We Kissed As Though Nothing Could Fall

The soldiers we deal with are not necessarily heroes either. The current trend is to call all soldiers heroes but most just do a routine job. David’s job is anything but routine. If the day comes when he has to jump on the proverbial grenade then he will be a hero. I would rather that never happen. He would be called a hero but I would be too selfish to see it that way. If anybody told me he saved lives I would point out that he has also taken lives, so it all balances out. Some of the soldiers who actually sacrifice their own lives to save others have also killed others. There is nothing heroic about putting a bullet in your enemy’s brain.

Blame Canada

Carter: Israel not committed to two-state solution
By REUTERS
10/22/2012

Former US president says two-state approach seems to have been "abandoned," points finger at PM during "Elders" visit.

Former US president Jimmy Carter on Monday said the Israeli-Palestinian peace process had reached a crisis point and that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government was not pursuing a two-state solution.

"That policy of promoting a two-state solution seems to be abandoned now and we are deeply concerned about this move towards this catastrophic so-called one-state choice ... this is a major concern," Carter told a news conference.

Carter helped forge Israel's peace deal with Egypt in 1979, the first between the Jewish state and an Arab country but has been a strong critic of Israeli settlement policy in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

"Every (Israeli) prime minister that I have known has been a pursuer of the two-state solution and I don't know that (US President Barack) Obama has found that Prime Minister Netanyahu has been willing to go that route," Carter added.

He spoke during a visit along with other members of "The Elders", a group of former world leaders, to Israel, the West Bank and Egypt.

"All indications to us is that this two-state solution has basically been abandoned and we've had a moving forward towards a 'greater Israel' which I think is contrary to the two-state solution concept," Carter said.

Netanyahu has voiced support for a two-state solution, but has said a future Palestinian country must be demilitarized and accept an Israeli military presence along the Jordan River, its likely eastern frontier.

Israeli Apartheid

Under apartheid, blacks were not citizens of their own country. Since they were not citizens of any country they could not get passports to go elsewhere. Not that many blacks had enough money to go anywhere. There was no legal black infrastructure and the only way to make any money was to work for whites. They could not vote in elections or hold any public office. They could not use white hospitals, schools, parks, transportation.

Every Israeli citizen has the same rights and responsibilities as every other Israeli citizen, regardless of religion, race, gender, sexuality. There are laws against discrimination just like any other advanced democracy. Israelis can leave the country any time and live somewhere else if they want.

Citizens of Palestine have limited rights, especially women, homosexuals, Christians. Palestine is not a democracy. Their president’s term ended in 2009, yet he continues to rule unelected. Most Palestinians cannot legally leave the country, except to go into Israel, and if they go somewhere else they are usually forced into refugee camps and never allowed to assimilate into that country. Palestine’s infrastructure is the responsibility of the Palestinian government, though they get a great deal of assistance from Israel. Some people used to complain that Israeli funded hospitals in Palestine were occupation. But when Israel completely pulled out of Gaza those same people complained that Israel was hindering Palestinian access to health care.

Will This Wind Be So Mighty As to Lay Low the Mountains of the Earth

We had previously discussed injuries in relation to the mountain. In the unlikely event that one or both of us make it to the summit we are on our own. We are going as a group but beyond the death zone it is every woman for herself. You can’t take somebody down with you if they are unable to move on their own. This is why people are sometimes left to die. It is not that they were with heartless bastards. It is physically impossible for any human being to carry the equipment they need to survive and another person down from the death zone. Helicopter rescue is not an option. You can’t actually land that high on the mountain and a stable hover is incredibly dangerous to everybody involved. I would never do it.

Happy New Year

The funny thing about significant others is that they have families too. During festivals where one normally spends time with family, which family does one choose? This has always been an easy choice for my older sisters. Since they cannot bear to leave my mother and grandmother alone they spend family festivals with them rather than their husband’s families. While I agree with that in principle, my boyfriend is rather close to his family. He does not want to be away from them any more than I want to be away from mine.

