whew…lucky i got out of the so called, middle east, before the KKK (http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/09/12/afghanistan.quran.protests/?hpt=T2) started buring (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbLYzw6J7JY&feature=fvw ,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwtkv4jJc3M&feature=watch_response ) and shooting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLzN7IxdhrA&feature=related ) korans!
but, hey: what would jesus say? “just say: YES!”
what is it with these KraKers and the Koran? (note: many of the videos around are euros going at it, not u.s. southern bumpKins. But then, I’m not looking too far.)
is it 9/11?
if it is, then don’t they know that while the al-qaeda killed 3,000 on 9/11, we’ve killed at least 20,000 in iraq, afghanistan, and pakistan in the last ten years? don’t they know that none of the people on the planes were from these countries?? don’t they know that the u.s. would never attack the people who actually pulled-off 9/11, the saudis???
no, they don’t!
all they know is what rush, palin, hannity, the savage, beck, and levin tell them; and all that is just so much bushshit.
the right-wingers are our jihadists, or more accurately, ‘teahadists’ ( http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=teahadist )! and they’re all worked up (like shiites at a sunni religious convention) over an islamic community center two new york city blocks away from and completely out of sight of ground-zero! ( http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/slideshow/ALeqM5iNLTahM5QJw8Ts0SpTgWLjXwN7gAD9I435J80?index=0 )
of course, most of these bumpkins have never been to new york city; so they wouldn’t know how long a nyc block is! some teahadist stated (or so i heard while i was away) that no further mosques should be built in the u.s. well, ok…as long as no further churches, cathedrals, or synagogues are built in the u.s. (and…how about slapping a healthy property tax on the ones already built?)
so, If the teabaggers have become teahadists, then I guess the next thing we’ll see is rush, palin, hannity, savage, beck, or levin (or, better yet, all of them) ‘jack’n’ a plane and flying it right into a mosque somewhere!
too bad for the mosque...just another day in muddle ameriKa!
but, let's get serious: burning a koran in this provocative fashion is a 'hate crime', just like spray painting a swastika on a synagogue! and our two bright guys: obama and holder ought to know it!!!!!! they never even mentioned this possibility! what's wrong with these lawyers? stupid or something?
Monday, September 13, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
talk back...like an egyptian
whew...just back from egypt! what a place to visit! i love the desert, so i'd almost love to live there. i found out that i can take the heat. it was 108F in the shade in the 'valley of the kings'. burn baby burn! it's nice and cool down in the tombs and up in 'the great pyramid', but the air is so 'close' you really get a sense of what it was like to be buried alive! (at least in the first few moments...before the torches went out!)
taking the train up the nile from aswan and luxor to cairo, you really get to see life in the country side. no euro-american would make it a day 'out there'. even in the small towns you see along the way. so back to the city driver!
now the big downside to egyptian city life, on the street, is: there're no emission controls on most cars! the air in cairo is almost unbreathable at the traffic peaks (which seems to be almost all of the time). (get me back to the tombs! or the 34th floor of the grand hyatt!) on the other hand, alexandria is much better, due to the sea breeze. the skyline in alexandria is incomparable. imagine manhattan with a beach! standing on the beach, is to be enveloped by a great cultural enclave going around a huge bay. too much to see. too much to buy.
now, of course, the sea side apartments making up that skyline are somewhat 'funky' when you get up close, but hey...you can't have everything! they're really cheap with respect to, say, manhattan or alexandria virginia rents or prices. however, all the apts have a/c, a great view, and satellite. (bathrooms are so so...) so, even by 'american standards', alexandria is quite livable. (if i ever get any money, i'll be blogging from there.)
cairo, on the other hand, is the big city! rough and gritty little kitty. brash and in your face. (try out the night scene around the central train station or off on some of the side streets leading away from the main avenue that takes you to the pyramids!)
luxor has the same vibe (on a smaller scale). get out of the sheraton and checkout 'downtown'--i.e., the souks. i ended up following some 'salesman' out of a back door, through some really narrow back alleys, through a door and into a real egyptian 'mall' (intense). just like some of the first malls in the u.s. back in the early sixties. (of course, no a/c!) they're making it though. they'll be just as modern as we are now, in a few decades, if left alone.
unlike us (?), though, almost everyone is bribe-able! that is, every official and any corporate type and most guys on the street. a lock on something just means: give me baksheesh man! want a tour of that nuclear power plant with the lock on the gate? no problem man: baksheesh! want to stay in the great pyramid overnite? how much? want to jump in the front of the line? just make sure the guy at the window has been paid off. essentially nothing is really 'forbidden' if you have enough money. now...how like us it that?
this leads to the question of how do you like your corruption? democratized or just for the elite? in america, corruption (or the cost of corruption) is simply built into everything. all the price fixing, misrepresentation, handouts, and deals are done before you ever see the product! you--the little guy--just get a price. take it or leave it! the rich elite pocket the difference between what something 'really costs' and what you pay for it. (they also pocket the difference between what they pay you to make something--IF YOU'RE LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE A JOB WHERE THEY'RE PAYING YOU anything--and what they can sell it for!) ha: gotcha come'n & go'n! (FIRST LAW OF BUSINESS: NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK!)
