Gimme, gimme, gimme

I've seen on other blogs that you could ask for donations, gifts, etc. and complete strangers would actually send you money, but try as I might, I'm incapable of reproducing that cute little donation box picture. So I'm just going to ask for a gift right here, in this post. Not very elegant, I agree, but I'm what the French call «Lay Incumpaytants».

So, here' s what I would like you to give me: a book called "U.N. Gang: A Memoir of Incompetence, Corruption, Anti-Semitism, and Islamic Extremism at the UN Secretariat" by Pedro A. Sanjuan. Here are the reviews, taken from the Barnes and Nobles site: http://tinyurl.com/bw65g

FROM THE PUBLISHER

On the day Pedro Sanjuan moved into his new office at the UN Secretariat in 1984, he had the foresight to unscrew his telephone receiver. Out fell a little packet of high-grade cocaine. When he confronted the undersecretary to the chief Soviet diplomat--really a KGB colonel and the top Russian spy--the agent laughed good-naturedly and congratulated him on passing the test. That was the beginning of Sanjuan's long, peculiar odyssey into the looking-glass world of the United Nations Secretariat.

Pedro Sanjuan had been appointed by then--Vice President George H. W. Bush to a high-ranking UN post. His real mission: to keep an eye on Soviet espionage activities. Over the years, the Russians had managed to install nearly four hundred KGB and GRU agents in strategic positions throughout the Secretariat, and had turned it into a massive spy facility, operating openly and with absolute impunity on American soil.

But this, it turned out, was the least of the problem. Sanjuan soon discovered that incompetence, corruption, anti-Semitism, and outright criminality were rife throughout the UN Secretariat. Among the shady activities that he personally observed or documented were rigged bidding for major service contracts; drug transactions conducted in the UN's parking garage; sale of shotguns and beryllium directly out of the UN building; ties to global organized crime figures; use of UN Information Centers and other agencies to disseminate anti-US and pro-PLO propaganda; systematic theft and abuse of UN facilities and budgets in East Africa; graft and corruption in Vienna; widespread sexual harrassment; use of the UN employee's lounge to plan anti-Israel and anti-US activities by Muslimdelegates; open celebration of 9/11 by said delegates in the halls of the UN; and inexplicable tolerance of all of the above on the part of the secretary general and the US government.

Sanjuan's cast of characters includes every secretary general from Kurt Waldheim to Kofi Annan, and a large number of bureaucratic rogues and scoundrels. Much of what he documents in The UN Gang is absurdly comical. But its seriousness should not be overlooked.

Ultimately, Sanjuan argues, the weakness and corruption of the UN is our own responsibility. During the Cold War, the superpowers conspired to render it a useless forum for international pronouncements and posturing. Now, however, it has become the focal point of global resistance to American interests and policies. Will we continue to host an unholy convention of anti-Semitic, America-hating hypocrites? Or will we take steps to reform this once-proud institution and make it serve the ends of peace, justice, and international order? Only time will tell.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The United Nations headquarters appears as a byzantine bureaucracy riddled with lazy staff, rampant sexual harassment, hectoring anti-Semitism and flagrant drug dealing in this contemptuous memoir. And worse: Sanjuan alleges that the U.N. library housed the largest KGB intelligence operation in America and hints darkly - with no apparent evidence - that the 9/11 attacks may have been plotted by Islamic jihadists at the U.N. Sanjuan served as policy planning director in the U.N. Secretariat, but his real job, he says, was to "spy" on the organization's inner workings for the Reagan and Bush administrations. It's hard to see how he accomplished either of these delicate assignments, given his bristling, bull-in-the-china-shop approach to the tasks. He loathes everyone at the U.N., from the "pusillanimous" former secretary-general Javier Pérez de Cuellar to the security guard he upbraids for not saying "please," and he delights in verbatim accounts of the long dressings-down he metes out to those who step on his toes. "I used a very strong expletive with reference to the Soviet undersecretary-general's mother" pretty much sums up his attitude toward diplomatic niceties. The author delivers a lively, preening, sometimes eye-opening insider's account, but his obvious polemical intent and the enormous chip on his shoulder overshadow his critique of the U.N.'s failings. (Sept. 20) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Appointed to the political affairs department of the New York headquarters of the UN Secretariat in 1984, following a 27-year career in the U.S. federal government, Sanjuan (War) has written a scathing insider's memoir. Vice President George H.W. Bush asked him to monitor the Soviet KGB agents whom he might find working at the UN. He found many, strategically placed throughout the bureaucracy for maximum espionage effectiveness (he describes the UN Library as "probably the most comprehensive intelligence collection machine the USSR has in the United States"). He also found a bloated bureaucracy, offices with similar names and apparently overlapping functions, rampant nepotism, and excessively high contract prices on everything. When he complained to Washington, he found no one interested in taking corrective action, even though, as he frequently reminds the reader, U.S. taxpayers were paying 25 percent of the UN budget. Sanjuan tells his story with both sarcasm and genuine humor while causing outrage. Other recent UN memoirs, such as Giandomenico Picco's Man Without a Gun, have concentrated on UN activity outside of its bureaucracy. Readers with a negative view of the UN will find their opinions reinforced; those hoping that the UN can be reformed will find this account sobering. Highly recommended for its unusual perspective.-Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A veteran U.S. government official blasts the UN Secretariat for . . . well, see the subtitle. Appointed by Vice President Bush in 1983 to monitor Soviet espionage activities at the Secretariat, Sanjuan tells us that he immediately began taking notes, so presumably we can take as accurate the many verbatim exchanges he records between himself and folks ranging from general secretaries to Secretaries General. He portrays a culture that sanctions incompetence, revels in anti-Semitism, winks at drug sales in the UN parking garage, encourages espionage (at which the ubiquitous Soviets were especially adept), promotes an anti-American agenda, celebrates nepotism and enriches the likes of Saddam Hussein while failing to execute its fundamental mission to improve the quality of life around the globe, especially in areas ravaged by disease, war and economic collapse. For good measure, he implies strongly that members of the Secretariat implicitly supported, and perhaps facilitated, the 9/11 attackers. The author disdains all the Secretaries General who followed Dag Hammarskjold (1953-61) and argues that before the fall of the Soviet Union, both the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.desired weak UN leaders because they were easier to control. In his view, this was why Kurt Waldheim (1972-81), whose Nazi background was well-known, nonetheless ascended to the highest post. Sanjuan sketches an especially devastating picture of Javier Perez de Cuellar (1982-91), who comes off as an ineffectual fool. There is more than a touch of self-righteousness in these pages. The author speaks bluntly to incompetents, stands tall among ethical and moral midgets, refuses to be sullied or intimidated, speaks harshly of MadeleineAlbright and strongly for John Bolton. One suspects there will be no grateful rush at the UN to implement his recommendations for remediation. Fortunately for readers, Sanjuan is as amusing as he is opinionated, using swift, ironic sentences and juxtapositions to expose the Secretariat's blotches and blemishes. Powerful ammunition for those who wish to reform or abolish the UN.

So, whip out your chequebook!!
Krr..Krr..Krr...Krr..[cricket sound]

R.I.P. Chivalry

Aunt Jenna at The Girl Gets Away (http://thegirlgetsaway.blogspot.com/) describes one of my pet peeves :

«Hey, fat sweaty guy, just get on the damn elevator already.

The following scenario happens to me at least once a day, and it's driving me crazy. I work in a large office building downtown, and there are a bank of elevators in the lobby. If you want to go up, sometimes you have to wait a few minutes for one to arrive. Often a small group of people will collect in front of this bank of elevators, because everyone is waiting to go up. In front of whichever elevator door opens first, a sort of loose impromptu line will form, based on where these individuals had been standing before the elevator arrived. Only, there's a catch. Instead of just getting on the damn elevator so we can all get back to whatever it is we were doing, the men will suddenly stand to one side and wave us ladies into the elevator as if they were traffic cops and the elevator was a bustling intersection with the stoplights out. They would never just get in the stupid elevator, no, they have to make a big show of what gentlemen they are. They will also perform the traffic cop gestures while actually inside a crowded elevator, which is annoying.

For instance, after the elevator has gone all the way down and is stopped in the lobby, men at the front of the elevator will not just step off the elevator and get on with their lives like normal human beings. They will attempt to squish themselves to one side so that the women at the back of the elevator can get off first. This makes absolutely no sense, and I would like them to know that I am not impressed. This is not chivalry, this is Keeping an Eye on the Womenfolk. They are herding us like sheep and we're supposed to be grateful for it. Into the elevator, out of the elevator, nipping at my heels the whole time. It is an expression of control. They decide who will get on the elevator and in what order. From a practical point of view, these exaggerated courtly gestures are completely useless. They serve no purpose other than to express one's joy in traditional gender roles. And oh, they make me feel so special. Hooray, I got into/out of the elevator .5 seconds before some mook in a suit.

If you think I'm overreacting, well, I didn't say anything the first 1,375 times it happened and I've never punched anyone over it, so I think I've exercised a great deal of restraint.»

When that situation happens with me, I would ostensibly roll my eyes, sigh loudly and shake my head à la Mr. Bean, before stepping out and walking away, visibly exasperated. Rude? You betcha! But because I’m fat and homely, what happens more often than not is that those men would step back on my toes or squeeze me with their attaché cases against the elevator wall, in their haste to let the young perky secretaries get out first, before filing out after them, since I’m invisible to their eyes.

