and so here's two posts in one day. And Holy Cow, are you kidding me? This is not on any news agency that most Americans receive.....

Indonesia Intensifies Security for Terror Fugitive after Singapore Escape

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By GILLIAN WONG

Saturday, March 1, 2008

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Security forces continued to comb Singapore on Saturday for a suspected terrorist leader after he escaped last week from a high security prison.

Singapore Armed Forces military policemen are seen keeping watch under a major highway close to a wooded area. Interpol said Friday it has issued a worldwide security alert following the escape of an alleged Islamic terror leader from a jail in Singapore. (Photo:AP)

Authorities in neighboring Indonesia, meanwhile, bolstered security in case Mas Selamat Kastari, 47, attempted to reach the nearby archipelago. Interpol also issued a worldwide security alert Friday for the suspected commander of al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah's Singapore arm.

Mas Selamat is accused of plotting to hijack a plane and crash it into Singapore's international airport. The Singapore government said he escaped Wednesday because of a "security lapse" at the high security detention center.

 

 

Dozens of community leaders, including members of Parliament, fanned out to distribute posters of the fugitive to the public.

Security breaches are virtually unheard of in Singapore. Among its security services' biggest successes were pre-empting alleged plots to bomb the US Embassy, the American Club and government buildings in 2001—schemes in which Mas Selamat allegedly had a hand.

 

link 

 

I won’t harangue you now or later during the election year. But I do want to make my opinion known, hence today’s scribbling. Most of my friends who have made their own feelings known, have chosen Hillary Clinton as their candidate. I have chosen Barack Obama, and want to tell you why.

There are many reasons, today I will write about three. I believe his anti-war position is stronger than any candidate other than (perhaps) Ron Paul. Mr. Paul however, has leadership issues in my eyes that make him less attractive. A strong anti-war position is important to me. I don’t believe that war makes anyone safer. In a world where ‘war on terror’ is a buzzword that implies that Americans are in mortal danger every moment from radical extremists, and as such must sacrifice the freedoms and liberties we claim to believe in, those of us who disagree need a standard bearer to lead us into a new way of governing on the world stage. We need to reach out to all, not just our ‘friends’ or allies. The war in Iraq is misguided, and we have yet to see or comprehend the ultimate price we will pay for our folly. It will disrupt our culture, destroy our economy, and undermine any chance we have as a nation of contributing to world solutions to global problems. It has already destroyed our image around the world. We are beginning to see the results in the rising price of gas and the falling value of the dollar in overseas markets. But these effects are just the tip of the iceberg that is in our path. The war must be ended sooner rather than later. I believe it will happen sooner with Mr. Obama than any other candidate.

 

The second reason I came to support Mr. Obama is his goal of inclusiveness. He, more than any other candidate, espouses the belief that we are all one. His is not a politics of divisiveness, of us v. them, of looking down our collective noses at the rest of the world. First of all, anyone who is awake and has lived outside the US understands one thing: no country is perfect. But likewise, no country is entirely evil, either (neither Burma nor Afghanistan). There is good, and the drive for good, in all people, races and countries. Conflict happens when the door to discussion, to understanding, is closed. Mr. Obama has received criticism from all in the Washington culture, Ms. Clinton included, about his stand on negotiating with anyone. I agree with him, that you cannot shut the door to discussion with even your enemy if you have a hope to resolve conflict through peaceful means. I have loved the quote from John Kennedy that Obama often refers to: “Do not negotiate from fear, but also do not fear to negotiate” from the first time I heard it. Seeing good in even your own enemy is the first step in conflict resolution, and that requires dialogue and an open mind (both appealing qualities in a leader).

 

And so to the third reason. Please ask yourself what it is that you expect from a President. Myself, I expect someone who will express a vision and inspire all to join the effort to make it real. A President cannot, alone, change the economy, nor balance a budget, nor start a war. A President must be a leader, and having been a leader myself, I understand what it requires: breaking up the project into pieces that each person can lift and carry themselves, and directing those pieces into a coherent whole that makes the future your vision requires. At it’s most fundamental, leadership is the art of negotiation and communication.

