boknörd?? inte jag inte? ;)

gjorde precis ett kuligt test, och det visade sig att jag var rätt mycket boknörd... hmmm det kunde jag aldrig ha gissat :))

pröva själva, det är skoj:

Torture can never be justified!

Regarding the current discussion about waterboarding and other means of torture and inhuman treatments, following Bush's veto against a law proposal that would forbid the use of torture on prisoners that are suspected to be terrorists, the debate seems to have bloomed once again.

In the Swedish newspaper SvD, two different opinions where today published online. One arguing for allowing the US president (remark that this is an opinion in a Swedish paper, and even so only the US president is given this special right...) to, for 'our' survival, have the right to order waterboarding of a captured terrorist who USA (a person one wonders?) knows for 100%sure has the knowledge of when, where and how a bomb can be disarmed. The opinion also states that waterboarding is not torture!! Now, there are many comments to such an opinion article:

1. waterboarding IS torture! hmmm let's think about this. how would it feel to believe that you will drown, to be held under water until you start to suffocate and then in the last moment be saved... to be scared that your life will be taken and to suffer under water... how can this not be torture? torture does not have to give long-lasting visible scars. and even if you would agree that this is not torture (how you could ever do that?), then at least you have to classify it as inhuman treatment which is also illegal under international law!
2. who ever has 100% sure knowledge about anything??? seems more like a something that can be abused as in 'well, we kind of thought that we were almost 100% sure so we went ahead...'
3. scary thought: being at the hands of the decision of someone like Bush! huh

Luckily then that there was a second opinion in today's paper which, although not very well written, argued for waterboarding being torture and against the use of torture in any circumstances. The main argument here being that torture doesn't lead to valid information to stop a terrorist attack, that torture is usually counter-productive as it creates a more violent terrorists (since they cannot give up and cannot allow for the possibility to be captured, hence suicidal attacks becomes their best alternative) and since it creates a more dangerous situation for e.g. American soldiers, and since information given under torture is often made up.

I can agree with all those points. However, i must note that for me even more important than the above-mentioned reasons is the inhuman treatment that torture means which for the simple reason that it is torture should never be allowed! I am against torture like i am against the death penalty, not only because many innocent people are touched, but also because killing someone or torturing them is simply wrong. The second opinion concludes that torture was forbidden in Sweden already in the 18th century and that only when torture is forbidden do we have the upper hand against the terrorists. This I can indeed agree with. As with the final question regarding what the Swedish (and all other) governments has to say?

Luckily then that at least one person manages to write together a real good article about the subject, quite provocative as well. Tack Cordelia Edvardson.

a little rant...

Supposedly my cardigan today is awful and looks like something my grand-ma would wear (well not my grandma who would not wear anything like this but a lot more classy clothes - but then again the person saying this nice comment never met my granny ;)), my boots are great, my dress matches my cardigan (for better or for worse I guess) and all these 'nice' comments just kind of made my day... hmmm guess chockies and coke works a lot better for lightening my mood than does spending time with other people... sorry, just had to rant a bit...

Me - the next American president....

If I was elected as the next American president one of the first things that I would do would be to cut the majority of aid to Israel, and all military aid, putting as a request for continuous non-military aid that communication is re-started with the Palestinians including with Hamas, and that a real solution is sought for this 40-years long conflict. Furthermore, I would put pressure on the Israeli leaders that 1) they stop bombing civilians as punishments for suicide attacks, it is not because one side does something bad that the other has to respond in the same way, especially not when the other is a so-called democratic state, and 2) aid is permitted to the Palestinians, especially those in the Gaza area. The situation, as described in today's news, cannot go on much longer in this way especially when the standard of living is increasingly sinking every day that goes by for the Palestinians. Out of desperation, terror is born. Just look at Iraq.

conspiracy theory, overheard phone calls and other yummy news ;)

you know when you're walking somewhere, or you're in the shower, or just about to fall asleep AND you think about such a clever line, a very good idea, the perfect answer to someone's stupid comment, deciding that you will remember this tomorrow, or whenever comes the next time when you have a moment to make a note or write together something. and then that moment comes and your mind is blank!... anyway, though it feels a bit like this today concerning the above-mentioned conspiracy theory which i thought of when going to the gym yesterday, i will see if i can remember what it was all about. it had something to do with the great windy weather outside which kind of puts you into a bad mood in the evening (during daytime, the sun works as an antipode) and the repeatedly corrupted word-documents that i tried to work on yesterday... hmmm seems that i've lost the fun part of the whole theory or perhaps this was just another case of something sounding great in your mind and kind of stupid or uninteresting once you try to explain it to someone else (dreams are another example of this effect).... so no great conspiracy theory today i guess ;))

in a great mood today! the horrible wind from yesterday is still blowing as strongly but feels a lot less horrible today for some reason, even though it completely messed up my hair that for once i had managed to get into a perfect state before leaving home this morning - but it still mostly made me smile to see half of the hair hanging down in a bizarre manner turning my elegant hairstyle into some kind of semi-hippie/semi-bag lady style. so what brought on this smile today??

• well, waking up when the alarm rings and actually feeling awake and full of energy rather than like a bag of something old that has been hit by a train, run over by a bus and thrown into the garbage (my comment to my dear boyfriend of my state of mind the other morning, monday if i remember correctly). guess that for once the alarm actually went off at the right moment in my sleeping pattern (have you heard that there now exists alarms that actually measure your sleeping pattern and only ring at a moment when your in the lighter sleep... might be something to put on my b-day wish list...)
• receiving a cute sms from my BF, calling him up in response and having a nice cuddly morning chat... my preference is to wake up in his arms, but this must be considered a close second best ;)
• sunshine!!!!
• beautiful waves on the lake, one of the yellow tiny cutesy public transportation boats crossing the lake over the waves (somehow they always manage to do this when i go by, even though they only run twice an hour) - a beautiful view only made more beautiful from seeing it from inside the bus rather then while trying to cross the bridge fighting the wind like yesterday morning (and evening for that matter, had missed the last bus, so had to cross by foot brrrrrrrrr)
• the right bus arriving 10 seconds after i get to the bus station
• an overheard phone call in the bus (ahhh finally i get to the point) between an English man in his mid-30s talking to what i assume was a friend about the girl of his dreams, this new girl that he has started seeing, and no this one is not just a quick fun but something he hope will last for a long time, perhaps even a lifetime.... wow... quite some commitment, especially to share with a bus full of strangers.... well, this miss perfect, who's the best girl he's ever met, and yes he agrees there are probably others as good out there, but would he ever meet them??? the reason why his friend? pointed out the possibility of other girls was revealed to be that miss perfect works in the same office as mr. english man. however, the latter swore that if anything bad would happen between them he would leave the company, would not jeopardize her work in anyway.... well, for one i found the whole conversation cute. gave me something to listen to and to smile about in secret. two, made me thing about all the people complaining about overhearing phone calls in public places and especially buses. what's really the problem? i must say i enjoy these small insights into other people's lives, and if i was a writer i might just buy a bus pass and spend the days going on one bus after another listening to these small parts of conversations, making up stories from the half-sided story that you hear... the only thing that can be frustrating is this urge to get of the bus at the same stop as the person i am listening to in order not to miss the continuation to the conversation.... so perhaps, the reason why many people complain about hearing other peoples' conversations is that they do not hear all of it!! :)))