Ring of Kerry

Well, we must be doing something right, since even today for our trip out around the whole ring of Kerry we had mild warm weather and partly sunny to partly cloudy skies! An absolutely beautiful experience, revisiting the fern cliffs we met on Aran in Scotland and in la Bretagne, the cliffs of Ouessant, but, 'tis true, Ireland's (Kerry's) are the greenest.

And here is a link to the photos of the day, of which only one is being posted directly here, the two (in)famous Skelling islands.

Another beautiful day

Out on the second morning to the picturesque harbor town of Cobh with colorful houses and a broken harbor tour boat. So we dropped into the mansion in Fotah on the way back in before a fabulous lunch at the Olde English Market in Cork. Detti even ate tripe and drisheen!

Beginning Cork...

On time arrival yesterday evening, and a morning/early afternoon stroll about town to get the feel of this Irish town. Very nice B&B room & host, breakfast, "soft" weather to some sun, enjoyable, and out again later.
And some first photos for the folks...

Cork vacation

And now to be seen in a cinema near you...

Just a brief slideshow of pix so far with sis...

Briefly noted...

... with more to follow, but so far the itinerary accomplished:
1. airport pickup uneventful and sister stable
2. sightseeing to Kladow and Italian restaurant late lunch (no cards!) enjoyable
3. lunch with Edith (German food - no cards!) and cheese cake after - family fun
4. Porgy & Bess at the Deutsche Oper: orchestra too loud, no dynamics or subtlety; singers good, as much as we could hear them; overall impression: not as good as it was cooked up to be
5. trip to Spreewald for a pole-barge trip (restaurant lunch while it rained - no cards!) turned out great because the sky cleared for our huckleberry adventure through the maze of canals
6. tomorrow: Vietnamese specialty restaurant for lunch, Bernie & Rosie coming afternoon for coffee.
.... pix and more later, but sisters have to be kept entertained, so......

Festival for New US Embassy in Berlin

For the official opening yesterday with only invited guests, it rained cats and dogs and most left early, as soon as the speeches were over.
But today, for the festival for normal people, ...

... what the 4th of July was really all about, the sun was shining, 250,000 people were there and happy, the food was good, the music was great, and we were there and took some pix (see above). Obama's stand received more attention than any other info offering, the US Embassy's stand indeed offering nothing at all, not even a copy of the Declaration of Independence. The stand of the German government did provide a very nice booklet of 60 years of US-German (Federal Republic) friendship in photos, filling a gap that the playpen left open.

Thanks for Disappearing !

One of the best gifts imaginable for the United States on its birthday, perhaps the only one this misguided fanatic ever gave to his country, was the death of Jesse Helms yesterday, also one embarrassment less for another native son of that man's home state whose university, UNC-Chapel Hill, he once said should be driven out of the country because it was a hotbed of pinko liberal fagotism. I have always been proud to be a graduate of the university Jesse Helms so despised. The man was never more than a hot-headed rabble-rousing TV commentator from eastern NC: a fool laughed at in my childhood, a senator who damaged the state and the country in my young adult years.

The New York Times

Jesse Helms Dies at 86; Conservative Force in the Senate
By STEVEN A. HOLMES, Published: July 5, 2008

Jesse Helms, the former North Carolina senator with the courtly manner and mossy drawl who turned his hard-edged conservatism against civil rights, gay rights, foreign aid and modern art, died early Friday. He was 86.

Jesse Helms: Polarizer, not a compromiser - washingtonpost.com

WASHINGTON -- "Compromise, hell!" Jesse Helms screamed in a 1959 editorial that captured what would become the legacy of his Senate career and his place in the conservative movement. [...]
No to civil rights. No to abortion. No to communism. No to the United Nations. No to gay rights. No to arts funding with nakedness. No to school busing. No to the U.S. giving up the Panama Canal. No to a nuclear arms reduction treaty called Salt II.

Unpretty Secure Playpen for July 4th

The link below leads to a slide-show of the new US Embassy building at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

Bildergalerie: Die neue US-Botschaft in Berlin Nachrichten auf ZEIT online

Graue Maus mit Panzer
Am Pariser Platz neben dem Brandenburger Tor wird heute die neue amerikanische Vertretung eingeweiht. Jahrelang wurde über das Botschaftsgebäude gestritten. Eine Bildergalerie
Wie eine Sparkasse sehe sie von vorne aus, sagen böse Zungen über die neue amerikanische Botschaft. Damit befindet sich der Neubau immerhin in guter Gesellschaft mit den zahlreichen Bankgebäuden am Pariser Platz.

The article text quoted above resembles most comments on the grayly drab architecture behind security walls as more of a turn-off than an invitation to America.

My hope remains that the building can soon be imbued with true American spirit after an election for a new president who at least THINKS about the principes which led to that declartion of independence in 1776.

And here, some of those words in the original version as Thomas Jefferson wrote them (from the beginning and the final sentence):

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, & the pursuit of happiness: that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, & to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, & organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety & happiness.

[...]

And for the support of this declaration we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, & our sacred honor.

[SOURCE: Volume 1 of the "Federal Edition" of Jefferson’s works in 12 volumes edited by Paul Leicester Ford in 1904-05. This volume contains the Autobiography, The Anas, and correspondence and miscellaneous writings from 1760-1770.]

Considering the Fourth of July

Tomorrow, the new American Embassy will be officially inaugurated in Berlin, on the site it occupied until the ravages and evil of the Third Reich.
It is unfortunate that it will be opened by represenatives of an administration that consider the Constitution their own private playpen and trample on the rights and liberties and principles of justice foremost in the minds of those who drafted and signed the Declaration of Independence 232 years ago. Bushbaby and the Chainy gang have never understood what it's all about, nor do they have any concept of true patriotism. Fortunately, the Embassy represents the country, all of the American people, and Germans and Berliners know Americans can stand up for the good. Let us hope and act together that a new administration of principle will soon determine the Ambassador who officiates in this building.

For this year's Independence Day, let's reflect on this:

The speech on patriotism delivered by Barack Obama in Independence, Missouri

Bushbaby In Wonderland

Now that the Supreme Court has allowed judicial review of playpenal operations in Guantánamo, the world can read a federal court decision attesting that the bushbaby, far from operating in a legal framework, has pushed justice fully into the realm of the Mad Hatter and others seeking to drive Alice mad in wonderland...