 

And so I ask myself: do I believe Ms. Clinton has the ability to inspire others? To reach out around the world to all the people, races and cultures that America has wronged in the last few decades? I have to say no. She has spent her whole career trying to fit into the Washington political scene, and now campaigns claiming her ‘experience’ will let her hit the ground running. First of all, what experience? First Lady? As Senator, just like Mr. Obama? Whitewater? As a lawyer, just like Mr. Obama? To my taste, she’s too much like what got us here, when what I want is someone to lead America out of the swamp. I also appreciate that Mr. Obama has more sense of his international roots. Until you’ve spent significant time outside the US, it’s difficult to assess America’s role in the global situation, and leads to faulty (insular) thinking. As the world grows smaller, new leadership must look beyond the borders of America to find what makes everyone safe, safe from others, from environmental degradation, from bad water or disease, from economic ruin. That may require an end to nationalism, and I ask you today: are you prepared to think globally, universally? Or will you continue to think American?

 

Please join me in voting for a new vision that includes all in dialogue to solve our problems, to let every spirit flourish, to fill every soul with joy.

I put my cat down this morning. Weasel was at least 17 years old, though I don't remember the exact date we got him in 1990. He was still a kitten at the time, and I'd not had a Siamese cat before. I came to love the quirks of that breed. What makes his old age even more amazing, are the facts that a) he only came in the house to eat and, b) he was still able to move around well until just this last week. I noticed he was having a bit of trouble with his left side late last week, and we found him last night, under a bush in the front yard, not only unable to stand but barely able to try. We brought him inside and endured a night of listening to his crying in discomfort before taking him in this morning.

If I sat at the computer while he was eating, he would climb into my lap when he finished and purr contentedly. As soon as I got up, he would ask to go back outside. When I would come home, no matter the time of day or mode of transportation, bike or car, he would meet me in the driveway and come inside for a bite to eat. He was no trouble at all. And he lived with me almost as long as my three wives all put together.

So long my friend. 

So it appears the gentleman in France who lost USD 7.3B had, as recently as 2006, been responsible for a third of the bank's annual profit..... to the tune of about USD 3B. The way he had found to accomplish this mad swing in fortune, both good and bad? 

His job was designated as a 'small profit' desk. He was to both buy and sell the same position, creating a small profit when the position actually moved in either direction. That was the job description. But initially, it appears his luck was good, and he began to take only one side of the position, immensely enhancing his profits. But as any trader will tell you, eventually your picks go south.....hence the huge losses. His excuse? His bosses "had to know" what he was doing and "said nothing to stop him" and so he continued.....

 

But I agree with Mike. You don't have losses until you sell. But that reminds me of a tax client of mine....he was the last person in 2001 to buy Worldcom. His daytrading consisted of buying 1 - 2 million dollars worth of stock, wait for the first 1/8 tick up, and sell. At that volume, the penny profit is large enough to make it worthwhile. He bought Worldcom at about $125/share, and waited for the uptick that never came. He rode that stock down to $2 a share, convinced the price would return to even greater heights. Wiped out the profit from 64 other profitable trades in one bad one.

Greed. That's the only word for it.

Or stupid. 

The last pll before voting shows Obama with 39% and Clinton with 30%. The actual results show Obama 36%, Clinton 39%. "Why the difference?" is the question on every news channel this morning. I'll tell you why:

Obama did well in Iowa because it was a public vote. Few people want to be politically incorrect and so, since everyone could see who they were voting for, they had to vote their talk. In New Hampshire, the talk was that Obama was the better candidate, but when it came time to punch out a chad, NH proved it's more racist than sexist, more willing to vote for a woman than a black man. NH showed us what white America will do in November 2008......if Obama wins the nomination.....and that is secretly vote according to race. 

America, you suck. 

to go see this in person....Ice and Snow World in Harbin, China

 

more pics from around the world 

One of the first reactions to the death of Benazir Bhutto came from Hillary Clinton. She called for an international investigation into the assassination. That made me stop and think……

What if the tables were turned, and for instance, imagine it’s 2 weeks before the November 2008 election and the democratic candidate is assassinated. Would you, Mr. And Mrs. America, enjoy hearing that China wants to launch an international investigation of the deed? Wouldn’t you be terribly offended that China would even deign to interfere with what is obviously an American problem/concern? (And also, would you think the election, two weeks away, should be postponed or canceled?  Interesting question, that one!)

