez is a dictator. Where is Newt getting his information from? Is he not aware that this man is democratically elected and that he will remain so until the moment he refuses to step down should he lose an election. To lie about this on tv only further confuses Americans. Oh wait so I guess I will go one step further then... I am officially calling Newt, the Newt, Gingrich a slimy little liar.

Right Wing extremism

This one bothers me. One of the government departments released a warning about far right groups being a threat to US security in the future. Now its being slammed by the republicans and their puppetmasters the radio show hosts. In all fairness the report was not as clear as the one released a few months before about extreme left wing groups (don´t recall hearing any complaints about this one). Two things then: the republicans are going to attack everything Obama does from now on till the end of the first term so everyone is just going to have to get used to it, the second thing is that considering all the apocalypticism that the right wing media has been stirring up as of late, this report seems very justified. With radio show hosts and politicians talking about secession (gov. of Texas) and revolution and so on it seems that there is a good chance a group of isolated psychos in the US have a good chance to do something stupid. Of course getting a hold of the automatic weapons to do so wouldn´t be a problem either.

Its a sad time when you have so many people spewing hate on the airwaves. I guess it proves that there are a lot of sore losers out there.

Republican´s like teabagging

Its almost too much, that the GOP would set themselves up for this kind of joke but they went ahead and did it so let them choke on it (the teabags that is). Apparently its going to be a real riot with plenty of strange Americans out and protesting at what they think is socialism (but in fact lower tax policies than under the Reagan years for 95% of Americans). That is what makes this so amusing; these people are out and about protesting about something they don´t understand. This should be one of those signs that the Republican hardliners aren´t really completely there or it could just be a sign that they are into strange things like....teabagging. Wish I was in the US right now so I could go congratulate all the people who are proud to be teabagging together...haha this just doesn´t get old.

the Mad Hatter and the Hare have a tea party...

This thing with tea parties in the US is really one of those amusing things that just couldn´t be allowed to pass by without a blog post. Let me put it in these terms; if Democrats had done the same during the Bush years, we would have been told we were anti-american and unpatriotic. Yet these conservos throwing tea that they paid for into the water are heroes according to Fox News. The term "Fair and Balanced" should be changed to "Fully Biased."

To those engaged in tea parties; I refer you to Jon Stewart from the Daily Show "losing is supposed to taste like a shit taco." Your actions are a mocking of everything those original Boston residents stood for. All this talk about revolution by the way is actually tantamount to treason and if it had come from Liberals you would be saying this as well. Get over it, come up with something good policy wise, and try to win the next election; that is how it works in a democracy.

Florida and Sustainability

I was reading Time Magazine´s online webpage today and they had an article about a sustainable development housing scheme that just might come to be a reality (whether it actually works the way its supposed to is another thing). Anyway what is amazing isn´t the article itself, or the project for that matter. What is worthy of a blog post is the way that the author, Michael Grunwald, slams the way the state has been developing previously. I will have some quotes that illustrate Mr. Grunwald´s opinion (that I admit I share to its very core):

1. "The community of Babcock Ranch is designed to break new frontiers in sustainable development, quite a shift for a state that has never been sustainable, and lately hasn't had much development"

2. "southern Florida's planning-nightmare sprawl of golf courses, strip malls and cookie-cutter subdivisions named after the plants and animals they replaced"

3. "It's no secret that growth has been Florida's primary economic engine for decades. Yet Fortune 500 companies haven't flocked to its sprawling bedroom communities with lousy schools and overpriced houses, and the paving of paradise has left the state with overtapped aquifers, overcrowded hospitals, overstretched services, traffic jams, a dying Everglades and a vanishing sense of place."

I think the last one really sums it up best. Here is to you Mr. Grunwald, you have summed up the state in only a few seconds.

News or not news?

I like to read Foxnews sometimes. Why is the question that is most likely coming to your lips at this moment? Because they are amusing. First, they always have this celebrity section down at the bottom with a couple pictures of scantily clad females wearing way to much make-up. Secondly, their layout is oddly reminiscent of a gossip tabloid and the headlines of most of the articles seem to back this up. Thirdly, the content of their political commentaries are pure classics in the sense of how biased they are. Take today: there is an article stating that the President has yet to attend church in Washington. I don´t see what is so newsworthy here. In fact the only point of this article is a weak attempt by some right wing nut to try to impose his views on why Obama is not a Christian and so on. A typical right wing evangelical stance (I apologize to the evangelicals who vote left). The truth is that its actually none of this writers business when or if he goes to church.

Final note: I want someone to write a book doing research about all the lying that Sean Hannity does on his show. Its amazing that Fox news would present themselves as serious journalism and then run with this type of programming, don´t get me wrong I very much like the fact that this man spews his lies whenever he opens his mouth, I just wish the rest of the media would really do their homework on the issues and call him on it. Of course I don´t see this realistically happening, but it would be nice.

Anti this, Anti that

There is a lot of talk about Anti-Americanism in the US press. They sit around and talk about why there is this feeling going around in Europe that is a hate for the US. Then they go on to explain it as being some kind of jealousy because America is so great (this is American Exceptionalism (I prefer the term nationalism) at its best). I always find this idea really amusing. I have lived on both continents and I don´t really know what the Europeans would be so jealous about.

The thing that isn´t talked about so much is Anti-Europeanism that is coming back from the US. All these comments about Socialist European governments and this idea that the European Union is failing somehow are some of the most amusing sentiments around. However no one in the US is condemning these attitudes or even questioning them. Why do these sentiments exist? Probably due to a lack of experience. Most of these "haters" have never left the US for longer than a week or two of vacation and thus suffer from what I would call a nationalist tendencies. They know there is another mountain with another set of pastures that are somewhat different, but they never even bother to read up on it. So as long as they shout about anti-americanism, I will shout back with anti-europeanism.

Back from the Baltic

Ok, I am back in Berlin and working on the ever present thesis. Its going to be a long two final months but I am going to get this done, or die in the process. Sometimes after working on the whole thing all day I feel that I actually know nothing about what I am doing. That is of course an exaggeration but this is apparently how it feels to write a thesis. Anyway Clara and I, as well as some others, spent the weekend at the Baltic Sea in a small town near the German port of Rostock. It was beautiful, sunny and we came back with a little bit of red skin. When we got home we found out that the tree directly outside our bedroom window had bloomed and this was a source of great joy, as well as the fact that its pretty much non-stop sunshine here right now. The summer is going to be amazing.

Prediction

By the time the Republicans are done using the word socialism, the average American will assume that it means anything not Republican approved.