World Leader Pretend

I’m going to ignore how annoying it is that it takes them so long to hold elections. France held elections in April, run-offs 2 weeks later and Hollande was sworn in a week after that. Our 2009 elections were in February. About a week later Netanyahu was asked to form a coalition. A month later he was prime minister. It would have been faster had Livni been able to form a coalition. I still think she would have been a better PM.

Americans do it differently. Obama started campaigning in February 2007. He was elected in November 2008 and took office in January 2009. It takes them 2 years to get a job that lasts 4 years.

I suppose I’m not going to ignore it. Hindsight is 50/50.

Biko

For their efforts, Helen Zille and Donald Woods lost their jobs. Zille left the Rand Daily Mail when it was forced to retract everything she wrote. From there she went into antiapartheid activism full time. Donald Woods was banned and eventually went to Britain. His book was made into a decent movie with Kevin Kline doing a horrible accent and Denzel Washington doing a pretty good accent.

Unnecessary Financial Expenditures

Hong Kong Harbour from Victoria Peak in 2004


2008


2012
If there were not so much smog and weather you would be able to see the rise of the new ICC building, now Hong Kong’s tallest, on the left of each picture. In 2004 it was little more than a large patch of dirt. In 2008 it was probably half finished. By 2012 it was fully operational.


Name the tails

You Should Be Dancing

Somebody suggested I turn this into a Mt Everest expedition blog. That is not going to happen. The trivial details of making something like this happen are just not the kind of thing I would want to read about. Today we looked at flight schedules. Tomorrow we buy crampons. Not interested.

Top of the World

It is the killing part that always lead me to believe that I would never do it. I can climb hills and rocks but I have never thought of myself as good enough to climb gigantic mountains. But it turns out that people don’t die climbing Everest as much as they used to. The equipment is much more reliable than it was in Hillary’s day. They have also been nice enough to set up some bolted ropes before you get to the “death zone”.

That is not my favourite name in the world but it has nothing to do with a part of the mountain that is typically more fatal than any other part. Your body eventually gets used to less oxygen the longer you stay at high altitudes. The death zone is where you pretty much die from lack of oxygen no matter how long you stay. That is why you bring oxygen with you when you climb Mt Everest.

Yitzhak Shamir

1915-2012

He was before my time. I was in primary school when he was PM, but the older folks seem to remember him fondly.

Does Size Matter?

Work


Fancy


Rugged outdoor


Everything else

There have been quite a few studies about penis size, some more reputable than others. Kinsey had a hard-on for penises, so to speak. It’s worth noting that in every study where men measure their own erections the average sizes are higher than in studies where men are measured by researchers. The hard data suggests that most men tend to aim too high. My own anecdotal evidence and highly unscientific research confirms this.

But average is such an impotent word when discussing the penis. According to the American Journal of Medicine the average erect penis is 15cm from top to tail. I shall use centimetres instead of inches since the numbers are bigger and that makes men very happy. According to Playboy Magazine the average length is 46cm. I don’t know if either study was questionnaire-based or hands-on. I would think that anybody who cares about accuracy would have a bone to pick with the Playboy study.

How to Be Antisemantic

There is also an issue of grammar at play. “Jew” is a noun while “Jewish” is an adjective. This is different from “Christian” or “Muslim” which can be either. You can say “she is Christian” and “he is a Muslim” but you cannot say “she is a Jewish” or “he is Jew”. Unless you are Chinese and don’t use articles. There actually is no difference between “Jewish” and “Jew” in Chinese. And the word “pig” in Chinese [豬] sounds like “jew”. I don’t know whose idea that was.

Obviously if you want to use “Jewish” as an adjective to describe a noun then by all means do so. “She is the first Jewish president of Saudi Arabia” is perfectly acceptable. Maybe not so much to the Saud family.

Never Has So Much Been Made of So Little

The list of his government abuses against the women he has raped and those who investigate his corruption is long and tedious. Now we can add to that his attempt to censor a work of art that most people would have never heard about had he not tried to censor it. Since he had to go through the courts to close down the gallery where the painting was on display and since the courts took too long to bow down to his will, he had some of his thugs go into the gallery and destroy the painting.

