Tuesday, February 10, 2009

See no evil...

Evil comes in many forms. Sometimes it make itself known up front, Darth Vader or Dick Cheney style. They're easy to spot, often commanding headlines and front page stories around the world. Other times, one man's evil is another's hero; here you find folks like Hugo Chavez or Vladimir Putin. However, the most dangerous evil is often the one that flies in under the radar; depending on which media you use, you might not even know they exist until it's too late. Since we don't all have Hugo's ability to identify the sulfur smell of evil and top ten lists are all the rage, here's a top 10 most evil people in the world you may never have heard of.

#10. Joseph Kony - Leader of the Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). So bad ass the US coordinated an attack with the Ugandan army to try wipe him out at his base in northern Congo. Unfortunately it went Black Hawk Down, worse really as the rebels slipped away and have since been on a wild killing spree from village to village. It's estimated that Kony is responsible for the abduction of an estimated 20,000 children (a number that could be 2 or 3 times higher) to fight in his army since 1988. It appears his rebellion began in northern Uganda as his Acholi people had been excluded from power, then by pledging to rule the country according to the 10 Commandments, he took the religious moniker LRA. He holds the distinction of being the first man indicted by the International Criminal Court. Having been driven out of Uganda, he now makes northern Congo and southern Sudan his killing zone. Maybe Kony has made a deal with the devil as he's never lost a battle and always seems to slip away.

#9. Grace Mugabe - OK, you know her husband, but do you know what a bitch this lady is? She's also pretty good with her fists, beating up a photographer last month as her bodyguard held him down. She steals land, just like her husband who took Zimbabwe from independence, pride, early success with education to pariah state. He stole land from whites, she steals it from blacks he gave it to like Judge Ben Hlatshwayo, who presides in the High Court in Harare. Ironically, the nation's downfall was accelerated with the land invasions that began 2 weeks after the defeat of the constitutional vote in 2000, Hlatshwayo was on the committee that drew up that constitution. Cholera is rampant, store shelves are empty as the economic activity of the nation has been ground to a halt. With the recently issued 500 trillion notes already worthless by now, foreign currency, basically dolarization, has been sanctioned for use. But there's a glimmer of hope as Robert seems to be on the verge of ceding a bit of power to the MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, as early as Feb. 11th, but we've all heard it before... Did we mention that Grace isn't too bright? Could just be the syphilis. Plus she made my brother miss a plane once.

#8. General Than Shwe - Leader of the Myanmar (Burma) military junta. An army junta has held power since a coup in 1962, led first by the charismatic and superstitious Ne Win, now his rather less magnetic successor Than Shwe. Along with his fellow generals, they control all aspects of politics and the economy. The army has repeatedly turned its guns against its own people, most tragically in 1988 when a student-led protest movement was crushed, leaving some 3,000 dead. Remember Rangoon, the capital of Burma? Yeah, me too. In 2005, the ruling junta mysteriously moved the nation's capital from Rangoon to a new city called Naypyidaw, carved out of the jungle at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. As the masses have grown poorer, the military has enriched itself through timber and natural-gas deals. Last year, a video of Than Shwe's daughter getting married made the rounds in Rangoon, most of the country has no access; Burmese were shocked by the number of jewels dripping from her body — and by wedding gifts valued at an estimated $50 million. Meanwhile, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, don't know where the Daw came from either, the former Nobel Peace Prize winner languishes and bitches from house arrest. How many years now? 13 of the last 19. You'd be bitching too. Yeah, there was that little flood and land slide thing in 2007, to go along with killing a few monks, but we couldn't get in to see how bad it really was. Dude, crazy town, right across the border from Thailand.

#7. Abdul Qadeer Khan ; Pakistani nuclear proliferator. Or hero. Could fit into the above Chavez/Putin category, but c'mon, he sold nuclear secrets to North Korea, Iran and Libya! Anyway, Islamabad sees him as the father of their nuclear program/hero these days and released him last week; was it a snub at the Americans? I live in Poland, there was just a Polish engineer executed, first westerner since Pearl in Pakistan; it's a miracle because today I can understand the TV, rare for me: scary music, kill the Muslims. Fact is though, I can't think of a country that is more dangerous than Pakistan today. Nuclear weapons and religion don't mix, just look at Israel. Khan sees himself as a hero - is it possible Pakistan needed the bomb because India had it? Balance of power craziness.

#6. Father Floriano Abrahamowicz: Fellow holocaust denier along with Bishop Richard Williamson who is at the centre of a schism healing attempt by Pope Benedict XVI gone awry. The more I read about Vatican II and the ensuing split in the Catholic church and now the personal prelature similar to that of Opus Dei being contemplated for Williamson's Society of Pius X, the more frightened I am. Religious hatred is the biggest problem in the world, they remember in Germany, as Angela Merkel shamed the pope on behalf of the massacred masses enough to cause him to order the good bishop to study up about the holocaust. In an interview with a Swedish station Williamson said there were only a couple hundred thousand Jews killed during WWII and there were no gas chambers in the concentration camps. He also has wacky 9/11 and 1984 stories. John Paul II kicked out Williamson, the Borat of the schismatic ultra-reactionaries, along with two Frenchmen, a Spaniard, an Italian, and an Englishman for being ordained without Vatican permission. Now they're being un-excommunicated in an effort to bring his sect back into the flock. Breaking news is that Williamson has lost his post at an Argentine seminary. (Is it because Poland is a Catholic country that I can't get the video with the Swedish channel: this link comes up "This video is not available in your country", even though Williamson lost the court case to restrict it.)

