Thursdays

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

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

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

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Making Change Happen

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

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

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Sunday Thoughts: Politics to Swedish National Football Team

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

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

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

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

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Freaky Friday´s second post...

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

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

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

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Lets push things forward

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

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

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Thoughts on Rand and Atlas

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

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

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

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Bring on the Week

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

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

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

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

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Cyniscism on Climate and what about DADT?

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

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

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

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


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

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Is it possible something might actually happen?

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

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

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

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

Both of those quotes are by Leon Wieseltier.

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

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

Back in Germany and been thinking...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Perry vs. Schwarzenegger

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

A site with background info.

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

Of course we live in the world of Twitter.

Another blog following the trial.

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

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

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

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Monday of Worry

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Outside little boys are playing with firecrakers in the middle of the afternoon. It will never cease to amaze me that others are so amazed with these little exploding things. Emergency rooms and four-fingered hands seem to have no effect on their popularity. That is not what this post is about.

This post is about the days in between. The days when we survive on eating left-overs of Christmas dinners and do little tasks here and there to get to the next year. Some of us have to work and others, like myself, have to look for work. Many things have happened this holiday season. For one it appears that the health care reform is really beginning in the US after all this time. The bill is of course imperfect, but as of yet no government has put forward a perfect bill, and when it does one day happen it will be criticized as being too perfect.

A man got past all the airport security measures and tried to blow up a plane on its way into Detroit. Of course this has led to the GOP criticising the current administration. They would have criticised the administration without the terrorist as well for not being like the GOP. I made the mistake of reading comments on news sites after the attacks and was impressed with the general level of bigotry and fear available in mass doses. The solution is really quite simple: stop bying oil from shitty little dictatorships and this won´t be so much a problem. Besides its not like its something new that there are crazies in every country trying to kill people. Closing borders is something a crazy dictatorship would do and not a democracy and it wouldn´t stop the McVeighs among us from doing what they want to do.

Enjoy the days in between as soon the in between will be at its end and we will have a whole year in between the next in between.

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Things on my mind: Krauthammer and Tarantino

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Weekend Approaching

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

Been a month

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

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

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

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

Well that is about it for this post.

Coffee, Starbucks, and Sweden

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sleepy Sundays

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

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

Wednesday Review

Tonight is Yoga night. That is right, for all those who didn´t know, I go once a week to a VHS and do some Iyengar yoga. I have noticed two things: A. I am more flexible and B. My back pains have gotten better. Now if only the weather would warm up a bit I would go skateboarding.

I am a bit more than halfway through Isabelle Allende´s Portrait in Sepia which is supposed to tie together two of her other unrelated books Daughter of Fortune(hated it) and House of Spirits (loved it). Its decent so far and I like that she has done her homework on Californian history. The best example of this is how the creation of Chinatown came about in San Francisco. She also illustrates very well what many Americans would like to forget: that the white people created an America for themselves and tried to keep others out of power as long as possible.

Next book that I will read seems likely to be a William Golding book or Mr. Vertigo by Paul Auster. While I am a fan of Paul Auster I did not care for the last book I read by him one bit (Moon Palace).

Today I was able to send off another application and that means that I have send a total of five so far since graduating. Not good enough. I need to get to work and find more places to apply at.

Letter from a Tuesday

Things are returning back to normal after the chaos and despair of losing a chance of being in South Africa. It means I will only be cheering for Germany which is not a bad thing at all, considering that they will probably go quite far (dare I say final)? In other news the sun has made a small and unexpected visit to the otherwise gray and cloudy city that is Berlin in the fall (and winter and early spring).

Turns out I have to work today and that I have to keep looking for jobs which is never fun no matter what the thoughts are about there being so many possibilities out there. I wish, honestly, that I could get paid for reading and critiquing fiction.

I read too much political news and that has the effect that I just get depressed about the failure of progression in modern times and all that, but I won´t give up. I believe eventually the conservatives will come up really short and realize they are a thing of the past, a thing so far removed from todays reality that soon we will study them with amazement.

If writing were therapy, then this would be aspirin

It was not so much shocking what happened last night. I sat at home watching the game, which I had told myself over and over again would be a loss, hoping that some magic moment would occur; a glimmer of hope. To be honest that is not what the Swedes needed: they needed skill and team spirit. An active coach would also have been something we could have used. Lagerbäck has done great things with these boys. He´s taken them to championships for the last ten years, but like all good things, they had to come to an end. If I would compare us to another team, then I hope we will be like England who missed the Euros and then came storming back. I am not sure that is what will happen but hope is the last thing to die.

Its time for two things now: new coaching and new blood. I am thankful for what the older players have done, but I think the time has come for a different approach to Swedish football. Players like Svensson and Henrik Larsson need to retire, as well as Daniel Andersson and Mikael Nilsson. There have been highpoints that were truly high and there have been those low moments that scraped the bottom. Let us hope then on the next generation that they have the skills, the burning desire, and the leadership to succeed.

