Getting Worse In Burma - Bear Witness * Update*

Surfing the news for you again, because why should I reinvent the wheel?

For the latest up to date, comprehensive information, you may want to start at Yahoo News, which provides a great AP story and a lot of great links to other good stories. I liked this link the best because it provides outside links to news sources besides AP and I think it is good to see people getting information everywhere. I can tell you which links you may want to avoid, however and which are worth your time. Watch the videos! I can't get to them. The server is overloaded!

My original first recommendation for best information on Burma today was ABC News. This link will take you to the latest news and best of all, on the left hand side, give you several great links to other Burma related stories, such as Burma or Myanmar, and photos. The photos, to me, are very important. When I saw these of robed monks in these photos I found it rather majestic and beautiful. This is how I want life and the world to be. What life and the world is, however, is summed up in the photos of the "police" getting out of the van, the bloody monk and the chaos of the tear gas. There is no beauty or majesty in those photos. There is nothing but grim ugliness; it is the jackboot in the face of mankind which Orwell wrote about which we are seeing in those photos.

Look at what the people are asking.... PLEASE USE OUR LIBERTY TO PROMOTE THE FREEDOM OF BURMA!

The woman quoted in the photo above, the democracy leader and Nobel Peace Laureate, is in jail!

FREE BURMA FROM DICTATORS

*Originally posted at approximately 10:00 EST; updated 12:28 EST*

Bloodshed Today in the Land of Golden Pagadas- Witness World

I have the video links to the major news stories which carried the videos, interviews and still photos of what the military junta did yesterday to the peaceful monks.

To easily view... follow click these links (these will cause pop-ups)

Please watch this news report from today's CNN. I feared this was going to happen, but it was no where as bad I as I feared. The military crackdown began today in Burma.

From Reuters, witness for yourself on video the monks marching through, Yangon. Something is terribly wrong with the country's holiest shrine barricaded from the holiest men, the monks, by men brandishing guns. But, I see the picture of the men with the guns standing in front of the shrine, so it is happening. The tear gas is obvious. Look at these citizens; there but for the grace of God; the birth lottery, is what I call it. Look at the signs some people are holding towards the end of the story. These people deserve the basic freedoms we take for granted. How about just the freedom to try to make a living, express oneself and live without fear of dying or going to jail for expressing your point of view?

The world knows it is injustice happening. I don't think these monks are going to be intimidated; they are going to be murdered if the "Big Boys" don't do anything at all. It is very important for people to keep watching, keep paying attention.

PRESSURE THE UNITED STATES INTO PRESSURING CHINA.
BUSH DOES NOT WANT TO GO OUT OF OFFICE THE MOST HATED PRESENT IN RECENT MEMORY
LET HIM DO SOMETHING GOOD PRESSURE CHINA INTO FREEING BURMA

Remember, all it takes for evil in the world to happen is for good people to DO NOTHING.

FREE BURMA

Hope Grows in Burma

The United States will announce new sanctions via our president. Since I expected absolutely nothing from George Bush, as I posted on the ABCnews website, he exceeded my expectations regarding the situation in Burma.


The best coverage thus far on the story is here at the BCC News/World Section. Most moving is the actual voices of Burmese citizens at the bottom, making this by far the place to go for information on the story. I've blogged about the story below and the up-to-date information can be obtained above.

In the previous blog about Burma, I quoted Jim Morrison of the Doors and now I'm thinking of Elvis Costello, "What's so wrong about peace, love and understanding?" Before I am dismissed as a liberal hippie, click on the images and look at the monks marching. Read the words of the people in Burma. They don't want any violence. These monks are only protesting because the rest of the citizens would be killed if they dared to protest. The Buddhist monks, who do not want for material items (which we, as Westerners for the most part probably cannot comprehend fully) look at their fellow citizens and say "These people have had enough. We will risk our lives to change this." I find that inspiring. I find that wonderful. And again, I ask, "What's so wrong about peace, love and understanding?"

