Christmas Week: T'was the Eve Before the Eve of Christmas

Christmas Eve Eve, I think.


Anyway, North Korea possesses the temerity to be offended by South Korea's refusal to saddened by the death of Kim Jong-Il:

North Korea has accused South Korea of an "intolerable" response to Kim Jong-Il's death, a blast that came as diplomats at the United Nations held a mass boycott of a tribute to the late leader.

Pyongyang's official media says millions are braving bitter cold to mourn the "Dear Leader" after his sudden death on December 17 -- and South Koreans are welcome to join the condolences.

Its Uriminzokkiri website said any mourning delegations from the South would be accepted, and lashed out at the Seoul government's "inhuman" decision to allow only two such visits.

The world is closely watching Kim's chosen successor -- his untested youngest son Kim Jong-Un -- for clues about the future direction of the impoverished but nuclear-armed state.

Uriminzokkiri's comments, dated Thursday and seen Friday, seemed to suggest no immediate change in frosty cross-border ties.

The South blames its neighbour for two deadly border attacks last year but has taken a conciliatory stance since Monday's announcement of Kim's death.

The government sent its sympathies to the North's people, scrapped a controversial plan to display Christmas lights near the border and announced that South Koreans could send pre-approved condolence messages northwards.

It said there would be no Seoul government delegation to offer condolences but authorised two groups to pay respects in Pyongyang.

I certainly wouldn't back down if I ran South Korea and I wouldn't go so far as to satisfy formalities.



How brain-washed are the North Koreans, anyway? I don't just mean the constant indoctrination. I mean the inability to see how one dictator's death would not inspire even a faint wisp of sorrow. It's a good thing North Korea has China do its thinking for it. Any analyst worth his salt would clearly see that there is no love lost between the two Koreas because of the nearly sixty year long friction. Boy, is the younger Kim Fatty in for a surprise.



What do you get when you cross a dead North Korean dictator with a leftist professor? A rather stupid article at Daily Kos:



(Sidebar: I won't link directly to Daily Kos as I find it rancid. You may go there if you wish.)

While North Korea may behave in a strange fashion at times, its political history is no less responsible toward its own citizens than the history of the South, especially the recent history that was dominated in the 1960s to 1980s by dictatorial regimes that practiced torture and mass arrest.  While we hear of starvation and torture in North Korea, these are far less well documented than the recent history of the South. As for the nuclear weapons issue, we should also recall that the USA has been the only country to use nuclear weapons, and we used them on civilians.  If the world is to be afraid of the use of these weapons by a renegade nation, one should look at the definition of the word in the context of the Bush Administration waging war in violation of international law and by the use of evidence it knew was tainted.  We cannot expect a world of law and respect after such behavior. 

It isn't all moral equivalence, lop-sided comparisons, outright lies, anti-Americanism and North Korea love. There's also some dreamy recollections of Japan's hermit kingdom. Isn't it marvelous?  Except that the Japanese opened their country up long enough to modernise their military, which they then used in a fanatical attempt to take over all of Asia; that North Korea is a Third World communist dictatorship and South Korea (now) and the United States are democratic republics. Way to gloss over those very important points there, Nicky.



(with invaluable thanks)




File under: DO NOT TRADE WITH CHINA:

Today, a court in Sichuan province handed down a nine-year sentence to Chen Wei on similar charges, also for his writings. Chen Wei’s case is part of a larger crackdown inspired by the Communist Party’s fear that Chinese citizens might emulate Tunisia’s “Jasmine Revolution” and other Arab pro-democracy protest movements.  Both Liu’s and Chen’s sentences are unusually harsh and reflect the Communist Party’s fear that powerful writings on the Internet are damaging the Party’s control.  The essays cited by the court as evidence of Chen’s subversion focused on his arguments about the Communist Party. 

North Korean Christians are still at risk for persecution:

A day after authorities announced the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, several Christian organizations are calling for prayers for the nation's persecuted Christians, one of many so-called dissident groups that have suffered under the North Korean regime....

