Mmm

Liverpool failed to successfully convert the chances they made and Paolo "One Club" Maldini's two howlers went unpunished. Surprisingly, Stevie G didn't make Maldini pay as he shot too close to Dida. Well done to Milan though, for Liverpool, the rebuilding continues.

So David Beckham has finally been deemed worthy to put on an England shirt - I can't believe that he wasn't considered one of England's 23 best players for 10 months, up until his recall on Saturday. If Phil "The Donkey" Neville can be in the England team, how is it possible to leave Beckham out? David Beckham has made a career out of proving people wrong and he will continue to do so, LA Galaxy move notwithstanding.

The mainstream media in the US is mostly supine with very few papers and no TV networks critical of the White House administration - one could venture to say that the media in the US is state controlled in all but name. Hugo Chavez has determined that one of the TV channels in Venezuela, RCTV is trying to destabilise his government and has decided not to renew its TV license. RCTV will stay on air, but it has lost its public broadcast frequency so it will no longer be able to reach as wide an audience as before. He has also put a second TV channel, Globovision, on notice. Given that Chavez was temporarily deposed in an externally engineered (no prizes for guessing who was behind it) in coup in April 2002, who can blame him?

Did you know that when the US makes a food aid donation, it insists that the food has to be sourced in the US despite the enormous cost involved in shipping it to the latest famine hotspot. Analysts have argued that the US would be better off making a cash donation which would allow the famine afflicted country to source the food locally and would be much cheaper as well. You can read how US food aid donations have destroyed Malawi's maize production here.

¡Hasta luego!

Pot calling kettle black

Transparency International has in the recent past labelled Nigeria as the most corrupt nation on earth. I'm not sure where the US ranked or the UK for that matter, but if one is looking for corruption on a monumental scale, one need look no further than what Haliburton is doing in Iraq. Paul Wolfowitz was caught with his hand in the cookie jar - he influenced/intimidated the powers that be to ensure his Iraqi girlfriend got jobs in Iraq and later at the State Department. In Kenya, we call that nepotism, the World Bank's board, calls it acting in good faith because the guidelines weren't clear. The board of the World Bank should tender their resignation with immediate effect because any integrity they may have had, has gone along with their absolution of Wolfie.

Whoever sang that war is good for absolutely nothing, got it totally wrong as the profit earnings of Haliburton and KBR can attest. Haliburton was awarded contracts on the basis of their links to Dick Cheney and despite this, they still overcharged the US Army when it came to fuel, as the US Army's own Inspector General discovered. I thought war profiteering was a felony - evidently the some animals are more equal than others rule applies here. In the UK, the AG halted an investigation into how BAE came to win a contract with the Saudis for fears it would jeopardise future multi-billion pound contracts. BAE, a significant contributor to the UK's GDP, exerted considerable pressure on Downing Street to halt the investigation.

So the next time the US and the UK see fit to lecture another country on corruption or lack of transparency just say Haliburton, Wolfowitz or BAE.

****UPDATE****
It has since emerged that BAE has been accused of paying ONE BILLION POUNDS STERLING to a Saudi prince, over a 10 year period, who saw to it that BAE was awarded their biggest weapons contract. What's more, it was done with the full complicity of Britain's Ministry of Defence - more details here.

Mea culpa

If I haven't achieved what my talents indicate I should,
it's solely down to the choices I have made
and the decisions I haven't.
The buck as they say, stops with me.

If the truth be known, I've done things on my own terms
which in reality means that it can take longer
to get to where I want to be.
The buck as they say, stops with me.

Living in the moment

I've resolved to live in the moment, the here and now,

the past is gone and who knows what the future holds?

That isn't to say that I'm not planning for the future,

but best laid plans can go awry.



So my primary objective is to live in the present,

I'll hold onto my dreams and put plans in place,

but as I've experienced life's volte-face

realism will now serve as my essence.

Mmm

Wolfie has finally bowed to the remarkable united stand of Europe and less than lukewarm support from Africa and resigned from his role as President of the World Bank on condition that he's absolved of any wrong doing. Well, a Channel 4 investigation shows that he got his girlfriend a job in Iraq that she should not have been able to get on account of the fact that as a foreign national, she wasn't eligible for the requisite clearance to get the job - Wolfie made sure her name went on the clearance list. I don't know about you, but methinks he put l'amour before national security. To paraphrase the L'Oreal ad, "because she's worth it". This does raise the question as to whether the World Bank and the IMF have outlived their usefulness. Hugo Chavez seems to think so and he has a lot of support in Latin America and amongst developing nations. "Trade not aid" said Museveni and if developing countries were giving fairer trade terms, they wouldn't need to borrow loans with conditions attached in the first place.