And don’t get me going about those morons who would block the elevator doors so that they can finish their conversation with the people who just got off. That’s when I go into a rêverie, where the elevator doors would slam bang! bang! bang! on their heads.

Samsara Horrors

The life of an animal
After seeing pictures of a bunch of alligators circling around an abandonned dog in New Orleans, I am posting this warning to the members of my family: if we ever have to be evacuated in case of an emergency or a disaster, I want everyone to know that I'd rather kill myself on the spot than leave without the dog. And don't try logic to dissuade me.

The life of a human 1
With gangs of rapists and looters rampaging through wards in the flooded city, senior doctors gave massive overdoses of morphine to those they believed could not make it out alive.

"I didn't know if I was doing the right thing," a doctor said. "But I did not have time. I had to make snap decisions, under the most appalling circumstances, and I did what I thought was right. I injected morphine into those patients who were dying and in agony.

"If the first dose was not enough, I gave a double dose. And at night, I prayed to God to have mercy on my soul."


The life of a human 2
An investigation by the British newspaper The Guardian has revealed that a Chinese cosmetics company is using skin harvested from executed convicts and aborted foetus to develop beauty products for sale in Europe, mainly collagen. (http://tinyurl.com/cyj33)

The company's representative suggested that the use of skin and other tissues harvested from executed prisoners is not uncommon. "In China, it is considered very normal and I was very shocked that western countries can make such a big fuss about this", he said. Speaking from his office in northern China, he added: "The government has put some pressure on all the medical facilities to keep this type of work in low profile".

The agent said his company exported to the west via Hong Kong. "We are still in the early days of selling these products, and clients from abroad are quite surprised that China can manufacture the same human collagen for less than 5% of what it costs in the west. "Skin from prisonners used to be even less expensive, he said. "Nowadays there is a certain fee that has to be paid to the court."

The uselessness, stupidity and irrelevance of organized religions

The September 11 attacks by al-Qaeda on the United States were a lesson from God to the "powerful of the Earth", the head of the Greek Orthodox Church said in a sermon released by his press office today.

Pope Benedict XVI said Wednesday he was praying for victims of Hurricane Katrina and urged rescue workers to persevere in bringing comfort to survivors.

Pat Robertson, host of Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club and founder of the Christian Coalition of America, called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Hurricane Katrina, which some say bears striking similarities to recent events in Israel, was punishment from God for President Bush's support of the evacuation of Jews from the Gaza Strip, a senior Israeli rabbi announced.

Two days after 9/11, Jerry Falwell took to the airwaves to proclaim that God had allowed the United States to be attacked because "the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians" had tried to transform America into a secular society. Just this weekend, wingnuts from the Westboro Baptist Church turned out at the funerals of two fallen soldiers to say that God is punishing the United States in Iraq for its tolerance of homosexuality back home.

In an e-mail message, a group calling itself Columbia Christians for Life alerts the world to the fact that a satellite image of Hurricane Katrina as it hit the Gulf Coast Monday looks just like a six-week-old fetus. (http://tinyurl.com/7t7rw)

Notwithstanding former provincial Attorney-General Marion Boyd's claim that there is no evidence women were being discriminated against in faith-based arbitration, the Ontario provincial government has decided to reject the use of a set of centuries' old religious rules called Shariah law to settle Muslim family disputes and will ban all religious arbitrations in the province.

It Was Like This

Jane Hirshfield is a prize-winning poet, translator and essayist born in New York, in 1953. Three of her poems were reproduced in a recent issue of Tricycle, the buddhist magazine. I would like to present one of them to you, because I think it's a perfect description of life according to the buddhist philosopy. I hope that I won't get in trouble with the copyright thingies.

It Was Like This: You Were Happy

It was like this:
you were happy, then you were sad,
then happy again, then not.

It went on.
You were innocent or you were guilty.
Actions were taken, or not.

At times you spoke, at other times you were silent.
Mostly, it seems you were silent - what could you say?

Now it is almost over.

Like a lover, your life bends down and kisses your life.

It does this not in forgiveness -
between you, there is nothing to forgive -
but with the simple nod of a baker at the moment
he sees the bread is finished with transformation.

Eating, too, is a thing now only for others.

It doesn't matter what they will make of you
or your days: they will be wrong,
they will miss the wrong woman, miss the wrong man,
all the stories they tell will be tales of their own invention.

Your story was this: you were happy, then you were sad,
you slept, you awakened.
Sometimes you ate roasted chestnuts, sometimes persimmons.

Le Haiku de George Bush

Haiku lu dans La Presse du samedi

Bush en manque d'excuses
N'en finit plus d'embrasser
de jeunes enfants noirs

En anglais (ma traduction):

Running out of excuses
Bush won't stop kissing
Little black kids

Dedicated to the one I loathe

As a follow up to the video with Vice-President Cheney in the previous post, go check out :

http://www.tian.cc/2005/09/go-fck-your-self.html

Go f... yourself

This is just a test. I'm trying to put a video on my blog, so might as well use the «Go fuck yourself, Mr. Cheney» film. Here goes:



Wow! It works! Now to figure out how....

Not just any joke... THAT joke!

Taken from: http://www.livejournal.com/users/cargoweasel/

So this guy walks into a talent agency and says to the agent, "Have I got an act for you! It's a family act, you'll love it."

The agent says "Alright, lay it on me."

The guy says, "Well, first the grandpa comes in, this is in the thirties, mind, deals with the Nazis and makes a ton of money off German banking and mining, see. He gets nailed for trading with the enemy in the war, but it doesn't matter much cause by now his family is incredibly wealthy. His son, the Father, flies a plane in the Second World War and later becomes head of the CIA, then later, vice president, and after that, a one term president. He does a half ass job and gets out, kinda sets things up for later. It's the kid, he's the real lynchpin of the act. It gets better."

The agent nods, doodling on his dayplanner. "Please, continue."

"The kid comes in, and starts off with avoiding Vietnam by getting a nice position in the National Guard, see? But he skips out on that gig when he doesn't need it anymore. Then he runs a series of businesses into the ground. He can't run an oil company, he can't manage a baseball team, tries to run for Congress and fails, he does drugs and boozes, has trouble with basic life skills. But since his daddy's Vice President, or later, President, he gets whatever he wants. Gets bailed out every time. He runs for governor of Texas and wins, and sets a new record for executing people. He likes to joke about the executions, too, mocking the pleas for leniency. 150-odd prisoners go to the chair under the Kid as governor. And the Kid is wearing a cowboy hat and talking in a Texas drawl the whole time, even though he's from Connecticut. But it gets better, this is just the start."

The agent nods, dropping his pen. "Umm.. alright.."

"The Kid doesn't just wanna be a governor, he wants to be President. So he runs for President and.. tough luck, he doesn't win. So get this, his buddies on the Supreme Court have to squeeze him in. They push and push, and finally he's President. He doodles around for a few months and then boom! Some terrorists come in and flatten a couple skyscrapers in New York. Thousands of people die, jumping out of skyscrapers and getting flattened in plane crashes, and the Kid swings into action. He starts bombing where the terrorists are hiding, and looking for them. I mean, wouldn't you? But when he can't find them in a couple months he goes after a totally different country, attacking them 'cause they had oil and his Dad had trouble with them ten or twelve years ago. He says it's because this country was the real guys who flattened those skyscrapers, because they'll do it again with weapons of mass destruction if they get the chance. So the audience is right behind him. Now there's a big ass war right on stage and bombs are flying, people getting killed left and right. And the Kid, you'll love this, underequips the soldiers being sent in, not enough armor, and makes them do police functions in a hostile country for months and months and then years after he says we won the war. And we get to torturing the Iraqis, making them stand around with electrodes on their nutsacks, raping their wives and kids in front of them, attacking them with vicious dogs, pissing on their holy books, and the audience loves it, they clap and applaud. A real crowd pleaser, that sequence. But soon the kid has gotten 1800 American troops killed, wounded thousands more, and get this there were no weapons of mass destruction at all, the whole thing was for oil, and they keep lying about it, lying and lying and lying. And now there's tortured people all over the place. Meanwhile the economy's sputtering along, and another election comes up. The Kid wins this one, by a squeaker, 'cause the other guy wasn't likable enough. So people are starting to question the whole war thing, just a little, and the country we invaded is in the shitter two years later, and nobody wants to leave for fear it'll get even worse. And then.."

The agent leans forward in his chair. "NOW what?"

"Okay, big finish now. A category 4 hurricane comes in and wipes out half the Gulf Coast! Just flattens everything for hundreds of miles around. And the levees in New Orleans break, cause the kid cut the budget for them to finance the war, and the whole city is flooded! Now, the rich white folks got out for the most part, but the poor folks, mostly black, get stuck at the Superdome and the Convention Center by the thousands. And get this, the kid's on vacation so they wait for four days, sleeping in their own shit, starving to death, dying of thirst, we got dead grannies in their wheelchairs and dead bodies lying on the streets and floating in the water, godawful spread of disease and filth, looters running around shooting guns, we got no organization from the government, total chaos. And the Kid, the Kid's in charge and he blames the governor for not signing the proper forms, even though she did. And the Kid turns back offers of aid and says he'll handle it, and that's what he does, he handles it right into the ground. So we got 3,000 corpses in New York, 10 or 20,000 corpses in New Orleans, we got 1800 military corpses quietly shipped home in boxes, we got untold thousands of dead Iraqis, we got Iraq in chaos, we got guys with electrodes attached to their nutsacks and piss all over their Korans, we got New Orleans underwater, we got refugees packing domed stadiums and living in shit, we got five years of blood and carnage and the economy in the crapper, and we got $4/gallon gas. Everyone gets up and takes a bow, except of course the mounds of corpses littering the stage."

