Scowl, Nu?

I just don’t understand it anymore.

This afternoon, while quickly reading through a forum for English speaking ex-pats, someone made mention of a new set of pictures of prisoners being abused at the hands of the military in Iraq.

As I went through the responses, which all seemed to border on utter disgust at the way people were being treated, there were two that I just can’t process. In the first post, someone said “Hey, it’s not as bad as they treat the American POWs”. Another mentioned that they were “getting a taste of their own medicine”.

What saddens me is that Americans don’t strive to be great any more, just slightly better in comparison.

When did this happen?

When I was a child, we were taught to be the best. When I was in 8th grade and was lucky enough to participate in a school trip to London, we were told that we needed to be on our BEST behavior because we might be someone’s first contact with an American and we need to make sure that we set the right example as representatives of our country.

But now, look at us. We’re abusing and torturing people just because we can and out of some screwed up sense of retribution. Even worse, we justify horrible actions by saying that they weren’t as bad as what our people had received.

Where the hell is the honor in this? Where is the excellence? Where is the teacher going to all of these soldiers before they leave reminding them to be on their best behavior?

There are certain words that are binary and not able to be modified. True and False are the obvious ones – you cannot be more true or more false. It is a condition that you have – all things that are true are true – none are more or less true than the others.

In this vein, Right and Wrong are also words that cannot be modified. Either things are Right or Wrong – and things that are wrong are wrong. No justification or modification.

Iraqis beheading civilian truck drivers: Wrong.
Suicide Bombers killing innocents: Wrong.

Torture and Abuse of Prisoners by American and British Soldiers: Also Wrong.

You can’t say that abusing someone in your custody is less wrong than killing an innocent driver. Wrong is wrong. There are no levels or grades.

What do we teach the next generation before they take their first trip overseas?

** afterthought **

Janet brought up a point – lots of people argue around the idea that there are things that are conditionally “less wrong” – it could be “less wrong” to kill someone in self defence for example. Personally, I think that in cases that this, the decision was right – it was the right thing to do at that time.

But when is pretending to jack-off on a tied up prisoner, beating someone to a pulp while they are handcuffed to a table, or pretending to execute them just to make yourself feel better, avenge a hurt or killed comrade, or just get a laugh at someone else’s expense for the sheer hell of it EVER right?

America is on a slippery slope, and we are starting to judge things in the micro-scale instead of the global scale. This micro-scale allows someone to say that since beating a person in chains within an inch of his life is not as cruel as beheading an innocent person on video tape, that it is ok. That plays to the lowest denomenator: there will always be something worse, something crueler, something more terrifyingly horrible that we can compare anything against. But this scale serves to do nothing other than set the bar lower regarding what is tolerable in a normal society.

We need to return to looking at things on the global scale. It isn’t about if one thing is worse than another when both of these things are clearly wrong. It isn’t an acceptable justification, and should not be an acceptable justification to ANYONE to say that it’s ok for a soldier of a civilized society to remove an individual of his human rights just because that person is of the same race of the people he/she is fighting.

My opinion: zero tolerance.

Sorry, I don’t care the reason. Abuse a prisoner, 20 years in hard labor. You say your commander made you do it? I say that the Nuremburg trials proved that following orders is not a valid excuse.

It’s time for Americans to become the leaders in the hearts and the minds of the world again. It’s time to be better. It’s time to be great.

Ok, time to get off on a controlled rant here…

My wife and I made our decision to move out to Germany for work – not knowing a single person, or a single word of German, about two years ago. Since we knew we would be waiting for months for our property to arrive from the states, we decided that a furnished apartment would be best for us, and based on a mention in a Munich Found magazine I brought back from a business trip, we decided to go through Mr. Lodge.

At that time, we thought it was the best solution. They had a large selection of units, a well designed website, and they were willing to correspond with us in English. Mr. Lodge catered to expats, and that made us comfortable. Maybe a little too comfortable.

In the week leading up to our pre-move scouting trip (to find an apartment, file the appropriate paperwork) we were in constant contact with one of the principals of Mr. Lodge. We gave him a list of more than 10 apartments that we wanted to see. Only having 6 days to find and close the contract for an apartment, we scheduled an appointment to see these apartments the following morning. We were assured that we would be picked up and shown a number of places.

