Fear and Loathing in Norway, part 1: Police violence has found it's aptly named (literally: "the violence") poster boy!

In Norway's latest Rodney King-like affair, this police officer



managed in mere minutes, during a questionable arrestation procedure at a municipal welfare center, to cause the violent death of the following Norwegian-African - Nigerian Eugene Ejike Obioras:



The Norwegian Police, in turn - and handled by this very officer's former colleagues at the Metro Police District of Norway's third city, Trondheim - preferred last week to rather effortlessly drop the IA-charges against both him, and all of the other three arresting officers.

The Norwegian people will not rest until this officer is indicted and made subject to open penal proceedings, in respect of the principles of due diligence, high moral and legal principles and of a fair trial for all involved parties.

At times it is necessary and expedient for the people to perform acts of civil disobedience; not at least at times when the police; the body assigned by the government and the laws to uphold law and order; find it sufficient to investigate themselves - in a very questionable affair of (alleged) involuntary manslaughter - and drop all charges summarily.

The dropped charges are now the subject of an appeal to the highest office of public prosecutors in the Kingdom of Norway (the attorney-general; riksadvokaten).

We the people question the conclusions, the complacent police collegiality and the IAD's management of underlying source material, and appeal to the better judgment of the attorney-general.

Join in and keep up the pressure! This is the Good fight (with a capital G)!

(Remainder of text to be elaborated on at first possible occasion.)

Never forget:



(Rodney King)

IA - Internal Affairs
IAD - Internal Affairs Department

The Officer's surname is "Volden" (forename Trond), which in English literally translates as "the violence" (some coincidence, really - or is it poetic "justice"?).

On a sad note: Democrat turned Republican

Frak!

An ex of mine, whose name shall remain protected, was once an idealistic campaign manager in Washington - for a US Democrat state senator.

Now, being a lawyer, a former U.S. State Department trainee and a UN General Assembly resolutions negotiator for the U.S., she has turned into a newly registered Republican candidate for her local district.

Oh well, she never did have much of a spine.. Give her some money, and all of a sudden she seems to believe in survival of the fittest (?) Or maybe it's just that she's daddy's girl, and now practices law in her home state - and daddy is an entrepreneur.

Anyhew, just wanted to share my slight frustration - I was hoping to have her as a solid inside-info provider on the US Democrats, come next years elections build-up.

Lost one...

Norwegian news in English

Click on headline for the best site available. This is Norway's most renowned daily newspaper, the semi-conservative Aftenposten.

"Ven a Bailar Conmigo" wins Norwegian Melody Grand Prix-finale

Senora Guri Schanke wins the Norwegian Melody Grand Prix, with a truly latin dance tune.



I rarely watch these shows, but happened to be home when this years finale was broadcast on Norway's State Channel. One tune immediately stood out as a solid latino salsa smash hit, that could tear up the dance floors all over Latin America and elsewhere, and provide a festive mood in any barrio, plus last - but certainly not least - leave Norway with a real winning chance in this year's Eurovision Grand Prix Song Contest Finale in Helsinki, Finland.

I must say, personally, having worked in the music industry for years, that I felt that if this song did not win our national final, there really was no hope for Norwegians ever becoming sophisticated. I mean, one of the acts it competed against is named Dusty Cowshit, ferr crying out loud... But thankfully, the blasting latino rhythm party tune won solidly.

So now all one can do is buy the CD-single, cross one's fingers, and wait for this unique chance to party like hell(-sinki)!

US News Story: The nation's divide reemerges

WASHINGTON — The realignment of U.S. politics accelerated Tuesday, as Democrats strengthened their hold over the Northeast and opened beachheads in the Midwest and Mountain West that could prove critical to winning the White House two years from now.

For Democrats, who took the House and appeared to secure control of the Senate in the midterm election, the watchword was growth. The party expanded its reach with key groups of swing voters as it made notable advancements on previously GOP-leaning terrain.

By contrast, the results sent Republicans a message of retrenchment. The Democratic surge reversed the gains President Bush made in 2004 among female and Latino voters, and saw the GOP virtually obliterated across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic region.

In all, the election dealt a powerful blow to Republican hopes that Bush's reelection had established a narrow but lasting political majority for the party. America now appears to have reverted to an electorate closely divided between the parties — with Democrats claiming to have the momentum.

(click to read more)

Who is Ken Blackwell?

Blackwell, a black republican, Ohio Secretary of State, and ostensibly a supporter of president Bush (although an internal R-party report on him concluded with "Ken Blackwell's main priority is doing what is best for Ken Blackwell"), helped the latter steal the 2004 US presidential elections.

