That is what the Swedes say. Or actually one Swedish publisher namely Stefan Ingvarsson in his blog in Aftonbladet. According to Ingvarsson Moomintroll and Snufkin are lovers, while Snork Maiden is their fag-hag. They have a difficult relationship as Moomintroll is monogamous while Snufkin is an anarchist who leaves on his trips to the south (sex vacations on Pattaya?) and abandons Moomintroll who gets upset if he doesn’t return in time.  I could have my dirty mind go on with the function of Hattifatteners, not with Moomintroll though as everyone knows Moomins are so fat because while they eat all the time Tove Jansson forgot to draw them an asshole. Hemulen also is an evident cross-dressing gay as he wears a purple gown.

I can’t really fathom where do people get all this latent homophobia from. I can understand someone going after Teletubbies as they’re so darn annoying, but the Moomins! Couldn’t they just leave childrens’ books alone for crying out loud? Though the original cartoons were quite anarchistic and the moomins weren’t all that “for children only” smoking dope and whatnot… but still. And yes, Tove Jansson lived with a woman so what?

Moomintroll:”I woke up at night and couldn’t sleep”
Little My:”ha ha”
Moomintroll:”What are you implying?”
Little My:”I know what you were doing, I was awake too.”
Moomintroll:*gulp*
Little My:”You were with Snufkin.”

The Finnish gun control debate got fuel from the recent school shootings that were placed a year apart. A lot of discussion was made about school bullying, alienated youth and the evils of the internet as well as the downsizing and lack of funds in youth mental care. Calls were made for the government to give more funding – of course this being a cosmetic fix as the whole mental health programme has slowly been cheesesliced silly.

Yesterday brought again some news showing that the welfare society isn’t faring that well. Two middle-aged couples were found dead in their homes. In Porvoo a policeman and his wife in their 40’s had both committed suicide by the man’s quite legal hunting weapons leaving a note. They police say both had been depressed also with physical ailments and there has been speculation that the suicide may have been triggered by the social welfare removing three foster children they had been caring for . Meanwhile in Helsinki two schoolage kids were orphaned when their parents were found dead in their home. The police have stated that the neighbours called the police after hearing a row and shots, the man apparently shot the women with an army service weapon and after that himself .

Only last week in Oulu a 43-year old man shot his 39 year old wife and children aged 11 and 9. Both parents were teachers at the local schools, and were living an outwardly happy life. Some financial troubles were looming ahead as they were building a new house just getting finishing touches but their old house they were selling was showing water damage, in what is called a “two home trap”.

So really, I am at loss to even guess as to where the politicians shall point the blame this time over, can’t be the evils of the internet nor school bullying and legal hunting weapons are commonplace not to mention people who professionally have access to firearms. Of course the weather’s been quite horrid and the world finances have toppled, but even as a trigger to melancholia that doesn’t explain what then makes adult, educated, professional people in their late 40’s do such drastic decisions? Financial troubles are usually in the background in a downward spiral but is it a cause or effect or both. The economists say the trends don’t follow a pattern necessarily.

And this isn’t restricted to only one age group. Last July an elderly 88 year old man killed his bedridden wife at the nursing home and shot himself after killing his two handicapped daughters in their 50’s leaving a message he couldn’t cope with it any more. So it isn’t just the one thing but a combination.

I think we are just now starting to reap the seeds of all this privatization and moving towards a competitive economy that was started in the 1990’s. There are services, but there is no outreach, and usually the people in most dire need cannot or won’t seek the help themselves. And even those who do need to take drastic measures – just in the summer a young man in Kerava stabbed an 14-year old girl just picking her random, as a motive he said “he wished treatment”.  Nevermind all the county finances having been cheesesliced to the minimum already so what would you expect the health care, let alone mental healthcare at a bare minimum.

The orthodox chaplain Father Mitro said that it is evident that along with prosperity there has also been the flipside people have been closing their eyes from, and it should be the whole society to take a stand on what is going on. He said that instead of having floral agendas the government should inspire the people and reach out. The former chair of the Mental Health Association Pirkko Lahti says that she is afraid these events will not remain the only ones and fears they might lead to an epidemic as people will see this as a way out of their situation. She says that people should go ask for help and she feels especially sorry for the five orphaned children.

Of course as the international newsvultures haven’t landed to feed on the carrion the government has poked its head into the sand and discusses more relevant and current issues, like political correctness training to the new councils. Probably they’ll allocate funds to some nice brochures showing how happy and joyful place Finland is, after all its positive thinking and prozac that shall save the world. And then they still wonder why the people “voted wrong”.

There have been reports of shots fired at the vocational education centre campus in Kauhajoki, South Ostrobothnia, Finland. The police reports that a 20-year old student of the college has fired shots and there are casualties. The police are currently evacuating students and staff. Eyewitness reports from the site say that a male student clad in black had fired with a big handgun and that he is still at large in the building, which is on fire.

The Kauhajoki vocational education centre campus has Seinäjoki UAS departments of restaurant and catering as well as Seinäjoki region SEDU vocational school providing a dual degree with a vocational diploma in catering, nursing or tourism as well as an option for joined studies with a high school matriculation diploma, the campus has some 200 students and 30 staff.

