Unlike many albums I bought at that stage in my life, the self-titled "Freak Power" is still as listenable today as it was when I first got it. They blend funky sounds with a laid-back production that flirts with R&B, Soul and Hip-Hop, albeit in a way that reminds more of Dee-lite than Cypress Hill, if you catch my drift. Groove is in the heart, baby! Yeah! It's a very nice album, and funnily enough I think Turn on, Tune in, Cop out is one of the weaker songs on it. Their excellent cover of the Sly Stone tune "Running Away" is extremely cool, the hip-hop oriented "Big Time" is a solid head-bobber, "The Whip" and "Rush" offer lovely light grooves....

While lyrically it's all very much about respecting brothers and sisters, loving the world and generally having a good time, some of the things you hear are quite cool. "Moonbeam Woman" is really very naughty while the second song I'm offering for download here is about as much on the money as you can be. So please enjoy:

Change My Mind
When it comes to affairs of the head,
I always find that the better hung are the well read.
See that sat beneath the tree of thought,
Well five'll get you ten that it's me.
If ignorance is paradise, I don't agree.

When it comes to affairs of the mouth,
Come sup the sociable seminar in the deep south.
Don't tell me that talk is cheap,
when it's clear as my nose that it's not.
We make up all the characters, but not the plot.

Tzipi Livni has stated Israel will boycott the UN world conference against racism in Geneva next year because the conference would be an "Anti-Israel tribunal" and it would incite to hatred. Get this. An anti-racism conference that incites to hatred.

In the mean time 1.2 million citizens of the state of Israel are de facto second rate citizens simply because they are not Jewish.

In the mean time Israel has no constitution that protects the rights and equality of *all* of it's citizens.

In the mean time there are Arabic cities and towns in Israel that do not have a closed sewer system because the Israeli federal government will not give them one.

In the mean time, 1.2 million people are taxed, but not represented, myself included.

In the mean time, every non-Jewish or non-Israeli will be profiled, humiliated and treated like garbage every time you try to fly in and out of the country while Jewish Israelis whizz past you.

Forget the Palestinians. What about Non-Jewish Israelis? I think it is preposterous that Tzipi Livni has the gall to say these things. Because as long as there is no constitution I will say that Israel is indeed an Apartheids-regime.

The thing that really pisses me off is that countries like Canada, The Netherlands, The United States, The United Kingdom and France actually legitimize this complaint of Israel by also boycotting that conference out of solidarity, while heaven knows that Israel, the Netherlands and The United States would benefit from a few more Anti-Racism conferences.

It's a fucking outrage. Tzipi Livni can suck my over-taxed, under-represented, Israel-residing non-Jewish dick.

Excuse me my language.

In and of itself I that shouldn't bode well for the CD because Buddha Bar is something I've always found trite. While I can enjoy certain compilations like St Etienne's "The Trip" and Café del Mar Volumen Seis, usually I hate electronic lounge albums because I typically think it's elevator music. However, this CD is no such thing. The focus here is less on electronica and more on Jazz, albeit with touches of Fusion here and there. Nu-Jazz in other words. The compilation is very good. For those that are not acquainted with Swedish Nu-Jazz luminaries Koop, Britain's blackest sounding white girl Alice Russell and Norwegian Jazz-Funk duo Kinny & Horne, it is a great compilation to buy as it features songs of all three, and good ones at that. So judging by what I knew on the disc, the compiler had good taste.

The track I'm going to offer here is by Ashley Slater and it's the first track in the set. When I first heard the song I immediately recognized him as the frontman for Freak Power, a band that had a smash hit in 1995 with the song "Tune on, Tune in, Cop out". I've always loved that band. Their self-titled album from the same year features a great cover of Sly Stone's "Running Away" and the voice of the singer really does it for me. So imagine my surprise when I slide this 2006 Nu-Jazz compilation into the player and hear his voice. Now I never knew Freak Power's frontman was called Ashley Slater. And I never knew he also plays trombone. Hell, I didn't even know his partner in crime for Freak Power was Fatboy Slim. It's amazing, the things you can find out by simply buying a record.

Anyway, please enjoy Cellophane by Ashley Slater. I know I did.

