Rant, Role Play, Room...

Faith - The Real WMD?
I watched a documentary called something like Tony Blair:
The Inside Story the other day. From it, I got the impression that Tony Blair really believes invading Iraq was the right thing to do and that he really seems to believe in the "good versus evil" scenario. It was also confirmed to me that he is a staunch church-going Christian. I saw his decision to go to war in a new light, previously assuming he had been under pressure from the Bush administration to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the USA after 9/11 and that he was indeed Bush's "poodle". Now, I think maybe Blair genuinely thought of Saddam as the evil spawn of Satan and that by helping invade Iraq, he would be enforcing the Right Hand of God and doing His Work etc etc. I got the impression that no matter who tried to persuade him it was wrong to go to war, he would not be turned and would always believe it was the right decision, that any problems would be overcome with God on his side.
My point is, people, particularly the media, go on about Islamic extremists and how bad they are, but what I think we should be more concerned about are Christian extremists like Bush and Blair, who believe that, despite the thousands, maybe millions of innocent people who suffer and die for their cause, theirs is the path to Righteousness and they will not be flinched. Forget the Islamic extremists with their home-made bombs, rocks and pen knives, I'm more worried about those big bad Christian extremists with all the Weapons of Mass Destruction you could possibly dream of and more, who will not hesitate to use them in the name of God.
I've said before I'm not anti-religion, and respect those who practice their faith in a peacful, humble way (which was surely what Jesus, Mohammed et al intended anyway?) , but inevitably over thousands of years, teachings become twisted and lose all or most of their original meaning ,and inevitably there are people who make a mountain out a molehill and go to extremes with their beliefs, for example taking it to the extent of excluding those of a different faith and in the worse case, going to war. I think when it gets to that stage these people are like a walking contradiction (whatever happened to "turn the other cheek"?).
You might say "well they've got God and nukes on their side, but they're on our side, so why worry?" - but what happens when another country is invaded? What would be the backlash then? Well unless all the "Axis of Evil" is wiped out at once (which is highly unlikely) I think there'll be a lot more angry terrorists out there. Al Quaeda's HR department will have a field day - the backlog of application forms will go on forever. In short, by attempting to make the world a more safer place, our extremist leaders will end up jeopardising the safety of everyone.
Extremism breeds extremism. God help us.
BTW check this out: http://www.bushorchimp.com - funniest thing I've seen in a while!

AES9 - Role Playing (Aye Right)
I decided on a new approach to the football this week - sticking to a role. Normally I'm running around like a headless chicken, chasing the ball, one minute a striker, the next a midfielder, the next a defender. I'm trying to be Rooney, Zidane and Maldini all in one game, and it sure ain't happening, as all I'm really doing is tiring myself out too quickly.
My plan was to stick to a sort of defensive midfield role, covering the area just in front of goal. In fact I just ended up running around like a headless chicken as usual. I had a bad cold coming on so probably shouldn't have played at all.
Anyway, to summarise, I had a terrible game, the only decent moments being a single goal and a couple of times when I created some space for myself and had a pop on goal.

Halls of Residence
It looks like I'll be moving into accomodation in the grounds of the hospital where I work. There they have basic flats available for NHS staff. I had a look around, but finding a room for rent in Ayr is an experience akin to searching for water in the desert. It's depressing, especially given the thousands of rooms seemingly available in Glasgow at any one time. The accomodation is basic, but it is very cheap and the thought of having virtually no commute is very appealling. The place isn't bad - it's like a student halls but for full time workers. No more buses and no more Kilmarnock - that'll do me for now.