urban myth/untrue but still a great story: Ava Estelle Hunted Down And Shot Two Rapists Rambo Style

 

When two men raped Ava Estelle’s granddaughter she got even. Davis Furth, 33 and Stanley Thomas, 29 attacked Estelle’s 18 year old granddaughter. Ava took her gun and went after them.

She spent a week tracking the ex cons down to a hotel room where they were holed up. Entering the room she pulled out her 9-mm pistol and shot both men in the groin. When she left the room Furth was minus his penis and testicles and Thomas lost his testicles although doctors were able to save his penis.

“The old lady spent a week hunting those bums down — and when she found them, she took revenge on them in her own special way,” said admiring Melbourne police investigator Evan Delp. “Then she took a taxi to the nearest police station, laid the gun on the sergeant’s desk and told him as calm as could be: ‘Those bastards will never rape anybody again, by God.’

On August 21 the two men carjacked and raped granddaughter Debbie in Melbourne, Australia. Estelle, a retired library worker visited her in hospital and vowed that the two who had attacked her would pay.

“When I saw the look on my Debbie’s face that night in the hospital, I decided I was going to go out and get those bastards myself ’cause I figured the police would go easy on them,” recalled the retired library worker. “And I wasn’t scared of them, either — because I’ve got me a gun and I’ve been shootin’ it all my life.”

Estelle was on a mission. Using the police sketch of the suspects Ava prowled the underbelly of Melbourne for seven days until she saw the two thugs entering a cheap hotel. When Furst opened the door to a knocking Estelle he was greeted with a blast right between the legs. She gave Thomas the same greeting. After doing her revengeful act she went to the police station and turned herself in.

Both men are recovering but aren’t in the best shape.

Lawmen are trying to decide what to do with the 81 year old grandmother.

“What she did was wrong, but you can’t really throw an 81-year-old woman in prison.” Det. Delp said, “especially when all 3 million people in the city want to nominate her for sainthood.”

Canada Warns Men About Axcil and Desirin

Canada is warning men about two supplements being touted for natural erectile dysfunction help. The products axcil and desirin not not being sold legally in Canada and contain sildenafil.

Canadian men have been bringing the supplement back to Canada from the United States often unaware of the risks involved in the medicine.

Sildenafil is a prescription that is in both axcil and desirin and the more commonly known Viagra. It comes with medical warnings.

If a person takes the drug and has heart disease they could experience serious cardiovascular side-effects such as sudden cardiac death, heart attack, stroke, hypertension, chest pain and abnormal heartbeat. Because of that these medicines should only be taken under the guidance of a health professional.

Other side effects associated with the medicine are temporary vision loss, seizure, prolonged erection, headache, flushing, nasal congestion and abdominal pain. In addition to those persons taking any type of nitrate drug such as nitroglycerine who attempt to take this medicine can experience life threatening low blood pressure.

The Judge Snapped

Judge Robert Restaino has been removed from the bench after an incident when he jailed an entire courtroom. Restaino was presiding over a case of domestic violence in Niagara Falls when a cell phone rang out in the courtroom.

Something snapped within the judge with that ringing phone. He demanded to know whose phone it was. No one would admit to ownership.

The case where the 48 year old judge went unglued took place on March 11, 2005.

“Every single person is going to jail in this courtroom unless I get that instrument now,” he told the courtroom’s audience, according to the commission.

“If anybody believes I’m kidding, ask some of the folks that have been here for a while. You are all going.”

Security officers tried to find the phone but they failed. After a short recess the judge asked again where the cell phone was. When no one would come forward he sent each of the 46 people that were in the courtroom audience to be taken into custody with bail set at $1,500.

“This person, whoever he or she may be, doesn’t have a whole lot of concern. Let’s see how much concern they have when they are sitting in the back there with all the rest of you,” he added.

“Ultimately, when you go back there to be booked, you’ve got to surrender what you got on you. One way or another, we’re going to get our hands on something.”

Someone told the judge that it wasn’t fair for those who weren’t in the wrong and the judge agreed with him.

The audience and defendants were taken to the Niagara City jail and processed. After they were searched they were packed like sardines in the crowded city cells. Fourteen of those people couldn’t make bail so they were shackled and delivered to another prison. In the afternoon when reporters started hounding the judge he ordered their release.

The judge admitted to the commission that he had no legal basis for his actions and that it was “improper and inexcusable”. The commission has found that his actions “deliberately and methodically violated” the rights of the 46 people who were held.

While his appeal process is ongoing the judge will remain in office.

A side note about cell phones and the courtroom in Niagara Falls:

Security Measures prohibit the following in the Courthouse and facilities:
Firearms, Knives, Scissors, Pepper Spray, and all devices with the ability
to record audio, still images, or video (e.g. cell phones).Court Officers will
confiscate them. They must be vouchered until the conclusion of the owner’s
court business.

Bani Yaghoub Died October 13th

Bani Yaghoub died in prison on October 13 at Hamadan prison. She was a 27 year old medical student arrested by Iran’s morality police while walking with her fiance in a city park. He was released an hour later, she was kept in prison overnight.

By the next morning she was dead. The police handed over her bruised body to her parents. There was blood in her nose and in her ears. How did this woman die? By her own hands as the police insist or were the police behind her death?

Officials are saying that the woman committed suicide by hanging herself. Her family though don’t believe that. Her brother had spoken to his sister fifteen times prior to the time that the police say she took her own life. At no time during their phone calls did she indicate that she was thinking of killing herself. Her father is accusing the police with assaulting his daughter and then murdering her.

While the Iranian people have become accustomed to political activists and journalists being arrested and in some cases killed Yaghoub’s death has touched a nerve within the society. She was an ordinary woman who should be getting ready for her wedding and finishing medical school.

“Now people see that even an ordinary person does not have basic security; and a person simply can get arrested on a street and, instead of returning home, their bodies are buried in a cemetery,” he tells RFE/RL. “It has become a very sensitive issue in our society and created many questions.”

The Iranian Alumni Association of Majlis Representatives has asked the Ayatollah Hashemi Shahrudi to have an investigation into the matter of her death. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi has discussed the possibility of having an autopsy completed. Mehrangiz Kar says that the police and judiciary are responsible for her death regardless of how she died.

“Who, how, and why could push such a young girl — one who had a bright future ahead of her — to the point of anxiety and despair?” Kar an Iranian-born, human-rights lawyer and author tells Radio Farda. “No matter what has happened, the authorities are responsible for this death.”

While the authorities can not ignore this case because of the high media coverage it is feared that they will drag it out until the publicity surrounding it fades away.

Are you wondering what crime Yaghoub committed with her fiance that was bad enough to be held overnight in jail? She and the man she loved were holding hands in public.

Cougars On The Prowl In Kenya, Female Sex Tourists

It’s estimated that one in five woman traveling to Kenya are on a mission to find sexual partners. They are playing risky business in a country where AIDS is prevalent. Research shows that these women don’t pack condoms for little fantasy trips.

The young men that they find enjoy the gifts bestowed upon them and don’t mind being with a woman old enough to be their grandmother. The women are talking their cue from men who have played this game for centuries.

“We both get something we want — where’s the negative?” Allie a 64 year old from southern England asked in a bar, nursing a strong, golden cocktail.

While drawing the line at calling these sexual favors outright prostitution it’s playing in some very gray areas. Hotels owners have tried to discourage the behaviours by refusing to change single rooms to doubles but they can only do so much.

Kenya has long been known as a haven for sexual tourists. Years before though it was older men preying on little boys and girls. About 15,000 girls aged 12 to 18 have or are involved in sex for money. Up to 3,000 young boys and girls are working full time in the sex trade. The acts they are asked to perform are often the “most horrific and abnormal acts.” It seems sexual tourists sometimes have some kinks in their desires.

Kenya is a prime location for this type of market. Poverty makes for desperate measures.

When the elderly women come around they may be hoping for romantic and legal encounters with young native men. The younger men have no problem with joining them for a drink when they cruise the bars. It’s a chance to dine in the best restaurants and sleep on fine hotel sheets. Some experts say that it’s a thrill to the women who are on the top of the social chain when they take on their poorer, younger lovers.

“This is what is sold to tourists by tourism companies — a kind of return to a colonial past, where white women are served, serviced, and pampered by black minions,” said Nottinghan University’s Davidson.

The men go through the women quickly. One such man is Joseph who at 22 claims to have slept with more than 100 of the rich white women that are on the prowl. They are sometimes 30 years older than the handsome young man.

When I go into the clubs, those are the only women I look for now,” he told Reuters. “I get to live like the rich mzungus (white people) who come here from rich countries, staying in the best hotels and just having my fun.”

The women seem to be enjoying their chance encounters with nubile young men who cater to their desires.

Sex sells in Kenya. And the Cougars are on the prowl.

Bolivia In Dire Shape As Climate Changes

There are those who dismiss that global warming is happening. Don’t tell that to people living in Bolivia. They are witnessing the changes on a daily basis. The glaciers in Bolivia are melting. Water supply in the rugged mountainous country is in peril.

El Alto and La Paz depend on the glacier water to survive.

Quispe, a 37-year-old Aymara Indian, shows alarm on her weathered face. “Where are we going to get water? Without water how can we live?”

Experts are predicting that the glaciers will have disappeared by the middle of this century. If they are right Quito, Ecuador, and Bogota, Colombia will join their Bolivian neighbours dire status. Without water plants will not grow. Without water people will die.

The people in this area don’t depend on glacier water just for drinking and farming but for their power source as well. Add on to the fact that these areas are among the poorest in the world and you can see the signs of a disaster forming.

Millions of dollars are needed now to build up reservoirs, fix leaky distribution networks and erect power plants that use gas or oil to operate. Millions of dollars these countries don’t have.

“We’re the ones who’ve contributed the least to global warming and we’re getting hit with the biggest bill,” laments Edson Ramirez, a Bolivian hydrologist who co-ordinates UN, French-and Japanese-sponsored projects to quantify the damage exacted on fragile Andes ecosystems by richer nations that use more gas and create more pollution.

The people of these countries that have contributed the least to carbon dioxide emissions are feeling the effects of the rest of the world’s emissions.

Within two years the demand for water will not be able to be meet in La Paz-El Alto. There’s very little time to correct problems that are on their heels. Plans are just beginning and very expensive. The possible toll on the 1.7 million people that live in the area is a thing of nightmares.

The area will be seeing less rain as the climate warms up. The rain will become even less as basins dry up. Ecosystems will be altered.

“All these ecosystems are changing very quickly. In fact, every year they change at a faster pace, which has all of us very alarmed,” said Walter Vergara, the World Bank’s lead climatologist for Latin America.

The ecosystem is confused already. For the first time in history mosquitoes, flies and even butterflies have been seen at the base of one of the glaciers.

Malaria has been reported in El Alto. Malaria is a lowland disease. El Alto is four kilometres above sea level. It gets dustings of snow. It shouldn’t be a site for malaria.

Infrastructure projects totalling $60 million can guarantee El Alto-La Paz enough water for the next decade or so. The government only has $1.5 that it can invest though. Without help from the rest of the world Bolivia will falter as the climate gets warmer.

The results are in. Climate change is real.

op-ed: A Former Mayor Takes What’s Not His In Court

 

Don and Susie Kirlin of Boulder, Colorado have been railroaded by an obscure doctrine that gave a former judge part of their land.

In 1984 the couple purchased a 55 foot by 80 foot lot. It was to be their future dream house.

They had raised their kids and were finally at a place where they could start living their dreams. It was finally time to start building their little house.

Last year the Kirlins tried to build a fence around their little lot when Richard McLean and Edith Stevens sought a temporary restraining order.

The Kirlins had been warned that someone wanted their lot. Mrs. Kirlin had been told at a local football game to be cautious.

“I laughed when I first heard it. I really didn’t know that anyone had an emotional attachment to our land,” Kirlin tells me. “I was quite surprised. I was even more surprised that someone could claim our land. But my neighbor told me this was a well- connected person and I should take it seriously.”

McLean and Stevens then sued under the principle of “adverse possession.” What that boils down to is they had been using the Kirlin’s land for some time without challenge from the Kirlin’s. 25 years ago the pair had used the other couples land to get their patio. The Kirlin’s didn’t protest because they didn’t know that their neighbours had been trespassing on their land.

McLean though knew the law. He’s a former Boulder mayor and served as a district court judge.

In court McLean and Stevens even admitted that they knew they were trespassing. They knew what they were doing when they made paths on it. They knew what they were doing when they threw summer parties on it. They knew what they were doing when they held a political fundraiser on it. They knew what they were doing when they stored their wood on it.

And they knew that the Kirlin’s had been paying taxes and homeowners fees all along.

McLean and Stevens won their lawsuit gaining about one third of the Kirlin’s lot.

The story gets worse. Yesterday Colorado Supreme Court’s Attorney Regulation Counsel rejected the Kirlin’s request for a probe into the ethical misconduct of the matter.

The Kirlin’s plan to appeal.

If you didn’t think the McLean-Stevens couple could get dirtier you’d be wrong. They have asked the judge to force the Kirlin’s to pay for their legal bills.

The former judge won. His neighbours, the rightful owners of the lot can’t even build on what is left. Their dreams went up in smoke. The thing is in the end the Kirlin’s win one thing. Their name isn’t tarnished. It’s not a dream house but it is something. Something that a former mayor can’t say.

Solo Flying Kids Don’t Always Have The Airlines Looking Out For Them

At what age does a child get treated as an adult when it comes to travel? Once a child hits 12 he is considered a youth and not a minor. That difference can make for scary times for kids not used to traveling alone.

Twelve year olds are not given the privilege of early boardings even if they are traveling alone nor does staff stay with them until they reach the gate.

Every year there are many unaccompanied minors in the skies. Things can and do go wrong when these young people are traveling by themselves. There is no clear number of how many times a problem happens because airlines aren’t required to report incidents that happen with minors. Still complaints issued by parents are adding up with 36 such issued through last week.

Children have been put on the wrong flights. That happened twice in June, one of the children was 12 hours late before being reunited with their family.

Last Christmas a nine year old who was stranded due to a snowstorm in Denver had to use a stranger’s cell to get in touch with his family.

When the airlines do take responsibility for those children flying alone often times there is an additional charge that goes along with that service. In some cases up to an additional $100 on domestic flights. That figure goes even higher on international ones.

When children of the same family are traveling together the older ones sometimes get the shaft. Julio Garcia’s family found that out the hard way last August when two of his six children were stranded after spending three weeks in Paris at a French immersion program. When the siblings arrived in Houston their flight home to San Diego was diverted so the four youngest were treated to a night in a hotel. The oldest two were left at the airport on their own.

“My eldest called and said, ‘They just hauled the little kids away and left us standing here,”‘ Garcia said.

Garcia said he spoke to three different Continental employees, and told a supervisor, “Let me get this clear. It’s Continental’s policy to leave unattended minors stranded in an airport? How can you leave them in a hotel room? A hundred things can go wrong.”

In the case of solo flights parents need to prep their kids on what to do in case of a flight delay or cancellation. Giving them a booklet of emergency numbers and a phone card is a start. Have them take a recent picture of who will be picking them up with them is another good idea.

Be prepared to pay extra for the added attention that you want for your child when you get to the boarding gate. In the end the goal is for your child to have a pleasant and safe experience.

Teacher Arrested In Sudan Over Teddy Bear Named Muhammad

British schoolteacher Gillian Gibbons from Liverpool made an innocent mistake at the school in Sudan that she joined in August. Her students named a teddy bear Muhammad. She allowed it. Now she faces jail time.

The 51 year old British woman is now in jail because of what the Sudanese government deems an insult to Islam.

The teacher’s safety is in question as men have been gathering outside of the police station where she is being held. The British embassy will send an official to meet with the woman today.

The school’s director, Robert Boulos, said: “This is a very sensitive issue. We are very worried about her safety.

“This was a completely innocent mistake. Miss Gibbons would have never wanted to insult Islam.”

The school where Gibbons is teaching follows a British national curriculum. This year’s topic that is being taught in regards of animals is the bear.

Gibbons had asked a seven year old in her class to bring in a teddy bear and then the class to pick out a name. 20 out 0f 23 students choose the name Muhammad after a vote that included the names Abdullah, Hassan and Muhammad and five others.

The children took turns taking the bear home for weekends and writing diary entries about his adventures. The entries were collected in a book with the bear’s picture on the cover and the words “My name is Muhammad.”

In Islam it is an insult to attempt to make an image of the Prophet Muhammad.

On Saturday after parents had complained to the Sudan’s Ministry of Education Gibbons was arrested. The book was seized and the child who owned the bear has been asked to an interview.

The charges that will be filed against Gibbons are being prepared under article 125 of the criminal law which covers faith and religion.

Gillian is a very talented and able teacher and she was extremely popular with the pupils at this school,” said Gillian Jones, Ms Gibbons former colleague at Dovecot Primary School in suburban Aigburth.

Op-Ed: Put the Gloves on in South Carolina, Smear is Good

In a year the American people will take to the polls and elect a new government for themselves. Before that happens though they will be saturated with smear campaigns that have already started. Colbert couldn’t even get in. They’re tough in Carolina.

South Carolina seems to be where the action is if you’re into negative press and the presidential election. It’s known for it’s do or die attitude in political circles. In 2000 when Bush was a bit worried about John McCain fliers appeared saying McCain had fathered a black child. The truth of course is that he and his wife are the adoptive parents of a Bangladeshi girl. There were whispers that being a POW during Vietnam had made him unstable. After the smear campaign in South Carolina McCain never recovered.

It’s that time again. Mr McCain, Mr Romney, Mr Giuliani and Mr Thompson all have a chance to win the state. The dirt is getting ready to fly. There have been claims of lesbianism and Islamic extremism for the Democratic front runners, Clinton and Obama. To win in South Carolina you have to be able to sling a little mud. Take down your opponent in as nasty a way as possible.

Lee Bandy, who has written about South Carolina politics for 40 years, says of the Republican campaign: “The race is so close this year there is no telling what these guys will do to win. And a guy like Rudy Giuliani is a prime target.”

As it stands today Clinton and Giuliani are the leaders of their parties.

Clinton will have to contend to native son John Edwards who is trailing her by quite a bit. (39% to 15%)

Polls show that Blacks in the southern state prefer Obama. The final jury in this one may just be black female voters. It’s speculated that both will pull out their big guns.

Oprah is all about Obama. She’s also extremely popular in South Carolina.

Bill Clinton still can make a woman swoon when he sweet talks. Crowds feel like they can trust him. Trust me, trust my wife.

For the Republicans it will be a showdown between Giuliani, McCain and Fred Thompson.

Romney has a chance to get in the mix but it’s smaller than the rest of the top dogs. The use of TV ads though has upped him up the ladder a bit.

There is an eleven percentage of voters though who are undecided. Finding those voters, figuring out what makes them tick will be the trick of many political aides.

McCain has the 2000 campaign to contend with also. Many in South Carolina still believe the old smears.

In the end it’s not about who’s the best person for the job, it’s who can smile pretty for the camera while twisting that knife deep in the back of the man beside him.

It’s going to be a rocking year. Get ready, get set, get nasty.

Cave Found That Could Be Part Of The Legend Of Rome

There’s a legend in Rome about the twin founders, Remus and Romulus. According to the legend they were nursed by a she-wolf as infants in a cave. Could the legend be true? A newly found cave seems to point to that idea.

The legend is of the abandoned sons of the god Mars. They were placed in a cradle by the banks of the Tiber river where a she-wolf rescued them. She took them to her cave where she fed them her own milk to help them grow strong.

Legend also states from this site Rome was built in April 21, 753 B.C. As the city arose the brothers fought over leadership. Romulus slayed his twin Remus to become the first king of Rome.

16 meters from the ruins of Emperor Augustus an underground cavity has been located. It is decorated with seashells, colored marble mosaics and pumice stones.

The experts are fairly certain that this underground area could be a place of Lupercale worship.

“This could reasonably be the place bearing witness to the myth of Rome, one of the most well-known in the world, the legendary cave where the she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus,” Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli told a news conference on Tuesday.

Using a camera probe of the sanctuary archaeologists are investigating if this cave is what it appears to be. Augustus would have had his vast residence in such a sacred area of Rome. It’s said that he restored the sanctuary. There are thoughts that the emperor also would have connected the sanctuary to his own palace.

It will be tedious work ahead as the researchers begin investigating the finds of the cave. Two thirds or more of the cave have collapsed with debris and dirt. The entrance of the sacred cavern has yet to be found.

“We have to investigate with extreme caution… This is a precious thing which is certainly more than 2,000 years old,” said Croci.

Andrea Carandini, an archaeologist specializing in ancient Rome, said he was stunned by the find and called it “one of the most significant discoveries ever made”.

The Italian government is spending $17.7 million to restore the Palatine ruins. The palace of Augustus will be reopened to the public in February 2008.

op-ed: Freedom Of The Press Is Not Always The American Way

Iraqi Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein has been in prison for over 19 months. The U.S. military plans to seek a criminal case against Hussein but have not disclosed evidence or even the actual charges against the man.

According to Harper’s Magazine, “the order to arrest Hussein came from very high up, and the reason for the arrest was unmistakable: he was the man who took those damned photographs!”

Iraq- AP was notified on Sunday Nov. 18, 2007 that Hussein’s case would be brought into the Iraqi justice system as early as November 29, 2007.

“This is a poor example _ and not the first of its kind _ of the way our government honors the democratic principles and values it says it wants to share with the Iraqi people,” AP President and CEO Tom Curley wrote in an opinion piece in The Washington Post.

When Hussein and his lawyer enter the court they will enter it “blindly” with no idea what evidence or charges are being thrown to the photographer. Military officials have refused to disclose the content of the complaint against the man to anyone, including AP who has repeatedly requested it.

A native of Fallujah the 36 year old photograph was part of the AP’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photo team in 2005. He has been detained in Ramadi since April 12, 2006.

“In the 19 months since he was picked up, Bilal has not been charged with any crime, although the military has sent out a flurry of ever-changing claims. Every claim we’ve checked out has proved to be false, overblown or microscopic in significance,” said Curley.

The military has alleged that Hussein has ties to terrorist groups. That is something that the AP has delved into coming up empty handed. What they did note though was that he was a working photo journalist covering a war that perhaps the United States government doesn’t want their citizens to know all the sordid details. He didn’t take nice fluffy pictures, he was covering a bloody brutal war. Could he have been simply to good at his job?

“We believe Bilal’s crime was taking photographs the U.S. government did not want its citizens to see. That he was part of a team of AP photographers who had just won a Pulitzer Prize for work in Iraq may have made Bilal even more of a marked man,” Curley wrote.

U.S. officials have accused him of providing false ID to a sniper seeking to evade U.S. forces, of having bomb making equipment and that he took photos that were in sync with insurgent blasts. Not one of these accusations have been found to have merit when researched by the AP.

“The best evidence of how Hussein conducted himself as a journalist working for AP is the extensive photographic record,” Gardephe wrote. “There is no evidence — in nearly a thousand photographs taken over the 20-month period — that his activities ever strayed from those of a legitimate journalist.”

The military has refused to answer questions posed to them by Hussein’s attorney Paul Gardephe. Gardephe has also revealed that Hussein was interrogated without his lawyer present for the first time in over 16 months recently. He presumes that this was to gain some evidence to be used against the man.

“How is Gardephe to defend Bilal? This affair makes a mockery of the democratic principles of justice and the rule of law that the United States says it is trying to help Iraq establish,” Curley wrote.

Before Hussein was imprisoned he covered Fallujah or in Ramadi. The photos he took were often ones that higher ups would have preferred to remain unseen. He was able to move in and out of dangerous areas because he lived that terrain for all of his life. He had the ability to gain a press coverage that perhaps some of the West will never be able to.

Hussein had been working at a mobile phone shop when AP picked him up as a photographer. He was first hired as a translator and driver. Within months of that assignment he was taking professional quality pictures, including one of insurgents engaged with coalition forces that was part of AP’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photography entry last year.

Going into journalism in Iraq is not a wise career move. Journalists are killed or imprisoned at the drop of a hat. His family has had to flee their bullet riddled home. He once had to ditch his valuable camera gear to run for his life.

His photos were not always printed. They showed things that are too graphic for most people to view. They showed war. They showed how children reacted to war. The AP has investigated this journalist quite thoroughly. He is one of their own. Their reports on him show a dedicated man who wanted the truth to be shown.

“Hussein’s interrogators have repeatedly alluded to the photographs he took as the basis for his incarceration,” the report said. “Interrogators have focused, in particular, on several photographs taken shortly before his arrest showing Iraqi children playing with the torn-off leg of an injured U.S. or Iraqi soldier.”

The report quoted one interrogator as saying to Hussein: “Do you know what would happen if these photos were shown in the U.S.? There would be huge demonstrations

In prison he’s a marked man. He worked for a Western news service. He’s been labeled as an enemy by the U.S. military. He’s in an impossible position that had he never lifted a camera he wouldn’t have been.

Did he know terrorists? Chances are pretty high that he did. He grew up with them, went to school and mosque with some of them probably. That doesn’t mean that he is a terrorist. It doesn’t mean that he followed the same path. It does mean he would have been able though to get photos a little more easily. Gain their trust so that the world could see what is going on. Be a better journalist.

It always means that if someone doesn’t want real stories told then it’s better to get him out of the way.

“At present, Hussein is being held in a judicial limbo with the U.S. military changing their accusations against him each time they are disproved,” Fritz said.

“IPI calls on the U.S. military to release him or try him or show good cause before an independent court as to why they cannot do so.”

Until this happens, Hussein, in the eyes of the international community, will “remain an innocent AP photographer enduring what appears to be a long and unjust imprisonment,” Fritz said.

Freedom of the press? It’s becoming more freedom (if you hush about what shouldn’t be out there) of the press.

Video link to U.S. plans case against AP photographer.

Airick Browning Should Have Had Turkey With His Family

Airick Browning is in a bad situation. The Texas Youth Commission inmate could get out of the detention centre at Bart, Texas to return to his family home if he confesses to his crime of attempted rape.

The thing is Browning says he’s innocent, so instead of being at home he sits in a cell.

The confession is part of his TYC treatment and it’s the only out of jail ticket he has right now. His case though is on appeal and if he confesses to a crime that he swears he is innocent of then he won’t receive immunity and he could watch his appeal go down the drain.

This Catch-22 is the focus of a legal motion filed on November 19. His lawyers are asking for the TYC to quit trying to get the sixteen year old Browning to confess. By forcing the teen to confess his constitutional right against self incrimination is being violated. The lawyers are also asking for the court to release the youth from the centre.

“From talking with him and other children in TYC, it was pretty apparent that this policy of coercing confessions out of children was unconstitutional,” said Scott Medlock, an attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project, which is representing Airick and other inmates in a pending class-action lawsuit against TYC.

“It’s a big problem to force kids to give up their rights to go through the treatment that TYC is required to provide,” he said.

At this time there has not been a hearing scheduled. This could be a landmark case for youth who’s cases are on appeal and the ruling could make a difference to others in the Texas youth detention system.

Juvenile detention centres are different from prisons. The “goal” of these centres is to rehabilitate the children that reside within the facility. Inmates must complete educational, behavior and correctional therapy objectives before they are released. Each category that must be completed is called a step. If a inmate gets into trouble then they are pushed back down a step. There have been complaints from some youth saying that guards and staff get back at them by lodging disciplinary actions that require longer stays.

TYC has been dealing with past abuses of their inmates and working on improving their programs. On December 1 they plan on starting a new treatment program at their Beaumont unit. Other units will gradually begin new programs.

Airick has completed the steps that he needs to be released from the program. He earned his GED and was the valedictorian of his class. He hasn’t gotten into trouble while a reside.

Airick “is frequently asked by TYC staff to assist with work in the facility, such as serving other children food,” the court filing noted. He “was even designated by TYC to distribute grievance forms to other children, an important position of trust.”

Because he maintains his innocence Airick has been denied the chance to enroll in TYC’s sex offender treatment program which is a condition of his release.

“Airick has done his part by progressing through the academic and behavioral components of the TYC program, and, but for this confession issue, he would be out with his family for Thanksgiving,” Mr. Medlock said.

His mother had received a call saying her son would be released on Nov. 14. Later she was told that because of conditions dealing with his parole that release would be delayed. The conditions deal with the fact that until he wins his appeal Airick is considered a sex offender. He has to register as a sex offender to be released from TYC. Airick signed on the dots and x’s and agreed to see a parole officer and even attend outpatient sex offender treatment. Then came the Catch-22. TYC can’t release him because he hasn’t completed its treatment program. The one he isn’t allowed to attend.

TYC will not allow [Airick] to participate further in its rehabilitation programs because he is asserting his Fifth Amendment rights,” his lawyers said in the court filing. “As such, the plans for release were canceled.”

Something is wrong with the system. Hopefully the judge will right the wrongs in this case. Until then Airick sits in detention instead of celebrating the holidays with his family.

Surf Scoter Hit Hard By San Francisco’s Oil Spill

The Surf Scoter has taken a huge hit from last month’s massive oil spill in San Francisco. The sea duck that has already been on a population decline in recent decades. The spill is not going to help their population.

Twenty five percent of the dead birds found in the area have been the surf scoters. They also represent 40 percent of the birds that have been scooped up in the massive clean up effort by wildlife care workers.

Scoters rely on clams, mussels and sand crabs to survive diving their heads into the oily water. The species spends most of their time in the area hit hardest by the oil spill making the numbers much higher than other water fowl.

Worst off for this breed of duck is the fact that most of those that have been oiled have been healthy adults who may not be able to breed again.

The sea duck breed migrates to the San Francisco area from it’s native Canada. A smaller population migrates to the Atlantic Coast.

They are not listed as an endangered species although their numbers have decreased some 50 to 70 percent in the past 40 years. Sport hunters take out 25,000 to 30,000 of them a year.

“This oil spill just adds insult to injury and creates greater stress on these birds,” said Elizabeth Murdock, who heads the Golden Gate Audubon Society, which has recruited hundreds of volunteers to help recover oiled birds.

While sport hunting has thinned their numbers the main concern for these birds may be the globe is warming their breeding grounds in Canada’s Northwest Territories and the areas where they winter are filling with industrial contaminants.

Based on the average time it has taken other large oil spills to be cleaned up it may be over five years before the San Francisco area’s coastal waterway will be back to normal.

Be A Patriot, Stop For Anthem

In Thailand a new law is being proposed to promote patriotism that would force motorists to come to a complete stop when the national anthem is played twice daily. That law would cause chaos claims lawmakers.

The army appointed parliament is proposing a new Flag Bill that will promote patriotism within the country. The bill which was drafted by a group of retired and active duty generals was deferred on Thursday to give a committee time to study it.

“It would be chaotic if the bill had passed as it is now. So the National Legislative Assembly decided to set up a panel to review it,” NLA member Wallop Tangkananurak told Reuters.

The goal of the bill will “preserve tradition and instill patriotism in Thais” by having road traffic stop when the anthem plays during the raising and lowering of the national flag.

The nation’s people already stop what they are doing and stand still during the anthem. The national song is played at 8 a.m and 6 p.m everyday and broadcast from loudspeakers in train stations, parks and office buildings.

The bill would allow for motorist to be just as patriotic according to 70 year old retired General and NLA member Pricha Rochanasena.

“The national anthem lasts only one minute and eight seconds, so why can’t motorists stop their cars for the sake of the country?,” retired General and NLA member Pricha Rochanasena, 70, told Reuters.

Controversial Crezendo Condom Angers Hardliners In Madhya Pradesh

“Crezendo” is a special little condom that has a state in India questioning if it can be legal or not. In India it is illegal to have a sex toy but condoms aren’t toys they are a product that provides STD’s.

The thing with “Crezendo” is that it offers a vibrating ring. Coming in packs of three the boxes contain a battery operated ring like device. The first round of promotions claimed that it “provides ultimate pleasure by producing strong vibrations”.

India has banned both sex toys and pornography. This condom comes close to crossing the sex toy line.

There is outrage in Madhya Pradesh over the fact that a government owned company is involved with the product marketing.

Hardliners have had protests to ask the government to ban future sales. Most people though in Madhya Pradesh where the protests were held refused to be put into the firing line. Those who were willing to discuss the matter though were supportive of the condom.

