Once again, you and I are confronted with a savage and pervasive ignorance. Life is all about the choices we make.
Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) has the freedom to come and go, to speak and choose. What has Palin done with that freedom?
Palin, like about 60 percent of Alaska voters, favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Her environmental credentials are, at best, mixed. She favors what we in Alaska call "predator control," including, if necessary, the hunting of wolves from the air. Just recently her Dept. of Fish and Game pulled some wolf cubs from their den and shot them as part of a program to improve moose survival. Washington Post, 8-29-08
Sarah Palin wants to let the polar bears die, too. On global warming, she's aligned with" most discredited, fringe, extreme viewpoints" America Blog, 8-29-08
Aung San Suu Kyi's freedom is very different. It is the inner freedom of an imprisoned dissident; it is a mute freedom of heart, mind and spirit.
What has Aung San done with her freedom? She has gone on a hunger strike.
Weigh the US mainstream news media coverage of Sarah Palin's political ascension against its coverage of Aung San Suu Kyi's hunger strike; then ask yourself, "What has happened to this culture?"
Of course, it is big news that a politically obscure, ideologically radical, former topless beauty queen, who is under criminal investigation, would be named as the VP candidate of the Republican Party.
But the hunger strike of a beautiful, articulate and courageous Nobel Peace Prize winner, the duly elected leader of her country, who refuses to bow to the rule of thugocrats who have held her prisoner for years should also be big news. And yet, barely a brief mention.
Aung San Suu Kyi is your parent, your child, your lover, your teacher, your conscience. What will you do to help her? Will you at least remember her day by day, Google her name to follow her plight, and go tell her story to your loved ones and your colleagues?
When someone wants to discuss Gov. Palin will you offer them the choice of discussing the struggle of Aung San Suu Kyi instead?
Burma's detained opposition leader and democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi continues to refuse food deliveries, even after nearly two weeks of receiving her last supply on August 15, her party leaders said.
"As far as we know, she has not yet accepted any food supplies," Nyan Win, spokesperson of her party – the National League for Democracy – told Mizzima on Friday.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