#5. Pramod Mutthalik: Leader of the Sri Ram Sena, an extreme right-wing Hindu group often referred to as the Hindu Taliban, connected with the ruling BJP government. Spotting the religious theme yet? If you missed the attack he ordered carried out two weeks ago against women in a college-town bar, here you go:

The Taliban comparison is apt, as in addition to hating women, they smash art, attack rivals, disdain fashion, abduct and torture, and are even being linked to the 2006 Malegaon terrorist blasts which killed 37 and injured over 125.

#4. Ronald Larsen: American land owner in eastern Bolivia. A Montanan no less, so it's the wild west in eastern Bolivia. Hypocritical of me as well, seeing as the indigenous leader of his nation (Evo Morales playing the part of Robert Mugabe) is trying to force whitey off the land. Morales won another Constitution vote last month, making it certain that there will be more armed confrontations as the government tries to move Larsen and other land owners off their land. Limits on land holdings of 5000 hectares have led to Larsen trying to reduce his holdings by giving them to his Bolivian born sons, one of whom was Mr. Bolivia in 2004 (and he's married to a former Ms. Bolivia). One of his ranches, Caraparicito, where most of the confrontations have occurred, is 37,000 hectares alone. He's got over 104,000 more. Accused of slavery, kidnapping and obstruction already, the government will come for the gas rich land, in the name of saneamiento - sewage, running water, that kinda thing. Did anybody else notice that Bolivia is now known to have the most lithium in the world, enough to power the battery-powered car boom, not the Hunter S. Thompson stuff. Pro Larsen arguments here - I feel guilty, the Mugabe parallels, I really like Evo Morales.

#3. Avigdor Lieberman: Leader, Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Homeland) party. In case you missed it, with the Gaza massacre distraction for land grab going on, there's an election in Israel today and unfortunately Lieberman and his party will probably hold the key to power if the results are as tight as polls indicate they will be between Netanyahu and Livni. Bibi and Tzipi. Being so close, the winner will need at least a few other parties to join the coalition. Lots of kids are gonna vote extreme right, Lieberman, for "security" with the top concerns being Gaza, rockets and of course Iran - always nearing the point where they can wipe out the country, launching satellites and now preparing for an election of their own. Of course this all plays together, an Ahmadinejad victory later this year combined with a hard right leaning Knesset equals trouble. Imagine, in a few months we'll all be watching an Irani election closely, and cheering for a guy named Khatami.

#2. Angelo Mozilo - Former head of Countrywide, the largest sub-prime mortgage lender in the US. These lenders have of course been accused of using misleading marketing to push unsuitable mortgages on sub-prime homeowners who could not afford to service the debt, the root cause of the credit crunch. During the housing boom, Mr Mozilo reportedly earned $470 million in salary and other income. Yes, even kickbacks to politicians are involved while he unloaded $141 million in stock options before the company's share price collapsed. Could of picked any of a number of people in the financial industry; runner-up - Kathleen Corbet, head of the biggest credit agency Standard & Poors back when they were rating Mr. Mozilo's and whoever else's debt derivatives AAA in a crazy system where companies pay for ratings. The Japanese "yen from heaven" scam guy Kazutsugi Nami a close third representing the Bernie Madoffs of the world

#1. Ken Ham: Some may think I'm giving Ken a raw deal making him numero uno. Perhaps you'd prefer Carl Baugh, Ben Stein, or "Dr" Kent Hovind. Just pick one, they're all evil. Fact is, in celebration of Charles Darwin's 200th birthday this week, there is no more fitting spot than atop this list for this group of lie spreading creationists. Ken just happens to be perhaps the most public face, what with his Creation Museum and all. These are some sick puppies. If you've made it to the end of this top 10, then you deserve to watch these freaks taking the piss out of Ken, poor Aussie never knew what hit him. (read accompanying story of the first day of the creation museum from another perspective here)


Well, that got a little long, and there's so much more to say about each plus so many more names to add to the list. Let me know who you think belongs in the comments below.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm surprised you have not mentioned George W. Bush.
The man responsible for starting wars in Iraq and Afganistan and given the chance would started more.

Shane said...

Hey Akuma. One of the reasons I wrote a list of the most evil people that most people have never heard of is that I would have had a tough decision to make: whether George W. Bush or Dick Cheney would be #1.

Shane said...

Thanks for the waste of 10 mins of my life Serr8d. Oooh, did that believer ever show that mean liberal college professor, what a joke! At the very least you do seem to have good taste in music, so you know a couple of tracks later you'll find a song to apply to you and other creationists (those who believe a flying spaghetti monster or the like created everything in universe as it is) - Sheep:
Meek and obedient you follow the leader...

