No Signers?

A website, "Icesave, Ja Takk",  has been started to gather signatures in support of the lastest Icesave deal and to counter the website http://www.kjosum.is/ started earlier by InDefence http://www.indefence.is/ that gathered around 56.000 signatures last year against the old Icesave deal. Those 56.000 signatures were the main reason the President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, refused to sign the original Icesave deal, forcing a national referendum where the Icesave deal was soundly defeated 93,2% to 1,8%.

(http://gregg.blog.is/blog/gregg/entry/1027536)

As of the time of this blog, either no one has signed under "Icesave, Ja Takk" or the people who created the site forgot ( on purpose?) to place a counter on it so we could see how many (or few) people supported "Icesave, Ja Takk", which by the way, roughly translates to " Screw me in the butt? Yes, thanks!" 

 

GTB

Icesave Já Takk opnar síðu

Defence Tactics of Mobsters

When I read that Jón Ásgeir said the Icelandic investigators had been on a fishing expedition (í veiðiferð), I was wondering where I had heard that before....

Federal authorities have been investigating Gotti, 44, for years, undeterred by three failed attempts starting in 2005 to convict him for allegedly ordering a 1992 attack that injured Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa. After those mistrials, federal authorities focused on the mob scion's finances in what his attorney called a "fishing expedition."- WNBC News Four NY, 5 Aug. 2008

"It's a case of the government going on a fishing expedition," Pagano said, pointing out that his client [Anthony Staino, the reputed number-two man in the South Philadelphia mob] has no criminal record.- The Philadelphia Inquirer 2 Nov. 2010

How appropriate that Jón shoud describe his investigation in the same terms. What is he trying to imply?

GTB

 

 

Segir rannsakendur í veiðiferð

Almost 6.000.000 kr a Word!

The news it that the Þjoðfundur (National Assembly)was under budget at around 92.000.000 kr. This is amazing considering  the good thing that came out of this meeting. And here it is. The result of all that hard work: a mind map with an incredible 8, yes EIGHT! categories . That works out to be 11.500.000 kr. a category. There are a total of 16 words on the mind map. I am not including "og" or "Íslands" but am being generous and allowing "land" and "þjoð". That works out to be almost 5.750.000 kr. a word. I won't bother to calculate how much all this costs per letter. With such "ground-breaking" ideas like "mannréttindi" and "lýðræði", I am amazed the meeting didn't cost twice as much.  Just another example of money well spent in Iceland. No wonder there is no money for the hospitals.

 

GTB

Kostnaður lægri en áætlun

Obstruction of Justice

      Such typical American arrogance. Imagine if 6 Icelanders had tried the same thing in an American airport where interference with a regulatory agency is a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The Icelandic police, when they arrived, instead of negotiating with the men, should have arrested them and impounded the plane. I wonder how long it will be until the US embassy apologizes ao behalf of their fellow country men.  I wouldn't hold my breath waiting.

 GTB

Tollgæslu meinað að skoða flugvél

The Joke is on Us

I wish I had an explanation as to why talkshow host/comedian Stephen Colbert would be testifying in front of Congress on the the conditions of the nation's farmworkers. But I can not find one, simply because there isn't one. It just shows the lack of wisdom by the members of Congress who invited him. 

The idea that because someone is famous, they then must have very insightful things to say about everything (I call it "the Bono effect") is predominently an American phenomenon, but can be found in all over of the world in one form or another.  

Icelanders, luckily are not infected by the "worship the famous" disease, (at least not their own) but instead have a similar sickness that assumes because a person is capable of being elected he or she must be capable of running the government.  The current situation has proven that this assumption is not only untrue, it is dangerous.  

Someday, people will learn to rely on those with actual knowledge of the task at hand, instead of on those whose only claim is popularity. Then, and only then, will the situation improve.

GTB

 

 

 

Grín í Bandaríkjaþingi

The God Question

There are only two possible answers to the "God question".

 

Number 1. The is no God.

or

Number 2. There is a God...and he just doesn't give a shit.

 

Take your pick.

 

 GTB

 

 

„Hver er tilgangur lífsins?“

Proposed Constitutional Amendment

No state, government body or entity, duly empowered by the people, shall be granted, by legislation or other means, the power to perform any act that shall be, when applied to the people, prohibited by law.

 

GTB

Teresa Lewis tekin af lífi

Icelandic Hero

This guy is my personal hero. Ólafur R. Grimsson has managed, single handedly mind you, to steer the Icesave debate away from being about a wildly excessive, deadbeat nation that refuses to pay its debts to being about a European Union elitist club keeping their wealthy and powerful members happy by beating up on a small but proud nation.

