Pro libertate nostra

Nature is harsh sometimes. Yesterday, me and a German friend of mine where walking to the University to get a hand-out of our grades at the exchange student office. So anyways, we were walking across this pond when we saw something that looked like a whirlwind in the water. Since it is next to the sidewalk we go there and have a look only to see that there is some sort of gang duck rape going on. Luckily, we saved the poor chick and she could pull herself up to the sidewalk from the pond. Obviously this is pretty common with a group of drakes that will gang-rape a duck, sometimes even resulting in drowning the poor creature.

It’s pretty funny because of all them hippies out there always branding humans as the no. 1 evil species in our world. They have obviously never seen some nasty duck rape going on.

The blogger Poneke, New Zeeland, is writing an interesting post about media endorsements to political parties on his page today. This is indeed a very important topic to discuss. As a free market-nut I do of course support freedom of the press, and I am totally against all sorts of governmental support to all kinds of media (take that Swedish socialist TV I & 2). But it is a serious problem that a lot of papers today more or less openly support political parties, sometimes pretty foggish. Poneke’s argument against this is that in New Zeeland they don’t have the media competition for that. That is fully understandable I think and he’s making a valid point. We have the same situation here in Iceland where monopolies seem to be a national chronic sickness or something.

Again, politicians shouldn’t interfere with what newspapers say or do, but in a such a small state like Iceland wouldn’t be a good idea to sort of minimize the impact of media endorsement to political views and/or parties? Let’s face it, people can’t be politically objective - no one is completely indifferent to any political matter - but the press should try to be as close as possible in a small state like Iceland, especially because the lack of competition.

Punk rock is (was?) an anti-establishment rock music genre and movement that emerged in the mid-1970s and then went through a lot of different sorts of divergences and offshoots. It got really popular in Sweden a lot thanks to the band Ebba Grön and especially the living legend Thåström.
Now when the once so hard-core rebels have grown up to be old men the foundation of the punk rock movement is a long gone concept. But some nostalgic people out there fight to keep it alive. One of them is Torkel “Deep Torkel” Knutsson who has been struggling hard to get old bands to reunite for a 2-day punk rock festival in Stockholm (Berns). That’s really cool and great news to me because I love Swedish punk rock, even though I grew up from believing in left-wing anarchism (those were the days).
A fun notion is that most of these bands are totally unknown for the average man on the street. A lot of that is due to the left-wing rhetoric that was a guide line for the punk movement. Many of these bands were singing in English and that was looked down upon back then by the Swedish music listeners and Industry. If you knew English you were a sell-out!! =) The punks were throwing a spanner in their own works. How ironic isn’t that …

http://www.pastan.nu/konsert/punken-vacks-till-liv-och-skriver-om-sin-historia-1.25758 (n.b. in Swed.)

“And this to mend, alas, no art is able, ’cause nature made it so irreparable.”

by Anne Bradstreet. She was a Christian extremist (Puritarian) but she’s cool anyway.

Just a short stanza about the fact that we have to take care of our nature. There are enchanting things in our world out there. Let us pray that this beauty will also be here tomorrow …

In a pathetic approach to make a go for youths’ right in Europe, the President of LSU (the main student/youth organization in Sweden), Hanna, writes on her blog (in Swedish) (http://lsuordforande.blogspot.com/2008/05/smack-mosquito.html) how awful it is that the police get more possibilities to fight juvenile criminality. Recently, a new kind of a device has hit the market; it is called the “mosquito”. The Mosquito or the Mosquito alarm is an electronic device which emits high-frequency sounds, similar to the buzz of a mosquito. Because the ability to hear high frequencies deteriorates in humans with age the noise is most commonly audible to younger persons (approx. 13-25). I think it is great we get more possibilities to fight of left-wing radicals occupying buildings or young rascals rioting. The device is marketed for use as a safety and security tool for preventing gang loitering which can often lead to graffiti, vandalism, and violence. It is apparently very popular in the UK mostly by shopkeepers and police authorities. It has been a total success and a savior for a lot of private shop entrepreneurs, because it has successfully reduced the number of teenagers steeling in their stores.

Who can be against that? Who can possibly have anything to complain about? I tell you who, “young” pundits like Hanna from LSU apparently and other people who think the year is 1968. They feel sorry for those who do bad and punish those who do good, taking away their protection. This tool can successfully protect a lot of innocent young civilians from other not-so-innocent bastards who are just there to cause trouble.

