North Korea and Syria

Why are humans such a stupid breed of mammals?
Condemning North Korea for shooting a rocket into space is laughable. Those who hold the known sole imperialistic means to shoot satellites into orbit are angry. Why? What is the real threat?
The threat is that humanity and it's culture is deteriorating - people are obsessed by power and selfishness - hence the crisis in the finance market presently spreading around the globe is eminent, nonreversible.
Syria is an outer example what goes on in the inner works of many human souls. An indescribable despair to find a new road, perhaps even a new horizon.
But it seems like all "the old" has to be first destroyed before the "new" can arise, sad story I know, but I believe it is so.
Humans are in some ways much more stupider than monkeys - the latter at least had group-sex to ease the tension before a settlement of an argument.
Perhaps we still can learn from the apes.

Apocalypse now?

I post this last part of an CNN article here, because I find it to have a genuine conclusion. The Maya calendar stops at 21.12.2012 - hence the hysteria of some of our earth-dwellers to believe that earth-life will come to an end as we know it. Well, so far we are doing our best to make this happen - unfortunately. Has nothing to do with some ancient calendar though!

Just a few years before the rot set in, Maya painters at the site of Bonampak, a small city in Chiapas, Mexico, covered the walls of a small three-room palace with extraordinary murals.

They painted more individuals -- men, mainly, but women and children, too -- than had been rendered before, numbering more than 250. They deployed more fancy pigments than had been used before, more than would ever be used again in ancient Mexico, some 47 vibrant blues, reds and yellows. The paintings reveal the social layers of courtiers and lords, musicians and dwarves, victims and their blade-wielding sacrificers. Musicians, singers and performers lined up to perform on plazas and pyramids.

None of these activities or materials was new, but what was new was the rapidly crumbling world around the Bonampak painters.

No one could change -- the paintings seem to tell us. The Maya ignored the crisis in front of them, instead dancing with great panaches of precious quetzal feathers on pyramids, as if the present would forever hold.

Now in the 21st century, perhaps we have also reached a precipice. Global warming is not just fearful thinking -- it's real. Weeks after Superstorm Sandy, scientists are now predicting the near-term and long-term effects of global warming as more dire that previously thought.

Some, perhaps like our Maya predecessors, would rather not see the writing on the walls of our flooded cities. The crises pile up in front of us, one after another, and we ignore them at our peril. Acknowledging and doing something about the problems in front of us seems hard. Give us more feathers. Build more walls. Stockpile canned goods and buy a generator.

As for December 21, rest easy. This day will pass as if it were nothing more than the Maya Y2K, the nonevent of the decade. We'll wake up on December 22, and the world will still be here.

And so will our pressing environmental challenges.

We need to make some hard decisions and resolve that we will confront our own brewing apocalypse before it's too late.

Appendix

Am I over-thrilled? No. But there is a sigh of relief. Given the choices, Obama needed to stay on. I sure do wish him good luck in his second term. 

it's so funny, money money money, in a rich mans world

When the US presidential election is over estimates say it will end up costing $2.5bn.
That works out to about $20 per vote.The money comes from a variety of sources: from the candidates' own fund raising, to money collected by groups called Super PACs.Super PACs cannot work directly with the Barack Obama and Mitt Romney campaigns, but they spend millions on TV ads hoping to influence the electorate.

All of this adds up to the most expensive presidential campaign in US history. (source BBC)

Wow - that much money could have restored most of the infrastructure of lower Manhattan or done some other good elsewhere. What a waste just for the cause of a dualistic conk-battle.

the forgotten quest

I have changed my mind and will vote for Obama. First I didn't care at all who gets voted into office in the US, but the future of the Supreme Court is the forgotten issue in this year's presidential election.

This is surprising and disturbing because a president's picks for the federal judiciary are one of the most long-lasting legacies of any presidency. There is a sharp contrast between the types of individuals that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney would place on the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts, yet neither is saying much about it; perhaps it is hurricane Sandy's fault.
Romney's choices would definitely bring us back to the Stone Ages, or at least to the 19th century where the then so called Mormon leader declared that Christ was an US citizen, an American. I mean, give me a break! 
Hence on forward, I will encourage all US citizens, native or not, to vote for Obama - not so much for Obama's sake, but for the sake of our children who will have to live with Supreme Court rulings for decades to come.

