Summitwise

Three things and then the NATO summit shall never again be mentioned. Here. It'll be mentioned plenty at work.

One. What is it that made me snap at security measures today?! Don't get me wrong -- I support Romania's hosting the NATO summit. I don't particularly support NATO -- though it may have its uses -- but I really think good things could come Romania's way through hosting it. Anyway, I am really not swapping thoughts on the summit's content because debating it on this dusty ol' blog cannot possibly make a difference (it can however make me crazed, so I'll pass).

I totally salute security measures taken for the summit. Not the ones about the homeless and the stray dogs, but I get even those. Security paramount, got it, owned it, moving on. (But did they really have to ban the selling of alcohol along the official summit route?!) And yet today I snapped at something like 9 police officers. Like when they stopped me from entering my newsroom for an hour (Officer, I don't give a fig Bush is speaking next door, why do I have half a kilo worth of media badges and passes hanging around my neck for, anyway? I want to speak to your boss. Go get him). Or when they kept telling me not just where to cross the street, but how to cross it. ('Mam, more to your right. Quickly)

My snapping was stupid because I couldn't possibly have won. They were right. Doing their jobs. And I knew it. I guess it's the paranoia that comes from tight security - police are caving in under the pressure of all those potential bombs in all those backpacks, so they will push their guard up to some seriously absurd levels. Journalists will cave in under the pressure of, say, potentially having their phones tapped. Hence the snapping. There's no getting around the fact that I acted like a bully to 9 officers today for no good reason. Even though, technically, they're the bullies. Which brings me to

Two. An army of police and gendarmes busted into a factory rented out by some people who don't like NATO. They weren't making bombs, but anti-war banners. On some pretext or other, police picked up 54 people who just happen to not like NATO. That's 54 people who have a constitutional right to not like NATO and say so publicly. Police laid out a good argument for the bust (and the people were eventually let go) but the massive display of uniforms screams of paranoid bullies.

Three. There are about 28 people in all covering the summit from my news outlet. There were scores of stories going out today, some actually terrific. But it only took one that mistook Bucharest for Budapest and now we will always be that news outlet that mistook Bucharest for Budapest. Fuck.

On burden

Interviewed in Turkey by ABC News on the war in Iraq and the thousands of dead people (well, ABC focuses on the number of U.S. deaths), Dick Cheney produced the following mind-numbing burden hierarchy:

It places a special burden obviously on the families, and we recognize, I think — it's a reminder of the extent to which we are blessed with families who've sacrificed as they have.
The president carries the biggest burden, obviously. He's the one who has to make the decision to commit young Americans, but we are fortunate to have a group of men and women, the all-volunteer force, who voluntarily put on the uniform and go in harm's way for the rest of us.

!!!!!!!!!

More of the same

The end of the world draws nearer. Today's fresh batch from AlertNet (and that's just in the last hour or so):

-- Five Yemen soldiers wounded in bomb attack
-- Floods displace thousands in east Sri Lanka
-- Situation of Palestinians on Iraq-Syria border continues to deteriorate
-- Majority of rapists go unpunished
-- Tibet exile government says 99 killed in protests
-- Egyptian police kill Eritrean migrant
-- Thirty Tibetans arrested after fresh protest-group
-- SOMALIA: Land dispute erupts in Galkayo, 10 killed
-- Bird flu may mutate to human form in Indonesia
-- Blast near Philippine presidential palace wounds 15
-- Palestinian stabs rabbi in Arab East Jerusalem
-- China spokesman proposes Dalai Lama go on trial
-- Indian police kill 14 Maoist rebels

The end of the affair

There is a mouse living under the bathtub in the apartment that I bought roughly five months ago. Or a rat, I couldn't really say since I saw him fleetingly two days ago. Mind you, when I say him it's wishful thinking that it's not a she. As of yesterday I also have poison. Lots of it, all over the place. Rodent kill, love the sound of that. Am consumed with thoughts of killing. Am getting generous killing advice from like-minded people. This has definitely taken the shine out of my infatuation with my apartment -- my castle, my safe haven, the place where I invite friends and cook Sunday lunch for my parents and store my books and listen to Tori Amos and bake bread. I feel ... robbed.

The news

I am mildly depressed. Have been for some time now. I think I finally figured out the cause - the end of the world is coming, if my Reader feeds are any indication. My feeds, some of which are from spot news sites, tell me that people have died, are dying or will surely die.

Here's a sample from this morning's headlines. I go through dozens of these every day:

-- China pledges harsh measures against Tibet protestes
-- China says no lethal weapons used on Tibet protesters
-- Four FBI agents were wounded in Pakistan bombing
-- Millions of Iraqis lack water, healthcare-Red Cross
-- Pressure mounts for West to act on Tibet talk
-- Twenty-two dead in Egypt highway crash
-- Chad rebel chief threatens attack on oil zone
-- Bombs kill three, wound 21 in Thai Muslim south
-- Pakistan says sets date to hang Indian spy

(Source: AlertNet)

On guns and families

The hunting culture is most firmly rooted in rural
areas, the U.S. heartland and evangelical Christian circles, where some see it as a bonding experience for fathers and sons that helps keep families together.

Are you freaking kidding me?!... This isn't beer and peanuts over TV soccer, or, you know, some other non-weapon venue meant to keep families together. Sheesh!

Read the rest of the story here - it's part of a series of gun stories in the United States ahead of a landmark Supreme Court debate on a gun control case.

Prague

I was well aware going into Prague that I had idealised this city nine years ago, my first foreign city during my first trip abroad.

But I wasn't wrong to. Prague is painfully beautifull still. Don't go alone, it will drive you insane.

From Masarykovo Nabrezi and the Petrin hills to the Metronome, on both sides of the river, on and off the beaten path, this city is beyond beautiful. I think that is the explanation as to why it fascinates me so. I mean, I have seen my fair share of central and eastern European cities -- and loved them all to some extent. None have matched Prague and my state of mind while tracing its narrow cobblestone streets.

Petty thieves

All I can tell you right now is this: do not fly Wizz Air. Do not fly Sky Europe. I flew both today, which culminated with my ending up in Prague just now, but that is neither here nor there. The point is how I got here, which is without five packs of cigarettes and a half empty bottle of CK One. That's what at first glance is missing from my luggage. Small things for sure, but what about the principle? And the best part is that I don't know which company to blame, since I did not pry through my luggage in between Wizz Air and Sky Europe flights. What is this world coming to? Hm...

The world as seen from my window

After writing for most of the day wrapped in a rainbow-colored blanket hanging on to the laptop for dear life I look up and the sun sets and my entire small apartment is bathing in golden hues.

The one good thing about waking up at 6 a.m. on a work day is that time when I look out the window while waiting for my coffee and the sky goes from an undefined mass to something visibly clear in a matter of minutes.

Call me crazy, but I have had some serious experiences with daylight since moving here. I find it hard to explain me and daylight (perhaps overly corny, too), but there are moments when everything seems clear, in place, quiet, peaceful because of it. The closest I have gotten to grace I suppose.

Samples:

Romania...

... the country where a major television news station asks a rapist whether he had fun. This is a little old but it still makes me lose my temper.