It used to look like this:

The Spear by Brett Murray

Destroying original works of art in the internet age does nothing to keep them out of millions of computers. Now that Zuma’s henchmen have destroyed the real thing, even more people will see digital copies.


http://www.da.org.za/newsroom.htm?action=view-news-item&id=10704

How to Meet Your Bashert

We waited a few weeks before we started dating. There was all that defending the homeland from genocide going on. He was doing the defending. I mostly watched. What I still talk about is how he never cared that I outranked him. Too many men are intimidated by women who have more power. Or at least the perception of more power. Up until last year his job was always more important than mine. Now I would say we both do equally important work on opposite ends of the spectrum. But I still outrank him. I was always attracted to the fact that it never meant anything to him.

An Open Letter to Homophones

Four egg sample, mini of the euthanasia knead grate idles four patients. If your mail may bee ewe think cow herds are week. An other’s ex mite deep end on a heroin with a suite presents four peace of mined. Some mothers real eyes that if weed sighed with the semen than great things mite bee aloud too poor down from the son.

An Open Letter to Homophobes

If God hates homosexuality, why did he wait for the English mistranslation of the Greek mistranslation of the original Hebrew to say so? There are plenty of homoerotic euphemisms in Hebrew. Was God waiting for somebody to invent an online translator?

Are anal and oral sex between heterosexuals unnatural? Some people would actually say yes to this. Can you imagine living your entire life without oral sex? That is not just unnatural, that is an abomination.

If you can criminalise and deem unnatural people who are unlike you, how hard would it be for somebody to criminalise and deem unnatural people like you?

Back In the Sunshine Again

What have I missed while I was offline? The civil war in Syria is still going strong. Sudan and South Sudan are still fighting each other. American politicians are still campaigning for an election that is seven months away. African politicians are still taking more wives. Asian politicians are still resigning in disgrace. The world’s economy is still suffering from the consequences of people acting as if their actions have no consequences.

They changed this whole Blogger thing again. I don’t like it.




One of the unsung victims of this offline leave is this poor blog. It will never be a top priority in my life but I have not reached the point where I only post once a month. At least not yet.

Bell of the Ball

While the aliens round up humans to be their slaves they have Stanley invent a device that allows them to communicate in English, even though more people on the planet speak Chinese. They make the humans destroy everything that makes a loud metallic noise since that is the only sound that can harm the aliens. When all the toys, whistles and phones have been destroyed the aliens take off their protective helmets and settle in for a long conquest.

You Can Never Be Too Rich

Isabelle Caro
Photographed by Oliviero Toscani

Aside from the damage to the fashion industry, for whom I frankly don’t have all that much sympathy, I think this law is a bad idea because Israel is a democracy. We have all that free market capitalism going on here. The market is supposed to determine trends, not the state. If people do not like looking at paper thin models they can stop buying the products that advertise with them. When people stop buying, the advertisers will start advertising differently. The top fashion designers prefer to use stick figures, I assume because they are easier to tailor, but if the consumers want to see Kathy Bates instead of Kate Moss then that is who they will use.

I’ve nothing against Kate Moss but she is the only very thin model I could think of by name.


This woman is considered a “plus size” model

Bomb, Bomb Iran

Terrorist organisations are not concerned with how they will be viewed by history. They do not care if they are seen as the good guys or bad guys. They do not worry about sanctions. They do not bow to international pressure. And they are more than willing to kill themselves to achieve their goals. Most countries with nuclear weapons will never use them against anybody. Even Iran and North Korea are debatable. But I have absolutely no doubt that the terrorists friendly to Iran would use any weapons they had in a heartbeat. This should scare people awake far more than anything Ahmadinejad, Netanyahu or anybody running for America’s presidency could ever say.

Iran may or may not ever attack us. But their friends absolutely will.

Heavy Petting

But there are other issues to consider. Adopting a cat or dog is a serious commitment. It is not like you can flush them down the toilet when they die in a week. As Jenda said to Bart, marriage is a three year commitment. But pets last even longer. If David and I should part ways and I kick him out of my apartment with the clothes on his back and the shame of whatever he did to get kicked out, I would no longer have enough people around often enough to care for a pet. Living with somebody is one thing. Getting a pet together is serious business.



