Friday Photo & Mental Meanderings: Today’s Theme is Freedom (As Always!)

Really, there can’t be any other title…can there?

Double-chocolate cupcake with fudgy chocolate frosting. Messy to bake, but worth it for that taste…

Chocolate really is good for you, you know.

Large view

This is probably the first time the word “porn” has ever been (or will ever be) used in a positive fashion on this or any blog I maintain. Careful when you open the large view – you don’t want to be discovered licking the screen.

Also, I’m sad to report the untimely death of my beloved Canon A80 pocket camera. After several years of very, very heavy use and some abuse (okay, it hit the ground when I stumbled in DC), it became extremely unreliable when it came to using the viewfinder, which I use almost exclusively for shooting. I’d frame things perfectly, only to see an entirely different shot revealed on the LCD screen. The LCD was starting to fritz out on me as well. My new point and shoot is a Canon Powershot A630, and so far, it’s doing very well. In fact, I’m quite impressed — check out this detail shot of an apron I finished yesterday; amazing detail, isn’t it? So now I have two new cameras to learn. Darn. The A80 shall receive an honourable burial somewhere; it reignited my love for photography

Clearly I like Canon cameras, and for good reason. As far as point-and-shoots, I really don’t think you can do better than Canon’s A-series Powershots; the quality is excellent, the images turn out beautifully, though of course much of that has to do with who is shooting, and the flippable LCD screen does come in handy when shooting something from above one’s head or if you really are going for a bizarre angle that even lying on the ground won’t properly capture. So, if you’re looking for a nice P&S…the Canon A-series is my recommendation. You needn’t tote around an SLR if you want great shots – my A-series are almost always in my purse and they have performed beautifully (literally and figuratively); the majority of the images in my photo collection are still from the A80, and they’re visible proof of the camera’s quality and abilities.

Finally, on this topic at least, I’ve officially named my photography business; after flirting with a couple other names, I’ve chosen the title Liberty Images. Apropos, don’t you think?

Surely you’ve all been following the horrific events in Burma. A queasy feeling hits me every time I read the stories, and most of you feel the same way, don’t you? Burma has a history of abusing its monks, and now the people of that nation are rebelling along with the religious men:

Monks have a long history, going back to British colonial times, of protesting through the traditional method of chanting, of speaking out on behalf of the poor. In the 1988 democracy uprising, 600 monks were believed to be among the 3000 killed. On the second anniversary of those killings, 700 monks were marching peacefully in Mandalay when the army intervened. Six were killed and many wounded while hundreds were arrested, 4000 monasteries were raided and 400 closed.

“The notion that monks are so highly valued people would not dare assault them overlooks history on two separate occasions,” a Rangoon-based Western diplomat said. “It’s very dangerous to assume the monks are sacred, given there is no evidence the regime thinks that.

“But for the younger generation, it’s a real-time experience that the regime is willing to do that. There is an extraordinarily high level of anger, especially towards what was done to the monks.”

By the time the army’s 77th battalion was shooting to kill on the streets of Rangoon last Thursday, 100,000 Burmese felt brave enough to join the monks on their daily march from Shwedagon to Sule pagoda, demanding a move away from authoritarian rule.

Burma is not at all a nice place to live, to say the least, life there being reminiscent of the worst we heard from Soviet Russia. According to the cited story, if a person has an overnight guest, they must notify local authorities or face jailtime. Video cameras are everywhere, journalists are afraid to report on realities in the nation, and at the moment, the videos taken of last week’s protests are being examined and stills taken from them are being distributed so the police can track down participants. Shall we imagine what would happen to those individuals found?

Earlier this week there were reports of the dead bodies being found in local lakes and rivers, the stench being unbearable. Still, the people of Burma do not seem ready to back down, asking world leaders to condemn the junta’s actions and murders last week. It really does seem that the government’s brutality against the monks, who in Burma at least seem quite peaceful, roused what must have been a latent but near-surface anger and frustration on the part of the people, particularly the young. In a way, it reminds me of what we saw in China, at Tiananmen Square. Of course, China itself supports the junta’s actions, doubtless because the slaughter is so similar to practices China holds dear.

I refuse to call this nation ‘Myanmar”, the name chosen for it by the dictatorial military junta. It’s a small and perhaps pointless thing, but names are important, and it seems to me that by using the name chosen by the dictators we’re subtly supporting them.

