Johnny D. Symon column
Contact Johnny D. Symon at johnny_symon@yahoo.com
Subscribe to Johnny's columnJohnny D. Symon
September 9, 2013
Last week I wrote all about a man named Vasile Dahorea. He was an extraordinary human being, as those who read my account would no doubt concur.
This week I . . .
Johnny D. Symon
September 7, 2013
With America's foreign-body secretary caught with his pants down over some Iraq photos he presented as "evidence" against the Syrian government, a further layer . . .
Johnny D. Symon
August 31, 2013
There's an old saying in Romania that roughly translates into English as, "No one knows where the shoe pinches, but he who wears it."
Way back in the year 19 . . .
Johnny D. Symon
February 19, 2013
Just the other day as I was making a new batch of liposomal encapsulated vitamin C, I began to reflect on possible alikeness between molecules of ascorbic acid . . .
Johnny D. Symon
October 16, 2012
That gross folly of European unity under the banner of a single market is now laid bare. Open borders are closing. Economies have collapsed and are collapsing. . . .
Johnny D. Symon
September 7, 2012
I finally broke my hiatus due to three news items of late, namely Archbishop Desmond Tutu's demand that George Bush and Tony Blair stand trial for crimes . . .
Johnny D. Symon
June 17, 2011
Had I cared to do so, I'd have read that book on "How To Win Friends And Influence People," but the truth is that friends and the power of influence are of no . . .
Johnny D. Symon
April 18, 2011
As a possible candidate for 2012 Donald Trump's credentials are impeccable, and his origins unquestionable. He qualifies in all respects. And for me, dagnabbit, . . .
Johnny D. Symon
March 18, 2011
I guess that my scribbling history says it all. I have nothing but respect for those brave enough to read my thoughts on any given subject, always reminding . . .
Johnny D. Symon
March 5, 2011
From October last I embarked on several projects that seriously required steep learning curves. For me the process was far from unusual, but this time my chosen . . .
Johnny D. Symon
October 26, 2010
As we approach the perennial witching hour known as Halloween, most of us are without doubt fixed on another event a few days on that could change America's . . .
Johnny D. Symon
September 23, 2010
I watched an interview recently with Merlin Froyd, a 28-year old Republican candidate standing this fall to take Hollywood by storm, or so we all hope. I was . . .
Johnny D. Symon
September 8, 2010
A long ways back, 1821 to be precise, a man named Heinrich Heine delivered the following assurance;
"He who burns books, will, in the end, also burn people." . . .
Johnny D. Symon
July 2, 2010
Having studied law myself, I felt this week the compelling urge to watch the Senate Judiciary's Committee's tête-à-tête with Elena Kagan. I say tête-à-tête . . .
Johnny D. Symon
June 25, 2010
Way back in September, 2008, I read an excellent interview with Ángel Lafuente, "Profesor de Técnicas Verbales" ... Professor of Speechifying. Simply put, he . . .
Johnny D. Symon
June 18, 2010
I spoke to an old English friend some days back on subjects all and sundry, and yes indeed we spoke on the old chestnut, world politics. After so many years . . .
Johnny D. Symon
June 11, 2010
The Spanish city of Granada, famous for its Moorish Palace, the Alhambra, a very popular tourist attraction, is commonly regarded as the capital city of the . . .
Johnny D. Symon
June 4, 2010
With the Bewilderberg session underway in Sitges, Barcelona, Spain, an event chock full of wildly rich people and entities, the Spanish taxpayer is about to . . .
Johnny D. Symon
May 28, 2010
As yet another month of May draws to a close in our lives we are reminded yet again, as if we needed reminding, that time takes no vacations, it moves and works . . .
Johnny D. Symon
May 21, 2010
My whole adult life so far, generally speaking, has proven to be a wrestling match involving my sense of judgment, how I judge myself, others, entities, and the . . .
