Miracles never cease in the Miracle of Asia

Sri Lanka is truly living up to its reputation as the ‘Miracle of Asia’ these days. Firstly it was the former CJ admitting to the fact that he released someone accused of embezzlement in the hope that he would eventually become a champion of human rights, and now we hear of how an internationally wanted terrorist being declared innocent of any crimes!

Late last evening there was a news update on the Daily Mirror website (http://www.dailymirror.lk/top-story/22778-no-evidence-against-kp-govt.html) that claimed the Media Center for National Security had said they have no evidence nor any complaints against Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP), the former chief fund raiser and arms procurer for the LTTE.

Now please bear with me as I try really hard to get to grips with this latest development. To my knowledge (and I may be quite wrong here) KP is an individual who was openly known to be the main gun runner, fund raiser for the LTTE and afterwards the de facto leader following the death of the LTTE leader in 2009. He is still wanted in connection with the assassination of former Indian PM Rajive Gandhi and probably holds a huge responsibility for the thousands of deaths which occurred during the 3 decade long war in Sri Lanka.

Now how an individual with such a notorious reputation can be considered to be free of any complaints or that there is no evidence against him seems incredulous. If there is no evidence or complaints against him then why did the Government of this Miracle of Asia issue an international arrest warrant on him? Why was he virtually kidnapped from another Asian country and brought to Colombo under armed escort? Maybe it was because the powers that be in their infinite wisdom felt he deserved to have a guided tour of the country he planned and helped to virtually destroy.

I wonder what is going through the minds of the thousands of parents, wives, husbands and children of those who lost their lives in the 30 long years of warfare as they hear of the latest miracle to happen in this land of miracles? It must be really satisfying for them to know they will never have the comfort of knowing one of the chief people behind the death of their loved ones was brought to justice, rather it seems he too has been rewarded with afresh new start in life as a champion of human rights, heading his very own NGO.

And what about the thousands of armed forces personnel who lost a comrade and friend? The hundreds of maimed, blinded and crippled ex-forces personnel? Maybe they will agree that all is forgiven and flash him a smart salute as they see him strolling the streets of Jaffna as a free and ‘innocent’ man.

I for one can’t wait to see what the future holds for this Miracle Isle of Asia, maybe we’ll see water turned to wine and people walking on water next. Exciting times these are!

Criminality rewarded?

It seems like ages since I last wrote anything on here, and while lots of reasons have contributed to that fact, this is an attempt to break through the silence.

I was reading through the headlines today and came across an article that had me stumped for a while. I momentarily wondered if my comprehension skills had taken an abrupt downward spin, but on re-reading the article, I found out to my dismay that my initial impression was right.

According to this article the former Chief Justice, someone who I in my naivete expect to uphold even the smallest of laws, claims that the only reason the President of our country is in the seat of power is due to the CJ letting him off on a charge of embezzlement!

What really stunned me was the reason given by the former CJ for this unheard of action. Apparently, he was allowed to walk away scot free in the hope that he would protect the rights of others in the future!

Now maybe this makes total sense to some people, after all it did seem to do so to the former CJ at the time, but to naive old me it seems to overturn everything that i was taught about right and wrong. From the days I was toddling along in snot nosed abandon, it was drilled into me that punishment would be meted out to the wrongdoer and that we could safely lean upon the fact that nothing good would result from criminal conduct.

But lo and behold it seems that the highest authority in the land, the supreme court, in which all Sri Lankans place their trust to uphold justice and fair-play, have a totally different take on life. A take in which criminals should not be punished, but rather set free and rewarded with the opportunity to attain the highest of positions of power in the land.

Now correct me if I’m wrong here, but then shouldn’t this statement alone give any criminal who was convicted during the former CJ’s time the grounds to appeal his or her sentencing? After all, aren’t they also entitled to the same viewpoint, that they too could turn out to be wonderful protectors of humanity if only given the chance?

It seems in one sweeping gesture, the former CJ has re-written the laws governing not just Sri Lanka, but the civilized world in general. Not only that, but he also seems to have provided the justice system with the perfect solution to over crowding in the prison system, simply have all courts to rule innocent on any criminal case and send the offenders home with a pat on the back and a word of encouragement to become champions of human rights from that day forward!