The agent is completely flummoxed. Just flabbergasted. "So what the hell do you call this act?"

The guy says, with a flourish, "The Aristocrats!"

For the culturally impaired, go read about the original Aristocrats joke: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aristocrats

Geek Jokes

I dedicate the following jokes (found at Angry Bear - http://www.angrybear.blogspot.com/ ) to my son Asparagus to cheer him up during his period of sadness:

First Joke:
There are three men on a train. One of them is an economist and one of them is a logician and one of them is a mathematician. And they have just crossed the border into Scotland (I don't know why they are going to Scotland) and they see a brown cow standing in a field from the window of the train (and the cow is standing parallel to the train).
And the economist says, "Look, the cows in Scotland are brown."
And the logician says, "No. there are cows in Scotland of which one at least is brown."
And the mathematician says, "No. there is at least one cow in Scotland, of which one side appears to be brown."
And it is funny because economists are not real scientists, and because logicians think more clearly, but mathematicians are best.

Second joke:
An engineer, a physicist and a mathematician are each asked to enclose a flock of sheep using the smallest amount of fencing possible. The engineer arranges the fence in a loose circle around the sheep. The physicist arranges the fence in a circle around the sheep, then draws it tight. The mathematician makes a very small circle of fence, steps inside, and declares, "I am on the outside."

Third joke:
A mathematician, an accountant and an economist apply for the same job. The interviewer calls in the mathematician and asks "What do two plus two equal?" The mathematician replies "Four." The interviewer asks "Four, exactly?" The mathematician looks at the interviewer incredulously and says "Yes, four, exactly."
Then the interviewer calls in the accountant and asks the same question "What do two plus two equal?" The accountant says "On average, four - give or take ten percent, but on average, four." Then the interviewer calls in the economist and poses the same question "What do two plus two equal?" The economist gets up, locks the door, closes the shade, sits down next to the interviewer and whispers "What do you want it to equal?"


In case you're wondering, I don't find any of these jokes funny, either. I guess you have to be a geek. So I'd like to conclude with a geek joke that I do find funny.

Funny Geek joke:
A group of geeks are hanging out in a basement, telling jokes. One of them would say: «32!» and the whole gang would roar in laughter. Another would say «129!» and they would all roll on the floor laughing. Intrigued by the noise, the mother of the hosting geek comes down and asks what they are doing. Her son explains that his group has categorized and numbered the jokes, so that they could be told more efficiently just by calling out the appropriate number. «Oh, says the mother, in that case I have this funny geek joke for you guys» and she calls out randomly: «87!» In the deafening silence, sounds of crickets can be heard. The embarrassed son cries out: «Mo-o-o-o-m! Can't you tell a joke without screwing up the punchline?»

Being Poor

Someone directed me to writer John Scalzi's post about Being Poor. I read it with a pang in my heart because it hit very close to home. It reminded me of the time, not so long ago, when the children and I survived for weeks on eggs, potatoes and macaroni and cheese. We stayed in an apartment without any furniture and our car was a rust bucket without a radio or a heater. I remember that time as one of the happiest in my life. Except for the no-money situation, I have never been so free.

Being Poor [http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/003704.html]

Being poor is knowing exactly how much everything costs.

Being poor is getting angry at your kids for asking for all the crap they see on TV.

Being poor is having to keep buying $800 cars because they're what you can afford, and then having the cars break down on you, because there's not an $800 car in America that's worth a damn.

Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away.

Being poor is knowing your kid goes to friends' houses but never has friends over to yours.

Being poor is going to the restroom before you get in the school lunch line so your friends will be ahead of you and won't hear you say "I get free lunch" when you get to the cashier.

Being poor is living next to the freeway.

Being poor is coming back to the car with your children in the back seat, clutching that box of Raisin Bran you just bought and trying to think of a way to make the kids understand that the box has to last.

Being poor is wondering if your well-off sibling is lying when he says he doesn't mind when you ask for help.

Being poor is off-brand toys.

Being poor is a heater in only one room of the house.

Being poor is knowing you can't leave $5 on the coffee table when your friends are around.

Being poor is hoping your kids don't have a growth spurt.

Being poor is stealing meat from the store, frying it up before your mom gets home and then telling her she doesn't have make dinner tonight because you're not hungry anyway.

Being poor is Goodwill underwear.

Being poor is not enough space for everyone who lives with you.

Being poor is feeling the glued soles tear off your supermarket shoes when you run around the playground.

Being poor is your kid's school being the one with the 15-year-old textbooks and no air conditioning.

Being poor is thinking $8 an hour is a really good deal.

Being poor is relying on people who don't give a damn about you.

Being poor is an overnight shift under florescent lights.

Being poor is finding the letter your mom wrote to your dad, begging him for the child support.

Being poor is a bathtub you have to empty into the toilet.

Being poor is stopping the car to take a lamp from a stranger's trash.

Being poor is making lunch for your kid when a cockroach skitters over the bread, and you looking over to see if your kid saw.

Being poor is believing a GED actually makes a goddamned difference.

Being poor is people angry at you just for walking around in the mall.

Being poor is not taking the job because you can't find someone you trust to watch your kids.

Being poor is the police busting into the apartment right next to yours.

Being poor is not talking to that girl because she'll probably just laugh at your clothes.

Being poor is hoping you'll be invited for dinner.

Being poor is a sidewalk with lots of brown glass on it.

Being poor is people thinking they know something about you by the way you talk.

Being poor is needing that 35-cent raise.

Being poor is your kid's teacher assuming you don't have any books in your home.

Being poor is six dollars short on the utility bill and no way to close the gap.

Being poor is crying when you drop the mac and cheese on the floor.

Being poor is knowing you work as hard as anyone, anywhere.

Being poor is people surprised to discover you're not actually stupid.

Being poor is people surprised to discover you're not actually lazy.

Being poor is a six-hour wait in an emergency room with a sick child asleep on your lap.

Being poor is never buying anything someone else hasn't bought first.

Being poor is picking the 10 cent ramen instead of the 12 cent ramen because that's two extra packages for every dollar.

Being poor is having to live with choices you didn't know you made when you were 14 years old.

Being poor is getting tired of people wanting you to be grateful.

Being poor is knowing you're being judged.

Being poor is a box of crayons and a $1 coloring book from a community center Santa.

Being poor is checking the coin return slot of every soda machine you go by.

Being poor is deciding that it's all right to base a relationship on shelter.

Being poor is knowing you really shouldn't spend that buck on a Lotto ticket.

Being poor is hoping the register lady will spot you the dime.

Being poor is feeling helpless when your child makes the same mistakes you did, and won't listen to you beg them against doing so.

Being poor is a cough that doesn't go away.

Being poor is making sure you don't spill on the couch, just in case you have to give it back before the lease is up.

Being poor is a $200 paycheck advance from a company that takes $250 when the paycheck comes in.

Being poor is four years of night classes for an Associates of Art degree.

Being poor is a lumpy futon bed.

Being poor is knowing where the shelter is.

Being poor is people who have never been poor wondering why you choose to be so.

Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor.

Being poor is seeing how few options you have.

Being poor is running in place.

Being poor is people wondering why you didn't leave.

From my own experience:

Being poor is having your kids casually distancing themselves from you at the cash in case you don't have enough money for the groceries and you have to ask the cashier to remove a few items.

Being poor is paying more for everything because you can't afford to buy in bulk or pay in time or have enough in your bank account to avoid the fees.

Being poor is getting flustered when your credit card is refused and the saleswoman is icily polite about it.

Being poor is being invisible in the stores because everybody else, including the sales staff, is better dressed than you.

Being poor is being watched and followed around in the stores because everybody expects you to shoplift.

Being poor is thinking about money all the time.

A Blogthing Break

Your Blog Should Be Green

Your blog is smart and thoughtful - not a lot of fluff. You enjoy a good discussion, especially if it involves picking apart ideas. However, you tend to get easily annoyed by any thoughtless comments in your blog.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

Well, at least they got one thing right: my blog is green

From The News Blog http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/

A Kos diary lists the aid awaiting the US, if someone accepts it

The Feds are STILL refusing assistance!!!!!!
by Ptolemy [Subscribe]
Sun Sep 4th, 2005 at 21:34:13 PDT

NGOs are still being held at the borders of NOLA and other affected areas. Refugees are often being bused directly past these staging zones to the processing centers in TX.

Physicians are going by the thousands to the Gulf of Mexico, but they are being turned away in many cases or told to wait at the periphery.

And International Aid? The inmates are still running the State Department.

CNN is reporting that the White House and the State Dept. refuse to say whether they've refused or accepted most of the aid pledged.

International aid listed below the fold ... appreciate the enormity of the Federal callousness. And the good will of the world to Americans.

The US has only officially accepted first aid kits, blankets, water trucks and 500,000 MREs from the EU and another set of MREs from NATO. That's it. The EU and NATO want to give more, but that's all that's been taken in so far.

All help from the UN still awaits the green light from the White House. They have offered medical teams, cash grants, and tents. None of it has been accepted.

The UN has also offered to take the burden off of the US State Department and organize the aid effort, but State has refused that offer.

The OAS stands ready to offer anything we ask for. We've asked for nothing.