According to extensive coverage in Rolling Stone Magazine during the last months, he's likely to help steal the state of Ohio for the Republicans (and in turn, of course, for himself) during the forthcoming elections on Nov. 7th.

He certainly is mentioned a lot in media as of late, and particularly in this case, I believe there can be no smoke without a fire. Check the references on the Wikipedia entry. This guy's the one you'll want to look out for (and dig deeper on) in the mid-term elections about a week from now.

The worst part: There may be many others like him - he's probably just the best known and documented operator at the moment.

Who is Michael Ledeen?

Ledeen has been pin-pointed as one of the current administrations fiercest hawks. Several OpEd's during this summer's horrendous war in Lebanon, revolved around his shady dealings (both present and past; especially the Iran-Contras scandal and the GLADIO's tension strategy in Italy), and his influence on president Bush.

He was mentioned in Rolling Stone Magazine, for instance. Also in Norwegian in-depth newspaper Morgenbladet.

Quote Ledeen:




"I think the level of casualties is secondary. I mean, it may sound like an odd thing to say, but all the great scholars who have studied American character have come to the conclusion that we are a warlike people and that we love war. . . . What we hate is not casualties but losing. And if the war goes well and if the American public has the conviction that we're being well-led and that our people are fighting well and that we're winning, I don't think casualties are going to be the issue."

Michael Ledeen
AEI Breakfast
March 27, 2003


The infamous Ledeen-doctrine:

"Jonah Goldberg, Ledeen's colleague at National Review magazine, coined the term "Ledeen Doctrine" in a 2002 column.[1] This tongue-in-cheek "doctrine" is usually summarized as "Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business," which Goldberg remembered Ledeen saying in an early 1990s speech. The term "Ledeen Doctrine" is often mistakenly attributed to Michael Ledeen himself."


Excerpt from "Who's REALLY screwing America?":

#26: Michael Ledeen: Improving on Mussolini

Ledeen has been called the driving philosophical force behind the neoconservative movement and (by me) "the most influential and unabashed warmonger of our time." A resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (#7), contributing editor at National Review and former Pentagon, State Department and White House consultant under Reagan (when his Israeli intelligence contacts were used to help broker the illegal Iran-contra affair), Ledeen is often quoted by top Bush officials, including Cheney, Rumsfeld and former Under Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. But they don't quote quotes like these--at least not in public: In March 2003, Ledeen, a leading and longtime proponent of the invasion of Iraq--and of Iran, Syria and no doubt other countries yet to be named--told a forum that "the level of casualties [in Iraq] is secondary" because "we are a warlike people...we love war."

He has written that "Change--above all violent change--is the essence of human history"; "the only way to achieve peace is through total war"; and "The purpose of total war is to permanently force your will onto another people." He was quoted approvingly by National Review Online editor Jonah Goldberg as saying, "Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business."

In April 2003--one month into the Iraq war--Ledeen gave an address titled "Time to Focus on Iran," and declared, "the time for diplomacy is at an end." Ledeen's attacks on Iran, even when Iran was assisting the US, "helped keep the Bush administration from seeking any rapprochement with Tehran," wrote William Beeman of the Pacific News Service in 2003. "Were it in Ledeen's hands, we would invade Iran today."

Most Americans have never heard of Michael Ledeen, Beeman noted, but if the US "ends up in an extended shooting war throughout the Middle East, it will be largely due to his inspiration."



(This article will be expanded with time).

Bilderbergers

This post will be updated with time, to discuss the relevance and the functions of this clandestine, secretive branch of world leader and/or prominent non-political patronage summit-meetings.

What goes on there, and why should you know about them? Why don't they attract demonstrants, media coverage and violent protestors like meetings of the WTO, IMF and World Bank, and is it true that they anoint future world leaders, like they are reputed to have done with Bill Clinton in 1991?

Talk about the Bilderberg-groups used to be dismissed as contrived, hysterical conspiracy theories. The Bilderbergers were said to be non-existent. This much in tune with controversies and mythologies surrounding organisations like Echelon, NSA, and other conspiracy theory buzz themes that top government eventually had to admit to the existence and relevance of.

Stay tuned.

(November 2nd: This topic is proving very wide, and sorting out the essence will take time. Especially perhaps since conspiracy-nuts have flooded the internet with more or less hysterical speculation on this very real semi-annual gathering of (mostly the western hemisphere's) power-elites. There is probably also some contra-propaganda out there, so things need to be checked and double-checked with multiple sources. Please bear with me).

The Jenny Holzer LED-artwork

...on the cornice of the Northern Boulevard building at Telenor's Fornebu complex, Oslo (Snarøya, Bærum).

Can anyone confirm whether it's still there?