It is wrong to protest against the move. It is a matter of personal choice,” Kunal Singh, a resident in the Madhya Pradesh capital, Bhopal, said.

In the end there has been no ban on the condoms in Madhya Pradesh but that hasn’t stopped the hardliners from blasting them. They are the first of India’s states to complain about their quality.

They are too thick and lack lubrication and people are rejecting them,” state Health Minister Ajay Vishnoi told Anbumani Ramadoss at a meeting the Union Health Minister had with his counterparts from the states.

Hindustan Latex company says they have made their product in order to prevent the spread of AIDS.

“The product was launched with the primary objective of addressing a fall in condom usage… A major reason cited by users was the lack of pleasure when using condoms.

“So we added the vibrating ring as a pleasure enhancer. It helps to hold the condom in position besides producing a vibrating effect,” company spokesman S Jayaraj told BBC News.

Initial response says that the condom has been well received.

Hindustan Latex Limited manufactures the product in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.

G.A.P. Adventures Cruiser Struck Down By Ice In Antarctica

A G.A.P. Adventures cruise ship struck submerged ice off of Antarctica and started to sink on Friday. In a tale that could have sounded like the Titanic luckily the fate of the passengers wasn’t as grime. All 154 souls on board are safe.

The disabled ship struck the ice 880 kilometres southeast of Ushuaia, Argentina. The passengers of the Explorer were quickly and calmly moved to rubber boats in the subfreezing water when the ship started taking on water through a hole in the hull. Nordnorge, a Norwegian cruise ship came to the rescue bringing all aboard said Susan Hayes of G.A.P. Adventures of Toronto, the owner of the cruiser.

“The ship ran into some ice. It was submerged ice and the result was a hole about the size of a fist in the side of the hull so it began taking on water … but quite slowly,” she said. “The passengers are absolutely fine. They’re all accounted for, no injuries whatsoever.”

There were 91 passengers and 54 crew members. 14 countries were represented on the Explorer which was completing an ecological tour of Antarctica. There were at least 3 Americans, 22 Britons, 17 Dutch and 10 Canadians who had taken the eco-friendly excursion that has an environmental focus.

There is a possibility that the ship will not be able to be salvaged.

the first rescue call came in at 11:30 p.m. EST Thursday when Captain Juan Pablo Panichini alerted authorities that the Explorer was taking water on despite the use of on board pumps. The decision to abandon ship came 90 minutes after the first distress call. All on board boarded the eight lifeboats and four life rafts except for the captain. The captain left at a later time.

The Ushuaia was 475 nautical miles southeast of the Explorer when the call came in. With calm seas the evacuation of the Explorer and the rescue at sea of its passengers was easily carried out.

There is always risk when venturing into Antarctica.

“There is ice in the area. Obviously it’s a hazard of the area. But it’s highly unusual (that the ship would hit the ice). This has never happened to us.”

Sparkling Brown Water Is The Natural Way

Going to the local lake is one of life’s pleasures. Having a nice family picnic while gazing out on the sparkling brown water…..hold your horses. Brown water? We may have been raised on blue water but brown is more natural.

In remote parts of the UK, southern Scandinavia and eastern North America the lakes and streams have been being stained brown over the last twenty or so years. The root cause of this discolouration is dissolved organic matter.

There has been a reduction of the level of acid rain which is leading to a colour change in local waters. The brownish tinge is actually closer to the shades that are great grandparents parents would have noticed as they relaxed by the pond.

Don Monteith, Senior Research Fellow at the UCL Environmental Change Research Centre, says: “A huge amount of carbon is stored in the form of organic deposits in soils, and particularly in the peatlands that surround many of our remote surface waters. In the past two decades an increasing amount of this carbon has been dissolving into our rivers and lakes, turning the water brown.

Before you get too gleeful though researchers are still checking the situation out. There still may be toxic levels of environmental pathways of heavy metals like aluminium and mercury which are closely tied to dissolved organic carbon. It’s still too early to know how the organic matters increasing levels will affect those toxic compounds.

This is not an effect of global warming for a change. John Stoddard of the EPA stated that chemistry records from over 500 sites across the Northern hemisphere has found this is a result of the lessening of the acid rain
that has leveled off from the higher levels of the 1970’s. As acidity and pollutant concentrations in the soil fall, carbon becomes more soluble, which means more of it moves into our lakes and rivers and more can be exported to the oceans.

Chris Evans, from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, adds: “The suggestion that waters are returning to more natural conditions may be of little consolation to water supply companies as they are faced with the increasingly difficult – and expensive — task of removing the colour from drinking water using treatment facilities that were designed to deal with the lower concentrations experienced in previous years.”

UK, USA, Canada, Norway, Sweden and Finland all helped support the study. This study is the largest of its kind and the data that the scientists have recorded shows the main source of high quality information about our head water systems.

Some of the study sites though may not have the funding to continue much longs. This is true even in the UK.

The full research was published in the science journal Nature on November 22. To read the journal article you must be a paying member.

Americans Claim Happiness, Now Let’s Fix the Country

An Associated Press-Yahoo News survey reveals most Americans are happy in their personal lives. When it comes to the country, the tone changes: 77 per cent of Americans believe the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction.

“My husband and I are happy,” said Murray, 46, a homemaker from Montpelier, Miss. “We just wish we could buy more into the American dream.”

The United States is facing a new political front next year but can the general unease that the country is headed in the wrong direction last that long?

When questioned, 88 per cent of Democrats and 62 per cent of Republicans think that the country is on the wrong track. That’s roughly three-quarters of all Americans who feel uneasy with the direction in which their country is heading.

Almost half of those surveyed expressed hope and interest for the future elections, but there’s frustration brewing and it’s largely coming from the Republican sector.

The AP-Yahoo! News survey will track voters’ perspectives from now until next year’s election, with more than 2,000 people being repeatedly asked about their views of the country, candidates and the hot-button issues. Knowledge Networks is conducting the polling and allowing the AP and Yahoo to track the results.

So far, people in the States are paying attention to what the candidates have to say — a solid majority believe their vote matters and that 2008’s election matters more than ones in the past.

There is a warning, though, for the Republicans: The Democrats are fed-up with seven years of Bush rule, and eager to get some new heads in the Oval Office.

While Republicans say the election leaves them frustrated and bored, the Dems can’t wait to get to the polls.

As AP-Yahoo News reports:

“There’s no one out there to vote for,” Rocky Belcher, 43, a Republican and college professor from Vandalia, Ohio, said about the GOP field. “That means a lot of Republicans may not get out there to vote.”

It seems it doesn’t matter how happy someone is when it comes to the Democratic nominee — they are more likely to vote this time a round. That in itself gives the Democrats a 2 to 1 opening lead.

When it comes to the issues, there is a large divide between the two parties. The Democrats tend to list the economy and health care followed by the Iraq War as priorities. Republicans, on the other hand, have three equal issues; terrorism, the economy and Iraq.

As AP-Yahoo News reports:

“That’s ridiculous,” said Joseph Lyon a 22-year-old Republican from Houston, who begins serving with the Marines early next year. “They come here to live and expect us to assimilate to them. It’s our country.”

“We need change, just something that’s completely different,” said Jenny Walsh, 28, a Democrat and convenience store manager. “It’s just slowly going downhill.”

“Something’s gotten out of synch between what we make and what things cost,” said Sandra Dempsey, 47, a child-care provider in Jonesboro, Ga. “Slowly but surely the middle class is becoming the lower class.”

“We have illegal immigrants coming in, they work for cheaper and that keeps black folks out of jobs,” said Charlie Burnette, 56, a mechanic from Durham, N.C.

Democrats are more likely to approve of marijuana smoking than Republicans, but most think heavy drinking and “stealing” files online is wrong.

The online survey of 2,230 adults was conducted Nov. 2 to Nov. 12 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.

The total number of Democrats was 1,049 and a total of 827 Republicans.

As AP-Yahoo News reports:

This Internet survey uses Knowledge Networks’ online panel, which is nationally representative because people are first contacted using traditional telephone polling methods, and then followed with online interviews. People selected for the study who do not already have Internet access are provided with it for free.

Who’s Burden Is The Cross You Wear?

Crucifixes signify that a person is Christian. They adorn the neck of the religious. Some of those crosses though come from the sweat of Chinese slaving away in factories. Those crosses have more than the blood of Jesus on them.

“Jesus, take pity on me! I’m going to die of exhaustion.”

Factory workers at the Junxingye factory in China are forced to work seven days a week for fourteen hours a day to manufacture the crosses that will be shipped to the United States. Before shipments must leave for the US there are often forced all night shifts lasting up to 25 hours. Workers routinely work over 100 hours a week, 51 of those are overtime. The legal limit of China’s work hour rules are exceeded by 514 percent. The majority of the workers at this factory are young women, some as young as 15, who can go months before they see a day off.

Those toiling to get that cross you wear to you are paid a measly 26.5 cents an hour, less than half of the legal minimum wage. Workers are paid $10.61 a week but then they have deductions that have to be paid for their company dorm room and food. When the final tally is made workers see about $3.70 a week. Those working a 91 hour week get a bit more at $30.61. That’s only 43 percent of the $70.71 that legally they should be getting.

Does that crucifix feel a little tighter now? Don’t worry there’s more to this story.

The dorms that employees reside in are filthy. Maybe it’s better to be in the sweatshop slaving away than laying on a narrow double bunk bed with only a draped sheet hanging for privacy. There are no dressers for their clothes and in the bathroom moss grows.

The food that takes money out of their paycheck is not gourmet quality. They get a soup with a few veggie leaves and drops of oil. Their meat dish has pieces of meat so small that they can’t be lifted with chopsticks.

There’s no stories of Jesus swooping in with bread and fish to feed the masses a bountiful meal.

Their bodies have rashes from the chemicals they are forced to use. The names of the toxic ingredients are not known to the workers though. Management refuses to tell them what they are using.

They have no employment contract which strips away their legal rights that other full time Chinese employees are given. If they miss a day because they are too sick to work they are docked 2.5 days wages. Every single labour law in China is being violated at the Junxingye factory.

Is that cross starting to choke you yet?

There’s money though to be made by the cross. The $4.63 billion Association for Christian Retail has followed the golden brick road to China. The association doesn’t monitor what they ask to have manufactured. They don’t even care that the people that are slaving away for their products have no freedom when it comes to religion.

Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Trinity Church and the Association for Christian Retail have 2,035 member stores and suppliers. They do not have a fair trade rule for their merchandise.

When it comes down to the ethics of that pretty little cross around your neck it seems that if one doesn’t know the price of the blood that made it then close your eyes and it’s just fine.

So in the scheme of things I leave you with one question: What would Jesus do?

Christian Group Seeks Blasphemy Charge Against BBC

In the 17th century the charge of blasphemy was a common offense. A Christian group is now trying to use the law to prosecute the producer and broadcaster of Jerry Springer – The Opera .

Once refused the group is seeking the high court of London to hear the case according to a Guardian report.

They sought to bring the charge of blasphemous libel against Mark Thompson, the director general of the BBC, and Jonathan Thoday, producer of the award-winning musical. The City of Westminster magistrates court refused permission for the group to bring about the suit. If the high court allows for the suit to be heard the two men could face a sentence of life imprisonment if they were to be convicted.

Paul Stevens of the Olswang law firm is representing Thoday. He will argue that allowing the charge of blasphemy would cross with the article 10 of the European convention on human rights. Simply put the charges goes against the right to free speech.

In 2005 the national director of the Christian Voice, Stephen Green said that the opera portrayed Christ as a “coprophiliac sexual deviant”.

The opera was based on the American TV show Jerry Springer. The opera was first performed in Edinburgh at the Edinburgh Festival in 2002. In 2003 the opera moved to the National Theatre and then to the West End. In 2005 the BBC televised the show. The televised version is what the group is after.

Toronto Woman Suspended From Job After Altering Her Uniform For Religious Reasons

A Toronto woman has been suspended without pay for adding an extra 12 inches to her skirt uniform. Halima Muse, 33 worked as a screener at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. The woman is an observant Muslim.

For five year the woman wore pants instead of the standard knee length company uniform skirt while feeling ill at ease. At that point she decided to sew her own skirt of nearly identical material. Muse had been wearing the ankle-length skirt for nearly seven months before an operations manager noticed. On August 11 she was sent home and has not been allowed to return to her job with the security company Garda because of that uniform.

The company does the X-ray handling of hand luggage and waves the metal detector over travellers. Garda is contracted by the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority.

On November 19 Muse filed a complaint with Canadian Human Rights Commission alleging that Garda has suspended her because of discrimination.

“I practice my religion and I have to wear a skirt because it’s a religious issue,” Ms. Muse said. “It’s not that I like it. I have to–it’s my religion.

Muse doesn’t understand why Garba is making a big deal over the length of her skirt when others that are with the company also alter their uniform and not always for religious means. Some of the women that she worked with shortened their uniforms. Turbans, kippas and headscarves have been permitted as part of the uniform for others with religious convictions.

Ms. Muse has the backing of her union and the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations behind her. Her union Teamsters local 847 has filed a grievance with Garda but it’s CATSA that determines the uniform policy.

“Look at the RCMP,” Ed Hawrysh, a trustee with the Teamsters local 847 said. “If the national police force can accommodate that type of religious belief, I can’t understand why CATSA can’t do something even simpler. We’re talking about a skirt. This is an issue in CATSA where they’ve made a decision and they’re not prepared to move — right, wrong or otherwise. I think it’s totally ridiculous.

Garda has stated that it is just enforcing the rules of CATSA. They claim that they have even gone to bat for Muse by asking for the allowance of the longer skirt.

“What they came back with was that they felt that the current policy they had with those alternatives addressed the concern that she had, and so for that reason they were not making a change to the policy for a longer skirt length,” Garda spokesman Joe Gavaghan said. “The situation we find ourselves in is that when you have a contract with a customer, which is what CATSA is, you have to fulfill the requirements that they set forth.”

CATSA responded yesterday that this is the first time that the agency has dealt with a request for a more modest uniform since the screening officer uniform was implemented in 2003.

“It’s important to stress the importance of the uniform and uniformity. The reason it was rolled out was to have a credible and professional corporate identity,” spokeswoman Anna-Karina Tabunar said. “We’re treating it not just as an issue of a new skirt, we’re treating it as a broader issue, a policy issue, and as such CATSA has to gather all the facts to evaluate the different aspects of the request and the impact it’s going to have on CATSA’s uniform and uniform policy.”

Tabunar did say that CATSA is prepared to ensure that Muse is not financially penalized while the organization contemplates her request.

Muse is a single mother supporting a 14 year old son.

Canada’s Infrastructure Needs a Major Overhaul

The foundations of Canadian cities are near collapse warns the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Tuesday they released a report that stated that Canada has used up 79 per cent of the life of the vital infrastructure that a city needs to exist.

To replace the aging infrastructure to a level that can support its citizens Canada will have to shell out at least $123 billion or face disaster according to Yahoo.

“We see the signs of collapse all around us,” the report said. “We take them for granted: the growing number of boil-water advisories, the cracks in the pavement which become potholes in the spring, gridlock.”

“Canada’s economy and quality of life and the health and safety of Canadians depend on the infrastructure our municipalities build and own, yet we don’t have the resources to maintain it,” Steeves said. “If we don’t act soon as a nation to tackle this deficit we will see more catastrophic failures.”

This is a problem that smaller towns will not be able to cope with on their own needing much of the costs covered by the federal government.

The breakdown of the $123 billion price tag in key areas is;

- water and waste water systems- $31 billion
- transportation- $21.7 billion
- transit- $22.8 billion
- solid waste management- $7.7 billion
- community, recreational, cultural and social infrastructure- $40.2 billion

According to the report the amount of infrastructure deficit has tripled in just the past ten years. Most of the municipal infrastructures were built in the 1950’s and 1970’s and is due to be replaced. The cost of repairing and servicing the older sectors will start to skyrocket in costs.

In some cases it’s too late for decayed structures and they will have to be decommissioned, demolished and then replaced which will add to the high costs.

Part of the problem according to the report is how taxes are distributed. There is a large gap between what the federal governments are expecting that municipalities to cover and the funds in which to do so.

Property taxes can not pay for all the work that needs to be done to bring Canada’s infrastructure up to par.

The study was completed by questionnaires to 166 municipal governments. They received back for only 85 but used those responses to come up with the $123 billion dollar price tag.

As a resident of Toronto I can attest to the high costs that the decaying transit tracks are bringing about. As soon as they are replaced the tracks again begin to cause problems.

Jeffs Sentences To Ten Years To Life

Warren Jeffs has been sentence to 10 years to life in prison for forcing a 14 year old to marry her first cousin. The leader of FLDS was given five years to life for both of the felony convictions of being an accomplice to rape.

Jeffs is the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints which believes in polygamy.

The sentences are to be served consecutively and it will be up to a state board of pardons to determine how much time he will actually spend behind bars.

For 15 months Jeffs eluded the police while on the run and was on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. He was captured in August of 2006. His trial ended with a conviction in September.

The victim is now a 21 year old who has remarried. She sat on the front row during the sentencing after addressing the judge before his final decision.

“Jeffs and his influence over me, as a 14-year-old girl, affected me and my family in so many ways,” said Elissa Wall, her voice trembling with emotion.

Jeffs led his followers in Utah and Arizona. He was considered infallible by those in his flock and thought of as delusional by outsiders.

His sect taught women to be submissive to their husbands who were allowed to have more than one wife.

Jeffs still faces charges in Arizona for sexual abuse in addition to federal charges.

“Thousands of children can sleep safer tonight with Jeffs in jail,” former church member Flora Jessop said outside the court house.

“It is a positive first step, although much more needs to be done … to protect women and children who want out of the community,” she added.

The sentencing comes just days after it was revealed that Jeffs had attempted suicide in January. He had attempted to hang himself in his cell. He also revealed to his brother that he was “not the prophet” which has the potential to damage the FLDS.

The members of the church though have been instructed not to watch television or read news on the Internet.

Dalai Lama May Pick His Own Successor

The Dalai Lama fearing that the Chinese government may try to influence the succession process is thinking about picking his own successor. The man who was as a child named Lhamo Thondup does not want the role of Dalai Lama to be ruled by the government.

Generally when a Dalai Lama dies senior Tibetan Buddhist officials guided by their dreams and signs identify a child to succeed him. The Dalai Lama though is fearful that Beijing may take over the process is trying to decide what’s best for his people, the current method or one in which he would pick out the child who would become the next in line.

“If the Tibetan people want to keep the Dalai Lama system, one of the possibilities I have been considering with my aides is to select the next Dalai Lama while I’m alive,” he told the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun during a visit to Japan.

“If China selected my successor after my death, the people of Tibet would not support him as there would be no Tibetan heart in him,” he said.

Dalai Lama is now 72 years old and though in good health needs to be concerned of his age and the way China is now trying to control the Tibetan people.

In 1950 China invaded Tibet and claims sovereignty over the country. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet 17 March disguised as a common soldier. He was joined at the Kyichu river by his family members and the rest of his entourage. Since reaching India he has resided there

China is not pleased by his involvement in politics. When he picked a six year old boy as Panchen Lama the Chinese government intervened by detaining the child and selecting a replacement who was loyal to the Chinese rule.

Beijing has denounced the Dalai Lama’s many journeys. He has visited the United States, Germany, Canada and most recently Japan.

According the the Chinese government they believe that he should only have a religious role and not a political one.

Buddhists believe that the current Dalai Lama is the reincarnation of those before him. He was found after a search party of High Lamas located him as a child. He had been born on 6 July 1935 close to the time that the previous Dalai Lama had passed away. As a young child he was able to identify relics that had belonged to his predecessor including his prayer beads.

The Dalai Lama has said that if he were reborn it would not be in any country that is not free which sadly includes his native Tibet.

Why is the birth rate in Japan declining?

Japan is facing a crisis when it comes to their birth rates. With a national average of only 1.26 live births per mother the population may not be able to sustain the aging members in the near future.

Last January Japanese Health Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa made some comments that reflected negatively on Japanese women when it came to the declining birthrate in Japan. With a bit of crudeness the Health Minister made a valid point for all that Japan has done of late to boost fertility it hasn’t worked.

Arresting the decline would be difficult, Mr Yanagisawa said, because “the number of birth-giving machines and devices is fixed”.

“All we can ask for is for them to do their best per head,” he said.

There are multiple reasons why the birth rate has become so low in Japan. Worldwide the marriage age has increased as women are more independent and a competing force in the workplace. That though can not be used as a viable factor since other countries have the same issues and still a higher birth rate.

The Japanese people when asked blame money worries, working and raising a family and lack of support for mothers.

In Japan pay is linked to age. Many young adults deal with temporary contracts that pay little. The allowances for child care are low and housing costs are high. Add in the costs of educational loans and you have a generation who are barely making ends meet.

Once a family decides to have children in Japan the mother often ends up at home with the child. This is not always because she wants to but because there is pressure in the workplace for her to do so. Jobs are not left open for mothers to be in many small and medium sized firms. Dr Kuniko Inoguchi says that 70% of pregnant women quit their jobs.

To keep the job can be difficult. The struggle to find a day care centre that keeps infants in their budgets is difficult. Others have found that they are passed by for promotion once they have given birth.

“Many women want to work and have kids,” said Mitsuko Kamaya, a housewife.

“But it’s still the case that it is either work or kids. Women feel that they have to throw one dream or the other away,” she said.

“If there was a system that guaranteed women could get back to work, I think more would feel secure enough to have kids.”

In many ways Japanese child-rearing has not changed in decades with fathers working long hours and mothers at home dealing with household tasks and taking care of baby. In previous generations though families lived together with the generations helping one another. In rural areas this is still true but not in the larger cities. That could be part of the reason that the birth rates in rural areas are above the national average.

Tokyo and Osaka City have the lowest birth rates in Japan. Recently the government has tried to bring in family friendly policies. They have added more day care centres for working families with later hours. Schools are running after school programmes. Stay at home mothers can even use pay-per-hour sitting services to have some time for themselves.

So far that hasn’t changed the plunging birth rate.

“We can try to publicise the idea that having a child is a good experience, and work to create an environment in which women feel secure enough to have one,” said Yasuko Baba of the city’s Children and Youth Bureau.

“But we can’t say ‘please have a child’. Ultimately it is up to them.”

Prostitution In Sweden Is Almost Unheard Of

In 1999 Sweden passed legislation that criminalized the buying of sex, and decriminalized the selling of sex. It appears that measure has worked, curbing the sex trade market to almost nil.

The law made it illegal to buy sex acts or pimp out another person. Pimps could face 10 years in prison for trafficking prostitutes and “johns” six months if they were caught in the act of paying for sexual services. Those selling the service though were untouched by the law.

“We have significantly less prostitution than our neighboring countries, even if we take into account the fact that some of it happens underground,” says Jonas Trolle, an inspector with the Stockholm police unit dedicated to combating prostitution. “We only have between 105 and 130 women – both on the Internet and on the street – active (in prostitution) in Stockholm today. In Oslo, it’s 5,000.”

Sweden decided when they enacted the law to criminalize the demand aspect of prostitution rather than the supply sector.

Another positive for the new law is the declining number of woman and children being brought in by sex trade traffickers. In the last few years it is estimated that the number of woman and girls brought into Sweden is 200 to 400 compared to neighbouring Finland at 15,000 to 17,000.

Sweden also provides avenues for those in the sex trade to leave it behind. The government provides needed social support so the women can rebuild their lives.

In Sweden prostitution is regarded as an aspect of male violence against women and children. It is officially acknowledged as a form of exploitation of women and children and constitutes a significant social problem… gender equality will remain unattainable so long as men buy, sell and exploit women and children by prostituting them.”

Boston Police Set To Search Teen’s Rooms Without Warrants

Does the term civil liability exist in Boston? In the next two weeks police who are assigned to the cities school system will begin going door to door of students they suspect own guns.

The police will be visiting the homes in packs of three dressed down in plain clothes.
Without warrants they are going to be searching those children’s bedrooms while their parents look on. If the parents say no they say they will leave. While the parents do have the right to say no it is feared that there will be some so intimidated by the police that they will allow for the search even though they would rather not have the police in their homes

If the police do find a gun though the teens will not be charged unless that gun has been used in a crime.

While gun violence in Boston is at an all time high what about the right of homeowners to be able to demand search warrants?

“I just have a queasy feeling anytime the police try to do an end run around the Constitution,” said Thomas Nolan, a former Boston police lieutenant who now teaches criminology at Boston University. “The police have restrictions on their authority and ability to conduct searches. The Constitution was written with a very specific intent, and that was to keep the law out of private homes unless there is a written document signed by a judge and based on probable cause. Here, you don’t have that.”

Would the police searches honestly help reduce the number of guns that flow through the hard streets of Boston? Chances are not. A gun removed is quickly replaced by another one.

The police have no intentions of going to a home where they believe a teen has been involved in a crime would live. Without warrants any gun found would not be able to hold up in a courtroom jury trial.

“In a case where we have investigative leads or there is an impact player that we know has been involved in serious criminal activity, we will pursue investigative leads against them and attempt to get into that house with a search warrant, so we can hold them accountable,” Davis said.

What about drugs? Well if the police find a joint they say they will simply confiscate it and turn their head but if they find a large haul, yes arrests may be made.

“A kilo of cocaine would not be considered modest,” said Elaine Driscoll, Davis’s spokeswoman. “The officers that have been trained have been taught discretion.”

The troops of school cops are hoping to target those kids whose parents are afraid of them. This could give them an out to get the tools of the gangs out of their house. What will happen remains to be seen though. The program is based on another one that operated in St. Louis from 1994 until 1999 when the funding ran out.

At least one parent of a child who died in the crossfire though seems to be behind the program.

Ronald Odom – whose son, Steven, 13, was fatally shot last month as he walked home from basketball practice – was at yesterday’s meeting and said the program is a step in the right direction. “Everyone talks about curbing violence,” he said, following the meeting. “. . . This is definitely a head start.”

Would you want the police searching your children’s rooms? What about profiling? Will children’s homes of all races be targeted or just minorities?

Man Arrested For Having Colorado River Frog As His High

A man was arrested for having a pet Colorado River Frog. The police contend that David Theiss had the frog simply to get high. Colorado River Frogs have a venom that can produce psychedelic effects if you like their venous glands.

The Kansas City man got out of jail on bail but his pet remains in the Kansas City police crime lab.

“People used to do it all the time, but it got faded out awhile, but came back as a fad. Not a smart one,” animal expert Danny Snyder said.

“The toxins in it can kill a lot of stuff.”

The toxins can make you high but also run the risk of killing your other pets and making a person sick.

Of course for someone to lick a frog’s glands they already may be just a bit touched. Eww!

Robber Uses Girlfriend’s Vibrator

Nicki Jex of Leicester needed a weapon to rob Ladbrokes last 27 December 2006 to get £600 in cash. Jex used a carrier bag to transform the sex toy into a gun. Pointing the vibrator at the manager of the store it appears the disguise worked.

On Monday after pleading guilty to robbery Jex was sentenced to 5 years in the Leicester Crown Court. The 27 year old is a drug addict with a string of convictions dating back from February 2002. His lawyer Phil Gibbs told the court that Jex had a fragile state of mind.

He told the court: “One can be thankful that the item he had wasn’t a firearm.

“Frankly, he didn’t care less what happened to him at that time. He was falling into the abyss and that’s the root cause of drugs.”

One of the witnesses to the robbery Wayne Vakani, followed Jex as he left the store carrying the £613 and other monies that he collected during the crime.

Jex at one point threatened Vakani with the vibrator. The man then followed Jex from a distance to see where he would end up. Vakani was awarded £500 by Judge Head for his courage in keeping up with the drug addict and giving the information to the police so an arrest could be made quickly.

Sentencing him, Judge Philip Head said: “It’s right to record that you did not have a firearm but you pretended you had and intended that those you confronted believed that you did, and it must have been truly terrifying for them at the time.”

Scattering Ashes 101

 

When it’s time to scatter ashes of a loved one to the wind you should be sure that it’s alright to do so. Not all places will allow for your loved one to hang out for eternity. There are several ways to scatter ashes from ringing to Aerial scattering.

Earlier this week there was a report out that someone scattered their ashes at Disneyland. Disneyland is one of those places that shouldn’t be Aunt Vera’s final resting spot even if it’s part of a growing trend.

The sea on the other hand is great for someone who wishes to be part of the world forever. The ashes will blow all over. Aerial scattering is done by a professional in a private plane with the same results as sea scattering. There is always the old stand by of casting one’s ashes to the wind to see where it takes them. That of course is the cheapest one of the above three choices.

Trenching is done with the use of a hoe. Simply make a trench in the soil that is legal and where your loved one would want to be. Raking is when the ashes are poured on the soil and gently raked into the ground. Ringing is done when the ashes form a circle around something. This could be a favorite rose bush or a fancy memorial.

If your loved one was into the Green movement they may want to be buried in a biodegradable scattering urn. This can often be done on top of another burial so that family ashes and remains can be together.

Was your loved one into something that you’d want the ashes to have a special scattering memory? There are many services out there for you to use.

Doomsday Vault Begins The Cool Down Process

The Doomsday vault in arctic Norway has begun the two month process of cooling down. The vault which has seeds of all known key group crops will be dropping the inside temperature to -18C. At this temperature the seeds will be preserved.

The vault is deep inside a mountain with the goal of safeguarding the world’s crops from future disasters. Not even nuclear war should be able to harm the seeds that are scheduled to arrive in mid-February.

The Norwegian government is footing the $9 million costs of the construction of the vault. IPresentationt will have space for 4.5 million seed samples.

“The seed vault is the perfect place for keeping seeds safe for centuries,” said Cary Fowler, the Global Crop Diversity Trust executive director.

“At these temperatures, seeds for important crops like wheat, barley and peas can last for up to 1,000 years.”

The vault is being built inside a mountain on the island of Spitsbergen. 621 miles north of Norway the area was picked because of its remoteness.

The seeds collection was started so that if there is a global catastrophe there will be seeds that can restart food production.

Engineers are using the natural rock and permafrost as a cold store. It’s an efficient approach to energy that is popular in Norway.

We believe the design of the vault will ensure that the seeds will stay well preserved even if forces such as global warming raise temperatures outside the facility,” explained project manager Magnus Tveiten.

op-ed: Muslims Portrayed In a Negative Light By Media

How does the average non Muslim person feel towards Muslims? Could the press to blame? A new report out from Britain says that 91% of articles written about Muslims are negative in a one week study commissioned by London mayor Ken Livingstone.

“The overall picture presented by the media is that Islam is profoundly different from and a threat to the west,” he said. “There is a scale of imbalance which no fair-minded person would think is right.” Only 4% of the 352 articles studied were positive, he said.

The report showed how the media is in a way using scare tactics when it comes to the Muslim population even using Christmas as a way to put a negative spin on things. An article whose information proved to be false depicted that Christmas was being banned in an area because it offended the Muslims that lived there.

There were a total of 352 articles that were used in the study. Of those articles only 4% portrayed the Muslim community in a positive view.

“The charge is that there are virtually no positive or balanced images of Islam being portrayed,” he said.

“I think there is a demonisation of Islam going on which damages community relations and creates alarm among Muslims.”

In the past I have questioned if journalists can change the way others view the world. Now I think I need to rephrase the question and ask is it right to allow negative spins on different religious views?

In many online news sources and blogging communities you can see very negative articles about Muslims as a whole. The same can be said about any religious view if you look for it but the world has been on a Muslim witch hunt since 9/11.

As someone who puts articles out for view I have to temper my own feelings in some cases. It’s difficult not to slate our personal feelings when we are impassioned to write an article. Staying true to journalistic standards is a very hard concept to keep when it comes to personal beliefs.

The question now is how do we put aside our personal feelings and simply report the news. Should we leave out religious convictions of those being reported? If we took out the religion card in news reports would that change the way others feel about different religions?

I have to wonder if during the aftermath of 9/11 the term extremist radicals had been substituted for the term Muslim extremist radicals would that have a difference on the way Muslim people are depicted in the media today. There is no answer to that question.

