Where Is Your God Now, Mortal?

Two Tunisian pilots were today sentenced to 10 years in prison because of their actions in a 2005 plane crash off the coast of Sicily which resulted in the deaths of 19 people (pictured left). 

The pilots, flying for Turkish Airlines, prayed to their god instead of taking essential emergency measures before the plane crashed in the sea. They managed to emerged unscathed, and waited with the rest of the survivors on the wings of the plane for rescue.

Two things could have happened. Their god could have heard their loud and frantic prayers before the crash and saved their lives, whilst condemning the most wicked 19 passengers on the jet to a premature death and a quick trip to fiery oblivion. Or the gross negligence displayed by two pilots charged with the duty to keep passengers safe could have resulted in up to 19 unnecessary deaths.

A Politic Blunder feels that mandatory atheism might be a good idea for all jobs where mindlessly jabbering prayers could interfere with the execution of one's duties and place other people's lives at risk. But that might just be the rage and disgust talking.

Actually No Joke

A Politic Blunder is now on video!

Here's a video from Fox News's late night show "Red Eye" that reduces the American tendencies towards belligerence, homophobia, ignorance and arrogance to a 4:24 video (that's 1:06 per trait).



The video's already been heavily criticised in the rest of the world, so I'm posting this video not to anger my reader(s), or provoke derision, but to inform them that the kinds of attitudes long since consigned to satire and leering sarcasm in the rest of the world still actually exist in the USA. Which is the opposite of what Fox intended.

BBC Boycott Collapsed After 56 Days, Drunken Revelry Reveals

After 56 days of seemingly intransigent boycotting of the BBC over the scandalous treatment of the Disasters Emergency Committee in January, it emerged yesterday that A Politic Blunder's editor-in chief on two separate occasions broke the boycott by viewing bbc programming on their iPlayer website.

The information came to light at The White Hart, in Bethnal Green, on Saturday night, when a drunk and bellicose Giorgio Mariani admitted to stunned onlookers that he had viewed Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, aired on the previous Monday. It was also revealed that Mr. Mariani had also viewed another programme, a BBC Three pilot show by Japanese comedy duo Gamarjobat.

Other allegations now include an accidental visit to a BBC news website, which may have lasted up to 5 seconds. 

A Politic Blunder has admitted its mistake, and promised to review its boycott of the BBC in light of the revelations and the ongoing quality programming on the BBC. 

The BBC has declined to comment on the unfolding situation. 

Hopefully Not Just Hazing

One of the good things to come out of the shameful Malagasy coup over the past week is news that the African Union has stepped up and suspended Madagascar pending the relegitimation of its government.

The AU gets an incredibly bad rap, mostly known for its anaemic efforts in the Darfur crisis. It's a new organisation, founded out of the Organisation for African Unity in 2002, and it's also composed of some of the worst basket-case countries the world has ever seen.

However, it does manage to regulate and organise the activities of some important institutions, like the African Development Bank, the regional equivalent of the World Bank, and it supports a lively debate on the possible benefits of economic and political integration for the chronically poor and war-torn continent. 

The point is that African states genuinely like being part of the AU, and when the AU suspends countries like Madagascar, Mauritania and Guinea(all in the hands of dictators following coups over the last year), it's a real disincentive for incoming autocrats. In 2005 following a coup in Togo, AU pressure caused Gnassingnbe Eyadema to call elections (which he then rigged and won anyways. Sigh.).

A Politic Blunder is increasingly desirous of a grading system, wanting to nominate the AU "Problematic but Progressive".

A New Challenger!

Obsequious, sniveling new dictator on the block Andry Rajoelina (pictured left demonstrating his new "free lap dances for all" populist claim) has taken power in a coup as publicised as it was wrapped in euphemism. The demagogue, known for his open incitements to violence against the government of former president Marc Ravalomanana, was given power on Tuesday by the Malagasy army after it took control of the country.

Newspapers as prestigious as Reuters and the Herald Tribune are quoted as saying "critics are calling it a coup". 

This demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of the word "coup". Mr. Rajoelina has become president, unelected, after the army mutinied and forced the incumbent out of office. Calling Mr. Rajoelina's takeover a coup is not an act of criticism, it is a statement of fact. 

Following his coup, Mr. Rajoelina desperately tried to brown-nose Europe and the USA by insisting that he would follow free-market economics and that he would "respect financial orthodoxy", in essence reassuring observers that he was more interested in stealing from his own people than from foreign investors (This is why I called him out as a sniveling sycophant in the first paragraph).

If A Politic Blunder had a grading system, it would invent a new category called "Turd-gimp" for Mr. Rajoelina.

Please Don't Go!

I literally haven't got the time to write anything reasoned or current at the moment, as I'm heavily engaged with essays, very much like this picture taken several years ago, only with different clothes and more facial hair.

Check back again this weekend for a revolutionary article about why higher education is ruining this country. 

Meeting Them Halfway

More news from Bangladesh this week, although seemingly much less significant than the mutiny that happened last month that left dozens killed (quite contrary to my early estimates of "23 max"). The Bangladeshi government has decided to temporarily ban YouTube after a video was posted with the audio of a meeting between PM Sheikh Hasina and her advisors. The meeting concerned whether or not Hasina should have negotiated with the mutineers, a decision made much more controversial recently by the discovery of a mass grave containing over 50 police officers' corpses. 

Concerning the banning of YouTube, the Bangladeshi Telecommunications Commission chairman, Zia Ahmed, stated:

"The government can take any decision to stop any activity that threatens national unity and integrity"

This statement, and its attendant attitude, is really not very befitting of an ostensibly democratic country. The mutiny was clearly a tragedy but the process of dealing with the criminals involved should have been open from the start. Conducting the meeting between Hasina and her military advisors in the open would not have compromised state security in any way, and thus the decision to ban YouTube following the leakage of an audio clip was not warranted.

Banning the circulation of information is one of the most serious things a government can do, and it should only be engaged in when not doing so would result in a serious threat to people's lives. Protecting the popularity or dignity of a mistaken Prime Minister is not such an occasion.

For those of you who are reading this, live in a country that respects the free media, and who also understand and desire to listen to angry arguments in Bengali (an admittedly small intersection), the links for the audio clips that brought YouTube to its knees (in Bangladesh) are here and here. 

For those of us who live