Here's
how much George Bush's friends love democracy...
JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA - In a strong message to Saudis seeking democratic reforms in the kingdom, authorities Sunday issued sentences of up to nine years for two academics and a poet who were calling for increased political participation...
Of course, no word from the whitehouse about how outrageous this is. Right next door, we're "spreading democracy" at gunpoint. Once again, our hypocrisy screams out to the world.
more below the fold...
...the panel of three judges found the men guilty of criticizing government officials, the country's judiciary, and its religious ideology and clerics, and of disrespecting government institutions including its educational system, says Fawzia al-Uyooni, wife of Ali al-Domeini.
She says her husband received the harshest sentence because he had claimed that the Al Qaeda violence that had been plaguing the country was the result of the dominance of the strict Wahhabi version of Islam in Saudi Arabia to the exclusion of others...
...[five] lawyers were taken off the defense team for having signed petitions asking for political reforms...
...50 supporters of the reformists and a handful of journalists traveled to the capital Riyadh from all over the kingdom to attend the final hearing, which according to Saudi law should have been open. But supporters were not allowed inside the courthouse that was ringed by police who used bullhorns several times to move the crowd...
Everyone who uses petroleum, please think about how great it would feel to say "I didn't support tyranny today".
You can do it!
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel.html