The Nation That Hangs Together

The Nation That Hangs Together

The Nation that Hangs Together Hangs Together

 

The glorious lynching of Saddam was not meant to be “unprofessional”, and “disgusting”.

No, no!

According to Iraq’s National Security Adviser, the noted humanitarian, Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie:

“This was supposed to be a uniting event between Shia and Sunni.”

Oops!

What a wonderful opportunity this human sacrifice would have been for fellowship and reconciliation between the warring sects! How tragic that it was missed!

Sociologists and anthropologists are at a loss as to why the intended outcome was not realised, unless it was the Shia officials who were present with their cell-phones. If only the mobile-phone-toting hangmen hadn’t shouted and argued with Saddam, and taken video of his plummeting and dangling body and shared it with the world on YouTube.

A Shia-Sunni love-in would have been inevitable, the civil war would have been over and the Americans and their allies could have gone home.

A free Iraq and the future of a fragile democracy would have been assured.

An Iraqi official assured the world that despite the debacle of the execution – carried out at an American camp in Baghdad called “Camp Justice” – the execution itself had been carried out in accordance with Islamic law.

Just so.

Meanwhile the debate over the death penalty rages around the world.

The American public, unmoved by public opinion in civilised countries – which sees them as amongst the last of the barbarians – now proudly keeps righteous company alongside the dwindling number of nations practising ‘judicial murder’ (as Prime Minister Howard calls it):

Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Lesotho, Libya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Somaliland, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, North Korea, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Syria, Yemen, Tajikistan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Belarus, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Guatemala, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana.

And the United States.

And they are a proud member of the enlightened club of nations (mostly Islamic ) which approve the execution of juveniles:

Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, China, and the “Democratic” Republic of the Congo.

And the United States.

The US has staunchly refused to sign and ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which forbids capital punishment for juveniles. In this it stands proudly with Somalia as the last two nations of true principle.

The US is merciful, however, and will not execute the insane. Instead they administer antipsychotic drugs to ensure that the person is sane before administering additional, lethal drugs, which kill them.

While the United States has a proud record, executing 60 people in 2005, of which 19 were killed in Texas, and 53 people in 2006, of which 24 were killed in Texas, they have a long way to go to catch up to World Execution League Champions, China, in the number of annual executions.

In China execution is a huge and lucrative industry, providing fresh organs to western transplant patients at a bargain price. Western human rights monitors believe the Chinese kill about 15,000 a year, more than the rest of the world’s government-sponsored murders combined.

China is leading the way in efficiency, also, by equipping its courts with mobile execution vans as it shifts away from the communist system’s traditional bullet in the back of the head, towards the more “civilised” lethal injection. China expects that this will improve its international image and show it as a more modern and civilised society.

The United States could also learn a lot about commerce and cost recovery from China where families who want to reclaim the body of their dead relatives killed by a bullet to the head are charged for the bullet. It makes sense, don’t it? A triumph of “user pays”!

But let it not be said that there is no debate in the USA about the death penalty.
For example, in the measured, carefully considered words of one American citizen, chiding another who is opposed to the death penalty:

“Listen sperm breath: Take your withered prick, renew your Viagra prescription and go fuck that 6-year-old boy you’ve had the glow for. You get your facts the same place you get your man-love: from your wart-ridden syphilitic bung hole.”

Nevertheless, there seems to be growing legislative opposition in the U.S. to such opinions, despite their obvious literary qualities:

A legislative commission recommended on Tuesday that New Jersey become the first state to abolish the death penalty since states began reinstating their capital punishment laws 35 years ago. Its report found “no compelling evidence” that capital punishment serves a legitimate purpose, and increasing evidence that it “is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency.”

The report [came] amid growing unease among politicians and the public about capital punishment.

Will this be “cut and run” from the death penalty, or “a phased withdrawal”?

 

Update:

Al Jazeera has claimed that Muqtada al Sadr’s Mahdi Army replaced all the security officials responsible for executing Saddam. Sunni pro-Baathist website Iraqi Rabita has claimed that one of the masked men who put the noose around Saddam’s neck was in fact Muqtada al Sadr and this is why there were chants of “Muqtada! Muqtada!”

Ordinary Australians Lose Automatic Citizenship

Ordinary Australians Lose Automatic Citizenship

 Shocking News Just “Friendly Encouragement” – PM

Ordinary Australians are terrified by a new test the Australian Government is planning to introduce.

The National Continuing Citizenship Assessment will strip even Australian-born Australians of their Citizenship if they fail to demonstrate a reasonably comprehensive understanding of Australian political and cultural history.

