I know it's a bit old, but Bill Maher's commentary from a few weeks back is hilarious and is a true must see.
Check it out at: http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/bushvideos/v/maherbushbungle.htm
"Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you any more. There's no more money to spend--you used up all of that. You can't start another war because you used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people. Listen to your Mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit cards maxed out. No one's speaking to you. Mission accomplished.
I've watched it three times and I still laugh...
Thursday, September 29, 2005
What's so intelligent about Intelligent Design?
William Saletan has a great article on Slate.com on the fallacies of those proposing "Intelligent Design" (ID) as a scientific alternative to Darwinian evolution; something being now proposed in Pennsylvania as a mandated part of the Biology curriculum.
The complaint that Darwinism can resort to an "infinite number" of processes misses the key word: processes. What makes Darwinism finite and falsifiable is its commitment to explain processes of evolution. Debunk one process, and Darwinists are forced to propose and test another. (For an excellent review of Darwinism's performance under empirical challenge, see Rick Weiss and David Brown's article in Monday's Washington Post.) What makes ID infinite and unfalsifiable is its refusal to explain intelligent design. You send your kids to biology class to learn by what processes living things evolve. ID doesn't even try to answer that question...
So here's what ID proponents are offering to teach your kids: They won't say how ID works. They won't say how it can be tested, apart from testing Darwinism and inferring that the alternative is ID. They won't concede it has to be falsifiable. All they'll say is that Darwinism hasn't explained some things.
(The full article: http://www.slate.com/id/2127052/)
In other words, ID doesn't belong in a science class! It's an anti-theory that cannot be falsifiable and is therefore by definition not scientific. It should be discussed, but in a Philosophy class not Biology. Of course sadly, few high school students are exposed to even the slightest bit of philosophical reflection; a tragic absense in anyone's education and one that, I think, partly explains what's wrong with the present system: no broader, multi-disciplined environment to discuss and learn to think about broad questions of human knowledge. And so ID continues to find itself more than ever where it does not belong.
The complaint that Darwinism can resort to an "infinite number" of processes misses the key word: processes. What makes Darwinism finite and falsifiable is its commitment to explain processes of evolution. Debunk one process, and Darwinists are forced to propose and test another. (For an excellent review of Darwinism's performance under empirical challenge, see Rick Weiss and David Brown's article in Monday's Washington Post.) What makes ID infinite and unfalsifiable is its refusal to explain intelligent design. You send your kids to biology class to learn by what processes living things evolve. ID doesn't even try to answer that question...
So here's what ID proponents are offering to teach your kids: They won't say how ID works. They won't say how it can be tested, apart from testing Darwinism and inferring that the alternative is ID. They won't concede it has to be falsifiable. All they'll say is that Darwinism hasn't explained some things.
(The full article: http://www.slate.com/id/2127052/)
In other words, ID doesn't belong in a science class! It's an anti-theory that cannot be falsifiable and is therefore by definition not scientific. It should be discussed, but in a Philosophy class not Biology. Of course sadly, few high school students are exposed to even the slightest bit of philosophical reflection; a tragic absense in anyone's education and one that, I think, partly explains what's wrong with the present system: no broader, multi-disciplined environment to discuss and learn to think about broad questions of human knowledge. And so ID continues to find itself more than ever where it does not belong.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Down goes Delay
So uber-powerful House of Representatives leader Tom Delay has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of criminal conspiracy. Delay epitomizes the slimy depths that the Republican Party has sunk to in its 11 year control of the House and it's about time that someone - thank you Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earl - had the guts to stand up to this sleaze bag. He, of course, proclaims his innocence; labelling Earl "an unabashed partisan zealot" engaging in "personal revenge," though Earl has, in his 29 years as prosecutor, gone after far more Democrats (12) than Republicans (4).
Delay was the prime motivator of the Clinton impeachment process, the unconstitutional intervention of the Federal government in the Terri Schiavo affair, the unprededented three hour long vote call (that usually lasts 15 minutes) needed to pass the unaffordable and subsidies-for-big-pharmaceutical-companies ridden Medicaid Senior Drug Benefit and the pre-last election gerrymandering of the Texas House districts that not surprisingly gave the Republicans 6 more seats in that election (among other things). His initial impetus for getting into politics, having used to run an extermination business in Houston, was a fervent desire for government de-regulation; specifically aimed at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for having (horror of horrors!), in the seventies, banned Mirex: a probable carcinogen that becomes increasingly concentrated as it moves up the food chain, is highly toxic to marine crustaceans and was then being discovered in the breast milk of mother's in the Southeastern states where it was used to fight fire ants. Yes, this is the man who has been in effective control of the House since Newt Gingrich's resignation as Speaker in 1998, which explains a great deal what's gone wrong with the legislative branch of the U.S. government of late.
For a great discussion of Delay's career, check out NPR's discussion with Texas journalist Lou Dubose at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4052979
Delay was the prime motivator of the Clinton impeachment process, the unconstitutional intervention of the Federal government in the Terri Schiavo affair, the unprededented three hour long vote call (that usually lasts 15 minutes) needed to pass the unaffordable and subsidies-for-big-pharmaceutical-companies ridden Medicaid Senior Drug Benefit and the pre-last election gerrymandering of the Texas House districts that not surprisingly gave the Republicans 6 more seats in that election (among other things). His initial impetus for getting into politics, having used to run an extermination business in Houston, was a fervent desire for government de-regulation; specifically aimed at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for having (horror of horrors!), in the seventies, banned Mirex: a probable carcinogen that becomes increasingly concentrated as it moves up the food chain, is highly toxic to marine crustaceans and was then being discovered in the breast milk of mother's in the Southeastern states where it was used to fight fire ants. Yes, this is the man who has been in effective control of the House since Newt Gingrich's resignation as Speaker in 1998, which explains a great deal what's gone wrong with the legislative branch of the U.S. government of late.
For a great discussion of Delay's career, check out NPR's discussion with Texas journalist Lou Dubose at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4052979
China, Taiwan and the USA
The United-States (at least its Federal government) is often accused of letting self-interested, primarily economic, considerations determine its foreign policy. So it has been tirelessly argued: the invasion of Iraq was all about oil; the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan was "really" about a US energy company building a natural gas pipeline through the country; its involvements in Central and South America over the last century due to imperialist dreams; its late entries into both World Wars seen as opportunistic gambits by power-hungry and hypocritical Presidents; even the tens of billions spenty (in todays dollars) to rebuild Europe after World War II have been reduced to the meanest of motives. I would instead argue that all these actions have been the result of an inevitable combination of self-interest and idealistic, liberal desires to change the world for the better. That to therefore reduce these, or any other historical event, to a purely materialist (generally Marxist) analysis is to overly simplify the true complexities of historical reality. One can certainly learn a lot from applying such analyses, but one must be aware at the same time of their limitations.
