I have turned on the "word verification" spam-blocker on my comments. Please tell me what you think. Is it worth the hassle to block the spam? Comment spam has seemed to increase so much so quickly that I thought it would be worth seeing how it works.
Thanks.
Max
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Today at the Foreigner Police
On Monday morning I went to the post office to pick up a registered letter. The letter informed me that my visa application had been refused. While I had no strong reaction to the news (I could hear the south of France calling), Katka, our personnel lady, did.
On Tuesday afternoon we had a long and rather pointless meeting with Hana, the woman from the visa agency. The only productive thing that came out of it was a further appointment to meet her today at the Foreigner Police.
Katka and I took the tram to the Foreigner Police to meet Hana. We waited for her outside for about 30 minutes, and then we waited another 20 minutes inside for the bureaucratic cow to come and answer our questions.
I think there is a rule that people who work at the Foreigner Police are not allowed to smile or exhibit any understanding of humour. They are definitely not allowed to be reasonable or think beyond their rules and regulations. The cow looked at my old visa and declared that it was not a work visa, and therefore my application for extending a work visa had been pointless. I had originally filled out an application for an entirely new work visa, but Hana’s colleague had insisted that was wrong.
The problem with the old visa was that it was an extraordinary visa given by agreement between the Foreigner Police and the Czech Ministry of Defence, but it was not a work visa because I was contracted to and paid by the US military rather than the Czechs.
So the answer to any question we asked was “no”, and we finally had to concede that I would have to start all over again and go abroad to a Czech embassy or consulate to submit my new application with all of the supporting documentation. Luckily I had originally submitted only notarised copies of my documentation so I still have all the originals. They will be taken back to the notary this afternoon for more copies.
Documentation:
· my work permit from the work office,
· an affidavit from my landlord stating that I have a place to live for the duration of my visa period (1 year),
· an extract from the Czech criminal register stating that I have no criminal record, and
· a notarised affidavit stating that I have no criminal record in the US or in any other country.
Oh no, Katka just came into my office to tell me that we don’t have the original of my landlord’s affidavit so I will have to get another one of those.
All this really means for me in terms of further inconvenience is having to wake up early one morning to be driven to Vienna or Dresden. There are substantial advantages, however; these are that 1) I still cannot sign my employment contract and so can quit whenever I want (a psychological advantage) and 2) I will continue to be paid into a bank account abroad and will pay no taxes for another couple of months.
On Tuesday afternoon we had a long and rather pointless meeting with Hana, the woman from the visa agency. The only productive thing that came out of it was a further appointment to meet her today at the Foreigner Police.
Katka and I took the tram to the Foreigner Police to meet Hana. We waited for her outside for about 30 minutes, and then we waited another 20 minutes inside for the bureaucratic cow to come and answer our questions.
I think there is a rule that people who work at the Foreigner Police are not allowed to smile or exhibit any understanding of humour. They are definitely not allowed to be reasonable or think beyond their rules and regulations. The cow looked at my old visa and declared that it was not a work visa, and therefore my application for extending a work visa had been pointless. I had originally filled out an application for an entirely new work visa, but Hana’s colleague had insisted that was wrong.
The problem with the old visa was that it was an extraordinary visa given by agreement between the Foreigner Police and the Czech Ministry of Defence, but it was not a work visa because I was contracted to and paid by the US military rather than the Czechs.
So the answer to any question we asked was “no”, and we finally had to concede that I would have to start all over again and go abroad to a Czech embassy or consulate to submit my new application with all of the supporting documentation. Luckily I had originally submitted only notarised copies of my documentation so I still have all the originals. They will be taken back to the notary this afternoon for more copies.
Documentation:
· my work permit from the work office,
· an affidavit from my landlord stating that I have a place to live for the duration of my visa period (1 year),
· an extract from the Czech criminal register stating that I have no criminal record, and
· a notarised affidavit stating that I have no criminal record in the US or in any other country.
Oh no, Katka just came into my office to tell me that we don’t have the original of my landlord’s affidavit so I will have to get another one of those.
All this really means for me in terms of further inconvenience is having to wake up early one morning to be driven to Vienna or Dresden. There are substantial advantages, however; these are that 1) I still cannot sign my employment contract and so can quit whenever I want (a psychological advantage) and 2) I will continue to be paid into a bank account abroad and will pay no taxes for another couple of months.