It includes such questions as:

47.  What were Ned Kelly’s famous last words?

48.  Who wrote a book with those words as its title?

50.  What was the Petrov Affair?

65. What was the World Heritage Properties Conservation Act? What happened to it?

85.  What was Kylie’s first movie role?

100.  What were:  a) The Statute of Westminster?   b) The Australia Act?

Many of those who have heard of the new Citizenship Test are expressing some concerns. They say that to know some of these answers they would have had to listen at school and that would be un-Australian, so we want to reassure all loyal and fair dinkum Australians that they have nothing to fear.

It is true that the proposed legislation means that current Australian citizens may lose their citizenship if they fail to pass random citizenship tests.

Citizens born in Australia who fail the test could have their status reduced to Permanent Resident. Those not born in Australia would have their status reduced to Resident Alien and, if they failed a second test, would be exported to their country of origin; or, if their country of origin no longer exists (by virtue, for example, of its having been bombed back into the stone age) then to a country less freedom-loving and tolerant of cultural differences than Australia.

The reason for the test is that already several people who are expected to know important Australian history, values, legal and constitutional facts have shown shortcomings in these areas. Indeed, most state and federal politicians are frighteningly ignorant and under a cloud for not knowing, for example, what Australia Day actually celebrates. 


Anonymous Source 

“You see,” claimed anonymous source Philippe leCrud (above):

“it’s clearly unfair of us to demand that New Australians do all this study and pass a test on all these facts when people who are Citizens merely because they had the good fortune to be born here mostly know bugger-all about Australian history, values and especially the Constitution (and what’s more couldn’t give a flying fuck*) get to enjoy all the privileges of being an Australian. It’s clearly unfair and the only alternatives are to make the test easier – but that wouldn’t keep out the terrorists – or to test everyone. So that’s the way we’ve gone.”

In any case, the Government wants to reassure anyone who is anxious that they should understand that the purpose of the test is simply to provide some friendly encouragement to everyone to achieve the required level of knowledge.

And anyone who is a good Australian Citizen already has nothing to fear.

We have obtained an early draft of the Test to get a sense of the areas of knowledge and the depth of understanding that is expected of all Australians. There are 100 questions.

The questions are not really too hard. Here is a sample:

What sort of creatures populate the island off Perth, WA?

What is the name of the island?

What is the constitutional status of the Northern Territory?

Who was the first female Justice of the High Court Australia?

When did Papua New Guinea become independent from Australia?

Who was its first Prime Minister?

Who called Australia ‘The Lucky Country’?

What did he mean? (no, that’s not correct)

Whom did Elton John marry in Australia?

On what date?

What was she doing in Australia?

Which Australian singer was present at the wedding?

Whom did Graham Kennedy marry in Australia? 
Why on earth?

What American TV comedy show did she star in?

How many Twelve Apostles are there?

 

* There is no indication of concern that “not giving a flying fuck” breaches any “core” Aussie values but rather that not giving a fuck may automatically entitle anyone to Australian Citizenship.

We have a sneaking suspicion that the Continuing Citizenship Assessment is a trap and that the only way to pass the test is to fail it.

Anyone who cares enough to study and do well is obviously un-Australian and a terrorist.

Cronnultural Promotion

Cronnultural Promotion

Sydney Cultural Promotion Takes Off With a Bang

16 October, 2006

 

16 October, 2006 – The Promotional Campaign for this year’s annual Cultural Respect Classes has taken off with a bang in Sydney, beginning at Manly and Maroubra beaches.

13 people were allegedly “attacked” by a group of 20 men at Maroubra last night as they were setting up for a barbie. Their car windows were “smashed” in the promotion.

10 to 15 young people performed a promotional event at Manly Beach, where a teenager demonstrated “brawling”, “intimidating paparazzi”, and being “charged with offensive behaviour”.

The promotional activities were mounted to attract attention, and participants, to the Cultural Respect Classes which are held annually in December and January at Cronulla Beach, a famous sewer near Sydney.

“Respect for other people’s beliefs and cultures is a core Australia value,” said organiser of the Cronulla classes, Uberbarnstormenfeuhrer Adolf Schweitzer. “Australians have a deep respect for a wide diversity of European cultures such as English and American.

“We hope as many people as possible will get along to the classes this year but we do ask that they bring their own slabs, aussie flags and swastikas.”

Anyone interested in participating in the classes can contact their local branch of the Skinhead Alliance or anyone under 30 hanging around Cronulla or Brighton le Sands.