The USA's relations with Taiwan make particularly evident the sometimes poverty of this historical outlook. Taiwan is, of course, an island claimed by China as an indivisible part of itself, though it has only for a relatively brief time ever been under control of the government on the mainland (from 1683-1895). Since the Kuomintang (KMT) under Chiang Kai-Shek lost the Civil War to Mao Tse-Tung's Communists and fled to the island of Formosa in 1949 setting up the Republic of China (ROC) government there, the USA's foreign policy has changed from at first (from 1949-1972) refusing to recognize the People's Republic of China (PRC) Communist government - maintaining that the ROC rightfully represented China and had the right to its seat at the United-Nations even though it only controlled the now renamed island of Taiwan and a few other small islands off the coast of China - to an acknowledgement of the Communist Party's effective rule over all of mainland China and therefore its right to China's seat at the UN (1972) and for full diplomatic relations with the U.S. (1979). It has remained the foreign policy objective of the USA, however, to help Taiwan maintain its political independence from China despite its accession to China's insistence that Taiwan is but a "renegade" province that will eventually return to Chinese rule. This objective has been actively enforced; beginning with Harry Truman's sending of the 7th Fleet into the Taiwanese Strait in 1950 in order to forestall an expected Chinese invasion to Bill Clinton's deployment of two aircraft carrier groups to the straits in 1996 after China provocatively "test-fired" missiles over Taiwan during that year's Presidential election. The same year that the U.S. switched its diplomatic recognition to the PRC, the Taiwan Relations Act was passed stating, among other things, that the U.S. would consider "any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by boycotts or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States."
Until 1991 and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Cold War and its related geo-political concerns were the most obvious basis by which to understand Sino-U.S. relations. So the refusal of the U.S. to recognize the PRC until 1972 is explained by the former's militant anti-Communism, just as the then shift towards the PRC (in "Nixon going to China") was motivated by a long-overdue recognition of the non-monolithic nature of the Communist world - specifically the serious disagreements that had arisen between the PRC and the Soviet Union (resulting in border clashes in 1969) as well as with then North Vietnam - and therefore the attempt to play the different Communist blocs against each other to the USA's, and other non-communist countries, advantage.
These foreign policy considerations were undoubtedly the primary reason for the "thaw" between the USA and the PRC that began in the 70's, but one must wonder, given the reality of today, if far-sighted economic prognostications did not play some role. For China, with it's population of well over a billion, has become the economic success story of the last 20 years. Trade between the two countries has increased exponentially to the point where China, in order to keep the value of its currency the yuan artificially low against the dollar, has become the main buyer of US currency in order to keep its exports cheap and economy expanding. The details of this are in themselves fascinatingly frightening (perhaps to be addressed in a future article), but what should be understood is how economically important China is to the USA.
Not that Taiwan is not of course. The official web site of the Taiwanese government (at http://www.roc-taiwan.org/usoffice/dc.htm) states that:
The trade in commercial goods between Taiwan and the United States totaled US$56.35 billion in 2004. Of that, U.S. exports to Taiwan accounted for US$21.73 billion, while U.S. imports from Taiwan totaled US$34.62 billion, resulting in a U.S. deficit of US$14.11 billion. Taiwan was the United States' eighth largest trading partner, its ninth largest export market, and its eighth largest source of imports.
Taiwan's investment in the United States totaled US$557 million in 2004, while U.S. investment in Taiwan totaled US$353 million.
And this with a population of only 23 million people.
Compared to trade with China, however, these numbers pale in significance. Economically there is no doubt which "country" (in scare quotes because Taiwan is not even recognized as a country by most countries in the world) is more important to the USA: clearly China; and yet, Taiwan remains a nearly perpetual stumbling block in China-U.S. relations. Here is a April 8, 2002 commentary (available online at http://english.people.com.cn/200204/07/93630.) from the Communist Party controlled People's Daily:
On April 9, the 23rd anniversary of the United States' troublemaking Taiwan Relations Act, the US Congress is due to unveil a 70-member Taiwan caucus. Most congressional caucuses are issue-based or for particular racial groups but this one will be devoted solely to Taiwan, an inalienable part of China. It is claimed that the caucus will serve as an official channel for legislators from both the United States and the island to exchange ideas. Such a provocative move will obviously overshadow the renewed Sino-US relations. On a more dangerous level, it may provide fodder to Taiwan's military forces and play into the hands of Taiwan separatist extremists... This comes at a time when there have been conspicuous signs of ever-increasing US-Taiwan military ties... In most cases, those who sow the wind will reap a whirlwind. The robust military build-up may not bring the so-called balance but menace instead cross-Straits peace and stability. Helping Taiwan build its military muscle will only foment pro-independence forces. Since the latest remarks and events may give these forces the impression that the United States is on their side and ready to provide military protection, they may become provocative enough to push the island to the edge.
In fact, the Taiwan Caucus of the U.S. House ofRepresentatives has since grown to 151 members, while the newer Taiwan Caucus in the Senate has a respectable 24. These are remarkably high numbers of U.S. government lawmakers to be interested and concerned with its fate despite the obvious displeasure it gives to the economically dominant power. Numerous pieces of legislation have been passed, primarily in the House, calling on the U.S. Administration to support Taiwan against the nearly incessant bullying of Beijing and to change the "One China" policy, in place since 1949, to a "One China-One Taiwan" policy thus affirming the latter's right to self-determination as expressed in the UN Charter. What explains this apparent concern for a "country" whose defense is seemingly so contrary to the economic self-interest of the U.S.?
Of course, the U.S. Administration must strike a much more delicate balance with the PRC - recognizing its formidable political, economic and military power - but no liberalistically inclined individual should think that the U.S. should not help protect Taiwan's sovereignty. Though the economic reforms of the last twenty years in China have been vast, political reform has been strangled since the Tianenmen Square Massacre of June 4, 1989 (in which the Chinese government still maintains that no one was killed) and internal dissent continues to be brutally supressed to this day. Taiwan, on the other hand, has, since the lifting of Martial Law in 1987, become a remarkably free and democratic country with multi-party, competitive elections; a vibrant, free press; and (in great contrast to the persecution of Falun Gong/Dafa and the near-genocidal policies directed at the religion and culture of Tibet by the Chinese Government) freedom of religious belief.
