What’s Next?

So tonight is the end of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA), actually it ended some time back and now it is officially over. Well at least someone had the guts to pull out of it, and appease the patriots.

So now what? I hope that the patriots will do the fighting without living in luxury in Colombo and running around escorted by speeding Defenders and barking in parliament.

I know several people who came back to Sri Lanka after the ceasefire was implemented and now they are heading back to their adopted nations vowing never to return to this hell hole again. The Cost of Living is sky rocketing and either you have to be a farmer or a millionaire to survive. At least the farmers get some sort of subsidies and have a lifestyle that does not demand what the middle class are used to live with. A millionaire on the other hand has enough money to survive no matter how expensive the things are? Being Middle Class is like being under a curse in Sri Lanka.

There are explosions all over the place and no one is safe. There are rumors that schools are to be closed for about one to three months. The education process is also going to be messed up due to the escalation in fighting. If the LTTE are defeated militarily then it is good riddens to bad rubbish but if not then we are totally messed up. Is it wise taking the chance? I personally do not think so, since we have being trying for decades and have not been able to accomplish it. I still think a strategic political settlement that will trap the LTTE forcing them to stop the fighting is the best solution.

However no matter what is said and done it is not the politicos or the terrorist leaders that will face the burden of this conflict but rather the common man. Innocent boys and girls from both sides will face death just to appease the greediness and goals of politicos and terrorists who are well past their prime. If all fails and Sri Lanka is messed up the politicos will find refuge in the western nations that they so vehemently condemn and the terrorists will also move on to other nations or continue to terrorize the innocent civilians.

P.S : The last few months of 2007 was so horrible for blogging since I was loaded with so much work resulting in no posts in December. This blog is not dead and I hope to resurrect it once again in the coming weeks and months by making more posts. Oh and BTW here is a belated “Happy and Prosperous 2008 to all“. Happy! – must check the definition again, Prosperous! – this is for the millionaire/politico.

 

Sri Lanka – the war,opinions

It is really sad that the bombing incidents in Sri Lanka are increasing once again. With the Christmas season just a day away it seems that Sri Lanka has accelerated its slide back back to the past with bombs and the works. I have been unable to make any comments over the past few days due to the hectic work load that I have. It looks like many in the Sri Lankan blogosphere is facing the same problem since Kottu seems to be rather quiet for some time.

Anyway interesting sentiments are being expressed in the newspapers, kottu and television and radio media. Some are clearly for the destruction of this country by calling for the abrogation of the ceasefire agreement at a time that the country is sliding back into a full scale conflict. The fact that the the government and the LTTE even though they are not respecting the ceasefire are still not officially pulling out of it for which I believe the reason is that one is waiting for the other to pull out, however the agreement is the only silver lining – a very thin one- in the dark cloud that is hovering over this country.

Some bloggers are now making use of these incidents to justify some racist decisions such as supporting the eviction of Tamils from Colombo. They are directly supporting the LTTE claim for a separate homeland by saying that Tamils should have been evicted and sent back to their homes. These types of people are nothing but traitors to this nation.

I do not believe that a war that has been fought for almost two decades without any side coming out on top can be ended militarily. Only a fool will believe this and the only solution to this war is to trap the LTTE politically and diplomatically. This may have happened in the peace process but before time our greedy politicos who wanted to achieve their own motives along with the war hungry LTTE leadership just did not allow it. Our foolish politicos just duped the people and played into the hands of the LTTE who in turn put the Tamil people whom they claim to fight for in a very bad situation.

It is still to be seen whether this generation which knows nothing but war will ever see a lasting peace which is being propogated by people who are well past their prime and by some who are so patriotic that they are holding on to citizenships of western nations in case the situation in Sri Lanka goes beyond them they will be able to abandon and flee to the security of the western nations they so boldly speak against.

Everyone who defends this war is a traitor and is not all concerned about the innocent people who are dying as a result of this. Unfortunately people only talk about the civilians who die and no concern is made for the soldiers and for LTTE combatants who die for a cause that has lost its cause and the only reason the war is being carried out is a matter of ego.

 

“Green Tax”: Just another sorry excuse to fund the war?

I was reading the newspapers a few days ago and I happened to notice that a new tax called “Green Tax” aka “Environment Tax” is to be introduced. It also says that anyone who owns a car, house and mobile phone will have to pay Rs 20/= per month. Another is that a tax will be imposed on electronic products, computers and mobile phones in order for them to be recycled. As far as I know there is no mass scale recycling in Sri Lanka of the mentioned products so why tax them for a non existing cause and why should we pay recycling charges for brand new products.

