Janhoo's Blog

A Norwegian couple was recently caught by the police after having had sex in a car while driving at speeds of up to 123 kilometers. The story made news all over the world, and even serious newspapers such as The Telegraph covered the story.

Instead of letting the rather embarrassing story slide into obscurity, Marie Høglund this week appears in Norway's largest gossip magazine to explain her version of the story. According to Marie, she is embarrassed and wants to apologize to both her family and her new boyfriend. After having thought about the issue for a while, her magnificent brain came to the conclusion that appearing in the media would be the best way to do so.

While it is easy to laugh at this story, it very well could have ended in a tragedy. The driver of the car, Martin Seland Kjelsås, has not surprisingly commented that he had problems driving while Marie was sitting on top of him. He should be lucky to have lost just his driver's license, though it can be argued that Marie should loose her license as well. After all, she jumped on top of him, not the other way around.

Labels: car, girl, norway, norwegian, sex, stupidity

Another unrelated article in VG today refers to Muhammad Youssef Al-Najjar as "an activist".

Accidentally, the son of Muhammad Youssef Al-Najjar is the current Palestinian "ambassador" to Norway. The VG article notes that the ambassador, Yasser al-Najjar, was present when his father was killed by Israeli security forces in 1973. Simply translated, the VG article states that:

"Najjar is the son of the Palestinian activist Abu Yousef al-Najjar. In 1973 he was an eyewitness when an Israeli death squadron stormed his family's apartment, killing both his parents".

If VG were interested in presenting the facts, the paragraph should read: "Najjar is the son of the Palestinian terrorist Abu Yousef al-Najjar. In 1973 he was an eyewitness when an Israeli anti-terrorist squad stormed his family's apartment. Both his parents died in the subsequent gunfire".

Dagbladet has also published this article, which was originally written by The Norwegian News Agency (a wire service that serves many of the largest Norwegian media outlets).

Labels: media, Muhammad Youssef Al-Najjar, norway, palestinian ambassador, reporting

VG reports that six Norwegian lawyers have filed a suit in Norway asking that a number of Israeli politicians and military personnel are arrested if they ever come to Norway. The reasoning is that the Jewish individuals named in the law suit ordered the recent attacks on the Arab terrorist organization Hamas.

The six Norwegian lawyers should be able to keep themselves busy if they intend to sue any foreign national that potentially has committed crimes against the vague concept of "international law". In order to relieve themselves of this burden, the lawyers have decided to single out a limited number of Jewish politicians, though their decision obviously has nothing to do with anti-semitism. It is simply a pure coincidence that they have chosen to focus only on Jewish individuals.

With the logic they are using, perhaps the lawyers should also sue their own government for complicity in the killing of civilians in Afghanistan. Norway has had military forces in Afghanistan for quite some time, and Norwegians are certainly indirectly or directly responsible for some of the civilian deaths that have occurred during the last few years.

Labels: international law, israel, law suit, norway, war crimes

During the ongoing joke of a conference titled the "World Conference on Racism", the Norwegian foreign minister refused to leave the room during a speech by Iranian dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The latter is spearheading a group of rouge nations that have managed to hijack the conference in order to turn it into an anti-Israeli campaign.

While countries such as Canada & the United States are refusing even to participate in the conference, most other democratic countries have sent low level delegates. Norway, a tiny country of just over 4 million souls, has instead decided to join the dictators and thugs at the conference in order to engage in "dialogue". Neville Chamberlain would have been pleased.

The Norwegian foreign minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, is actually a rarity in the current Norwegian government in that he is not a fool. Most likely his hands have been tied by the far-left Socialist Left Party, which is part of the coalition government currently ruling Norway.

In either event, it is ironic that Holocaust-denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is even allowed to address a conference on racism. Iran's treatment of women is similar in many ways to the treatment of blacks under South-Africa's apartheid regime, and human rights abuses are a daily occurrence. Amnesty International reports on a wide range of human rights abuses:

"large-scale arrests, incommunicado detention and torture--have taken place in the context of recent unrest among the country's Arab and Kurdish and Azeri ethnic minorities. Demonstrations held to protest violations have been met with indiscriminate use of violence; several of the victims have been children. Religious minority communities--including Bahais and Muslims practicing Sufism, have also been faced increased persecution in recent months. In recent months, the Iranian authorities have been carrying out a widespread crackdown on civil society, targeting academics, women's rights activists, students, journalists and labor organizers. Hundreds of trade union activists--in particular activists from the Union of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company were arrested as part of measures to prevent planned strikes. Lawyers, web loggers and others who have spoken out against human rights violations have themselves been targeted for abuse".

Jonas Gahr Støre is wasting his time by discussing human rights issues with thugs like Mr. Ahmadinejad. Perhaps his time could be spent more constructively in a different location, say Sri Lanka?

Dagbladet is covering the UN story in several articles (1, 2, 3, 4) and so is VG (1, 2).