Sustainable Republicans

Its definitely a strange title for a blog post on such a liberally biased blog as this (yes I admit my bias). So what could I possibly mean by using such a word to describe a republican? The easiest answer would be to say that they have highjacked the term like just about everyone else these days (after all, an ill defined term can be used quite freely; freedom is a good example). No, what I mean by using this term in the same sentence is the interesting stance that the Republicans have taken on the bailout money and stimulus spending. They keep talking about or kids being poor (shall we remember for the sake of argument, just who spent the last eight years running up debts for the sake of planting a flag in "freedoms" name). This talk about the future generation is therefore a discussion on sustainable development; since one of its key notions is intergenerational equity. If you are rather unaware of what I am going on about here then you may try reading about it on Wikipedia (and then go to your library since your taxes pay for it) and read up on John Rawls. The Republicans are making the argument that our kids are going to be poor because of our choices now. This is rather strange, because in general the republicans have no problem using up all the oil and other non-renewable resources (in the name of the father, the son, and the free market). So if businesses were to use up all these resources that would be fine in the sense that it was a free market decision but trying to save the economy now in the hopes that growth in the future will make up for the lending is not ok. Strange thinking.

Today is Spring

There are tourists out and about. I went for a walk to set up and interview and lo and behold more than half the conversations I "intercepted" as I walked by groups of two or more at cafe´s and on the street corners were in English. I shouldn´t be surprised. Especially in the case of Americans. Berlin offers so much for so little. Cafe´s, Art, Street life, Bars, Alcohol, Restaurants are all available at small prices in comparison to what one would have to pay in Paris or London. Plus there is less control here and still something a bit wild for being a capital city. Today was also the first day without the winter jacket and so that is pretty much proof that winter is over.

Monday Monday

Nothing much happening worth reporting or commenting on. Maybe that is good. The headline from Berliner Zeitung (which is not an evening gossip tabloid) was that a seven year old boy tried to mugg a seventeen year old girl in a park in Berlin. The little thug approached the girl (who was jogging), kicked her, and actually managed to get her cell phone before she got herself together and took care of the little twerp. Of course now he is on the front page of the news with instant celebrity status. I hope he tries it again when he is a bit older and someone kicks his teeth in.

Portugal-Sweden match report

Back in the day (and I am talking 94 here for anyone who remembers) the Swedish national team was known for its defense. That is how we did so well and got ourselves a bronze at that World Cup. Since then our defense has gone back and forth and not been as stable (note in 94 we also had someone named Brolin need I say more). Nowadays we don´t have Brolin, but instead Zlatan (who is better all around I think). Yesterday we also found out we have a spectacular defense. Granted Johansson didn´t exactly play at tops, but then again Christiano Ronaldo didn´t exactly score either so there isn´t too much to say there. Mellberg and Majstorovic proved that playing together, there won´t be too many teams who can break through. That means we just have to get our offensive qualities a bit sharpened. That means that we need to let R. Elm play more and it means that Anders "Taco" Svensson is probably not far from the end of his career on the international stage. Anyway we tied Portugal in a game that anyone who wasn´t rooting for Sweden will call ugly and defensive. It doesn´t matter if we can beat Denmark twice and Hungary one more time, we will be in South Africa.

I want to know

I think that Obama should release as much information about what the CIA and military have been up to for the last eight years. I want to know just exactly what they were doing waterboarding people for. I want to know how they were allowed to do this and whats more I want those responsible held accountable for it. Cheney is wrong and an idiot about national security. Protecting someone does not give you the right to do what you want no matter what the case. I know that there are going to be voices from the right accusing the whole thing of being a witch hunt, but considering that they are usually the ones going out on those kinds of hunts, they should taste their own medicine.

The little PM that could

Its really funny. Yesterday he lost a parliamentary vote of confidence (meaning his coalition had failed and that he would have to at best seek a new coalition or let the president call for new elections) then the next day he decides to come out and criticize US stimulus spending. That would be like George Bush trying to tell the world that McCain hadn´t really lost the day after the election. Ok maybe that wasn´t a great way to put it, so instead I will say it was like listening to a team of footballers who just lost the world cup 3-0 and then have the balls to tell the first media microphones they run into that they were the better team. The Czechs are a funny little country.

Thinking high density vs. urban sprawl

You are silent oh readers of these words, it would be nice to hear you speak your minds every now and again. Today I was sitting reading from Richard Florida´s book "Cities and the Creative Class" and while I can´t find myself agreeing with everything he says, I do find it interesting in many ways. He talks about how to create cities that are attractive to creative individuals and how this approach will lead to better local development (mostly in an economic perspective) but of course any type of development has externalities (which is where I am concerned). I keep thinking back to the US and its development patterns: how the ususal thing to do is to build office parks, residential areas, and shopping centers and all of these separated by wide roads and zoning differences. What do we lose in this system? First I would argue we lose exercise; every one has to drive to work. Because we all have to drive to work we lose time in traffic (the US government has figures on how much money is lost in traffic jams every year and its not pennies we are talking about here). By living in Suburban growth patterns i.e. the cul-de-sac lifestyle, we isolate ourselves from others (this is even more true in the case of gated communities which are honestly class segregation). Why do we live like this? The standard laissez fair argument would be that this is what the market desires. My counter to that is that there are other growth patterns that could be tried in cities, but no one is willing to innovate or be creative (note here the influence of Florida). My background studies at the moment have a lot to do with sustainable development and so I take that type of approach to building and development as a whole: our housing situation in the US is not a long term approach, nor is the shopping center development. These areas are built for twenty year boom periods and not for long term stability. That is why suburbs all look the same. What would happen if some developer in coordination stepped outside the box and created more interesting places to live that didn´t just rely on spectacle (getting a famous architect)? Would it work? Could we produce more interesting neighborhoods with more stable living and work patterns? Or is the suburb really as good as they said it would be in the fifties?

Its a good feeling when

You wake up in the morning to the sound of the alarm switching on the radio for you and get to listen to the weather report and then the traffic update on Deutschlandfunk. There is something relaxing about hearing about how long the lines are on the autobahn that morning as millions commute back and forth in their gas guzzling Audis and Volkswagens. The word to remember is Stau, which is essentially the German word for traffic jam. Meanwhile, our hero i.e. me, is laying in bed thinking about how if things got really bad, all I would have to do is to get up and get on the subway. Cars are for suckers.

Which is more absurd?

The idea that climate change will severely affect our planet or that we can continue consuming natural resources at the current western rate?

Thoughts on Watchmen

Its been a while since I gave a movie review on this blog. I thought I would do "Watchmen" since I just finished it. I get this feeling about most superhero movies that they are divorced from reality (ok I know its a movie but still). The Dark Knight went some of the way in bringing a more grim outlook to these kinds of movies but I still felt that in the end it wasn´t dark enough. The stereotype about comic books are that they are for kids so then we call them graphic novels to juice it up a bit. Watchmen is not a children´s story. Nor is it a cookie cutter superhero adventure. It wasn´t written that way and when it was brought to the big screen it wasn´t portrayed that way. I didn´t like 300 (the director is the same) and I had this feeling going in that I wasn´t going to like this movie either. I did like this movie, in fact its one of the best I have seen in the last two years. The music choice was excellent as was the cinematography. Its funny, how many super hero movies use Bob Dylan? Usually the standard formula is to use whatever average and popular rock band is available. Instead this used really good music. I found myself sitting there thinking with all this great music when is Hendrix´s take on All Along the Watchtower going to show up and then at just the right moment it did.

Finally on the ending; excellent and the jokes about Ronald Reagan were spot on. "We don´t dignify absurdities" should be the media´s slogan.