- - -

Alternative URL for the page content linked to in subject/headline. Yet another. And the author's follow-up commentary/op-ed on the artwork, in a separate blog entry.

Guidelines for comments on this blog

As I haven't previously stated any guidelines about the use of language in comments, here they are:

This blog is mostly in English, although some posts are in Norwegian, as they deal strictly with Norwegian issues that no foreigner living abroad could possibly have the first clue about understanding - no common reference points.

As for myself, I comment in both Norwegian and English-language blogs. I hope to draw visitors from both camps to this blog, with time's passing.

* I strongly suggest that all comments to English-language posts from yours truly, are responded to in English - even if you are a Norwegian-speaking resident of Norway.

As for the posts from yours truly posted in Norwegian, I will welcome comments in both languages. This is because there are immigrants living in Norway, or people learning Norwegian abroad, who can read and understand Norwegian texts, but who as of yet are more comfortable writing in English.

The two allowed languages so far for comments in this blog, are thus English and Norwegian.


Best regards,
Agile

Latin America News Review

Seeing as I as of yet do not know how to add links to other bloggers in the left-hand column of my own blog, I will recommend this very fine blog about Latin American politics right here.

Enjoy!

Battlestar Galactica, now on NRK2*

I highly recommend following this groundbreaking series.

As I started watching it, on DVD, the series aired in only 6 countries, among which were the US, the UK, South Africa and Australia.

A top quality series produced initially with British funds, Battlestar Galactica (TNS - the new series) has been lauded by Time Magazine as one of the six best series currently running worldwide. That is quite some achievement, but I fully agree. I can only think of 4-5 series in the same league, and for me those would be The Sopranos, The West Wing, The Shield, Commander-in-Chief, and a few series that no longer run (like Twin Peaks, at least the first season, and Wiseguy).

A stripped-down sci-fi-series with a whole lot more emphasis on human drama than on elaborate CGI-imagery (although when they do use the latter, it is top-notch), BG (TNS) deals with the intrinsic difficulties with diplomacy and other human relations. We get to enjoy bold takes on terrorism, religion, feminism, US Imperialism and many other explosive contemporary political issues. If you were to believe Norwegian daily Dagbladet, in an article in its Friday-mag yesterday, the modern version of the Battlestar Galactica-series is doing for sci-fi drama what Desperate Housewives did for regular soap operas, i.e a very positive, dramatically complex and mature revamp - and I fully concur (although I'd object to the somewhat simplistic notion that it is first and foremost a sci-fi series - see below).

Thoroughly enjoyable, the series became such a runaway hit in all countries where it initially aired, that US investors/studios wisely and profitably picked it up. Now with a more beefed-up Hollywood-style budget, the series is scheduled to run for a long while still, and the CGI-scenes are more complex and gratifying than ever - although still not challenging the emphasis on drama and political, between-the-lines comment. (See for instance the episodes toward the middle of season 2, where a show-down between UN-like sentiments, and US-like imperialistic, uncompromising ones, glues the viewer to his or her seat, biting nails. Hint: The Pegasus represents the US foreign policy/GWOT values under Bush jr., in this allegory).

Agile has seen the initial mini-series (which you can pick up in a local DVD-store, for instance Platekompaniet, the first season, and first half of the second season, BG 2.0**. The miniseries is a 3-hour intro, and can be seen as a sci-fi movie on its own. The first and second seasons run like regular high-quality TV-series, with individual drama-archs for (mostly) each episode running alongside more stretched-out archs of interpersonal drama that evolve further with each episode - working their way through the ups and downs, the challenges of dramatic confrontations, the power struggles and give-and-take etc, that all adults know from dealing with friends, lovers, family and colleagues in their own lives. BG offers valuable guidance on the latter, something I'd wager is quite unusual with sci-fi series, posing the question whether BG (TNS) should not rather be labeled "adult, intelligent drama".

The best way to enjoy it is definitely to watch it all chronologically, i.e. don't miss out on any episode along the way. Each episode is a thrill, and so far it only gets better and better as it develops - believe it or not.

Coined the best sci-fi series for grown-ups, and one of the best series currently running worldwide, regardless of category, Battlestar Galactica is destined for a long while still to build more and more momentum as it thugs along.

Don't be the last person to jump on this bandwagon - you'd be sorry if you did ;-)

- - -

* (National Norwegian Channel; cultural subchapter)

** The first half of the second season, 10 episodes out of a 20-episode total, was released separately earlier this year as "Battlestar Galactica 2.0", due to popular demand. The full season 2 series will be released as a box-set in September, under the demomination "Battlestar Galactica 2.5".