The Bushman (apologies to any San or Khoikhoi readers) and Bliar are still in denial about the monumental folly that is Iraq. I wonder if that will still be the case when Bliar goes on trial in the Hague for his illegal occupation of a sovereign nation.

Think it was fitting that DD scored the goal that won Chelski the FA Cup. He really is indefatigable. Liverpool will bring down the curtain on Maldini's illustrious career when they beat AC Milan in Athens.

The Swiss Maestro finally got the better of El Pirata in Hamburg, but this was a fatigued El Pirata and he's still a sure bet to win the French Open in my book.

At last the athletics season is underway. There was a meet in Carson, LA where numerous world leading times were set, notably in the women's 100m where the first three ran under 11s. There was a world leading mark set in the men's javelin too. Old stager, MO "The Kansas Canonball" Greene failed to make the final of the men's 100m where Tyson Gay ran a wind aided 9.79s for another world lead. Across the Atlantic in Loughborough, there were a number of world class performances notably in the women's javelin and the men's 4x100m.

Adios from Tenjo, Colombia till next week.

Mother Nature's canvas

Every now and again (infact, more often than that), I marvel at the visual spectacles that Mother Nature likes to paint on an ever changing canvas.

NYC

For continuous pulsating energy, NYC is hard to beat which is why it is one of my favourite cities.

In and around Berlin

Spent the weekend in Berlin and took some snaps along the way.

Mmm

One wonders how he went from Bambi to Bliar to Bomber in the space of 10 years. Listening to his farewell speech last week, what struck me was how earnest and sincere he sounded (nothing changed there then!) despite the delusional aspect of some of what he was saying. The salient point of his speech was when he said that "....10 years is long enough for me and for the country." However, as he had taken spin to a new art form, it is worth noting that he went before he was pushed.

El Pirata continues to go from strength to strength as he notched up his 77 consecutive victory on the "dirt" by doing a threepeat at the Rome Masters. The Swiss Maestro on the other hand is going through something of a turbulent patch after losing in Rome (his 4th defeat of the year and he only lost 5 times the whole of last year) and he has now parted ways with his coach.

Lewis Hamilton is leading the F1 drivers' championship after coming second in Barcelona and setting a host of records along the way (youngest driver to lead the championship, the first driver to finish on the podium in 4 consecutive races). He's keeping his feet firmly on the ground and no doubt continues to frighten his father as he notches up feat after impressive feat.

Tiger Woods is nothing if not consistent, continue to toil at the Players Championship which at least gave Lefty a chance to shine.

Congrats to DD for staying on his feet and becoming the Premiership's top scorer in the process. It would be fitting if he could fire Chelski to victory next Saturday and thereby hand Mourinho the only trophy he is yet to win.

La Liga is set for an exciting conclusion as bitter rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona amassed the same number of points with 4 games of the season remaining. I would like the white shirts to win it so David Beckham will win something in his final season in Spain. A la Madrid!!

Over and out for this week.

Cycling

If you are looking for legitimate ways to raise your endorphin count, you need look no further than cycling. Of course, having a good bike definitely helps and with 24 gears and shock absorbers, she's better than good.

As cyclist, you are free to ride where you please and thank goodness Reading Council has deemed cyclists worthy and has created cycling paths for us. The only snag is, that sometimes these paths can end pretty abruptly and we are then forced to mix with the 2+ wheelers.

Pedestrians are the most unpredictable. You can be riding behind someone and all of a sudden, they will come to an abrupt halt and as you take evasive action to avoid a collision, they will decide to continue on their merry way oblivious to the mayhem they have caused. Pedestrians, like water, will fill any space and when they stand 3 abreast blocking your path while they have a natter, it's enough to give you pavement/sidewalk rage.

Then there are the 2+ wheelers who take exception to you whizzing past them and block your path - a bus actually did that to me so I was unable to surpass my then maximum speed of 34 km/h.