Thank you Lars Lagerbäck and your staff for the last ten years of Swedish Football. We´ll be back.

Don´t ask, Don´t tell. Its time to grow up.

There is no proof that the reasoning behind the creation of don´t ask, don´t tell (an excuse to allow homophobia in the military) has ever been valid. While it seems that the general feeling in the US is that this last-century policy in on its last legs, where is the outcry? Where is the outrage that we have allowed our military to discriminate against able bodied men and women for so long?

When this law is finally repealled I want everyone who reads this blog to do me a favor. Find out who votes to keep it in place and find out what their reasoning was. If they have one good reason among them I would love to hear it.

As for any who might chose to leave the military because homosexuals are allowed to serve openly there is only one thing to say: good riddance. The military should not be a place for bigoted world views.

Change, but the bend-over-backwards kind

The current debate in health care reform and other items that are up for "change" have run into a strange discussion. The discussion of bi-partisanship. The idea that the American people would much rather prefer to have their politicians work together and reach compromises. Imagine if this had been the approach to segregation. Brown vs. Topeka results in a compromise. One side gets something they want and the others get a bit of what they want. Change is not a bi-partisan. Bi-partisan is generally a status quo. Look at the election. Enough American voters were fed up with the system being the way it was that they voted to give democrats majority. Its currently filibuster proof and the democrats are wallowing around as if they are the minority. Strange and bizarre is the way to describe this.

One could say the opposition is getting their shit together and the Democrats are MIA. I am going after the President on this one. Do something so we don´t fall right back into the hands of the people who gave us the last eight forgettable years. As for the Republican party: why is it impossible to have a proper debate about health care without resorting to scare tactics? Why is anyone listening to a former governor who ruled a small state and quit halfway through? Why is Betsy McCaughey getting airtime with her lies. I remember when I was a little boy if I was thought to be lying I was threatened with the legendary leather belt. Worked everytime.

Lastly lets think about the right-wing propaganda machine (Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck and co.) Is this the face that the Republicans want to use to advance their cause? A group of uneducated, hate mongers? We can move forward in the US, the question is if we should really have to ask the republicans for permission on everything. The Republican party originally had a president who didn´t do things that way. Abe Lincoln got his way. Time for Obama to stop asking for change and just do it.

3 days to go...

Last time Sweden showed up at Parken they managed to surprise even themselves about how effective they were. This video includes all the goals (swedish commentary) from both sides and this one the fan incident. Lets be honest here Sweden got lucky, there is no way they should have let Denmark back into that game. On the other hand Christian Poulsen demonstrated something that was already known about him, that is his lack of control under extremely stressful moments such as this game. Punching a striker in the stomach in the penalty area is about as stupid a thing as you can do in football. A right deserved red card and penalty kick awarded. Then came the fan. Drunk as piss and trying to punch the referee. When you host a qualifier, it is your job to make sure that fans can´t attack the referee and that is why the game was abandoned.

There won´t be fan problems this time around, so Sweden should do the dirty work themselves. Lets win 3-1 this time and have Zlatan score a brace.

The Internationals

Destiny has arranged a date for Sweden to decide how much it wants to play at next year´s World Cup finals. The date is the 10th of October, the place is Parken in Copenhagen. Sweden has played how it often does: bad more often than not but still somehow managed to sneak into the second spot, which if clinched would mean at worst a playoff spot against another european powerhouse. Denmark opened really strong but has more often than not had luck on their side. Portugal has played terrible the whole way through and given that they finished in fourth at the previous World Cup they should be ashamed.

To return to the problem at hand, Sweden vs Denmark, the quality of the Swedish Squad has to be questioned. Ibrahimovic and Henrik Larsson deserve to start no doubt. Berg has had a rough start at HSV and should therefore ride the bench until he is needed. Källström is on fire at Lyon. Svensson, the old man at Elfsborg, is also a shoe-in. Rasmus Elm? He´s been a bit weak as of late but should still start. Sebastian Larsson takes Holmen´s place in my eleven or maybe if he want to go crazy hold Larsson on the bench for the first half and let Dusan Djuric show what he is made of (note: Swedish Coach Lagerbäck is a conservative coach and while this is not a way to play beautiful football, it has led to five tournaments in a row that Sweden has played in). As far as the defenders, Sweden´s spine, we are going to play as follows Safari-Majstorovic-Mellberg-Nilsson. My question mark here is whether or not Oscar Wendt isn´t the man for the job. Nilsson is also the reason we didn´t get a draw in the last game between Sweden and Denmark.

I am too nervous to predict a goal fest win for Sweden. If we have what it takes then it will be 0-1 or 1-2 and we will leave it till late to finish. Of course what I am hoping for is that Denmark plays it as a draw and we go up three before halftime and don´t have to deal with any drunken fans like last time.

