Finnish TV interview about me!

I am pleased to give you two links to a TV interview by Helena Lehtimäki of Laureus University of Applied Sciences, Espoo, about me. I really enjoyed myself! It was aired in a new TV station called CaringTV which is to motivate us older folk to do creative things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEwPv_6U0X8&feature=youtu.be

http://youtu.be/yEwPv_6U0X8

Helena and her team have gone a great job. Thank you Helena.

Dilemma! What do I do?

I was in this dilemma when I stated blogging in December 2004. I had one blog for all my different audiences. At that time I also had web pages devoted to different sectors of readers.

There was a clamour amongst my readers of the blog that I was out of tune with them as they were reading many items that they were not interested in as they pertained to my alma maters or something specific to Oulu, etc.

It was then I started breaking up my blogs - besides my primary Blog (Jacob's Blog), I started one on Politics, another related to my association with Cathedral School (Mumbai), another about St. Stephen's College (Delhi), another about finding goods and services in Oulu, etc.

Everybody was happy!

All went well till my recent trip to India, where I stopped all my auxiliary blogs and kept only my main blog going, with just a few very specific entries to my other blogs.

My readership shot up as it appeared that many were interested in all aspects of my trip around India - which I had termed as "Incredible India".

The readership more than doubled at one point. People were referring others to my blog and it just snow-balled into a massive readerfest. Old and young, relatives and friends, school and college mates, Findians, O-Indians, my professional colleagues, past and present, were all tuned in. And many strangers from around the world were liking my style!

Wherever I went I found I needed no introduction as people had been following my blog. As I recorded, at one stage it became highly embarrassing, as people would come up to me and ask whether I knew them!

On returning to Finland, I went back to my old system.

Now I am having a spate of complaints. Many say that I should only blog at one point.

That would be great for me but not fair on my diverse audience. For instance the Cathedral School Alumni Association have especially complimented me on my sustained effort to keep the school spirit at its height by my blogging.

That is definitely not possible as my Seventh Heaven and Kooler Talk Blogs have very specific readerships. And not everyone likes my Politics. To burden all my regular readers with MY political views would be unfair. And my Oulu Best (Worst) Buy Blog is very specific to my Oulu Readers. Who in India or USA wants to read about the price of eggs in Oulu?

Is there any single solution, which is outside my very limited knowledge, which will help keep all my readers happy?

One way is that you could become a "Follower" of a specific blog. Whenever the one you are interested is updated, you will get a message from Google. No infringement of your privacy. You can always stop the "Follower" program whenever you want.

That way, it would stop my having to post important blog entries on my multiple blogs. (Possibly - as I have not yet looked into the ramifications of this alternative.)

If you have any suggestions, please email me or leave me a COMMENT. (Although my blogs are not exactly "Comment" blogs, I do read all the comments and reply them appropriately - also knocking off the spam that does come in.

This entry is being posted on all my major blogs, as it concerns all my readers in all categories.

Happy 90th birthday, Nelson Mandela

Happy 90th birthday to the world's greatest politician, leader EVER - Nelson Mandela. May he have very many more.

Copyright: Photograph from Dismantling Apartheid

He has taught mankind through his sincerity to his cause - the people of Africa.

Thank you Nelson Mandela.

Randi Rhodes quits AirAmerica

I was waiting for this move by the AirAmerica management as Randi's shows had become quite boring as she was over-stressed. In most shows, she would find one point and harp on it for several shows thereafter. I often wondered if anyone was listening to her. Her humour had vanished and there was no motivation in her programmes.

However, she had a devoted following and even her abusive manner to her callers and many of her guests, as she tended to overtalk them and continue to express her opinion and not allow the caller to get a word in edgeways, certainly made one mad. After all, the programme was hers and she could always give her opinion AFTER the caller had expressed his/her views.

I was quite surprised to hear from Greg Palast that it was he who had suggested Randi to the founders of AirAmerica. I remember that Randi had felt humiliated when he had called her to an event he was hosting in New York where he had not given her any prominence unlike other AirAmerica hosts. He had treated her like a stagehand!

Mike Malloy had, in a 45 minute rant in one of his programmes, paid tribute to his friend Randi and torn the present management of AirAmerica to bits. He revealed that, even as of today, they owed him $ 112000! Mike gave a very historical context of Talk Radio and AirAmerica. He had no hesitation in calling AirAmerica a tool of the right wing.

