Mid Autumn Festival

moon festival

lantern festival in Jack's kindergarten

movers and shakers

Freedom of speech

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to the US has been met with anger by many Americans-strange that the country of 'free speech' kicks up a fuss when they hear someone who doesn't speak the American way.
Ahmadinejad hasn't done himself any favours by denying the holocaust in the past, but I believe we have to look at what he has actually said during this visit:
Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons-they did not work for the Soviet Union, and they have not worked in Iraq, he sees no reason why Iran would want them. He actually said that he doesn't see why the Palestinians should be paying for an event(the Holocaust) that they had nothing to do with. He has said that Iran is a peaceful country(how many countries has Iran attacked since Independence?-none, how many has the US attacked-too many to count).He wanted to visit ground zero to pay his respects,but was turned down!
Here we have an Islamic leader, who although yes, he is a dictator(how about the rulers of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and China) is obviously willing to have a dialogue with the West.Should we be turning him away? He could help Iraq much better than we have been able to. Are we so unwilling to seek peaceful dialogue? We may just have to hope that the next American president has more courage than the coward in the White House now.

shhh!

disturbing(from the bbc)

There are really no words to go with this one!


Four-year-old stabbed to death

A four-year-old boy has been stabbed to death in West Yorkshire.

A 14-year-old girl was also seriously injured in the incident in Royd Street, Slaithwaite, on Sunday.

She has been taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary with stab wounds to her chest and stomach- her condition is described as serious.

West Yorkshire Police were called to the scene at 1300 BST. Two men, one aged 47, have been arrested in connection with the incident.

England's finest

I am absolutely flabbergasted at this.These policeman should be charged with gross negligence.
It's one thing not to be able to save somebody-but not even to try!!


Police defend drowning death case

Jordon was pulled from the water but could not be resuscitated

Police chiefs have defended two community support officers (PCSOs) who did not enter the water as a 10-year-old boy drowned in a pond.

Jordon Lyon leapt into the water in Wigan, Greater Manchester, after his eight-year-old stepsister Bethany got into difficulties on 3 May.

Two anglers jumped in and saved Bethany but Jordon became submerged.

The inquest into his death heard the PCSOs did not rescue him as they were not trained to deal with the incident
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7006412.stm...

rainy day

I am never wrong! Of course nobody ever really believes that, they fool themselves into thinking that they really do know best.The doubt creeps in when you tell your boss about the terrible food that you must have eaten last night, that has made work absolutely impossible today.At the same time your partner tuts as you put down the phone, you tell yourself you needed a day off and today wasn't really important anyway.When your other half reminds you that it may have been the fact that you got home at 4am, which may be behind your sudden illness, you know in your heart that you are wrong.This is a kind of 'white lie wrong' though, or so you convince yourself.

They say you mellow as you age, a fact that most of us can attest to, the reasons are too numerous to go into here, my own favourite is simply not wanting to get the shit kicked out of me!
Another typhoon is skirting around Hong Kong today, the result being a bit of a washout today-Sunday. We did manage to get out for a bike ride through the villages, along the beach, and up into the hills-as far as you can with a 3 year old, a 6 year old, and Teosdee with stabilizers! We hung out in the rain on the beach for a while, all very pleasant. I measured 36c on my thermometer yesterday, and I took Joseph down to the beach for a swimming lesson, so I was happy to come back home and lie down on the couch with my book and chill out this afternoon.This was the first time since I've been back here that we have had bugger all to do-bliss!
That brings me back to my book. I am still ploughing through this behemoth(page 798 now) as I have already mentioned below.
http://letstryeurope.blogspot.com/2007/09/great-war-for-civilisation.html

As I lay on the couch this afternoon I could no longer deny the fact that I had been trying to ignore for quite a while;

I was one of the few people who agreed with the undertaking of the Iraq war, and I have stated my reasons many times before. I honestly believe that we should use military action to depose rulers who treat their own and other people inhumanely, and I would be quite willing for our armies( those of the international community)to do just that. If a soldier has voluntarily become a soldier, then he must be willing to fulfill the reasoning behind the existence of his profession- to fight. In the world wars soldiers were not given a choice, but that is different now, at least in the west. I digress, as ever;