Arno knew her as the background singer of Amp Fiddler, but he wasn't sure if it would be an interesting record. She is sold as a Nu-Soul artist, but I'm not quite sure if I agree with that label. Some of the tracks on this album are squarely rooted in the 60s, some are funky and remind me of the 70s while others indeed are pure Nu-Soul. Having said that, the opening of the Album is sticky and nasty, just like it should. And it doesn't get significantly worse from there on. Please enjoy the funky tune Kinky, though unfortunately the lyrics have nothing to do with the title.

Kinky
Gotta get my feet back on the one
Get up, pack
All my shit and run
I pack light nothing in the way
I won’t look back
I’m surer everyday
Oh I won’t hesitate
And I’m surer everyday
Got my feet planted on the ground
From the wisdom that I found
I can see the light
And I finally got it right
And I ‘m through with talking all the time
chasing dollars for a dime

Gotta get my feet back on the one
Get up, pack
All my shit and run
I pack light nothing in the way
I won’t look back
My life is clear as day, hey
Oh I’m here to stay
No matter what might come my way
My feet are planted on the ground from the wisdom
That I found
I can see the light and I finally got it right
And I’m through with talking all the time
chasing dollars for a dime
Keep my face in the light
Not afraid of any height
My feet are planted on the ground from the wisdom
That I found

This whole period's debate has been dominated by:
- Obama is a Muslim
- McCain has experience
- We're good men, vote for us
- Joe the Plumber
- I see Russia from the porch
- Fruit Flies in Paris are silly

To cut a long story short, the closest to information about actual topics of policy has come from the Democrat's side, but all in all it's a disgrace, this campaign.

This picture was taken in the city of Tveriyya, otherwise known as Tiberias. It's a bit of a shit hole, but then it does feature a gorgeous lake, very good fresh fish and an annual Bluegrass festival.

Now if I look at the presidential debates and I see people like Letterman actually lose it in their show because they're vehemently against the occupation of Iraq, it warms my heart in one way. In another way it saddens me greatly when I see Letterman talk about "Americans getting killed" senselessly. The reason I'm sad and ashamed about that is that every one talks about the military death toll in Iraq.

If you Google "iraq death toll", most news sources on the internet quote numbers of ~4.500 military deaths and some 30.000 wounded, most of which are American casualties. But nobody seems to be talking about the good people of Iraq itself. They low-ball the numbers. Bush claimed 30.000 civilians got killed, some numbers say 150.000, but at the end of the day I don't buy it, because every time you read the newspapers you see two Americans getting killed versus ~10 - ~20 Iraqis in any given operation or clash.

Now in October 2006 The Washington Post published numbers from a study that was conducted by American and Iraqi epidemiologists that said a whopping 655.000 Iraqis have gotten killed. Roughly 610.000 of whom were killed by violence and 45.000 by the outbreak of various diseases. Think about it. This is more than two years ago, so if you see the escalation in sectarian violence, suicide bombings, raids and the socio-economic state of the country by now, it wouldn't surprise me if we were up in the 800.000's.

According to the CIA factbook there are currently an estimated 28,221,180 Iraqis. This number is also quoted in other sources across the net, so by the current numbers this would put the death toll at a whopping 2.8% of the total population. By contrast, the US lost 0.0013% of its population in this war. This is what you get when a 400 pound gorilla decides to pick a fight with a lemur.

These numbers don't strike me as implausible at all. Yet everyone in the States is up in arms about "our boys". So let me get this straight: In 6 years of war, fewer people were killed in the States than one third of the annual domestic death toll of hand held firearms in the United States. I daresay this war has cost them less casualties than the amount of people dying because they slip on the soap in their bathroom in Wisconsin every year.

In the mean time, and nobody knows really, 800.000 Iraqi civilians were killed. Which is twice the amount of deaths the US attributed to Saddam Hussein's regime. Does that make Bush a bigger murderer than Saddam? Does that make me anti militaristic? I think you know the answer, specially when you realize Saddam Hussein was put in power with the help of the US because they didn't like the turn things were taking in Iran during the Islamic Revolution of 1978 and the ousting of the Shah in April 1979.

