Thoughts on the news

There are a few interesting storiies in the news right now which I wanted to comment on...

First of all, I don't see anything wrong with a man who had illegal sex with a 13 year old girl (i.e. RAPE) being extradited to the US to pay for his crime, even if it is some 30 years after the fact. Why wasn't he extradited before? Who cares if he can make a movie? What about Joe Blow who did the same thing and can drive a truck well - should he be able to get of Scott free too? Did Switzerland only get this boost of doing the right thing only because of a recent extradition treaty? On what basis can France and Poland protest?

Secondly - if it is so awful for a Third World Muslim country to have nuclear weapons - then why was the dictatorship in Pakistan allowed to get away with it? The ruler of Iran may be crazy, it is true, but there is some level of democracy there (believe it or not). And their crazy neighbour Pakistan (a dictatorship at the time) has the bomb. Calling them unstable would be a compliment. Pakistan has one because India got one. Why India needed one when they have more poor people than anyplace on Earth (apart maybe from China) is beyond me. Maybe its because their neighbour China got one (did they?) Penis envy? And what about that craziest of all nations North Korea? So far only one nation has murdered thousands of innocents with the use of the bomb. Lets hope they don't have that idea again - though I wouldn't expect this President to do something like that.

Thirdly, lastly and definately leastly, if I was the Prime Minister of Spain and my family looked like the Adams family, I would also want to protect them from having their images shown publically.

The poinlessness of soap boxes

One year after the house of cards called Lehman Brothers collapsed , and bankers are rubbing their hands in anticipation of their Christmas bonuses. If it weren't for the fact that I am hoping that they will send some of that cash my way, I'd be up on a soap box telling them to make atonement. Maybe Chairman Mao had the right idea after all.

On a slightly different plane - about that soap box - I think its high time we moved to beer crates. Soap boxes are piddly little things no more than an inch hich and three inches long. They are constructed of cardboard, so unless you leave the soap in them, they are unlikely to support your weight. And even if they did, they'd only give you an inch more of height. Pointless.

Not a bad day

Went to Strawberry Hill in the Blue Mountains today. Very nice, but very closed. And it poured with tropical rain which you could see coming from a mile away - first obscurring the view of the mountains to the north, and then enveloping us. But through the drops we could still see sunny Kingston some 5,000 feet below, the Palisados, Port Royal, Lime Cay and the sunny beyond.

Then we went down to Irish Town where we lunched on curry and barbeque chicken (deciding against the cow foot with broad beans) at Crystal Edge, with its view of the lush green valleys. For desert we had cups of Blue Mountain coffee from Cafe Blue along with slices of rum cake and cappachino cheese cake.

Winding our way down to Papine and then Kingston we stopped at the art gallary in Liguanea and then went on to the Bolivar Gallary in Half Way Tree. This is a treasure trove of paintings, books and antiquities. A load of buddhas and gongs and Tibetan pray flags and the like had just arrived from India.

Then back home where we drank Havana Club and Appleton and then a glass of Guabita de Pinar (Seca) before settling into a supper of steak, fresh salad and fried rice.
All together not a bad day.