Are these dogs or toys?



Russian blue


Thai Korat


Cyprus shorthair


The most evolved breed

Mia’s Guide to Teenage Sex

They are told that they are not emotionally ready to have sex at 16. That is probably true. But I’ve known 40-year-olds who were not emotionally ready to have sex. So what is the best age to start having sex? That is entirely up to you. No arbitrary number can be chosen by governments, religions, schools, parents, friends, or even me. I am not going to say that age is just a number. The people who say that usually seem to prefer lower numbers. I cannot tell anybody when they should start having sex. I don’t think anybody can tell anybody when they can start having sex. That is up to the individual.

Woke Up, Fell Out of Bed, [Classified]

We were talking about my job. Somebody mentioned that it is interesting enough to provide plenty of blog content. That may be true but I am not looking for content. I’ve plenty to say. I simply don’t have enough time to log on and type what I want to say every day. Maybe if I had a less interesting job then I would have more time.

State of Your Union

Last month, I went to Andrews Air Force Base and welcomed home some of our last troops to serve in Iraq. Together, we offered a final, proud salute to the colors under which more than a million of our fellow citizens fought - and several thousand gave their lives.

We gather tonight knowing that this generation of heroes has made the United States safer and more respected around the world. For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country. Most of al Qaeda's top lieutenants have been defeated. The Taliban's momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home.

Killing terrorist leaders does little to stop terrorists from hating you. Lieutenants are easily replaced. Momentum may be all it takes to win an American election but it has little to do with fighting a holy war. Nine years is endless to Americans. Thousands of casualties are unacceptable. But your enemies are prepared to fight and martyr themselves generation after generation. This war will not end in your lifetime.


Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example. Think about the America within our reach: A country that leads the world in educating its people. An America that attracts a new generation of high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs. A future where we're in control of our own energy, and our security and prosperity aren't so tied to unstable parts of the world. An economy built to last, where hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded.

A country that truly cares about children does not have one of the worst educational systems in the developed world. You have some pretty good universities but you also have high schools that graduate children who cannot read. There is no guarantee of health cover for children. In fact, many Americans are fighting very hard to make sure that children are not covered. And some of the food you serve your children should be considered child endangerment.


They understood they were part of something larger; that they were contributing to a story of success that every American had a chance to share - the basic American promise that if you worked hard, you could do well enough to raise a family, own a home, send your kids to college, and put a little away for retirement.

The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive. No challenge is more urgent. No debate is more important. We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by. Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. What's at stake are not Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. We have to reclaim them.

I don’t think this exists in America anymore. Nobody works at one place their entire adult life. Pensions are no longer enough to keep you and your wife healthy and happy for the rest of your days. A single income today cannot sustain a family. Hard work is not enough for a house, two cars in the garage, higher education for the children.


We should start with our tax code. Right now, companies get tax breaks for moving jobs and profits overseas. Meanwhile, companies that choose to stay in America get hit with one of the highest tax rates in the world. It makes no sense, and everyone knows it.

So let's change it. First, if you're a business that wants to outsource jobs, you shouldn't get a tax deduction for doing it. That money should be used to cover moving expenses for companies like Master Lock that decide to bring jobs home.
Second, no American company should be able to avoid paying its fair share of taxes by moving jobs and profits overseas. From now on, every multinational company should have to pay a basic minimum tax. And every penny should go towards lowering taxes for companies that choose to stay here and hire here.

The cost of living in America is much higher than places like China and India. You can easily hire seven Chinese to do the same job as one American. Anybody who went to any business school will tell you that seven workers are more productive than one. Chinese workers do not demand overtime pay, sick days, paid vacations. Chinese workers do not have unions.


We're also making it easier for American businesses to sell products all over the world. Two years ago, I set a goal of doubling U.S. exports over five years. With the bipartisan trade agreements I signed into law, we are on track to meet that goal - ahead of schedule. Soon, there will be millions of new customers for American goods in Panama, Colombia, and South Korea. Soon, there will be new cars on the streets of Seoul imported from Detroit, and Toledo, and Chicago.

