Elections, concerts and everything else...

Its been a while since I have posted and a lot has happened in the meantime.

Lets start from the US mid term elections. The American people have finally had enough of all the mess the Republicans have created, and have elected a new government. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to see this happen.

We attended the U2 concert a few weekends back and attended Pearl Jam's concert the next weekend. U2 were a class act, they played almost all of the classics including One, Desire, With or without you etc. The show was quite huge as the people of Australia had been waiting for this concert for a while. The stadium held about 70 thousand people so it was quite massive. I was happy to see Bono perform and also try to get a noble message across. It made me feel good that there are still some celebrities out there that try to make a difference with the power they have. My wife managed to get a good shot from the show and yes thats actually the huge backdrop.


Pearl Jam were a great experience in their own way. It was good to see them having the same energy they have had for a while. Although Eddie Vedder was quite drunk and was drinking
throughout the show, they pulled off a great show. Even though I had not listened to all of the songs they performed before, they still managed to play their own classics like Jeremy, Better man, Even flows etc. The only shots we managed in this show were from the screens, so apologies if they're a little blurry. Pearl Jam also demonstrated what U2 did, they made comments on what people should be doing to make sure that everyone has a fair go. That everyone is equal and deserves an equal amount of respect from others.

All in all both of the above experiences were good, even though both were quite different. U2 had everything, the massive stage, the amazing backdrops, lavish lighting etc. And Pearl Jam kept it simple, no real back drop, pretty ordinary lighting etc.

Besides the above excitement, I have been in the small country town of Leeton, NSW again for the past week and have to head out there the whole of next week, so its not been a fun time. It's really hard to leave one's loved ones behind all alone. Even though I am used to living alone as I have for a number of years away from family, it still is a hard thing to do.

Family is what makes one go ahead in life, but sometimes families are not very helpful in understanding that things change in life. Especially in our culture, I feel the old way of thinking that the son is obliged to do everything what their parents say is utterly absurd. As adults, people should realize that people do grow up and can make their own decisions. Old way thinking that the daughter is supposed to marry according to her parents wishes is unnatural in todays world. Even sometimes the son is supposed to marry according to his parents wishes. Granted that in our culture and religion, the parents have their special place and are supposed to get respect from young ones. But I feel that people have taken advantage of the above fact and have trampled all over their young ones time and time again.

I say respect should be both ways. Respect to others and expect respect in return. I do not think there is anything anywhere written that says only expect respect from others and don't do anything in return.

Cut and Run

Cartoon published in the washington post on September 5, 2006.

by Pat Oliphant

Imagine

So here we are again. Once again the Middle East is at a state of unrest. The events in the last couple of weeks are typical of the history in that region. I believe that region is one where there will never be peace (at least not in my lifetime). The abduction of two soldiers by two different militant groups is not an act of bravery or success. It is an act of cowardice. What did the militant groups think of achieving from this action? Did they actually think that the might of Israel will be brought to their knees by holding them to ransom? Wrong! I admit that the groups are trying to fight an enemy who is far more powerful than both groups combined. However, if they start carrying out actions like kidnapping, I do not think that their agenda is right. The image and the message that gets conveyed to the world are ‘fanatics, extremists, cowards, terrorists etc’.
On the other hand Israel, a state that was founded by force and created in the middle of the Arab world, a state that was created with the help of the power players of the world that had other motives behind this action, a state which is one of the most powerful in the world, even though it does not have much resources. An undeclared nuclear power and a state with huge piles of weapons of mass destruction; has escalated this issue into something it is not.
There is no gain from this act of aggression. Fine! They should attack the military installations of the militant groups. But blowing up bridges, airports, infrastructure and killing civilians is a war crime. I suspect that bigger and broader goals are to be achieved by this act of aggression.
The UN Security Council has voted twice to call for a cease fire between the two parties, but alas the same old story, the United States vetoed both of them. I sometimes wonder why the US backs Israel so much. Is it because there is a lot of sentimental attachment with Israel? Is it because there are a lot of powerful Jews in the US? I don’t think so. There are bigger and longer term plans at work here I suspect. By destabilizing the most oil rich area in the world, the power players ensure that they can always have an influence/control in that are. When will Israel wake up and see that they are being used. The power players only have interest in the strategic importance of Israel not anything else. By having a powerful and trigger happy country in that region, the world powers ensure that the area may never be stable.

I have said this before; the UN is ineffective in its dealings and actions in the world. The Security Council does not have the right structure/balance or power that it needs to actually address the issues in the world at present. The 5 veto powers are not the right reflection of the world. It doesn’t make any sense if 100 countries of the world vote for one thing and then the US comes along and vetoes everything. There should be no veto powers for anyone, no country should be treated less or more than any other. But alas, I am dreaming.

As John Lennon said, ‘Imagine, there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for and no religion too. Imagine all the people life in peace. You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us and the world will be as ONE’

To head butt or not to head butt....