Johnny D. Symon
May 14, 2010
Three days short of the British General election, a news team stopped to question a number of English people as to their voting intentions. I grew frustrated . . .
Johnny D. Symon
May 7, 2010
For the first time in one and a half years, Spain's Zapatero met with Conservative leader Mariano Rajoy at Moncloa Palace last Wednesday. Basically the meeting . . .
Johnny D. Symon
April 30, 2010
A few weeks back I had a colorful conversation with a Spanish business friend over his country's compounded ills, the usual stuff, for everything, politically . . .
Johnny D. Symon
April 23, 2010
This week the IMF placed Spain back of the line, shoulder to shoulder with Haiti, on economic recovery, and while they had slightly improved their synopsis for . . .
Johnny D. Symon
March 29, 2010
(First published October 25, 2004)
Country music star Tim McGraw has sold near one million copies of "Live Like You Were Dying," yet it's been out just two . . .
Johnny D. Symon
February 5, 2010
Yesterday late morning, I sat at breakfast to watch The Fellowship and invited guests at their very own breakfast shindig. To be quite frank I hadn't paid them . . .
Johnny D. Symon
December 11, 2009
During those weeks of absence from my space on the bridgehead over fallen politics where a further torrent of unpalatable water had passed under, still little . . .
Johnny D. Symon
October 2, 2009
Something conveyed to me by an anthropologist just two days ago in respect of the power and efficacy of language, is possibly the keystone to my thoughts for . . .
Johnny D. Symon
September 18, 2009
When I was younger, so much younger than today, as the song goes, I never needed anybody's help in any way. At a tender age I was informed on more than one . . .
Johnny D. Symon
September 4, 2009
In retrospection I reckon that a balanced media ended in Spain around April 2002. It ended with the closure of Telecinco's "El Informal." It's host, Javier . . .
Johnny D. Symon
August 21, 2009
Just three days short of a half decade since The Rap reached light of day, and here we are again. I full recall the reasoning behind my strong sentiments and . . .
Johnny D. Symon
August 13, 2009
For nigh on 6 months I've followed an ongoing Spanish saga, or shenanigans, named "el caso Gürtel." Basically it spins out like this:
Spain's corrupt . . .
Johnny D. Symon
July 24, 2009
The past two weeks of my life have been a revelation, a time involving trips down memory lane of events that have firmly remained with me ever since, all of it . . .
Johnny D. Symon
July 10, 2009
Two nights back I watched a Spanish TV Documentary called "75 Minutos." The entire show dealt, in every respect, with the lifestyles of the ultra-rich, and when . . .
Johnny D. Symon
June 26, 2009
With the wonders of digital TV, last night on hearing the news of Michael Jackson's untimely death, I cranked up my notebook to peruse a hoard of new TV and . . .
Johnny D. Symon
June 12, 2009
What rests within my latest gabble requires just a little prior explanation. If someone strode up to your mailbox as you studied a new day's mail, and pulled . . .
Johnny D. Symon
May 22, 2009
I believe the late Democratic Senator, Patrick Moynihan, once penned the following:
"We are each entitled to our own opinion,
but no one is entitled to his . . .
Johnny D. Symon
May 9, 2009
I've had so much workload thrust on me the past two weeks that I've felt like a 100-year old grizzly with an aching head. As one project neared completion yet . . .
Johnny D. Symon
April 24, 2009
The last time I tricked myself into believing that I was interested in politics was two weeks ago last Thursday night, when I watched "La hora de Federico." . . .
Johnny D. Symon
April 3, 2009
Early last Sunday morning in Spain, and way ahead of the G20 meeting in London, national TV screens flickered a little, then revealed the motley and undynamic . . .
Johnny D. Symon
March 27, 2009
Toward the close of last week, Spain's loon regime began to self-destruct. Typically they performed their usual monkey tricks. Zapatero, who currently sits in . . .
