The Mexico Drug Struggle - Why?

Mexico is a state like Columbia which seems to be controlled by the drug lords. Mexico does have a healthy export industry manufacturing cheap goods and exporting them to The United States for sale to consumers. The goods go North and the cash comes back. However, along with the legitimate trade Mexico  also unintentionally does a roaring trade in sending tons of drugs North to feed the addiction of an ever growing market. Americans seem to think that the taking of recreational drugs is their right and it would appear that The United States is right back to the era of prohibition of alcohol, and we all know how that turned out.

There are two drugs that are perfectly legal. They are alcohol and tobacco. In spite of the best efforts of stalwart people who thought they had the very best interests of the country at heart, the prohibition against alcohol was overcome. Now, people destroy their livers or die in automobile related crashes because they have impaired their judgements, or worse those who died were innocent victims of someone who was driving while drunk. Still, we seem to be willing to accept such happenings as a price of driving.

In taking illegal drugs, and some legal ones as well people die from bad batches or overdose themselves and die, but the rest of us, except old stogies like myself who stay away from all that crap, don't get bent out of shape. People will smoke cigarettes, they will drink alcohol and they will take dangerous drugs and kill themselves if they wish, so it seems apparent the so-called war on drugs will never be won by the government unless it decides to make the substances legal and subject to a strict code in their manufacture and distribution.

Meanwhile, Mexico fights a literal war in the streets and the jungles against the illegal drug industry, and it fights hard to stop the flow of drugs across its border into The United States of America. Now, as a reward for all their hard work and loss of life of their sentinels the new American administration is picking on Mexico to demand that they build a wall and pay for it when so much contraband simply passes through the official border crossing anyway.

I always blame the consumer for buying the drug products in the first place. If we were talking about smoking cigarettes the easy way to counter this is by not getting started. I did get started because it was the done thing at the time. There were no warnings against it and it was the social thing so I wanted to be seen as Cool, and so I started. Fortunately I came to my senses and quit cold turkey. This year I am celebration my 52nd anniversary since I stopped smoking, however, I can only say that I am a recovering smoker. All it would take  is for me to get stinking drunk and be offered a cigarette and I would be off again.

No matter how good a drug makes you feel you have got to know that this is going to end very badly. Drugs generally are addictive, or they lead to addictive substances. Alcohol is also not a good thing. It may or may not be addictive to each individual but it changes your behaviour by bringing on a loss of control. Under such conditions people often do things they come to deeply regret later.

So, I was wondering why does Mexico try so hard to protect the American consumer when that person does not appreciate it? Why doesn't Mexico simply do nothing to fight dealers on its own streets? Since the drug lords are interested in the export of their products into other countries, which creates employment in Mexico, and a Tsunami of money comes pouring back over the border into the Mexican economy, why bother?

That seems to me to be a very good question?

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael

Time

Life seems to be all about time. The fact is that time is an artificial construct of man for our modern society which is run by the clock. We need to know when it is time to go to sleep and to wake up. When is it time to leave our homes to go to school or to work and when is it time to return home. In the meantime if we are at school there will be a time specific to learn about this, and about that, and a time for a break, and to eat, and to be collected at the end of the school day so that we return to our homes and to continue our studies in the completion of our homework.

Our parents most probably spend their days at their place of work. They too are governed by time in executing certain work for clients which is charged to the client, which is where the saying comes from that time is money. We need time to organise our day as we allot a certain amount of time for meetings or client lunches.

Time is king in determining our deadlines to get things finished on a timely basis. Time is a hard taskmaster. It is relentless in driving us forward and ensuring that our employer gets their money's worth. Time is how we keep track of the length of time we have been alive, and when we finally die our time among the living will be summed up.

Time is used as a form of punishment so that should we offend seriously enough against society's norm we will be removed from society for s specific period of time to be made to waste a valuable period of time in our lives. The one thing no mere mortal can do is to give more time to a fellow human being than the 24 hours in a day that has been allotted each person. However, the way in which we use that time is up to each individual.

We quickly come to realise just how artificial time is when we retire from our careers. Suddenly time has less importance. Should we choose to live out our retirement lives by fishing or gardening time will have very little value at all. The more relaxed we become in our retirement the more we realise the days slip away and we go from one day to the next without being aware of exactly what day of the week it is, nor have we a clue what the date is or even the month, and we have to check as to the year from time to time.

If you are a person living on the plains or in the jungles or mountains time is something vague that you look to the moon and the stars and the sun for guidance as to when to plant and reap your crops. The last thing a prisoner needs to be reminded of is the time but so many prisons are located near chiming clocks, perhaps as a tease to their prisoners

Perhaps it is some kind of natural defence in nature that those of us who are elderly lose the need to know the time because when time is running out for us we would really not be reminded every minute of the day.

And now it's time that I close this because it's my siesta time.

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael.

The Big Difference

This past week a man was seen by police driving erratically and was made to pull over. He stepped out of his car and started talking gibberish and acting strangely. Then he suddenly produced and air rifle and fired a shot at the policemen. No one was hurt as the man simply drove off but the policemen, demonstrating great bravery followed him as he led them to his house and barricaded himself inside.

The police discovered that he was a man who was suffering with severe mental problems that he kept under control by taking his meds, but obviously he was off his medication which was making him act with diminished responsibility. The house was surrounded by armed sharpshooters and a negotiator took over trying to get him to lay down his weapon(s) and to surrender. Negotiations  went on for hours until the man finally was worn down and practically fell asleep when police charged the house and brought him out where he promptly did fall asleep in the back of the police car.

The force of men were then stood down and neighbours allowed to return to their homes without anyone having been killed or even hurt. All congratulated one another on the successful outcome and the man has now been returned into care as he is clearly a danger to members of the public and to himself.

Rewind:

Same man, same scenario but if it took place Anywhere, Unites States of America the man would have most probably been gunned down where he stood when he fired at police, or if he did make it to his home it probably would have been razed to the ground by heavy machinery and he would have died from so many bullets he would have been full of lead. The Spanish are not best known for their patience but my impression of the security forces is that they are highly disciplined and the use of deadly force is exceptional, rather than the rule.

Police forces in The United States suffer from rather bad press principally because of the shootings of black men in the street, many of whom have not been armed. When demonstrators have to wave signs that say "I am a Man", and "Black Lives Matter" something is very, very wrong.

Of course the fact that Americans believe they have the right to bear arms and based on that they actually do own guns is at the heart of so many problems. I am not going to enter that debate but it does have many unhappy ramifications for gun owners and those who prefer not to arm themselves alike.

It is for that reason, among others that I am happy and content to live in Spain where cooler heads prevail.

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael

The Fake President?

As I stand off to the sidelines and watch developments in The United States of America I cannot avoid a grave sense of concern for what is taking place. Especially after the model presidency of President Obama the Trump administration seems to be in utter turmoil. It does appear to be doomed and it is unlikely that President Trump will celebrate his first year in office. It is more likely that he will be impeached on a vote by the Democrats with overwhelming support from the Republicans.

It is not a pretty sight to see a man who holds the highest office in the land to be so ridiculed, and that he makes it so easy by providing the material himself.

He should stop with the Twittering and the name calling because it is not dignified. He doesn't like the Free Press in America, but when you take on these people as your enemy that's a fight that he cannot win. He calls them the Fake News but we can be sure that they are building up their response to push back and say that he is a Fake President. It seems to be clear that there was some interference by Russia in the election process.  What if it turns out that it was the Russians who drove up his popular vote numbers, and crucially it was they who altered the votes of the electoral college, if that is possible?

I don't know enough about these matters to be sure I'm on solid ground with these questions, but one thing is certain. If a person is the president of a country like the United States and he bad mouths key agencies serving under him, such as the intelligence and justice departments the long-term prospects for continuing governance under that president are extremely unlikely.

Careful, Mr Donald.

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael

Some Bitter, Some Sweet

I have some citrus trees in my backyard, and one in particular has returned an amazing harvest this year. It is an orange tree that has been in that spot for many years, even through a horrendous fire that swept the mountain on September 23rd, 2012. During that fire the tree was severely singed from the intense heat, but not the actual fire. It survived but lay dormant during the following two years, and in 2015 it produced some fruit as a comeback, but not much.

Last year it produced a bumper crop of fruit, so much so that the tree is still heavily laden. We have had so many oranges and mandarins that I think that when the trees are all bare again we shall never want to see another orange. (Until the next season.)

However, this tree held a surprise for us that worked perfectly. It has been my practise to go and stand under the tree and pluck an orange and eat it there and then. I was happy to taste my first one from that tree to find it sweet and nice and juicy. The second one I eagerly bit into,  only to find it super bitter. Yuk! That put me off for the day but days later when I returned to the tree I enjoyed another one that was sweet. You guessed it; the next one was sooo bitter that my shoulders shook. I do not believe in coincidences so something was just not right here.