I will go anywhere in the world to open new markets for American products. And I will not stand by when our competitors don't play by the rules. We've brought trade cases against China at nearly twice the rate as the last administration - and it's made a difference. Over a thousand Americans are working today because we stopped a surge in Chinese tires. But we need to do more. It's not right when another country lets our movies, music, and software be pirated. It's not fair when foreign manufacturers have a leg up on ours only because they're heavily subsidized.

Tonight, I'm announcing the creation of a Trade Enforcement Unit that will be charged with investigating unfair trade practices in countries like China. There will be more inspections to prevent counterfeit or unsafe goods from crossing our borders. And this Congress should make sure that no foreign company has an advantage over American manufacturing when it comes to accessing finance or new markets like Russia. Our workers are the most productive on Earth, and if the playing field is level, I promise you - America will always win.

The part about going anywhere in the world is funny. American corporations will boycott entire countries if they are less profitable than their neighbours. There are more American products in China than Taiwan because China will not let you sell to both and they have far more customers. American corporations that sell in Israel are banned from most Arab countries. 300 million Arab customers are more profitable than 8 million Israeli customers. Especially when American corporations rarely do well in Israel.


I also hear from many business leaders who want to hire in the United States but can't find workers with the right skills. Growing industries in science and technology have twice as many openings as we have workers who can do the job. Think about that - openings at a time when millions of Americans are looking for work.

That goes back to poor education. When the next generation can only write in Internet English, you are screwed.


At a time when other countries are doubling down on education, tight budgets have forced States to lay off thousands of teachers. We know a good teacher can increase the lifetime income of a classroom by over $250,000. A great teacher can offer an escape from poverty to the child who dreams beyond his circumstance. Every person in this chamber can point to a teacher who changed the trajectory of their lives. Most teachers work tirelessly, with modest pay, sometimes digging into their own pocket for school supplies - just to make a difference.

Most of the developed world invests in education. We all realise that today’s children are tomorrow’s adults. The US either does not understand this basic truth or does not care. Whenever a budget must be cut it is education that they cut first. People who care about their children would not do that.


Of course, it's not enough for us to increase student aid. We can't just keep subsidizing skyrocketing tuition; we'll run out of money. States also need to do their part, by making higher education a higher priority in their budgets. And colleges and universities have to do their part by working to keep costs down. Recently, I spoke with a group of college presidents who've done just that. Some schools re-design courses to help students finish more quickly. Some use better technology. The point is, it's possible. So let me put colleges and universities on notice: If you can't stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down. Higher education can't be a luxury - it's an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford.

Universities are expensive all over the world. At least the good universities are. This is not a uniquely American problem. But there is one American university that is offering free scholarships to any students who want to attend, provided they meet the entrance requirements. If you are a high school student looking for a free education, look up Antioch College in Ohio.


Let's also remember that hundreds of thousands of talented, hardworking students in this country face another challenge: The fact that they aren't yet American citizens. Many were brought here as small children, are American through and through, yet they live every day with the threat of deportation. Others came more recently, to study business and science and engineering, but as soon as they get their degree, we send them home to invent new products and create new jobs somewhere else.
That doesn't make sense.

American immigration policy has always seemed queer to me. The country was stolen and built by immigrants. Almost all Americans are descendants of immigrants. Yet most Americans have a deep xenophobia of immigrants. They also seem to think that their country is overrun with immigrants when only about 10% of their population was born elsewhere. That is nothing compared to Israel and most Arab states. Even countries that nobody wants to fight over like Switzerland, Canada, Australia have a larger percentage of immigrants.


Innovation also demands basic research. Today, the discoveries taking place in our federally-financed labs and universities could lead to new treatments that kill cancer cells but leave healthy ones untouched. New lightweight vests for cops and soldiers that can stop any bullet. Don't gut these investments in our budget. Don't let other countries win the race for the future. Support the same kind of research and innovation that led to the computer chip and the Internet; to new American jobs and new American industries.

There was a time when the rest of the world looked to the US and France to find the cures to diseases. Now far more medical breakthroughs come from Germany and Israel. Even China and India devote more time and energy to medical research.

