A New Havel Book, Neutralization of Soka Chant

I got the latest copy of The Economist (S$11). Back in January, I couldn’t afford to renew my subscription of 17 years. The biggest reason I have finished 23 books so far this year is that I’m not reading it. All the same, The Economist is an excellent source of information and I hope to restart subscription to it before long. This issue writes about a strong candidate for my reading, a book by Vaclav Havel, “To the Castle and Back,” as well as the Abe foreign policy.

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“TODAY” of 3 May says that a 26-year-old kleptomaniac woman was sentenced to a fine of S$8,000 and jail term of a day for stealing items totalling S$2,300. What is interesting though is, according to the same report, another woman was jailed 11 years in 2005 and a third woman a year in 2001. The second had stolen a S$700-worth of items and the third a S$1,000 worth. The report does not say if they were fined too. 11 years for S$700, a year for S$1,000?? Why this discrepancy of justice?

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京都・藤森神社の「駈馬」で落馬、小２男児が重傷
　５日午後４時ごろ、京都市伏見区の藤森神社で、疾走する馬の上で曲芸を行う神事「駈馬（かけうま）」の馬から、「乗子（のりこ）」の男性と同乗の大阪市内の小学２年男児（７）が落馬した。
　男児はあごの骨を折り重傷、男性にけがはなかった。
　京都府警伏見署の調べでは、男性が男児を前に乗せて手綱を操り、参道を１２０メートルほど走ったところだった。
　駈馬は毎年５月５日、境内参道の約１５０メートルの馬場を駆け抜けながら、馬上で「逆立ち」などの技を披露する神事で、市の無形民俗文化財。室町時代、武士らが馬術を神前に奉納したのが起源とされ、現在は氏子らでつくる保存会が伝承している。（2007年5月5日20時11分 読売新聞）

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At 8 pm sharp, Soka folks started again. I successfully neutralized them with Zappa again. Those fanatics cut up important photos of my family only because they showed innocuous Shinto symbols like a lantern.