 

While all the other politicians have done nothing but damage Iceland’s ability to negotiate a fair deal by cowering and groveling to please the British, Dutch, and the EU, Ólafur breathed new life into Iceland’s negotiation position by making out the EU as bullies and standing firm in the position that Iceland owes them nothing. Say what you will about past exploits, but no person has done more to support the nation’s image after the crisis than this man.

           I would like to know when the Althing plans to erect a statute of him in Rekjavík. 

GTB

Hvers konar klúbbur er þetta?

Positions and Interests

I have a good friend who happens to be an excellent negotiator. I asked him once how he became so good at negotiating and he told me the most important aspect is to know the difference between a position and an interest and then negotiate from there. With the proposal to build a hydro dam in the Ölfus river, it is important to recognize the positions and the interests of the people who are proposing the idea.

The position taken by the Independence Party in Selfoss is that the income generated by the dam could pay off the town’s debt. Everyone wants the debt paid and their ridiculously high property taxes lowered so, of course, the idea on the surface should be investigated. But my friend has always warned me to ignore the position in an argument and look at the interest. So what is the interest of the Independence Party in building this dam?

First, it helps to know who is leading the party. He is none other than ex-Todmobile band member Eyþór Arnalds.  But Eyþór is also on payroll of his father-in-law as the director of a company called Strokkur.  What does that have to do with the dam in Selfoss you may ask? Well, Strokkur is part owner of a company called Thorsil ehf. Thorsil, in turn, wants to build a diatomite production plant in Þorlákshöfn by 2012. They have signed a (non-binding) power deal with OR back in February but as OR is now technically bankrupt, their ability to expand the current plant on Hellisheiði and to sell power to Thorsil is unlikely. So Thorsil has a power problem.

Enter Eyþór and clan with an idea to build a hydro dam allegedly to pay off some debts and no one has to search very far to who they plan to sell the power to. So now the interest is revealed -a plan to dam a river that is not even entirely owned by a town to sell power to a company in which the managing director is also the top politician of the town that proposed to build the dam.

 Glad to see the Independence has returned to the politics of the good ol’ days! But is also amazes me that the news media has not even mentioned this aspect of the proposal. I suppose they could learn a lesson from my friend and investigate the interests of an argument and not just the positions.

 

GTB

Áforma virkjun Ölfusár

"Whites of Their Eyes"

The US military has for years been training their troops with video games.  Now we can finally see the results of such a training regimen. Soldiers today are killing as a distance using video cameras and drones to "see" the target. The targets are shot at from hundreds of meters. The soldier is not a real participant in the battle and so they have become callous to the death of others. They are as detached from the actual killing as we are watching them kill.

War has been around for as long as humans have been around. We are tied to it because of the collective stupidity in ideas such as nationalism and patriotism. Because of this ignorance, there is no hope of eliminating war, it is part of our humanity; it is who we are.  How I only wish that since we are forced to live with such a system that at least the killing would be done, as in the good 'ol days, between the actual armies.  Just as we would like to see a ban on nuclear weapons, we should also ban weapons that allow killing from afar. Ban planes, and bombs, and missles and anything that can shoot over 100 meters. Bring back the sword and the shield, the axe and the spear.   Let the two opposing armies meet in a field and fight it out, hand to hand. Like real men. I wonder how often then, we would hear the laughter of soldiers in a "battle engagement". How is it possilble to talk of "brave" pilots if they have total control of the sky and kill from miles away? Imagine how it was for Colonel Jackson and his men in the War of 1812 when he told them to hold their fire until they see the "whites of their eyes".  How many of these video game jockeys could actually fire if they had to wait until that moment?

When the Iraqi War began, I remember an "embedded" jounalist talking to a group of American soldiers who had engaged some Iraqi fighters. The Iraqis were holed up in a school. The news video showed them running from window to window in the school, carrying AK 47s and with only bandanas on their heads. The American solider commented how he thought the Iraqis were cowards for using a school as a shelter.  The American soldier had on a Kevlar helmet, steel plated body armour, had a superior M16 rifle with a scope, night vision goggles, a radio and GPS so he was able to call in artillary strikes, M1 Abram tank back up and air support if necessary. It was clear to me who was really brave and who was acting like a coward. 

GTB

Bandaríski herinn tjáir sig um myndbandið