Since I got my cyclocomputer, I have reached a maximum speed of 69.2 km/h (I really can't remember going so fast!!) and clocked 404.27 km and which may not be enough to offset the carbon footprint I'll create as I fly to continental Europe, North America, Latin America and back, but it's a start.

I think I may need to invest in a rearview mirror because turning one's head is a bit of a no,no especially when you come to a roundabout T-junction. On Sunday, I had turned my head over my right shoulder as I approached the roundabout and saw a car indicating that it wanted to turn left. I knew I could cross the road before the car turned, but in the time it took me to face the front, another car had made a right turn at the roundabout so I had to make a sharp right turn to avoid any third party damage to my bike - I stayed on the bike so my sense of balance is pretty good.

Q: Why is a cyclist like the mother of a toddler?
A: They both need eyes in the back of their head

Mmm

Last week Hugo Chavez took back control of Venezuela's oil wealth from the likes of BP, Chevron, Conoco, Shell, Statoil through nationalisation. Back in January, he put the multi-national oil companies on notice of his intention to nationalise the oil industry and on May 1st this came into effect. Out of the 6 multi-nationals, it was only Conoco who had not signed the renegotiated terms, but they were expected to do so. An analyst wondered if Venezuela's state run oil company has the expertise to cope. 51 years ago, Britain and France wondered expressed similar sentiments when Gamal Abdel Nasser decided to nationalise the Suez Canal - the Egyptians managed fine and I'm sure Venezuela will too - Africa take note, the minerals belong to Africa and her peoples so make sure your peoples are the ones to benefit and not the rapacious, blood sucking, environmentally unsound, exploitative multinationals.

Brazil also decided to tell Merck where to go with regards to the patent for one of the AIDS drugs Merck manufacturers. Following Brazil's decision to break the patent, Merck offered to supply the drug at a 30% discount.

Chelski, Chelski, Chelski, what can I say?! Didn't I tell you we would rout you at Anfield?! Hell should have frozen over before Geremi was allowed to take a penalty and as for Arjen Robben, as he came off the pitch after the end of extra time, Mourinho asked him about penalty taking and the manner in which he waved his hand was a clear indication of his regard for the shootout - his gesture said whatever and lo and behold, he whatevered his penalty. We shut up Chelski and now it's time to shut up Gennaro Gattuso. Chelski can make Mourinho happy by winning the only trophy he hasn't won, the FA Cup. SAF was given a fine bottle of Italian by Carlo Ancelotti after Milan comprehensively dismantled TTFUTM at the San Siro. He hopes to toast Milan's success in Athens - that will be a forlorn hope because Rafa "The Master Tactian" Benitez is already working on a plan to nullify Kaka & Seedorf. I do hope Paulo "One Club" Maldini will be fit for the final because that would be just reward for his longevity and loyalty - I still don't think he's much of a looker, he's always remind me of an apparition.

The NBA playoffs are throwing up some interesting results as both last years finalists, the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat are out.

Have a good week.

Oxymorons

The greatest misnomer there is, is common sense. For example, I tend to hang out at a cafe that provides free WiFi access. As the battery on my iBook is knackered, I plug my adapter into a socket all the time. Infact I was there for an hour this morning before heading off somewhere. So it was to my surprise this afternoon that the receptionist informed me that a morning management decree (I was there shortly after they opened) meant that I could no longer use their electricity. When I asked to speak to the manager, her rational was as follows; she said that if she invited me to her house, would I expect to use her electricity? Bemused, I thought, firstly, there is no way on earth that I would accept an invitation to her house and secondly she must be paying the cafe's electricity bill, otherwise how else do you explain her preponderance for keeping tabs on every milliamp of electricity used?! However, what I don't get is how a cafe can provide free WiFi access yet deny the said WiFi users electricity access. I suggested she put up signs saying power usage is not allowed to go with the No Smoking ones!!

Civil war - ain't nothing civil about war. War, what is it good for, absolutely nothing.

Delusional sincerity - see here

Friendly fire - if only the fatalities of this misnomer could let us know what degree of friendship is required to kill someone

Fuzzy logic - I always thought logic was pretty clear cut, either this or that, but apparently it can be pretty unclear or fuzzy.

Magic realism - Colombia's renowned writer Gabrierl Garcia Marquez is an exponent of the genre. I'm told that Love in the Time of Cholera is very illustrative of this.

Organised chaos - my favourite