The truth is in this world there are religious wars being fought. There are media and military wars between believers and nonbelievers, Christians and Muslims, Jews and Muslims, etc. Is there a way to report on these events without putting down one side or another?

The truth is out there but it depends on the keyboard what some truths are.

What is your truth?

op-ed:War Veteran’s Arrested In Boston For Protesting Iraq War

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Eighteen veterans were arrested in an antiwar protest on Sunday in Boston. They were protesting the exclusion of their message from the Boston’s Veterans Day parade. The vets lined up in front of a podium at City Hall Plaza holding antiwar placards.

As colour guards from Massachusetts military units and JROTC bands from across the state made their way to the Government Centre for a ceremony to honour veterans after the parade they were asked to move. The vets, some of whom were wearing gags in protest refused. The Boston Fireman’s Band played the Marine’s Hymn as several protesters were lead away in handcuffs.

“Our free speech and civil rights are being abridged here,” said Nate Goldschlag, a Vietnam-era veteran who was among those standing in front of the podium. “We are veterans, too, and we should be allowed to express our opposition to this war.”

The group, Veterans for Peace had been denied the right to walk in the parade if they were holding signs opposing the war in Iraq. They had been allowed to march but only if they were silent about their stand on the war.

We were exercising our First Amendment rights,” said Winston Warfield of Dorchester, a member of the group. “The First Amendment protects free speech, even when you don’t agree with what’s being said.”

These protesters were all vets. They have fought and risked their lives for the United States and yet they are told to be silent about their views. That’s not American.

Has the United States lost the war on freedom of speech? When peaceful demonstrators are arrested for being against the war how close is the country to martial law? Although that statement is a stretch but at what point will the population say enough. We want our civil liberties back. We want to be able to protest a war without fear of arrest.

Canadians In Port Hope Test Positive For Radioactivity

With a welcoming sing that states “The Town That Radiates Friendliness” lays a little town called Port Hope about 100 KM east of Toronto. The town was paramount in early radiation testing, now it’s in danger because of that.

The town now needs just that, hope to survive the radioactive contamination that has been blowing around town for more than 70 years.

When a small group of participants donated urine samples for the Port Hope Community Health Concerns Committee the samples were found to have radioactive substances. The substances were not only in those who worked at the local nuclear facilities but average citizens as well. It seems some of those tested had high levels of radioactive isotopes in their bodies but how? Could the soil that the government said was safe not as harmless as reported? Some of those tested had worked in the plants but they haven’t had any direct exposure for decades so how are the levels still so high in their bodies today? Is it possible that the radiation levels of today have been the same as when they were originally exposed?

“People of Port Hope have been continuously and chronically subjected to inhalation of radioactive dust, including depleted uranium and different levels of enrichment of uranium isotopes,” Dr. Asaf Durakovic told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday.

With those results the health committee called in a research group, the Uranium Medical Research Centre, to look into the matter.

For about 70 years the citizens of Port Hope have been exposed to radioactivity. The source is man-made ceramized, insoluble uranium and during the past 70 years the federal government has not once tested the residents to see if there was only problems. The only reason the testing was done in the first place was residents took matters into their own hands. They could only afford the expensive testing on nine residents.

The town has a population of 16,000 people. It’s also home to Cameco uranium refinery and the Eldorado radium plant. The Eldorado plant was active in the 1930’s until 1960 when the mine was exhausted.

In it’s beings Eldorado extracted radium from pitchblende. The radium was used in cancer treatments. the product was very valuable selling at US$70,000 per gram. The ore from Eldorado was used in the first chain reaction experiments. Uranium ore from the mine was used in atomic bomb development in 1945.

The soil has been in the process of North America’s largest clean up since 2001 when the government committed to removing 3.5 million cubic meters of contaminated soil. The soil contains radium and uranium, as well as arsenic, radon and lead. So why did the people themselves have to test part of the population to see if there were any problems? The government should have wanted to make sure that the residents were safe.

The soil contamination took place before radiation was viewed as a severe threat to human and animal life. For that reason it was deemed low-level historic waste.

Glenn Case of the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Office said that earlier studies found no need to test the residents of the town. He cited a 1994 study that looked at the potential for ground and surface water contamination and the chances of that exposing humans and found there were no “short-term health risks” and that the radiation levels were within acceptable standards. The thing is if the standards were so acceptable why is 3.5 million cubic meters of soil needing to be removed? And while possible short term health risks are low what about the long term ones?

Right now there are far more questions than answers for the residents of Port Hope. At some point soon the residents deserve some logical and honest answers. They walked for 70 years on the dust of contaminated soil thinking it was safe. Was it? Now it’s time for the experts to come and let the residents know what to expect and if the government needs to act on that. Time is not to be wasted for the people’s answers.

Drafting The Diplomats To Iraq

A shortage of experienced diplomats in Iraq has forced the United States State Department to force Foreign Service officers to serve in Baghdad against their will. If 48 positions aren’t filled soon then a draft will fill them.

AFSA is the Association the represents 11,500 professional diplomats. In those ranks are 6,500 Foreign Service officers and 5,000 Foreign Service specialists including those working in security. Like many in the military they are refusing to go into Baghdad and like the military those refusals are beginning to fall on deaf ears.

Since the year began in 2003 the diplomats that have served have done so as volunteers. Ambassador Harry K. Thomas, Jr. has said that the well has run dry of those volunteering to go on the dangerous mission.

Thomas has let it be known that if there are not volunteers for the 48 positions that need to be filled by mid-November then the diplomats would be ordered to report to Baghdad under threat of dismissal. If this were to happen it will be the largest diplomatic call-up since the Vietnam War era.

AFSA contends that ‘directed assignments of Foreign Service members into a war zone would be detrimental to the individual, to the post, and to the Foreign Service as a whole. AFSA urged the State Department to find ways to increase the pool of qualified voluntary bidders.’

There have been 200-300 diplomats that are prime candidates to fill the positions that have been left open. Once notified the applicants would have 10 days to either reject or accept the position. If not enough agree to go then there will be diplomats that are ordered to go. The only way out in that case would be a medical condition or extreme personal hardship.

There was a “town hall” meeting last week in Washington where about 300 diplomats showed up to let Thomas know what they thought of the new directive. Jack Crotty told the AP that the policy is tantamount to a “potential death sentence.”

Some of the most vocal critics are the seeking to shift the blame of the early planning in the war. The diplomats are letting it be known that during the early phase of the war in Iraq that there suggestions were ignored by the Defense Department under the leadership of Donald Rumsfeld.

‘No country’s diplomatic corps has people with many of the skills now needed in Iraq: oil and gas engineers, electrical grid managers, urban planners, city managers and transportation planners. If any U.S. defence planner in 2003 thought that the State Department and other civilian federal agencies had such people on staff in large numbers (Arabic-speaking or not) ready to rebuild Iraq, they were wrong,’ says John Naland, president of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA).

Many in the diplomatic service are already stationed abroad. At this time while 21% of the military is stationed abroad there are 68% of the diplomatic services serving the country on foreign soil.

The most serious challenge for the service is that there is a lack of Arabic speakers among the ranks. In 2006 only 10 of the 34,000 employees at the State Department were fluent in Arabic.

The diplomatics do have a right to be worried about their personal safety in Iraq. The preparation time that they receive is much less than during the Vietnam War.

Naland said, ‘Foreign Service members receive very little preparation before deploying to Iraq — less than two-weeks of special training to serve in a combat zone. Contrast that to their predecessors 40 years ago who received four to six months of training before deploying to South Vietnam…’

No one wants to go to Iraq. When even the diplomats are trying to get out of duty perhaps that should be a wake up call to the Bush Administration. The war effort has failed, leave.

There’s a Big Problem In Tallevast

Tallevast is a small town in Florida’s Manatee County. There are about 250 who call Tallevast home. They are in trouble. They are a low income town with some pricey environmental issues.

Most of the residents that still live there can trace their family roots back to it’s humble 1890’s beginnings where African-American labourers built a community of shacks.

For a quarter of a century American Beryllium Company had a plant in the town. It closed in 1996 when the Cold War ended. The plant’s work of making nuclear reactors and weapons didn’t seem to be in demand anymore.

A plant closing can hurt a town but that’s not the cause of the trouble in Tallevast although the plant being there is the root. In 2000 Lockheed Martin Corp. bought the plant. It quickly discovered that the beryllium had been released into water wells in the town through an underground leak. That is the town’s problem now. The fact that Lockheed remained quiet for three additional years allowing the leak to continue endangering the residents gave the people of Tallevast the power to bring a lawsuit against the huge company.

The residents didn’t know that their water could be the cause of cancer, miscarriages, nose bloods and other health concerns. It makes sense, the EPA cites beryllium as a probable human carcinogen.

Is part of the reason that no one followed up on the rash of illnesses due to the fact that the town is poor and black? A local group called Family Oriented Community United Strong or FOCUS for short thinks so. They think that Tallevast is an example of environmental racism, the practice of using low income communities for hazardous waste.

Bill Galvano, the representative for Tallevast in the Florida State Legislature thinks the whole town should be moved to another site. He is proposing that Lockheed pay for most of the cost with that move. If Lockheed does that he thinks that the lawsuit that residents brought about in 2005 should be dropped.

‘There’s a willingness to help (from the state government) but once everybody gets lawyers, that slows things up,’ Galvano told IPS.

‘Everybody takes sides; I know how it works since I’m a lawyer myself. I’m not saying that the residents don’t have a right to bring a lawsuit since they believe they were put in harm’s way. That’s their right and that’s why we have a court system. I’m just saying that I truly believe that if everybody got together and talked about it, we could resolve this,’ he said.

That doesn’t make the residents of the town any less furious. They want some action.

‘We’re happy with his (Galvano’s) attempts to come to the table. We have made a couple of trips to Tallahassee (the state’s capital, to speak with legislators) and I haven’t heard anything back from the governor. It’s hard to get our information out of the county. The local and state governments are trying to downplay it,’ Laura Ward, president of FOCUS says.

This past summer a state agency reported that drinking the town’s water put people at risk for kidney cancer, leukemia, liver cancer or lymphoma. Since then the wells have been capped and most in the town use municipal water.

Lockheed Martin is responsible for the pollution according to Florida State Law. The company has offered up a 10-million-dollar Remedial Action Plan. The plan though will not even begin for another ten months.

‘We’ve implemented a house-selling programme (for Tallevast residents), where they can get fair market value for their houses, in case some people decide to leave the area. We don’t administer this, it’s done by an independent party,’ Gail Rymer, director of environmental communications at Lockheed, told IPS.

‘The key point is the community is safe and they’re not being exposed to any contaminants and they will continue to be safe, once the groundwater cleansing system we’re working on is finished. They’re on a public water system, so they’re in no danger,’ Rymer asserted.

But property values are down and there were residents that brought their homes without knowing that they had capped wells . Then there’s the fact that some of the residents may later get a cancer that’s roots come from the water.

Tallevast isn’t alone, 9 million people in the United States live within 1.8 miles of 413 commercial waste facilities. 5.1 million of that population are people of colour.

Last month the EPA awarded 1 million dollars in small grants to improve the environment in low income areas. But is that enough? Skeptics are doubtful when it comes to the agency’s overall record on environmental justice issues.

We haven’t heard anything from anybody there in the agency (since that September 2006 report),’ said Luke Cole, director of the Centre for Race, Poverty, and the Environment, in San Francisco, California.

‘My sense is that everybody there and also in the entire [George W.] Bush administration is just hunkering down and waiting until Mr. Bush’s term ends so that they can pass off all of their environmental-related problems along to the next president, whoever he or she may be. So it’s status quo until a new president is elected next year,’ he told IPS.

As for Tallevast the future isn’t clear. Lockheed isn’t wanting to help with the needed relocation of the residents. Only time will tell.

Teen Uses Knowledge From Mythbusters To Save A Life

Julian Shaw is a fan of the show MythBusters. Mark O’Dwyer is alive today because of that fact. O’Dwyer, 54 almost bought the farm when he fainted and fell onto the track at Lisarow train station.

Shaw was waiting for his train with school friends when he saw the older man fall onto the tracks. The 9th grader leapt onto the tracks lifting the heavier man up with a freight train closing in on them.

The teen who is a member of the punk rock band Checkered Fist moved O’Dwyer to the edge of the track and rolled him under the platform. There was still danger though as the suction on the now passing train tried to pull them into it. That’s where MythBusters comes in.

“[As the train roared past] the noise pierced your ears and there was a suction that pulled us in,” Julian said.

“I’d seen that on MythBusters, so I stayed right back and pulled Mark back towards me.”

The young man is a hero now. He stayed with O’Dwyer until an ambulance arrived to carry the North Gosford resident to hospital. The older man is very grateful for the fast thinking that prompted Julian to risk his own life while saving him.

Shaw has used the experience to write a song featuring the chorus, “I saved your soul.”

The Department of Education has sent the young hero a formal letter of commendation.

“It was scary [but] I probably would have felt heaps bad if I didn’t jump in,” he said.

“Everyone at school knows about it – kids are buying me ice-blocks and hamburgers.”

O’Dwyer suffered a back injury, three fractured ribs, a fractured shoulder, damaged knee and general bruising. He is now recovering at home.

“What an amazing young man,” said Mr O’Dwyer,”What he did was amazing. He took it upon himself and saved my life.

“I was very emotional [afterwards], I gave him a hug and thanked him for saving my life.”

U.S. Navy Exercise Has Unwelcomed Guest

When the United States do military exercises they take the security of the activity very seriously. On a recent exercise though a Chinese submarine popped up in the middle of an exercise undetected.

The exercise was conducted in the ocean between Japan and Taiwan using the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk. The Kitty Hawk carries 4,500 personnel aboard. Somehow a Chinese submarine slipped into the waters during the exercise completely undetected. The Chinese vessel is a 13 Song Class sub that is extremely quiet when using electric motors. By the time the 160ft Song Class surfaced it could have launched missiles into the Kitty Hawk. This was a major embarrassment for the Pentagon.

Not only are Navy officials red-faced at the breach of security but having to deal with the truth. the Chinese naval fleet is much more sophisticated than the U.S. had given them credit for.

Not only did the Kitty Hawk not detect the sub but neither did at least a dozen other warships that were supposed to protect the mighty warship. There were also at least two U.S. submarines in the area that failed to spot the Chinese war craft. Had this been a hostile mission the United States would have paid in countless lost lives.

The result was a volley of diplomatic exchanges between the two nations. The Americans demanded to know why the submarine was shadowing the U.S. fleet. Beijing says that it was just a coincidence and they were not aware of the exercise that was being conducted.

Analysts through think that China was trying to give the U.S. a message that their military prowess is better than anyone thought. If that is the case it worked.

Commodore Stephen Saunders said “It was certainly a wake-up call for the Americans.

“It would tie in with what we see the Chinese trying to do, which appears to be to deter the Americans from interfering or operating in their backyard, particularly in relation to Taiwan.”

Just this past January the Chinese shoot down a missile in orbit during a military missile test. It was the first time that they had done so.

Is LAPD Using Racial Profiling With The Muslim Community?

Racial profiling is going on in Los Angeles. The police department has launched an extensive mapping program to map out where there are Muslim enclaves across the city. But is this the first time that racial profiling has been used in the city?

Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Michael P. Downing defended the program by saying that it would help Muslim communities avoid the influence of those who would advocate extremism and violence. The program will take a look at look at the history, demographics, language, culture, ethnic breakdown, socioeconomic status and social interactions of certain neighbourhoods in the Los Angeles area. The program is still in its early stages and the full cost nor the final scope has been finalized.

At this point an estimated 500,000 Muslims in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties. Several Muslim and American Civil Liabilities groups have concerns about singling out individuals for data gathering based on their religious beliefs.

We are seeking to identify at-risk communities,” Downing said in an interview Thursday evening. “We are looking for communities and enclaves based on risk factors that are likely to become isolated. . . . We want to know where the Pakistanis, Iranians and Chechens are so we can reach out to those communities.”

Downing claims that the Muslim Public Affairs Council has embraced the program in concept. While not saying completely committing to the program as of yet program director Salam Al-Marayati has a meeting set up with the LAPD next week to learn more about the plan.

“We will work with the LAPD and give them input, while at the same time making sure that people’s civil liberties are protected,” said Al-Marayati, who commended Downing for being “very forthright in his engagement with the Muslim community.”

Much more of the Muslim community though is not happy at all with the planned directives of this program. Perhaps that could stem from comments like “a vicious, amorphous and unfamiliar adversary on our land” that Downing has stated when referring to the Muslim community.
ACLU Executive Director Ramona Ripston compared the program to the Red Scare of the 1950s and said: “This is nothing short of racial profiling.”

Downing says police enforcement officials across the world are dealing with radical Muslim groups that are isolated from the larger Muslim community. These smaller groups have the potential for breeding terror cells like the one that had plans to bomb Fort Dix.

“We want to map the locations of these closed, vulnerable communities, and in partnership with these communities . . . help [weave] these enclaves into the fabric of the larger society,” he said in his testimony.

“To do this, we need to go into the community and get to know peoples’ names,” he said. “We need to walk into homes, neighborhoods, mosques and businesses.”

Al-Marayati believes that Downing is working in good faith but is he a strong enough advocate for the rest of the Los Angeles area to back this program? Could this program be a much larger problem than the radical terrorists that is hoped to be tracked?

Of course this isn’t the first time that L.A. has dealt with racial profiling. In 2001 they collected information on the racial background of all persons who were stopped even though the LAPD had no means to process the information. The reasoning was to prove that the LAPD was not profiling persons who were stopped more than others.

“There is a perception that certain racial groups are stopped over others,” said LAPD Capt. Michael Chambers, a member of a task force on the consent decree. “The city is being responsive to determine if that is so.”

Since 2001 the LAPD has had officers fill out report forms of the the race, ethnicity, gender and age of a person of every person that is stopped in either a vehicle or on foot. The officer is also required to give all persons stopped a business card with their serial number on it as a receipt of the date and time that they were stopped. The information obtained in the original degree was required to be put on their website at lapdonline.org.

Since 2003 the LAPD has been vigilant when it comes to terrorism. The Terrorist Threat Assessment Center has had a phone number in place at (877) A-THREAT. People were reminded that: “Being Islamic or of Middle Eastern descent, or a Sikh or someone who wears traditional garb, is not in and of itself suspicious,” John Miller, who is head of the LAPD’s Homeland Security Bureau said.

The police in Los Angeles have a bad history when it comes to racial profiling. At one time or another Blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Arabs have all been profiled and had to endure the reverse of innocent until proven guilty. The colour of one’s skin or the religious beliefs that a person adheres to in times where fear rules makes for a bigoted view in criminal matters.

additional resources:

http://www.civilrights.org/publications/reports/racial_profiling/
http://www.acrc1.org/lapd.htm
http://www.knbc.com/news/1966329/detail.html

Thousands of Elves At The Ready

It’s that time of the year again when young children scribble out their dreams to Santa. Thousands of elves are readied with pen and paper to respond to the tykes dreams and forward the requests on to the big guy in the North Pole.

Canada Post “elves” have been activated as children across Canada and the world begin their yearly ritual of Dear Santa letters. Post Canada is expecting a record year of young writers with visions of toys dancing in the heads.

Santa himself was greeted by excited first graders at a midtown post office in Toronto on Friday. Santa arrived at the postal office in a modified postal truck. He revealed that the letters that touch his heart the strongest are of children that make requests for others.

“It’s not so much ‘give me, give me,”‘ he said in an interview. “I have so many letters that wish other people good things.”

Since the Canada Post launched it’s Santa program 26 years ago more than 15 million letters have been answered by their special postal elves. That was enough to get the Canada Post’s “Letters to Santa” program a certificate from Guinness World Records.

In case you are wondering the postal code for the North Pole and Santa’s workshop is H0H 0H0. Letters sent will be read and responded to by the elves and Santa will be aware of what the tykes want under the tree this year.

The post office is requesting that the kids save the treats for Santa until he visits their homes. If your youngster is more prone to email instead of snail mail there is a website they can visit.

Last December, Canada Post delivered more than 900 million pieces of mail, with 50 million pieces entering the mail stream on December 19 alone.

Oil Spill In San Francisco Much Worse Than Thought

The oil spill in San Francisco is worse than anyone thought. Beaches have remained closed as the struggle to clean up 220,000 litres of fuel begins. The Coast Guard is drawing harsh criticism after a delay in accessing how major a spill it is.

Beaches in the area sported signs that stated “Area Closed – Oil Spill, Hazardous Contaminants in Water.”

On Friday California Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in the Bay area to help with the fight for the wildlife affected. He signed an order directing all available resources be deployed to help the clean-up operation after inspecting the site of the 228,000-liter spill according to a statement.

“I have signed an emergency proclamation, so all the state’s resources can be coordinated to address this oil spill,” Schwarzenegger said.

This spill is the largest since 1996 when 10,000 gallons leaked out of a ship undergoing repairs.

“This is a major spill,” said Wil Bruhns, a division chief at the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.

“It certainly has the potential to cause damage to birds, fish and other wildlife.”

The problems started Wednesday morning when the Cosco Busan hit a tower of the Golden Gate Bridge. A long slash on the ship that resulted allowed for the fuel to spill into the water. The South Korea-bound container ship was dealing with a heavy fog when the incident took place. The pilot and crew all passed alcohol tests taken after the accident.

At first the Coast Guard said that it was a minor spill but the word quickly came back that was wrong. Environmental groups are already criticizing the naval operation for not getting more help to the area quicker. Even twelve hours after the spill the Coast Guard was giving out a much lowered amount of spilled fuel to authorities.

“The booms were not put in place quickly enough,” said Sejal Choksi, director of programmes for the environmental group Baykeeper.
“We’re looking at a pretty messy situation.”

The deputy director of California’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response Bud LeLand said that this spill is the worse one since he started his position in 1991. The clean up effort will take weeks to complete.

The bunker fuel was carried out to the Pacific Ocean by the tides. People that live in the area were complaining of headaches and nausea.

The area that is affected is massive. The former prison island of Alcatraz has fuel surrounding it. It is as far north as Marin County.

By Wednesday night 30,285 litres of the fuel had been recovered with 200 people working on the cleanup.

Eight oil skimming vessels are in the bay area working on the cleanup project.

Already there have been casualties with seabirds. Scientists say that the effects of the spill could threaten wildlife for years.

“The effects of the oil spill could persist for months and possibly years,” said Tina Swanson, a fish biologist with the Bay Institute.

Ten to 15 teams of wildlife rescue workers have been working on the beaches affected by the spill looking for injured animals. More than 30 birds have been taken to San Francisco’s Fort Mason for treatment.

The oil seeps into the bird’s skin leaving it unable to maintain their body temperature. They have to move to shore and risk starvation.

Wildlife officials are also concerned for the sea lions and harbor seals in the area. At this time there have been no reports of injures though.

Fish and the fishermen that harvest them are also at risk because of the massive spill. The only species that is fished in the area is herring. This is the time of the year that they spawn. Salmon also swim in the area to their spawning grounds.

“This is exactly the kind of event that can push a species into extinction,” said Swanson, of the Bay Institute.

Da Vinci’s Last Supper Could Hold Musical Code

The Da Vinci code may exist in a way. According to Giovanni Maria Pala there’s a sombre composition written into the famed “Last Supper” painting. The painting shows the last meal that Jesus had before one of his disciples betrayed him.

Pala is a Italian musician and computer technician who began to study the painting in 2003 after hearing on the news that it was thought by researchers that the famed Renaissance man had hidden a musical composition within the artwork.

It sounds like a requiem,” Giovanni Maria Pala said. “It’s like a soundtrack that emphasizes the passion of Jesus.”
Afterward, I didn’t hear anything more about it,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press. “As a musician, I wanted to dig deeper.”

The Italian man looked into every element of the painting trying to find clues that could lead him to a musical discovery. Pala first drew the five lines of a musical staff across the painting noting that the the loaves of bread on the table as well as the hands of Jesus and the Apostles could each represent a different musical note. To Pala this made perfect sense as the bread is a symbol of the Church yet the notes made no musical sense. That was before he remembered that Da Vinci’s style was the opposite of the rest of the world. Pala read the notes backwards and found that in fact there was a melody hidden in the bread and Apostles.

His discovery became his book, “La Musica Celata”.

The music is a 40 second long prayer to God according to Pala. It sounds best played on a pipe organ which was the most popular of the time period that it was written if it is indeed a message long left by Da Vinci.

The theory is plausible according to Da Vinci’s researcher Alessandro Vezzosi.

“There’s always a risk of seeing something that is not there, but it’s certain that the spaces (in the painting) are divided harmonically,” he said. “Where you have harmonic proportions, you can find music.”

Pala believes that Da Vinci’s painting and the music within proves that he was a man who loved God.

“A new figure emerges: he wasn’t a heretic like some believe,” Pala said. “What emerges is a man who believes, a man who really believes in God.”

Mr. Toilet’s New Home Is A Giant Toilet

In South Korea Sim Jae-Duck is known as Mr. Toilet. He has spent his political career beautifying the public restrooms of the nation. He now has a home befitting of his nickname, a toilet-shaped domicile.

The two story house should be finished by Sunday just in time for the World Toilet Association to commemorate the inaugural meeting. The meeting, which will have representatives from 60 countries, will gather in Seoul to learn more and spread the word about hygiene.

The U.N. believes that about 2.5 billion people live without clean water or safe sanitation.

The World Toilet Association will have exhibits that they hope the entire family will enjoy including a Hansel and Gretal toilet that’s made of cookies and candy. That exhibit will give good boys and girls who flush the commode a present. There will also be a “toilet gallery cafe” where patrons relax on commodes as they sip their tea.

Sim’s home in his hometown of Suwon has a dual process. Along with being a nice home the legislator in the National Assembly hopes that someone will offer the asking price of US$50,000 to stay there over night. The proceeds of the stay will be used for developing countries to build more and better toilets.

Sim said that there have been several people who have been interested in the over night stay but he’s planning on narrowing down the lucky Commode overnighter to be someone who can appropriately represent the cause. For a mere $1 donation though you can get a glimpse of the bowl.

“Toilets stand central to people’s lives,” Sim said as workers scurried to put the finishing touches on the home – including installing the final toilet inside.

Sim is so devoted to the cause of clean sanitation that he tore down his own home to build the new one shaped like a nearly eight metre-tall toilet bowl. The price tag on the giant commode is $1.1 million. There is a plaque at the front door announcing that you are at “Mr. Toilet’s House” in case it may have slipped your mind.

The Slaughter Of The Dolphins

Japanese fishermen slaughter dolphins. Dolphin meat is toxic so why? Why are countless dolphins trapped in nets for slaughter? Pilot whales are also in the carnage. The mercury levels in these two animals making the meat extremely toxic.

This massacre of the dolphins is by no means a new thing. It’s been part of the culture for centuries but prior to the world of the Internet it wasn’t well known. Animal activists have recently given a spotlight on the practice. The activists have used celebrities to help get the word out on the barbaric nature of this type of fishing. The activists have taken measures in their own hands at times destroying the property of the fishermen. It’s been the cause of arrests and bad feelings between the two groups.

“One fisherman told me if the whalers could kill me, they would,” says the best-known protester, Ric O’Barry, who once trained dolphins for the 1960’s TV series ‘Flipper.’ “But I always try to stay on the right side of the law. If I get arrested, I’m out of this fight.”

Dolphin meat has often been used in school lunches. The meat is fairly cheap selling at about $16 US for a kilo. Schoolchildren know the difference between whale and dolphins, it’s not hard dolphin meat smells of the toxins within.

One fisherman compared the “fishing process” to that of the United States slaughterhouses. He wasn’t that far off and he was right in saying that it’s out in the open. Visible. When people see something horrific it stays with them. Slaughterhouses are behind walls.

“If you walked into an American slaughterhouse for cows it wouldn’t look very pretty either,” says one, who identifies himself only as Kawasaki. “The killing is done in the open here so it looks worse than it is.” Most are descended from families that have been killing and eating the contents of the sea around Taiji for generations and reject arguments that dolphins are ‘special.’ Says Kawasaki: “They’re food, like dogs for the Chinese and Koreans.”

In August Assemblymen Junichiro Yamashita, 59, and Hisato Ryono, 51, from the nearby whaling city of Taiji announced the high mercury and methylmercury levels that had been found in samples of the meat of pilot whales that had been butchered. The pilot whale is actually the largest of the dolphin family. Every year 2,300 dolphins are slaughtered in Taiji. The local fishermen herd the dolphins into small coves where they spear the animals and hack them to death. In Japan it is estimated that 20,000 dolphins are slaughtered a year.

Yamashita explained, “We’re not against traditional whaling, but we heard claims that pilot whales are poisoned with mercury, and we discovered that some of this meat from a (drive fishery) was fed to kids in school lunches.”

“We tested some samples — purchased at the Gyokyo supermarket in Taiji and Super Center Okuwa in the nearby city of Shingu,” Yamashita said, adding they were “shocked” by the results.

If the meat wasn’t toxic though would the outrage still be there? Of course it would. But…and by no means am I saying that this practice is right, it is tradition. We in the West do not agree with the slaughter of animals and it happens even here in North America. The clubbing of baby seals is just one instance that comes to mind.

The fact of the matter though in this case is the meat that comes from these slaughters is no longer safe for human consumption. It may have been in the past before pollutants filled the waterways. Now it is not only unseemly to slaughter the animals but by doing so puts a nation’s young at risk when their families prepare it for them to eat. For that reason alone it should be outlawed.

If the people in Japan were more educated by their government on the danger of eating mercury filled meat they would no doubt be up in arms about this practice. The animal activist are right to be outraged at the barbarity of the “fishing” but the key at least to me is the safety issues. Those issues being more in the news have a better chance at stopping the slaughter of the dolphins.

http://www.glumbert.com/media/dolphin

Streptococcus pneumoniae 19A Found At Sick Kids

The superbug Streptococcus pneumoniae 19A that causes ear infections has lead to a child having meningitis at Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital. The antibiotic-resistant bacteria is not part of what is covered in the vaccine called Prevnar.

While the United States tracks cases of Streptococcus pneumoniae 19A Canada has not started the practice.

The Ministry of Health may soon be asking for doctors to report ear infections that do not respond to antibiotics. The ear infections may be linked to the superbug. Streptococcus pneumonia has been in Canada for a while causing hundreds of chest and throat infections and ear infections. In rare cases it is also the cause of pneumonia and meningitis. All of these illnesses can generally be treated with antibiotics. The subtype of 19A though does not respond to any antibiotic that has been approved of for children. It does seem to respond though to powerful drugs reserved for adults.

In October, Dr. Michael Pichichero published a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, describing his experience with the 19A superbug. The highlights of that report:

* He tried 18 antibiotics approved in the U.S. for children.
* In the end, the only drug that worked was levofloxacin, (also called Levaquin), which is approved for adults and is not recommended for children.
* For one child, the cure came too late, because the infection led to permanent hearing loss.

Since the use of the Prevnar vaccine pneumonia and meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae has fallen by at least 69 per cent as well as the more difficult ear infections that can bother some children. The vaccine makers are now trying to include the new “superbug” strain into the vaccine.

Some Superbugs have been created in modern times because of improper use of antibiotics. When the medicine is not taken for a full schedule remaining bacteria can evolve so that the next time the drug in introduced to the cells they ignore it.

Also the overuse of drugs to treat childhood ear infections may be behind some of these resistant bacteria. A good rule of thumb is now unless an ear infection lasts for a prolonged period to let nature take it’s course. Instead of asking your child’s doctor for medicine when they have a cold ask for ways to reduce discomfort.

Your Chocolate Bar May Have Been Made With The Use Of A Child Slave

When you take a sweet taste of chocolate do you consider how it is made? More importantly who works in the plantations? 43 per cent of the world’s cocoa is produced in the Ivory Coast of Africa. Those plantations enslave children to do the work.

In the Ivory Coast there is an estimated 10,000 child slaves. A total of 100,000 children work in the cocoa industry in the Ivory Coast. It’s difficult to identify how many are slaves as they labour beside their parents. Adding to the confusion on the number of slaves is the fact children in large numbers go to work in the plantations to escape the poverty of Mali. The Salvation Army’s anti-slavery co-ordination Captain Danielle Strickland says that it’s the responsibility of the chocolate manufacturers to make sure that their company is not using cocoa paste obtained by child slavery.