After flying in and getting a slight runaround trying to get in touch with our contact, we finally spoke with his colleague and was told that he was not in the office but was given his mobile phone number. We left a message on his handy and was contacted later that night. At that point, we were told that there was only one really good option still available. We asked for him to come up with a list of other options. He said that he could show us a unit that Monday. It was now Friday night. We left mid the next week. Our first, and at that point, only appointment was scheduled with only 72 hours after that to close all of our pre-move arrangements.

On Sunday, I tracked my contact down and he told me that we were set for Monday morning. Since it was pouring rain, I asked if he would, as confirmed earlier, be picking us up at the hotel. He said that there was no car available. Interesting, as when he arrived at the apartment (late), he was driving.

We liked the apartment, and feeling time pressure, moved forward with closing a contract. We paid the deposit and went through the handover. The handover was not conducted by my contact (he was “sick”) but by someone who spoke NO English, was late, and had no interest. She wrote on the form that everything was fine and got one key for the front door/apartment. The handover took less than 5 minutes. On leaving we requested DSL connectivity to be set up, and that Mr. Lodge leaves the second full set of keys, the mail key, the garage key and the location of the garage on the kitchen table. Why? Because when we moved from the states in two weeks, I would have a meeting at 9am the next morning. No second set of means my wife would be stuck inside without a way to get in, or I would be stuck if she went out.

We arrived at about 9pm on a Sunday. No second keys. No DSL. Nothing. Calls to my contact’s mobile phone were left unanswered. In a panic, I called (and woke up) my landlord who offered to come in early the next morning with a second set of keys. Luckily, he spoke English.

After that, I never talked to Mr. Lodge again. That is, until we decided to move to Cologne last month. My landlord, who I had never seen since that first day, and who I exchanged two or three emails with regarding a satellite installation, said that Mr. Lodge would do the handover back. I scheduled an appointment for the day we moved out.

That day was a nightmare. The movers horribly underestimated the amount of crap we had in the house (they said 14qm, it was 24 when packed), which meant that the 3 hour move out now took over 8 hours. We had to finish the cleaning of the apartment (I had already repainted and cleaned all of the landlord’s stuff), then drive up to Cologne because the movers were coming the following morning at 8am to unload everything at our new place. We didn’t have time to spare, yet the Mr. Lodge contact (not our original person from two years ago) didn’t show up. After 30 minutes of waiting, I called Mr. Lodge, furious. Our original contact showed up 45 minutes later and gave the apartment a clean bill of health, but noted two things: dry the window sills to prevent mold (the apartment was VERY prone to mold – not airing it out for more than a few days led to mold appearing in the corners), and clean the oven better (hell, it was in the same condition it was in when we got there years ago). We cleaned the sills and the oven to a condition better than when we moved in, and left for Cologne.

The move in document and the move out were exactly the same, except that the move out stated that we needed to clean the oven.

Our landlord came in two weeks later and was treated to mold (I warned Mr. Lodge) and some perceived minor damage. He did immediately refund half the deposit and said he was going to get a quote for additional cleaning and a few repairs, and then refund any additional monies back. I informed him that Mr. Lodge gave it a clean bill of health and told him to follow up, because if the move-out document stated no damage, he needs to take it up with his agent.

My complaint is not with my landlord. I am sure that within the next few days, I will get copies of the cleaning invoice and a further refund. My problem is with Mr. Lodge and their constant do-nothing attitude.

A new recipe that is coming out very nice…

500 Grams of a ziti, penne or other open tube pasta

250 Grams fresh italian sausage (thin)
2 roasted peppers (red or yellow) in olive oil
1 large yellow onion
2 chilies
1 head fresh garlic
olive oil
black pepper
pesto (about three heaping tablespoons)
white wine
15 cherry tomatos (halved)

Put the sausage in a cold sauce pan over high heat until it starts to render fat. Add splash of white wine and cover. Flip when brown and add some thickly sliced onion. Add sliced peppers. Remove sausage and cut into small pieces, return to pan. Set pan to low heat. Add chilies, a little more white wine, the sliced fresh garlic and the pesto. Combine. Let simmer 5-10 minutes without stirring so the tomatos don’t break apart.

Toss with pasta and grated pecorino sardo.

Wish I took a picture of dinner tonight…

The Duck…
2 Large Duck Breasts (Barbarie)

For the Duck…
2 large red chilies
1 mandarin orange (the juice of it)
1 roughly chopped head of fresh garlic
Olive oil (a couple of splashes)

The Salad…
1 head lollo rosso (ruby lettuce)
1 head frissee
2 discs of goat cheese
1 handful sliced almonds
3 mandarins (the juice from)
extra virgin olive oil
1 thinly sliced red onion
Balsamic Vinegar

The duck:
Score skin and rub some of the duck marinade mixture into the skin (should be about half of the mix).

