Text – Page 124 – Citizen Reporter

The Horror in Harbin

Hello I’m in New Jersey… and actually i did not have a pleasant flight and it seems the entire airline industry is one big ball of nerves and Im seriously going to save some loot so I can take a container ship from Rotterdam next time. Flying is a torturous ordeal these days, it is as if air-travel has taken 100 steps backwards since the dawn of this fake-ass war on terrorism. But I’ll address that in my first US recorded podcast tomorrow.

fortunately I grabbed a Guardian on my way onto the plane, and poured over the stories coming out of China. Besides the fact that militia opened fire on demonstrators who didn’t want the government to put a polluting coal power plant in their town, I read alot more on Harbin, a city that has been poisoned by the Chinese government and the petrol industry there.

It’s incredibly sad to watch china grow at this crippling pace that leaves so many people cast aside, forgotten, killed, and poisoned. The push to be this supercapitalist, consumer state, seems like one big ball of destruction. and if you live in Harbin, all you know is you can’t drink the water because the tap has been turned off and even if it weren’t your water supply is toxic and your government knew this could happen, but doesn’t care, like so many governments out there.

Its true, I admire Chavez

I don’t like bullies. I don’t care for military things. I don’t even dig people who are full of themselves and constantly making things “about them.” But as ye dear readers probably know, I’m an admirer of Hugo Chavez. I don’t love everything he does, I don’t even trust him 100%, but still, he is the champion underdog on the international scene.

I’ll explain further. Over the past decades, plenty of Latin American presidents have come and gone, and during their tenure they’ve licked the boots of the United States governments, bending over and filling their pockets with the money of multinational corporations, while the masses have remained poor and in many cases, gotten poorer. Upon further reflection, it’s probably hard to go against the whims of the United States and those companies, if you piss them off you risk loosing their investment, their assistance… you lose that lifeline… it’s a big risk.

But in 1998, Hugo Chavez came along, in his red beret and military uniforms, and he swept into office. And since that day, the wealthy of Venezuela, the multinationals, and yes… a large segment of the middle class in Venezuela, have hated him. And I mean hate. HATE HATe. I’ve spoken to some who would take up arms against him, and well – some did a few years ago. They don’t like how he’s friendly to the hated leaders of the world, like Castro. Myself, I wish he wasn’t such a strong supporter of Zimbabwe’s president, but like I said, it’s not that I love all his decisions – but I love the spirit of defiance. And defy he continues to do.

So now there are elections, and as much as some powerful people would like to see the upper class take to the polls and vote him out. It hasn’t happened. Not to mention the fact that they boycotted the vote to begin with, with doesn’t help when you want to get elected. And they cry corruption, which hey – could be possible. But you know, with all those international observers saying the vote is legit, it becomes harder and harder to accuse the big guy of rigging the election.

Anyway I’m glad we’ve got a Chavez in this world. Later on, he might do some questionable stuff. I also fear he won’t step down once his term is up. But then again, that kind of stuff happens indirectly in most democracies anyway (you know, somehow staying in power forever). And I have to say, the Venezuelan governments initiatives to help poor communities of the united states by offering cheap heating oil is impressive. I’ve heard the reports that in the Bronx it’s already happening… if you work for the government of Newark or Detroit, or whatever city full of struggling people, call Citgo and get your community involved in this deal, it’s something the world could use a little more of — compassion.

Blogs Always Beat CNN

Trying desperately to stop watching Rocky V which was on the Dutch television this evening, I flipped to CNN (seeking to be entertained rather than informed). Sure enough, I look at the screen and its the very video Daily Kos and Madge Weinstein pointed out almost a week ago; the one with the Aegis military contractors driving around Iraq shooting civilians to a soundtrack. The lame news anchor was trying to convince we the viewers that this was breaking news.

This incident re-enforced what many of us already know, but a majority of the world still doesn’t: blogs are increasingly more dynamic, more informative, and faster to disseminate info than any CNN or FOX ever is. A good blog post or podcast or videoblog when its quickly put online, with background links, and honest presentation, even if the author admits to not knowing all the information that goes with it — it is still far more useful then this crap they push on us via television. And you can bet Aegis, the US military, and others, are all scrambling and stumbling to explain their murderous, criminal ways…. credit to the bloggers.

Speaking of idiocy and deception, the money pit that the US congress has quietly funded with billions, once again failed. Missile defence, what a stupid, wasteful, and dangerous project.

