Daily politics / Depressed / Preventive strikes

Today will be a great day, full of fun, culture, and friends. We will go to Teatteri Jurkka to see the "Mobile Horror" (the author/director I have known for about 30 years), then we will have dinner in restaurant Sea Horse (the official monthly Tuesday-meeting), and who knows how interesting things and topics will turn up. I can hardly wait! It is a pity we cannot get any sahti today. I would like to have some.

I updated my travel pages. Depending on the criteria used I have visited 40 to 47 countries. Not bad at all. I will get 1 or 2 more still this year, if everything goes as planned.

Tero, the publishing boss at Otava, gave me the "Työelämän huonontumisen lyhyt historia"-book by Juha Siltala. Excellent, I think I will be able to read it during next weekend if I drop some other cultural activities. I read it for some minutes in the bus and it is interesting indeed. Big thanks to Tero!

Daily politics

I just noticed that even Rumsfeld dares now admit that all public reasons for the absurd Iraq war are void. Has he forgotten to take his morning pills or what? He said that Saddam and Osama did not work together. Also CIA has come to the same conclusion. I just wonder the political system in USA: the government can tell any lies it comes up, change them whenever it suits them, get caught and still nothing happens to them. But let some president tell semi-lies/half-truth about his sex-life, and they are trying to dismiss him at once. It just cannot get. Not that I would assume full rationality in politics, but enough is enough, I would say. Nothing new here in this, no new argument, just venting my anxiety. And then there is all those things happening in Israel, blaa blaa.

Depressed

I checked the news from several sites and papers, and then I read J. Gray, and now I am totally down. It is hard to keep the spirit up, when the international politics disintegrate, wars get nasties, and one really cannot do much at it. On obvious option would be to opt out, just stop following, kick out all emphaty towards other people out there and just dive in the endless stream of entertainment. But I can't, it would make me feel even worse. Day is great, but reality is bad and I am torn in the middle.

To cheer myself up, I listed my all time 10 best songs. Here we go:

• Sonic Youth: Schitzofrenia
• New Model Army: Vengeance
• Pixies: Rock Music
• Iggy Pop: Passanger
• Ramones: Blitzkrieg pop
• Patti Smith: Land
• Black Flag: Rise above
• Roy Harper: Drugs for everybody
• Dead Kennedys: Too drunk to fuck
• Cramps: Garbageman

Hmm, not so hilarious songs. Did not help much. I wonder if binge drinking would me feel less miserable.

Preventive strikes

A few years ago, many experts warned that the US policy on pre-emptive strikes will backfire, that others will emulate it and adopt similar policies. Now this has happened. First, after Beslan, Russia copied the policy. Second, Al-Queda has now declared that its members/supporters must strike USA (and its allies, the "coalition of willing") before USA strikes them. Sometimes a little bit of legalism would do no harm.

Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs from September to October 2004".