Johnny D. Symon
March 13, 2009
It's nigh on two years since I gave account of my effort to right a wrong on behalf of a mature English lady. Maybe it's time to recap on this, because last . . .
Johnny D. Symon
February 27, 2009
I took what was for me the unusual step of time out, a time away from the grit, grind, and gripe, emanating from our so-called world economic crisis. And for a . . .
Johnny D. Symon
February 13, 2009
Lately, and quite possibly owing to my awareness of how many years I've survived on planet earth so far, I began to suspect that the term "soul-searching" had . . .
Johnny D. Symon
February 6, 2009
February in Spain is the month for "chirigotas," a kind of parody festival performed by yokefellows of the general public. I've written all about this festival . . .
Johnny D. Symon
January 30, 2009
When French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, first entered office on a large mandate, many French voters saw him as their new hope, the savior of their day. Though . . .
Johnny D. Symon
January 23, 2009
In the preface to his excellent book, "The Disinherited. The Exiles Who Created Spanish Culture," Professor Henry Kamen wrote,
"I have benefited from the . . .
Johnny D. Symon
January 16, 2009
I well recall years back a situation where I found myself dandering off into a Spanish Burger King. The folks behind the counter were most friendly and the . . .
Johnny D. Symon
January 9, 2009
I received an email back in November from a boy new to the American way, he took exception to my metaphors and part content of "Global sickle cell anemia." So . . .
Johnny D. Symon
December 23, 2008
During five weeks of absence from the busy bee-dom of Renew America, I spent some time studying the world and all that is therein. Never in my life have I . . .
Johnny D. Symon
November 15, 2008
After declaring my wildest and woolliest imaginings last week, I kind of figured to turn my attention elsewhere and take care of some long-outstanding business. . . .
Johnny D. Symon
November 7, 2008
As I watched Barack Obama's victory celebration live on Tuesday night, I confess that my initial interest was on the personal security aspects of the show. . . .
Johnny D. Symon
October 24, 2008
The Argentinian government temporarily overtook George Bush as most despised by the Spanish government and left-wing media last Wednesday, as it made plans to . . .
Johnny D. Symon
October 17, 2008
Crisis on the world's financial markets is something we've repeatedly been reminded of over the past few weeks, and whether it's a genuine crisis or not is for . . .
Johnny D. Symon
September 12, 2008
I sat through this week's Spanish Congressional cross-talk in Madrid on Spain's economic crisis, taking careful note of the government's proposed "measures," . . .
Johnny D. Symon
September 2, 2008
With Barack Obama last week confirmed as Tweedledee to fight Tweedledum for this November's "More Of The Same, But I'm Not To Blame" show, my little brain began . . .
Johnny D. Symon
September 1, 2008
(First published April 11, 2005)
With the death of Prince Rainier III of Monaco last week, Prince Albert, his son, takes his place as head of one of the two . . .
Johnny D. Symon
August 19, 2008
I've studied most carefully events in Georgia over the past few days, and for me Georgia's plight at the hands, or paws, of that great Russian bear, was simply . . .
Johnny D. Symon
August 8, 2008
For most, summer equates with sun, sand, sea, mountain, lakes, and songs sung and tales told around the campfire. However, none of this is part of my life. As . . .
Johnny D. Symon
July 25, 2008
I've given Spanish politics a wide berth recently, a very wide berth, mainly I guess because I was more than disappointed with last March's election result. . . .
Johnny D. Symon
July 18, 2008
Since I'd already published my views on negotiations with Iran, way back in September 2006, in an ed entitled "Terrorism; The Authentic Big Picture," where I . . .
Johnny D. Symon
July 17, 2008
(Originally published September 8, 2006)
With the latest suicide bombing, or so it appears, against the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, — where an . . .
Johnny D. Symon
July 4, 2008
"If society fits you comfortably enough, you call it freedom."
— Robert Frost
Today is a day of independence, or so we're told, but surely independence is a . . .