I’m so tired, I haven’t slept a wink
I’m so tired, my mind is on the blink
I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink
No,no,no.

//The Beatles

I think I start up an insomnia blog. I just finished my exam week and I am so tired. I just have some problems to relax. I guess those gears in my brain are running full speed right now and I just can’t get them to stop. So what should I do? Count sheep? Watch TV? Drink chamomile tea?

Fill me in with your favorite tricks for getting a good night’s snooze!

I beg you all pardon for low productivity on my page lately but the reason for that is that I’ve been out on the countryside in Iceland exploring the beautiful nature here. Iceland is extremely impressive with its splendid nature with lava landscapes, volcanoes, and glaciers. This weekend we drove on for a look at the historic Surtshellir (above), a lava cave once inhabited by outlaws.

Next stop was Hraunfossar (below) which cascade into the river from beneath a tree-covered lava field. Then we continued to see the historical site of Reykholt, the place where it is believed (!) that Snorri Sturlason (the historian and poet) once lived.

It was truly an exciting trip. I wish I had more time to go out traveling in the Icelandic wilderness and experience more of this divine freedom that nature has present this world with. I guess when you live here you take it too much for granted. It’s all studies and work for most Icelanders here (and for me). But the nature here is an incredible source of inspiration and it is when I’m on the countryside I just feel that irresistibly drawn to write and create. I guess you understand why when you see these images …

Forty years ago, students in neckties and bobby sox threw cobblestones at the police and demanded that France’s sclerotic postwar system change. Today, students worried about losing state benefits are marching through the streets demanding that nothing change at all. Some things actually do change …

But some things we can for certain say do not change - people with too much spare time who have been smoking way too much pot/drinking way too much red wine (whatever floats your boat, I guess) should not read Marx and should certainly NOT try to get into politics. What doesn’t change is that they do it anyway.

This is what May 1st stands for. The working-class people (whoever those people are, most left-wingers of today have never even seen one) work (surprised?). They are more interested in that the company they work for actually will be profitable even tomorrow so they can continue to work their. The real working man do not want to have things for free, therefore it is wrong to steal from him as well. How can it be right to take money from someone who does right and give it to people who do wrong? Those who work ought to be blessed for their work, not punished. They should be blessed with tax reductions and not be victims of governmental robbery. I’d say that tax reductions for the poorest and for those who work the hardest is the most fair and just way to choose here. Surely tax reductions should be of benefit for everyone, but it is the most ethical and most moral thing to do to lift this burden for those the most in need who are struggling. The self-made man, the working man, is a HERO and ought to be treated as such …

No, the ‘68 legacy must be liquidated, just as Sarkozy says. It has imposed intellectual and moral (cultural) relativism on the world and the worst thing is that these people now sit on power positions all over the world, especially on Universities. These people shouldn’t be allowed to have jobs! It is a good thing they retire soon …

BUT this “revolution” brought along some positive changes too of course in the rotten conservative state of France. For instance, thanks to the changes to a more liberal-minded society we now have a man twice-divorced as a President for France. I guess with all bad things comes at least one good thing.

Recently primier-elected Silvio Berlusconi is not starting out well this time in office either. He is continuing the protectionist policy that has been a normal constituent in Italian politics, whether it is left parties or right-wing parties in charge.

The situation is this; the Italian state owns 49.9 % of the airline company Alitalia, a company that resembles a crisis so bad it should be put into bankruptcy if it wouldn’t be for governmental backing. And now it will get even worse with Berlusconi at the helm. B. just said Alitalia would have to keep its role as Italy’s flagship carrier because of its role bringing tourists to Italy - no matter what. He is now obviously planning to let the Italian taxpayers pay for the rest of the company that is not yet a part of the state budget. “This is a threat”, he said. And he couldn’t be more correct …

Even though the dominating political coalition may call themselves the “House of Freedom” doesn’t mean that they are carrying out political decisions that will bring freedom to the country. Its even clearer now that Italy never can be the “Country of Freedom” with Berlusconi in charge.

http://www.svd.se/nyheter/utrikes/artikel_1193793.svd

What is evil? We would almost certainly all of us say that Hitler was evil. And Stalin and Pol Pot. But most of them, although surely being evil beyond borders, executed their evil acts with help of others. Hitler never shot anyone, nor did Mussolini or Stalin. Leaders have a tradition to let others do their dirty work - probably with an exception of Uganda’s Idi Amin who wanted to taste blood himself.