Evidence Faulted in Detainee Case - NYTimes.com

In the first case to review the government’s secret evidence for holding a detainee at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, a federal appeals court found that accusations against a Muslim from western China held for more than six years were based on bare and unverifiable claims. The unclassified parts of the decision were released on Monday.
With some derision for the Bush administration’s arguments, a three-judge panel said the government contended that its accusations against the detainee should be accepted as true because they had been repeated in at least three secret documents.
The court compared that to the absurd declaration of a character in the Lewis Carroll poem “The Hunting of the Snark”: “I have said it thrice: What I tell you three times is true.”
“This comes perilously close to suggesting that whatever the government says must be treated as true,” said the panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

CSD in Berlin 2008

Another June comes to an end and Berlin put on another outrageous CSD parade, festival, demonstration, as these few photos will attest.The 30th Berlin CSD. Included are also some shots of the newly finished and inaugurated official memorial of the German Federal Government to the homosexuals persecuted and murdered by the Nazis in the Third Reich. It stands diagonally across the street from the massive memorial to the Nazi-murdered Jews of Europe and continues its motif,

though as a single stone with a window onto a scene of two men kissing at that very spot in the park where the

memorial is located, a favorite gathering point at the time the Nazis were hunting homosexuals. Just down the street is the new highly secured US Embassy, just opened for business and to be inaugurated on July 4 in private followed by a public party (outside on the public square) the next day, and which witnessed the parade of gays and lesbians passing by today, a reminder of what the US can stand for that's good and a hope that it will again in the future.

Pulp Fiction Becomes Reality

The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that YOU have an individual right to have a handgun; that the millionaire's campaign funding law is unconstitutional; that Guantánamo captives have the right to habeas corpus, and this video draws the proper conclusion.

As the title of this post denotes, when reality emerges from Pulp Fiction, perhaps there is hope after all.

+-+-+--+-+-+

And what if the German team loses to Spain in the European Soccer Cup Sunday evening? But then the city of Berlin will celebrate second place for its team just as it did two years ago when they lost the World Cup and it will be as outrageous at the Brandenburg Gate as any victory celebration elsewhere. Many Germans would go into mourning, however, because they take soccer VERRRRRY seriously. Then again, Spain may lose, Catalonia may gain full autonomy, and Madrid can wear black.

LIBERATED !!!

The Berlin mom went into the hospital AND got sent home today - freed - WITHOUT having to undergo a sixth round of chemo. Everything is apparently OK (lab work, sonograms, etc.), as she learned from all the tests and doctors talks they made her spend the day there for. That wracked her nerves so much we had to remind her to cheer for getting through the whole business!

HOORAY FOR THE BERLIN MOM!

She doesn't even have to go in for blood counts, just for a check-up in three weeks or so. She's emerging from the treatment back into the normal world and feels just fine, doesn't have any intention of taking them up on the rehabilitation program she could have to "get back on her feet", since, as she puts it, "I'm already doing everything I ever did or want to do. I want to be at home without having to go anywhere."
Congratulations on having successfully dealt with 7 months of nearly non-stop treatment of a very severe condition. Operation, radiation, chemotherapy - all finished and we're assuming the Berlin Mom is as fit as the fiddle she sounds like!

A Matter of Perception

If it is a matter of perception whether torture is torture or is not torture, then perception is now rather similar to the view of the world that dreamed up the test witches were subjected to in Salem and environs in the 17th Century. If they survived the drowning, burning, or whatever other lethal method was used, it proved they were a witch and they had to be killed. If they died, well oops, the accusers were wrong. You can see such a graveyard in Boston, quite near Bunker Hill in fact.
Shame is what the playpen has brought to America while claiming to bring it security. Security has not been increased, but normal people are being spied on everywhere as one country after another follows the US lead and curtails human rights and freedom of speech (and I don't just mean China).
And the bad guys are aware that Americans torture and are no longer prepared to pull any punches! (And besides, is a suicide bomber afraid of water-boarding?)

- The New York Times
Notes Show Confusion on Interrogation Methods
By MARK MAZZETTI and SCOTT SHANE, Published: June 18, 2008
When military officers at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, struggled in the fall of 2002 to find ways to get terrorism suspects to talk, they turned to the one agency that had spent several months experimenting with the limits of physical and psychological pressure: the Central Intelligence Agency.
They took the top lawyer for the C.I.A.’s Counterterrorist Center to Guantánamo, where he explained that the definition of illegal torture was “written vaguely.”
“It is basically subject to perception,” said the lawyer, Jonathan M. Fredman, according to meeting minutes released Tuesday at a Senate hearing. “If the detainee dies, you’re doing it wrong.”

A rose is a rose is a rose, and torture by any other name smells just as rotten.

Wait, and then wait some more...

Monday, the Berlin mom was told her leucocytes weren't yet up enough for her to begin her last round of chemo. She had to wait till today. Today they still weren't up enough, so she now has to wait till next Monday, and if they aren't up enough then, they will have to forget the last round, because more than five weeks from start to start is not allowed. Her doctor in the hospital today told her maybe she simply won't need the last round, since the chemo obviously has such a long effect on her.
So we tried to encourage her to hope they'll tell her Monday that she's finished without having to start again, but she's quite down in the dumps about the wait, rather fears they will start on Monday after all, and her whole planning for the month will be down the drain, because she wanted to go to cat-sit for her other son and his wife while they're on vacation beginning on the 28th. If she has to have the final round, she will just then be getting out.
So lets hope the doctors just give her a dispensation and let her concentrate on getting her system back up to full steam once and for all. The chemo has obviously already been successful, though she, as she says, doesn't understand any of that.
All she knows is, she feels fine and wants to have control of her own life again - fully.

5. Atelier- und Gartenfest im Atelier von Erich Paproth

5th Studio and Garden Party in Erich Paproth's Berlin Village

Samstag, den 14. Juni 2008 ab 16 Uhr

Yesterday, 14 June 2008 from 4pm on

Es zeigen ihre Arbeiten und werden persönlich anwesend sein:

Artists showing their works and present for the garden party:

Kerstin Grimm, Berlin, http://www.kerstingrimm.de/
Skulpturen aus der Serie „Stunde der Dämonen“ (2007/8)

Sculptures from her series "The Hour of the Demons" (07/08)

Lucía Peinado Metsch, Berlin
„Quijoterie-Quijotada“ (2008)
Linoldruck in 48 Blättern: Präsentation zur Abschlussarbeit an der Kunsthochschule Weissensee

48 sheets linoprint, presentation for diploma project at Weißensee College of Art

Martina Büttner, Malakoff bei Paris
Arbeiten auf Papier: „Freche Frösche und andere Gestalten“

Works on paper: "Fresh Frogs and Other Creatures"

Erich Paproth, Berlin
neue Arbeiten auf Leinwand

New works on canvas

Um ca. 20:00 Uhr liest

Reading at app. 8pm by

Bettina Rolfes, Hamburg, www.writersroom.de/bettinarolfes.htm
Prosa und Lyrik unter dem Thema „Bunte Worte“

Prose and poetry on the theme "colorful words"

And here are some more photographic impressions of a very pleasant and often amusing afternoon and evening.

Clever !

I thought this meant something the first time I saw it, even if you can only see the one party known to me and the other one known only to her from behind. They are clearly holding hands while walking on the street at night! Is this interesting to my sister perhaps? Or to my nephew (of whom perhaps some uniform shots my soon appear here)?

Thanks and credit to Darth Rachel, who took the photo in Barcelona and flickered it under this link.