But then I realized…..that is emblematic of the nationalist/ethnocentric thinking that we have to overcome if we are to survive as a species. Humans, that is. We cannot let our nationalistic fervor, our ‘us vs. them’ mentality, continue in a time that knows nuclear proliferation. If we are ever to overcome wars and prejudice, we must come to realize the oneness of all beings. We must validate this truth: that beneath all the bluster, all the differences of race and religion, we all want the same things from life: health, love and a better future for our children. Everything else is but a difference that allows us to judge and find someone lacking, and this is the attitude that must change.

Seen in that light, the assassination this week is but another chance blown, another conflict that we failed to resolve in a manner that promotes the future of the species, another in a long list of religious or ethnocentric failures. If we are to learn anything in a postmortem, let it be this:

What goes around, comes around.

The UN General Assembly voted on Tuesday for a global moratorium on the death penalty. The resolution was nonbinding; its symbolic weight made barely a ripple in the news ocean of the United States, where the rights of governments to kill a killer is enshrined in law and custom.

But for those who have been trying to move the world away from lethal revenge as government policy this was a milestone. The resolution failed repeatedly in the 1990s, but this time the vote was 104-54, with 29 nations abstaining. Progress has come in Europe and Africa. Nations like Senegal, Burundi, Gabon - even Rwanda, shamed by genocide - have decided to reject the death penalty as official barbarism.

The United States, as usual, lined up on the other side, with Iran, China, Pakistan, Sudan and Iraq. Together this blood brotherhood accounts for more than 90 percent of the world's executions

 link to the entire International Herald article

Nice to know who else thinks like Americans....... and guess what? No word of this on CNN...

Nasa says its robot rover Spirit has made one of its most significant discoveries on the surface of Mars.

Scientists believe a patch of ground disturbed by the vehicle shows evidence of a past environment that would have been perfect for microbial life.

The deposits were probably produced when hot spring water or steam came into contact with volcanic rocks.

On Earth, these are locations that tend to teem with bacteria, said rover chief scientist Steve Squyres.

 

link to entire article, on BBC News. 

The sign in the bank, over a 55 gallon tub, began: “No child should go through Christmas without receiving a present….please donate a toy for a child today.”

That got me to thinking….

Not every child recognizes “Christmas” in any meaningful way. Maybe the sign should have said, “No Christian child….” Or even “No American child…”

And after all, what is the meaning of “Christmas”? I have always railed against people who “get the holiday spirit” for a month or two late in the year, and then revert to their old ways in January. But what is the holiday spirit? Isn’t it a sense of belonging, of family, and of generosity? I would ask, what is the spirit of Christmas to you? And do you live that spirit every single day of the year?

Why not?

 

And if the spirit of Christmas is a good thing, where’s the urgency to spread it as far and as wide as you can? What have you done today to bring goodwill to someone you have met? How did you express your generosity today? And whom in the family of mankind do you feel estranged from this very moment? What can you do to reach out to them, to include them in your Christmas spirit?

 

May your days be merry and bright.

Someone left their post-it to-do list at the restaurnt last night. I'm not making this up. Here were some of their bullet points (they had drawn a tiny circle in front of each item):

• workout after work
• work at 5 pm
• call Heath
• text Terry
• drink water
• journal
• blog
• bike riding
• look for an apartment
  

I think I'd put the last item first, but that's just me.....

You gotta love it....on this morning's national CBS Radio News: 2 stories separated by one other, the first about the Supreme Court challenge to Guantanamo Bay and the utter disregard of rights for the prisoners there. It included a sound bite from a supporter of Gitmo, to the effect that 'courts can't stand in the way of a President waging war...'

The second, about the release of a study showing that a majority of teenagers feel it's OK to break a rule or law if it means they will gain from said transgression. 

Think these two stories are related? Yeah, me too. 

The debate over who will one day succeed Tibet's iconic spiritual leader is heating up, even though the Dalai Lama himself says he is "good for another few decades".

 "As early as 1969 I made clear the very institution of the Dalai Lama is up to the Tibetan people," he said.

