For All Our Irish Friends

Wherever they may be:

Our very own part-Irish President goes HOME to claim his heritage! President O'Bama, whose ancestors come from all over our world and whose relatives live in every part of it.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. and #OccupyWallStreet

The war in VietNam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality, we will find ourselves organizing clergy- and laymen-concerned committees for the next generation. We will be marching and attending rallies without end unless there is a significant and profound change in American life and policy.

In 1957 a sensitive American official overseas said that it seemed to him that our nation was on the wrong side of a world revolution. [...] With such activity in mind, the words of John F. Kennedy come back to haunt us. Five years ago he said, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken — by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investment.

I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. When machines and computers, profits and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice that produces beggars needs re-structuring. A true revolution of values will soon look easily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries and say: "This is not just." It will look upon our alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America and say: "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of people normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

[...]

These are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting against old systems of exploitation and oppression, and out of the wombs of a frail world, new systems of justice and equality are being born. The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. "The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light." We in the West must support these revolutions. It is a sad fact that, because of comfort, complacency, a morbid fear of communism, and our proneness to adjust to injustice, the Western nations that initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world have now become the arch-anti-revolutionaries.

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Environment: Global Warming

Photo from The Telegraph

No matter how many times you tell the yobbos that weather is just a subset of climate, they don't get it, of course. Loud and raucous is their laughter as they, for example, point to conditions in the UK today. Agence France Presse (AFP) is reporting that last night, temperatures in the UK fell to -22C, which is approximately -8F. Pretty fucking cold, says your friendly neighbourhood Cat. In case there's anyone out there who doesn't know, cats prefer warmth, at all times.

You can bet your hairy ass this Cat does not like temperatures below, oh, at very worst, let's say in the 50s, Fahrenheit. I remember standing right in Trafalgar Square, with my hand in that very same fountain, back when the fountain's contents were closer to liquid than the very solid appearance in that picture.

And another thing you can bet your hairy ass on: the day won't come when I go swimming like Jocko here.

Photo from The Telegraph

Srsly, why the fuck is this man not some cyan shade of fucking blue? Does anyone know? In case you hadn't guessed, the fool is chipping chunks of ice out of his swimming hole to make more room for other would-be swimmers. Fuckin' loon.

If you're wondering what these temperatures mean, suffice it to say that hundreds of flights from the UK have been scrapped, leaving some very angry passengers — or, perhaps, grateful, given the weather conditions — stranded. Hundreds of Eurostair trains scheduled between London and Paris have also been cancelled.

UK authorities are calling this the coldest winter in 30 years. Britain is rationing both LNG (for heating) and salt for keeping the roads clear, as more cold weather is expected.

Meanwhile, in Norway, temperatures are at -42C (that's approximately -43 Fahrenheit) in some places.

In Poland, some 139 people have died from the cold since November, mostly homeless alcoholics.

Germany is expecting 15 inches of fresh snow plus gale force winds over the weekend, giving rise to warnings about impassable roads.

Temperatures in France are below freezing in some cities, notably Aurillac, and Arles, in the south, has seen about a foot of snow take down power lines, leaving some 15,000 people without electricity — and, no doubt, very, very cold.

Spain is on alert for fresh snowfall, strong winds, and freezing temperatures, and in southern Andalusia, floods.

China is also bracing for additional freezing weather, with Beijing seeing the heaviest snowfall in six decades, and the lowest temperatures since 1971 (that's nearly four decades) this week, reports BusinessWeek. Temperatures in the city of Mohe, Heilongqiang province, are around -37F. Beijing is at a balmy 8F. Balmy for them, anyway. No cat would consider that a balmy temperature without an additional digit.

Meanwhile, three days ago, the Guardian reports, an earthquake and a tsunami combined to leave homeless one-third of the population of Rendova, part of the Solomon Islands. Two hundred homes were destroyed by the magnitude 7.2 earthquake, which was followed by waves up to 10 feet high. Relief efforts are under way. Terrible, really. Fortunately, they don't have freezing cold weather to deal with. Coastal dwellers, especially those living in earthquake country, expect more of these events as the globe continues to warm.

Five days ago, the Guardian reports, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake left 20,000 in Tajikistan homeless. Tajikistan is a very poor region of central Asia, and many houses have been damaged, and roads blocked. It is not clear whether relief operations are taking place.

In Brazil, also five days ago, floods killed some 76 people, and mudslides are occurring all over the southern states from heavy rain, also as reported in the Guardian.

USA Toady (no typo) is reporting that temperatures in the midwestern states of the U.S. are expected to drop to -50F. That is some fucking balls-climbing-back-into-your-abdomen cold weather, folks.

Snow and ice are expected in the south, too, from South Carolina to Louisiana. Even Florida is expecting near-freezing nighttime temperatures, although orange growers assure us that the nation's favourite juice crop isn't threatened. With lizards falling out of the trees, this sort of assurance simply makes us at La Casa de Los Gatos go "Humph." Airports in the Chicago area have canceled 500 flights due to the weather. The message seems to be, "Don't travel unless you fucking have to."

So? Whadya think, people? Global warming? Climate change? Or more evidence that there is a nasty old man in the sky who fucking hates us all and is making our holiday season as miserable as he can manage?

Throw another cat on the bed, Matilda, I'm freezing!

ICHC

Stumble It!

World: Uganda Wants Death Penalty For LGBTQ

The Huffington Post is reporting that, following visits by conservative American Christians, lawmaker David Bahati of Uganda is proposing a sweeping law aimed at LGBTQ Ugandans that includes life imprisonment or the death penalty for being gay, as well as severe penalties for those who rent homes to, employ, or fail to report homosexuals to the authorities:

The Ugandan legislation in its current form would mandate a death sentence for active homosexuals living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape. "Serial offenders" also could face capital punishment, but the legislation does not define the term. Anyone convicted of a homosexual act faces life imprisonment.

Anyone who "aids, abets, counsels or procures another to engage of acts of homosexuality" faces seven years in prison if convicted. Landlords who rent rooms or homes to homosexuals also could get seven years and anyone with "religious, political, economic or social authority" who fails to report anyone violating the act faces three years.

While some African journalists and bloggers are characterizing the proposed legislation as aimed at those who knowingly infect others, especially children, with HIV, it is not clear that they are referring to the same legislation as the bill sponsored by Bahati. A request for clarification has not received a response.

Although Bloomberg has since reported in an update from its Kampala bureau that both the proposed death penalty and life imprisonment have been dropped from the bill, this might well be a reaction to the outcry in other countries against this hideous legislation.

Peter Kent, Canadian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, has characterized the bill as "vile and hateful," and has stated that Canada would raise the issue with its Ugandan counterparts at a Commonwealth summit held in Trinidad and Tobago this weekend.

