Fresh Loaf

Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi, the astonishingly courageous and graceful Burmese democracy leader, has been re-imprisoned by Burma’s murderous military junta.

The junta has charged Suu Kyi with violating the terms of her house arrest after some guy from Missouri swam uninvited to her lakeside home.

Burmese democracy leaders say the junta is using the bizarre incident as an excuse to extend Suu Kyi’s house arrest through next year’s scheduled elections. Suu Kyi has spent 13 of the last 20 years in prison or under house arrest because she had the temerity to lead her party to victory in elections in Burma in 1990.

For more on Suu Kyi’s extraordinary heroism in opposition to brutality, click here. For more on the murderers who have imprisoned Suu Kyi, click here.

I also recommend visiting the The Burma Campaign UK for general information, including what you can do to pressure international leaders to help Suu Kyi and the Burmese people.

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Because you can’t be a journalist in late December without writing lists . . .

Five People Who Also Should Have Had Shoes Thrown At Them In 2008

5. Nouri al-Maliki – After Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi threw his shoes at President Bush at a press conference in Iraq this month, Bush tried to spin the incident as a size 10 vindication of the Iraq war. “That’s what happens in free societies,” he said. Credible reports have since surfaced saying Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki’s goons have tortured al-Zeidi and forced him to write an apology.  Free society, indeed. Shoe Maliki now.

4. Colin Powell – A leaked report on the failed Iraq occupation quotes former Secretary of State Colin Powell saying the Pentagon systematically lied about progress in Iraq way back in 2003. Powell knew it then, but he’s only telling us now. Thanks for nothing, Colin. You deserve a pair of combat boots to the head for every U.S. troop who has died in Iraq.

3. Mikheil Saakashvili – In August, the President of Georgia provoked a stupid war with Russia that left tens of thousands of Georgians dead and homeless. He then took $30 million in U.S. reconstruction aid and built a five-star boutique hotel and condo complex. Saakashvili needs a Saak-of-sneakers tossed at him, immediately.

2. Robert Mugabe – Zimbabwe’s dictator would rather see everyone in his country dead than relinquish power. His most recent crime: allowing a cholera outbreak to spread through the country’s water supply. He blames it on a foreign conspiracy, not his failure to maintain Zimbabwe’s water treatment plants. Health experts believes tens of thousands will die as a result of Mugabe’s most recent stupidity. There aren’t enough shoes at the Zappos.com warehouse to throw at his head.

1. Burma’s military junta – When Category 4 Cyclone Nargis devastated Burma in May, the goons who run Burma like their plantation were not only unprepared, but refused to admit foreign relief workers. Approximately 150,000 innocent Burmese lost their lives. The junta needs to buried alive under a Foot Locker store.

Don’t miss the Top Five Best-Named World Leaders of 2008. Everyone who reads it will receive $100 from the Bill Gates E-Mail Tracker Fund.

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This week’s Don’t Panic explains why Cyclone Nargis has killed and will continue to kill so many Burmese.

I compare Nargis to Hurricane Katrina in the story, sticking to the geographic and meteorological similarities.

Yesterday New Orleans Times-Picayune columnist Lolis Eric Elie noted the similarity between the Burmese junta’s reaction to Nargis and the Bush Administration’s reaction to Katrina:

A snippet:

Of course our federal government neither offered nor accepted much relief for victims of the federal levee failures.

As the journal “Foreign Policy” put it, “When France and dozens of other countries pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and supplies to the relief effort, their donations should have helped ease the crisis. Instead, one year after Katrina battered the Gulf Coast, none of the money given to the federal government has made its way to evacuees.”

Read the whole column if you have two minutes.

(photo illustration by me and NASA. mostly NASA)

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From Saturday’s Washington Post. Emphasis mine:

“President Bush plans to call Chinese President Hu Jintao in coming days to seek his help pressing the Burmese government to accept more disaster assistance, U.S. officials said yesterday.”

No hurry. There are only 1.5 million lives at stake.

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BURMA PROTEST IN DECATUR: Pictured on the sign is Aung San Suu Kyi, the imprisoned leader of Burma’s democracy movement.

I accidentally joined a street protest in downtown Decatur on Saturday morning. I say “accidentally” because when I approached the protest to photograph it, a lovely Burmese schoolgirl greeted me with a smile and handed me a protest poster. I couldn’t resist. And really, I didn’t want to. The protest was intended to draw American public attention to the Burmese military dictatorship’s crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators in Burma. The protest was organized by the girl’s parents, who fled Burma after a similar military crackdown in 1988.

One Burmese man in the protest who barely spoke English told me he’s only been in the U.S. for four weeks. “Did you flee because you protested against the military?” I asked.

“No. Army come my village. Make fire. We leave.”

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As many of you know, the military gangsters who control Burma recently began a violent crackdown against peaceful, pro-democracy demonstrators there. A BBC report estimates up to 10,000 participants have been arrested.

On Saturday, Oct. 6, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m., there will be a vigil in downtown Decatur to express public support for the brave Burmese men and women risking their lives to bring democracy to their country.

The vigil takes place at the intersection of Clairemont and East Ponce de Leon avenues. Members of Atlanta’s Burmese refugee community will be among the participants.

Burma is the subject of this week’s Don’t Panic column in CL.

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Delta says it has purchased two new 777s for the trip from ATL to Shanghai. No word on if they’ll be painted with lead paint or employ Christian slave labor from Chinese work camps.

— Erick at Peach Pundit abdicates his Crown Room Club privileges with this comment about the just-announced nonstop Delta flight from Atlanta to Shanghai.

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Is anyone else just completely embarrassed by our president? I mean, that speech yesterday was just a complete hypocritical slap in the face of the rest of the world; not to mention a complete “out of left field moment” at times (BURMA? REALLY? WTF?!).

— Duane Moody is embarrassed because, among other things, President Bush mentioned Burma during his speech to the United Nations.

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Join the MurrFurs as we take on the “USS Republic Klingons” in their second annual Bowling Challenge!

— atlanta_furs cordially invites you to the Furries vs. Klingons bowling tournament on Saturday.

Do yourself a favor and follow the link.

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