With all the happening during the past few weeks, I haven’t been blogging much. Then again, a lot of the blogs have been saying what I’ve been feeling. It’s a feeling of optimism that good things are coming our way.
People have asked me in the past whether I have any plans to migrate to greener pastures, and truthfully there have been times when I’ve thought about it. But then again, I’ve always hoped for things in SL to change.
After all that has happened, it’s sad that some people still want to migrate. Notably, most of them are well off and living comfortable lives here. Then again, it’s their lives and their choices. One thing to remember though, not all pastures on the other side is green.
Adios amigos!
Friday, May 29, 2009
Feeling Optimistic
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
An Article Well Worth Reading
I'm not sure whether someone else has already posted this link, but I found it very interesting, and timely. It's an article written by D. B. S. Jeyraj, entitled: Tigers, Tamil Diaspora and the Tamil civilian plight
Found it originally through a link shared by a friend on FB.
Some excerpts:
---
The demonstrations were shown as being expressions of concern about the civilian plight. That this humanitarian concern was only a facade was exposed by four factors.
First, no such concern was shown when civilians in the Eastern province were in distress owing to the military campaign or even when civilians in the north-western regions of Wanni were affected. It was only when the LTTE-dominated north-eastern enclave was under threat that this cacophony for civilian concern increased in volume.
Secondly, these voices were stridently loud about the damage and destruction caused by artillery shelling and aerial bombardment by the armed forces but were conspicuously silent on the atrocities committed by the LTTE against its own people. There was no condemnation of the Tigers endangering civilian life, limb and property by locating their artillery and mortars in thickly populated places and engaging the enemy, thus bringing about inevitable retaliatory attacks.
Thirdly, there was no criticism of the LTTE for preventing sections of the people fleeing its territory for safety reasons. The LTTE has killed and injured several civilians for daring to escape its clutches and seek Army protection. Only the armed forces were blamed by these sections of the diaspora.
Fourthly, these sections wanted a permanent ceasefire. The United Nations has called for a temporary ceasefire to help facilitate the humanitarian exercise of evacuating entrapped civilians. But the pro-Tiger elements agitating for civilian protection are not responsive.
---
The demonstrations were shown as being expressions of concern about the civilian plight. That this humanitarian concern was only a facade was exposed by four factors.
First, no such concern was shown when civilians in the Eastern province were in distress owing to the military campaign or even when civilians in the north-western regions of Wanni were affected. It was only when the LTTE-dominated north-eastern enclave was under threat that this cacophony for civilian concern increased in volume.
Secondly, these voices were stridently loud about the damage and destruction caused by artillery shelling and aerial bombardment by the armed forces but were conspicuously silent on the atrocities committed by the LTTE against its own people. There was no condemnation of the Tigers endangering civilian life, limb and property by locating their artillery and mortars in thickly populated places and engaging the enemy, thus bringing about inevitable retaliatory attacks.
Thirdly, there was no criticism of the LTTE for preventing sections of the people fleeing its territory for safety reasons. The LTTE has killed and injured several civilians for daring to escape its clutches and seek Army protection. Only the armed forces were blamed by these sections of the diaspora.
Fourthly, these sections wanted a permanent ceasefire. The United Nations has called for a temporary ceasefire to help facilitate the humanitarian exercise of evacuating entrapped civilians. But the pro-Tiger elements agitating for civilian protection are not responsive.
---
He ends the article with:
This short-sighted conduct of the LTTE within the diaspora is just one more instance of the irreparable damage inflicted upon the Tamil people by the Tigers. After having brought Tamils to the precipice of disaster in Sri Lanka, the LTTE is now compelling the diaspora to embark upon a confrontational course with Western governments and law-enforcement authorities.
Unless saner elements among the Tamil diaspora are willing and able to protest against the monstrous activities of the LTTE in their midst, this trend is likely to continue. Apart from being totally counterproductive to their own interests, this conduct of the LTTE will in the long run stigmatise the Tamil diaspora as being supporters of terrorism.
This certainly is not in the best interests of the global Tamil diaspora in the long run.
---
Worth reading the comments as well. All 305 of them :)
Thursday, May 07, 2009
I Fail to Understand These Double Standards
Red Cross: Dozens of Afghans Killed in US Airstrike
Al Jazeera
BBC
CNN
Earlier, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said in Washington that the Obama administration "deeply, deeply" regrets the loss of innocent life, calling such incidents as the reported killing of the 100 people "particularly painful".
But neither Obama nor Clinton specifically accepted US blame for the deaths.
Yes, how dare the world suggest that US planes did this? It must have been those bad Gremlins, stealing their fighters and dropping those bombs. Bad Gremlins.
Not surprisingly, all the countries that shout as champions of HR are silent. Of course, when their Big Brother does these things, it is acceptable. They don’t want to be on the bad side of the Big Brother do they?
Argh...This whole worlds is nuts.
Al Jazeera
BBC
CNN
Earlier, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said in Washington that the Obama administration "deeply, deeply" regrets the loss of innocent life, calling such incidents as the reported killing of the 100 people "particularly painful".
But neither Obama nor Clinton specifically accepted US blame for the deaths.
Yes, how dare the world suggest that US planes did this? It must have been those bad Gremlins, stealing their fighters and dropping those bombs. Bad Gremlins.
Not surprisingly, all the countries that shout as champions of HR are silent. Of course, when their Big Brother does these things, it is acceptable. They don’t want to be on the bad side of the Big Brother do they?
Argh...This whole worlds is nuts.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Hot Summer Days
...are fun, but this is a bit too much. Is it me or is it just freakishly hot these day?. I'm sitting at home sweating buckets :(
I didn't notice the heat much during the weekdays since I'm stuck inside an AC office during the day, and I usually get to office early and leave late. So I try to have minimum contact with Mr. Sun.
Went out with some friends yesterday and even the car AC wasn't powerful enough to cool us up. And no, it's not broken :P. You leave the car for awhile and get back in again, it's like getting into a hot oven. yikes...
Took the bike around today, and coz of the wind, you don't feel the heat...only until you stop. I'm now also sporting a two tone color scheme, since I was wearing a short sleeved T.
Even though the sun is gone now, it's still hot. No wind at all, and the trees are like frozen.
Oh ye all powerful weather gods, deliver us from this misery. Let there be rain...
No? not even a measly drop? :(
Oh well, I think I'll poke my head inside the freezer for awhile.
Cheers!!!
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