Mike was fired by AirAmerica by the Jewish cabal behind AirAmerica as they consider him anti-Semitic. He said the suspension of Randi was quite unforgivable. He gave news that Lionel was being axed (not that he was any favourite of mine) and that Thom Hartmann had lost prime time in New York to Ed Schulz, neither of whom are favourites of mine.

Randi was removed from my ratings in September 2007 and during the last 7 months I saw no reason to put her back in them.

Randi Rhodes is a survivor and when she lands on her feet you will find her ranting and raving on her plight.

The ratings remain about the same as Mike Malloy is undisputably the Number 1 Talk Show Host, with Peter Werbe a close second. The rest may scramble for minor places and with the right wing cabal having got rid of KIRO (Seattle, Washington) host Mike Webb (supposedly murdered) and Bernie Ward taken off the air (KGO, San Francisco, California)) on trumped up pedophile related issues, there is some shuffling. Rachel Maddow has continued to improve her style and is knocking around for top spot places. Sam Seder has managed to control a lot of his stuttering and stammering and should be able to get in the top ten if he can organise his programmes better. Ray Taliferro is still hilarious. Stephanie Miller could come back in the ratings as she has become a bit more serious, but she is not a Talk Show Host to be taken seriously.

I will post a half yearly analysis sometime in June 2008, so stay tuned for the next major ratings analysis.

Hopefully back on line

(Posted on all my major blogs)

Yesterday, after some 33 days of being without my internet connection, I was put back on line. Several errors were found at the connections outside our premises and also in the Gateway.

The first thing I did after getting back my connection was test my speed. I pay for a 8 M line, but I was shocked to find my upload and download speeds were less than 500 kbps.

Additionally, I have a fixed IP and I found that the IP that I was using was not mine.

Thirdly, all my computers are connected to the internet through a Router. i found that if I went on to connect my router, I lost the internet connection.

Lastly, during the last 7 years I have used DHCP to connect to the internet. I have not used PPPoE. I found that I was unable to connect using DHCP and my own Fixed IP but only through the PPPoE which was assigning me the random IP.

All these problems has made life continue to be difficult as I am using just a single computer to connect to the internet.

I have a backload of about 6 weeks of work. With this situation I will only be able to catch up by the end of April.

I have lodged my complaint with my ISP .- and hopefully I will get some action by the end of this week.

Please bear with me till I get back into full swing.

Through the eyes of an Arab Israeli human rights activist..."

Posted on my Jacob's Blog, Jacob's Politics Blog, the Move The UN Blog, and the Liberal Talk Show Ratings Blog.

Yesterday, Tuesday 2.10.2007, between 18:00 and 20:00 hours, at the Kirjakahvila Nispero, Pakkahuoneenkatu 5, Oulu, owned by Jarmo Stoor and his wife, I had the privilege and honour to listen to Israeli Palestinian Human Right Activist Najib Abu Rokaya from the B´Tselem Human Rights Group. This is the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories which was established in 1989 by a group of prominent academics, attorneys, journalists, and Knesset members.

How would it feel if you got married to the person you love and are then told by your "Democratic" Government that you cannot bring your partner to your country but have to move away to another country where your partner lives and also give up your natural citizenship?

This is what happens in Palestine AND ALSO in Israel when it concerns Arab Israeli citizens!

No wonder that former US President Jimmy Carter addressed the present situation in Israel as being akin to the Apartheid that was prevalent in White South Africa!

But I digress.

Najib knows the effects of the Middle East conflict on the day to day life of those who live under it. His expertise has been used by the BBC (among others) in reporting on the situation there.

Najib Abu Rokaya is an Israeli Arab. He was one of the Palestinians who during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War stayed behind the green line (the internationally accepted border at the time between Israel and the planned Palestinian government) of what was to become the State of Israel. Today those Palestinians form about 18% of Israel's population.

Najib is a human asset in the position of Arabs inside Israel from his understanding of the law and personal experiences. He operates inside the internationally respected Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem.

The primary purpose of the group is to monitor the Israeli Army, Israeli governmental institutions and illegal West-Bank settlements in Palestinian areas. B'Tselem addresses its public reports to the Israeli political leadership as well as the general public.

Najib is the fieldwork coordinator of B'Tselem. Due to his position in B'Tselem and previous political activities, Najib has intimate details about the Arab minority question and the
current situation of the Israel/Palestinian conflict.

In his talk he started by drawing attention to the fact that the move to set up the State of Israel began as far back as 1890 and one of the locations suggested was Uganda! However, after the holocaust and World War II the United Nations gave Israel around 54% of Palestine.