This blog agrees. The proposed legislation is against all ethics and all human rights laws, nationally and internationally. You simply *cannot* execute people for being who/what they are. Science has shown that homosexuality is genetically determined.

What You Can Do

The United States currently gives Uganda approximately $60 million annually in aid. Please contact your legislator and request that such aid be made contingent upon Uganda's observation of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Please also contact the Ugandan Embassy in your country and voice your opposition to this law *politely*. You can reach the Ugandan Embassy in the U.S. here. You can also contact the Uganda Human Rights Commission to urge them to act on this. According to AllAfrica.com, Uganda is a signatory to the UDHR. Thank you.

Under Article 51 of the Constitution of Uganda, the UHRC, among other functions is mandated to monitor the government's compliance with Constitutional provisions and international human rights instruments on human rights. It is their duty to ensure that Mr. Bahati and President Museveni adhere to human rights standards.

Gay Americans are taxpayers, and we resent our taxes paying for the oppression and murder of our brothers and sisters anywhere in the world.

Christians, if you believe what Your Teacher taught, now is the time to speak up and stand with your gay brothers and sisters. Jesus would not have condoned the killing of people who have committed no wrong. If you feel it is wrong for a person to love someone of the same gender, remember that it is for your God, and not you, to judge. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. I shall repay.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, said your Jesus. Do not let your brethren in the fundamentalist church drag you all into opprobrium by condemning others to death.

In case you haven't seen it, Rachel Maddow has done a yeoman job of reportage on the event.

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War Crimes: Never Forget

Ishii Shiro

If you want to know why this Cat hasn't posted much of late, you should read about Ishii Shiro. Who, you might ask, is Ishii Shiro? And why should he keep a Cat from blogging politics?

WARNING: Graphic subject matter.

The preceding link takes you to a Wikipedia entry on Ishii. The information there is scant, and only linked so that you, should you choose to follow the link, will know who this man is. However, the article glosses over the fact that Ishii Shiro was a monster equalling any the world has ever known, in depth of depravity if not scope. He may not have murdered as many people as Hitler, Stalin, or Pol Pot, but that was for lack of opportunity, not intent.

For those who don't want to click the link, here are a few basic facts: Ishii Shiro was a microbiologist who joined the Japanese Imperial Army before its criminal aggressions in World War II. He was ultimately promoted to the rank of General. He started a military unit tasked with bacteriological and chemical warfare. In the course of his tenure at this unit (the infamous Unit 731), Ishii authorized and conducted experiments on living human beings, including babies. These experiments included bombing live humans, then observing their sufferings for weeks as the shrapnel from such bombs infected the test subjects with various bacteria, including plague, cholera, typhus, and the like. He authorized and performed vivisection on political prisoners and prisoners of war and unfortunate people seized for various reasons, or for no reason at all, by the Kempeitai, that group of sadists and malign misanthropes often miscalled "the Japanese military police."

Vivisection at Unit 731

Note the unfortunate subject's hands, bound, as he is being cut open while still alive and conscious.

You will ask why I chose to read about Unit 731. Quite honestly, I put off reading the book as long as I could. It was not pleasant reading. However, I highly recommend that anyone who would claim the label of pacifist, anyone who believes in non-violence, or ahimsa, anyone who opposes war, do the same.

We cannot fight a thing if we don't know what it is. Saying "war is evil" without knowing anything about war is mere bloviation.

War has been part of the human condition since the first proto-human brained his brother (literal or otherwise) with a rock as they fought over access to scarce resources.

Today our capacity to make war threatens every living thing on this planet. We could destroy our entire planet many times over, although it only needs destroying once to make the issue moot.

It bothers me that, of late, nearly every article on astronomy I read in scientific publications seems to contain the assumption that we are looking for a new home, a new planet to house our discordant species. Are we so close to the destruction of this, our home? Is there some plan afoot about which we, the labouring masses, know nothing and guess little? And, should we find it necessary to leave this planet, are we only taking with us the seeds of our future destruction?

We are still involved in two wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan. When we elected Barack Obama to the highest office in the land, he promised us that the troops would be coming home soon.

I have plenty of respect and admiration for President Obama. He's doing a great job, given the mess he inherited. But while we are drawing down troops in Iraq, and finally bringing them home; while we are closing for good that monument to the fall from grace of America The Once-Beautiful, the torture chambers of Guantanamo Bay Prison; while we have finally resolved the amorphous and overly-broad scope of the "War Against Terror" into a mission to seek and destroy Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, his evil stepchild — I cannot but be troubled over our sending more troops to Afghanistan.

I understand that in order to safeguard itself and attain its objective, the US/NATO force currently in Afghanistan does require reinforcements. And it will be no easy task to finally clean up the mess that our Former Dear Leader Dick "they call me Dick for a reason" Cheney/Gee, Dumb? Yeah! Bouchebag and that ambulatory purulence, Donald Rumsfeld, left behind in Afghanistan.

I understand we can't just pull our military out all over the world and "bring the troops home" en masse, no matter how much we want to. We must ensure that those troops have something to come home to — jobs, or opportunities therefor, at least; the rescaling and restructuring of the military; training that will allow members of the military to do something very different than what they've been doing for the past X years. Medical issues, contract issues, benefits, all have to be managed, and with minimum disruption.

Most importantly, I believe that, although a standing army is pretty much required of any nation in this day and age, we need — we all need — to learn how to be a nation at peace. The military budget is destroying this country. We are spending millions on machines that have only one purpose: to kill or maim other human beings.

Most of us find the thought of killing and injuring other people distasteful. If we did not, there would be no need to demonize the enemy. Apparently, we don't find it distasteful enough to stop our country from becoming a vast military-industrial Moloch that grinds our own children to death in its jaws. We sacrifice the best of ourselves, our humanity, our health, our lives, and the lives of others, casually, to feed the beast. And the same people who support the burgeoning military budget complain at having to spend less than one-fifth of that amount to ensure the nation's health. (FYI: 2009 military budget: $515 billion. Estimated yearly expenditure on the public option: $90 billion annually.)

The time has come for that to end. This means we all need to learn, to see, to feel, to think, without equivocation, without flinching, about war. About exactly what it is.

And this is what it is. Torture, sadism, cruelty, inhumane acts, evil. War represents the worst in the human spirit, that allows us to justify killing old men, blowing up pregnant women, blowing limbs off little children.

Could you cut open a living human being? Dr. Ishii could. He did. He ordered his subordinates to, as well. You might say, "But I am not responsible for Dr. Ishii. This happened many years ago, and I was not even alive, at the time."

This is why you cannot plead that defense: Dr. Ishii and the scientists of Unit 731 were never prosecuted for their crimes. In return for access to their research on live human subjects — experiments forbidden by any code of ethics — Douglas MacArthur, and through him the United States of America, offered these war criminals full immunity from prosecution.

What Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, and their cohorts authorized in Iraq and Afghanistan bears plenty of resemblance (perhaps they didn't go as far as vivisection, although we don't yet know) to what was done by Unit 731. And these war criminals continue to walk among us, scot-free.

Here, for your delectation, some excerpts from this exceptional chronicling of Unit 731, Japan's Secret Biological Warfare in World War II, by Peter Williams and David Wallace:

The unit was referred to under a number of different names at different times: Ishii Unit; Manchuria 25202 Unit; Kwantung Army Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Unit.

...

One of Ishii's dreams could come true — doctors in combat alongside the glorious infantry.

Doctors in combat. Those who take an oath to preserve health and life, serving alongside, and assisting, those sworn to take both health and life from anyone they, or their superiors, identify as "the enemy." Ishii set up his headquarters at P'ing Fan, in Manchuria. It was by order of the Japanese Emperor of the time, Hirohito, that the size of the detachment was fixed at 3,000 personnel.

Ever since his trip to Europe, plague had fascinated Ishii. ... Plague could create casualties often out of all proportion to the number of bacteria disseminated. Ishii deduced, therefore, that it would make an efficient weapon and set about preparing the most dangerous strains. He looked to history, to the great plagues that had ravaged continents and delighted in the chaos that such a weapon would create. ...

Plague had another advantage for Ishii. Its origins could be concealed.

...

Russians from Hogoin were only one source of human guinea pigs. Most, around 70 per cent, were Chinese soldiers, intellectuals and local worker agitators apprehended by the Kenpeitai and Secret Service throughout Manchuria.

Such human experimental material included those designated as

suspected spy, saboteur, or ideological criminal, perhaps an opium smoker, pro-Soviet and anti-Japanese, "disloyal," of no value for "enlistment," unwilling for "re-education," of no fixed abode, or simply whose release was "undesirable."

...

Unsuspecting and innocent people were also tricked into the clutches of Unit 731. Some were lured by the prospect of employment. Young boys, mothers and children, even pregnant women were trapped.

Prisoners were referred to as "maruta," which is the Japanese word for a log of wood.

Talk about dehumanization!

A maruta was just a number, a piece of experimental material. They were not even regarded as human beings.

...

The prison was a vision of hell. Through the spyhole cut in the steel doors of each cell, the plight of the chained marutas could be seen. Some had rotting limbs, bits of bone protruding through skin blackened by necrosis. Others were sweating in high fever, writhing in agony or moaning in pain. ... An infected person would be put with healthy marutas to see how easily diseases spread.

...

Marutas were "used up" at the rate of two or three per day.

Among the prisoners on whom such inhumane tests were performed were 88,000 American and Filipino PoWs captured during the fall of Bataan and Corregidor. Some of these, together with Australian, British, and New Zealand PoWs (a total of 1,485) were sent to Manchuria. How many White Russians perished at P'ing Fan is not clear. At least the Chinese and the Allies have some record of how many of their people died.

The Soviet Union prosecuted those members of Unit 731 that they captured for war crimes. They were sentenced to lengthy terms but not put to death. Eventually, they were released and repatriated to Japan. Those who evaded capture by the Soviets ended up under the military authority of the United States. In exchange for their experimental data, Douglas MacArthur and, through him, the United States Government, shielded these war criminals from prosecution, essentially giving them a free pass. Many of them went on to win high honours in their quickly-resumed professional lives.

And the U.S. government took the data from Unit 731 and conducted bacteriological warfare against the North Koreans. Uninformed Americans wonder why the North Koreans are so paranoid. In their place, wouldn't you be? Information has only now, 50+ years later, begun to surface about war crimes committed by U.S. troops in Korea. But the truth about bacterial weapons used against the Koreans is not yet common knowledge even in the U.S.

While civilian Japanese paid with their lives and health at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Ishii Shiro and his cohorts lived in comparative wealth and splendour to the end of their days. While his countrymen starved and suffered, Ishii Shiro and the commanders of Unit 731 lived well. Some of these monsters — perhaps all of them, by now — are dead. But their crimes must never die.

Chinese and Japanese protest war crimes of Unit 731

We must never forget that we human beings are capable of doing such things to each other. We invoke war as our excuse to dispel the last shreds of our humanity. It has often been said of humankind that we are "midway between angel and ape." The deeds of Unit 731 put the lie to that claim. No ape could, or would, cause such suffering to its fellow apes, and justify it so disingenuously.

In all honesty, although this book took weeks to read, and more weeks to recover from, this Cat has actually also been occupied with the monumental task of editing several books. That task is now drawing to a close, and this blog will resume its regular assault upon your consciousness.

Thank you for your attention.

Stumble It!

Women's Rights: Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein

Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein

Well, well, well. It appears that the Sudanese courts have weaseled out of facing up to courageous feminist Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein. Ms. al-Hussein was arrested some time ago at a cafe in the city of Khartoum for offending against laws regulating women's clothing. She was wearing loose trousers and a tunic, with a scarf covering her hair. Pretty indecent, huh?

Some ten other women who were arrested with her accepted their sentence of a whipping. Not Ms. al-Hussein. She resigned her position at the UN, thereby forfeiting any political protection she might otherwise be able to claim, and openly stated she would rather take 40,000 lashes than the 40 to which she might have been sentenced if the courts could show her from where their authority to punish women for this supposed crime was derived. She claims that the Qur'an does not sanction the dress she wore, that her clothing was within the bounds of what constitutes modest dress, and that the law, as it is written, is vague and overbroad, constituting discrimination against women who can be arrested and punished under it at the discretion of those paid to enforce such law.

She printed invitations to the foreign and local press to attend her trial and promised that, if sentenced to a whipping, she would send out invitations to that event as well.

Sudan's syariah courts have responded by fining her instead of delivering the promised whipping. Although they have not, of course, responded to her challenge to show wherefrom their authority to whip women such as herself was derived.

Ms. al-Hussein has said that she will not pay the 500-pound ($200) fine, preferring to go to jail for a month instead.

What a woman! Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, you are an inspiration! Women of Sudan, take heart. As long as you have people like Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein among you, you can fight those beardy old mullahs who spend too much time minding other people's business and not enough minding their own. And you can win! Women of America, it's time to let the home-grown Talebangelists know that you won't accept their restrictions on your rights!

And just remember, folks: Religion makes you FUCKING CRAZY~!

Stumble It!

World: Afghanistan

Welp, it looks like more and more Dems are coming around to Senator Russ Feingold's point of view on Afghanistan. And none too soon, given the recent news of rowdy fratboy misbehaviour by U.S. citizens in this deeply conservative Islamic nation.

What the hell are we doing in Afghanistan, anyway? It's a pointless war. The idea was to go in, get bin Laden and whoever else is in charge in al-Qaeda, and get the fuck out. But now, General Stanley McChrystal, top American commander in Afghanistan, is asking for more U.S. troops. And NATO is purportedly planning to increase its commitment to Afghanistan, according to Anders Fogh Rasmussen, secretary-general of NATO. "As long as it takes," says Rasmussen. As long as WHAT takes, sir? What are you hoping to accomplish?

