Current Event: Repeat

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Alexander Gerst, a German astronaut working at the International Space Station tweeted a photo from space and called it his “saddest photo yet.”

The photo shows the non-stop rockets and explosions between Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas militants that are raging across Gaza.

My saddest photo yet. From #ISS we can actually see explosions and rockets flying over #Gaza & #Israelpic.twitter.com/jNGWxHilSy

— Alexander Gerst (@Astro_Alex) July 23, 2014

Dear Israel, you’ve disappointed the world. Again.

In a caged strip of land called Gaza, Palestine, now as I write this  you are engaged in yet another murderous bloodletting which may result in possible and from what I’ve read very probable war crimes, committed against your Palestinian neighbors, a populace imprisoned, a populace that has done nothing to deserve this fate.

640 Palestinians killed in 12 days. What can one say … really … ah, thanks for the current ceasefire … I hope it lasts.

This is stomach turning and utter violence visited upon the innocent. A continuation of what you did in 2012. And again you use the arguably “the the most moral army in the world”, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). Not only that, they (IDF) are also most likely among the most technologically advanced army. And they are using this advantage recklessly, snuffing out the lives of innocent woman, children, young people, old people and here or there a few of their intended militant Hamas targets by surgical and much too frequently not so surgical strikes on known hospitals, homes, and the occasional UN safe zones, you know the ones: the schools doubling as refugee centres, the ones that the UN reportedly identified for you with GPS data.

All the while some of your proud citizenry cheer your wanton action on, those who take to hill tops entertaining themselves by watching the live rocket and the air strikes, knowing the devastation it is wreaking … as jubilant as though enjoying a festive fireworks display, or is it just Schadenfreude on display?

What I see is innocent unarmed, trapped Palestinian victims with nowhere left to flee to, being terrorized by HiTech cowards who claim the moral high ground.

Example testimony

WTF?! Something is very wrong with this PR image (granted: Media PR is just an illusion of colored smoke and fancy mirrors).

Perhaps dear Israel your moral compass is a bit off, perhaps you’ve really gone too far this time. It is time for me to act upon my conscience. Enough already. I choose to boycott your country, products from Israel. You probably don’t need my tourist money anyhow. Choosing to boycott  is but the only option left open to me as a normal thinking/feeling world citizen.

To criticize a wrong is right. I am exercising that right. I will no longer stand idly by and say nothing. What is happening, once again, is still wrong, and will never be right. And I am not alone in this reaction to what I am witness to on a daily basis by various media. I’m sick of it.

Dear Israel, that wider road you are bulldozing through your neighbors orchards, fields and yards may not be the brightest idea and perhaps you will one day realize this. After all is it not peace you claim to want?

To be blunt, please stop this madness, just stop. Please stop stealing land that isn’t yours and stop treating others the way you wouldn’t want to be treated. You could rock as a good neighbor.

Shalom … its meaning rings hollow. Wishing you all the best. A concerned human being.

Food for Thought

How Palestine was promised

When it Rained

this summer, it filled silver metal buckets and drenched the ground.

A Tale of Two Cats or one bad choice

It all started off all innocent like. Two kittens. Cute images cloud the brain like pink fluffy clouds. Cat energy, feline cunning and affection, yin and yang of co-dependance.

I should have known better. Even as the irresistible charm of the kitty cuteness on our second visit to the little furry bastards made my eyes glaze over; those two piercing cat eyes that stared deeply into mine. This is where the kitten soundtrack record should have come to a stratching, screeching halt and I should have noticed that they looked right through me, not at me. Not at all. Not one hint of what was to come in THAT which I mistook for instant like, dare I say affection? How stupid of me.

Eyes too dangerous to look into

My wife fared far better in her choice, she picked a clear winner. Me? I picked the loser, the yang to her yin.

But that was not readily apparent to one so beguiled as was I. The fucking cat wasn’t even the right fur or color. Why is it that every time I have the option of choosing a cat, (and I don’t pick often but once upon a time I catered to a solid grey cat)  my want is always the farthest from my initial wish … why oh why? Am I such a sucker?

And I should further have clued into what was to be when my dear wife upon deeper observations, suddenly compromised and suggested we change the choice of name for that one to Luna, instead of Lilly. Ok, that made instant sense as I’d already espied the lunacy that one embodied. Sure Luna, short for Lunatic.

I’m not certain if there is such a thing as cat racism but I don’t want to be painted with that brush. I was game to give my yang pick every opportunity to prove that I like all cats. Now I readily admit that I do not like all cats. Hell no.

The Cat Came Back comes to mind, as do all the evils (solutions to the problem) the song suggests, railing desperately about the toxic suffering extremes that a feline as evil as this plucks from the stuffings of life.

Sadly the ideal kitten scenario has been laid waste. Shredded tatters are all that remain of the innocent images we once imagined, the wickedly sharp clawed evil, a nastiness so vile has utterly destroyed a simple wish.

How was I to know it would be a piss pest?

Daily events  include moping up ever expanding puddles of pee in select areas of the home, closed doors equal containment our only defense against further defilement; the occasional cat turds.  Go figure, take that cute (evil can look very pretty, no?) feline and place it lovingly upon a clean, freshly prepared litter box only to have said now possessed beast look piercingly up, at and right through you, hop nimbly out of the offending box, take three steps to the side and piss a wee lake at your feet. WTF?!! Time and time again. And early mornings just outside the master bedroom follow suit, ripping me from light slumber if I hear it, the tell tale tinkle … and if I’ve not heard that I won’t fail to hear the scritching scratching of sharp nails attempting to hide the crime under a layer of what … air? Stupid cat.

And in a land where wasting paper is a sin, our paper towel and bleach consumption is bordering on a crime. Something has to go. Oops … did I write go? I meant change 😉

When I look at cat yin and then at cat yang, I resent the yang and long for the yin. Rufus is feline purrfection, while Luna(tic) is simply fucked.

Yin to my Yang

Lucky for Luna the days of burlap sacks, bricks and creeks are long a thing of the past. But what to do?

The classical definition of insanity is expecting a different outcome while repeating the same actions over and over. I know that I’m not the insane one. That prize goes to Luna, while I suffer the consequences.

Her behavior has banished her to the life of an outdoorsy cat. That’s got to suck cause she looks indoorsy.

For Sale in Freiburg