The Supreme Court Justly Slaps the Bushbaby and his Playpen!

The New York Times

Washington
Justices Rule Terror Suspects Can Appeal in Civilian Courts
By DAVID STOUT / Published: June 13, 2008
The Supreme Court rejected the Bush administration’s argument that the Guantánamo Bay detainees had adequate protections under a 2005 law.

And here is a link to the full text of the Supreme Court decision:
Boumediene v. Bush

Gore Vidal’s Article of Impeachment

Truthdig - Reports - Gore Vidal’s Article of Impeachment:

I wish to draw the attention of the blog world to Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s articles of impeachment presented to the House in order that two faithless public servants be removed from office for crimes against the American people. As I listened to Rep. Kucinich invoke the great engine of impeachment—he listed some 35 crimes by these two faithless officials—we heard, like great bells tolling, the voice of the Constitution itself speak out ringingly against those who had tried to destroy it.

And I would like to express my deep respect for both Mr. Kucinich and Mr. Vidal ! It is good that some are thinking about and voicing dismay at the crimes of the playpen. The two faithless officials Gore Vidal is here referring to are of course the sitting President and Vice-President of the United States. They are those two renegades here always called the bushbaby and the chainy one.

Waiting Another Week...

The Berlin mom, with platelet counts of only 18 yesterday when we visited and lunched with her on "süß-saure Eier" in which she forgot to put the vinegar and sugar in the sauce that gives the dish its name and then added it at the table, nonetheless went off to the hospital this morning with her bag packed in hopes they would begin her final round of chemo. It was rather clear they wouldn't, with such low counts, the same reason she had to wait out a week the last time.

Well, she phoned from back home to say she should have listened to us and not taken the bag, that her counts were up to 40 (they want 100 before a new round), and they had sent her home to wait until a week from today to return and begin that last round but that she needn't go in for lab work anymore till then.

She could laugh, though she was irritated about the delay, agreed that the pitichiae are a sign since the doctor confirmed that today, and that she has no choice but to wait. Asked what she planned to do with the unexpected free week she had been given, she said she'd have to think of something, and hopes that it won't take long after she finishes Friday week before she doesn't have to deal with any of the side effects at all anymore.

Patience, thy name is a patient!

„radiomultikulti“ muss bleiben!!!

Wir verurteilen den Beschluss des rbb, den Sendebetrieb „radiomultikulti“ zum 01.01.2009 einzustellen, auf das Schärfste und fordern dessen sofortige Rücknahme! Lassen Sie rbb wissen, daß auch Sie gegen die Einstellung sind!

Das Programm und die 21 verschiedenen Sprachen des Radiosenders radiomultikulti spiegeln die Vielfalt der Berliner Gesellschaft wider. Radiomultikulti hat sich - auch überregional - als DIE mediale Integrationsstimme etabliert. Der Sender zeichnet mit seinem vielfältigen Programm ein ausgewogenes Bild der Lebenswirklichkeit von Migrantinnen und Migranten im Einwanderungsland Deutschland. Er leistet einen signifikanten Beitrag für eine aktive Partizipation. Die Entscheidung des rbb stellt die Glaubwürdigkeit des Nationalen Integrationsplans (NIP) in Frage, an dem die öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten maßgeblich mitgewirkt haben. Auch die Migrantinnen und Migranten tragen zur Finanzierung der öffentlichen Medienanstalten bei. Sie würden durch die Schließung von radiomultikulti faktisch institutionell diskriminiert werden. Wir fordern den rbb nachdrücklich auf, seine Entscheidung rückgängig zu machen. Ferner werden alle politischen Entscheidungsträger aufgefordert, auf eine Rücknahme der skandalösen Schließungsentscheidung des rbb hinzuwirken.

http://www.migrationsrat.de/
http://www.multikulti.de/
http://www.rbb-online.de/

Γермано Российский Фестиваль

Deutsch Russische Festtage in Berlin Karlshorst from June 6-8...

First, on the evening of the first day of the three-day German Russian Festival, we ate pelmeni and bliny and drank kwas, and took no pictures of that. Then it was on to the really rather sensational program of this second annual festival, which the organizers hope to establish permanently, a good idea considering the long on-going German American and German French festivals every year here. And of these acts, we snapped a few photos, slide show below.

First, Iweria, a youth dance group from the Olympic city Sotchi, with traditional Russian dances.

Then Ludmila Nikolaeva and Russkaya Dusha (Russian Soul) from Moscow with traditional to pop Russian music accompanied by another dance group. She was really good, as the youtube insert gives a hint of, despite the video having poor sound, as made with our digicam. (And here, therefore, a link to a Russian TV broadcast of one of her songs when she won their folk music award in 2005.)

Finally, Die Prinzen, one of Germany's most successful pop groups with a full act of their irreverent harmonic songs. Their encore led into the spectacular firework show to close out the evening. And here a link to some of Die Prinzen songs from youtube: "Deutschland"; "Millionär"; and "Schwein Sein"!

And we had front row seats in the grandstands at the former racetrack in Karlshorst where the whole thing took place. You can experience most of the world right here in Berlin.

Playpen Playing Poker ...

How many more dirty tricks will the bushbaby try to pull off (with approving nods from Johnny McCaney in the wings) before he's finally ridden out of town?
The Iraq war was foisted onto Americans and the world for reasons other than those presented to Congress, citizens, the UN, and the world, or for reasons of profit for large corporations, or for no reason at all. In other words, this ongoing war was based on LIES:

The New York Times
Editiorial June 6, 2008
The Truth About the War
A new report shows clearly that President Bush should have known that important claims he made about Iraq did not conform with intelligence reports.

Guantánamo is precisely the kind of crime the bushbaby claims those imprisoned there have committed: an attack on western democracy, justice, and freedom. It is a crime with which the bushbaby will always be identified, and a crime that the next president must speedily act to remedy. CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO and release those held there or try them in normal courts under normal judicial procedures.

Edito du Monde
Guantanamo, hélas !
LE MONDE 06.06.08 13h38
La base militaire de Guantanamo restera donc, jusqu'au bout, le symbole accablant de la présidence de George Bush. Ce camp-prison résume tous les égarements auxquels la "guerre contre le terrorisme" a conduit l'Amérique depuis les attentats du 11 septembre 2001. L'ouverture du procès des cinq premiers détenus accusés d'avoir fomenté ces attentats et d'y avoir participé en apporte une nouvelle démonstration.
...
Les candidats à l'élection présidentielle américaine, Barack Obama et John McCain, ont tous les deux exprimé le souhait de voir fermer le camp de Guantanamo. Le prochain occupant de la Maison Blanche honorerait son pays si sa première décision politique consistait à mettre en oeuvre cette volonté et à renoncer aux tribunaux d'exception. La démocratie ne peut combattre la barbarie en renonçant au droit.

