KABUL — Afghanistan’s election commission declared Hamid Karzai the winner of the country’s controversial election, acting one day after the runner-up withdrew from a runoff planned for Saturday, and ending a two-month political drama that threw the country into unprecedented turmoil.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, left, speaks with the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Kabul.

The commission’s chairman, Azizullah Ludin, said that the runoff was canceled “to prevent uncertainty that created a lot of security challenges for the country.” The runner up, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, Sunday pullout from the contest, saying he didn’t believe the election would be free or fair because Mr. Ludin’s commission is biased in favor of Mr. Karzai, which Mr. Ludin has denied.

The commission, appointed by Mr. Karzai, took the decision hours after United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon made an unscheduled trip to Kabul earlier Monday. Mr. Ban urged Mr. Karzai to abandon his insistence on going ahead with a runoff that the Taliban had pledged to disrupt by killing election workers and voters.

* Wallstreet Journal

The election has been canceled.  That is great news.  Now, I can finally get something done here.  The election has been the focus of Afghanistan for the past 3 or 4 months.  The taliban have disrupted everything in their quest to make chaos reign supreme throughout the country.

Time for life to start again.

Now, if we can only kick this bird flu and avoid an epidemic or pandemic.

Pray for Afghanistan.  Having been through 30 plus years of war and crises, these folks deserve some peace.

Peace.

Athens!  Delphi!  Rome!  Pisa!  Paris!

And, finally, Santorini…

What a holiday.

Even better, I spent it with friends.  My girlfriend Unny as well as my good friend Becca and her sister.

I met Unny in Dubai.  Snuck up on her at the Starbucks near our gate in the Emirates Terminal at Dubai International Airport.  She had just flown in from Bangkok an hour or so before.  I had flown in from Kabul two days earlier.  We were meeting in order to fly to Athens together.

We wait about two more hours and finally board our flight to Athens.

Four hours later, we land.

We’re in Athens!  I’m so excited I can barely contain it.  BUT!  I’ve got to wait for Becca and Deb to fly in from the States.

We wait.

And wait…

And wait…

And, finally, I’m thinking; WHAT THE HELL!”

Bad luck seems to have struck again for poor Becca.  lol

I have her paged over the intercom.  I walk around the terminal looking.  I pace up and down.

Finally, I check my email at the business center.

They’ve missed their connecting flight at Heathrow by 3 Minutes.   They’ll be in at around 5 or a bit past midnight depending on what flight they get later that day/night.  Poor girls.  It’s a long flight from the States to Europe.

Unny and I grab a cab and head to the our hotel–Athens Studio.

Great Location.  But you can’t see the Acropolis from their balcony as I was led to believe.  Other buildings are in the way.  A bit disappointing.  But not a huge deal.  We’re less than a block away.

We check in with no trouble.  Although, the Athens Studio runs their business like a hostel as opposed to as if it were a hotel.  So be aware of that.  Hostels can be a bit of a pain.  Upfront payment for your whole stay.  Should you decide to move or depart early, they have strict rules about refunding your money.  Meaning that they do not intend to operate at a loss and they are not flexible at all.  The kids running the place are nice enough but have no customer service training.  Just something to keep in mind.

Even so, they were nice enough apartments with a nice balcony on which to enjoy those incredibly cool night breezes in early August Athens.

Becca and Deb arrived around 6 PM.  They had been dropped off around the corner and a block down and had carried their bags (backpacks) all that way.  They’d been lost and walking in circles because their taxi driver was running the old “I’m lost scam.”  I’d say that we were scammed by 4 out of 5 taxi rides to and from the Airport.  The average fair for taxi rides to/from the airport was 44 Euro.  My last fare was 27 Euro.  So we were scammed by all of the other ones by about 18 Euro.  Which is about 27 USD.  Awesome.  But short of knowing Athens intimately before arrival.  I see no way of avoiding it.  Basically 80% of the taxi drivers that we had were either incompetent, didn’t know their city very well or were straight up dishonest.

Great.  lol

That wasn’t the last expensive aspect of Europe though.

Greece is not a rich country.  I don’t see how those people make it.  We went off the beaten path a few times and while prices were cheaper.  They weren’t appreciably cheaper out there.  I don’t see  how the average Greek makes ends meet unless the average salary in Europe is 50,000 Euro per annum.  It was the same across Europe.  Everything was expensive.  The cheapest place was Santorini.  How backward is that?  It’s an island.  Everything must be shipped in via sea or air.  That means that prices elsewhere were marked up due more to excessive greed than necessity.  A 16 ounce Coke from Athens to Rome to Paris ranged in price from 2 to 4 Euro.  That’s 3 to 6 dollars.  Some deranged bastards attempted to charge even more.  I was astounded.

