Economics of Saturday Afternoon

What was a lazy afternoon of running errands such as my regular Saturday weekly newspaper run and soup at Soup Enzo, led to an intriguing gathering of the minds at the CREA cafe. As I sat drinking my apple juice and chatting with my favorite cafe employee, three great minds (and friends of mine) walked in and invited me to join them for some socializing. Eventually I did join them at the table, diving head-first into a multi-layered discussion of global economics, society, multi-culturalism, and the internet. A chance to really flex those brain muscles, and listen to some brilliant minds. This was definitely one of those unexpected Saturday afternoon occurances that I cherish about this city. Nevermind the outcome of the discussion, we somehow failed to make a plan to save the world.

If there’s something in the world that gets my attention, it is elections in India. Campaigning ended Saturday night, and on Monday the second round of elections will take place. Whether it is a perfect system or not, there’s something awe-inspiring about millions of people mobilized to choose from among 2000+ candidates. Plus, this year the entire nation is using electronic voting machines. It’s really something worth watching, a unique situation in the world. The US and other western nations might want to take notes. (especially certain sunny states)

As I have been listening to Prince’s Musicology so often this past week, I found this Voice article on the artist and his music fairly interesting. I didn’t know Prince was a Johova’s witness. I am also not sure how to spell “Johova’s”, time to hit the spell check button for a change.

Today’s Music: The Veils – The Run Away Found

Hippies to Puritans

A chance to sit down and interview the dean of the international school today, proved extra fun and interesting. It usually does whenever he and I get time to really chat. We were discussing the old buildings around Amsterdam which the school used to occupy. This was for an article I’m writing for my forthcoming first edition of the ISHSS Alumni Magazine. His tales of creative and crazy experiences in the various buildings pointed to one major conclusion: we’ve gone from free-spirited, rebelious, and exciting in the past, to regulation-fearing, uptight, blandness. I think it’s true for alot of things in this world. Like comparing te 60’s to the 90’s and 00’s…. from rule breakers to excessively obsessed with rules. I’d say he seemed nostalgic for those days, I know I was just listening to him.

Today I thought I’d provide a link to the so-called “investigation” of the prisoner abuse by American soldiers in Iraq. I read through the report, highly recommended for those with insomnia. When I awoke from reading this, I noted two conclusions:

1- They visited a prison.

2 – That between October and December 2003, at the Abu Ghraib Confinement Facility (BCCF), numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses were inflicted on several detainees. This systemic and illegal abuse of detainees was intentionally perpetrated by several members of the military police guard force (372nd Military Police Company, 320thMilitary Police Battalion, 800th MP Brigade), in Tier (section) 1-A of the Abu Ghraib Prison (BCCF).

What baffles me even more is the International Red Cross’s position of “neutrality.” Apparently, they say they’ve known about the abuses for a long time, but didn’t feel it was appropriate to make noise about it. How is it being neutral mean keeping silent about humans being abused?

There is some good news out there, Three Bed Two Bath blog helped me discover Metro Blog maps! You see, they’re metro/subway maps of different cities, listing the blogs that originate at each station. YES! There’s a NYC, DC, Chicago, and I’m looking for more. Maybe I can put myself on a Netherlands or Europe blog map. I’ll start looking tomorrow.

Today’s Music: Gil-Scott Heron – Ghetto Style

Memorial and Liberation

Rememberence Day and Liberation Day, back to back here in the Netherlands. I think I didnt pay enough attention to it last year, however this year I was very aware of it. I made sure to tune into the broadcast of the ceremonies and the two minutes of silence at 20h CET. I was also capitivated by Amsterdam’s cable channel AT5 which showed old film reels from the 1940’s. It is really mindboggling what went on here. What haunts me even more is that I see, in the reels, those same streets and houses i walk by everyday. What haunts me even more is that 60 years later, there are still occupations taking place, mass killing, hatred, intolerance…. seems like much of the world hasn’t learned much at all. History seems to repeat itself… like Marx said.. ( was it him?) first as a tragedy, second as a farce. I see alot of farces among our world leaders.

