Islam versus Cristianity, The Battle

I’ve made a slideshow!

Yesterday I discovered I have something called  Windows Moviemaker on my computer and I have made a slideshow of my sketches!

Which you can see at you leasure at my art blog

I also have my own video channel on You-tube!

Drawing at the horse fair

Yesterday morning I went to the village of Zuidlaaren. Every year, people from all over Europe flock to Zuidlaaren to sell and buy horses.
When you go you should go very early in the morning, Before 07.00. And it is usually very cold so you should get all your winterstuff out and wear it in layers! I bring a fresh sketchbook and a couple of soft pencils (The soft pencils get a lot harder in the cold)
The sketches I made will be posted at my Art Blog.

When I arrived (before 07.00) it was still dark

Check out the murderous candy! There is a fair attached to the horse fair and many people spend the whole night there, going on the rides and doing the rounds of the café’s. I always preferred to sleep early and be comparatively fresh when setting out for a hard days work.

Now there are a lot of really ugly, badly built horses. And horses which aren’t quite healthy, But then they are one of the reasons I like to sketch at the fair. And every year I fall for one of these horses! If I had some money I might actually take one home!

So… Wanna see ”The Artist at Work?”
Go to my Art Blog where I also post videos of ”The Artist at Work”

The black Frisians are always hugely popular. But the breeding lately seems to aim at a very slender narrow horse. I don’t like it at all; I like the more compact broadly build Frisian. They always carry their head very proudly.

Norwegian Fjord Horses. Very popular in the Netherlands for those who are not all out to ride competitions, but prefert o ramble around nature.

After being put there since night not all horses are resigned tobeing tied down.

There are big horses and small horses.

Drawing a draughthorse

The village is absolutely Packed with humans and horses. It’s a miracle no accidents happen.

A couple of Belgian heavy draughthorses.

Warmblood ridinghorses, all very young still, basically foals.

Invitation

I want to invite everybody to my new Art-blog!
It is getting the right shape by now and I have put up an ( I hope) interesting post on a portrait of my horse Rabhar.

I plan this to be my primary blog in the future, featuring the sketch of the day, and regular updates onmy work as an artist and the work I’m doing.
Clouddragon will remain and feature weekly rants but I am after all an artist, and I am very much better again, and I am back at work!

I hope to see you at my Art-blog.

Bride of death

Pencildrawing by Laurie Lipton

One of the results of the despicable and evil custom of marrying underage girls, as young as six years old, to perverted old goats, is that the victims tend to die an early death.

Sometimes by suicide, but also by childbirth.

Last month a 12-year-old Yemeni girl, who was forced into marriage,  died during a difficult delivery in which her baby also died, a children’s rights organisation said on Sunday, demanding action to stop Yemeni men taking child brides.

“The child, Fawziya Abdullah Youssef, died on Friday September 11 in western Yemen at the age of 12 due to a complicated delivery,” the Yemeni Organisation for Childhood Protection (Seyaj) said.

This little girl suffered for three days before she died, the baby was stillborn.

“The case of Fawziya illustrates the tragedy of those whom we call ‘the brides of death’, who are little girls, less than 15 years old, forced into marriage, mostly due to financial reasons, The proportion of little girls and teenage females married before 15 is nearly 50 percent”.

The Parliament of Yemen has passed a law that would make the minimum age for girls to get wed 17.
But before the president could sign it, some of the  lawmakers requested it would be reevaluated by the parliament’s constitutional committee.
According to the lawmakers the measure is potentially Un-islamic.

They must be joking!

A family’s journey with Autism, and a cry for help!

The family is Abu and Umm Sinan, they are a beautiful loving family. They have always bravely faced the many and very hard problems life has thrown at them. Their faith and love carried them through. If that wasn’t enough they are now faced with a problem they cannot solve without help.

We are not on the earth just to care for ourself. I think we are all responsible for each other, I believe we are all family and we should support each other when neseccary.

Please,help Sinan, give him a chance to live a good independent life.