Monday, August 29, 2005
Our Impending Draft
Another Vanity Fair story: “The Recruiters’ War” by Michael Bronner – this one literally gave me chills.
“There’s no way to recruit within the rules and be successful” – a recently retired army recruiting-station commander.
Approximate recruitment targets:
US Marine Corps 2004 – 37,000
US Marine Corps 2005 – 39,000
US Army 2004 – 77,000
US Army 2005 – 80,000
Army, March 2005 – 27% off target
The army also missed its targets for April, May, June and July.
The Army Reserve has also missed its recruiting targets for 5 consecutive months this year.
In May 2005, the Marine Corps stopped making its recruitment numbers available to journalists.
The VF story was about fraudulent and corrupt recruitment tactics and not about the draft at all, but it is clear evidence that there will be conscription before too long. Especially now that there is talk of increasing troop numbers in Iraq in a futile attempt to calm the place down so that we can leave, as if our government and the Project for the New American Century have any intention of leaving.
In July I tried to bet Bubba $10,000 that there would be a draft within two years; he would only take my wager for $10.
“There’s no way to recruit within the rules and be successful” – a recently retired army recruiting-station commander.
Approximate recruitment targets:
US Marine Corps 2004 – 37,000
US Marine Corps 2005 – 39,000
US Army 2004 – 77,000
US Army 2005 – 80,000
Army, March 2005 – 27% off target
The army also missed its targets for April, May, June and July.
The Army Reserve has also missed its recruiting targets for 5 consecutive months this year.
In May 2005, the Marine Corps stopped making its recruitment numbers available to journalists.
The VF story was about fraudulent and corrupt recruitment tactics and not about the draft at all, but it is clear evidence that there will be conscription before too long. Especially now that there is talk of increasing troop numbers in Iraq in a futile attempt to calm the place down so that we can leave, as if our government and the Project for the New American Century have any intention of leaving.
In July I tried to bet Bubba $10,000 that there would be a draft within two years; he would only take my wager for $10.
Don't trust the FBI either
Once again I have drawn inspiration from an article in Vanity Fair, this one “An Inconvenient Patriot” by David Rose in the September issue of the magazine. The story is about Sibel Edmonds, a whistle-blower who was fired from her job as a translator for the FBI.
2 December 2001 – Sibel Edmonds first became aware that one of her colleagues had probably leaked information to one or more targets of FBI investigations. The FBI would not investigate the colleague, Melek Can Dickerson, or her husband, a major in the US Air Force, whom Ms. Edmonds also had reason to suspect.
Ms. Dickerson had previously worked at the American-Turkish Council (“ATC”) and was friends with an FBI target who still worked there. Ms. Dickerson failed to tell the FBI she had worked at the ATC on her job application and also during her background security check. These facts were later admitted by the FBI.
At the end of December, Ms. Dickerson managed to fix the listening distribution so that only she would hear wire-taps from the ATC and 3 “high-value” diplomatic targets. It seems that she did this basically so that she could mark calls involving her friend and other counter-intelligence targets as “not pertinent” so that they would not be translated and no one else would ever know what the calls contained.
January 2002 - Dennis Saccher, the special agent in charge of Turkish counter-intelligence, also became suspicious. He asked Ms. Edmonds to listen to some of those calls and she heard evidence of:
· money to a State Department staffer in exchange for information (ATC);
· payment to a Pentagon official in relation to weapons procurement negotiations;
· installation of doctoral students at research institutions for the purpose of gathering information about black-market nuclear weapons;
· money-laundering and drugs; and
· selling of classified defence technology.
Then Saccher was ordered not to pursue the case against Dickerson.
February and March – Ms. Edmonds tried to go higher and higher within the FBI.
February - Ms. Edmonds’ mother and sister had to leave Turkey due to threats, including threats by the Turkish government.
7 March 2002 – Ms. Edmonds met with James Caruso, the deputy assistant director for counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence. During their one hour meeting, Caruso took no notes and asked no questions. Immediately after that meeting, Ms. Edmonds went to lunch with her husband and they were followed.
…they saw two men in suits pull up outside in an FBI-issue SUV. They came inside and sat down at the next table.
“They just sat and stared at Sibel,” Matthew [Edmonds] says. “They took out their cell phones, opened them, and put them on the table. They didn’t eat or drink – just sat, staring at Sibel, the whole time we were there.” Modified cell phones, Sibel knew, are commonly used by bureau agents as a means of making covert recordings.