Some more thinking...

Ok I have to say that there is anger over Obama being on a late night show and over him filling out a basketball scorecard is probably the most amusing thing I can think of. Is that the best they can do? These were things that didn´t take very long and are a normal part of someone´s life. Do they expect him not to use the toilet, not eat, and never ever think about anything fun? Stiff uptight white guys.

Bored and Amused

I am bored and amused with the republican critique of Obama appearing on Leno´s show. They are claiming it demeaned the office of president etc. The truth is they weren´t clever enough to come up with it in the first place. All the same though the joke about the Special Olympics wasn´t so funny, though I can guarantee you everyone makes these kinds of jokes in private. So what does demean an office of the president. Secrecy and Torture, two things the republican party stands for, oh yeah and the general promotion of greed as an avenue to freedom.

Looking for inspiration

I am looking for inspiration to keep doing thesis work. Don´t misunderstand me, I really like my topic, my place of study, everything. Its just hard to keep a continual focus. Maybe the problem is that if I put in too much effort I might get too much out of it. Well that is actually a horrible thought now isn´t it? I should be striving to be ahead of the pack and do something that stretches itself far from mediocrity and out into the ranges of creativity and the amazing. Pardon me waxing poetic on my own skills. I am actually wasting time in between going to the library.

Building tanks

Today I read that Russia is talking about a massive arms buildup. Or perhaps the way they put it was better; arms modernisation. The firt thought that came to mind as I sat musing about this was why they want to modernise and why they had to make it some kind of announcement? Then my thoughts next took me to that film Operation Canadian Bacon, where Alan Alda as the American president realises that with the cold war over and the economy in a slump, the only kind of solution is to start an arms race. Thats where the Russians are. They have no idea what else to do. So the best thing would be to invest in some kind of militaristic and nationalist pride. This has of course always lead to good things in the past so why wouldn´t it now? All in all a rather cliche thing for the Russians to do. I just thought they had it in them to be more creative.

Spring are you upon us?

Today I had to ride the subway and visit two libraries. One library to pick up research material for my ongoing thesis and the second one to pick up another book by Gunther Grass which I foresee finishing by Friday of next week. The tourists were out in force today with their badly folded maps and their wide eyed stares. The Hertha Berlin fans were out with their flags and scarves as the big game approached for the early afternoon (I am happy to report they held off aspirin-owned Leverkusen). That makes Hertha the Bundesliga leaders which is pretty much unheard of in modern times.

There was also a massive protest that started less than a block from my house. The police were everywhere and it seems that everything went off without a hitch. I followed the whole thing to Gorlitzer Bhf before deciding that I didn't want to stay out watching them march. They were protesting about gentrification and higher rent prices while the economy is stagnating. It was rather disappointing to see the police filming the protesters so they knew who had been there. Its nice to know they are probably running files on the most common protest marchers in Berlin. Paranoia!

The Yellow Journalism trail...

I like to read newspapers, listen news radio (mostly bbc), and read internet based news. I have a wide variety of sources that I turn to. When I want to know whats going on in the US I either read CNN or BBC. Perhaps I will turn to Der Spiegel if the item is big enough. When I want to read European news, I stick with The Guardian, BBC, Spiegel, and Dagens Nyheter. When I want to read sports news I go with a wide variety that is not worth listing. In Sweden we have two sensationalist newspapers that while often wrong, still provide great sports coverage even sometimes before the more reliable sources do. It struck me after watching clips from Fox News today that this is a cable news station that is essentially a sensationalist source. Their talk shows (Hannity and Colmes, O´Reilly) are essentially made up of sensationalist minded news individuals with massive egos who don´t have anyone standing there correcting them. When they do, they don´t accept the criticism. Fox News is yellow journalism at its best. If I was to lift my glass in honor of them this is what I would say:

I propose a toast to Fox News, for its distortions, its falsehoods, and its obvious bias. As a news station that fills our airwaves with things that can´t even be called news or continues its lying (I mean them not correcting Gingrich), they stand as a true example of hate, ignorance, and a complete lack on interest in doing good journalism. Here is to you all the journalists who don´t check your sources and don´t even bother trying to be accurate, it seems you are safe inside those republican walls.

In defense of RL

I can't believe I am writing this. I am going to defend Rush Limbaugh, but only for a short second. Ok, now out with it; I don't think there was anything wrong with what he said about wanting the president to fail. I think almost everyone has those kinds of thoughts at various times (though even with Bush I can´t remember ever formulating my distaste for him quite like that). Enough of the defense, because that is about all there is.

Rush Limbaugh reminds me of a whale. He is big and imposing and possibly dangerous if you find yourself in the water in his vicinity. His vicinity is the radio. On the radio he tells us daily about how much he dislikes democrats and how much the republicans are doing for the country. He doesn´t like african americans very much if at all; all you have to do to understand this is to read his books (I have read both). There is no point in making any comments here about his personal life. Even if they weren´t as disastrous as they are, they only sidetrack us from the real issue: his hate for anyone and anything different than himself. He doesn't like women very much either: he refers to feminists as feminazis and has even gone on to make the claim that ugly women invented this notion to somehow help themselves get into society. I consider myself a feminist (if you want to have this debate Mr. Limbaugh make sure you know what feminism is).

Like his other fellow master of hate and ignorance (and yes I will say it stupidity) Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh is a college drop-out. At least the other member of this conservo-biased media triumvirate is college educated and at least on paper intelligent (I mean O'Reilly of course). In the end I would hope these fools continue to use their hate and ignorance the way they do. I have this image of their hateful words building up a weight that will pull them very far down on the scales of history. We will remember them as they are: arrogant, angry, and out of touch with any form of reality.

BBC

I was reading Justin Webb´s blog today on BBC.co.uk and he made a good point about Republican resistance to any of the Democrat ideas that are being put forward at the moment. The idea is that if any of the Democrat policies actually work, then the Republicans have a lot more to lose at the moment. This will be especially the case considering that their policies have been tantamount to a joke for the last eight years.

Today I am going to Cologne for a funeral. So I don´t know if there will be any updates to this blog until around thursday or so. I am hoping to see the watchmen as well as the Man U vs. Inter Champions League second leg.

Its a...

Slow day today and that could have something to do with going to bed at four in the morning. It all started at a birthday party and then we decided to keep things going around two in the morning by trying out some of the new local bars in our neighborhood. Well we weren´t disappointed. We went o Mama´s and it turns out that is the new busy weekend spot in ReuterKiez (our neighborhood). So today I managed to finish the collection of stories by Thomas Mann that I have been reading and started Jeffrey Eugenide´s Middlesex which I am expecting a lot from, given his quality of work with the Virgin Suicides. Oh yeah it wasn´t all laziness here as I managed to bake a pizza for a late lunch and now am going to do a bit of writing as well as some thesis work. Tomorrow we have to go to Cologne for a few days.

I have this little feeling...