The environment seems to be used as an excuse for funding an aimless and fruitless war and also to increase politicos personal wealth. The war is causing severe pollution in the northern/eastern areas of this island and the so called “Green Tax” is actually going cause more harm than good.

The Minister who is charge of managing the environmental should be more actively involved in protecting it rather than implementing taxes that are not relevant to environmental protection.

 

Anti Gay protests at funerals is not called for

Just recently a church in Kansas called Westboro Baptist Church held protests (just one of the many that they have held) at the funeral of a soldier who is said to be gay and it was simply shocking the way the entire thing was carried out. They held placards like “Thank God for dead soldiers”, “You are going to hell” and one of the worst was “Pray for more dead kids”. If they were real God loving Christians they will never hold placards like that and will never even think of harassing a family that is already grieving. Now I know that most of you who visit this blog know that I do not accept homosexuality as normal but what this church did is totally unchristian.

My heart goes out to those families which this church has targeted, since no one should have to tolerate such a thing during a time of grief such as loosing a loved one.

Maybe they have different views on homosexuality but protesting and passing judgement at the funeral is overstepping the line. When I checked on the credibility of this church there happens to be nothing credible about it. Almost all of the 70 members of this church happen to be relatives of the head and and it is not affliated to any denomination.

I am happy that they were fined and God will judge them for what they are doing to those families. They may be thinking that they are doing the right thing but they are wrong and there more decent and better ways of getting their beliefs across.

I hope that the members of this church will start reading the bible and specially read Matthew 22:37-39 ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^[a] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself‘.

 

Big Sporting Weekend

This weekend is going to be a big one. Some of the biggest sporting events of this calendar year are ending during this weekend. The Rugby World Cup final will be held on saturday at midnight and the Formula One season will be closing on Sunday night with a three way battle between Lewis, Alonso and Kimi.

So what’s it going to be. Will South Africa triumph over England or will Wilkinson and the boys be able to retain the trophy and be crowned World Champs for the second time in a row. No one absolutely expected England to make this so far and it looks like they might edge out South Africa and retain the trophy.

In Formula One it will be a very close battle between Lewis, Alonso and Kimi. All Lewis has to do is to finish second and he will win his first championship in his debut season and all Alonso has to do is to finish first and make sure Lewis finishes third or below. Kimi of course has an outside chance if both of these individuals don’t score any points which at the moment seems highly unlikely however there is no counting the iceman out of this battle.

Amongst all this will be the Twenty20 encounter between India and Australia which will give Australia a chance to avenge their elimination from the T20 World Cup and also give India a chance to avenge their one day series loss to Australia. However the Twenty20 is rather small compared to the other two big events during the this weekend but it adds a bit of spice to everything.

All I am going to do this weekend is sit back and relax while watching the biggest sporting events as they unfold right before my very eyes. And by the time I finish all these events I would have to face the reality of coming back to work on monday.

 

Buddhist Monks clash with Catholic Priests in Kotugoda

I just got this information from a couple of friends about some extremist Buddhist monks trying to cause disharmony between Buddhists and Catholics living in Crooswatta, Kotugoda.

The problems seems to have cropped up regarding an extension to the church which commenced construction in Feb 2007. Accordingly the Ja Ela magistrates court had suspended the construction of the church and asked the two parties to come to a settlement. The court had also given permission to conduct Sunday School classes and Mass on Saturday evening. However on Oct 6th just 3 days after the court verdict a police official halted the Mass that was taking place. According to the police the Ja Ela OIC had ordered that the Mass be stopped despite the court order that Mass and Sunday School can be conducted.

I have given below the links to the website of the Archdiocese of Colombo website that gives detailed descriptions regarding this incident.

October 3rd 2007 : Constructions of the Church at Crooswatta, Kotugoda temporarily suspended by Courts

October 7th 2007 : Police interrupts and stops the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist at Crooswatta Church, Kotugoda

 

Gore & UN Panel win Nobel Peace Prize?

Huh? What did he do to deserve this? He just organized a 24 hour concert that did more harm than good (By the way, not many remember the tips given during the concert) and also made a movie “An Inconvenient Truth” that is now being scrutinized for some factual errors. He shares the Peace Prize plus half of the whopping $1.5 Million prize with the UN IPCC (United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Even the IPCC which consists of more than 3000 leading scientists, economists, oceanographers and others, have not achieved much to get this, but then giving it to them only would have been more justifiable than sharing it with Al Gore.

Out of all the other Nobel Prizes, the selection of the winner of the Peace Prize is always questionable. Aren’t there any other reasons to give a “Peace Prize” like for someone who did something worthwhile amidst a conflict situation.