Nestle, Cadbury Schweppes and Mars Confectionery are all manufacturers that can not confirm if their chocolate is free trade. That Kit Kat bar that you enjoy may have cocoa paste harvested by a child slave.

TheAge.com reports:

“Given that Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) produces 43 per cent of the world’s cocoa you could say there is a 43 per cent chance your favourite chocolate bar has some beans produced by child slaves,” Strickland said. “There is no doubt the issue is complex, but if you are producing something you have a responsibility to find out what you are buying.”

US Congress drafted legislature in which the chocolate manufacturing industry agreed to a voluntary protocol to end abusive and forced child labour on cocoa farms by July 2005. Little though has changed.

TheAge.com reports:

“The cocoa companies trumpeted a few pilot programs, but continue to purchase and reap profits from child labour cocoa,” the US-based International Labor Rights Fund reports. “These child workers labour for long, punishing hours, using dangerous tools and facing frequent exposure to dangerous pesticides as they travel great distances in the gruelling heat. “Those who labour as slaves must also suffer frequent beatings and other cruel treatment.”

The Ivory Coast government has pledged to reform its cocoa sector by March 2008.

The only way to be sure that the chocolate that you enjoy is not made from these type of plantations is by looking at the label. If the chocolate doesn’t have a Fair trade label you may be adding to the problem without realizing it. 

The King Of The Scoops Has Been Murdered

Alisher Saipov was a true journalist. The type that has his finger on the pulse and knows just where to look for a source. At twenty six he was young and restless. His goal in life was that others knew of Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan has the most people residing in it in Central Asia. It also has one of the world’s most oppressive regimes. For Saipov though it was home, he grew up just across the border in Osh, Krygyz. He used to tell others that gave him a slight amount of freedom and he used it to be the voice of those who couldn’t tell the horrors.

“Freedom is a precious commodity, and it should not be wasted.”

His life may have been short but during that life he used his time well. He wrote. His marks that remain on the world included stories of torture in the prison system, the clampdown on dissent, economic collapse and the rise of Islamic radicalism.

Muslims have been persecuted by the government in Uzbekistan.

He traveled this life with his sound recorder, a camera and a smile. He was a journalist on the prowl for his next story. He had contacts everywhere. He knew the man who was on the run and the one who was chasing him. They both would tell Alisher their story. His friends tagged him with nicknames like king of the scoops and master of making headlines.

Two over weeks ago he showed Natalia Antelava his latest project. There was an Uzbek-language newspaper. It was being published in Kyrgyzstan and smuggled in by traders and merchants. It was the only publication that dared challenge the government. The newspaper was gaining in popularity. So was Alisher. His face began to feature on the state controlled television labeled a terrorist. The news said he was a dangerous man that had the hidden agenda of overthrowing the Uzbek government. The last time Antelava saw him he told her that there were rumours that he had a price on his head.

He was a new father. His daughter is three months old.

“Being a dad,” he said to me, “is like discovering a whole new world.”

On October 24, 2007 the rumour of a price being on his head was answered. The young journalist left his office in Osh. As he walked out three bullets entered his head and chest. The message was sent.

A message to all of those who give their communities a voice, who are trying to promote freedom in countries which does not exist. To all of those whose names you may not know, but without whom we could never tell you the full story.

Peace Activists Refused Entry At Canadian Border

Related Articles Canada proposes Afghan involvement to 2011; dropping Kyoto targets CORRECTION :Canada proposes Afghan involvement to 2011; dropping Kyoto targets Kenyan environmental activist praises IPCC and Gore on Nobel award

Six different speakers were slated to speak October 25 on Canada’s Parliament Hill as a member of a panel called “Peacebuilders Without Borders. Two of the six couldn’t show up, one in jail and the other barred entry into the country.

The problems didn’t just start for peace activists Medea Benjamin and Ann Wright in late October. The first sign of trouble was in early October when they tried to cross the border at Buffalo-Niagara Falls Bridge.

When Benjamin and Ann Wright who is against the Iraq War tried to enter into Canada on October 5 they were denied access at the border. Benjamin was informed of the crime that denied her entry.

“In my case, the border guard pulled up a file showing that I had been arrested at the US Mission to the UN where, on International Women’s Day, a group of us had tried to deliver a peace petition signed by 152,000 women around the world,” says Benjamin. “For this, the Canadians labeled me a criminal and refused to allow me in the country.”

They do have a slew of arrests between them, all are for non- violent war protests. The pair had been on route to Toronto Stop the War Coalition to protest the Iraq War.

“These are not terrorists; why do we have to protect Canadians from them?” said Ms. Olivia Chow, who represents the Toronto riding of Trinity-Spadina. “We should not be allowing the FBI or Mr. Bush to dictate our entry policy.”

So what happened this time though? Both Benjamin and Rice have been in and out of Canada with no problems in the past. This time though the pair have been added to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center database. Their combined crimes have always been misdemeanours which generally would not get them on the NCIC. The pair have travel all over the world speaking out against war.

“The FBI’s placing of peace activists on an international criminal database is blatant political intimidation of US citizens opposed to Bush administration policies,” says Colonel Wright, who was also Deputy US Ambassador in four countries. “The Canadian government should certainly not accept this FBI database as the criteria for entering the country.”

“This is outrageous. I’m appealing to Canadians not to treat peaceful activists like common criminals,” Ms. Benjamin said.

“I travel all over the world on a regular basis and Canada is the first country to use the NCIC to keep out people like us,” said the veteran activist and founding director of Global Exchange, an international social justice movement.

Medea Benjamin may not be able to come to Canada for a year. She was slated to speak on October 25 on Parliament Hill as one of six members of a panel called “Peacebuilders Without Borders: Challenging the Post-9/11 Canada-US Security Agenda.” On October 24 Benjamin, co-founder of Codepink Women for Peace and Global Exchange, was arrested for the crime of holding up two fingers in the form of a peace sign during the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing in which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice testified on Iraq, Iran and Israel-Palestinian issues.

The House hearing started with Codepink member Desiree Fairooz holding up red painted hands to Rice and shouting, “The blood of millions of Iraqis is on your hands.” Capital police were right on that, promptly removing her from the House. Shortly after that two other Codepink members were arrested just for being in the room. An hour after those two arrests Medea and a male Codepinker were arrested for no reason. Four of the five remained in jail overnight, Medea being one of those. She missed the trip to Ottawa because of it.

Ann Wright though was on her way to speak. She had her invitation from Ottawa. Being as she was one of the speakers, there shouldn’t be a problem this time to get across the border. Right? Wrong. The letter from Parliament didn’t mean diddly to Immigration Services. After four hours of of interrogation she has been banned for one year and sent back on the first flight to Washington D.C. She also has to do the following:

The officer said that to apply for a Temporary Resident Permit (TRP) for entry for a specific event on a specific date, I must provide to a Canadian Embassy or consulate the arresting officer’s report, court transcripts and court documents for each of the convictions and an official document describing the termination of sentences, a police certificate issued within the last three months by the FBI, police certificates from places I have lived in the past ten years (that includes Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia), a letter acknowledging my convictions from three respected members of the community (the respected members that I will ask to write a letter all been convicted of similar “offenses”) and a completed 18 page “criminal rehabilitation” packet.

That by the way is the standard procudere for those denied entry. It takes several months for it to be completely processed.

Whistle Blowers Are Not Protected By The Laws That Are Written For Them

Big business sometimes has big skeletons in their closet. They are not fond of those who shake off the dust and reveal problems that can cost big bucks. Government can also be considered big business when it comes to whistle blowers.

The liberal government of Canada introduced Bill C-25 in March 2004. It has been called the whistle blower legislation. The bill came out of the sponsorship scandal that parts of the government are still attempting to recover from. The auditor general at that time blew the lid on $100 million in bogus payments to several Quebec advertising firms that didn’t work to earn the money.

The United States is no exception to whistle blowers. The Bush government has used the term of terrorist when it comes to those who try to alert the public on wrongdoings.

Teresa Chambers is just one of those who has been labeled a terrorist. Hired in 2002 to the position of chief of the United States Park Police she was fired when she raised concerns about crime in the nation’s parks. She tried to regain her job by using the legal system meant to protect those who alert the public. The government lawyers fought back against this whistle blower and associated her with terrorists. At this time Chambers is still fighting to get her job back.

It’s not just the Bush government. Clinton’s administration also fought against those who tried to warn against problems in the government structure. Bogdan Dzakovic was an undercover security agent with the FAA. He spoke out on how the airport security was weak in the nation. That was three years prior to 9/11. Dzakovic didn’t lose his job but has been passed over time and again for promotions. Instead of using his talent to spot flaws that would help national security he has been hidden away consigned to data entry duties for the Transportation Security Administration.

They aren’t the only ones who have tried to alert others on security problems, fraud or corruption that happens in the
government. Every year hundreds of federal workers try to blow their whistle only to be stopped. There are laws that have been written to protect those who step up to the plate and try to make a real change but those laws rarely do what they were meant to.

Salon spent six months investigating federal whistle blowing only to find out that those who make a stand generally are silenced quickly. By doing the right thing federal employees face agency managers and White House goons whose job is to silence the lambs. 97 percent of the time whistle blowers lose their cases when it comes to federal wrongdoing. In the end those who should be considered heroes in the government end up looking at their careers going up in smoke.

Legal experts and lawmakers know that the system is in shambles. Reform is needed to protect those who speak out. Congress in fact has been working on strengthening the system but there’s a huge problem looming ahead. Reform solutions are aiming to be voted on in the Senate and if all indications stay the path it will pass, but….Bush will veto. Why? According to the Bush White House among other things its criticisms a risk to national security.

“Whistle-blowers are treated like a skunk at a picnic, and there’s no excuse for it,” Sen. Charles Grassley, the Iowa Republican, said after being provided with details of the CIR/Salon investigation. Grassley has long sought stronger whistle-blower protections and is backing the new legislation toward reform. “It’s whistle-blowers who can help us truly understand problems at government agencies. They stick their necks out to speak the truth. They don’t take the easy way out.”

“It’s imperative that there are whistle-blower protections for civil servants when they see something that is wrong,” said Lynn Jennings, an attorney who served during the Clinton administration as general counsel for the special whistle-blower court, known as the Merit Systems Protection Board. “They need to know that if they speak out they are going to be protected. Ultimately, it is to save lives, to save money, to save the integrity of the federal government.”

A Little History Lesson

In the United States modern whistle blowing can be traced to the US Senate in April 1951. A junior senator from California proposed a new law that would protect employees from having to be yes men for administration policies. That senator was Richard Nixon and his law became stalled. It may have remained in the shadows forever had it not been for a little break-in down at a hotel named Watergate. How the past can come back to kick you in the bum.

The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 was passed on the heels of the Watergate scandal. The new law created the Merit Systems Protection Board. The government knew that those who spoke out faced retaliation and this system would protect them.

Except it has never worked. Those who brave the waters speaking out lose their cases time and again.

Some Of The Victims

Joseph D. Whitson Jr. works from a basement and had his job duties stripped because he spoke out about superiors falsifying drug results. Those false reports were from the Air Force. Nothing like drugged out pilots flying to protect a country.

Vernie Gee, Sr. got written up for fighting after being beaten up. He had alerted others about tainted meat in the US food supply and bribes from slaughterhouses going to inspectors.

George Randall Taylor ended up being forced into a psychiatric hospital after he exposed rapes going on at a Navy base in Bermuda.

Remember Teresa Chambers? She had to put up with used condoms being put on her car and her office door was pepper sprayed.

Why would these tactics be happening? Simple. The powers that be want those who use their voice to give up. Quit. Look for other employment.

“One of the great tricks in whistle-blowing is to get rid of someone for a reason that doesn’t seem like it was for whistle-blowing,” said Fred Alford, a professor of government at the University of Maryland. “You do all the things you can to get someone to quit, to get them enraged, to get them to act out. Then you can fire them.”

Conclusion

The role of the whistle blower in the United States federal government should be looked upon with proud instead of finding ways to keep problems in the dark. The government has used courtrooms and terror type tactics to silence those who speak out. Bush is helping to keep those who could be helping the public safety quiet by letting it be known that he will veto new legislation that would protect whistleblowers.

But the Bush administration has vigorously opposed stronger whistle-blower protections. In a confidential e-mail from 2006, obtained by CIR and Salon, the White House registered strong objections to a congressional committee that was reviewing a similar law to protect whistle-blowers drawn up last year, saying the “excessively over broad definition of whistle blowing … forbids using any common sense.” And President Bush has said he will veto the new legislation moving through Congress, saying in a two-page Statement of Administration Policy that the new law would “increase the number of frivolous complaints and waste resources” and could “compromise national security.”

The message that is being sent out is that it is pointless to try to fix any problems. They are best left to be swept under the carpet so no one is the wiser.

Town Runs Out Of Water

In what you would expect to happen in a third world country an United States city has run out of water. A small town in Tennessee has completely run out of water. Orme, Tennessee is about 40 miles west of Chattanooga and 150 miles northwest of Atlanta.

A major drought in the southeast of the country has threatened the water supply of large cities but it’s the small towns that are in the most danger.

The Mayor of the town has been driving to the water tank and releasing a three hour supply for the 145 residents to run their washing machines, kitchen sinks and showers every evening. He can’t at the moment though as there isn’t any water in the town’s water tank.

Three days a week the volunteer fire chief hops into an antique fire truck for an early morning run to get water from an Alabama fire hydrant. Making a dozen runs the city’s water tank gets about 20,000 gallons. The residents receive their water from 6 to 9 every evening.

You never get used to it,” says Cheryl Evans, a 55-year-old who has lived in town all her life. “When you’re used to having water and you ain’t got it, it’s strange. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve turned on the faucet before remembering the water’s been cut.”

“You have to be in a rush,” she says. “At 6 p.m., I start my supper, turn on my washer, fill all my water jugs, take my shower.”

This isn’t the first time water restrictions have been placed on the town but it’s the most drastic. The city had $13,000 set aside for such a crisis. This year they have already spent $8,000. The town has received an emergency grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that Mayor Reames hopes will bring salvation.

A utility crew is laying pipe to connect Orme to the Bridgeport, Ala. water supply. If all goes on schedule it could be finished in time for Thanksgiving.

“I feel for the folks in Atlanta,” he says, his gravelly voice barely rising above the sound of rushing water from the town’s tank. “We can survive. We’re 145 people. You’ve got 4.5 million people down there. What are they going to do? It’s a scary thought.”

Op-Ed: President Stephen Colbert? It Could Very Well Happen

He hosts a fake news show, throws out insane ideas, is the Archie Bunker for our time and now running for President. It’s Stephen Colbert at your service. The thing is, this man, this comedian, could very well win. Should we be scared or go with the flow?

In one week Colbert gained 13% of voters in a match up with Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Hillary Clinton. If he were to keep this up by the end of November he would be front-runner.

Rasmussen explained, “Colbert does particularly well with the younger voters most likely to be watching his show and therefore most aware of his myriad presidential-like qualities. In the match-up with Giuliani and Clinton, Colbert draws 28% of likely voters aged 18-29. He draws 31% of that cohort when his foes are Thompson and Clinton. In both match-ups, Colbert has more support with young voters than the GOP candidate.”

My opinion is that at least you know he’s lying. He’s not smiling and trying to convince you that he’s got the plan. America may just need that. If Colbert doesn’t drop out and adds Jon Stewart to his ticket he could be using the Oval Office to write comedy skits.

When he tossed in his hat on “The Colbert Report” on Tuesday night Americans knew that it was a joke, after all he said he was running in both parties.

In a guest column for Maureen Dowd in Sunday’s New York Times, Colbert wrote: “I am not ready to announce yet — even though it’s clear that the voters are desperate for a white, male, middle-aged, Jesus-trumpeting alternative.”

At DonorsChoose.org Colbert is the clear leader. He leads on Facebook.

Could it be possible though that America takes this joke all the way to the White House?

The man born in the nation’s capital could become the first public joke in office that was meant to be a joke. He’s the youngest of eight. He learned tragedy at a young age. He was only 10 when his father and two brothers died on Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 while it was attempting to land in Charlotte, North Carolina. His first choice of career was marine biologist but he is deaf in his right ear after surgery to repair a severely perforated eardrum caused him inner ear damage. He discovered drama and that has been his niche since even though at Hampden-Sydney College he studied philosophy. He completed his secondary education at Northwestern University’s School of Communication.

So America how long will the joke run? All the way to a new residence for a comedian?

If so will the United States become laughed at? Or will the world view President Colbert as a breathe of fresh air?

Water And Greenhouse Gases

The most important greenhouse gas is water. Water effects the other gases in the atmosphere, but how? Scientists are trying to understand how water figures into the picture when it comes to global warming.

When this century ends the Earth will be warmer. That exact temperature isn’t known, it could be 2 degrees or 10 degrees. The map will look different in 2100, but how much different is up in the air. The seas could be rising a few inches which wouldn’t make that much change on your atlas. Then again we could be talking about a few feet changing the geographical view.

NASA wants to know more on how water will impact all of these changes. Using the ER-2 jet a team in Costa Rica is trying to collect information about the atmosphere 10 miles above our heads. The research has had it’s share of problems though. Minor instruments have failed to work. Lightning hit another plane punching a hole into it.

“Water is a tremendous greenhouse gas. It can condense and form all these clouds. Clouds can reflect radiation. Clouds can actually insulate the surface, if you got a cloud layer overhead the surface stays a little bit warmer. So water is really crucial to the whole process,” Paul Newman, of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center says.

Water makes water. Water makes up much of our atmosphere which amplifies the effects of all the other greenhouse gases. When carbon dioxide is added to the air it floats up and blocks some of the light trying to get back into space. That causes the earth to warm a little bit. When that happens the water in the atmosphere radiates more energy. That causes the oceans to get warmer.

“And when you make water warmer, as everybody knows in their kitchen, more water evaporates and so the atmosphere gets more water in it. And that warms things up even more. So, the net effect of all this is is that if you just put in the carbon dioxide you get a temperature change, but all that water gives you three times more temperature change than you get with the carbon dioxide alone,” Brian Toon, of the University of Colorado and a member of the Costa Rica team says.

The water in the atmosphere is what keeps the earth from being frozen.

NASA picked the Costa Rica location because it’s one of the areas on the earth where large amounts of water reach the stratosphere because of it’s huge thunderheads during the rainy season. Some of the clouds go up 60,000 feet. They transport water into a part of the atmosphere that normally is very dry. The flights are going into clouds that are so thin they are not visible to those on the ground.

“We actually flew along with the airplane and we had a laser that shoots out the bottom of the plane and you could tell that this sub-visible cirrus was there, so we actually measure it with the laser,” Newman says.

The hope is that this research may help make better predictions on the future by knowing how water affects the greenhouse effect. It’s a tall order but perhaps it will help us know what is going

How Much Is Gold Worth Compared To The Environment

Barrick Gold had planned on melting three Andean glaciers in order to get to the gold deposits laying underneath. The multinational company with offices in Toronto owns mines in Chile.

The Pascua Lama project in Chile is one of the nation’s largest foreign investments in recent years totaling $1.5 million dollars. The farmers that live downstream from the glaciers with the help of international environmental organizations and activists have protested against the proposed mine.

In the fall of 2005 environmental activists dumped crushed ice outside of the company’s Santiago headquarters to protest the proposed melting. They also marched earlier in the year spouting slogans like “We are not a North American colony” as they handed out fool’s gold emblazoned with “oco sucio” which translates into “dirty gold”.

In 2006 though Chile’s Regional Environment Commission gave permission to Barrick Gold to begin their project. They did not though approve the melting of the glaciers.

“The mine will cause severe damage to the local ecosystem because it will pollute the Huasco River as well as underground water sources,” said Antonia Fortt, an environmental engineer with the Oceana Ecological Organization.

The Pascua Lama is thought to be one of the world’s largest untapped deposits of gold ore.

Barrick Gold will use cyanide leaching in the process to remove the ore. Cyanide is extremely toxic to not only humans but other life forms. There are fears that the cyanide will come in contact with water systems and entire ecosystems downstream may pay a heavy price.

The construction of the mine began in 2006. It will begin to operate in 2009.

Barrick Gold has also been able to obtain a binational mining treaty between Chile and Argentina. The treaty will allow for machinery, ore, and personnel to easily cross between the borders.

Barrick Gold has had George H.W. Bush as an Honorary Chairman of it’s international advisory board from 1995 to 1999. It is the third largest gold mining company in the world. Gold sales in 2005 were $2.5 billion.

The company has been accused of burying 50 miners alive in Tanzania. It is said that the company disregards environmental issues in their operations world wide.

They operation 27 mining operations in 5 continents.

The company is based in Canada, but U.S. directors include: Donald Carty, CEO of AMR Corp and American Airlines, Dallas, Texas; J. Brett Harvey, CEO CONSOL Energy Inc., Venitia, Pennsylvania; Angus MacNaughton, President of Genstar Investment Inc., Danville, California; and Steven Shapiro, VP Burlington Resources, Inc., Houston,Texas.

Op-Ed: Welcome To The World’s Way Of Natural Selection

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Last week a student at East Coweta High School wrote an essay based on one Jonathon Swift wrote about among other things survival of the most intelligent. Survival of the fittest if it pleases you. Could the world already be there?

The world’s population is being hit by new health concerns daily. Why? Because as a group humans have abused and polluted this planet so much that it’s striking back. There are more dead zones in the ocean, glaciers melting, and less forests to soak up the decaying air.

Have we gone too far? Past the point where human life will not be able to reverse the negatives that we have imprinted onto the soil of this orb?

The UN Environment Programme (Unep) says there is a “remarkable lack of urgency” to reverse these trends.

“There continue to be persistent and intractable problems unresolved and unaddressed,” said Unep’s executive director Achim Steiner.

The fish are dying. The ground has dried up in some places so that nothing can grow. Diseases are evolving into superbugs.

Fish stocks are becoming unusable. Clean water is becoming a hot commodity in many areas. Farming systems are not able to feed all of the population.

“This assault on the global environment risks undermining the many advances human society has made in recent decades,” wrote UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in a foreword.

“It is undercutting our fight against poverty. It could even come to jeopardise international peace and security.”

There are those who say that climate change isn’t real. Seen any good hurricanes lately? Check out New Orleans. Or Mexico.

If the animals could talk they may differ with the naysayers. They are leavng the globe in record numbers. We are taking their food, their living quarters and then ponder their demise. Tropical cone snails can help treat cancer but they have pretty shells. Shells that have seen millions killed to decorate humans. Great trade off isn’t it?

Plants are fading away too. Their leafs used to give off more oxygen. Africa has seen a fifth of their forests disappear in the past 15 years.

How’s the water in your part of the world? Consider that water makes up more than any other element on this sphere we call home. It’s really cool too how it makes more all the time. What’s not so cool is how we pollute it over and over and then cry out when it’s not fit to drink or makes us sick or kills.

Five million will die this year from drinking water. That’s ten times the number of those who are slayed by the hands of war.

Most of the world’s water is used to grow crops. Wait a second…..we’re having to use polluted water to grow the food that will feed us.

Now that your attention has been gotten, hopefully consider this. We are not the only life forms on this planet. They need water to survive as much as we do. Life and death is playing out as we throw more chemicals into our life source.

How do you light your home? Run your car? Use your computer? We crave power. We depend on it. We truck produce thousands of miles away to get the best instead of using the closest food. We pour more gasoline in our cars to take solo drives to work. We leave on the television when we exit a room.

We use and abuse our fuel sources. The oil industry estimates we only have 40 years left of reserves. Maybe we’ll have something figured out by then.

So if all these other species are becoming extinct how does our game plan unfold?

Op-Ed: Has Television Made Gay Lifestyle More Acceptable?

Has the use of gay characters on television helped with the social landscaping of homosexuality? Would actors who out themselves be less received without the trend of gay characters on the boob tube?

Back in 1977 “Soap” really started the ball rolling with a much loved gay character played by the talented Billy Crystal. His character was one of the more realistic in a cartoonish show. While the fact he was gay was prominent it didn’t derail that the character was a good guy or one of the kinder members of the show’s ensemble.

The character was played by a heterosexual male and that perhaps helped make it acceptable at the time period.

Today it’s just as common to have a gay man playing a straight character and visa versa. The world of television seems to shape the mores of society at a quicker pace than any other current medium.

The gay community is large and diverse and increasingly multigenerational, and as that becomes truer, I think we’ll see more diversity on TV and a move from stereotypical things to less stereotypical things, as there’s more diversity to choose from.

Damon Romine is the entertainment media director for GLAAD.

Society is becoming more accepting of those with different sexual orientations. There are still fragments though that are not as accepting which leads to hate. By using a medium like television though those pockets can perhaps be educated that tolerance is the answer even when one does not approve of a lifestyle.

Although not all will agree with this thought pattern.

We have not seen any what I would consider honest portrayals of the homosexual lifestyle on television in at least 20 years.

The gays consistently are portrayed as the loyal friend, the most self-sacrificing person, even the most morally upstanding person. So the public is getting this constant picture of gay life as something exemplary.

Robert Knight is director of the Culture and Family Institute.

Shows often reflect real life. Ellen DeGeneres came out of the closet on her series “Ellen” in 1997.

Although much has improved in the rights of gays more still needs to be done. In Hollywood there are still taboos which causes some to remain in the closet.

Some say the key to creating more awareness and acceptance of gays and lesbians lies in getting gay actors to open the closet door. “We have all these gay shows but how many actors have come out? …When that doesn’t need to have to happen, that’s when we have achieved something,” says Michael Lumpkin.

Today’s shows though depict their gay characters in more realistic light than in the past. At some point we won’t even comment on the casting of sexual orientation.

Society will have evolved to tolerance.

Pets Are Part of The Family: Domestic Violence

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Pets are part of the family. In the case of families that cope with domestic violence they are in as much danger at times as the humans being abused. An abuser will use whatever and whoever they can to maintain control. Pets are included in that mix.

When a human victim runs to a domestic violence shelter they have to leave their pets behind unprotected. Domestic violence expert Frank Ascione stated that 71% of pet owners that go to a shelter said that their partner threatened their pets with either harm or death.

One abuser threatened to bury a woman’s cat in the lawn up to the head and “mow” the pet. Other threats included putting a kitten in a blender and starving a dog to death.

While it may some unheard of it can be a way to keep an abuse victim from leaving. The terror of an abusive household knows no bounds.

There is some good news now on the horizon in California.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB 353, a bill authored by State Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) that specifically allows judges to name pets in restraining orders. “This legislation will prevent abusers from harming or threatening to harm animals in order to exert power and control over their human victims,” Kuehl said.

It’s a start but considering that restraining orders aren’t an effective means at protection for their human counterparts it’s doubtful the bill will make for major improvements.

Op-Ed: Burma’s Writers Are In Danger Of Prison

What would happen if the government put a stop to poetry. If your written words expressing how you feel could make you an outlaw, would you continue to write about your way of life?

If the ink that flowed through your pen gave a defiant message would you be willing to live in a jail cell?

In Burma that is the reality for those who make marks on paper that the government deems defiant. And yet they write on. In cells, in exile, using brick powder for ink they script words of meaning.

Win Naing and Zargana are both being held in Burma. Zargana is a well known comedian. His cutting wit often targets the very issues that are current. Those issues are also expected to be censored.

“He’s very inventive,” says Htein Lin, an artist who himself served six-and-a-half years in prison (on false charges) and who now, having married a former British ambassador to Burma, lives in London. Htein Lin has been a close friend of Zargana’s ever since the older man awarded him first prize at a comedy competition, 23 years ago. “Zargana’s jokes always reflect current conditions in the country and are new and up to date. Other comedians just repeat old jokes,” he adds.

In Burma the military authorities know the power of words. That is why they seek to silence them.

In a country that has a higher education system than most around it though silence of the writers doesn’t happen. They just write in secret, their words reaching out to those who crave the knowledge that pen and paper bring.

International PEN, the global writer’s association, has a Writers in Prison Committee. Led by Sara Whyatt the committee is working to have nine writers released from prison. Their terms range from seven to 21 years.

Poets Aung Than and Zeya Aung were sentenced to 19 years a piece for the writing “anti-government poems”. The person who printed their poems received 14 years and their distributor was given seven.

Writers getting longer terms than killers in the United States is insane.

U Win Tin was sentenced to 20 years 18 years ago. He was the editor-in-chief for a newspaper called Hanthawaddy. His crime was running too many articles critical of the regime. At 77 years of age he still writes in his cell using a piece of bamboo for his pen and ink from the brick powder of his cell’s wall. He has suffered greatly during the past 18 years; two heart attacks, lost most of his teeth, and is suffering from diabetes, spondylitis, and a hernia. Still he writes.

I pose a question to you in the journalism world, if your home was replaced by a cell, your pen crushed in front of you, your keyboard tossed away would you still write?

op-ed:George And His Pet Project: WireTrapping

George Bush stood on the White House lawn today to tell the public about how Congress is messing with his pet project. You know the one, listening in on Americans talking to people in other countries.

Right now he’s wanting to make sure the phone companies don’t get in trouble when they do his bidding.

See here’s the thing. It’s basically illegal to wiretap someone. Even for the phone companies. A person who’s been wiretapped could say…..sue the criminal that listens in on their personal conversations.

But gee whiz Georgie doesn’t like that. The big companies may not go along with his plan on listening in on people if those darn phone companies obey the laws of the land.

And what Georgie don’t like means going to make a brand new law. That is if those mean kids in congress will let him.

One way of doing that is by trying to scare the pants off of Americans.

“Today the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees are considering a proposed bill that instead of making the Protect America Act permanent would take us backward,” the president said.

Now here’s the thing. Remember that story of the boy who cried wolf too often? Yeah……..Georgie seems to forget that a lot of people are considering him to be one of the biggest terrorists in the world.

Anyway Bush wants the temp bill that Congress passed in August to be forever and ever. The Democrats (a.k.a. the biggest bullies to Georgie who can’t seem to get them to listen to him)say umm let’s rework this bill and make it a bit less like the government can do anything.

The August bill is going to expire in four more months. And then if it does it’s back to the old way of doing things.

The 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act governs when the government must obtain eavesdropping warrants from a secret intelligence court.

By George doesn’t like this idea at all.

Seeking to increase the pressure on the Democratic-controlled Congress, Bush said the update has already been effective, with intelligence professionals able “to gather critical information that would have been missed without this authority.”

“Keeping this authority is critical to keeping America safe,” he said.

George is a good boy. He wants to keep Americans safe from all those mean old terrorists that don’t like America. You know those guys who drop bombs all over the country. The ones who target schools and Mosques. Oh wait……oops my bad.

British Deportees Claim Abuse On Return Trips Home

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Britain does not monitor the safety of their deportees which seems to allow for abuses to occur. A dossier of 200 cases shows a horrible truth, guards responsible for escorting deportees back to their home countries have allegedly beaten their charges.

The dossier is a collection of evidence from doctors, lawyers, immigration centre visitors and campaign groups. The deportees have been failed asylum seekers, many of whom claim that they were abused on the long trek back to their home countries.

When a deportee rides to the airport they are put in a blacked out van. They can be drug across the runway in terror and it gets no better when they are on the flight. The private security companies that do the long escorts are paid a “bounty” for getting the person back to their home country and they want that pay. They are allowed reasonable force to get this task completed but there are questions on if their force is reasonable or out right abuse.

A prison ombudsman’s team watched a video of control and restraint techniques used on a female detainee. They reported: “An officer twisted her neck and kept twisting her wrists and swore at her while another officer put his/her hand in her mouth so she could not breathe.” However, the team concluded: “It was clear that everything was done in line with proper procedures.”

One of the cases involved Armand Tchuibeu from Cameroon who sought asylum in February 2000. His application was refused last year. He was arrested and prepped for removal. His removal date was January 29, 2007. On that day he was taken by four escort officers to Heathrow to catch a plane bound for Cameroon.

He claims the escort officials put handcuffs on his right arm, when he said there was no need for handcuffs, he was fully intending to return to Cameroon the guards started to be abusive towards him. He was punched by one of the guards and told words to the effect,

You will go to your fucking country today, we will fucking show you what illegal people deserve in our country”.