That my thesis is starting to come together a bit. I had an interview with a local community development agency on Thursday and since then I have been feeling good about this whole thing. There is just so much more that still needs to be done. I have gotten to the point where I think of myself as continually at work. If I take a break and eat something or go out and do something else, then it is just a break from work. That will be the nice part about graduating again; the ability to disconnect work and play (don´t get me wrong though I firmly believe that work should also be play but it can´t always be that nice).

Today is Saturday and that means football. All my teams are going to lose today. I know I should be a bit more positive but having been that way for the last three weeks, I am now starting to realize that I just have to assume the worst and that that way I can enjoy when they actually do something good. Just don´t count on it...

Socialism: the joke is on you!

I have been listening to some of the clips where the right wingers are whinning about the idea of universal health care and calling it socialism and doing the same thing when it comes to other ideas coming out of the White House. I have this question for them: are they aware that they lost the election? When a majority votes one party out of office, it means that they are tired of their policies and ideas and if we take this line of reasoning one step further we could even argue that they are saying that the policies were a failure.

Now coming back to socialism. There is no socialist government in the USA, nor will there ever be. The right wingers harping on and on about this subject are merely replaying old propaganda that never really held any meaning. They also love to refer to socialist Europe. Can someone tell me where socialist Europe is? I don´t know, maybe we could say Spain but they don´t have a socialist system so I guess that is out.

The American propaganda voices need this notion of socialism being a threat to our everyday lives to remain somehow relevant in this day and age. I only wish they knew what they were talking about.

Nationalist moment of the day...

Did you known that before WWII and even a bit into the actual conflict the correct way to salute the American flag was identical to the Nazi sieg heil. I love that these small things that aren't thought about very often have such interesting histories. My suggestion: ban the pledge of allegiance and let the dictators of the world sell these kinds of pledges. If what you are selling is that great then you don't need a bunch of children swearing oaths to something they don't even understand. Now imagine if something like this was implemented in Sweden or Germany today, it would immediately be interpreted as a dangerous and slippery slope back toward nationalism.

Republican Prancing

The wild horses are out on the fields kicking up the soils of the great plains and generally revelling in their feeling of freedom. But this vision is not true because there are barbed wire fences stretching across all those spaces that were once open and free. We could take this same approach to the recent Republican meeting; its a place of ideals and visions. Its also a place of whinning and complaining. The thing I find most interesting about it is that they still aren´t anywhere near bringing something new and fresh to the table. They are intent on serving up the same dishes, dirty and crusted with leftovers left standing out too long. They want to lower taxes for rich people and award them for treating their employees as garbage and this will somehow stimulate the economy. They are against big government although they like to spend as much as possible when they are in charge as well. Basically they are a bunch of lyin' snakes.

Thomas Mann

I have been reading my second Thomas Mann book Death in Venice which is really a novella and in my case it was put together with several other of his short stories. The thread that I find unifying throughout his work so far is that I don´t find any strong female characters. I find them to be mostly in supporting roles or even used to portray women in general in a light that seems to me to be very shallow and not logical. I would take this to be a case where the author is possibly an ego-centric male who sees the women that he incorporates into his books as being only a way of showing the male rationality while the female mind is inherently anti-rational and petty. Maybe its just my interpretation but I am wondering if anyone else has seen this?

Case of the Mondays

Its monday again and it seems that so far I have no motivation to work on my thesis. This isn´t the best of all ways to start the week, but on the other hand it could have been worse. I did manage to wake myself up at seven and read for about forty minutes from Death in Venice by Thomas Mann so all in all the morning has not been entirely wasted. I find myself thinking that if I could only be more productive and stay focused longer, that I would get a lot more things done around here. The chain of logic that follows from this thought process is also that I would feel better if I got more things done. Seems to me that this is a pretty smart way of thinking. Now its just about translating thought into action. My first idea was to write this post as a way of getting things rolling or sharpening the knife. Next step.... THESIS!

Part time job?

I know what I would like to do for a year now. I would like to teach a university course comparing Soviet, Nazi, and Allied propaganda films. The idea for the course would be to sift through the media material (films) to look for the common threads that are there in every piece of propaganda. If any universities are interested let me know. Book rights anyone?

Gilbert and Sullivan or the Comic Opera

I am going to lay the blame at Clara´s feet for this one. She got in the mood for listening to the Brecht´s The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) so I did the dirty work (got on my bike, went to the library, and checked it out for her on my free student account). While this work may seem remote and unknown, if you know The Doors song Whiskey Bar, then you are familiar with it.

Next thing you know I am suddenly in the mood for more of the same. However I didn´t know where to start. So I came back to something I had some knowledge about; the comic opera´s of Gilbert and Sullivan. Whether you know it or not you are probably familiar with their work as they are often seen in popular movies and such. Right now I am listening to the Pirates of Penzance and last week it was H.M.S. Pinafore. The humour is good and the music is fantastic. Next on the list is the Mikado.

What goes to Switzerland...

I think its amazing that the world has put up with these small tax havens for so long. Its really perfectly sad. Whenever we listened to Republicans talk about tax cuts and why it would be good to give more money to people who already had significant amounts of it, these recipients of tax cuts went and hid their money in these wonderful little countries whose banks and governments sealed their lips. Now it seems that this dirty little system could be under threat. The Swiss are upset that the US is putting them under some pressure to explain why they have been helping its citizen´s hide money that should have been taxed and gone back to the US government (think of all the infrastructure and health issues this money could have been spent on). Don´t get me wrong here I am not saying rich democrats haven´t done the same, just that its time to stop allowing little nations to hold the money.

Down with the Tax Haven culture!

Pirate Bay trial live

If you want and have a knowledge of Swedish, then you can use the svt.se web to listen to the Pirate Bay trial live. The prosecutor´s voice is so annoying it could make you cry and break down and confess to anything. As I sit here listening I am clinging to the hope that they actually pull of a win in this trial. We can go back to the notion of copyrights and all this and I still find myself wondering why a record label (a business) is able to own a song. More interestingly I wish we could confiscate the ipods of several famous musicians and determine where they got their music from. I am sure they are all perfect little angels.

Honestly, while I can´t say that downloading music is legal, I can on the other hand say that the model of selling music that the labels have stuck to is so out of date and inflated that its sad they have to resort to this kind of tactic to try to maintain their cultural hegemony. One might say the king is sitting loosely on the throne.

Open Letter to Rolf Anders

Rolf,

This week I have seen more of you then I have before. We sat in your office and at your dinner table looking at the photos you collected through the years. The thing that strikes me the most about these random moments captured by lens is two-fold: the smiles and the way that no matter what time period the photo is from you were always on a journey. Some were black and white, others full of color, and some slowly fading proving that even time can take these moments away. Some men live lives where they shelter themselves in a community and never venture far away from it. Others live their lives like that of Odysseus; always at sea looking for home and adventure. Looking at these pictures is seems you found that passage somewhere in between. I will never forget that moment just weeks ago when your daughter and I came to see you in the hospital and that even though you were in pain you still looked up at me and summoning all your strength you managed in English and with something of a smile "Nice to see you." You were a fighter, I don´t use that term lightly as it is laden with cliches and other images that don´t tell the real story behind everything you went through. I saw you again a few days after you closed your eyes for the last time. While I cannot say that you looked as handsome as you had the first time we met; just after Christmas at Adenauer Airport (I was nervous and I am sure you were as well), I can say that as I sat there I could see that the suffering was over. At the memorial ceremony there were over a hundred present and I sat there thinking to myself how strange it is that these people lighting candles; that they were able to know you and that I was now sentenced to only see you and them captured on those photos we found in your drawers and albums. They cried because they knew you and knew what they had lost when they had lost you; a friendship and more importantly a friend. I cried because I had lost a person who I would never have a chance to befriend. I don´t think you ever expected to create the chain of events that brought me to where I am now. I will remember you and these pictures will tell stories that even your grandkids will laugh and smile about.