UPDATE (from Phil):

News reports are saying the shooter is caught, while others are saying he shot himself. Looks like he’s mimicking the Finnish shooter from last year by posting info on YouTube. Here’s some links, thanks to everyone who’s been sending them in…

His YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/Wumpscut86

A gallery of his photos: http://www.kuvalauta.fi/b/src/122215887655.jpg

His singles profile page: Click here

A collection of files: Click here

UPDATE: ( @13:50 & 14:10 Hank W.)
The police have confirmed the suspected shooter is injured severely and is being transported to the Tampere University Hospital. The police have just confirmed the number of casualities as nine – there are two victims in “critical state” other one being the suspect – the school is still filled with smoke from the fire the police confirm was started deliberately.

The police have stated that the shooter was a man in his 20’s. The principle of the college stated that a 2nd year student of the UAS had entered a classroom in the building where some 20 students were taking an exam and started shooting. The janitor of the school stated a man in a commando hood and carrying a large bag entered the school after he heard shots and was shot at by the suspect.

Meanwhile the press conference at the Seinäjoki Central Hospital came to a dramatic end as the adjacent nursing college was evacuated due to a bomb threat.

UPDATE (@15.17 Hank W.)
The Minister of the Interior Anne Holmlund released during the press conferece of the Cabinet that the suspect, Matti Saari born 1986 had been interviewed on Monday by the police in relation to the shooting videos on YouTube he had placed there on Friday. The police had found no reason to withdraw the permit nor remove the guns from his possession. Minister Holmlund said that this process will be looked into.

UPDATE (@18:20 Hank W.)

Victim toll has risen to 10, also the suspect deceased. One person is still in critical condition, and two others injured. The victims haven’t been identified, and the medical personnell say because some of them are badly burned. The chief medical officer says it mis possible that not all of the victims died of gunshot wounds, but suffocated. Apparently Saari had petrol bombs with him which he used to start a number of fires.

Are graffitis art or vandalism?

The question has been debated in Helsinki as in many other cities. Some ten years ago the city adopted a policy banning any kind of graffiti be it murals or tags and started a no-tolerance policy so that most graffiti is cleaned the same day. They were joined by the public transport providers – VR trains were washed the same day they got painted. A lot of guards were also employed – and if youare caught the financial punishmentsare in the tens of thousands – compare this with the woman who got a hysteroctomy due to misfiled lab test and was compensated 2000 euros – she’d gotten more money if the doctor had a felt tip pen and signed her…

I have a number of photos of graffiti in Paris I took on my trip in May. I travelled from a banlieu to the centre and just took photos of the sometimes quite artistic pieces. Coming back to Helsinki I “noticed” that really the “no tags” policy has made any graffiti – even the artful pieces – just nonexistant. Oh well, the young peoples opinions are definitely not as divided on the issue, there was a counter-demonstration to the anti-graffiti movement’s theme day meeting, and the police was not amused. I guess they were practicing for the riots when the HEX collapses and the Espoo yuppies demonstrate for cheap gas. Another policy being implemented in the city is a definitely more stringent policy against demonstrations.

Meanwhile fear and loathing in the Helsinki City continues while the different city deparments are in each others’ throats over a proposal for a “legal graffiti” area. The situation has escalated into such hostility, a few city council members were denied entry to the city-organized 10-year anniversary of the anti-graffiti campaign. Which bickering really does seem quite silly. I wonder if the upcoming elections will provide the city with new brains.

I can understand both sides’ arguments, but really I don’t have any strong opinions either for or against the issue. On the one hand I do get annoyed some kids scribbled four-letter words in our freshly painted staircase – but then again some of the graffiti I managed to get pictures of in Paris, and murals all over the world do have something else in them than just vandalism.

Cliff notes: overkill over sprayed paint

Last Saturday evening at 9pm a 14-year old girl from the local basketball club was stabbed fatally when she was alone practicing at a basketball court in Savio. ( For our international readers – 9pm this time of the year is still “in broad daylight” ) The girl managed to drag herself into the yard of a neighbouring house but perished before the EMTs arrived. The police caught the same evening around 10pm an 18-year old male who later confessed to the stabbing. According to the police the suspect investigated for murder had been seeking for a(ny) victim for about 3 hours before he randomly picked up on the girl – as for his motives the police said he had given a “sociopolitical motive”. Being a Finn I just have a hunch the perpetrator will be excused due to his mental instability. Somehow I feel it would be right in these kind of cases of the people who let these kind of loose cannons roam the streets should be the ones accused along with them.

Now Savio is a few klicks south of Jokela which surely had hoops and whistles going on about a young man with sociopolitical motives. No doubt if the situation had involved a gun and a school there’d be international vultures homing in on social porno news. But a lonely schoolgirl on a basketball court in an adjacent park to her school is not worth their time, fortunately considering their insensitivity in the media. But the underlying question is – what is making these young men on the northbound track towns commit such mindless killings? Is there something wrong with the water? Is there something wrong with the sociopolitics? Or what is wrong?

The family and friends of 14-year old Emilia who had just celebrated her confirmation a few weeks prior definitely would not want to be asking.

The Helsingin Sanomat today reports of a court case where two teenage boys aged 15 and 16 were sentenced for “sexual abuse” though “performed as a young person” so they got 50 day fines each and to pay damages amounting to 1600 euros. A slap on the wrist maybe, as 50 days amounts for 300 euros, but…  The boys had enticed a girl aged 10 to strip on a webcam through the “Messenger” net.  The details shall be obscure as the case was behind closed doors and the court records sealed until 2068.  Now I just wonder where is the responsibility of the parents letting their 10-year old strip on a webcam?