And now, the playpen is also trying to place Iraq under more or less permanent military and entrepreneurial tutelage, making it impossible for a successor to withdraw from that quagmire, and also making nationalist rebellion, if not provincial secession, likely there.

The Independent
Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control
Bush wants 50 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and legal immunity for all American soldiers and contractors
By Patrick CockburnThursday, 5 June 2008

A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November.
The terms of the impending deal, details of which have been leaked to The Independent, are likely to have an explosive political effect in Iraq. Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law, will destabilise Iraq's position in the Middle East and lay the basis for unending conflict in their country.
But the accord also threatens to provoke a political crisis in the US. President Bush wants to push it through by the end of next month so he can declare a military victory and claim his 2003 invasion has been vindicated. But by perpetuating the US presence in Iraq, the long-term settlement would undercut pledges by the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, to withdraw US troops if he is elected president in November.

...

The US is adamantly against the new security agreement being put to a referendum in Iraq, suspecting that it would be voted down. The influential Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has called on his followers to demonstrate every Friday against the impending agreement on the grounds that it compromises Iraqi independence.
The Iraqi government wants to delay the actual signing of the agreement but the office of Vice-President Dick Cheney has been trying to force it through. The US ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, has spent weeks trying to secure the accord.
The signature of a security agreement, and a parallel deal providing a legal basis for keeping US troops in Iraq, is unlikely to be accepted by most Iraqis. But the Kurds, who make up a fifth of the population, will probably favour a continuing American presence, as will Sunni Arab political leaders who want US forces to dilute the power of the Shia. The Sunni Arab community, which has broadly supported a guerrilla war against US occupation, is likely to be split.

And as a former Iraqi minister sees it, in a column also from The Independent:

Ali Allawi: This raises huge questions over our independence
Thursday, 5 June 2008

It is only now that Iraqis have woken up to the possibility that Iraq might be a signatory on a long-term security treaty with the US, as a price for regaining its full sovereignty. Iraqis must know its details and implications. How would such an alliance constrain Iraq's freedom in choosing its commercial, military and political partners? Will Iraq be obliged to openly or covertly support all of America's policies in the Middle East? These are issues of a vital nature that cannot be brushed aside with the Iraqi government's platitudes about "protecting Iraqi interests". A treaty of such singular significance to Iraq cannot be rammed through with less than a few weeks of debate. Otherwise, the proposed strategic alliance will most certainly be a divisive element in Iraqi politics. It will have the same disastrous effect as the treaty with Britain nearly eighty years ago.

Send the entire playpen to Crawford and lock them in: bushbaby, condy ricey, chainy, and the entire gang!

Squeezing a Vacation Trip In

Just firmed up our bookings: After Jenn comes for a concert and Terri spends a week here with us, we're taking off the next evening for a week in Cork (Ireland). Details as it nears, but we were lucky to get a week planned at all this year! The Emerald Island!

Fahrradsternfahrt / Bikes from all directions

A bike demonstration from everywhere on the edge to the center of town. Masses involved, and afterwards lunch at Andy's where you can't tell in and out for utter modernity.

A Summer Evening Stroll

With the temps over 30°C, the skies immaculately blue, the humidity rising, summer led us out for a stroll along the river and canal banks yesterday evening, and here you can glimpse a little of what we saw. Berlin is truly a wonderful city!

Surprised Is Not the Right Word

No, I'm not surprised about the deviousness, lies, manipulation, cynicism, obliviousness, and incompetence that Mr. McClellan, a former bushbaby playmate, has also, with the tardiness of a very bad pupil, finally detected in that playpen; I'm not even surprised that the playpen has ordered spin doctors out to US talkshows (which I'm grateful are not aired here); I'm not even shocked anymore that the bushbaby won't change his despicably dangerous and harmful policies. No, I didn't need another birthday for that, even if I've had one this week.
All I needed was to garner and read as much information as I could and then just think. That's all that surprises me, no, surprise is still not the right word. That's all that sickens me: that some people are either unable or too stubornly unwilling to think!
The world is hoping for an end to the playpen, with no replacement rattler-shakers with a cane, of the mac or mc or any other variety. The entire world is in dire need of a United States which returns to the fold of the just and begins again to understand and support human rights and freedoms. It is essential that the Democrats drive the Republicans of the playpen and its environs as far out of DC as possible. And that is also no surprise.

The New York Times
Washington
McClellan Responds to White House Criticism
By JOHN HOLUSHA
Published: May 30, 2008
Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan continued to press his case Thursday that the Bush administration manipulated intelligence to justify the war in Iraq, and responded to a growing chorus of criticism from other former administration officials.
Appearing on NBC’s Today show, Mr. McClellan said that the administration ignored evidence that contradicted its position on Iraq, and he sharply criticized some of Mr. Bush’s closest advisers.

Flowers By Bike

Another sunny, temperate, blue-sky early summer day in Berlin today gave us the chance to visit Edith, who finally got released at 2:30 in the afternoon on Friday and was home at 3pm, and enjoy a simple meal of noodles with tomato sauce with onions, bacon bits, and sausage, play a rousing round of Skat with her, a card game similar to bridge but for three and which I today, exceptionally, won. We also had chocolate pudding.

Difficult to do things for, she at least admitted her house was bare without any flowers as she'd not had a chance to get any, so we picked her up a nice little arrangement on our way by bike from the Spendlersfeld S-Bahn station to her place, and she was pleased.
She's hoping her counts will allow an on-time start for her last session of chemo, scheduled to begin on Monday, June 9, although her first indication will be after blood work on Wednesday.
Laughing and cheerful she was, feeling fine, glad to be home, and very happy about the greeting from two people commenting on this blog, though we didn't delve into questions of Alter or Niedlichkeit, assuming it was better just to pass on, interpretatively, that my sister supports her mother-logic and my niece finds her stamina praiseworthy. (I believe they can both live with my exegetic delivery of their message, when they hear that Edith smiled and said thanks.)

NO to Censorship - EVERYWHERE !

NO to censorship in China. No to censorship in Islamic countries. No to censorship in Europe. No to censorship in the United States. No to censorship of books, art, cartoons, caricatures, music, film. No to censorship of the Internet.

Joe Lieberman has completely disqualified himself as representative of democracy and has abandoned the struggle to maintain and defend and spread freedom and justice in the world.

The New York Times explains:

Editorial
Joe Lieberman, Would-Be Censor
Published: May 25, 2008

The Internet is simply a means of communication, like the telephone, but that has not prevented attempts to demonize it — the latest being the ludicrous claim that the Internet promotes terrorism.

Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut is trying to pressure YouTube to pull down videos he does not like, and a recent Senate report and a bill pending in Congress also raise the specter of censorship. It is important for online speech to be protected against these assaults.

[...]

