Edinburgh In Winter

Edinburgh in winter is a beautiful city ...... I took these pictures from the top of Edinburgh castle - sweeping out to the Firth of Forth ..... I created a panorama out of the three pictures (not a true one, but close enough), to give you a feel of the majesty of the view.

Edinburgh From The Top of Edinburgh Castle

 

It should be noted before you all rush to the castle, that most of the time, the clouds and or rain, prevent you seeing quite as much as I was lucky enough to capture on this visit ... just a warning LOL

Mad Mullahs

I can never resist highlighting the pronouncements on women by Muslim clerics ..... 

 

Saudi Clerics Debate On Women's Issues



.... they are often as mad as hatters, but because they are listened to by the men of Islam, they are also incredibly dangerous.

End of the World ... Not

Recently there have been many reports of the end of the world ... many have been wrong, but the banker for all these nutcases has been the Mayan Calendar cycles which many believed meant the universe, or at least our little bit of it was going to come to an end next year ....

Bolon Yokte' K'uh  - Mayan God Of War. Due back next year.

.... maybe in 30 days ... but more likely at some point towards the end of 2012.

Backward Afghanistan

Our soldiers are fighting in Afghanistan, purportedly to bring some sort of civilisation to this benighted land. 

 

Afghan Women Have Few Rights - But Many Wrongs

An Afghan woman is arrested by the police after being raped, she was charged with 'Adultery' and jailed.

 

Tiger Can't Change Stripes

When I was doing history studies, I was told that when there were one party states, the way to tell if they were Communist or Fascist was who owned the means of production - if it was the state, then they were Communists e.g. USSR and it it was in private hands, then it was Fascist like National Socialist Germany.

In the 1970's 100% of all the means of production in China was in state hands - now 80% is in private hands and its still a one party state ..... by this logic is China now a Fascist state? I ask because a story on the BBC states that the Chinese authorities are going to try and crack down on private police and 'black jails', where opponents to the regime are taken and tortured or even killed.

In a story that reminds one of Hitlers Germany, Chinese local government ministers and officials hire private thugs to dress as police, drive cars marked like the police, and then stop people who travel to Beijing to voice grievances about perceived injustices in their areas. In Beijing alone, there are estimated to be about 300,000 private security guards in the city. 

 

When a tourist was mistaken for a petitioner, and was kidnapped, tortured and killed in error, the officials responsible appear to have merely been reprimanded for the mistake of killing a tourist instead of a petitioner, not for kidnapping four people in the first place.

Tibetan Monks Leading Resistance

In Tibet, reports suggest that passive resistance in Tibet and Tibetan areas is spreading, with monks setting fire to themselves in increasing numbers ..... reports suggest that 11 monks and former monks have set themselves on fire so far this year, but all the incidents have all taken place in Tibetan areas of China proper.

 

Latest reports suggest that a monk in Tibet itself has just killed himself in this manner this week.