How many remember? How many care?

Today is the 16th anniversary of the 1989 Tienanmen Square massacre. I wonder how many people on a certain sunny, tropical island-city-state remember or even care. Maybe it doesn't even matter. All that matters is the prospect of money to be made by kowtowing to China. What a bunch of whores.

China cracks down on Tienanmen memorials

China's dark side

I will like to see the Chinese-Culture-Chauvinist pigs defend these atrocities. Yeah, blab about your 3000 years of history now. You know what? Here's a line from a book by Ha Jin (Jin Xue Fei), an award-winning, Chinese-American writer, who renounced writing in Chinese after the 1989 Tienanmen Square massacre and lives in self-exile in America today:

...some emperors in the Han Dynasty had kept male lovers in addition to their large harems. . . .the last emperor, Puyi, had often ordered his eunuchs to suck his penis and carass his testicles.

In other words, up yours.

Can you believe these?

Lear and Moeslein said that by participating in military research, the University philosophically supports war. In addition, the military's goals are to kill people and destroy things, and surveys always show that University students are opposed to war by a large margin. "The military isn't here for the benevolence of the students," Moeslein said. "They're here to use us."

[Stahl] said that military research threatens the intellectual, moral and philosophical freedoms of the University but that the senators may be reluctant to give up the funding. Junior Taeva Shefler said she attended the debate to support friends on the team and because she feels passionate about the issue.

"I think the military has no place at the University in terms of research or recruitment," Shefler said. "The more time we spend researching for the military, ... it takes away from research we could do that's a lot more productive."

Junior Lucia Black said she had no idea that military research was taking place on campus but she is opposed to military recruitment on campus.

"I want to spit when I see it," she said.

Source

These peacenik tree-hugging hippies should read up on the origins of cell phone technology, GPS systems, the Internet, the microwave, etc. AND THIS IS AN INSTITUTION OF HIGHER LEARNING?

I guess the power of tree-hugging technology would have won WWII for USA. Songs of "Kumbaya" would have brought the Iron Curtain down. And every year, smoke signals would lead rescuers to clueless enviroweenies lost in in the wilderness. These hippies need to get a clue. The next time you observe an envirowacko meeting, go to the parking lot as they come out and observe how many of them are driving SUVs. "Do as I say, and not as I do" seems to be the mantra.

I put more miles on my bicycle than on my car.
How many of these poseurs can say the same?

State-funded universities that do not allow military recruiters and military-related research on campus should not receive ANY federal or state funding, IMHO. Let's see how their freeloading, peacenik, beatnik, hippy, pansy students tolerate paying private-school tuition levels. Let them prove their sincerity, I'd say. Ohh... US$29-32k a year for tuition, instead of US$6.5k, let's see how your mommy and daddy feel about your tree-hugging and 420 now.

In fact, why not start early? The same should be for High Schools. I am sure your parents can be persuaded to send your brothers and sisters to a US$15k/year private High School, where there won't be scary military recruiters to get your polka-dot knickers in bunch.

Speaking of morons, check this column out.
I hope the author receives a visit from the Secret Service for this dribble.

One word for all these: INGRATITUDE.


Postscript

On 6 March 2006, the SCOTUS ruled in favor with my position:


The Supreme Court yesterday unanimously upheld a federal law that forces colleges and universities to permit military recruiting on campus, despite the schools' objections to the Pentagon ban on openly gay people serving in the armed forces.

By a vote of 8 to 0, the court upheld the Solomon Amendment, which permits the denial of federal funding to schools that do not allow military recruiters the same access given to all other job recruiters. But in ruling that schools must provide the military the same access to students as they would for any other recruiters, the justices noted that schools are still free to protest their presence on campus.

TV Reporter Stomps Pet Squirrel

This is so wrong on so many levels:

TV GIRL SQUASHED MY BABY SQUIRREL -
The Daily Record - UK | May 28, 2005


A REPORTER sent to do a story about a baby squirrel stood on the fluffy creature by mistake and killed it.

Inka Blumensaat wanted to tell how a pet cat had saved the orphaned squirrel by adopting it as her own.