He outlined other methods to appoint his successor as well, such as one similar to electing the Pope where senior lamas would choose the next Dalai Lama.

The Tibetan spiritual leader also raised the possibility of himself naming a new Dalai Lama while he is still alive, a proposal he outlined in Japan last week.

The Dalai Lama's ideas have been roundly condemned by Beijing.

"The Dalai Lama's statement is in blatant violation of religious practice and historical procedure", the Foreign Ministry said.

"The Chinese government will not accept any of these proposals as it wants to be in control of Tibet's future spiritual leadership."

Guess there's no "seperation of church and state" in China these days, huh?

 

link   to the entire BBC News article

from the Japanese spacecraft Kaguya, in orbit around the Moon since mid-October, here's an HD photo of Earthrise. More notable for the high def view of the Moon than Earth (when compared to the historic 1968 Earthrise photo we all know from Apollo) it still blows my mind when you stop to think about what it really means....that little blue ball floating in the blackness......

 

link

 

Reminder: Even HD photos are not always 100% as they first appear. Case in point, this photo, and the famous Christmas Day 1968 Apollo snapshot, have been rotated 90 degrees clockwise. To be able to see the Moon beneath and the Earth 'rising' the satellite (or crew) would need to be in a polar orbit around the Moon. In all photos so far, this is not the case. The reality of the photo is that the Moon fills the right side of the frame vertically, and Earth moves from the center towards the left as it 'rises'. Doesn't make for as appealing a photo, does it? 

 

from a BBC article discussing how an insolvent bank is handled. As a warning, so you can keep an eye out and make sure your own funds are safe, here's what's truly important for your bank to do apparently: 

 

"Almost the single most important aspect should be implementing a clear communications and PR strategy"

 link

I hope my bank is good at lying to me if that's the case. Isn't that sad?

....that lets you get a divorce in 2 hours, start to finish, as long as your identification papers are in order. Done as of yesterday, for those who keep track of these things.
So just hours later, already on the bus to return home, one of the bus tires blows out and everyone who was sleeping (myself included) wakes due to the noise. Less than 30 km later, the bus pulls into a tire repair facility for the particular bus company we are using. Don't know enough Thai to discover if this is coincidence, or they just have so many repair facilities that you're always close to one. Do know that the word 'repair' in the business title is quite misleading....
It's actually 1 am when this occurs, and for the next 90 minutes I'm blessed to watch a man use a sledgehammer and pick to remove the shredded carcass of the old tire and put a new tire on the wheel. No fancy machines that remove the old rubber with the touch of a button here. It's not until he stands the tire up (it stands about 4 feet tall, bus tires are big after all) that I realize the rubber he has just installed is missing the outside tread, a good 2 inches wide, for about 1/3 of the circumference of the tire. It's gone, but you can't see inside the tire, it's still airtight. For now. There's a crack in the sidewall that's big enough to put my little finger in. So we're not getting a NEW tire, just a DIFFERENT tire.
But I'm pleased to report we managed to travel the remaining 4 hours to Bangkok without further incident. I'm writing this in the Taipei airport, waiting for the last air leg of the trip back. Can't say I'm excited to go home, I miss Thailand again already. But there's always next summer to look forward to. My stepdaughter has asked to come to the US for a vacation. Maybe next May, when the Thai schools are closed.
I'll fill in more details for any who are to ask. Yes, things are percolating with my Thai neighbor across the street. We didn't spend alot of time together this trip, she's scared to death of what Lena might do if we are found out, and if I do end up making this a serious relationship we will probably have to move to Mae Sot (big downside there, that's the town on the Burma border being overwhelmed with refugees today due to the current repression). But that might also offer the chance to help some refugees. Who knows what opportunities lie ahead for those who aspire to help others?

24 November, 2550

At least, that's the date here in Sukothai, Thailand. Loy Kratong, 2007 for you who insist on the Western calendar. Loy Kratong is the lover's holiday here in Thailand, the 11th full moon of the year each year. It also happens to fall close to the King's birthday, 5 December, this year, (his 80th) and so is especially poignant. Tonight 'kratongs' will be set afire and floated out into the river, to better carry away strife and trouble and begin life anew tomorrow. Makes for a beautiful scene, lots of candles floating downstream, some rather large as towns and organizations compete. Most small, as that's all a few units of local currency will buy these days. And a few units is all anyone has here.

