chaos and honey

Getting Taller

the above is from the ny times on the newest skyscraper editions due throughout the world. i personally love good tall buildings but i would also like to see something that is beautifully done. many of the designs now being fashioned and presented look nothing more than twisted cigar cylinders.
buildings within cities represent what we think about ourselves and our times and the way we envision the future. imagination must allow for something other than a broad pencil stick reaching into the sky.
too often now the beauty of these steel beasts are in the engineering and not for the untrained naked eye. a building must have a reason for getting built, it should fit into its neighborhood/ area, and it should convey its strenght and beauty to us.

the following is from the chicago tribune regarding the newest tower planned there...
Chicago Tall

i have come across one of the most interesting blogs i have ever seen, written by someone in cairo, egypt. if you have the time you must take a look at it. though i have not read all of it, it seems to be extraordinarily forward thinking.

The Big Pharaoh

some questions for the brits who somehow seem to have bought into the idea that if israel simply makes peace with the palestinians that all of their problems will somehow be solved and islamic fanatics will disappear and no longer bother them.
what will you do when israel has given up the land and the bombers keep coming for you?
why exactly did jordan, syria, and egypt try to invade in 67', so which land are you speaking about exactly that israel is supposed to give up?
if you think for a second that the fanatics are going to stop bombing after the palestinian situation gets resolved you are sadly mistaken. what do a bunch of pakistani/& converted muslim brits have to do with israel?
why is there civil war in sri lanka with the tamils, conflict in south thailand, endless bullets flying between pakistan and india and a nuclear aresenal, urgur extremists in china, sunnis killing shites in iraq and vica versa, civil war in aceh in indonesia, bombings in egypt in a red sea resort in which mostly muslims died, fighting in serbia & bosnia, tension between albanians and serbs, mass killings in darfur, massacres in nigeria, and low and high grade wars in russia's muslim outposts.........such as checheyna, and ubekistan?
oh yes it is the jews, it is the israelis.........good thks i can rest easy now that you have explained all. ken livingstone and the rest of you can now be free of worry.
have fun riding your subways.

per earlier comments on ken the red - the mayor of london, please find his analysis of suicide bombings rather interesting.......this was before the latest 'criminal attacks' carried out in london ( i use the term criminal attack sarcastically, because that is how a good many are referring to them in london instead of 'act of war').

LONDON MAYOR IS AN IDIOT

really ken, really?
why not just stand up and shout all we need is dialogue with the fanatics in order to attain peace in our time.........oh, wait your prime minister is pretty much doing that.
when i read livingstone's comments i somehow fail to see how the brits will win any war against terrorism. they simply do not get it, livingstone is a prime example of this.

livingstone may not be heard in 'higher' offices because he is not well liked by much of the political elite in britain but what worries me he represents the people, he is a 'populist' at best. thing is populist leaders and their followers want the easy way out, they want soothing answers.
the larger problem is that i believe the govt of britain (like most others) tends to ask soothing questions which makes room for subtle philosophys and political correctness while rome burns.
if people dont understand that what they are facing is a war of ideology then they are destined to either be defeated or to be dragged along towards victory depending on the 'camp' they sleep in.
we are losing the war against the fanatics mostly because many of us cannot admit that there is even a war.
we cannot be bothered with history in the west apparently, it interferes with our cafe lifestyles.

maybe it is the heat that has brought on a foul mood, but i find it laughable that secretary rice can get bent out of shape about journalists being pushed around by sudan security and yet offer only hollow words as the butchering of sudan's citizens in darfar continues directly under the watch of the world.
you watch the media will get more bent out of shape about watching their press brethren get pushed around than it will that a million people in darfar have been displaced, hundreds of thousand massacred, and rape on a massive scale has take place.
Please Dont Push, But You Can Kill If We Are Not Standing Near
nice world isnt it?

part of the human condition is the need to be part of a crowd, an entity that is bigger than the self, something in which you are a mere cell in an organism of violence........regarding the moronic actions of crowds and riots, i have recommended here before and do so again, read - among the thugs - it is one of the great modern studies on how innocents get caught up in the swelter of the crowd. it is a basic instinct. the book is fall down funny and spine tingling scary......it is a true story about an american who is assigned to england to write for a publication and suddenly finds himself caught up in the frenzy of english football crowds - mind you the fellow doesnt understand a thing about football - but what he admits to is that the rush of being part of the crowd leaves him hankering for more.......that is, i should add, until he has seen a bit too much, heard too much and suddenly grasps that being part of the crowd is like a drug that allows for a high but also can cause you to crash.

Chinese Pollution Riots

above an article on protests in china and touching upon the organizing of such 'festivals'. would love to know the exact nature on the quality of personalities making up such a massive protest in china.
what is spurring on these people? pollution seems like a fairly abstract thing to protest unless one has read widely and somehow has gleaned idealism from greenpeace or some other like brethren.
my point, if china is really having protests over enviromental impact then they have certainly joined the rest of......but then again, they have always been a part of us, it is we who were not a part of them.
the following is a short note written to me by a chinese associate who lives in shanghai........of which his candor surprised me and i am including for all to read,

"Mass protest re environmental issues is everywhere in China nowadays..Legitimate concern for the folks and those factories which cause such a havoc should all be shut down too..They are just ordinary folks who are worried about their safety..The folks were shocked when the first Chinese orbitting the earth brought back the picture of China from the space..Balding mountains and loss of forests all over the places compared to 20 years ago..The campaign is underway to build green-cities and villages but it will be a few decades before these balding mountains and dirty rivers get any improvement..If someone organize the Green-Party in China,I am almost certain it will outnumber the ruling party."

Settlers Upon Gaza Demonstrations and this from ha'aretz on the settlers massing....

i would like to offer my opinion based on what i have seen with my own eyes and have learned the past fifteen years.........
the muslim fanatics have found out that the west is very capable of being defeated because the west allows for the 'rule of law' instead of declaring what the actual 'reality' is.......
and that is that we have fanatics in and around countries that allow for incitement, recruiting, and thus a flourishing of the belief that 'a heaven for god' can be made on our planet if they can just get rid of those who will stand in paradises way.
please check out britain's appeasement of their fanatics over the past ten years, ny times had an article in it this sunday.
last time i checked war was not a pretty entity, people die - including my friends. sacrifice is needed to fight a war.
the west and all other govts that want a secluar foundation will lose this war unless they stand up and acknowledge that its basic tenets and its way of life are under seige.
we can argue until we are blue in the face about what causes the 'other side' to act in the way it does.....
for example, do the extremists become more extreme because we push forward with the war in afghanistan and iraq?
or do the extremists become more extreme because after they bombed madrid last year they saw they could get a country to actually vote a ruling govt out of office who wanted a quiet way out of the fight ahead?

the problem for the west is that we are too comfortable and we are fighting an enemy that is not. we refuse to give up our privileges while those we battle are united in a zealots fantasy.
the west has as of yet not been woken up from its stupor of excess and leisure activity.
it will be interesting to see what happens when the day comes that a european nation gets completely fed up with attacks coming from its own citizens of whom they have done everything possible to make their own.


THE FOLLOWING i wrote to a friend in march of last year after the madrid bombings.....and the the defeat of aznar's govt. in spain in the ensuing days....

"do you really think you would hear anything about appeasement coming out of anyones mouth in europe? when chamberlin told the english and the world that all had been settled with hitler there were not many voices warning against him, except for churchill.

i do not have a crystal ball into the future but i see what happened yesterday as a way of showing the terrorists that their actions have direct and positive effects. as has been pointed out the popular party was ahead in the polls until saturday when all things became obvious about al-qaida being involved.
perhaps the popular party committed a mortal sin if they lied and knew that it was al-qaida that had attacked but nevertheless it is not a reason for the victim to blame themselves or their govt for being attacked. as i pointed out yesterday attacks have occured nearly every place soft targets have existed.
what i see is the following:
italy possibly going left in the next election,
germany turning right but staying neutral,
france possibly going left, but no matter what staying above the fray as they see it.
great britain continuing its path but with a large amount of voices that say they should talk this problem out.......
and therein lies the problem, this cannot be talked out. it must be dealt with. europe is not united except in their ability to hide from what is coming.
this will become a war of attrition and it may take one hundred years to play out because of the need to be politically correct in europe and elsewhere in the west, the desire to please everybody is going to backfire very badly.
europe will find itself fighting a war for its soul........
it could take another 10 to 20 years before the fanatics control saudi arabia but so be it. it could take another 20 or 40 years for them to control turkey but so be it.
the only thing that can save our world is one unified policy of stoping fanatics and extremists at the roots. but this is not going to happen, we dont want to upset anyone.
gross amount of corruption within the arab states leading to total poverty, allowing radical teaching of children to hate the west and make them believe they suffer because of the west.
i really dont want to go into the depth of this long term struggle, but i will say that madrid is not the final stop in this terrorism parade.
i am quite certain spain signed the death sentence of many people yesterday, i hope i am wrong."

ok, so as predicted the world seems on the verge of ending its rest period......
i have waited to add any thoughts on the london bombings and the growing violence once again in israel because i didnt want to spew irrationally.

egyptians did their typical dance this morning saying the egyptian suspect arrested yesterday is DEFINITELY not linked to al-qaida and that they KNOW he is innocent of any wrong doing in the london bombings.

Suspect Arrested

this is the same routine sung by the egyptians forever, they never take responsibility for their people carrying our terrorism world wide. it seems to be a question of honor for them.
seems strangely coincidental that the egyptian man arrested has advanced chemical university degree, has a home in leeds in which expolosive material was found, and happens to live on the same block as the jamician 'convert' to islam who is being named as the forth suspect who choose to blow him self up.
good for the egyptians that their honor comes before all else.
none of this fanaticism will ever be solved until the top muslim countries crusth the maniacs growing from within........
if egypt, pakistan, the saudis refuse to do the job, eventually someone else will have to.......for the sake of human kind it would be much better if these govts tackled this problem head on..........
something must lead them to the water and make them drink.

Missiles Starting To Fly Out Of Gaza Once Again, Suicide Bombers Attacking:
another israeli citizen was killed north of gaza while she was innocently sitting on a bench outside with her boyfriend, the woman 22 died instantly upon being hit, her boyfried is in clinical shock as of yesterday.
this happened shortly after the suidicide bombing attack in netanya in which two people dieD in a cross walk near a shopping center. this because the bomber who happened to be a young woman apparently thought she would get caught trying to enter the mall and blew herself up in a group of teenagers who mistakenly believed that life was meant to be carefree and easy.
i frequently make the same mistake btw, but as of yet have not been punished too severely for it.
because of the attacks, israeli helicopters attacked hamas members who happened to be on the move within gaza and nablus killing 6 of them. thus proving that israel still has the capability of knowing where these bastards are and can and will remind hamas and islamic jihad for that matter that there are no free passes.
in the meantime the pa and hamas are fighting fierce gun battles in gaza trying to show who is actually in power. the pa is in serious trouble and if they dont control hamas and make them heel there will be a long and bloody power struggle in gaza when israel leaves the palestinians to themselves. israel should do everything in its power to help the pa win the struggle, this while not letting the pa feel as if they owe the israeli govt something and not making the pa look like a lap dog of the israeli govt of which hamas has claimed for some time now.
and just for kicks, condi rice is on the way to the mid east and is about to get a tasteful of he said, she said. it will be of interest to see how rice handles the circumstance which may even heat up more before she gets here.
that being said, israel is intent on the pullout and will carry it out. israel has no choice in the matter and i believe has actually come to the realization of how many political points it is about to score internationally in getting the settlers out of there.
this being said, israel is ready to take over gaza from a military standpoint at a moments notice if anything outlandish should occur this week.
when israel leaves gaza and gives the palestinians control of it, do the palestinians realize that the type of action that it took today by firing its missiles (crude yes, but missiles none the less) into another nation's land that it will be looked upon in a much harsher light? in other words it will be the act of war against another nation.
i will say it for the umpteenth time here, we are going to have another intifada here and if the palestinian leadership isnt smart enough to shut it down effectively (and in fact eggs it on), israel will crush the palestinians like never before.
if you think gaza is crowded now wait until the next intifada is over........