My apologies

Dear All,

I wish to apologize for my previous blog as it seems I did not have all the facts. I read the article on LBO and went off on that presumption. Again, I was not aware that it had not passed and for that I apologize.

Cheers

Statutory or Consensual... Is there a difference?

Some people have been blogging about the recent revision of legislature that changed the existing statutory rape laws. The age was brought down to 13 (THIRTEEN).

While I feel that people should have the right to do what they want whenever they want, we are talking about children here. It takes very little to convince a child to do something an adult would not do, AND there are too many hit-and-run johns out there who prey on children as it is.

Now they go and change the friggin law so that it makes it LEGAL. For gods sake, ask a WOMAN of 18 what she thinks of sex and compare that to what a GIRL of 13 would say.

This instance is sad in itself as I feel it heralds a further downgrading of our society and now, our sisters and cousins have to be protected even more.

Even in the United States (which some consider to be one of the most decadent societies in the world) the statutory age is 18. WOMEN have been sent to jail for having sex with boys who were under 18.

Far as I am concerned anybody who is 13 is still a child. And as such anyone having sex with any child is a pedophile.

Apples and Oranges

Unbelievable...

I don't know jack about UniX much less shell scripting and the damned marketers won't take me off of the requirement. So now, I am stuck with learning all that jazz in a few days as opposed to those idiots... sigh

Anyway, the lady and I was having a discussion and the battle of the sexes came up. Venus and Mars and blah blah blah. That got me thinking and I had quite a few epiphanies.

Women are always harping that they can do this and they can do that. Good for you... its something no one can take away from you. So what? Whats the big deal? There are MANY things that men can and cannot do. Just like that there are things that women can and cannot do. Example: have kids... men can't (FYI 'Junior' was a MOVIE) and women can. Men are biologically designed to have superior upper body strength... women don't. I don't know why, but that is the case.

My argument is this... Men and women are humans. BUT, we are different and as such cannot be compared using the same measurement or activities. Its like apples and oranges, they are both fruit but they are different. You can eat both, they are good for you but they still taste and feel different.

So, WHY are women so hell bent on proving that they can do what men can do? Why do they need to bring themselves to a level that they claim to abhor in order to feel fulfilled? And why does most women say that they would rather work with men than other women?

I am a firm believer in equality. I applauded the fact that Bars and Cafes were sued for sexual discrimination in the Valley that is Happy coz they had free entrance for girls. Men are brought up to be gentlemen... for the most part. As such we would never strike a girl. But, when women scream for equality, does a punch in the face fall into that as well? Take this situation: a Girl slaps a guy... a GENTLEMEN would do nothing except walk away. A guy punches/slaps a guy and a fight breaks out. Equal? Hardly. Why have female divisions in sports? Have full contact rugby open for unisex teams and see what happens...

Yes, I agree that there has been sexual discrimination throughout recorded history. Yes, women went through a lot. Yes women are strong intelligent individuals. Yes they are capable of much. But ladies, you need to understand, that you can never ever compare yourself to another man UNLESS you are a man too. Simply because the population with which you compare yourself is DIFFERENT at a very fundamental level (Biologically) and that cannot be changed.

Please, I am not a chauvinist pig. Really I am not. But what I think people (men AND women) fail to realize is that whenever they compare themselves to each other the resulting analysis is flawed due to the fundamental differences inherent in humans... that of Apples and Oranges.

Oh yeah, if a Man was to say Men are great and the greatest and blah blah blah... he is a pig/chauvinist/sexist

If a woman is saying the same thing... she is a feminist/leader/figurehead etc. These things are definitely <> (not equal) is it now?

Fear... Its causes and result in the Sri Lankan Context

Blistering pace at work this week... sigh

Anyway, lets get down to it.

Now, these days (just like it has been for the past 20+ years, if I am wrong, please let me know the correct amount of time) people are dead scared of politicos. If they say jump, most people would say 'how high'. Its only people with influence/power or the same standing that is able to tell them to go screw themselves.

For the most part, it is the people who are appointed through the national list who engage in thuggery and hooliganism. However, some of the appointed assh*les do so to. Lets not forget their itinerant offspring who prior to daddy's appointment were the butt of the joke and after daddy's appointment uses the butt of a pistol for a joke.

The people who are affected by this thuggery is everybody. But it happens through many layers. When some poombahs son is arrested, 'strings' are pulled and 'puppets' do a dance and lo and behold, poombah junior is scot free, be it weapons possesion (very harsh punishment during states of emergency) murder or assaulting an officer of the law.