Johnny D. Symon
June 21, 2008
On a personal basis, I've never been prone to writing two or three part eds. In fact I've never done it. But last week found me the victim of time and chance, . . .
Johnny D. Symon
June 14, 2008
With the US Supreme Court's latest ruling on terrorist suspects, that will now open the floodgates and allow detainees to pursue their case in US Courts, . . .
Johnny D. Symon
May 31, 2008
I watched the final of The Eurovision Song Contest last Saturday night, not because I was looking for entertainment, for if that was the case I would have . . .
Johnny D. Symon
May 23, 2008
The Spanish government made two very important announcements last week. The first came on Monday morning, stating that the cost of electric would rise in the . . .
Johnny D. Symon
May 3, 2008
So much interesting water has flowed under life's bridge during the past fortnight that I experience a little difficulty in choosing my favorites, the ones I . . .
Johnny D. Symon
April 17, 2008
I've suspected for many a long year that there are others, round and about on dear old planet earth, who think and act like myself. I discovered yet another of . . .
Johnny D. Symon
April 5, 2008
A curious occurrence took place last month when the Christian calendar reversed itself. Normally Easter would coincide with the Jewish Passover, meaning that . . .
Johnny D. Symon
March 21, 2008
Since I've been out of the usual fray lately, and heavily involved in another fray elsewhere, I failed to write an ed last week. It's not due to there being no . . .
Johnny D. Symon
March 7, 2008
Last week I alluded to a situation involving an empty Spanish government Pensions Fund, discovered to be so in 1996 by incoming President, José Maria Aznar. The . . .
Johnny D. Symon
February 29, 2008
With Spain's general election looming, I've spent a little time searching out the inevitable anti-American ploy from the present incumbents. Those incumbents, . . .
Johnny D. Symon
February 8, 2008
"And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.
And when . . .
Johnny D. Symon
January 29, 2008
Early last Friday morning I began to write a new ed, but this particular Friday morning found me in Southern Spain. Next month is Carnival time, something I . . .
Johnny D. Symon
January 25, 2008
(First published August 22, 2005)
Last week a thought entered my head, and try as I might I just couldn't get it to leave. It dominated my mind and had me . . .
Johnny D. Symon
January 16, 2008
The Spanish holiday season culminated on January 6 with "Three Kings" (Los Reyes) festival. The fun started on December 6th, then the 8th, and on to the 25th, . . .
Johnny D. Symon
December 13, 2007
I wrote a belated response to a good old English friend recently. It was a simple shootin' the breeze type of letter in which I included my personal thoughts on . . .
Johnny D. Symon
December 7, 2007
There are two Muhammad Ali's that hold a special place in my heart. The first was undoubtedly the founding father of modern Egypt, a man of great insight and a . . .
Johnny D. Symon
November 30, 2007
As some of you are already aware through reading some of my earlier editorials, one of my lifetime passions is the study of human behavioral patterns, chiefly . . .
Johnny D. Symon
November 23, 2007
On my travels recently I happened to meet a man and woman who live in Southern Spain. In fact they've lived in that part of the world together for 17 years. He . . .
Johnny D. Symon
November 15, 2007
I began to write an ed two weeks back, then found myself getting whisked off to other parts. Hastily I published an old archive then headed out to do life's . . .
Johnny D. Symon
November 2, 2007
(First Published December 5, 2005)
The Spanish Canary Islands were hit by a tropical storm last week. Trees were blown down, power lines cut, roads blocked. . . .
Johnny D. Symon
October 26, 2007
A good friend jarred my memory a little recently as she conveyed her experience of reading the autobiography of English photographer Cecil Beaton. I've never . . .
Johnny D. Symon
October 19, 2007
Not so long ago, while I was working in the big city, I dropped into an Asian takeaway shop to buy a tub of vegetable curry and rice. I felt like eating . . .
Johnny D. Symon
October 11, 2007
While leaving aside for the present a possibility that Christopher Columbus was not the first to discover America, we at least know for sure that few went . . .
