Wishing the health care reform:
lots of success
happy birthday
break a leg
all the best
congratulations
welcome
Time for (all) people in USA to have a well functioning heath care system. Time to stop private insurances from blackmailing with what we’re most vulnerable about and making profits with human suffering.
And time to say “thank you” to our excellent European systems!
Ask me where I’ve been in April, I don’t know. Mars? Strange how I’ve missed this one, but I guess it is never too late. The 2009 Pulitzer price for investigative journalism went to David Barstow of The New York Times for his story about how dozens of retired US army generals who were working as radio and TV analysts for major US media were co-opted by Pentagon to make its case for war in Iraq and how many of them had undisclosed ties to companies that benefited from policies they defended. Reading Barstow’s articles helps understand why war in Iraq and what proportions the business deals in an occupied country can take.
I wonder more and more who really bombed the towers…
From “Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand”:
“But in the summer and fall of 2006, even as he was regularly asked to comment on conditions in Iraq [on CNN], General Marks was working intensively on bidding for a $4.6 billion contract to provide thousands of translators to United States forces in Iraq. In fact, General Marks was made president of the McNeil spin-off that won the huge contract in December 2006.”
Here his two stories:
Last night, I watched Baghdad Burning in Volkstheater. I hope it will be on programme next season – if you are in Vienna and understand German, go see it.
The peace (1h20min monologue excellently played by Katharina Vötter) is based on a blog written by an Iraqi woman who started writing under pseudonym Riverbend on 17 August 2003. In her blog, she describes life in Iraq during the US occupation. Although the blog has been published in two books and staged in numerous countries, her identity is still hidden. In 2007, she and her family moved to Syria and she stopped writing her blog.
The fascinating thing about the piece is that it makes you grasp, more emotionally, the stuff you think you already know – what it means to live in a war (“war on TV is not same like living in a war”, “will a plane ever sound like it did before?”), the chaos which took over since the occupation (controls, razzias, life without electricity and water and the kidnapping which became part of everyday life), how the status of women has changed (before the occupation, 50% of university students and 50% of employees were women – now they are accepted to stay home and wear headscarves and long coats). You will learn how the fear and the chaos passed a moderate Muslim country into the hands of fundamentalists.
You will learn about what “rebuilding of Iraq” really means. When for rebuilding of a bridge, which Iraqi experts estimated to $300,000, a US company get $50 million, the business case of this war is quite clear. When you add the war industry and the oil industry to the rebuilding industry, the business case is even clearer.
But mostly, you will ask yourself (hopefully) how can a country attack and completely devastate a country under false pretences, kill hundreds of thousands of people and stay unpunished.
Will countries like USA and Israel keep their carte blanche for ever?
And that is the tragedy of the story.
Yesterday, a German 17 years old boy killed 16 people. One day earlier, a USA boy killed 10. Few months before that, a kid killed 10 in Finland. We had more than 10 similar killings in past 15 years. What is this telling us about our “civilised” western society? Why is it only young men? Why were many of them on antidepressants? Why are all this men NOT coming from extremely poor or hard milieu? Why is Europe importing only shit from the USA?
Parents are working hard, are continuously under stress to buy more cars and more Nike shoes and make a “career”. Kids are stuck in nurseries when they are 3 months old and see the corpses of their parents in the evenings (sometimes not even that) or weekends. Then they are fed with antidepressants, play brutal computer games and watch rubbish TV. They lack joy, love, closeness and a real connection to life in all its beauty.
And then we wonder that they go nuts and start killing around.
We shouldn’t wonder.
It is not about having arms at home (BTW, why does a German businessman have 18 guns at home?).
It is about what our society has turned into. What our priorities are. And if we are able to be really truly happy and satisfied. To selflessly love. And to love life. And transport this feeling to our kids.
They are turning into angry, bloodthirsty, egoistic robots.
Thank you, “development”.
For all S&C fans, here’s an American journalist’s try to write a recession version of S&C. Am not sure if I find it funny, but hey – he gave it a shot, which is cool:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-03-04/sex-and-the-city-2-recessionistas/
Today, I was thinking about the influence this crisis will have on the image of men. Because hey – they created the crisis! Especially those “winner” types: clever, strong, visionary…. fighters, winners, leaders. The MANAGERS. Will it move us more in the direction of…. the more handy men?
So I asked my friends on Twitter/Facebook (and formulated my question a bit too clumsy): Will it move the idea of ideal man away from suit and tie?
My favourite answer (to my stupid question): “I prefer them without clothes”
I agree. But then… am not sure if I really wanna see the CEO of AIG naked.
Anyway, if posed right, I think that the question is really interesting.
And my second thought of the day: God, it must be a hard job being Nancy Pelosi!!! I wonder how it must feel when a whole nation (or two or three) is staring at your breasts while they listen to their leader’s (too long) speeches?
