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.

Ahmadinejad or the other option

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

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

John Fante

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

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

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

The Wedding Approacheth

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

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

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

Musings of a Master

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

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

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

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

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

The conspiracy theorists

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

Hilarious actually.

Tin foil hat

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

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

Americans with Guns

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

Stuck in Lund

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

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

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

Last day...

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

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

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

Intolerant religion

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

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

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

Listening but not hearing anything...

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

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

Conservative thinking

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

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

Irony

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

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

Excusing torture (a post about brothers)

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

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

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

Political Thoughts (again I know)

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

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

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

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

McDonalds Claim: in the ballpark

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

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

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

Bachmann and the beast

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

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

1st of May

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

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

A welcome change

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

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

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

It might be a very short World Championship this year.