A Canadian citizen has come forward in the scandal involving prisoner abuse by coalition soldiers. There are multiple photos involving multiple instances, something is definately going on. The pentagon said that soldiers were reprimanded for alleged abuses. If they’re being reprimanded, than I guess they aren’t alleged abuses are they? They’re quite real.

I was reading a poem on a great blog from an EMT in London. It’s about his boots, which have seen so much, from day-to-day. I thought it fitting to read on this a day with so much rememberence and reflection involving hatred, violence, life, death, pain, love and the overall grey history of the world.

Today’s Music: Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros – Streetcore

Photos Speak

A visit to the World Press Photo exhibit today, as expected, was most excellent. I especially enjoyed the photos of people who had migrated to Amsterdam and the photos of their lives here. Somehow, my photo was not up there. Maybe next time. The other photos I took special notice of, besides the mind blowing photos of soldiers in Iraq, were those of the annual 50’s culture reunion in Hemsby, England. Complete with greasy hair, fancy roadsters, and other James Deanish details. Reminded me of certain friends back in NJ. I must remember to recommend it to them.

Still trying to track the prisoner abuse story in Iraq, the BBC reported this morning that those involving British soldiers were questionable because of inconsistancies involving their uniforms and equipment. I acknowledge that photos can be doctored, but I will certainly not dismiss this. Evidence seems to be mounting.

TPB, Esq. is fast becoming my most favorite writer/blogger. I was captivated by his entry exploring Asbury Park, NJ, and his memories of it as a child with his father. Now I really want to go there again when I’m in NJ this summer. (plan in the works) Lots of my memories of Asbury Park are in fact not from childhood, but from the One Cool Guy days where we would play awesome shows at the Stone Pony and also at that Skate Park in that old abandoned carousel place. I used to spend lots of time before our set staring at the massive grey skeleton of an unfinished hotel, or the infamous abandoned Fun House with that scarey smiling clown face.

Today’s Music: Benjamin Biolay- Negatif

Clean this Mess

As I write an army of garbage trucks (or dust-bin collectors as some call them), streetcleaners, sweepers, disinfectors and porta-john recoilers are blanketing Amsterdam. Their task is a momumental one: to clean up this dump after something like 1 million orange clad folk ran/floated around all day filling the atmosphere with crap club music from 1996 and beer cans. (seriously.. so many times today I heard “what is love.. baby don’t hurt me”) It has come and gone, see you next year Koninginedag.

450 million people, 20 official languages, my kind of Union. A warm welcome to EU25 as they are being called! Today Poland, Czech Rep., Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Malta, and Cyprus (greek part) became EU! I’m now an associated-citizen of those countries as well!

On a final note tonight, I hope you’ve noticed the story about the photos of coalition soliders abusing and mistreating prisoners. The whole internet is buzzing about it, so read up on it. It is disgusting, and further illustrates what an awful situation it is. I also blame the military for recruiting mentally ill individuals, as well as young people barely out of high school. Military shouldn’t be allowed into schools to begin with, just as guns shouldn’t, they both help kill people.

Today’s Music: Prince – Musicology

Grab your boats

Well, Queen’s day is upon us. 24 hours from now the canals will be filled with bumper to bumper boats, beer will flow through the streets, men everywhere will be urinating in public, pack-rats (Some of my friends as well) will be selling their old shit, and an all-encompassing orange party fog will consume the city. Thus is queen’s day. The real event of importance for me is the arrival of a wonderful friend from London. Together we will hopefully go to the World Press Photo exhibit.

I grow tired of xenophobia in general, but lately it is the UK that has shocked me with the fear of immigrants that the press seems to be alluding to. Immigrants are a vital part of their work force, as they are in the US, Germany, Netherlands, etc. Without this group of brave and modest people, the the UK’s- and the world’s- economy would collapse. Tony Blair should make this clear instead of trying to please the racist, ethnocentric types.

All this buzz because Saturday is May 1st, the day the European Union expands to 25 countries. I’ll post a special welcome for them all, because as a European Citizen, I’m happy to have them along. The more cultures the merrier, and the less borders the better. There’s nothing natural about these borders to begin with, ever stand on the Canadian-American or Belgian-Dutch border? What a plain feeling, a human-made border. Oceans, now those are borders!

Today’s Music: Tahiti 80 – 1,000 Times