The Largest Minority

March 17th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

On Friday, several police cars and shops were set on fire in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa as protesters joined hundreds of Buddhist monks in a demonstration against Chinese rule. The demonstration started out peacefully on the third day of protests until Chinese police and security officials surrounded the group. A scuffle ensued in which tear gas and electric prods were used against protesters.

Last week’s demonstrations have been the largest in Tibet since martial law was declared by China, due to pro-independence protests, in 1989. 50 monks were detained on Friday, and Tibetan exiles report that around 80 protesters have been killed so far. Chinese troops continue to surround Buddhist monasteries, keeping them closed to tourists.

Governor Qiangba Puncog of Tibet has threatened protesters from Friday’s demonstration, saying that if they do not surrender themselves by midnight on Monday they will face harsh punishment. Chinese police are going door to door, hunting Tibetans involved in the uprising. Chinese security is high in Lhasa and neighboring provinces today as Puncog said, “This time a tiny handful of separatists and lawless elements engaged in extreme acts with the goal of generating even more publicity to wreck stability during this crucial period of the Olympic Games - over 18 years of hard-won stability.”

The Dalai Lama stopped short of calling for a boycott on the Beijing Olympic Games, which are less than 200 days away, as he spoke from Dharmsala in northern India. However, he did call for an international inquiry into what he said was “cultural genocide” in Tibet, and said that the Chinese “simply rely on using force in order to simulate peace, a peace brought by force using a rule of terror”.

On Sunday, International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Jacques Rogge said, “We are very concerned. The IOC hopes that there can be an appeasement as soon as possible to this situation, and I also want to offer our condolences to the relatives of the people who lost their lives.” Rogge continued by stating that the international community should not boycott the games (God forbid we actually use our leverage to accomplish something good) because such an action would only punish athletes. Chinese organizers of the Olympics said the unrest will not have an impact on the Olympics, and that preparations for the torch relay across Mount Everest and Tibet will proceed according to schedule.

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March 11th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

Award-winning journalist and political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal asks why Hillary really won Ohio, a state so decimated by the North American Free Trade Agreement.

At a time when blame is so easily placed on George W. Bush and the Republican Party without question, Democrats would rather not admit that a charismatic corporate shill known as Bill Clinton bears responsibility for NAFTA. The loss of jobs has been most dramatic in Ohio, California, and New York, but Hillary has been rather successful in playing on fears regarding race and religion to win those states.

February 22nd, 2008 by Manila Ryce

Israeli Member of Parliament Shlomo Benizri has blamed sodomy for recent tremors. While addressing a committee of the Israeli parliament about the country’s readiness for earthquakes, Benizri told fellow lawmakers to stop “passing legislation on how to encourage homosexual activity in the state of Israel, which anyway brings about earthquakes”.

Israel decriminalized homosexuality in 1988. In recent years, Israeli court rulings have granted inheritance rights to gay couples, recognized same-sex marriages performed abroad, and allowed gay couples to adopt.

h/t Truthdig
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February 17th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

A blast which went off at an outdoor dog fighting competition on Sunday has killed around 80 people in Afghanistan’s southern city of Kandahar. Dog fighting has become immensely popular since the ousting of the Taliban from Kabul. The group considers the practice to be against Islamic values and severely punishes participants.

Assadullah Khalid, Kandahar’s provincial governor, said the blast was triggered by a suicide bomber.

“Sixty people were brought to hospitals and 20 more dead bodies were taken from the site. We think 80 people were killed in this suicide attack,” he told reporters.

Khalid blamed Taliban for the attack.

“This suicide attack was the work of the Taliban, the enemies of Afghanistan,” he said.

The leader of the local tribe killed in the blast was said to be Abdul Hakim Jan. He led a tribal militia that was fiercely opposed to the Taliban.

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February 11th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

More of the same. Israel continues to expand its illegal Jewish settlements while demolishing Palestinian buildings and restricting growth. This time, the main target is a centuries old place of worship.

January 29th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

Gordon Hinckley, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, died in the prime of his life. Knowing how wild Mormons are I automatically assumed that he overdosed, but Stephen Colbert has another theory. His writers did it!

Read the rest of this entry »

December 22nd, 2007 by Manila Ryce

Since Brownback and Tancredo are out of the race, I guess Paul decided to keep Huckabee company amongst the presidential candidates who think the Flintstones was a documentary. Denying scientific evidence is an awfully peculiar thing for a doctor to do, but then again, Ron Paul is a paradox. He voted for the border fence with Mexico, yet claims to be a libertarian. He voted against the resolution to impeach Cheney, yet claims to be a strict constitutionalist. He’s against the occupation of Iraq, yet claims to be from Texas. Understanding Paul is like trying to nail jello to a tree, and yet that doesn’t seem to matter to the majority of his supporters who still don’t have a full picture of their savior.

Despite eyebrow-raising revelations that continue to surface, such as Paul not believing in the separation between church and state or the donations he accepts from white supremacist groups, nothing is stronger than the love a Paul fanboy has for his golden idol. Ask a left-leaning Paul supporter why they don’t just support a better candidate like Dennis Kucinich and they’ll put forth the anti-democratic group-think argument of electibility having precedence over platform. Irony anyone? Why not just support Hillary and get it over with?

It’s actually pretty shocking that Paul would use the “evolution is just a theory” argument to justify his nonacceptance of it. In science, a Theory is not merely an opinion, but a well-supported and testable explanation of how nature works. Doctor Paul must surely know the error in putting something like the geological theory of plate tectonics and my cousin’s theory that Alf is really an alien and not a muppet on equal footing. Paul has shown how extremely misinformed he is on matters of science with his solution to environmental degradation already. Perhaps we should exercise a bit of intelligent design ourselves by elected a president with at least an elementary school understanding of what constitutes scientific fact this time around, and not someone who thinks “both sides” are equally credible.

December 11th, 2007 by Manila Ryce

As you may or may not have learned from the History Channel, Germany does not have a very good track record when it comes to respecting the rights of religious minorities. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, daughter of a Lutheran pastor and head of the right-wing Christian Democratic Union, decided to carry on that great tradition of state-sanctioned intolerance when she told a congress of fellow conservatives that “we must take care that mosque cupolas are not built demonstratively higher than church steeples”.

Mosque building has become a sensitive subject for residents of Berlin, Munich, and Cologne, who range anywhere on the vast spectrum of humanity from xenophobes to outright bigots. Bekir Alboga, spokesman for the Coordination Council of Muslims, an umbrella organization for Muslims in Germany, said mosques could become a campaign issue in the upcoming state elections. Anti-Muslim sentiment is also prevalent in other European countries like Switzerland, where a nationwide initiative was proposed to ban minarets completely.

In a related story, a regional court ruled yesterday that a headscarf ban, introduced by Merkel in 2004, does not violate the German constitution. The ban forbids public servants (including teachers) from wearing articles of clothing that “could endanger confidence in the neutrality of their carrying out their official duties.” That sure seems a bit hypocritical to me. Merkel doesn’t want Muslims to be identifiable as such, yet she’s the leader of a fucking party called the “Christian Democrats”? Am I missing something?

By the way, Mary wears a headscarf too you twits.

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