Update:

I want to assure everybody I know this family, since a long time. This is a genuine family, in a genuine predicament.

In the current debate swirling around healthcare, health insurance and reform, the personal element is clearly missing. We’ve heard all of this talk about pre-existing conditions, people dropped when they get sick, caps and limits, but no one is talking about the personal side of the subject. What about the families struggling to get care or the family members who cannot get the care they need because insurance doesn’t cover it and the costs are just too high for any but the very rich to afford?

I want to present my family’s story to add that missing personal element. I am the father of a four year old child with Autism. We knew something was wrong when he turned two and still wasn’t talking so we had him evaluated and got an initial diagnosis of PDD (Pervasive Developmental Delay). This came from a county worker who was really unable to provide an official medical diagnosis but it set the stage for us to get very limited services through the county. These services consisted of two forty minute therapy sessions each week.

We took our little Sinan to the Children’s National Medical Center here in Washington DC. This first experience taught us a lot of what to expect in the future. Due to the shortage of professionals to treat children with Autism it took us six months to get an appointment. Once we did get the appointment for an initial evaluation, it was done over two separate sessions at the Children’s National Medical Center. Limits in the number of people able to give care are a huge issue, so are the costs.. We eventually got a diagnosis for Sinan of Autism with PDD.

Needless to say even with insurance, the out-of-pocket costs for getting the necessary tests are highly expensive. A series of blood tests ordered for Sinan cost more than $4,000. Every specialist you see has to evaluate the child and these charges run around $1,000 each time as well. We were then referred to a neurologist who specializes with autistic children. We were directed to have a set of blood tests performed to rule out any other possible issues and then given an appointment for a MRI to be administered.

Our out-of-pocket costs just keep building and building. The real kicker is that the only therapy shown to have a positive impact on kids with Autism is called “ABA” or Applied Behavior Analysis. The irony is that there is a glimmer of hope for austistic children with ABA therapy yet the majoriy of insurance companies will not cover this treatment. There are a few states which mandate ABA coverage by law, but not many and unfortunately our state is among those which does not.

I have never asked anyone for help before. My pride normally would keep me from doing so, but when it comes to our little boy with the big smile whom we love dearly, as a parent you have to throw your pride out the window and do what is best for your children. Sinan turned 4 in June and still isn’t talking. It puts me in tears to know I cannot give him what he needs. Any parent out there knows what I mean.

Our insurance doesn’t cover the one therapy that is almost universally recognized to help kids with special needs. We had an IEP(Individualized Education program) meeting with our son’s pre-school teacher and she was telling us she feels Sinan is pretty much on the severe side of the spectrum when it comes to Autism. We don’t think he is, but without him being verbal there is no real way to tell.

This is why we are turning to you, the public, to assist us in giving our son what he needs to help him live a fruitful and productive life. When you look at the costs it is clear that unless you are securely financially stable it is outside your means. One local service, called the “Autism Learning Center” charges $2,400 to $3,100 a month, this giving the child at least three hours of ABA therapy a day. That is a price that the majority of Americans can not afford even with health insurance coverage.

Even though I work two jobs, sometimes 70 hours a week, we have been unable to afford the monthly costs of the Autism Learning Center. My wife is unable to work because the children are too young to be in a full day school program and day care costs are exorbitant, especially in our area, never mind for children with special needs. We haven’t been able to cover past medical bills for Sinan, let alone provide him the therapy he needs to unlock the little guy we know is in there.

We are doing everything we can to get Sinan what he needs but we’ll never be able to cover these sorts of costs. This is where we put our pride aside and are asking for help to get Sinan ABA therapy. It is an ongoing process and he might need it for years, but the years before age 6 are crucial and if he is ever going to be able to talk and function he needs ABA therapy now.

I ask everyone to give what they can. Some people, who are blessed with a lot, can give a lot, others like ourselves who might not have a lot or have a lot on their plates can only give a little. Everything will help to provide Sinan the therapy he deserves.

