Absurd Stories

Want to be a drug dealing, murdering, psychopathic
Head of State? Sure you do….

Move To Suriname

PARAMARIBO, Suriname – Former dictator Desi Bouterse was elected president by parliament Monday, following weeks of jostling by opponents who sought to stop a convicted drug trafficker and ex-strongman accused of killing political opponents from returning to power.

His eyes brimming with tears, Bouterse thanked supporters outside parliament after he secured 36 votes in support of his presidency, thanks to a small party’s decision to back him in exchange for three Cabinet positions.

“I reach out my hand to everyone who feels that they are adversaries and ask them to leave the past behind so we can build this country together,” Bouterse told the cheering, flag-waving crowd.

Suriname’s president is not chosen directly by voters, but by legislators. A two-thirds majority in the 51-seat parliament is required to elect the president of Suriname, a South American country where the official language is Dutch but most people speak Sranan. Bouterse’s Mega Combination faction won 23 seats in May elections.

Some Surinamese who did not support the former military dictator’s return to power said Bouterse will at least have the benefit of experience.

“Bouterse destroyed much in the past, so maybe it is right that he gets the chance to redeem himself and help build this country,” said Rachel Bruinhart, 24.

Others watched in dismay as Bouterse’s supporters celebrated.

Michael Charles, a government employee, was baffled by the ex-dictator’s election and expressed concern over the country’s future.

“We have gone totally mad in this country. I don’t know how we managed to get Bouterse as our president,” Charles said, shaking his head in disbelief.

Bouterse has wooed people with energetic speeches peppered with street slang that resonates with poor Surinamese, many of whom complain that economic reforms have not made a difference in their lives.

Bouterse is facing a long-delayed trial in Suriname for his role in the slaying of 15 political opponents during his regime in 1982, and some see his candidacy for president as an effort to halt the trial and push for immunity from prosecution.

In 2007, the former military dictator offered his first public apology for the 1982 killings, saying he accepted political responsibility for the deaths but denied involvement.

Bouterse first seized control of Suriname in a coup in 1980, five years after it gained independence from the Netherlands. He stepped down under international pressure in 1987, then briefly seized power again in 1990.

In 1999 a Dutch court convicted him in absentia of trafficking cocaine to the Netherlands, but he has avoided an 11-year prison term because the two countries do not have an extradition treaty.

Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said the Netherlands would restrict contacts with Bouterse to “functional necessities.”

“We cannot sweep under the mat the fact that Bouterse has been sentenced to 11 years in the Netherlands for drug trafficking,” Verhagen said. “He is not welcome in the Netherlands unless it is to serve his prison sentence.”

The Dutch Foreign Ministry said Bouterse enjoys immunity as a head of state for the duration of his presidency. “As a result, the sentence can only be served once he has left office and it is possible to arrest him,” the ministry said in a statement.

“The links between our countries are special,” Verhagen said, “because of our shared history and the countless personal relationships between Dutch and Surinamese citizens.”

Outgoing President Ronald Venetiaan, who recently said his party would not work with Bouterse’s faction as long as the former dictator was in control, congratulated the new president’s coalition on the win.

OUT Of India…..

WHY IS THIS WOMEN NOT IN PRISON, seriously, how corrupt can an individual be….read on

Ms Mayawati’s statue protection force

mayawati

Fifty-three-year-old Ms Mayawati rules over a state where a quarter of India’s poor live. With a population of more than 160 million – that’s as many people as Brazil – Uttar Pradesh has some of the worst human development indicators. Government healthcare is a shambles, infant mortality is steep and millions of children are underfed. Endemic corruption means that potentially everything – from jobs to development projects – are up for sale. And the state’s finances are precarious: the fiscal deficit leapt by nearly 50% in 2007-2008.

All this has not deterred Ms Mayawati, an icon for India’s 160 million low caste Dalits, also known as ‘untouchables’, from splurging $1bn (£0.6bn) dollars on monuments of herself and other low-caste leaders. Courts have sought explanations about such profligate spending of tax-payers money, and opposition politicians have pilloried her.

Ms Mayawati is now calling for the creation of a separate police force to protect the statues she has built. This will bleed Uttar Pradesh further: she wants to spend more than $10m (£7.1m) to set up the force and another $3m (£1.6m) yearly to maintain it. This again, in a state, where law and order is poor, and even government officers have been murdered while carrying out their duties.

What is driving Ms Mayawati into what her critics describe as chronic megalomania when there are more pressing matters of the state to attend to?