But now - evil has been given a face.

This police handout picture shows Austrian Josef Fritzl. This man is a monster. He has today starting to tell the police in Austria how he imprisoned his daughter in a basement for 24 years (!) and fathered her seven children due to constantly raping her over and over again for decades. Today Josef Fritzl admitted to forcing his daughter Elisabeth into the basement of the family’s home in Amstetten, north-west Austria, on August 24 1984, when she was 18.

Today, the Austrian daily newspaper Der Standard said in an editorial: “The whole country must ask itself just what is really, fundamentally going wrong.” Yea, how about that. Remember that other Austrian girl who got locked up by her dad in the basement. OK, it was “only” for 8 years, but common - we have to ask ourselves, what is seriously wrong with Austria???

I pity the fool … who is attending the communist circus on May 1st. =)

Some time ago when Bill Clinton wasn’t so caught up in his wife’s effort with reaching to the throne in the White House, Clinton was visiting Iceland for discussions about alternative energies. Afterward Clinton, a known fast-food aficionado, was spotted at a popular hot dog stand, Baerjarins Beztu (”town’s best”). It serves the traditional Icelandic hot dog, which includes lamb, beef and pork. It is served with onions and an egg-based relish. However Clinton wanted to have a less dressing at that time. And even today you can go to Iceland and ask for a “Clinton” when you buy hot dogs. Then you will get a hot dog only with sinnep (mustard). Last summer I tried to uncover the mystery of what the sausages really contain, but after an SS meat factory worker told me, “You don’t want to know,” I decided to let it be. I just hope it doesn’t have anything to do with the heart problems Clinton experienced shortly after his visit in 2004.

The funniest thing with it all is that this small hot dog stand recently started to take an active part in the upcoming election in the US. They’ve been putting up commercial posters for this candidate all over the place. You can guess for yourself on what side they are. Let me give you a generous hint - the candidate is not a man.

With its aim of reducing social inequalities and to reduce class differences in Sweden, the Swedish socialists have used their education policy to prevent people from being different. In earlier times, university and college were something that only the happy few could take a part of. Of course this was a erroneous situation due to that people with wealth during these days were more likely to have had inhereted that property or wealth - not earning it themselves. It is natural that noble titles and nice family names are something that we certainly do not need in modern times. You should owe your success to yourself - not your great great great-grandfather who happened to be a Duke or a Baron.
But meanwhile they were blinded by their hate towards the old class system, the Swedish socialists established a system with little or no concern for the individual - just the State/Nation. In Sweden, it doesn’t matter any more if you are studying or not. It is nothing special with it. The communists have achieved what they wanted. Everyone does it - it is just that that it doesn’t lead anywhere for a huge number of the students attending classes like anthropology or feminist theory etc. They get hooked on student loans, they put themselves in debt to the state and are therefore from then on dependent even more on the State. In Sweden, a midwife needs to study 3-4 years and a nurse around 5. Meanwhile Asia is vomiting out civil engineers and physicians in numbers of millions we study in a slow pace till we are 26-27, with debt to the State all above our ears and with little or no working experience (due to the reason that Swedish students don’t need to work, they get money “for free”, i.e. they get paid for studying meanwhile in other countries you have to pay for it).
And everyone should study. Especially people who don’t want to study. Because the State has so decided. This is a tactic the State developed for the politicians in charge to be able to go abroad and show up great numbers in the UN on how many people (percentagewise) are studying in Sweden and how swell and equal our country is. What it doesn’t show is that we have one of the highest unemployment rates in the EU region for College students and young adults. We need of course a mentality shift, we need to understand that not everyone is fit for university studies and we have to encourage people that are gifted in other ways to be prouder of themselves. Today in Sweden a huge number of university students are being unemployed meanwhile it is almost impossible to find a carpenter or other skilled craftsmen.

But who cares anyway? - the politicians get re-elected and receive standing ovations abroad by those rats in the UN corridors of power. Why would they work for a change?

http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article2355636.ab

When the chairman of the Nobel foundation Marcus Storch held his opening speech at the Nobel prize ceremony in December last year, his remarks about the liberty of the press and the freedom of speech was censored on Chinese television. This is of course an outrage! I have a lot of times stated that I rather watch the non-state owned TV 4 channel instead of 1 and 2, but right now I don’t know WHAT to watch???