Iran, coincidentally, is one of the oldest continuous civilizations on the planet. They've been around since 4000 BC. They are reputed to have invented Algebra, Qanats and wind-mills. They preserved most of what we know of Hellenistic culture and philosophy during the Dark Ages in Europe and are a founding member of the UN. From Wikipedia I learned that Iran's Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics is a UNESCO chair in biology. In late 2006, Iranian scientists successfully cloned a sheep by somatic cell nuclear transfer, at the Rouyan research center in Isfahan.

This is a country which according to Bill O'Reilly, Sarah Palin, John McCain and their fans needs to be invaded next. Sarah Palin is the woman who thinks research grants for genetic work on Fruit flies was ridiculous and who thinks that dinosaurs roamed the earth together with humans 6.000 years ago.

Go figure.

I had never heard of this guy until I saw his rants against Sarah Palin on YouTube. However, I would argue the United States needs more people like this. Then there's the fact that Holland gets honorable mention as the most free country in the world. Because you can smoke hash in church and because we have Janet Jackson's nipple on the flag. Technically this may not be true, but in essence he hit it right on the head. Bill Maher for president!

The glum and layered production by Godrich of Radiohead fame certainly works well with Hannon's baritone on this record. In my view, the standout track (if you can say such a thing) on this album is the decidedly depressing and uneasy fourth song:

Note to Self
Monday
Restate my assumptions
Heaven and hell
Do not exist

Saturday
Restate my assumptions
A song is not a song
Until it's listened to

But Mr Giesen is preposterously wrong here. Of course Islam is incompatible with a modern, democratic society. And so are Christianity and Judaism. He who reads the scripture will inevitably conclude these religions are based on immoral, inhumane and downright nasty writings. I will not go on to discuss the immorality of the various stories in there, as I don't have enough server space to finish that volume, but my point boils down to this: A psychologist at Tel Aviv university asked 1000 Israeli children if the slaughter of Jericho was morally justifiable. "And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword." "And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was therein."

68% of the children thought this act of genocide was justifiable because "otherwise the children of Israel would assimilate with the people in the land" and because "the other religion should be stamped out". Notice how assimilation, adaption to the culture of the land you're moving to needs to be avoided at the cost of killing a people? Only 26% thought it was not OK, and 6% had ambivalent feelings. Amongst those that thought it was immoral or a bit of both, there were those who thought it was immoral because of the destruction of the city itself. "Should have kept it standing, it would have been ours."

Apparently Israelis get taught that it's perfectly OK to march into a country, slaughter all who live there, "man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass" as it were, and take the land. This psychological study aptly demonstrates why I do not wish to raise my son in Israel. Now I'm not gonna pick on the Israelis per se. It's well known that Muslims think they can burn Danish embassies and bomb innocent civilians to smithereens, while Christians think they can kill Jews, Musselmen, Witches and native populations of newly discovered lands.

The point of this story is this: Monotheistic faiths typically have a misogynistic and xenophobic world view. "Thy neighbor" in the context of the Old Testament explicitly *only* meant Jews. Maimonides pointed out as much in the 12th century. Similar views are held by Christians and Muslims. Infidels can be slain without punishment. Even if you take it as an "allegory" or "metaphor", it has no place in modern thinking and modern moral philosophy. As Blaise Pascal once said “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction”.

I'm a left winger at heart, and I believe in a multicultural society but I won't soften up on Islam. Or any of the above, for that matter.

The fields of flowers across the road:

And the Galilee by night:

Firstly he's saying that Europe is being "Morocco-nized". The funny thing is that the Turks are being left out of the loop completely, while in countries like Belgium, Germany and Holland, the amount of Turkish people roughly equal the amount of Moroccan people. In Holland, the amount of Moroccans is quite stable. Around 350.000 people are of Moroccan descent, and the amount of third and fourth generation Moroccans that lets go of Islam as a religion is quite staggering, so all in all the amount of people subscribing to "different religions" than Christianity (49%) or Atheism (44%) is on the decline. In the mean time the Catholic Church is becoming more orthodox in nature under the new pope, making them more dangerous than the moderate Muslims in the country.

