Did you ever figure you'd meet a new friend whose parent fought on the otherside of a war?

Well today I did.

Tonight, while hanging around the interwebs, I had a friend request popup in my Facebook. It was from a Vietnamese guy, around my age, that I had briefly welcomed to a group I belong to that are children of Vietnam Veterans.

So, I accept the request, and within a few minutes, I find myself talking to the son, of a Vietnamese woman, who had been imprisoned by the South Vietnamese regime, and after her release, she understandably volunteered to join the Viet Cong.

I was totally blown away. It was something that I had always wanted to do, was to talk to someone on the other side of the fence for once, and just learn about their perspective! The young man, Hien, is a pretty impressive young gentleman himself. He works for a company that helps clear land mines and other explosives from in the Quang Tri province. He also helps probably one of the best known ordinance clearing companies Norwiegen Peoples Aid. This group has been active in so many parts of the world, clearing the deadly ordinance so normal citizens can move around in peace.

If you have the option or the means, please offer your assistance to any of these companies. The work they are doing is of the utmost importance to a country that is already assaulted by the effects of Dioxin based Agent Orange.

I only met Hien today, and have found a member of an extended family. It is only through friendship, cooperation and mutual respect, can we learn to live on the big blue marble we call home. Thank you Hien for the chat. And may your mother be a source of inspiration to you for a long time to come.

Is Rick Perry The Smiler from Transmetropoliton?

Okay, as most of you who watch the news, or read it on the interwebs will know, it is Republican GOP time! Yay, I can't contain my excitement to see which right wing christian fundamentalist nutjob is going to lead the world to either another war, or a rehash of the Dark Ages, where funnily enough, it was the Muslims under the Turkish and Moorish banners that kept science running.

Anyways, I am digressing. SO, as I said, it is Rep GOP time. While seeing the usual slew of white middle-aged christian men get their mugs on the webs, I saw this...

Rick Perry:

So I get to thinking, "Who does this remind me of? Has political nice guy written all over him, but underneath, you know that there is some background weirdness that makes the inquisition look innocent?" And it hits me..

The Smiler:

And if you have ever read Transmetropoliton, other than him not having killed his female running partner, should he accept Michele Buchannan as one, there are too many similarities to go around.

And finally, the thing that creeps me out MOST about this Rick Perry nutjob, and the Buchannan lady, is their form of christianity....Dominionism

Have a great day folks! And get your agnostic/atheist/darwin fish symbols out and kiss your heretical arses into oblivion if these two get in!

Oh Yes, Flickr

Ok, apparently I am making some changes. Today I signed up for my Flickr, well actually, set it up would be the better word. If you are interested, take a look http://www.flickr.com/photos/koldaussie/

I would like to start getting back into photography. Poetry is something else I want to get back into, but find it hard to find motivation when in front of this screen. So, what I will do, is get a bunch of poems written down, then will start transcribing them over to digital. Never have been able to get the flow sat at a desk when it comes to these things.

Summer! Which is almost done..

Ok, so I am sitting here writing this in August, and calling it summer! I know, sounds kinda backwards right?

Well, yes it is, because honestly, this whole summer thing has been backwards. A lot has happened. Thankfully, most of it for the better. Even the hard things, were for the better, so it doesn't turn out all bad in the end. Hopefully my friend will have a return date to the UK sometime in the next week. Hope so, really itching to move on here. If for some obscure reason it doesn't, I think going back to work at the end of September, and give it awhile and move to Vancouver.

But, I am pretty confident after the last few messages I have received that this is still going to go ahead, just have to be patient.

Anyways, thank you to the new person who has joined my list. I miss talking with you.

Take care everyone