Who created Hezbullah?

The Dawa party created Hezbullah.

Who is the Dawa party and where are they now?

al'Dawa are our chief allies in Iraq, They are running Iraq right now. Well they are not in total control, they share power with the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Who are they? They were the Shiite gorillas backed by Iran, who are still backed by Iran.

Who detested Hezbullah and tried to destroy Dawa and the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq?

Sadam Husain.

Who removed a major impediment to the islamic jihadist movement in the middle east?

The United States of America.

Oops!

Europe Part 3

Ah Venice! This was another spectacular day. Warm, pleasent, and full of fun. Then I learned a little history of the two pillars at the waters edge, the two you cannot see in this photo since I am between them. It was tradition to have the condemed executed between them for hundreds of years. So any actual venitian citizen even today, tends not to walk between them because it is bad luck. Anyhow I tried to eleviate the bad luck by tossing a coin into the fountain in the Doges Palace. The palace people made 2 Euros out of my superstition. There was a lot of money in that fountain.

Trying to put Lebanon back 20 years Hmmmm?

Well 20 years ago Lebanon was a bombed out nation, full of extemists that were out of control and overun with Syrian and Iranian agents helping fund terrorist attacks agains Isreal and other wessterners. Remember all those hostages? So how exactly is this going to make Isreal more secure?

Clearly Isreal is not stupid. Their motives are not about simply getting two soldiers back. Their gross overeaction is their version of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The two bombs were meant as a display for Russia not Japan. This display is meant for Iran not Lebanon. If this is what Isreal would do to Lebanon over two soldiers imagine Iran if they attacked Isreal.

Unfortunately all this is doing is creating a whole lot more enemies for the Isreal and, by default, the US. So where is all this going? Probably to hell. I am really glad I am too damn old to get drafted. Unfortunately for my less antiquated breathren they may get to be slaughtered. I'd go too but it certainly not be to defend the turd sandwiches that wrought this upon us. It would only be to help out my friends (locals)

How many of the leaders of the world that brought about WWI are well liked or lionized? Not many if any. Keiser - ousted and exiled. Austro Hungarian Empire - evaporated. Russian Czar and his empire - killed off and evaporated. Haig - not thought well of even though he was only the general not the king. Only the American President Wilson, who helped stop the stupid war, is remembered fondly.

Honda C70 Passport

This ad just spews early seventies American crapola. Yes you too can be an urbane, cosmopolitan, father who cares. With your smoking jacket, silver flask of Cutty Sark, bril cream, and trophy wife you can spin around town and be the man of your dreams. Live the life of the scooter-generation, be cynical with hipsters in "mod" cafe's, live the trite life and come home on your little honda and park it next to your Buick Roadmaster or Mustang Mach 1.

Yes I am now a member of the "bought a 23 year old motorbike" crowd. It is 70cc's so I have to get an f'ing motocycle endorsement on my license. It's title is in the ether of history. And it can easily pop up on its back wheel if I shift into 2nd or 3rd before my speed has built up.

60 million of these zip around the developing world. Because America is a big fat country with people needing big fat machines, this never sold that well. It may be back soon with the silly gas prices we are paying. I was reading one report that if I use high octane gas I might get 120mpg on this scooter. That would be really nice. Of course I have to get over the whole "Don't know what the hell I am doing" phase in driving this thing. There is a goodly adrenaline rush when you are actually going fast. This is to Mikes Vespa what a barbie jeep is to my Scion but what the heck. If I hate this thing I should be able to sell it for what I paid for it.

So I will be putting around on this thing. If you see a silver and grey blur go by under a guy who knows little, then that is probably me.

A sad state

Is there no comon sense left in the world? It seems we are spinning toward 1914 all over again with wreckless abandon. As if we want it to happen, tempting fate, asking for trouble, seeking out only the most stupid solutions to problems. I have faith that humanity will survive this but I really wonder if this current civilization will. There may be 1000 years of peace after all thism but it will not be biblical in nature, it will be silent because of the lack of humanity left to make noise. But nobody cares, nobody even reads this. We all dance on the cliff edge as if imortal and unconcerned with posterity, believing that we won't fall because the laws of nature do not apply to us. Is anybody out there who has the time to give a damn? Hello?!

Europe Part 2

Windsor Castle

Europe is full of very old things. 900 year old this and 3000 year old that. You can't walk two steps in Rome without tripping over a downed block from Caligula's house, or Trajan's groccery store. Windsor, in a manner of speaking, is a new building. It is only 900 years old. Well bits of it are, like the motte under the big round tower. However eventhough Europe is really old, its very well maintained. Its roadways are superior to anything I have seen in Oregon. European ability to keep using and recycling buildings has kept it looking picturesque and quite open. Most of what I saw in Europe was open fields, vast forrests, and big mountain ranges. There was typical suburban sprawl around Paris, London, and Rome but not like LA. Each city is much denser. Geneva seems to me to be very close to Portland in size and appearence, or vice versa.

Europe Part 1

Well I am back from a 16 day trip to Europe. In the forthcoming entries I will attempt to tell the tale. For now let me begin by letting you know how Europe treated me. If my encounters with people from other nationalities is an accurate crossampling of European behavior I would have to list the friendliest countries in the following order:

1) France - What can I say the French were great. All the stereotypes about french behavior, as far as I was concerned, have been debunked.

2) Italy - They were pretty good too. Everyone in Italy uses hand jestures so that all conversations look like arguments. However if you talk to people they are kind, helpful, and very easy going. They have a saying "If you have the urge to work, don't worry, it will pass."

3) Switzerland - They were not rude or hauty, nor were they very jocular, but they were quite accurate and clean.

4) United Kingdom - Everyone in England was great accept the staff at Gatwick airport. It was like being in a vast Monty Python skit where you were the straightman. Civil servants in England are so simliar to the way they are portrayed in Python that it is creepy. The airport itself is also a stinking, dilapidated, dump. Once we got away from the airport things improved and everyone else was kind and helpful.