Friday, March 02, 2007

headlines below the fold

First they came for the cigarettes, then they came for my fatty diet, now they are outlawing free speechLINK...

John Leo on freedom of speech on US university campuses..LINK..nothing new in that, but down toward the end he has this paragraph:

"...The Canadian Supreme Court has issued a series of rulings stating that the government may limit speech in the name of worthwhile goals, such as ending discrimination, ensuring social harmony, or promoting sexual equality. The state may now seize published material judged to “degrade” or “dehumanize” any group...Ted Byfield, editor of the now-defunct Alberta Report, violated that province’s human rights law by publishing an article noting that some children were grateful for the education they received at the government’s residential schools for Indians, much despised by multiculturalists and admittedly abuse-plagued. An injunction against the Alberta Report forbade stories on partial-birth abortions after Byfield ran a story quoting unnamed nurses and official documents saying that some babies subject to the procedure at a Calgary hospital were born alive and deliberately allowed to starve to death..."

For readers of Michael O'Brien's thoughtful trilogy, this sounds familiar. It is the plot of his futuristic novel Plague Journal...
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China is traditionally secular, with a non theological ethics code based on Confuscius. However, despite 50 years of persecution, religion is thriving With 30% of people claiming to follow a religion. Another sign of religious revival: a famous Chinese actress, Lin Daiyu, just announced she has become a Buddhist nun...and her husband plans to join a monastery...

In other news, China will revise a law allowing police to jail petty criminals for up to four years without charges or trial link. link2. The law had been used in the past to jail believers and dissadents, and the Chinese government claims " 400,000 people have served their terms in 310 laojiao institutions".

Hmm...500 probable terrorists held without trial in Gitmo, huge outcry. 400 000 Chinese jailed without trial for petty crimes or thought crimes, no problem.

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Does the EU "buy" support among the elites? LINK ..why not. Big business does it all the time...(headsup Blogfather
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