Learn the Internaut Tools: A Refresher

You probably know that this blog isn’t only about world events, Europe, and expat life, it only seems that way! For the longtime readers, you may recall that I like to occasionally give advice and recommend internet applications to use, in order to maximize your use of time, help you find stuff, and make you into the most efficient internet activist you can be. (even if you don’t want to be… convert.. convert…)

Lately I’ve been explaining RSS (really simple syndication) to alot of new people, since an overwhelming majority of web-surfers still don’t use it or understand how VITAL it can be. So if this is old news to you, then you-go-girl, because you’re part of the in-the-know minority– now help me figure out ways to reach the masses. Wikipedia will explain RSS to you, and then you absolutely must start using bloglines, and paste in all the rss addresses from all your favorite blogs, newspapers, weather reports, bittorent sites, auctions, you name it – every website has or will have RSS. Once you start using it you’ll have more time to talk with people in your office, or take a walk, or drink hot chocolate, like I do…. no more typing in the same web addresses day after day: w w w dot b y -oops — b i c y c l e dot o r g. Is this you? It doesn’t have to be — start using my RSS feed

Now there are two other simple and beautiful net tools, free and easy-to-understand, that I demand you look into. First, for those websites and articles you want to save. STOP adding things to your bookmarks. I mean, you might re-install the browser, or work on many computers through the course of the day (like me!), or simply make a dam mess out of your favorites so you can’t find anything anyway. You need to start using Delicious, there – with one click- you can toss in all your important articles and weblinks and they’ll always be there on the net, for your reference. Plus you make tags for each link, so if you look at my delicious, you can imagine how many articles fall under the tag “war crimes”.

The last tool is the absolute easiest, and it’s what alot of you have probably been looking for: a way to search through all the crazy blogs out there, to find specific subjects/topics. Again, it has been around forever, but I’m going to guess many of you have never gone over to technorati and searched for say…. Torture Flights – boom- all the blogs that have talked about torture flights. It even pulls up the latest images on flickr or buzznet, so you can type my name and voila — my thanksgiving glamour shots.

Ok class dismissed, but before you go, I hope you didn’t just ignore all these names thinking that you don’t get it or need any of this. Trust me, you do. The internet ain’t what it was 6 years ago, or even 3 years go, so neither should the way you use it.

So I was talking to a Parliamentarian

Sometime during the thanksgiving weekend extravaganzas, I found myself at the goodbye party for my dear friend and neighbor. As a dynamic international, naturally she had a lineup of multicultural/multilingual guests that would make Kofi Annan blush.

At one point I’m introduced to a very charming young couple. At first he spoke Portuguese to me and explained that he’d studied and lived there. Then his partner engaged me in conversation and we got into the topic of what the Netherlands is doing wrong/ what bothers me about life in this country. I was initially surprised by her curiousity, she pressed me to give specific points and seemed to feed off every point I brought up. So I gave her my grand list:

Health Insurance: No one in this country, including the government people who wrote the plan, understand the new health insurance system they passed which will take effect in January. Its a big step towards privatization, and as she pointed out — there will suddenly be Dutch citizens without health insurance.
Cars: They’ll complain forever about the traffic in this country, but everyone keeps buying cars and wanting more cars. You always hear about how much they ride their bikes, but the fact is, inside and outside the cities, Dutch people love owning cars and don’t want to be slowed by pesky subjects like pollution.
Temp Employment: You know where I stand on this one. Its the fastest growing employer in the country and its not really an employer and in the long-run, skrews everyone.

But here’s the kicker. After having this great conversation, the couple says goodbye as they have to leave. Later my friend comes over and asks, “So did you enjoy meeting your first Dutch Parliamentarian?”

I was speechless, I’d been going on and on, point by point about what policies were mistakes, and as it turns out, I was talking to someone with a very big say in all that (Green Party). And she seemed to love hearing my take… even agreed on many points. Small town, this Amsterdam.

Bloggers at my Dinner Table

Actually there weren’t any tonight, not as far as I know. I still can’t write straight, and one more night of the gobble gobble awaits. Not that I’ve touched a single gobble gobble in the last 48 hours or 7 years really, it’s more of a symbolism. As I sat at Thanksgiving dinner numero deux this evening, one of the other guests was describing how and why she liked dark meat of the turkey better. No big deal, I remember how to communicate carnivore-style.

But since its 3am and I don’t really work tomorrow, I wanted to speak of this holiday and the bloggers I love to share it with. Meaning– there are certain blogs that are traditionally my favorites at this time of year, over the last couple of years. Which is why, for starters, I emailed xTx to send some love. When she’s home for the horrid-days, insanely wonderous poetry oozes from her fingers, among other orafaces.

And of course I also enjoy reading the man who sometimes ends up at a pub instead of thanksgiving dinner, mr thestateimin himself. He did, mind you, make it to relative’s house this year.

Finally, no thanksgivinin would be complete for me, without the BitchPhD and her mouse loving pseudononymous kid.

Course I read over a hundred blogs and love many of them, but these three have been thanksgiving staples for a long time, and are now part of my holiday ritual. Thanks my friends!