Woody Harrelson

Woody Harrelson was at the Picnic conference in Amsterdam today.

I've always liked Harrelson as an actor. Here's him on his return to work after a long hiatus:


He also talked about how much he loves Amsterdam, riding a bike. He refused to comment when a Dutch journalist asked him what he thought about the marijuana policy here, which was a little surprising. Yes there is More...
Here's a little taste of his yoga class:


Go Woody!
Celebrities are magic. You can't see very well from this photo, but there were a fair number of people actually participating. Yes, even me. Sorry, no photo of that...


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Sison Arrest Protest + Jalandoni

Luis Jalandoni, chairman of the National Democratic Front, despised by the Philippine government.

The protest against the arrest of former (current?) Philippine communist rebel leader Jose Maria Sison today on the Dam was a little surreal.

At the heart of the Dutch capital city, you have a small group of leftists who feel a great injustice has been done by the government of the Netherlands.

On the other side of the world, in the Philippines, the government is celebrating Sison´s arrest, and the rebels there are, well, up in arms.

Meanwhile, Amsterdam rolls on, and you have tourists wandering around the scene, completely oblivious to it all.



Even a scrawny Darth Vader had to turn around to see what was going on.




I've stumbled across a few protests in my day and wondered what the heck they were all about. I certainly can't claim to be an expert on the 39 year (that's "thirty-nine") communist rebellion in the Philippines. It predates me.

I can tell you that whatever else Sison (who I met in 2005) and Jalandoni may be, they are both intellectuals.

This energetic young speaker,

Chico Taguba, of "Rice and Rights," represents the next generation of activists.

"As long as there is oppression, there will always be resistance," he said.

N´est pas?
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Burning Indonesian forests for biofuel

This story isn't really worth reading, but feel free.

What was interesting was, that, in my estimation, all players mean well. The NGO is trying to call attention to a problem, the company is trying to make a profit from an environmentally friendly product _ and responds to criticism _ and the Dutch government is trying to make sure this market works the way it was intended. MORE