Unny decides to take a nap.  I’m too excited about being in Athens.  I decide to walk around the area.  See the lay of the land and to find the actual Athens Backpackers and it’s rooftop bar.  So I walk around and eventually find the place.  Turns out the rooftop bar is not so much of a bar.  It’s a fridge with a few tables and couches on the roof of the backpacker hostel. Not much to it.  I sit and read for a while with the view of the Acropolis in front of me.  When they finally get the “bar” stocked, I buy a beer.  A Mythos beer.  The legendary Athenian beer or so it claims.

Then.  I make my way back to my hotel room.  Along the way, I buy a sandwich.  The lady behind the sandwich bar snaps at me for not asking for toppings correctly and I start laughing.  I guess the customer isn’t always right in Athens.

No sooner have I sat down back at my hotel room to eat than our door bell/intercom starts sounding.  Becca and Deb have arrived.  We ring to let them in and I head down to see if they need assistance.  Becca and Deb are both carrying their backpacks and an extra bag or two.  They look completely frazzled and exhausted.  Sweat stained and greased from travel for the past 24 plus hours.

Apparently, their taxi was running the scam or was simply not real good at his job.  He’d passed the hotel or come into close proximity several times.  But, he’d kept driving around in circles.  Running up the meter.  Finally Becca had had enough and told the guy to let them out.  They’d walked a couple of blocks in search of the hotel.

I think I’d been out there and barely missed them once or twice as we went over their path of discovery.

Bec and Deb were in need of refreshing and repaired to their room to unpack, settle in and shower.

So the day had escaped us.

As the sun sits, the four of us decide to walk up towards the Acropolis to explore and get a feel for the next day.  We walk around the base of the Acropolis and climb a rocky outcropping with well worn and ancient looking steps.  When we get to the top of it, it’s all slick marble like smooth surface.  Just perfect for busting one’s ass.  And we nearly do so.  At least 5 times each.

We sit and watch the sun finish it’s decline into the western sky and admire the Temple of the Acropolis from afar.  Anticipating the next days exploration adventure.

I walk around and take photos.  I hadn’t brought along my tripod, so my photos didn’t come out particularly good in the night.  Even so, I captured a few nice images.

Afterwards, I make my way back to the girls.  We sit and chat and watch the folks around us.  A few lovers embracing.  One couple playing music on their little tinny speakers to the annoyance of all around and my general amusement.   Earlier, when we had first reached the summit of  the outcropping, a homeless looking fellow was talking at a group.  I didn’t really pay too much attention.  As we sat and took in the site of Athens at night, he approached our group and looked at Deb.  I have no idea what he said as he was fairly drunk and slurring.  As he drew close, though, the distinct odor of cheap liquor overcame us.  I just looked at the guy.  Kinda staring in an obvious way.  Hoping that this wasn’t going to be a huge scene.  What I wanted to do was smack him up side the head and curse him.  But felt that the act would shock Deb and scare the living hell out of her.  So I held back.  The guy eventually took the hint with no undue violence ensuing and went his way.

We took that opportunity to make a hasty retreat back to our hotel for the night.

An eventful day.  Good enough start for our holiday.

Below are pics from the trip.   Both Athens and Rome.   It was a great holiday.  Santorini and Delphi were probably my favorite places.  Making memories with Unny was my favorite activity.   Creating more memories with my good friend Becca great as well.  Two of my favorite people in the world come together with me from across the globe.  Each of us starting our journey from disparate parts of the globe.  Traveling thousands of miles to meet in Athens.  Unny from Bangkok.  Becca from Louisville.  Myself from Herat.

These pics and picture collages were created by Unny from the photos that I took while on holiday.  The way that she arranged them is fantastic to me.  Artsy.  I think she has a talent.

“No one,” Calipari told the nation’s second-ranked recruit, “is going to average 30 points for me. No one.”

Cousins was fine with that.

“Some players go to a school where they can score a bunch of points and put up big numbers,” Cousins said. “But when the season is over, they’re the same player as they were when it started.

“I’m not going to be like that. I came here to get better. I came here to learn.”

