Ethic Soup

Fishy Business: Japan's PM Noda Says He is a Loach Bottom Feeder and Claims Japan's War Leaders Were Not Criminals

 Yoshihiko Noda just took power as Japan's prime minister this month, the country's sixth PM in five years. He won election, following the March 11 triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis.

In describing himself to the people of Japan, Mr. Noda said he was like a loach bottom feeder rather than a sparkling goldfish.  

WAR CRIME DENIAL

Noda also denied that Japan's wartime leaders were criminals. As reported by The Independent (U.K.), on the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War Two, August 15, the new PM refused to rule out a prime ministerial visit to Yasukuni Shrine, which honours the nation's war dead, including 14 executed Class-A war criminals.

What's up, Dude? Or, Lilahoej? (I understand "Lilahoej," is Japanese for "Dude.")

Oh, the Japanese don't seem concerned about their new prime minister's denial that Japan's war leaders 65 years ago were war criminals, as convicted by trials of the International War Tribunal. Barely a mention of that. It's this fish business that's got them upset.

Saudi Arabia Still Holds Witchcraft Trials: Lebanese Father of Five To Be Beheaded

 
Tomorrow in Saudi Arabia they are going to behead a Lebanese TV host and father of five for the crime of "sorcery." On Friday, April 2, Ali Sibat will be no longer, his head decapitated, his body dead.

The Lebanese father was sentenced to death last year for making predictions on a TV show from his home in Beirut and was arrested in Saudi Arabia while on pilgrimage in Mecca.

Saudi Arabia is an American top ally in the Middle East. This beheading will be "one of the most outrageous punishments against a man who isn't even a citizen of that country," reports CNN Anchor Hala Gorani at The Idesk.

Human Rights groups, including Amnesty International are trying to "raise the profile of this case because bad publicity seems to be the only thing that gets the attention of authorities," she reports.

Canada Suffers Blow: European Union Halts Cruel Seal Trade

The clubbing to death of hundreds of thousands of young seals every year in Canada has not ended. They're still beating baby seals with spiked clubs called "hakapiks." I am so ashamed for not realizing that it's still happening. In my ignorance, I assumed this cruel treatment was over long ago.

STILL CLUBBING-TO-DEATH BABY SEALS

My confusion resulted because Canada banned the clubbing of the youngest pups (that is, until 15 days old), with pure white pelts in the 1980s. However, the majority of seals killed today are still no more than a month or two old, according to animal welfare campaigners quoted by the New York Times. 

On Tuesday, May 5, members of the European Parliament -- representing 27 national governments --voted overwhelmingly (550 in favor and 49 against) to ban trading in seal products, "hoping that the collapse of the market will drastically reduce the massacre," reports the Guardian (UK).

The action to outlaw trade in seal products was aimed at Canada, where some 300,000 seals are killed every year and condemned as barbaric by many.

"The EU ban will enter into force by the time that next year's controversial seal hunts begin with spiked clubs and rifles on the east coast of Canada," says the Telegraph (UK). In addition to the trade ban on seal pelts are other seal products found in Omega 3 'fish oil' pills, gloves and other leather goods, and meat from the Arctic.

Inuit communities in the Arctic, and other indigenous communities, were exempted from the new ban. They will still be allowed to market seal products resulting from hunts which provide much of their subsistence.

Indian Muslims Refuse Mumbai Burial for Muslim Terrorists

   

In the aftermath of the Mumbia terrorist attacks, Muslims are finally standing up for the ethics of their own religion, the tenets of their faith. India's Muslim Council has declared that the bodies of the Muslim terrorists killed in the 3-day attack on Mumbai (and responsible for killing almost 200 people) cannot be interred in Indian soil -- not just Mumbai, but anywhere in the country. Wow! This could be the first openly defiant act against "Islamic terrorism."

MOST MUSLIMS ARE NOT TERRORISTS

"Most Muslims are not terrorists!" is a cry heard over and over since 9/11. But it's a statement that has been difficult to believe for victims of Muslim terror, and for those who fear becoming future victims.  This is especially true when so many Muslim leaders have refused to condemn the terror or even acknowledge the Muslim attackers as terrorists. By their silence, their omissions, they have invited the perception that they, and other Muslims, could be co-conspirators in the terrorism. We do not know each other.

Even before the Muslim Council's orders, a Muslim cemetery in the heart of Mumbai broke with Islamic tradition and refused to bury the bodies of the nine dead terrorists. The influential Muslim Jama Masjid Trust, which runs the graveyard, says that it refuses to bury the gunmen because they were not true followers of Islam.

"People who committed this heinous crime cannot be called Muslim," said Hanif Nalkhande, a spokesman for the trust. "Islam does not permit this sort of barbaric crime,"  reports The Australian.

NO BURIAL IN INDIAN SOIL

Unclaimed bodies believed to be Muslim are traditionally given to the nearest Islamic graveyard for burial after three days. Right now the bodies of the nine dead gunmen are lying in a morgue waiting. It looks like they'll have a long wait. Muslims are insisting they not be buried in India. The police don't know what to do with the bodies -- they do not believe anyone will claim the terrorists' corpses.

Has Saudi Arabia Beheaded Fawza Falih for 'Witchcraft?'

It's Halloween and I'm thinking about Fawza Falih. The last time there was word of her was in February. Since then nothing -- nothing that I can find in the news. A death penalty was imposed on this Saudi Arabian woman, illiterate and convicted of witchcraft.  Accused of being involved in supernatural occurrences, they said she bewitched a man when he suddenly became impotent. They talked about either beheading her or stoning her to death.

"The illiterate woman was detaind by religious police in 2005 and allegedly beaten and forced to fingerprint a confession that she could not read," reported the BBC. 

After police interrogation, Falih admitted to having bewitching powers. Later she retracted her confession, saying it was made under duress.(I don't want to imagine what they must have done to her). But the strict interpretation of Wahhabi Islam claims the death penalty is needed to "protect the creed, souls and property of this country." In 1692, America had its Salem witch trials. Today, Saudi Arabia is still at it.

Tourist Beat to Death by Waiters for Being 'Arrogant'

  It happened in Calangute,India, a beautiful tourist town synonymous with partying and beach holidays. John Kelly, a 65-year-old Australian on holiday, was bashed to death by Indian restaurant waiters. Why? Witnesses and police are quoted as saying he was "arrogant" to the waiters, according to an article in The Times of India. 

The alleged murder happened two days ago, on the south west coast of the Indian state Goa, where the stunning white-sand beaches are crowded year round. Along with souvenir shops and iced beer stands, the heavily-developed coastline is studded with accommodations, from five-star hotels to palm-leaf shacks. 

A VACATION BREAKFAST BEER

It was around 8 a.m., time for breakfast. Kelly arrived at Club City Restaurant and ordered beer for himself and also for some Indian tourists already drinking at the restaurant.