I was wrong.
Back in 1990. Saddam invaded Kuwait and we sent half a million soldiers to get him out, but a few years before, when he invaded Iran, we did nothing.In fact we provided him with weapons, aircraft and chemical weapons to fight the Iranian regime-who had never made a preemptive, or provocative act against anyone, except it's own people.
The Saudi's at that time made a fatal mistake and allowed the Allied forces to converge, and fight their Iraqi brothers-from Islams holiest land. The Saudis had only ever agreed to the liberating of Kuwait, not the bombing of Baghdad, and there was a large percentage of them that thought the annexation would have been better than the war that followed(including Osama).
A lot is simply Middle Eastern Politics, Saddam said that he would free Kuwait if the Israelis freed the Palestinians.To us in the West that seemed ridiculous, but throughout the Muslim World it seemed perfectly logical-The UN recognizes that Israel is illegally occupying Palestinian land in contravention of international law-as Saddam was doing in Kuwait.To Arabs the question arose-the first question- Why were the international community not upholding the law in Israel?
Jump ahead to 2003.
We were told that there was indisputable evidence that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, we are now learning that this was completely fabricated. Did Tony Blair have an agenda? or was he hoodwinked as I was? It is not possible to believe that the American government were misled, and the president is ultimately responsible.To have given the order he surely should have seen this concrete evidence of wmd's. If he did, what evidence? Who is ultimately responsible for this, the biggest fuck up since, actually ever. At least in Vietnam they were fighting against the threat of Stalinist Communism bankrolled by the Soviets and Chinese.

I was wrong.

It is time to leave, and let the Arab peoples sort out the fucked up mess we have left them with, not for the first time in the last 100 years or so either.And we wonder why they hate us!
The only good thing to come out of this is the death of Saddam, who was a mad despotic crackpot.

I did not see the evidence, I can only believe what my government tells me.At times of war, and regarding the main reason for war you expect to be told the truth. This truth got lost somewhere, and I for one feel angry now.My instinct tells me that the lies came from stateside.Tony Blair, the idiot, before sending our country to war should have demanded to see whatever was needed. I cannot make excuses for George Bush or for that matter for his father, who really does have more to answer for than many believe.

I was wrong, but I am not the one with people's lives in my hands.

Barbie-(from Mum)

Dad is on his way home a bit late from the office when he remembers that it's his daughter's birthday and he has not brought her a gift.

So he stops atToysRUs to buy his daughter a Barbie. Inside he sees a Barbie display and asks the salesgirl how much the Barbies are?

The girl responds: "Which one? We have:-
Gymnasium Barbie: �19.95
Volleyball Barbie: �19.95
Shopping Barbie: �19.95
Surfer Barbie: �19.95
Disco Barbie: �19.95 AND

Divorced Barbie: �299.95

Shocked! The man asks, "Why is Divorced Barbie �299.95 when all the other Barbies are �19.95?"

Exasperated, the girl responds: "Sir, Divorced Barbie comes with":-
Ken's Car
Ken's House
Ken's Boat
Ken's furniture
Ken's jewellery
Ken's money
Ken's computer and
Ken's best friend...

Friday at the beach

Had a day off, so I picked up Jack and we went straight to the beach, Joseph followed later.

The whole weekend on the Island

I didn't have to travel to the city at all this weekend. My friend came over with his 3 kids and we went to the beach-2 blokes and 5 kids aged 2-6,wonders will never cease! On Sunday we went walking in the hills behind our house.The large square is next to our house-Joseph and Jack's new playground!

The Great War for Civilisation,

I have only read 2 books for pleasure this year, the first being 'Mao-the untold story' by Yung Chang back in February see-http://letstryeurope.blogspot.com/2007/02/mao.html,
therefore I won't go into that again and due to my Celta and Open Uni studies the second one, I'm in the middle of now.
'The Great War for Civilisation,The Conquest of the Middle East' by Robert Fisk is by far the most disturbing book that I have (half) read. Today I am on page 585, only another 701 pages to go! So far the book has dealt with Afghanistan,Iran, Iraq,Palestine and Israel(and the first world war, and touched on the Holocaust- and the Armenian Genocide). Robert Fisk has been a correspondent in the Middle East for 30 years, his knowledge is astounding, to say the least. He pulls no punches and shows no favouritisms . He has interviewed Bin Laden at least twice, and details his story as any journalist should-factually. Each time I put the book down I feel harrowed, haunted with the actions of my fellow man-this is not a pleasant read. I have made a few comments regarding Iran on this blog in the past see-

