Myanmar poet Saw Wai has been arrested as of Tuesday, for writing what at first glance seemed to be a standard love poem.  After passing the government censors and being approved for publication it found it’s way into newsstands, but it wasn’t long before the military junta was made aware that the poem was not a simple ode to love as it’s title (February the Fourteenth) and subject matter would suggest- but was in fact a statement against junta leader General Than Shwe.

The poem, it was found, can be read as an acrostic, meaning the first letter or word (word in this case) of each line can be taken to make a separate line.  The exact wording of the poem, and the subversive hidden message has been different in every article I’ve read, (and sadly I’ve been unable to find a full translation of the poem) but it is said to be about a man whose heart is broken over his love for a model, and the acrostic line breaks down to a statement of General Than Shwe being crazy with power.

The ruling military government in Myanmar (also known as Burma) has never hidden it’s practices of ruling with an iron fist, often arresting or killing those who stand against it’s authority.  Last year the world (sort of) watched as Buddhist monks marched in protest of the military junta, calling for democracy.  The people of Myanmar joined the monks and flooded the streets, but as the monks were locked in their temples, and the military struck down the demonstrators, the rebellion ended as quickly as it began.  These were not the first protests that had happened in the country, the junta took control in a coup in 1988 and shortly after Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi organized non-violent protests inspired by the likes of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, and in 1990 a democratic election was held in which Aung San Suu Kyi, at the time under house arrest, as she’s been for roughly 12 of the last 18 years, won the office, but the junta declared her ineligible, and remained in power.

I can’t help but be disgusted by most of the world’s apparent blind eye to the attrocities being committed in Myanmar, and especially our own country’s lack of interest- made all the more sad as we (and by “we” I mean the Bush Administration) parade around the Middle East making claims of “spreading democracy” to many countries that don’t even seem to want out idea of “freedom”, while there are citizens dying in the streets, crying out for their freedom from an oppresive rule, and we don’t even blink.

My heart goes out to them, and Saw Wai in particular.  As a poet, I wish I had even a portion of his courage to say something with purpose, no matter the consequence. 

Popularity: 4% [?]

There’s confusion in the south over the competition between Obama and Clinton.

Bill Clinton, that is.

It’s ultimate political tag teaming! As reported by the New York Times, Hillary is focusing on the west coast (California, Airzona, New Mexico, blah blah blah) and she’s sent her husband to South Carolina where he’s been praising the glory of his wife and slandering her main opponent.

Mr. Clinton will be in South Carolina every day until the primary, often joined by his daughter, Chelsea, as he courts fellow Southerners and black voters. He also attended services on Monday at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s old congregation; Mr. Obama spoke there on Sunday.

Mr. Clinton’s campaigning for his wife, which has included some of the most pointed attacks on Mr. Obama and his record on Iraq and other issues, drew criticism at the Ebenezer services on Monday from some Obama supporters, and well as from some black leaders in South Carolina.

Ladies and gentleman! The Clinton Tag team a la Mexican wrestling!

El Hurricano De La Falsificanion!
El Estupendo Hombre Blano!
Politica Sucia De La Furia!

Good luck, Obama. (errr… I mean, Buena suerte Obama!)

Popularity: 11% [?]

The Army aims to have at least 90% of all recruits possessing their High School diplomas.  Unfortunately, with the continuing wars, the prospects of war with Iran, and an amazingly competative business world, the best they were able to come up with this year was roughly 70%.  Of course, when paired with the increases in other allowances the Army has been making for new recruits, such as increases in waivers for criminals, the result- is a fighting force that will struggle to maintain it’s strength and quality.

The National Priorities Project said that Defense Department studies have shown that a high school diploma is an indicator of future success in the military, with about 80 percent of those with high school diplomas finishing the first term of enlistment and about half of the others making it that far. When recruits are unsuccessful in the Army, the service loses on its investment in training and has to recruit again.

Of course, the Army itself is still hopeful.

The Army previously acknowledged that it has not met the 90 percent mark since 2004, and yesterday officials at U.S. Army Recruiting Command disputed the group’s numbers but not the trend. They said that 79.1 percent of its active-duty recruits in 2007 had a high school diploma, down from 87 percent in 2005.