The football world cup finally wound up on Sunday night. Italy rejoiced as the azzuri beat les blues to win the Holy Grail. The biggest show on earth put on an amazing couple of weeks for the entire world to see. It became a platform for the world to see how Germany has changed post cold war and how it has united into one Germany. That was one of the best things to come out of the world cup this year. To see the Germans once again united under the one flag and be patriotic about their homeland was a treat. There were several highs in the world cup in my opinion, which are as follows in no particular order:
1. Australia coming back from 1-0 behind and scoring 3 goals in the last 8 minutes against Japan.
2. Ronaldo scoring a goal against Ghana to become the leading world cup scorer of all time
3. Germany winning on penalties against Argentina
I can go on about many others, but those described above are right up there.

As always, there were a few lows in the world cup too, which I do not want to go on about. There is only one moment that topped it all out....which is (you guessed it!) Zinedine Zidane head butting Materazzi in the world cup final and being sent off. One might think why such a legend and an icon would do such a thing. The person who is one of the coolest customers as they can come in football. The person who is an icon and a hero to many in France and people around the world. The person who was ending his glittering career on the day. Why?

Reports coming out from after the world cup suggest an interesting story. Some reports are saying that Materazzi called ZZ a 'dirty terrorist'. Of course he denies it rigorously. Whatever it was, it must be something really hurtful and offensive if it got through to ZZ.
Granted things happen during a competitive game, people say things, but a person who offends another by calling them or their family something is totally unacceptable.
It is different in different sports. In cricket for example sledging is accepted as being part of the game.
Football has taken the lead in putting out a message on racism in every single game in the final stages of the world cup. Both the team captains read out a statement shunning racism. But is that enough? When people's perception and ideas are governed by media in the world, can this or will this be of any help?
What Zidane did in the world cup final was not acceptable from a fair play/football point of view. But can what Materazzi said or did be forgiven?
I agree there should be rules governing this kind of thing and football is doing the right thing in promoting the message of racism and fair play.
However, in the end the way people are given the message by their governments and their media is the only thing that really matters.

Soccerwhos??

For those of you who don't know but the football world cup is going on in Germany these days. The nations that are taking part are gripped in football fever and especially countries that are doing well. Australia for one has gone crazy over football (or soccer as they call it here) for the reason being that never in history have they even scored a goal in the world cup, they didnt even qualify for more than 15 years or so for the world cup. Now scoring more than a goal, winning a game and giving the world champions Brazil a good fight have made Aussies excited for world football. Years that have gone by no one took notice in Australia as the biggest show on earth took place in some other part of the world. But it’s a good thing I suppose, football in this country would grow because of the performance of their world cup team, which is called 'Socceroos' here.
Australia faces Croatia in their final group game that will make or break their world cup campaign. Millions of Aussies will wake up at 5 in the morning to see their heroes make history. Thousands of Aussies will spend hundreds to thousands of dollars to be at the world cup to follow their beloved team. Millions of dollars will be spent worldwide by people to either watch the game or buy stuff related to the world cup.
It’s funny to think what kind of impact the same money would have on hunger and poverty in the world.
Enjoy the game!

The Bush Dynasty

I just had to share this cartoon. It was published in the Washington Post on May 12, 2006 by Tom Toles. If any of you don't know but this refers to Mr Bush mentioning in one of his great speeches that his brother would make a great president.

Call to Arm to the Teeth

"The Bush Administration wants the capability to produce 125 nuclear bombs a year by 2022.", Sydney Morning Herald April 2006

It is clear that the powers to be do not want to get rid of the world with weapons of mass destruction. The United States is one of only a handful few that has not signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The intentions are clear, fill nuclear weapons up to the teeth and act as a bully to the world. The United States has more nuclear weapons than any other country in the world today. More nuclear bombs by 2022? Any sane person would look at this and think, what are they scared of? Or trying to scare of? The only thing this action would do is to encourage other small aspiring nuclear countries to produce more of them or try to acquire them. What gives the US the right to have weapons of mass destruction as compared to the other countries in the world?
The amount of nuclear bombs the US has can destroy the entire planet 20 times over. It just scares me to think if sometime in the future there is a big conflict, the powers to be will destroy the world and we will sit by and watch.
The US is THE biggest producer of greenhouse gases in the world today. One of the only countries to have not signed the Kyoto agreement (the agreement that outlines a small plan to decrease the greenhouse gas emissions) is the United States.

In the end I suspect we will either watch the world powers destroy the world with a nuclear holocaust or the world powers will destroy the world by polluting the air and the sea. In both cases, we will have nothing to say. We will sit and watch as the world players decide our fate or I should rather say, decide our doom.

Sunshine

Well....I'm off to Leeton again....sunshine and blue skies, here I come!

