Back and forth

Have you seen this video?



To me the news of late sounds a bit like Grover. Look at Japan, now back at Libya, back at Japan, now back at Gaddafi...

I want to retreat into my fictitious world where there is peace and everyone love's everybody else. It is proving a lot harder today than usual.

Japan versus Haiti

Besides the news on raising nuclear alert levels following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last week, the other bit of news that seems to be taking center stage is how Japan is receiving far less in aids/funds compared to Haiti. Really now people! How naive do you have to be to be comparing the two nations? Haiti is the consequence of exploitative neo-liberal bullshit propagated by industrialized nations working to increase profit margins. Japan is the epitome of self reliance and sustainability. It is considered a future super power.

What also has been bothering me is the fact that around 3,500 people are dead from cholera in Haiti. I distinctly remember reading that cholera was spread by UN relief workers who arrived in Haiti from Nepal following the earthquake in Port-au-Prince. But I can't seem to locate the article now. The forecast for Haiti is grim. Researchers are predicting a death toll as high as 10,000 by November this year. The numbers are ironically similar to what is coming out of Japan.

One of the things that always upset me during days as a news person was how news is all about viewer/readership. News organisations are corporations too. News of nuclear radiation (and threats of it reaching as far as the US West Coast) will help hike the price of air time/page space way more than news of damage and destruction from the tsunami. Death tolls and damage is already  'old' news. In a world like this what chance does a country like Haiti stand?

I am not belittling what has happened in Japan. In fact I want to know how the relief/rescue efforts are going? I want to know more about how people can contact their loved ones in the afflicted parts. How are the people faring? Is nuclear radiation the only threat? Are they safe from the cold weather that has hit Japan?

All of this also makes me wonder if it is because the audience, which is you and me, want this kind of sensational, depressing news. Would we listen/read more if the news was more positive? This whole Haiti/Japan business has been bothering me for a few days now. I don't feel better for having gotten it off my chest. But writing about it will probably help me get through the rest of the day. I will be back to pondering this later today much to the annoyance of my Hubby.

For my visitor

I know there is someone from Japan who visits my blog regularly. This one's for you.

I don't know how you have been affected by the earthquake, tsunami and now the nuclear reactor explosions. You can't live in Japan or anywhere in the world for that matter and not be affected by a disaster such as this. I can't even begin to wrap my head around the enormity of what has happened. It all seems so unreal. All that is lost can be rebuilt, all that has been washed away is just the material. What really forces me into denial is the loss of lives. I can relate to that. I am truly sorry for your loss.

I hope you take a little comfort in knowing that I am praying for everyone's safety. I am praying, confident that the Land of the Rising Sun will shine again.

Topsy turvy

Humans have caused damage of every kind to this planet and to every species that lives on it including ourselves. We are terrible at living in harmony with the environment. I think about this all the time, but seeing news of a tiger killing a lion really made me want to say it out loud.

In the wild I am quite sure a lion would beat a tiger or kill it in a fight. I am not exactly sure if it would let a wounded tiger go. I am also not sure if these cats eat one another's kill. What I mean by that is would a lion eat a tiger? Must go off and find out.

But this story is about a tiger getting through a break in the fence and killing a lion in the next pen in a Turkish zoo. Apparently it went for the lion's jugular! What would make a tiger want to do that? Would it be the frustration of being caged? I want to know more about how these cats interacted before the killing. I am sure some folks are thinking, "yeah right, whatever woman, get a life. There are bigger issues to worry about." But I think when species that only kill for food or mates (and perhaps a pride in the case of lions) just randomly kills another we must be concerned. It has something to do with what we are doing as humans.

I have always loved visiting zoos. But I have lost interest lately. The older I get the harder it is for me to see animals caged. Zoos do have their place on this planet, they help rehabilitate, protect endangered species, etc. But even that doesn't seem necessary. If an animal is endangered there is a reason behind it. If dinosaurs existed today the planet would be a very different place. All this protecting of species I am sure has someone (frightfully crazy) thinking about how humans could be 'protected' beyond all odds, to come back and wreak havoc over and over again!

Breast milk ice cream? Really!

Would you eat it?

I understand all milk is "breast" milk, but we are talking about human milk here. Farming women for milk is not really an option is it? So should we squander it on ice cream?