Here is where I am going to be extremely candid: Sweden can beat Denmark. We have the quality for it, but the fire is another thing. I just hope those boys will show up as men and play their hearts out. If we don´t beat Denmark then to be perfectly honest, we have no business in South Africa. Ninety minutes are waiting on Saturday and no matter the result I am asking for an instant classic.

Oh, leftist city of underachievers!

For those reading this blog who appreciate or are interested in non-US based newspapers and magazines that are of absolut top class I have a recommendation to make: Der Spiegel. While I am sure critics are sure to retort by calling it left-leaning, biased, etc., I find it to be rather balanced plus there is the added bonus that the writers tend to see things from a German perspective which as a resident of their country is important to have access to. Final added bonus: they have an english news section.

There is currently an article about the former finance minister (SPD) Thilo Sarrazin who said recently that Berlin had an underclass that was too big and was only growing outward but not economically upward. He also added that people who aren´t contributing should go elsewhere. Note that his current employer the Bundesbank has made sure to distance themselves from this remark.

As a resident of Berlin I find his statements rather insulting. The notion that those who don´t have anything should just pack up their bags and leave is a slap in the face to those who lost their jobs when the west stopped subsidizing them at the end of the cold war. Perhaps we should look at the false economy that was built up in the Western parts of the city to serve as a sort of propaganda that the western model was working (without the subsidies manufacturing jobs in Berlin would have dissapeared long before the wall came down). The city is currently in the middle of an economic crises, that much is clear, but what is not clear is where the city itself is headed. Creative center? Business Center (can´t compete with Frankfurt and Munich)? Manufacturing (outsourced)? Essentially the city is in the midst of a shift that no one seems to be able to control (not exactly anything new) so I don´t quite see how blaming poor people helps in any way.

Thursday or how the weekend began...

Today is Thursday and I have to work at shift at the Pizzeria, which given the current weather patterns is likely to remain dead.

I have been struggling my way through a Faulkner novel because I thought that I should, but now I am realizing that I am wasting time with books I don´t want to read and that this is leading to me reading less (neither of these two are good) therefore I am switching over to Black Snow by Mikhail Bulgakov (otherwise famous for The Master and Margarita, which if you haven´t read it is fantastic).

Hopefully the clouds will part tomorrow and I will be given a chance to skateboard tomorrow (at which point I will hopefully have recovered from Wednesday´s Yoga class). I leave you all with this video which illustrates the joys of skateboarding: Jason Dill´s new video part.

Further, I read this interesting article about Cider, which if you didn´t know was the drink of choice for "real" Americans before this foreign thing called beer entered only recently. Worth a read anyway.

The right wing or the death of progress

Many things the left has fought hard for have eventually come to pass. The end of segregation is a good example. Today I am not so sure that the human race in the west of the world is moving in a forward direction. Let us begin with Europe: Two days ago the SPD (Germany´s Social Democrats) lost the election in what was their worst placement in recent memory. Who were the winners in the whole thing? The FDP and the CDU. One party claims to be the Christian Democratic Union (and party that uses Christs name is something to be wary of) and the Free democrats (who are essentially Libertarians). In many ways this union of these two parties for a four year mandate are oddly similar to the Republican party in the US, which if the current pattern continues is poised to make a comeback. The reason for all this? I don´t really know where to start.

The FDP have sold themselves as being some kind of saviors for the economic crises and have along with their allies the CDU promised to make tax cuts. How they are going to do this is not clear at all. This is a similar Republican strategy as well: tax cuts and talks about morality. The idea behind these types of thinking is that the Market economy will solve any and every problem faced by society. In truth it has done exactly the opposite. Lack of regulation was a big cause of the current economic crises and this is generally accepted by most economists (I defer to Krugman here over at the NY Times).

Essentially the policies that this union are offering to Germany is this: hey government sucks (but not us of course, because we somehow don´t) and all you need is greed. Hey they should re-write that Beatles song: All you need is greed....Greed....Greed is all you need!

A sad day for Germany

Today is a sad day for Germany. Many of us knew it would be, but tried our hardest to put on a smile and say a few optimistic words. Even up till the results were first broadcast, I hoped that there was some chance that this wasn´t going to happen. That the CDU and the FDP were not going to be able to jump into bed together. It did. Now we are stuck for the next four years in a nightmare.

The SPD are the big losers here: they can´t really form an alliance with the Linke party as they are too leftist and the Green party is just too small. So what is the big goal of the CDU and their new partner: lower taxes. How this is possible no one knows. The only thing that makes this a bit more decent is that in recent years the CDU has come more toward the center and the FDP is by no means a Republican party obsessing about family values and such garbage. No in fact the head of the FDP is actually gay so that should send a message that while they may be neo-liberal economists, they are left wing when it comes to accepting people as they are. For the next four years the German people have given the CDU and the FDP enough rope to hang themselves on, lets hope when the next election is coming around they figure out how to tie the noose.

