Palestinian Kristallnacht - Message of Kafr Qassem massacre lives on for Palestinians
by Jonathan Cook
October 31st, 2008 antiwar.com
In a conflict that has produced more than its share of suffering and tragedy, the name of Kafr Qassem lives on in infamy more than half a century after Israeli police gunned down 47 Palestinian civilians, including women and children, in the village.
This week Kafr Qassem’s inhabitants, joined by a handful of Israeli Jewish sympathizers, commemorated the anniversary of the deaths 52 years ago by marching to the cemetery where the victims were laid to rest.
They did so as the local media revisited the events, publishing testimonies from two former senior police officers who recalled the order from their commander to shoot all civilians breaking a last-minute curfew imposed on the village, which lies just inside Israel’s borders.
Making full use of the last few remaining sunny days of autumn, Smelly and i took Mango to his second Shiba Meetup yesterday afternoon. When we arrived, we noticed that Mango’s sister Hana was already there. Immediately after unleashing Mango, he started to play with Hana, chasing after her. At times, he was playing a little rough so he had to be reined in. There were probably 20 other Shibas but Mango chose to go after Hana. It was a little embarrassing. When Hana finally gave what Mango deserved, i was actually relieved to see this “bully” being taught a lesson.
This afternoon, again the weather was dry and sunny, we decided to take Mango to Westcrest Park, the nearest off-leash dog park in West Seattle, prior to taking him to his biweekly bath. We noticed that most of the dogs in the park were much larger dogs. On entering the off-leash park, two big dogs came by to greet Mango. I stood between the dogs and Mango, to make sure that Mango was comfortable with them. But it was difficult and the dogs managed to surround us. Mango started growling at them. He appeared to be uncomfortable at being confronted by bigger dogs. Strangely enough, whenever Mango sees a bigger dog during our walks, he always put himself in the play pose, wanting to play.
When the two bigger dogs finally went away, i unleashed Mango hesitantly. Initially, Mango started running on his own, not really chasing after any of the dogs. Within a minute or two, a few larger dogs started to run after Mango. The lead large dog caught up with Mango and managed to trip Mango, causing him to tumble on the ground. Mango became extremely defensive and was showing his teeth. At the Shiba meetups, we have never seen Mango behaving in such a manner. I wonder if he was not comfortable being chased by bigger dogs. It’s possible that the bigger dog’s play was a little too rough for Mango. As we were walking out of the off-leash park, we noticed that Mango was limping a little. Fortunately, that went away as soon as we got out of the park.
We took Mango out of the park and played in the open field, with a 30-ft leash attached to his regular leash so that it’s easier for us to slow him down if he attempts to venture too far away from us. After playing catch with him for about 15 minutes, we headed straight to The Wash Dog for Mango’s bath.
Last Thursday, Mango turned 5 months old. For more than a week about three weeks ago, Mango’s weight gain was almost negligible. He started gaining weight at the “normal” pace again about two weeks ago. Mango weighed in at 18.2 pounds last Friday night.
About a month or so ago, Smelly and i started training Mango to catch treat that was thrown to him. Back then, his mouth-eye coordination was pretty bad so we gave up after a few tries. I don’t know what prompted me to start it again last night. I found a freebie chicken breast jerky treat given to me by the nearby MudBay store. After breaking that chicken jerky treat into smaller pieces, i started throwing them toward Mango. Amazingly, Mango caught almost all of them!
I was pretty much clueless about the current global financial crisis until i listened to two podcasts on This American Life on the local NPR station two Saturdays ago. The first podcast relates the housing crisis to the turmoil on Wall Street. The second podcast explains how the unregulated CDS (Credit Default Swaps) market helped spread the crisis into a financial epidemic.
Shah Gilani, contributing editor at Money Morning, has a series of very informative articles if you want to find out more about CDS and its role in the current global financial crisis:
The position that we put Mango in when we are trimming his nails.
Smelly and i made some real progress in using the Dremel on Mango’s nails. Two weeks ago, we were only able to barely touch Mango’s nails with the Dremel.
Since then, i received a Peticure Safe Guard that i ordered. The Peticure Safe Guard is an attachment for Dremel rotary tool. It not only keeps the filed nail dust from getting all over the place, it also prevents hair from being caught in the rotary tool. Another advantage i found with the Peticure Safe Guard is that i no longer have to worry about accidentally grinding my hardwood floor. So far, i am very pleased with the Peticure Safe Guard.
Last night, i was able to trim almost all of his nails while Smelly kept him distracted with tons of chicken jerky and praise. Ideally, our goal is to get to a point where Mango is so comfortable with getting his nails filed by the Dremel rotary tool that we can give him a treat only after the session is completed.
Tonight, after picking up Mango from his weekly daycare, i was able to use the Dremel on a few of his nails without any treat! Granted this happened during the moment when Mango was tired and very mellow. We noticed that every time after picking Mango up from his daycare, he would be tired for almost a full day. Nonetheless, being able to trim his nails without keeping him occupied with treats is a breakthrough!