-----

Sorry, I am a bit crude (as usual about faith based outer materialistic religions) - so I need to add this from Wikipedia to dampen the image I described, this is Romney:

Much of the Mormon belief system is oriented geographically around the North and South American continents. Mormons believe the people of the Book of Mormon lived in the western hemisphere, that Christ appeared in the western hemisphere after his death and resurrection, that the true faith was restored in upstate New York by Joseph Smith, that the Garden of Eden was located in North America, and that the New Jerusalem would be built in Missouri. For this and other reasons, including a belief by many Mormons in American exceptionalism, Molly Worthen speculates that this may be why Leo Tolstoy described Mormonism as the "quintessential 'American religion'".

Sandy

It seems occurred and bizarre that the most damaging tropical storms hitting US-mainland are always "woman". After all, hurricanes are named in alternate fashion, male then female and so on. But it is the "females" who gravitate towards death and destruction, much more so than their "male-partners". That is so in outer nature, I guess in human nature it is often the reversed thing. A man, in professional and domestic life still dominates the the stage, despite endless efforts over decades to create balance and equality, may it be salary for equal work done, or sharing the chores at home. It is odd, isn't it, "man" ponders while nature whales, which brings me to SANDY, the storm that hit NYC the hardest in decades.

A couple of years ago I was visiting Manhattan, the lower East-Side, the place that now has no electricity - and even then I noticed how fragile the situation was, the Metro-Subway stopped at Gramercy-Park, my station, but did not continue towards Staten Island, because the rail tracks were flooded. And there was no storm then, just winter weather, nothing unusual.

What do we learn from Sandy, actually ALEXANDRA (SANDRA) or CASSANDRA, the first protects human beings, the second one "entangles" men, because Apollo spelled a curse on her. 
Well, the curse can be lifted - and the protection can be granted, as long as humans in the USA understand that investing resources into their own infrastructure, roads, bridges, waterways, manufacturing jobs, etc... will give a new generation the head start to live a life of plenty and peace. Forget the Middle East, South Korea, Germany and all the other Military Bases around the Globe. it is a waste of money and focus whereby the homeland of the USA suffers. I hope this storm is a wake-up call.

Truthfully, coinciding with this, the upcoming election in the US excites me very little. Whoever gets voted in, it will make no much difference. Capitalism will plow it's corse way down main street until it (or we) will loose our breath.
Until then: How many "Sandy's", "Katrina's" and other hurricanes do we actually need to  finally wake up and make mens with those things that we already have in our homeland and make good on the promise to preserve them.

Nothing but the same old story

Not sure if I ever posted this before, with x100dreds of post you loose track even though the distinct remain in memory, almost as visible as written on blank paper.
I picked this tape up on a grand ferry from Ireland to France, just out of the blue, impulsive I guess, because I was tired to listen to the Clash "London calling" debut album. All this might have been in the beginning 1980‘s or so... The album was called "Last station" or "train station", driving pop music from a former kosher celtic traditional musician.
I arrived in Calais with that ferry, and lo and behold, two hitchhiker-girls were being picked up. My destination was Geneva, then cross Switzerland and land at my homestead in the region of Basel. They had other plans, Mediterranean somewhere. I was young and stupid and was lured south towards the coastline while the music of Brady was resounding on my well kept audiosystem in this mouse grey BMW (do not even have four wheels these days). 
As it turned out, I drove miles on end to place a young lesbian couple to be near the seashore, and when I glanced at their sensual foreplay at the beach where they were tumbling around and about naked, they signaled a clear sign of: "Back off".  So I split, slept on the beach somewhere's until a police woke me up at dawn. Had a coffee at midtown where a persistent gypsy tried to tell me about all my by bad fortunes - and on top of it wanted to get payed. I shooed her off and went my way homeward. All along withe the music of Paul Bradly.

