PostScript The Good, the Bad and the Ignorant

 "If freedom of speech is taken away, the dump and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." George Washington

A lot is happening in Tunisia at present, the parliament has been suspended for thirty days (may be extended), the finance and justice minister, Prime minister and other high ranking politicians, including Ennahdha representatives are dismissed. The president declared his actions are all in line with the Constitution (Paragraph 80) and that 460 persons have stollen 13,5 Billion Dinar, equals 4,8 Billion Euro, of state money. Shocking news, in particular if one bears in mind that a big Tunisian state bank robbery by Ben Ali and his wife took place ten years ago, a poisoned fare-well present to the country. These greedy, corrupt, folks have no shame, no conscience. It is extremely hot, in particular in the South, where we have areas with no running water, bad infrastructure and poor people. Such news must be like a slap in the face for them. Many are happy with the president's actions. Some fear we could be heading towards a development like Agypt, since Aljazeera's offices have been stormed in Tunis by plain clothes police officers, no previous warnings, no warrants and other actions have also been taken against some journalists and various media. Aljazeera English made a lot of international prizes winning documentations about events that several states would love to hide underneath the carpet, therefore it is not surprising that countries like Israel, Saudi Arabia, USA and UAE attempted to destroy their offices or at least prevent them from continuing their investive works. Under Ben Ali's dictatorship freedom of expression didn't exist. People were frightening to talk about politics, one had to be even careful what one said in a taxi, it was forbidden to question tourists. - In the neighborhood three men tried to steal a poor man's motorbike, which he needs to get to work whenever there is some. Another neighbor taking his German Shepard for a walk had his dog suddenly pulling towards a house further down the road. When the dog owner discovered the burglars, he let his dog loose. The thieves got a fright and ran away, leaving behind their rope. We owe a lot to dogs, they often save lives (rescue dogs, police dogs, drugs sniffing dogs, Sheepdogs, guide dogs, etc) and yet, for unknown reasons, some ignorant people hate and want to kill them. This morning a German Shepherd arrived opposite my house, around cats' feeding time. I have seen him a few times before. The cats know that he is harmless and continued to eat. Two women appeared, I could see that they are frightened of dogs. One picked up a stone. I managed to prevent her from throwing it at the dog and shouted that he is gentle, there is absolutely no need to use a stone or stick. I believe that German Shepherd has an owner, he looks well kept and has good manners. I wish I could say the same about the kids in the neighborhood. The social behavior of African wild dogs, 6000 still exist in Botswana, is very interesting and they could be a model for quite a few humans. After the bitch has given birth she stays with her puppies for three months, feeding them her milk. During that time other dogs provide her with food and they do the same for old, sick or injured dogs of the community. Imagine life without greed, corruption, envy, hate, dirty tricks, theft, lies....... In Costa Rica stray dogs are caught, spayed and neutered, after two weeks if no family is found, returned to the street where they were found (the surroundings they know) prior to that photos are placed on the internet, they get marked, vaccinated and chipped. If they get adopted and later on placed out on the street again, the owner is held responsible. Various homeless types that normally wouldn't meet, resulted in interesting mixtures, every dog an original and beauty of his/her own. This gave some guys the idea to start a big adoption event stressing this interesting point. The success was tremendous, men, women and children proud of their very special great new family member.