WHO has offered the same. Our response has been the same.

The UN Commission for Refugees ... same offer, same response.

Nigeria wants to give 1 million dollars.

China has offered 5 million, divisions of its armed forces, and physicians.

Japan has offered 200,000 dollars, tents, blankets, and power generators.

India is offering 5 million, as well as any requested medicines.

Singapore offered helicopters. The Feds said no, and TX took them. TX National Guard is deploying the helicopters directly to NOLA.

South Korea will give us whatever we ask for. We've asked for nothing.

Afghanistan wants to give us 100,000.

Sri Lanka wants to give us 25,000

Taiwan wants to give us 3 million.

Canada's Navy is still on hold. That's rescue workers and supplies just being held at bay by mild threats of being attacked if they go against the Federal level refusal.

Cuba has offered 26 tons of medicine and 1,100 physicians. He has offered to send it to NOLA. Then he offered to send it to Houston. No acceptance.

Mexico is taking the "Canada route." They have 15 truckloads of water waiting at the border, with food and medical supplies. The Mexican navy has offered to send two ships, two helicopters and 15 amphibious vehicles. All waiting. No answer. 1 million dollars as well.

Venezuela is offering as much cheap fuel as we ask for. AS MUCH AS WE NEED TO FIX THIS MESS. No answer. Chavez also wants to send relief workers with supplies.

Australia's 10 million hasn't been accepted either.

The French are offering rescue teams, civil defense forces, tents, camp beds, generators, motor pumps, water treatment units and emergency kits, two CASA cargo aircraft, a ship (Batral Francis Garnier), the frigate Ventose with its Panther helicopter, and a hurricane disaster unit. France also has offered several aircraft. In addition, the NGO Telecoms Sans Frontieres, which specializes in restoring phone lines and Internet service in disasters, is ready to send a team of experts and equipment. Veolia Environment, which has facilities in Louisiana, has offered to make its local water management resources available. Nothing. Not a one of these has been given the green light.

Germany has offered a range of assistance, including medical and transportation services, water treatment capabilities and aid in searching for victims and supplies. Germany also has said it is ready and willing to "dip into its own emergency oil reserves" to release some 2 million barrels a day for 30 days. Someone try to convince me that Bush isn't trying to drive up the price of oil.

Italy has offered to send aid and evacuation specialists immediately, Italy's civil protection unit said. Authorities have prepared two military transport planes to fly amphibious vessels, pumps, generators, tents and personnel to New Orleans, Louisiana, and other areas. They were awaiting word from U.S. officials, the unit said.

The Netherlands will provide teams for inspecting dikes and for identifying victims if there is a formal request from the United States. It also will send a frigate from Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles to New Orleans shortly to provide emergency assistance, the Dutch government said.

Russia has offered to help with rescue efforts but is awaiting a reply from Washington.

Spain expects to receive a formal request to release gasoline stocks to the United States and is prepared to grant it, an Industry Ministry spokesman said.

Sweden's Rescue Authority said it was on standby to supply water purifying equipment, health care supplies and emergency shelters if needed.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said his country stands ready to help the United States in whatever way it can.

Qatar has offered the United States $100 million to assist in the humanitarian crisis triggered by Hurricane Katrina.

Saudi Refining, a Houston-based subsidiary of state oil firm Saudi Aramco, will donate $5 million to the American Red Cross to support relief efforts for hurricane victims.

Iran has offered to send humanitarian aid to hurricane victims.

Vive la non-différence!

In today NY Times, Warren Farrell wrote that despite the well known statistics showing that women are paid only 76 cents to men's dollar for the same work, there are fields where they earn more than men and “only by abandoning our focus on discrimination against women can we discover these opportunities for women”.

What Mr. Farrell is advocating seems to be a strategy tailor-made for women, who are supposed to be less competitive than men, less demanding in their needs, more docile and receptive to authority. The reasoning is thus: granted, there is discrimination, but instead of worrying their pretty little heads over it, women should leave these less rewarding jobs to men and instead choose those fields where they can make as much if not more than men. In other words, the message is what women have been hearing all their life: “yield and sacrifice”. Remember what was said to the first women who expressed the wish to become priests? «A woman can be just as influential in church, if not more, by virtue of her sex, for isn't Mary, our Lord's mother, a woman?». When I was small, I was constantly reminded to defer to my brothers, to let them have the last piece of chicken, the first turn on the pony ride: «You wouldn't want to make them sad, would you, pumpkin?».

I’m obviously not qualified to counter Mr. Farrell’s theories. After all, he is the author of the book "Why Men Earn More: The Startling Truth Behind the Pay Gap - and What Women Can Do About It", and I’m not, so I won’t try. What I notice however is that, in his article, Mr. Farrell never really clearly describes the mechanism of discrimination against women, or even acknowledges that there is discrimination, answering his own question with: “yes and no”, and explaining wage disparities by the differences in the jobs themselves. The fact is, the 76 cents figure is an 2004 average (which gets worse for African American women [66 cents] and Hispanic women [54 cents]), and if one wanted to, one can always find some jobs where a woman makes more than a man. Mr. Farrell himself gives such examples: “There are 80 jobs in which women earn more than men - positions like financial analyst, speech-language pathologist, radiation therapist, library worker, biological technician, motion picture projectionist. Female sales engineers make 143 percent of their male counterparts; female statisticians earn 135 percent.”

Even in fields where pay equity has been achieved, there are ways and means to ensure that women earn less than men. We all know of some trades or professions traditionally «reserved» to men, such as teachers or doctors, which once women are «allowed» into, begin to lose their prestige and authority. In Russia, the majority of physicians are now female and except for specialists or surgeons, doctors in general are less respected. As for teachers, we are all aware of how well regarded they are nowadays by the students, the parents or the government. There is also the reverse phenomenon. In Bangkok, where I used to work, most of the secretary positions, normally a female fiefdom, are occupied by men when the employers are the prestigious United Nations. And I can still remember my previous (male) boss explaining to me why I cannot have a promotion, all the while acknowledging that my productivity and the quality of my work are superior to my male colleagues’: “You have a rich husband, you don’t need the money”.

Notwithstanding all this, if one is to use simple logic and common sense, the key question should be: why should anyone, man or woman, be forced to limit their career choices in order to avoid discrimination? Why should a female motion picture projectionnist be paid more than her male counterpart? Or why should she be paid less, for that matter? Wouldn’t it make more sense to eliminate such discrimination and ensure pay equity for everyone, regardless of sex or race?

Yay! Tax relief for hurricane victims!

From the Los Angeles Time: "Republican leaders said they were considering an economic stimulus package that probably would include tax relief for hurricane victims".

«Tax relief», as in: the destitute refugees who lost everything they owed (which wasn't much to start with, since most of them were too poor to leave the city) will now be able to remind their accountants to enter government-allowed deductions in their income tax returns, that type of «tax relief»?

"There is a substantial chance that it will carry over into the 2006 elections" if the relief efforts do not improve and reconstruction projects falter" the newspaper opined.

Ya think?

I'm hoping that Bush will be impeached before he can step down in 2008, but I know that all he has to do now is to appear on TV to deliver one of his 9-11 mantra speeches, in front of an appropriately patriotic background, surrounded by an appropriate number of grateful-looking black tokens and he will be hailed once again as a strong compassionate Dear Leader. Will this horrifying disaster be enough to snap the Bush-loving population out of its hypnotic trance or will the ethnicity and social status of its victims condemn it to be a simple entry in the 2005 Book of Records?

I don't know which is more despairing: the level of incompetence and callousness of the Bush administration or the fact that they will get away with it.

When it rains it pours

I'm quoting below the whole comment posted by NHL at Sadly No! (http://sadlyno.com/)

«Google News "Typhoon Talim" = Proof of US Impotence.

AP has now picked up the story.

"NEARLY 600,000 people were evacuated as Typhoon Talim ploughed into southern China yesterday, packing winds of up to 114mph..."

AP link

"Fujian authorities evacuated 286,000 people, ordering boats into port and placing rescue teams on standby, according to the Web site of the Fujian Meteorological Bureau.

Just to the north in Zhejiang province, more than 291,000 people were moved away from the coastline, rivers, aging reservoirs, mountain villages and dilapidated housing..."

Meanwhile in America, Patrick Rhode, FEMA's deputy director, commenting on his agency's performance in New Orleans, insisted that "this has been probably one of the most efficient and effective responses in the country's history."

It's over, people. I pledge allegiance to President Hu. Maybe he can annex us when he visits the US next week.

To all the wingers: Hang your heads in shame, and stfu. A country you still consider "third-world," "evil," and "communist" has bested us.

Posted by NHL at September 2, 2005 11:54 AM»

Otaku* in Love

My firstborn Asparagus and his girlfriend M spend a lot of time in my apartment, because they don’t have easy access to a kitchen or a TV/living room. This arrangement suits all parties : I get to see them almost every day and they have complete, uncensored, free use of my place with all its comforts and amenities.

As with many young couples, they tend to fight frequently and for what seems to me like frivolous reasons. One minute they’re exchanging bitter words and the next they are cooing at each other like turtledoves. I try my best to remain uninvolved, but sometimes I cannot help stumbling into a dispute where I get tricked into taking side for one or the other. I really hate it, because no matter what I say, I will end up upsetting somebody. I don’t want my son to feel betrayed by his own mother, nor do I want M to feel like we’re ganging up on her.