Request for Serious Debate

The US seems to have lost all capability to debate when it comes to serious issues. Generally it turns into a shouting match lead by the loudest ignorant person around. For instance the Tea-bagger-or-bags-or-whatever-they-wish-to-be-called seem to never run out of steam. They are against "Czars" though this term was started by a republican and has never been questioned under any other presidents. Or what about health care being used as a way to compare Obama to Hitler (ironically this is a slap in the face to anyone who fought Nazism).

Today I ask for a serious debate about Homosexuality on two fronts: Marriage and the Military. Lets get things started: the military has the famous don´t ask don´t tell policy that is used to prohibit homosexuals from serving openly. The reason given is usually something about unit cohesion though no proof is ever presented to back up this claim. Is this the best answer for the reason that gays are discriminated against? Because straight people are uncomfortable, though no one has been able to prove this? Every other western democracy allows homosexuals to serve openly and their militaries aren´t falling into disarray and confusion or turning to orgies either. Please give me a good reason beyond some form of conservative religious morality.

Secondly we arrive at marriage. Marriage is a state institution. What that means is that in terms of legal framework it is something that the state recognizes as a union of two individuals (it can be talked of in more romantic terms but that is not the purpose of this post). At this point in time the US states tend to recognize only the marriage between a man and a woman (defined by what and shouldn´t they have some athletic gender test to make sure that this is always followed). What is the reason for denying marriage to same sex couples who wish to look out for one another until they die in both the romantic sense as well as the legal (financial and death) sense? Is there any reason beyond conservative religious morality that is used to defend straight marriage as being the only option that should be tolerated?

For those who wish to cling to religious answers please note your constitution is secular and calls for a separation of church and state so as not to discriminate against minority groups and others who do not share the same religion.

Which Mad Hatter will win?

Well the Republicans already think they have the 2010 election in the bag and it would probably be good to let them keep thinking that for now. The question that I am chewing on right now is which of the mad hatters they have available will get the nomination for the 2012 election. Palin, Huckabee, and Romney have all made sure to keep their names on the tip of potential voters tongues. So what do these people really stand for? Well what do the republicans stand for.

If we try to boil it down to ideology questions then the first thing we get to is that the government should spend less. Less of course on social issues and more on military doodads and campaigns. Following this notion that government always ruins things and can´t run things we should turn to the stellar way that free enterprise has always worked for the good of mankind (when you can find an example, then please leave a comment). Another one they like to talk about is that government shouldn´t regulate health care, but should ban all forms of abortion. They claim to stand for family values and this has worked with keeping the Dobsonites on board till now. The problem is of course that they don´t really practice what they preach on that one. Their foreign policy is essentially simple: who isn´t for us (giving us troops for our wars and bases) is against us and socialist etc. They also seem to believe that the US is not capable of commiting wrongs (please tell this to the Slaves, the people of Iraq, and countless other countries they have meddled in).

From what I have boiled down so far I get a party that I wouldn´t vote for in my worst nightmares. These are some candidates that creep me out.

Kitchen Nightmares

I have been watching a few episodes of Gordon Ramsays Kitchen Nightmares and last night I noticed a difference between the English version and the American one. The American version is shown on Fox, which while that doesn´t necessarily tell you much it should say that there is something that American audiences love to see: as much drama as possible. The English version on the other takes a more traditional food program take where it focuses on improving how the kitchen is run and lets the drama be a less in your face and more sophisticated type. Therefore as a cook I prefer the English version better.

The episode I watched last night featured a restaurant in Scotland now known as Abstract and which had probably the fanciest walk-in refrigerator I have ever seen in my life. They actuall had the produce as fresh as possible (meaning crayfish were still alive and everything) and the produce was all the most expensive one could get. The way to do this: have a multi-millionaire owner.

Anyway I made the Creme Brulées last night and they are looking to be a great success. More information to follow.

Sick and Back again...

Had some small and annoying cold thingy thats kept me behind for a couple of days here but now it seems the worst is over and I am on the way back to good health. Tomorrow is a big day for cooking and I am planning on making Flammkuchen (as the Germans call it) or Tarte Flambée (French). Of course I am doing the vegetarian version so no bacon. This is a dish which is Alsatian in origin. To go with this I am also planning on serving Creme Brulée for dessert. This will be the first time that I have made Creme Brulée at home so I am a bit nervous about messing that up. However the friends we are having over for dinner supposedly have a burner so I am going to call them in a few minutes and ask them to bring it along.

My experience with Creme Brulée is that it has to be watched rather constantly so that the eggs don´t get a chance to overcook, because if they do you end up eating sweet scrambled eggs. There is also no better smell than when you have cut a vanilla bean and gotten some of the seeds on your hand. For a whole day you can smell vanilla on them.

I am still trying to decide if I should have some starters. I was thinking about some form of italian bread chips (the name is escaping me) with some tapenade or something like that. We shall see what happens.

