Israel

Oh, you don't like nudes - look away!
Oh, you don't like to use your brain and follow truthful strands, sway away.
Oh, you think the empire of deception will prevail - it's your illusion.
In the end, that who does destruct will end in self destruction. Doesn't Israel know?
It has always been that way, since the beginning of time.
Humanity presently is a ship of fools, despite it's intelligence.
Maybe some day there will be people untouched by the fallacies of nation-states, race and religion. I am getting old, so I can only hope for a change of course in the coming generations, the "old guard" has failed miserably.
And while I anticipate my slow death, I still wish to imbue the seed for a new area... the time when peace is not an abstract concept but instead manifests itself and becomes reality.
I owe it to all children of this world!

gourmet challenge

This is not a challenge to you, but for me!
So here are the guidelines:
1. You post the recipe of your favorite dish or appetizer
2. I'll prepare it, taste it ... and leave my comments, and you leave yours in response.

Since I don't eat seven times a day it might take some days to try it all out. But beware - I'm going to follow up and do it!
Why would I suggest this right now, pretending that all is peaceful and fine in our world?
Simply, when you are at the border of collapse and exhaustion with bad news - you need to find the simple joys in life again, just to save your sanity. Please encounter this contest in this spirit, for your own well being.

Survey

Banksy (born 1974) the creator of above telephone booth is also and foremost a prolific graffiti artist from Bristol, UK, whose artwork has appeared throughout London and other locations around the world.
Banksy uses different techniques to communicate a message, which is often political and/or humorous. His original street art form, which combines graffiti with a distinctive stencilling technique, has achieved a certain underground notoriety and widespread coverage in the mainstream media. Despite this attention, he carefully manages to keep his real identity hidden.

Four United Nations peacekeepers have been killed in an Israeli air strike on an observation post in south Lebanon today.
The UN in Lebanon says the Israeli air force destroyed the observer post where the military observers tried to find shelter.
It said the four, from Austria, Canada, China and Finland, had been hiding in a bunker under the post after it was earlier shelled 14 times by Israeli artillery.
Now this might not strike a nerve with our Lebanese friends since their country has already lost over 385 people and close to a million people are displaced or refugees . They might think why whine about those four... But it has a symbolic magnitude. It might pull in the international community and place broader resentment on present Israeli procedures.

forgive me Frost, I mutulated your poem ... couldn't help it

SOME say the world will end in Bush's fire,
Some say in Rice's ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if I had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction Rice,
Is also great
And would suffice.
________________________________________

(the original by Robert Frost, around 1920 called "Fire and Ice")
SOME say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Bye, bye New York...

Driving in the subway towards Grand Central where an other train will carry me northward bound, I keep musing about this city and its future.
There was once a time when I could have imagined living there, amongst the hectic movements of millions of people trying to find their ways... now I am not so sure anymore. Tranquility has its merits.
Actually I like both, the buzz and serenity of silence.
What strikes me though about New York is, that if you make an effort to be receptive, you meet all kinds of people and they open up towards you, telling stories, their passions and their struggles. The threads of multiple biographies intwine and form themselves to a picture-book to be easily written - if you just would care to pick up the strands and make the effort to pencil it down.


New York is a kaleidoscope of pleasure and pain, architectural marvels, museums of grandeur, music and shows abound, intellectual fidelity, emotional depth and also blatant blanks - and the people are from everywhere around this globe.
How can you not love this scenario?
You can't help it but love New York!

watch your step

Israel is a dying moth attracted by it's own fireworks. None can prevent this.
Lebanon is a mushed caterpillar that never managed to start chrysalis in time. Maybe next century if god will have it.
Iraq has become the pet bug of the US government, but hated by the people on either side ... they both dislike to be or see bugs.
Afghanistan ... a lot of sand and a lot of poppies. I see only red.
At the end of the day, the press rather likes to show how moths play with fire in the backyard of mushed caterpillars.
Pet bugs get boring after a while cause they only run in circles ... until they die.
And poppies are only good for heroin that we import ... until we die.
And the US? There is absolutely nothing to report - that country is in an induced coma.
Did you have enough of politics by now? I sure do!

The guy in the picture dismantling the scaffold in New York city right outside the window where I stayed. He is a Mexican immigrant and has bravery of a different kind. Would any US Caucasian person trade with him?
Ah, politics again ... can't help it.
But just so you know.
I'm still into art.
And you will
See some
updates
soon!

Break

I need to rest and focus on what is asked from me in the present -
My presence on this and other blogs will continue when I have gained enough "extra" energies again.
Be well, till then.
Zee

not only Beirut, but all of Lebanon under siege

Well, you follow the news, don't you?

