theg0rum

For those who read this....

...and don't live in Panama (or come from Panama..you know who you are...all two of you: This is called a Diablo Rojo and is one of the major forms of mass transportation in Panama. Other ways of getting around include having your own car or taking a taxi...I don't know if walking is considered transportation per se, nor do I actually have any idea who walks here unless they are walking to exercise. Maybe someone should do a study. In any event I walked today from one part of the city to another and came away happy to have walked a little bit in the city. When my Spanish improves I plan on taking one of these guys for a spin.
In a totally unrelated topic I must say I have decided that local radio here is pretty dismal. I'm sure I'll probably offend someone by saying this as I don't listen to much latin type music so my choices are much more narrow as to what I choose to listen to on the radio. Lately I have been listening to a radio station that has a morning show called "Coffee with Bob and Friends" but in all fairness this show sucks so bad that I have no idea why anyone would listen to it, much less employ Bob and his merry clan of wanna-be DJ's to talk on and on about the boring crap they talk about. It gets worse though: Apparently the station that employs Bob is so hard up on talent that they have him come on in the late afternoons so you can listen to his tripe when you go to work AND when you drive home. It's hard to describe why this guy sucks as much as he does and probably something best listened to to really understand what I mean. For one, some of the stuff he talks about to engage the listener is so base, so dull it is hard to lisen without feeling that Bob must think everyone who listens to him is a complete idiot. I think at some point Bob asks people to call in and tell him what their favorite color is or something lame like that. Shit, why not discuss how much people hate/love these Diablo Rojo's or maybe what the listeners think of all these new buildings being built? I'm sure tomorrow Bob's main question will be if we want a puppy. Up next I'll upload some picks of Bob's main headquarters. Maybe I can get him to tell me what his favorite day of the week is.

Black Friday Moon

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Nero's Beach Trip

Make sure you have your volume turned up as I have scored the video with some fitting music.

Hailyn on the Stroller

I thought it was me pushing the stroller until I watched closely and saw it was indeed Michelle's hand...oops. Video taken on Labor Day in Dana Point, CA at the marina.

It Starts

thePic of the day

Déjà vu

Today Iran stated to the World today it will not back down when it comes to their nuclear program.  They essentially had a 30 day warning from the U.N., which expires at the end of August.  The U.N. mandate stated if Iran doesn’t come to the negotiating table and work with the international community to insure everyone worldwide feels safe with the Iranian nuclear situation that Iran would face continued harassment from the U.N.

Like everything involving the U.N. it’s not a black and white problem.  You have Russia and China (permanent members of the United Nations Security Council) who both have oil deals with Iran.  Then you have France (another permanent member of the U.N.S.C.) who has the largest Muslim population in Europe, so you know France will make every attempt it can to avoid aggressive posturing to countries controlled by Muslim governments (particularly during voting years).

Then you have the United States who doesn’t even have diplomatic windows with Iran, much less doors.  Let’s not forget the methods used to declare war on Iraq.  When President Bush gave a speech today saying “the world now faces a grave threat from the radical regime in Iran."  How much clout can it possibly carry in the U.N.? – The same World body that Colin Powell went to in 2004 at the behest of our current executive branch with false information and crappy intelligence about Iraq’s so-called ‘weapons of mass destruction’ program.

These handy problems all help countries like Iran, who take advantage of a bureaucracy so weighed down by internal strife it might be described by many as dysfunctional.  Hell, the U.S. takes advantage of the same problems when it will create an advantage.  If I could honestly say member countries of the U.N. only had the best interests of the World to worry about there may have been some hope in the situation.  But Russia doesn’t vote only for the World, she votes according to the way the political winds are blowing in Russia at the time and what will best work for Russia.

But the U.N isn’t the problem is it?  Remind me why The United States, a country that  actually prides itself in being available for every diplomatic crisis on the planet, can’t pick up a phone and try and try again to work with countries like Iran.  Continuing to alienate Iran more does not make for a safe planet.  It may feel right and just to go before the United States Senate and announce to your country that country ‘X” is a part of an access of Evil and that country “Z” has weapons of mass destruction but the rest of the World is listening and when you take such a stance you take one step closer to alienating yourself as well as others.  It’s important to find the truth and expose secrets that will affect our world, but to pretend you understand the entire equation and to act like you can be the judge over all and not expect any backlash is, well, stupid.   This points the accusations at the U.S. like our government is the main problem.  Not so.  Perhaps a part of the problem, but not the whole problem.  I think what may happen is we will have to wait for the day a tiny country like Iran thinks it can bring us to our knees and actually destroys a U.S. city in the process.  Only then will we see that our responsibility lays much deeper than that of Iran or Syria or Russia for that matter, but we will be so overcome with what has happened to us that we will be more interested in revenge than seeing how this could have happened.  The U.S. and that of the developed World are in a pickle that I would not wish upon anyone.  The riddle is this:  If I look weak I will be seen as something of no consequence and if I look strong I become a target for every person with a complaint about the World.  What do I do?  Our error isn’t taking on the problem, it’s trying to put Iran and Iraq and Syria and North Korea into a cookie cutter that defines what is evil and what is not evil.

2006 Emmy Awards - thePic of the Day