The USA's relations with Taiwan make particularly evident the sometimes poverty of this historical outlook. Taiwan is, of course, an island claimed by China as an indivisible part of itself, though it has only for a relatively brief time ever been under control of the government on the mainland (from 1683-1895). Since the Kuomintang (KMT) under Chiang Kai-Shek lost the Civil War to Mao Tse-Tung's Communists and fled to the island of Formosa in 1949 setting up the Republic of China (ROC) government there, the USA's foreign policy has changed from at first (from 1949-1972) refusing to recognize the People's Republic of China (PRC) Communist government - maintaining that the ROC rightfully represented China and had the right to its seat at the United-Nations even though it only controlled the now renamed island of Taiwan and a few other small islands off the coast of China - to an acknowledgement of the Communist Party's effective rule over all of mainland China and therefore its right to China's seat at the UN (1972) and for full diplomatic relations with the U.S. (1979). It has remained the foreign policy objective of the USA, however, to help Taiwan maintain its political independence from China despite its accession to China's insistence that Taiwan is but a "renegade" province that will eventually return to Chinese rule. This objective has been actively enforced; beginning with Harry Truman's sending of the 7th Fleet into the Taiwanese Strait in 1950 in order to forestall an expected Chinese invasion to Bill Clinton's deployment of two aircraft carrier groups to the straits in 1996 after China provocatively "test-fired" missiles over Taiwan during that year's Presidential election. The same year that the U.S. switched its diplomatic recognition to the PRC, the Taiwan Relations Act was passed stating, among other things, that the U.S. would consider "any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by boycotts or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States."
Until 1991 and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Cold War and its related geo-political concerns were the most obvious basis by which to understand Sino-U.S. relations. So the refusal of the U.S. to recognize the PRC until 1972 is explained by the former's militant anti-Communism, just as the then shift towards the PRC (in "Nixon going to China") was motivated by a long-overdue recognition of the non-monolithic nature of the Communist world - specifically the serious disagreements that had arisen between the PRC and the Soviet Union (resulting in border clashes in 1969) as well as with then North Vietnam - and therefore the attempt to play the different Communist blocs against each other to the USA's, and other non-communist countries, advantage.
These foreign policy considerations were undoubtedly the primary reason for the "thaw" between the USA and the PRC that began in the 70's, but one must wonder, given the reality of today, if far-sighted economic prognostications did not play some role. For China, with it's population of well over a billion, has become the economic success story of the last 20 years. Trade between the two countries has increased exponentially to the point where China, in order to keep the value of its currency the yuan artificially low against the dollar, has become the main buyer of US currency in order to keep its exports cheap and economy expanding. The details of this are in themselves fascinatingly frightening (perhaps to be addressed in a future article), but what should be understood is how economically important China is to the USA.
Not that Taiwan is not of course. The official web site of the Taiwanese government (at http://www.roc-taiwan.org/usoffice/dc.htm) states that:
The trade in commercial goods between Taiwan and the United States totaled US$56.35 billion in 2004. Of that, U.S. exports to Taiwan accounted for US$21.73 billion, while U.S. imports from Taiwan totaled US$34.62 billion, resulting in a U.S. deficit of US$14.11 billion. Taiwan was the United States' eighth largest trading partner, its ninth largest export market, and its eighth largest source of imports.
Taiwan's investment in the United States totaled US$557 million in 2004, while U.S. investment in Taiwan totaled US$353 million.
And this with a population of only 23 million people.
Compared to trade with China, however, these numbers pale in significance. Economically there is no doubt which "country" (in scare quotes because Taiwan is not even recognized as a country by most countries in the world) is more important to the USA: clearly China; and yet, Taiwan remains a nearly perpetual stumbling block in China-U.S. relations. Here is a April 8, 2002 commentary (available online at http://english.people.com.cn/200204/07/93630.) from the Communist Party controlled People's Daily:
On April 9, the 23rd anniversary of the United States' troublemaking Taiwan Relations Act, the US Congress is due to unveil a 70-member Taiwan caucus. Most congressional caucuses are issue-based or for particular racial groups but this one will be devoted solely to Taiwan, an inalienable part of China. It is claimed that the caucus will serve as an official channel for legislators from both the United States and the island to exchange ideas. Such a provocative move will obviously overshadow the renewed Sino-US relations. On a more dangerous level, it may provide fodder to Taiwan's military forces and play into the hands of Taiwan separatist extremists... This comes at a time when there have been conspicuous signs of ever-increasing US-Taiwan military ties... In most cases, those who sow the wind will reap a whirlwind. The robust military build-up may not bring the so-called balance but menace instead cross-Straits peace and stability. Helping Taiwan build its military muscle will only foment pro-independence forces. Since the latest remarks and events may give these forces the impression that the United States is on their side and ready to provide military protection, they may become provocative enough to push the island to the edge.
In fact, the Taiwan Caucus of the U.S. House ofRepresentatives has since grown to 151 members, while the newer Taiwan Caucus in the Senate has a respectable 24. These are remarkably high numbers of U.S. government lawmakers to be interested and concerned with its fate despite the obvious displeasure it gives to the economically dominant power. Numerous pieces of legislation have been passed, primarily in the House, calling on the U.S. Administration to support Taiwan against the nearly incessant bullying of Beijing and to change the "One China" policy, in place since 1949, to a "One China-One Taiwan" policy thus affirming the latter's right to self-determination as expressed in the UN Charter. What explains this apparent concern for a "country" whose defense is seemingly so contrary to the economic self-interest of the U.S.?
Of course, the U.S. Administration must strike a much more delicate balance with the PRC - recognizing its formidable political, economic and military power - but no liberalistically inclined individual should think that the U.S. should not help protect Taiwan's sovereignty. Though the economic reforms of the last twenty years in China have been vast, political reform has been strangled since the Tianenmen Square Massacre of June 4, 1989 (in which the Chinese government still maintains that no one was killed) and internal dissent continues to be brutally supressed to this day. Taiwan, on the other hand, has, since the lifting of Martial Law in 1987, become a remarkably free and democratic country with multi-party, competitive elections; a vibrant, free press; and (in great contrast to the persecution of Falun Gong/Dafa and the near-genocidal policies directed at the religion and culture of Tibet by the Chinese Government) freedom of religious belief.