Well if you didn't, you are obliged to acknowledge a few facts in a nutshell.
Lebanon has been crippled in a few days in many instances worse than the Israeli invasion managed in 1982 and in its consecutive years of occupation.
All major exit roads are ruined, the air port is done for, historic sites of beauty blown away - and of course there are the dead and the lamed and wounded. The structural physical damage is immense, as is the grief of the common folks.
I might be not completely correct with my figures, because I pull them out of my crackly memory. But I believe Lebanon has not even a population of 4 mill. And now as we speak, over a million people are driven away from their homes and displaced. That kind of exodus would compare in the US of having 60 million people flee their homes from the southern states towards the North, and besides that misery - it would be a logistical nightmare, especially if you take in consideration that every major Interstate highway previously had been blown apart to dust.
Tomorrow I will attend the rally in-front of UN headquarters and I will be reporting back on how that went.
And what might also follow is a critique of the situation in the Middle East in general. I still have to think about it though. You se, it is kind of easier for me to voice my mind because I am not directly involved in this present nightmare, But every nation bears some kind of responsibility in shaping their present and their future. And Lebanon is not excluded. I will not go into details now, but some of the issues of "bad karma" reside often from our own negligence not to act when the door is open ... and enter. One of those "karma doors" with rusty hinges is this:

Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud has vowed to stand by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
"Rest assured Lebanon will not remove Sayyed Nasrallah," he told a crowd. "... the resistance and the national army achieved liberation for Lebanon. (in 1982)We will not forget that." This is of course not a pragmatic approach to serve the present goal to make Lebanon a peacful and unhurt nation. His thoughts seem to live in the past - not in the present.

Can I leave it at that for now without getting too specific?
Some things are complicated,
but working hard to avoid violence is not!
Take care -
Zee.

distracted minded perhaps

Sorry, my blend of thoughtful - shaby -artistic - sexy - political - personal comments are out of commission these days.
I am trying to keep up with what is happening in Lebanon, in case you didn't know ... a massacre.
My thoughts about this are a bit in disarray. I try to keep in touch with Lebanese friends and perhaps they will be helpful to clear my mind.
Be well, Zee.

... my mind is clearer now (Monday, 17th) and here is what is going to happen - spread the word and thanks to Mirvat for organizing this demonstration:
Dear all,
I was able to organize a peaceful protest in New York. Please inform your friends and loved ones in the area. I asked Rabih from Lebanonexpats to post it on their site and he will also post it on several other sites, so will Ziad from Lebworld.com. I am also working on getting the permit right now and I have contacted friends at the embassy. We're getting the Lebanese Consul General to sponsor it and we will send the information to all the Lebanese community here and i will contact the LBCI office in New York and a friend will contact the abc channel and we are also working on a press release and trying to get as much coverage as possible (i want to thank Agnel Sfeir, Tamara Zaytouni, Anessa Bazouzi, Janelle Hraiki and Rabih Mogharbel for all their help).

The place will be: The UN headquarters First Ave between 42nd St. and 48th St
The Time: Tuesday July 18, 4:00-6:00 p.m.



PS. Thanks Granny for the link - yes a bit biased, nevertheless valuable since it comes directly out of Beirut.
And here is an interesting comment from the BBC which tries to weigh both sides from a military/political point of view.
------------------------
It is hard to keep up with the news - so many changes so fast ... but I would like to post this excerpt from an Australian newspaper that describes some aspects in a fair handed way:
"...In the worst incident so far, 20 people - nine of them children - were killed when an Israeli missile hit their fleeing convoy. Israeli loudspeakers had flushed them out of their border village, Marwaheen, warning of a raid. Israeli defence is investigating.
The attack that took place in Beirut at 6.30pm on Saturday was far less bloody but it was brutally symbolic. Two Israeli helicopters circled high out over the Bay of Beirut and carefully dispatched salvoes of rockets at the civilian harbours in Jounieh and Beirut.
Their last two missiles singled out the lighthouse at the end of Beirut's world-famous corniche, sending the few last hardy promenaders dashing for cover.
Israel's onslaught has achieved the impossible: it has taken the light out of Beirut. By day a trickle of cars pass through the usually teeming streets. In both the Muslim west and Christian east, businesses are closed and families who have not fled keep close to their homes."