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Almost forgot to mention that we are planning on drinking Federweisser which you can read about here. Seeing as how its a fall thing, I think everything here is pretty much timed perfectly with the season.

Paranoia U.S. and A style

I have lost all hope of any kind of logical debate occuring in the US over healthcare. From either side. In my time living in the US and following politics there I cannot say that I have seen any good debates take place where both parties were involved. Take Presidential debates: both candidates blow smoke up each others ass because the American public don´t like to see their politicians bicker. Americans also supposedly believe in this concept of Bipartisanship. Bipartisanship is in many ways a practical way of saying hey we don´t actually want anything to really change so we take this half-assed approach where we water something down to the point where both parties look like losers. The democrats need an FDR, desperately and at the moment they haven´t got it. To Obama: stop bending over backwards and shove this thing through.

Paranoia and right-wing populism seems to be the way that the Republicans are going to retake the house and the senate. Too bad I would have loved to hear something solid coming out of their mouths instead of the garbage they are spewing at the time.

Funniest statement of the month: a man was interviewed on BBC about Carter´s comment that race is motivating a lot of the criticism of Obama (something I have not taken a stand on yet) and said something like this... actually racism in the US is not a real issue anymore. I almost died laughing wondering who the idiot who said this was.

Tonight Barcelona vs. Inter or as the press likes to call it Etoó versus Ibrahimovic. Hope Messi and Ibra rip through Inter.

Invitation for Lesbian Haircuts

Todays facebook highlight had to be the invitation for a Lesbian haircut that a certain Quebecoise native sent me. I checked it out and laughed myself silly for about five minutes and then started thinking about it. How do these women go to a barber and request these styles? Do they do what we all did when we were young: take a photo of some celebrity we wanted to look like and kinda thought we would if we had their hair, or do they have proper terms for them? Are there barbers who specialize in cutting Lesbian´s hair? There are plenty of women in Berlin going around with these haircuts in any case.

Tonight the group stage of the Champions League begins and while I have to work tonight I am looking forward to watching the Barcelona/Inter Milan game tomorrow. It will be fun to watch Ibrahimovic face his former teammates so early on.

Tomorrow I have my first Yoga class for this fall term. Its going to be fun and a lot of pain. Last time around I was really starting to notice a difference after a month or two.

I think that there is no longer anything worth saving in the Republican party and hope that they will eventually expose themselves as the corporate party that they are instead of sucking up votes by playing nationalist and family value cards. Despicable.

There is something fishy about all this...

These protests have been the talk of the summer (and now the fall as well) in the US and A. They don´t necessarily seem to be going away either. Fox News and their make out buddies (you know who you are) take the approach that this is the voice of the "normal" American speaking out against his country being stolen out from him by fill-in-the-blank a. african-born unconstitutional leader b. marxist c. socialist d. fascist e. hitler f. stalin. g. mao h. all of the above. Just what exactly has he done so far to merit any of these empty phrases being thrown at him? I am not so sure really.

Health care. Its a debacle in the US and there is really no ignoring that. If the republicans manage to block this bill and/or water it down as they are hoping to do, we will be facing another long drawn out period of waiting for Americans to get tired of being taken advantage of by big corporations who reap profits off them being sick. That in itself is sick enough to merit change. Does anyone really truly deep down believe that capitalism will solve its own problems? It hasn´t been able to so far in history so why would that change this time?

Le Weekend

This weekend was spent in the following manner: Friday was filled up from 11 am to 1 am with the wedding of a friend, Saturday was spent in a relaxing manner where the house was also cleaned up and I got a chance to watch some of the Barcelona game, then Sunday was spent having breakfast with a friend in Friedrichshain, going to the market in Boxhagener kiez and then home to do nothing (which is definitely underrated).

Today I wasted some time looking at photos of protestor´s signs in the US that are against Obama. I don´t really know what to think about this most of the time. I have narrowed it down to two options: A. these people are completely out of their minds and paranoid about everything or B. these people have no idea what is going on and are using this opportunity to prove just how bad American schools are for promoting free thinking.

All these notions that the US is being destroyed that are promoted on all the media outlets by such scum as Glenn Beck and co. are actually counterproductive to any debate taking place. These people are screaming that they should be heard, yet they are actually well represented in both the House and the Senate so this brings us back to the idea that American schools are doing fuck all to educate them about how democracy actually works. A diversity of ideas and a healthy debate are what make democracies and cultures strong. That Obama is labelled a Fascist or Communist at every turn is a slap in the face to anyone who fought either of those two forms of government. In fact it is a slap in the face to every veteran from WWII. I wish the Republican party had some intellectual thinkers who could debate things so that there would be a debate and not a minority mob chanting in the streets about their paranoia.

Berlin and Fall

The weather has taken its turn and the clouds are gathering. It seems that the summer has lasted so long that I am having a hard time remembering what a fall is like, though I won´t deny that I would have liked it to stay away a bit longer. Especially as I have started skateboarding again now pretty frequently.