I don’t know if there are any laws in place to hold the former CJ in criminal breach of trust for admitting to such an action, but I would love to see some sort of action taken against this man who has very obviously played favourites, re-written the laws and let down the whole criminal justice system of this country.

Well maybe I should keep a paper cutting of the said article in my wallet so that the next time I’m hauled up before a judge on some charge, I can have my lawyer plead for dismissal on the grounds that I would from now on become knight in shining armour who would go around on a white charger righting the wrongs of the world and bringing smiles to the faces of all and sundry, and maybe even become President of this wonderful country called Sri Lanka.

Or maybe such judicial munificence is only reserved for a very privileged few…

 

Welcome Back Old Friend… I Missed You!

I thought I didn’t need you anymore…
I thought I was ready to handle things alone…
I forgot the reasons why you were in my life for so long…
I thought it was safe to walk out of your shadow…

How silly I was to forget how weak I really was…
How easily I forgot the way you kept me safe…
How casually I cast aside the protection you gave…
And now I need you back old friend…

In your shadow I find salvation…
In your embrace I find consolation…
Embrace me… Enfold me… Hide me away…
And whisper to me that you’ll never let go…

Dedicated to the wall around my heart.

Stats Monkeys at work

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 3,700 times in 2010. That’s about 9 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 6 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 121 posts.

The busiest day of the year was January 22nd with 189 views. The most popular post that day was Stealing my roof and calling it gratitude!.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were kottu.org, facebook.com, blackexists.wordpress.com, themadcatwoman.blogspot.com, and chavie101.blogspot.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for rain, why do good people die, frilly panties, what language do you think in, and why good people die.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Stealing my roof and calling it gratitude! January 2010
7 comments

2

Why do good people die? June 2007
14 comments

3

What Language do you think in? November 2008
17 comments

4

The guy in frilly panties has his mouth full…! August 2009
16 comments

Court Approves World Atheists’ Day

In Florida , an atheist created a case against the upcoming Easter and Passover Holy days. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against Christians and Jews and observances of their holy days. The argument was that it was unfair that atheists had no such recognized days.

The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the passionate presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring, “Case dismissed!”

The lawyer immediately stood objecting to the ruling saying, “Your Honour, How can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter and others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah, yet my client and all other atheists have no such holidays.”

The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, “But you do. Your client, counsel, is woefully ignorant.”

The lawyer said, “Your Honour, we are unaware of any special observance or holiday for atheists.”

The judge said, “The calendar says April 1st is April Fools Day. Psalm 14:1 states, ‘The fool says in his heart, there is no God.’ Thus, it is the opinion of this court, that, if your client says there is no God, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day. Court is adjourned.”

This one seemed just too good not to share! 🙂

8, 9, 10 and My Worthless Vote!

8,9,10 or 08th September, 2010 is a day that will go into the history books of Sri Lanka. For some it will be the day that democracy was stabbed in the back quite viciously, while for others, it will be a day when their hero cemented his rightful place at the top of the feeding chain of politics.

For the past few days the news media has been chock full of various articles, opinions and letters regarding what is known as the proposed 18th amendment to the constitution of Sri Lanka. The merits and the demerits of the proposed amendment have been discussed, praised and vilified ad nauseum in every forum from the parliament to the street corners.

while all this is well and good and also part and parcel of a proper democratic system that should tolerate the discussion of various differing opinions, there’s a remarked lack of discussion of another event that will play a very important role in making placing 8,9,10 in the history books.

The reason the amendment will even have a hope of being passed into the law books today is because a section of the opposition members have pledged their support to the Government and their proposal. Without such an expression of support, which has led to the garnering of a 2/3 majority in Parliament, this amendment would probably have ended up as just another fanciful dream of a ruling regime.

Now this is where I would like to step in and make my feelings known, even if it is just on an obscure blog such as this.