Americans seem to have an idea that advancing anything in the medical field is bad. Medical cover would make you a Soviet style communist dictatorship and medical research is a direct insult to God. There is something fundamentally wrong with this.


But with only 2 percent of the world's oil reserves, oil isn't enough. This country needs an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy - a strategy that's cleaner, cheaper, and full of new jobs.

It would not take much for the US to go into rehab and recover from its oil dependency. But when you are a recovering addict you have to stay away from the dealers and not be tempted by their sweet shiny oil.


During the Great Depression, America built the Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate Bridge. After World War II, we connected our States with a system of highways. Democratic and Republican administrations invested in great projects that benefited everybody, from the workers who built them to the businesses that still use them today.

You also had a strong leader who could get things done and a popular war that most Americans supported. Even when the power shifted from the Roosevelt-Truman Democrats to the Eisenhower Republicans there was broad public support. None of that is true today.


We don't begrudge financial success in this country. We admire it. When Americans talk about folks like me paying my fair share of taxes, it's not because they envy the rich. It's because they understand that when I get tax breaks I don't need and the country can't afford, it either adds to the deficit, or somebody else has to make up the difference - like a senior on a fixed income; or a student trying to get through school; or a family trying to make ends meet. That's not right. Americans know it's not right. They know that this generation's success is only possible because past generations felt a responsibility to each other, and to their country's future, and they know our way of life will only endure if we feel that same sense of shared responsibility. That's how we'll reduce our deficit. That's an America built to last.

Americans love to complain about taxes. Yet you have some of the lowest tax rates in the world. Your state sales taxes are much lower than most of our VATs. Your income tax rates are nothing compared to some European countries.


Anyone who tells you otherwise, anyone who tells you that America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn't know what they're talking about. That's not the message we get from leaders around the world, all of whom are eager to work with us. That's not how people feel from Tokyo to Berlin; from Cape Town to Rio; where opinions of America are higher than they've been in years. Yes, the world is changing; no, we can't control every event. But America remains the one indispensable nation in world affairs - and as long as I'm President, I intend to keep it that way.

If you want to be an American president you cannot say that China will be number one pretty soon. But from what I have seen people around the world are not too impressed with the US lately. The people of Cape Town don’t worship you. Not even close. Japan is still grateful for all that post war aid, but they have moved on with their lives. Even the Philippines, which used to love everything American, has moved on to an unhealthy obsession with Korean pop culture.


One of my proudest possessions is the flag that the SEAL Team took with them on the mission to get bin Laden. On it are each of their names. Some may be Democrats. Some may be Republicans. But that doesn't matter. Just like it didn't matter that day in the Situation Room, when I sat next to Bob Gates - a man who was George Bush's defense secretary; and Hillary Clinton, a woman who ran against me for president.

That dig against Clinton just makes Obama look like a dick.


So it is with America. Each time I look at that flag, I'm reminded that our destiny is stitched together like those fifty stars and those thirteen stripes. No one built this country on their own. This Nation is great because we built it together. This Nation is great because we worked as a team. This Nation is great because we get each other's backs. And if we hold fast to that truth, in this moment of trial, there is no challenge too great; no mission too hard. As long as we're joined in common purpose, as long as we maintain our common resolve, our journey moves forward, our future is hopeful, and the state of our Union will always be strong.

This obligatory patriotic ending only points out some of the reasons you are having so many problems right now. You are not working as a team. You do not have each other’s backs. Unless knives are involved. You do not rise up to challenges the way you used to. Nobody is willing to sacrifice anything for the greater good. You do not have a common purpose. You have multiple agendas that don’t work well together.

Burn Into Your Memory Cells

Fair point. I don’t know if he will still be around. And I can see one of my sisters showing me the picture ten years from now and wondering what ever happened to that guy.

“He is now a billionaire from inventing the next big thing,” I say.

“Too bad you dumped him the day before he invented it,” she reminds me.

“Had I not dumped him he would never have invented it,” I remind her.

This is where she quickly learns not to even try getting the better of me in my own imaginary future conversation. And I’m in great shape and look pretty while she is old and has gained weight. And I have more magical powers.