I have a job interview tomorrow which is good, though its another restaurant job which doesn´t make it as great as I would wish. Maybe if this keeps up I can find a restaurant that focuses on Env. friendly food and make my mark through the world of food. It isn´t exactly what I had in mind but if that is where its at then I will be happy all the same.

I recently read the novel, or novella is more correct, named The Road by Cormac McCarthy. While I found great portions of it pretentious, I will say that some parts of it triggered my imagination into thinking whether or not some of the happenings would be possible. For instance if the governments completely ceased to exist and nothing grows anymore are humans going to return to a tribal mentality or even an individualistic cannibal lifestyle where friendship is only based on whether or not they increase the persons chance of survival (meaning at some point if the survival chances are lowered the said friends are likely to try to eat each other without even having to think about it). Essentially, we are just one nuclear war from falling apart. Somewhere there are dusty red buttons that some lunatic designed in the name of Mutual Assured Destruction.

Inhofe is a liar

Read the following link about Sen. Inhofe and once you are finished and if you find yourself agreeing with anything the guy is saying, please go check yourself into a mental hospital.

Link

Berlin, Berlin

Raining cats and dogs this morning and to add to all that it didn´t start till about four in the morning when a loud crack of thunder pealed through the sky and woke me up. Maybe the grass will return to its more natural green color before fall has its savage way. Speaking of fall the leaves are turning just slightly and that means that winter is peeking its frigid eyes on us.

Amidst all this it somehow stopped raining a few minutes ago and that means that if this sun thing keeps up long enough the skate-spot at Hasenheide will be dry enough to hit up by six in the evening. Needless to say I am hoping for this option. Today is work on application day as well as try to figure out what other paperwork needs to be filled out so that I can change my name day.

I want to write a blog for ESPN about Hertha Berlin (the local Football team in the Bundesliga), but there is no contact information to get ahold of those individuals who can pull those strings. Work is ok for now but seeing as how the high season is about to end (if it has not already done so) means I need to find another temp. job for the moment.

Otherwise things are good today, going for a skate, got payed, and having chanterelles for dinner with the most beautiful woman in the world, well it doesn´t get much better.

CIA Probe and politics

Supposedly if Obama decides that the hood of the CIA should be popped open and a look given to the machine running beneath it, it would be bad for politics. First it would somehow take away from morale at the CIA and second Republicans and moderates would have a fit.

Let me see if I understand this correctly, because maybe I am just a bit confused here: The CIA, a US government agency is accused of torturing people (which is illegal in the US), and people don´t want to know. Pathetic. A nation that likes to think of itself as a democracy and a place of laws has an obligation to investigate and prosecute for misscarriages of justice; no matter the scenario.

The other side of the coin is this: if the CIA didn´t do anything wrong then there will be no consequences of this investigation, so if they are innocent as they claim then they should welcome an investigation. This doesn´t seem to be the case.

Finally, in regards to Republican stances of righteous anger about prosecuting their sacred cow, I ask how was it possible that they went after Clinton for a blow job but torture is somehow ok. Something is rotten in that party.

Anti-Semitism, Aftonbladet, and Freedom of the press.

I have no way of knowing how much you, dear readers, are aware of the current "crises" between the Swedish and Israeli Governments. I will however attempt to give you a quick rundown. First let me be honest; I am biased towards Sweden as I am half Swedish and up till a few months ago lived there.

Donald Boström wrote an article where he makes the accusation for the sake of bringing it to the public´s attention that the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) might be stealing organs from some of the palestinians that they kill in combat albeit those they take back to their base to do "autopsies" on. Question number one; why would you do an autopsy on someone you shot in combat, or do you not have any faith in the power of your own weapons?

The Israeli foreign ministry and also Mr. Netanyahu accuse Aftonbladet and Boström of bringing up old Anti-semitic claims against the jews and that they are showing off the racism that is apparently evident in that neutral land (we can discuss this at another time). They also demand that the Swedish government distance itself from this article and condemn it. The Swedish government refuses to do so and states (quite correctly) that according to their constitution they are not permitted to do so. Question number two; why are the Israelis reading Aftonbladet?

Aftonbladet is really a tabloid where celebrity gossip is mixed with fairly small snippets about international affairs and some actual first class sports journalism. Let me restate this: Aftonbladet is a Tabloid. Sweden´s law prohibits the government from making positive or negative statements about the press, that is their law. Why is Israel pressing a nation to go against its constitution when they don´t appreciate anyone telling them what to do? Whether or not the article is false or not I know not. Boström presents no evidence except a photo of a palestinian man who was killed by the IDF and then autopsied for some reason. He also connected it with some organ ring in the US supposedly run by a rabbi. Whether or not there is truth I know not. I doubt it however.