When I took a close look the fruit on the right side of the tree was covered with smooth skins and on the left the skins are dimpled. Same tree, two vastly different species of fruit. The bitter orange is grown for the making of marmalade. If I had wanted to have both types on the same tree I would have done some grafting to make it happen, but even then I doubt if it would have worked.

I have Googled "Seville and Valencia oranges on the same tree," and variations of the same question and I got no responses. That leads me to believe that we have a curious accident here but what is the value of it? I doubt that the sweetness of the Valencia orange is at all compromised, and I didn't do that much research on the Seville orange to know whether it's bitterness was altered in any way. Bitter is bitter, enough said.

I have to assume that this came about as a result of the damage caused during the fire but what the actual dynamics would have been remains a mystery. I must call in some farmers to get their opinion. I will keep readers informed.

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael

GEORGE

When I was about seven or eight my mother brought home a young boy to live with us. She didn't say why, just that he would have to share our space in the small bedroom occupied by my younger brother and myself. He was one year younger than I.

George was a quiet person who didn't say much, but otherwise he was pleasant enough. One day only he and I were in the bedroom and I started with, "bet you mine's bigger than yours! Show me yours and I will show you mine." George was having none of it, and the more determined he was not to play this game the more I harassed him. Finally, he dropped his pants and exposed himself. I was reasonably impressed, being that we were about equal. But then, he removed his hand and said, I also have one of these, whereupon revealing his vagina. He was a person who possessed both sexual organs. In fact, George is a hermaphrodite, or a Third Gender.

I almost screamed in horror and surprise. I broke out crying and became very angry with him. He did not need to remove his hand and show me that. He should have kept that as his secret. At my tender age what I said next was a very mature thing. I said to him that he must never ever tell another soul what he just told me. I would not speak about it, and neither must he because people will not understand. Heaven knew, I did not understand.

That was seventy years ago and this is the first time I have spoken about it, and George isn't even his name. I bring it up because a few nights ago I accidentally found myself watching a program hosted by American journalist, Katy Couric dealing with Third Genders. I found the program to be absolutely riveting, but after watching for an hour I was left still as confused as when I started.

Thinking back to George, fortunately for him he appeared to be a male with not even a slight hint of being effeminate, and his voice was about the right male pitch for a young boy. I lived in horror that it would come out one day and that I would be drawn in as we shared a bedroom. I think it never did but it was always the elephant in the room with us. He remained in school till he passed out at 11plus, and then he followed a lot of young men by going to work. After all, we had been given a maximum life expectancy of not more than age 47. (We are all given a maximum life expectancy at birth.) That meant that we had to work fast to get our basic education out of the way and start our working life and our families if we wanted to ever meet our first grandchild.

To be best of my knowledge and belief George never married, nor did he take a lover, neither male nor female. (As far as I know) However, I did lose track of him eventually and I don't even know whether he's still alive or not.

You may be a bit surprised to hear me speak of such things as a Third Gender, but not only do they exist but they go back into the fullness of time and within their own cultures they are understood and highly respected.

I was thinking of including some examples of people who are Transgendered, Intersexed,  Neutered or unsexed/ungendered, such as eunuchs, but it's not as simple as sexual preference, and every time I think I have the philosophy nailed down it slips away to leave me even more stunned. Most people content themselves with the heteronormative ideal of a male (a man)  and a female (a woman). but there is a rising tide of opinion and lifestyle that holds that a community of people around the world hold themselves to be neither man nor woman. They are winning the right to complete important documents to show that they have no gender irrespective of what genitals they were born with. This is causing a great deal of stress in the West where such people insist on the right to use either/any bathroom. The French have long practised this relaxed form of public WC use.

I have only raised the top to Pandora's Box just a little to peek inside to what could become the greatest debate of all time in the West. Meanwhile, a number of countries and their societies came to grips with this thorny subject many years ago and they seem to live in relative contentment.

You may prefer not to bother looking into this any more than you have to, but just as I unwittingly came face to face with the problem at an early age, it is becoming more likely our modern world will have to face it sooner, rather than later.

In the sunset of my mother's life I was having a conversation with her when I asked her what was that all about when George came to live with us? Why did she bring him home to live with us? She replied that his own parents didn't want him. They were making his life miserable and they wanted to get rid of him.

"Oh," said I, and left it at that.

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael

Goldfinger in The White House

As I have been watching the drama unfurling from The White House I sensed that I had seen this movie before. There were similarities with a work of fiction that I had seen many years ago where the person who played a villain was a man of about 70 and blond, somewhat portly, and owned everything.

I had to go back to 1964 and the release of the James Bond film, "Goldfinger," played by Gert Frobe who took the role of Auric Goldfinger. The resemblance between the two men, Frobe and Trump is striking, although the President of The United States is not a villain, he's the president. "Goldfinger" was the third in the James Bond series, starring Sean Connery as James Bond, with Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore.

This was the first time the word "Pussy" was used in such a public way and predictably it caused a stir.

By comparison with what the Bond series would go on to become this film is very short on the high technology scenes but was very watchable and exciting for its time.

It featured one of the best bad guys of all in the interpretation of "Odd Job" played by Korean weightlifter, Harold Sakata. He was the one who was so handy with his hat and so strong that he made 007 look like a little boy. Apparently he was badly burned when something went wrong in his final scene, but he played the scene through in spite of the on-going accident. A really great guy.

Two roles that were played by Bernard Lee, as "M" and Desmond Llewelyn as "Q" that became staples throughout the entire series and set the template for viewers where we were always excited to see what new gadgets James Bond would play with next.

The role of Eve Moneypenny was played by Lois Maxwell, and although a relatively minor one viewers generally found it to be very charming.The golden girl who had been painted all over with gold paint as a punishment by Goldfinger was played by Shirley Eaton who was Jill Masterton. The image of her made a spectacular poster.

I reserve my very sincere applause for Shirley Bassey who sang the title song with such gusto and perfection that it remains a true classic even today. As a person with a musical ear both the musical score and her voice is about as close as can be got to absolute 100% perfection.

I started out saying that the similarities between Mr Trump and Mr Goldfinger were stunning, including how both men look, and the fact that they were highly successful businessmen who flew around in their own planes.

Is this a case of life following art or just an incredible coincidence?  I don't believe in coincidence.
Do you?

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael

Revolutionary New Engine

The news from Israel was totally positive. For too long the world has been wishing for a better power source for our cars. There is promising development from Tesla Motors who are making excellent electrical cars, but no matter how good the electric motor the batteries they use to drive them needs to be charged from turbines that use fossil fuels to power them.

Shauli Yaakoby from Israel, an inventor has turned his focus on this age old problem and rather than try to find something entirely new he has decided to improve what there already is. What he has done is to create a motor that moves a single piston sideways to produce 86 hp. The engine does not directly move the wheels, according to reports by The Jewish Press, but the engine powers a battery which drives two electric engines that power the wheels. I suppose it could be said that that would make the car a hybrid but they are not saying that is the case. While this engine also uses a battery the real breakthrough comes with the very significant savings in fuel consumption.

Whatever its technical classification because it uses a whole lot less fuel, and will most likely be wonderfully reliable with far less moving parts to need service it should find wide acceptance. We all remember when VW produced the Beetle how much of a hit that was. Apparently the company that has been created by Shauli, who is the CTO, (presumably that means Chief Technical Officer) is being taken seriously by the industry. The company's name is Aquarius Engines, with Ariel Garfung as CEO and Gal Fridman as CMO.

After all these years we see a real revolution take place that will so change the way we move around, coupled with the advances in cars that drive themselves. This proves what we all know, that everything is open to improvement.

This is wonderful news. The only thing that would improve on it would be a radical new fuel to require a one stop per month top up. Hope someone's working on that one.


Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael

"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." -Sir John Dalberg-Acton

Why we should all be very afraid.

Although this will be an essay on the new President Trump administration I wish to make it clear that this is only an exercise in the hypothetical. I have no reason for thinking anything other than that which has been advertised: that being that the stated goal of President Trump is to make America great again.

The president's meteoric rise to power is completely without precedent. He started as a joke and steadily crushed all of his competition, and in the process he took over the republican party and made it his own. So many prominent Republicans said along the way that they did not want him because he ran the most odd campaign that most people did not realise was a deliberate strategy.

He was the billionaire bully who insulted people and called them liars and cheats and dishonest, which resulted in his name on the lips of everybody throughout The United States and around the world. During election day he passed his opponent so fast that she wasn't even sure he was ahead.

Now he is in the first 100 Days of his presidency and he is making good on his promises. He controls a majority in the House of Representatives and in The Senate, and a great number of governors throughout the individual States. That is absolute power, and he is just the type of person to exploit that power to the maximum.

The office of The President is deemed to be the most powerful office in the free world. The necessary checks and balances are normally provided by The House and The Senate, but these now seem to be prepared to follow Mr Trump as though he is The Messiah.

The voters may have inadvertently elected a dictator - in - waiting, only the President himself can decide that. He has said that he gets things done, which sounds a lot like, Yes we can. He certainly got to where he is by doing things his own way. So far he has only had his businesses to work with, but now he has the entire country as his canvass, and by extension most of the world will listen to him. That's very heady stuff.