At the past general elections, I personally voted for the opposition in the hopes of having a controlling influence in parliament and also with the hope that at some of sort of checks and balances would be in place to control the government from passing laws which are detrimental to my point of view.

While some people may think me quite naive for actually expecting a politician to stick to his promises and have some sort of ethical backbone, I actually exercised my voting privilege with the expectation of the person I was voting for would prevent the 2/3 majority being given to the government. But now it seems that the ground situation has taken a drastic shift.

Opposition MP’s who were voted in on the platform of opposing the government and striving to bring about a change in the way things were being done, have suddenly done an about face and are expressing their exuberant support to the very person and government they campaigned against!

What bloody right does an MP have to suddenly shift his allegiance after being voted in on the hopes of the common man who wanted a change? I mean, if I wanted this government to have a 2/3 majority and do whatever they please, I would have voted for one of their candidates instead right?

Having being given the impression that my voice would be heard in the highest of legislature, I suddenly find myself carried over to the ruling party, thanks to the spineless vacillations of the opposition MP’s! My vote, which I actually do value quite a bit, has basically been taken from an opposing position and perverted to one that supports the person I voted against! How is this democracy??

Right now as I sit at my desk and read the various SMS’s that keep flowing in to inform me how more and more opposition MP’s are kissing the feet of the ‘King’, I feel nothing but a sense of betrayal and anger that nothing is being done to prevent my voting rights being perverted and misused by a bunch of back-boneless tarts!

I guess in essence, what I have been shown by the members of the so-called highest legislature in this country, is that my vote is worth about as much as a piece of paper that someone would wipe their butt with!

So for me, 8,9,10 will definitely go down in my personal history books, as the day my vote became worthless…

8, 9, 10 and My Worthless Vote!

8,9,10 or 08th September, 2010 is a day that will go into the history books of Sri Lanka. For some it will be the day that democracy was stabbed in the back quite viciously, while for others, it will be a day when their hero cemented his rightful place at the top of the feeding chain of politics.

For the past few days the news media has been chock full of various articles, opinions and letters regarding what is known as the proposed 18th amendment to the constitution of Sri Lanka. The merits and the demerits of the proposed amendment have been discussed, praised and vilified ad nauseum in every forum from the parliament to the street corners.

while all this is well and good and also part and parcel of a proper democratic system that should tolerate the discussion of various differing opinions, there’s a remarked lack of discussion of another event that will play a very important role in placing 8,9,10 in the history books.

The reason the amendment will even have a hope of being passed into the law books today is because a section of the opposition members have pledged their support to the Government and their proposal. Without such an expression of support, which has led to the garnering of a 2/3 majority in Parliament, this amendment would probably have ended up as just another fanciful dream of a ruling regime.

Now this is where I would like to step in and make my feelings known, even if it is just on an obscure blog such as this.

At the past general elections, I personally voted for the opposition in the hopes of having a controlling influence in parliament and also with the hope that at least some of sort of checks and balances would be in place to control the government from passing laws which are detrimental to my point of view.

While some people may think me quite naive for actually expecting a politician to stick to his promises and have some sort of ethical backbone, I actually exercised my voting privilege with the expectation of the person I was voting for would prevent the 2/3 majority being given to the government. But now it seems that the ground situation has taken a drastic shift.

Opposition MP’s who were voted in on the platform of opposing the government and striving to bring about a change in the way things were being done, have suddenly done an about face and are expressing their exuberant support to the very person and government they campaigned against!

What bloody right does an MP have to suddenly shift his allegiance after being voted in on the hopes of the common man who wanted a change? I mean, if I wanted this government to have a 2/3 majority and do whatever they please, I would have voted for one of their candidates instead right?

Having being given the impression that my voice would be heard in the highest of legislature, I suddenly find myself carried over to the ruling party, thanks to the spineless vacillations of the opposition MP’s! My vote, which I actually do value quite a bit, has basically been taken from an opposing position and perverted to one that supports the person I voted against! How is this democracy??

Right now as I sit at my desk and read the various SMS’s that keep flowing in to inform me how more and more opposition MP’s are kissing the feet of the ‘King’, I feel nothing but a sense of betrayal and anger that nothing is being done to prevent my voting rights being perverted and misused by a bunch of back-boneless tarts!