Consistent with its neo-imperial ambitions, however, China, in March of this year, passed an Anti-Seccession Law that states:
In the event that the 'Taiwan independence' secessionist forces should act under any name or by any means to cause the fact of Taiwan's secession from China, or that major incidents entailing Taiwan's secession from China should occur, or that possibilities for a peaceful reunification should be completely exhausted, the state shall employ non-peaceful means and other necessary measures to protect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
That this completely contradicts the UN Charter and its (Article 1, section 2) affirmation of the right of the "self-determination of peoples" seems to not worry the PRC who insist instead that the issue of Taiwan is a domestic one; that Article 2, section 7 explicitly states that, "Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter" and that therefore the right to self-determination does not in this case apply. The falseness of this argument is made evident by the obvious inapplicability of Taiwan being now "essentially within the domestic jurisdiction" of China. The PRC has, instead, in its history never controlled Taiwan; an obvious requirement for any territory to be accurately referred to as the "domestic jurisdiction" of a state. Though Taiwan is not even a member of the United-Nations (it applies for membership each year only to be rejected by China and its allies), it clearly has the right, based on its effective control of its territory for over 50 years, to determine its own fate. That it is a free and democratic country, as opposed to the authoritarian part-communist, part-fascist dictatorship of the PRC is yet another reason that it should be defended from the increasingly desperate seeming nationalism of the mainland.
If China were to actually invade Taiwan, however, the actions of the U.S. would undoubtedly be the most crucial determining factor in what the final result would be. Though comments have been made in China threatening to use nuclear weapons if the U.S. were to involve itself in a war across the Taiwan Straits, it seems unlikely that China would take such a step knowing the massive repercussions that would surely result. A much more likely scenario is a massive conventional surprise attack aiming to knock out Taiwan's defences and a near-simultaneous amphibious invasion designed to affect a fait d'accompli before anyone (meaning the U.S.) could involve itself.
Whether most Americans would actually want their country to get involved in a war with China to defend Taiwan is doubtful given the almost certain loss of life in the tens of thousands (at least) that would inevitably result, but that does not alter the rightness of such an undertaking. China would clearly be the agressor and in the spirit, if not the letter, of the post-World War II consensus that brought about the creation of the United-Nations Taiwan would deserve help to defend itself as did South Korea when North Korea invaded and nearly conquered the entire country in 1950 only to be saved from the last 53 years of totalitarian dictatorship, famine and slave-camps of Kim-il Sung Il and Kim-Jung Il by the actions of then U.S. President Harry Truman (a fact that many on the Left seem to forget in their Chomskian/Zinn-like crusades to paint the entirety of American's history of foreign policy actions in the worst possible light).
That the U.S. government (at least part of it) shows such concern for Taiwan to the point of being willing to go to war with China to defend it despite the obvious reluctance of the American people to fight and the far greater importance of China to the health of the U.S. economy is curious to say the least. How to explain something so seemingly contrary to U.S. self-interest?
One might argue that it expresses America's hegemonic impulses; that though the economies of the U.S. and China are increasingly dependent on each other, the U.S. sees China as its main emerging rival to its now singular Superpower status and that its support for Taiwan is merely a way of "containing" China's growing international ambitions. This is undoubtedly partly true as there has certainly been an increase in tensions due to China's increasing power, yet the price that could potentially be payed by the U.S. for its support of Taiwan is so much greater than whatever benefits such a containment might bring about that this explanation is far from adequate.
China is in many ways the perfect embodiment of the kind of country many on the Left have criticized the U.S. for supporting over the last 50 or so years: one with a capitalist economy of sorts (though the State still largely controls the economy through the many companies it continues to own; primarily in the banking system) that is very much addicted to American consumer culture, yet combined with a repressive, authoritarian political system. Taiwan is also very much addicted to American consumer culture, but it, on the other hand, is a free and democratic country that should at last be recognized as one, and be defended militarily if need be, despite the threats from the dictators of Beijing. Thankfully American resolve has so far been sufficient to dissuade China from imposing its tyranny on yet another part of the world, but as of yet few other countries have shown any support for Taiwan; primarily because of their having been cowed by China. That it is a group of U.S. Representatives and Senators in their respective Taiwan Caucuses (do such things exist in any other country in the world?), however, who do more to defend Taiwan than anyone else in the world is a testament not to America's imperialist ambitions, but rather, I would offer as the best explanation, to a sincere concern of many in the U.S. government with the rights and freedoms of the Taiwanese people. And so they, and all other liberally inclined people, should be.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Monday, September 26, 2005
Should we fear the ambitious half-reptilian aliens?
Reprinted from the March 26, 2003 edition of The University of Alberta's student newspaper The Gateway.
You see, it’s like this. Everything going on these days (well, all the bad things anyways) are because of these twelve-foot-tall reptilian aliens from another dimension who came to earth about 200, 000 years ago. They wanted to control the world, so they bred with our ancient human ancestors to produce this shape-shifting, half-reptile, half-human race to rule us, and that’s what they’ve been doing ever since. It’s not our fault that everything’s so screwed up these days; it’s all because of the half-reptilian aliens! Every single President of the United States has been one, as well as all of the British Royal Family, the leaders of every major religion, Hitler, the Rothschilds, the Freemasons, and Tony Blair. You name it, they’re all lizards!
What the hell am I talking about, you must surely be asking? Well welcome to the wonderfully wacky world of one of the premier demagogues of our times, the conspiracy theorist to end all conspiracy theorists, “the most controversial speaker in the world” (well, that’s what the publicity blurb on his website says anyways): David Icke. And who is this nutcase? A former professional football (soccer) player, sports commentator, spokesperson for the British Green Party, and self-proclaimed son of God (in the Jesus sense) who is now a quite popular speaker on the extreme fringes, strangely enough, of the Left and the Right. Mixing right-wing paranoia of a secret cabal trying to control the world (insisting that the infamous anti-Semitic tract The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is actually true) with an appeal to the nascent New Age and anti-globalization/corporate/war movements he has helped bring about a frightening merging of cultures the result of which could perhaps be called eco-fascism.
Icke has since disavowed his Messiah status—people (for a reason I can’t understand) didn’t take him seriously enough, I guess—but still claims to be a secular "prophet" of sorts. His website opens with the oh-so-humble claim, “Remember, all that I am offering is the truth. Nothing more.” But hey, every wannabe prophet has to have a shtick, right? For Charles Manson it was seeing a prophecy of a racial Armageddon in the Beatles’ White Album (especially the song “Helter-Skelter”). Jim Jones figured it out by moving all his followers from California to Guyana and then having them all drink cyanide-laced Kool-Aid. Hitler blamed the Jews for the entirety of Germany’s problems while Marx saw the consummation of the inevitable Proletarian Revolution (and the necessary elimination of those nasty Bourgeois Capitalists) as justification for any means on the path towards his idea of the supposed End of History. Icke, on the other hand, insists nothing is actually the way it seems; everything is being manipulated by the evil reptilian Illuminati.