Johnny D. Symon
October 3, 2007
During the recent global warming/climate change conference held at the United Notions I noted a brief encounter involving G W Bush and Spain's Meanderthal man, . . .
Johnny D. Symon
September 21, 2007
(First Published October 17, 2005)
Last week the CIA released documents that claimed to have forewarned President Bush of a possible civil war as a result of . . .
Johnny D. Symon
September 14, 2007
In all matters of living I've rarely thought of something as cut and dried, until I'm certain that I could strike a match and set the thing alight, and I reckon . . .
Johnny D. Symon
September 7, 2007
This week's edition looks pretty much to me a space in which I'm getting absorbed in some kind of "sands of time" musings. Life has never been fuller, so full . . .
Johnny D. Symon
August 31, 2007
As I put down the final lines of last week's ed and continued to ponder on all facets concerning the right to own and apportion personal property, I also began . . .
Johnny D. Symon
August 24, 2007
Some time back I alluded to a close encounter that occurred in my very own back patio, and in a funny kind of way I now see said patio as a now famous location. . . .
Johnny D. Symon
August 17, 2007
I guess the past three weeks or so has for me reinforced an old adage that life is what you make it, and due to my volunteering to help a very close friend with . . .
Johnny D. Symon
August 14, 2007
(First published March 21, 2006)
I've recently spent some time reflecting on my many experiences in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
It is our . . .
Johnny D. Symon
August 3, 2007
The past week for me has proven to be a break-the-personal-mold session, as characteristically I spend much of my spare time talking to and sounding out the . . .
Johnny D. Symon
July 27, 2007
As this week began over in sunny Spain in earnest, the world famous city of Barcelona received a rude awakening when one of the main power center's conduits . . .
Johnny D. Symon
July 20, 2007
Where is this ever changing world we're all told exists? What exactly is changing on good old planet earth that somehow fails to attract my attention? . . .
Johnny D. Symon
July 13, 2007
A few days ago I granted myself the rare luxury of a day out, a day away. I excused myself and took a day off work. My wife, a close friend, and yours truly . . .
Johnny D. Symon
July 11, 2007
(First Published August 15, 2005)
Five year ago I lost an old friend whom the local Spanish called "Pedro el Americano." As the years rolled on he became . . .
Johnny D. Symon
July 6, 2007
I've been gathering together a series of personal experiences alongside events that have occurred in other parts of the world recently. I discovered that each . . .
Johnny D. Symon
June 28, 2007
I've just woken from experiencing a long and interesting dream last night. I've always taken a keen interest in the dreams of others, the Bible notwithstanding . . .
Johnny D. Symon
June 22, 2007
For anyone out there who noticed that last week's ed failed to surface, I offer the following: All my life I've been known as the guy who cracks funnies, even . . .
Johnny D. Symon
June 8, 2007
Time and its passing is nothing more than an illusion. When Adam and Eve sauntered through their own private paradise pre-original sin, time did not exist. . . .
Johnny D. Symon
June 1, 2007
Yesterday another of life's little mysteries rubbed up against my person when I took my usual weekly visit to Lidls supermarket in Sotogrande, Spain. Lidls, as . . .
Johnny D. Symon
May 24, 2007
On returning from my travels earlier this week, my wife conveyed the belated news that a friend called José ended his life several weeks previously, during a . . .
Johnny D. Symon
May 17, 2007
Spain's Regional and Autonomous elections will be held on the 27th of this month, and shall prove to be the first major test of public opinion on more than . . .
Johnny D. Symon
May 11, 2007
I began to suspect very early on this week that I was contracting that age-old condition named world-weariness. Maybe I was stuffing my gray matter with too . . .
Johnny D. Symon
May 2, 2007
I guess by now we've all heard about Boris Yeltsin's passing away recently. He received the usual fineries that world elder statesmen have received since time . . .
