An interesting thing about death...

I lost my dog the other day, as most of you know, and now I'm kinda cool with it, in a way. Still looking for her when I go outside and thinking about how I'll need to get her food etc still pops up; it will for awhile, but the one thing the missus pointed out is the difference in what you experience with the death of an animal over the death of a human. Sure, there's a HUGE difference between the two and I'm not denying that partner laying in bed next you discussing your fears, hopes, and dreams, then dying is the same as your dog dying, but the mourning process is so VASTLY different.

The saddest thing about death of a loved one, for me, is the vast majority spend the rest of their lives mourning the day they lost that special person, and not celebrating the life and joy that person gave them.

With Mika passing the other day, we've regularly been talking about the things she did that made us appreciate her. Whether it was things that gave us the shits or the things that put us in hysterics or even the ones that just made us smile. All the little things that Tracy never knew about her - coz I got Mika before I got Tracy lol - I've found myself sharing. It's made the transition easier for me.

If only we could deal with it the same way with losing someone we love.

Good Bye Little Girl

My dog Mika passed away today. She got very sick so it was the only humane thing I could do. I owed her that much. She has been a part of my life for ten years and I got her just after arriving in Australia. I couldn't even begin to describe the things she helped me through just by being her. Right through her existence she won the hearts of everyone that had the pleasure of being around her. She really WAS a sweetheart and she will be missed.

Sleep well Miki-Moo.

An interesting thing happened on the way to war today

I dunno, I take this as the same as the WikiLeaks "Collateral Murder".

I don't really know much about the origins of the story, but I know the outcome, as much of us will by now.

There was a "Freedom Flotilla" coming out of Greece, apparently backed by Turkey - somehow - where a set up called "The Free Gaza Movement" were trying to get thousands of tonnes of humanitarian aid into Gaza and did so previously in 2008. No other international shipping had got there previous to that in 41 years. This information came from their website.

What ALSO came from their website was this:

"The strategy of the Freedom Flotilla, however, is to resist any attempts by the Israeli Navy to hijack its ships or to divide cargo ships from passenger vessels."

Naively - possibly - they figured they could get through an Israeli blockade by just steaming on through. Israel had been saying for DAYS they would stop them ... but anyway, noble cause and all that.

Late yesterday - Au time - I started to see reports of Israeli commandos having boarded at least one of these ships, opened fired, and many - 20ish - had been killed and at least 30 wounded. Horrific stuff. I guy I respect, but usually go to war with on Twitter and YouTube started posting comments by others in regards to this. They were being called the Freedom Flotilla and I got shot down - so to speak - about some of the double standards that were being posted. The following being fairly typical:

"How many Israelis killed by #Gaza rockets in 10yrs? Less than # of peace activists massacred this a.m. #flotilla"

Which is a fucking ridiculous statement, and I pretty much told him so. If we're gonna start taking scores and quoting facts let's not pick and choose which ones suit our agenda. And I told him that too. Hundreds of Israeli's have been killed by suicide bombers in the last ten years....but that's irrelevant to the issue. But that bloke turned out to be a reasonable fella.

On and on they went about the evils of Israel and murdering of "humanitarian freedom pacifist loving mung bean munchers" yadda yadda. Israel started making comments about how they were attacked and retaliated, and of course, this was ridiculous and equal the minister for info in Iraq in '03 etc etc...according to the people of Twitter.

Then I found this online and uploaded it to YouTube. I had been waiting for Israel to cough up some proof of their statements .... and here she was.

Check out the weapons, but mostly check out the gas mask worn by one bloke. It was a prepared ambush. Why else would you have gas masks?. They KNEW Israel would never let that aid through - right or wrong - and they KNEW they would be boarded, why else prepare for it?. Does this justify the killing of 20 people?.....no, it doesn't, but does it justify the commandos defending themselves?...you bet it does. IF the ONLY thing you've got to defend yourself with is a rifle, then you'll use it. There's another video released by the IDF of the weapons these "humanitarian workers" were using. Sling shots and steel pipes etc.

The Israeli's were ALWAYS destined to be forced into defending themselves. That was apparently the point of the flotilla.

The interesting thing, and the point of this, as with "Collateral Murder", is the almost WANT by usually reasonable people to ride a wave hysteria instead of waiting for all the info to come in.

...anyhoo, Blunty day.