This conspiratorial solipsism, however, leads to some rather obvious logical difficulties. First, if shape-shifting, blood-sucking reptiles really were controlling the world to the extent he claims, why haven’t the reptiles blown up one of the innumerable airplanes he’s flown in over the years on his lecture tours around the world? Second, if we really should be doubting everything, then why not Icke himself? Why couldn’t he just as much be a part of the conspiracy as well? When you think about it, him telling us all these things about what’s supposedly going on is the perfect way to distract us from what’s really going on. But then again, maybe I’m part of the conspiracy as well; providing yet another diversion (and so on and so on)...
So, no, I actually don’t think all of our political and religious leaders are shape-shifting reptiles trying to control the world. Nor do I believe that David Icke has figured out the explanation for the last 200, 000 years of human history. An answer exists for why the world’s so screwed up, but it’s not on account of any scapegoat, whether that be alien-reptiles, the Jews, the Bourgeoisie or anything else “outside.” It is us - the evil within - and until we each start to take responsibility for it in the little pocket of the world in which we live, things just aren’t going to get any better.
And via www.damianpenny.com a very interesting article about Icke in The Guardian: http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,6761,457988,00.html
You see, it’s like this. Everything going on these days (well, all the bad things anyways) are because of these twelve-foot-tall reptilian aliens from another dimension who came to earth about 200, 000 years ago. They wanted to control the world, so they bred with our ancient human ancestors to produce this shape-shifting, half-reptile, half-human race to rule us, and that’s what they’ve been doing ever since. It’s not our fault that everything’s so screwed up these days; it’s all because of the half-reptilian aliens! Every single President of the United States has been one, as well as all of the British Royal Family, the leaders of every major religion, Hitler, the Rothschilds, the Freemasons, and Tony Blair. You name it, they’re all lizards!
What the hell am I talking about, you must surely be asking? Well welcome to the wonderfully wacky world of one of the premier demagogues of our times, the conspiracy theorist to end all conspiracy theorists, “the most controversial speaker in the world” (well, that’s what the publicity blurb on his website says anyways): David Icke. And who is this nutcase? A former professional football (soccer) player, sports commentator, spokesperson for the British Green Party, and self-proclaimed son of God (in the Jesus sense) who is now a quite popular speaker on the extreme fringes, strangely enough, of the Left and the Right. Mixing right-wing paranoia of a secret cabal trying to control the world (insisting that the infamous anti-Semitic tract The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is actually true) with an appeal to the nascent New Age and anti-globalization/corporate/war movements he has helped bring about a frightening merging of cultures the result of which could perhaps be called eco-fascism.
Icke has since disavowed his Messiah status—people (for a reason I can’t understand) didn’t take him seriously enough, I guess—but still claims to be a secular "prophet" of sorts. His website opens with the oh-so-humble claim, “Remember, all that I am offering is the truth. Nothing more.” But hey, every wannabe prophet has to have a shtick, right? For Charles Manson it was seeing a prophecy of a racial Armageddon in the Beatles’ White Album (especially the song “Helter-Skelter”). Jim Jones figured it out by moving all his followers from California to Guyana and then having them all drink cyanide-laced Kool-Aid. Hitler blamed the Jews for the entirety of Germany’s problems while Marx saw the consummation of the inevitable Proletarian Revolution (and the necessary elimination of those nasty Bourgeois Capitalists) as justification for any means on the path towards his idea of the supposed End of History. Icke, on the other hand, insists nothing is actually the way it seems; everything is being manipulated by the evil reptilian Illuminati.
This conspiratorial solipsism, however, leads to some rather obvious logical difficulties. First, if shape-shifting, blood-sucking reptiles really were controlling the world to the extent he claims, why haven’t the reptiles blown up one of the innumerable airplanes he’s flown in over the years on his lecture tours around the world? Second, if we really should be doubting everything, then why not Icke himself? Why couldn’t he just as much be a part of the conspiracy as well? When you think about it, him telling us all these things about what’s supposedly going on is the perfect way to distract us from what’s really going on. But then again, maybe I’m part of the conspiracy as well; providing yet another diversion (and so on and so on)...
So, no, I actually don’t think all of our political and religious leaders are shape-shifting reptiles trying to control the world. Nor do I believe that David Icke has figured out the explanation for the last 200, 000 years of human history. An answer exists for why the world’s so screwed up, but it’s not on account of any scapegoat, whether that be alien-reptiles, the Jews, the Bourgeoisie or anything else “outside.” It is us - the evil within - and until we each start to take responsibility for it in the little pocket of the world in which we live, things just aren’t going to get any better.
And via www.damianpenny.com a very interesting article about Icke in The Guardian: http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,6761,457988,00.html
Sunday, September 25, 2005
American Imperialism at it again...
Via www.damianpenny.com
To see a fine example of the depths of Leftist lunacy check out the Korean Friendship Association Forum - http://www.korea-dpr.com/cgi-bin/simpleforum.cgi?fid=04&topic_id=1127055507 - here discussing the horror of Team America: World Police for daring to insult the Great Leader; Kim-Il Jung.
Comrades! I am terrored! A film has just arrived on the markets of Cameroon, this film the American Police Team or some name that is similar. My nephew, purchased this and asked me to watch because he said is had something to do with DPRK. The shock I see! The general, beloved general, Kim Jong Il is a puppet character in this film and speaking the most offending things! He swears in English, kills his interpreter, and turns into a small insect at the end. They make the Dear Leader to be evil man, and lonely man. They find risible the undying love of the Korean people? They think the leadership of DPRK and the revolution is a joke? Forgive me for saying but makers of this film are bastard people! I denounce them and curse them! Bastard people! Can we not complain to someone about such slander? Why has not the KCNA denounced this piece of capitalist propaganda? To think that they make light of the general and debase his greatness!
Mick Hartley comments as well: http://mickhartley.typepad.com/blog/2005/09/the_juche_ideas.html
To see a fine example of the depths of Leftist lunacy check out the Korean Friendship Association Forum - http://www.korea-dpr.com/cgi-bin/simpleforum.cgi?fid=04&topic_id=1127055507 - here discussing the horror of Team America: World Police for daring to insult the Great Leader; Kim-Il Jung.