The thing is, I can see where most of the fights are going, based on my long life experience and my own battle scars. But one’s experience is only useful to oneself and there is no point in trying to explain or to warn the younger generations. Every person has to make his/her own mistakes and hopefully learn from them.

So to my two young otaku in love, I’m saying this : Go ahead, love, fight, break up, make up, etc.. Whatever you do, do it with honour and compassion. That’s all I’m asking of you. That and to clean up the kitchen counter after you’re done cooking.


From Wikipedia :
*Otaku
In English, an otaku (plural usually otaku, since Japanese words are not pluralized using an "s") is a variety of geek (or an overly obsessed fanboy / fangirl) specializing in anime and manga. A simplistic English translation might be 'culture hermit'.

The word is a loanword from the Japanese language, in which it is derived from an honorific term for another's house or family that is also used as an honorific second-person pronoun. The modern slang form appears to have been coined by the humorist and essayist Akio Nakamori (Nakamori Akio) in the 1983 series "An Investigation of Otaku" (Otaku no kenkyū), who observed that this form of address was unusually common among geeks and nerds.

In modern Japanese slang, therefore, an otaku is an obsessive fan of any one particular theme, topic, or hobby, sometimes to the point of mental instability. Perhaps the most common uses are anime otaku (one who sometimes enjoys many days of excessive anime watching with no rest) and manga otaku (a fan of Japanese comic books). Japanese culture has many other varieties, such as pasokon otaku (personal computer geeks), gēmu otaku (playing video games), and otaku that are extreme fans of idols, heavily promoted singing girls.

Otaku culture outside Japan often makes extensive use of Japanese loanwords. This can create an effect that is similar to Engrish, where the otaku will use Japanese phrases in conjunction with English. Such "reverse Engrish" can lead to the loanwords taking on different meanings from their original Japanese use (for example, otaku). Use of these loanwords are sometimes known as otakuisms, and they are (ideally) used when precise English equivalents to concepts or terms either do not exist or sound awkward.

Anime and manga are two words that were once solely otaku vocabulary, but are becoming more and more common in everyday English.

[The title of this post comes from the English title of the Japanese film «Koi No Mon» http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435107/]

Katrina

Hurricane Katrina has created havoc and desolation on its path. The whole city of New Orleans is under water and the number of dead is still unknown but said to be in the thousands. The people who were not evacuated are now completely isolated, cut off from the rest of the country, without food, drinking water, electricity, telephone lines, working toilets, etc. Looters and armed gangs are roaming the flooded streets.

So what happened next?

«Idiots in New Orleans start shooting at the rescue helicopters.
Boat rescues suspended - conditions considered too dangerous (CNN).
FEMA suspends rescue operations in New Orleans due to chaos and disorder, lawlessness, and danger to rescuers (CNN).
Homeland Security blocks Canadian urban search and rescue team from entering US to help with Katrina rescue efforts.
Misadministration rejects Russian offer for help after Katrina».
[From http://maruthecrankpot.blogspot.com/]

This site has a list of links you can click on to donate money: http://www.billmon.org/
PLEASE HELP!!!! THIS IS URGENT!!!

More Blogthings

Help me! I'm addicted!!!!

Your IQ Is 105

Your Logical Intelligence is Average Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Above Average Your General Knowledge is Above Average

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

Your Hidden Talent

You have the natural talent of rocking the boat, thwarting the system. And while this may not seem big, it can be. It's people like you who serve as the catalysts to major cultural changes. You're just a bit behind the scenes, so no one really notices.

What's Your Hidden Talent?

Yuk Yuk

From the Guardian Unlimited (http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1558913,00.html)


«Yesterday the 275-seat interim assembly [in Iraq] proposed a law to sack members who repeatedly failed to turn up. The decision was deferred because too many were absent.»

«- Do you think ignorance and apathy are getting too prevalent?
- I don’t know and I don’t care.»

Badaboom!
Thank you folks, you've been a wonderful audience. I'll be here all week.

Haiku about asshats who believe in Intelligent Design

I found this great haiku by Doc Johnson:

Visions of asshats
Propelled by their flatulence
Lost in space and time

Cool Stuff during the week-end

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

My policy has always been «Live and let live», with animals as well as with humans. Our house is crawling with ants and arachnids, but I make sure our food is covered/sealed/stored away and the kitchen counter clean. As long as they don’t bother me, I’m all for peaceful coexistence.

Last week end though, I had two encounters with spiders. The first spider (a big fat one) has decided to build its huge web in the upper left hand corner of the kitchen door frame. Looking at it, I was reminded of that Larson cartoon where a spider who has built a web at the bottom end of a playground slide says to another spider : «It was hard work but if I can pull it off, we’ll eat for weeks!». I never noticed the web until my son, who’s taller than me, got caught in it. So I decided to rip the web and keep ripping it until it dawns on the spider that the kitchen door is not such a good place to build a web. So far, the idiot rebuilt its web three times. I ripped it again this morning on my way to work. We’ll see tonight.

The second spider is a much smaller one. It built its web right on the kitchen stove, anchoring it between the ventilation hood and the cast iron thingie that supports the pot over the gaz element. I’ve been cooking around it all week-end. So far the heat and the steam didn’t seem to bother our little squatter. The cool thing is it actually caught a flying bug and wrapped its prey in a neat package with its silk. I took a picture with my PDA camera but the resolution isn’t so great. If I can, I will post the photo.

UPDATE: Victory at 17:30! No more spiders! All their webs are belong to us.


Cool T-Shirts

I remember years ago, when Azn Pride was the rage and everywhere you went you’d see the slogan «Got Rice?» on T-shirts or hear the rap :

Got rice, bitch? got rice?
Got food, got soup, got spice?
Got brains like us? Got skills like us?
Got cars? Got clothes? Got girls like us?
Wassup we the shit and we kill ya'll fools, etc..

Anyway, here’s an inside tip from me to you : the latest trend is «Pho», yes, the noodle soup Pho. Last Saturday I saw a couple wearing a T-shirt with the inscription «What the Pho?» and when I went online to order it, I found more T-shirts with the message «Got Pho?».


The Simpsons Personality Test

Find out which character from The Simpsons you are most like at: http://www.matthewbarr.co.uk/simpsons/index.htm


«My Mom thinks I’m cool» - Milhouse

The World's Shortest Personality Test

You are pure, moral, and adaptable. You tend to blend into your surroundings. Shy on the outside, you're outspoken to your friends. You believe that you live a virtuous life... And you tend to judge others with a harsh eye. As a result, people tend to crave your approval.

The World's Shortest Personality Test

N'importe quoi....

This is a man's world Redux

Sigh… I’ve been waiting for this :

As reported by the BBC, academics in the UK claim their research shows that men are more intelligent than women. Of course, everybody knows that, end of discussion.

But wait! Who are those academics? Dr Paul Irwing and Professor Richard Lynn.

Dr Irwing, a senior lecturer in organisational psychology at Manchester University, said that he was uncomfortable with the findings. But he added that the evidence was clear despite the insistence of many academics that there were “no meaningful sex differences” in levels of intelligence.

Professor Lynn is a scholar who writes for eugenicist journals. He is copiously quoted in the infamous book «The Bell Curve». He published a controversial study in 2003 that identified a clear correlation between the levels of prosperity in 60 countries and the average IQ of their populations. He also recommends the phasing out of certain populations considered to be «of incompetent cultures».

Professor Lynn argued in a letter to The Psychologist this month that the differences between the sexes were explained by a link between IQ and brain size. He said: “Men have larger brains than women by about 10 per cent and larger brains confer greater brain power, so men must necessarily be on average more intelligent than women.”

Apparently, a battle of the sexes was triggered last week by Michael Buerk, a BBC newscaster, who complained that “life is now being lived according to women’s rules”. He said that men had been reduced to little more than sperm-donors because of the female dominance of society.

Riiiiight.



References : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4183166.stm
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1271
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,17909-1749346,00.html

This is a man's world

In Iraq

Reuel Marc Gerecht on Meet the Press, August 21, discussing the forthcoming Iraqi constitution which may strip Iraqi women of the basic human rights that they enjoyed for 40 years with Saddam Hussein : "Women's social rights are not critical to the evolution of democracy. We hope they're there, I think they will be there, but I think we need to keep this perspective."


In North America

Male office worker to a male colleague: «Hi Y! How you doing?»
Same male office worker to a female colleague: «Hi X! Why so serious? Come on, give me a smile! That's a good girl!».


In Asia

A guy trying to court me : «Do you like movies ? Maybe I’ll take you to a movie sometimes.»
Me : «Why ? Do you think I can’t go by myself ?»

Sucks to be you

I have always thought that patriotism is something invented by governments to brainwash their population into feeling good about themselves (usually at the expense of/in comparison to other countries), so that they will accept the governments' illegal and/or immoral acts without protesting too much, acts like attacking and invading another country, arresting and killing members of the opposition, arresting and confiscating the properties of certain ethnic groups of citizens, spying on their own citizens and censoring the medias, etc...

It has always irritated me to listen to chauvinistic people, like the French or the Americans, bragging about their countries, because, really, they have absolutely no part in their countries' successes, except by their accidental birth into those specific nationalities. I myself feel absolutely no pride in being Vietnamese or Canadian, nor for that matter do I feel any shame. I'm happy that Vietnam, my country of birth, is a geologically beautiful country with a strong and proud history and I'm happy that Canada, my country of adoption, is a geologically beautiful country with a civilized, democratic political tradition. But beyond that... I would have been just as happy to be an Italian, or a Kenyan, or a Tibetan.