I'm trying to see ahead ten, twenty, thirty years. I think it is clear that change on the magnitude to be called shock and awe awaits us. We have seen his game plan before where focus is placed on a people to be vilified. In his case that includes the free press in the United States. Once he is able to mute the press he would have a free pass to do whatever to whomever with complete impunity.

As I have said, this is all just hypothetical and the president has not indicated otherwise. But, these things could come to pass because they are within the realms of possibilities. So, yes, we should be careful and take baby steps that only take us one day at a time.

Be afraid, be very, very, afraid!

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael

Eight Years Waiting to Exhale

Eight years ago the state of the United States economy was such that it appeared that the job awaiting the next incumbent in The White House would be impossible. It seemed that all that was lacking was to push the flush button.

Enter Barack Obama, who actually wanted the job. The first Afro-American to take up office as President of The United States of America, that was dealing with soaring joblessness and debt, so they gave the job to a black man. As Western blacks we were amazed that we had lived to see the day, but we all took one giant breath and we have held it ever since, because if America actually lost its standing as the World's Super Power a black man would get the blame. That would have stuck for all time. People would have become true believers in what they had been trying to say all along: black people can't do anything right.

Even the Reverend Wright, Obama's former pastor declared against him, thereby acting out the role that has plagued the black man who tries to get ahead since time began.

Most of us gave Mr Obama our faith and our encouragement. We supported him and stood behind him, even when we wished he would have done more for blacks in America, but we realised that his hands were tied because he had to be president for all Americans with an even hand.

He has also put his very life on the line every day of his presidency just to make the point that he was capable of being a steady and well reasoned captain of the Ship of State. What he has achieved is nothing short of being amazing. Having the Congress and the Senate dead set against him makes his accomplishments all the more astounding.

In the process he has avoided personal stupidity and scandal and he has been able to leave the White House, and the economy in superlative condition as compared to when he came into office. We must remember that the president is just one man and cannot control everything that happens within his country, or around the world; but somehow he gets the blame and has to shoulder it alone when things go wrong. When things go well there are no end to those who will share the credit. So, Obama was not personally responsible for the Dow Jones closing up around 20,000, which was not even considered possible- ever- in 2008.

Unemployment is at an all-time low, and that happened on his watch. He did what he could to encourage it to happen. He did steer the Ship of State away from the rocks with his policies.
and he did authorise America's forces to take down Public Enemy No.1. Americans are far better off upon his leaving office than when he came in, but party politics being what they are people will still grumble if they are determined to find something to grumble about.

There was just so much he could do with the support that he had. The most courageous thing he did was to champion The Affordable Care Act that made it possible for 20 million Americans to have heath care insurance which was previously denied them. No other president would touch this subject in any meaningful way. He did, and turned it into a reality, and now they want to simply sweep it away. I suspect that it will simply re-emerge under a new name, but if it is new and improved it will still be Obama Care II. No-one will be fooled.

The first black family have taken their place in history and they have left a clean record that all blacks everywhere can be proud of. They hold their heads high in the knowledge that conducted themselves with dignity and grace. We can be proud of them and we can be proud of ourselves as a race. No-one can ever again convince my son that there is any height that is beyond him due to his colour. If he can dream it, he can do it.

President Obama left office on Friday, 20th January 2017.

All Exhale!

Thank you and well done, Mr President! We shall miss your sparkling speeches, your wit and your intellect.

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael

January 20th, 2017 - D-Day

Friday, January 20th, 2017 will be a modern equivalent of D-Day, (The Donald Day) when America's president-elect will assume his office. That will open a new chapter in American politics that will most probably be unlike anything that has gone before.

One thing seems to be certain. All the good works that President Obama has achieved over his eight years in office will be undone. That will not invalidate the value of those works. On the contrary, I think those things will increase in value as people come to miss them, such as The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obama Care. The change in administration styles will likely be so abrupt and extreme that it will make people dizzy.

Inevitably the new president will get some things right and some things will not turn out well, at least for some people. He is the new people's choice and everyone will have to live with whatever that means. Personally, while not a supporter I salute Mr Trump for what he has achieved, having come from dead last to take the seat in the Oval office. Brilliant! That was the easy part. Now that he is there he will find that that seat is the hot seat, and the least he can expect is that at the end of four or eight years he will not have any hair left.

America, and the world will be very different places on January 20th, 2021, and 2025. Britain will be a solitary island again, and as for America we just cannot have any idea of what to expect. Mr Trump says that he will make America great again. Good luck to him and to America. If time proves him to be right, then so be it. I would hate to see him proved wrong.

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael

A Glorious way to start 2017

One of Spain's greatest traditions is the parade of The Three Kings, otherwise known in Spanish as Los Reyes Magos ( The Magic Kings). It is the equivalent of the Santa Claus parade in many Western societies, and because it involves something good for children it carries with it awe and wonderment. It is the most serious event in the country because of the hopes, dreams and expectations of children, and by extension their parents. 

The names in Spanish of the Three Kings are Melchor, Gaspar, and Balthazar, who is a black man. For years a white actor has played the role of Balthazar with black face, but in today's world, with an adequate number of Black people living in Spain the directive is to recruit a black man in the interest of authenticity.

It should be said that to play these roles is a great honour, one which is fiercely sought after and awarded to the most deserving. In the town of Rocafort, which is located close to the main city of Valencia all was in readiness up until the last minute when the person chosen to play Balthazar had to drop out, causing a panic.

On the Tuesday before the parade I was in a shopping Mall when I encountered a mother with an out of control child who, I'm assuming wanted something that his mother would not buy him. He was making a terrible scene and really upsetting his mother, so I moved between him and his mother and stood over him with my hands on my hips and I said, "Soy Balthazar!" The child reacted as though he had been struck by lightening. He ran past me to his mother and held on to her slacks. I wagged my finger at him while making tut-tut sounds of disapproval, and indicating I would keep my eyes on him.

He was ready to cooperate and go with his mother without a sound. The look in her eyes directed to me was to say "I could hug you, while she mouthed "Muchas Gracias!"

The next morning my wife called from work, which woke me up to ask me a favour for her boss. Would I mind playing the role of Balthazar tomorrow?  I think I said yes, then went back to bed. After about five minutes I got up again and sat on the bed wondering whether I had actually had a call or was that a dream following on from yesterday. Eventually I realised this was real. I had no idea what would really be involved, so I spent most of the morning on YouTube watching hours of parades all over the country.

There was not much point in me worrying whether my robes would fit me, or whether anything would go wrong. Of course things would go wrong, we would just have to face every challenge as it arose.

Fast forward to the next night, 6pm,5th January, the starting time for the parade. My robes fit perfectly; I had worn the exact appropriate own clothes, including the correct shoes that I was advised to wear just before I arrived. (Just as well I was wearing them.) I don't know the last time I have seen so many children, or felt such overwhelming love and respect. People addressed me as Your Majesty.

Hey! I could get used to that.

We arrived at the main park where we were met by dancing girls and bands and we three were the full focus of attention. And then the love came flooding in as we began the process of giving gifts to a never ending flow of children of various ages. Well, I've run out of words to describe this part of the experience. No wonder so many men fight to get this role. Believe me, it's worth fighting for and absolutely nothing went wrong.

They wanted to pay me for doing this, when I was more than ready to bribe someone ten times as much just to let me do this at least once.

This is one of those experiences in life that should happen to every man at least once in his life. That's so that he will feel touched in a part of his being that he didn't even know existed. That night, I went to bed thoroughly exhausted and I slept the sleep of a very righteous man.

I have been touched for all time, so it would probably be a bad idea to do it again as the first time cannot be duplicated.

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael

A Tribute to Rita Barberá, long standing Mayor of Valencia City

On this the final day of 2016, I choose to salute perhaps the longest standing mayor of all, Rita Barberá who came to office in 1991 and served for 24 years, until her defeat in 2015. To have served for such a long time means that she had ample time to achieve some remarkable accomplishments for the city of Valencia, but also she had the time to make mistakes.

She died in 2016, just days after having been examined by the Supreme Tribunal, that might have led to an indictment for crimes committed in office. I think it was such a shame that a huge shadow hung over her head at the end.

What has moved me to write in her favor is that yesterday I thoroughly enjoyed myself, together with my wife at an installation that was all Rita, so I want to take a look at the way things were when we arrived in Valencia in 2000.

Madrid is the capital city of Spain, and Barcelona was the second most important city in the country. Valencia city was very much the poor step-child. It was the iniative of Rita to raise the profile of her beloved city through a number of publicity steps, which evidently were all taken in good faith. The objective was to attract tourism and business to the area, so that money spent to put Valencia on the map was expected to be recuperated eventually.

The first big event that she was successful in attracting was The America's Cup Race. For the city this was very costly and it completely changed how Valencianos saw their city. The port and the Mediterranean were at the back of the city rather than at the front. Normally any town or major city looks forward and out to sea. Not Valencia, but suddenly there was all this activity taking place at the port, which after all is next to the magnificent Malvarrosa Beach, so in our consciousness a major change took place.

