cakap cakap...a lifetime has almost passed between us.

I am 67 this year. That is a lot of living by any criteria.I have done a lot of things in my life... not all of them good. I know most of you would rather hear of the bad things that I have done rather than the good things but right at this very moment I am not in a "show and tell" mode...so tough titties to those who are waiting to hear what I have done in my life that I have lived to regret. 

The one good thing I know I have done for myself was to marry my wife. Marry her when I was 21, with no money, no education and without too much sense in my head. You see if someone had sat down with me then and told me what was the sensible and responsible thing to do when you are 21 without enough education to even hold down any decent job I would have probably agreed that marrying a Greek Girl at 21 was not the best thing for me to do then. Thank God nobody talked to me!

My wife splendidly rugged up for a Winter evening! 

Now a lifetime has almost passed  between us...I say almost because we are both still here in the present. A bit torn and tattered for wear and tear but standing up to the rigors of life with a stoic determination and belief that this is the best times of our life....and why should it not be? Nothing comes between our life together now. Nothing! 

Take now.....its almost 11 a.m on a cold Wednesday morning. I have been awake since 6 and have spent my time doing what I normally do - getting the house organized, taking what sustenance my body dictates and getting myself acquainted with what else is happening in the world outside my apartment. They are still killing people in Gaza though it seems that a ceasefire is holding...but only just. An earthquake in Yunan province in China has so far killed 400 and in Malaysia nothing eclipses the Selangor MB episode....and all this and many more I can learn more off or flick them away with a click of my mouse! And believe you me that I frequently chose to click them away rather than immerse myself into the troubles of the world. 

I have decided to let my wife sleep in this morning. She was a bit tired last night and I have found it increasingly more difficult to motivate her to go for walks with me. I have begun to think of how many more years we might still have together. Who will leave first? And how will the other go on living without the other? These are not pleasant thoughts to think about but immortality are not stuff we can dream about. When my thoughts wander there it makes me more determined to make our times together more enjoyable....and nothing is more enjoyable them smiling at each other! We do not need to talk...just reach out and let our fingers touch and we give each other a smile....and we are both happy. No need to go for a holiday in Fiji or Bali...there is not need to dress up for a night out on the town or to visit the theatre...just sitting close to each other on the couch is enough.....life is good.

Me in the morning when I do not look like Brad Pitt.

Nudity....Malaysia Boleh!

Ahhhh a good news story that tickles more than just the ivory keys.....and the Malays, Muslims, Reduan Tee, Bung Mokhtar, Deepak or Ibrahim Ali has nothing to do with it at all! 

The MIC may have some claim to be part of the story if that guy with the cap,  third from the left, can be verified to be a card carrying member of that organization...... but all things considered we must take our hats off to the Chinese for giving us reason to smile and look closely at parts unverified for reasons best unexplained. 

I am disappointed that the genders are not equally represented - three females against eight males but everybody seems happy enough and I will not speculate that there has been a deliberate attempt to exclude "senior citizens" of my genre from the festivities...but even if invited the only part of me that you will be privileged to see will be that hand to the extreme left of the picture. That and nothing more because at my age most parts of my body are NOT for public examination....and you know which part I am talking about.

For those of you who want to hantam any authorities or state government for allowing nudity anywhere in Malaysia.....come on lah.....steadylah.....have you ever since so many smiling faces in a picture before where the only thing on display is what the Good Lord has bestowed upon them? Nothing more and nothing less...though I am sure there are some guys out there with a bit less than what some of us have been granted by the same Good Lord....and where I stand in this is for me to know and for you to find out.

In closing I want to give my thanks to all those guys and girls in the above snap shot for making me smile on a drab, cold and wintry Winter morning in Melbourne. Malaysia boleh!    

Every day in every way I am drawn back to think of Umno as being the party we Malays must go back to....how not to when we are confronted by the circus that is Pakatan Rakyat? The thought of PAS, DAP and PKR running amok in Putrajaya fills me with dread and confusion.....for surely a Pakatan Rakyat government, in the manner it is handling this "Selangor MB episode", has already demonstrated that its component parties will each do what it wants, how it wants and damm the Rakyat!

Pakatan Rakyat....Akhirnya Sebuah Impian.

