Eshin Direct

The killing of four US civilians at first glance might seem appalling if one consider these civilians as non-combatant players in Iraq. However, as it turns out these four individuals were highly trained former US servicemen. One has to remember that mercenary companies do exist and are made up of former servicemen from around the world. Governments, I’m sure, are eager to use them when they need to disassociate themselves officially from methods that ultimately serve their intentions. The notorious Air America organisation in South East Asia is one example. One wonders if the US calls foul on this brutal slaying of “civilians” when it still holds so many as “unlawful combatants” in its Guantanamo prison camp.

The killing of civilians is atrocious but mercenaries aren’t really civilians and shouldn’t be considered as such. I wonder if this incident will reverse the trend that many of the spouses of US servicemen will not want to re-enlist in the military.

Of course, I’m sure that the US press will be more “fair and balanced” after Daddy Bush went on the campaign trail to moan and cry about how people are being nasty to his son about Iraq. I would be worried too if I was the father of such a simpleton as Bush Junior. It’s just not right to pick on people who can’t defend themselves. Like the President of the United States of America.

Of course, I’m sure that the hundreds if not thousands of maids that are abused in Hong Kong and Singapore each year, could have done with someone shedding a tear for them. Thankfully, there is new legislation in Singapore that is seeking to train employers on how to treat their maids. Of course, this only covers the officially registered ones and even if one knows that something is wrong, if it is hidden, then the abuse can continue. Sometimes with dire consequences.

The slaying of Mohamad Faris Ibrahim by eight bullies in his school in Kuala Lumpur is just one example of how even despite complaints of being bullied, no-one really took notice until the boy was discovered dying in a toilet. It’s a shame too that no action was taken sooner since the eight accused, all 17, now face the death penalty. Of course, bullying can never really be eradicated from the school environment and it seems an inevitable part of growing up.

In Japan, they prefer to take their deliquent practices out of the school and into the karaoke room. It’s always good to indulge in theft, extortion, and assault with the latest J-Pop tunes playing in the background. And apparently they start early too as the article reports that 10 elementary school students were detained too. Bet they were stealing lunch money with Elmo’s Singalong playing in the background.

Extortion seems to be the name of the game in the States as a furore over pay has broken out between Fox Studios and the voice talents of The Simpsons. Already paid $120,000 an episode, they are now wanting $360,000 an episode which would see them being paid each near to $8m a season. This might seem an obscene amount to you and I but if one calculates just how much the studio is making from The Simpson’s franchise, I’m sure that it’s still a paltry figure.

Maybe the US will withold episodes of the world’s favourite yellow family from Japan if it continues to ban US-beef. Hats off to the Japanese for sticking to their guns about having all the beef exported to Japan tested for BSE. The US did it to the Brits when it was an issue in the UK and the UK complied with new safety measures. Why does the US refuse to test it’s crap that exports to the rest of the world? But I guess playing nice to it’s allies isn’t the new American spirit.

The recent announcement that the US plans to fingerprint visitors from even closely allied nations is an infringement of civil liberties if ever I did see one. Essentially, if you are a visitor to the US, then consider yourself on the same class as the common criminal. Although I’m sure I’m on some CIA geeks shitlist somewhere, I don’t plan to make it any easier for US government to collect data on myself for it’s own purposes. My government should ensure that this violation of my right to privacy is protected. Of course, being the spineless twits that the Dutch government is, I’m sure I’m likely to see my DNA information included in my next passport issue.

Thankfully the Manchester Crown Court shows that Britain has at least some spine in seeing justice done and not bowing to American “let’s protect our own” mentality. The court charged a former US-marine who was decorated in Afghanistan with four and half years prison time for having sex with a 12 year-old girl. A Bible Scholar too. Go figure.

But maybe I am being too harsh. The US is trying to clean up its own paedophilic headaches, most notably the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson. However, I’m sure their case isn’t being helped by the fact that the singer has been honoured with an award by the African Ambassadors Spouses Association for his work in fighting AIDS. Just because someone does some humanitarian work doesn’t necessarily make him a saint. I’m sure being treated like royalty in some of the poorest nations in the world, and getting to pick and choose the children he can meet, sure doesn’t have anything to do with his good intentions. I’m sure that he would do well to hire the legal team that defended a man who allegedly had planned to execute a rape fantasy with a woman online but got the wrong house.

