Also see What is Terrorism? by Mojoey
Posts Tagged ‘Iraq’
Through the Lens of Righteousness [StOP Comic 20]
Saturday, November 7th, 2009
Protest to take Tamil Tigers off Terrorist List
Friday, February 20th, 2009There was a marching protest today in front of the White House where activists shouted out for President Obama to “help us”; meaning to take the Tamil Tigers off the terrorist list.
The Tamil Tigers, according to Wikipedia:
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, Tamil: தமிழழவிடுதலைப்புலிகள் ISO 15919: tamiḻ iiḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ), commonly known as the Tamil Tigers, is a militant terrorist organization that has waged a violent secessionist campaign since the 1970s to secede from the Sri Lankan state in order to create a separate Tamil state in the north and east of the island. This campaign has developed into the Sri Lankan Civil War, one of longest running armed conflicts in Asia. Due to the tactics employed by the Tamil Tigers, including the extensive use of suicide bombing and their recruitment of child soldiers, they are currently proscribed as a terrorist organization by 32 countries. The Tamil Tigers are headed by their founder, Velupillai Prabhakaran.
The Tamil Tigers are notorious for their well-developed militia cadre, atrocities against Muslim and Sinhalese civilians, and high profile attacks, such as the assassination of several high ranking Sri Lankan politicians, and the former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi. They also have the distinction of introducing suicide bombings as a tactic, and have carried out more suicide bombings than Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and al-Qaeda combined. The LTTE have repeatedly been accused of recruiting child soldiers. The LTTE are the only rebel organization with aircraft.
In January 2009, Canada and the EU notably refused to take the group off its terrorist list, even while the EU agreed to remove the Mujahideen Organization of Iran. The U.S. has had the Tamil Tigers on its terrorist list since the 1990s.
European states agreed on Monday to remove exiled Iranian opposition group the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI) from an EU list of banned terrorist groups, an EU official said.
The official confirmed that EU foreign ministers approved a decision to take it off a list that includes Palestinian Hamas and Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers.
The PMOI is the group which exposed Iran’s covert nuclear program in 2002. It began as a leftist-Islamist opposition to the late Shah of Iran and has bases in Iraq.1
Waving today in the march were the flags of the U.S. and Canada, among others.
(link to short video clips of part of the procession)
Tamil Tiger Protest
(Thanks to sanhedrin and waxpoet at Reddit for corrections/suggestions)
My 2009 Predictions
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009Evan Bernstein, from the Rogues Gallery (the Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe blog) had a fun idea to test his powers of prediction for what’s to come in 2009, and he invited others to chime in. So, to spread the word, I’m posting my prediction comment here, as well. Be sure to head on over to TRG to submit your own predictions, so you can brag about them coming true later.
Here are mine:
1. The world will not end. (fn: if it does, there will be no one around to say I was wrong)
2. Sarah Palin will first pardon, and then eat, a turkey.
3. Pastor Rick Warren will say the word “God” at the inauguration at least three times, but no more than five.
4. Obama will say the word “God” twice.
5. Car companies will continue to manufacture gas-guzzling p.o.s. cars, despite the need for alternate types of vehicles.
6. Rachel Maddow will interview at least one new Cabinet member, and quite possibly the Pres or VP.
7. Keith Olbermann will not dye his hair. (And why should he?)
8. California courts will hold that all marriages that were held during the “gays are okay” window will maintain validity, despite the Prop 8 law against gay marriage. Complainants will lose their battle to take it to the U.S. Supreme Court because that Court will claim a lack of jurisdiction over a state matter (marriage). Gay marriage advocates will push to overturn Prop 8, and that movement will fail.
9. President Obama will sign a bill authorizing the FCC to censor the Internet. For everyone.
10. Credit card companies will increase the interest rates of all their customers (”victims”) just before Congress rules that credit card companies will be prohibited from doing so — and that ruling won’t be retroactive.
11. Multiple successful “civilian” stratosphere trips will increase in popularity, decrease in price, and make NASA look even more incompetent, which will prompt the government to nix even more space development and funding, which is generally what makes NASA look so bad in the first place.
12. Sports will continue to be about 3000% more popular than science, and will receive about that much more funding.
13. An amazing archeological find will prove once and for all that baby Jesus played with dinosaurs.
14. “Caligula” will be made into a Broadway show and musical, and it’s about time.
15. One prominent and famous Scientologist will denounce Scientology, claim he/she was brainwashed and mistaken, and then will claim to have found Jesus.
16. One state (besides Alaska) will seriously contemplate secession.
17. One house of Congress will pass (again) a Flag Desecration act. The other house will not pass it, but the margin will be the closest it’s ever been.
18. The U.S. will have a presence in Afghanistan and Iraq throughout the year, approximately equivalent to the presence it has now (but possibly shifting from one country to the other).
19. Marijuana will still be illegal for non-prescription consumption, and will still be illegal in most places for prescription consumption.
20. You’ll still be able to buy alcohol and firearms, though.
-Procrustes
Top 10 Things to be Thankful for About 2008
Wednesday, December 31st, 200810. It’s over.
Actually, I can’t think of anything else. Perhaps I’m a cynic, but there was just way too much death, hate, and corruption to feel comfortable with how things turned out. Cynic, yes. However, I’m optimistic about the future. I hope we can reverse some of these trends in 2009.
You might argue that the election of a majority Democratic Congress was a positive thing. However, the Democratic platform was heavily based on ending the war in Iraq. They ended up, instead, increasing the power of the government to intervene in our private affairs with the various incarnations of the Patriot Act (i.e., they perpetuated it and increased its scope), and they prolonged the war indefinitely. It’s like a politician winning on a platform of lowering taxes whose first act in office is to raise them.
You might say that the election of Obama was a windfall for civil rights and change, but Obama has stocked his Cabinet with those who will likely keep the status quo; and his overinclusiveness with regard to tolerance (Rick Warren, anyone?) brings up questions about whether his loyalty is to the health of the nation or, instead, to the idea that those who have been oppressed should just “get along” with their oppressors while the representatives of the oppressors and the oppressors themselves get to speak with and for the president, while the oppressed are shunned.
As I’ve asked before, where’s the change? Where’s the call to reason? If we’re going to be forced to reach across the aisle to rub elbows with those who condemn us to eternal hellfire while expecting the government to give them tax breaks and a sense of entitlement and protection from scrutiny, why on earth aren’t they being forced to listen to reason from our point of view?
I’m tired of the double standards and the status quo, and I’m ready for change. Let’s bring it on.
Happy New Year.
-Procrustes
Free the Reporter Protest at White House
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008I was just checking out the construction work taking place on the north side of the White House for the January 20th inauguration, and I noticed a few interesting things (there’s always someone there protesting). There was a pink-ribbon clad set of protesters, with pink umbrellas, signs, etc., from CodePink, announcing to free the reporter, Muntadhar al Zaidi, because he was “insulting” not “assaulting” President Bush the other day when he hurled two shoes at Bush during a press conference in Iraq. (of course, what the reporter actually did was insult AND assault the president). The message was that Bush should be tried for war crimes, but the reporter should not be punished for calling Bush out on it.
Here are some of the pics I snagged:1
And while I’m at it, here’s Keith Olbermann’s take on the shoe debacle:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
- (Note: I’m about to hurl my Blackberry Storm at a wall right now. After the software “upgrade,” you can’t take more than 30 seconds of video before it locks up, and you have to reset it, and sending images via email is apparently not working, and I have a slew of images of this protest! arrrgh! Okay, calm. Apparently uploads to Facebook work. Shoulda brought my usb cable. Note, the images finally came through email, which took about 20 minutes.) [<]