After that he was put into a leg strap.

He was injured in the process. The officers did take him to hospital where his knee was put into a cast.

His deportation was aborted because of the incident.

The British government hired a private company to escort failed asylum seekers from the country.

Birnberg Peirce, the London solicitors who are handling Mr. Tchuibeu’s case have failed a civil claim for assault against the security company in question.

Dr. Frank Arnold is a doctor with the Medical Justice Network has examined more than 100 injured detainees.

He said: “Some of these injuries have been so bad that police officers who saw them appear to have been genuinely shocked. But it is my experience that medical staff who examine asylum-seekers when they are taken back into detention have greatly underestimated the severity of the injuries, including fractures and nerve damage from forcible traction on handcuffs.”

In the past two years over 1,173 attempts to return detainees to their home countries have failed. Most of these cases are the fault of the detainee being too disruptive to board a plane or an 11th hour reprieve.

A smaller but significant amount though have failed because of injuries obtained on route to the airport caused by the security personnel escorting them.

Tchuibeu has been returned to Cameroon as of last month.

Op-ed: Climate Changes Shishmaref, It’s Falling Into The Ocean

 

Some may doubt that the climate is changing but those in Arctic villages have watched their landscape changing. The melting permafrost is causing villages to slide away into the sea along with their way of life.

Shishmaref, Alaska is a town that is changing right along with the climate. It just didn’t want to.

Shishmaref is a village of 600 Inupiaq. They live on the barrier island of Sarichef. As the ocean temperature rises the fragile island is being eaten away.

As the temperatures in the Arctic rise so do the violent storms. The waves from those storms eat away the coastline by 6 to 15 meters a year. The temperatures have risen so much that ice doesn’t appear until the end of December. The Army Corps has built a dam to protect Shishmaref, Alaska from the high seas.

So far the village has watched as two of their homes have fallen into the sea. 18 more homes have had to be moved to protect them from the same fate.

The small village has spent ten million dollars on seawalls. It hasn’t helped. The ocean claims more and more land every year.

Drying fish used to be a fairly easy process but now due to climate change more flies and insects are around. They lie their eggs in the fish that is hanging out to dry.

The residents have come up with only one solution and it’s not an easy one. Relocation. The entire village will need to resettle somewhere that isn’t being ravished by the seas.

This isn’t the only Alaskan village that is facing losing their homeland. 164 of the 213 Native villages are in danger. They battle floods and erosion with no light at the end of a long tunnel.

To counteract the effects of climate change Alaska will require at least $6.1 billion dollars to repair it’s fallen bridges, ravished roads and bursting water pipes.

Another hazard in the Alaskan permafrost comes from human sources. The government buried toxic radioactive materials in the frozen ground. Now as the permafrost melts those toxins are being unearthed.

Whether or not people believe in global warming the fact is the world’s landscape is changing. As we sit and debate the problems, more villages, cities, countries are watching as the changing climate is changing their home.

At one point the question was would we be ready for global warming’s effects. The answer is upon us and it’s not the one we wanted.

The effects of climate change are here and no we’re not ready. Not by a long shot.

Does The U.S. Military Have An Evangelizing Problem?

Are troops fighting in the Iraqi war being forced to endure promotion of other religious beliefs? It seems that may be the case as at least one lawsuit has been filed alleging that constitutional rights have been violated.

U.S. Army Spec. Jeremy Hall is a nonbeliever. His Army major supervisor is a believer. Hall has been berated for not joining in a Thanksgiving Day prayer in the past by a staff sergeant according to an ABC News report.

According to Hall he had permission from a chaplain to post fliers for a group meeting of atheists and other nonbelievers in August. As the group began their meeting his Army major supervisor broke up the meeting with threats of retaliation against him. One of those threats was the blocking of reenlistment in the Army.

On Sept.17 Hall and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation filed a lawsuit against Army Maj. Freddy Welborn and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. The case hinges on the fact that Hall’s constitutional rights have been violated. One of the claims in the lawsuit is that Hall was forced to submit a religious test to qualify as a soldier.

This is the first of many lawsuits that MRFF plans to bring in the coming weeks.

The group was founded by Michael “Mikey” Weinstein in 2005. His goal is “to show there is a pattern and practice of constitutionally impermissible promotions of religious beliefs within the Department of Defense.”

Weinstein isn’t some flashy ambulance chaser. His career has included being an Air Force judge advocate and assistant counsel in the Reagan White House. He claims that his group has received more than 5,000 complaints in the two years it has been in existence.

If you think it’s just the nonbelievers crying that someone is forcing them to listen to Bible stories you may be surprised that 95% of the complaints come from Christians. The chief complaints are dealing with the improper evangelizing of a particular brand of Christianity.

As ABC News reports:

At the Defense Department, spokeswoman Cynthia Smith says the DOD doesn’t comment on litigation, but “places a high value on the rights of members of the Armed Forces to observe the tenets of their respective religions.”

The United States Armed Services has prided itself on ensuring that soldiers of all faiths could worship in their own way. They have also worked hard to make sure that the First Amendment prohibition of any government “establishment of religion” is followed.

In the 1990s, for instance, the Air Force’s Little Blue Book of core values highlighted religious tolerance, emphasizing that military professionals “must not take it upon themselves to change or coercively influence the religious views of subordinates.”

Weinstein insists that these are not the values he’s after in Iraq. It’s the ones that endanger the life of a soldier and send a wrong message to those in the Middle East that this war is a Christian war.

He alleges that Lt. Gen. William Boykin has given speeches in churches while in his uniform that speaks in negative tones about Islam.

As ABC News reports:

Speaking of a Muslim warlord he had pursued, Lt. Gen. Boykin said, “I knew my God was a real God and his was an idol.” And our enemies “will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus.”

The charges that will be forthcoming have to do with the obsessed groups that force others to listen to their biblical worldview.

Weinstein has been on this mission since his son experienced pressures within the military because of his Jewish beliefs while attending the Air Force Academy (AFA) in Colorado Springs. After Congressional hearings and DOD investigations the head of the academy admitted that there were significant problems.

In 2004 retired Col. David Antoon took his son Ryan to an orientation for the academy. The overt evangelistic approach caused the alumnus and his son to reject the institution and instead Ryan attends Ohio State University.

As ABC News reports:

“My son had dreamed of doing what I had done, but it was no longer the institution I went to,” Colonel Antoon says, his voice cracking with emotion.

Those in Iraq almost received a special “freedom packages” from OSU (Operation Stand Up) as part of an Army program. Along with valuable items such as socks and snacks the soldiers would have received a video game. “Left Behind: Eternal Forces” is a game where Christians fight a war against people who believe in other faiths. That along with materials in both Arabic and English used to proselytize. The only reason those packages were not sent is that the plan was made public. It was announced in August that the mailing will not take place.

Weinstein’s client Specialist Hall has had death threats made on military blogs since the lawsuit went public. The Army is looking into it. The lawyer himself has had to have his front window replaced twice after the glass has been shot out.

Weinstein is outspoken. His tactics are in your face.

As ABC News reports:

“He’s uncovered some very disturbing stuff that shouldn’t be going on in the armed forces,” says Marc Stern, a religious liberty expert at American Jewish Congress. “But it’s important that you not go too far.”

“He did a disservice to his and our cause by taking a position beyond what the law requires, and in fact may intrude on people’s rights,” Stern adds.

There are several Christian ministries that would love for the military to be part of their world transformation. They are active in U.S. military installations in several countries. They publicly say their goal is “to transform the nations of the world through the militaries of the world.”

Hopefully Weinstein’s lawsuits will bring this issue out into the public eye.

Could Blood Transfusions Cause Heart Attacks?

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Could the life saving blood we donate be causing heart attacks and strokes to those who receive it? When blood is stored it loses a very important component called nitric oxide that is vital in oxygen delivery to the tissues.

Nitric oxide breaks down as soon as blood hits storage according to new research reports MSNBC.

Two separate research teams discovered that the important component in the blood begins breaking down quickly. This could be a key factor to why some receiving transfusions are more prone to heart attack and stroke.

“It doesn’t matter how much oxygen is being carried by red blood cells, it cannot get to the tissues that need it without nitric oxide,” said Dr. Jonathan Stamler of Duke University, leader of one of the research groups.

When blood vessels are denied nitric oxide they do not open up. That doesn’t allow for the red blood cells that are meant to deliver oxygen to flow. When they can’t flow the cells back up and tissues are not oxygenated. The resulting problem of this is heart attack.

“The issue of transfused blood being potentially harmful to patients is one of the biggest problems facing American medicine,” said Stamler.

At present time blood is stored for 42 days and then disposed of. Every year 14 million units of red blood cell transfusions are required in the United States. 4.8 million citizens benefit from donated blood. Sadly some of these people have life altering complications because of the very blood that is meant to save their lives.

Within the first three hours that blood is collected it begins to change. Nitric oxide depletion begins during this period.

Stamler said in a telephone interview that the researchers knew that nitric oxide is responsible for opening up small blood vessels, but had not previously measured the amount of that chemical in stored blood.

“Surprisingly, we found blood depleted profoundly by day one and it remained depleted through day 42,” he said.

There is hope. When nitric oxide is restored the red blood cells were able to do their job again. Blood has been tested using nitric oxide in dogs and in the lab.

“This is an important observation and it needs to be followed up,” said Dr. Louis Katz, a past president of America’s Blood Centers, which provides about half the nation’s blood.

“If you are going to store red cells, is there a way to make sure appropriate nitric oxide levels are maintained?” said Katz, who was not part of the research teams.

While these findings show a risk when having a blood transfusion it doesn’t outweigh the risk to a person if they are bleeding to death. Without the blood a patient will die. With the blood a patient has a better chance to survive

Op-Ed/ Bush Vetoes Child Health Bill

Instead of making sure 10 million American children have proper health coverage George Bush vetoed the bill. Saying that the proposed bill would have gone beyond the programs original purpose Bush signed away health care for millions.

At this time SCHIP insures about 6.6 million people, almost all of whom are children. It is meant to be for families who earn too much income to qualify for medicaid and yet are not wealthy enough to be able to afford private insurance.

The bill that was vetoed was calling to increase the program by using a federal tax on cigarettes. The increased funding for the program would have insured an additional 4 million children.

Bush has said he fears that by increasing the income cutoff for SCHIP citizens would abandon private insurance for the government’s version. He thinks that would wind up being too costly.

Speaking after vetoing the bill, Mr Bush said: “The focus of the government ought to be to help poor children and to focus on poor children.

“And the policies of the government ought to be to help people find private insurance, not federal coverage.”

Bush is not winning any popularity points with this latest show of power.

Rahm Emanuel, chairman of the House Democratic caucus, drew a parallel with the administration’s request for $190bn funding for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008.

He said: “The president has asked for an open-ended, open-wallet commitment to Iraq, and the American children get an empty stocking.”

Gee, George if Congress gives you the money to blow up stuff in Iraq will you allow the children living in your country to stay healthy enough to be able to go fight your war?

Oldest Hanson Brother In Hospital With Pulmonary Embolism

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Issac Hanson, the oldest brother of the cutesy pop group Hanson is in hospital with a pulmonary embolism. The 26 year old singer complained of chest pains after a performance Tuesday night at the House of Blues.

The singer was wise to alert others of his pain. The condition pulmonary embolism can be fatal. Sudden death can happen when large blood clots block an artery in the lung. Even with smaller clots there is the danger of damage both to the lungs and the heart.

The most common cause of this condition is when a blood clot forms in a deep vein in one’s leg. That clot then breaks free and travels to the lungs. While in the lung it becomes trapped in one of the smaller lung arteries. More rare is when tumors, air bubbles, amniotic fluid or fat blocks a blood vessel.

Symptoms of pulmonary embolism begin suddenly.

The most common symptom is shortness of breath. Often chest pain follows. Some experience a pink, foamy mucus when they cough. Some of the other symptoms mimic a panic attack such as anxiety, sweating, lightheadedness, fainting, rapid heart rate or palpitations, and an impending sense of doom.

The condition has been in the news in the past because of airline travel. There has been several deaths in the past because of the reduced blood circulation that can happen on long flights and car trips. Recent surgery, stroke, heart attack, heart failure, cancer, lung disease, being overweight, using birth control pills, and smoking are also risk factors for pulmonary embolism.

Some people are more prone to this condition because of clotting problems. Increased clotting can be caused by cancer, severe infections or simply inherited.

There are several test to determine if one has an embolism. From a simple chest x-ray to a much more complicated spiral CT scan. The main problem though in diagnosing the condition is that it mimics other more common problems like heart attacks and pneumonia. Thankfully in most areas a chest x-ray is used in the treatment of those illnesses. Sadly it also mimics a panic attack which can at times delay classic testing that can save your life.

Treatment focuses on prevention. Preventing the clot from growing and preventing more clots from forming. Heparin and warfarin are the most common drugs used for this. Most blood clots that cause pulmonary embolism will dissolve on their own in time, a few weeks or months, although some never dissolve completely.

Meanwhile resting in the hospital Hanson is said to be in stable condition.

“We appreciate thoughts and prayers that have been out there for him,” brother Taylor said by phone from Tulsa, Oklahoma, the band’s hometown.

“We want the tour to go on, so you know we are working steadfastly to see how long he’s going to need to rest.”

Two Decades Are Needed To Regain Forests In Greece

It will take twenty years in Greece to regain the forests that were lost from this summer’s fires. The fires killed 65 people and the country lost more than half of their forest land and protected nature reserves.

“We will have low vegetation in the beginning, but we won’t have a forest before the end of a 20-year period and our generation will never see fir forests in these areas again,” said Panagiota Maragou, who drafted a WWF report on the damage.

The environmental loses from the fires are still too early to completely calculate. Some animals including turtles, lizards and the golden jackal have been hurt but the damage to them won’t be known for some time.

For nearly two weeks Greece’s skyline was dark smoke. It’s feared that arsonists were behind the fires as dozens started at the same time.

As winter approaches there is fear that flash floods could be a problem. The singed ground will not be able to absorb rain. Lumberjacks are working in the areas most likely to flood getting wooden blocks set in place to help reduce the chance of flooding.

WWF Greece President Dimitris Karavellas has announced that his group will be watching the country and act if it appears land developers try to take advantage of the situation. That is something that has happened in the past in the area.

“We have already established a team of lawyers, legal experts who are on standby and who will address every individual case and take them to court to stop illegal (building) activity,” he said.

“It is not climate change that caused the fires. The reasons for the tragedy this summer can be found in the years of indifference regarding the protection of forests.”

Silence Is Not How Activists Work

Jennifer Flynn knows there are eyes in the walls. She has been followed. She’s an activist pushes for funding and better treatment for those living with AIDS. Does someone want to silence her?

The woman knows what it’s like to be followed. In 2004 the day before the New York City AIDS Housing Network Rally at the Republican National Convention she visited her family in Hillside, New Jersey. Noticing a car with New York tags parked outside of the house she made note of it. When she left that evening to return to her Brooklyn home she noticed that the car started to follow her. Then there were two more vehicles tailing her. She weaved in and out of traffic, the cars stayed on her trail. She slowed down long enough allowing one of the cars to come up beside her. Gesturing at the men in the car they “threw up their arms as if to say, ‘We’re only doing what we’re told,’” she remembers.

Finally along Goethals Bridge on the Jersey side they stopped their pursuit. She made it home only to find another car with two men in it using laptops. Looking out at 4a.m. she was shocked to see them still there.

In New Jersey she had jotted down one of the license plate numbers and gave it to a lawyer she called in a panic, Christopher Dunn.

The license was traced to a company called Pequot and a post office box outside of the city. It’s common practice for the police and law enforcement agencies to “hide” undercover cars in false addresses. The NYPD though wasn’t involved. Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence David Cohen said no one was under surveillance because of the rally.

The city that the post box was traced to is Amenia. Population 1,115. The street from the license plate exists, just not the address. Someone suggested the reporter working the story go to the post office.

The post office gave some clues perhaps, but more questions came from their answer.

“That’s not a real company,” the assistant says. “The people who used that box, they’re from New York. They used to come here and get the mail, but not anymore.”

Colgan is tempted to elaborate, but doesn’t.

“I can’t because of the sensitive nature of the issue,” she says.

Flynn still hasn’t any idea who followed her or if the incident had anything to do with the GOP Convention. Of course you have to realize that activists had 1,806 arrests among them at that convention. People were arrested and instead of being taken to jail were held for hours in a West Side pier warehouse. The New York Civil Liberties Union is suing. They also want the release of raw NYPD intelligence reports detailing police surveillance of activists and protest groups.

The activists are starting to learn. In America it’s better to be silent and go with the flow.

“When you use scare tactics, you really are curbing our right to dissent against the government,” she said. “The only thing this is serving to do is squash public dissent. By going after the organizers of a rally, you really are sending a message – ‘Don’t hold a rally.’”

Op-Ed: George Bush’s Latest Request

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George Bush wants more. That old surveillance plan, you know the one that was passed last month? It’s out of date. It’s time to make sure we don’t miss anything. It’s time for a little change to the wording.

Saying that the older surveillance laws are out of date, Bush told Congress on Wednesday they need to pass permanent legislation that allows for warrantless surveillance on all communications of a foreign terror suspect by intelligence agencies.

USA News reports that Bush’s remarks come a day after Mike McConell told the House Judiciary Committee that less than 100 Americans have become surveillance targets after being overheard conversing with foreign terror suspects.

Legislation passed by Congress last month “has helped close a critical intelligence gap, allowing us to collect important foreign intelligence and information about terrorist plots,” Bush said after he was briefed at the National Security Agency.

“The problem is the law expires on February 1 — that’s 135 days from today. The threat from al-Qaeda is not going to expire in 135 days,” Bush said.

The law that Bush wants is so broad that it would allow for spying on Americans.

The law is written “so broadly and loosely that it permits the government to intercept … anyone even thought to be abroad,” Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers of Michigan said at Tuesday’s hearing.

The key to the new law may just be lawsuits. The Bush administration wants the law to include immunity from lawsuits for telecom companies that help with the intelligence agencies.

“These restrictions would impede the flow of information that helps us protect our people,” Bush said Wednesday. “These restrictions would reopen gaps in our intelligence that we had just closed.”

It is doubtful that Bush would back down from his wants. Once he gets an inch with congress he goes back and demands a foot. It may just be part of the philosophy though of the National Security Agency. Reporters looking around at the unclassified information on the walls in the National Threat Operations Center noticed a sign that is very telling.

Along one wall at NSA is a sign that says, “We won’t back down. We never have. We never will.”

Listening To William Gibson

September 21, 2007 saw another installment of This Is Not A Reading Series featuring William Gibson at Bloor St. United Church in downtown Toronto. The pews were filled waiting for a revolutionary author to share wisdom on his craft.

Hosted by Mark Askwith the evening was a rare one when the words of an author and the process of writing a novel were on the forefront.

Mr. Gibson entered the stage wearing khakis and a black long sleeve shirt, his black lace up sneakers belying the age of this famed author of nine novels.

The Virginia born author came to Canada to avoid being drafted into the military during the Vietnam War in 1967. He currently resides in the Vancouver area.

His latest science fiction novel is entitled Spook Country. Tonight the book could be purchased at the venue. Gibson is known for his cyber-punk method of weaving a story that captivates his audiences.

He related that when he reads to a crowd the first time it’s like he’s reading his novels for the very first time. Tonight he read the fourth chapter to an entranced audience.

“Writing springs from Zeus- that hasn’t been the case for me.”

Gibson talked about sitting in front of his computer waiting for the words to come as he prepares to write a novel. Google is generally on his screen while he writes and erases and writes again.

When I discovered what was in the box it was a lovely day for me in the basement.”

He told the audience that when he starts the writing process he isn’t always sure what will happen. He enjoys it when things start to form together delighted with the revelations that he gets while a novel is being worked out.

He described his love for both Google, “What’s a little Google” and E-Bay.

He liken Google to a the beginning of a universal prosthetic brain. The web site helps him with his writing by offering so much information at his fingertips. Considering all the research he needs for his novels it’s a handy little tool that he readily uses.

If it disappeared tomorrow you would miss your Google.

One instance that Google helped was when his current novel should have been two days into publishing. He was informed that GPS can not locate a person through walls. He had a day to fix that portion of his story. Google and his own wry intelligence saved the day.

As for E-Bay he has a boyish love and fascination for the web auction house saying that you could become someone’s worst nightmare with the buying. When asked what his current wants on the site were he laughed and said he wasn’t telling so no one else would get it.

He goes to the site everyday and misses when he could check out what others were bidding on. He also uses E-Bay to JPEG toys that he had when he was a kid. Of course his childhood toys are items he doesn’t bid on. It’s be too creepy.

Books are the oldest mass media. We’re still making wheels-making books until we come up with something better.

Using the wheel analogy for marking those black marks on a page that draws people’s interest to read Gibson gave praise to the creativeness of readers. No one reader reads the same book because of the internal visualizations that their personal views bring out.

While two of his short stories have made it to film including Johnny Mnemonic starring fellow Canadian Keanu Reeves, Gibson thinks much of his work is too visible to adapt into screenplay. He simply describes the surroundings too clearly.

To him reading and writing novels are very formal medium. Blogging is more one on one than a novel where one “falls into a good book like a warm bath.”

While many perceive science fiction as futuristic Gibson thinks that using the genre in the present time period works well. His last two novels show that idea. Spook Country is written present day.

Some of his novels during the 1980’s seemed to have warnings mingled into the themes. The cold war with Russia and the United States and a fear of no real future seemed to be a part of science fiction of that time. Gibson stated that he thought a world corporation could easily take the place of government because it was bad for business.

He doesn’t think his characters are well rounded enough to see people emulating them. He’s still working on that.

As wonderful as life is a fair bit of it is creepy.”

Those words sum up Gibson’s writings. He writes about a world that needs a happy ending even with it’s seedy underbelly. It’s part of his reality.

Sorry Kids I Say Veto…….Bush On Federal Children’s Health Plan

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President Bush called Democrats “irresponsible” September 22 for pushing on an expansion he’s against when it comes to a children’s health insurance program. He talked about the program during his weekly radio address.

“Members of Congress are risking health coverage for poor children purely to make a political point.”

What’s the problem? The Democrats want to add more people to the program by adding $35 billion over a five year period. It would take the rosters up to 6.6 million who could take part in the program compared to the 4 million already using it. Part of that funding would come from adding 61 cents to $1 onto the federal cigarette tax. Not only do the Dems support the idea but there’s quite a bit of Republican support as well.

Except for the big cheese that is. George Bush says he will veto it. Stating that the cost is too high and that it would extend into families who can afford private coverage. He doesn’t want to have federalized health care in the United States.

The program that is now being used by the government expires on the 30th of the month. If Congress can’t get a solution then children using Children’s Health Insurance Program may be out of luck until they do in 15 states that have no funding left for the program..

“Our goal should be to move children who have no health insurance to private coverage — not to move children who already have private health insurance to government coverage,” Bush said.

Forced Abortions China’s Shame

In China you are allowed one child. That’s it. If you choose to attempt for another one you could be forced to have an abortion. Although the practice is illegal it is still happening. Telling the story can be hazardous to your health also.

On August 24 LifeSiteNews.com
reported on Yuan Weijing being held in China. She was due to receive the Magsaysay Award, Asia’s Nobel Prize, on behalf of her husband Chen Guangcheng. He is in prison for bringing attention to the plight of Chinese women being forced to have abortions.

Yuan said, “I haven’t done anything wrong, so I’ll give it a try, and if they stop me then it’s not my problem.”

Her passport was taken at the airport. Officials claimed the valid document was void. Her phone also appears to have been taken by airport police.

“She has been detained by police at the airport,” Hu told AFP News, “and they declared her passport void. Her phone has since been taken away so we don’t know where she is kept now.”

The airport police say that they didn’t see the woman being taken into custody at the airport. She has not been seen since that day.

This is just the latest in a series of abuses the family has suffered at the hands of the government. They have endured house arrest. Chen Guangcheng has been denied appeals to end his prison term.

“The doctor said it was a boy. My friends who were beside me said the baby’s body was completely black. I felt desolate, so I didn’t look up to see the baby.”

Wei Linrong was forced to have an abortion because it would have been her second child.
Wei Linrong was forcefully removed from her home by 10 family planning officials on April 16. She and her husband were taken to Youjiang district maternity hospital in Baise city after being told that they had no choice in the matter.

I was scared,” Wei told NPR

“The hospital was full of women who’d been brought in forcibly. There wasn’t a single spare bed. The family planning people said forced abortions and forced sterilizations were both being carried out. We saw women being pulled in one by one.”

Wei’s husband Liang was given a consent agreement to sign. He refused. The family planning officials signed it for him. He and his wife are devote Christians, he is a pastor. They do not agree with abortions on religious reasons.

Wei was given three injections to kill her seven month fetus. When fetuses are aborted in this manner the die quickly and their tissue becomes necrotic. The appearance is very dark when they have been born.

When the infant was body they treated the body was if it were rubbish, throwing the baby boy into the trash.

Not only are woman being prevented from having a second child it’s illegal to have a child outside of wedlock. There have been cases were single women have been forced to abort their children.

He Caigan was an unwed mother who also was forced to have an abortion. Family planning officials turned up at her house mere days prior to the due date of her child.

“They told me I’m too young, I couldn’t keep the child and I should have an abortion,” she said. “I’m too young to get a marriage certificate — I’m only 19 and my boyfriend’s only 21

An eyewitness who wished to remain anonymous reported that at the Baise faculty there are 41 beds just for forced abortions. This horrible violation of women became commonplace after China introduced a one child per family policy in 1980. A law was passed five years ago that guarantees China’s citizens a degree of choice when it comes to family planning.

Baise denies that forced abortions happen at their institution.

We were very surprised to hear of these accusations,” Nong said, “but our investigation concluded some individuals who were dissatisfied with our family planning policies were fabricating stories. These facts simply don’t exist. We really love and care for women here.”

Another couple Yang Zhongchen and his young wife Jin Yani were also days away from welcoming their daughter into the world. Yang Yin was very much wanted. Her parents however hadn’t been married when she was conceived in 2000. That was enough reason for the family planning officials to drag her out into the night and force her to abort the baby girl they were already in love with. Because of the abortion Jin Yani can never have another child.

They are fighting back. They have a lawsuit with Hebei province’s Changli County where they are seeking $185,000 in damages.

“This is a first,” says Beijing lawyer Sun Maohang, who represents the couple. “No court in China has ever agreed to hear an appeal on a charge against officials involving a forced abortion.”

Jin knows that if they win it will still not heal the wound. Their child will never be with them. That’s a hole in their lives no one can replace.

Her story is like other women who have suffered the same fate. She was forced from her home to a medical facility. There she was asked to sign a consent form and when she refused it was signed by the family planning officials.

Her husband was not allowed to be with her when he arrived from his out of tow job until the next day.

Young Jin was hospitalized for 44 days following the abortion forced upon her. Her husband was forced to pay for the medications she needed in the hospital. If he hadn’t his wife would have been refused that very medicine.

Yang has spent the past seven years trying to get justice for his wife and still born daughter. Until obtaining their lawyer though they had not had a chance, now it appears they just may be able to get some justice.

“We’re hoping for a satisfactory resolution,” Jin says, “for the sake of our baby … for our own peace of mind.”

The Chinese are not happy that these cases are being released into the world. Blind lawyer Chen Guangchen found that out the hard way when he lead a campaign exposing forced abortions to the world. He now sits in a prison cell with a multi-year term.

Chen’s supporters say the government trumped up charges of property damage and “organizing a mob to disturb traffic” in order to jail him. the government has said that Chen is working for “foreign anti-China forces.” The US Assistant Secretary of State Ellen Sauerbrey is one of those who have been in contact with China on behalf of the blind lawyer.

More People Are Rejecting Religion

The numbers of people discording religion are soaring. Although still in the minority more people in Europe and the United States are saying they are non-believers. Their numbers have gone up in recent years. As the numbers grow say do their voice.

Books that are anti-religion have also become popular best sellers at this time. In the recent past books such as “The God Delusion,” by Oxford University professor Richard Dawkins wouldn’t have been on the best sellers list in previous decades it has been lately. A Washington Post article looked into this issue.

This is not to say nonreligious people are taking over the world. Religious people still outrank those with no belief. Three out of four if asked have a belief system. Still in many of the world’s richer countries people admit that they don’t believe in heaven or a hell.

Many analysts believe that 9/11 was a catalyst for the “nonreligious movement”. Faced with religious fanatics killing in mass may have caused many people to reject all religion.

“This is overwhelmingly the topic of the moment,” said Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society of Britain. “Religion in this country was very quiet until September 11, and now it is at the center of everything.”

Since 2001 religious murders plots have been on the upswing. The Muslim radials that have terrorized the world has brought the face of religion a new light that many had ignored previously.

Another side of the religion coin that may have been an influence on people is the Christian fundamentalists groups who are asking for a halt to certain types of scientific research. This side wants to stop abortions, take away gay rights and teach children in creationism rather than evolution. Many who do not believe in their viewpoints are getting more angry when these views are being forced upon them.

“There is a feeling that religion is being forced on an unwilling public, and now people are beginning to speak out against what they see as rising Islamic and Christian militancy,” Sanderson said.

There is no true number to how many are non-believers. While many more have been speaking up it is felt there are many who are silent in their lack of beliefs.

When one hears the word atheist many conjure negative opinions. More and more non-believers are using terms such as humanists, secularists, freethinkers and rationalists to classify themselves.

“Where religion is weak, people don’t feel a need to organize against it,” said Phil Zuckerman, an American academic who has written extensively about atheism around the globe.

op-ed:Thermobaric Weapons: The Hot New Military Toy

Thermobaric weapons seem to be the latest new big thing. The bombs are literally heat under pressure if you translate the word to Greek.

Instead of using uranium or platinum to wipe out a city of people these bombs use aluminum and magnesium.

So why are they the next big bad? Think about a flamethrower and max it out a whole bunch. That’s what Thermobaric weapons are in a huge nutshell. These bad boys can level several apartment buildings at once. They can be dropped from a plane or fired from a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

All super powers need these handy bombs. Just ask the Russians who are testing their brand this week. According to CBC News the Russians announced that it was the biggest and most powerful Thermobaric weapon to date. Gosh, they have the niftiest toys.

That nifty bomb the Russians toyed around this week was the most powerful non-nuclear weapon ever exploded. It had a blast radius of 300 metres making it four times more powerful than anything the United States has to offer.

The U.S. bomb has a destructive force equivalent to 10 tonnes of TNT, while Russia says its bomb is equivalent to 40 tonnes.

Let’s hope these two super powers don’t want to play one upmanship games with their new toys.

But say, let’s ask the fun question of how someone would um die if they were caught in the blast. Crushed to death is the right answer. Don’t worry though chances are you’d be a cinder before that. The blasts reach 3,000 degrees.

The good news is that even though these babies can go in tunnels and blow things up like nobody’s business they are eco friendly! They don’t make nasty radiation litter everywhere. Now that just makes this bomb tops on my list.

Right now the lucky four to own these eco-friendly bombs are India, China, Russia and the United States.

I don’t know about you but I just have this warm and tingly feeling knowing that the super powers all have this hot new killing machine on hand.

Oh and if you were wondering why no one has said to stop playing and read the treaty that says No-No. It’s because there isn’t one.

Human Rights Watch objects to the weapons saying

they have the potential to “kill and injure in a particularly brutal manner over a wide area.”

Russia says the bomb it tested isn’t violating any treaty it has signed.

The Arms Control Association says there are no treaties that prevent the development of thermobaric weapons, although they could conceivably fall under a protocol of the Convention on Conventional Weapons, which prohibits incendiary weapons.

More Than 100 Have Died In Congo Ebola Outbreak

More than 100 have died since August in an Ebola outbreak in the Congo. The Congo Health Minister announced today that both the CDC in Atlanta and another lab in Gabon have confirmed that the outbreak is indeed the dreaded Ebola virus.

Canoe.ca reports that Provincial chief medical inspector Jean-Constatin Kanow says that almost 400 have been infected with the virus resulting in 160 fatalities since late August. The outbreaks have taken place in Mweka and Luebo, with most of the death coming at the beginning. Kanow did not say if the outbreak has been contained or not.

Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg experts in the Ebola virus are prepared to be deployed if the need should arise. The experts are often tapped by the World Health Organization’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network to contain outbreaks such as this one.

The outbreak appears to have started after the high-profile funerals of two village chiefs. It is customary of the family members to hand bathe their dead in preparation of burial rites.

At this time four villages have been affected by the outbreak. At the end of August 217 had come down with the disease. 103 had died during the initial phase of the outbreak. The area has a population of nearly 140,000.

Congo has seen large outbreaks of Marburg and Ebola, both deadly hemorrhagic fevers.

Congo’s last major Ebola outbreak struck in Kikwit in 1995, killing 245 people. Kikwit is about 300 kilomertres from the site of the current purported outbreak.

The disease strikes quickly. Symptoms arising suddenly are high fever (at least 38.8°C (~102°F)), severe headache, muscle, joint, or abdominal pain, severe weakness and exhaustion, sore throat, nausea, and dizziness. All of the above are also associated with other common diseases in the parts of the world that has had outbreaks such as malaria, typhoid fever, dysentery, influenza, or various bacterial infections. While the second list of diseases are not as commonly fatal Ebola has a very high death count. By the time the virus has been identified for certain many have generally already lost the fight for life.

The disease can cause diarrhea, dark or bloody feces, vomiting blood, red eyes due to distention and hemorrhage of sclerotic arterioles, petechia, maculopapular rash, and purpura. Internal and external hemorrhage from orifices, such as the nose and mouth within a short period of time. There can also be problems with clotting that almost always prove to be fatal.

The disease generally lasts between 7 to 14 days. By the second week of being ill a patient will either begin to improve or suffer undergo systemic multi-organ failure.

Mortality rates range from 50 to 90%.

The disease is transmitted by direct contact. It is highly contagious when bodily fluids are exchanged/ It is slightly less contagious with skin to skin contact. The incubation period can be anywhere from 2 to 21 days, but is generally between 5 and 10 days.

West Virginia Woman Tortured By Six

egan Williams of West Virginia endured unspeakable abuses at the hands of six people. The victim is a black woman and the alleged abductors are all white, including family members.

(this was a graphic crime, details may be bothersome) The police are also looking for two other people involved with the crime. The FBI is looking into if this crime can also be classified as a hate crime.

Megan Williams was held for over a week by her abductors.

During that week she was sexually abused, beaten, stabbed, choked, humiliated and her life was threatened.

The woman’s abductors called her the N-word “every time they stabbed her,” Carmen Williams told the Charleston Gazette for a story published Tuesday.

Logan County Chief Deputy V.K. Dingess told the paper that the woman underwent surgery for her wounded legs.

The police found the woman om Big Creek after receiving an anonymous tip.

One woman was at the residence that the police had gotten in the tip. Frankie Brewster was on the porch. She said she was alone but the victim made her way to the door asking for help.

Megan is now at Charleston Area Medical Center General Hospital.

According to Megan she was forced to eat dog and rat feces. Frankie Lee Brewster forced her to lick parts of her body under the threat of death. Her hair was pulled out. She had to drink from the toilet. She was sexually assaulted while hot water was poured on her and a man held a knife to her.

A woman allegedly cut Megan Williams’ ankle and said, “That’s what we do to niggers around here.”

As of Monday evening six have been charged with the alleged assault.

Frankie Lee Brewster,49 has been charged with sexual assault, kidnapping, malicious wounding and giving false statements to the police.

Bobby R. Brewster, 24 has been charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the commission of a felony.

Danny J. Combs, 20 has been charged with sexual assault and malicious wounding.

George A. Messer, 27 has been charged with assault during the commission of a felony and battery.

Karen Burton, 45 has been charged with malicious wounding, battery and assault during the commission of a felony.

Alisha Burton, 23 has been charged with assault during the commission of a felony and battery.

Each is being held at Southwestern Regional Jail on a $100,000 bond.

There are two others that are being sought for this crime. Two people whom Carmen Williams had thought were friends drive her to Frankie Lee Brewster’s house. They allegedly knew that Carmen would be tortured once there.

Logan County Chief Deputy V.K. Dingess said Monday evening.

“Apparently once they got her there they planned to do this,” Dingess said.

Carmen Williams said she has barely left her daughter’s side since police found her Saturday.

“She wakes up in the middle of the night screaming, ‘Mommy,’” she said. “What’s really bad is that we don’t know everything they did to her. She is crying all the time.”

Megan Williams endured a horrible crime. It will take a long time for her to get over the tortures she went through. Her mother and father are now by her bedside hoping she is strong enough to get through this.

“We have all been praying and asking the Lord to take us through this,” Carmen Williams said. “It’s hard to deal with it. We are very angry. … She will be scarred for a long time.”

Megan Williams has some “mental issues,” including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, her mother said.

“She was always pretty happy,” she said of her daughter. “She wants to be on her own. She is a good person.”

Carmen Williams said it will take a long time for her daughter to recover.

“People don’t realize that people will call themselves your friends but they are not really your friends,” said Matthew Williams, the woman’s father. “People have to be aware that things like that will happen.”

Could The Sea Save Us All?

Is the key to our future in the depths of the oceans? Water is needed to live. Could it also be needed to power the world?
An Erie, Pa. cancer researcher may have stumbled on the biggest fuel find in ages. He has been able to change salt water into fuel.

The discovery wasn’t planned. John Kanzius tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generation he had developed to work with cancer patients. What he discovered was remarkable. As long as there was exposure to radio frequencies salt water would burn.

Salt water is the most abundant resource on earth. If scientists can harness that resource as a fuel it would revolutionize power resourcing.

Rustum Roy, a Penn State University chemist has held demonstrations at his State College lab finding that the results are the same as Kanzius’.

The discovery is “the most remarkable in water science in 100 years,” Roy said.

“This is the most abundant element in the world. It is everywhere,” Roy said. “Seeing it burn gives me the chills.”

There will be meetings later this week with the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Defence to obtain research funding.

“We will get our ideas together and check this out and see where it leads,” Roy said. “The potential is huge.”

Op-Ed: Asthmatics and The Olympic Games 2008

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The Olympics showcase the best each country has to offer in amateur sports. Some of those gifted athletes have active asthma and yet they still compete and win medals. Nearly 30% of the 1996 U.S. Olympians with asthma brought home a medal.

Asthmatics are allowed to use their medications during the games but they have to have prior permission. The form is online for athletes to fill out and send in.

It seems that there are more asthmatics among Olympians than in the general population. . One survey of participants in the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., showed that 15% had been diagnosed with asthma, and that 10% were on asthma medication. Out of 699 athletes, 117 had some history of asthma.

Asthmatics are more prevalent among those involved in cycling, mountain biking, and long-distance running, and a relatively lower incidence in weightlifting and diving. Could it be that air pollution is a factor for those sports as well? With the air conditions in China will these athletes be in danger?

During their bid for the games China promised to put $12.2 billion in cleaning up their air quality. Was that too large a task for this country? They made a promise to clear up atmospheric concentrations of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide to meet the requirements of the World Health Organization. How close are they to that goal?

With the games scheduled for August will the heat make this task of clean air even more difficult? In Toronto the hotter the day the higher the smog. Consider how much larger Beijing is compared to Toronto and you can understand how daunting a task China has before it.

Randy Wilber is an air pollution connoisseur. Senior sport physiologist for the US Olympic Committee, he has made five trips to Beijing since March 2006, lugging an air-quality monitor to all 31 Olympic venues. The city’s atmosphere, he says tactfully, is “significantly worse” than that of Los Angeles, the US standard for big-city pollution. Then there’s the heat. In August, Wilber recorded daytime temperatures consistently in the 90s, with relative humidity approaching 95 percent. “For endurance events,” he says, “that’s borderline hazardous.” His overall assessment: “Not good.”

Another factor in the air quality is how the wind is blowing. Even if the main areas are greened up outskirts may not have as much clean air.

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge has admitted that some events may have to be rescheduled depending on the air quality.

The Olympics should have a fixed time and place because the athletes and coaches train very specifically for the day and the course,” said Yilma Berta, Ethiopia’s national marathon coach. “If the race is changed, then we may travel to the site too early, and then we are not having the proper training for the days before the race. It would be a very, very big problem for us.”

This Olympics may proof a difficult test of a city turning pollution levels around. The asthmatics at the games may very well be the “lab rats” in the end. Although all cities should have a chance at the games, shouldn’t better air quality be a key factor when it comes to who wins the prize?

Taking Away Our Chances By Destroying The Rainforests

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As we lose more each day of the world’s rain forests we also lose more opportunities to cure diseases. They cover only 7 percent of all land mass and have the potential to save us all.

In Madagascar the Madagascar periwinkle is the source of two drugs that work on childhood leukemia. With these drugs the survival rate has risen from 20 percent to 80 percent.

How many other plants that are being wiped out on a daily basis could be the potential cures of cancer?

In the United States 25 percent of prescriptions have active ingredients extracted or derived from plants.

25% of the active ingredients in cancer fighting drugs come from organisms that are only found in the world’s rainforests.

The U.S. Nation Cancer Institute has identified over 3000 plants that are active in the elimination of cancer cells. Seventy percent of those are located in the rain forest.

These plants also could in time be found to hold the cures of hepatitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and HIV.

Scientists now believe if the cure to cancer and AIDS is to be found the rain forest will hold the key.
Only 1% of the world’s rain forest plants have even been tested in the labs. From that 1% have come life saving medicines such as Digitoxin, Vincristine, Emetine, Physostigmine, Atropine, Morphine, Reserpine, D-Tubocurarine, and Quinine.

And yet even knowing this more and more rain forests are bulldozed to make for more population areas.

“Starting with twigs from a Malaysian gum tree, researchers in 1991 isolated a compound that blocked the spread of the AIDS virus in human cells. The team sent biologists racing back to Malaysia for more samples from the tree. But when they got to the swamp, the tree was gone, it had been cut down. And no tree found since has produced the same compound. ” No identical trees have been found in the immediate area and samples from the same species found elsewhere did not yield the same compound.

When we need the plants will they have disappeared?

Kenneth Foster Jr. Is Scheduled To Die Today

Texas has postponed an 11th hour decision regarding the impending execution of Kenneth Foster Jr. The Texas inmate never killed anyone but that’s the crime that he’s to be executed for.

He’s been moved to Huntsville Prison, the place where the walking dead go to walk that last mile.

There are protests being carried out throughout Texas today. The prisons in Huntsville, Livingston and at the governor’s mansion. The Supreme Court has picketers on it’s front steps.

Mauriceo Brown was executed in 2006 for the murder of Michael LaHood. Foster was driving the car that Brown was in. Driving was his crime. Two others were in the car that night. they were sentenced to prison but not to death. Foster at the time was only nineteen.

Who’s on Foster’s side right now as the hours tick down before his death? Sean-Paul Kelly for one. His name isn’t that famous but who he is important. He’s the best friend of the man who died. Foster did not contact him. Kelly just thinks it’s wrong for an innocent man to die for the murder of someone, even his best friend.

My last words to Mike–two weeks before he was murdered–were a cliché for all clichés: “we’ll do it next weekend, buddy, we’ve got all the time in the world.” I couldn’t hear the clock ticking. I wish I’d listened closer.
And for that I hated Mauriceo and his gang even more, and for a long time. But the execution of a young man who didn’t even kill Mike? That’s not justice. It’s senseless vengeance, a barbarism cloaked in the black robes of justice.

There’s some big names urging Texas to reconsider too. Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu are both asking for the execution to be stopped. The former Bexar County D.A. has written to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.

August 27, 2007
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
P. O. Box 13401
Austin, Texas 78711-3401
RE: Kenneth Foster

To the Honorable Members of the Board:

I am writing to urge you to recommend clemency in the Kenneth Foster case.
I am no wild-eyed, pointy-headed liberal. I am the former elected Bexar
County District Attorney (1983-1987); I am responsible for the prosecution of
more than a few death penalty cases, all of which produced convictions and
executions.

Because you have been buried with letters from throughout the world, I will
not rehash the facts and legal problems with the case in this letter; they
are obvious. There is nothing I can say about the legal issues or evidence
that you have not already heard ad nauseam.

Fortunately, I was no longer the Bexar County District Attorney when this
horrible crime was committed. Had I been, there is every likelihood that I
would have decided to seek the death penalty against Foster–because I could
have done so–and that would have been a mistake. With the benefit of 20
additional years of life experience, I now believe that no useful purpose is
served and it is morally wrong to execute a person based on nothing more than the
law of parties.

Is there no limit to our lust in this state for retribution? How many people
must we execute for this crime before justice is served? Having already
executed the shooter, what benefit results from the execution of someone who
was simply nearby and had no idea that a murder would be committed? As the
civilized world watches in amazement that a single American state has executed
400 people in the last 25 years, what does it say about us if we are willing
to execute someone who was in the car when this horrible crime was committed?

Surely, there is a limit to what we are capable of in this state.

There are tough cases and there are easy cases. This is an easy case. If we
can’t say no to execution in a case like the Kenneth Foster case, there is
no practical limit to our thirst for vengeance. I urge you to recommend that
the Governor grant clemency in this case.

Sincerely yours,
Sam D. Millsap, Jr.

His eleven year old daughter doesn’t understand this either.

NYDESHA FOSTER: When somebody is a big part of your heart, like my father is — I mean, my father is more than half of my heart. I mean, I love him so much. And if the State of Texas kills him just for driving a car, it’s like you’re killing my heart. It’s like you’re killing half of me. It’s like if you execute him, you might as well execute me, because of the type of things and the could-have-should-have-known stuff, and it’s just how the Texas Law of Parties, they just really need to take the time to listen, and my dad probably would not be in the predicament that he is in, if the Law of Parties would take the time to listen to us.

Today’s planned protests are:

Austin, Thursday, August 30, 5:00 PM, Governor’s Mansion (Lavaca at 11th)?EXECUTION PROTEST AND VIGIL?Even in the eleventh hour things could turn for Kenneth. If you can’t make it to Huntsville, come out to stand with others against the execution.

Thursday, August 30:
3pm-7pm: Protest the execution of Kenneth Foster Jr outside the Ellis Unit in Huntsville Texas. Groups from all over the state will converge to stand against this injustice and demand until the very end that the State of Texas do the right thing and stop this execution.

Op-Ed: Will Texas Redeem Itself Before It’s Too Late

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I have been writing about the fate of Kenneth Foster Jr. He’s innocent of murder and yet tonight he will die unless Texas changes the course it is on.

It did.

Just in. Gov. Rick Perry spared the life of Foster at the last minute.

He is a number. #999232. He lives on death row. Today. Tomorrow he would have been dead.

“After carefully considering the facts of this case, along with the recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, I believe the right and just decision is to commute Foster’s sentence from the death penalty to life imprisonment,” Perry said in a statement.

“I am concerned about Texas law that allowed capital murder defendants to be tried simultaneously and it is an issue I think the Legislature should examine.”

The seven-member parole board had voted 6-1 to recommend the commutation.

I am putting the letter Kenneth Foster, Jr. sent to the governor of Texas in full. His case had to be heard. The case highlights why capital punishment is opposed by so many nations. Innocent people die. In this case a man the state knows is innocent was waiting to walk the long green mile until the last second. On the day that would have been his last the Governor came through and commuted his sentence to life.

A lot of people backed the young Foster in the end. The world saw an injustice about to be done and screamed out that it was wrong.

Foster wasn’t an innocent. He committed crimes. He made bad choices. He did not however murder someone. In the end that is what spared him.

And now for the letter he wrote.

Kenneth E. Foster, Jr.
#999232
Polunsky Unit (Death Row)
3872 FM 350 South
Livingston, TX 77351

Texas Governor Rick Perry
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711

Dear Governor Perry,

Unaware of what I could possibly say that could make a difference, I decided to grasp this opportunity to write to you from my heart, because I believe that God declares for us to live each day to the fullest. While I know that you will be bombarded with letters from people, spoken to by legal representatives and addressed by the media, this is written on a personal basis.

I know that you will have detailed information about my case and the Law of Parties. However, please never forget that although I did not protest when Mauriceo Brown wanted to commit robberies, later I recognized that this was wrong to go along with, and out of respect for my grandfather, I said I had to stop. After I said I wanted to go home, Mauriceo Brown got out of the car to talk to Mary Patrick, and got into an argument with Michael LaHood, which ended with Mauriceo Brown shooting him, of which I had no foreknowledge and would never have permitted, had I known it were going to happen.

I would like to talk from another perspective. What can I say about this death row journey? It has been a curse and a blessing, because as ironic as it may be most humans fear the only thing they are promised at birth and that is death. And as the irony continues, one (here) learns to live by facing death. It’s a stunning process. Yet, for each man he experiences something different. I’ve observed some of the most complex and intricate human behavior probably on this earth – enough experience to more than likely surpass the credentials of any anthropologist or psychologist. I’ve watched the dreams and nightmares, the hope and despair. I could write a book on it and speak volumes to it. But, I will only say that I thank God for allowing me to journey through this keeping my sanity and being anointed with a gift to learn, grow, and pass on positivity.

There’s so much that the world doesn’t see – so much that politics will bar, but regardless of it all, a man still has the opportunity to tap into the beauty of humanity and experience that regardless of his outside circumstances. I just wish that you all could see it. I do realize that you feel you have a certain Justice to serve. I’ve come so far in my journey that I no longer hold spite, because I’ve been granted an Understanding that is keeping me. It was a quote that I read once that said – “To maim and destroy the body of man is no deed of recognition for valor, whether in war or in mortal conflict. But, to save a body, which is the temple of the soul, is an act and deed of the God-like.” Those words changed me, because it was just as much about me as anyone else.

Governor Perry, I don’t think that I have to detail why I feel my situation is unjust – either personally or politically. I believe that all the evidence and letters will speak so loud to you. However, I think it’s important to tell you that I have tried to use this situation as a transformation process. Everyday I have tried to be an exception to the stigmas and stereotypes. I wanted to show that a man here could be more than his error or labels. And so, as I submitted myself, I found the heart to pray for you and your family, the victim and his family, my co-defendants and their family. I’ve discovered (and hopefully others will, too,) that the pain, sorrow and compensation is not taken care of through simply saying I’m sorry or through hundreds of executions, rather giving love everyday, helping someone, speaking truth to power – showing that one man with courage can be a majority. The only Joy I have is in educating, reforming and revitalizing; and if you believe it or not I do this because of you all, not myself. Because if I did anything for me I’d be a wretch, but through you all (those that love me or not,) I’ve found humanity embracing me. I’m thankful, regardless.

You’re a history maker, Governor Perry, and I am a part of your history and I think what happens to me will be a relevant part of history. I wish I could appeal not only to your morale and conscience, but to your soul. I wish we could talk about the last 10 years and everything between. I wish we could view the way each life through this process has been touched. Often the Divine is revealed through the hardest trials and tribulations.

My only plea is that I wish I could live for the sake of my little daughter who will be so deeply wounded to not have her daddy. I do not want to be set free. I want to pay for what I did. I drove a car and let a man rob other people. That is not a capital crime. I allowed Mauriceo Brown to get back in the car. Because of my own blatant shock and disbelief at what had just occurred, I helped him leave a crime scene. That is not a capital crime. I never sought nor desired that Michael LaHood, Jr. be killed.

I wrote this letter from the heart, just trying to show you how one can transform, how beauty does persist, how change can come. I prayed different Psalms and Proverbs over this letter. I’ve passionately spoken all of my request for Forgiveness, Peace, Life, Justice, Freedom, Love, Understanding to The Creator and His Creation. I stand on the Faith knowing that all of the roles we have played in this walk of life will have a greater purpose. I’m glad to have had this opportunity to speak with you.

With God’s Love,

Kenneth Foster”

“I Like Turtles!!”

Op-Ed: Why Are There Detention Centers In the US?

Why does the United States have detention camps set up throughout it’s mainland? Is the threat of civil unrest so high that these camps are considered a necessary evil? What is going on?

I’m not talking about Gitmo Bay. I am talking about the FEMA camps that litter the country. At this time there are over 600 prison camps in the United States. They have no prisoners in them yet remain fully functional. They are in place to hold people in case of Martial Law should ever come to being.

All of the camps are connected by the rails. Most of the camps could house populations of up to 20,000 people. The largest camp is in Alaska and can house up to 2 million people.

What is the reason for so many to be housed?

One program is the Rex 84 Program. It’s set in place in event of a mass exodus of Mexicans crossing the border. The theory is that they could be quickly rounded up and placed in these camps.

Of course it is illegal to intend citizens. Right? Right.

It says quite clearly that “no citizen shall be imprisoned or otherwise detained by the United Sates except pursuant to an Act of Congress.” No such Act has yet been passed to authorize the use of the detention camps. Congress has previously articulated a clear public policy against detainment of U.S. citizens.

Are there laws that have been changed since 2002 that the public doesn’t know about?

One factor is that the Bush administration has deemed that enemy combatants do not have the same rights as other human beings. They can and will be detained for as long as they are a threat.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948 provides that “everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating … fundamental rights” and that no one “shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.” If detention is neither subject to any judicial review, nor authorized by an act of Congress, it surely must run a high risk of being “arbitrary.”

These centers have been in place for a long time. Quietly in the background so as not to make a fuss. So why make a fuss now? Because the civil liabilities of Americans has been slipping around steady since the bombing of the World Trade Center. No one made a large fuss about it. When they are gone will it just be the status quo?

From a talk by Phil Schneider: “Recently, I knew someone who lived near where I live in Portland, Oregon. He worked at Gunderson Steel Fabrication, where they make railroad cars. Now, I knew this fellow for the better part of 30 years, and he was kind of a quiet type. He came in to see me one day, excited, and he told me “they’re building prisoner cars.” He was nervous. Gunderson, he said, had a contract with the federal government to build 107,200 full length railroad cars, each with 143 pairs of shackles. There are 11 sub-contractors in this giant project. Supposedly, Gunderson got over 2 billion dollars for the contract. Bethlehem Steel and other steel outfits are involved. He showed me one of the cars in the rail yards in North Portland. He was right. If you multiply 107,200 times 143 times 11, you come up with about 15,000,000. This is probably the number of people who disagree with the federal government. No more can you vote any of these people out of office. Our present structure of government is “technocracy”, not democracy, and it is a form of feudalism. It has nothing to do with the republic of the United States….I believe we can do better. I also believe that the federal government is running the gambit of enslaving the people of the United States. I am not a very good speaker, but I’ll keep shooting my mouth off until somebody puts a bullet in me, because it’s worth it to talk to a group like this about these atrocities. [Within a year, Paul Schneider was assassinated.]

Over 400 years ago the Magna Carta came into being.

Articles 38 and 39 of the Magna Carta said:

“38 In future no official shall place a man on trial upon his own unsupported statement, without producing credible witnesses to the truth of it.

“39 No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.”
Who decides who is the enemy?

Tuesday 21 February 2006

Not that George W. Bush needs much encouragement, but Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales a new target for the administration’s domestic operations – Fifth Columnists, supposedly disloyal Americans who sympathize and collaborate with the enemy.

“The administration has not only the right, but the duty, in my opinion, to pursue Fifth Column movements,” Graham, R-S.C., told Gonzales during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Feb. 6.

“I stand by this President’s ability, inherent to being Commander in Chief, to find out about Fifth Column movements, and I don’t think you need a warrant to do that,” Graham added, volunteering to work with the administration to draft guidelines for how best to neutralize this alleged threat.

“Senator,” a smiling Gonzales responded, “the President already said we’d be happy to listen to your ideas.”

KBR was awarded a $385 million over a five-year term contract to build ICE facilities in the event of an emergency in the United States. KBR is a subsidiary of Halliburton. That was in 2006. There were already the 600 centers in place. Why is there a need for more?

Do you think this is impossible speculation?

Right now in Taylor, Texas families are being held. That’s right families. Infants have been jailed because their families are illegal aliens. Children wear prison uniforms as soon as they grown into them.

According to the lawyers who have visited their clients in the facility, the children receive one hour of education, English instruction, a day and one half hour of indoor recreation.

The intention of keeping families together is all well and good but to turn a child into a criminal is wrong.

There may be no need to question the motives of the government with these camps. They may be there to support disaster victims. There couldn’t be plans to instate martial law on the citizens of one of the most free countries on Earth. Right? Right?

additional source
http://www.apfn.org/APFN/camps.htm

You Do Know About The Armageddon Plan Don’t You?

Have you heard of The Armageddon Plan? A little known plan that Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were part of since the 1980’s the Armageddon Plan was a highly classified program of the Ronald Reagan Administration.

The plan was for what would happen if the United States ad Russia did engage in a nuclear war. Plans had to be made to keep the government up and running before and after such a war. The plan called for putting in place a rule “president” without the legal rules that are in effect at the present time. It was to speed up the process and to preserve the continuation of the government.

The ideals for the program came from Reagan’s Administration, not from the likes of Cheney and Rumsfeld, who did not even have a cabinet post during that time period.

So what does that have to do with the current state of affairs? Consider this:

A few details about the effort have come to light over the years, but nothing about the way it worked or the central roles played by Cheney and Rumsfeld. The program is of particular interest today because it helps to explain the thinking and behavior of the second Bush Administration in the hours, days, and months after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Vice President Cheney urged President Bush to stay out of Washington for the rest of that day; Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld ordered his deputy Paul Wolfowitz to get out of town; Cheney himself began to move from Washington to a series of “undisclosed locations”; and other federal officials were later sent to work outside the capital, to ensure the continuity of government in case of further attacks. All these actions had their roots in the Reagan Administration’s clandestine planning exercises.

Okay think that’s a little far fetched?
This from the Washington Post:

Rumsfeld ordered his deputy, Paul D. Wolfowitz, to move to an undisclosed location outside Washington. Cheney was similarly dispatched, as was House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), who under the Constitution is second in line for the presidency. Several Cabinet members, including Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman and Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton, were also removed.

There was real concern during the Reagan years about nuclear war with Russia, so much so that this plan had a value to those behind it.

The outline of the plan is fairly simple. At the first sign that the United States was under nuclear attack three teams would be sent from Washington Dc to different areas in the United States. Each team would prepare to govern the nation and include a Cabinet member who would take over the role of President if that needed to take place. Each team was named for a colour and had an order of importance. The first team would begin the governing unless they were unable to, which the next group would take over and so forth.

“One of the awkward questions we faced,” one participant in the planning of the program explains, “was whether to reconstitute Congress after a nuclear attack. It was decided that no, it would be easier to operate without them.” For one thing, it was felt that reconvening Congress, and replacing members who had been killed, would take too long. Moreover, if Congress did reconvene, it might elect a new speaker of the House, whose claim to the presidency might have greater legitimacy than that of a Secretary of Agriculture or Commerce who had been set up as President under Reagan’s secret program. The election of a new House speaker would not only take time but also create the potential for confusion. The Reagan Administration’s primary goal was to set up a chain of command that could respond to the urgent minute-by-minute demands of a nuclear war, when there might be no time to swear in a new President under the regular process of succession, and when a new President would not have the time to appoint a new staff. The Administration, however, chose to establish this process without going to Congress for the legislation that would have given it constitutional legitimacy.

In the case of the worst case scenario the people of the United States will have a governmental structure. It may not be the structure they know now but their government will live on.

Which is Worse: Pot Or Murder?

How crazy is the world when a person who murders someone is out of prison before someone who was using marijuana to relieve pain. It may sound like a crazy show but it’s the real deal.

Mary Winkler, the woman who shot her preacher husband was released from prison on Tuesday. She spent a total of seven months for taking a shotgun and shot him in the head. Before he died she wiped the blood from his lips as he asked “Why?”

Because a defense psychologist said that she was depressed and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder she received a light sentence.

Her testimony of how her husband abused her helped win her case. The other side didn’t testify. He was dead.

She’s living with friends and hoping to get custody of her daughters back.

Meanwhile down the road in Tulsa, Oklahoma Will Foster was sitting in his cell for years. In 1995 the law found a 25-square-foot marijuana garden in his basement. Was Foster a dealer? No, he grew the plants to treat treat the chronic pain of acute rheumatoid arthritis. Pain so severe he was on Percodan and Percocet but hated the moodiness that they gave him.

The prosecution told the jury that Foster had to have intended to distribute marijuana because his small indoor garden was producing the equivalent of 2,652 joints, far more than a single person could consume. Ed Rosenthal, a marijuana cultivation expert, testified that the yield would be at most 600 joints, a proper amount for a medical patent who uses marijuana as medication on a daily basis.

When he was arrested there was only $30 in his house. Sounds like he was a big time drug dealer.

“My medical use of marijuana never interfered with my work,” said Foster. “I ran a successful business. I told my conservative doctor what I was doing, and while he did not really agree with it because of the health risk of smoking, he witnessed my positive results. I was minding my own business taking care of my health and my family. What was I doing to anybody that got me 93 years?”

That’s right, he was sentenced to 93 years in prison. In 1998 the appeals courts did think that was a bit much and reduced his sentence to 20 years for the man. Finally on April 26,2001 he did walk free.

How Lethal Are The Toxins In Ontario?

According to Sarah Miller Ontario is washed in toxins. The province has the highest environmental carcinogens released within Canada. That could mean serious cancer concerns for the residents of the province.

“We think there are just too many carcinogens released in air, water and soil and there’s an opportunity here to reduce that,” Sarah Miller, co-ordinator and researcher at the Canadian Environmental Law Association and member of the Cancer and the Environment Stakeholder Group, told cbc.ca.

With 59,500 projected cancer diagnoses in Ontario for the year 2007 compared to the national level of 159,900 there is a real reason for the concerns.

The group is hoping to combat the release of much of the toxins contributing to rising cancer rates in people under 70. The group consists of members from Cancer Care Ontario, the Registered Nurses of Ontario and the Canadian Cancer Society.

One issue at hand is that “environmental carcinogen use reduction strategy does not exist for Ontario.”

One way to reduce the exposure to these toxins is for labeling to be used. When the public knows of safer alternatives to toxins oftentimes they will use them. Being unaware of the dangers does not give the public the added incentive to change their uses.

“In Europe and other places, as we point out in the report, some targeted actions have been taken to reduce carcinogens and they have started to see some results,” said Miller.

Some of the changes that the group wants to have implemented in Ontario include:
an integrated provincial regulatory strategy be developed for environmental toxins use reduction
an arm’s length Ontario carcinogen use reduction institute be established that will reduce use of carcinogens by researching substitutes and assisting industry in switching to substitutes
an environmental carcinogen surveillance strategy be developed that tracks environmentally related cancers and deaths
carcinogens be reported on annually and classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer
the labels on all consumer products sold in Ontario clearly indicate the presence of carcinogens

Miller says that after meetings with all three major political parties in Ontario there will be changes at least put up for discussion. The next term of government will see if toxins are indeed a part of the governmental focal points.

“each of them has told us that there is going to be something on toxic use reduction in their platforms.”

Op-Ed: Why Do Atheist Books Matter To Christians?

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Books on Atheism have been coming hot off the presses and protested as soon as it hit the stores. There have been a small number of outspoken Christians that protest every new book as a personal affront. Excuse me? Did anyone say that you have to buy it?

Some of the editorials I have been reading show such utter hate for any other religious experience beyond Christianity that they are hard to make it all the way through them. Atheists are being accused of becoming militant. By writing books on how they view the world it somehow threatens the religious people. So does that mean all those books on the bookstore shelves written n a Christian viewpoint are the result of militant authors?

Reality to Houston……..looks like we’re in for some rocky times.

One of the articles I read started off mentioning Atheism books and then went to the evils of Islam.

The problem is far more than merely an intellectual one. Only strong moral religion can defeat strong immoral religion.

Paul Jackson compared the sales of the book The God Delision by Dawkins with the sales of the Bible, Talmad, and Qur’an in a demeaning tone. The book of course is not going to outsell the others at this point. At one point in the article Einstein was brought into the fray. Einstein = intelligence. Einstein= believed in God. Cool, Einstein believed in God but so what. Honestly is it so hard to get that others may not believe and that doesn’t make them wrong?