To say that the city benefitted from all the publicity that surrounded that event is an understatement, and the event was successful. As an added benefit a dispute took place between a couple of competitors that extended the event and the publicity.

It was probably that event that led to the holding of The annual Formula 1 being staged here. Again, an event that generates massive publicity, but also generates massive cost to the host territory. After three or four years Valencia had to drop out as host, but again, Valencia was placed firmly on the map as a serious place to be.

Disaster struck with the economic downturn. That plunged countries around the world into chaos, including Valencia city which has been left with huge debts to clear without the economic impact from an increased travelling public and new major business coming into our community. She took the risk but good luck ran out, replaced by bad luck. We gambled and we both won and lost. Sometimes, that's life.

Shortly after arriving here in Valencia we visited the city zoo. We were appalled by what we saw. We also came to realize that we were not the only ones. Apparently many local Spanish people would be so upset by the treatment of the animals that they would leave the zoo and go straight to City Hall to scream at the mayor. How dare she treat animals in such a cruel manner, and in the names of the local residents.

Rita listened! She decided that the problem would be addressed, not with Band-Aids, but by building a world-class facility that would not even be called a zoo. Now, Valencia has a facility that is called "The BIOPARC" in which the animals are well cared for; in which they are free to roam about their enclosures to be themselves in conditions that mimic their own natural habitats, except that their space is limited to the facility rather than a whole country.

Yesterday was our third visit, on a perfect day, and while it is possible to see everything in one day I think most people want to take longer to just stay in one place for a long time to observe the various species. The very fact that we were all there generated good vibes. In spite of children running all over the place I never heard one cross word from the parents. People were super courteous to one another, and when the day was over we both agreed, what a nice day that was.

I think this is Rita's finest achievement. The animals win, and we the people can feel so much better that in a world where species are disappearing we are caring for our adopted friends, and we are doing it in a humane and caring way. I think to be someone who actually works there must mean that you have one of the very best jobs in the world.

It seems to me that on the Balance Sheet of Rita Berbera's life there is much more on the plus side than the minus. She has not been convicted of any crimes or misdemeanors, so she is innocent. In any event I prefer to remember her plusses. That's me, I always try to look on the bright side of life.

So, thank you Sra Barberá for all the hard work and dedication you have put into serving  the people of Valencia. I am a foreigner but your many efforts have not been lost on me, and I'm so glad that you liked my "Obama" cap.


Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael  

A night of All Good News

December 22nd, Mid Winter or Winter Solstice is the shortest day of light and the longest day of darkness. However, it is also the only day of the year that we can absolutely count on nothing but good evening television news. We just don't want to hear any bad news at all. This is the day when Spain's El Gordo Lottery draw takes place and 2.5 billion euros is distributed over 15.000 prizes. However, because these prizes are broken down into small shares no-one has any idea of how many people actually share in it.

Firstly, the system is totally secure from corruption. In a world that is so corrupt, that is really something. Secondly, it is also totally socialist in its structure. No one can win the lion's share for himself. Unlike other lotteries where there is a jackpot and one person gets to walk away with (sometimes) over a hundred million Pounds or Dollars, not so with El Gordo. (No-one needs to win that type of money.) It is intended that the amounts available to be won might pull you out of debt, or even assure you that you can live modestly for the rest of your life with careful planning.

The news hour has now finished for the day and we have been treated to images of people all over the country crying with tears of joy and dancing in the streets because they are feeling so high with pure and unadulterated happiness. Their number was called, especially for the major prizes in spite of that being an improbable thing. Every year the same thing happens and nothing gets rolled over. All the prize money is distributed with 99% of the residents participating. Even those of us who didn't win a thing still see it as good news because every year we do not win brings us closer to the year when we will.

The event generates its own human interest stories, such as 90% of the residents of an old folks home bought into the event, and won. Their average age was 90 and they won 400,000 euros per ticket. One old dear held three tickets. Don't you just love it!

One family, like so many others in Spain were all out of work, but they won enough money between them to redeem their dignity.

A few years ago a small village of 250 farmers all bought tickets with the same number. The number won second prize of  euros 125,000 each ticket. (You could have held several tickets.) The twist in this story is that all enjoyed winnings except the one person who didn't believe in these things. He was a foreigner, but by all accounts he seems to be ok with the outcome.

It is gambling, which is to normally be discouraged. Many people in Spain play the lottery, and while I'm sure that a few go overboard the average person bets something modest, such as 5.00 euros on a line of numbers that might give a reasonable little lift to one's finances. It's really about hope, because life without hope; something to look forward to would be intolerable.

In a joking frame of mind I always say that one day I'm going to hit the lottery in a big way. When that happens I do hope I will get all of my money back.

Maybe, but hope springs eternally.

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

Not a very Merry Christmas story

We have a gentleman living in our community who is a veteran of World War II. He is in his 95th year and loves to talk about his life of adventures, and to listen to him is a marvellous education in itself. His memory is as clear on things that happened many years ago as though they happened just yesterday.

However, one of his stories has so incensed me that it should be committed to print form, so I will do that for him.

He was a part of the landing force on D-Day and carried on throughout the whole war, and survived to tell the tale. He did that so that we are free from the yoke of Nazism. To have served for so long makes him a true hero in my eyes, along with all those who served and fell. So, it was only right and reasonable for the survivors of his regiment to be called to Buckingham Palace to be recognised and honored by the Royal Family.

He received an invitation on nicely embossed plain white card and arrived and together with his compatriots they walked into The Palace along the red carpet, but at a certain point he realised that for those who held similar cards to his they were ushered to the left while others who held invitations that were gold embossed went to the right. His group were led to what might have been at one time the stables, while the others went into the Palace proper.

The were very nicely entertained, but fed on a lacklustre lunch, and Prince Charles did make his rounds stopping at each table to commend the men and women.  What took the shine off the event was the fact that they, who were prepared to give their lives to allow the British way of life to continue were segregated into the lesser class, while the others were wined and dined because of....what?

Correct me if you think I'm out of order, but I think this was an outrageous thing to do to people who were so deserving of the utmost respect of the nation. To go to all that effort to insult them by herding them into a second class group when they had every right to go first-class all the way beggars belief.

Yes, they should have been feted, but if not done properly, then it was as bad as not having been done at all. The Royal advisors have a lot to answer for. Far from honoring this gallant and patriotic gentleman, they inflicted an insult upon him that he has never forgotten, and will take into his grave.

For those responsible I say, shame! shame! shame on you!

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

It's El Gordo Time again

The annual EL Gordo fever is growing as we approach December 22nd, 2016. That's the day that the draw will take place for the greatest lottery in the world. It is so great because it offers a real  chance to an unknown quantity of people to win some usable quantities of money, but no one walks away with one or two hundred million euros. This is simply because no-one needs to win that much money.

When ordinary people win such huge amounts of money they are presented with an equally huge problem in that they will need to conserve and manage such a gargantuan windfall, and the average person will have no idea how to do that. (Usually the aftermath makes very grim reading indeed.)  Anyway, if we win more than 15 million euros we will have more than our fair and reasonable share of good luck. There will be many, many people who will not agree with me, but that's my opinion.

By the unrestrained joy that is unleashed on that day throughout the country, and the world I think the vast majority would agree with me. Don't be greedy-think of the other needy neighbours. I am betting on one major roll of the dice. I have chosen our number and I have put enough money on it so that if the number comes up for first prize I will be set for the rest of my life with money left over to continue to help my family. If not, and if the number is not called at all I lose 200 euros - again.

There is a movie presently playing that has a terrific story line: a number of men holding a specific number who live in a small mountain village win first prize in El Gordo. The problem is that these tickets were only sold in a nearby brothel, so they are absolutely toxic. You can claim your prize with anonyminity, but you cannot use the money in any real way without giving the game away. I wonder how that ends?

So, on the 22nd December, from early morning I shall be stuck in front of the TV from the starting bell just in case our number comes up. I am the treasurer of our consortium of about 3000 people, and it will be my job to see that all are paid in a timely fashion. This will be a really nice problem to have and I would absolutely love the challenge.

Please wish me luck...the good kind.

Thank you.

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

Fighting, Screaming and Yelling all the way.

Kevin Baker made me do it. My good friend Kevin dragged me, screaming, fighting, and yelling all the way into the 21st Century. Now I am the proud owner of an iPhone 6 Plus. I haven't completely forsaken my Nokia tiny palm mobile. Now I have two phones, but I have taken so long to step up my game and I really don't have a good excuse. I simply have not felt the drive to go modern all these years.

Kevin assures me that it will change my life. I think Kevin was embarrassed by being associated with a friend who was so behind the times when he is this super, on-the-cutting-edge kind of guy. When the mobile phone was first introduced I was steadfast. I would not have one because I just didn't want to always be available. Before the introduction of the mobile the best anyone could do was to have a long extension cord that allowed mother to be hanging out the clothes while talking to a friend.