Your soon to be son-in-law,

Aron

David Cerny and Czech vs. The rest of Europe

I don't really know quite how to respond to this controversial piece of art that the Czech's commissioned for their stint as head of the EU. David Cerny is definitely not making friends in the greater Europe region with a work like that. First let me state that I think the EU is a good idea and I wish that a nation like Czech, who has benefited from joining, would grow up and stop whinning about being a part of it. I also find it amusing that their current President is none other that Vaclav Klaus who is a notorious Euro-skeptic. The problem with the younger batch of EU countries like Czech and the other Eastern block nations are that they want all the goodies and don't want to do anything to get them. This is a rather odd state of being but nonetheless one they seem to have adopted quite well. The other problem with these states are that they are willing to do whatever the US asks of them, which has included ignoring the EU to negotiate their own treaties.

So this brings us back to David Cerny. Really I think the piece is hilarious. Its absolutely over the top, and why not? Every piece is a stereotyped image of a country. Like Sweden is a wing from our military airplane that we can't sell wrapped in an Ikea box (that is amazing). England isn't even on the piece, its intentionally left out as being absent. Belgium is shown as a box of chocolates. Germany is a set of highways. France is a sign that says STRIKE! While it should never be acceptable to encourage stereotypes, at the same time we should ask ourselves whether these things say anything about our culture. Of course it is too bad that Cerny managed to lie his way into doing the art (he was supposed to do it as a group project but it turns out he did the entire thing by himself), but that doesn't change the fact that he made a funny piece of art. I like it.

by the way here is a joke about belgium...

What is Belgium famous for? Chocolates and child abuse, but they only invented the chocolate to get to the children. (Note: this is from a movie).

Night and Day

I am watching the Clinton confirmation hearing right now live on CNN. The thing that I am really finding amusing is the page that they are all on. I am realizing more and more as they are talking about various issues, that I don´t really see myself as being on the same page. When they talk about climate change, they talk about it in the sense of national security. When they talk about energy, they talk about national security. When they talk about europe they talk about national security. When they talk about Latin America they talk about national security. That is all they are talking about: themselves. Don´t get me wrong every nation talks about itself, but very few waste so much money on national security. Why don´t they deal with the issues that cause national security? Then they talk about Venezuela as if they are some issue that needs to be dealt with. Who do you think you are and where is your international police badge? Fix your healthcare system and then worry about other countries.

Fools rush in...

It strikes me (funny that the article is already taking a violent turn) that the title is a double entendre: first it refers to me making a statement about the current situation in Gaza and second it refers to the Israeli assault. I am going to be as honest and upfront as possible here: I am not an expert on the conflict that has been going on since the UN partition.

Gaza is and has been under occupation for a long time now. The Israelis may not have bases inside, but they control everything (well almost everything) that goes in and out. They control the airspace and they control the maritime border. Hamas is a terrorist organization (or freedom fighters depending on which side you like to stand on). They don't do nice things and I will not say that they have done much for the Palestinian cause. However at the same time as they are in an occupied area, isn't it justified that they be allowed to fight against their oppressors. True the Palestinian people have always suffered from bad leadership, however when there have been real chances for peace, the Israelis have been the ones who have said no. Why? Because they don't want to return to the old borders. When Israel offers peace they do so on their own terms and don't offer anything valuable in exchange (which is how peace negotiations work). That the United States does not do more to tell Israel that they are in the wrong is one of the tragedies of history.

A final note: What happened to the Jews in the second world war is one of the greatest tragedies of history. However it does not justify what is happening today.

Anti-Biotics, Berlin, and more...

Well pardon for the interuption, but its been a busy little time. It all started when I turned in my final class paper for the semester and then packed up all my stuff. Then I went to Malmö, and after a night of Cash (the man in black) 4 X-mas, I woke up at four in the morning to continue my journey to Berlin. Of course this involved changing busses in Copenhagen which is always exciting at five in the morning with rain and two big suitcases. The buss driver was naturally in a bad mood as everyone was throwing their luggage into the back while he was flirting with some backpacker. Then he decided to yell at me while I was trying to rearrange everything so that we could fit it all in. Plus while standing there someone told me that really I was only allowed to have one large item (I had read two on my travel receipt and the other buss driver hadn't said a word). So then the buss driver tried to figure out how many bags I had. Of course I played dumb and acted like I didn't really understand what was going on (plus I had already put one bag on while he was flirting). Anyway I made it to Berlin without any problems and he even smiled at me as I walked away with all my luggage.

Then Spain was next and once again it was four in the morning. We missed the first subway but somehow still ended up at the airport early (still haven't figured that one out). Then it was seven days of mideval living in Costa Brava with Clara's family. I went swimming on Christmas day in a freezing swimming pool (yes its spain, northern spain). Then of course somehow three days later I ended up getting sick. So sick indeed that once I got back to Berlin I had to take antibiotics for the first time in years. Then I decided that it would be a good idea to look over my finances and so I checked when my next payment was due from CSN (Swedish student grants and loan system) and discovered that they had somehow determined that my program only lasted for three semesters as opposed to the four that it does in reality. This of course lead to me having to reapply for money and I am still waiting to hear from them. Anyway tomorrow is monday and the first day of the rest of my thesis.

If you are going down, go down in flames!

At the end of the worst presidency in recent memory, we are beginning to see that what Clinton did on the way out is going to be nothing in comparison. That Bush would weaken a rule designed to protect natural resources (wildlife and their habitats) like this is just shameful. That it would in any way be justified in the name of money is even more sickening. Mr. Bush cares about the special interests of a few companies who will make a lot of money at the expense of the vast majority of people. Thank you for wearing your true money comes first face for once. May your ugliness never be forgotten.

The Death of Surfing and Freedom

Today I was reading about how a city in England is trying to increase its tourism industry by constructing an artificial shore reef that will, if succesful, create waves that can then be surfed by surf tourists. The first thing that came to my mind after this was how crowded it would be. Crowded and fake. Like it or not that is the direction that surfing is going anyway. First off Surfing has become a business. Corporations make millions of dollars every year off this hobby (call it lifestyle if you will but that died a long time ago). It has been accepted and popularized by the media. Its even perceived as a good, clean, fun, sporty thing to do.