If you are able to we sincerely ask for your help. If we get enough to start him on therapy we will record some of the sessions and add them here for you to see what your help is doing for him. We plan for the blog to kind of become a timeline, a history of Sinan’s fight against Autism and the progress he makes, along with issues that we have as a family.

We have included a “Pay Pal” button for you to contribute to Sinan’s therapy costs. Without help from donors, we do not see how we can afford Sinan’s therapy while the window of hope remains open to treat him during these most critical years.

Thank you so much for your help.

Here is a video of Sinan at his pre-school. Like many kids with Autism he has issues food and feeding. One of many issues that ABA therapy would help address.

Good manners and form: Cherrypick of the hadith

This is my favorite hadith.

Imagine if it was everybodies favorite?
Imagine all muslims would actually use this one as an example?
Imagine all the cartoons we could make

Narrated ‘Abdullah bin Mulaika:

Aisha said that the Jews came to the Prophet and said, “As-Samu ‘Alaikum” (death be on you). ‘Aisha said (to them), “(Death) be on you, and may Allah curse you and shower His wrath upon you!” The Prophet said, “Be calm, O ‘Aisha ! You should be kind and lenient, and beware of harshness and Fuhsh (i.e. bad words).” She said (to the Prophet), “Haven’t you heard what they (Jews) have said?” He said, “Haven’t you heard what I have said (to them)? I said the same to them, and my invocation against them will be accepted while theirs against me will be rejected (by Allah). “

There’s a better way to tell it:
Mohammed and Aisha encountered some Jews and they greeted the prophet with a twist of the Salaam Aleikum, They said ”As Samu Alaikum” which means ”death be upon you” Aisha got all upset but the prophet smiled kindly, pretended not to have understood, and said: ”And the same to you”

Beautiful example of staying polite while still getting your advisaries really miffed!

Don’t die of N1H1

And don’t die of vaccination, and don’t die of Tamiflu.

Now I’m back in the Netherlands, after experiencing the weird commercials they have on prescription drugs, and the vaccination hype in America, it seems they want to enforce vaccination in the Netherlands! And just as I thought that for once the Netherlands was staying cool about this hype, it seems that was just the silence before the storm.
I have some things to show about vaccinations:

The truth from an ex-pharma pusher: very interesting! The Pharma industrie is out to keep us sick, not to make us better. I have read the research wich proves that excercise is more effective than anti-depressants, that anti-depressants are not more effective as placebos. So in fact they are as useful as a placebo. While excercise is truly helpful. Meanwhile these anti-depressants do alter the chemical pathways in your brain making them highly addictive. Which is brilliant for the pharmaceutical industries because it means you will be buying them  for ever because you will be addicted for life! The withdrawal symptoms are so severe than many people never manage to cut loose. As people suffer so badly from the symptoms they go back to their doctors who give them heavier doses to alleviate the symptoms. etc.

The same goes for the flu-vaccins. There are new flustrains every year. However, flu-vaccins are largely ineffective. Doctors still want you to take them even though 70% of doctors do not take them themselves.

I certainly won’t take the flu-shot.

This is a good video explaining what a flu-shot is, and how much effect it has on your health. They end with the theory that vitamin D might help you against contracting the virus. While it not at all a bad idea to take vitamin D3 supplements (the majority of Americans show depleted vitamin D levels in their blood) There has been decade of scientific research which proves that Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is the real killer for any virus.

A really disturbing video on vaccines by a Merck Doctor. It’s disturbing because it shows how callous the pharmaceutical industry deals with contaminated vaccins. Including the aids virus. But there were many virusses in old vaccines, including cancer inducing virusses. They just didn’t care. ”Good science” meant you didn’t think of long term effects…

English doctors have said that vaccins are responsible for causing autism in a significant number of children.

Listen to these questions, answered by a a representative from a pharmaceurical prducer. When asked how much more chance one would have of contracting influenza she answered studies showed there is no difference. She admitted some vaccines contain mercury (a horrible poison) as a preservative. When asked if she takes the vaccine herself she answeres NO.