With a mobile phone our stress level automatically rises because the phone might ring at any time. I was having a business lunch with a lady when she suddenly leaned down, picked up her handbag and held it to her head. " I thought I heard my phone ringing," she said. I thought she had suddenly lost her mind.

Humans were not structured to always be instantly contactable. It seems that the ringing of the phone must be replied to right away. Whatever we are doing when the phone rings we drop that and respond.  That's the way it has always been. I have been in a long line at the bank. The teller is hard pressed to serve us, when the telephone rings. She ignores us to take the call. I just wish she could give me money through the phone.

We see it depicted in movies where a couple are making love and the phone rings. "Just a minute. I got to take this." What! Are you crazy? That's when you know you are sick. Go to a doctor now.

The good thing about having waited so long before moving up to a Smart Phone is that I have seen what bad and deadly habits can be formed if you allow them to start. I have made myself some promises that I will keep. Not to do so will be to complicate my life to no end.

With my little Nokia I would carry it around in my bag all day, and if it didn't ring I never touched it. I read my e-mails when I got home and was sat in front of my laptop. If I needed to send an urgent message I can only think of two times when it was so urgent that I went to a Locutorio to do it.

Promise number 1.When and wherever I sit down to eat I will not take out my phone and place it on the table. I will continue to not answer it while eating.

Promise number two: I will continue to not answer an incoming call while driving. I could ask Siri to read me the text of an incoming Whatssup message, but I won't. My attitude is that there is absolutely nothing in my life so urgent that it can't wait until I get to a convenient place to pull off the road, shut down the motor, and then see what all the fuss is about.

Promise number three: I will never walk and stare into my phone to send a text or read a message from someone. Perhaps I will take an incoming call while walking, if I can figure how to do that, but I will never fall into the habit of not being aware of my surroundings because I am totally concentrated on my phone. People have walked in front of trams and oncoming traffic and been killed.

It is true that when I have been expecting an important call I have taken my mobile into the bathroom with me, and I have had perfectly comfortable conversations while sitting down in there, but at least if I continue to do so my conversations will not be under the Face Time app.

Promise number Four: This could be the most important promise of all, is that you will never see a picture of the meal I'm about to eat, taken by me with my iPhone. Never! Never! Never!

I am perfectly aware that we all hold in the palm of our hands the most powerful device in communication, and I am a long way away from discovering the full capabilities of what it can do for me. I am quickly becoming comfortable with it and I am starting to feel like a pro. But here's the thing: I am in charge of it, not the other way round. I tell this to Kevin and he sniggers. He says that everybody does it. Well, not me Kev. I am one of a kind.

Stop laughing Kev.

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

Pick Pockets Spoli everything

This past week has been the week of my wife's birthday celebrations. We rode the AVE fast train from Valencia to Madrid in Preferente, or First Class. Now we are hooked! No more Tourist class for us.

We arrived there and took a taxi to our hotel on the Grand Avenue. We checked in and we pushed the button for the lift. There was a man standing there who was well dressed, and in spite of the fact there was a lady he insisted on entering first.(He needed to be behind us.) We were three in that small space. He pressed the first floor and as soon as the lift began to move he moved closer to me. I should have followed my first mind, which was to allow him to ride up by himself as I thought it peculiar that he pushed ahead of us to get in first.

He asked "Cafeteria?, Cafeteria?" At that point I concluded "Here we go again." I covered the point of my man bag closest to him with my hand and sure enough there came his left hand that was covered with his coat and he encountered my hand. I tickled his fingers and he jumped back. I smiled and admonished him not to do that. I didn't just get off the boat pal. His eyes went as wide as saucers. When the door opened he shot out and was gone. The danger was that I didn't know what he had in his right hand, which could have been a knife in case I tried to take him down.

We called the desk and gave them a description. They thought something was strange because they did notice him entering the lift with us, and then immediately he came down the stairs and out of the hotel. They called the police and within half an hour he had been arrested as a person of interest who was well known to them.

He got nothing from me as my things are secured with chains within my bag. I learned that many years ago when that foiled four beautiful Eastern European women who accosted me in broad daylight, surrounding me with their gorgeous bodies which they rubbed against me while trying to steal me blind. They actually had pulled my wallet and a second bag with my credit cards from my bag, but because they were on chains they became confused and the tugging alerted me as to what was going on. Again, they got nothing.

In every country around the world crime takes place everyday.People wake up in the morning and have a shower; they get dressed, have breakfast, and they go to work. Their careers centre around relieving the careless and uninformed of everything they can get. This is their work and they are very good at it.

In our case the man goes from hotel to hotel in the city employing various ruses to strip the newly arrived of whatever he can get. After dealing with the front desk I didn't actually fix my straps to secure the bag because I was only going up in the lift. He was counting on that.

I once stopped at a counter in a shopping centre where there was no  one else around to ask a simple question. The top of my bag was open. Within half a second that counter suddenly became of interest to a whole family. I moved on very quickly, closing my bag in the process.

The moral of this story is that we are all open to suffer loss by theft every time we leave home. We cannot know exactly who is watching us, but we can safely assume our every move is under scrutiny because there are numerous people who are counting on successfully stealing from us.

Beware! Always!

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

Shocked and Surprised? Not really.

In my blog of last week I suggested to Hillary Clinton that maybe she should have a Concession Speech ready, just in case. In fact I felt deep down that the result we got was on the way. The tip off to me came when the Klu Klux Klan declared they were for Trump; no surprise there, but then placards started showing up saying, "Blacks for Trump." Now, when have Blacks and the KKK agreed on anything?

This election will be discussed for the next One Hundred Years. How did he do it? Scholars will pour over every little bit of it. The Donald ran a campaign of ideas and reversals of ideas; of insults followed by those insulted joining up with him; and of grave threats to do this and that, followed by more reversals until on election day no one really knew what they were voting for.

If this was a plan it was brilliant, it was masterful, and of course, it worked. He got so close to Hillary, the front runner, and then, in a flash of supersonic speed he left her so far behind the result was not even close.

The American system that has the general public go to all the trouble of voting, only to find on Election Day that their popular vote is superseded by 507 super delegates that make up the electoral College must be great frustration for the millions. Those super delegates are supposed to stop the thing that happened from happening. Ironically, it was the popular vote that got it right in so far as the expected outcome was concerned, so what good are the super delegates? I think they are going to come under some close scrutiny.

Now there is rioting in the street. Trump said that he might not have accepted the outcome. Well, get a load of what's going on now.

So many people said they were voting for change. Well, good for them, because here comes change, ready or not.

Someone said that there will probably not be a Democrat in 2020 who will bother to run against him. Well, the next four years will be many lifetimes. It really all depends on what happens between now and then.

Stay tuned!

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

What a great book I didn't write

I wish I had the political imagination to write the blockbuster book that is presently playing out in real life, but unfortunately I don't. Even if I had no-one would have believed it was even possible. I might have sold a dozen copies so that people could mock me but no-one would have bought a plot that had the most ridiculous candidate come from absolutely last place to be running neck and neck for the office of the United States of America.

I would have had to conjure up the most ludicrous campaign strategy ever. Start by insulting people and countries. Be a person who shows he hates women and Latinos and Blacks and they will join with the white men to form an army of supporters. I would have to make him awfully flawed so that his opposition would fear a victory for him more than anything else  they can imagine. To really confuse them I would have him commit every gaffe that has ever  been done which resulted in those who made such gaffes resign. He would only get stronger Then, I would make the race so close no-one could call the outcome.

And then, for good measure, I would have him actually win. That way I could get several more books out of the situation.

As I said in my previous blog, you may not like anything about the man, but what he has achieved to date does deserve our respect. I'm not talking about praising him or saying that we like what has been done; only recognizing that he has overcome his challenges and has come to a place where he could possibly declare in three days time, " Mission Accomplished!" I think that there is no-one on the side of decency and what is right who would say that 9/11 was a great terrorist accomplishment, but they did get our attention.

I would have also had to make the opponent a strong woman, but one who is also flawed so that voters would not have all that clear a choice.  Here we are, Saturday, November 5th, 2016, and all across The United States, and around the world the number one topic is the American Elections. However it turns out it will have worldwide repercussions into the unforeseen future.

I believe the lady candidate is confidant of a victory. Perhaps she should also have written an acceptance speech of defeat, so to be on the safe side.

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael 

A Halloween Election - Be very afraid

I am not an American voter, but I have just as much to gain or lose as every American. This American election, more than most, will be a possible turning point in American history. Every eligible voter should participate to do their bit.

After the children have done their rounds trick or treating, the real Halloween horror begins. Economically, America has some radical changes ahead to adjust to, regardless of who wins the election. These changes will severely challenge the office of the president, and they will most likely mean the downfall of The United States of America as the top super power of the world.