But the friendly rodent jumped on her leg as she filmed her report and she panicked and trampled it underfoot, breaking its neck.

Heike Reher, whose cat adopted the squirrel in Lubeck, Germany, said: 'The reporter started leaping about like a mad woman. She squashed the squirrel completely.'

'Everyone looked at the floor in horror where the little squirrel lay in a pool of blood.'

'I picked my little treasure up and ran out of the house in tears. I was so upset I could not speak.

'The reporter came back with some flowers but I could not speak to her.'

Inka, who works for NDR TV, said: 'I regret the whole thing bitterly and wish there was something I could do to put it right.'

Reminder

"Jap" is an offensive term of disparagement for a person of Japanese descent. "Jap" is NOT an abbreviated form for "Japanese." I have pointed out this distinction time and time again, and yet most Singaporean Chinese (bloggers included) choose to ignore it, and/or just do not care.

And yet, I observe them moaning, bitching, and generally getting their knickers all in a bunch when terms such as "chink," "slant-eye," "gook," "slope" are used on them. Hmm... Is this part of the "frog in a well" mentality at work here?

Someone explain these to me? (No apologists, please)

The woman killed for pop music

by Catherine Philp

Bright and modern, she hosted a music show in Afghanistan. It drove extremists to murder her

SHAIMA REZAYEE was the face of a new generation of young Afghan women: she discarded her shalwar kameez and burkha for Western clothes and a glamorous job as a television presenter on Kabul’s answer to MTV. But two months ago her bosses were forced to dismiss Ms Rezayee, 24, under pressure from conservative mullahs who were disgusted by the “unIslamic values” of her music show.

This week she paid for her unconventional choices with her life: she was shot dead in her home by an unknown assailant.

Source

Extremism needs to be publicly condemned by the leaders of the religion. Using the USA and the West as strawmen no longer works. The religion needs to take responsibility and root out the cancer that is destroying the image of Islam in the world. Sure, the Puritans used to burn suspected witches at the stake, and the Hindus used to practice sati, but till the present day, Muslim women are still being murdered from exercising their freedom. No amount of excuses can change that fact.

When Freedom Gets the Death Sentence

by Sonia Phalnikar, DW-WORLD.DE

The murder of a Turkish woman and the applauding of the crime by some students have left Berlin shaken and officials pushing for ethics class. But how deep does the concept of honor run among some immigrant communities?

On a cold afternoon this week, Hatin Surucu gazed gravely from a large poster behind a bus stop lined with flowers, cards and candles.

To the people who came to this bleak part of Berlin's Tempelhof district for Tuesday's solemn vigil -- called not by the city's Muslim community but a gay and lesbian organization -- the image of the young woman in a headscarf, a baby in her arms, was familiar from newspapers and television. A few notes at the memorial read, "Hope you get a better deal in your next life," and "Live a life on your own terms."

"It's a scandal," said Ali K, 33. "All Muslims in Berlin should take to the streets to protest." Yasemin, 22, said, "It's horrific. All Hatin was doing was leading her life the way she wanted."

But it was a choice she paid for with her life. On Feb. 7, 23-year-old Hatin Surucu was gunned down at the aforementioned bus stop. She died on the spot. Shortly afterwards, three of her brothers -- who reportedly had long been threatening her -- were arrested. Investigators suspect it was a so-called "honor killing," given the fact that Surucu's ultra-conservative Turkish-Kurdish family strongly disapproved of her modern and "un-Islamic" life.

Surucu grew up in Berlin and was married off at 16 to a cousin in Istanbul. After a few years, she returned to the German capital with her young son, moved into a home for single mothers, completed school and began to train as an electrician. She stopped wearing a headscarf and was said to be outgoing and vivacious.

Days after Hatin Surucu was killed, some male students of Turkish origin at a high school near the scene of the crime reportedly downplayed the act. During a class discussion on the murder, one said, "She (Hatin Surucu) only had herself to blame," while another remarked "She deserved what she got --the whore lived like a German."

