dictatorship n : a form of government in which absolute power is concentrated in a dictator or a small clique; a government organization or group in which absolute power is so concentrated; a despotic state

I was thinking of leaving this country, taking my kids with me and become a dictator somewhere.
I wanted to put my CV up on the message board at http://www.dictatorsforhire.com
but apparently that website has been taken offline. Too bad.
I'll just have to do with getting some inspiration from these guys. Did you know Fidel Castro has only to remain in power for two more years to beat Kim Il Sung as longest reigning dictator?

Originally a dictator was someone assigned by the Roman Senate to clear up their political mess in maximum 6 months time. He was given almost full power for that period. Nowedays they are given a maximum of eight years to clear up the mess left by their predecessor. Sometimes they are told to leave after four years of close to absolute power. Personally I prefer the Roman way. Alas sometimes people take abuse of their given power.
Take Caesar for example. Or Augustus who, as dictator ordered the Senate was nothing more than for show, sort of like the English Royalty. Although England and The Netherlands both claim to be a democracy they are actually a form of dictatorship in the form of a monarchy: a non-chosen person is officially heading the country's politics. At least in the US the dictator is "chosen" by the people. Made possible by several influential bussinessmen, but nonetheless.

Where am I heading with above statements? I have no idea. Cuba, perhaps?

At least I got to spend Christmas-eve with my son and my mother and although I did miss my daughter for christmas, at least I'm not one of the 160,000 dads in this country (on a total population of 16 milion people that is a lot) who don't get to see their kid(s) ever at all.

"Someone or something" dusted marslander Opportunity so it performs as good as in the days it just landed,
according to New Scientist. Can that Martian someone or something please stop by at my place?



It's not only a mess at my place. There's also a mess at Camp Marez in northeren Iraq where today 24 people were killed, presumably by people who are not happy with the American occupation of their country..
The explosion killed soldiers and mercenaries alike. Excuse me: I should say peacekeepers and contractors.
But there's support for their loved ones: Donald Rumsfeld may send them a copy of an earlier written letter of condolance. Now, isn't that heartwarming?

What truly is heartwarming is that my son was extremele happy when he got his green belt in karate, yesterday.
Yesterday we also heard his sister will stay with us for a couple of days next week. But I'm afraid we'll have to miss her with christmas as well as during the New Years Eve-celebrations. At least I still get to see her on occassion as opposed to some 160,000 other dad's in this country with a population of 16 milion. They don't get to see their child(ren) ever, thanks to Dutch law that almost always put the mom in the favoured position after a divorce.
Even a mother that has killed, cut the body up in pieces and spread them around the country, her daughter is not deprived of the right to raise her younger daughter. Her ex and biological father has nothing to say in the matter.
Due to the circumstances I'm in (My schzizofrenic and paranoid ex still has equal parental rights regarding our son and the mother of my daughter can do whatever she likes with her although I am recognized as the biological father) I joined the movement Fathers-4-Justice.

Perhaps the US-government doesn't want its boys to come home from the "conflicts" in Afghanistan, Iraq and all those other countries that don't want America's involment in their matters. 'cause if they do want their soldiers to be safe why not increase the production of armor-plates? ArmorWorks, a company in Arizona that produces body-armor and protective humvee-kits has not yet been asked (let alone ordered) to step up production.
Can someone tell the relatives of the killed and injured why that is?



Last weekend my daughter stayed overnight to make my ex feel better. Let me explain that: last tuesday I was asked to pick up my daughter from school early and take her to work. On my arrival I couldn't help noticing she wasn't there: her mother had "accidentally forgotten" to let me know she had found another solution to the problem of afterschool being closed that day. So to ease her conscience I got to spoil Eva rotten the past weekend. Although it was very hard not to go to far I managed to keep things as normal as possible: saturday we bought two new goldfish to replace the one called Rastaman. The new ones my daughter named "Suske & Wiske": "Bob & Bobette" AND "Spike and Suzy" in English; "Neelsie & Miemsie" in Afrikaans and "Willy & Wanda" in American . Sunday we went to see the motionpicture "Pluk van de Petteflet" after a book by the famous and dead writer of children's books Annie M.G. Schmidt. Highly entertaining. Especially when you're four years old...;-)