Please don't misunderstand me when I say that I congratulate Mr Trump on running such a clever campaign. I am not one of his supporters, but I have analysed his unorthodox tactics and they have been brilliant. Of the seventeen Republican starters he was deemed to be at the bottom of the pack. Through the use of insults, outrageous statements and downright lies he has awakened a sleeping army of robots who have fallen in line behind him to crush all of his competition, and to take over their party; and now he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Hillary Clinton, and it is entirely possible that he may win the race.

Brilliant!  That deserves my respect. Not my support, but when a person can overcome all the odds to get to a point where they can just about say, "Mission Accomplished!" that is to be admired.

What is to be admired even more is that his opponent first had to fight off a super strong challenge from Bernie Saunders, and where lesser women might have been crushed under The Donald's steam roller she is holding her own in the arm wrestling match of all time. Should she win we will hear much more about how it must have been rigged.

The past two elections saw America's first African-American elected to office, and throughout he has performed in proper presidential style. I am proud of him as he has been a true credit to black Americans, and black people in general. However, with a Republican congress and senate his hands have been tied. If Hillary Clinton wins her hands will also be tied; and because House Republicans don't want The Donald his hands will almost certainly be tied.

Whichever way we look at it, the next four years might be stalemate except for those economic forces I spoke of earlier. It remains to see whether the coming years will be relatively rational and reasoned, or anything goes. For the answer to that we just have to wait and see, but the outcome cannot be assumed.

It certainly has been the most startling and interesting race. It even topped the campaigns that seated President Obama. If only he could serve another eight years so that the nightmare on 1600, Pennsylvania Avenue could just go away.

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

I am so ashamed

Gretchen Kelly writes blogs. One of her blogs that appeared in The Huffington Post, (I think) of the 23rd November, 2015, she wrote, under the title, "The things all women do that you don't know about."

Oh? What could that be? I thought. So I read her long article, and by the end of it I was shamed to be a man.

What she meant by her title is that every day a woman can expect to be harassed or propositioned or touched or stared at, and she just sucks it up and keeps her mouth closed to keep the peace.

I have always been aware that there are significant differences between the lifestyles of men and women, to the extent that there has been this mystery that exists in my mind. Generally I applaud and respect the difference. I guess that I have made the mistake of putting women on a pedestal because I think they don't need or want to be there. But for me they have been my opposite specie to be admired, respected and sometimes loved.

Gretchen's article details the disgusting daily things that all young women are subjected to by us males. Usually by males with power to commit such behaviour, but behaviour that they should know better to control. Of course it's all sex based.

Let me tell you what my rather naïve impression has been. When I was a young man life was conservative. Females covered up, and they never opened their legs even if they were wearing slacks. They were super demure and if our eyes met they would turn away immediately. During my early years I never heard of a rape. I was about twelve when a case of manslaughter was prosecuted because a man struck his girlfriend and she went down and her skull was cracked open. That was a major scandal.

Times changed and females began to come out of their shell. They showed more flesh on the beach and in the street. They walked taller with more confidence as they became better educated and got good jobs. Some even earned more money than their tradesman husbands.

The worst sin I recall making against a girl was to take her for a ride on my shiny new motorbike, and for that I was told by my mates that she would give me sex. So, I told her that I wanted sex or she would have to walk back, not even realising that would have been rape.

The girl slapped me so hard that I was knocked off my feet, and then she threatened that her father and brothers would come after me if I didn't take her back promptly. Respect! That is what she knocked into my head, and I never did it again.

Now I'm learning that women are subject to sexual remarks, staring at their boobs or bums, inappropriate touching and proposals; and non-consensual sex if they want to get ahead in their careers.  What a despicable lot we men can be.

Add to all the above the fathers who force their daughters to have sexual intercourse with them, or the brothers who molest their sisters; and those bastards who date rape by drugging women, and we men have a lot to answer for.

We can start by not participating in locker room talk about women. We can keep our hands to ourselves until it is appropriate to use them in a consensual way. We can wish that the rich and powerful guys would restrain themselves and act like decent humans, but we have heard how power seems to give people the presumed right to treat others. This is a truly a disgusting state of affairs.

Ladies, you will probably be surprised to learn that I do appraise your bodies when you are not aware, but I don't want to do anything about it these days. In my youth if I liked what I saw the pursuit began.. Some of you were not interested, and some were offended that I even took an interest. However, I only made a pass in the appropriate place where men and women came together to meet one another, and I was never rude.

As I think hard on my own behaviour in relation to the above list of sins of men, if I could think of something that needs and apology from me I would now give it. What I will do is offer my sincere apology to anyone whom I may have genuinely offended. I certainly would not have intended the offence.

Copyright(c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

Miracle in Cokeville, Wyoming

I watched a film this week called the Cokeville Miracle. It's really about Guardian Angels and Guiding Spirits, something I really do believe in.

Guardian Angels are apparently spirits that never ever lived as human beings. We all are assigned one whose job it is to protect us, to the best of their ability, from harm. However, if we choose to ignore their urgings, then we are on our own. We see examples of such activity everyday from people who take really stupid chances, intent on hurting themselves for a laugh.

Guiding Spirits are the spirits of those who have lived and died, but who linger and live vicariously through us with the intention of helping us to make the right decisions, and to bring comfort to us. They are most active after they have died as a human in giving comfort and assistance to their next of kin. They are also free to attach themselves to anyone they choose if they see that such a person needs help.

My present Guiding Spirit is my Cousin Margery who I find to be very helpful.

The story of the Cokeville Miracle is that a lunatic held all the children of the local school hostage and threatened to blow them up with a crude bomb he had made. To make a long story short the bomb did actually go off and in doing so everyone in the building were at risk of having been killed. The bomb was surrounded by children and their teachers yet, instead of the blast going outwards it went straight up.

Some of the children suffered none life threatening burns, but the only two lives lost were those of the bomber and his wife.

In the instant that the bomb went off children reported seeing angels surround the blast and they were led to safety by people they had either never seen before, or by a family member who had died.

The bomb did detonate; the children and their teachers are all alive; and the damage did occur to the building.

Perhaps anyone who is a sceptic might like to explain that.

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael 

Love at first sight: Truth or fiction?

Firstly, falling in love is a most personal subject, so let's not get into an argument with one another. If a person says that they fell in love at first sight, and especially  if they are still together after any significant period of time the point goes to them

I can only express my views and opinions which are mine alone.

As a man I have only ever known lust at first sight. That is the way I am wired. I have seen women in the past and I have immediately fallen in lust with them. Being super beautiful or sexy was not always the criteria, rather it was something about the person that  moved me to want her. All colours, shapes, nationalities,  every one of them appealed on their own merit.

I have been in love. I have experienced what it feels like to give my all to a woman, and to feel her love in return. Wow! That is simply fabulous. However, I have never fallen in love at first sight. I wouldn't even know how to do that.

At first sight I can only know that she has something that I like about her. From a distance I will likely be attracted to her body. The best angle for me to first see her is from directly behind. From that angle I will see her head of hair, her shoulders and the line of her image. Perhaps she will be tall or medium or short. She may be shapely or homely. Her legs may be well developed or stocky. The most sexy thing about her at this point may be her buns.

A woman with well developed buns that move in that special way as she walks is a major turn-on to me. Her buns need not be oversize, but if they are firm and shapely, so much the better. Now if she turns sideway she will reveal her facial profile and her bust size. Her buttocks will also be highlighted. Finally, when I am facing her directly her frontal beauty will be revealed to me.

From this encounter I most likely will have concluded that she is someone I should try to meet. However, the rule is "never judge a book by its cover." Men do that all the time. We think, judged on what we see that we want this woman, meaning we just have to bed her. For all we know she might be a witch.

In my younger years when I did all my thinking with my lower head, if I did get an introduction to her I would have had no greater ambition than to fornicate. If that realisation was arrived at without too much delay and difficulty the relationship would not have progressed beyond that point.

Often lust progresses onto the "Like" stage as we get to know one another a little better. Love runs deep. I have only arrived at that stage once I get to know the person quite well. Once I learned of her philosophy of life, her humanity, integrity, potential loyalty; her kindness, her ability to focus, and her scope of intelligence can I open up my heart to let this person into my inner self.

I believe it when people say they fell in love with him/her the first time they laid eyes on them, but I believe it for reasons that most people probably wouldn't. I am a firm believer  that we have lived before. I think that when we fall in love with someone we think we have never met before, that in reality this is the recognition and continuance of a relationship that existed in our past lives. Since our energy does not die it reincarnates into the body of a new born. Thus these two spirits recognize one another and the story continues.

I pass a man in our cars on my estate a couple of times a week who I have never met. I have no idea who he is; I have never seen him outside his car, and I have never spoken to him. He has never done anything wrong to me, yet I have an intense dislike of him, and I sense he doesn't like me either.

Again, I think this is something that is a carryover from our past lives.

This may seem strange to readers but I suggest that you Google "Reincarnation" for some eye opening facts about what really happens when we are born and when we die.

It's a good news story that you can also follow in my book: "Death is Not the End." Available from Amazon and Kindle.

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

Birthdays & other anniversaries

I awoke this morning to the realisation that I had reached the 77th anniversary of the day I was born. Was I excited? No. After having celebrated 76 of these things you get kind of jaded. That is definitely not how it should be.