What has struck me most deeply about this is the passion, the willingness these people have to die for the mere hope of freedom. America hasn’t faced such a thing since 1776, and in that we are blessed beyond our understanding. On the other side of the world, we watch monks and young citizens be gassed, beaten, and shot at as they protest their tyrannical, evil “leaders”. Their blood has spilled onto the ground. There are many who say Eastern peoples like the Chinese, the Iranians, the Burmese do not want freedom, do not want liberty. The uprisings we’ve seen, particularly recently, should prove such persons wrong, but it never will; these are backwards supremacists of culture who clearly think that other peoples aren’t capable of enjoying Western-style liberty and should thus be kept under the thumb and jackboot of monsters.

Western civilization is clearly superior to anything else we’ve seen in history, and it seems to me that, with its freedom, is as close as man can get to God’s original intent for us. Shouldn’t it thus follow that it is truly in the nature of most men to long to be free? Clearly not all are this way — some of our very own turn against us and see the people as saddled beasts to be abused and ridden hard – but subjugation of the masses by the wealthy or powerful (or both) is not the intended, planned-for state for humanity. Instead of sniping that “These people aren’t ready for freedom,” it seems to me we’re far better off supporting them and holding them up in their attempts to be free.

Freedom and liberty never, ever come without a fight and, often, bloodshed (we must even fight ourselves in order to gain the freedom found in Jesus, do we not?). I’m not a “global village” person, but

“…The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpabe truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few, booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. These are grounds of hope for others; for ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devition to them.”

~ Thomas Jefferson’s final statement, for the 1826 Independence Day celebrations

Obviously, a lot of attention has been paid to Rush Limbaugh this week, including here at Shining City. Rush is clearly the titan of talk radio, like him or not, and the Democrats’ recent remarks are nothing more than another attempt to revive the “Fairness” Doctrine. That said, Limbaugh is not at all the only one being attacked – O’Reilly was recently smeared, and Michael Savage has also been officially condemned by San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors after joking that students threatening to go on a hunger strike in order to bring attention to immigration reform should “fast until they starve to death”. This Tuesday, the Board approved a resolution claiming Savage’s comment literally “urged the death” of the protestors and was “symbolic of hatred and racism”.

Like Savage or not, the man is passionate about what he believes in (defined regularly on his show as “Borders, Language, Culture”). He is also, like Rush, in love with America and what she stands for, or at least should stand for. In short, he is right on the basics, and while his style is perhaps even more abrasive than Rush’s, he certainly gets his points across, and always tell the truth. The man is utterly guileless and completely honest – there’s no posing, no glossing, no phoniness (also, the stories of his childhood are fantastic fun to hear).

These attacks on right-thinking talk show hosts could just be the beginning of a real crackdown on freedom of speech. I actually heard a Democrat on the radio yesterday saying we need rules, regulations, and ratings for political discourse in the form of talk radio. Does this include Al Franken and Rhandi Rhodes, or just “extremists” like Rush, Savage, Beck, Ingraham, and their kin? Any intelligent person is fully aware of the answer to that question.

As I pointed out Tuesday, the Left cannot tolerate dissent (as we’ve seen in Burma and China). They can’t handle it and thus shut it down, because they are tyrannists at heart. They are the “favored” Jefferson spoke of, booted and spurred, hoping they can ride us until we drop from exhaustion. Whether you agree with Rush and the “right wing” commentators or you’re more affectionate toward Keith Olbermann and pals, this ought to frighten you a bit, to send a chill up your spine.

As Selwyn Duke notes in his commentary about the attack on Savage,

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ use of government muscle to enforce a leftist orthodoxy has become the standard of the fascist left in much of the western world. As I have documented before, in places such as Europe, Canada and Australia, this practice has spawned “hate speech laws,” Orwellian legislation that has already been used to punish those who dare utter politically incorrect sentiments.

In our nation, the left’s intolerance first translated into the soft tyranny of speech codes on college campuses, sensitivity training in corporations, and self-censorship by the media and others. Now we’re seeing a transitional phase. It involves accustoming people to both government interference in matters of political and social discourse and the concept that “hate speech” – an illegitimate designation – is so damaging to society that it must not be protected free speech. And once this thoroughly imbues our national psyche, enacting hate speech laws will just be a formality.

This is why this issue matters: The actions of the supervisors are a portent of things to come. As Michael Savage said, “This is a dry run against free speech in America.” But it’s not the first, and it won’t be the last.

