John Belushi Isnt Dead!!

John Belushi is actually alive and well and living in Kuwait. And in true comic fashion, he's running for a seat in Parliament. No Im not photoshopping this, this is a real guy running for parliament. Anyway, after a long break I actually have a bunch of things to write. Going to start with politics.

At the beginning of June the Kuwaiti's began their Parliament election process. I dont know how often they do it or exactly how it works to tell you the truth. I know they start nominations in late May or early June and the elections are June 29. With only 1 month to campaign, the candidates here make our local city council candidates look like amateurs. As you can see from the few pics Ive put here, instead of simple 3' x 4' signs with someones name alot of the parliament candidates here put up full billboards, 8' high signs and such with full color glossy glamour shots of themselves.

As if the barrage of signs wasnt enough they also set up areas to entertain potential voters. I've put a picture of that here too.
Right off one of the main highways I use to get to work there are half a dozen or more tents. Apparently they feed people, serve them drinks, non-alcoholic of course ;), and try to win their votes. They have camel rides for the kiddies and sheep to pet too.


On a more serious note the newspapers are of course always full of election stories. Not really because there are any big issues but because this is the first time women will be allowed to run for Parliamentary seats. There are about 500 candidates for Im not sure how many seats. About 10% of the candidates are women. And all manner of women at that. From women in full birkha covered from head to toe to very western type women like you'd see at home. There is no lack of defacing women's posters and angry remarks in the papers about women holding a man's position. Its quite interesting to see something that we dont think twice about generate quite a bit of controversy here.


Cool fact for today - Kuwait has very little infrastructure water. Most houses have 500 or 1000 gallon tanks on the roof as a water source. They fill these from tankers that run around selling water. Water costs approximately $5.86 per gallon. Gasoline costs approximately $0.87 per gallon.