When I was a young person when another birthday came around it was celebrated in style. There had to be a party with friends and family gathered around, and it was a big deal. But why? The continuation of life was taken for granted. We were young and indestructible. However, looking back on some of the things we did to celebrate it really wasn't so guaranteed after all.  Especially judging by the next day, or even the next week's hangover I at least wished I were dead.

Now, when birthdays are getting ever more difficult to attain I am laid back and relaxed to the point where I have to be reminded of the coming of the big day. I have concluded that in a sense birthdays are like our own skyscraper. I can relate  to a tall building with 77 floors. Each floor represents one year in my life and is a living museum. Once in a while I return to certain floors for a visit.

  The ground floor contains the front door through which I entered the world. The second, third and fourth floors were vast playgrounds and adventure lands. The fifth floor contained kindergarten. That was a big step up into an all together different world which was scary. That was when I came face-to-face with an introduction to real life.

It is not my intention here to pass individually through each floor, although on certain floors the visit would be more enjoyable than on others, but it is all there to be remembered and accounted for as "My Life." A similar structure exists for each and everyone, and always has although before high rises we could have used the analogy of one long continuous ground level building.

As I write this, through the magic of Facebook my wife is calling out a long list of friends and family who are sending love and best wishes from around the world. The world as it was is moving out of its shell as a place where we all lived in our own compartments, to a world that is truly global. The Internet is responsible for that in one way or another, and English is the language of the Internet. We are all inter-connected through the simple touch of a button so that whatever happens on the other side of the globe can be shared with everybody on this side and in between.

I would have to try extra hard to imagine our world in one hundred years from now. It will undoubtedly be a vastly different place from what it is today. There may be remnants of our culture and customs left, but very hard to recognize.

On the other hand, one hundred years from now there may be nothing at all, as mankind will have succeeded in making a total mess and it will all be gone.

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

Trigger-Happy Police

First, let me say that as a black man I am so happy that I don't live in the United States of America. If I did I think I would be far more afraid of the police than I would be of the criminals.

Shootings of black men, most of whom turned out not to be armed has become a rallying cry for Black Lives Matter, because it seems to the police that they don't. America, I know you like to think you are a great country, and there are many things about your country of which you can be justifiably proud. Race relations is not one of them. Your greatest weak point is your widespread ownership of guns, which will lead to your downfall.

During 2015, there were about 1200 people killed by police. So far this year your police have killed between 790 and 844, depending on who you listen to, and if all deaths have been recorded.

Let's acknowledge that the police in America have a tough job. The policeman on lone traffic patrol needs to pull over a car at night. He approaches the car not knowing what he will find, including a possible gun in his ribs. In most other civilised countries he doesn't have to worry. So, perhaps its no wonder the American policeman is trigger happy because in America the citizen may not hesitate to shoot.

The media make much of the fact that another white policeman has shot another unarmed black man. The image that we get from that is that the police are infiltrated by a bunch of racist and depraved killer thugs in uniform. This may be the case to a certain extent, but then came September 20th and Charlotte, North Carolina and the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott by a black policeman. What are we to make of that?

The police say that he held a pistol in his hands as he held them over his head, and that he refused to drop it. That would be an act of suicide by police. Members of the public and his family say he held a book in his hand that he had been reading. That might be an unlawful death by police.

Whichever, the media are playing down the fact that the policeman was black. Should this continue it would lessen the stigma of racism and strengthen the perception that all police are probably too trigger happy.

On September 16th, the media informed us that a white female officer, Betty Shelby,  shot and killed unarmed Terence Crutcher unnecessarily. She has been charged with first degree manslaughter. Even her fellow officers witnessed the shooting, however, during 2015 there were 1200 people killed by police, some under extremely depraved conditions, and although twelve police were charged not one was convicted. The chances that Betty Shelby will spoil that record seem minimal.

The police can do anything they want to do with immunity. Or so it seems.

Although it certainly seems like it, blacks are not the only chosen race in the U.S. in this regard. This year it has been reported that 5.49 Native Americans per million population have been killed; 4.86 Blacks; 2.3 Hispanics, 1.95 Whites; and  0.72 Asian / Pacific Islanders. (Dylan Petrohilas/Think progress)

Confidence in the police is at an all time low, although whites strongly support them while I think most blacks would prefer to simply do away with police departments all together because they seem to be more trouble than they are worth.

America, you have to do better. Refugees from America has already started as a few families have found excuses for moving to Canada.  In time I think it reasonable to expect this to become a torrent

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael.

Crime and Punishment

The way our system works is that a person commits a crime and the police bring him to justice. Once found guilty the judge will pronounce sentence of say, ten years in prison. The victims of the crime all nod in satisfaction that he was put inside for a significant period of time.

However, what the judge has said, in effect is that for the next ten years you are hereby declared exempt from the normal costs of life. You will have a roof over your head, and we will provide you with three meals a day. You will not have to worry about water, gas, heating, electricity or telephone bills. You may not even have to do any work.

As an added bonus you will get to live with horrible people like yourself.

So, where's the punishment in all this? I don't know. Where the judge adds the extra words: "at hard labour," this might actually mean some hard graft. You may get to feel the pinch of paying for your sins. Without the hard labour the rest is a vacation.

In some countries if you are poor and unable to pay your bills, for the sin of owing people money you get sent to prison. For such people I imagine they find prison horrifying, difficult and painful. It's also pointless! If some of the silly people who commit others to prison for this crime of not being able to pay their bills should end up in similar situations, I think the practice would soon stop.

Being male and a homosexual has been a heavy burden to bear. Depending on the country a man might be killed, or beaten, or discriminated against. Many men, in the more understanding countries have been sent to prison for sex related activities as the State have invaded their bedrooms. So, in addition to the above list of freebies these guys land in a kind of heaven where men who are so starved for sexual release will not think too hard about finding it with a man who is already gay. The problem here may be sentences that are too lenient and short.

For those criminals who hurt people I think they should at least be flogged. Rape a woman, go to jail and be flogged. Feel the pain you have inflicted on another person. The damn Nazis did unspeakable horrid things to their prisoners, including beating them and ending their lives and the best that society could retaliate with is holiday camp-like conditions in jail? The guilty Nazis should have been flogged often and hard. It should have been made so terrible that they would have started crying two days in advance of their next punishment.

True, I haven't spent any time behind bars. That's because I haven't done anything to merit such treatment, nor do I ever intend to do so. That's the secret: Don't do the crime and you won't have to do the time.

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

Statin Drugs

Friday, 9th of September, 2016 it was reported by a medical association that the beneficial effects of statins are greatly understated, and the negative effects are grossly overstated.

These are the experts speaking so I had better not get myself into an argument with them, however, I do have to wonder.

For all my life I have struggled with elevated blood pressure and high cholesterol readings. I was put on tablets to lower my blood pressure, but when the doctor suggested a statin to regulate my cholesterol I hesitated. I had read enough press to make me wary of creating more harm than good by taking statins. My doctor cautioned that I should try the pill and if I had adverse effects I should then immediately cease.

Reluctantly I agreed. To begin with I could not feel any negative impact, and to the credit of the pill my readings fell to within the desired range quite quickly. The trouble is that I have been taking them for five years. During that period I have advanced from age 72 to age 77 and I have noticed what I thought were the effects of growing old.

My muscles have grown weak, especially in my legs. It had become a real chore to walk any distance, particularly uphill. At the gym, where I attend twice weekly, and at Pilates, where I attend once a week, I was struggling. The weight settings I have been using have been quite low and uncomfortable.

While walking an observer might well have thought I was drunk as my balance seemed to be getting worse. My problem was that I would feel dizzy, so much so that at times I would have to stop what I was doing to rest. The rest was also welcome because I seemed to be feeling constantly tired. During the Summer months everybody is tired from the extreme heat. Siesta if King! However, I would sometimes need a siesta during the morning.

I had been developing another problem that was almost un-noticed. I am an even tempered person by nature. Everyday I wake up with the same outlook on life, and I go through the day without being predisposed by ill-will towards my fellow man. Well, I found myself changing and turning into a grumpy old man. When I took stock of that situation I simply put it down to getting old syndrome.

Another most unwelcome development has been a reoccurring blurring of my vision. For my age I am proud that I go through each day without having to use my glasses very much. I do use my glasses for distance when driving at night, especially if I need to read signs. I have reading glasses but usually I make do without them. However, there are times when I have to rely on both pairs because my vision becomes so blurred. Getting old really is ugly.

The last straw was back pain that almost crippled me. It has happened to me twice over the past five years, and the crazy thing is that the pain has come on while I was not doing anything out of the ordinary. This last time I had been washing my face and when I straightened up the pain struck like a thunderbolt. It struck on my left side leaving me very reluctant to straighten that side. As a consequence I was lopsided. Eventually I just sucked up the pain and straightened myself and went and  visited my doctor, who prescribed pain relief tablets and sent me for an x-ray.