Not only do these efforts contradict fundamental American values, it is not clear if they would help fight terrorism. Even if YouTube pulled down every video Mr. Lieberman did not like, radical groups could post the same videos on their own Web sites. Trying to restrain the Internet is a game of “whack-a-mole” that cannot be won, says John Morris of the Center for Democracy and Technology. Having the videos on YouTube may even be a good thing, because it makes it easier for law enforcement officials, the media and the public to monitor the groups and their messages.
Terrorism is a real concern. All Americans know that. They also know that if we give up our fundamental rights, the terrorists win. If people use speech to engage in criminal acts, they should be prosecuted. Cutting off free speech is never the right answer.

(Please also take the trouble to re-read the post on the film about the Charlie Hebdo case in Cannes below.)

Old and Adorable, Too

I'm not sure if my sister's and niece's descriptions would be exactly pleasing to the Berlin mom, though their thinking of her is certainly a welcome boost, but perhaps they are thereby revealing the extent of their own age and adorability! (See their comments two posts down.)

Nonetheless, this morning when we called her, Edith was already dressed, had packed her overnight bag, and was waiting for her release papers to go home. She had no nausea this time, and has no idea what her counts are, but "They said I can go home this morning and that's that." We were probably lucky to get her before she cashed in her hospital phone card and became unreachable until she reaches home, as she refuses to learn to operate a mobile, much less to let any of us give her one.

So now, she can wait two weeks and then face her sixth and final round.

A big round of cheers for a fine lady (whom other old and/or adorable ones can label as such)!

It's Rough When Fools Love You!

On the premiere at the Cannes Film Festival of Daniel Leconte's documentary on the Mohammed caricatures and Charlie Hebdo. Not only red carpets and paparazzi populate la Croisette!

C'est dur d'être aimé par des cons!

Un journaliste à Cannes
by FRANCE_24

Third Day of Fifth Round

This morning:

"Hold on, I want to put us all three together in a conference call."
"What?"
"You there, too?"
"Yup."
"Oh, that's what you meant."
"Now you've got us both to talk to."
"I can go home on Friday."
"No transfusion this time?"
"No, otherwise I couldn't have started the chemo on Monday and wouldn't be home until Saturday."
"So that's good."
"Yeah, one day less is good when you're counting them down."
"You deserve it."
"Now I have to take iron tablets."
"We told you you should eat nails."
"Or nutella."
"I don't eat that crap."
"Or you could use a rusty nail as a lollipop."
"That would at least be funny."
"And how are you feeling?"
"Are you tired? nauseous?"
"I'm never tired. And nausea doesn't come till the last day."
"Then enjoy your breakfast."
"I already did. Talk to you later. Bye."

Clap Your Hands ...

... and the last piece of glass just sort of tears through your skin so you can pluck it out. It hardly even bled; but at least I can now dispense with that planned second "surgery" on Wednesday! And this piece is being placed in my private museum of corporal oddities; my permanent memory in physical form of New Year's Eve 2007-08!

Brühnudel !

Yeah, we had our homemade Brühnudel with Edith yesterday for lunch, then played a pleasant round of Skat, which Detti of course won, and went next door to her neighbors for coffee and cake, because they wanted to thank us (!) for keeping them informed when Edith is in for treatments. She feels fine, of course, will return to the clinic tomorrow to begin, though she's still adding, "If they let me stay," her next-to-the-last round of chemo. "I'm not going to buy the telephone card until Tuesday, cause otherwise it will run out before I leave if I have to stay a day longer." That's mother-logic if there's ever been any, just like being able to put your feet with socks on (that you've tramped through the whole apartment in) on the couch but not your bare feet which you just pulled those same socks off of.
And next Wednesday they're cutting another piece of glass out of my hand which has decided to move to the surface and make itself noticeable in the past couple of weeks. It's been there more than four months and hasn't paid any rent! But that's a minor irritation in comparison to what Edith's facing. So three cheers for the Berlin-Mom and all wishes for a complication-free administration of several IV-bottles full of anticarcinogens!

A Week's Delay Is a Week Well Won

... At least that's what I tried to convince Edith of when she called, not to give us her phone number in her hospital room as we expected, but to say they'd sent her back home to wait another week due to her counts, still to low to begin her fifth round. She sounded as disappointed as a little kid who's just been told how many more days he has to wait till Christmas, not that she exactly relishes the chemo, but, as she described the new starting date, "I'd've had my fifth round behind me by then." At least she doesn't have to go in every other day for new lab work in the meantime; she can simply wait and show up next week. "And then it takes a week. That means the last one can't be over before mid-June." Because, she's counting down the days to be done with this ordeal. But she could laugh. And getting her to think about kids she's seen on chemo helped her muster up her own courage again, because she unabashedly admires those little tykes.

And she said we can probably have our Brühnudel then on the weekend, something she's been wanting to make us again for a long time. (Run some searches on that one, and you'll find things like: "Brühnudel = Hühnernudelsuppe, natürlich selbstgemacht, und seeehr lecker".)

Additionally, I must give credit to Darth Rachel for putting me onto the link for these wonderful videos/short films by Isabella Rosellini (which by the way have NOTHING to do with Brühnudeln). Shown at the Berlin Film Festival in the spring, they had already gotten my attention, but I had no link to an online chance to see them, until now, and here it is.

GREEN PORNO, by Isabella Rosellini

And one still photo from her studio.

+++++++

UPDATE NOTE: Tastelessly tacky and not at all green but terribly pornographic is the message the Sundance Channel (where the films are online) is giving to people clicking to see the shorts from European IP addresses as of May 15: "Not available in your territory ... will be released outside the U.S. in July ... check back periodically." Supposedly you can still watch the behind-the-scenes clips, but get the exact same message when you try. What utter disgusting parochialism! The films were first shown RIGHT HERE WHERE I'M TYPING THIS! I suppose you can still call them up within my american birth-place playpen. A big loud BOO for sundance, which has also blocked all the youtube versions! That's anti-establishment for you! Internatioal is the web, except for chinese and playpen organizations or what? FREEDOM for GREEN PORNO ! NOW !

Mother's Day in the Real World

Friday morning:
"The number you are calling is no longer in service."
So, let's try the Berlin mom's home phone....
"We're not in right now, but..."
So, let's ask Detti if he's heard from her.
"No, not yet. Why? Has she left the hospital?"
"Well, I suppose, but I can't reach her yet."
So, let's ask her other son: No answer.
So, let's ask his wife at work: Wrong branch of the bank she works in, they try to transfer me, but she's in a meeting with a customer, so they leave our number for a call back.
So, let's try her home phone again.
"Hello! Wait, let me dump these bags."
"Did I make you run for the phone?"
"No, I just got in after walking home from the hospital. I would have called to let you know."
"So, did you fake them out about someone being at home with you? Should we come spend the night just to be on the safe side?"
"No. My counts went back up. They let me out without conditions."
"And when do you have to go back?"
"Not until Tuesday; then they start the next chemo round or do a transfusion first, depending on the counts."
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine. Now I have to hang up and go grocery shopping. Have to get my bike out of the basement."
"Please be careful."
"Don't be silly."
"We like being silly."