now, over there, nothing has a fixed price for anybody. every price can be bargained down. (imagine doing that in a nordstroms here!) actually did that in some shop that looked very much like 'the gap'. of course though, once back in the tourist enclaves, e.g., the luxor sofitel (very very nice, except for the location), NO DEAL. the deals have already been fixed for your convenience. (trust me, it's really really convenient not to have to go down in the souk and squabble over change--remember, an egyptian pound is worth about 1/5th of a u.s. dollar. but, on the other hand, i'm sure no rich euro-ameri trash pays the 'street price' to stay in the sofitel!)
all in all: egypt is a really inexpensive trip (in the 'off season'--our summer) if you get your airfare early. you can go ***** all they way. klm runs a tight ship with really great personnel who'll help you out of most of the mistakes you can make. they'll make all sorts of adjustments to your itinerary if they can (for a price...of course). a trip to egypt is much less than a trip to, say, big sur or france!
as far as all of the hustlers and drivers and souksters go, all you have to learn to do is: 'talk back...like an egyptian'!
taking the train up the nile from aswan and luxor to cairo, you really get to see life in the country side. no euro-american would make it a day 'out there'. even in the small towns you see along the way. so back to the city driver!
now the big downside to egyptian city life, on the street, is: there're no emission controls on most cars! the air in cairo is almost unbreathable at the traffic peaks (which seems to be almost all of the time). (get me back to the tombs! or the 34th floor of the grand hyatt!) on the other hand, alexandria is much better, due to the sea breeze. the skyline in alexandria is incomparable. imagine manhattan with a beach! standing on the beach, is to be enveloped by a great cultural enclave going around a huge bay. too much to see. too much to buy.
now, of course, the sea side apartments making up that skyline are somewhat 'funky' when you get up close, but hey...you can't have everything! they're really cheap with respect to, say, manhattan or alexandria virginia rents or prices. however, all the apts have a/c, a great view, and satellite. (bathrooms are so so...) so, even by 'american standards', alexandria is quite livable. (if i ever get any money, i'll be blogging from there.)
cairo, on the other hand, is the big city! rough and gritty little kitty. brash and in your face. (try out the night scene around the central train station or off on some of the side streets leading away from the main avenue that takes you to the pyramids!)
luxor has the same vibe (on a smaller scale). get out of the sheraton and checkout 'downtown'--i.e., the souks. i ended up following some 'salesman' out of a back door, through some really narrow back alleys, through a door and into a real egyptian 'mall' (intense). just like some of the first malls in the u.s. back in the early sixties. (of course, no a/c!) they're making it though. they'll be just as modern as we are now, in a few decades, if left alone.
unlike us (?), though, almost everyone is bribe-able! that is, every official and any corporate type and most guys on the street. a lock on something just means: give me baksheesh man! want a tour of that nuclear power plant with the lock on the gate? no problem man: baksheesh! want to stay in the great pyramid overnite? how much? want to jump in the front of the line? just make sure the guy at the window has been paid off. essentially nothing is really 'forbidden' if you have enough money. now...how like us it that?
this leads to the question of how do you like your corruption? democratized or just for the elite? in america, corruption (or the cost of corruption) is simply built into everything. all the price fixing, misrepresentation, handouts, and deals are done before you ever see the product! you--the little guy--just get a price. take it or leave it! the rich elite pocket the difference between what something 'really costs' and what you pay for it. (they also pocket the difference between what they pay you to make something--IF YOU'RE LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE A JOB WHERE THEY'RE PAYING YOU anything--and what they can sell it for!) ha: gotcha come'n & go'n! (FIRST LAW OF BUSINESS: NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK!)
now, over there, nothing has a fixed price for anybody. every price can be bargained down. (imagine doing that in a nordstroms here!) actually did that in some shop that looked very much like 'the gap'. of course though, once back in the tourist enclaves, e.g., the luxor sofitel (very very nice, except for the location), NO DEAL. the deals have already been fixed for your convenience. (trust me, it's really really convenient not to have to go down in the souk and squabble over change--remember, an egyptian pound is worth about 1/5th of a u.s. dollar. but, on the other hand, i'm sure no rich euro-ameri trash pays the 'street price' to stay in the sofitel!)
all in all: egypt is a really inexpensive trip (in the 'off season'--our summer) if you get your airfare early. you can go ***** all they way. klm runs a tight ship with really great personnel who'll help you out of most of the mistakes you can make. they'll make all sorts of adjustments to your itinerary if they can (for a price...of course). a trip to egypt is much less than a trip to, say, big sur or france!
as far as all of the hustlers and drivers and souksters go, all you have to learn to do is: 'talk back...like an egyptian'!
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