Put it in a cold sautee pan and put it on high, skin side down. When it starts to render the fat, leave it on high for 5 minutes, then flip and reduce heat to medium and let it cook for another 10 minutes. When done, let rest and then slice thin.

For the salad, take the greens, the rest of the duck marinade and the goat cheese, toss.

Take the almonds and lightly toast them in a frying pan. Add to juice of orange. Add onions, olive oil and balsamic vinegar to mix. Combine and add to the salad. Toss.

Arrange salad on plate. Drizzle with two tablespoons of the rendered duck fat. Drape the sliced duck onto the salad. Serve.

Another quick recipe from the house of Glasser:

250 Grams of fresh angel hair or taglierini pasta

400 grams red snapper (in four 100gr pieces)
1 Red Bell Pepper, sliced into big strips
1 Yellow Bell Pepper, cut the same way
1 Large Yellow Onion, again, cut the same way
4 Roma Tomatos, cut into 1/8ths
1 head of fresh garlic, roughly chopped
The Juice of 1 Lemon
Red Pepper Flakes
Butter
White wine
olive oil

Prepare the pasta and then coat with a little olive oil.

Take a large sautee pan and put in a good amount of butter and some olive oil. Add peppers and onions, cook until a little soft. Add tomatos. Add about a cup of wine, some hot pepper flakes, and the chopped fresh dill. Add the lemon juice. Taste and ad salt and pepper if needed. Place the fish fillets on top of vegetables and cover so that it steams for about 8 minutes.

Serve in a shallow bowl with the broth over the pasta. Serves 2 – 4.

For anyone who has lived in California, you realize that there are three elements, that when in the proper ratio, determines you are in a city.

The first element is take out/delivery food. Not just Pizza, and certainly not just cheap shit, at a real city, you can get take out food from almost every restaurant, and you have a wide range of good delivery food.

Density of Starbucks is point two. Sorry, not just any coffee shop, but Starbucks. I know, they aren’t my favorite by a long shot (though I do like their hot chocolate) either, but you need at least three Starbucks in the downtown area to really qualify as being a city.

Finally, we come to the third and final qualification for being considered a city, juice bars/smoothie shops. Extra credit for the establishment of local chains of smoothie shops. Half credit for juice shops that are part of organic grocery stores or co-op stores. Triple credit for juice shops that offer nutritional add-ins (energy powder, vitamin powder, etc…).

With these three qualifications in mind, let’s walk through the places where we have lived…

Slippery Rock, PA: Delivery Food – pizza. Starbucks – Not even on their top 1000 destinations. Juice stores – nope. Determination: Not a city.

Morgantown, WV: Delivery Food – pizza. Starbucks – probably have one now, but not when we were living there. Juice bars – in the student union of the university. Determination: Not a city when we were living there.

Boston: Delivery Food – very varied. Takeout available from lots of places. Starbucks – yep – they even bought out a beloved local coffee chain. Juice bars – yes. Determination: Definitely a city.

San Francisco: Delivery Food – practically everywhere had takeout or delivery, plus two competing companies that did delivery from major restaurants. Starbucks – outside my office, there were Starbucks on three of the four corners outside my building. Juice Bars – you couldn’t swing a dead hippie without hitting a Jamba Juice. Determination: City.

Hartford, CT: Takeout/Delivery – Non Existant aside from pizza and sandwiches. Starbucks – One downtown. Juice stores – nope. Determination: Not a city.

Munich: Takeout/Delivery – Very limited. You could get pizza and the occasional delivery from a Chinese or Indian place. Takeaway was a little more common. Starbucks – just got their first one, not downtown but near the university. Juice – lots of fruit stands that sold juice at the Viktualienmarkt, but no real juice shops. Determination: Not really a city.

And finally, that brings us to Cologne, Germany. Takeout/Delivery: Lots of takeout and delivery. Bonus for a company that delivers from about a dozen really good restaurants. Starbucks – Three in the inner city. Juice bars – two downtown at Appelhofplatz, including the founding location of a new regional chain, Jay’s Juice which makes a damned good strawberry-banana smoothie. Determination: Definitely a real city.

There you have it. With the new Jay’s Juice that just opened on Saturday, Cologne is significantly more of a city than Munich could ever claim to be.

Next time – city ratings based on the Subway (underground train) vs. Subway (the sandwich shop) ratio…