Source

So, please, explain to me why this is happening? Don't give me excuses. Don't even attempt to invoke culture as a defence. Cultural difference is not a valid defence when we are talking about brutal murders that are unprovoked. FWIW, culture is also frequently invoked as a defence for the practice of Female Genitalia Mutilation (FGM) or "Female Circumcision, where the clitoris cut off either with a razor or a pair of scissors by a barber (while the preteen is held down by her mother and aunts).

In case anyone thinks Berlin and Afghanistan are far away, a few years ago, a man in Malaysia slit his daughter's throat in her sleep because, upon her return from USA, she declared that she was renouncing Islam. The father was found not guilty of murder by the court later. So, if you think it couldn't happen here, think again. This post may make you uncomfortable, but rest assured the experience was a lot more uncomfortable for Shamai and Surucu.

BTW, article 18 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights clearly states: " Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief . . .."

The "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights" of 19.12.1966 recognises the "freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice"(Article 18).

Although the right to conversion is not specifically mentioned in the 'Declaration for the Elimination of all Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination based on Religion or Belief' of 25.11.1981, article 1 paragraph 2 of this declaration defines religious freedom: "This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of choice." The term "adopt" includes conversion.

The Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights' of the Islamic Council of Europe (1981) and the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam' (5.8.1990) formulate human rights according to the Sharia. The right to conversion (apart from into Islam) is not included. This is in direct contradiction of the international declarations of 1948, 1966 and 1981.

Riddah (apostasy), turning from Islam, is not specifically mentioned in the constitution of Muslim countries. However, punishment for Riddah is clearly defined in the criminal code. In countries like Mauritania (art. 306 of the Criminal Code), Sudan (art. 126 of the Criminal Code), Iran, Afghanistan und Saudi Arabia provide for the death penalty as punishment for Riddah. Early February 2000, three Bahais were condemned to death for renouncing Islam.

Pastor Mehedi Dibaj, a convert to Protestantism, was murdered in July 1997 in Iran. 22-year-old Rahila Khanum was killed by her brother on 16.7.1997 in Lahore (Pakistan) for her interest in the Christian faith. These two cases testify to the very real risk of death for converts. In Bangladesh in 1998, almost one hundred converts were forced to leave the country because of death threats. Houses and businesses belonging to converts are often plundered and set fire to.

Malaysian Federal Court rejects appeal in apostasy case

IMHO, Islam is experiencing a crisis, and direly needs her own reformation. People should be free to leave a religion if they choose to. The worse they should suffer for the act is to be excommunicated--not sentenced to death. When you renounce Islam (Riddah), the Shariah/Syriah law should no longer possess any jurisdiction over you. This is freedom of religion: freedom to enter; freedom to leave. Religion should emancipate man towards God, not shackle him in the chains of draconian laws.

quiz

Your Brain is 53.33% Female, 46.67% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female You are both sensitive and savvy Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

The fourth comment is interesting. Something I should work on, I suppose.

In Honor of Heroes

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. (John Stuart Mill)

Please Click Here

Not taking away any significance from Memorial Day, I have been wondering, "What is the value of regret?" As in, for what purpose does regret serve? Is it to punish us? To remind us to do better? Our conscience speaking? Jane Fonda has expressed her regrets for having her picture taken while sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun and for the pain that her action has caused many American Veterans (the link shows just one website / article. Many more can be found. Use Google). Does her sense of regret, expressed to the wounded party, help salve any of the slights?

And what about our personal lives? For what purpose does regret serve? I have regrets. I am sure most people do as well. (I used to think that everyone having a conscience is a given. That is, until I met a certain ex-housemate and his girlfriend. I have never met a more ghetto pair of people ever. Their entire purpose in life is to lie, cheat, steal, and basically screw over anyone kind or vulnerable enough to be exploited--in order to "get ahead" in their vision of what life is. But I digress...)

Regrets: what do you think you wish you will do differently again? Maybe that it is what it does.