Of course, there are some countries where the weather is so rough, or the land so harsh, or the governments so corrupt, that their citizens must sometimes wish they were born somewhere else. I used to think that I would hate to be Ugandan during the reign of Idi Amin. Now I think I'd be embarrassed to say I'm from the United States.

I don't even want to go to the United States! Mind you, to be completely safe, not only does one have to avoid the US, one must also avoid transiting through their airports. According to the New York Times, «foreign citizens who change planes at airports in the United States can legally be seized, detained without charges, deprived of access to a lawyer or the courts, and even denied basic necessities like food, lawyers for the government said in Brooklyn federal court yesterday [9 August]».

Backstroke of the West

One of the delights in watching Kungfu films with subtitles is the hilarious mistakes in translation or the use of incomprehensible expressions. One of our family's favourite inside jokes/insults is: «You are worse than broken tiles!», taken from the Engrish subtitles of a Jet Li film. I also like to say to my sons, when they have to go somewhere: «Take your Chinese shoes and leave!», also from a Jet Li film (Fist of Fury, I think).

So you can imagine how thrilled I was when I stumbled upon «Mathew in Beirut» blog, which reproduces another site with the funniest Engrish subtitles of Star Wars Episode 3 ever (for some reason, the Chinese title of the film is «Backstroke of the West»). I wanted to copy and paste some samples to show you, but obviously the task is beyond my competence, so rush to Mathew's blog and be prepared to piss your pants.

http://americaninlebanon.blogspot.com/2005/07/backstroke-of-west.html

Oh...one last thing... [spoiler alert!!!]... «Obi Wan, may the Force be with you» is «Ratio Tile, the wish power are together with you» in Engrish.

La Moitié du Ciel / Half the Sky

«Les femmes soutiennent la moitié du ciel» / «Women hold up half the sky» - Mao Zedong

Le Monde d’aujourd’hui contient un article de Bruno Philip intitulé «Mesdames les imams» (http://tinyurl.com/d2jm7) qui parle des Hui, l’une des communautés principales de l’islam chinois.

«Les Hui forment une minorité d'une dizaine de millions de personnes réparties dans plusieurs provinces. Surtout au Henan, où ils sont environ 900 000, au Gansu, (une région du Nord-Ouest), mais aussi dans la province que le pouvoir pékinois leur a taillée sur mesure : la "région autonome Hui" du Ningxia, au nord d'ici, où leur nombre se chiffre à 1,5 million.

Petit rappel sur l'histoire assez mal connue de l'implantation musulmane en Chine : au VII^e siècle, à la suite de l'envoi d'une première ambassade par le calife Otman, commerçants, savants et diplomates arabes ou persans vont arriver dans l'empire du Milieu en empruntant la Route de la soie ou la voie maritime jusqu'à Canton. Ils finiront par former une classe à part de hauts fonctionnaires, notamment sous la dynastie mongole des Yuan, avant que des lettrés érudits en chinois, arabe et persan, langue de la transmission du savoir, affirment résolument l'émergence culturelle et religieuse d'un islam chinois.

À partir du X^e siècle, ils vont fonder des familles, épouser des Chinoises, et leurs descendants d'aujourd'hui sont les Hui, ces musulmans chinois qui s'expriment en mandarin et dont le métissage ne permet pas de les distinguer du reste de la population. Les Hui se sont fondus dans le paysage ethnique, contrairement à d'autres musulmans de République populaire, notamment les Ouïgours de la région du Xinjiang, issus de tribus d'Asie centrale et qui s'expriment dans une langue turque.

Les Hui ne formeraient cependant qu'une communauté sunnite parmi d'autres, seulement un peu exotique par rapport à l'univers de l'islam moyen-oriental, s'ils n'avaient perpétré une tradition quasi inédite pour des musulmans : l'institution de mosquées féminines (nüsi ) et le statut d'imams pour les représentantes du beau sexe. Une tradition relativement récente puisque les premières nüsi remonteraient seulement au XIX^e siècle, durant le règne de la dynastie des Qing. Avant la révolution et la prise de pouvoir par les communistes, on en comptait très exactement 32 dans tout le pays et, selon des statistiques datant de 1997, il y en aurait 29 aujourd'hui. Érigées ou reconstruites après la douloureuse parenthèse de la révolution culturelle et le début d'une démaoïsation qui a sanctionné le retour du religieux.

La mosquée pour femmes de Zhengzhou, construite en 1912, est plus qu'un territoire du sacré, c'est aussi un lieu de vie où des dizaines de Chinoises, la plupart assez âgées, se retrouvent dans une atmosphère conviviale. Ces dames ne pratiquent cependant pas l'ostracisme anti-mâle : les hommes, qui disposent, tout à côté, de leur propre mosquée, ne sont pas interdits de séjour ici, sauf durant le moment des cinq prières quotidiennes.

Une des imams, Maryam, tient un discours assez surprenant pour l'étranger de passage, une façon assez paradoxale, singulière, de parler des femmes et de l'islam en général. D'abord, elle estime qu'en Chine "on encourage l'égalité entre les hommes et les femmes ; c'est pourquoi les musulmanes ne sont pas discriminées ici comme elles peuvent l'être ailleurs. Oui, en tant que femme, je me sens l'égale des hommes", maintient-elle.

Quand on lui demande si "cet état de fait est une conséquence du communisme, qui prône, en théorie, l'égalité entre les sexes", elle répond : "Oui, en Chine, nous pratiquons un islam avec des caractéristiques chinoises..." (Ce qui est une manière très politiquement correcte de manier le concept). Elle ajoute : "L'idéologie nationale l'emporte sur la doctrine de l'islam. Nous vivons dans un pays communiste, mais nous sommes libres de pratiquer notre religion. Personne ne force plus personne à renoncer à ses croyances. Pour nous, il est important de vivre en paix avec le système. La République populaire de Chine ne nous oblige pas à être communistes et nous laisse libres de croire en Dieu. Pas plus que le communisme chinois ne nous force de devenir esclaves de l'athéisme !"

Maryam se lance ensuite dans un autre discours, sinon plus radical, en tout cas plus en résonance avec le retour à la tradition qui agite l'islam contemporain. "C'est vrai qu'en Chine les jeunes vont de moins en moins à la mosquée ; les plus fervents sont des gens qui ont atteint la quarantaine. Mais les jeunes qui y vont comprennent mieux l'islam. Avant, on était hui parce que nos parents l'étaient. Aujourd'hui, les gens comprennent mieux ce que cela signifie sur le plan religieux." Elle en veut pour preuve l'augmentation du nombre d'étudiants qui partent à l'étranger, en terre d'islam, pour étudier les saintes écritures. "Aujourd'hui, de plus en plus de jeunes musulmans chinois, garçons et filles, vont perfectionner leurs connaissances en Arabie saoudite, en Iran, en Malaisie. Ils en reviennent avec une meilleure maîtrise des textes. J'enseigne dans une école coranique et je réalise à quel point les femmes, surtout celles revenues de l'étranger, sont choquées par les mœurs occidentales !"

Maryam est-elle en faveur de l'imposition de la charia ? La jeune femme hésite, sous l’œil vigilant du responsable local des affaires religieuses : "Nous encourageons les gens à organiser leur vie en respectant les lois islamiques. Mais ici, en Chine, nous devons obéir aussi aux lois du parti." »

Now let’s look at today’s New York Times, which has an article by Sharon LaFranière, entitled «Entrenched Epidemic: Wife-Beatings in Africa» (http://tinyurl.com/d7542).

«Women suffer from violence in every society. In few places, however, is the abuse more entrenched, and accepted, than in sub-Saharan Africa. One in three Nigerian women reported having been physically abused by a male partner, according to the latest study, conducted in 1993. The wife of the deputy governor of a northern Nigerian province told reporters last year that her husband beat her incessantly, in part because she watched television movies. One of President Olusegun Obasanjo's appointees to a national anticorruption commission was allegedly killed by her husband in 2000, two days after she asked the state police commissioner to protect her.

In Zambia, nearly half of women surveyed said a male partner had beaten them, according to a 2004 study financed by the United States - the highest percentage of nine developing nations surveyed on three continents.

In South Africa, researchers for the Medical Research Council estimated last year that a male partner kills a girlfriend or spouse every six hours - the highest mortality rate from domestic violence ever reported, they say. In Harare, Zimbabwe's capital, domestic violence accounts for more than 6 in 10 murder cases in court, a United Nations report concluded last year.

Yet most women remain silent about the abuse, women's rights organizations say. A World Health Organization study has found that while more than a third of Namibian women reported enduring physical or sexual abuse by a male partner, often resulting in injury, six in seven victims had either kept it to themselves or confided only in a friend or relative.

Help is typically not easy to find. Nigeria, Africa's largest nation with nearly 130 million people, has only two shelters for battered women, both opened in the last four years. The United States, by contrast, has about 1,200 such havens. Moreover, many women say wifely transgression justify beatings. About half of women interviewed in Zambia in 2001 and 2002 said husbands had a right to beat wives who argue with them, burn the dinner, go out without the husband's permission, neglect the children or refuse sex.

Women's rights activists say that the prevalence of abuse is emblematic of the low status of women in sub-Saharan Africa. Typically less educated, they work longer hours and transport three times as much weight as men, hauling firewood, water and sacks of corn on their heads.»