And if you think that is bad, just wait until practice is over.

Unsurprisingly, on Al-Quds day, the Hitler of our time, Iran’s President Ahminajihad, is calling for the removal of the Jews and destruction of Israel. He’s also condemned the cruel Zionist regime, and is suggesting a referendum vote be taken on transferring Israel’s Jews to Europe (no murderous Muslims there), Canada (ditto), or — how thoughtful of him — balmy Alaska.

Of course, I’d gladly take the people of Israel, but the land in question is theirs, plain and simple.

President Tom speaks:

“…the creation of the Zionist regime, the continuation of its existence and unlimited support for the regime (by the US) are an insult to human dignity.

“Defense for the ominous interests of the Zionist regime is a must for certain powers. Western governments who are pioneers of secularism pursue defense for the Zionist regime as the holiest task in the world,” the president was quoted as saying.

“Nations should be allowed to conduct research on crimes of the Zionist regime and decode the black box for its atrocities,” he added. “”The Palestinian youth and nation have been deprived of all human rights for more than 60 years. Today, Quds is not an issue only related to Palestine and the Middle East but a case of world humanity.”

A case of world humanity? Seriously? Why not call of your jackals and stop building a nuclear weapon, bucko?

This is the best part of his remarks, though:

Ahmadinejad concluded by saying that “the world should know that the Iranian nation hates massacre(s). It regards agents of the World War II and Hitler as dark and black faces.”

HAHAHAHAHA!

Right.

*resumes dignity*

What an evil monster. I know we’re not to hate, not even our enemies or God’s enemies (which Ahmadinejad clearly is), but this man makes it very difficult. Very. I’ve so far refrained from asking God to personally take this beast out, but of course, He knows what I’m thinking anyhow…

Now, Israel has a tendency to kind of…well, not fight back as they should. Fortunately, some leaders are speaking boldly, words I hope will be followed by action:

Meretz MK Yossi Beilin said Ahmadinejad was “mentally ill” and “dangerous to the world and his people.”

“We need to organize a coalition of sane people in the world in order to help the Iranian people to get rid of him,” Beilin added.

Likud MK Yisrael Katz said Ahmadinejad was “a fool and dangerous dog who is threatening to wipe out the State of Israel and he should be destroyed like a fool dog.”

“The State of Israel has to declare that it will do all to prevent Iran from acquiring weapons of mass destruction and that should Iran harm Israel in any way, whole areas in Iran will be completely wiped out and the Iranian people who is responsible for electing Ahmadinejad will pay the price,” Katz said.

“He should be destroyed like a fool dog.” I LOVE it!

One last thing, and I’ll let you look into it yourself – but it’s time to flood Washington with our calls and emails once again. Why on God’s green earth are we selling our security out to China? I don’t care what anybody says, China is not our friend. This action could lead to some Chi-com pressing a button and instantaneously mothballing our entire fleet, leaving them dead in the water, or worse. This is outrageous and wrong. It’s another Dubai Ports mess, and it’s disgusting.

An inspiring story, at least for those of us who support the rule of law, secure borders, and all that good stuff, from God, Guns, Glory:

Jim Broussard, an American hero. After hearing a Reno bar was flying a Mexican flag above a U.S. flag, this angered U.S. Army veteran took matters into his own hands, drove to the bar and cut down the flags in front of a stunned group of Hispanic patrons. He then said, “”I’m Jim Broussard, and I took this flag down in honor of my country with … a knife from the United States Army. I’m a veteran, I’m not going to see this done to my country. If they want to fight us, then they need to be men, and they need to come and fight us. But I want somebody to fight me for this flag. They’re not going to get it back.”

Awesome. Warms my heart.

Finally, just for laughs, a takeoff on the redneck jokes — You Might Be Taliban if…

…You refine heroin for a living, but you have a moral objection to beer.

…You have more wives than teeth.

…You consider television dangerous, but routinely carry ammunition in your robe.

…You were amazed to discover that cell phones have uses other than setting off roadside bombs.

…You wipe your a** with your bare left hand, but consider bacon “unclean.”

…You’ve ever had your camel repossessed.

Those are just my favourites – go read the rest.

Have a great weekend, y’all. God bless America and Israel, and may He guide and protect our troops!

“the shout” image of Burma courtesy of Kris Kros.