http://letstryeurope.blogspot.com/2007/03/is-this-road-for-irans-future.html

http://letstryeurope.blogspot.com/2006/12/it-didnt-really-happen.html


I know feel that my judgment of Iran may have been somewhat harsh, although this by no means Switzerland. The Islamic Revolution was an unbelievable bloody affair, which deposed the the unbelievably bloody(and corrupt) Shah-who was put in place by the Western powers.
After the revolution Iraq was provided with enough weapons, and chemical weapons with which to destroy Iran(take a guess by whom!).Chemical weapons were then responsible for the mass killing of Iranian soldiers, who were woefully ill equipped due to arms embargoes imposed by guess who. This continued for years during the eighties until 1988, during which time the US shot down a civilian Iranian airliner in July 1987 killing 290 men, women and children!
What exactly do we expect from a country that was attacked by it's neighbour with the help of the international community which resulted in the death of a million of it's people?
Back to the book- there is so much that has happened in our recent history that we choose to ignore(or are forced to ignore-Turkey continues to threaten anyone who mentions the Armenian Genocide with jail within Turkey and financial sanctions outside). As I have mentioned before: http://letstryeurope.blogspot.com/2006/08/if-you-were-in-their-shoes.html
the holocaust was an abomination, but that, does not excuse Israel's behaviour since it's wars with it's neighbours began in 1948. What I had never realised was the amount of people displaced from the occupied territories during that time, what I didn't realise was the conditions of people within those areas-how can we ignore the fact that a civilized/western country inflicts such suffering and abuse upon the people under it's occupation(within the occupied territories)? I have always believed in the Jewish people's right to a homeland, and always will(it's Arab neighbours do accept it's right to exist), but it is time that they now fell in line with both UN resolutions and the Geneva Convention. At that time, and only at that time may we see a cease of hostilities from militant groups living under Israeli occupation. The killing of civilians is not only wrong for the Palestinians, it's also wrong for Israelis-that is an irrefutable fact, anywhere in the world!

As I said, it is a difficult read, but one thing stands out throughout the book, and that is America's role, especially in the last 25 years. Many people believe George W to be the instigator of many of today's troubles-he hasn't helped, that's for sure, but he is not much worse than his predecessors.Clinton refused to stand up when needed, Israel is the prime example. The UK has been largely irrelevant, but should have done more.Of course we were largely responsible for screwing up the area during the first 50 years of the last century, which is why we have the problems that exist today.
We take no notice of the statistics that come out of the Middle East, we have grown bored,complacent,apathetic. The Middle East of course, is not the only war torn area
in the world-Darfur comes to mind. Isn't it time to choose leaders that have the courage and conviction to seek peace- where it's possible, forge ties with nations, to foster understanding instead of standoffs(Iran, Syria and Lebanon come to mind)? Isn't it time to support those in desperate need of support(Palestine and Lebanon) instead of isolating them.Isn't it time to throw in the towel when you are so obviously on the wrong track(Iraq)? It is the sixth anniversary of 9/11 tomorrow, and that atrocity can never, ever be justified in any way. I believe that justice does need to be done, if Pakistan pulls it's finger out, it may well be.
Crimes against humanity can never be excused, either during wartime or peacetime.Bin Laden is not the only war criminal out there, and one day when peace eventually returns to the Middle East-including Israel, and all occupying armies have gone home(including Israel, and the UK) I hope the UN can begin to look at all civilian deaths and begin to punish those responsible whatever their nationality or position.
The policies of the last goodness knows how many years, have just not worked, for anyone.
Okay, back to reading the book, see you in 700 pages!
Allah Akbah, Shalom, God be with you-where-ever you are

Dictaphone

This one for my celta buddies really.
Who can ever forget the great lessons we had from Roger? I am happy to report that this last week I've been teaching a university student who wanted to improve her speech and presentation skills. I was able to use my super-phone (the lost one replaced) to record my student, who then had to transcribe the recording-...erm ...like(s) and all. I of course had to make a special effort to suppress my own "like.. you know"s .Although I, of course am a million miles from Roger, it was a fun and ultimately successful strategy-in your pairs- compare!

The view from our front door.

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termtime

As you can see from the pics below we have all been reunited. Joseph started at his new school today, Jack will go next week.We have all acclimatised and I think the kids and Teosdee are really starting to enjoy Island life. We moved into our new place about a week ago-completely unfurnished, so we are still sleeping on the floor. We went up to the Big Buddha yesterday and met some friends(see pics). We went to 2 barbecues last weekend, and caught up with some good friends. The village where we live is very picturesque and Chinese, it has a village square with a nice temple, in the midst of streams, fields and mountains, and only 5 minutes from the beach. Our house is on the edge of the square, the kids can 'play out' safely as there is no road, and kids do play out here!
It really does feel good to be back, now that we all together, and things are getting sorted.

I have finished summer school and will be back in the office tomorrow, I will have to take the ferry to work and back, possibly with a few cans on the way home-maybe!
I am back online, as you can see and should now have the time to keep on posting crap-more soon!

Lovely Lantau

buddha2