Belated jubilee greetings

to El comandante en jefe himself - el maximo lieder of the Cuban Republic, revolutionary legend and statesman; Fidel Castro

80 mas!!


- - -


Wait a minute! Before you feel an urge to lambast my salutations:

I could have written some critical accusations towards Fidel, but I won't. I highly respect this elderly statesman, although I acknowledge that he has made mistakes. Which revolution hasn't? His intentions were good, but as he went along and had to adopt to internal structures and cultural conditions, and not least to international realpolitik, he had to leave quite a few of his movements' high ideals along the roadside. No revolutionary regime has ever fully succeeded, and as the saying and the Goya-artwork goes, "The revolution will eat its children".

If theres any one criticism I'd still want to highlight, it is the lack of democracy his reign in Cuba has been marred with. Only time will tell whether his notions that the Cuban people needed his protection against themselves, were correct or fallible. I believe he was right for a while, but that he by now should have long-since let his country evolve into a full democracy. Maybe it was the fear of being assasinated by oppositionals that kept him from doing it (some of the Miami-residing, Cuban exiles certainly seem erratic and fanatic enough to be up to the task), maybe it was political pragmatism, or maybe he just forgot his youthful democratic ideals along the way. In any event, Fidel has not become an archetypical latin dictator-chliché. He did not run away with a lot of the country's money. He has not had statues of himself erected. One gets the notion that Fidel genuinely loves his people, and is dedicated to serving them. It's only too bad that he can't trust them to take their collective fate completely in their own hands; be this lack of faith either a realistic take on Cuban machismo and culture in general, or simply a product of Castro's wanting to stay in power indefinitely.

An estimated 600 attempts on his life or health by the CIA, surely couldn't have helped either.

In any event, I wish to congratulate him on his birthday. Still being alive at this high age, considering the previous paragraph, is an achievement in and by itself.

And being highly defiant by nature, I believe that there has been too much low-brow criticism of his persona in the last weeks, not least in Norwegian blogs, and from the ever-erratic, neo-liberalist community of Cuban exiles in Miami (and elsewhere in Florida and along the US east coast), that there need be one more overly critical (if not down-right toolish) milestone-post against the jubilant.

I sincerely wish him 80 more good years, although he should make good on his promise to the Cuban people, that he will not reign until he is a hundred years old.

For those of you needing more information about the amazing revolutionary and internation statesman Fidel Castro, one need only click on the subject-line overhead. This will lead you to a Wikipedia-page that sadly has had to be moderated lately (since he was taken ill and operated on on the 27. of July - only a day after the national celebrations of the "Movement of 25th of July"; his original revolutionary outfit, featuring also Che, Raul, the iconic Camilo Cienfuegos, and others) - due to vandalism (no doubt in part stemming from the more erratic among the violently anti-Castro Miami-Cubans).

There have also been many biographies, most of which you will find references to in said Wikipedia-article. The one by Tad Szulcs is said to be among the better. The one by Robert Quirk, although reputedly over-critical of its subject, is the most informative and the lengthiest. As an intro-volume, I'd recommend the short, reader-friendly and enthusiastic pocket biography of Fidel by Clive Foss - I personally have thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Benicio del Toro a true natural for portraying Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la Serna(?)

Click on title for link.

Look at the picture on that Amazon-article, upper left. If one glimpses, one can mistake it for a picture of Benicio himself...

Accomplished director Stephen Soderbergh (Traffic, the Limey, Ocean's 11/12 etc.) is attached to direct this feature-biography of Mr. Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la Serna

I am looking forward to it with almost child-like enthusiasm! :-)

Demonstrasjon utenfor Stortinget i dag mot Israels brutale og inhumane overgrep

Klikk på overskriften..

Jeg kunne ikke være der, men støtter alle som var der og de som ellers støtter demonstrasjonen og ånden bak den fullt ut.

Vi trenger flere slike initiativ. Ikke la Israel slippe unna med sine løgner, og sin inhumane behandling av og holdning til arabere; ikke som medmennesker men som forkastelige, verdiløse og brysomme skadedyr, som de mener de kan gjøre hva de vil med!

Sannheten om Israel, og deres krigføring mot palestinere og libanesere

Klikk på overskriften.

Følgende er den mest informative, kortfattede oppsummeringen jeg har lest hittil i hele oppstyret siste 3-4 ukene i midtøsten, og jeg har lest MYE.

Riktignok skal vi ikke glemme at Hamas og Hizbollah, i likhet med Israel, baserer sin politikk på religiøs fundamentalisme - og en tro på seg selv som guds utvalgte folk.

Imidlertid er det unødvendig å nevne dette i en artikkel som denne, da vestlige medier stort sett ikke legger fingrene i mellom for å nevne det.