Comrades! I am terrored! A film has just arrived on the markets of Cameroon, this film the American Police Team or some name that is similar. My nephew, purchased this and asked me to watch because he said is had something to do with DPRK. The shock I see! The general, beloved general, Kim Jong Il is a puppet character in this film and speaking the most offending things! He swears in English, kills his interpreter, and turns into a small insect at the end. They make the Dear Leader to be evil man, and lonely man. They find risible the undying love of the Korean people? They think the leadership of DPRK and the revolution is a joke? Forgive me for saying but makers of this film are bastard people! I denounce them and curse them! Bastard people! Can we not complain to someone about such slander? Why has not the KCNA denounced this piece of capitalist propaganda? To think that they make light of the general and debase his greatness!
Mick Hartley comments as well: http://mickhartley.typepad.com/blog/2005/09/the_juche_ideas.html
Friday, September 23, 2005
A story of India
"SUPER DELUXE TOURIST BUS - To Manali," the posters had cried out from walls all over Leh, the high-altitude (3500 meters) capital of India's northern region of Ladakh where I had spent 9 magical yet sickly days. My original plan had been to hike out of the region, over the Greater Himalaya range, with two friends I had been travelling with, but due to financial considerations I had decided to cut my visit to India short and so finding a way out of one of the highest and driest inhabited place in the world needed to be found. I had flown in from Delhi, a quick and painless hour and a half, and though I was in a hurry to get back to Delhi all out-going flights were booked solid for weeks so a bus it had to be.
I had had trouble sleeping a few nights that I had been there, a common effect of not having adjusted to being at high-altitude, and unlucky for me the night before I was to leave - with a 5 AM departure time - it happened yet again. A stomach ache that progressively worsened through the night left me lying in insomnial frustration till 3:00 AM or so when I finally drifted off only to be harshly awoken by my alarm at 4:15. Up I got to pack my final belongings and say goodbye to my friends then off I was to the main bazaar where I was to meet the bus.
Onboard and in the seat numbered 25 that my ticket assigned me for only a few minutes, however, I found myself confronted by two Israeli girls one of whom also happened to have a ticket for seat 25. Appealing to the manager of the bus I found out that though I had payed my 900 rupees and been given a ticket, the tour operator I had bought it from had not called in to book me a seat. I was in luck, however, as there was one seat empty. Unfortunately, it was undoubtedly the worst seat on the bus - in the middle of the five seat back-row. Why the worst you may ask? Well, being in the centre means that you don't have a comfortable foot rest as one is positioned at the back of central aisle, thus finding oneself perpetually sliding forward. It also means being unable to lean back as there's no room behind and - enjoying access to fresh air as much as I do on long bus journeys - one is two seats away from the closest open window. But it was all that was available so sit down there I did in trepidation of this ill-omened beginning.
Off we started through the darkened silent city and into the country as the first rays of sun glittered over the surrounding Eastern mountains. An hour and a half later we made our first stop for breakfast before a bridge across the Indus River. My stomach still wasn't feeling very good, but thinking that it might be due to lack of food thus far today I bought a glass of chai with a chapati and curried vegetables to satisfy my then desiring stomach. It didn't help much though and by the time we were on our way again I was feeling even worse. A nauseous stomach combined with general physical exhaustion in a packed bus on what had already been shown to be the windiest and bumpiest road I had ever had the misfortune to find myself on did not do much for my mood; a foul and frustrated individual I certainly was. An hour after setting out, however, the bus again pulled over, the engine was turned off and the driver and assistant ran outside. Not understanding Hindi I didn't know what was going on so after a few minutes of silent confusion I asked my 8 surrounding Indian companions what the deal was. "Something wrong with the engine," they said. We waited for another 20 minutes or so while the drivers tried to fix its, but them having no luck we turned around and headed back where we'd come from much to my pained chagrin at the recognition of this second ill-omen. An hour later we were back in the crossroads where we'd stopped for breakfast to sit for a while. I availed myself of the opportunity for rest and repair in the shade of a road side mud brick shack, but it was not to last long as we were called back on the bus to head even further back towards where we'd come from to meet the replacement bus half-way. And so we did; upon seeing it pulling over to the side of the road to transfer the luggage from the rack on top to our new ride then off again in the proper direction. While I had not known the general condition of the road we were driving I had been aware that it had the distinction of being the second-highest navigable road in the world topping off at a truly frightening 5,359 meters, and so all people and luggage transferred to our new transport we began our long climb up the mountain.
Hours later we were still slowly working our way up a mountain that was proving to live up to the reputation of the Himalayas as the "Roof of the World." The road was quite busy for such an isolated area; mostly populated by oil tanker trucks filling up Leh's supplies for the long winter ahead when the road would become impassible. No two lane well built road was this, however, rather a precarious ledge carved out of the mountain rock with no guard rails and often barely enough space for our bus to even pass by the larger trucks. We were sometimes forced to actually backup - how the driver actually knew where the edge was I have no idea - in order to let other vehicles pass. As we worked our way higher we began to pass those who obviously kept the road open: black faced, rag-covered men hammering by hand rocks into the requisite gravel or slowly stirring in blackened metal trays the steaming oil-grease that would hold it together. Most likely "Untouchables" they were; those who were at the bottom of the barrel in India and Nepal's complicated caste system and therefore largely confined to the hardest and most demeaning of work. Our "TOURIST" emblazoned bus passing by drew looks of mystery, but from another world we certainly must have seemed to them and their most difficult of lives.
The temperature slowly dropped as we climbed and with greater frequency clouds obscured our outside view. Subtle effects of our increasing altitude also became apparent: a dull headache and an increasing dull, dry cough. Finally, in the midst of strong winds and low visibility we crested the pass and pulled over for the necessary picture taking. Something was wrong with my camera unfortunately, but I at least wanted to take advantage of the fresh air however little there might be at that altitude. Only a short while did I stay outside though as the cold and effect of the altitude rapidly discouraged any further time off the bus. And then our descent began.
