Myopic Vision

(Written during the Lebanon-Israeli war of 2006)  The anguished cry of the innocents shrouds the stillness of the night. The souring stench of death, the blood from their slaughter Seep through and stain the veil of the satin moonlit sky A country in turmoil, caught up in a battle it did not want to fight As murderous intents reign supreme, they harvest not heroes but killing machines Lessons from the past are ignored. The rabid campaign carries on. Who counts the bombs, the missiles, the precious lives lost? Is this a battle for freedom or the beginning of a new Holocaust?

Greetings from Helsinki, Finland - the land of the midnight sun. And I have to say, the sun has been out well past midnight on most days. I should ideally be in bed since I've been suffering from a bad cold, fever and delhi belly. But all of that has not stopped my penchant for rambling. I've sailed along the wonderful Helsinki Archipalgo several times now and I have to say the views are specatular. Helsinki is made up of about 314 little islands. The Helsinki zoo is on one of them and has Europe's only snowleopards(or so they claim). The market square is colourful with people selling fresh fruits, vegetables, ready cooked food like reindeer and fish, plenty of fresh fish here, some of it being sold on boats. My dad would love this place There are also vendors selling handpainted artifacts and handicrafts. Even reindeer skins and furs are a plenty here. The Suomenlina fortress is amazing and well worth the trip. I went into a World War II submarine and I felt so sorry for t...

As I watched the horrific images from Mumbai yesterday on the news, I was deeply saddened. Although I now permanently reside in New Zealand, I was born and raised in Mumbai. I lived in the suburb of Mahim, where one of the bombs exploded yesterday. Images of Mahim are in all the newspaper and television reports. Mahim has always been a volatile area, particularly during communal rioting. I've witnessed first hand the riots of 1991/92 and the bomb blasts of 1993. And I can tell you that the images from yesterday's bombings, are as lurid and macabre as they appear. Terrorism is certainly not a new phenomenon in Mumbai. For years, India has grappled with cross-border and internal terrorism. What is alarming, however, is the confounded ease with which terrorists seem to be planning and successfully executing their strikes. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks yesterday. Both the suspected militant groups, Lashkar-e-Taiba and the banned Students Islamic Movement of I...

I was really disgusted early in the week when I read about Keith Macdonald. He is the scrounging 21 year old who is about to become a dad for the 7th time. Since the age of 13 he's been breeding like a rabbit - 7 kids with 7 different women, all of whom he has abandoned. He boasts of not having paid a single penny towards child support. Yet he callously dismisses any suggestions that he is an irresponsible parent. And he insists his children will be well provided for………WITH BENEFITS. Macdonald is a convicted criminal who gets a weekly allowance from income support. He spends all his time and OUR HARD EARNED MONEY on poker machines at game arcades. It is estimated the cost of supporting his seven kids until they are 16 will be £1 million - a bill that will be footed by the taxpayer. And I have to ask the question WHY?? Why is it that an able bodied young man, perfectly capable of producing children, is allowed to scrounge on the state? Explaining his decision not to support any...