There is also this news about a group of abused women in Kenya who left their home and went to form an association to grant micro-loans to women to set up small businesses. The project was such a success that the women decided to create their own community where all the abused women can find refuge. Now that the community is getting prosperous and attracting favorable attention, the men in the village — let’s call a spade a spade: the lazy bums that used to be married to these women — are threatening to burn down their businesses unless the women turn them over to their husbands.

I am posting all this not to upset you, although I’m hoping that it will. Nor is it to incite hatred or scorn on religions or on men in general. The two newspaper articles show you that the same religion can be invoked to justify a respectful or a bullying attitude towards women. The problem therefore is not religions but their use by men to impose a social structure that would entrench their powers and their privileges over a weaker element of society. I am not a man-hating feminist. As a Buddhist, I sincerely believe that everyone on this planet has been born both male and female alternatively. And as a Buddhist, I know that the fundamental sin is ignorance. C’est pourquoi je plaide pour une éducation permanente, incessante et continue des hommes, des femmes, des enfants du monde entier pour qu’il y ait une plus grande conscientisation et un plus grand respect de la nature exceptionnelle de l’être humain, quels que soient sa race, son sexe, sa nationalité, etc… Nous sommes tous des bouddhas, tous sans exception, il suffit de nous en rendre compte pour dissiper les nuages de l’ignorance et réaliser notre véritable nature.

My family

Many kind readers asked about my sons and me.... well, at least two readers.... fine, no one asked, are you happy now? Anyway, some readers might be too shy to ask, so I am anticipating their request, and proudly present to you some pictures of our happy family.

Here I am, getting dressed for work.



My two sons, the B-Boy and the Geek.




And here’s their father. We divorced because of religious incompatibility.




So there you have it. I hope this satisfies your curiosity. If you feel envious of our family, dear reader, please don't. I can assure you that being rich and beautiful does not necessarily bring happiness.

Update: The pictures have mysteriously disappeared. Damn! I should have saved them somewhere safe.

Things that make my eyes glaze and my brain shut down

• Space programmes — Discovery has just landed in California, I've heard. Oh? Did it go anywhere? Except for the landing on the moon, the whole US space programme NASA thingie has been a blur of repetitive launchings and yawn inducing missions. I barely noticed when Cape Canaveral became Cape Kennedy, then back to Cape Canaveral again.
• Make-up trends — Did you know that make-ups have seasons? That Spring 05 is different from Spring 04 and of course different from Fall 05? Zzzzzz….
• White people under 30 and not living in a farm who can’t use chopsticks — Meanwhile, China is developing a space programme.
• People holding chopsticks the wrong way, i.e. with their fingers so close to the tips they might as well eat with their fingers, Indian style — But may be that’s another category: Things that make me cringe and bite my tongue.

My Son The Asparagus

My son has diagnosed himself as suffering from a mild (?) form of autism called Asperger Syndrome, by comparing his behaviour to a checklist of symptoms. I jokingly changed the name to Asparagus, but it is no joking matter. Here is a description of the symptoms from the website http://www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/aswhatisit.html:

«Asperger Syndrome or (Asperger's Disorder) is a neurobiological disorder named for a Viennese physician, Hans Asperger, who in 1944 published a paper which described a pattern of behaviors in several young boys who had normal intelligence and language development, but who also exhibited autistic-like behaviors and marked deficiencies in social and communication skills. In spite of the publication of his paper in the 1940's, it wasn't until 1994 that Asperger Syndrome was added to the DSM IV and only in the past few years has AS been recognized by professionals and parents.

Individuals with AS can exhibit a variety of characteristics and the disorder can range from mild to severe. Persons with AS show marked deficiencies in social skills, have difficulties with transitions or changes and prefer sameness. They often have obsessive routines and may be preoccupied with a particular subject of interest. They have a great deal of difficulty reading nonverbal cues (body language) and very often the individual with AS has difficulty determining proper body space. Often overly sensitive to sounds, tastes, smells, and sights, the person with AS may prefer soft clothing, certain foods, and be bothered by sounds or lights no one else seems to hear or see. It's important to remember that the person with AS perceives the world very differently. Therefore, many behaviours that seem odd or unusual are due to those neurological differences and not the result of intentional rudeness or bad behaviour, and most certainly not the result of "improper parenting"»

When he announced the news to me, I readily believed him, precisely because I have been worrying about his behaviour. When he was much younger, he was the cutest, sweetest child I’ve ever known, happy and bright, delighting our family with his sunny disposition and his clever jokes. As soon as he reached his teens years though, he went overnight from Dr Jekill to Mr Hyde. Our family outings would systematically degenerate into fights and quarrels, usually with him stomping away in fury. His little brother and I started tiptoeing around him, because we never knew what to say or do that would not provoke an outpouring of rage. I of course attributed all that emotional turmoil to teenagers’ hormones, but I couldn’t help being shocked by the cruelty and thoughtlessness of the comments he sometimes casually shot at people. Now I know that people with AS often have trouble showing affection or have little desire to show affection, and can be very literal and hard to communicate with in an emotional way.

On the other hand, my son is a demonstrably brilliant computer geek. This is what Wikipedia has to say about this aspect of AS : [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger%27s_syndrome]

«Recently, some researchers have speculated that well-known people, such as including Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton (cf. BBC News, Einstein and Newton "had autism", 30 April 2003), have or had AS, as they showed some Asperger's related tendencies, such as intense interest in one subject, and social problems…[snip].

The obvious social contributions of such individuals has led to a shift in the perception of Asperger's and autism away from the simple view of a disease needing to be cured towards a more complex view of a syndrome with advantages and disadvantages. There is a semi-jocular theory within science fiction fandom, for example, which argues that many of the distinctive traits of that subculture may be explained by the speculation that a significant portion thereof is composed of people with Asperger's. A Wired Magazine article called The Geek Syndrome suggested that Asperger's syndrome is more common in the Silicon Valley, a haven for computer scientists and mathematicians. It created an enduring myth popularized in the media and self-help books that "Geek Syndrome" equals Asperger's syndrome, and precipitated a rash of self-diagnoses. Though these conditions do share traits, there is a consensus that most geeks are arguably "variant normal" and do not exhibit autistic-spectrum behaviors. "Geeks" may exhibit an extreme professional or casual interest in computers, science, engineering and related fields, and may be introverted; however, they do not suffer from impairments per se. This does not imply that there is no overlap between "geeks" and Asperger's patients, but it should be noted that self-diagnosis is a dangerous practice, and one prone to error.»

Because he thinks that Asperger's syndrome is the source of his superior intelligence, my son is not interested in seeking treatment for his disorder. People who love him and know about his «sickness» are trying to read as much as possible about it and to educate themselves in order to better understand him and avoid being distressed by his apparent coldness or his failure to demonstrate love and empathy.

According to the Wikipedia article, "aspy" or "aspie" is an affectionate term used by some with Asperger's syndrome to describe themselves. Others prefer "Aspergian", "Asperger's Autistic" or no name at all. I call him my Asparagus.

And all that time I thought I was Cleopatra!!

In a Past Life...

You Were: A Happy Go Lucky Spice Trader. Where You Lived: Saudi Arabia. How You Died: Typhoid fever.

Who Were You In a Past Life?

Religions ...Can't live with them.. Can't burn down their temples.

Item One

Stephanie Collopy sued Portland archdiocese for child support for a child fathered by Arturo Uribe, then a seminarian and now a priest at a Portland, Ore., parish. In its answer to the lawsuit, the church maintained that the child's mother had engaged "in unprotected intercourse … when [she] should have known that could result in pregnancy", i.e. why didn't she take the pill or insist that her lover use a condom? In other words, it's all her fault . My advice to priests: Stay away from women, those trouble making bitches, and stick to your regular fare of little boys.

Item Two

Dr. Shazia Khalid, a doctor at a Pakistan Petroleum plant in the wild Pakistani region of Baluchistan, was beaten and raped one night in her own home in a guarded compound. She was warned by officials at her work and at the police station that if she reported the crime, she would be arrested for adultery or fornication - since she admits to sex outside of marriage - unless she can provide four male eyewitnesses to the rape. When she tried to contact her family, she was drugged and locked in a psychiatric hospital in Karachi. After her husband took her home, the couple was put under house arrest and the husband's grandfather tried to set up a mob to kill her, to save the family's honor. The couple was eventually allowed to leave the country, but without their son. They are now in London, trying to emigrate to Canada, so that they can send for their son.

Item Three

Mukhtaran Bibi is 28-year-old woman who was gang-raped as "punishment" meted out by a local tribal council in retaliation for her teenage brother's alleged affair with a woman from another tribe. Instead of killing herself as tradition demanded, Mukhtaran reported the rape to the police. Her story was soon picked up by the national and international media.Today, several of the rapists are on death row, and others on the tribal council face prison sentences. Under international pressure, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf presented Mukhtaran with about $8,300 as compensation. Rather than take the money and leave her village, Mukhtaran used the funds to build two schools, one for girls and one for boys.

For this, they killed a tree - Part Deux

Actually, it's part deux and final, because it's too exhausting to keep track of stupid articles in the papers.

So today's latest news is: «Sizzling summer temperatures across the United States have sent flocks of consumers to their local ice cream parlors, driving up sales of frozen treats from sunny California to the muggy East Coast». GASP! PEOPLE EAT MORE ICE CREAM WHEN IT'S HOT!!! NO KIDDING!?

Next they'll tell us that children prefer ice cream to boiled broccoli!!

