Tag Archives: UK

Viva Costa Rica

The random February rain has arrived in Amsterdam. One minute sunny, the next, rainy. Which gives me a good excuse to have some whiskey with my dear Fleur, and to seek out blogs/guests for my upcoming podcast on the Costa Rican elections.

There’s one thing I love, above all about Costa Rica. – No military! I love it. As Yakov Smirnov would say — “what a country!”

Naturally there’s much more to love and learn from when it comes to Costa Rica. And so today I turned to the His Fault blog, for rants and commentary from an expat in Costa Rica. So far I’ve enjoyed his blog. Then there’s a Costa Rican in the Netherlands who blogs mostly in Spanish and its refreshing to read a blog in spanish about such a hip country. And the last one I’m trying out is Medea Material, mostly in Spanish, all about Costa Rica.

So there you have it, maybe you’re curious about the perfect weather in San José. Maybe you want to hear about eco-tourism and the important plants and species that one can find in this central American country. Now you’ve got somewhere to start.

As for the elections… runoff pending…

More Opium for the Masses

Danish cartoons… Danish cartoons... Danish cartoons.

I bet Denmark never felt so important as they do right now. Apparently it’s the new center of the universe.

Lots of blogs will be writing about it. Newspapers certainly won’t shut up about it. And unemployed, poor, angry, irrational, passionate, religious people have been driven to violence over it.

Danish Cartoons.

Thing is, it’s not the cartoon I want to comment about. It’s not how we should intepret the Koran or what free speech is either.

What disappoints me, besides the fact that, sorry my Danish readers, Danmark isn’t the spokescountry for me or the rest of Europe. Nevermind that. But when I look at how passionate, how driven, and how in-a-frenzy many people are over these comics, which depicted a religious figure in an offensive way… and then I think about how the American public barely reacted, when their government lied to them about going to war, planted a spy at the new york times to promote their policies, outed a CIA agent.. all using the media…

Part of me wishes the West had such energy, such passion. Instead of the misplaced anger and hatred always revolving around religion and images… I wish people took to the streets in overwhelming numbers in the US.. and stayed there, boycotting, marching, refusing to get back to life-as-usual. But no. Instead… it’s not in the US. It’s in the middle east and amongst certain muslim populations. And it’s not about life and death and lies and manipulation. It’s about cartoons and religious images. DANISH cartoons. ho-hum.

ps – If it were charicatures of figures from the Jewish religion they’d be declared an anti-semetic newspaper. If it were Catholic’s being maid fun of, an apology would have been issued before you can say Pope Benedict. Every religion is chock full of angry idiots, the double standard just makes it worse.

His Eyes Are Blood Thirsty

After wrapping up show 100 last night, since it was 3am anyway, I decided to catch some of the state of the union address. Course I could neither stomach or stay awake to watch more than 20 minutes of it, but I still had enough time to catch the war-criminal-in-chief’s Iran segment. And thought I was drowsy, it really hit home….

The man wants to invade Iran. The man wants to bomb Iran into the stoneage. I could see it, for some reason, this look I hadn’t noticed before. This dillusional rich-boy-turned-world leader actually believes it is an option to use war to get Iran to behave the way he thinks they should. And with the potential backing of the EU, China, and Russia, it suddenly occurred to me – he’s crazy, disconnected, and careless enough to order it. What difference does it make to him how many innocent Iranians would die, how many more soldiers would die, and all the remifications of invading a country as strong and proud as Iran.

I usually am not surprised by revelations in the realm of politics and conflict, you can usually see them coming, no matter how bad. But this one is a particularly tough one for me to swallow. I’m already thinking up actions that a podjournalist and an activist can take, to try and expose the stupidity and futility of using large scale violence to subjigate yet another nation in the name of “freedom”.

Unemployed, in Greenland

Is it our attention span? Is it the sheer magnitude of a problem that effects an entire planet regardless of who you are, where you live, or how much money you have? Is it that this dam LOST SEASON 1 box set is so dam addictive? Today I’ve been wondering and reading the results of the UK government study that says very clearly, unless something significant is done to cut greenhouse gases, the greenland ice sheet will melt, and the oceans will rise in a big way; some of your favorite cities, including my dear Amsterdam, will become the new Atlantis.

I’ve been wondering why so little is done. While some governments make a token commitment like the kyoto thing, some governments like the US, Australia, and their new buddies in the Canadian government, refuse to do a dam thing in the name of economic growth. Hope that economic growth makes some floating cities and one of those machines that lets you recycle urine into drinking water like in that crappy Costner film… cause that’s the future.

But it doesn’t feel like it.. does it? I mean, sure it feels like spring in New York City right now. And it snowed for the first time in who knows how long in much of Portugal yesterday. And study after study comes out. While information is supressed. All this, helping to make the FACT that global warming is an undeniable and severe threat to everyone on this planet… somehow not a priority in our minds and for our elected officials.

One day, when this civilization is but a memory, a more intellegent species will study humankind and be completely baffled at how we purposely persued our own extinction.

bicyclemark95: The Transition from Terrorism to Politics

FIXED*Lots of people won’t want to hear the comparisons or the logic behind this program. This show presents the history and current state of 3 political parties which are related to an infamous terrorist group. The idea is that there is evidence that such parties, if engaged and allowed to be involved in the political scene, can help to reduce violence, and tranform the fight to a nonviolent political struggle. There three parties I focus on: Sinn Fein, Batasuna, and Hamas. Spare me the comments that just insult, bring me real discussion and counterpoints.

AudioCommunique #95(mp3)
32min+, 80kbps, 18Mb+

Discussed:

Emmanuel on Off the Wall
The importance of history for the future
Sinn Fein, from its orgins to its present state
Batasuna, from party to outlaw
Hamas, at the crossroads of terrorism and politic-ing
For all its faults, politics can reduce violence
Comparisons for other groups in other countries?
Thanks for all the feedback and tips in the tip jar

Music:
Gil Scott-Heron – Free Will
Imogen Heap – Just for Now
Steve Earle – Jerusalem
Dave Mathews – Wake Up
Leonard Cohen – Thats no way to say goodbye
Some Protestant and Catholic songs from Northern Ireland songs from the BBC archive note– in the show I mistakenly call them old IRA songs… apologies.

Comfront the Diabetes Epidemic

I know I have a decent amout of readers who are diabetic. I also can think of one friend and blogger who is. Not to mention in my family, where I know there have been some diabetics including my dad who may be reading this right now on his shiney new computer. Yet somehow, in both conversations with friends and the mass media, it’s rare to hear about the diabetes epidemic that is sweeping the US, especially New York City.

Just to make sure Im not abusing that word, not that I care very much about not abusing words, lets go to the definition:

Ms. Webster says:

Epidemic – 1 : affecting or tending to affect a disproportionately large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time
2 a : excessively prevalent b : CONTAGIOUS 4
3 : of, relating to, or constituting an epidemic

According to the American Diabetes Society, it is most certainly an epidemic affecting 20.8 million Americans, 7% of the population! According to the Guardian, the poorest areas of places like New York City (Bronx, Brooklyn) have a higher percentage of people affected. This is a result of a combination of factors which may include genes, but the one that sticks out in my eyes is DIET. When you consider how terrible the mainstream American diet is (Im talking about the fast food 5 days a week), you can see where the increased risk arises. That and lack of exercise, as usual.

Not to compare conditions or make some competition between health problems, but I think more research and awareness needs to exist in terms of this problem. We hear lots about cancer. We hear insane amounts about bird flu. But when you take something that effects all of us directly, like diabetes, and call into question the diet promoted by big business…. it gets awfully quiet.