That afternoon Ms. Edmonds wrote several letters, including letters to the Office of Professional Responsibility at the Department of Justice, as well as the department’s Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”).
22 March 2002 – Ms. Edmonds was fired from her job with immediate effect and escorted from the building.
The Bush administration has tried to make Ms. Edmonds’ case disappear at every level:
· Major Dickerson was sent to work in Belgium, his wife of course accompanying him.
· Attorney General John Ashcroft invoked state-secrets privilege; the declaration itself is classified. As a result, Ms. Edmonds’ court challenge has been blocked up to the US Court of Appeal. It remains to be seen how the Supreme Court will deal with her case.
These are established FBI patterns:
· Refusal to address internal security flaws, and
· Retaliation against whistle-blowers.
The article further provides a series of shocking stories of other whistle-blowers being discredited and losing their jobs.
January 2005 – The OIG Report finally vindicated Ms. Edmonds.
April 2005 – More than 30 whistle-blowers gathered together by Ms. Edmonds founded a non-profit organisation called the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition.
The article closes with a powerful quote from Ms. Edmonds’ late father, something he had said to her when she was a child in Iran: “Sibel, you live your life once. How do you choose to live? According to your principles, or in fear?”
2 December 2001 – Sibel Edmonds first became aware that one of her colleagues had probably leaked information to one or more targets of FBI investigations. The FBI would not investigate the colleague, Melek Can Dickerson, or her husband, a major in the US Air Force, whom Ms. Edmonds also had reason to suspect.
Ms. Dickerson had previously worked at the American-Turkish Council (“ATC”) and was friends with an FBI target who still worked there. Ms. Dickerson failed to tell the FBI she had worked at the ATC on her job application and also during her background security check. These facts were later admitted by the FBI.
At the end of December, Ms. Dickerson managed to fix the listening distribution so that only she would hear wire-taps from the ATC and 3 “high-value” diplomatic targets. It seems that she did this basically so that she could mark calls involving her friend and other counter-intelligence targets as “not pertinent” so that they would not be translated and no one else would ever know what the calls contained.
January 2002 - Dennis Saccher, the special agent in charge of Turkish counter-intelligence, also became suspicious. He asked Ms. Edmonds to listen to some of those calls and she heard evidence of:
· money to a State Department staffer in exchange for information (ATC);
· payment to a Pentagon official in relation to weapons procurement negotiations;
· installation of doctoral students at research institutions for the purpose of gathering information about black-market nuclear weapons;
· money-laundering and drugs; and
· selling of classified defence technology.
Then Saccher was ordered not to pursue the case against Dickerson.
February and March – Ms. Edmonds tried to go higher and higher within the FBI.
February - Ms. Edmonds’ mother and sister had to leave Turkey due to threats, including threats by the Turkish government.
7 March 2002 – Ms. Edmonds met with James Caruso, the deputy assistant director for counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence. During their one hour meeting, Caruso took no notes and asked no questions. Immediately after that meeting, Ms. Edmonds went to lunch with her husband and they were followed.
…they saw two men in suits pull up outside in an FBI-issue SUV. They came inside and sat down at the next table.
“They just sat and stared at Sibel,” Matthew [Edmonds] says. “They took out their cell phones, opened them, and put them on the table. They didn’t eat or drink – just sat, staring at Sibel, the whole time we were there.” Modified cell phones, Sibel knew, are commonly used by bureau agents as a means of making covert recordings.
That afternoon Ms. Edmonds wrote several letters, including letters to the Office of Professional Responsibility at the Department of Justice, as well as the department’s Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”).
22 March 2002 – Ms. Edmonds was fired from her job with immediate effect and escorted from the building.
The Bush administration has tried to make Ms. Edmonds’ case disappear at every level:
· Major Dickerson was sent to work in Belgium, his wife of course accompanying him.
· Attorney General John Ashcroft invoked state-secrets privilege; the declaration itself is classified. As a result, Ms. Edmonds’ court challenge has been blocked up to the US Court of Appeal. It remains to be seen how the Supreme Court will deal with her case.
These are established FBI patterns:
· Refusal to address internal security flaws, and
· Retaliation against whistle-blowers.
The article further provides a series of shocking stories of other whistle-blowers being discredited and losing their jobs.
January 2005 – The OIG Report finally vindicated Ms. Edmonds.
April 2005 – More than 30 whistle-blowers gathered together by Ms. Edmonds founded a non-profit organisation called the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition.
