Crappy Hazy Days

Things has been rather crappy lately. With my flu almost gone, comes the haze which aggravated my already existing sore throat and set off another coughing frenzy. And just last night, after we got back from a late porridge supper nearby, I have to down a quarter of the ventolin pilll to ease my breathing. Damn haze. Where did it came from? There is not a word written of it in the newspaper or do they thought their country is turning into 4 seasons and have this misty thingy now? Stupid. Got newsworthy news they don't write, but write about who is having affair with who or who was caught sleeping naked... oh ya, cause our Malaysian government have good political ties with the Indonesians and they have to protect the Indonesians. Just like how they would protect mentally disturbed Indonesian maid who had purposely inflicted burn on herself and sentence the poor innocent Malaysian majikan who paid tax to the Malaysian government, to hefty fines and imprisonment. That is our government. Protect their face value with our backside. Or when your runaway maid is found, you have to pay a fine and her deportation expenses and not deducting a single cent from her salary. I think our gov must have love Indonesia so much... oh, the land of their ancestors! ...tiew......

I am just very frustrated la.... frustrated cause my knees is finally stronger after 6 months of thyroid treatment, and finally I can resume my running, but this stupid haze have to come. I think I am destined to be a couch potato engulfed in lark.... tiew....

With the haze, that limited me to indoor activities only. Also frustrated. Frustrated cause my stupid sewing machine started to act up halfway thru my sewing projects. First, the needle broke. Then the thread kept getting stuck in the replaced needles and finally bought another batch of needles with bigger numbers, still, doesn't work. In the end, I just packed up everything including my half done project, and stored it back into the storeroom. I give up.... tiew......

Then, I've been following closely on this news about these 2 American journalists, Euna Lee & Laura Ling, who was caught by the North Korean's guards near the N.Korea & China border and sentenced to 12 years 'hard labour' for a "grave crimes" against the country. This one really got me hissing venom. What kind of "grave crimes" could this two girls possibly do to a strong communist country who is developing nuclear that they have to be punished to 12 years of hard labour??? And best part is, details of their capturing have been so vague. Were they really in North Korea's soil or were they grabbed off China soil, a deeper political conspiracy? Here are some info I found on the internet of this "hard labour" camp, also known as 'Kwan Li So".

"People are starved to death, worked to death, frozen to death over a period of time, and it's just absolutely horrific, reminiscent of what we've read coming out of the old Gulags under Stalin,"

"They beat people regardless of their sex or age," says a one-time prisoner. "My lip was split and I had such severe internal bleeding my excrement turned black with blood."

"You couldn't even lie down," a former inmate says. "The back of the person in front of me touched my chest. There was no room to move."

The report describes hard labor at the camps involving mining for coal, iron deposits, gold and other ores, or logging and wood-cutting in nearby mountains. Inmates often work 12 or more hours a day, seven days a week, with time off only for national holidays.

Prisoners are provided only enough food to be kept on the verge of starvation. Hunger yields large numbers of informants among the prisoners, leading to a prison culture of distrust and hostility. Prisoners fight each other over scraps of food or over the clothing of deceased inmates. The fate for those caught stealing food or attempting escape are quickly sealed.

One camp survivor recalls a public killing of an attempted escapee, who was tied and dragged behind a car in front of assembled prisoners until dead, after which time the other prisoners were required to pass by and place their hands on his bloodied corpse. Another prisoner shouted out against this atrocity, and he was immediately shot to death.

Sad hor? Laura Ling is the daughter of a family friend. From the CNN coverage, he looked like he had aged a hundred years overnight. My heart goes out to him and his family, as well as the family of Euna Lee and hope Laura & Euna would be reunited with their love ones soon. God bless.

Note: Photos googled from internet.