Congratulations all Women

We sat on soft pillows on the floor, the stage was set, the light was dim. Drums rolled in the background, soft but fast. A single woman wrapped in veils colored by the rainbow suddenly appeared. I could only see her eyes, and they looked straight at me. Her feet and the drums kept the same phase, quick and light. She danced so elegantly and yet so fierce. The flickering flames of all the candles around her reflected in her hair as the first veil became an extention of her movements. And not a fibre in me could imagine to look the other way.

Today's the international woman's day. A happy day to celebrate the female gender, with all her attributes and rights. I can't obviusly make a complete "yay this is so good" post, and fear not, there's a backside to this medal aswell.

If anything, this day should be used to remember all the women in this world who are not treated properly. And by "properly" I mean as equal to men. Nothing more or less. In many countries this is far from the reality. And how easey it is to point out a bunch of arab countries where women are forced to cover themselves, and where their testemony in a trial is worth less then that of a man. Or African countries where female circumcision is standard procedure. A procedure which kills and destroys lives every day.

The Suffragettes have done their job in the western world, but there's still more work that needs to be done.

Whale and Seal Fishing

It never crossed my mind as a kid, that my father could be wrong. He spoke with such conviction of the victory to come. And mother would nod in acceptance, adding her two cents of approval of the new system. I did not mind the uniforms, and it was fun to march like little soldiers. The sense of belonging, of achievement and something to strive for was so strong. We felt stronger by the day, and believed in every word. And father told me one day, looking up from the newspaper during brekfast; "I am so proud of you son, a prime soldier of Der Führer."

Just months later everything was turned up side down. We were the villains, but it took years to understand what we had done.

If there's one thing I am certain of, it is that knowledge is the key ingredient to making right decicions. Regularly I am debating with people about whale meat which I consider to be most delightful, and the fact that Norway hunt whales. The usual first comment I get goes in the lines of "Whales are a threatened species." And I'm always humored to correct that whales are not a species, but two sub orders containing around 40 species. Some threatened to near extinction, and some who's population is thriving. A blue-copy of this intro would be the start of a seal-fishing debate.

I guess we should get some facts down about Norwegian fishing policies.

• Only one species of whale is hunted, the Minke whale.
• Two species of seal are hunted for, Hooded Seal (which has not ben hunted for in 2007 or 2008 due to population uncertainties), and the Harp Seal.
• Each year quotas for hunting these species ar given based on scientific recommandations from the ICES and NAFO.
• Public inspectors must be onboard each seal catching ship, and all crew members must have gone through a course in the laws and regulations.
• There is now a need to increase seal hunting due to population growth.
• Norwegian seas are today of the richest in the world, and Norway remains one of the biggest and most successful fishing nations.

So what does this tell us? The seas of southern Europe are fished out, and Norway still manages to make a great income annualy without overfishing, they must be doing something right.

I could go into detail about fishing policies but that's not the point here. What brought me to this topic in the first place is a propsed EU resolution to ban all import of seal products. It is completely ridiculus and serves no purpose other then to harm the Norwegian fishing industry. The seal-fishing can today only be conducted through state funding, even though it is essential to keep the fragile balance in our seas.

Instead of "Save the seal" posters the enviromentalists need to wave "Save the sea" posters instead, and vote against this proposition.

Should anyone require further data:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harp_Seal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minke_Whale

The Worst of Crimes

The internet is a meeting place for any and for all kinds of activities. This sadly includes child molesters posting and exchanging child pornography. I just watched an episode of Oprah about this and now I'm sitting here with a huge urge to first vomit, and secondly seek out and kill some pedophiles.

A close friend of mine was abused as a child, by her own father. In 3 out of 4 ceases it is someone close to the kid, which only makes it worse. It's a really sick world out there, pedophile networks produce how-to guides on making child pornography, making sure the kid will not be able to tell what happened or not resist abuse.

To sexually abuse a child is of the worst crimes I can imagine. You take an innocent little child and ruin it fysically and mentally just for own personal pleasure. Being alert and making sure your kids don't talk to strangers is not enough anymore. The police (in any nation I can think of) needs more funding to hunt down child molesters, and also the penalties are way too low. A perfectly reasonable penalty would be to chop off the abuser's private in addition to prison sentances and fines. A enuch cant repeat the crime.

Bloggalicious

Just figured I'd let ya'll know I now have three blogs, not just this one. I'll keep the politics stuck in Politisk Presis which I'm writing in Norwegian, and also just for the heck of it really I'm also writing The Random Item . Basicly just covering the weirdness of the world, will try to post daily there.

That's all I have to say today. cya lata.

Israel vs. Palestine

To have and to conquer these are the rules of war. We re-write the borders on the map, again and again. One empire dies as another rise. With the slashes of swords against skin have we shaped the world. Built cities, sacked, pillaged, established kingdoms and overthrown kings. In the end the only right you have to any land, is the right you can defend on the battlefield.

These last few days the middle-east conflict have yet again become a war. Israeli forces are moving inside Gaza, removing one target at the time. And knowing this will create hatred towards me I still feel obliged to say that I'm fully supportive of Israel's actions.

Norwegian media are mostly very pro-Palestine. And thus the lack of objective reports is a huge problem. I keep hearing about a humanitarian crisis, but the images from Gaza projected in the news dosn't show this. Why? They show civilians with injuries rushed to hospitals, but they are carried by men who appear both well dressed and fed. Last night they sent images of people fleeing the Gaza strip, with their sheep aswell. And to my eyes those sheep looked pretty well fed too. I can't see any humanitarian crisis as long as even the Palestinian-loving news channels fail to show it.

Also there's been alot of talk about the wall around Gaza. A problem with that is Israel does not surround Gaza. Take a look at the map if you don't believe me. Gaza has both a long coast-line which Israel has not shut off, and a borderline to Egypt. No one is yelling at Egypt for building a wall there though, funny isn't it?