Afghanistan is a pathetically poor nation, historically torn by fighting. Everyone seems to want a piece of that poverty-stricken land, beginning with Sikandar (Alexander the Great to you Greco-Romanists), and moving through Britain and Russia to the United States, and now an alliance of Western powers fronted by NATO. So far, no one's had much luck winning a war there. The British gave up after multiple defeats. The defeat of the Russians occurred within our own lifetimes. And now the US/NATO Coalition of Teh Stupid is getting ground to dust.

Clausewitz has this, among other things, to say about war:

War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means.

Given that Clausewitz is somewhat of an authority on war, it would behoove both NATO and the US to remember that. And what are the politics of Afghanistan?

Historically, Afghanistan has been a land of warring tribes, fierce and intransigent, deeply committed to a harsh version of the Muslim faith it adopted circa 650 AD. United for a little over a century into a kingdom comprising multiple dynasties and tribal alliances, these tribes have long resisted any semblance of comity, being more likely to invest their energies in settling grievances with each other by whatever means and having long since grown adept at manipulating foreigners against each other for their own survival and vengeance.

Thus, the question restates itself: What are the political aims of the U.S. and NATO in Afghanistan? Uniting the country? That seems laughable. There is no "country of Afghanistan," only a series of tribes that have fought each other for hundreds, possibly thousands, of years and will continue to fight each other long after the latest in a series of invaders has been crushed into exhaustion by the hostile climate, terrain, and natives.

Alleviating the lot of the natives? Well, war is the worst possible way to go about that. We appear to be killing lots of innocent, and possibly also not-so-innocent, civilians. In the event, a country torn by war, poverty, corruption, crime, and suffering does not allow democracy to take root in its bitter soil. Democracy requires the active participation of informed people. The people of Afghanistan are too busy fleeing bombs, being killed and maimed, and attempting to stay alive to spend time gathering information. And our presence there, far from alleviating their lot, is killing them.



It doesn't help to have the examples of other failed wars in Asia: Japan's war in China, and the U.S. involvement in Korea, and VietNam. To quote Bernard Viscount Montgomery,

[...] Rule 2 of war [...] is: "Do not go fighting with your land armies in China". It is a vast country, with no clearly defined objectives.
In the House of Lords, 30 May 1962 (Hansard, Col. 227)

And subsequently, upon the involvement of the U.S. in the VietNam conflict:

The US has broken the second rule of war. That is, don't go fighting with your land army on the mainland of Asia. [...]

As is always the case, corruption is rife in a land torn by war. No one seems to care about what the Afghanis themselves think about the Taliban, or the puppet dictator, Hamid Karzai, that we have foisted on them.

What exactly are we hoping to achieve in Afghanistan? Because if our aim is to ensure that natural gas flows from the rich fields around the Caspian Sea to ports where it can be transhipped to countries hungry for this rich natural resource, then perhaps we ought to be less hypocritical about it and either sterilize the entire nation of its inhabitants, or just buy it outright and pay the Afghanis to settle elsewhere.

Inhumane, you say? Of course it's inhumane. But how humane is it to prop up a corrupt, American-owned dictator who watches and pockets our riches anyway even as little girls and boys have their arms and legs blown off?

This is a problem that requires a political, not a military solution. So far, 21,000 troops have been sent there to fight and kill and be killed.

Photo by Julie Jacobson, AP

No more. Let's bring them home, people. Supporting the troops means not using them in the Gee, Dumb? Yeah! war of convenience. The Afghanis don't want us there. They want us to give them the training to become adept at defending themselves and then get the fuck out. What the fuck are we waiting for?

Stumble It!

Women's Rights: Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein

Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein

If you haven't heard of Lubna Ahmed al-Hussain, you need to.

Ms. Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein is a Sudanese journalist who, until recently, also worked for the United Nations. Why does she no longer work for the U.N., you ask?

Because recently, Ms. al-Hussein was enjoying herself in the company of other women like herself at a restaurant in Khartoum when some 20 or 30 policemen arrested her, and twelve of her compatriots, for the crime of — wearing trousers. Ms. al-Ahmed decided to fight this ridiculous charge, and, when the U.N. moved to protect her as an employee, she resigned her U.N. post to fight it on her own.

Brave does not begin to describe this woman. She faces a whipping — 40 lashes — for her "crime." To demonstrate her commitment to her cause — defying this application of the law as "un-Islamic" and not deriving from the underlying authority for Shari'a law, the Quran — Ms. al-Hussein wore the exact same outfit she was wearing at her arrest to her court hearing. The charges against her, FTA:

[A]rticle 152 of the Sudanese criminal law of 1991 [provides that] women [...] wearing clothes that causes “public uneasiness” [or] a “threat to the Sudanese society values and virtues[...]” [are] subject to 40 lashes in public

The Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) is calling on all NGOs working on human rights issues to get involved.

Ms. al-Hussein plans to fight the charges all the way to the Constitutional Court, if necessary, she says, adding that her plan is to get rid of Article 152, which is more stringently enforced against women, and constitutes an invidious form of discrimination. Ms. al-Hussein has said she is willing to endure 40,000 lashes to fight this discriminatory law.

Some of the other women arrested with her have decided not to fight the charges, and accepted their whipping quietly. Not Ms. al-Hussein. She has printed invitations for the press and human rights activists to witness her trial, and plans to print invitations to the whipping if she loses her court case.

Ms. al-Hussein's bravery has inspired demonstrations by her supporters, according to al-Jazeera. Sudanese police have used tear-gas to disperse her protestors, and the court in which she was to be tried has postponed her case while they verify whether she has legal immunity from prosecution due to her status as an employee of the U.N. Ms. al-Hussein has called this "an attempt to delay the case," since she resigned from the U.N. before the trial specifically to renounce any immunity. FTA:

"If some people refer to the sharia to justify flagellating women because of what they wear, then let them show me which Quranic verses or hadith [sayings of the Prophet Mohammed] say so. I haven't found them," she said.

Two paws up from La Casa de Los Gatos, Ms. al-Hussein! We hope you win your case and get this foolish law repealed.

Note: Sharia law is only applied in the Muslim north of Sudan. The southern part of the country consists mainly of animists and Christians, and the Islamic legal framework does not apply there.

Stumble It!

World: News Summary

What's going on with the 51st State? Apparently, our tax dollars are, once again, paying for more militarism, aggression, war crimes, and the like. The Israeli papers are a lot more upfront and honest about this than our worthless fishwrap and birdcage liners over here.

From an article about the Israeli actions in Gaza:

"Better hit an innocent than hesitate to target an enemy," is a typical description by one unidentified soldier of his understanding of instructions repeated at pre-invasion briefings and during the 22-day operation, from Dec. 27 to Jan. 18.

