There are very few things I like in politics less than the mingling of government and religion. As a guy with strong libertarian political leanings, I believe that pouring the two into the same bucket is a pretty good way to ensure that the government is in your bedroom, your kitchen, your car, and most disturbingly, your pants. If there’s one thing I like less than a government sleeping with a religion, it’s an elected government being overthrown by its own military.
On Friday evening military chiefs said in a statement they could intervene if the election process threatened to undermine Turkish secularism.
Influential business leaders expressed their dissatisfaction with the government on Sunday in a statement which called for early elections to “protect secularism and democracy,” The Associated Press reported.
The statement by business group TUSIAD said: “The indivisible integrity of secularism and democracy lays the foundations of the Turkish republic, a sacrifice of one for the other is unthinkable. Turkey can healthily emerge from this process by lowering tensions and renewing the will of the nation.”
On Sunday at least 700,000 demonstrators gathered in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, to protest against Erdogan’s Islamist-influenced government in defense of the country’s secular political traditions, The Associated Press reported. Local media estimated that around one million people took part.
“Turkey is secular and will remain secular,” flag-waving protesters shouted as they demanded the resignation of the government and called Erdogan a traitor.
Others chanted: “The roads to Cankaya (the presidential palace) are closed to imams.”
“This government is the enemy of Ataturk,” said 63-year-old Ahmet Yurdakul, a retired public worker, invoking the memory of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founded of the modern Turkish republic. “They want to drag Turkey to the dark ages.”
The rally was the second anti-government demonstration in two weeks after around 300,000 people gathered in the capital, Ankara, a fortnight ago.
“Neither Sharia, nor coup but fully democratic Turkey,” read a banner carried by a demonstrator, in reference to Friday’s statement by the military which attracted condemnation Saturday by Turkey’s government as well from the European Union, the U.S. and human rights groups.
You only have to look at the Middle East to see the big clusterfuck that happens when government and religion mix. It’d be a shame if Turkey started slipping down that steep slope with the Taliban at the bottom.
Generally, I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to films - yeah, don’t mention Snakes on a Plane. The campiness and the openness of that campiness is what makes it great. Anyway, so when I was trying to encourage a coworker to go see Hot Fuzz — because it’s the funniest movie since Shaun of the Dead — our discussion turned to The 40-Year Old Virgin which he declared as “the funniest movie ever.”
The 40-Year Old Virgin? Are you fucking kidding me? Yeah, I’m sure it’s a movie on the same line as Liar, Liar or The Cable Guy or some other comedy mass produced by the studio relying more on stupid gag jokes than on a smart script. Anyway, but I Netflixed it anyway because if it has no other worth, playing it while cleaning my apartment should provide at least a little distraction.
So imagine my surprise when I was laughing my ass off at it. I know there’s some irony in me watching it - I fucking decorate my apartment similarly to Andy, and while I may not be a virgin (no, I’m not lying), it has been over two years since I got any action from someone other than my left hand (yes, my left hand has a name and a personality). Anyway, hilarious movie - laughing my ass off - and certainly going to be doing some apartment redecorating (when I have the time to clean and redecorate my apartment).
For some reason, I have the urge to watch Ghandi baked and get high as a fucking kite.
In Belfast, Ireland, the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival runs for ten days in May. On Monday the 7th, an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s third season, The High Ground, will be shown. Despite the fact that it originally aired in 1990 here in the U.S., it has never been shown unedited in the United Kingdom.
The program’s write-up:
Beverly Crusher, who is trying to help wounded based on a terrorist attack on a non-aligned planet, is taken hostage. Based on what she learns, she comes to see what terrorism means first hand.
In his study of terrorism, Data notes that Ireland would be reunified in 2024 as a result of a successful terrorist campaign. Due to its content (and specifically its mention of Irish reunification), this episode has never been shown on free-to-air television in the United Kingdom or Republic of Ireland, and initial airings were edited when shown on Sky One.
Neat, huh? Not quite — still on the British cutting room floor is a scene at the end of the episode, after Dr. Crusher is rescued, where the senior staff goes to Ten-Forward and knocks back some Irish car-bombs.