Friday evening:
"So how are you doing."
"I'm fine. So you're both coming for Sunday lunch? I already bought everything for gulash."
"Yes, or we could take you out for Mother's Day."
"We're going out afterwards: to Heiko & Steffi for coffee and cake in the afternoon and then grilling in the evening."
"Yes, they asked us to, and we told them we'd leave it up to how you're feeling."
"I'm completely up to it."
"And to both grandkids at once?"
"You two can keep them busy. And besides, I feel fine."

And in fact Sunday was a very nice day for all of us. Edith enjoyed it all, her friend had his camera, Heiko & Steffi had theirs too, but we forgot ours, so we'll have to wait for one of the others to provide us with photo documentation of a perfectly sunny summer day for Mother's Day in Berlin this year.

Liberation through Capitulation

May 8, 1945

Victory Day, 63 years ago. Capitulation of the Wehrmacht to the Soviet Army (Keitel to Zhukov) in Berlin Karlshorst.


Tag der Befreiung, vor 63 Jahren. Das wir nie vergessen!

Nie wieder Faschismus! Nie wieder Krieg!

V-E Day already the day before, May 7, the date of signing of the capitulation to the United Allied Forces in Reims effective on May 8.

Here the commemorative stamp issued by the GDR in 1970 for the 25th anniversary with a drawing of the Soviet Army liberation of the Reichstag and hoisting of the red flag atop it in Berlin on May 2.

Counted Back into the Hospital

Monday afternoon:

"I feel just fine. I don't know what they want."
"Well, you said they said your counts are dangerously low..."
"Probably because I live alone. So they let me go get my toothbrush and so on and made me come right back."
"And what are they doing?"
"So far, nothing. And next Monday is correct for me to come back for my fifth round since they would start with a transfusion and then the first IV dose on Tuesday. That way the Whit Monday holiday doesn't matter."
"Will you be able to go home in between?"
"Well, I'm going to ask the doc tomorrow morning during rounds."

Tuesday afternoon:

"And what have they done today?"
"Nothing, but I was out in the sun for two hours in the hospital garden. Even got some color on my arms. Maybe that will help my counts."
"At least you're laughing about it."
"Nothing else for me to do."

And on this Wednesday morning we're wishing our Berlin mom continued good humor and the chance to get out before the weekend. It would be nice to spend Mother's Day with her at her place or in a restaurant instead of on Station 5, but we'll be there wherever she is!

We Celebrated in TIPI Zelt am Kanzleramt with Tim Fischer: Zarah sans Dress

We had a wonderful anniversary together at this GREAT event, enjoyed every song, the wine, the mood, and being there together!
Follow the link and you can also click a one-minute sample of one of the songs of this diseur/chanteur!

TIPI Zelt am Kanzleramt - Tim Fischer: Zarah sans Dress:

“It’s high time Zarah made another appearance”, says Tim Fischer. And what an appearance it is: today’s “Zarah sans Dress” not only includes the well-known numbers sung by the darling of the Ufa studios, but also a number of rarities. And for good measure, Fischer adds songs that were never performed by Leander, but fit her like a glove.

Und hier die deutsche Version:

Tim Fischer: Zarah ohne Kleid

„Zarah muss mal wieder aus dem Haus“, findet Tim Fischer, der sein allererstes Erfolgsprogramm „Zarah ohne Kleid“ überarbeitet hat. Nicht nur die bekannten Lieder des Ufa-Stars, vor allem auch Raritäten unter den Leanderliedern hat Tim Fischer ausgegraben. Außerdem legt er ihr augenzwinkernd Lieder in den Mund, die die Leander zwar nie gesungen hat, die ihr aber passen wie ein Maßanzug.

Now we have another great memory together.

Our Twelfth Anniversary

Zwölf Jahre schon

Gedichte meines Lebens widmen Dir
die Lichtung meiner Liebe, die Richtung
meiner Zeit, die Leitung lichter Dichtung,
lassen ahnen nur Deine Bahnen tief in mir.

Geteilte Zeit zusammen, maßlose Breite
erlebter Liebe, befreit mich und erhebt
in mir Gesang des Danks, der bebt
vor Freude und blickt in unsere Weite.

Immer lichter mir,
zwölf Jahre schon,
strahlend und vermählt,
Leben wird erzählt,
mein wahrer Ton,
immer dichter Dir.

-Für DS von RG, 2. Mai 2008

May the poem be in German, for the German whom I love, all the rest of you can all be sure it speaks passion and life and light and fulfillment and LOVE in all languages!

No Sport, No Art, No Brainer: TORTURE

Support human rights by stopping torture! Torture is a violation of those rights the perpetrators claim to be protecting!

It's May Day - International Labor Day

And that's something political, a day to remember that PEOPLE should be paid for work, the primary justification for the whole thing, NOT corporate profits.
As this poster from the DGB (German Union Federation) serves to remind us. Good work should be a component, and the German expression also denotes that there should be room for good work in companies, i.e. in terms of pay and other conditions

And a few human rights should also be on the day's agenda.

No riots in Berlin's favorite stone-throwing areas as of yet, and let's hope it stays that way as people demonstrate peacefully for a fair share of the pie.

In China, the commando-communist-capitalist Capos should today be reminded that the 100 day count-down to "their" olympics MUST also be a count-down for the institution of freedom of the press, freedom of expression, freedom of acces to information, freedom to peaceably demonstrate, freedom of art... The clock is ticking.

And don't forget there's another guy just itching to take over the bushbaby rattle and ensconce himself in the playpen:

Better Not to Have Mentioned It?

Happy as we were to tell everyone that the Berlin mom, even in the midst of her 4th round of chemo, had not even had a hint of nausea, I can only wonder if we shouldn't have bragged so much about her. Thursday she threw up and couldn't keep anything down that day and the next, but then the chemo was over, which was when she informed us of this new aspect, Friday evening, and since Saturday she's been eating again without complaints. Now, of course, she's a bit more apprehensive about the coming final two sessions, expecting this difficulty on top of her loss of any sense of smell and the imposition on her schedule. Maybe we just won't speak of it again. But yesterday, she insisted on cooking us a great lunch and gobbled it up with us, so, we'll just keep counting on her will and fortitude to get her through to the end of her last IV-bottle without further malaise.
We WILL go on PRAISING her!

Where To March...

Moscow's Mayor Bans Gay Parade, Cites Violence News Advocate.com

"The mayor of Moscow said the city will not allow gay pride marches to take place on this year's May Day holiday, Agence France-Presse reported Wednesday. Mayor Yury Luzhkov has been an opponent of gay pride marches, once calling them "Satan's work." A spokesperson for the mayor told reporters that a permit for the parade is being denied because of Russian society's opposition to the "gay lifestyle and philosophy." He also said the government wanted to avoid what it assumed would be widespread violence as a reaction to the parade."

And why don't the leaders of the world protest? Tell Putin & Medvedjev to start considering human rights? Is Moscow outside of the realm of humanity?

