Sunday, June 28, 2009

they finally caught me

After observing my wife's suffering of diets, which went in waves, from fat to slim, and back again, from diet to diet, with lists of food, what she was allowed to eat and what was on the black list. I always thought this was an occupational habit which general strike women of all ages, and provides a marvelous discussion subject, when meeting with friends, likewise on the same torture regime.

But my dear doctor, bless his soul, decided that I (yes I mean me) also needed to start dieting, he admits that I only developed a fat belly, but as the healer explained, that is the crucial part of the body were obesity can be dangerous for your health, specially if you getting on in age. Thus, I took the list of my ailments and recommendations of my physician, and made an appointment with the dietitian.

The dietitian (a nice lady, half my age), measured me, weighted me and ask questions like what do I eat general during the day, after I told her according my memory, what I usually consume, she said that there are two possibilities, or my story is not very accurate, or she needs to buy a new scale, because according my story, I should be a walking skeleton. Of course, I had pity on this nice lady, did not want to force her in expenses of buying a new scale, and accepted the fact that my daily eating habits need to be adjusted to a diet.

I must admit, the diet prescribed doesn't look very hard to follow, and basically contains more or less my usual food intake, but without the in between, or foods containing a high percentage of fat.
With a list of food which I am allowed to eat, I went home, and cleaned out the fridge from forbidden items, like hard cheese, sausages, etc.
I am rather lucky, as I don't like sweets, and the lack in cakes, cookies or other sweet things don't bother me at all.

The first days of my diet were very hard, I graved for just those kinds of foods, that were forbidden, not to mention the hunger between the meals, but relatively quick I got adjusted to the new feeding regime, and even started to lose weight.
After ten days, I had a new check-up by the dietitian, and behold, I managed to lose 1200 gram, Yes you see correctly 1.2 kilogram in 10 days or 120 gram per day, which is in one year 43.8 kilo, which is too much, as I need to lose around 20 kilogram, which will take me, at this rate only 166 days or 24 weeks, or nearly an half year.

But like always, the experts take the fun away, and tell me that it is much easier to lose the first 5 kilos, and slimming afterwards is much more difficult, but we will see, who will have to put sand in his pockets, in order not to blow away in the wind.

Dieting on itself, is not very difficult, provided you don't look at the TV or listen to the radio, as they advertise and tell stories, which makes your stomach suffer, like a program on TV showing a market shop in Jerusalem, who sold cheeses, (more than 600 kinds), the smell came over, through the screen, I made a run to the fridge, but thank God, it did not contain any forbidden foods, but I don't know why, the raw vegetables meal afterwards didn't provide any satisfaction.
But life goes on, and we were invited to a wedding. Generally, I do not enjoy the food at weddings, which are based on basic elements like roast chicken, and pastries, but just my luck, the wedding was a culinary festivity, with appetizers like veal in a piquant tomato sauce, fish tidbits, asado, etc, and as main course, salmon, steak and who knows what more, I tried only a few items, but felt that I betrayed my country, and thought that the danger was irrevocable, but it seems, the body makes allowances for one time only sidesteps.

Now I am suggesting to all our friends, to get their kids to marry, or at least Bar Mitzvah, a wedding anniversary or any reason for having a feast (of course with inviting us). I like to end with quoting the famous song from Oliver "glorious food", and I am now too hungry to look up the precise words of the song.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Wioe zijn de Palesteinen?

Wie zijn de Palestijnen

Door David Verveer

Elke dag lees ik in de Volkskrant blogs die meer of meer anti´Israel zijn, en meestal zijn geschreven door mensen die gedrongen door hun humanistische gevoelens denken dat de huidige toestand van de Palestijnen die leven in de bezette gebieden en in de Gaza strook, onderdrukt worden door het sterke Israëlische leger. Wat ze vergeten (of niet begrijpen) is het feit dat de situatie voor deze mensen is het gevolg van het gedrag van hun leiders, en niet de wil van de inwoners die aan de verkeerde kant van de grens zijn geboren.

Maar laten we aan het begin beginnen, ik, zo als meeste normale Israelis, ben niet anti Palestijn (Arabier of Muslim), in tegendeel, wij zijn tegen de harde behandeling van onze regering tegen de individuele Arabier. En zoals in alle landen, zijn wij niet perfect en niet altijd juist en rechtvaardig, soms is het nodig uit veiligheid redenen, maar vaak komt he slechte uit in de machthebbers, die tamelijk wreed optreden tegen de Palestijnse bevolking, aan beide zijden van onze grenzen.