I guess in essence, what I have been shown by the members of the so-called highest legislature in this country, is that my vote is worth about as much as a piece of paper that someone would wipe their butt with!

So for me, 8,9,10 will definitely go down in my personal history books, as the day my vote became worthless…

It’s my goat and I’ll kill it if I want to!

It’s been a really long time since I’ve actually written anything in here. Probably because I didn’t really have the time and also because there wasn’t much happening that I felt needed writing about. But that’s changed over the last few days.

For the last couple of days I’ve been seeing a lot of uproar in the newspapers and on the net about a certain group of people sacrificing some goats and chickens in order to appease a certain deity. And to tell you the truth, I’ve been left a bit confused as to the whole hullabaloo.

Apparently, a certain Hindu Kovil has a traditional celebration (For lack of a better word), in which the devotees make animal sacrifices to the resident Goddess. This has been going on for many years without anyone raising any issues about it. But this year, certain members of the public and a section of the Buddhist clergy have decided that they need to put a stop to this ritual.

Naturally, this has led to a certain amount of ill feeling and tension between the two groups and also in the immediate area of the Kovil, leading to the authorities having to call out the riot police in order to prevent the situation from escalating.

Now, as for me, this is where the confusion starts to set in. I thought that we were living in a multi-cultural, multi-religious country? A country in which the constitution, while giving prime position to Buddhism, still allows for the free practice of other religions.

I do understand that some people may be quite shocked at the thought of animals being sacrificed to the Gods in this modern day and age, but then what about the hundreds if not thousands of cattle, chickens and fish that are ‘sacrificed’ on the alter of our appetites on a daily basis? I seriously doubt that many of those people who are crying copious tears about this ritual can honestly claim to be vegetarians!

I believe it says somewhere “He who is without sin, cast the first stone”

IMHO, if it’s alright for some of us to pay people to catch, kill and butcher animals just for the satisfaction of eating their flesh with much smacking of lips and sucking of bones, then it is perfectly alright for others to kill other animals in the name of their religion. After all, what’s the difference, both practices end in dead animals ya?

Now some may argue that animals that are killed for food purposes are not treated in the ‘barbaric’ manner in which the sacrificed animals are killed in these rituals, but I beg to differ, all it will take to put this argument to rest is to take a tour of the nearest abattoir and see how exactly your meat ends up in your plate!

But what really gets my goat (Excuse the pun), is the audacity of these protesters in thinking they have the right to demand that another religion bows down to their petty moral standards! Who or what gives them the right to do so? If they believe they actually do have the right to express their outrage, then IMHO, I too have the right to protest in front of the Sri Dalada Maligawa during the Perehara because I believe it involves extreme cruelty to elephants and should therefore be stopped with immediate effect! I would love to see what the reaction to that would be.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, we all need to be a little more tolerant of other people’s beliefs and practices. They may not sit very comfortable with us, but if we appreciate Sri Lanka for what it is, we need to have an open mind.

For the record, I’m not a Hindu or Buddhist, nor do I practice ritual sacrifice of animals, but I believe as a citizen of this country I have every bloody right to kill a goat if I feel like doing so!

A fistful of stars or a mouthful of mud?

Why is it that we as humans always seem to expect too much out of life? We expect people in our life to fulfill all our expectations, no matter how far fetched they may be. In the same way, we expect situations in life to work out just as we want them too, our careers have to get to the highest point, whatever business deals we get into have to turn out to be the ultimate success story!

Why do we instinctively set ourselves up to take a huge fall? Common sense and experience should have taught us by now that the odds of everything we touch turning to gold is abysmally minute.

But still, we hope, we dream and we put our hearts and our spirits out their in the firing line time after time.

Is it something in our genetic make up that makes us do that? Sometimes I think we humans are hard wired for hope. No matter how many times we get knocked down, no matter how long it takes for us to recover from the fall, we still seem to be able to muster the capacity to hope again and again.

There are times when I think that maybe it would be better to not have the capacity to hope. It would save us so much heartache and misery if we didn’t have the ability to generate a sense of optimism towards the future.