Perhaps it would be a good idea to get up a gay parade for Beijing? Or do you think they just might prohibit it, too? Or just imprison everyone who voices the idea?

What about gay athletes at the Olympics? How about a good old fashioned love-in for LGBTs on Tianamen Square?

How about getting Obama to accept gay marriage? How about making such issues non-issues everywhere? What does Hillary say? I won't even ask about Johnny Rep McC.

What this kind of denigration and prohibition of gays by political office-holders leads to you can find poignant examples of on the website linked here:

The National Day of Silence is to focus attention on derogatory treatment of gays and lesbians in schools (in the US, but the message is international). One example is the fate of Lawrence King, an 8th-grader who, because of his sexual orientation, was shot dead by a classmate in his own school on Feb. 12. April 25 has been set as a day of student actions to encourage schools and classmates to address LGBT-bashing.

World Book Day

World Book and Copyright Day - April 23

A symbolic date for world literature, for on this date and in the same year of 1616, Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. It is also the date of birth or death of other prominent authors such as Maurice Druon, K.Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo. It was a natural choice for UNESCO's General Conference to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity.

Shakespeare and Cervantes, then, are appropriate to quote today:

In short, he became so absorbed in his books that he spent his nights from sunset to sunrise, and his days from dawn to dark, poring over them; and what with little sleep and much reading his brains got so dry that he lost his wits. His fancy grew full of what he used to read about in his books, enchantments, quarrels, battles, challenges, wounds, wooings, loves, agonies, and all sorts of impossible nonsense; and it so possessed his mind that the whole fabric of invention and fancy he read of was true, that to him no history in the world had more reality in it.

-Cervantes, Don Quixote, Part I, Chapter 1

XXIII

As an unperfect actor on the stage
Who with his fear is put besides his part,
Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart,
So I, for fear of trust, forget to say
The perfect ceremony of love's rite,
And in mine own love's strength seem to decay,
O'ercharged with burden of mine own love's might.
O, let my books be then the eloquence
And dumb presagers of my speaking breast,
Who plead for love and look for recompense
More than that tongue that more hath more express'd.
mmmO, learn to read what silent love hath writ:
mmmTo hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit.

-William Shakespeare, Sonnet XXIII

Life / Leben / La Vie

Thinking of The Countess, of mama, of Rose,

who so often aggravated, tickled, dismayed, surprised, depressed, thrilled, angered, amused, bored, scolded, admired, encouraged, criticized, praised, guided, and even heeded me,

I feel nothing but

gratitude,

not in the least diminished one year after her death,

and see her smile and hear her voice in mine.

August 30, 1926 - April 21, 2007

Rose Tyson Gardner

Pre- & Post-Birthday Party

For Roswitha,

whose birthday was on Friday,

and Bernhard,

whose Geburtstag is coming on Tuesday,

we wish you BOTH

ALLES GUTE ZUM GEBURTSTAG

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The bowling party was a lot of fun and the meal delicious!

Get It Right and You're Elitist !

Anyone honest will confirm what Barack Obama said about small-town America and its fears, biases, easy refuges, bigotry, phobias of all and anything the least bit different. And Hillary is also smart enough to know how right he is. (She need only recall an episode or two she experienced in the small town of DC.) It would be nice if the thoughtfulness of Obama and his appeals to think could gain sway, whether he wins or not!

Might I ask you to recall:

• Growing up in such an American small town and hearing this wonderful explanation from people that they of course have nothing against XXXX : "Some of my best friends are XXXX." You knew better than to ask them to tell you the name of a single XXXX they knew.
• Those people who tell you the definition of marriage is man+woman and how evil homosexuality is and then add that they don't mean you of course, cause you and your mate are nice and helped your mom move in to her new place or tried to help her in her last months and they all loved you both in that little nest.
• Your cousins who got sent off to a private christian academy when the public schools were finally totally integrated and therefore of course no good anymore.
• That poor girl from Boston whose father got transfered to the south and had to say "park your car in the Harvard yard" everyday at recess for an entire school year just so everybody could laugh at her accent.
• How whites loved to call any black who knew more than they did "uppity".
• The lady who explained how she conducts her children's home-schooling by praying, reading the bible, drawing bible pictures, counting the generations in the bible, and then praying some more.
• That bushbaby who has played the redneck game long enough to last for the rest of all time.
  

Comedy Central's Daily Show gets it right:

Bushbaby Awareness Unusual in Playpen

He even admits authorizing unconstitutional measures, measures in violation of all international agreements on torture and prisoners...

ABC News: Bush Aware of Advisers' Interrogation Talks:
"And yes, I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved."

Unfortunately, most of us are not surprised.

Italian Idol

or: Berlusconi bewilders thoughtful government; rights and justice in Italy once more faced with cavalier cynicism and patronage...

Veltroni: «Berlusconi ha cominciato male,faremo un governo dell'opposizione». Corriere della Sera:
«Sono rimasto negativamente colpito dalle dichiarazioni di oggi del vincitore delle elezioni, Silvio Berlusconi. L'annuncio di non dare all'opposizione la presidenza di una Camera, un certo tono nei confronti delle altre forze politiche, non solo il Pd, una certa idea di autosufficienza, non fanno vedere un buon inizio».

"Si on ne sait plus lire, ..."

"... il n'y a plus de formation de l'esprit critique. Cela veut dire que l'on ne peut plus comparer. Si l'histoire et la capacité de lecture disparaissent, c'est-à-dire le temps et la mémoire, vous préparez des esclaves parfaitement déterminés à obéir. C'est très grave. "
[-Ph.S. in the interview segment below]

« If people are no longer able to read, critical thinking can no longer be developed. That means people can no longer make comparisons. If history and the ability to read disappear, in other words, time and memory, you're preparing slaves perfectly programmed to obey. That is very serious. »
[-my own quick anglicization]

Invité Sud Ouest - Philippe Sollers - le Livre
by journalsudouest

Le 9 avril 2008 à Bordeaux, l'écrivain Philippe Sollers est l'invité du journal régional SUD OUEST

Worth practicing your French to understand, in depth. This link will lead you to a print version also including some mp3 files to hear some more of the replies. There is a total of five video files and many more audio files as Sollers answers questions on 68, China, Tibet, musty France, Bordeaux, etc.

Along the lakes, hiking from Karow to Buch

Well, another nearly spring day, sunshine, and we took another hike, with photos to document it for the interested. We enjoyed it. A morning in the countryside in a city of 3.5 million inhabitants.

Trampling on Human Rights is not China's Prerogative Alone (Sadly) !

In the United States, as playpenaly mismanaged and perverted by bushbaby and his playmates:

Think Progress » Blog Archive » ABC Report: Bush’s ‘Principal’ Advisers OK’d Torture:

ABC News reported tonight that President Bush’s most senior and trusted advisers met in “dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House” beginning in 2002 to approve the use of “combined” interrogation techniques (the joint use of harsh interrogation techniques). Those tactics included whether detainees “would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding.”

