just a few newspaper shreds...

An execution is an instance of murder, maybe legitimized by the government, but still murder. Therefore anyone who feels committed to an enlightened system of values necessarily disapproves of capital punishment. There are two vital arguments. For one thing, the sentence, once applied, is irreversible, even if the convicted person is afterwards proved to be innocent. For another, human beings are not entitled to decide about life and death.
That being so, Article 3 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has a right to live. ... Therefore it is not feasible to disapprove of capital punishment on principle, but still to postulate, pronounce and apply it (so to speak à la carte) in the case of particularly grave transgressions.
Tages-Anzeiger, Zürich


[The sentence] was signed in December 2003 by G* B*, the president of the occupants, when immediately after the arrest he told the BBC that "only capital punishment" could be appropriate for this "fearful tyrant"...
In the end the Texan clan of B* has settled the account with the Sunnite clan of Takriti. And at last the son can present the enemy's head to his father as a gift.
La Repubblica, Roma


S* was not allowed to die in bed like Pinochet
Corriere della Sera, Milano


The loud noise of EU politicians, the Vatican and human right activists jumping into the breach for the mass murderer S* is an exaggeration. Iraq is only one of 68 nations that apply capital punishment. Where, o where was the world-wide outcry when Japan executed four capital sentences last week?
Morgenpost, Berlin



(english translations by caru)

SNOW!

genuine flaky white stuff dropping from the sky, forming a white layer on the ground that goes crunch under the wanderer's weary feet and takes footprints exceptionally well. first time this winter.

thought i'd better note it down, 'cause the stuff is turning into rain even now and will be nothing but water by the time i get up tomorrow.

just by the way...

merry xmas to everyone.

blacky

remember the kastenwesen? bet you didnt know he's got a black cousin (presumably from southern india, where people are dark skinned).

blacky recently moved to his new home in jena (germany), to live with a friend of mine who saw the green kastenwesen and immediately said "i want a black one". he arrived there yesterday. her boyfriend is said to be jealous.

cure against cold

so you have a rather bad cold that takes a lot of time going away? nose running, persistent coughing (especially when the immune system has succumbed to xmas stress)? this is what cures it.

take a bunch of crazy and funny people who all like to make fun of each other and sit with them in a smoky café from 8pm to 2am, talking about the dog who nearly got lost at last week's party, the difference it makes whether cannabis products come from holland or india or nepal, the fuckin' boyfriend who is maybe going to leave a perfectly nice girl for taking a job in belgium, poetry, a magazine that ain't printed yet, caterpillars, your friend the hindi teacher's wife and child, sexual tensions of all kinds and the general silliness of german indologists. it's important that you drink tea while most everyone is subsisting on beer (you are allowed to down a grappa now and then). incidentally, dance a few steps of techno bharatanatya and bend the teaspoon with your mind (if your friend straightens it, bend it again after a suitable interval).
when the bloody café closes, stand in the freezin' street with the other freaks for maybe half an hour, and then walk home.

will either kill or cure you. did the latter for me :-)



p.s.: we talked about a swiss pocket knife too.

cookie time! cookie time!

let's have some artistic cookie arrangements.

Striped Zebra (song)

I'm dreaming of a striped zebra
Just like the one I used to know
Of a bumble-bee bumbling
And La Rambla rumbling
Round a maid from the land of snow

I'm dreaming of a striped zebra
With every post she does not write
May the sands on the beach be always white
And one of your stripes black and one stripe bright

I'm dreaming of a striped zebra
With a smile and blue eyes that can smite
May your pics all be shot in perfect light
And always one stripe black and one stripe white

"E" for caru ;)

Sinterklaas and his trusty helper, the zwarte piet, have come all the way from Holland to put a large white envelope into my postbox.
miracle of miracles! apart from kruidnoten and a little spicecake guy whose name seems to be Taaitaai, they put a big chocolate capital letter E into it - proof that they know what caru is called when he isn't called caru. AND they added a letter with a genuine Dutch poem from my friend Marlies. how do they know so much about me? Sinterklaas has his spys everywhere, it seems. thank you so much!