The next topic is the accusation that the Swedes are showing Anti-semitism here. This is Israels go to answer whenever it is criticized for anything. However the problem is that Israel is a state and not a people group. True the population of Israel is primarily Jewish but this in itself is another dilemma: is being jewish a religion or a race? Apparently if one criticizes the IDF which is a part of the state of Israel then one is Anti-semitic. Therefore any critic can be labeled easily as racist and ethnocentric and written off. That is pretty pathetic. If Boström had alluded that this was normal "jew" behavior then he would have been anti-semitic. He was however not making a claim like this and so I find the Israeli statement labelling this as Anti-Semitism fairly weak. Further Israel is now acting like they are going to not allow Swedish journalists access to the country. The Swedish Journalist association made a statement about this today in Dagens Nyheter; till now only dictatorships have done things like that.

Lesson learned; In Israel whatever a tabloid writes is cause for indignation.

Health care protest=staged

Read this if you weren´t sure.

Health care and the Republican mind

Two things in need of change: the United States health care system and the mindset of the Republican party. I am not the only one who is noting that the Republicans have fallen off the deep end. By accusing the other party of being fascist or communist, they are essentially appealing to a right wing base (which is where fascism lies incidentally) and they are ignoring the use of any facts and reasonable debate. It is one thing to disagree with the idea of health care reform, it is another to call someone a fascist over it without any real proof of this.

A perfect example of this ridiculous behavior is Sen. Jim DeMint. I am going to go a step further, I am going to call the man what he actually is: a grade A idiot. We are talking about someone who sits in a powerful position in the US government and had quite a few idiots vote for him. Here is saying that the US is on its way to becoming like Germany or Iran. First off I live in Germany and I can tell you that there is more freedom here than there is in the US anyway. What makes me wonder about DeMint is whether or not he has really ever traveled anywhere and seen the world or if he is just another Republican All American with his head up his ass.

Introducing Micke Huckabee: the moron

This article pretty much sums up Mike Huckabee´s uber simplistic take on the world. Hey Mike while we are at it, can we give the land you currently call the USA back to the native Americans? Didn´t think so. Hope the Republicans pick you for their presidential candidate as it would mean the end of modernity and the return of the dark ages.

Weekly Politcal commentary

No one should be surprised that this blog is carrying on about political issues (including race, gender, etc.) I am generally quite open about where I stand which compared to the President is indeed to the left. So here we go...

Any talk about discrimination against white people is the most ridiculous thing that I have heard (shame on Limbaugh and co. for continually harping on all the discrimination against them). This article does well to point out the fact that despite all this talk it is still the white man running things.

The health care battle is starting to scare me. I will be honest I can´t really afford to live in the US at the moment, as my standard of living would be lowered due to the bills I would have to pay to private insurance companies who are just what they are called: private. Anyone who believes that capitalism can "solve" things is ignoring the stupidity of humanity, and besides if it could solve things then why do we need government in the first place. When a republican administration really does create a smaller government then I will observe the experience and weigh it based on its own merits, though to this day I haven´t seen this to be the case (can´t count Reagan, he poured all that money into the military which sorry to say is another government operation).

The President should come down hard on the righties and let them know they aren´t the only ones who can create a scene. He should demonstrate that the Democrats are the party in power for one reason: that is how the people of the nation wanted things to be (its called a democracy for a reason). So its about time that Congress and the President got to work.

Finally, the right to bear arms. This should be the one thing in the constitution that would need some work. If you have a rifle for hunting that is great. If you have an semi-automatic and take it to protests, there is something wrong with you period. This is something you don´t even see in most third world countries.

On the perception of weakness

I was skimming headlines and through a few clicks I ended up on some conservative blog about Russian submarines being spotted outside American territorial waters. Of course the article itself isn´t so much interesting as the comments that follow it. What makes the comments themselves interesting? The paranoia and the fear that the current president is somehow weak. Its bizarre to me to read all this but I can kind of understand where its coming from. For the last eight years the country has suffered from having to hawkish leaders who were more likely to pull the trigger than try to work things out. Here´s a lesson that people who think the president is weak should learn: Diplomacy that doesn´t come through a gun barrel is a lot more challenging then squeazing a trigger.

Why all this paranoia about Russia by the way. Of course they are flexing their muscles but they were doing this under Bush as well. How do you think they feel about the US recruiting all their former satellite states for NATO? Essentially these paranoid individuals seem to think its ok for the US to act aggressor but not for anyone else to play the same game. Excuse me while I go throw up. Weakness is not the use of diplomacy as a first negotiating tool, its the use of force when its not called for that is. Paranoia about Russia is equivalent to being a dumb hick who is unaware of recent history.

Top Ten list of people we should ignore:

10. Robert Mugabe (There should be no need to explain his presence on the list).

9. Kim Jong-Il (Seemingly proud to be out of his mind and insane, suffers from penis envy which goes a long way to explaining why his starving country is building nuclear weapons).