Sukothai is a World Heritage Site, renowned for old ruins of a past society that was never completely conquered by outsiders. Few, if any, can make that claim. Today it's descendants don't pay much attention to anything happening outside their borders. Maybe that's the way to do it. Get the US out of Iraq and stop paying attention to anyone else outside our borders. Bet that would get the currency moving back up again!

In closing, here's to you and yours, on the auspicious occurence of His Majesty's 80th birthday. Long Live the King!

 

[Follow-up, 27 Nov: Having arrived so close to Loy Kratong, I missed the heavy promotional campaign waged here in Thailand to make the holiday 'green'. Traditional kratongs, made of much plant material, also contained much plastic. Some few were all plastic. In these few days since the heaviest night of floating Kratongs (the locals float them nightly for a week to some degree) the news is full of complaints that 'Yes, there was a lot less plastic in the kratongs this year, but people carry them to the river in plastic bags, and just drop the bags which then get blown into the river....'

I also rode the bus through the Sukothai Heritage Park Sunday at noon. I have never seen so many plastic bags littering a park before in my life. I'm sure every person who attended the festivities/fireworks Saturday dropped at least 2...... It's just embarrassing.

 

....to look up at a newly sat table in my section and see a man, with 5 (yes, five!) children strewn around a table meant for 4, with all 5 between the ages of 18 months and 6. That's a huge span of control, for one adult, and the heart shudders at the mayhem you just know is about to ensue.

But even after feeding spicy cheese sauce to the 18 month-old, all the children were well behaved, but able to play and have some fun. Daddy was even able to carry on at least 2 work-related phone calls over dinner. It is pleasing to be reminded that not all children are rowdy animals.

I forgot to take along my rainsuit on my sunny bike ride to work this morning, and sure enough, 20 minutes before time to begin the ride home, it began to rain.

I asked for a garbage can liner, to poke a few holes and at least keep my phone and money clip dry, and as I stood outside the storefront poking said holes, was able to watch some poor sucker using towels to dry out the driver's seat of his BMW convertible, the hatch top kind, where you remove the top and leave it at home when you want to go topless. He had pulled his vehicle onto the loading dock to get it under a roof and was frantically trying to dry things out. As it has now continued to rain for several hours, I imagine he's had to make other arrangements to get home.

No matter how bad things seem, someone is having a worse day..... 

Next week is Halloween. Halloween used to be my favorite holiday. There was something about the concept of getting to play a character for a day, to be someone completely not me, that appealed to me. Maybe I should have tried acting as a career……

But now Halloween just means we are entering a part of the year filled with tragic memories. Halloween, 2005, AKA “Trick or Trunk”. The remaining residents along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi tried to put the best face on a holiday tradition, trick or treating, when there were no houses left to visit. They would gather in parking lots, open the trunks of the cars to access bags of candy, and kids in costumes would go car-to-car instead of door-to-door. A community tailgate for candy, if you will. Brave on the face of it, attempting to bring normalcy to kids who could not understand the depth of the tragedy around them. But a sad reminder of how much had been lost during Hurricane Katrina.

And Christmas, 1998. Being a volunteer firefighter on the fireground where a father and 3 children didn’t survive to have any more holidays. It was that helpless feeling, watching the mother and her only surviving child cry on the sidewalk at 3 am, that brought me to leave the department. I went home that Christmas morning and hugged my children with the knowledge there may never be another chance to express my love. We all must remember that.

And January 13, the anniversary of my own son’s death in a house fire. Such a bright soul, love incarnate as we said at the time, who only demonstrated his joy and love for 8 short months and never knew what a holiday was. Still, he taught me the most important thing about life: every day is the most important one. Today is all we truly have. The ‘holiday spirit’ should be felt and expressed every moment, not just at a certain time of year, or on a particular day. Please touch the lives around you at every opportunity no matter what the calendar says. Be generous all year ‘round, not just at Christmas. Be thankful for what you have and what you have achieved. Not everyone is as lucky as you, my friend.