“It’s really an indication of the difficult recruiting environment we’re in, both with the impact of the ongoing wars, an economy competing for high school graduates, and a decline in the percentage of students who graduate from high school,” said Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the recruiting command. “But we’re not putting anyone in the Army that we don’t feel is qualified to serve as a soldier.”

I guess how it bodes for the Army in the long run remains to be seen. 

Popularity: 4% [?]

A film, people. He’s doing a film on Bush.

He’s tackled the assassination of John F. Kennedy and tumultuous presidency of Richard Nixon. Now Hollywood director Oliver Stone is preparing to take an in depth look at how President Bush came to power.

According to Daily Variety, Stone is in the process of developing a script about the current president that he hopes will hit theatres in time for the general election next fall.

By next fall?? Seriously? I wonder to myself what will be the advantage of releasing this film by next fall. Perhaps it’s to ride along with the cheers the American population will be shouting as Bush leaves the White House. Perhaps Stone just couldn’t hold it in a moment longer? I have a feeling people will be interested in viewing this movie for years to come. Hind site of the Bush years will formidable.  So why rush it?

Of course we must remember that Oliver Stone takes a massive amount of creative liberty with his movies. He almost single handedly brought JFK assassination conspiracies into the national consciousness. (A completely FALSE consciousness, I may add.)

Which angle does Stone say he’ll go with this movie?

“I want a fair, true portrait of the man. How did Bush go from an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world? It’s like Frank Capra territory on one hand, but I’ll also cover the demons in his private life, his bouts with his dad and his conversion to Christianity, which explains a lot of where he is coming from. It includes his belief that God personally chose him to be president of the United States, and his coming into his own with the stunning, preemptive attack on Iraq,” he added.

Fiction or not, he’s sold me.

And which actor has Stone tapped to play Bush?

Josh Brolin. Guh??

Popularity: 5% [?]

So, there’s a new paranoia spreading about homosexual sex, and it’s link to disease. But is it justified? Not really.

On Monday, a team of researchers led by doctors from the University of California at San Francisco announced that gay men were “many times more likely than others” to acquire a new strain of drug-resistant staphylococcus, a nasty, fast-spreading and potential lethal bacteria known as MRSA USA300. And sure enough, the study, published online in the Annals of Internal Medicine, was quickly picked up by reporters round the world and across the Internet, including a London tabloid which dubbed the disease “the new H.I.V”

Well, then the crap kind’ve hit the fan, didn’t it? Because it opened the door for this-

The report also inadvertently offered ammunition for many antigay groups, including the conservative Concerned Women for America, which issued a release on Wednesday citing the “sexual deviancy” of gay men as leading to AIDS, syphilis and gonorrhea.

“The medical community has known for years that homosexual conduct, especially among males, creates a breeding ground for often deadly disease,” the release read.

Another group, Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, also cited the report as a way of proving that “homosexual behavior is unhealthy.”

“Why aren’t all schoolchildren being taught that there are special health risks associated with homosexual behavior and that they should ‘just say no’ to homosexuality?” read a released posted on the group’s Web site.

Of course… what they’re not looking at is the fact that it’s not caused by sexual activity, nor is it carried exclusively by homosexuals.

Indeed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which helped finance the study, affirmed on Wednesday that the disease was not sexually transmitted or limited to a certain type of person. It is transmitted through skin-to-skin contact, the agency said in a statement, and is widespread in hospitals and among hospital workers.

“These infections occur in men, women, adults, children and persons of all races and sexual orientations,” the statement read, adding that while the particular strain identified in the report had been found in gay men, it had also been found in people who were not gay.

So, a study in Atlanta finds that all sorts of people, regardless of orientation carry this strain of the disease, while a study of 9 hospitals in SFrancisco finds a higher population of gay men with it. Did anyone think to maybe consider the size of the homosexual population in San Francisco around these hospitals? I mean, maybe I’m just going on media influenced assumptions here… but it might have something to do with it. I dunno.

Popularity: 4% [?]