Det som trengtes nå, var en skikkelig, redelig og historisk korrekt anklage mot Israel, og det har artikkelforfatter Kenneth Fuglemsmo her på beundringsverdig vis levert.

Les og bli klokere. Israel har ikke vunnet bakkekrigene mot Hamas og Hizbollah ennå, men mye tyder på at de allerede langt på vei har vunnet medie- og propagandakrigen. Blant annet ved å hindre journalister adgang til Gaza, arrestere arabiske journalister, samt beskyte palestinske og libanesiske mediesentre. Israel ønsker å styre inntrykkene av hva som skjer i midtøsten; ikke først og fremst ved å lyve, men ved å sørge for at all info i deres favør fremheves og humaniseres, mens all info i favør av de andre aktørene undertrykkes - ja likefram søkes forhindret totalt.

Jeg vil ellers oppfordre til boikott av Israel på alle mulige måter. Dette inkluderer å ikke kjøpe israelske varer, å underskrive på opprop om boikott, samt å legge press på norske politiske partier og myndigheter til å gjennomføre en eller annen form for offisiell boikott av Israel så lenge den pågående konflikten og invasjonen av Libanon og Gaza foregår.

Ikke la Israel slippe unna med krigsforbrytelsene sine ustraffet!

"The Gaza boys, all that holy stuff" - the saga, very sadly, continues

And I do not mean to be flippant about this very serious conflict at all.

As anyone not living on the moon for the past week must have observed, Israel are at present bombing Lebanon back to the stone ages. The week-old war, which is the worst flare-up in at least 10 years in the conflict between Israel and it's arab/muslim-neighbours, boasts a death toll which is currently hovering around 200 for the Lebanese and the Palestinians, and about 30 on the Israeli side. Other casualties should be on a ratio at least as favorable to the Israleis as concerning deaths.

It all started with Hamas kidnapping 19 y.o. Israeli soldier (a certain 1985 Paul Hardcastle song springs to mind) Gilad Shalit in late June, which sparked the Israeli kidnapping of about a third of the Palestinian cabinet, quite a few of their parliament, and the demolishing of the Palestinian Foreing Ministry (the building, situated on Gaza - at least it used to be until last week.. ). Lebanese freedom-fighters Hezbollah (constituted as a response to the long 1982 Israeli siege and occupation of Lebanese capital Beirut) apparently wanted to get in on the action, and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers. Well, Hezbollah, if you wanted to draw attentions away from the plight of the Palestinians, you certainly got what you wanted - but at what price and for what possible reason??

In any event, Israeli retaliation overkill ensued, and is still both ongoing and escalating. So now Israel is bullying and terrorizing both the Palestinians and the Lebanese (who, for the most part, can not be held responsible for the actions of the Hezbollah, and who are also now left with little reason to support the Isreali offensive into their beautiful meditteranean homeland). Of course there are the occasional responses from Hezbollah, but nothing on the scale of destruction that Israel is pursuing at the moment.

I feel sorry for the Isreali people, but my strongest sympathies go without a doubt to the civilian populations of Lebanon and Gaza. May I remind readers that Israel is a nationstate and a territory awarded to the Israel by UN resolution (picking up on the Brits and their Balfour-declaration from the days of Word War One), and that is now the country that is cleraly the number one violator of UN resolutions. It seems that it's gotten to the point where the UN doesn't even bother to make resolutions against Israeli offensives anymore - instead Bush and Blair talk over some chow and arrange the main outline of the coming western response all by themselves (and to an open microphone, which clearly wasn't their intention, but it won't pull them down).

The numbers speak for themselves. And it should be added: The Hezbollah, which neocon US ambassador to the UN, Mr. Bolton, observes is causing all this (sic!), actually do have a few excuses and explanations: Part of their land has for a while been occupied by Israeli armed forces, and quite of few of their members are being held imprisoned under Israelian custody - without trial by law.

For the last year or so I have noticed a quite heavy barrage of commercials on CNN advertising the Lebanon - and Beirut in particular - as the new hot spot for tourism and leisure. I had a feeling that all the usual mideast troubles were behind them, and they were joining the western civilization as open-minded, enterprising and pleasure-loving Club Med-regulars. "Come to Lebanon", the commercials said (and I paraphrase), "where the sun is shining and the people know how to have a good time".

These commercials were the first images I thought of, as I watched the escalating military terror being forced upon Beirut, and more and more other parts of the Lebanon, on the first days of the terror. My eyes almost watered. I have never before really gotten emotionally engaged in the Israel-related conflicts between jews and arabs, but now it's gotten, within the space of a few days only, almost to the point where I'd want to go down there and fight on the side of the Lebanese and/or the Palestinians. If only I'd have thought it would have helped...