All this brings us back to crowded surf spots. As the number of surfers increases, there will be an increase in the number of crowds at spots leading to increased anger, fighting, and with all probability deaths. At some point in time law enforcement will be forced to intervene and we may have an organizational system imposed upon us like skateparks do with helmets and waiting in turn etc. This will likely be coupled together with the concept of private waves, that is someone will own the spot where the waves break and be able to control who surfs there and how much it will cost. Welcome to the death of the spirit of surfing and freedom.

Motivation

I am struggling for motivation with both my current class project as well as with my thesis. I am going to go ahead and blame the weather as well as this course that I am taking. Anyway that is about all that is going on. In a few minutes someone will hopefully text me and let me know that I am supposed to go to a meeting where we will discuss some papers we had to read that were really stuff we read already first semester. Sometimes thats the way it is; you review and until it sticks. Blah!

Mess with airport security...if they are this weird

So I think it was last year someone got mad that a certain celebrity made a Dunkin' Donuts add wearing a keffiyah (and if you don't know what that is you might want to use wikipedia). Not only were people irritated with her for wearing one, they were also mad that Urban Outfitters were selling them (luckily I bought one before this became an issue) and so as retail giants often do they made like a reed and blew whichever way the wind carried them.

So here is my idea, if this fashion item has this kind of power and association then what impact will it have one ultra-patriotic airport security guards. So next time you want to mess with them, wear one of these to the airport. Of course the chance is that they ignore it completely but on the other hand there is always the chance that they go off the deep end about. Either way it makes for smugness (until the cavity check of course).

Communal Shower debate

Today I went to the swimming pool as I do about twice a week. I took a shower in a communal area before and after and when I got home I started thinking about how this doesn't happen in the US that much. My question today is why not? What is the reason that people are afraid to take showers in a public area where only members of the same sex are present?

My first thought when trying to understand this phobia from a male perspective would be to assume that many men are rather uncomfortable about their sexuality, and/or they have the assumption that were they to shower in the presence of other men they would become targets of a pick-up attempt. This seems over simplistic however and childish. First off I doubt many gay men go to communal showers and attempt to pick up men they think are straight anyway. Secondly this falls into the mental trap that many straight men have in their perception of homosexuals: that everyone who is gay wants them. Wake up and smell the coffee, they probably aren't interested.

My second big thought about all this is that there is some phobia about exposing one's body to someone else. The underlying idea here is that a person is extremely self conscious about their body and therefore unwilling to put it up for scrutiny. The odd thing about this however is how little people actually wear at a beach on the other hand. My thought on this, as someone who has used communal showers all his life and never found it odd, is that people don't use communal showers for sizing each other up. A shower serves a purpose: to get clean and I doubt anyone stands around looking at each other. I am going to guess that the recent generations obsession with penis size might also be a part of this. If this is part of the problem then I am going to go ahead and say that it is the most irrational reason for not using a shower.

In the end I think that having been raised in a culture that didn't have a problem with communal nudity is probably a part of the puzzle. I also think that since I like my body that might be another reason I don't take issue with these communal showers. Please add your thoughts.

Disturbing storms in Latvia

Today I found out that the Latvian security police has arrested two individuals who have expressed doubt in the countries ability to handle the economy. The one is a musician and the other is a university lecturer. Congratulations Latvia, you are now repressing anyone practicing free speech and that is equivalent with the tactics of the country that you once broke free from. That it was able to happen in the first place is a disgrace, that these two are now being prosecuted is a scandal. I hope that the individuals at the EU take serious notice of this.

Evil Santa

I was thinking for some reason about Santa Claus and his appearance and portrayal in the media. Generally I find him to be a very kitchy figure who doesn't really bring anything new to the myth and instead limits himself to giving us a cheap holiday smile. Enter Robot Santa from Futurama who was designed to give presents to those who are nice, but due to a computer error judges everyone to be bad and therefore goes on massive killing sprees during Christmas, thus leading to everyone locking their doors and hiding on Christmas eve. He is probably one of the best characters on Futurama.

Arrgh!

So this pirate phenomenon is on my mind the last few weeks (I guess it helps that up until the recent terror thing in India this was the main topic in the press). Its funny to think that while we have these vast warships that can launch airplanes and WMDs, we are pretty much helpless in trying to stop piracy. A couple of days ago a cruise ship outran two pirate boats. The reports are saying that shipping companies are turning to private protection firms. Essentially what we are going to have then is some sort of privateer industry that is designed around protecting sea bound vessels. The scary thing to me then is do they really have the legal ability to fire on pirate vessels. I am sure that there is some protection code in the law of the sea (UNCLOS) which the US has yet to ratify (losers).

Yes it is interesting that these massive naval forces are able to do so little, but then on the other hand, they were designed to fight each other instead of small bands of economically disadvantaged Africans who don't really have many other options for entrepreneurship. Of course as a German newspaper has noted, by protecting the ships and not trying to offer the pirates other means of providing income, the wealthy nations are only proving that their capitalist system is exclusionary and that if you are on the outside that is where you belong.

Tuesdays with the rain...

Its raining. That is what happens in Lund. Its dark outside. I don't feel like biking home and getting wet. Plus after that I have to bike to the store and buy some food because I am all out. Then I need to check my bank account to see that I have enough to pay rent and for my medication for the next three months. Doh! Anyway I still don't want to own a car so that is positive.

More Wisdom

The hand that stocks the drug stores rules the world.
-Bokonon

A quote

What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
-Bertolt Brecht

Withdrawal symptoms and snow

This is the first real day without football and already I feel that it is losing the hold it had over me. Tonight is the champions league round something but I didn't watch a single minute of any of the games. I am happy but am not patting myself on the back just yet. I will give it two more weeks before I claim success.

Its freezing cold outside and I can't say that that thrills me in the least. Ok I will give in to the notion that it is more aesthetically pleasing than grey skies, dead grass, and leafless trees. Right now I am trying something else new: I am reading two books at the same time. I think that this will be the only way that I will be able to read fiction and school books at the same time. Currently reading a book by Kobo Abe (fiction) and a book by David Harvey (non-fiction but I wish it was).

Resolution

Today I realized that I waste a lot of time watching football lately. Sure I've blamed it on the weather or not feeling good, but that just isn't good enough anymore. I could have been reading books instead. Basically I am admitting to being lame. So the new resolution is to immediately give up all watching of football for...well forever would be nice but I imagine that I will watch the next world cup so how about the qualifiers and the world cup. Not bad and knowing that I can actually do this is the best part. After all it took me five minutes to give up meat for the last three years. With all the time left over I am going to read, skate, and hopefully take a yoga class after new years.

Words of wisdom

"You don't have to be satisfied with America as you find it. You can change it. I didn't like the way I found America some sixty years ago, and I've been trying to change it ever since."
- Upton Sinclair

Springboks to go extinct...

Today the BBC reported that in the near future, the official name of the South African National Rugby team, the Springboks, will be changed. The name is a leftover of the old apartheid era in South Africa and the idea is that by changing the logo there will more of a feeling of inclusion of all the ethnicities of the country. I have to say that while this isn't really something that concerns me on a day to day basis at the same time I still find it a bit sad.