Lebanon versus Syria

Lebanon is like the liver of the Middle-East. It tries to filter and clean what the "body can not tolerate". Talked to a friend in Beirut the other day. Her brief but positive urgency said it all: Do not handle matches if you are not prepared to control a fire. I mean, that is not exactly what she said, but that was the unwritten message between the lines.
From the Phoenician past to the fragile present, Lebanon radiates a magnetic aura.

Syria versus Turkey

That is funny - both countries are denying flights over their territories. That is like saying: Do not play in my sandbox, or else...

nobel price to EU?

I am not sure I understand this.
You win a price for your achievements or the effort to promote peace. Nobel, the Norwegian industrialist and weapon maker thought this up.
But why EU? It is not a person, it is not even a country -
Who will have the honor to receive the price, me? Oh, I forgot, I am not an EU member, so count me out.

I am no Prophet

I do not aspire to be a prophet, nor am I some kind of reincarnate initiate. Far from it, I am a simple man, a man on this earth who shoulders all sufferings, all stupidity, all violence - and sometimes the good moments ... when they come along, by grace.
And as I watch the beastly theater on this globe, I keep thinking two things:

Why can't I do better and give more support where it is needed - and why has it all gone so awry?
Lamed, like a "Wall-Street" demonstrator, I sit here clueless and succumb to this notion: Kiss my ass! Not very helpful either.
The world has become a bizarre playing-ground for the people with money, and hence power - therefore political power. Unfortunately money and  politics are intertwined. It should not be so, but it is so for the time being.
I have no immediate solution, just like these "Wall-Street occupiers" protesting against bestiality within society - but I do know, now being in the middle of Europe (Switzerland) and observing all this first hand, that the future will be decentralization, away from the Euro, away from power-politics. Greece, the cradle of Democracy is a good example. They are dancing with their ship on the thread of an abyss. Odysseys, were he still alive, would have said: Tie yourself to the mast and plug your ears, otherwise you will not survive the Sirens.
Well, he did survive - and so do we.
The Sirens of nowadays are Bankers and Politicians, plug your ears, ignore them, they are all foul. Instead do something that creates prominence in your local community, may it be with the means of agriculture or through art. 


Best, Lukas (akka Zee)

P.S. I just happened to like Hamilton for what he did in imagery - kind of special

The curse of an upgrade

It has come to me lately, that there is a conspiracy. Hardware producers make a product that might work well, then the software geniuses create more app's and bulk in order to force the hardware-computer manufacturers to have to upgrade their hardware. An endless vicious circle, where the one hand washes the other just to make a profit.
In the process we are being dehumanized, forced or persuaded to buy the latest gadget, the latest prank. It is truly amazing how peoples desire for an "upgrade" motivates their daily existence. The best, the fastest, the coolest.
In this kind of world of technical progress we as humans seem to digress. No longer is the computer a tool for research, and then the iPhone replaces the void of being next to another and we are playing cryptic games when there is no music. We have become so dissociated, it is not funny anymore.
My "upgrade" is therefore a downgrade. The carrot in front of the donkey might be tempting, but I am neither a donkey nor a mule, and I refuse to go for it any longer. 

Günter Grass and his upsetting poem

Günter Grass, a German writer, sculptor, painter who also happened to have received the Nobel Price for literature, wrote this poem last week, had it published in a major news-outlet. Now he is banned to enter Israel - basically put on a black list. I will try to sloppily translate this into English (below).

I don't have too much to say about the poem itself ... other than that, that Israel as a state does not gel with me either. The people there are often superb, talented, witty and fine and inspired and positive towards life and are peaceful immigrants. But this "promised land" ideology of orthodox Jews kills it all. There is no promised land. The land is where you put your tent up, you respect it, but you do not own it. After that, you will search for common spirituality, a gate to that which connects us all in equal terms. On such grounds I can understand Günter Grass's frustration with the state of Israel.

Actually, I will skip the translation part - have other things to do. This would take too much of my time, sorry.

__________________________________________________________________

Warum schweige ich, verschweige zu lange,
was offensichtlich ist und in Planspielen
geübt wurde, an deren Ende als Überlebende
wir allenfalls Fußnoten sind.