Perhaps he hasn’t read much about Albert Einstein — assessed by many to have had the greatest intellect of any human being ever born — who did believe in a God.

Einstein, whose theory of relatively changed the way we look at science, felt the universe had such a pattern of working against all odds there had to be an intelligent designer.

Dawkins doesn’t think so.

There is no God, no Heaven.

Where is this guy coming from?

Does he think he is more intelligent than God?

Apparently so.

Has he ever been over to the Other Side?

I’ll bet you 1,000-to-1 he hasn’t.

An article in SF Weekly goes so strong as to suggest Congress should pass laws requiring atheist authors to register with the Securities Exchange Commission and disclose all links with companies who’ll benefit from mass conversion to faithlessness.

You’ve got to be kidding me. Sadly it’s not a joke.

Another editorial questioned why Christians are so threatened by Atheists writing books. One thought set me off to think: When we start bearing arms and threatening to shoot believers, the term “militant atheist” will be fair. But it’s highly doubtful you’ll see many atheists getting violent over the cause.

It made me think because the truth is right there. You don’t hear about Atheists running around shooting Christians for their beliefs.

There is one sure way to protest a book. Don’t buy it. Don’t discuss it. If the book doesn’t sell and isn’t given publicity it fades away most of the time. Unless of course the message is strong enough to stand on its own.

There is a place on the market for all religious viewpoints, secular and nonsecular. How can one know honestly what they believe if they don’t have a picture of different viewpoints.

Just my opinion.

Op-Ed: Walking Down My Pathway

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I’ve been thinking deep thoughts lately about right and wrong. Yes perhaps you should be getting worried now. More importantly how we determine what is right and what is wrong.

Perhaps it is just part of my own spiritual quest that has me questioning things I didn’t even give a second thought to when I was younger.

Some of the reasoning I have come to understand is not what I was brought up with. Somewhere there was a line drawn in the sand that said if you do not believe in God as I do then you are not as moral as I am. My parents lived by that belief. I do not.

I do not believe that an infant is born into sin. To me that’s insane. How could an innocent even begin to comprehend the evil that is out there. To look into the eyes of an infant and somehow see wrongs in them is simply impossible to me.

And yet it’s how many are raised. It’s how I was raised.

Does it make me an atheist if I don’t think you have to believe in “God” to know right from wrong? That some things are just…for lack of a better word so. It’s part of our basic make up to have the knowledge that some things are just not right. You don’t need a manual to know that it’s wrong to kill another person. That human life is a gift.

If I question the fact that the Church is a man made vessel in which to give answers to questions that have no answer does that make me a sinner? For that matter if I question the very foundation of the church am I wrong?

I was taught to have faith without question. I can’t follow that path any longer. My blinders fell off some time back. When I started to question the beliefs I had always known something just didn’t gel anymore. I stopped believing in matters that made no sense to me.

What I didn’t stop though was knowing right from wrong. I didn’t stop praising the beauty of the sunset. I didn’t stop wanting to seek out truth.

I stopped accepting without questioning.

As I explore where my spiritual path will lead me I am sure I will not always be right. But that’s part of learning. I know enough not to put down others for their beliefs. I think that is a “sin”. Each one of us walks on many paths, but the inner one is a path that we walk alone.

While this editorial may seem to be religious it isn’t really. It’s about one person exploring the world with eyes wide open on a personal journey. I hope you don’t mind that I included you for this short ride.

Ethics and Journalism

Do you know the code of ethics for journalists? The Society of Professional Journalists, an organization in the United States has one drawn up. The entire code is at the end of this article for you.

The code of ethics for journalists was adopted by the 1996 SPJ National Convention. It took months of study and debate before it was finally drafted.

Before we explore the entire code let’s understand what the ethics of journalism are. The major concern for a journalist is to not harm anyone by the words they write. Just like a doctor a journalist has the potential of causing grievous harm on an individual. There are many situations where a journalist must decide if a story is worth the damage it could do to those involved. Such as in a case dealing with minor children. There are reasons that the names of children are not allowed to be printed when crime or another situation is involved. A child should not have to carry with them the stigma of crimes they commit at a tender age nor of crimes that they are victims of. It’s simply ethical to not ruin a young life by the mighty pen.

On a site like Digital Journal, do ethics still play into the picture? Of course they do. While the CJs are for the most part not university educated in the school of journalism the site does have a professional footing. If an article is unethical it changes the face of the site turning it from a site of news to a tabloid news source. To have questionable ethics leaves advertisers questioning the validity of a news site.

Most of the CJs on Digital Journal come from North America where freedom of the press is an expected thing. In other parts of the world, including where at least one of the CJs lives journalism can be a dangerous business and ethics are controlled by the government. Censorship and propaganda are expected sidebars on articles.

Now for some ethical questions. If you have the story of the year but its about a molester do you turn him in? You have a controversial subject that an article is about. It may cause the site to lose ads……do you publish it? The question of ethics isn’t an easy one. Most of the time as CJs we don’t have to ponder serious dilemmas but if we do an article with our own sources we have to be sure that it is an ethical piece.

And now for the Code of Ethics:

Preamble
Members of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist’s credibility. Members of the Society share a dedication to ethical behavior and adopt this code to declare the Society’s principles and standards of practice.

Seek Truth and Report It
Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.

Journalists should:
— Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.

— Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing.

— Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources’ reliability.

— Always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Clarify conditions attached to any promise made in exchange for information. Keep promises.

— Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.

— Never distort the content of news photos or video. Image enhancement for technical clarity is always permissible. Label montages and photo illustrations.

— Avoid misleading re-enactments or staged news events. If re-enactment is necessary to tell a story, label it.

— Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the public. Use of such methods should be explained as part of the story

— Never plagiarize.

— Tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience boldly, even when it is unpopular to do so.

— Examine their own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others.

— Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance or social status.

— Support the open exchange of views, even views they find repugnant.

— Give voice to the voiceless; official and unofficial sources of information can be equally valid.

— Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.

— Distinguish news from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.

— Recognize a special obligation to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in the open and that government records are open to inspection.

Minimize Harm
Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect.

Journalists should:
— Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage. Use special sensitivity when dealing with children and inexperienced sources or subjects.

— Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.

— Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance.

— Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy.

— Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.

— Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects or victims of sex crimes.

— Be judicious about naming criminal suspects before the formal filing of charges.

— Balance a criminal suspect’s fair trial rights with the public’s right to be informed.

Act Independently
Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s right to know.

Journalists should:
—Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.

— Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.

— Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.

— Disclose unavoidable conflicts.

— Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.

— Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.

— Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money; avoid bidding for news.

Be Accountable
Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other.

Journalists should:
— Clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the public over journalistic conduct.

— Encourage the public to voice grievances against the news media.

— Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.

— Expose unethical practices of journalists and the news media.

— Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.

Additional resource can be found here

Ali Iman Sharmarke Killed In Mogadishu

Another journalist has been erased from Earth. In Mogadishu along with Ali Iman Sharmarke, a Canadian citizen, and Mahad Ahmed Elmi, a Somali had their voices silenced on Saturday. They had both lived in Ottawa returning to Somalia to build free press.

They had operated Horn Afrik Media Company which had bravely criticized both the government and Islamic militants in Somalia.

Elmi had been shot to death on his way to work. As Sharmarke,50, drove away from Elmi’s buried a remote-controlled landmine exploded.

“Sharmarke was returning from the funeral of one of his employees, Mahad Ahmed Elmi, who had been shot dead at close range by two gunmen while on his way to work earlier in the day,” the CBC’s David McGuffin reported from Nairobi.

Two other reporters, one working for Reuters and the other for Voice of America, were with Sharmarke in his car. They suffered light injuries. Sharmarke suffered shrapnel wounds to his head. The attack appeared to target the journalist.

Before leaving Ottawa Sharmarke had worked in a government job. He gave it up to return to his native Mogadishu so that the free press had a voice there. His wife and children still reside in Ottawa.

The station was popular for its phone-in shows, but unpopular with the new transitional government,” McGuffin said.
Those who don’t want peace for Somalia are behind these attacks,” said the deputy police commissioner, Abdullahi Hassan Barise. He said the men were targeted because of their jobs at Horn Afrik.

“I don’t know who was specifically responsible,” Mohamed Elmi, who works for Horn Afrik and who was a friend of the two men, told CBC News.

“No specific group has claimed responsibility so far, he said.

Both men were honoured for their work in 2002 by Canadian Journalists for Free Expression for their work in building the free press in Somalia.

“Its journalists, from many clans, have faced constant intimidation and threats in a society where there is no one to protest to, and no protection of press freedom.”

This year alone six journalists have perished in Somalia.

Rest in peace. The word you tried to voice will carry on.

The United States Was Not Started As A Christian Country

Although it’s what we are lead to believe the United States was not founded by a rock of Christians. The pledge of allegiance didn’t include God until the 1950’s. Religious freedom is quickly going into the hamper.

George Washington, the first elected President of the United States, never undertook communion. It is widely believed that he was a Deist. In his speeches as President he never brought religion in. It wasn’t part of the government. Church and state were separate entities during that time period.

In February, 1800, a few weeks after. Washington’s death, Jefferson made the following entry in his journal:

“Dr. Rush told me (he had it from Asa Green) that when the clergy addressed General Washington, on his departure from the government, it was observed in their consultation that he had never, on any occasion, said a word to the public which showed a belief in the Christian religion, and they thought they should so pen their address as to force him at length to disclose publicly whether he was a Christian or not. However, he observed, the old fox was too cunning for them. He answered every article of their address particularly, except that, which he passed over without notice” (Jefferson’s Works, Vol. iv., p. 572).

It’s fitting that in his farewell address liberty is mentioned fifteen times. God nor Jesus were mentioned.

The second elected President of the United States was John Adams. Adams was a a Unitarian. According to the dictionary Unitarians believe:

A Christian denomination that rejects the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity, asserts the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of humanity, and gives a pre-eminent position to Jesus as a religious teacher, while denying his divinity.

Unitarians believe in individual conscience and reason as a guide to right action, rejecting the doctrines of original sin, the atonement, and eternal punishment. Unitarianism is widespread in England and North America.

In his, “A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America” [1787-1788], John Adams wrote:

“The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history. Although the detail of the formation of the American governments is at present little known or regarded either in Europe or in America, it may hereafter become an object of curiosity. It will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of Heaven, more than those at work upon ships or houses, or laboring in merchandise or agriculture; it will forever be acknowledged that these governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.

His own words tell of how the country was founded. Considering the fact he was there during that time, I would have to say he had some personal insight.

“Thirteen governments [states & former colonies] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretense of miracle or mystery…are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind.”

Thomas Jefferson, the one who penned the Declaration of Independence, was not a Christian. His writings show a man who thought the faith was absurd at times. He was a Freethinker like Rousseau, Paine and Ingersoll.

In a letter to John Adams, written August 22, 1813, Jefferson says:

“It is too late in the day for men of sincerity to pretend they believe in the Platonic mysticism that three are one and one is three, and yet, that the one is not three, and the three are not one…. But this constitutes the craft, the power, and profits of the priests. Sweep away their gossamer fabrics of fictitious religion, and they would catch no more flies” (Ibid, p. 205).

In his “Notes on Virginia,” the following caustic allusion to Christianity occurs:

“Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one-half the world fools and the other half hypocrites.”

Jefferson like the two elected Presidents before him did not see religion being part of the government.

Consider this, Jefferson who wrote the Declaration of Independence was a Freethinker. One who has rejected authority and dogma, especially in religious thinking, in favor of rational inquiry and speculation. That is the definition of the belief. The United States is based on those beliefs.

James Madison was next in line. He was the main author of the Constitution and many consider him to the “Father of the Constitution” because of that.

# From a document in Madison’s own hand and re-published in the William and Mary Quarterly of October 1946.

* “The danger of silent accumulations & encroachments by Ecclesiastical Bodies have not sufficiently engaged attention in the U.S.”
* “Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion & Govt in the Constitution of the United States the danger of encroachment by Ecclesiastical Bodies, my be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their shorty history.”
* “But besides the danger of a direct mixture of Religion & the civil Government, there is an evil which ought to be guarded agst in the indefinite accumulation of property from the capacity of holding it in perpetuity by ecclesiastical corporations. The power of all coprporations , ought to be limited in this respect. The growing wealth acuired by them never fails to be a source of abuses.”

We can continue to search for an early religious founding father. Not until 1829 when Andrew Jackson became President did the White House have a religious man residing in it.

Jackson was a very religious man. He also did not believe that Church and State should be the way the government was run.

“I could not do otherwise without transcending the limits prescribed by the Constitution for the President and without feeling that I might in some degree disturb the security which religion nowadays enjoys in this country in its complete separation form the political concerns of the General Government.” (letter explaining his refusal to proclaim a national day of, among other things, prayer.)

The Presidents have not all been Christian and yet the country stood strongly. The man responsible for ending slavery, Lincoln was not a Christian.

Ulysses S. Grant
“Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church and the private school supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate.”

Theodore Roosevelt

“To discriminate against a thoroughly upright citizen because he belongs to some particular church, or because, like Abraham Lincoln, he has not avowed his allegiance to any church, is an outrage against that liberty of conscience which is one of the foundations of American life.”

The United States is becoming a country where God is in every other line. The politicians try to convince people it’s that Christians are the rock of the foundation. Yet the founding fathers were not all Christian. There were Jews. There were people who believed in nothing. The one thing that they all believed in though was having the freedom to choose.

The original The Pledge of Allegiance was written in in August 1892 by the socialist minister Francis Bellamy. His hopes were that the Pledge could be used in any country.

“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

In 1923 the first alteration came.

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Eisenhower had the last alteration added in1954.

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

While the largest religion base in the United States is the Christian faith it is not the only one. When a country reins in to base it’s laws and ideals for only one religion chaos ensues.

Take a look at America.

Where Does Religion Stand on Masturbation?

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The role of religion in people’s lives reflects much of how they view the outside world. When it comes to sexuality religion plays a huge role. Masturbation is a very common thing and yet in some faiths it is considered to be wrong. A sin even.

It’s curious to see the views of different religions on the subject of sexual self pleasure.

While this is simply my opinion I am sure that many would never think about touching themselves as a religious experience but the way they believe may reflect on how they do indeed touch themselves.

Information on the different beliefs came from the Moral Compass.

Roman Catholic

Touching yourself is a sin and to be condemned according to the Roman Catholic faith. The church believes in original sin and this falls into that scope.

‘Masturbation is considered ‘an intrinsically and gravely disordered action.’ But moral responsibility should be judged in terms of one’s ‘immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety, and other psychological and social factors.’

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Episcopalian

There is no stand in either direction here.

‘Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother.’

Genesis 38:9

Jewish

While not condemned by the Rabbis playing with your own juice box isn’t exactly what they think is a good thing. It’s to be discouraged but if you do it don’t worry, it’s not a sin or even harmful.

Mormon

Playing solo happy time is a big no no in the Mormon faith.

This power of creation affects your life several years before you should express if fully. You must always guard the power with many wisdom. You must wait until the time of your marriage to use it. During that waiting, what do you do with these desires? My boy, you are to control them. You are forbidden to use them now in order that you may use them with worthiness and virtue and fullness of joy at the proper time in life.’

Boyd K. Packer

Muslim

Playing your own flute is discouraged. Although it’s not a crime nor a sin.

‘There is no basis of prohibiting it (masturbation) therefore it is allowed, except that I do not approve of it because it cannot be termed as good behavior.’

Ibn Hazam, 994-1064
Muslim theologian

Baptist

The sect has no position on hanging with Rosie Palm and her five sisters.

I have to admit I was surprised by this.

Methodist

Another sect who doesn’t care if you like spanking it.

‘Onan, though he consented to marry the widow, yet to the great abuse of his own body, of the wife he had married and the memory of his brother that was gone, refused to raise up seed unto the brother. Those sins that dishonour the body are very displeasing to God, and the evidence of vile affections. Observe, the thing which he did displeased the Lord – And it is to be feared, thousands, especially single persons, by this very thing, still displease the Lord, and destroy their own souls.’

John Wesley, (1703-1791)

Buddhist

The Buddhist don’t say one way or another about the goodness of making yourself have toe curls.

Unitarian

Finally a faith that says get it on!

Masturbation is normal and healthy.

Church spokesperson Janet Hayes

So in the scheme of things where do you stand? Do you follow your belief system or cross the line when no one is looking?

He’s Going To Die

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Kenneth Foster Jr. is going to die on August 30. The man who was sentenced when he was nineteen will be put to death for a murder that he didn’t commit. And what’s more the state knows it. He was in a car waiting when Mauriceo Brown did kill a man.

Mauriceo Brown was executed in 2006. The state of Texas though contends that Foster knew what was going on and therefore is just as guilty.

It doesn’t matter that everyone involved says that the man hadn’t a clue. In Texas if they want you to die you’re going to die.

See in Texas they have special laws. One of those laws is the Texas Law of Parties that permits a person involved in a crime to be held accountable for the actions committed by someone else.

Texas says that a nineteen year old man “should have anticipated” that Brown was going to kill Michael LaHood in San Antonio. I mean come on, everyone knows that when someone exits your car they are going to go and shot someone, right?

“[Foster] was a victim of a statute that was never intended by its authors to be used this way,” said Foster’s defense attorney, Keith Hampton. “I talked to the authors, and they intended [the statute] to be used in conspiracy cases.”

The night in question Foster, Brown, Julius Steen, and Dewayne Dillard were all riding together in Foster’s car. No one is saying that these were innocent boys, On the contrary they had spent that evening committing two armed robberies. Everyone has always maintained that when Brown left the car no one knew that he was going to kill LaHood. In fact it has been stated repeatedly that Foster, who had borrowed the car from his grandfather, pleaded with the group to go home before they encountered LaHood. They also all maintain that he wanted to drive away when he heard the gunshots. Steen and Dillard made him stop and wait for Brown. So how did the others involved in the case luck out with lesser sentences? Steen received a 35-year-to-life sentence for the crime, and Dillard was given a life sentence.

The answer seems to be a shoddy court-appointed defense attorney. One that didn’t bring up those key points. One who wrote a short 20-page appellate brief on behalf of Foster. One who is safe to say didn’t care if his client lived or died.

At least one of the original jurors has admitted that his verdict would have been different had he known that Foster was unaware of what Brown was planning.

For a while it looked like Foster had a break. His sentence was overturned by Federal District Judge Royal Furgeson of San Antonio .

“There was no evidence before Foster’s sentencing jury which would have supported a finding that Foster either actually killed LaHood or that Foster intended to kill LaHood or another person. Therein lays the fundamental constitutional defect in Foster’s sentence . . . . Therefore, Foster’s death sentence is not supported by the necessary factual finding mandated [by the U.S. Supreme Court] and, for that reason, cannot withstand Eighth Amendment scrutiny.”

That though was short lived. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit overturned that decision.

So right now Foster has until the end of the month to breath.

When Texas wants them dead, they die.

Bush’s Spy Bill Passed By Senate

The Senate passed the Bush-backed spy bill that will allow the President to continue his controversial domestic spying program. With the media’s alerting of terror threats ringing the Senate passed the bill with a vote of 60-28.

The bill now goes to the Democratic-led U.S. House of Representative where the debating on it could begin as early as Saturday reports say. The House is attempting to take a month-long recess and have to clear their slate before hand.

the Senate defeated a Democrat version of the bill that would have tighter controls on the spying and provided for independent assessments of the attorney general’s implementation of the measure.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid criticized the Senate-passed bill, saying it “authorizes warrantless searches and surveillance of American phone calls, e-mails, homes, offices and personal records for however long (it takes for) an appeal to a court of review.”

What does this bill mean to the citizens of the United States?

Nothing unless you are considered a possible threat to the United States. But who says who is and who isn’t? The government doesn’t have to give reasons for the wiretapping. It has the right for interception without warrants of communications between people in the United States and others overseas if one had suspected ties to terrorists.

In January, Bush put the program under the supervision of the FISA court. Terms of the oversight have not been made public.

Water Purifying Saves Lives

We need it. Everyday we consume it. In the developed world it is clean and a healthy thing. In some areas of the world though the most vital life force can kill. Water. Life enforcing and at times life destroying.

More than six children a minute die because of unclean water. More than a billion people drink bacteria laced water that is not safe. Water purification though costs too much money and energy. That’s not entirely true.

Berkeley Lab physicist Ashok Gadgil has created the UV Waterworks. It can filter enough water for a small village using only the energy of a 60 watt light bulb. Bicycle powered generators can ensure that a village can have safe clean water.

Growing up in Bombay, India Gadgil loved science. He didn’t have access to science kits so he made up his own experiments. By the sixth grade he had read all the science texts that were in the high school. His father encouraged his curious son. Gadgil earned physics degrees from the University of Bombay and the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur. In the early 1970’s he ventured to Berkeley to embrace the world of physical science.

Gadgil believes that in “a world of contending beliefs and fickle artistic fashion, science reaches for bedrock truth.” And for him, truth has always had a human dimension.

After his arrival the United States went through an energy crisis. Gadgil realized that if the States were having trouble his home country would be in dire straits if something wasn’t done. After that period he concentrated on environmental physics.

In 1979 he became a doctor of physics and the next year joined the Berkeley Lab.

“The nice thing about being at Berkeley Lab,” Gadgil says, “is that even when conventional wisdom says it can’t be done, the tradition is to go out and do it anyway.”

Because of Gadgil we have the UV Waterworks. UV Waterworks is portable, rugged, and inexpensive.

Lives are being saved. For the amount of energy that it takes to run a light bulb. Amazing.

A Quick Study Of Copyright Laws

This article is based on an article that used the Berne Union for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Property, it’s an overview of copyright laws but the laws of your country may be slightly different. This is just a base of most laws.

Do you know what copyrights are? The answer is fairly simple. According to Whatiscopyright.com a copyright is a protection that covers published and unpublished literary, scientific and artistic works, whatever the form of expression, provided such works are fixed in a tangible or material form. That means simply if something can be set to paper it can be copyrighted.

You don’t have to have a lawyer to have your works copy written. The poorman copyright still works. To do this type of copyright you simply mail the original work to yourself and keep it sealed with the postal marks in place. You then have a noted date for your material that is acceptable in court if you have to sue on copyright infringements.

Generally copyrights last for fifty years after a person’s death.

“Ignorance of the Law does not make one exempt from compliance thereof.” Using other people’s work always implies some level of responsibility, so it’s always good to see what that responsibility is before using the work.

So how do you know if something is copy written? The best rule of thumb is if it’s been written it’s protected. That also applies to web design layouts. Material found on the web may be copied freely only if the information is created by the (i) federal government, (ii) if the copyright has expired or (iii) the copyright has been abandoned by the holder.

If you use someone else’s property on your website youdo not own it. It is still the property of the original owner. That includes free stock pictures. They are only free to use, not free to claim ownership.

If you are not 100% sure that the material is in the public domain (sometimes “free sites” offer copyrighted material), do not use it.

Fair use of the news is a tricky one. You have to credit your source. If you don’t you could be liable for copyright laws. If you do not credit the source you are committing plagiarism.

Ephraim Brown Should Be Playing Today

Sometimes when you’re only 11 you get to stay up late. Ephraim was getting to on Saturday night as he sat on the fence at a cousin’s birthday party. Perhaps he heard the pop pop of the handgun before he fell off the fence blood spouting from his neck.

In Toronto gang violence is claiming the lives of the young and innocent too often. A child sitting on a fence was murdered in cold blood early Sunday morning. There is no rhyme nor reason in these murders. They didn’t tick anyone off, they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The bullets flying from the handguns have no tracking device. They don’t designate if the first person they come to belongs to a rival gang. Once fired the bullet cruises to that first target and takes it out.

Ephraim fell from the fence his eyes already closing. His aunt tried to give mouth to mouth but the sweet little boy who obeyed his family had already passed from this life.

The pops from the gang’s handguns sound like fire crackers. In certain areas of the city the residents know those sounds too well. They know to scream for their young to rush inside. For outside a war is raging.

Ephraim joins the other young innocents that Toronto’s gangs have murdered. He’s not the youngest to have been shot. Just the youngest to die. Shaquan Cadougan was only four when three bullets put him into the hospital. He won the fight for life. At five Kadin Kendall will always remember the night he was shot in the eye at a bus stop. Waiting for a bus was dangerous for eleven year old Tamara Carter also, she survived the bullet in her head.

The family of Ephraim Brown is hoping that someone will come forward and talk. The walls of see nothing, hear nothing have been building up where the gangs run wild. It’s time for the walls to have a sledge hammer break them down.

“I saw him … I touch him, I hold on to him. I’m looking for the blood, but I see no blood,” neighbour Suzie Turner, who left her apartment after the hail of gunfire about 1 a.m. to find Ephraim on the ground.

“When is this going to stop?” Turner said, throwing her arms into the air beside the children’s playground at the complex, on the north side of Sheppard, between Jane and Keele Sts. “Too much, too much.

“It’s gotta stop, but how and where and when? What’s it gonna take for us … to wake up?

“He’s an innocent, innocent, innocent child. It could be mine.”

Too many innocents. Too many guns. Too much silence.

Break the silence and the rest will follow. The innocents can be the ones of the streets with happy smiles and the guns can be the ones that have gone away.

With HIV, Where You Live Decides Your Life

There are few words that invoke terror to patients like HIV. The very nature of the virus makes for shivers in those who undergo testing to make sure they are free of it. Today though there is hope. If you live in the right part of the world.

With the new drugs out there a person with HIV doesn’t have to start payments on their funeral right away. It’s becoming a disease that you deal with like a diabetic deals with insulin. If you live in the right part of the globe.

Michael Lederman, of Case Western Reserve University told the International AIDS Society Conference in Sydney about the hopes and lessening death rate.

“I have been doing HIV care since 1983,” he told a press conference at the fourth International AIDS Society Conference in Sydney. “And in those days I would regularly see my patients die. Life expectancy was short.

“I wouldn’t even tell my patients who enjoyed cigarettes to stop smoking because it didn’t seem to make a lot of sense if we were talking about survival in terms of months and a few years.

“But now we are talking about a fairly robust life expectancy.”

While the life expectancy for a person infected with HIV was not quite the same as normal, the major health risks for his patients were the same as those as those facing the general population such as heart disease, Lederman said.

“So the future is a little uncertain but it is so bright, so bright compared to what it was 10, 15, 20 years ago,” he said.

If you don’t you know that you’ve been handed down a death sentence. In Asia or Africa a person with HIV will live a short and painful life. Their families may have already gotten a death sentence also because by the time it has shown up it’s by in your system for a while.

Brian Gazzard, founder and chair of the British HIV Association agreed with Lederman that in the developed world HIV is now a controllable condition. That though is only in that portion of the world.

I don’t agree at all. I think the HIV epidemic is essentially uncontrolled. It is uncontrolled in Africa, it is uncontrolled completely in Asia really at the moment,” he told the press conference.

“I think the scale of the endeavour to actually beat this epidemic, nobody has started to really conceive of yet.”

The one thing though that the world has now that wasn’t around in the beginnings of the HIV/AIDS is hope. There is hope that one day AIDS will not be a death sentence. That if someone hears the diagnoses they can calmly look at their doctor and ask what drugs should they be talking. Like with heart disease or GERD. It may be years away, but still there is that hope.

Craig McClure, executive director of the International AIDS Society is more realistic,
“There is a possibility that we could overcome this disease,” he said.

“We are at a point where we could begin to begin ending the epidemic or we could begin to go down a very negative track where people assume that there are enough resources now and the problem is over. And it certainly isn’t.”

The Ones Left Behind: The New War Widow

For some it’s the daily things that are a constant reminders that their spouse will never return. Others have certain dates. Mothers and children whose hero husbands and fathers die in war find life can never be the same.

When a spouse or parent dies generally the closure is difficult but more understandable. It’s hard to rationalize death by bombing. In an article with CP widows talked about their lives since losing their soldier husbands to the war.

Charmaine Tedford says it’s the simple daily tasks that Sgt. Darcy Tedford did along beside her that makes it hard to move on. Tedford died in October.

Julie Mason says that it hits hardest when her three year old says she wants to die so she can be with her daddy, Master Cpl. Jeff Walsh. The mother of three walks a tightrope trying to help her young children to understand about their father. Her seven year old Avery knows what happened, Walsh was accidentally shot by a comrade inside their military vehicle on a routine patrol outside Kandahar last August. The other two are two young to understand that at ages 3 and 18 months.

“It’s been my life everyday, especially with my three year old who’ll say, ‘I miss daddy and I want to see him,”‘ Mason, 29, said from her home near the base in Shilo, Man., where Walsh was stationed.

“The questions will be forever, they will never end and you hope as a parent that you have half the right answers.

At first I almost lost my mind because that’s the last thing you want to hear your three year old say, but at the same time I know she wasn’t fully understanding what she was saying,” she said. “She understands that’s where dad is and she wanted to go and be with him.”

Kerry Arnold deals with similar issues with her young 23 month old son Connor. Last Sept. Cpl. Glen Arnold was killed in the line of duty by a suicide bomber. Her seven year old rushes to tell her of every Canadian soldier that falls in the war.

It brings bring the day when the army padre showed up at the door to deliver the worst news she could hear. She screamed at him to go away but it didn’t stop the reality.

She explains about passing a graveyard and listening to her son:

“He was saying, ‘Daddy, daddy, daddy,’ and I had to say, ‘No, that’s not where daddy is buried,’ and he got upset with me because I didn’t stop,” Arnold, 34, said from her home. “Connor doesn’t understand.”

It’s not just the memories that makes it difficult to go on. Military mothers are used to being “single parents for six months” but not forever. Having to readjust to being a single parent during grief is a daunting task.

“It’s the simplest daily tasks that you shared with your spouse, that you don’t realize how much they did for you,” Tedford said. “I cut the grass when he was alive, but he might have been cooking supper or bathing the kids. It was a division of labour and now it’s me doing it all.”

She recalled a recent purchase of a BBQ. The clerk helped her load it into the car for the trip home. When she arrived home it dawned on her that Darcy wasn’t there to help her get it out of the car.

“I had to go and ask one of his friends, can you come help me take a stupid barbecue out of the car? Can you help me put it together because I can’t do that and watch the kids and a dog all at the same time?” she said. “It’s very frustrating.”

Arnold is doing something about the pain. She formed a support group on the base. She also has to learn how to lean on others during this time.

“When he was alive I shovelled the driveway once and he gave me trouble for it,” she said, laughing. “I never cut the grass until he went on tour. Thank God I’ve got good neighbours.”

Mason worries that her children will forget the memory of their father. Ben was only six months old when Jeff left for Afghanistan.

“I can’t even put into words what it does to your heart to think that your children will forget who their father is,” she said. “That was the biggest fear for me, that they were going to forget. I just realized there comes a point that the picture will just be a picture to them and there will be no memories that go with that picture.
“That was one of the hardest steps for me.”

Keeping the memory alive is the hardest thing for these courageous young mothers.

“Every night before he goes to bed he gives his picture a kiss and then he turns it to me to kiss it and he gives him a kiss when he gets up in the morning,” said Arnold of her son.

They Danced To Freedom

They defected for their art and freedom to the West, ballet stars ballet dancers Rudolph Nureyev, Natalia Makarova, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Alexander Godunov all from their homeland Mother Russia. Back when the Cold War was real they sought freedom.

June 17, 1961, at the Paris Airport was when Rudolph Nureyev defected the Soviet Union. He had been treated harshly because it was assumed he was homosexual by the KGB. Within the week he was employed with the Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas and was performing The Sleeping Beauty with Nina Vyroubova.

He was finally allowed the freedom to be who he really was. In Denmark he met his lover Erik Bruhn. They had a stormy relationship due to the fact Rudolph liked to play around.

Professionally he director of the Royal Swedish Ballet from 1967 to 1972 and Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Canada from 1983 until his death in 1993.

He was allowed back in Russia once to visit his mother. The year was 1989.

He contacted HIV sometime in the 1980’s. Although he denied he was sick with AIDS his health was visibly failing.

The French Culture Minister, Jack Lang, presented him with France’s highest cultural award, the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres in 1992. On January 6, 1993 he died in Paris, France at the age of 54.

His death was mourned throughout the world although perhaps the most eloquent tribute was by Mikhail Baryshnikov who said, “He had the charisma and simplicity of a man of the earth and the untouchable arrogance of the gods.”

