Update in Myanmar

From the Washington Post, an update on Myanmar since the Military Junta started their campagn against the protesting monks.

I find it quite surprising the level of violence the government used against the monks in such a heavily Buddhist country. The most interesting (and disturbing) quote in the article was said by a five year old boy:

I don’t want to become a soldier. If I have to kill a monk, the worst thing will happen to me in my next life.

Panties for Myanmar

An Interesting Method of Protest:

BANGKOK, Thailand - Women in several countries have begun sending their panties to Myanmar embassies in a culturally insulting gesture of protest against the recent brutal crackdown there, a campaign supporter said Friday.

"It's an extremely strong message in Burmese and in all Southeast Asian culture," said Liz Hilton, who supports an activist group that launched the "Panties for Peace" drive earlier this week.

The group, Lanna Action for Burma, says the country's superstitious generals, especially junta leader Gen. Than Shwe, also believe that contact with women's underwear saps them of power.

To widespread international condemnation, the military in Myanmar, also known as Burma, crushed mass anti-regime demonstrations recently and continues to hunt down and imprison those who took part.

Hilton said women in Thailand, Australia, Singapore, England and other European countries have started sending or delivering their underwear to Myanmar missions following informal coordination among activist organizations and individuals.

"You can post, deliver or fling your panties at the closest Burmese Embassy any day from today. Send early, send often!" the Lanna Action for Burma Web site urges.

"So far we have had no response from Burmese officials," Hilton said.

I'm usually against foreigners protesting on the behalf of other people. But this may actually be effective, and it is hilarious. If anyone is interested in taking part, more information here.

The State Department and Saudi Schools

A Federal Pannel Urges State Department to Shut Down Islamic Saudi Academy in Fairfax County Virgina:

A federal panel yesterday urged the State Department to shut down a Saudi government-supported private
school in Northern Virginia unless it can prove it is not teaching religious
intolerance.

In a report released yesterday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom criticized what it called the promotion of religious extremism in Saudi-run schools around the world, including in the kingdom. It leveled particular criticism at the Islamic Saudi Academy, which operates two campuses in Fairfax County, expressing "significant concerns" that the school is promoting a brand of religious intolerance (emphasis mine) that could prove a danger to the United States.

...

State Department spokesman Karl Duckworth said the department is studying the commission's report. "We continue to engage the government of Saudi Arabia on the need to address the intolerant references toward other religious groups in their textbooks and in other educational materials," he said. "There has been progress . . . but they still have a ways to go."

The commission and other religious-freedom groups have been complaining about Saudi textbooks for years, and congressional hearings have been held on the subject. Last year, the Saudi government agreed to make changes. The commission is following up but said it has not been given access to the revised texts.
Ordinarily, the U.S. government would have little power to close a private religious school, said Kevin Seamus Hasson, president of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

But because the school is funded by the Saudi government, the U.S. government could consider the school a Saudi entity and, thus, subject to a U.S. law that gives the government wide discretion in regulating the non-diplomatic activities of foreign governments in the United States, Hasson said.

My question: Is the law allowing the US Government latitude in dealing with the school as a Saudi government agency unconstitutional when it is used to stifle religious speech?

I don’t have any knowledge about prior court cases near the nature of this situation, but it would appear they are trying to subdue speech found to be intolerant, which it clearly is. But I just do not see any legal way the government can justify shutting down the academy. Even if the speech called for killing Jews, Christians, Shias, and just about anyone else who is not a strict Sunni, unless they called for their deaths immediately it cannot be construed to produce “immanent lawless action.”