I had explained how horrible I was feeling to my surrounding companions - 8 men all from South India, all with mushtashes who were travelling together (?) - and one had graciously surrendered his window seat to me. I therefore at least, by this time, had ready access to fresh air (the seemingly best thing for my nauseaous stomach), other than while we passed other vehicles belching out think black smoke, but on we went through the barren lanscape at our as usual incredibly slow speed. Only 480 km it was from Leh to Manali, but two whole days of driving would it take us to make the journey. Though we were supposed to stop where we were to spend the night before night fell, our nearly three hour delay meant that the sun had gone down hours before we pulled to a stop in a darkened encampment. Desperate to get out of the seat I had so painfully sat in for almost four hours - once feeling like I had got whiplashed by the violence of a bump we had hit - I hurried off thinking that this would finally be our sleeping place. It was not to be. Instead it was simply the border between the state of Jammu and Kashmir where we had been and the state of Himachal Pradesh where we were going. Here all 12 non-Indians on the bus were required to have their passport information recorded by the police. The police officer then on duty, however, did not want to then do the work as it was late and he was in the middle of his dinner so we were told to hand over our passports to be retrieved in the morning; a proposal we were extremely reluctant to accept given the nature and legality of this most important of documents. Our frustration nearly boiling an English woman and an Israeli man took the lead in arguing with the supposed officer - he wasn't even wearing a uniform and all we had to go on was his word as to who he was - as to why he couldn't just do his job then and there so that we in our exhausted state could get some much needed sleep. Finally he relented and by the light of the driver's cabin light filled out the the required paperwork.
Only a few kilometres it was to where we were to stay the night though given the darkness and state of the roads meant that it took us nearly 30 minutes more to get there. When I had bought my ticket, an experience that I found was shared with many other of the non-Indians, I had been told that we would spend the night at a guest house in a town, but where we instead found ourselves was little more than a encampment by the side of the road with no electricty and only tents with straw filled mattreses on metal cots. 300 rupees per person the man at first demanded, an outrageous sum for such conditions, and only down to 150 could we seem to bargain. Many on the bus thought the price still too exhorbitant and chose to rather sleep on the bus, though many did not even have adequate blankets or sleeping bags to comfortably spend the night in the barely above freezing temperature. I, while acknowledging the steepness of the price, wanted a bed to sleep in more than anything else and so payed out the fee and was as soon as possible asleep.
The next thing I'm aware of is the bus's horn waking me from my slumbering dreams and voices yelling that it was soon time to leave. Jumping out of the bed I threw on my clothes, packed up my sleeping bag, emptied my aching bladder and made it to my seat only minutes before the bus began the day's journey. Day two had begun.
The roads remained ever precarious and though we maintained our slow pace the possibility of the driver making the slightest of errors that would lead to us tumbling down the enormous cliffs dwelt ever-present in my mind. The sleep had at least seemingly cured me of my sickness and so in a much better mood I faced the still long journey ahead. Though the road did not improve the views that we passed nearly allowed one to forget the constant discomfort. Too many to describe, but two in particular stand out: an enormous limestone canyon, something like a smaller version of the Grand Canyon, with enormous wind-eroded hoodoos hanging over us and an incredible vast wind blown valley through which galloped groups of traders whose ancestors had undoubtedly traversed the same trails for millenia.
The landscape along our drive was incredibly dry at first, and having no moisturizing balm my lips were dry and cracked worse than I had ever before experienced, but as the second day progressed more green could slowly be seen to be evident. As we approached our destination it in fact became positively foggy around us thereby adding yet another complication to our already dangerous drive. Finally, as night fell, we pulled into Manali; I just thankful to have made it there safely. It was only then (probably for the best), however, that I found out some rather disquieting information from some of my fellow travellers. Not only was the road I had just travelled the second highest in the world, but, next to one in Nepal, it also happened to have the distinction of being the second most dangerous in the world. To make matters worse, I found out that the driver had begun the trip on some amount of opium (he claimed that it calmed him down and helped him drive better; an admitted possibility) and had barely slept during the night; instead becoming quite drunk and high on hashish with a number of other foreigners who had decided to stay up all night rather than suffer through an uncomfortable sleep on the bus. To his credit he had shown himself to be an excellent driver and had got us all to where we were supposed to be so I can't really complain. In this case ignorance was far from bliss, but it was certainly far better than being aware of such troubling details. Such is partly what makes India such an ever-interesting country to visit anyways.
I had had trouble sleeping a few nights that I had been there, a common effect of not having adjusted to being at high-altitude, and unlucky for me the night before I was to leave - with a 5 AM departure time - it happened yet again. A stomach ache that progressively worsened through the night left me lying in insomnial frustration till 3:00 AM or so when I finally drifted off only to be harshly awoken by my alarm at 4:15. Up I got to pack my final belongings and say goodbye to my friends then off I was to the main bazaar where I was to meet the bus.
Onboard and in the seat numbered 25 that my ticket assigned me for only a few minutes, however, I found myself confronted by two Israeli girls one of whom also happened to have a ticket for seat 25. Appealing to the manager of the bus I found out that though I had payed my 900 rupees and been given a ticket, the tour operator I had bought it from had not called in to book me a seat. I was in luck, however, as there was one seat empty. Unfortunately, it was undoubtedly the worst seat on the bus - in the middle of the five seat back-row. Why the worst you may ask? Well, being in the centre means that you don't have a comfortable foot rest as one is positioned at the back of central aisle, thus finding oneself perpetually sliding forward. It also means being unable to lean back as there's no room behind and - enjoying access to fresh air as much as I do on long bus journeys - one is two seats away from the closest open window. But it was all that was available so sit down there I did in trepidation of this ill-omened beginning.
Off we started through the darkened silent city and into the country as the first rays of sun glittered over the surrounding Eastern mountains. An hour and a half later we made our first stop for breakfast before a bridge across the Indus River. My stomach still wasn't feeling very good, but thinking that it might be due to lack of food thus far today I bought a glass of chai with a chapati and curried vegetables to satisfy my then desiring stomach. It didn't help much though and by the time we were on our way again I was feeling even worse. A nauseous stomach combined with general physical exhaustion in a packed bus on what had already been shown to be the windiest and bumpiest road I had ever had the misfortune to find myself on did not do much for my mood; a foul and frustrated individual I certainly was. An hour after setting out, however, the bus again pulled over, the engine was turned off and the driver and assistant ran outside. Not understanding Hindi I didn't know what was going on so after a few minutes of silent confusion I asked my 8 surrounding Indian companions what the deal was. "Something wrong with the engine," they said. We waited for another 20 minutes or so while the drivers tried to fix its, but them having no luck we turned around and headed back where we'd come from much to my pained chagrin at the recognition of this second ill-omen. An hour later we were back in the crossroads where we'd stopped for breakfast to sit for a while. I availed myself of the opportunity for rest and repair in the shade of a road side mud brick shack, but it was not to last long as we were called back on the bus to head even further back towards where we'd come from to meet the replacement bus half-way. And so we did; upon seeing it pulling over to the side of the road to transfer the luggage from the rack on top to our new ride then off again in the proper direction. While I had not known the general condition of the road we were driving I had been aware that it had the distinction of being the second-highest navigable road in the world topping off at a truly frightening 5,359 meters, and so all people and luggage transferred to our new transport we began our long climb up the mountain.