a thing I ponder upon at times

Why is it that the US from all developed countries still use technology and methods that are remnants from 1910!?
Goodness me, all European countries, Japan and Russia (even Cuba) have managed to put all their wires down into the ground by now, in cities and suburban areas and most of the urban places as well. But in the US, except for major metropolitan sites, most of all the electricity supply, cable, telephone and other "wire supplies" are still mounted on wooden posts and are strung from here to there through the air. How backward is that? From the porch of a fine Mexican Restaurant I visited the other day, I took this picture which might be graphically charming, but as an afterthought disturbing.
How come that the nation who boosts itself to be the leader of innovation can't manage to simply keep up with the times!
It's so funny; all winter long crews with orange painted trucks buzz around and repair the broken wires that have been damaged by broken limbs from the last snow storm - an army of little orange trucks, out there each day to mend those strings. It seems that America is all about continuously mending things at home while trying to fix things abroad.
More specifically, the US is the only industrial nation that still has 110 Volt running through their grid (I don't know about Canada, they might be codependent suckers as well). Every other country of speaking has 220 volts. Why are these numbers of any kind of importance? Simple - energy loss! The lower the voltage, the higher the energy loss in transporting electricity around the grid. This is not an idle number game, it will become an acute issue in days to come when our energy supplies dwindle and also become enormously costly. I believe the math goes like this: If the US would be able to switch to 220 volts the savings would be close to 15%. This might not sound much to you, but compounded by 250 million people it does make a difference.
Next time this year oil will be at a minimum of $120 a barrel and electricity prices will soar accordingly. Americas primal elderly home (Florida) will swelter and elderly people will die like flies because they will not be able to afford air conditioning anymore. Oh well. Maybe the land of innovation will finally have to learn to invest in it's future - maybe starting by putting them damn wires underground like any other decent developed country,,,, and, ah yes - switching to 220 volts.
Dream on Zee - it's never going to happen ... before it's too late.

Keyboard is drunk

... but we have pictures of hands, hands of the future, taken last evening.
And then a friendly spilled Vodka over the keyboard made everything come to a virtual standstill in coomputerland, certain letters are still ...issing, hope it will dry out soon enough, so I can write again ...

The Creepy Truth (my bi-weekly audio letter)

Is it possible that Bush himself brainstormed with Rove about the latest "Terrorist Aspirational Scare"?
The first "reports" coming from the Rovian propaganda machine claimed that a vague group of suspected terrorists were planning to flood lower Manhattan by blowing up the Holland or Lincoln Tunnels.
There was just one major problem with this latest "scare them into voting Republican for a third time" tactic: it defied the laws of gravity and basic physics.
You see, Manhattan is ABOVE sea level. A body of water, such as the Hudson River, won't rise UP without a rather sophisticated plumbing system. In short, bombing the Holland or Lincoln Tunnels could not possibly, according to the law of physics, flood lower Manhattan and "ruin the American economy by destroying Wall Street."
There might be some basement flooding, but that's about it.
It's an idea so contrary to reality and the laws of physics that only Bush himself could have come up with it.
Some first media reports even dutifully noted that government sources told them that the alleged "aspirational" terrorists got their idea of blowing up the tunnels from the Katrina disaster and the flooding of New Orleans. This is a sure sign that the idea came from the man who completely bungled Hurricane Katrina: George W. Bush. Only Bush could fail to realize that New Orleans is situated BELOW sea level, while Manhattan is ABOVE sea level.
How else do you explain the second-in-a-row crack-head scheme (after the Miami clown posse "plot") that is so ludicrous, it couldn't make it past peer review in a class of idiots?
Do we REALLY need to by into this scheme of perpetual fear?

(partial credit BuzzFlash)

Theodore Roosevelt said: "... we have nothing to fear, but fear itself"
Bush & Cheney say: " ... we have nothing left to sell, but fear itself"

Just A Poll

... and for all our fine US patriots: Have a great 4th of July celebration!
Let's hope next year same time there will be even more reason for jubilations when the present cronies are out of office.

pictures of an exhibition

Went to a gallery opening this afternoon... in a beautifully renovated horse barn.
The artist standing tall and proud, the pictures flawless still lifes. But what are the guests doing?

...rubbing and munching away.

"when it rains it pours"

So it is drying up now, the worst flood since 1913 in upstate New York, or so the story goes. 200,000 people evacuated, some deaths, damage in the 300 millions, Erie canal closed, Interstate Highways closed, hmmm....
I suppose I can call myself lucky! My pool collapsed in a mud slide after having spend ours cleaning it. Now I have to rip it out completely. A branch the size of a tree fell down on my garden, spend ours cleaning it up.
The good thing is, the sun is shining now and the plants in the garden are hardly damaged.

Could have been much worse. But a word of caution. Global warming is not so much about a few degrees in statistical increments over the years, it is about the eco-system becoming more and more disturbed. Severe weather phenomena are only one of many indications.

after the dismantling, a mud hole. But alas, I will rebuild, this time with sturdy walls!