I know I promised to blog today about Dan Rather's lawsuit and Bad Kitty hasn't forgotten! She's just running behind, leaves are falling, and hey, it's a cat's world.. if you look at it right. Dan Rather... is coming up... (but events in Burma may bump him again!)

Hey, find some peace, love and understanding if you can.
Life is short.
Don't spend it mad.
If you can, spend it in love.

That's the Bad Kitty fix for today. RAWR.

Monks Protesting in Burma

There is something about what is happening in Burma right now that is fascinating to me. The Buddhist monks, the most revered in the culture, have been marching, unmolested by the military forces so far, for four straight days, in protest. They use their upturned alms cups to signify their protest as the symbol for "boycott" looks like the same as the upturned bowl. In one area, monks reportedly marched in protest barefoot through flood waters at least knee high. A woman was moved to tears upon seeing the monks, according to the AP story, that the monks would do march so far and in the pouring rain and floods for the people.

I feel something when I read about these stories, and it lifts my heart full of hope. It feels like there is this chance for a wonderful change. However, I also feel like the shoe is about to drop. I remember 1989 - that schizophrenic year when the Berlin Wall came down, Romania was delivered the dictatorship of Ceausescu and over in China, a protest ended in a blood bath, known as Tienanmen Square. As I read the reports out of Burma, I can't help but wonder, will this be a Berlin Wall moment or will it be another Tienanmen Square?

"They got the guns but we got the power" - Jim Morrison sang that... I think he was high. The people with the guns will almost always have the power over the people who don't, unless they are afraid to use them for one reason or another. I sincerely hope they will be too afraid/intimidated/shamed to use them against the holy monks of Burma, since the military goverment has use them against their own people to retain power in the past and shows no sign of changing that policy.

Funny how we really don't care about democracy over in Burma. It's kind of hard to really find news about it. The news is pretty much the same story, but there are at least 100 reporters covering Brittney Spears, and I'm sure I am underestimating. Yeah, my next rant... and I hope it's tomorrow... is going to be on the media's total assassination of Dan Rather because he had the balls and dared to sue some pretty rich and powerful people (that's RAPP to you and me).

Look forward to your next visit with Bad Kitty and don't mind the fur ball I coughed up behind the couch. Purr.....

You Don't Really Have Rights When You're a Kid and Maybe That's Okay

I just read this and I found it really amusing, for a variety of reasons. First off, the title of the article is 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' Just Won't Go Away', and that just caught my attention. This is the conundrum of free speech, as was summed up in the final sentence. Basically, we need to just acknowledge that we do not afford the same rights to minors as we do to adults. High schools are full of minors and we have all sorts of restrictions of what minors do, can say, can wear, and hey, let's face it... citizens of a certain age in this country also have to go to school until they are 16 also. I am not against it, but I am for just plain speaking. If it is the way it is, don't hide behind mumbo jumbo or legal arguments; we have free speech, just not you. You get it when you are no longer in high school. You know, when you "grow up."

Hey, that's just the view from on top of the scratching post, where Bad Kitty likes it best.

9/11: The Truth

The truth is that some pretty horrible murderous human beings took control of four airplanes and crashed two of them into the World Trade Center Towers; those planes being United Airlines Flight 175 and American Airlines Flight 11. Another plane, American Airlines Flight 77 was flown into the Pentagon and that fourth airplane was re-taken from the hijackers by the heroic passengers on United Airlines Flight 93. All crew, passengers and hijacking murderers were killed on all four airplanes.

I understand why a lot of people want to believe why there is a government conspiracy and that
it was the government that actually did this, even though it clearly is not true. I remember watching that day. I remember the horror reflected in the eyes of the people running from the buildings after the second airplane struck. I remember all the tears, all the dust, all the sorrow. Nothing that day was fake.