There are opinions on both sides of the racial divide (whatever that really means) who have called for it to be kept, and those who want it to disappear for good. What I think would be interesting would be if the people who were excluded from the team due to Apartheid would instead make it a part of their culture. That is to say that they would adopt the symbol and by so doing make it their own. To me that would be a stronger statement than changing a picture on a jersey and an official name.

I'm behind...

I know this is probably a bit late to be coming with this right now but after reading about it, I just couldn't help commenting. Paul Broun is a member of the House of Representatives and on top of that, he has proved that he is in fact an idiot. In an interview he managed to compare Obama to Hitler and the Soviet Union. To begin with the notion that Hitler and the Soviet Union are somehow similar in their politics is probably the best part of what he said. Apparently, Mr. Broun has no idea what the difference between communism and fascism are, which is strange when one thinks about the fact that Mr. Broun is supposedly well educated. Then there was this statement that Obama would somehow be capable of setting up a dictatorship. This is so amusing. This is why there are checks and balances in the US system. It seems very strange that the Republicans keep bringing up these fears. I bet Mr. Broun's top advisor is Mr. Hannity. The two of them would do best to bury their heads in a small town somewhere where they wouldn't be able to hurt others with their ignorance.

Pirates of Somalia

So right now they have all these patrol ships cruisin' the region and keeping an eye on all these cargo ships. It sounds great but I don't see how just defending the area is doing any good. This then is my suggestion: Get the world navies to buy some older cargo ships and turn them into incognito warships. Then sail them in 'international waters' where the pirates are known to hang out. Wait for the pirates to try to board the ships and then blow them out of the water. If they were to take no prisoners, then the specific ships in use couldn't be identified. Of course I am sure that this breaks some treaty on warships having to fly a certain flag and so on but I don't really see how else these attacks are going to be stopped. Its not like the Somali government has a lot of power these days.

A brave girl

Hannah Jones is only twelve and she's decided that she would rather die. If you want to look up sources for this article then search BBC or CNN. She is refusing a heart transplant and almost had to fight the hospital to say no. The reasons? Quality of life is what it seems to be about. I find this an interesting case for several reasons a.) its possible she would live on after a heart transplant b.) her quality of life would never really improve. Then I as someone who suffers from a condition that also affects life quality (not so much today, but in the long run), I find her stance very brave and if I had any way of giving her support I would.

Guns and Churches

Today there was an article on CNN about how churches are now beginning to have armed guards at their services. I find this very sad and in many ways hypocritical. The religious right and many other parts of American Christianity are actively involved in politics(as was seen in the election of George Bush) so my question is why isn't this religion that is supposed to be about peace, not also preaching this to its government? Why aren't they protesting that you can buy handguns in a sport store? Of course, they will say that it is a constitutional right. Times change, and its time to move on from the notion that we are somehow safer if everyone is carrying a gun. Does it really seem nice to live in a reality that seems very much a Sergio Leone picture?

Amusing no doubt

I find it very interesting that the die hard McCain fans are being so grumpy about Obama now. They still want to label him a terrorist, muslim, etc. That was pretty much what the McCain ticket was all about then; lies. Of course they are going to keep going with the idea of the Socialism which is itself hilarious. I hope all of the Republicans know that when you spread these kinds of lies you are the one who looks like an ignorant idiot. Today, in our internet and media times, there are no longer excuses for ignorance.

For Clara

Autumn Evening #3

When the winter wind
No, still the fall wind
I dare not call it winter;
For then it will grow
Stronger and colder,

So then;

When
Fall Wind
Is blowing outside my
Window,
Naked branches
Obscure the window lights
Across the way
And suddenly,
They are a thousand candles
Flickering only to remind me
You are far away.

I helped turn Florida blue...

Now the real work begins. All the articles I have read so far have been alluding to the idea that he isn't going to have an easy first term by any means. Of course talk like this isn't really so positive in nature so I thought that I would try to remedy it by thinking like this; I think that there are solutions to the current problems and I believe that they can be implemented even if there is resistance and complaining. After all what kind of president would he be if he didn't fight for what he thought was going to be for the good of the country. He's going to go through the fire and hopefully he'll still be smiling on the other side.

It comes down to this...

I have a sore throat and am stuck in rainy Lund today while across the US millions will spend hours voting. I chose to give respect where respect is due. Barack Obama may not be able to achieve everything that he wants to, but that he is trying is what gives me some hope. Tomorrow morning I may wake up and not be able to write a sad statement about the Union.

McCain on the other hand is what makes me sad. To see a country with such potential, allow a man like him to get this far leaves me with a chill. His choice of vice president just adds to the factors that should serve as warning lights to other voters. Oh well you may make up your own minds, however you should remember that what you do today really does affect others on a global scale.

The notion of the liberal media bias...

There is this topic that the Republicans love to swing around; the liberal media this and the liberal media that. There is all this talk about trust and being fair and balanced and the list goes on. I would like to take this debate a step further with my own perception of this. If we are to take a 'western' perspective on the media's bias as a whole (because all media is biased whether you like it or not). What this means is that I am taking the various social theories and ranking them by their number on a scale.

Since this takes into account all newspapers that I am familiar with, then of course it is subjective to bias (because if you ask Mr. Heston he'll tell you that there really is no escape from the planet of the apes). Observe

Left
1.Aftonbladet
2.Der Spiegel
3.Le Monde
4.Dagens Nyheter
5.BBC
6.CNN
7.Time
8.Expressen
9.Fox News
10.Some Southern State Newspaper available in Georgia
Right

By what I see as the 'Western' scale would mean that CNN is more center right by international standards.

McCain's New Clothes

Once upon a time there was a man elected president in a big country far away over the sea. The new president did not like the man he succeeded and therefore decided that if he was going to truly impress his people he would have to be different than his predecessor. He therefore hired a group of advisors and told them what he wanted. They listened to him and told him that they would do as he asked. They also told him that as a part of this he would need a new suit. Ok thought the new president, if thats how simple my people are then I'll give them what they want. So he asked his advisors to sow him a new suit.

A month came and went and then there was a parade. The new president sat in the president's car and rode through his capital. He was full of smiles and he loved to hear the sound of his people cheer his name. Many had also heard about his new wardrobe and policies and many nodded their heads as he passed. Then a child yelled out from the crowd; but look he's just the same as Bush.

A dream plan of sorts...

Today the rain isn't going to stop pouring and I am stuck in my flat trying to come up with a thesis topic for tomorrow. The problem is not goingn to be finding a topic per say, instead it is going to be how to narrow it down. One topic would be to look into the future of Tempelhoff Airport and try to come up with a variety of options and then determine their level of sustainability. Well honestly I think I now have the most sustainable option: Turn the runways and fields into a forest and make the building into an art colony (of course we are talking about a massive structure so there is plenty of room for other things). The idea behind the art colony lies in the Creative class theories of Richard Florida while the forest idea is my way of encouraging biodiversity. Of course knowing how things go in the world we live in, they will no doubt build condos on the fields and turn the airport into a shopping mall; they just can't seem to get enough of that.