"If you're not sure, kill. Fire power was insane. We went in and the booms were just mad," says another. "The minute we got to our starting line, we simply began to fire at suspect places. In urban warfare, anyone is your enemy. No innocents."

The 112-page report by Breaking the Silence includes testimonies of 30 soldiers "who served in all sectors of the operation".

Firing at known noncombatants, or at least suspected noncombatants. Thanks to the tax dollars we need so badly to fix our own broken economy.

And what is this bullshit? Israeli warships and submarines schlepping the Suez Canal? Even as the rest of the world is working to bring Iran back into the fold of nuclear supervision? Why does the State of Israel always have to act like a fucking outlaw? And why do they get away with it?

Here we'd like to stress once again that the State of Israel is a criminal, an aggressor, and a bunch of other really bad shit, but that does not, and should not, reflect on the Israeli people, many of whom speak out bravely and call their government to account for its misdeeds. If we were not paying to support the military hawks, Israel would have a greater chance of allowing the doves to speak the truth, and abiding by international laws. The Israeli people, our brothers and sisters in this struggle, do not benefit from the militaristic attitudes of the State any more than the American people benefited from the war in Iraq.

Meanwhile, Spiegel reports "rioting in France" around Bastille Day, with more than 300 cars turned into nice fiery cindery little mementoes. Of course, you have to read most of the article to find the two pertinent facts underlying this explosion of, um, self-expression. FTA:

Violence on the eve of Bastille Day has become a tradition in France and an outlet for disaffected young men to express their anger at French unemployment rates and a failed integration policy for ethnic minorities.

[...]

The Bastille Day riots follow three nights of anarchy on the streets of Firminy near Lyon, as youths protested amid reports of a 21-year-old Algerian man dying in police custody on Wednesday July 8.

[...]

More protestors took to the streets of Paris on July 13, claiming police brutality against activist film director Joachim Gatti who lost his right eye on July 8 -- allegedly having been shot by a police flash-ball gun.

Just skimming the article would leave one with the self-righteous impression that the excitable French, especially those of the younger persuasion, were simply as mad as they had long been reputed to be. Rather than, for example, the fact that the State thinks imposing worse penalties on minorities who have long been left to languish in a second, and more insulting, colonialism is a solution to the valid rage and fury that results as they watch their compatriots murdered and injured by the very instruments of that State. Meanwhile, the little Janus, Sarkozy, celebrated with Manmohan Singh complete with Indian soldiers. India, have you anything to say about these riots?

Only a note from Africa today, from the Republic of the Congo, where Raw Story reports that 66-year-old Denis Sassou Nguesso, who has ruled virtually unopposed in the Congo for the past 30 years, has won the "peaceful, fair, and free" elections. That the elections were "peaceful," so far as such things go in Third World nations, there is little doubt. As to "fair, and free," we at this fine establishment would like to reserve judgment, if only temporarily. When half the population barely has enough to eat, one suspects they will vote for whoever promises or offers food, and leave niceties such as long-term stability, civil rights, mass education, public health, and anti-corruption drives out of the picture.

The Non-Aligned Movement is in summit this week, according to a report from Raw Story. The Movement includes 118 member countries from the developing world, including India, whose Jawaharlal Nehru was the primary impetus behind this association of developing nations, and Egypt, whose Gamel Abdel Nasser was one of the first to respond to Nehru's call.

The body will be seeking to establish better protection for its member nations against the type of global economic meltdown that recently occurred. Also under discussion is the perennial issue of the UN Security Council, which has for decades been dominated by certain nations. On a positive note, Indian and Pakistani representatives to the council will be trying to restart the recently stalled peace talks. Go for it, guys.

When and how will Pakistan dig itself out of the hideous situation in which it currently finds itself? It is, at least in embryo, a failed state. And, it has, as my friend, a VN Vet, says, THE BOMB.

From Russia, Raw Story is reporting the abduction and murder of internationally known human rights activist Natalya Estemirova. Ms. Estemirova worked for Memorial, a Russian NGO. She was shot dead in Ingushetia. Reuters has more information about Ms. Estemirova. FTA:

Estemirova has been at the forefront of efforts to investigate human rights violations and (has) work(ed) for accountability in Chechnya for more than 10 years. Her efforts brought criticism from the Chechen authorities, including the republic's president Ramzan Kadyrov. Forces under his command have been accused of multiple and repeated human rights abuses, including killings, torture, and disappearances, yet few perpetrators have been held to account in Russia. In more than 100 judgments to date, the European Court of Human Rights has found Russia responsible for grave human rights violations in Chechnya, highlighting the lack of accountability for such crimes.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is reported to be outraged at the crime and has ordered a full investigation. This is more likely to yield results than a local government investigation in Chechnya, which is restive, therefore allowing such crimes to be carried out with impunity.

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Happy Bastille Day!

Prise de la Bastille, Jean Pierre Houel

Bastille Day is a national holiday in La Belle France! A tribute to the right of the people to protect their interests against those powers that choose to rule them in the most arbitrary fashion for the benefit, not of the people, but of said powers.

Here is more information on Bastille Day.

A little over one month after Bastille Day, the Declaration of The Rights of Man and of The Citizen was adopted by the National Constituent Assembly of the French Revolution. This declaration forms the basis of international human rights laws which govern us all (hopefully) till today. Sadly, as our previous post shows, they have not come into that universal acceptance that humanity really must achieve before Vogons show up and blow us up for being such a dreadful species — no, wait, the Vogons are much worse. OK, let's assume that the Universe contains SOME form of intelligent life. Now, imagine them casting a jaundiced, at best, eyeball upon our planet. Whad'ya think? Will they let us live?

My money's on "No." Let's keep working on changing their minds, though!

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World: No Regrets?

No, it's not the Billie Holliday song. It's what's happening in the trials of the Khmer Rouge criminals right now.

Prisoner at Tuol Sleng, Pol Pot's notorious S-21 prison

No, my knowledge of Kampuchean history is not great. I know something about the early history of the Khmer and other peoples of that part of Southeast Asia, the Funanese empire, the Dong Son bronzes, but almost nothing about their modern history, except that my parents greatly respected and admired Prince Norodom Sihanouk.

I am about to begin my historical explorations of that deeply wretched nation.

However, today's report from Reuters does not bode well for my virtual travels thereto. According to Reuters, one Mam Nay, aka Chan, who served for a time as an interrogator under Pol Pot's head jailor, Duch (real name Kaing Guek Eav) testified in court today that he has no regrets for

what happened at the Tuol Sleng prison, where more than 14,000 men, women and children were killed, [...].

Tuol Sleng, also known as S-21, is the infamous prison referred to in "The Killing Fields."

No regrets for this, Mr. Chan? Or Mam Nay, if you prefer?