Kenyatan media Setiausaha Organisasi Kebangsaan DAP merangkap Ahli Parlimen Seremban Loke Siew Fook pada 29 Julai 2014 di Kuala Lumpur. DAP menyeru pimpinan PAS pusat untuk mengambil satu pendirian yang tegas untuk menjauhkan diri dari cadangan Dr Zuhdi dan mengambil tindakan yang sewajarnya untuk mengembalikan keyakinan penyokong-penyokong Pakatan Rakyat khasnya DAP di seluruh negara terhadap PAS. DAP amat terkilan dengan pendedahan mesej Pengarah Operasi Pusat Penyelidikan PAS Pusat Dr Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki dalam “Whatsapp AJK PAS Pusat” yang berbunyi; “Kalau kita keluar PR kita boleh retain Selangor malah untuk seterusnya. Kita 15 kerusi+TSKI+seorang lagi ADUN PKR+12 UMNO, dah bentuk simple majoriti. UMNO dalam kenyataannya mutakhir ini boleh terima TSKI jadi MB..Lepas ini kalau DAP, gereja dan non Muslim melalak isu serbuan, kalimah Allah, kita boleh jentik saja mereka. Hujung tahun ini ubah sempadan kembalikan semula kuasa politik Melayu Islam. So mana-mana suara non-muslim, gereja, kita boleh sergah macam sebelum ini...” Yang pertamanya, Dr Zuhdi tidak menafikan menulis mesej tersebut tetapi cuba mempertahankan dirinya dengan mengatakan bahawa apa yang ditulis oleh beliau adalah “analisis senario” kepada cadangan oleh seorang pemimpin kanan PAS supaya PAS keluar dari PR. “Analisis” sebegini lebih-lebih lagi dari seorang pemimpin PAS pusat adalah sangat tidak bertanggungjawab dan ada unsur-unsur membelot kepercayaan rakyat. Walaupun cadangan untuk kekal atau keluar dari PR adalah hak pimpinan PAS, namun cadangan untuk bergabung dengan UMNO dan membentuk kerajaan negeri Selangor adalah satu pengkhianatan bukan sahaja kepada PKR dan DAP, tetapi juga kepada rakyat Selangor khasnya kaum Cina yang telah memberikan mandat yang jelas kepada Pakatan Rakyat dalam PRU13. Mana-mana pemimpin yang berfikiran sebegitu dan melontarkan cadangan tersebut perlu dikutuk dan dihina dengan sekeras-kerasnya. Saya ingin mengingatkan Dr Zuhdi dan mana-mana pimpinan PAS supaya memahami analisa politij bahawa kemenangan kerusi-kerusi yang dimenangi PAS di Selangor adalah melalui sokongan kuat kaum Cina yg menyokong DAP. Pimpinan PAS tak perlu berlagak sombong atau bongkak kerana DAP memainkan peranan besar dalam PRU13 yang lepas. Kalau mengharapkan sokongan kaum Melayu semata amat mustahil untuk PAS menang 15 kerusi DUN di Selangor! Yang keduanya dan lebih mendukacitakan ialah seorang Pengarah Operasi Pusat Penyelidikan PAS yang sepatutnya diamanahkan sebagai “think tank” kepada PAS boleh “mengimaginasi” untuk “menjentik DAP, gereja dan non Muslim” apabila ada pandangan yang berbeza. Ke mana perginya sifat keterbukaan dan toleransi slogan “PAS for ALL”? Saya juga tidak pernah ada imaginasi bahawa seorang pemimpin PAS boleh “mengimaginasi” seperti UMNO untuk mengembalikan kuasa politik Melayu Islam melalui persempadanan semula kawasan pilihanraya. Bukankah cadangan seperti ini seolah-olah bersekongkol dengan SPR dan tiada beza dengan agenda dari PERKASA? Cadangan dan pemikiran Dr Zuhdi ini amat mencemarkan imej positif PAS yang selama ini dilihat sebagai sebuah parti politik yang memperjuangkan keadilan dan kuat berpegang kepada prinsip. Saya yakin majoriti pemimpin PAS Pusat bersama DAP dan amat tidak bersetuju dengan cadangan dan pandangan Dr Zuhdi. DAP menyeru pimpinan PAS pusat supaya mengambil satu pendirian yang tegas untuk menjauhkan diri daripada cadangan Dr Zuhdi dan mengambil tindakan tegas yang sewajarnya untuk mengembalikan keyakinan pengundi-pengundi dan penyokong-penyokong Pakatan Rakyat di seluruh negara terhadap PAS. PAS juga perlu memecat Dr. Zuhdi bagi menghormati dasar kerjasama dengan DAP. Ingatlah bahawa DAP tidak memerlukan PAS sebaliknya PAS yang memerlukan DAP untuk mendapat undi kaum bukan Melayu. Setiausaha Agung Organisasi DAP Kebangsaan LOKE SIEW FOOK

The Man who would be King? I think not!