10,000 days

10,000 days is the name of the new Tool album....I can't wait for it to come out! Theres an entire track listing on the official Tool website (www.toolband.com) as well. But I'm a little skeptical about the names, Tool have a tendency to lead their fans in another direction....come to think of it most singers/bands I like tend to do that....maybe thats the reason I like them. I'm dying of some new music to come out, I'm getting a little tired of the cds I have in my car...sigh if only the people who I like made music regularly. Apparently Trent has started to write new music while being on a break in his touring...I seriously believe that even if he has started writing, the new album wont see the light of day for at least two years!
On another completely different note, I was reading about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbitor successfully put itself into orbit around Mars. This is (I think) the first time that any man spacecraft has done this for Mars. Slowing down from such a high speed in space at the exact moment to put itself into orbit is an extremely hard thing to do....there is very little margin for error. This spacecraft will provide so much information that it will be equal to all missions to Mars ever! ...preeety interesting stuff!!

Freedom of Speech?

Freedom of speech is what they call this insult. There is no such thing as freedom of speech in this world of today. Insults and no respect are given to other religions/cultures. There is only one good and the rest are evil. No words I can say can express what and how I feel about this. Even though I know how they feel about all this and always have, but seeing it happen so openly still hurts the very core of every Muslim in the world.
On a brighter note, this shows the true power and the unity Muslims have. Only one thing can unite all of them, which is what we’re seeing these days. From South East Asia to Europe and to America, everyone is united for once into one. If only all of the Muslims of the world would forget about bitter differences and unite. The world map would look a lot different to what it is now.

On a side note, I have been visiting a very different part of Australia these days. I am visiting a town called Leeton which is in the heart of the rice growing areas of Australia. It is in the middle of New South Wales and you can only get here in a small propeller plane. You get here and you see what Australia is really all about. I have not met a single non Aussie person here. People look at me and have ‘that’ look, meaning they know I’m not from around here. People are friendly and warm. Everyone knows everyone. Whenever you pass anyone on the street while walking, they would smile and say hello. There is only one small market, no malls, no McDonald’s even. People live in big houses with big yards and swimming pools, 40 degree temperatures every day and cloudless skies.
Small towns, sunshine, isolation, smiling and warm Australians, that is the real Australia.

Clear and present danger

It is the taste of the time, ‘Terrorism’ is evil. The term terrorism has been in use since the Reagan years, when the Cold war was winding up. It seemed that the people in power needed this in order to present a case to the public about this danger that they were facing. As far as I can recall, I remember people living in fear, one thing or the other. There is always something that you need to be afraid of in this world. Before the time of Islamic militancy, there was the cold war where the world watched as the world’s two superpowers played a game of chess, using countries as pawns. But was it really between two superpowers? History as we now know it is based on events such as the Cuban missile crisis. Almost everyone who knows about the cold war knows about this crisis. But little do they realise and know what the details were behind this crisis. The United States placed its Jupiter missiles in Turkey that directly threatened cities in western parts of the Soviet Union. When the Russians lodged a complaint to the Americans, they were given an answer like any bully would give, ‘Go fuck yourselves!’ Russia did not take this gesture very seriously and continued to pursue a means for the Americans to remove these from Turkey but to no avail. It even went to the UN to resolve this issue but the Americans did not take kindly to this and continued placing their missiles in Turkey. History/Media would suggest that it was the Russians who created a threat when they put missiles aimed at America. The United States went to the UN to expose the ‘missile threat’ and almost even started the war because of this crisis during the Kennedy years.
Americans lived in fear throughout the cold war. Children were hiding beneath their desks showing a sign of readiness in the United States. But was there really a threat? Take statistics of the military capability, it is clear who was the superpower in this ‘conflict’. So was there really a clear and present danger? Maybe there was, but the fact of the matter is, it was the United States and its policies that created this mass hysteria and panic. Countless movies have come and gone presenting an American view of the cold war. Don’t people realise that there are always two sides to one story?
American policy has always been to make its own people live in a sense of fear, Why do you ask? Well it is clear. The US in its long term goal of world domination knows if their own population is under control, they can keep on building weapons of mass destruction and keep on expanding its ‘war on terror’ to a number of countries without having to answer at home. The American people are the only ones that can do anything to the United States. The people of power there know this. They know that if they don’t present a credible threat to its people, there will be no support for any kind of war.
Terrorism has always been on the agenda for a very long time, but how do they show that there is a clear threat to the people of United States? Fortunately for them, 9/11 happened. This was an ideal opportunity! They can do everything and anything based on the face of terror. New laws, new rules! The phrase of innocent until proven guilty was turned upside down and meant that one is guilty until proven innocent.
There will always be a clear and present danger present. That is why I don’t think that mankind will ever evolve enough to reach the level of Star Trek (where there is total peace in the world and mankind has united into one). There will always be a clear and present danger present that allows the power players to control this world of ours.