Tortured Prisoner, one of 6,000 photographs left behind when Khmer Rouge jailors evicted Tuol Sleng prison in advance of invading VietNamese troops

Mam Nay, who is appearing as a witness for the prosecution in the joint Kampuchean-UN war crimes trials, has denied any part in torture or killings of prisoners and blamed the United States and Vietnam for undermining his country.

"My only regret was our country was invaded," he told the joint Cambodian-U.N. tribunal. "Frankly speaking, the Americans invaded us then Vietnam invaded us. That is my regret."

[...]

"I did not use torture in my interrogation. I believed I would not get a true confession."

Asked about the deaths of innocent people, Nay, 76, said: "None of them was innocent -- those people committed offences, either minor or serious.

"This was the reason for their arrest. How serious or how minor, I don't know."

Note: This guy was a schoolteacher. Maybe he was a brainwashed cadre turned schoolteacher. But how do you become a schoolteacher if you cannot empathize with frightened children? And some of the 14-20,000 imprisoned at Tuol Sleng were children. Ony six people survived that prison. The remaining 13,994 — or 19,994, no one really knows — died as a result of torture.

There is no denying that the US bombing of Kampuchea and various associated military actions led to the rise of the Khmer Rouge. But who thought they would be so inhumane as to kill between 1 and 3 million of their own people? Between the U.S. bombing and the NVA attempts to escape U.S. military actions by slipping over the border into Kampuchean territory, evicting Kampucheans, and training members of the Khmer Rouge, Kampuchea's attempts at neutrality and Sihanouk's heroic efforts in that direction were virtually worthless. Here is a brief background on these aspects of Kampuchean history.

Mam Nay, or Mr. Chan, or whatever you call yourself, should a "minor" offense warrant waterboarding? Or, as Americans and other Westerners used to refer to it, "Chinese" or "Japanese" water torture?

Picture taken by Jonah Blank in 2005 at the Tuol Sleng Museum. Published on the Web by David Corn.*

Oh, well. I guess now that it's come to light that we waterboarded mentally ill or innocent or possibly innocent people ourselves, repeatedly, I guess we're in no position to quibble about anyone else's crimes.

Ain't torture egalitarian?

*See here for copyright/licensing information on this picture.

Incidentally, the still-adored ex-partner made a trip to those parts some years ago, and opined that "the whole place seemed haunted. It was like going to a ghost town. Even the people's faces look haunted." The ex is a tough businessperson who has had plenty of occasion to mock and deride my own claims of sensitivity and queasiness and unexplained oojie-woojies, so to hear those words from such a person, well. Virtual trips to Kampuchea is all I'm up to for now.

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Politics: Right-wing Terrorists

OMG WTF, where do they FIND these guys? Raw Story is reporting that one Wayne Simmons, a "pro-assassination CIA analyst," (fortunately now retired from the CIA) called Dick "Dick" Cheney:

“one of the most honorable men on the planet”

who would never break the law.

Are you fucking kidding me? Dick "Satan-spawn" Cheney, who has repeatedly lied to Congress, the President of the United States (his boss), and probably deity itself at this point? What the fuckin' fuck does this guy mean by honorable? A lying chickenshit chickenhawk who had "other priorities" keeping him out of the Vietnam War (five, count 'em, FIVE fucking deferments), but had no problem sending soldiers to die in a pre-emptive war in Iraq? The son-of-a-syphilitic-turtle dropped out of college as soon as he had spawned the sprog required to keep him from shedding his precious blood in foreign wars, but had no shame — none — about sending other people's sons and daughters to get killed, maimed, and permanently injured.



This is "honorable?" What dicionary is this motherfucker using?

FTA:

A story in the New York Times this past weekend, corroborated by the Washington Times on Monday, said that Cheney was aware of a secret CIA program that had been kept hidden from Congress for more than six years, and was part of the decision process to keep it from Congress — something that, if true, would be a violation of federal law.

Simmons told Fox News, “For anyone to think that Vice-President Dick Cheney would do anything illegal is nothing more than political grandstanding.”

You know, here Dick is openly and blatantly busted for violating federal law, i.e., committing a crime. And this brain-infected moron actually has the chutzpah to sit in front of a mike and say that the founding member of the Chickenhawk Brigade would never do anything illegal? Bud, is the sky blue on your planet, or is it some other colour?

Oh, wait, look, the scumsucking puke had this to write in a letter to the NYT:

“Suggesting that we intentionally misled the American people for partisan political purposes or some quid pro quo personal gain is an unconscionable attack on our honor and long service to this nation, [...].”

This, of course, was in response to an article in said paper that had exposed the fact that certain elements of the government and its agencies had "intentionally misled the American people for partisan political purposes or some quid pro quo personal gain."

I wonder if Simmons EVER served in the military? Or is he a member of the 82nd Chairborne? It seems one of the biggest problems with the military-industrial complex that Eisenhower warned against is the fact that so many "military analysts" and theoreticians never actually had to serve on the ground.

Perhaps that's why they misunderstand the meaning of common terms such as "honourable" and "illegal." Perhaps that's why they have lied and continue to lie to us about virtually everything.

I'm about to embark on some serious reading about the Vietnam War. The only way to stop war is to understand it — its roots, its beginnings, its place in the history of our individual and collective lives. We must stop people like this from poisoning the well of common discourse. If this country is to be saved intact with its honourable Constitutional roots, we must all work together, Republicans and Democrats, Liberals and Libertarians.

We cannot pretend that a government that is supposed to be "of, by, and for the people" is best served by those who would lie to us and kill our children. There is no honour in lying a trusting people into giving up their children's lives and saddling their grandchildren with debt just so that some very nasty, creepy old men can live with riches beyond what they can ever use.

Image from the Houston Press

While KBR — remember KBR? An "offshoot" of Halliburton, the company that Dick "Dick" Cheney helmed, and ran into the ground fiscally until he rescued it with no-bid contracts after finding himself the best possible candidate for VP? — was electrocuting the military in Iraq with substandard facilities and poisoning them with substandard food and water, it was using our tax dollars to buy — and throw away — people, as well as machinery, in the great swindle that we've been taught to call "Operation Enduring Freedom," or, more accurately, "This fucking hideous unprovoked war in Iraq."

That last link is to a Rolling Stone story about an ex-military man who went to Iraq as a civilian contractor and got seriously fucked up, so if you have a sensitive stomach, you might not care to read it. Alternatively, if you're, like, contemplating eating or anything like that, don't click any of the links about the poisoned food and water. I think I just gave up eating permanently. Jesus, what vomitous little shitbags like Dick Cheney and Wayne Simmons have done, and are doing to the military is enough to make you puke blood.