“On the court,” Cousins said, “I’m a badass. I’m mean. I’m there to cut your throat. I’m not there to be nice. Off the court, I’m cool. I’m chill. I play around with you. I’m nothing like people say I am. Anyone that’s taken the time to get to know me will tell you that.”

“But on the court … like I said, I’m there to cut your throat.”

“He’s not really angry or mad all the time,” Patterson said, “but he plays with that anger and fire and frustration. He leaves it on the court. He’s not a bad person, but he’s not going to let up. He’s not going to let you see the light of day. Even when he’s beating you down, he’s still not going to stop.”

“He’s got such good footwork for a freshman,” Patterson said. “And he’s not afraid to dribble the ball. He’ll grab it off the rim and take off down the court without hesitation. He’s just so naturally strong. Even when he was young and skinny, I bet he was strong.”

Cousins said he’s enjoying the attention that he and fellow recruits such as Wall, Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton are receiving in Lexington. Almost everywhere they go, the Wildcats are asked to sign autographs or pose for pictures.

Kentucky failed to make the NCAA tournament for the first time in 17 years last season under former coach Billy Gillispie, which means Wildcats fans are hungrier than ever for a good season. Cousins said he, Wall and Bledsoe were recently asked to pose for a picture with one student who was so nervous he was shaking.

“That’s probably the craziest thing that’s ever happened to me,” Cousins said. “I’ve never seen something like that before. I wanted to hug him. It makes me feel good. We feel loved and we feel wanted, but that also means the expectations are through the roof.”

Indeed, most preseason polls have the Wildcats ranked between No. 1 and No. 5. One season after settling for an appearance in the NIT, Kentucky is a Final Four favorite, and Cousins is one of the main reasons.

“That doesn’t bother me,” Cousins said. “People have placed high expectations on me my whole life. I’ve always had pressure on my shoulders. This is just another page in my book.”

“He’s just like me – cut and dried,” Cousins said. “Most coaches who recruited me said, ‘You’re going to be a great player. I’m going to get you the ball every possession and you’re going to average 40. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.’

“Coach Cal came in and said, ‘You work, you’ll play. It’s not about you. It’s about the team.’”

Cousins paused.

“At the end of the season,” he said, “if you have the ability to be one-and-done, he’s going to put your name out there. He’s going to help you get there.

“Other coaches try to hold you back for three or four years just to keep their [reputation] up there and keep their program rolling. It’s not like that with Cal. He lets you display every ability you have.”

Cousins is looking forward to doing just that.

“If I am blessed with the opportunity to be one-and-done, I’m going to take it,” he said. “But I’m not even thinking about that right now. I’ve got one thing on my mind and that’s winning a national championship.”

I love this kid.  Kentucky hasn’t had a kid with this kind of swagger while simultaneously having the talent on a team level to back it up in almost a decade.

Good Luck with that Championship, Cousins.  The whole of the Big Blue Nation is hoping you are, indeed, successful.  And we’ll follow you to the Pros with a devotion not seen from many other schools.

Go Big Blue!

Just the way of the world since the dawn of civilization.

What is civilization but a way to control the masses.

It fools us into thinking that we have a stake.

It gives us a reason to buy into the system.  Allowing the powers that be to enrich themselves further…and more easily by our labors and toil.

It gives us a nice facade that fools us into believing that we are in control and better off for having all of these rules and laws.  While at the same time giving the real powers behind the scene legitimacy.

Those same powers (whoever they may be) give a concession here and there that usually results, eventually, in profit for them in order to maintain the yoke of civilization which is nothing more than a set of rules to keep the masses under control.

The very class of folks who became rich through war and plunder are the very people who made the rules by which we live our soft, civilized lives.

I find it hilarious.

And as long as everyone plays by the merry rules, those on top stay on top and everyone else (with a few exceptions every now and then) stays on the bottom.

Civilization serves the corporations.

Who do all of the one worlders/trans=national progressives think will be making the rules if they get their way and obtain a global government.  Who will that global government serve?

It will serve Global or Trans-national Corporations.  These corporations will then be able to rape the world and it’s peoples even more efficiently.

Oh, the irony.

And, yes, there will be a military.  And it, too, will serve the interests of the (now) Trans-National Corporations.

Sure, they will give the impression of looking to “progress” and liberal governance and they’ll give the same lip service to civilization.

All in the name of the bottom line…

The road to truth is long, and lined the entire way with annoying bastards

You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.  When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”*

*  Adrian Rogers, 1931*