Es ist das behauptete Recht auf den Erstschlag,
der das von einem Maulhelden unterjochte
und zum organisierten Jubel gelenkte
iranische Volk auslöschen könnte,
weil in dessen Machtbereich der Bau
einer Atombombe vermutet wird.

Doch warum untersage ich mir,
jenes andere Land beim Namen zu nennen,
in dem seit Jahren - wenn auch geheimgehalten -
ein wachsend nukleares Potential verfügbar
aber außer Kontrolle, weil keiner Prüfung
zugänglich ist?

Das allgemeine Verschweigen dieses Tatbestandes,
dem sich mein Schweigen untergeordnet hat,
empfinde ich als belastende Lüge
und Zwang, der Strafe in Aussicht stellt,
sobald er missachtet wird;
das Verdikt "Antisemitismus" ist geläufig.

Jetzt aber, weil aus meinem Land,
das von ureigenen Verbrechen,
die ohne Vergleich sind,
Mal um Mal eingeholt und zur Rede gestellt wird,
wiederum und rein geschäftsmäßig, wenn auch
mit flinker Lippe als Wiedergutmachung deklariert,
ein weiteres U-Boot nach Israel
geliefert werden soll, dessen Spezialität
darin besteht, allesvernichtende Sprengköpfe
dorthin lenken zu können, wo die Existenz
einer einzigen Atombombe unbewiesen ist,
doch als Befürchtung von Beweiskraft sein will,
sage ich, was gesagt werden muss.

Warum aber schwieg ich bislang?
Weil ich meinte, meine Herkunft,
die von nie zu tilgendem Makel behaftet ist,
verbiete, diese Tatsache als ausgesprochene Wahrheit
dem Land Israel, dem ich verbunden bin
und bleiben will, zuzumuten.

Warum sage ich jetzt erst,
gealtert und mit letzter Tinte:
Die Atommacht Israel gefährdet
den ohnehin brüchigen Weltfrieden?
Weil gesagt werden muss,
was schon morgen zu spät sein könnte;
auch weil wir - als Deutsche belastet genug -
Zulieferer eines Verbrechens werden könnten,
das voraussehbar ist, weshalb unsere Mitschuld
durch keine der üblichen Ausreden
zu tilgen wäre.

Und zugegeben: ich schweige nicht mehr,
weil ich der Heuchelei des Westens
überdrüssig bin; zudem ist zu hoffen,
es mögen sich viele vom Schweigen befreien,
den Verursacher der erkennbaren Gefahr
zum Verzicht auf Gewalt auffordern und
gleichfalls darauf bestehen,
dass eine unbehinderte und permanente Kontrolle
des israelischen atomaren Potentials
und der iranischen Atomanlagen
durch eine internationale Instanz
von den Regierungen beider Länder zugelassen wird.

Nur so ist allen, den Israelis und Palästinensern,
mehr noch, allen Menschen, die in dieser
vom Wahn okkupierten Region
dicht bei dicht verfeindet leben
und letztlich auch uns zu helfen."

News

News these days have it all wrong, they are a psychotic drug who paint Armageddon every single day and it leaves an imprint on every human being.
Instead they should focus on achievements, report about the betterments of society. That I would find exciting! 
But no, we hear about Syria on and on, we hear about the latest traffic accidents, we hear about floods and other disasters, we read about financial concerns, hyped by banks and global companies. Then we follow sports news, thereafter the weather-forecast. 
My adrenaline for this shit is used up. It is an all in one brainwash factory. Though I must admit, my own habits and curiosity still prevail, and I check into the news-channels every day, but I get a lingering feeling of self-disgust. 
What the world needs is not bad news, but good news! You can not make anything better when you continuously spread the message of destruction and decay - that is in esoteric terms: Black Magic.
Instead the news should concentrate on stories like how one neighbor helped an other in need, how one instrumental achievement was made in technology, perpetuating the safety of our planet, how a child looked at a flower and found the sun in her eyes.
By all means, I am not a flower-child myself or a "hippie". Still, at least some concentration on the good in this world could propel an other atmosphere of togetherness amongst people.
The Press and News destroy all this ... every day.
Hail to an area when News become human again and not the mouthpiece of cooperate and national interests who's intent is to brain-wash - and create unsolicited fear. 
Until then, I will consciously refuse to have negative or bad news enter my soul.