Maar wie zijn de Palestijnen eigenlijk? Waar komen ze vandaan?
De plaatselijke Palestijnse bevolking is verdeeld in vier hoofd groepen en drie godsdiensten die door elkaar wonen in steden, dorpen en vluchtelingen kampen in de omringende landen rond Israel en het bezette gebied:
1 – De oorspronkelijke bevolking (Semitische stammen – waarschijnlijk meestal de Israëlieten die bekeerd zijn door de zegevierend Muslim macht, ongeveer 800 jaar na de Christelijke Jaar-telling, de Israëlitische leiders, de handelaars enz. zijn door de Romeinen verbannen, maar het gewone volk bleef en werd Mohammedaan of Christelijk tijdens de Kruistochten).
2 – Arabische werkers uit de omliggende landen die kwamen om te werken voor de Zionistische pionieren, (meest uit Syria, Egypte en Soedan).
3 – De Druzen, een aparte godsdienst, die in het noorden van Israel, Syria en Libanon leven (de Israëlische Druzen zijn over het algemeen sterk pro-Israel).
4 – De Beduinen voorheen Nomaden, alhoewel Islamieten, meestal niet politiek gemotiveerd.

De bovenstaande groepen worden als Palestijnen aan geduid, alhoewel ze niet erg goed met elkaar kunnen opschieten.
De eerste groep (de grootste segment) heeft dezelfde DNA Karakteristiek als de Joden, en kan men zien dat ze oorspronkelijk tot de zelfde stammen behoren.

Nu terug naar de politieke situatie.
De Palestijnen leven in families (Hamulas) verband en is het politieke leven meestal beslist door het dorpshoofd (meestal de Sheikh – priester) , de gewone man heeft weinig of geen stem, vooral niet bij de vrouwen en jongeren, behalve dan sommige jonge mensen (gedeeltelijk Universiteit studenten) die in en tegen de familie band, tot extremen groeperingen behoren, inclusief terroristen.

De Palestijnse leiders, zowel Israëlische Arabische Parlement leden, Palestijnse van de PO (Palestijnse Organisatie, die Arafat heeft opgericht) en Terroristen zijn meestal van rijke families, die min of meer met politiek spelen en gesteund worden door Muslim organisaties en landen zoals de Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah, enz.



De vluchtelingen.
Deze mensen die de derde en vierde generatie van Palestijnse vluchtelingen die gevlucht zijn in 1948, toen Israel voor zijn zelfstandigheid kreeg, meestal op advies van de Arabische leger leiding, maar soms ook door druk van de plaatselijke Israëlische leger commandant. Deze mensen probeerde naar Egypte te komen, maar werden opgevangen in de Gaza strook (toen onder de Egyptische bewind), de West bank en Jordanie, en Libanon. Deze Palestijnen werden in kampen onder gebracht, kregen geen plaatselijke nationaliteit, en werden bewaard als toekomstig wapen tegen Israel. Deze mensen eisen nu het recht van terugkeer, terwijl een zelfde hoeveelheid van Joden uit de Arabische landen zijn gevlucht zonder hebben en houden, die vandaag de dag burgers zijn van de Israel.

Al deze mensen, inclusief de Israëlische bevolking wil leven in vrede, maar worden door individuelen opgestookt voor oorlog. Mooi praters in Nederland, die lamenteren over de puinhopen in Gaza, over de bezetting van Palestina (dat niet bestaat), en over de nederzettingen van Joodse extremisten, en zelf zijn komen kijken hoe erg wij de Arabieren behandelen, hebben geen idee wat hier werkelijk gebeurt, wie is de echte boef is.

Niet als excuus maar wel een punt, Israel is opgericht door vluchtelingen uit Europa en Midden Oosten als gevolg van de tweede Wereld Oorlog, en het uitmoorden van 6 miljoen Joden.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

who is next?

Who is next?
By David Verveer
WASHINGTON - His critics can no longer say President Obama wouldn’t hurt a fly.
On Tuesday, the president - irritated by buzzing during a TV interview at the Executive Mansion - issued a stern and unequivocal warning: “Get out of here.” But it didn’t. And the cease-fire was over.
Obama waited for the fly to settle, put his hand up and smacked it dead in one try. “I got the sucker,” the commander in chief said.
Look at his strategy, first a soft and friendly warning, and if the warned do not follow his instructions immediately, he punishes the culprit with excess force.
Yesterday, the world had a clear insight on how the Great Leader of the Free World operates when he terminated the life of an innocent fly in front of the television viewers. This was a clear message for anybody who dares to oppose him, by telling the political buzzers around him, look how I will deal with you if you do not listen to my warnings, I told the fly to get out, and when it clearly ignored my wishes, I killed it.
But suppose it was not a simple domestic massacre, what would you say if this is part of High Tech Espionage, when the enemy (not yet identified, but could it be that the North Koreans are behind it?) installed a nano microphone in the capitalist' fly's body, in order to record what really was said in the meeting between the President and his guest.
The life span of an ordinary fly is between 15 and 25 days, but I do not think that the late fly, when it was killed by the President, had already reached that age of retirement, after an hectic life of escaping murderous humans, no, our fly would have had at least 5 days left, but again one of God's creatures had to pay the price of being at the wrong time in the wrong place.
The sadistic tendencies of the current president should worry us, it starts with only flies, but where will it stop, public execution of opponents? Think of the sleepless nights of Hugo Chaves, thinking that he could have been that fly, or for that matter, Mrs.Sara Palin, when trying next time?
I wonder what the White house staff did with the Fly's remains, was it fed to the puppy dog, disposed in the rubbish can or preserved for the future exhibition commemorating the rule of the first fly killing President of the United States of America, let her / him Rest In Peace.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

the second democracy in the middle east

The second democracy in the Middle East

By David Verveer

Passed are those days that Israel could claim to be the only democracy in the Middle East, after the elections in Iran last week, where all citizens were free to vote for anybody they choose, opposition, government or nobodies. The participation in the popular elections was so great; the democratic government even prolonged the voting time from 8 o'clock to 10 at night. And it must be said, the voting in the polling stations was mostly orderly and civilized. Even though, foreign observers were not allowed, the Western World got the impression that the voting was fair and democratic.