I have more experience

I ran Alaska a state with only at max 700,000 people. Somehow this qualifies me to be vice-president of a country with 300 million people. To be really honest we can look at the last president of this nation, W, and note that he was actually in charge of a state with almost 24 million. Plus he had a family that was involved in this 'running' things business for a long time. Her husband works for an oil company so that means they are going to serve special interests (everyone serves special interests). In the end though it doesn't really mean that much with experience anyway because with all that experience that Bush did have he made some really stupid decisions. Now if you want to chose another politician that is even more right wing then go ahead. Next thing you know the US will be stuck in Iran under the mantle of 'helping' people and we'll have oil rigs off all our coasts. As far as international cooperation goes we'll have one ally left after four years which will of course be Israel, the other pariah.

Rainy Saturday #25

Welcome to Lund, it raining here, no lets put it another way; it rains a lot in Lund. I did manage to get out of bed around 11 or so and then make my way to the pool where I put in half an hour swimming. It felt good as it usually does except that its always crowded on the weekends. Its extra understandable when its rainy like this, but doesn't make it any better.

I am reading Mike Davis's Planet of Slums and its some sobering reading. I've seen squatter developments when I was in Costa Rica and Venezuela, but of course its something else to read about the true numbers that are out there. In the west we live in a false reality. We look around us and assume that in our capitalist system all we have to do is work hard and we can move up in the world. Its a joke and always has been. In fact the upper class is actually pulling away from the middle and lower classes worldwide. Funny isn't it. Actually it started happening around Reagan's tenure.

Going to Hitesh's place in Malmö tomorrow to try the first batch of homebrewed cider. From everything I have heard its going to be amazing. Stay tuned for update.

Joe's and socialism

It turns out Joe the plumber is really Sam the liar.

I love that some are now calling Obama's policies as socialism or even going so far as to actually label him as a socialist. My question; do Americans really know what socialism is then.

After having done a paper about water privatization and Neo-liberal thought I am beginning to wonder why government is doing so much for the big businesses. Isn't that keeping the people with dreams from being able to compete with them. It seems this is going against itself. Plus why should government be pro-business? I thought it was for the people by the people, guess I was wrong.

football and rivalry seen postcolonially...

A friend of mine recently went to a 'friendly' between Northern Ireland and Scotland in Glasgow. I admit I was jealous, seeing as how I have never been to either a qualifier or a friendly. He noted that besides a horrible display in football (friendlies usually are, except for the France Tunisia game this week) there were some interesting chants going back and forth between the supporters. It went something like this... "Are you England? Are you England in disguise?"

I have to say that that is one of the funniest football chants that I have ever heard and so I checked youtube and you can find them singing it there. What the chanting of this line makes rather clear is that England is seen as the big 'enemy' of both teams. I guess that is understandable considering the colonial background that both areas have with England. Still it would be amazing to hear them sing it back and forth.

Oh, Racism we know you so well!

"Obama is an Arab." What does that actually mean? That he is from the middle east?Amazing, and this thing about his middle name, wow they just can't let that go. Now on the other hand I am an American citizen and I have lived in the US for a significant amount of time. Racism did not just 'go away' at the end of segregation. This is not some integrated society. All you have to do is drive around a few neighborhoods in any suburb and realize that its quite divided still (this is of course the case for the south). Now of course this conversation is going to talk about Bill Ayers. How long ago was it that he was voted Chicago's man of the year? Ah thats right and lots of republicans have worked with him as well. The real patriot was Ayers, a man who didn't like the way his country was going (for good reasons Vietnam was a horrible war that had no right to be fought) and decided to do something about it. I am not excusing his actions, but I am putting forward the case that he can still be a patriot. I know the media is showing us snapshots of the real population and that we are seeing many of the radical incidents and not so many of the normal ones. On the other hand I've met these types of people before and I would say that in many cases the 'liberal' media is doing a good job showing the party for what it is; rich white guys voted for by dumb white guys.

Corsi as the nutty cookie

Jerome Corsi was arrested today for visa irregularities in Kenya. Its been a while since I took an in depth look at the man and I wasn't particularly surprised by what I found out, but more so at the actual depth of what he goes about saying. To call him a liar is to be mild. The only problem is that I am not blaming him. We have a 'free' country in the USA which means one is entitled to hold any beliefs that one would like to (including idiocy). Corsi is a classic picture of this. We also have a free press who can publish whatever they like (well not quite but thats not the point here). I am blaming you. Thats right I am blaming everyone who buys the book of a liar and lets it influence them to the point of not voting for a man based on lies. This man obviously has quite an audience. What does that say about America?

Cigarettes and Burgers

I am wondering about this; that soon there will be pictures of black lungs on the cover of cigarette cartons around the world. Who is it that is really pushing for this? I imagine there is a lobbying group around somewhere called the 'uptight citizens association' they are one of the few groups who believes that subliminal messages really do alter your perception or that people apparently have no choice about whether to smoke or not (yes its addictive but one can still say no).

Here is my proposal then; when you buy a hamburger at any fast food chain, can we put a photo of a fat person on it? Could this then also be done with cars? When a person buys an SUV and lives in the suburbs can we put a photo of melting glaciers on it? I just don't see these things happening, but for some reason its cool to be aggressive about smoking. Seems like a long time ago, I don't remember when, people knew how to make up their own minds (and thus are responsible).

How to insult people.

There are actually very few moments in my life that I find myself taking offence to what people say. Most times I try to laugh it off or just ignore it. I can't however ignore someone who may become president of a country whose passport I hold.

"I'm not one of those who maybe came from a background of, you know, kids who perhaps graduate college and their parents give them a passport and give them a backpack and say go off and travel the world." -Sarah Palin. By making this statement, she is saying that the only point in having a passport is to go backpacking in Europe (something I have still not done). She has in a sense mocked all the people in US who have a passport and have used it for work or studying purposes. I find her to be covering for her own lack of interest in the world around her. You can take a person out of a small town but in this case you can't take the small town out of the person (and small towns are not any better than big cities).

What is even more disturbing is this continual talk about America's role in the world: "We see America as the greatest force for good in this world" and Hitler thought he was doing us all a favor. America as a religion is truly a sick ideology that is being sold today, and to hear these people talk about it you'd think they'd forgotten Mossadegh, Vietnam, Segregation, and a whole host of other things they'd like to forget about. If you are still confused and you can't understand why people might hate the US then go back and read your own history.

The fact that Sarah Palin is a vice-presidential candidate shows that a little bit of ignorance goes a long way.

The Nobel Literature prize

Today I found out that one of the heads of the Nobel Literature Prize selection comittee has accused the United States of being to 'insular' and 'isolated' as well as going on to say that the writers tend to go with the flow of mass culture. I found this interesting and disturbing at the same time. Of course according to the article, found on CNN, the Nobel people have been accused of 'snobbery' and so on. I've gone back and looked at the list. Of those I have read, I can understand why they have been selected. Granted I am not trying to say that the selection process doesn't have its errors and problems. Aside from Phillip Roth however, there aren't too many American novelists who I think are eligible right now. I do think it is a shame that Nabokov never got his due but that is life.

My candidate for this year is not American either. I put my vote in for Milan Kundera the Czech/French author.