Burma – Land of Harmony?

In Myanmar the government is angry and so tyranny has reached its extremes. This is the point when any government, that professes to serve the people, begins to slaughter those same people as well. Service by execution maybe? Typical.

One day I’m blogging about beautiful gems the next I’m absorbing the news of people getting slaughtered. It’s a weird schizophrenic existence I seem to lead. But Life is as beautiful as it is ugly; as elevated as it is tragic.

If only I could ignore it. If only I could pretend that it wasn’t real. If only I could just look away. But I can’t. More than once, I’ve had guns pushed in my face by people that have no moral reservations about killing someone. I know assault and the pain of it. I know the adrenaline rush as well as the powerlessness to use it. So I have to look. I have to say something. I have to care – even if I’m powerless to do anything about it.

So there’s this person in Myanmar, dawn_109 at A Glimpse of My Life that has a blog (I listed this in the links column too). You can probably keep up with events through her. At least let Dawn know that you care. Incidentally, anyone that loves Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and plays Warcraft III is very cool in my book. Let’s hope she doesn’t disappear like some of the Iraqi bloggers.

- Just a peasant

Photo of temple in Burma (by Debbie Jefkin-Elnekave) from Uncommon Journeys, LLC webpage

Iva Toguri - a hateful prosecution

Iva Toguri was an American citizen caught in Japan at the outbreak of World War II. She had graduated from UCLA with a degree in Zoology and had hoped to go to medical school. Her situation was made worse by the fact that not only was her Japanese extremely poor but she hated Japanese food. Despite her Japanese ancestry, she was an all-American girl and even born on the 4th of July. Ironic isn't it? So because she would not relinquish her American citizenship the Imperial Japanese government refused to provide her a food ration card and placed her on the domestic enemies list. Eventually she found work at a Japanese broadcasting station along with many other English speaking women who were collectively labeled - Tokyo Rose. At the end of the war, the US military deemed that her war-time radio broadcasts were not propaganda and saw absolutely no reason to prosecute her. However, due to residual anger over the war, she was nonetheless prosecuted for treason when she returned to the United States at the end of the war. It was a vicious and wrongful prosecution - plain and simple.

She then lost her very young child due to illness and then went to prison where she also lost her future. She was pardoned in 1977 yet, even today, the absurdity of her vilification by the US government is still sometimes propagated. Worse yet, her vilification occurred at the badgering of a member of the media. It is particularly disturbing when the institutions of a democracy are used by individuals or small groups for the purposes of vengence and vindictiveness.

My heart trembles greatest for those people who suffer the tide of civilization’s blind momentum and, through no fault of their own, have their dreams and aspirations ripped from them. Today is the anniversary of Iva Toguri’s death.

- Just a peasant

Iva Toguri (July 4th, 1916 - September 26th, 2006)

Yeah I said it: Tyranny

“Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind the slime of a new bureaucracy.” – Franz Kafka

tyr – an – ny: noun 1. arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority.

You don’t need violent brutalization of people to have tyranny – you only need a government that is compelled to enable the elite and disenfranchise everyone else. You can speak all day of providing for the people but ultimately we see that the actions are contrary to the words. Throw in some bread and circuses and everyone will stop noticing.

I am not against government but against the corruption that seems to pervade it. However, I am also beginning to believe that corruption is indeed the natural state of human governance. I see no historical evidence to the contrary.

- Just a peasant

Bedtime Reading - 1

One of my favorite bedtime books is Avoiding Common Surgical Errors by Lisa Marcucci MD, Michael J. Moritz MD, and Herbert Chen MD. There are many interesting chapters.

28: COMPLETELY UNDRESS A PATEINT WHEN EXAMINING THEM FOR TRAUMATIC INJURY

Dr. Moritz is summoned to the emergency room to examine a patient who was admitted for being shot in the head. Patient had normal pulse, blood pressure, and agonal respirations, but was also unresponsive. Dr. Moritz intubated the patient and checked several times for an injury but could not find one. Finally, he opened the patient’s eyelids and “barely” noted the entry wound of a small caliber bullet through the cornea. The lesson here is to examine every centimeter of the body including unlikely places and leave no stone unturned. Such places include the palate of the mouth, beneath the tongue, inside the nose and inside the ears, since these areas “often attract the attention of the gun muzzle or knife.” Every other orifice must also be checked as well since they “can be the target in a lovers’ triangle.”

- Just a peasant

Photo, by Jock Anderson, of a penetrating eye injury with prolapse of the iris (the iris is exiting through the entrance wound to the right of the picture).