After the various wars this increased to 70+% but when one considers the situation on the ground in Israel, Israel controls 100% of the territory.

However, clever politicking by Israeli "peace-brokers" and a feeling of absolute uselessness of the ability to stand and fight by the people of Palestine, Israel has transferred the international obligations of "the Occupier" on the Palestinians while continuing to occupy the whole territory.

As was rather strongly put by Najib, the Oslo Agreement was b------t! All it contained were paras which were to occur "God Willing", or in Arabisc "Inshallah"!

The wall / fence which has been built by Israel between "Palestine West Bank territory" on Palestinian land is another example of Israel usurping territory under the guise of "Security". The real border is about 320 km. But the wall / fence is over 700 km in length. Administration of the lands ursurped by the Israelis under this excuse is being integrated by a series of measures which makes it almost impossible for the Palestinians to even look after their own lands!

The absolute stranglehold by Israel over the Gaza is another example of how cleverly Israeli transferred "the obligations" onto the Palestinian Government while ensuring that they had absolutely no way of meeting those obligations.

There are two sides to every coin.

Najib was able, as an Arab Israeli, to put before the audience the side of not only the Palestinians living in "their" land of Palestine and of Arab Israelis, but also the 4 million refugees which have been packaged out of their land by this never ending conflict, most of whom are today stateless!

The stories given by Najib of the trigger-happy methods of the Israeli forces who have been ordered "not to take prisoners" as they infiltrate and murder the Palestinians was heart rending.

That is the other side of the story which is never told by the western media as the it has always been the Palestinians who have been accused of suicide bombings!

The Palestinians of all shades live in hope that they will once again be able to live in peace in their land. But it suits Israel to have a state of chaos prevailing as that way they will be able to draw on their superior public media presentation skills to highlight the Palestinians as the aggressors while they continue to enjoy and expand their hold of entire Palestine!

Many thanks to this outstanding personality for sharing his thoughts with us in Oulu.

Has the US already reached the Fascist Stage?

Posted on my Jacob's Blog, Jacob's Politics Blog, the Talk Show Ratings Blog and the Move the UN Blog.

Mike Malloy continues to head my ratings of Liberal Talk Show Hosts. Mike lives near Atlanta in Georgia and he and his wife, Kathy Bay, who is the Executive Producer of his show, put together their show every morning which airs on NovaM Radio, a liberal radio station from Phoenix, Arizona. I listen to him live, online, over the internet. Besides being a great host, Kathy is an outstanding producer, and boy, is she quick with suitable music and her comments.

I get up at 4 am every morning from Tuesday to Saturday to listen to Mike, as not only does he have a different view point from any other Talk Show Host, but in my seven years of listening to him, I have found him to be honest and in pursuit of the TRUTH.

His listeners are known as the TRUTHSEEKERS!

Many of us get together on the Democratic Underground Forum to share the experience of listening to Mike. It is a great community.

One caller to Mike's show today from New York really set my mind thinking.

Mike has been saying that America has already reached the Fascist State. Many disagree with him.

The caller said that, at this time of the year, there are many dignitaries attending the UN General Assembly, so security is normally at a height. However, what he experienced earlier this evening was totally unexpected.

The caller lives in a small suburban area of the New York where, in the back street, there is a good small restaurant. He had gone out for a walk in the evening. On his way home, several black limousines pulled up outside the restaurant.

Out of the last car jumped out several men in full riot gear, fully armed. They stepped all pedestrians even crossing the street. The people had to wait a full 10 minutes till the dignitary emerged from the car and was safely seated in the restaurant!

Does this happen in a democratic society?

I sincerely do not believe it can - not in any Scandinavian country.

Remember the killing of Olof Palme over 20 years ago. On February 28, 1986, the Swedish Prime Minister, leader of the Social Democratic Party was gunned down on a Stockholm street home from a cinema with his wife, Lisbet. as he and his wife were walking on the streets of Stockholm without any security personnel?

Has any such procedure as described by the New York caller been put into operation in any part of Sweden? NO!

I now tend to agree with Mike that the US, led by an imbecile, has entered the final phase of a Fascist State.

As another caller said, on Mike's show, that as she was at an US Airport with her toddler, there was an announcement that the day's terrorism alert was ORANGE and she and her toddler had to go through security checks where even the toddler had to remove his shoes for checking.

Fear Rules the US - and that is what Fascism is about!