Ps. Those Beirut-commercials, so frequent until very recently, are never shown anymore. But although they were quite lengthy (At least a minute I believe, also presenting viewers with business and shopping facilities etc.; all that leisure- and business-life could offer to those with cosmopolitan and/or languid inclinations), and ran quite frequently, I'd wager that Beirut is on display at CNN several tenfold times longer per day at present. Albeit for all the wrong reasons...

July 11 2006; Shine on you crazy diamond!

What a day.

Syd Barrett, co-founder of seminal, durable rock outfit, dies - aged a mere 60 years old. He died from complications due to his diabetes ailment. Although he stayed with the supergroup for only about 3 years, he certainly put an indelible stamp on their trademark and style. He was the one who envisioned the band's name, combining the forenames of two more or less obscure afroamerican blues-guitarists. He was the one who invented the signature psychedelig light shows and the combinations of music and art - both on stage and in album covers etc. He penned one of their greatest single hits to date, "See Emily Play".

His visionary capabilities partly owed themselves to a schizophrenic disposition, and partly to his ever-increasing drug (ab)use. He eventually went insane, and was kicked out of the band. Roger Waters took charge of the group, and replaced Barrett with the still musically flourishing blues-guitar genius of David Gilmour. And the rest, as they say, is history..

Barrett went on to release a couple of solo albums, to varied reviews and fan appreciation. Then, one day, he got out of his bedsit in western London, and walked all the way home to the legendary University town Cambridge - where the Pink Floyd-phenomenon had initially been consipated (Gilmour's father, for instance, held a chair in zoology at that world-renowned site of higher learning - the University of Cambridge). Since that, he has lived a reclusive life with his mother, and spent his time tending to her garden. He has kept firmly out of the limelight, and has been reluctant even to speak with his former bandmates. He simply didn't want to be reminded of those days.

The seminal 1975 Floyd-album "Shine on You Crazy Diamond", was dedicated to him - the title track in particular (which was Water's testiment to Barrett's life in the band, and too his future).

Also on this date: Huge bomb blasts in Mumbai - even bigger disaster than last years London-bombings. RIP to all deceased victims. And in sunny "Gitmo" (the US naval base on south-eastern Cuba, a state they otherwise hold a lengthy and crushing embargo against, and otherwise have a long history of ripping-off and imperializing), prisoners were awarded basic human rights on this date; including the right to a fair trial. Shame shame shame on George W. Bush and his tunnelvision henchmen and hawks, for having to be pressured by the world society at large to follow commonly accepted (also by the U.S., i.e. previuos, more sober and responsible administrations) international legislation (treaties etc.).

What a day. And that was before Israel started boming Lebanon! I suspect it's going to be a hot, hot summer.... :(

Sorry

This blog has had far too few posts lately. I've been very busy of course. But at the same time I may had an ambition that all posts should be substantial. I don't think so any more. Usualy, if I want to go into debth about something, it easily becomes too long and too anodyne for most people to either bother to read or want to comment. I tend to cover most angles, and abstract things to the degree that a topic is more or less fully covered.

From now on I will concentrate on shorter, snappier posts, allowing for better reader input. That way things won't be just me monologuing og diatribing, but actual conversations and discussions.

Also, as I haven't had time to monitor the blog even on a daily basis, I have chosen to switch on the administrator's preread function for comments. This would perhaps not have been necessary, but the blog has for unknown reasons received anonymous posts with contents that could put the administrator (that is I) at risk for legal charges pertaining to libel and/or slander. As I don't know who these (or that) less-than-serious and certainly not benign or mature commentator(s) are/were, I have chosen to let all comments go through my censorship before being posted.

In any event, until there is a substantial amount of new posts from yours truly, I wouldn't expect that much interest as far as serious comments are concerned anyways.

But keep reading, and I hope you will enjoy my new, less verbose and in-depth comments better! After all, brevity is the heart of wit ;-)

Some really useful blogging - consumer advice!

Det er lenge siden forrige post. Jeg har rett og slett ingen store bloggambisjoner for tiden. Jeg er mer enn travelt nok opptatt i hverdagen, og det vil nok vare en stund ennå. Siden jeg ikke har jobbet med å opparbeide noen som helst slags "following" ennå i bloggosfæren, så plager ikke dette samvittigheten min nevneverdig. Jeg føler meg dessuten normalt bare kallet til å skrive egne blogginnlegg, når en virkelig klar og konsis problemstilling melder sin annkomst i hverdagen eller i mediebildet.

I dag fant jeg imidlertid noe å blogge om.