Hours later we were still slowly working our way up a mountain that was proving to live up to the reputation of the Himalayas as the "Roof of the World." The road was quite busy for such an isolated area; mostly populated by oil tanker trucks filling up Leh's supplies for the long winter ahead when the road would become impassible. No two lane well built road was this, however, rather a precarious ledge carved out of the mountain rock with no guard rails and often barely enough space for our bus to even pass by the larger trucks. We were sometimes forced to actually backup - how the driver actually knew where the edge was I have no idea - in order to let other vehicles pass. As we worked our way higher we began to pass those who obviously kept the road open: black faced, rag-covered men hammering by hand rocks into the requisite gravel or slowly stirring in blackened metal trays the steaming oil-grease that would hold it together. Most likely "Untouchables" they were; those who were at the bottom of the barrel in India and Nepal's complicated caste system and therefore largely confined to the hardest and most demeaning of work. Our "TOURIST" emblazoned bus passing by drew looks of mystery, but from another world we certainly must have seemed to them and their most difficult of lives.
The temperature slowly dropped as we climbed and with greater frequency clouds obscured our outside view. Subtle effects of our increasing altitude also became apparent: a dull headache and an increasing dull, dry cough. Finally, in the midst of strong winds and low visibility we crested the pass and pulled over for the necessary picture taking. Something was wrong with my camera unfortunately, but I at least wanted to take advantage of the fresh air however little there might be at that altitude. Only a short while did I stay outside though as the cold and effect of the altitude rapidly discouraged any further time off the bus. And then our descent began.
I had explained how horrible I was feeling to my surrounding companions - 8 men all from South India, all with mushtashes who were travelling together (?) - and one had graciously surrendered his window seat to me. I therefore at least, by this time, had ready access to fresh air (the seemingly best thing for my nauseaous stomach), other than while we passed other vehicles belching out think black smoke, but on we went through the barren lanscape at our as usual incredibly slow speed. Only 480 km it was from Leh to Manali, but two whole days of driving would it take us to make the journey. Though we were supposed to stop where we were to spend the night before night fell, our nearly three hour delay meant that the sun had gone down hours before we pulled to a stop in a darkened encampment. Desperate to get out of the seat I had so painfully sat in for almost four hours - once feeling like I had got whiplashed by the violence of a bump we had hit - I hurried off thinking that this would finally be our sleeping place. It was not to be. Instead it was simply the border between the state of Jammu and Kashmir where we had been and the state of Himachal Pradesh where we were going. Here all 12 non-Indians on the bus were required to have their passport information recorded by the police. The police officer then on duty, however, did not want to then do the work as it was late and he was in the middle of his dinner so we were told to hand over our passports to be retrieved in the morning; a proposal we were extremely reluctant to accept given the nature and legality of this most important of documents. Our frustration nearly boiling an English woman and an Israeli man took the lead in arguing with the supposed officer - he wasn't even wearing a uniform and all we had to go on was his word as to who he was - as to why he couldn't just do his job then and there so that we in our exhausted state could get some much needed sleep. Finally he relented and by the light of the driver's cabin light filled out the the required paperwork.
Only a few kilometres it was to where we were to stay the night though given the darkness and state of the roads meant that it took us nearly 30 minutes more to get there. When I had bought my ticket, an experience that I found was shared with many other of the non-Indians, I had been told that we would spend the night at a guest house in a town, but where we instead found ourselves was little more than a encampment by the side of the road with no electricty and only tents with straw filled mattreses on metal cots. 300 rupees per person the man at first demanded, an outrageous sum for such conditions, and only down to 150 could we seem to bargain. Many on the bus thought the price still too exhorbitant and chose to rather sleep on the bus, though many did not even have adequate blankets or sleeping bags to comfortably spend the night in the barely above freezing temperature. I, while acknowledging the steepness of the price, wanted a bed to sleep in more than anything else and so payed out the fee and was as soon as possible asleep.
The next thing I'm aware of is the bus's horn waking me from my slumbering dreams and voices yelling that it was soon time to leave. Jumping out of the bed I threw on my clothes, packed up my sleeping bag, emptied my aching bladder and made it to my seat only minutes before the bus began the day's journey. Day two had begun.
The roads remained ever precarious and though we maintained our slow pace the possibility of the driver making the slightest of errors that would lead to us tumbling down the enormous cliffs dwelt ever-present in my mind. The sleep had at least seemingly cured me of my sickness and so in a much better mood I faced the still long journey ahead. Though the road did not improve the views that we passed nearly allowed one to forget the constant discomfort. Too many to describe, but two in particular stand out: an enormous limestone canyon, something like a smaller version of the Grand Canyon, with enormous wind-eroded hoodoos hanging over us and an incredible vast wind blown valley through which galloped groups of traders whose ancestors had undoubtedly traversed the same trails for millenia.
The landscape along our drive was incredibly dry at first, and having no moisturizing balm my lips were dry and cracked worse than I had ever before experienced, but as the second day progressed more green could slowly be seen to be evident. As we approached our destination it in fact became positively foggy around us thereby adding yet another complication to our already dangerous drive. Finally, as night fell, we pulled into Manali; I just thankful to have made it there safely. It was only then (probably for the best), however, that I found out some rather disquieting information from some of my fellow travellers. Not only was the road I had just travelled the second highest in the world, but, next to one in Nepal, it also happened to have the distinction of being the second most dangerous in the world. To make matters worse, I found out that the driver had begun the trip on some amount of opium (he claimed that it calmed him down and helped him drive better; an admitted possibility) and had barely slept during the night; instead becoming quite drunk and high on hashish with a number of other foreigners who had decided to stay up all night rather than suffer through an uncomfortable sleep on the bus. To his credit he had shown himself to be an excellent driver and had got us all to where we were supposed to be so I can't really complain. In this case ignorance was far from bliss, but it was certainly far better than being aware of such troubling details. Such is partly what makes India such an ever-interesting country to visit anyways.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
So this is my blog...
Yes, I have finally ventured into the world of blogs. I've been an avid reader of them for a few years now and though the consideration has been there before the time had never seemed quite right. Now that I'm in Taichung, Taiwan, however, and plan on staying here for at least a year or so, it seems like a good, if somewhat self-indulgent, way to let others know what I'm doing, thinking and other aspects of the life of Mel. Not that you should even necessarily care given my own admitted lack of importance, but if you do, for whatever reason, please drop on by once in a while.
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