I mean, if we didn’t start the day thinking that things are going to work out just great, we wouldn’t be put in a position of being disappointed when something goes wrong ya?

Imagine if I were to start the day thinking that things are going to go horribly wrong for me somewhere down the line, that something bad is bound to happen to me during the day, I won’t be upset when I get a flat tire just as I need to be somewhere urgently. Makes sense doesn’t it? Why be upset, after all, I was expecting this to happen.

Now I can hear some people out there saying ‘but what if nothing bad happens?’. Well, if nothing bad happens and my day goes along as a very average one, that would be an emotional bonus for me ya? Instead of suffering the crushing sense of defeat, I would end the day on a happy note because things went better than I expected.

On the other hand, I’ve been doing some reading up on the whole subject of positive thinking and the huge effects it can have on your whole life and future. Everything I’ve read expounds the idea that being positive and optimistic can in turn generate good things in my life. It also says that if I’m negative and cynical about life, I will in turn, attract negative stuff into my life.

So, on one hand I have the option of being cynical, pessimistic and negative but never run the chance of being disappointed or I can be positive, optimistic and gung-ho but run the chance of being crushed when things go wrong.

Maybe, just maybe, life is all about reaching for that handful of stars, stretching ourselves to the breaking point to reach ever higher…

…Never knowing that the stars we’re reaching for are just reflections on the surface of a shallow pond, and just as we think we’ve made that final leap and grasped that fistful of stars, we slip and fall, ending up with a mouthful of mud.

Stealing my roof and calling it gratitude!

I heard an interesting story the other day while sharing in the usual ‘spiritual’ experience that happens during the weekend. One of the guys was telling this story about how strangely some people tend to interpret gratitude.

Apparently in a land far, far away, there lived a very normal, average kind of guy. Now this guy went about his daily life without harm to anyone and did his best to get along day to day.

One fine day (or not so fine day), a group of thieves decided to break into this guy’s house. Now these thieves were a really vicious sort of characters and the poor guy was pretty helpless to stop them.

For his good luck, a passerby who happened to see what was happening, decided to give him a helping hand and came to his rescue. He thrashed the thieves quite soundly and chased them away in style before restoring the house with all its contents to the poor average guy.

The average guy was really happy and very grateful to the passerby, but the Good Samaritan brushed off his thanks and claimed he was only doing his civic duty by coming to his rescue.

Once again everything was bright and sunny in the average guy’s life. But things were not to remain that way for too long.

After returning home after a tiring day at the office, the average guy was shocked to find that his precious home, that was saved by the Good Samaritan, was missing it’s roof!

While he was standing there speechless, guess who happens to pass by? The Good Samaritan of course (sort of expected that twist, didn’t you?). Seeing the average guy standing there the Good Samaritan asked him what seemed to be the problem, to which the average guy pointed out that someone, seemed to have stolen his roof.

The Good Samaritan laughed heartily at this and told the average guy that he was mistaken; after all, there were no more thieves in the area. They had all been chased away by him. Having thought about this, the average guy asked the Good Samaritan what he thought had happened then.

The Good Samaritan at once gave him an explanation. He said that he was a little short of money and had decided to sell the average guy’s roof in order to raise the money. The average guy was shocked at this explanation and asked the Good Samaritan why he thought he could sell his roof without asking about it first, and wasn’t that in fact an act of stealing?

A look of deep hurt crossed the Good Samaritan’s face immediately. This was soon followed with an expression of anger. In a very threatening voice he asked the average guy if he had so easily forgotten how when thieves broke into his house it was the good Samaritan who saved the day?

He went on to point out how, in his opinion, the average guy was an ungrateful ingrate. After all, how could the average guy find fault with him for selling his roof when the whole house was in fact saved by him?

The Good Samaritan walked away muttering under his breath about how people should learn to be more grateful to their saviours as the average guy gazed after him in shock.

So what do you think? Was the average guy in fact being ungrateful at pointing out how wrong it was for the Good Samaritan to steal his roof, or was he right in being upset about it?