IN A JAM?

LAURIE PLAYED HOMEMAKER TODAY AND PRODUCED 3 LARGE JARS OF DELICIOUS ORANGE MARMALADE….SEE PIC

A BITTERSWEET BREAKFAST - MARMALADE BY LAURIE

Reblogged from Howard in Dublin Blog:

Orange marmalade ala casa

Reblogged from Venice Art Tours Blog:

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stupidity…

Reblogged from Venice Art Tours Blog:

THIS IS THE JUNK THAT PASSES FOR MUSIC TODAY.   IT’S OFFENSIVE IN EVERY WAY.

THEY ARE STILL OUT THERE…

from www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15487647″; Tunisia, confirm that, given a free choice, a majority of Middle Easterners vote for Islamists. Dynamic, culturally authentic, and ostensibly democratic, Islamists advance a body of uniquely vibrant political ideas and constitute the only Muslim political movement of consequence. But Islamism is the third totalitarian ideology (following fascism and Communism). Preposterously, it proposes a medieval code to deal with the challenges of modern life. Retrograde and aggressive, it denigrates non-Muslims, oppresses women, and justifies force to spread Muslim rule. Middle Eastern democracy threatens not just the West’s security but also its civilization.

That explains why Western leaders (with the brief of George W. Bush) shy away from promoting democracy in the Muslim Middle East.

In contrast, the region’s unelected presidents, kings, and emirs pose a lesser threat to the West. With Moammar Qaddafi long ago chastened by American power and Saddam Hussein removed by American-led forces, the egomaniacs were gone by 2003 and surviving strongmen largely accepted the status quo. They asked for little more than to be allowed quietly to repress their populations and noisily to enjoy their privileges.

A year ago, Western policymakers could survey the region and note with satisfaction that they enjoyed reasonable working relations with all the governments of Arabic-speaking countries, excepting Syria. The picture was not pretty but functional: Cold War dangers had been thwarted, Islamist ones mostly held off.

Greedy and cruel tyrants, however, present two problems to the West. By focusing on personal priorities to the detriment of national interests, they lay the groundwork for further problems, from terrorism to separatism to revolution, and by repressing their subjects, they offend the sensibilities of Westerners. How can those who promote freedom, individualism, and the rule of law condone oppression?

 

oops!

I am not sure how many friends (if any) read my blogs; but I admit to being remiss of late and starting tomorrow there will be a new blog each day….promise.

Here in Dublin all is calm and autumnal. Laurie working on a new book – the nature of which I am forbidden to reveal. 

Venetian World traveller, Frank O’Halloran of Venezia, visited us – I guess to get a good look at the home of his forebears. He travels an awful lot for his job, and friends of ours in Venice would frequently pull me aside and ask me if Frank was in the CIA.  I would reply “I don’t know”. (He isn’t – I don’t think.)

 

 

 

We showed him some of the sights, took him to our fav pub (Davy Byrnes (davybyrnes.com) and had a good time.

put the blame where it belongs…

Why Abbas went to the U.N.

While diplomatically inconvenient for the Western powers, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas’s attempt to get the U.N. to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state has elicited widespread sympathy. After all, what choice did he have? According to the accepted narrative, Middle East peace is made impossible by a hard-line Likud-led Israel that refuses to accept a Palestinian state and continues to build settlements.

It is remarkable how this gross inversion of the truth has become conventional wisdom. In fact, Benjamin Netanyahu brought his Likud-led coalition to open recognition of a Palestinian state, thereby creating Israel’s first national consensus for a two-state solution. He is also the only prime minister to agree to a settlement freeze — ten months — something no Labor or Kadima government has ever done.

chas krauthammer