The article closes with a powerful quote from Ms. Edmonds’ late father, something he had said to her when she was a child in Iran: “Sibel, you live your life once. How do you choose to live? According to your principles, or in fear?”
Travels with Max
TSA
TSA personnel have no manners and are disrespectful of people and property. I had just checked in and had been told to take my suitcase to be x-rayed. I probably wasn’t paying attention and I went the wrong way so I stopped to ask the first TSA guy I saw where I was supposed to go. I asked very politely, but instead of just giving me a straight answer, the little fucker decided to make fun of me for not knowing which way the x-ray was. I remained polite, said thank you, and went to the x-ray place. I was very polite there too, and I waited in case the x-ray robots wanted me to unlock my suitcase. I watched a TSA moron there put my suitcase on the conveyor belt without putting the handle down all the way. I politely requested him to fix that oversight and to zip the cover closed, which he did.
Then I went upstairs to go through security. There was a little man there directing traffic. In the midst of all of the people, he pulled a brush out of his pocket and brushed his greasy hair. Yuck. A minute later, he addressed me, saying “Come this way”, but without saying “please” and with touching my arm and just being generally creepy.
Murphy, can you do something about this manners problem, please? Thank you.
On the first flight
On my flight from LA to Chicago, one of the announcements was that passengers were only to use the lavatories in the cabin of the plane in which they were seated, “due to security regulations”. About halfway through the flight I got up to use the loo. I walked to the back of the plane but there was a ridiculously long queue so I walked into business class and used the toilet there. I was the only one to do so the entire flight, except for one kid who was about 20. He walked towards the front of economy class to ask his parents, who were sitting in the row in front of me, if he could use the toilet at the front of the plane. His parents told him “no”, that he had to use the toilets in the back. As he turned to walk to the back of the plane, I tapped him on the arm.
“I used the toilet in the front.”
“Did you?”
“I did.”
So he went up there too.
At O’Hare
I decided to forgo dinner so I headed straight for the bar. I ordered Skyy over ice, and the barman, bless him, asked for my ID. I decided to feel very happy and complimented, while ignoring the sign behind the bar which said “To Ensure Responsible Alcohol Service We ID 100%”.
The Trans-Atlantic Flight
2 vodkas in the airport + 1 Xanax upon boarding the plane = sleeping all the way to London. Hooray!
TSA personnel have no manners and are disrespectful of people and property. I had just checked in and had been told to take my suitcase to be x-rayed. I probably wasn’t paying attention and I went the wrong way so I stopped to ask the first TSA guy I saw where I was supposed to go. I asked very politely, but instead of just giving me a straight answer, the little fucker decided to make fun of me for not knowing which way the x-ray was. I remained polite, said thank you, and went to the x-ray place. I was very polite there too, and I waited in case the x-ray robots wanted me to unlock my suitcase. I watched a TSA moron there put my suitcase on the conveyor belt without putting the handle down all the way. I politely requested him to fix that oversight and to zip the cover closed, which he did.
Then I went upstairs to go through security. There was a little man there directing traffic. In the midst of all of the people, he pulled a brush out of his pocket and brushed his greasy hair. Yuck. A minute later, he addressed me, saying “Come this way”, but without saying “please” and with touching my arm and just being generally creepy.
Murphy, can you do something about this manners problem, please? Thank you.
On the first flight
On my flight from LA to Chicago, one of the announcements was that passengers were only to use the lavatories in the cabin of the plane in which they were seated, “due to security regulations”. About halfway through the flight I got up to use the loo. I walked to the back of the plane but there was a ridiculously long queue so I walked into business class and used the toilet there. I was the only one to do so the entire flight, except for one kid who was about 20. He walked towards the front of economy class to ask his parents, who were sitting in the row in front of me, if he could use the toilet at the front of the plane. His parents told him “no”, that he had to use the toilets in the back. As he turned to walk to the back of the plane, I tapped him on the arm.
“I used the toilet in the front.”
“Did you?”
“I did.”
So he went up there too.
At O’Hare
I decided to forgo dinner so I headed straight for the bar. I ordered Skyy over ice, and the barman, bless him, asked for my ID. I decided to feel very happy and complimented, while ignoring the sign behind the bar which said “To Ensure Responsible Alcohol Service We ID 100%”.
The Trans-Atlantic Flight
2 vodkas in the airport + 1 Xanax upon boarding the plane = sleeping all the way to London. Hooray!