These 'puppets' however come in different kinds. There are the main puppets who think they are puppeteers of sorts, the brown nosing a-holes who think they've got it made coz they have a talent for kissing ass exquisitely. Then there are the people immediately subordinate to them. These are the people whose lives will be changed if they dance to a different tune. They might get fired, arrested, killed, transferred to high risk places. They are people too. Every one of them is a father, a mother, a son, a daughter. They have a lot to lose if they do not obey. They do not have the luxury to say no.

Finally, people like you and me are affected. I say you and me because the reader and I may be in the same boat (family in SL) or different boats (reader is in SL). Wherever we are, and whatever we may do, as long as people allow whoever it is to do whatever, EVERY SINGLE PERSON is in danger.

Now, it all boils down to one thing. The people elect other people into power. Just coz they are in power don't mean they are divine right? So they must be accountable too. You cannot blame the functionaries who have to carry out the orders, you must blame the originator and main facilitator of the orders. So people must elect good people. But Alas! In Sri Lankan politics, everybody is just about to attain enlightenment when election time comes right? But as soon as they rest their ass on that seat of power, they change their colors faster than a chameleon being hunted.

Rabid ravings and rantings this may be, but I leave you with one question...

What would you do if you had to decide between what YOU should do and what SHOULD be done? Should you sacrifice yourself on the altar of all that is good, or say to hell with them, I need my job. I'll be honest with all of you, I don't know the hard and fast answer to that one. Anyone knows, please let me know...

Of subsidies and multi million dollar loans

Oh what a blissful weekend...

So Matel, Frodo and I headed over to Valley that is Happy to indulge in two of its favorite pastimes... Drinking and Football. The Lions from Nittany won the game this weekend with the new fellows doing some excellent catching and running.

Kudos to jackpoint for laying it out in black and white... I think that is the most clear and concise way in which all the issues pertaining to Sri Lanka has been laid out.

Economics... we all deal with it, some know it and some are ignorant of it. So lets examine the how and the why of how Sri Lanka is still a developing nation.

Back in the day, it was stated that for developing nations to produce a strong economy, subsidies must be in place INITIALLY. Afterwards, Laissez Faire (Hands off economics) should make things just right. After the great depression, the idea of Laissez Faire economics had to go out the window, coz the world could not afford another episode... not even with Prozac. So, they adjusted the models and did the math and came up with a formula that has managed to float almost all countries... except THE hardcore socialist i.e. former Soviet Union.

What happened in the USSR was simple. Everybody got paid the same wage regardless of the job. A brilliant surgeon/professor was paid the same as the janitor sweeping the hallways. Promotions and the like was present but the increments were minuscule and the only benefit was access to better stores/supplies and MAYBE a state assigned apartment. Now according to STRICT Marxism and Leninsm, perks and bonuses were taboo (as was the idea of religion - The Party was the only authority) but they were there for the Party hierachy. Equality was the game and you had to play it whether you liked it or not. To make a long story short, factory managers reported quotas had been met when they weren't, and everybody believed this happy song right up until the collapse. Gorbachev (bless him) saw this and managed to steer Russia into democracy before anarchy set in. Now however, due to the troubles of Russia and its rampant corruption, NUKES, yes Nuclear Missiles that will blow you and I to kingdom come are missing. God knows who has them.

Ok, why am I going on like this? Because of the economic policy in Sri Lanka.

The GOSL (the first one back in 1948) established the subsidy system as we were an 'emerging economy' at the time. Subsequent governments Blue or Green continued to uphold the subsidies coz no one would vote for them if people had to pay real prices for goods and services. Therefore, state entities which at the very least should have been breaking even started to lose money like crazy. To date, the CEB alone owes somewhere around 1 1/2 BILLION to the Treasury. DAMN.

The price of foodstuffs fluctuate a little, but does not reflect market price, therefore are underpriced. The people producing them (the farmers who have been doing this for generations) are ripped off because of this. Becasue people are not paying REAL prices they are not paid REAL wages. So things like petrol which tend to reflect INTERNATIONAL prices AFTER the subsidy are VERY expensive to the layman.

In short:

People are paid shitty wages because
Cost of Living (COL) is artficially held low owing to
Subsidies which is
Draining the treasury becasue of which
The ruppee devaluates everyday which in turn
Increases the downward spiral of the economy which
Ensure people don't get proper wages.