Those of you who are into that kind of thing might wish to let Faux Noise know that you don't approve of Mr. Simmons' somewhat cavalier interpretations of polysyllabi like "honour" and "illegal," and such. It appears words of one syllable are more his speed. Mr. Simmons also believes in assassinating foreign leaders. Something tells me the Founding Fathers would have happily given him a trial for such undemocratic beliefs, which would have surely led to a justified firsthand experience of execution, since they did not believe in assassination. What a walking enema!!

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World: US Scraps Meeting With Israel

ICHC FTW

Does this mean the 51st state will be getting a little less of our tax money for a while?

Raw Story is reporting that George Mitchell, the U.S. envoy to the middle-east has called off a meeting with Bibi (Netanyahu) because Israel is building in stolen Palestinian territory contrary to President Barack Obama's clearly stated position of some weeks ago.

Naturally, Bibi's lackeys are claiming they cancelled the meeting (sure, honey. You're getting your "resettlement" money from our taxes, you're gonna cancel a meeting. Sure).

The money quote, so to speak, from the article:

The mass-selling Yediot Aharonot had earlier quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying Washington issued a "stern" message to Netanyahu to halt all settlement activity on occupied Palestinian land.

"Once you've finished the homework we gave you on stopping construction in the settlements, let us know. Until then, there's no point in having (envoy George) Mitchell fly to Paris to meet you," the paper quoted the official as saying.

Israeli officials, with their usual levels of chutzpah, are claiming that the building is part of the "natural growth" in the settlements, but here's where Hillary Clinton is a total fucking champ. She basically told them to ESAD:

But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in May that President Barack Obama had made it clear during Netanyahu's visit to Washington that he wants no "natural growth exceptions" to his call for a settlement freeze.

Go Hillary! You can kick ass, you're the queen of kickass. Let's see if U.S. taxpayer dollars to Israel will dry up. We're sick of subsidizing their arrogance, their contempt for us, their thugly ways, their unwillingness to work with the rest of the world, their paranoia, rudeness, suspicion, and ingratitude.

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World: Iran

I'm with Kase Wickman on this whole issue of Iran: there's no point in turning your avatar green, we all need to do something to help the Iranians while simultaneously telling our so-called Leaders to Shut the fuckety fucking fuck up and quit trying to meddle in anybody else's internal politics.

So what, you may wonder, can you do? If you have money, you can send it to:

• TehranBureau. They need financial support. They're doing a sterling job of getting news and information from Iran.
  
  
• International Red Cross and Red Crescent. Even if their Iran branch is currently not giving assistance to injured demonstrators, they do good work in getting medical supplies to those who need them. I will have more information on this issue soon.

If you have tech skills, you can:

• set up a way for Iranians to stay connected to the world outside;
  
  
• Create a Twitter account, if you don't already have one, mosey on over to Twitter, enter #iranelection in the search box halfway down the right side of the page, and see if you can provide assistance to the many requests you'll encounter there. Be sure to check carefully that you're not providing assistance to the wrong people!
  
  
• Set your Twitter account settings to Tehran time.
  Apparently this will slow down the thought police searching for the protesters

If you prefer political action, you can:

• sign this petition to the United Nations requesting that they take action on the election fraud believed to have been perpetrated in Iran;
  
  
• sign this petition;
  
  
• sign this petition, supported by Anonymous Iran;
  
  Personally I find petition signing rather ineffectual, but perhaps the intent here is to show Iranians that there is support for them in other countries, and that is a good psychological tool and morale-lifter.
  
  
• Write a letter (not an email) to the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon;
  Address it to him at 2 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017. Not sure how effective it will be, since the Iranian Supreme Council has already accused him of meddling, according to Ha'aretz, merely for requesting that they spend less time killing demonstrators.
  
  
• Write a letter or send a postcard or an email to, or telephone, your Congresscritters. You can send a copy to their local office and a copy to their Washington, D.C. office, if you like.
  
  
• Write a letter to the Ayatollah Khameini and the Supreme Council. Kindly address the son of an unmentionable as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini. Address it to Iranian Interests Section, 2209 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20007. Be as polite as you possibly can. The more diplomatic you are, the more likely he will actually read your letter, as his paid underlings will be sure to sort and toss any that include death threats, insults, or sundry rudenesses.
  
  
• Write a letter to, or call, each of these morally reprehensible bloodthirsty chickenhawks who are slavering to see the U.S. embroiled in yet another conflict in which your children will die or be maimed or otherwise disabled, while theirs opine on the importance of foreign wars from air-conditioned offices on these shores:
  
  
  • Lindsey "Miss Thing" Graham;
    
  • John "Wut? Where R I?" McCain;
    
  • Chuck "Up" Grassley;
    
  • Dana "Asshole" Rorabacher;
    
  • Eric "Head Up Ass" Cantor;
    
  • Joe "Whiny Sanctimonious Peener" Lieberman;

To bring yourself up to speed on what is happening in Iran, you can see what Nico Pitney has to say over at The Huffington Post. He's been live-blogging the situation in Iran since it began, pretty much. Twitter has a constant stream of information, but no analysis, and the 140-character limit, while excellent for conveying important info quickly is, alas, not suited to thinking critically on the issue.

The Guardian has useful background information. Historical information, which is crucial to understanding the entire situation in the middle-east and Iran's place in that context, is available all over the Web. Some excellent books on the topic should be available at your local library or through inter-library loan.

Do what you can, whatever it is. Perhaps you can start a "boycott Iranian products" movement, talk to your Iranian friends, neighbours, acquaintances, and see if that is a useful solution; perhaps you can organize a petition signing or a collection of funds for the Red Cross/Red Crescent. Perhaps you speak Farsi, or know someone who does who is supportive of the movement and can translate articles or broadcasts. Perhaps you can just teach yourself and some of your friends a little about this faraway country in which such an amazing freedom movement is occurring at this time. Or vent some spleen at those so-deserving Congressidiots listed above.

It's gotta be better than sitting around watching some dumb bimbo-and-himbo with eight sprog display their decaying relationship on TV for the whole world to puke over.

From Tehran Bureau:

(An intriguing side note: Events inside Iran picked up steam at the same time as the Iranian presidential elections coincided with the Obama administration’s change of policy — as Washington backed off the threats and aggressiveness of the Bush years — and offered to engage with Iran on the basis of mutual respect. Would a more detached US policy towards Arab autocrats similarly open space for Arab domestic effervescence and indigenous calls for more liberal, honest politics?)

From lengthy personal experience, I can assure you that any attempt by the U.S. government to more directly engage with the demonstrators will lead to widespread anger, not just on the part of the ayatollahs but the demonstrators as well. They do not want to be seen as tools of the same government that once funded the overthrow of their elected leader and replaced him with a murderous torturing puppet. So write your Congresscritters today, and be sure to let them know this with as many hearty kicks to the ass as it takes.

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World: Iran

For our brothers and sisters in Iran, with love and support!