I am not one to judge people on how they go about earning some extra cash. But when there are children whose entire survival depends on someone donating breast milk, this kind of enterprise disturbs me. Premature infants and babies of very low birth weight need breast milk and there is a lot of data showing why synthetic supplements just won't do what breast milk can to help these babies pull through. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that their entire survival depends on their mothers or donors making human milk available. Donor milk becomes extremely important when birth mothers are unable to produce adequate milk for infants who are not able to suckle yet.

Perhaps if the health care industry paid women to donate milk we might be able to build a larger bank of donor milk for babies in need rather than indulgent adults.

Unbelievable!

Every time I hear grand claims about technological innovations outdoing the forces of nature I am concerned. I have to admit I have not seen anything like this footage from Brisbane of the floods. It is very humbling and I sincerely hope we can act with more respect for the world we live in. But right now my concerns are for very dear friends who live in Brisbane that I have not heard from. I will be really glad if all they lose in these floods is just a car or even their house.

Finally fallen

Anne Frank's tree has finally fallen. It is sad. I remember the many trees that I absolutely loved and had to be cut down because they were 'sick'. I am not so sad about the tree falling, everything has its time. Its sad that it has made news. It is only news because Anne was killed in a concentration camp at age 15. She didn't just die at the camp.

What was that again...Haiti...what?

So what did I say about Haiti being forgotten...a pile of snow in Washington DC and Haiti was off the radar, gone! Now we just have to wait for the next insane humanitarian to kidnap a bunch of kids before we see it in the headlines again.

Haiti - The New Cold Front

Headlines are screaming of the aftermath of an earthquake in Haiti! I heard this morning that a natural disaster has now turned into a humanitarian crisis, that is always true. But what pisses me off about this situation is that Haiti has always been a 'humanitarian crisis'. All this attention is transient and superficial.

Where was the media when US clinical trials tested contraceptives on the women in Haiti? Where have they been in all these years of exploitation that has left an entire nation destitute? Now they want to send aid because of the devastation caused by the earthquake. There is something so very wrong with all of this. It makes me angry.

The people in Haiti have needed help for a long time, and now the 'world' will intervene, help them find the bodies, bury the dead, feed the folks on the street and all until they next cold front hits our cities. Haiti will be forgotten again, until another earthquake or tsunami.

Visa Drama

Every so often something happens that completely throws you off and you wonder what to do ... becuase to begin with you believe you have done the right thing and stuck to the rules ... now what? Break the rules, lie??

Hubby and I are expecting our "Bandito" (as Hubby likes to refer to him/her), and we hoped my parents would be able to visit from Sri Lanka to give us a hand in the first few challenging months and then hopefully spend some wuality time with us as the miserable weather improves and the spring bulbs blossom. So they go ahead and apply for their six month Canadian visitor's visa at the High Commission in Colombo. They had all their papers in order, just as they did the last time they visited. All they had was a letter of invitation and our tax papers, and they were granted a three-month visa, stating that first time visitors are only granted a three month, single-entry visa, although they had applied for a multiple-entry visa. This time, being their second time we had hoped it would be a six month visa, but apparently not. Since we were honest about the pregnancy and the reason for the visit, they granted them a three-month visa, the reason being there was no letter from my Physician stating that I am in fact pregnant! 

This makes absolutely no sense to me because, they did grant her a visa without that letter. It would have made sense to reject the application out right and ask her to come back with a letter. Why just reduce the duration of her stay?

To add to this nonsense, the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website does not state anywhere that we ought to include a letter from a doc, they only need proof of financial support and I know there is enough. Well, it was adequate to grant them a visa the first time. To top it off, the CIC website does not talk about a three month visa at all. Or I must have missed it. We could apply for an extension, but that takes 74 days (not sure working or not) to process, and we don't have that kind of time. Ahhhhhh... I can do without this stress right now. 

I really don't understand how these things work, and who bloody makes these decisions!! So anyone applying for visas such as these, include all the possible letters and papers possible and hope and pray that it lands in the hands of a sensible person behind the counter. I do believe that is what ultimately matters, which makes the whole process really unfair and the rules/laws rather silly to have in place.

The beginning...?

After what the media claims as the most expensive campaign in history, Barack Hussein Obama is president elect, with the democrats organising to pull the US out of the hole and hopefully help fix the ailing economy.