8. Glenn Beck (hate speech promoter and all around liar-for-ratings).

7. Sean Hannity (See Glenn Beck).

6. Orly Taitz (Birther lawyer and dentist and real estate agent also out of her mind yet still able to practice law).

5. Sarah Palin (imagine her as president and once you finish vomiting your migraine will show up, has demonstrated repeatedly she is incapable of running anything but Wasilla).

4. Dick Cheney (torture can be justified, I am sure a certain Reich´s Führer would have agreed 110 percent, responsible for making the US just that much less safe).

3. Mahmoud Ahmadinajad (Where to start... Stole an election and is generally regarded to be out of his mind as well).

2. Karl Rove (need I explain why)

1. Mark Sanford (showing why people shouldn´t vote for a party claiming to be about "family" values).

Note: this list does not infer value based on the numbering system used, it is simply how they came to mind.

Weekly Commentary

In just a week Lou Dobbs managed to flush his journalistic reputation down the toilet by continuing to cover the non-story that is the birthers. Actually the real story would be about the people behind these types of conspiracy theories. Or what about the GOP senators and representatives who are pandering to the fringe base with their bill concerning the birth certificates being or not being (check the video at Huffingtonpost to see what kind of weirdos are making your laws).

Picked up my new passport from the US Embassy in Berlin. I have to say that I went in there completely prejudiced against Embassy security, having dealt with angry and irritated little jerks in Riga. These guys were completely friendly and even wanted to talk about books I was reading. My respect goes to those guys. Except for the Marine with his war face in the second office, staring everyone down who walks through his diplomatic halls.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is now playing for FC Barcelona. First congratulations to him: everyone wants to go, but few are given the opportunity. I hope he makes the most of it and does two things: wins the Ballon D´Or and Champions League next year.

On the football note it seems Sweden will not be playing at the next world cup in South Africa which means that I will be supporting the German national team. The only good thing to come out of this is hopefully that Sweden realizes they need a new strategy to reach some new footballing heights.

The Birthers or the nutcases among us

Today I have been reading and trying to keep up with this bizarre group of people called the birthers. For those who are completely unaware of this group, its a bunch of conspiracy theorists residing in the USA who are for various reasons trying to have President Obama removed from office by claiming he is not a "natural born citizen." Of course they are completely wrong on two accounts: A. his mother was a US citizen and B. he was born in the US.

I am going to be completely honest. If I found out that any of my friends were in any way associated with this movement it would be automatic cause for the end of that friendship. If I were to meet anyone who holds this view (not very likely as these nutcases are generally unaware that there is a world outside the US) I would in no way associate with them. Period. The soldier who took this to court should be dishonarably discharged and held in contempt of court along with his lawyer who should never be permitted to practice law again in any state. Period. Anyone supporting this movement is in no way a patriot but instead completely delusional and insane.

Strange Summer, Job search, and more

This is going to go down as an even worse summer than last year if the weather continues as it is now; rain, cloudy, sunny for five minutes and then repeat. Add to this that the humidity can reach almost tropical levels (Which means another storm is coming) and you have a recipe for a rainy year. I am going to Sweden next weekend for what could be called a mini-honeymoon before the real one in February (which will be on the islands of Maui and Kauai).

The job search is on and so far I have found a few places that I am interested in applying to but now I just need to get my letter of application finished.

That is about it for right now, I am still making pizza and hoping the sun will come out tomorrow so I can go for a skate, which would be the first skate in three months.

Trapped in the rain

Went to the Berlin Library (AGB) and got trapped there in a downpour of torrential tropical rain. Before I got here the weather was so humid that I was sweating just sitting at my computer. There is no escape from the European summer and considering that this is what was sorely missing until a week ago I shouldn´t be complaining.

Just picked up Paul Auster´s book Moon Palace which I do not believe that I have read and am therefore very happy to do so now. I dropped off Marina Lewicki´s Two Caravans (which I do not recommend by any stretch.

I am getting married in a week and that is incredible. Now I just need to keep looking for a job. Time is going by so fast, too fast almost.

Considering that the rain is coming down as hard as it is, I guess it means I won´t be skateboarding today. Oh well.

Le Weekend

Big plans, big plans. Actually a lot of wedding related stuff. There is supposedly a job fair as well so I need to fix up my CV a bit (you know add the part about having a masters degree). Getting a haircut as well around 11. I guess the term trim is more correct.

In the evening its time for some Under 21 European Championship footall. Sweden vs. England and to be perfectly honest and clear, Sweden aren´t tipped to win. Then again we weren´t tipped to win against Serbia either, which we did on Tuesday 3-1. We did it in style and team Serbia collapsed like a wounded giant and by the time the referee had decided to blow the final whistle it was an eleven man Sweden vs nine man Serbia (both red cards coming after the score was already 3-1). What I am trying to say is that if we go out tomorrow and battle our little hearts off, there is a chance we could pull this off. Not a big chance, but a chance all the same.