Let Freedom Ring

With so much freedom bustin' out all over the globe, I thought it was about time for a "Carnival of Freedom" to celebrate the accomplishments.

Here's what democracy in Afghanistan has endorsed so far:

Reuters AlertNet - Afghanistan: Vice and Virtue Department Could Return

Under the Taliban, the vice and virtue department became a notorious symbol of arbitrary abuses, particularly against Afghan women and girls. The department ruthlessly enforced restrictions on women and men through public beatings and imprisonment. The department beat women publicly for, among other things, wearing socks that were not sufficiently opaque; showing their wrists, hands, or ankles; and not being accompanied by a close male relative. They stopped women from educating girls in home-based schools, working, and begging. They also beat men for trimming their beards.

President Karzai came under pressure from conservative political figures two months ago to reestablish the department in order to counter anti-Western propaganda by opposition groups. The president then appointed a panel with representatives from the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Haj and Religious Affairs, and the Supreme Court, which drafted a proposal and presented it to the cabinet. The cabinet approved the draft and plans to submit it for parliamentary approval when the Afghan National Assembly reconvenes later this summer.

Well, the Afghani women are always free to write their MP's about it. Just remember, ladies: if you don't vote, you can't complain!

Unlike the conservatives who just whine about the shitty job the media is doing reporting "good news in the war on terror", Hamid Karzai actually decided to do something about it:

The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Afghanistan orders journalists to report more good news

The war against the Taliban has gone badly these last months, but Afghanistan's national intelligence agency has devised a secret plan to reverse the tide of bad news.

In a coordinated action this week, the intelligence men drove up to TV stations and newspapers in SUVs and dropped off an unsigned letter ordering journalists to report more favorable news about the government. In particular, the letter said, they should avoid "materials which deteriorate people's morale and cause disappointment to them."

The cost so far for this "stability" is "$2B and rising". That's only like, what $60 per Canadian taxpayer? The freedom to vote for people like Karzai is priceless.

Meanwhile, in Iraq:

Stars & Stripes: U.S. troops, Iraqi police seize marijuana plants

U.S. soldiers from Troop C, 4th Battalion, 14th Cavalry Regiment and Iraqi police discovered and seized a bumper crop of marijuana plants being cultivated in fields in northern Iraq, U.S. officials said Friday.

According to a military news release, the field contained “juvenile marijuana plants grown in a series of furrows. The owner claimed that he was growing sesame.”

The plants were cut down, put into piles and burned, officials said. The value of the marijuana was estimated at $2 million. The man who owned the field was arrested by the Iraqi police.

This makes perfect sense from the cops and soldier's perspective. I'd much rather run around knocking over marijuana farmers than get blown apart by suicide bombers. Plus we need to send a message that drugs are bad and stuff. If people start smoking dope, the place is going turn into The Netherlands or something and we obviously can't have that.

Iraqi parliament speaker: Jews finance acts of violence in Iraq - Haaretz - Israel News

Iraq's parliament speaker Thursday accused "Jews" of financing acts of violence in Iraq in order to discredit Islamists who control the parliament and government so they can install their "agents" in power.

Mahmoud al-Mashhadani hinted that the Americans and Israelis did not want to see officials of Sunni and Shi'ite parties running the country because "this is not their agenda."

"They will say that we brought you in a democratic way to the government but you are sectarian people. One of you is killing the other and you don't deserve to become leaders because you are war lords," al-Mashhadani told reporters after a parliament meeting.

Al-Mashhadani is a member of the Sunni Muslim Iraqi Accordance Front while Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is a member of the Shi'ite Dawa party.

"Some people say 'we saw you beheading, kidnappings and killing. In the end we even started kidnapping women who are our honor,"' al-Mashhadani said. "These acts are not the work of Iraqis. I am sure that he who does this is a Jew and the son of a Jew."

Tough crowd! Whatever are the "purple finger" cheerleaders going to rally around when their ink-stained mascots start picking the "wrong" representatives?

I know, I know - these things take time, of course. It's not going to be an overnight transformation from a tribalised, totalitarian police state to a liberal, individual rights-respecting society. Like the one they have in Britain:

Big Brother database to record the lives of all children | the Daily Mail

The home life of every child in the country is to be recorded on a national database in the ultimate intrusion of the nanny state, it has emerged.

Computer records holding details of school performance, diet and even whether their parents provide a 'positive role model' for 12 million children will be held by the Government.

Police, social workers, teachers and doctors will have access to the database and have powers to flag up 'concerns' where children are not meeting criteria laid down by the state.

The 'children's index', which will cost the taxpayer £224 million, will even monitor whether youngsters are eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, whether they go to church or are struggling to get good marks at school.

One assessment records whether a pre-school child is in day care - suggesting that those who are looked after by their mothers at home are not conforming to the state ideal.

You can verify by clicking on the link that the above news story is really real and not the product of some fevered libertarian imagination.

Ok, so maybe that was a bad example. After all, around 230 years ago Americans decided to throw off the yoke of British tyranny and create a free country for themselves. How's that been working out?:

Feds Arrest Offshore Gambling CEO

U.S. authorities moved against one of the world's largest Internet gambling operations Monday, charging 11 individuals and four corporations with various counts of racketeering, conspiracy and fraud.

BetonSports PLC, a U.K.-incorporated and publicly traded firm, was among the companies charged, along with its founder, Gary Kaplan, and its current chief executive officer, David Carruthers.

Public trading was suspended in BetonSports Tuesday after Carruthers was arrested and detained in Fort Worth, Tex.

The 49-year-old Carruthers was en route from England to Costa Rica, where BetonSports maintains extensive operations. Kaplan remains a fugitive from U.S. law in Costa Rica.

"Illegal commercial gambling across state and international borders is a crime," U.S Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway of the Eastern District of Missouri said in a statement released late Monday afternoon.

"This indictment is but one step in a series of actions designed to punish and seize the profits of individuals who disregard federal and state laws."

In addition to the wide-ranging charges, the U.S. government is seeking forfeiture of $4.5 billion from Kaplan and his co-defendants.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) also filed a civil complaint to obtain an order requiring BetonSports to cease and desist taking sports wagers from the U.S. and to return money held in betting accounts to U.S. account holders.

The FBI is issuing letters to four U.S. telephone companies ordering them to stop providing service to any Internet sports books or online casinos operated by BetonSports.

"Misuse of the Internet to violate the law can ultimately only serve to harm legitimate businesses," Hanaway said.

You tell 'em Miss Hanaway. Someday, people will get the message that The Law Is The Law and We As A Society must abide by The Law. Public-spirited authority figures such as yourself are what separate us from the medieval beasts on the other side of the world.

Which country will feel the "liberation" next? Stay tuned, Citizen: there are freedom-loving foreign policy experts hard at work right now singling out one worthy candidate after another. Why hoard all this freedom for ourselves?
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