Jeg så filmen "Good Night and Good Luck" for noen uker siden, på Saga kino eller hvor det nå var. Den kan anbefales til alle som er politisk bevisste, mens hverdagsbimboer nok bør styre unna - her er det ingen Heath Ledger eller Orlando Bloom å sikle etter, og selv om George Clooney er med, så er han i svart/hvitt. Vi menn får heller ingenting å sikle etter (jeg fikk oppfylt det behovet for en stund ved å se Match Point, m/Scarlett Johansson, et par uker senere.. ).

Før filmen begynte, var det imidlertid enkelte reklamefilmer. Jeg klarte ikke å time min ankomst perfekt denne gang, og måtte derfor utholde et par av dem. (I tilfellet "Match Point" et par uker senere, ankom jeg, klok av nylig skade, noen minutter inne i filmen, for good measure - altså for å være på den sikre siden; dersom noe stort skjedde før scenen hvor hovedpersonen møter Scarlett røykende ved et ping-pongbord, innbys de som fikk dette med seg innstendig til å legge igjen rapport i kommentarfeltet her... I treasure my moments with Scarlett, og har jeg gått glipp av noen vil jeg mer enn gjerne vite om det!).

En av disse reklamefilmene på Saga (eller hvor det nå var) kom i alle fall som et sjokk på alle mine ømfintlige, sensitive sanser (åndssnobb, må vite), og fikk meg til å ønske at jeg kunne springe ut av salen igjen og komme tilbake når innslaget var over - men lysene var allerede slukket. Vi snakker lørdagspizza, vi snakker ekte kjærlighet. Alle harrytassers våte drøm, en ny pizza fra Grandiosa, med tre-minutters egen reklamefilm, hvor lydbildet er fylt hele tiden med en slags diskolåt minst like svulstig som pizzaen, og hvor refrenget synges av noen guttebasser som høres ut som de er innleid fra brulteskolen på Majorstua (Politihøyskolen - red.) for å spe på studielånene sine...

Denne lørdagspizzaen skal altså være fylt med ekte kjærlighet. I tillegg skal det følge med en egen dip-mix. Siden sansene mine var blitt så massivt bombardert av denne soniske voldtekten av en reklamefilm, så fikk jeg aldri makkverket helt ut av hodet (sikkert meningen), og ble faktisk litt nysgjerrig på denne revolusjonerende lørdagspizzaen. Jeg var innom Rimi for litt siden i kveld, og fikk endelig nysgjerrigheten stillet.

Jeg kan bringe følgende nyhet: Det eneste denne "lørdagspizzaen" ("kan også spises på en mandag, hvis du VIRKELIG vil kose deg") revolusjonerer, er matbudsjettet.

De råe data:

595g, 217 kcal per 100g Pris: snaue femtilappen

Til sammenligning, vanlig grandiosa (altså originalen, tidenes uovertruffent mest solgte frossenpizza i harrylandet Norge):

585g, 220 kcal per 100g. Pris så vidt over halvparten av ovennevnte.

Til alt overmål må man kjøpe rømme selv ("kjøp den nå, så glemmer du det ikke senere!") og røre sammen egen dip-mix

Hvor mye en pakke rømme koster gadd jeg ikke å sjekke, jeg hadde tross alt ingen planer om å kjøpe denne mystifistiske "herligheten" (mon det). Det er jo tross alt bare torsdag, og dermed en stund til både lørdag og mandag..

I alle fall får man maks 5 kcal mer i denne revolusjonerende lørdagspizzaen. Matematikk-geeks får regne ut hvor mye 5 kcal utgjør av de drøye 1200 kcal i en vanlig Grandiosa, og hvor mange øre ekstra de ville representere i salgsverdi. Det blir neppe noe i nærheten av 50-øren, i alle fall.

Så hvor går de resterende ca. 25 kr. dette lørdagskalaset koster utover den vanlige, superpopulære original-Grandiosa'en? Mest sannsynlig til produsentene og distributørene av makkverket av en reklamefilm; ille nok til å spy opp samtlige drøye 1200 kalorier fra enten ordinær Grandiosa eller Lørdagspizzaen (take your pick). Kanskje får de fattige politihøyskolestudentene som mest sannsynlig korer også noen øre tilbake..

Ladies and gentlemen: We have a rip-off!

Dette er omtrent like ille som Sana Sol vs. Biovit. Biovit er liksom voksenvitaminmiksturen, som man avanserer til når man er klar til å anse Sana Sol som et tilbakelagt stadium. Om du sjekker næringsverdiene disse to produktene i mellom, vil du se at de er helt, nøyaktig like. INGEN forskjell! Prismessig eksisterer imidlertid en forskjell, da BioVit er minst 10 kr. dyrere, for nøyaktig samme volum. Mulig smaken imidlertid er forskjellig - jeg var aldri dum nok til å kjøpe Bio Vit for å finne dette ut...