Labels: iran, Jonas Gahr Støre, norway, politics, racism, united nations

The March 30, 2009, issue of Forbes Magazine included an article on Saudi Prince Alwaleed titled "I Just Can't Wait to Be King".

While the Forbes article is somewhat uncritical and seeks to present the prince as a very modern figure, unfortunately the online version of the article does not contain the same pictures as the print version of the magazine. Simply reading the article gives the impression that Mr. Alwaleed is a feminist, stating for example that "his open support of women sets Alwaleed apart from the more conservative Saudi royals. Nearly 65% of the staff at his palace and at Kingdom Holding are women. Inside his offices and his palace, women do not wear the abaya, the long-sleeved black robe and head scarf that women in Saudi Arabia are required to wear in public".

However, the picture presented tells quite a different story. Just look at the palace ladies, not to mention the text stating that "Palace ladies: Staffers get $10,000 every six months for clothing".

Prince Alwaleed is quoted in the article as saying that "Some sheiks are against me because I promote women". Wrong. I am sure the other sheiks are against Prince Alwaleed as he hires all the hot women! I have been to many different offices in my life, but I have never seen a collection like this. Prince Alwaleed should just come out of the closet and show the world that he is a real man, and that he has simply done what any other real man would do in his position. Instead of hiding behind feminist rubbish, he should just admit to having hired a bunch of attractive women to stumble around in his palace wearing smart dresses and high heels.

Labels: arabian women, feminism, forbes, palace, prince alwaleed, saudi-arabia, sheikh

The police in Oslo reported some very impressive statistics today. Of the 41 rapes that were reported in Oslo during the past three years, 100% were committed by non-Western immigrants. According to the police, most of the men were from African countries or Kurdish immigrants. All the big newspapers in Norway are reporting on this story, including Dagbladet and VG.

In a related story, VG reports that an Egyptian man is having his Norwegian citizenship rescinded after he was convicted of raping and attempted rapes of 8 different women in Oslo, one of whom later committed suicide. Interestingly, the man was originally granted asylum in Norway due to him being homosexual and therefore at risk of being killed in Egypt. While he apparently lived together with a Norwegian man, at the same time he managed to father three children with two different Norwegian women.

Living with one guy and sleeping with two Norwegian women would normally be sufficient to keep any man busy. However, this Egyptian guy also managed to rape 5 women, attempted to rape three other women, and to top it all of also had sexual relations with a girl under the age of 16. The police is calling him one of the worst rapists of all time in Norway.

While prostitution was made illegal in Norway at the beginning of the year, Norwegian politicians probably want to rethink this decision. Perhaps the solution to the rape situation in Norway would be to get the prostitutes back on the street. Upon arrival to Norway, new immigrants could get discounted or free prostitution vouchers to use while in the country. Or perhaps it would be more politically correct to teach new immigrants how to pick up women in night clubs. Some free drink coupons and pick up lines would perhaps do the trick. Giving them a free copy of The Game probably would not hurt either.

Labels: crime, immigration, norway, prostitution, rape

I have posted some pictures from my April 12 visit to Forest Adventure Park in Onna, Okinawa.

Labels: activity, adventure, forest adventure park, japan, okinawa, outdoor

I have posted some pictures from a April 4 visit to Mother Farm.

Labels: animals, chiba, japan, mother farm, one day, park, trip

Just a short video from a small Okinawan bar we visited in Naha yesterday evening. The place is called Shimaumui and only has a few tables and a bar counter. However, this place is kickin'it old Okinawan school every evening. Okinawan folk music is performed by artists known within this admittedly small genre of music, and yesterday a supposedly famous recording artist (though unknown to me) made a surprise appearance. This is a great place to visit for an evening of simple Okinawan bar food and plenty of awamori. Be prepared for a late night.

Labels: awamori, bar, folk music, naha, okinawa, shimaumui

Norwegian leftists love to argue that criticizing Israel is not the same as being anti-Semitic, and they are obviously correct. The problem is when Israel is held to completely different standards than other countries. Also, the media attention on Israel is completely overblown compared with other more serious conflicts around the world.

A Google search of Dagbladet for "Israel 2009" gives 40,900 search results. A search for "Sri Lanka 2009" will give you only 1,520 search results, though the humanitarian situation is much more serious in Sri Lanka. A search using Dagbladet's own search function provides 11978 results for "Israel", while a search for "Sri Lanka" only gives 1609 results.

The hostility to Israel in Norway is mainly caused by the exaggerated media exposure and often one-sided criticism of Israel. While human rights violations in most other countries will be completely ignored, Norway's media will report on even minor developments in Israel's conflict with the surrounding Arab population.