I wonder whether Al Gore would have done all this Climate Change campaigning if he had won the US Presidential Election in 2000. I guess winning an Oscar justified the content of the movie, but the Peace Prize is just overdoing it. So Gore is now a Nobel Peace Prize winner, wonder whom they will pick next year.

 

Twenty20 the future of cricket

Twenty20 somehow seems to suit everyone due to the short time required to play the game and not to mention that it is interesting too. The duration of this format is just longer than football and rugby. Before the T20 World Cup started many dismissed this as a game where the bowlers will be totally demolished and there will be plenty of slogging but we have seen instances where the bowlers have had their shot at fame in this format and some great cricketing shots being played.

I was watching a debate on NDTV just before the final of the T20 tournament and it was interesting to note that it was mentioned that the ICC had decided that there will not be any more than two T20 games played during any tour. It seems to be that there are some old timers in the ICC who do not want the world to embrace T20 cricket. I guess that this is not only a problem in the ICC but everywhere since on the NDTV debate some retired old time cricketing blokes were extremely worried about the future of Test Cricket (yawn).

With the Twenty20 format the ICC will be able to introduce this version into the SAF Games, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and finally as an Olympic Sport. This format would also help cricket to become more popular in countries that do not play cricket. In addition the Twenty20 league being planned by the Indian Cricket Board will consist of club cricket between teams from India, Australia, England and I read somewhere that Sri Lanka may also pitch in. So we may have a FA Cup, Barclays Premier League or UEFA cup style tournament in cricket too. I honestly feel sorry for the Zee TV people since their ICL (Indian Cricket League) was planned to capitalize on the loss by the Indian Cricket Team during the ICC World Cup and they never expected India to win the T20 World Cup. Now that the BCCI has planned to launch their own T20 league together with Australia and England it is probably a bad blow to the ICL.

The ICC hopefully does not stem the growth of Twenty20 just to make sure that Test Cricket (yawn) does not fade away (okay who watches Test Cricket anyway, I can’t remember the last time I watched a Test match). The way the 50 over game is played will change most definitely by taking some tips from the T20 format.

The players except a few seem to be okay with T20 cricket but most importantly the cricket fans love it and where ever the fans are so will be the big broadcasters and the commercial sponsors. Eventually T20 will become the most popular and will be played many more times than the 50 over game. Unless Test Cricket (yawn) receives a face lift it’s future looks bleak. If the T20 format is suppressed then the ICC will not have any chance of increasing the popularity of cricket in other nations.

Three cheers to T20 Cricket, by the way are there any T20 matches planned for the England tour of Sri Lanka? The Australia tour of India has one T20 game which is yet to be confirmed.

 

Post No. 200

This is the 200th Post on my blog. It has been a great journey so far. I first started blogging using Blogger in April 2006, then moved the entire thing to WordPress in November 2006 and so far so good. The first 100 posts took far less time that the second 100. The last couple of months have seen very few posts in this blog because I have been very busy, so I have been blogging when time permits. This week I took some time to check out all the themes in WordPress before deciding which one to use for this blog and after much thought I chose “Connections” by Patricia Muller.

In a period of about one and a half years I have got over 14,000 hits. Over this time period my posts have drawn their fair share of criticism and several names have been used to describe me but I am cool with that.

Over the next few days I may do some tweaking to this theme. I am now looking forward to the next 100 posts and whether it will be faster or slower than the last few blocks of 100 posts and the number of hits on this blog by that time can be seen when I reach post number 300.

A big THANK YOU goes out to those who have read the posts on this blog and those who commented on it over the past one and a half years.

 

Phew! What a week

It’s Friday, this past week has been a pretty eventful one. Several things happened. To top it all, well there is more than one thing that could have topped the list so I will not go through the trouble to name one. Time is passing as if it has just increased speed. Well I usually experience that once the month of September gets underway. In no time it will be December.

Life is passing as usual nothing much has changed except for the high cost of living and the traffic that seems to have increased on all roads.

This week has been tense with two to three Tsunami warnings and also some great sports action in the form of the Rugby World Cup and the Twenty20 World Cup. Not to mention that “E FM” a radio station that I stopped listening to a few years ago and only listened to it during Christmas time was relaunched as “e fm” (the difference is the simple “e”) on Wednesday. Mark who is one of my favourite DJ’s has joined this station resulting in me listening to it more often ever since. They have also abandoned their former format of music and now they play a good mix of music thereby adding to the options of stations to which I can switch to if I get bored with one. So in the music front my options have increased from this week onwards.

I am thinking of changing the layout of this blog and that should happen sometime next week. I hope that it will coincide with my 200th post which will be my next one if memory serves me correctly.