I did not see the bunny

I did not see the Easter-Bunny, so I went to this shopping center last Saturday before Easter to find dye for my eggs. I guess I had to take over.
It was hilarious, people were stuffing their carts and baskets as if the end of time had come, a catastrophe around the corner, a disaster around the bend. Actually it made me almost puke, at least I lost my appetite.
I guess I have to admit, I also often bye  "extra things" I hadn't planed to purchase.  Because of the surrounding atmosphere of panic and greed, I stuck to my original plan: Colors for eggs, nothing else.
Finally I found the section where they have that stuff.

Went home, and prepared the Easter baskets for the families in my house. I do not know if they believed that there is a "replacement bunny" - but I know for sure I got a kick out of it.
The intention of this story is - that sometimes less is more, that a gesture that comes with well intent can build a bridge. The rush and greed of consumerism is just a "cheap" compensation of that what actually should flow from heart to heart. In that sense I try to make a difference, but not in all times I succeed. But I will keep trying, and so may you my friend.

Casualties of war?

John Henry Browne said there was "no forensic evidence" against Staff Sgt Robert Bales and "no confession".

The lawyer representing this US soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians in their homes has said there is little proof of his client's guilt. (BBC news)

I find this to be disturbing. It is clear to me, that in any kind of war-zone where people are summoned up to comply to this or that by deadly force, a soldier can "loose his mind" and go for a killing spree. It probably happened in every war or violent conflict thus far. 

But to deny that such an incident had happened, or to say there is no "forensic" evidence, is beyond my comprehension. What is the US doing in Afghanistan anyway? Ossama Bin Laden is dead, assassinated by special forces in Pakistan. Wasn't that the goal, to invade Afghanistan to capture him? Now that he is dead, what are US troops doing there - would drive me also insane if I were to be a soldier.

I said it before, but I say it again: Let the Middle East and the Arab World sort out their own issues, without interference from external powers. 

he just dies

This Coptic Pope who just died in Egypt , Shenandua  I believe was his name -

banned members of his congregation from visiting Christian sites in Israel, stating that Christians should only go to Jerusalem hand in hand with Muslims once the conflict between Israel and Arab states was resolved.

That is a stance I haven't heard before!

White can be evil, all about food

Of course there are white witches and wizards who belong to the cast that is above average grey. That is not what I am talking about. Those are cool. I am talking about food.
There has been a study out there the other day, that hepatitis-B is more common amongst people who eat white rice only (to their meal). And that is a majority of people in Asia and in the USA, maybe in other places as well, I don't know.
White should be out-banned in foods in general, except for the occasional exception.
1. Refined white sugar
2. Refined white salt
3. Refined white rice
4. Refined white flower
So, if we sometimes are so gracious to ship bags of rice to African nations who are starving - remember this phrase: White kills white AND also black!
I guess that is a statement that enters the non-food section.
All I wish to say is, "refining" (whitening) foods don't make them better.
Time to go back to the actual harvest, the crop that nature intended to offer.

and so it goes

http://youtu.be/umRRCkspaQU

Lighten up, not all things in life are devious.

Click on at at the title "and so it goes", that is the hot link to the short video.

Filth

Look at this picture one more time, perhaps somewhat more closely. This is a man who happens to have a long neck, a mustache like Hitler - and a third of his brain is cut off. The top of is head is flat like a pan.
Then look at his eyes, narrow, close together, a susceptible sign of zero tolerance. His lower ear-lobes are not free but connected to the skin of the upper cheek. A sign of self-indulgence and self-righteousness.
I could go on forever. And even with the possibility of a death-squad knocking at my door, I will remain honest and tell the world that this guy is evil, always was, always will be. I mean, look at this picture - is this not pitiful?
I do not know what fate brought him to the "throne of Syria", little do I know what is happening there in the present. One thing I do know, this idiot has to go.
Sorry Assad, but you really look like the fool on the hill.