As The Economist commented earlier this year:

"Of course, people are entitled to expect a Westernised democracy such as Israel to behave better than Syria, Russia or the violent Islamists of Hamas. But they are not entitled to hold Israel to a standard they do not observe themselves. The killing of civilians is a sadly common occurrence in war. American forces are accused of having killed hundreds of civilians when they recaptured the Iraqi city of Fallujah from Islamist insurgents in 2004. American and European air forces have killed thousands of civilians in air raids in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. So it has been immensely sad, and grotesquely unfair, to watch protesters in London and Paris accusing Israel of behaving as the Nazis did. Just as Israel deserves no special favours when it comes to the prosecution of war crimes, so it should not be singled out while others go unpunished. That will only deepen the misplaced conviction of too many Israelis that a nation in a sea of enemies must in the end survive mainly by the sword".

Dagbladet is continuing its obsessive coverage of a couple of articles that were featured in the Jerusalem Post. Being a tiny country, Norwegians are extremely interested and concerned about what foreign countries are thinking of Norway, but Dagbladet is really going overboard this time around. The top story in VG deals with accusations that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza earlier this year, though VG is also trying to compete on the Jersualem Post story.

Anyone interested in real news may be interested to read that The Guardian reports from Sri Lanka that "the displaced civilian population is suffering a fresh wave of human rights violations including arbitrary arrests and abductions". A story published by ReliefWeb claims that 2 million people are at risk in Congo, and an article in the Herald Tribune reports how at least 400,000 people have been killed in Darfur during the last three years (countries like China and Sudan are largely to blame, but Norwegians can not be bothered about these issues).

Labels: anti-semitism, exposure, israel, norwegian media

According to the police in Oslo, street robberies in the Norwegian capital are more common than ever before. Saturday evening, a group of 8-10 immigrants attacked random people on the street. Dagbladet reports several incidents of street robberies in the evening and night, and one 28-year-old man had to receive emergency care after being kicked and beaten.

Dagbladet reports that police managed to arrest one of the criminal group members, who perhaps will get to spend a couple of paid weeks in a comfortable Norwegian prison (read: budget hotel) with access to cable-TV, exercise equipment, and porn.

Update 1: VG has published an article with some more details. There were a total of three armed robberies in Oslo on Saturday night, and hand weapons were used in each incident. Apparently five African immigrants have been arrested. It seems like the police has dealt with all of them previously, and you can expect the criminals to be back on the street shortly.

Spring is in the air and Oslo should soon be heaven for current and future criminals. The risk of getting caught is minimal and the potential rewards are huge. Even if you are arrested, your stay in jail will be short and comfortable.

Labels: norway, oslo, prison, violence

I don't enjoy this character as much Borat, but I am still looking forward to the Bruno film coming out. While the movie title was rumored to be "Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt", unfortunately this turns out not to be the case.

Labels: borat, bruno, movie, sasha b cohen, trailer

If you happen to be bored, take a few minutes to read through the customer reviews of Carter Hotel (located in New York).

It was recently voted the worst hotel in the US by the users of Tripadvisor, and reading the traveler reviews is more than just a little amusing. Check out the pictures as well, if you dare. The picture to the left is one of the better examples found on Tripadvisor. Hotel Carter really is the place to stay if you enjoy filth and dead animals.

Labels: hotel carter, new york, tripadvisor, worst hotel

According articles in Dagbladet and VG today, almost 4000 children are missing from school in Norway. These children are assumed to have been sent back to the home countries of their parents, many of whom ironically came as refugees to Norway from countries such as Gambia, Pakistan and Somalia. The articles single out Somalia in particular, and mention examples of big groups of siblings that have simply been dropped off in Somalia.

According to Wikipedia, there are almost 20,000 Somalis living in Norway. They are among the least integrated of all immigrants. Of Somalis that have lived more than 7 years in Norway, only 34% are currently employment. Norway's welfare system is quite generous due to the country's tremendous oil revenues, and despite almost zero unemployment there are many people (Norwegians as well as immigrants) that choose to live of welfare benefits rather than to work.

While I have not seen any recent figures, in 2003 there were 864 criminal incidents involving Somalis (at the time only 15,586 Somalis were living in Norway). In 2002, 5.1% of Somalis living in Norway were found guilty of criminal acts (only beaten by Ghanaians at 7%, compared with an average of 1.35% for the general population).

It is important to note that the Somali immigrants should not be blamed for the above circumstances. The failure is entirely with the immigration policies of the Norwegian government. However, it makes you wonder how much money has been wasted due to Norway's poor integration policies, not to mention the human costs involved. The most innocent victims are unfortunately the children who are sent back to the countries that their parents came from, and shame on the Norwegian government for allowing it to happen.

Labels: children, crime, immigration, norway, somalia

The controversial article on Norway is now completely gone from the JPost, and instead an article titled "Norwegian Jews tell of woe, tolerance" has taken its place. Please note that this is not a revised article, instead it is a new article written by a different journalist.

The original article, which was titled "Norway: Increased anti-Semitism has local Jews anxious", has been cached by Google and is still available for a limited time.

Dagbladet is continuing to cover the story.

Labels: article, jerusalem post, norway