Today's winner is Senior General Than Shwe and the rest of Myanmar's ruling junta. They get the award for the following-
Myanmar's most famous comedian was sentenced Friday to 45 years in prison, in the latest and most high-profile case of citizens given long jail terms by the internationally-reviled military regime.I don't think there will be any disagreement with my saying that someone being placed in jail for humanitarian relief efforts is just outrageous. That's a understatement.Zarganar was arrested with sports writer Zaw Thet Htwe in June after organising deliveries of aid to victims of Cyclone Nargis, which left 138,000 people dead or missing when it pulverised the country the previous month.
"(Zarganar) was sentenced to 45 years imprisonment on three charges... There are another four charges he has to stand trial for," Ma Nyein, Zarganar's sister told AFP.
She said Zaw Thet Htwe was handed a 15-year jail term on Friday.
The pair join more than 100 people jailed by the military-ruled courts over the past month, with more than 20 student activists handed maximum terms of 65 years for their part in Buddhist monk-led protests last year.
The sheer outlandishness of these criminal sentences come at the same time General Than Shwe wrote a column saying it was every Myanmar citizen's duty to support the political process.
The head of Myanmar's military junta made a rare call Saturday for all citizens to back a controversial "road map" to democracy.How is sentencing journalists and relief workers consistent with democracy? It isn't, and I name Senior General Than Shwe and the rest of Myanmar's ruling junta today's Knuckleheads of the Day.Writing in an article on the front page of the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper, Senior General Than Shwe said it was every citizen's national duty to support the political process.
"The state's seven-step road map is being implemented to build a peaceful, modern and developed new democratic nation with flourishing discipline," he wrote on the eve of the country's national day.
"The entire population are duty-bound to actively participate with united spirit and national fervour in the drive to see the seven-step road map," the paper quoted him as saying.
Hat tip- Ann Althouse
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Comments (6)
This will be lost on the Li... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Pasadena Closet Conservative | November 22, 2008 1:01 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
This will be lost on the Libs, but I'll say it anyway as a frame of reference: God Bless America!
1. Posted by Pasadena Closet Conservative | November 22, 2008 1:01 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on November 22, 2008 13:01
2. Posted by OLDPUPPYMAX | November 22, 2008 4:39 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Language very similar to this will spring from the Hussein administration on a daily basis. Sacrifice for Big Brother and the greater good. Scary stuff.
2. Posted by OLDPUPPYMAX | November 22, 2008 4:39 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on November 22, 2008 16:39
3. Posted by James | November 22, 2008 5:01 PM | Score: -3 (3 votes cast)
Bill
Here's something for you to mull over and the rest of the Wizbang Literattie. Myanmar, Burma, call it what you will is surely a case for American intervention, given the flagrant disregard the Junta has for human rights. However, is the fact, that Burma lacks energy resources, a factor in America's decision to leave the Junta alone? Discuss
3. Posted by James | November 22, 2008 5:01 PM |
Score: -3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on November 22, 2008 17:01
4. Posted by John F Not Kerry | November 22, 2008 7:06 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
James, why isn't Amnesty International publicizing stuff like this every day. Instead of Guantanamo, we would hear about Cuba, North Korea, China, Burma (I will never call it Myanmar), or Vietnam (I could go on for quite a while). We would hear about the millions who are left in hellholes for having the audacity to think a little differently than their thug overlords, with trumped up charges and phony show trials. Discuss.
4. Posted by John F Not Kerry | November 22, 2008 7:06 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on November 22, 2008 19:06
5. Posted by Kyaw-Myint | November 23, 2008 7:10 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
The solution for Burma's situation is to apply international pressure on China and India to stop supplying arms and demand that the General and their stooges release all political prisoners if they genuinely want to pave the way to democracy. otherwise bear the consequences.
5. Posted by Kyaw-Myint | November 23, 2008 7:10 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on November 23, 2008 07:10
6. Posted by jax | November 23, 2008 11:34 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Sounds like standard authoritarian procedures, often used by the extreme left when in total power; Cuba, China, Venezuela, Mozambique, Vietnam, etc...
All decisions and assistance must come from the central authority unless they have specifically delegated that authority, to be revoked at their whim. Violations will be met with the stiffest of punishments, on par with other near capital crimes.
6. Posted by jax | November 23, 2008 11:34 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on November 23, 2008 11:34