I think that the camera in the House of Congress urgently needs to find a different angle. Save the poor woman!
Dear U.S. of A,
Few nights ago, my desperate body decided to burn down this annoying flu so my rising fever didn’t let me sleep. Desperate, I turned on CNN and watched your president addressing a joint session of Congress. And I was fascinated! You elected yourself one fine cheerleader there! And hey, the man doesn’t even need pompons nor a frilly skirt – he can do it all orally!
Since that night, his energising speech just won’t leave my head. And I wanted to ask you: Can I please, please, please borrow him?
I really do need to hear a speech like this. I’ve also suffered a crisis lately: I have this horrible flu, the prince charming decided not to search for me (although I left him my slipper), I applied for a few really cool jobs and got rejected, my debt is rising. So basically, Obama would only need to change a few words in his speech. Here an example:
“……But while your economy may be weakened and your confidence shaken; though you are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want you Ana to know this: You will rebuild, you will recover, and you will emerge stronger than before (here, he can mention something about the prince).
And if you do, then someday years from now your children (yeepii, my children!) can tell their children that this was the time when you performed…… As you stand at this crossroads of history, the eyes of all people in all nations are once again upon you — watching to see what you do with this moment; waiting for you to lead (maybe that’s a bit too much). Thank you, God Bless you (yeah OK, he can also say: and may God bless the United States of America.)”
Thank you in advance,
A
P.S. Isn’t it actually a good idea – personal cheer leaders? Doesn’t necessary need to be a president.
Watched CNN, Larry King today. You know about that mother of octuplets? She is a single mother, already has 6 children and now she had 8 more in one go. She has eight embryos left from her fertility treatment so she thought “Hey, won’t throw these embryos away, and if I keep them much longer in my fridge, they might get bad. So why not have them implanted and become a single mother of 8 (+6=14)?”. Which normal person in this world would do this? Are doctors really allowed to do shit like this? Destroy lives of 15 people (without counting in her parents, kids’ grandparents). And then on the other hand we have Berlusconi and Vatican discussing if that poor woman who spent 17 out of her 37 years in coma is allowed to die. So on one hand, we may play God by artificially creating and destroying lives and on the other, we may not play God by stopping suffering we are artificially keeping up. Makes no sense to me.
Any way. Average American parent spends $269,520 raising a child to 17, so the mother of the octuplets could be facing a total childcare bill of more than $2.1 million by 2026, that’s before adjustments for inflation. So it turned out that the mother of octuplets is planning to sell her story for millions. Most probably do a reality show.
Few minutes later, after five zillion ads (Larry King is the only show in the world which has an ad every 10 seconds), we had new guests on the show. The judge of Anna Nicole Smith trial. This guy became famous because he cried in the courtroom. So, we learn that the judge is now retired (basically it turns out that he cried because it was his last case before retirement and he freaked) and is now starting – a reality show! And then comes the surprise guest – Anna Nicole Smith’s lover boy with their daughter. And he tells us that he is planning….. yes, you guessed it right – a reality show!
Jeez, who the hell is watching all those reality shows? How about one joined reality show? Judge can cry while baby-sitting 15 kids plus Smith’s daughter, while Smith’s lover boy and octuplets’ mom make more kids? And everybody lives happy ever after – on Smith’s millions.
Maybe I should start writing a screenplay.
Check them ladies out!
Dating a Banker Anonymous is a blog started by two friends whose relationships with their FBFs (Finance guy Boyfriend) went down with the Wall Street reports. So they started a blog: “Dating A Banker Anonymous (DABA) is a safe place where women can come together – free from the scrutiny of feminists– and share their tearful tales of how the mortgage meltdown has affected their relationships.”
So if you want to see how some people are REALLY suffering from the economic crisis, go visit them at:
http://dabagirls.wordpress.com/
The world is gone mad.
…………
Hehe, and the FBFs are (trying to ) fight back:
http://www.bankersball.com/2009/01/28/the-curiously-pathetic-life-of-bankers/
Stop the Wars!
Friday, November 6th, 200913 people (soldiers) killed, 30 wounded at the army base Ft. Hood, Texas.
Come on, are we really supposed to be surprised?
The man was a psychiatrist, treating US soldiers who suffered from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) upon their return from Iraq and Afghanistan. We cannot imagine the horror stories he was listening to and dealing with day after day. Really, we are sitting our living rooms watching CNN and think we know what war is about. WELL, WE DON’T! It is million times worse than anything we can imagine.
Plus, he is Muslim, his parents are from Palestine – the most unfairly treated country in the world since World War II. And he was to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan (against his will) to kill other Muslims. Of course he was full of hatred, aggression and frustrations. He is just a human being. As everyone involved in this should be.
Those unnecessary wars must stop.
Tags: Commentary, USA
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