2008 December 11 « Rev. Danny Fisher

Burma News (12.11.08)

Here are some of the latest Burma-related headlines:

The Associated Press reports that the ruling junta has released former journalist and National League for Democracy activist Ohn Kyaing from Rangoon’s loathsome Insein prison. He was held for two months for “questioning.”

According to Reuters, Laura Bush said that the U.S. plans to put $5 million more towards post-Cyclone Nargis disaster relief in Burma. The reports states that immediately following the storm, “the United States sent about $75 million in relief and the [junta] allowed at least 100 U.S. flights after the storm slammed the Irrawaddy delta, killing more than 130,000 and leaving more than 2 million destitute.”

The Agence France-Presse reports that a dozen Nobel Peace laureates have opened a summit in Paris to draw attention to imprisoned laureate and Burma’s Prime Minister-elect Aung San Suu Kyi. “The Nobel laureates are launching an international appeal to free [Suu Kyi], who won the prize in 1991, and has been detained for most of the past two decades,” the report stated.

December 11, 2008

UNICEF: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Turns 60

December 11, 2008

AP: U.S. Executions, Death Sentences on the Decline

Via Digital Dharma: The Associated Press reports that new death sentences in the United States “were at or near a three-decade low this year” and the number of people executed “will be the lowest since 1994.”

For the record, I’m against the death penalty. I think it’s wrong; and, even if I didn’t, the system is flawed to such an incredible degree that it warrants the complete abolition of the practice. For more, visit the Death Penalty Information Center.

December 11, 2008

AP Video Essay: "Jobless in America"

December 11, 2008

Progressive Boink: 25 Great Calvin & Hobbes Strips

This from our friends at Naropa University’s Allen Ginsberg Library Blog: Progressive Boink lists “25 Great Calvin & Hobbes Strips”. I’ve long been a fan of Calvin & Hobbes, even mentioning them in my interview with Faithful Progressive some years back. I was first introduced to them when I was hospitalized after a bad accident as a child. The strips certainly helped buoy my spirits during that difficult period, and I’ll always be grateful to Bill Watterson for drawing them.

Here’s my favorite of Progressive Boink’s twenty-five (click to enlarge):

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