When the Nobel Foundation learned about this the foundation cancelled the contract with the Swedish television channel TV4, which has had the sole right to broadcast the Nobel prize ceremony and to distribute it to tv-companies all over the world.

- Censorship is against our values. We can not accept that, says Michael Sohlman, Executive Director of the Nobel foundation. He’s damn right. I hope the President for TV 4 will soon suffer from ED and all the VDs from A to Z.

Remember, the worst part about censorship is …………………………………………………. ………

Is there anything as detestable as bureaucrats and unnecessary jumble with rules and restrictions putting borders onto our normal workday? Today I was chatting with one my friends from Sweden who met this German exchange student 2 years ago and moved to Münich shortly after. He’s been studying there now for a year and now he’s back home. He is studying to be a teacher (who doesn’t these days? :S) at Uppsala but now he’s looking forward to be able to make a living in Germany as a teacher. One tend to think that “OK that should be all smooth sailing then because of the EU and its anti-tariff wall policies and pro-freedom of movement ideas and bases”, but it’s WRONG WRONG!

He has to stand in a line for 6 months so that the German state can research his education from top till toe in order to get a warrant on that he really IS a teacher. And since he’s going to Münich, which is in Bavaria (German: Freistaat Bayern), which is that German state with the harshest regulations on these things, he have to pass through some extra tests EVEN THOUGH he has a finished degree from another European country (and it’s Sweden for Thor’s sake, not Romania or Bulgaria etc.).

It just sickens me … EU has totally lost its ways and is way out from what the intentions were aiming at from the beginning back in the times when Europe lay in ruins and rubbles. It’s just so sad. I was a really strong EU and EMU supporter … now I just don’t know. EUs agriculture policy, CAP, regulations, and French farmers sure are killjoys that could turn any ovation into a lamentation.

The steep rise in fuel costs continue to prompt rare public protest in Iceland. It was as late as 1949 the anti-riot police was used in Iceland (then because of the Icelandic enterance in NATO), but now it is being used again. The fuel tax is therefore continuing to cause trouble within Iceland and the protests do not seem to fade away. Yesterday, 22 people were taken into custody by the anti-riot police, 1 police officer got hurt by a stone thrown at him and several people got beaten up by the police, who felt needed to use pepper spray against the protesters.

It was the latest in a series of small demonstrations against inflation and price increases due to the deteriorating economy for the country. And although Iceland has one of the lowest unemployment rate in the world, the Directorate of Labor fears rising unemployment. The situation on the Icelandic labor market is expected to change next fall. That will surely be interesting times …

The world is facing a crisis. Remember my contribution when I wrote about why Icelandic food is so expensive? Well the same goes for the rest of the world. Food prices are skyrocketing.

Foodstuffs have gone up 41 percent in price since October 2007 globally, pushing many people over the line from poverty into privation or even hunger. The Food and Agriculture Organization, a branch of the United Nations, has identified 36 “crisis” countries, 21 of which are in Africa. But as might find a little bit strange, this is not the result of bad harvests. The production was bigger than ever last year, and is projected to break the record again this year. This has to do with things I was talking about before - unnecessary subsidies (aren’t they always unnecessary?), regulations etc. But there is a new bandit on the market - the environmentalists.

Next time you see a car driven by ethanol take a look at it. It has no exhaust pipe. The buses in Uppsala  (Sweden) and Reykjavik (Iceland) are most of them driven by ethanol. Thanks to that, buses have been painted green to show people that this is the good environmental option. Yey! But, and here’s the huge but, is it really that easy?

Well, not surprisingly, it’s not. Because of subsidies especially in the US ethanol production now take almost five percent of the total global harvest, which is twice the total reduction of stocks this year. And according to the World Bank, the grain needed to fill up an SUV once could feed a person for a year. Sc. Biofuel is a huge problem.

Of course this lead to that countries that live on grain sales respond to the rise in prices with price controls and export barriers which means less incentives for their farmers to grow and invest more, and result in rising prices for the rest of the world.