Bon appetit!

"Mustafah, Mazel Tov, The Gaza Boys, All that holy stuff... "

Putting aside for a minute George Michael's world-weary, immortal lines from his censored (at least in the U.S.) Shoot the Dog (post title):

Recent events have rendered me almost speechless. What is it about religion that makes people want to kill each other? Why are ancient words of unknown origin and validity, more sacred than a human life?

The ruckus over the publishing of satirical Muhammad-cartoons in the Danish daily newspaper Jyllandsposten and facsimiles of this in major Norwegian newspaper dailys Aftenposten and VG - along with subsequent burning of Danish and Norwegian flags in Gaza, organized boicotts of Danish export-products across the arabian world, censuring of blogowners and sensorship of blogs and other media concerning posting of the aforementioned images - have sent the sonic images of a long-forgotten favorite of mine into my conscience; The The's classic rock/pop album "Mind Bomb":


The Violence Of Truth (Lyrics)

"What is evil? What is love?
What is the force that possesses us?
Where is the beauty? Where is the truth?
Where is the force that watches over you?

What is it that makes us ashamed to be white?
(when we close our ears to the sound of machine gun)

And while the niggers of this world are starving
with their mouths wide open
What is it that turns the coins we throw at them
into worthless little tokens?

Why is it that anything on this earth we do not understand
We are pushed onto our knees to worship or to damn?

Those are the rules of religion
Those are the laws of the land
That's how the forces of darkness have suppressed the spirit of man

That's why human beings still walk on all fours
Whilst in the presence of their so called superiors

Somethings telling you to wake up and salute
The dangers of obedience and the violence of truth

God is evil, God is love
God is the force that possesses us
God is beauty, God is truth
God is the force that is watching over you"


excerpts from Good Morning Beautiful

"Satellite, oh, satellite
Who sits upon our skies
How deep do you see when you spy into our lives?

I know that God lives in everybody's souls
and the only devil in your world
Lives in the human heart

Who is it?
Whose words have been twisted beyond recognition
In order to build your planet Earth's religions

Who is it?
Who could make your little armies of the left
and your little armies of the right
Light up your skies tonight

Now some of you may live and some of you may die
But remember
That nothing in the world can kill you inside
For he is thinking of you
In your great cities of great solitude"


and excerpts from Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)

"Islam is rising
The Christians mobilising
The world is on its elbows and knees
It's forgotten the message and worships the creeds

But if you think that Jesus Christ is coming
Honey you've got another thing coming
If he ever finds out who's hi-jacked his name
He'll cut out his heart and turn in his grave

If the real Jesus Christ were to stand up today
He'd be gunned down cold by the C.I.A.
Oh, the lights that now burn brightest behind stained glass
Will cast the darkest shadows upon the human heart
But God didn't build himself that throne
God doesn't live in Israel or Rome
God doesn’t belong to the yankee dollar
God doesn't plant the bombs for Hezbollah
God doesn't even go to church
And God won't send us down to Allah to burn
No, God will remind us what we already know
That the human race is about to reap what it's sown

The world is on its elbows and knees
It's forgotten the message and worships the creeds
Armageddon days are here again"

All lyrics from this Operation Desert Storm-era fusion masterpiece come highly recommended, and can be viewed here
(double-click on song titles to see the corresponding lyrics).

To witness how this album seems to be regarded by many (almost universally, it would seem) as something of a rare masterpiece, awarded with five out of five stars from every single reviewer in this one place - incidentally the world's largest internet-store - relish in the reviews and the no-holds-barred praise of it on this page delivered from Amazon.com:

"Mind Bomb" at Amazon

For some cleansing of the soul and catharsis of the mind, listen to the album with your lights out - or perhaps while in your bath-tub.. ~Light some candles~ For a great, uplifting finale to your listening session, put on Roger Waters' brilliant meditation on the value of the efforts of the single individual - holding a candle up against the dark forces of oppression, censorship and religious dogma - "Each Small Candle"


Enjoy at your own leisure...

First post!

Hi all!

I have hereby created my own, unassuming, completely modest little blog. As some of my closest friends are English-speaking, I may keep most posts in the English language. I'll probably make an exception for posts concerning Norwegian politics, or addressing specific issues pertaining to Norway, Norwegians and/or Norwegian culture.

First and foremost I now have my own web-identity, and a place for friends and the like to post inspiring messages, witty remarks or deserved criticisms.

Enjoy!