If you leave all that aside, the stone-cold numbers tell us that there are 34 Million Moroccans on this planet. Most of them are located in Morocco. The migration rate is -0.77 migrants per 1,000 population. At any given time, Morocco sends 26.000 people abroad in any given year. With a world population of 7 billion people, those 26.000 are quite negligible. Holland "gets" 3.44 migrants per 1,000 population per year. That's a 0.3% increase in the population annually due to migration. Given the low birth rate and the aging of the population, I would argue this is a good thing.

The breakdown of foreigners in Holland is as follows: 20% of Holland is not Dutch. 10% of the population are "Western Immigrants" from other EU States and the US and whatnot. 10% are "Non-Western Immigrants" from our former colonies like the Antilles, Suriname, Indonesia and then of course the Turks and the Moroccans. 350.000 Moroccans equals a 2% slice of society, which in turn is only 10% of the total amount of foreigners in the country. To me, this implies that far from *all* of those 26.000 Moroccans that leave Morocco actually end up in Holland and, I'm quite sure, Belgium.

Hence I fail to see the Moroccans as a "Demographic threat".

Now the second aspect of De Winters' statement is that the fact that Aboutaleb became mayor of Rotterdam will "exacerbate the arrogance of Moroccans throughout Europe". I don't think the Moroccans are the most arrogant part of Europe's population. For that we have the French and obviously elitist fascists like Wilders, Haider, Le Pen and De Winter. Aside from that that I think many Moroccans, who are de facto second rate citizens in European countries, could view Aboutaleb's appointment as a beacon of hope. If you assimilate, learn the local language, get educated and work with the system, you, as an immigrant, can reach a position of power. It is living proof that the Constitutional Rights a Dutchman has also work for citizens of foreign origin.

Lastly De Winter goes through great lengths to point out Aboutaleb has dual citizenship. So what? If it's legal it's legal. As long as Aboutaleb does a good job and is the owner of a valid Dutch passport, I don't care what other things he's got going on. Is De Winter herewith suggesting that my son Daniel can never hold a job of significance in the Netherlands because the kid also has an Israeli citizenship and passport? The way I see it, Aboutaleb is not violating the law in any way, and he's not exactly becoming the prime minister either.

If he were to become the nation's leader or the supreme commander of the armed forces in Holland I would indeed argue that he can't morally hold two nationalities, but as Mayor of Rotterdam I see no dangerous conflict of interests. Quite the opposite, Aboutaleb has been quite harsh on misbehaving citizens of Moroccan descent, and he's in a unique position to be just that without getting slandered as a racist.

As a partian shot I would like to react to De Winter mentioning Rotterdam, the Netherlands and "our cities" in one sentence. Coming from a fascist Belgian I find that highly offensive. We have nothing to do with these people. Remember Van Speyk, asshole? "Dan liever de lucht in!". Mind your own business and stay on your own damn side of the border. You're rather less welcome here than the Moroccans. At least they bring good food.

Meanwhile, Aboutaleb looks like an intensely competent politician, sharply dressed, good air of character around 'm, while Wilders' thuggish visage is a bit of an embarrasment. Content wise, from what I heard both men reflect the way they look. Quite honestly I am very, very much sorry that Theo van Gogh was killed by an extremist. I really wish they had taken Wilders' ass down instead.

I"m telling you, if a Muslim would ever get rid of that sorry specimen for us, I wouldn't want to call it terrorism. I would call it natural selection, and give the perpetrator a medal in the name of Darwin. Speaking of which, am I the only one that actively rejoices about Jörg Haider, that old bugger of a Nazi, getting sloshed and having the good grace to remove himself from life? I just read 25.000 people gathered to mourn him.

Austria must be a strange country. After Hitler, the Incest man, the Crazy woman who kept her kids in a basement for 10 years and Haider one starts to suspect that strange things are going on in Austria. If I were a foreigner I wouldn't want to go live with the mountain people either. Maybe Holland should have the good grace to deport Wilders and his wife (hihi) to Austria. I'm sure they would have a suitable camp site for 'm.

With him gone, we might start making progress on re-educating these unintelligent, malcontent and somewhat boorish 25% of Dutch society who are interested in what Fortuyn and Wilders have to say in the first place.