Enjoy it, if you can, laugh your asses off and remember, we in other countries are watching and hoping and praying for you. It is your fight, and your revolution. Let us all hope that other countries keep their cool as President Barack Obama is keeping his cool. Let us all hope that no one interferes in your internal politics. But remember that whatever we can do to help, there are many of us who will.

Twitter hashtag #IranElection

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World: Iran

Yes, we're unbelievably upset over what's going on in Iran. We know you all know. If you don't, you really ought to. You can start by checking out HuffPo's virtual 24/7 liveblogging, or Twitter, if you prefer.

Essentially, the Telegraph is reporting that Mir Hossain Mossavi, the "reformist" Iranian candidate, won the largest number of votes (19 million) in the recent elections, with everybody's favourite nutter and the puppet of the Mullahs, Ahmedi Nejad coming in third (5.x million). Other candidates who stood in the elections: Mohsen Rezaei and Mehdi Karroubi. Ahmedi took it upon himself to announce that he had won 63 per cent of the votes, the little liar, and proclaimed himself the winner.

If you have a strong stomach, you can view pictures of what's happening in Teheran here. Apparently, protests are occurring in other cities also. Approximately 170 people have been arrested and detained in Teheran. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians have poured out into the streets to protest the fraudulent elections, and, as we say in certain parts of the world, much hangama has ensued. (You can get out your Hobson-Jobson for this one. I'm pretty sure it's in there.)

In the event, the Ayatollah Ali Khameini, the real power behind the throne, has ordered an investigation into Mousavi's claims of fraud, according to XinHua and the Belfast Telegraph.



How effective that will be, we have no idea. The neocons in the U.S. are, of course, slavering at the idea of starting a war with Iran. I bet you thought you'd seen the last of those purulent ambulatory slimebags with the departure of Bush the war criminal, eh? Not so fucking lucky. Think again. These bastards are clinging to power with every seta, the fucking cockroaches. They're starting the baying and howling on the right. Thank TPTB, President Obama is keeping a cool head over the whole issue. I don't think our Iranian brothers and sisters have forgotten that the U.S. deposed the lawfully elected Mossadegh and put the Pahlavi on the nation's throne. America SHOULD move carefully, very carefully, as any attempt to side with Mousavi's followers will only result in Iranians feeling threatened and paranoid about foreign meddling in their elections and cause them to back away from Mousavi and embrace Ahmedi Nejad.

The BBC claims that the Iranian government is doing everything it can to prevent news entering or leaving the country. Twitter has now become the medium of choice, if you're interested in what's going on. #iranelection, for those who care. Mousavi is warning his supporters not to show up at rallies any more, as the police are now using live ammunition against protesters. To show your support for our Iranian brothers and sisters, wear green, if you want. Don't, however, encourage your lawmakers or your idiot brother-in-law to do anything illegal or blatant. The Telegraph claims that Mousavi won, but won't publicize their source, and until we know more, we'd be fools to react.

Just because any creature with a working brain wishes Ahmedi Nejad would fall off the earth is no proof that his people did not elect him. I mean, I hate to rub salt in an old wound, but this country DID elect George Dumbya Bush — twice. So. Please tell everyone you know to calm down about this issue. We don't need to make the position of Mousavi's supporters worse by trying to meddle in a hamhanded way, or making stupid statements. Most important of all, we do not need to empower those fucking neocons who aren't happy unless somebody else's kids are being killed somewhere.

Iranian brothers and sisters, the people of the free nations of the world support your struggle towards democracy! Revolutionary Guard of Iran, please do not shoot your own people, your students and teachers, the brightest and best of your nation! We all hope that you resolve this issue in a way that causes the least harm.

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World: WTF is going on in Peru?

Photograph from Whenua Fenua Enua Vanua

Via The Huffington Post, AP is reporting that native tribes are protesting exploitation of the Amazon and the government has retaliated by widespread armed attacks, killing many unarmed native people. Now, the situation is escalating as tribespeople retaliate by capturing and killing soldiers.

NASDAQ is reporting that Carmen Vildoso, Peru's Minister of Women's Affairs and Social Development, has submitted her resignation to President Alan Garcia, although no reason was given.

Opposition member Keiko Fujimori has asked for the resignation of Prime Minister Yehude Simon. Simon leads Garcia's Cabinet. From the article:

Native Indians blocked a main highway in the province of Amazonas for close to two months, while they pressed the government to roll back legislative decrees that regulate resource development.

Those decrees were brought in by the administration of President Alan Garcia as part of enabling legislation required in the free trade agreement with the United States.

Once again, FTAs appear to be at the root of the problem, dispossessing native people, stealing their resources for exploitation for the benefit of larger, more powerful members of the Free Trade coalitions. It appears that Free Trade is free only for the rich. It certainly isn't helping the poor. Perhaps they mean "free of those annoying poor people who don't want to lose their homes and lands and their beautiful environment."

Is the U.S. government once again functioning as the military arm of big corporations that want the resources of poor people who happen to be not-American?

According to this article, Garcia used to be a "leftist," although the Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path, apparently did not consider him left enough. Now he's a rightist par excellence — a champion of the Free Market (free, once again, of those pestilential poor people who are unable to purchase the arms and wherewithal to defend themselves against the greed of the multinationals). Whatever he is, or was, there's no denying the guy is a total racist. He speaks contemptuously of the "savagery" and "barbarity" of the indigenous tribespeople while conveniently ignoring the savagery and barbarity of his troops which are believed to have killed tens, and possibly, hundreds, of the indigenous tribespeople and hidden the bodies.

Surprisingly, the Roman Catholic bishops of the nation are siding with the indigenous people on this issue.

Auntie Beeb is also reporting that hundreds of native people are missing.

Before you blame this on President Obama, please note that the Guardian is claiming that the Peru Free Trade Agreement was signed some three years ago, which would make it Bush's responsibility.

Alberto Pizango, courtesy of AFP

Alberto Pizango, an indigenous leader, is seeking asylum in Nicaragua. Peruvian police have already shot and killed one other indigenous leader, at least. Reuters is reporting that Nicaragua has granted asylum to Pizango and is now seeking Garcia's cooperation in giving Pizango safe passage to Nicaragua.

Feel free to write your local fishwrap a letter on the issue. Also, your Congresscritters. I'll post more on this later — must take my poison pills now (I'm cutting back, which means I'm dealing with shivers and sweats and pain and various other disturbances of teh bod; apparently, these highly addictive pain medications can't just be stopped cold turkey).

If you want to do more than just write letters to those worthless shills in congress and the local birdcage liner, consider starting a protest march in solidarity with the native people of Peru in front of the nearest Embassy. Blogger Ana at Whenua Fenua Enua Vanua has a boatload of email addresses for the UN and Peruvian leaders, in case you want to give those worthless fucks a piece of your mind as well. This kind of whatthefuckery deserves a response, goddammit.

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