Psychologically, it is safer for some people to think that the government did this, even to its own people, than to believe the even scarier reality of how easy it was for four men to get a little training on flying and then board the selected airplanes with just a few other like minded murders and their selected weopens of intimidation. No one before had ever thought of using an airliner as a weapon, never mind four of them at the same time.

Again, maybe for some people it is just safer to believe that our incompetent government which cannot manage to win a war we should have won back in 1991, which cannot manage to save its own citizens when there is a hurricane (anyone remember Katrina?), this same government was able to somehow manage to pull off this massive hoax and yet, there was no loss of American life, according to the conspiracy theorists, anyway. I mean, please.

Don't get me wrong. I am no fan of government. But, if anyone out there thinks for one full minute that the Bush government pulled off a hoax called 9/11, they seriously need to join reality. Unless this is all that is keeping you sane, in which case, ya know what? Go ahead with your bad self. Who is this Bad Kitty to take away the one thing keeping you sane.

As long as you and I both know it....

The Happiest Place On Earth: Disney World

I had the opportunity to visit Disney World for an extended weekend. My only previous visit to Disney World in Orlando, Florida had been 17 years ago and it was only for a day trip. Staying for several days, one of them on an actual Disney Resort property was a completely different experience.

Disney World truly is a place where you feel the magic. I had such a wonderful time. Epcot Center was my first stop and even though I got caught in a down pour and was soaked, this couldn't dampen my enthusiasm for the first attraction I rode: Nemo's Ride. I entered into a clam shell and whoosh, I was off into an underwater adventure where we looked for Nemo. The smile on my face that formed never left after that. "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" was playing in Epcot, so I watched that and was amazed at the 3D technology developed by Disney and Kodak. I also rode on Soaring, which takes you all over America as if you were flying on some type of hang glider and I didn't have to wait in line for that as the wonderful people I was with had fast passes for that. We also toured the various countries in Epcot and rode the rides in Norway and Mexico.

Magic Kingdom was, of course, magic. Seeing Cinderella's giant castle again after all of these years made me feel like such a kid. The Florida sun can be very brutal and that day was extraordinarily hot. I didn't stay that long at Magic Kingdom because even though the sun was beating down with all of its power, there were still lines for Splash Mountain exceeding 70 minutes and I just wasn't into waiting for that.


I have always loved wildlife conservation, so a visit to Animal Kingdom was a must. A friend and I went on the safari "ride" where we saw so many beautiful animals in their natural environment. I even took a picture of a rhino peeing which I will share with you here. I also saw a baby giraffe so very close that it startled me!



I also finally learned the answer to the question about zebras... are the black with white stripes or white with black stripes? The answer: they are black with both white and black stripes!!! Our guide on the Safari informed us of this very interesting fact. I love learning new information such as this and this safari was incredibly entertaining and informative.


Finally, I did also go to MGM Studios. In fact, because I did stay one night at a Disney Resort, I was able to have extra hours at MGM Studios. It's very neat; you show your room key to the person in charge of extra hours at the designated place. Your room key is scanned and then another Disney employee places a wristband on you so you can stay past 10:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. At MGM, I went on the Aerosmith Rock and RollerCoaster .... twice. I was laughing so hard.... yes, even though it turns you upside down and corkscrews you... I laugh on roller coasters. I got to go on the Star Wars Ride, but I don't remember the name of it... I think it was Mission to Endor. It was a great fun! I saw the Muppets in 3D! Also, in MGM, we saw a show called Phantasm which was a live show involving waterworks, fireworks, performers, just everything! The story line is all the evil Disney characters combine to work magic to give Mickey bad dreams. What imagination! What beauty! It is Disney, baby and there is nothing like it in the world.

If you have children, take them at least once and stay for more than a day. I know its expensive, but you only live once and you can't take it with you. If you don't have children, go with the people you love. Disney World is for everyone. The Magic is there... reach out, believe and have the time of your life. I am so happy I did.