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Max is back…almost
My week in the desert is over and I have returned to LA. I head back to
Here is some of what my week in the desert with my entire family was like.
Top temperature: 114°F. Once I was inMax’s Dad treated us all like we were kids again – he is a friggin’ control freak.
Asshole kept me sane, believe it or not.
We took an awesome jeep tour out into the real desert and the
Max got in trouble twice at one lunch:
1. Eldest nephew had been pretending to slice across his wrists so I corrected him and explained how to slash properly.
2. Z was under the table and tickling Heidi’s feet (Heidi and Mat visited us for one day and one night). I said, “If you kick him, he’ll stop.” Eldest nephew laughed, everyone else was appalled. An angry chorus of “Max!”
On Tuesday night Max had a meltdown. I do this on every family trip when I just can’t take it anymore. I stayed in and cried and drank whilst everyone else went out to dinner. Asshole had given me his phone before they left: “Make as many calls as you want, talk as long as you like.” Thanks, Asshole, and thank you, DD and knottyboy, for being there for Max at her most desperate.
On Wednesday morning, Max’s Mama and the 3 Sisters had our spa treatments and then cocktails for lunch – possibly the only real relaxation I had all week. (Although sneaking out after my meltdown for drinks with Asshole had been good too.)
One evening Z broke into song when the 2 of us were out on the terrace: a single verse of Johnny Cash’s “Hey, Porter” over and over. Shortly thereafter we were playing around on the floor inside, and later that night Z refused to sit on my lap because “Auntie Max was too aggressive when we wrestled.” Weird kid.
I will be back at work on Monday and intend to get back to my normal posting habits as quickly as possible.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
War Games
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0817/p01s04-woap.html
The United States is monitoring the drills and has warned that they must not affect regional stability.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday Taiwan staged an exercise simulating a Chinese invasion. Their drill involved 3,000 troops.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2005/08/18/2003268181
Next month, Russia and India will stage their first ever joint manoeuvres.
Dream Interpretation: Josef Stalin
Once again I need help interpreting a dream. One of my dreams occurring during the night featured Josef Stalin. I knew him, but our only interaction was that I interrupted him talking to someone else because I needed him to hand me my shampoo, conditioner and shower gel. He complied without any complaint, and practically without breaking his conversation with the other person. The conditioner slipped out of his hand, but he picked it back up and handed it to me. I said, "Thank you," and went on my way. Not sure if this is important, but the conditioner was the brand I have used the last few times at Jono's in London.
I have looked in online dream dictionaries and cannot find an entry for Stalin anywhere. Does anyone have any idea what his appearance in my dream could mean? Thank you.
I have looked in online dream dictionaries and cannot find an entry for Stalin anywhere. Does anyone have any idea what his appearance in my dream could mean? Thank you.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
3 Quests
Heidi (my best mate from my Peace Corps days) and her son Matĕj came to my parents’ house to get me this morning.
Heidi does not live in the mountains nor does she herd goats. Matĕj is 8 ½ years old. Most people call him Mat; I have called him Buttface since he was a baby (big cheeks), and Heidi often calls him Monkey(!!).
We went to
I asked Heidi questions DD had asked me that I had not been able to answer definitively: How far is
Heidi talked about their recent visit to the
We walked on the beach after lunch, dipped our feet in the ocean and watched Mat playing in the wet sand. Heidi and I wondered how someone can get so much pleasure from flinging handfuls of mud into the sea. Kids are weird.
We spotted a very large ship to the south, decided it was a battleship and thus began our first quest of the afternoon.
Heidi: “Come on, Mat, we’re going to find a battleship.”
Mat: “Why?”
Heidi: “Why? There is no why. Whose kid are you?”
We drove down
Heidi had remembered that there was a Czech pub nearby so we decided to go in search of that. “Funny how our quest has changed from a battleship to a beer,” she remarked.
We found the pub, Czech Point (cringe), at
Heidi to Mat: “You can get some fried cheese if you can remember how to say it in
A suddenly excited Mat said straight away, “Smažený sýr.” Well done, Buttface.
We walked over to Czech Point at 5, but the door was still locked. I took a closer look at the sign and saw that it was closed on Tuesdays. We laughed at ourselves and our second failed quest. We decided to drive back to mine.
En route, we spotted a licence plate frame that said “*** Jesus ***” and “He died ***
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