So why do they insist we are vaccinated? Especially against a normal, common influenza like N1H1? Influenza is a serious virus, which should be taken seriously certainly. But as I have writte before, if you take vitamin C in orthomolecular doses you can stop a virus in it’s track. Without serious side-effects, like we know Tamiflu produces, and really stopping the virus from being able to spread inside your body. Something Tamiflu doesn’t do.

Why do I call influenza a ”normal” influenza virus? Because it is. There are many virusses around, and while all are to be taken seriously, there is no reason to single out swimeflu as an extra dangerous one.

Remember the birdflu? The increadible hype around this deadly pandemic?
What happened?
Nothing happened!
You might like to know that in the USA a total of 100 people died of birdflu-related infections. That is of course 100 too many. But to put it into perspective: According to the CDC 36.000 people die every year in the united states of flu related infections!

Don’t be fooled! Don’t be lured into a pandemic scare which doesn’t exist!

Leave off the junk-food, the industrial artifact food. Don’t eat food which keeps forever, such food is embalmed, it’s got more chemicals than nutricion.
Get real fresh vegetables, cook it yourself or eat them raw.  Eat real food. Not junkfood. Take Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in orthomolecular doses (1 or more grams a day) and you and your loved ones will be safer and healthier as any pharmaceutical drug will ever make you.

for a bit of light relief: Bill Maher on Big Pharma

Staying in California

Well, I wouldn’t want keep ya’all in suspence then.
Remember how I always kept on about American motels in movies? How they are dingy, with a seventies decor and defenitely creepy because people get killed/abducted/harvested for organs in them? But all motels are very clean fresh and newly decorated.
Well…. except the ”Homestead” Monrovia, that was awful! And we were going to spend 17 days there!!!! And I would have to spend all day there! Every day!!!!!

So this is how the room looked on the internet. This, btw, is the luxury suite. Neat, clean, spacious. But the reality was far different! It was a different space, but also it was much smaller, less furniture as what you see, it was smelly, it had a very old, very noisy airconditioning, and it was just very, very depressing! Creepy very synthetic  blanket; I got a shock from just touching it! And half of the room was broken; the phone was broken, knobs of furniture was broken, etc. And it was supposed to have a ”fully stocked kitchen” Woehahahahahahaha! Yeah right. No carving knives, no pots and pans. Two plates, small bowls and cups. Two fork, one knife…. Two crappy ancient electric coil cooking plates. pathetic! And I was going to spend most of my time there!

Q went to complain, and I went with him to observe. (He does that really well, even if he’s miffed, very calm and polite) He looked on the internet, saw the illustration again, and really got miffed! Becasue where we were was so very different from what was promised! The management, young girl in her twenties, was totally uninterested and seemed glad to get rid of us.

Q made me really happy by going to a more expensive, but a hundred times nicer place: the Residence inn! Here we had a lovely fresh cheerful room. Also the staff were very charming and helpful, we could eat breakfast in the reception rooms every morning, there were some activities, like monday-sports night, and a complimentary bar-B-que every wednesday, and the managers invitation to wine and cheese and socialise, meet the employees, on tuesday.

Besides the lovely room we also had clenaers come in every day, (once a week at the homestead) and fresh towels every day. Very nice…. Soooo much better!

Roadtrip, To California!

We left Vegas, drove across Death Valley, which wasn’t as awsome an experience as I had thought. Except from the air being very, very dry, I was sitting in an airconditioned car enjoying the landscape…..

My battery died on me so the photo’s are from my camera.

So this is death valley… Other then it being very hot and very, very dry, that’s it. I had imagined something more scary.

Sometimes I wonder about the Americans. Sometimes I wonder very much…

Q told me some bozo had built a ”Water fairground” here… In the middle of the desert… Sometimes I wonder about the Americans…

Look at all that sand just blown onto the sides of the mountains!

We arrived late in the afternoon in Los Angeles, There we were going to stay for two weeks. Q had booked a large studio room with kitchen, but…
That is another story