The BBC blog moderators suck

I've tried to post this a few times on Justin Webb's blog to no avail. Can I link to this? Let's see.

Marbles, thanks, I ask because I have followed goings on in the ME since 1970. I lived in Saudi for 15 months, aged 10 and have been interested ever since. Then I used to wave at King Faisal (and he waved back) when he spend Ramadan in Taif. There, women could not drive (and still cannot), alcohol was banned (you could get away with drinking home brew, but just don't give it to the locals).

I then spent a good few school vacations in Jordan in the late 70s while the new Amman airport was being built. I worked on the project, and I know what Inshallah means in practice, rather than in theory.

I met many Palestinians, saw Palestinian camps, know why they existed despite the financial donations, and had guns pointed at me. I know why it's OK to have close encounters with donkeys, and why drivers overtake around bends and indeed anywhere they cannot see oncoming traffic (it's that Inshallah thing).

I understand why the Israelis behave the way they do, and I understand why the Palestinians react.

That said, I do not understand why the Israelis continue to build settlements, or why voting Hamas can end in anything other than tears. I believe that Arafat had a chance of securing sovereignty and peace but he was more interested n power, and so the area has lost 10 years of peace and prosperity. I do not believe though that the Palestinians deserve nothing.

It's a big place

Last weekend I went to southern Idaho with my son, his friend, and his friend's father. The boys both play soccer and are involved in state level training (called the Olympic development program). The first 2 sessions had been based locally. This session, 3 hours, was to be in Caldwell.

We could have flown from Spokane, in neighboring Washington state. This is only an hours drive away. Then a one hour fight to Boise, rent a car, and drive 20 minutes to Caldwell.

Instead we took the cheap option. We drove down through Idaho, a mere 400 mile, 7 hour drive. So we had to go on the Saturday and stay the night. The training took place, and then we got back in the car. This time we took the longer yet quicker route. Adding another 50 miles, we came up through Oregon and Washington before turning back into Idaho. This only took 6 and a half hours.

The point of all this is the size of this one state, with a population of 1.5 million. Idaho is large and sparsely populated. So why do so many people have guns? Well, how long do you want to wait for the police to turn up and help? Will the be too late to help? Crime is not a major problem in the mostly rural areas, but why take a chance when you don't have to? Tight gun control takes place in the UK. The only effect of this control is that only the bad guys have guns. Aren't politicians clever?

Hunting, shooting and fishing

I was struck by the number of people who were against Palin because she was a 'moose killer'. Here in North Idaho, and indeed all around the USA, a huge number of people hunt. They do so for a number of reasons.

Free meat. OK, you need to pay for the licence and tag, but why pay for expenive beef when you have access to much cheaper (and tastier) meat?

Male bonding. It's undeniably a mostly male thing. Many go off into the mountains for the weekend with friends and sons, many go for a week at a time. It's a beatiful place to be, surrounded by amazing scenery and wildlife. Just make sure you wear the hunter's orange, humans can look amazingly like elk sometimes.

Guns. Many have guns and they like to use them.

Put these three reasons together and you have fun providing good cheap food for your family and friends. My neighbor has given me plenty. Deer is always welcome. Elk steaks are great. Moose is best in burgers. Bear makes great sausage. Don't be sqeamish, enjoy!

Memories

For some reason on this election day a line from a song from back in 1980 came to mind. "Left or right, right or left, it takes the same old oourse."

Bloody Revolution, by Crass.

Actually, more than that one line strikes a chord. I'll be spending the rest of the evening digging out my old vinyl singles now.