For me there has been a sense of wonderment bordering most times on the incomprehensible for the path that Anwar Ibrahim has chosen to thread from the time that he decided that the very political entity that was responsible for his incarceration while he was a student leader will also be the political entity he would hitch his political fortunes to. Quite like a moth morbidly attracted to a flame...the very flames that will ultimately be the cause of its death!

"Thus hath the candle singd the moath." Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice, 1596.

How, I asked myself, could Anwar who has stood for everything that the Umno led BN had not - truth, welfare of the poor, needy and downtrodden, the vibrant future that youth promised, the freedom that the common people so craved, democratic principles in government......how did Anwar convinced himself that there is logic in him joining Umno? Were the personal gains on offer from Mahathir for his capitulation to Umno too irresistible for Anwar to ignore? It certainly must have been!  

Time, however, has proven to Anwar Ibrahim the folly of his choice to join Umno. 

The raw genius of Mahathir in enticing Anwar to Umno cannot be argued but it still needed someone without moral courage to take the bait. Anwar Ibrahim was that someone! That it has not worked out to the ends that Mahathir had anticipated is due more to the fact that Anwar loved himself more than he loved the Rakyat ...or for that matter....anybody else. Anwar became more adept then Mahathir at using that "any means to justify a desired end" principle that Mahathir had already made his own. 

The lines between politics and business became blurred as Anwar consistently called upon one to support the other in his madcap helter skelter unbecoming rush to be DPM and eventually, so he thought, be PM.

Even as Anwar publicly professed reverence and respect towards Ghaffar the then DPM, he was deftly, with politics and money, ensuring his own ascension to the number two post. More than anyone else before him and we hope, never again, Anwar Ibrahim used money and politics to promote his own vested political interest. 

Anyone else but Mahathir would have succumb to the Anwar Ibrahim tidal wave but in the end guile and the naked use of raw executive political power by Mahathir meant that Anwar was to spend many years incarcerated in Sungai Buloh.

Now he is again doing the same thing to Pakatan Rakyat and PKR is his weapon of choice.  

Time, or the lack of it, has forced Anwar to show his hands earlier rather than later. As always, Anwar has no compunction in using anyone and anybody to achieve his own ends. Reformasi, DAP, PAS, Bersih.....PKR, his wife, daughters and friends...many many friends....have been used, abused and discarded just so his personal political agenda are met. 

Azizah has been used and abused too many times for the political needs of Anwar Ibrahim, that not only has her credibility been tarnished, but more damaging for her, all the reserves of goodwill and reverence we all once had for a long suffering wife has been used up and is now on empty. In the latest charade we are expected to believe that she is the best person within PKR to be MB of Selangor!   

That best person to be MB of Selangor was once Khalid Ibrahim. Like many others Anwar Ibrahim has used Khalid for his needs and now Anwar wants Khalid gone. 

How long before he discards Azizah?

And if you think Nurul Izzah is another family member on stand by...think again! If she cannot hold her own family together what good is she to us? 

Will Anwar Ibrahim get out of his present predicament? 

For sure he will and must! It is the nature of the beast within Anwar to find a way out of anything....even sodomy....but I fear that his "get out of jail" card will be secured at too great a cost to PKR and Pakatan Rakyat. Some would say the loss of Selangor to BN is already a done deal....but more worrying, what will all this mean for Pakatan Rakyat come the next general election? You all will have your thoughts on this....but for me Anwar had done to PKR and PR what he has already done to Umno....make every thing else superfluous to his needs! 

superflous : When something is so unnecessary that it could easily be done away with, like a fifth wheel on a car or a fifth person on a double date, call it superfluous .

I will no longer take Anwar Ibrahim for what he wants me to believe him to be....the leader of the opposition, a man prosecuted and persecuted by BN for no other reasons than that he is the most credible threat to BN's political survival and the man who would be Prime Minister of Malaysia! We deserve better!

If you have a shred of decency and common sense in your head, you too would have by now abandon any pretence of accepting this Anwar Ibrahim as leader of the opposition  - what more as a potential PM. Our country have no need of someone like him to be PM or leader of the opposition. He has no business to be in politics, no credibility to be a leader nor has he the decency to understand that loyalties by those who have served Anwar Ibrahim should not be cast aside when it serves Anwar Ibrahim's interest to do so.        

  

Me and Bobby McGee..

This is Janis Joplin recording "Me And Bobby McGee" for the first time at Columbia Studios in Hollywood - Janis sounds amazing and completely nails it in one take. The sound is raw and unedited and features studio conversations at beginning. Sadly, just nine days later, she would pass away due to an overdose of heroin.

Put Racism in the right place!

Dear God....let more Israeli Soldiers die!