And do I need to mention all the subsidies and tariffs that the US and the EU are using to enrich themselves meanwhile they impoverish Africa and South America? The EU and the US NEED to cease this anti-capitalistic behavior! The world need more openness, more globalization, and more capitalism - not less of it. Jean Ziegler, Austrian guy from the UN, called this terrible thing for a silent mass murder. And it is definitely what it is!

http://www.svd.se/nyheter/utrikes/artikel_1155977.svd

“Moreover, absolute unlimited freedom will change the world into a jungle.” //Facebook Muslim (about what would happen if we would let the freedom of speech continue to be, uhm, free.)

Yes, and absolute restriction of freedom will change the world into a prison. If we are going to play the monkey game I rather choose to live free in a jungle rather than among religious donut-heads in a prison (if I only have to choose between your extremes (which I don’t have to)).

Liar liar … Well, Hillary Clinton may be right. Barack Obama does not have the experience to be president of the United States.

But then, neither does she. Neither does John McCain. I love the show when Chris Rock made himself funny over Hillary and this clownish farce of political game that now completely has been taking over the US and cost the taxpayers millions of dollars. I mean, Chris Rock’s right - being married to the President does not qualify one to BE president, anymore than being married to a comedian qualifies one to tell jokes.

The moral of the story is not that experience is irrelevant. No, the moral is that experience is not the only barometer; that the presidency also requires reasoning, knowledge, maturity, leadership and some sense of how the world works. There is no president school, no certificate that says you’re ready. The presidency is an entity unto itself, its responsibilities and burdens unique beyond anyone’s ability to prepare for them. What makes a President then? Well, probably someone who has all of these qualifications (hopefully) and have good ideas to follow up the policies with - without listening too much to lobby groups - let it be oil companies or the unions. It has to be one helluva burden though. If one person is willing to take this job for the sake of his/her compatriots and not for his/her own power and carrier - I’m all in favor. Sadly though these men and women mostly often have other reasons for doing what they are doing - no matter what their sweet words are at. Small wonder.

The best party in Europe would be if the Italians would make the food, the English would entertain the guests with stand-up comedians and other hilarious Monty Python- related things, and the Germans would take care of the order supervising it all. The reverse would be that the English would make the food, the Germans would entertain the guests, and the Italians would take care of the order. This would then be the worst party ever …

It’s an old European joke about Italy, Germany, and England, and in many cases it might be just perfectly true (plus it is always fun to exaggerate :)). Let’s focus on Italy, where Silvio Berlusconi won a decisive victory in both chambers. The fact that the Communists lost their seats should make any person who call himself/herself democratic happy. There you really have a bunch of boys and girls who admire supranational power and believe in the supremacy of the State/collective over the sole individual. In their world, individual demands and dreams are little worth. Of course this may be interpreted as a strong mandate for Berlusconi to launch substantial reforms. Italians want change and a strong government. It is often claimed that Italy is “ungovernable”, and it might as well be true. Look at the hills of garbage in the city of Naples.

Let’s just face it - Naples’s trash is a challenge politicians are flunking. It’s awful! The problems around Naples, a city long defined by both its loveliness and squalor, are complicated, raising worries about tourism, ongoing inequity in poor southern Italy and the local mafia, the camorra. But put simply, the bottom line seems the failure of politics. In a situation like this it is natural for people to ask for a strong leadership - and if they choose to be govern by this Berlusconi, then they probably know what they are doing. The rest of Europe may complain as much as they like but it is up to the Italians to choose their leader, not the left-wing in the EU. Naturally, I’m also very skeptic towards Benito Berlusconi. His history of corruption and his designs of policies to benefit himself are bad enough. It is a good example of that politicians should have as little power as possible (Naples is another).
Just as other political commentators I can only state now that Berlusconi has to deliver. Expectations are huge and people want to have results after this mess the communists and the hippies under Prodi created, for instance in Naples, but also all over Italy, with high taxation on the poor hard working families etc. And even though Berlusconi carried out quite many odd decisions and made even odder statements (that are completely unforgivable) during his two last times in office, he now SEEMS TO BE more of a market-oriented and classic liberal. Let us hope it is because the new leadership in Italy craves it. His previous record is mixed, but the pension and labor market reforms he initiated are underestimated.
In politics you have to compromise (sadly). And perhaps it is therefore I dislike politicians - it’s all talk, Berlusconi being no exception …