True, the war is a contributer to the drain on the economy too, but if we put in place proper infrastructure, all the money spent on the war will stay inside SL and contribute to its economy by providing jobs and more money in the economy. But then again, HOW MUCH was spent on the WAR when there is a ceasefire in place? I mean besides proper wahes and upkeep expenses for the defense forces... which would be spent anyway regardless of the war.

Does anyone notice that everytime the Central Bank has to take out a loan to finance a subsidy, its the peoples money and credit being risked? I mean, subsidies remain in place to curry flavor with the masses right? Reds, Blues and Greens do it right? So basically, THEY finance THEIR campaigns using OUR BLOODY MONEY. We are essentially paying them to screw us over. Ain't that just beautiful?

"WAR!!! What is it good for? Absolutely Nothing..."

"We don't like war, but we are not afraid of war either," Amarasinghe [leader of the JVP] said after the deal was sealed at the tightly-guarded Temple Trees official residence of the premier. "You can't bring peace by being afraid of war."

an exceprt from the article "Confused?" at Lanka Business Online.

Wow, such bravado, such courage... wonder who (or who's who) will be holding the guns when the shooting starts?

I guess, thats why the Jay Vee Pee went on their 'revolutionary sprees' back in the day huh? Maybe the hiatus in violence has been making them more antsy for more blood and gore... especially when it is not their own blood being spilled.

Does anyone find it funny how the President and the PM is at completely opposite poles regarding the whole situation? The President is trying to make sure P-TOMS goes ahead when her number two has already agreed to scrap it when he gets to the top seat. To top it all off, her party is SUPPORTING the candidacy of the PM for President. Hell, it might be the joke of the century eh? Small wonder that they are still working in the same parliament.

And yeah, if the LTTE is not accepting CIA (Colombo International Airport) as a venue to REVISIT the ceasefire, they will lie down and accept and REVISION of the ceasefire made by Marxists and Hardliners?

Everybody is quick to point out how Hard Line muslim clerics gather armies for jihad right? But what about Hard Liner nationalists who prolong war? Is what they do alright because they are not muslim and they have a political position to do so? Food for thought? Probably diarrhea for breakfast.

Cheers

Then they came for me...

In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

- Pastor Martin Niemoller

Commies + Lust For Power = Disaster for country

So, they did it. They went and fricking did it.

The Jay Vee Pee has gone and convinced the Pee A to sign an agreement in order to provide support for the current Pee Em in the upcoming elections.

While the text of the agreement is verbose and very legalese, it basically amounts to one thing. Disaster. No privatisation, No P-TOMS, Revising the cease fire (allowing for the fact that the LTTE will bend over and accept the terms of the hardliners) No recognition of the LTTE etc etc.

Now, I know that many people don't agree with recognizing the LTTE as a political entity, but for God's sake, what other alternative is there? I am a pacifist by nature but neither do I run away from a fight. But this is a meaningless fight that can be resolved if people commit to it. What the Jay Vee Pee fail to see is that if the late Ranasinghe Premadasa had not given them the same recognition, they would have been extinct by now. That man (Mr. Premadasa) was quite capable of eradicating communism from the face of Sri Lanka but decided not to. Now they want to deny others a PEACEFUL alternative to a war. I guess it was ok for them to have been killing and burning etc, and then enter politics. Not for anyone else eh?

While they are so hot to shoot down every idea or plan that comes up, the only alternative they want is war. They are for the people and by the people, but how many Jay Vee Pee poombahs are out there fighting in the boonies of the Wanni? How have they helped to ensure the relative serenity that the people who are not in the war torn areas enjoy? If it was upto them, we would be fighting everybody tooth and nail.

Going back on privatisation. What does privatisation actually do? It streamlines the existing infrastructure to function more effectively and show a PROFIT. Its not majority stakes that are being privatised, its only a minority percentage that still allows the government all the control it wants.

Kicking Norway out. About bloody time. Its the only thing that makes sense in this piece of asswipe they call a 'manifesto'.

For the full text, please follow:
http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/new_full_story.php?subcatcode
=11&subcatname=&newscode=74623755

Oh yeah, the president went on Chinese TV and said that she created the civilized society that currently exists out of the anarchy that reigned before she got into power... Hmm, wonder what the Jay Vee Pee mean when they say 'the current lawlessness..."

sittingnut, looking at this you cannot tell me that voting for these people is the smart thing to do. Just as they have a right to vote their hearts, I have the right to call them stupid as*holes when they can't see the consequences of their actions. Especially when it affects not just me, but my country as well.