FIRED UP AGAIN !?

For my sister the new year started with a shock. She was phoned at 1.30 at night on 1 January that the salon where she works was on fire. She rushed out of bed and drove to the salon to look after the interests. After the fire brigade had put the fire out it turned out that the damage was not too serious. A rocket had set fire to the roof and the entrance was set alight. Besides the annoying water and soot damage they were able to open the salon on Friday. As support I put up a link to their website as well as a link to the message on the website of the local newspaper.

http://www.destentor.nl/regio/epevaassen/epe/4285503/Toch-weer-ruiten-kapot.ece

http://www.cosmonique.com/

This is already the second post on fire and my weblog is only three months old. And I hate fire ! Why bother us with it then, you might say?! It illustrates perfectly the point I was making in my post of 30 December 2008 on my hopes for my country: less patronizing. How come ? Two current discussions in my country concern a ban on commercial fireworks and a compulsory installation of fire alarms in homes.

http://marc-melnik.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-hopes-for-my-country.html

It will not surprise you that I am not a fan of a ban on fireworks; not because I want to let off fireworks myself or because I do not see the dangers of fireworks, but simply because a ban does not work !! At this moment it is prohibited in my country to let off firecrackers etcetera before 10 AM on 31 December. Obviously it is not a priority for the police to enforce this ban, because I hear nothing but firecrackers for the last two weeks, and little priority is OK. A ban only increases the "charm". It is all about education and taking responsibility (parents ?!).

With its tradition of patronizing you would suspect that Dutch parliament would support compulsory fire alarms in homes. Wrong !! I do not know the reasoning. If I had to be patronizing, this was one of the first measures I would take. Because it can save yourself, the people you live with, the neighbours and the community so much sorrow if you can control a fire yourself. I experienced it.

My advice:

1. Buy a.s.a.p. a fire alarm, if you do not own one already;

2. Install it in a central place in your home or property (f.e. hallway or kitchen);

3. Check the battery regularly !!!

4. Leave information where you can be reached (especially for offices, shops etc.);

5. Consider the purchase of a fire extinguisher;

6. Read the manual of the fire extinguisher !!!

7. Not only read 1 to 6 but also do them (wel doen hoor!).

For the next few years or so no post on fire anymore. I promise !!

TOO CONTROVERSIAL

It is not that often that I am proud of my country. Yesterday France and The Netherlands took the initiative to a UN declaration seeking to decriminalize homosexuality, which is a memorable event because it appears the first initiative to do so. Yes, the first. At first, I thought I did not read it correctly; no mistake, in all those years this was the first time that countries "dared" to come up with such a declaration. Shocking, but true !

First though I owe you an apology. At several occasions I stated that I did not want to turn this blog into a blog on gay issues, but there are such a lot of developments that I can not keep silent. I hope you understand ! Sure you do.

OK. The declaration condemned human rights violations based on homophobia, saying such measures run counter to the universal declaration of human rights. After reading the UN Declaration for Human Rights it is, in my opinion, not possible to conclude otherwise. Look at the first three articles:

"Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person."

Where is the spirit of brotherhood; what right to life, liberty and security of person ? What is so controversial about that ? Only 66 countries supported the initiative (mainly European and Latin-American states) even though it was not a UN resolution and therefore not binding. It is not a surprise that the Vatican and Islamic states were not among those states, but what about US, Russia and China ? What are they afraid of or do they want to preserve their "right to discriminate"?

The bloody limit is that 60 states supported an opposing statement which rejected the idea that sexual orientation was a matter of genetic coding and that the effort threatened to undermine the international framework of human rights by trying to normalize pedophilia, among other acts. I take this as a personal insult ! As if people deliberately choose to live in fear and risk to be stoned, hanged, decapitated and tortured ! How dumb people can be - it makes me angry and sad !

For 2009 I decided to boycot those states in which homosexuality is banned (80) and in which it is subject to the death penalty (9; Mauretania, Nigeria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi-Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen). Those states will not lose any sleep over it, I know, but I have to do this out of selfrespect. It will not be manageable to check for every banana or every liter of petrol where it is from; my best must be good enough. And don't come up with the argument that the peoples of those countries will suffer from boycots. In my opinion this is paternalism; you can not hide behind ignorance. Respect has nothing to do with poverty !

My world is getting smaller and smaller (no more holidays to Africa and Asia) and I want it to grow !

THE BLACKLIST:

AFRICA:
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mauretania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe;

AMERICAS:
Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Saint Kitts, Saint Lucia, Trinidad;

ASIA:
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Burma, Cook Islands, India, Kiribati, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan, Western Samoa;

EUROPE:
none (yes, even the Vatican);

MIDDLE EAST:
Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Yemen;

http://www.sodomylaws.org/world/world.htm
http://www.amnesty.org/en/sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/world/19nations.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=United%20Nations&st=cse
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/12/18/un-general-assembly-statement-affirms-rights-all

IT GOES UP IN SMOKE

Today I got very irritated by the ongoing discussion in my country on the prohibition to smoke in bars and restaurants. Since the 1st of July it is not allowed to smoke in bars and restaurants, but in practice a lot of bars do allow smoking even though they are heavily fined. Earlier it has been prohibited in offices and other places where people work. I am not a smoker but why prohibit everything ?

People know that smoking is bad for their health and smokers make a conscience choice to smoke; who are we as the public, through our representatives in parliament, to tell them that they should not smoke. Paternalistic ! I want to live in a free country, where you should be free to do whatever you like as long as it does not hurt others and you don´t bring yourself in a dangerous situation unknowingly, for example children. We will die anyway; why not choose how and when to do it. But you must be willing to also accept the consequences: the medical costs directly related to smoking and a shorter life.

OK; of course there are non-smokers in the bar who are also affected by the nicotine-fumes. But you do not have to go to a bar; this is also a choice. If there was a market for non-smoke bars, these bars would have been created a long time ago.

As a jurist I studied the judicial system and came across a lot of baloney provisions. That´s why I do not see myself as a "proper" lawyer; in my opinion a system only works with basic provisions to regulate the system and sees to it that these basic provisions are observed. If you want to bring society ahead, society should have the freedom to develop itself and not be restricted by bureaucratic procedures. Anyway, we do not have enough police officers and other government staff to enforce all these regulations and nobody is willing to pay extra money. This creates irritation, inequality and is detrimental to governmental and legal authority.

Do not let the moral majority rule this country (certainly not a religious moral majority) !! I want to decide myself ; I am sensible and I know what I am doing. That´s that !!