For this, they killed a tree

Faced with terrorism, the Pope has prayed for God to do something about it. Yes folks, the Pope prays! STOP THE PRESSES!

Terms of Endearment

The following article by Nguyen Ivy is published in Tieng Magazine [http://www.tiengmag.com/article58.html].

The Impact of the Lack of "You" and "I" in the Vietnamese Language

Anh, Chi, Em, Co, Chu, Cau, Di, Ong, Ba, Bac. Anyone familiar with the Vietnamese language knows that there are few polite ways of referring to a second person or oneself by simply using the words “you” and “I”, aside from the using title of said person’s relation to oneself. As an American-born Vietnamese, I often wonder why my people have not adopted those vaguely direct words, equivalent to languages around the world, when doing so would be less mind-boggling on all of us speakers. We have had our chances to adapt, but somehow resisted that change after over a thousand years of Chinese occupation, followed by the French and Americans. Within this haphazard gumball-machine-like diversity of our terms of address, why did we not abandon all of these words for a simpler equivalent of “you” and “I”? The answer is simple: our system works a thousand times better.

Before I continue any further, allow me to digress a bit to provide a bit of background for readers less familiar with the Vietnamese culture: as typical of Asian cultures, we greatly value filial piety, and the elderly are looked upon with great respect and honor. A son is expected to take care of his father once he has grown until said father dies, and that son expects to be taken care of by his son, until he dies. All are respected, but each generation earns more respect as they grow older and gain more knowledge.

To quote Van Le, the former vice dean of the University of Saigon, "In our language, it is very difficult for children to be rude or impolite". The same goes for adults of all ages. How can we, when we are constantly reminded of our rank compared to the person we face? Everyone greets one another, even in everyday conversation, by their rank. Take a typical phrase for meeting an older woman, as in example. In such case, one would say “Chao Co, Co co khoe khong?” Co, in this case, means Auntie, assuming a close relationship with that person, regardless of geniality. In English, one would merely say, “Hello, how are you?” In this case, you can mean anything-you, as in a younger kid; you, as in an equal-ranking friend; or you, an elder. Said in the wrong tone or with the wrong expression and a simple statement like the above can be interpreted in ways unintended: the Vietnamese specificity is a thousand times safer.

The custom of referring to oneself by one’s rank or in third person is similar to the alternative to “you” in the sense that these terms establish clear boundaries and rank. Take for example, words a father might use to chastise his child: “Ba khong muon con lam do,” which translates to “I, your father, do not want you, my child, to do that.” In this way we know who is ordering whom-the father is definitely in charge. Reversibly, an irate, English-speaking father will say, “I do not want you to do that,” and the vagueness creates no boundaries whosoever. Who, exactly, is the father? I? You? The sense of respect for the father is lost with such an equal playing field.

From a perspective of one caught in the middle, is using “you” and “I” any different? Extremely, in the way that these two words level the playing field. I have heard again and again that American-born children are more sassy then Vietnamese children, and this answer shows why. When talking to my parents in English, these terms break down the formal barriers, and I can express more intimate thoughts without having to be interrupted with the reminder that they are my parents. The same goes with my teachers: the use of “ you” and “I” seems to make the teachers give us students more respect, and we give them less. Still, I always find myself a bit more sassy when using “you” and “I” with my elders. This sense of equality promotes the freedom of choice. We children are not compelled to listen to our elders, and are free to make our own decision.

Contrarily, the power of these terms to establish these boundaries is why there is such strong filial piety in the Vietnamese. After all, every time one talks with one’s family, one is reminded of the relationship, whether that relationship is with cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings, parents, or grandparents. Once the thought of leaving to make his own way in this world enters someone’s head, they are immediately reminded of the duty to their parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and younger siblings, simply by the way he addresses them. They are his family— he should not, and will not leave them. With that thought in mind, one can be sure of being cared for once we can no longer care for ourselves, as long as we do our duty when we can. That is why there are nearly no nursing homes and social security plans for the old in Vietnam-they will be cared for without question.

Although I had earlier stated that we Vietnamese chose not to use “you” and “I”, saying that we are unable to use those words would be truer. The Vietnamese social structure relies on the strength of different rank and reverence, and will likely crumble with the equality of reverence that “you” and “I” brings. We are an interdependent people, caring for the old and cared for by the young. If one were to assert the right to make our own decisions, the entire structure will crumble-the old must rely on social security and nursing homes, while the young do as they please. Sounds familiar? While we can go on living with that change in social structure like the Vietnamese Americans have been able to, I doubt any person will be as audacious enough to actually use those terms.

Similarly, the use of rank and titles to address others in the English language will face the same difficulties as the hypothesized introduction of “you” and “I” into the Vietnamese language. We Americans are too firm on individuality and equality to prostrate our egos in the face of superiors. In addition, I doubt any of us are willing to deal with the hassle of so many titles.

So, are these two cultures meant to mix? While some aspects of our culture are easily adaptable and changed, others like our language remain firmly individual. Like the two separate hemispheres each culture originated in, we can only meet at some points-the rest are on opposite ends of the world. Though change is always welcome, there is no gaining new ideas without losing the old, and in the interest of preserving our culture, maybe East and West are meant stay in their own hemispheres.

A two-faced world

(translated by Nguyen Thanh Truc)

it can not compress those long miserable nights
it can not undo all the mistakes
it can not copy the fun events
this world is filled with sorrow
(the naked letter)

it can not paste the pictures into our heart
it can not refresh an old love
it can not backup a beautiful afternoon
(this world is silent - as a quiet library)
the tiny neon light cannot outshine a harvest moon

it can not preview the future
it can not debug a good bye
it can not delete our precious memories
this world seems strange
(the naked letter)

UPDATE: I was finally able to track down the original poem, in Vietnamese, by Song Vinh. Here goes:

Thế giới binary

đâu có thể nào compress những đêm dài
đâu có thể nào undo những lầm lỡ
đâu có thể nào copy những cuộc vui
thế giới quanh đây ngậm ngùi
(những lá thư không phong bì)

đâu có thể nào paste hình ảnh vào tim nhau
đâu có thể nào new một tình yêu đã cũ
đâu có thể nào back up một buổi chiều
(hai đứa bên nhau thư viện vắng)
thế giới quanh đây trầm lặng
chỉ ánh đèn le lói giữa trời quen

đâu có thể nào preview một tương lai
đâu có thể nào debug một lời từ giã
đâu có thể nào delete kỷ niệm đôi ta
thế giới quanh đây xa lạ
(những lá thư không cần tem)

SongVinh

Universalité et banalisation de la souffrance

Franchement, je m’en fous des victimes du récent acte de terrorisme à Londres. Oh, bien sûr, si j’étais en face des blessés, des corps mutilés, des parents éplorés, bien sûr, cela me toucherait. Je ressentirais la même horreur qui a saisi le monde devant le spectacle des ravages de l’attentat du 11 septembre. Mais autrement…

Je lis sur l’Internet les témoignages de compassion et d’admiration pour les victimes londoniennes et les condamnations des auteurs de l’attentat. De nouveaux blogs ont été créés pour commémorer ce drame, certains blogs existants ont affiché des graphiques, des logos, des articles spécialement dédiés au courage des victimes. Moi, je suis incapable d’éprouver autre chose qu’une vague et fugace pitié, qui commence d’ailleurs à évoluer vers une certaine lassitude : oui, ok, ça va, on le sait que les Londoniens sont braves, rappel des bombardements durant la deuxième guerre mondiale, we are not afraid, bla bla bla…

Tiens, faisons un petit sondage : combien de Britanniques ressentent encore quelque chose pour les victimes du tsunami d’il y a quelques mois? Combien d’Américains sont déchirés par le sort des Irakiens tués ou blessés dans le dernier attentat?

Je ne dis pas donnant-donnant. Je n’octroie pas ma compassion en échange de la pitié de quelqu’un d’autre. Ce que je veux dire, c’est que la souffrance est fatigante à la longue, surtout la souffrance d’autrui. Si un de mes enfants était tué, que ce soit dans un accident ou un attentat ou à la suite d’une maladie, je ne crois pas que je lui survivrai longtemps. Mais les enfants des autres? Les parents, les conjoints, les amis des autres? Êtes-vous inconsolables sur le sort des Soudanais à Dafour? Pleurez-vous pour les victimes de viol au Congo? Les camps de réfugiés en Afrique, les massacres ethniques dans les Balkans, la torture en Iraq et en Syrie, l’oppression des femmes dans les villages d’Afghanistan, la prostitution des enfants en Asie du Sud-Est, l’abattage des enfants de rue au Brésil, etc…Tout cela vous coupe-t-il l’appétit? Ou est-ce que, comme moi, vous venez de commencer votre nième régime pour pouvoir rentrer dans votre maillot de bain avant la fin de l’été?

The need for simple human-to-human relationships is becoming increasingly urgent…. Today the world is smaller and more interdependent. One nation’s problems can no longer be solved by themselves completely. Thus, without a sense of universal responsibility, our very survival becomes threatened. Basically, universal responsibility is feeling for other people’s suffering just as we feel our own, It is the realization that even our enemy is entirely motivated by the quest for happiness. We must recognize that all beings want the same thing that we want. This is the way to achieve a true understanding, unfettered by artificial consideration.
HH The Dalai Lama

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Fantasia 2005! Hurrah!!

Fantasia 2005 starts tomorrow. Their official website: http://www.fantasiafest.com/en/index.php

I'll see you there.