Serr8d said...

I'm not a creationists, Shane; you, as an out-and-proud! atheist are more in rigid lockstep with similar close-minded, newly hate-filled sorts who would rip religion out of people's lives and replace it with...what? With Science? For what purpose?

Will Science sit at the bedside of an elderly, dying widow, and comfort her in her final minutes? I've sat there; I've read to her from her own bible, and helped give that comfort she so desperately craved. Could you sit there with your Hitchens and do the same?

You see, religion is not opposed to science to the degree that you've decided it has (at least not to the degree that you and others would elevate the 'feud' to (e.g., giving your top 'evilest' spot to creationists? Really?); rather, religion offers some needed alternative thinking to those who need it.

Science won't, can't, ever do that. Science is, and should be, always separate. You want to substitute science for religion, eh?

Science did (and will again, if not kept in check) lead weak-minded, death-fearing people to the wrong conclusions. Remember eugenics? We've seen where that leads, not so far from your home.

I'm still waiting for biologists or chemists to create life from where there's no life. Do just that little step and I'll smile. But they've tried; the failures, they sting!

Shane said...

Well, it seems we may have some common ground to work from Serr8d. It's not religion that I have a problem with, far be it from me to tell people what to believe; yes, there are times when believers perform charitable acts that help society. It is when science is manipulated to serve other purposes that I am against. Having had the opportunity to live abroad in both Catholic and Muslim countries I've seen first hand the effects of bringing forced religious 'education' into the classroom. Inevitably it is those in positions of power who are able to dictate their 'correct' belief system to those who are most susceptible to manipulation, the young; this breeds intolerance and hatred of the 'other'.
Eugenics is a perfect example of the twisting of science to serve evil purposes. Since my post was to serve as a warning to the unknown evil, my purpose was exactly what you pointed out, there are evil people who will try to force their beliefs onto others, often using false science to justify their ends. It's a slippery slope you tread when you allow lies to be presented as science.

Troy said...

Are you actually speaking seriously Serr8d? Or is there some kind of irony in this nonsense that I am missing?

It's absolutely insulting if I read you correctly and you mean that only someone with faith can console someone in their dying moment. If you actually mean 'delude' rather than 'console' perhaps, but what help are you doing by telling stories from the bronze age? Take out 1001 nights or Quixote and you'd surely entertain them a little more that with your hodgepodge manual to celestial dictatorship. To claim that mushy bible stories are the only way to console someone is 100% rubbish.

Science isn't opposed to religion per say, it is impossible to be opposed to something that doesn't exist. It would be like debating whether Superman is really stronger than Batman. What science tries to do is explain the world around us by using empirical methods. When a theory is proved wrong, the scientist moves on, as does man.

And as for ripping religion out of people's lives and needing it to be replaced by something, once again you are speaking absolute nonsense. How does one replace something that doesn't exist? Is that one of those trinity questions in your handbook that can only be understood by those who 'believe'?

Creationists are evil in the sense that they delude (there I mean delude, not console) people in the same way charlatans delude people with con games on the street. By presenting myth as reality, their evil is clear. In the same way it is evil to deny the holocaust or the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge, presenting fiction as reality harms, not helps.

Serr8d said...

How does one replace something that doesn't exist?

O ye of little faith, and less reason.

A shame you spend so much energy and effort denouncing something 'that doesn't exist', Troy. Can't see it, can't exist, eh? You can't see my faith; can I see your reason? Show me proof that there is no god. Show me reason beyond doubt, and all religion will go away.

And, create life. You have the means, no? Since there is no god, a simple man should be able to create life. Show me. I'll wait.

In the meantime, I'll be volunteering at the crisis center just a phone call away. If you have a bad moment; if for some reason you begin to doubt your own reason for existing (is there one, really? are you sure?) I'll be glad to try to help you through your tough times.

Don't expect any quotes from Hitchens though...

Pater noster, qui es in caelis:
sanctificetur Nomen Tuum;
adveniat Regnum Tuum;
fiat voluntas Tua,
sicut in caelo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie;
et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
Sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris;
et ne nos inducas in tentationem;
sed libera nos a Malo.

Troy said...

What a load of patronizing crap. Do you actually believe this swill, or are you simply a troll looking for an internet spat?

Show you proof that God doesn't exist? Well I can't, but what I can do is think for myself and be kind to others because it is something I believe right, yes, I stress I...not because if I am not a nice little believer and think that I will be placed on a rotisserie spit for eternity if I don't follow the precepts of a cobbled together book of writings. Do you believe that women came from Adam's rib? Do you believe in the virgin birth? Do you believe in the resurrection?

I don't need to prove the non existence of my niece's imaginary friend, Thor's hammer or of a man who could walk on water. I don't need a 'reason' for my existence in order to continue living. If I choose one, then so be it.

Your insistence that as a believer you are the sole holder of compassion is so completely patronizing that it literally makes me sick. With your sole hold on compassion, will you pray for me to get better if I do indeed fall ill?

I think I'd rather try a doctor.