They’ll certainly be needed by the Hooters manager in an LA division of the chain restaurant which promotes big busts and scantily clad women as the unique selling point. He was caught videotaping possibly some 1,200 women, who applied as waitresses, changing into the company’s uniform. The guy should get his dose of scantily clad women in more legitimate circumstances. I mean there is plenty to go around without having to resort to these underhanded tactics.

One only has to look at Shizuka Arakawa, who recently won the gold at the World Figure Skating Championships, that initiate lechers will be out in force to ogle. One man already has tried having stripped naked and run onto the ice. One wonders whether this photo of the Japanese figure skater has anything to do with the man exposing his private parts public.

Although beauty isn’t what it’s all about and sometimes substance counts for something. Tom Cruise is reportedly splitting up from Penelope Cruz due to the fact that he’s still busy fantazising about his ex-wife, Nicole Kidman. You can’t really blame him for that since I’ve always had a special something left-over with my ex-girlfriends. But I guess someone had some inside knowledge since the camera shots of Nicole and Tom at the various awards ceremonies at the start of the year indicated a rekindled love or bond.

Wonder if we’ll get any sneak previews of loves in the air or romances about to crack at the 23rd Hong Kong Film Awards which kicks off next week. For potential gossip sources, aka known as the nominees, the HK Fluff has a comprehensive list of nominees.

Of course, China is definitely not about to win any popularity awards in Hong Kong at the moment. Not only does it continue to ban certain weblog services in it’s country, it met on Thursday to discuss how to select HK legislative body. This drew protests from Pro-Democracy demonstrators who tried to break into the government offices. I actually saw that myself as I drove past on my way for a drink at 1/5. While I have no qualms about the legitimacy of their protest, what exactly did they plan to do in empty government office buildings at 2300 at night? I’m sure it would’ve been fun whatever they had planned.

At least China managed to release one of the Tiananmen mothers. The three women who were arrested were part of a group seeking justice for relatives who were lost at the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. The group was due to provide testimony to the UN Commission on Human Rights when they were arrested by the police. I’d imagine that it’s quite distressing to be treated by your government in this way.

Two North Koreans, no doubt, wish they would have been treated better by their government. Min Hong Gu, an ex-North Korean soldier, committed suicide after he was re-arrested for sexual molestation in a department store in Japan. Of course, if he didn’t need to escape the hardship in his own country, he wouldn’t have to go around assualting young Japanese women. Okay, so I shouldn’t jump on the bandwagon, since Japan has a well-known history of demonizing Koreans, whether they be from North or South.

Additonally, Cheong Sun-deok, the last known communist guerrilla in the South, was reported to have died, decades after her capture. It is unknown whether she was left by her government to languish in a South Korean prison since 1963, but it sad that she could never seen her homeland again.

However, some governments do honour their citizens, even if it is post-humously and over 50 years after the fact. It’s reported that Fritz Kolbe was a German bureaucrat who helped pass on valuable documents to the Allies. He was considered a traitor and outcast by his fellow citizens post-WW2 but honoured by the CIA as the “most important spy in WW2″. The German government has seen fit to honour him this year which marks the 60th anniversary of the failed plot to assassinate Hitler by senior army commanders. While I can’t say that I entirely agree that he was a patriot since he probably killed plenty of his countryman with his leaked information, I suppose we should be grateful to this turncoat.

Maybe the German government should spend more time looking for the property that was looted from many Jewish and non-Jewish families during the war. Although the recent return of the painting, “Les Jeunes Amoureux” by Francois Boucher, to the descendants of its rightful owners, many more treasures and properties still remain missing and untraced.

Descendancy is also the hot topic of discussion in the US. The Sun claims that researchers in Chicago have discovered a bone that resembles the missing link between fish and land creatures. The Sun, in it usual manner when dealing with issues of great import, has a visual of the bone in question with the imaginatively descriptive caption “Important…Bone”.

Of course, no doubt we’ll be getting more interesting stories out of the US as Chinese breweries plan to start exporting “baijiu” to the US. I guess now we can see if the Americans can truly drink even if they do pick on poor Bush Jnr.

Tags: Surfer Rants