Sorry, Mr Santorum, I can’t see you properly.
Even on my wide-screen TV, you are still too far to the right.
The inevitable Mr Romney
Despite the inconclusiveness of “Super Tuesday”, it looks like Mitt Romney is slowly but surely crawling towards the nomination of the Republican Party to become its candidate for President of the United States of America. Excitement in a party looks different, but he does have more delegates for the convention already than his contenders combined. Unless he will commit a major mistake, Mitt Romney is indeed the inevitable candidate to run against Barack Obama in November 2012. Probably, Mitt Romney is too boring even to commit a major mistake.
We have already investigated the hidden past of Mitt Romney, but today we want to look at the inevitable candidate from a different perspective.
Mitt Romney tried to run for President once before, in 2008. He lost in the Republican primaries against John McCain.
Who was this John McCain who beat Mitt Romney? John McCain was the guy who had previously lost against George W. Bush in 2000.
So the Republican Party pins all its hopes on the guy who lost against the guy who lost against George W. Bush? Why doesn’t this party simply acknowledge that they have nobody like Barack Obama?
After all, even Republican John McCain thinks that Barack Obama is the perfect president:
Easily confused (1)
A missed carriage.
A missed carriage.
A miscarriage.
Aren’t you thankful that I didn’t pick a more realistic photo of a miscarriage?
Posted in Language
9 Comments
Romanic languages
Romanic languages are like the meals at McDonalds: If you know one of them, you know all of them.
This – unjustifiedly disparaging – thought came to my mind as I am trying to decide which language to learn next.
Posted in Language
8 Comments
The logic of Nicolas Sarkozy
“We have too many foreigners” in France, said Nicolas Sarkozy before threatening that France might leave the Schengen zone of passport-free travel.
Nicolas Sarkozy forgot to mention that his father is Hungarian, that his mother’s family was originally from Spain, later settled in Greece which was then part of the Ottoman Empire and that they had to flee within France to escape from the Nazis during World War II. By the way, I seem to remember that Mr Sarkozy’s wife is Italian and his previous wife’s parents were from Moldova, Spain and Belgium.
"Madame, I will deport you personally."
The polls must look really dire if somebody with this background resorts to xenophobic bashing of immigrants. I don’t like any of the main contenders of Mr Sarkozy, but I definitely would never vote for such a dangerous agitator.
Why Putin really cried
When Vladimir Putin was appointed dictator for life re-elected as President on 4 March 2012, he had tears in his eyes when he appeared in front of government employees who had been ordered to attend jubilant voters.
But what did Russia’s strong man really cry about?
Thanks to the investigative reporting by my undercover comrades in Russia, I can exclusively reveal the following reasons:
"I wish my friends Flippy and Floppy could be here tonight to celebrate with me. I miss them."
"If I was President of the USA, I would get a BlackBerry. What a stupid country is this here?"
"I will have to make a tough decision about what to do with my friend here."
"Thank God I still know how to use this."
"Or I will have to take him to a hunting trip."
"Or maybe I will send him to the same place as Mikhail. They can continue their musings about rule of law there."
"I am so sick of the daily commute to the Kremlin."
"Damn. It still hurts from that time the other guy hit me in the *****."
"Other dictators at least get to kiss babies."
"Seven more years with the same wife."
If I get hit by a truck, shot by a sniper or killed by a parcel bomb in the next weeks, it will probably have been the FSB. Do svidanya.
Iran wants Peace
Iran wants peace. It’s a peaceful nation. Iran wants to have constructive relations with the rest of the world. Really.
I saw it with my own eyes when I was in Iran:
"We want to be peaceful friends with all the nations in the world."
Seen and photographed in Shiraz, Iran in January 2009.
Posted in Iran, Photography, Politics, Travel
8 Comments
The “Sunday must be work free” campaign by the Church
Christian churches everywhere are trying to keep Sundays “work free” and try to influence legislatures to keep shops closed on Sundays.
I am all for a lot of free time and I think that most people put far too much emphasis on their work life, but I want this to remain my decision. It is not the government’s business when I work, and it definitely isn’t some church’s either.
And isn’t it ironic?
The guys who fulminate against working on Sundays put on their own biggest shows on – exactly – Sundays:
"It may be a bit inconsistent with what we preach, but please let this not deter you from obeying us."
By the way, if you have missed the Sunday service, here is your chance to catch up with it.
How to spot fake immigration advice
Immigration advice is a big business. Millions of people want to emigrate every year and seek out lawyers, attorneys and other immigration advisers.
Only four left.
How can you tell a competent adviser from a fake one? I will have more on that subject soon, but you always have to be suspicious if somebody claims to have information about every country in the world. Nobody will realistically be able to keep abreast of the legal developments in more than one or two countries.
Preparing for my trip to Somalia, I came across this website which pretends to be “the guide to immigration everywhere in the world”. Their website included the following sentences about Somalia:
People immigrate to Somalia for different purposes. Some people immigrate to Somalia for work. Others move to Somalia to have a better life and seek out Somalia citizenship.
I have not yet been to Somalia, but I doubt that many people immigrate to Somalia, unless you consider the sailors who are kidnapped by Somali pirates to be “immigrants”. I doubt even more that people move to Somalia “to have a better life”. Where would you need to live in order for Somalia to appear as the better alternative?
“We were promised a land of milk and honey.”
Obviously this “World Immigration Guide” just copies and pastes whatever text they have and uses it for 193 or so countries. If you ever come across a website that sounds like this generic typical internet bla bla devoid of all style and content, run away. You are better off seeking proper advice from real experts. But not from this lazy lawyer, please.
Things not to do in Muslim countries, # 2
Don’t climb the pulpit in a mosque and pretend to be an imam!
inside Vakil Mosque in Shiraz, Iran
Luckily, not many people were listening to me and my sermon at Vakil Mosque in Shiraz, Iran.
Another rule: if you pretend to be an imam, at least don’t pretend to be the 12th. He is a special one.
The Happy Hermit 