In appreciation of the good behavior of its citizens, the Government published a promise that in future election, the votes will also be counted, even though, thought a waste of time and improper interferences with the wishes of Iran's great leader, his holy excellence, the Ayatollah.
People critical of the Iranian democracy must admit that the published results of the election were made public only after the closing of the polling stations, and not, like in un democratic countries and dictatorships, where the elections results are 99% in favor of the Government. I got tears in my eyes when I saw the Iranian results of only 63% for the incumbent President and 34% for his challenger, how courageous, true democrats.

What is incomprehensible to me are the riots in Tehran and other major Iranian towns, how dare they question the wisdom of the Ayatollahs, why are those demonstrators so ungrateful for the brilliant leadership of Ahmadinajad, a leader who was prepared to sacrifice Iran's natural recourses on building nuclear weapons, needed to defend the Iranian nation against the great and little Satans, the USA and Israel. You must admit that Iran supported important freedom movements such as the Hezbollah and Hamas, when other Muslim states only thought of their own prosperity, Iran armed the freedom fighters unselfishly with high tech warfare, even if this meant poverty for the ordinary peasants of Iran.

And the Holocaust denial, look how the hero and president personally went to the UN assembly, to tell them that the Holocaust never happened, who would have thought that an Iranian leader would stand up against the entire world.

I know that nobody in Iran will be able to read this, as the electronic connections seem to encounter un-explained problems, which makes e-mail connections between the democratic Islamic republic of Iran and the rest of the world impossible, most likely caused by external problem arousers trying to give an impression of a revolution developing in Iran, which is of course imperialistic propaganda.

Remember that Musavi utilized his wife in order to receive the popular vote of the women, how unpatriotic and anti-Iranian, tomorrow his wife will run for president, like Hillary, God forbid.

Monday, June 15, 2009

What did Bibi actually say?

What did Bibi actually say?



By David Verveer



First of all, I need to confess, every time I hear or see Benjamin Netanyahu he increases my hatred for anything he says or does, and what he represents.

In my opinion he is an opportunist, who with his famous half sentences, and statements which can be interpreted in all directions, keeps a bunch of extremists from right and left together in a coalition with a peculiar pattern of political parties, whose ideals are far apart and only entered this government in order to receive their political spoils handed out by politicians in power.



Last week, it was announced that Bibi will give a speech in the rightist lion den (the University of Bar Ilan) that will decide the future of the Israel / Arab world, and will be a suitable reply to the lecture given by Obama at the Caro University two weeks ago. What he was going to say was kept secret, and unlike the usual development of political speeches, this time nothing leaked out, and the entire world was in anticipation on what Israelis oracle was going to announce. I have an uneasy feeling that even Bibi did not know what he was going to say, and how he could sail between the obstacles and vetoes of his coalition partners, including his own party.



To be fair to Bibi, he had no choice after Obama ordered him to recognize the Palestinians right for independence and self government and to start containing the settlers' expansion on the West Bank. The only thing he could do, in order to survive politically, was to build up statements that can be translated in favor of claims from all directions, (the Americans, The settlers, the far right, the religious parties and the Likud).



I can understand the total frustration of the Palestinians when he announced that he was ready to enter negotiations without previous conditions, provided:

A – the Palestinians agree that Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people,

B – The new Palestinian state will be without army or open borders with the surrounding countries,

C – There will be no right of return for the Palestinian refugees,

D – The settlements will stay and will be allowed to grow due to their natural growth, a privilege which normal citizens don’t have living inside the borders of the country, and Israeli Arabs won't ever get, as the government will not give them the necessary building permits.

E - last but not least, Jerusalem will not be divided and will remain the capital of Israel for ever (including the 300.000 Palestinians living in East Jerusalem).



In actual fact, Bibi is prepared to give the Palestinians a type of mini Bantustans (self government of internal affairs, the solution of the Apartheid Government of South Africa). But don't make a mistake, this is not what he is proposing to the Palestinians, they will need to make also some concessions, or else Bibi won't participate in the negotiations without pre-conditions.



If my forefathers would not have optioned for leaving occupied Roman Palestine for trading opportunities elsewhere, and would have stayed put, with the result of forced conversion to the Islam, we would now have to lose the last straw of hope for independence, taken away by the peace loving Bibi, who tell the Palestinians that if they do not like his proposals, they can lump it.