North Korean Christians are routinely arrested for practicing their religion, according to human rights organizations. Other more traditional religions, such as Buddhism and Shamanism, are slightly more tolerated in the country, although experts say they are often treated more as cultural relics than as religions. Although religious freedom is written into the nation's constitution, a 2010 report from the U.S. State Department maintains that, in practice, "genuine religious freedom does not exist."

What comments like these say about militant atheism:

"The article states "Pray especially for the brave Christians inside North Korea". I don't believe in prayer but to say pray "ESPECIALLY for brave Christians­" is GROSS. If you are going to pray then pray for all the people."

"I am a social commentato­r and no I'm not going to take my ball and go home. When Christians quit trying to push Creationis­m as science and their ungodly Godly beliefs into politics then perhaps they wouldn't gross me out."

"Why is this questions posed as North Korea "persecuti­ng Christians­?"

The North Korean Tyrant is an equal opportunit­y persecutor of religion. Tao, Buddhist, Muslim, Falun Gong, Christian, they are all "enemies of the state."

I am always amazed at Christian groups who complain about persecutio ­n in foreign lands. Sometimes they seem to think only their persecutio­n is notable.

Yes, persecutio ­n of Christians is bad, but it is "religion" that is seen as the enemy in many tyrannical states including China and North Korea.

If a group stands up against the persecutio ­n of their own members, and ignores the suffering of others, they are complicit in accepting tyrannical persecutio­n."

There are more stupid comments you can sift through. In them, we have the usual moral equivalence ("but it is religion that is seen as the enemy..."), the bashing of Christians (pick a sentence), the ridiculous paranoid assertions that Christians are forcing their beliefs on others, particularly anti-science beliefs ("When Christians quit trying to push...." blahblahblah), the self-importance ("I am a social commentator..."  Good for you.) and the equally ridiculous assumptions that Christians care only about themselves ("...they are complicit..." ect.). It's all right there. Re-read it if you want. I like how NONE of the comment-writers live in Third World dictatorships but certainly benefit from living in liberal democratic societies in which Judeo-Christian ethics and Western values were the primary framers.




And for your information, cowards who hide behind a keyboard, Christians have been feeding, clothing and educating non-Christians for centuries. Who do you think built hospitals and schools (science resides in their walls)? Who do you think runs them? They've been praying for Christians and non-Christians alike. Who do you think puts up with your total pig crap and vitriol with an inhuman patience? And why shouldn't Christians back their own? Are you going to do that? Of course not. Your principles end where your immense cowardice and spite begin.



It's really the same-old, same-old.



Here's something to fry the heathen masses:

A new study suggests that one of Christianity's most prized but mysterious relics - the Turin Shroud - is not a medieval forgery and could be the burial robe of Christ.

Italian scientists conducted a series of experiments that they said showed that the marks on the shroud - purportedly left by the imprint of Christ's body - could not have been faked with technology that was available in medieval times....

"The double image (front and back) of a scourged and crucified man, barely visible on the linen cloth of the Shroud of Turin, has many physical and chemical characteristics that are so particular that the staining Ö is impossible to obtain in a laboratory," concluded experts from Italy's National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Development.

The scientists set out to "identify the physical and chemical processes capable of generating a colour similar to that of the image on the shroud". They concluded that the shade, texture and depth of the imprints on the cloth could be produced only with the aid of ultraviolet lasers producing extremely brief pulses of light.

They said the image of the bearded man must therefore have been created by "some form of electromagnetic energy (such as a flash of light at short wavelength)".

Although they stopped short of offering a non-scientific explanation for the phenomenon, their findings will be embraced by those who believe that the marks on the shroud were miraculously created at the moment of Christ's Resurrection.

"We are not at the conclusion. We are composing pieces of a fascinating and complex scientific puzzle," the team reported.

Oh look- someone's popularity spiked without her trying.



And now, a Santa Dalek.



Merry Christmas (in case I forget!)