For one, she feels her political opponents would destroy the memorials once she is out of power. One of them, Mulayam Singh Yadav, has even spoken about the need to “bulldoze” the monuments. So by creating a force by law, she is trying to make sure that the memorials are secure and not neglected even when she is out of power.

Many believe that Ms Mayawati’s latest moves could be to do with her growing political insecurity. Securing one’s legacy through building monuments will not work in modern-day India where aspirations are high. Dalits are no longer willing to wait endlessly for their lives to improve.

Ms Mayawati’s fabled social engineering skills in building impregnable and impossible caste-based coalitions are fading as members of the upper castes and Muslims begin to move away from her party. If she leaves behind a lot of garish monuments and nothing much else, Uttar Pradesh will suffer more. But, more importantly, India’s most deprived lower caste people will be the biggest losers. Will Ms Mayawati turn out to be the goddess that failed?

ED Note: One of the Poorest areas in India and this Ego maniacal politician spend 1 BILLION, yes, that’s BILLION dollars on statues of herself. Why have the Indian people not taken up arms and thrown this stupid women in prison?

THIS Story just keeps getting better……

garland

Indian Dalit icon Mayawati attacked over rupee

garland

Controversial Chief Minister of India’s Uttar Pradesh state, Mayawati, has been criticised for accepting a huge garland made entirely of 1,000-rupee notes.

Ms Mayawati’s supporters gave her the garland as a gift at her Bahujan Samaj Party’s silver jubilee rally on Monday.

It is made of new 1,000-rupee notes and is estimated to have cost anywhere between $400,000 and $2m.

Ms Mayawati, who champions the cause of the poorest of the poor, is criticised for amassing vast personal wealth.

She is India’s first woman Dalit (formerly “untouchable”) chief minister and has a huge following among those at the bottom of the Hindu caste system.

Calls for inquiry

Photographs of Ms Mayawati, wearing the rupee garland, appeared on the front pages of Indian newspapers on Tuesday morning.

The issue was also raised in parliament, with MPs from different parties criticising what they said was a vulgar display by Ms Mayawati.

“We appeal to the government to take cognisance of the money that is being spent, or rather, misspent in the rally. And millions’ worth of the garland that she accepted should be inquired into,” senior Congress party leader Digvijay Singh said.

A leader of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rajnath Singh, said: “I just want to say that state funds and resources have been misused in Uttar Pradesh in every form. And I want the government to take action in this case at the earliest.”

It is estimated that nearly 400,000 supporters attended the rally in the Uttar Pradesh state capital, Lucknow, on Monday. The city was draped in blue (the colour of Ms Mayawati’s party) for the celebration.

Statue spree

A former school teacher, Ms Mayawati is one of India’s most colourful politicians. She has governed Uttar Pradesh and its 180 million people since state elections in 2007.

In the past few years, she has amassed massive personal wealth, developing a fondness for lavish birthday parties and diamond jewellery.

She has been taken to court for commissioning massive statues of past Dalit icons and herself at great public expense.

Ms Mayawati’s critics accuse her of wasting precious government funds in one of India’s most backward states.

Uttar Pradesh has soaring crime, poor health services and very high illiteracy rates.

Ms Mayawati appears unfazed by all the criticism and has spoken many times about her ambition to be prime minister of India.

Her party denied claims on Monday that state funds had helped pay for Monday’s festivities, saying it had footed the bill

OUT OF THE VATICAN:

Colombia cardinal defends church’s abuse policies

BOGOTA – A senior cardinal defended the Roman Catholic Church’s practice of frequently not reporting sexual abusive priests to the police, saying Thursday it would have been like testifying against a family member at trial.

Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos also said in a radio interview that Pope Benedict XVI, formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was involved in a 2001 decision to praise a French bishop for shielding a priest who was convicted of raping minors.

“The law in nations with a well-developed judiciary does not force anyone to testify against a child, a father, against other people close to the suspect,” Castrillon told RCN radio. “Why would they ask that of the church? That’s the injustice. It’s not about defending a pedophile, it’s about defending the dignity and the human rights of a person, even the worst of criminals.”

While the church stands by “those who truly were victims (of sexual abuse),” he added, “John Paul II, that holy pope, was not wrong when he defended his priests so that they were not, due to economic reasons, treated like criminal pedophiles without due process.”

His comments came just days after the Vatican posted on its website guidelines telling bishops they should report abusive priests to police if civil laws require it. The Vatican has claimed that was long its policy, though it was never written before explicitly.

The Vatican posted the guidelines as a response to mounting criticism that it mandated a culture of secrecy that instructed bishops to keep abuse quiet, letting it fester unchecked for decades.

Truly Unbelievable………………..

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