Today I heard some good news after a horrendous week of killings in Gaza and MH17. 

But first I want to tell you that for me the death of any one for any reason has never been a moment for rejoicing or happiness because every human life is precious. 

This week we have seen the slaughter of women and children by Israeli soldiers as they boasts of 'surgically' targeting civilian areas in Gaza...and now they are on the ground in Gaza presumably continuing with their 'surgical' murder of more children and women. 

What the Germans did to millions of Jews during the Second World War the Jews are now doing to the Palestinians with as much precision and enjoyment as when the Germans were killing Jews whether in the Gas Chamber or shooting them for sport.

What many others have done throughout history to the Jews in many parts of the world, in treating them as the worst human beings that could walk on this earth...the Jews are now doing to the children and women of Palestinians. 

And as I see more and more of the carnage in Gaza there is a rising anger within me that has allowed me to start to understand why the Jews have been treated as pariahs by the Germans and by many others throughout history and only descendants of Pariahs and the worse of human beings act the way the Jews now act against the women and children of Gaza.

And what was the good new that I heard today? 

13 Israeli soldiers have been killed by Hamas! These Jews are vulnerable. They can be killed by Hamas and they now know that they cannot continue with this slaughter of innocent human lives without harm to themselves! And if more Israeli soldiers are killed...then public opinion in Israel will demand that their Government look at other options...and that is why I am happy to hear of the killing of these Israeli soldiers. I grieve for the families of the soldiers but if their death and the death of more Israeli soldiers means that the Israeli government becomes less arrogant start thinking of a ceasefire....then dear God....let more Israeli Soldiers die!

Believe in your Kid! Put money on him!

Rory McIlroy's dad to cash in huge on 10-year-old bet

Devil Ball Golf, Yahoo7 SportUpdated July 21, 2014, 12:20 pm

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A decade ago, Rory McIlroy was a 15-year-old kid with some skill at golf and a dad who believed in him wholeheartedly.

So much so, in fact, that Gerry McIlroy and three friends put together £400, about $700, on an audacious bet: young Rory would win the Open Championship before he turned 26. The odds? 500-1.

McIlroy is now 25. And he went on to win the British Open by two shots this morning.

That crazy little bet doesn't seem so crazy now, does it? The bet will pay £200,000, or more than $365,000. Assuming each of the four partners threw in equally, that's about $90,000 apiece. Not a bad return on investment, yes?

Here's the BBC's Andrew Cotter confirming the bet:

And in case you're still not convinced:

McIlroy joins an elite list of golfers to have won three of the four major titles, but he had to battle all the way against Sergio Garcia and Rickie Fowler.

He joins legends Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus as the only players to have achieved that feat by the time they were 25 and he is the first European to have won three majors.

He also becomes the second most successful British golfer of the modern era behind the six major titles won by Nick Faldo.

The lesson then: parents, bet big on your kids. Sure, their love and gratitude is nice, but so's a six-figure cash payout.

McIlroy and his father. Source: Supplied.

Even Jewish Prime Minister sometimes tells the truth!

And I Love You So.

For my wife.....my Love. 

Anak OKU hilang bapanya di MH17.

Anak OKU hilang tempat bergantung bila bapanya hancur bersama pesawat MH17

‎OLEH DIYANA IBRAHIM

Published: 18 July 2014

Menteri Pengangkutan Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai dan Pengerusi Malaysia Airlines, Tan Sri Md Nor Md Yusof tiba di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kuala Lumpur, Sepang, hari ini. – Gambar The Malaysian Insider oleh Afif Abd Halim, 18 Julai, 2014.Seorang kanak-kanak kurang upaya (OKU) kini hilang tempat bergantung apabila bapanya, salah seorang krew pesawat MH17  mati dalam tragedi di Ukraine itu, kata Kesatuan Kebangsaan Anak-Anak Kapal Kabin Malaysia (Nufam).

Setiausaha Nufam Mohd Akram ‎Osman berkata Mohd Ghafar Abu Bakar, salah seorang krew yang berada di atas kapal itu mempunyai anak kurang upaya.

"Kita semua merasa sedih dengan insiden ini, kita kenal kebanyakan daripada mereka, siapa ahli keluarga mereka dan seperti MH370, MH17 juga terdiri daripada orang lama, orang senior dalam MAS.

"Kita akan cuba bantu daripada segi kewangan atau sokongan emosi," kata Mohd Akram kepada The Malaysian Insider. - 

See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/bahasa/article/oku-hilang-tempat-bergantung-apabila-bapanya-hancur-bersama-pesawat-mh17#sthash.IW0ncWxw.hIGqfuDd.dpuf