Came across this anonymous post today:


Date: 2005-05-29, 1:10 AM PDT

You know that the worst thing about losing a girlfriend, even if it is the right thing to do, is the loneliness that follows. It's hard to think of ones self as an individual when you spend so long defining yourself as a piece of a puzzle with a matching counterpart. I don't really expect anything out of this posting; it's really just my way of feeling like I'm somewhat connected to other people rather that alone tonight.


And it made me think about someone in the past. Though I loved her with all my heart, I wish I treated her better. I wished I was more patient. And I wished I never started taking her for granted. So many wishes translating into a single word: regret. But as you can't step in the same river twice, time continually flows; you cannot recover the past (writing about it does attempt to preserve it, but that metafictional discussion is best reserved for another day). The present is a different reality. There are some things said--some things done--that can never be undone. Not because the wounded party refuses to accept the thousand apologies, prostrations, bouquets of roses, etc., but because the act has changed the individual. It is no longer the same person you get back--even if you convince him or her to come back to you. Pain and suffering have the effect of "hardening" the heart (in the biblical sense). It literally will never be the same again, ever.

So what does regret do? I think regret reminds us that we are human, that the rivers of time flow but one way; that we are to make the best of each day, each moment; that there is a higher rationale, a higher wisdom, than our petty wants, jealousies and concerns; that if we make a wrong decision, regret is there waiting for us at the end of the day. Regret is the judge that keeps us awake at night; that we try in vain to stone with pot; to drown with liquor; that sits beside our rocking chair in old age, reminding us of all the mistakes we made along the way, like a devil sitting on our shoulders, who never goes away. Regret is, I think, a close relation to conscience, as Jane Fonda discovered, many, many years later.


Postscript:

Of course, as a follow-up post evinces, this is not saying that regret or loneliness does not exist within relationships:


Date: 2005-05-29, 3:54 PM PDT

The sad news, in my opinion, is that one can too often feel alone, even when in relationships with others.


Don't make the mistake of leaping from the frying pan into the fire now...

Sunday School

Something funny for a change:

Bible Study

These come from an elementary school test, and kids were asked questions about the Old and New Testaments. They have not been retouched or corrected. Incorrect spelling has been left in. --Amanda

1. In the first book of the bible, Guinessis. God got tired of creating the world so he took the Sabbath off.

2. Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. Noah's wife was Joan of Ark. Noah built and ark and the animals came on in pears.

3. Lots wife was a pillar of salt during the day, but a ball of fire during the night.

4. The Jews were a proud people and throughout history they had trouble with unsympathetic Genitals.

5. Sampson was a strongman who let himself be led astray by a jezebel like Delilah.

6. Samson slayed the Philistines with the Axe of the Apostles.

7. Moses led the Jews to the Red Sea where they made unleavened bread which is bread without any ingredients.

8. The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert. Afterwards, Moses went up to Mount Cyanide to get the Ten Commandments.

9. The First Commandments was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.

10. The Seventh Commandment is Thou shalt not admit adultery.

11. Moses died before he ever reached Canada. Then Joshua led the Hebrews in the Battle of Geritol.

12. The greatest miricle in the Bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him.

13. David was a Hebrew king who was skilled at playing the liar. He fought the Finkelsteins, a race of people who lived in biblical times.

14. Solomon, one of Davids sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.

15. When Mary heard she was the mother of Jesus, she sang the Magna Carta.

16. When the Three Wise Guys from the East Side arrived they found Jesus in the manager.

17. Jesus was born because Mary had an Immaculate Contraption.

18. St. John the Blacksmith dumped water on his head.

19. Jesus enunciated the Golden Rule, which says to do unto others before they do one to you. He also explained a man doth not live by sweat alone.

20. It was a miricle when Jesus rose from the dead and managed to get the tombstone off the entrance.

21. The people who followed the LORD were called the 12 decibels.

22. The epistels were the wives of the apostles.

23. One of the Oppossums was St. Matthew who was also a taximan.

24. St. Paul cavorted to Christianity, he preached holy acrimony which is another name for marraige.

25. Christians have only one spouse. This is called monotony.


Hey, if they can't be good in their catechism, at least they are good at comedy...