I had the presence of mind to review the prospectus for the statins I have been taking for these past five years, including side effects that are common to those that are rare.

Dear Medical Association:

The prospectus indicates the following may be applicable: Weak muscles. (check) Tiredness (check).
Dizziness (check). Depression (check). Blurring of vision (check). Spasmodic muscle pain (check). Neck pain, which had gone almost un-noticed (check).

I stopped taking the pill immediately and the following has occurred: I feel lighter and have more spring in my step. I definitely have much more energy leading me to raise the weight limits at the gym. My balance has improved tremendously. When I walk I do not have the gait of a drunk, and although I could walk a straight line with difficulty, I'm almost there with that. Best of all, I am completely pain-free as I write this!

Other than a pill-a-day for blood pressure, and a pill which is aspirin-like to keep my blood reasonably thin, I am not on any other medication.

I don't think I can be accused of exaggerating the negatives that I have experienced, if indeed all that I have listed are exclusively associated with the statin, but the prospectus list of things to beware of takes up a full column that is 34 cm  long.

That's a lot of possibilities!

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

Neigh-Bores

Realistically, we cannot choose all of our neighbours. In practise we don't choose any of the people who live next to us. We can choose a neighbourhood for its social class. Our economic means will be the guiding light, but the neighbourhood is made up of individuals.

A family moved into a house and within three months their next door neighbour moved away stating his reason as the fact that the people who had moved in were black.

The only thing that we can deduce from the black family is that they are black. We can  make the following fairly safe assumptions about the family who moved: they are white ignorant bigots who would add nothing to the lifestyle of anyone who had half a brain. They are people who consider themselves white supremists, whose principal emotion is hate. Rather than contributing anything to the white race they are seen as an embarrassment and are deemed to be white trash.

Perhaps the best situation is to simply have no real connection with the neighbours. If we are left alone to live our lives with consideration for those who live next door, but without any social interaction then there is no relationship to go wrong and complicate our existence. Sometimes the people next door seem to be nice and friendly but perhaps they have expectations of us, or vice versa. Should there be a disappointment in those expectations we then have to live with that.

Having said all that I remember growing up in a community of people who lived by a mutual code of caring and sharing. Our house was not lockable, and we children were subject to the same discipline everywhere within the community as we were at home. One day my mother fell ill and was unable to produce an evening meal for us. As if by magic one of the neighbours showed up with a full meal for us. How she even knew I have no idea because we didn't have a telephone.

If there was ever any bad blood between neighbours in our community I never heard of it. Human nature being what it is we could have expected something to go wrong, but our little world seemed to be idyllic.

So, neighbourhoods are potlucks. Once we choose the social level of living the rest becomes like a potluck draw. If you are living in a quiet and secure area with people who share respect and consideration for one another you are one of the very lucky ones. However, if you are finding yourself living in the jaws of hell I do sympathise with you. You need to win the lottery real big so that you can buy a house that you can surround with high walls so that you can create your own bubble.

If only we all had that choice.

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael 

The Beautiful Birkini

Firstly, it is human nature to move from country to country. We have always done that and we will always do so. One benefit is that we spread culture and we learn from our travels, much like the pollination of bees and birds.

Secondly, when we travel we take with us what we know best: our own customs and culture. This is not always a good thing, but on balance it does work. One example where it does not work is the full cover, including the face burqa. In those native lands where it is the custom for the woman to completely cover up that is the way it is. However, in countries outside of that small circle it is not acceptable and it should be banned and enforced. This is mostly a security measure which requires that the population, without exception must show their faces.

Now we move to modesty. In the Arab world it is the custom that women cover themselves, either totally or 99%. I believe this is done for the purpose of promoting a society free from the temptation of the flesh. In Western societies women have the right to wear whatsoever they wish, within the norms of decency. That allows a very wide latitude of choice for women and in the process has the very opposite effect in that a man's attention is fixed on things sexual.

From the Western world we look at the Arabic customs and all that we see is oppression of women. However, when we talk to the women we find that they are comfortable in covering themselves to hold their beauty only for their husbands. Certainly their customs do seem unnecessarily draconian on women, but then their society is not plagued by so many of our own problems.

Enter Summertime at the beach. We have been living with Arabic women entering the sea fully clothed in their street wear. We have tutted and said how ridiculous but they were left alone to bathe in public as they saw fit. Now someone has designed a very beautiful and charming garment that adheres to all of the criteria of Islamic dress, but it is a bathing suit. It is only marginally more conservative than bathing suits of yesterday that protected the modesty of white women.

The mayors of 31 French seaside towns have decided, in their lack of common sense to ban the Birkini. They are in fact telling women they must take off more of their clothes to swim from their beaches. Not surprisingly the Supreme Court of France has struck down these banns, probably because they are unconstitutional, but really because they are stupid and provocative. 

I don't want to be too hard on France as they have had a lot of problems as a result of hardline Muslims and a lot of people have lost their lives. However, this is making problems where none exists. Muslim women want to at least cover their hair, and at the extreme they want to completely disappear behind the cloth. Except for uncovering their face they should be left in peace to wear whatever they want, as are all other women in France.

At one time or another Frenchmen have invaded so many countries that belonged to other people. They carried with them their own customs and culture, somethings have been retained by the locals, and some other parts the locals found to be disgusting and insulting and have been rejected. The Birkini is simply a  statement of the Muslim woman's modesty and conservatism. Intelligent people would celebrate that and stand with the woman and defend it as her right. 

It's not broke so it does not need to be fixed!

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

The Launch of my book: "Death is Not the End."

This week's column is unusual in that I have written and published a serious work of non-fiction which is now available for sale on Amazon.co.uk and Kindle.

Down through the years I have always questioned life as presented to me, especially the things we take for granted through customary use. I think its healthy to ask ourselves why do we do things the way we do? Can we do ordinary things any better? Answers to questions such as those is what has led the world to improve itself constantly.

I found myself observing people very keenly, especially people from countries where traditionally they have been short of stature, but now in those countries can be found some very tall folk. What happened to suddenly change that? It does indicate that everything is changing.

Then, someone close to me died and that got me thinking about the end process; and at the same time I considered the beginning sequence of life. Does Mother Nature really discard the talent of the deceased; and is all that accumulated knowledge simply lost? Perhaps there is a correlation between the end of a person's life and the beginning of a newborn's life.

In following those lines of thinking I have discovered ample and persuasive evidence that we are living permanent lives in successive stages. When we are finished with this life we shall simply transition through the portal of death onto our next life.

There is also a practical use for this book: that is to help us better manage our bereavement grief. If we know that the person whom we have lost to death has actually gone on to his or her next life we have cause to celebrate both their life with us, and the beginning of their new adventure.

The book is an easy read. I have deliberately kept it short for the comfort of those people who don't even want to think about death. 

All I ask is that readers take the subject seriously and keep an open mind. There is a worthwhile reward in store if you can get your head around the transition concept. Unrestrained grief can be one of the most intense and destructive emotions a human being can endure. If you can bring any sense of management to that it would surely be a good thing.

Once again, the title of the book is "Death is Not the End" by Eugene W Carmichael. On Kindle there are two other books by the same name.

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

British Toilets

I agree that this is a ridiculous  title to a column that describes a wonderful two weeks in Britain, but the fact is that I was only able to flush one toilet on the first try, and that was in the home of a millionaire. What's with British toilets?

I'll return to that question, but I love Britain in the  Summer because where I live it becomes too hot. When temperatures rise over 40 degrees it is no longer comfortable. I had been saying that I thought this Summer in Spain would be too dry and too hot, and so it is. We left for Britain at the end of July. By that time I was done. Stick a fork in me and take me out of the oven.

Brexit or no, Britain and the United Kingdom is always green, which is a welcome sight if you have been away from it for any length of time. We were back to do the same thing we did last year at the same time, and that was to give our support at a wedding; this time for my wife's niece. People are still getting married but what awaits them is a life of struggle, which is no different than in the past, but how young people get on the housing ladder is difficult to see. If you are an only child and your parents have their own home you can only hope that one day, when they pass, it will come to you. However, as parents we are living longer so you will likely have to wait for some time.

This was a very pleasant journey for us as we did a tour of friends homes to  renew and nurture valuable relationships. We touched base with about forty people, several at the wedding, and in some cases one or two at a time. They were scattered over eight locations which meant a lot of driving for us in so much traffic, but our little rented Peugeot served us well.

Having family that you have a harmonious relationship with means that you have a thing of great value. They live their own lives and we live ours, but when we get together we realise how much value is added to our existence. In this case the family was on my wife's side. For me, I must try to visit my family at least every other year as there are many miles that separate us. Social media does offer something of an intermediate solution, but there is nothing like being there.

So, what's up with British toilets? You push the handle and a little water comes down and I think, here we go, only for it to stop. In most cases I never did get a steady flow going.

My next scientific quest is for the technique and the touch to make a British toilet flush on demand. It is the strangest lingering memory from a visit to the country when I  carry with me so many other totally pleasant thoughts.

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael