Saturday

The second day of my weekend. It's a long weekend. The weather is fine for bike riding. The Cumulus clouds are growing, later in the afternoon they will all go away. Tomorrow it will be even better. No wind, lots of sun and higher temperatures.

I feel okay right now, if so tomorrow I'm gonna ride.
Today (now 12.18 pm) I got to do some shopping and my household.
Fogs, I'm gone.

regards,
Jan

PS.
The weather was too nice not to go out for a ride:
43.66 k
28.98 k/hr
1.30.25 hr
43 k/hr max
99 k total

Tomorrow there will be a strong wind, temperatures will drop till 12 degrees Celcius. However it will be dry and humidity is very low, they say. Who is -they-?

First -they- say this then that. Why are they flipflopping. If -they- is Kerry then the situation is dramatically chancing. A swift change of attitude is necessary. (yeah, I thought of his swiftboat, in a split second Kerry sets his mind and rescued his brother in arms.)

*** How peculiar ***

How peculiar some things can go. In 1998/1999 I saw the Rolling Stones bridges to Babylon tour. This lion shows its teeth!

Now the world has seen many bridges in Babylon and along the road to Babylon. Could there be a bridge to the culture over there? Iraq has been a very western oriented country. Just like Iran, but that ís another history. So the seeds are sown in Iraq.

But the soil has to be vertilized. Important issues in my perpective are education, culture, good governance, creating jobs, supply enough food for the inhabitants. So, the delta between Euphrate and Trigis has to be cleared of mines to make agriculture possible.


An Email to Wendy
Thank you Wendy for your concern.

We don't know eachother. However I read your concern about the dirty campaing of the democrats. I read it with much interest. I wonder what you gonna vote...

In The Netherlands we don't have a 2 parties political system. I cannot compare home with the US situation. In our elections opinions are much more diffentiated because of the many parties who all want a piece of the cake. The parties have their own specialization. Try this link to see how the polls are. It gives an insight in the different parties. CDA more or less supports Bush and see the fall in the polls.

PVDA can be compared with your demo's. Remember Clinton and Dutch prime minister Kok about the third way policy. Government, tradeunions and employers working together in order to create stability in the economic field. These days the present Government tears this all down, a part of the Dutch identity. It's a shame for the nation.

They do that because we must be more competitive the Government says. That doesn't work that way. If you wanna change. You can reach that by talks. Like in your marriage Liberal and Conservative living together.

Politically it was possible in the years under MP Kok.

Your demo's and Conservative's are thinking in the same direction I think. But there are slight differences. If the demo want to win the Presidential election they have to stress the difference. So that can be nasty. But that is on both sides, they both wanna win.

In the European point of view, in our interest Kerry as the new president would be the best choice. But what can he do when he's in office and doesn't have support in the Senate, etcetera. Then he becomes a lame duck. Europe needs a strong Kerry.

Wendy answered my post. Thanks Wendy.
It's half past one now, Saturday midnight, I'm going to bed.

the dude was here too

Yesterday

All I have to say has been said privately. I don't wanna repeat that.
Today I can give you only some stats. Beside a visit to a local hairdresser/haircutter/barbershop I did some racing. A full hour riding my bike.
31.89 k
31.86 k/hr
1.00.06 hr
40 k/hr max
55 k (total on new bike)

Yes, Wendy obviously everything is okay. How is you dog doing?
And Caren, your book can be bought in Holland aswell, in english on the internet

Beheaded

Sorry Ken I couldn't help you to get out.
It was shocking news when it came to me. My condolances go out to the family and friends.

the dude was here too

How To Cure The Dutch Disease By Joseph Stiglitz

An economic form of The Dutch Disease. It's writen by Joseph Stiglitz. A writer I metioned earlier. This is an article in the Guardian.

How was your day?

8.00 am go to work - 22.45 arrive at home

How did I spend my day? First of all I secured the flow of money to my account for the rest of the month. Secondly I worked harmoniously with my colleagues. We laughed (joke: what is the maximumspeed with sex? 68, because with 69 one will overturn. Not funny? It might be the translation)
I worked again, ate something, had some coffee, a cup of soup, and at a quarter to five I cycled with a college downtown. With about 14 colleagues we had a drink in a cozy bar called "Neudezicht". After some drinks (2 coke cola and 3 beer) we went to a Greek restaurant. We had a Greek salad, delicious gyros, fish and dessert.
After that I had enough of all. I cycled home and thought to myself if I should collect the money from the guy who hit me. He called me at the office and told me that I could come to get the money. Also he could bring it to my house. All in return of the invoice for his insurance. What are we talking about?

My day was good again. And tomorrow I'm free... I got a lot to do.

speed things up

My day started at 7 am. I had to speed things up to be on time on the appointment I made with my doctor. On my way to the doc I had an accident, the second in 3 weeks. The result was the same. A bent in my bike's last wheel. Again I had to go to the cycle store to have my cycle been repaired. This time a lawyer didn't look out when he turned left. The same ritual; the driver made his excuse and told me the collision was his fault. Only after 5 minutes a policeman (on a bike, this is Holland) arrived. The driver and I almost agreed that no insurance was necessary. He would pay the damage. It just a wheel (Euro 68,=)
But can I ask myself what's the matter with me, why do I have so many accidents?
Is it cause I'm so much on the road (10,000 K or more), or cause I don't drive defensively? Is it cause I'm an angry man riding with insanity and without responsibility? These questions give a hint. Yes it's partly true.

After this whole show I went to the doctor. I told him my problem and after asking some questions and double checking it was clear that an appointment with a neurology doctor should be made.

Well after work the weather was fine so I could ride again.
This are the stats (other/different speedmeter):

16.22 kilometers
30.41 kilometer/hour
32.02 minutes
47 maximum speed k/hr
23 total distance so far in k.

The weather is very nasty at the moment.

Time

Now the sunset colours the clouds pink. The clear blue sky at the horizon turns red. Birds, fill the sky, probably seagulls going to their resting place on the Amsterdam-Rhine canal.The south west wind weakens but clouds are moving in, also from the south west. Meaning that this weather will continue.

Today I bought my racing bike. Waw, what a bike. At 4.45 pm I was home, changed clothes and rode with it. Not very far for the first time. It went so easy. The bike is featherlight. Unbelievable, no I knew it but cannot imagine how faster it will go on a dry Sunday afternoon.
Since some time, a long time believe me, I thought about cycling and buying a racing bike. There were many choices to make. What kind of gears, breaks, etcetera was necessary. Many choices, for example Cannondale, Trek, Gazelle, Koga Myata, special built bikes by Snel. Afterall I chose a Batavus. A Dutch designed brand, from Heerenveen (maybe you know speedscating? It's that place in Friesland). It's built close to my birthplace in the north of The Netherlands


Work was light and easy, meaning not much to do. However I could do some more checkings on the justification of one's benefit.
No tomorrow I'll begin paying our creditors. (mostly wheelchairs and housing adjustments)

Time goes quick, or my typing in English is very slow. Outside it's dark now. It took me 45 minutes to complete this. (Together with listening to internetradio and finding information on the net)

11.10 pm I'm going to bed.

Tot Ziens, bye
Jan

10/02/2004 We are Citizens, not Subjects

http://hunterbyrd.blogspot.com

We are Citizens, not Subjects

The debate between so-called 'progressives' (label of late) and 'conservatives' rages unabated in these lead-up days to yet another 'most important in our lifetime' election. It's between the government-must-do-more-to-solve-our social-and-political-ills types versus the gun-nuts and social troglodytes. With some reticence, I include myself among the latter. I offer myself up to be stamped and stereotyped as 'insensitive', &c.

I know better than that. I am quite sensitive to the needs and problems of individuals of all walks, and I am well-attuned to the ills of greater society. Problems are problems. It is as simple as that. I do not loathe or despise John F. Kerry, but I want to see him defeated. On the other hand, I don't put George W. on any pedestal. I just know he's better for this country in the next four years, very important years.

My favorite world-wide writer, Mark Steyn, once again sounds off. Today, he speaks to a British audience on the significant differences between liberal and conservative mindsets. As always, I encourage you to read his thoughts. They are among of the best on the globe.



Three years ago, I got a flurry of emails from Yorkshire, Oslo, Marseilles and elsewhere recounting incidents of gangs of Muslim youths enthusiastically celebrating the glorious victory of 9/11 by swarming around cars, banging on the windows, intimidating the drivers, yelling Osama’s name. If you tried that in Texas, the guy would reach in his glove box and blow your head off. Second Amendment conservatism is more secure and better integrated with the bespoke mainstream than it’s been in years. The government can’t tell you you’ve got to be on full alert and at the same time announce new restrictions on the right to defend yourself and your home.

That's plain, common sense where I come from. We take stock in level-headedness. It is a much talked about scenario. Doubtless, there won't be many terrorists in my part of the woods, because they will not get away with anything if their presence is ever known. Bank on it. We will not wait for permission from on high to act .


If I wasn’t a conservative before 9/11, I’d certainly be one now. On one side I see decayed, self-absorbed passivity: citizens reduced to junkies with government as the pusher. On the other stand the gun-crazies, the religious Right, the home-schoolers, the flat-taxers and all the rest: you don’t have to agree with them on everything to appreciate that, in a new war which not all of the West will survive, they have an advantage over the Swedes and Belgians. A self-reliant conservative citizenry is a better bet than the subjects of an overbearing state.

That's a succint a statement. There are many people in America who pooh-pooh people in fly-over country. They see my ilk as not far along the social, political, and religious evolutionary line than (over-maligned) proverbial neanderthal. Still, the heart of a conservative is a special, driving force that keeps the United States strong in the dynamic of a world gone crazy.

I am of the firm opinion that John Kerry has a natural inclination to view the electorate more in terms of 'subjects to be governed by my wise hand' than of 'free citizens who have placed their trust in me.'

// posted by HunterByrd @ 8:29 PM


Comments:
you said that young muslims intimidated cardrivers and celebrated the 9/11 attact. True, they did celebrate, they were enthusiastic. Like me when I heard of the shooting of a Dutch politician.

When people are stressed with so much information about an USA who harm their allies together with the conviction that the USA is their enemy in the religious point of view, nothing much is needed to get an explosion on such a magnitude.

Bush is taking care of an islamic threath which is, in distance, far away. For Europe it's very close, The Middle East and Europe are neighbors.
You (with you I mean Bush) made it worse by starting this war. Instead fighting OBL you went to Iray an created some new OBL's. You got to change your policy. Thats not about being cowardly, that's facing reality. You went to war with a wrong cause, with wrong reasons, wrong justification. And most important (maybe) you lied about it. We (in Europe) had to believe you. (remember "if you are not with us, you are against us").

The USA support Israel and in a way fight the Palestinians. In Iraq the USA started a war which on false information must be a deadly sin of President WB in the eyes of puritan Americans!

Fireworks? A new day at the office.

take a close watch on Mt. Saint Helens.

I was half an hour later than normal days due to not adjusting the alarm of my clockradio when I arrived at the office. Harry a collegea of the housing department was just seconds earlier. Well he had to walk his dog I guess. A legitimate excuse for being late according to me. (People with dogs shouldn't work at all, but socialize with their dog.)

Many of my collegeas were in Amsterdam at the demo. Harry, Herma, Els, Hanneke, Robin and my boss Riet. 6 Out of the 30 collegeas (and me) makes almost a quarter of my office. And there could be more if Joos could stand crowds and Joop and his gayfriend were able to come too.

Also the meeting about integrity passed the hitparade of talks today. In my view integrity is important when you work with information about people and states money, like I do, but it's a value of yourself how to deal with it.
But some politicians want to make it an important issue because it's a major point on their election programm. For that reason they invite all the staff of this city to come to this meeting. That'll cost a lot of money and has no purpose. You have to come but there is no sanction not being there. Integrity is a beautiful word but what it means nobody really wants to know. Bullshit, people who are integer know it and they know exactly what they are doing.

The yellow house

The yellow house painted by Van Gogh


the dude was here too

photo of the yellow house

a photo of the house in which Van Gogh rented 4 rooms in the right wing


the dude was here too

No cycling this week?

With the sounds and visuals of the demo and Van Gogh and Manet I woke up. It was early but listening to the radio I saw the first glimpse of the sun, shadows of leaves telling me "stay in bed, stay a some time and enjoy the last moment of me. Next week I'm going on holiday to Spain."
Le temp trieste, no sun, only rain and stormy weather. A large depression will let the leaves fall.

At the end of this month the clock will be set back one hour. Wintertime will be back. Stormywinter will reign. That's what my nick is about. One time last winter the wind was blowing around the house and high tones whistled through the narrow cracks in the ventilation system. I was tired of stormyweather. I created my emailaddress.
Like Caren I l love extreme weather. In her webblog she told,

I do love seeing nature's fury, when the sky turns charcoal and green and the winds toss the traffic lights and the rain creates pools of reflection in the street. Sometimes it's nice to walk around in a storm and be reminded of the power of this world you might be lucky enough to inhabit for 70-80 years

One can link that with a lovely painting of Edouard Manet. A view from the beach in France with a waterspout at sea approaching the beach. One can see the seawater soaked up and falling down.

It's getting cloudy, maybe I'll go out to cycle a short distance on my own.
When the weather will get worse there will be no cycling this week on my new bike.

Great Amsterdam Demo..

The demo in Amsterdam was marvelous. Over 200,000 demonstrators and 40,000 or more were stuck on trainstations and in trafficjams. The demo was organized by our trade unions. It wasn't a heavily politics driven demo, but one where everyone could find something which is important for himself. But everybody was against the plans of this legislation. The all over the world praised so called -polder-model, a constructive working on the well being of the Netherlands on political, economical and social issues by trade unions, employers and Government is being ruined by the latter. The legislation (the 3 parties in power have a majority in politics) doesn't understand the importance of patience, transparent policies. Nothing of this, is only arrogance the politicians show. People in the street don't know the facts, they're told. As if the facts are not clear enough for the average man, as if the man in the street didn't study, didn't visit University.

We yelled our lungs out on the ritm of the protestmusic.
Since 1983, the Dutch disease, the protest against nuclear missilles, Amsterdam had no such demo.
We waved our flags and clapped our hands to the hospitalized minister president of our country. He should be ashamed!!!
And our anger is not over yet... we go on, continues relay strikes and protestmanifestation and demonstrations in the country will remember the men and women in power who have real power.... In Holland WE, the people are in power.

Okay that's my protest, after that I went to the Van Gogh Museum. The museum with the largest collection of works by Vincent van Gogh: it houses more than 200 paintings, including many famous masterpieces.
I saw a beautiful collection of art. Famous paintings, one of the sunflowers, the Irisses, the potato eaters, selfportraits of him on a row, his bedroom in France. His Arles period with the yellow house. I saw beautiful paintings of Paul Gauguin, and other painters who were considered as Vincents friends,

But also there was an exhibition of Edouard Manet, titled impessions from the sea. He painted "the battle between the U.S.S Kearsarge and the C.S.S. Alabama".
It happened on the shore near Cherbourg in 1864, the American Civil war. Why did they fight so far from home? I don't know.
But also I saw works of Claude Monet and many others.
All together wonderful paintings, postcards of an ancient past, like yesterday.
If you visit Amsterdam you should go to the Anne Frank house and see the Van Gogh museum. In the world there are no other places to see what you can see there

Yeah, it felt good to be back in a worldcity, also because of the all the beautiful enthusiastic women .....

Latest news I heard about the Kerry-Bush campaign is that Kerry jumped over Bush in the preliminary polls. The elections need that!!!

Friday, another week's gone

Felt a little better. Called the doc. Told by his lovely assistent that untill next week there was no availlable time for an appointment. I asked if I have to wait 10 days for my epilepsia concerns. Yes, was the answer. Okay I know enough I told and I thanked her.
An hour later I called again. This time another assistent answered the phone. The same question and a different answer. I also could go to a different doctor in the same practice.
As I've never been to a doctor in that practice (I live here for over 2 years now and have never been ill or hurt in an accident or fight (hahah, yes I used to fight a lot. I had to defend my rights.)), I firstly go to that wonder-who-he-is doctor. Does it feels good I'll ask to be my doctor, otherwise I go next time to my assigned doc.

This morning I had some problems with my sence of prensence. Maybe it was the noise, or the thaught about other things than work, it couldn't be the workload cause I had very little to do.
At half past four I finished the day at the office and then I went to the supermarket. Tomorrow there won't be time to buy fresh food. Tomorrow the train leaves at 9.19 am from Utrecht Central Station to arrive at 9.50 am in Amsterdam


Politics suck.. if you see Bush, Blair or Balkenende they try to do all the same.. ignore public, public opinion and go ones own way. That's not what democracy is ment to be.
- Bush says I am the leader and whatever the leader does is good for my country.
- Blair says, okay I might have lied but I know I'm right and I hope the labourparty will look at it that way too.
- Balkenende says our plans are the right way to deal with our problems, the only problem is that the people don't understand that.

But it Friday, Saturday will be the demo. Lots of people will come to the
-museumplein-, Amsterdam. It's said 200,000.

Beautiful music: Blöff & the Counting Crows, holiday in Spain