No doubt Obama has a lot on his plate. I do believe the expectations are rather unreal. I really like this man, he is intelligent, no doubt. He organised a terrific campaign and raked in the votes for the democrats, I doubt Hillary Clinton would have had the energy to pull that off. Happy as I am that it is Obama in the White House and not McCain, I am not convinced that things will change too soon or for the better. Although things cannot get any worse than they already are.

The US is not the superpower that it once was. Obama has to restore its credibility globally, and I think by voting for him the Americans have to some extent restored the faith of the international community. BUT, I will remain skeptical about the foreign policies that will emerge from the White House come January. He has to fix the economy (easier said than done), and keep the promises made about tax cuts, health benefits and so on. I am also eager to see what his stand will be on environmental issues. Will the US finally ratify the Kyoto Protocol? So many questions...only time will tell.

In the meantime I hope Obama stays safe. His middle name is not going to do him any favours and everytime I hear or read of comparisons to JFK, I shudder. I do not want this man, or any man to have to face an end like JFK or MLK Jr for that matter. So here's hoping...and praying.

Could this happen?

I don't remember Osama releasing a hate message just weeks before the previous US presidential election, and had no idea that it had a lot to do with Kerry losing. But could it happen again? What are the odds of McCain winning if that were to happen? Would people panic and go with an old-timer rather than take their chances with a man who actually has a functioning brain?

Why?

I did not want to rant about the US presidential elections, but goodness me it is getting to be a drag. I wish Palin would shut up, I am still trying to figure out why McCain would pick a scatter brain like her to be his running mate. The Republicans also ought to get themselves better "coaches" for the debates, perhaps different ones too, so Palin and McCain don't sound like they just came out of Debate 101 classes. And in all fairness, both the men are beginning to sound like dummies, saying the same thing over and over again and stop the bloody finger pointing!

Since Obama sounds like the only one with functioning gray matter at the moment, I do hope the Americans vote for him. But its common knowledge there are enough Americans with no gray matter whatsoever who will vote for McCain and as a result for Palin. How sad is that? I know Obama is leading in polls but that is no guarantee he will win. This is American afterall, and they did elect George Bush Jr., twice!! Well, that may be stretching it a bit, who knows what happened the first time.

Nevertheless, what has me is that Canadian federal elections are less than a week away and no one is talking about it. Canada will feel the effects of the American economic crisis more than any other country in the world and I don't think even the Canadians care. Unfortunately, there is little to choose from in terms of a decent leader north of the border. Australia got rid of John Howard, and Tony Blair is gone, so it would be nice if the Republicans take the back seat for a bit in the US and gosh wouldn't it be nice to see what the New Democratic Party can do for Canada! But it certainly would be one big experiment...sigh...

Economic crisis! Really?

Global markets are a mess with stock prices plummeting like it is the end of the world. To some people it will be the end of the world. It is largely because the average person invests his or her retirement savings in the stock market. But what is annoying is that once again the world pays for American stupidity. Stupid banks lend with no security whatsoever and are going bankrupt all over the place and the government is using tax payers' money to bail them out. And as a consequence the markets crashing around the globe.

I blame the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. They are the chief of all money launderers out there. I am of the opinion that the WB set the precedence for what is happening world over and most importantly in America. The institution, contrary to its name is all American. Who knew that the world's most indebted country is the United States of America. I wonder how they get away with it, while third world countries auction public estate to pay off their loans. This is part of the so called debt-relief plans offered to most countries, so eventually American corporate idiots will own half the world.

It is going to be interesting, yet depressing to watch how the crisis turns out. The last global recession was followed by a World War. Here's hoping that is not how it turns out this time. I only hope Obama, who acknowledges the plight of the economy comes to power and works to turn things around, in fact he has to, or he will remembered as the President who took the country to damnation. Because another World War will not be so kind to America. The rest of the world is ready to take on the super power of yesterday.

What?

So Radovan Karadzic wants a new judge appointed because he believes that the presiding judge is not likely to be impartial and will likely convict him. If you ask me, anyone of sane mind would want this man behind bars. It is no secret that he was behind the 1990s genocide in the Balkans. It is this talk of 'democracy' and 'right to a free trial' that even allows guys like this to talk. Urrgghh!

Really now!

The Indian railway system, apparently the largest in the world is to receive a whopping amount of money, and of course officials claim they are improving services. One would hope so. I do hope this means there won't be many more babies falling through toilets.