And in Egypt, where they also can be very kind to people not so well off but of persuasions the government dislikes:

Egypt jails five 'homosexuals' for three years

CAIRO (AFP) — A Cairo court on Wednesday jailed five men, four of them HIV positive, for three years on charges of "debauchery" linked to homosexuality, the latest example of what rights groups call a "witch hunt."
The men were arrested three weeks ago in a central Cairo restaurant following an argument after which a client accused them of practising homosexuality, in what rights groups say is becoming a familiar pattern of persecution.
A police doctor carried out anal inspections on the men "which confirmed their homosexuality," the court official said. Human Rights Watch said such examinations constitute torture and are medically spurious.

Man can think and should be prepared to stand up for that right to think and live and be. The above are two examples of the opposite and of efforts to prevent thought and the freedom necessary to sustain it.

Freedom is really more than just another word for nothing left to lose!

It Is Possible To Speak Up !

Thank you, Majora Carter!

Olympic torch bearer from Bronx in Tibet protest:

As she ran with the flame, Majora Carter, 41, a South Bronx environmental activist, whipped out a small Tibetan flag to condemn China's human rights abuses in the Himalayan province.

Torchbearer gets kicked out of relay:

"At first I was like look, yes I'm carrying a flag, that is my right, as an American citizen," said Majora Carter.
Carter was selected as a torchbearer for her environmental work. Little did organizers know, she would use the opportunity to protest. Video from Sky 7 shows Carter pulling a small Tibetan flag from her sleeve and waving it, before a Chinese official took it away from her. Video from SF Gate then shows a police officer shoving her toward the sidewalk.

And a big "too bad" to Mr. Ma Conrong, the Chinese Ambassador to Germany, who told the newspaper the Tagesspiegel here that he feels his country is being treated unfairly with all these protests about human rights or in favor of Tibet's cultural autonomy (NOT separatism). He should explain to the world how he thinks all those feel who are arrested in his country for dissenting opinions, who are prevented from accessing information sources his country's government deems unsuitable (such as this blog, or youtube, or any website with access to uncensored literature), who are denied the possibility of expressing their opinions openly in whatever forum, who are denied retirement benefits as senior citizens and told to turn to their family (limited by state-ordered birth control), who as workers on the Olympic construction sites are denied the right to belong to labor organizations or form unions, who are so unfortunate as to maintain a culture outside the narrow confines of the single-party-state's wishes...

A Note on Freedom

"[die] Freiheit des Daseins ist nur im Sichbefreien des Daseins. Das Sichbefreien des Deseins geschieht aber je nur, wenn es sich zu sich selbst entschließt, d.h. für sich als das Da-sein sich erschließt." - [MH GA Bd.29/30 §32(b)]

"die innerste Notwendigkeit der Freiheit des Daseins [, ...] die Notwendigkeit des Verstehens, daß allererst das Dasein sich wieder ins Freie bringen muß, als Da-sein begreifen muß. [...] die Menschheit im Menschen befreien, [...] d.h. das Wesen des Menschen befreien, das Dasein in ihm wesentlich werden lassen." - [MH GA Bd.29/30 §38]

Freedom of (human)being-there is only in (human)being-there's self-liberation. This self-liberation only occurs, however, when the (human)being-there opts for and to itself, i.e. opens up to itself as the Being-There.
the innermost urgency of the freedom of (human)being-there ... the urgency of understanding that first of all (human)being-there must bring itself back into the free, grasp itself as Being-There. ... liberate the human in man, ... i.e. liberate the essential sway of man, let the being-there within him essentially sway.
-[RG English transl.]

To put a lot into a nutshell of my own words:
In time and of time, man, being-there, is alone capable of distinguishing beings and Being, glimpsing the Nothing, of conceiving of death, enabling time, and IS therefore FREE. And if man does not take on this task, it will not be, and man will not fully be.

And Thank You, San Francisco !!

In advance in SF, outside of the playpen, beyond the reach of the repressors in China, in the true spirit of the Olympics:



Here, also, from Paris yesterday, as the flame went out --- just as the flame of human rights is constantly extinguished in Peking!

Thank You, London ! Thank You, Paris !

It is good and right that inhabitants of London yesterday and Paris today demonstrated against the Chinese in their attempt to coopt the Olympic flame to distract from their violations of human rights, justice, and simple human dignity.
The Chinese should realize that the world is not ready to accept them as "hosts" for the Olympic Games despite their renegging on their promise to "improve their performance" in the area of rights and freedoms, a promise the IOC should never have believed, one for which they should never have sited this years games in Peking, the capital of a dictatorial one-party state pretending to belong to the modern world, which it only copies when it can sell it.
These pictures WILL BE SEEN around the world, pictures of people saying NO to China!
Thank you, London. Thank you, Paris.

Thousands protest as Olympic flame carried through London
Police and security staff forced to fend off demonstrators

Le parcours de la flamme olympique à Paris émaillé de nombreux incidents
LEMONDE.FR 07.04.08

©

What about "Fitna" ?

Putting it all into context, polemics can be avoided and the potential dangers equally well exposed while pointing to possible paths OUT of the violence and intolerance incipient in most religious notions, in particular monotheistic, missionizing ones.

Que penser de "Fitna", le film de Wilders ? (Caroline Fourest):

C’est à ce genre de nuance que l’on distingue un engagement sincère, destiné à éveiller l’esprit critique d’un acte de propagande visant à éveiller l’instinct. Wilders fait plutôt partie de la seconde catégorie, comme les islamistes. Ils n’ont aucune leçon à lui donner. Puisqu’ils utilisent exactement les mêmes procédés pour accréditer l’idée d’un complot de l’Occident contre l’Islam, à partir de dessins ou de phrases sorties de leur contexte. Mais en prime, leurs films incitant à la haine trouvent des mains pour tuer. Ce qui fait tout de même une sacrée différence.

Dutch Lawmaker to Edit Anti-Quran Film - The Washington Post - Tuesday, April 1, 2008

A Dutch lawmaker whose anti-Quran film drew worldwide condemnations will edit out a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad after complaints of copyright infringement, his office said Monday.

Irshad Manji
Anti-Muslim Film Boorish and Boring

A more engaging approach would have been to pepper the film with positive verses from the Qur'an, thereby revealing that Muslims who expound hostility are actively choosing to ignore the better angels of Islam.

Irshad Manji, a scholar at New York University and the European Foundation for Democracy, is creator of the award-winning film "Faith Without Fear."

April has begun ...

... and so has daylight savings time here in Europe (ok, on the last Sunday in March, 2 days before April)
... and it's cloudy and rainy and only occasionally a hint of sunshine
... and we're as busy as little bees (or great big ones, for that matter)
... and the Berlin mom is in for her third round of chemo (forbidding us to visit, so we'll have to wait till she gets home on Saturday)
... and this is the month's first blog post
... and it won't be the last