Johnny D. Symon
April 27, 2007
In "Murder and the Numbers Game" last week, I made allusion to the Islamic State of Al Andalus. Al qaeda have recently promised to re-take the region and re . . .
Johnny D. Symon
April 20, 2007
Yesterday was yet another day in the life for Spain: Two women were murdered by their husbands, one in full view of her young child. A Chinese man was knifed to . . .
Johnny D. Symon
April 11, 2007
I have to confess to not visiting political websites of any persuasion. I don't read anybody, therefore, to my way of thinking, I can't fall into the trap of . . .
Johnny D. Symon
April 4, 2007
Spanish "holy week" (semana santa) is well underway, and while it's a general Christian event the visual drama is performed mostly by the Catholics. I watched . . .
Johnny D. Symon
March 30, 2007
The Spanish TV company, TV 1, made history last Tuesday night through broadcasting a live show entitled "Tengo una pregunta para usted" ... "I have a question . . .
Johnny D. Symon
March 23, 2007
For those of you who habitually browse my Knight Gothic archive dungeon, the latest entitled "Zappo, Goering and other Amusements" lies ready and waiting. Here . . .
Johnny D. Symon
March 16, 2007
(First Published April 4, 2006)
As we all head out into yet another working week, I've started mine on an even more positive note. I feel that life's . . .
Johnny D. Symon
March 15, 2007
Just the other week I realized that I'd clean run out of laser print paper. I headed off in the direction of one of the few Andalusian suppliers of this . . .
Johnny D. Symon
March 8, 2007
This week on several occasions I've begun to write an ed, and on each occasion I felt the need to stop and do something else. It's the first time in about two . . .
Johnny D. Symon
March 2, 2007
There's been quite a hullaballoo going on in England over a little fat kid named Connor McCreaddie. At the ripe old age of eight the little brute has swollen up . . .
Johnny D. Symon
February 23, 2007
It's commonly accepted by most in the military that the situation in Afghanistan is on Red. It's a war situation. Opium production is on the up and up. Women . . .
Johnny D. Symon
February 16, 2007
During the course of my last few eds I've covered the situation of the hunger-striking ETA terrorist De Juana Chaos. In fact I made a prediction back in October . . .
Johnny D. Symon
February 7, 2007
There's quite a debate going on throughout Spain this week concerning an editorial posted up on the British newspaper, The Times online. Somehow a Times . . .
Johnny D. Symon
January 31, 2007
About two weeks ago actor and producer Tim Robbins gained an award in Madrid, Spain. He stood to be photographed with several VIP's, one of them being the Mayor . . .
Johnny D. Symon
January 18, 2007
I have to admit that for a spell last week, I swung my feet up onto the desk and began to laugh and rub my hands; Russia's Gazprom had announced a huge price . . .
Johnny D. Symon
January 2, 2007
As Islam continues growing throughout the world at an unprecedented scale and can justifiably be called the world's fastest growing religion, another religion . . .
Johnny D. Symon
November 8, 2006
Last June a famous Spanish lady, named Rocío Jurado, passed away, and the funeral ceremony matched that of a passing Royal, or a Head of State. The society . . .
Johnny D. Symon
October 30, 2006
Last week I bought a new flashlight. It was a type I've been looking for for some time. It's a little different to the traditional as it does not require . . .
Johnny D. Symon
October 16, 2006
Last week an ETA terrorist, called Juana Chaos ... (Chaos by name, chaos by nature, despite the fact that his surname is actually pronounced Cows) ... ended his . . .
Johnny D. Symon
October 10, 2006
There's something that never ceases to amaze me, and that is the short term memory of the vast majority of the human race. We constantly get fooled by those at . . .
Johnny D. Symon
September 19, 2005
On the back of recent edition of Europa Sur (an Andalusian newspaper) was a photo of a whale beached in South Africa. Why whales end up in this condition is . . .