Natalia Makarova, a prima ballerina with the Kirov Ballet defected in 1970 to London owing to both personal and professional unhappiness. A favorite of the ballets Swan Lake and Giselle she preformed for American Ballet Theater and Royal Ballet. She even returned to Russia during her career and danced Swan Lake again with the Kirov Ballet.

During his trip of the 1970 tour of London, Mischa started planning his escape helped in part by his friend Christina Berlin of the United States. In 1974 Mikhail Baryshnikov escaped his dance troupe and sought political asylum in Toronto. His first appearance after the escape was with the National Ballet of Canada in a televised version of La Sylphide.

After that he ventured to New York. During the rest of the 1970’s he was a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) and the New York City Ballet. He later became a dancer and artistic director for the ABT until the 1990’s.

He is still a major name in the world of Ballet. On July 3, 1986, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Alexander Godunov didn’t escape the Soviet Union until 23 August 1979, while on a tour with the Bolshoi Ballet in New York City. In New York Alexander contacted authorities and asked for political asylum. In response the KGB put his wife Lyudmila Vlasova on a plane bound for Russia. The United States tried to intervene but she returned to Russia and the couple were divorced in 1982.

He joined his friend Mischa at the American Ballet Theatre dancing as a principal until 1982 when they had a falling out.

He moved on to a movie career. A much publicized relationship with Jacqueline Bisset lasted until 1988.

He became an American citizen in 1987. Sadly he fell ill with hepatitis and died at the young age of 45.

His memorial at Gates Mortuary in Los Angeles is engraved with the words:
His future remained in the past

Murder In A Small Town

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In the middle of a small village in upstate New York lays a murder mystery. The players are varied and the questions that swirl around the case go unanswered. At the center is a 30 year old man sitting in a prison cell on a life sentence.

Did Shawn Michael Campbell make too many enemies during his life in Bath, New York to get a new trial? The 30 year old man is serving a life sentence at Wende Correctional Facility for the murder of Rhonda Bilby. It’s a murder that he plead guilty to but maintains that he did not commit.

Rhonda Bilby, 48, of 4734 Emerson Road, was found dead in her home’s yard around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday by Steuben County Sheriff’s deputies. Her husband, Rawlin, a Bath antiques dealer, reported her missing around 11:30 p.m. Monday.

That is the only known truth in this case. Rhonda Bilby was murdered. She was hit twice in the head with a tire iron and the blunt head trauma caused her death.

Campbell says that the real person slamming a tire iron down on Rhonda Bilby was her own husband Rawlin. Is it possible that is the truth? At one point during the court appearance for a new trial Campbell looked at Rawlin Bilby stating, “”You killed her not me, why don’t you get up here.”

“There are very few husbands that can say, i never once hurt her in 29 years, never raised my voice in anger, never, so that’s the type of person…so that’s the type of person i am,” said Bilby.

Researching the case gives more questions that answers. Why is the request for a new trial being denied? Why so many lawyers for the man, almost a revolving door. Why are there lawyers not present in court during important hearings? That the lawyer(Kelly) sent a letter to the poscetion that stated Campbell said where the murder weapon was and afterwards they searched the area with a dive team, nothing was found, the date on the letter was in December of 2004.

Here’s two new ones. How could an antique dealer in a town of 5,000 afford to leave it all behind and move to Costa Rica with a new wife? A wife that he was having an affair with at the time of the murder.

Bath isn’t the sweet little lake town that it appears. The village is a stop over for drug dealers going to New York City. It has the highest crime rate for the area.

What about the fact that Campbell helped investigators with drug kingpins. He had a prior on check forging. The check charges were from a drug addiction that fueled the young man’s life into that area of crime.

Campbell is not an innocent by no means. The man had a serious drug problem that he tried to conquer. He was in the process of getting his life back. He was known as a hard worker and had his own handyman business. He had known work for the Bilby’s in the past. He and Rhonda had a friendly relationship to the point of her lending him money.

What about the lack of DNA from the samples that were tested? What about the fact there was no blood found in the truck that Shawn Campbell drove away from the scene in nor on the clothes that he wore that night?

The fact does remain that Shawn Campbell plead guilty. Campbell plead guilty under the advice of his then attorney William Kelly. Judge Joseph Latham has refused to allow a new trial saying that Kelly was not at fault. Why did he? According to his family he was coerced into it. Told that it was his only way out. Turns out it was his way into life in prison.

Campbell has a new lawyer, Joe Valley. Valley contends that Kelly was inconsistent since the beginning of the trial. His lawyer wants to have a new trial for Campbell and in a new venue. They don’t think there could be an unbiased jury in the area. Former attonery Ferratella stepped aside after Shawn’s sentencing and may now be representing Charlie**.

Campbell’s own actions after the murder draw to question his innocence. He did have stolen items in his home from the Bilby’s. Two days after the murder Shawn called the propane company using Rhonda’s credit card to get gas service. Shawn said the credit card was his girlfriend’s. His explanation is that it was part of a cover up designed by Rawlin Bilby. Then there’s the fact that admitting of guilt the first time on Sept. 30, 2004 at time of booking. He said that Rhonda threatened to call the police on him. The one constant in all of his stories of hitting a buck starts up here. He said that he blacked out. That the blacking out happened because of the drug he was taking, Lexapro. He had been under stress because his wife had left him with their two children. The police never once tested him for drugs during his long interrogation.

Enter in a man named Charlie. Charlie had known in advance of the murder that it was going to happen. Campbell found the letters that Charlie had wrote to the DA’s office in his case file. Not one single person every mentioned this guy! Even the local news reporters knew about him, but didn’t leak a word of it! Charlie wrote to the DA’s office prior to the murder that there was being planned a murder and who was going to get murdered. The DA’s office did nothing.

Campbell’s mother has been in contact with Charlie for over a year now. She also thinks that charlie knows something.

Do I think the guy knows something? Yes! This was a pre-planned murder, planned with some other guys in prison…one which was paroled just a month or so before the murder. I have been helping Charlie to get these guys to roll over and talk…and my son thinks that Charlie is after his own agenda.

There are many loose holes in this case. Many questions without answers coming forth. Is Campbell innocent? Honestly I don’t know. Could he be? It’s possible.

One thought. How did a man who would so unwisely use a dead woman’s credit card in the same town that she had been murdered two days prior avoid any blood on his person during the crime? This woman was so badly injured that at first glance the investigators were not sure if she had been hit or shot. There was blood. A lot of blood. And yet Shawn Campbell drove his truck from the scene of the murder and no blood was in that truck. No blood was on his clothes.

With the many questions swirling around a new trial should be in order.

Campbell’s mother is clinging to a belief in her son’s innocence.

“I want to believe he is. I never, ever have seen him that kind of angry,” Deb Myer, Campbell’s mother.

“(Campbell) was solely convicted on his own statements,” said Ronald Overholt, one of Campbell’s uncles. “And he was afraid (when he made the statements).”

**name change due to protection issues

http://www.steubencourier.com/news/2006/1224/news/029.html

http://www.steubencourier.com/news/2006/0326/news/049.html

http://www.steubencourier.com/news/2007/0506/news/036.html

Khalid W. Hassan joins the ranks of murdered journalists today. The Iraqi reporter who worked for The New York Times was gunned down as he walked to work. He had called the bureau saying he was late because a check point had blocked his usual route.

He is the second Times reporter to die in Iraq. Fakher Haider, 38, was killed in 2005.

He was killed on the streets of southwest Baghdad. He was able to call his mother after he was shot.

He “was shot and killed on the way to work,” the Times statement said. “The circumstances of the attack remain unclear at this time.”

Hassan, who worked for the paper in Baghdad for four years, “was part of a large, sometimes unsung community of Iraqi news-gatherers, translators, and support staff, who take enormous risks every day to help us comprehend their country’s struggle and torment,” Bill Keller, the Times executive editor, said. “Without them, Americans’ understanding of what is happening on the ground in Iraq would be much, much poorer.”

At least 110 journalists have died in Iraq since the US invasion in 2003.

The Worst Job in the Military

The hardest job in the military is state side and out of danger. The officers who go to the front doors of fallen soldiers to announce that a child or loved one is no longer among the living have a dauntless task.

With the constant pallor of death coming out of Iraq the casualty information officer has had to make too many house calls. The white vans that they drive up to a house can only mean one thing. The fear that every family with a member serving overseas has.

Their job does not end with the announcement that a loved one has died. They offer emotional and practical support. Often families have not prepared for the brutal realities of war.

The messenger of death’s rank must be higher than the rank of the ones that have been killed on the battlefield. They are required to memorize the details of the death as not to refer to notes and perform in a natural manner. The job has had to been played over and over as the families of the 3,500 US troops killed in Iraq since the invasion in 2003 have had to be informed.

The task gets harder the longer the war goes on. The emotional toll on the officers is heavy.

Staff Sgt Bilyeu, who has three young sons himself, says he believes his task is getting harder the more times he has to do it.

“When you are telling them the worst news they can possibly imagine, it takes a grind on you,” he says. “It just does not get easier.”

op-ed: Pot, Law And Canada

It’s fairly well known how laid back Canadians tend to be. The reason may have something to do with the fact that more Canadians toke than anywhere else in the developed world. The fact it’s slightly against the law doesn’t seem to matter much.

The worries of the rest of the world tend to roll off the back of most happy go lucky Canucks. Not to say that Canadians don’t care, they do, it’s just not something to have a heart attack over. The Northern dwellers don’t use the harder drugs as much as the rest of the world, just give them weed and they are happy little beavers.

But Benedikt Fischer, a drug policy expert with the University of Victoria, said the UN report is flawed since it didn’t examine patterns of use.

“From a public health point of view or consequence point of view, these numbers are fairly meaningless,” Fischer said.

“We want to know how many of those people use marijuana in a highly frequent way, how many of them have problems related to marijuana use and, thirdly, what are the social harms?”

The results could also be flawed because many in Canada don’t know it’s against the law. Ask an average Canadian on the street if he tokes or has a friend who does and he probably will say yep. Ask the same man on the street if he knew he could get busted for it and he’ll say, ummm what!!!

Canada’s tokers aren’t ashamed of the green herb. It’s a natural product for gosh darn sake.

“We have magazines that celebrate cannabis culture in this country, we have conventions and conferences and rallies and concerts,” he said.

“It’s become a large part of youth culture in Canada, and more importantly, 50 per cent of marijuana smokers are over the age of 30. So it’s really gone to all age groups, all class groups. There’s no question about it that there is less stigma in Canada.”

There was a bill in place starting in 2003 that would have decriminalized pot. Stephan Harper got that sucker banned when he took office.

Guess what. It hasn’t changed anything for the citizens other than getting busted. People who enjoy a toke haven’t stopped.

Eugene Oscapella, an Ottawa-based lawyer who specializes in drug policy issues, said the UN report shows that the legal status of marijuana in a given country seems to have little bearing on consumption rates.

Oscapella showed how in the Netherlands where it’s legal to toke the citizens aren’t having all day bong parties. In fact the population of tokers is only 6.1 per cent. Compare that to the 16.8 per cent of Canucks at and you have to scratch your head. Does making it legit make it less attractive? Or would it free up the courts for more important things like meth trafficking?

“It is a health and a social issue,” Oscapella said. “The criminal law is not the appropriate mechanism for dealing with drugs in the vast majority of cases.”

And who tokes more than Canadians? Papua New Guinea (29.5 per cent), Micronesia (29.1), Ghana (21.5) and Zambia (17.7).

Case Study: Child soldier, Omar Khadr – Were Rights Violated?

Omar Khadr Related Articles Elderly German man charged with child sex in Cambodia Courts To Decide If Computer-Generated Porn Is Still illegal 4 comments Former Sudanese Child Soldier Makes A Rap About His Life 1 comment

Have the basic rights of Omar Khadr been violated while he has been detained at Guantanamo Bay? Should he have been treated as a child soldier or as an adult by the rules of the International Red Cross.

The facts that are known of Omar’s early life are he was born in Toronto in 1986 to two parents who believed being a martyr was the highest achievement a person could have. When Omar was two, the Khadrs left Toronto for Peshawar, Pakistan.

Four years later when his father almost died after stepping on a land mine the family returned to Toronto. Omar was seven at the time. Omar was the most gifted of the seven children in his family. At the age of seven he began memorizing the Koran in Arabic. At age nine he and his family returned to Peshawar. Shortly after the family’s return terrorists led by Ayman al-Zawahiri suicide-bombed the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad.

The entire family was detained and his father whom Omar was very close to tortured. His father remained in prison after the family was released. When the family was finally allowed to visit him Omar saw his father crippled among murderers and armed robbers. His father went on a hunger strike and was hospitalized. Young Omar spent every night of that night sleeping on the concrete floor beneath his father’s bed. That time period is said to have changed the polite young boy and he never recovered from the sights he saw.

After four months in prison with the help of the Canadian government his father was released. The family moved to Jalalabad, Afghanistan, to live with Osama bin Laden. Omar was either nine or ten when he was sent to military training camp.

After the 9/11 attackAbdurahman, who had become deeply disillusioned with Al Qaeda’s killing of civilians, defected to Kabul, where he was taken prisoner by the Northern Alliance and handed over to the CIA. . Omar followed his father into the mountains instead and fought for Al Qaeda.

At the age of 15 Omar was captured in a compound near Khost after a gun battle in which he threw a grenade, which injured Sgt. Speer and led to his death. At that time Omar was shot three times. He was treated medically by U.S. medics.

He was sent to Guantánamo Bay. There were other child detainees incarcerated at the same time. They were not required to wear the orange coveralls. They were provided with school teachers, and recreation. Omar though was at all times treated as an adult.

Treatment of child soldiers under the age of eighteen according to the International Committee of the Red Cross detained children should always be housed separately from adult detainees, except where they are lodged with their families;

if the child is not freed and in the event of prolonged detention, the child should be transferred as soon as possible to an appropriate institution for minors; the child should have direct, regular and frequent contacts with his or her family; food, hygiene and medical care appropriate to the child’s age and general condition must be provided; the child should spend a large part of the day in the fresh air whenever possible; the child should be able to continue his or her schooling.

Since Omar has been imprisoned he has been treated as an adult. He has been tortured and held in solitary confinement. Some of the allegations of those tortures are:

Being short-shackled by his hands and feet to a bolt in the floor and left for five to six hours; occasionally a US officer would enter the room to laugh at him; being kept in extremely cold rooms; being lifted up by the neck while shackled, and then dropped to the floor; being beaten by guards; having a finger pressed into a pressure point in his neck, causing severe pain and inability to breathe. the lights were kept on 24 hours a day and detainees were punished for trying to cover the lights with their clothes; the air conditioning was kept on cold, which he says “destroyed his lungs”; he was routinely placed in isolation, sometimes for up to a month; he was only allowed exercise once every four or five days, and in 2005 went without exercise in daylight hours for several months.

There is no question that Omar should have been held. There is no question that he is trained to be a killer for a terrorist group. What lays in question is should at the age of 15 when he was detained should he have been treated as a child which is what he was. And since those rights were violated is that United States in violation of the rules of the International Red Cross? Decide for yourself.

Additional resources:

url=http://www.rollingstone.com]www.rollingstone.com
en.wikipedia.org
news.amnesty.org

OP-ED/ Can You Afford To Get Sick?

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Where Can You Go?

If you’re sick in America and working poor where can you go to get treatment? Do you have to be living on the street to be poor enough?

There’s Medicaid. They claim to help those too poor to afford care.

Medicaid is available only to certain low-income individuals and families who fit into an eligibility group that is recognized by federal and state law. If you’re pregnant you have a fighting chance. Blind? You should make it through the maze. Elderly? Maybe.

If you have any property though you are likely to be denied. After all you can sell your home if you need the money to afford medical care right?

The New York state income stats are:

2007 Income & Resource Levels* Number in Family Monthly Net Income Resources
1 $700 $4200
2 $900 $5400
3 $1100 $6600
4 $1109 $6650
5 $1117 $6700
6 $1134 $6800
7 $1275 $7650
8 $1417 $8500
For each additional person, add: $142 $850

Now it seems to me if you have eight people in your house and only a monthly income for that house of $1417 people aren’t eating to begin with.

You are in luck if you have a pregnant woman in the house or children under the age of 6.

Infants to age one and pregnant women – 200% of the federal poverty level.
Children age 1 through 5 years – 133% of the federal poverty level.
Children age 6 through 18 years – 100% of the federal poverty level.
Monthly Income Effective January 1, 2007* Number in Family 100% FPL** 133% FPL** 200% FPL**
1 $851 $1132 $1702
2 $1141 $1518 $2282
3 $1431 $1904 $2862
4 $1721 $2289 $3442
5 $2011 $2675 $4022
6 $2301 $3061 $4602
7 $2591 $3446 $5192
8 $2881 $3832 $5762
For each additional person, add: +$290 +$386 +$580

Note that the first column is what the federal government considers to be below the poverty line. Considering a family of three on welfare in New York receives approx. $575 a month they would qualify for medicaid.

Medicaid though is limited. The medicines a person can get are limited. For adults it is more limited than for children.

For a family with a medical crisis and no insurance they either have to sell everything they have, quit their job, file for bankruptcy or ignore the medical emergency. If someone files for bankruptcy their credit is gone. They won’t be able to qualify at any time for insurance because they have a bad credit history.

The circle doesn’t seem to have a break in it.

Families have lost everything and still not been able to have proper medical care. People die every day in the richest country of the world because they can’t afford to get sick. More babies die in the States than in many third world countries because the cost of medical care.

Parents have to choose at times which child needs treatment more than another one.

If you can afford the doctor’s bill then you have to deal with the prescriptions.

So if you live in America can you afford to get sick? I hope you don’t have to find out the hard way.

http://www.albanycounty.com/departments/dss/programs_services.asp?id=411

Canadaville A Haven For Victims of Hurricane Katrina

Frank Stronach, age 74, is the founder of Magna and serves as the Chairman of the Board. In 1957 Stronach opened a one-man tool and die shop called Multimatic. First year sales: $13,000 CDN. – Photo courtesy of Magna International Related Articles Atlantic Canada Prepares for Noel: the Storm not the Season18 comments FEMA Apologizes for Fake News Conference on CA Wildfires14 comments Rain Floods Hit Recovering Parts of New Orleans3 comments

 

Canadaville is a town built by the Canadian company Magna International in Louisiana. It has offered victims who were displaced from Hurricane Katrina a safe haven. There are rules though. Those who follow the rules get to stay rent free for five years.

The rules are basic; residents must work or go to school, volunteer at least eight hours a week, participate in the community council and stay away from drugs. The town is not in the hurricane zones making it a safer place than most of the FEMA areas.

Frank Stronach’s dream for an area where the victims could live and get a hand up is blooming. The chairman of Canadian autoparts maker Magna International has offered hundreds of the “refugees” a haven.

The small town in Louisiana is officially named Morganville while the residents have dubbed it Canadaville. There are free after school programs and tutoring to ensure the children thrive with their education. There are computer classes and job training for the adults. Plans are on deck for an organic farm. All the programs and rents for free for the first five years in order for the residents to get their feet on solid ground.

Currently there are 210 residents. Some arrived just weeks after Katrina hit, while others arrive every week. Very few have been evicted for not following the rules. Most residents are black and former residents of New Orleans.

After they pass the background checks they can move in. At times there are drug testings. Their guests must check in and get a pass if they’re staying overnight. There is a guard at the front post but it’s like a gated community, not a prison camp.

The are 49 modular homes. All homes have three bedrooms. There has been no federal funding for the town.

What the residents get back is the chance to live in a crime free community. The towns close by had some reservations in the beginning but have grown to like the increase of purchases for their towns.

Canadaville’s residents are encouraged to get to know one another and the broader community. Dawn Charbonneau’s husband, Mike, organizes weekend barbecues and fishing derbies.

“It’s a good place to try to prosper and rebuild,” said Mike Charbonneau, now a shipbuilder in Simmesport. His family is even talking about buying a house.

Dawn Charbonneau remembers feeling free her first nights here, “like all my troubles were behind me. It’s like this was a second chance for me, my husband and my kids.”

What Would Happen If A Dirty Bomb Went Off In Toronto

It was a day like any other in Toronto. The temperature was in the high 20’s and the city was alive with residents and tourists outside enjoying the summer weather. No one thought it was a special day.

The suspects blended in with the rest of the tourist walking just a little faster with a full backpack. No one really noticed them as anything but the average tourist as they lumbered from Union Station to the CN Tower. Veering off to go the washroom they quickly set up in a stall their device and leaving the head wandered back outside dropping their package at the foot of the tower in a trash can.

They quickly moved to a cab and sped off quickly on the 401. A cell phone call after they had passed the 10 kilometre mark later changed the world.

They had denoted a device containing a modest amount of americium-241 in the heart of Toronto and there was no turning back.

Radiation was already moving eastward over the downtown core, spreading beyond the Don Valley Parkway to midtown neighbourhoods. The authorities were scrambling to get organized as many walked confused and frightened in the streets. Those not in the direct blast were being coated with poisoned air. The hospitals were already over run with people terrorified that they were dying.

Think that’s fiction? While it hasn’t happened yet Canadian authorities are preparing for when it does.

In the case of Toronto a dirty bomb would in time cost the city upwards of $23.5 billion. Not only with the medical attention but also for the long clean up afterwards.

And there would be few if any tourists coming in to help with that bill.

Canada has put considerable effort into trying to prevent, but also be ready for, a dirty bomb attack, said Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day.

“We know that terrorists have a particular fascination with explosives, and radioactive explosives would be devastating,” Day said in an interview.

“An event like that could happen.”

The use of a dirty bomb isn’t to kill the population. Instead of killing a dirty bomb contaminates a large area. The radio-active material has to be cleaned up quickly. the costs of that can take down an area.

What would happen if the above story did take place?

Chaos is possible. I hope we don’t have to find out for sure.

Robert Kosilek/Michelle Kosilek: Should Taxpayers Pay For Sex Change Surgery

Robert Kosilek killed his wife. His trial was in 1990 and he was sentenced to prison. In 1993 he became Michelle Kosilek. Michelle is back in court but not for a crime. Michelle wants the American tax payer to foot her sex change operation.

Michelle has sued the Corrections Department twice citing the Eighth Amendment. Michelle says its cruel and unusual punishment to have to endure life in the body of a man and that the system should not only allow for her sex change operation but also foot the bill.

Trial over this case has been in the courthouse of Boston for more than a year. Its not a cut and dry thing after all to decide if this is a medically necessary operation or an elective one.

The cost of the medical experts alone is over $52,000. And the tax payer is paying for it. Both sides including the judge have had their own experts helping to navigate the controversial path.

Michelle is serving a life sentence for the murder of Robert’s wife. When his wife spilled hot tea on his genitals he strangled her and claimed self defense. The jury didn’t buy it then and sentenced him.

Michelle’s case is being watched by other transgender inmates. No other transgender has successfully sued their state to cover the cost of sex change surgery.

The surgery costs around $20,000. This trial that has been clogging up the courts has so far cost more than triple that.

“They are prisoners. They are there because they’ve broken the law,” said Republican state Sen. Scott Brown, who unsuccessfully introduced a bill to ban sex-change surgery for inmates. “Other folks, people who want to get these types of surgeries, they have to go through their insurance carrier or save up for it and do it independently. Yet if you are in prison, you can do it for nothing? That doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

The other side of the coin is that transgender cases are getting more medical consideration.

As for Michelle, who has attempted suicide twice already, her future lays in the courts hands. She does receive medical treatment for gender identity disorder that include laser hair removal, hormone treatments and psychotherapy. She says its not enough.

“I would not want to continue existing like this,” Kosilek testified.

Those suicide attempts may prove Michelle’s undoing when the judge decides to rule.

Her depression has lifted with the use of hormones. Another possible strike.

Experts are divided about whether or not she needs the surgery.

The officials from the prison cite security risks and the question of where to house Michelle if the surgery is allowed. She would be in danger and a risk in both the male and the female prisons.

“The department does not negotiate or respond to threats of harm or suicide in an effort to barter,” Former Commissioner Kathleen Dennehy said. “You couldn’t run a prison with that kind of leveraging going on.”

It will all come down to what the judge thinks. The other transgender inmates are watching and hoping that the judge understands that the surgery can be the difference between a life lived in the right body or being forced to deal with a body that betrays a person for life.

When Celebs Do It Right The World Follows

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It started with Princess Diana. The use of ones celebrity to draw attention to a cause. Other notable people had been doing it of course before her, but Diana was the one that we really saw working with people everyone “hated.” She used the press.

Celebs have always used the press to promote themselves. Diana was the first to use any media source to promote a cause. AIDS research and the acceptance of people living with the disease have Diana to thank for a simple hug.

She wasn’t scared off by the rumours instead she waited for the facts.Facts like hugging is not a dangerous activity. Carrying a child on your hip who has AIDS will not infect you. She was defiant enough to be a maverick for the disease.

She also took up the cause of landmines. That children and adults were being crippled and killed from just walking down a road. She went to Bosnia and Angola to show the world what was happening. She walked in areas that had been dangerous. She taught her sons. They have followed her footsteps. Her work still goes on even ten years following her death because of her life lessons with her children. Her causes have continued to be funded from the people she showed while she was living.

She lit the candle.

There is another woman in the news who has taken up that flame. Wild and reckless in youth she found her niche in children issues. Along with adopting three of her four children Angelina Jolie works tirelessly for UNICEF.
“When a refugee crisis strikes, UNHCR is there. Working against the clock, the Emergency Response Team rushes life-saving help to people who have lost everything. By supporting them, we can make sure that help gets to the people who need it the most. The UNHCR Emergency Response Team needs your support.”
- Angelina Jolie,
Goodwill Ambassador,
the UN Refugee Agency

Other celebs use their faces for Darfur.

Diana started with a small candle to light the way. That candle is growing into a flame. Celebs can do some really good things.

Grocery Chains and the Death of the Small Ontario Farmer

One of the best parts of living in Toronto is hitting the local corner store and grabbing fresh produce for that evening’s meal. Ontario farmers have kept many nutritionally balanced with their produce lining the small shelves.

They used to be able to supply the larger grocery chains as well but lately the produce there has been brought in from the States. The larger chains can get the produce cheaper south of the border importing from as far away as California.

Instead of using local produce that tastes fresher consumers have gone for the cheap. Local farmers are paying the price. Every customer they lose drives up their price so they can attempt to make a living.

“We are dying a slow death. I’m working harder now at 55 than I was at 30, ” said Casper Saarloos.

Saarloos supplies six A&P and Food Basic stores in London with his strawberries. Every year he has had to cut back on production because the stores ask for less while importing more from the States.

His brother Dick farms north of Aylmer. He is seeing the same thing. His connection with No Frills was severed although he still has Sobey’s buying his produce. Most of his income comes from a roadside stand and local independent retailers.

“If they don’t back the Canadian farmers they will lose them. Then the Americans have got us and we’ll be paying twice as much. That’s the game they are playing,” he said.

The government is trying to turn the practice around with a new $10 million campaign, “Pick Ontario Freshness”. The program is aimed at both consumers and retailers.

With the limited growing season for Ontario farmers and the States having year long contracts with suppliers the farmers future is hanging by a thread.

The fresher fruit may become a memory if consumers don’t start spending a little more to insure fresh quality.

Op-ed: Are You Brave Enough?

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I was reading an account of Daniel Pearl’s last hours. He knew he was going to die. That his head would be severed from his body and yet he refused to be sedated. He died bravely. I asked myself could I do that? I am not sure if I could.

Luckily I haven’t had to face that kind of test. I have faced others and it’s amazing what we can do if asked to. I have seen heroes in the midst of chaos.

The only difference between Joe Blow and a hero is the hero acts without regard to his life. They run into that building on fire because a child cried out. They leave the comforts of their cushy lives to go to Africa and doctor children suffering from malaria. They stand up during a parent council meeting and state that it’s time to quit chatting about the next bake sale and time to start real ways of fighting the bully problem going on.

A hero can see a bigger picture or when face to face with a small one act. A hero doesn’t know how to shut up. A hero doesn’t always wear a three piece suit, he can be smelly and dirty living on the street.

A hero can look just like you. Or you. Or me.

But when it comes down to the brass tacks. When the act is before us, time to jump on that frying pan………..do you? Or do you think it out? Be rational? Trust me there is nothing wrong with being rational. Because sometimes heroes die.They weren’t thinking rationally when they jumped in to save the drowning child.

Sometimes being the hero is pretty stupid.

Walking into a crowd that’s fighting with bats and knives and guns isn’t the logical thing to do. Heroes do it every day.

Journalists covering wars are right there in the front lines. It’s not intelligent to have bullets whiz by your head because you placed yourself there. But the words will not get out if they don’t. The world will not know the truth. They are heroes.

So maybe that is the measure of a hero. Willing to be stupid enough to place yourself in a situation that could kill you. Standing up for what needs to be stood up for no matter the cost. Shouting loud enough to make a difference.

And not worrying if the rest of the world thinks you’ve lost your mind.

So the cards are on the table. Are you stupid enough to be a hero?

Let’s hope you never have to find that one out.

Bong hits 4 Jesus Case Limits Student Rights

Joseph Frederick was a senior on a mission when he set up his sign “Bong Hits 4 Jesus.” His principal didn’t like what his mission seemed to say and suspended the then 18 year old. It’s taken 5 years but Frederick took his case to the Supreme Court.

Frederick wanted to prove that his freedom of speech had been limited. The justices ruling? 6-3that Frederick’s free speech rights were not violated by his suspension.

Frederick had lowered his banner in 2002 at his Juneau, Alaska, high school. As soon as Deborah Morse saw the wording she confiscated it and suspended Frederick. At that point Frederick began to weave his way through the legal system.

“It was reasonable for (the principal) to conclude that the banner promoted illegal drug use– and that failing to act would send a powerful message to the students in her charge,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court’s majority.

The three justices that agreed with Frederick were not enough to reverse the ruling.

In dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens said, “This case began with a silly nonsensical banner, (and) ends with the court inventing out of whole cloth a special First Amendment rule permitting the censorship of any student speech that mentions drugs, so long as someone could perceive that speech to contain a latent pro-drug message.”

The issue isn’t over religion. It’s the word bong. Bongs have a drug background as a means for smoking cannabis and hashish.

Now here’s where the case gets a bit tricky. The banner was not on school grounds. It was on a public sidewalk. Here’s the tricky part. Frederick was with his class witnessing the torch being carried through his town on route to Salt Lake City for the winter Olympics.

The school said they were in their right to suspend Frederick and remove his banner because although he wasn’t on the school grounds he was with his class at the time.

He was also legally an adult.

Even though he didn’t win his case it hasn’t hampered him. He is currently teaching English in China.

Now 24, he told reporters in March that he displayed the banner in a deliberate attempt to provoke a response from principal Morse, by whom he had been disciplined previously. But Frederick claimed his message of free speech is very important to him, even if the wording of the infamous banner itself was not.

“I find it absurdly funny,” he said. “I was not promoting drugs. … I assumed most people would take it as a joke.”

Bush Wants What? Insanity For Once Stopped At the House Level

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George Bush’s latest want was stopped in the house today. The Prez wanted to start developing a new generation of atomic warheads. The House said whoa Mister. Actually it was more along the lines of there isn’t an adequate post-Cold War nuclear strategy.

The Bush plan is for $89 million request for continuing to develop the new warheads. It’s to take a few decades to get it all done. Big dreams for the lame duck Bush who’ll be leaving his present residence next January.

After the July 4th holiday though the bill will be back before the House. They need more time to review a series of unrelated projects that will be attached to the legislation.

I don’t think it is asking too much for a comprehensive nuclear strategy before we build a new nuclear weapon,” said Rep. Peter Visclosky, the Indiana Democrat steering the money bill through the House.

Rep. David Hobson, an Ohio Republican, also voiced opposition, saying that while “The concept of RRW (Reliable Replacement Warhead) has merit if it allows us to have a smaller stockpile of more reliable weapons … all we have right now is a vague promise.”

Opponents are asking the logical question. Why do we need another warhead with all the ones we already own.

“of the U.S. policy position of demanding other nations give up their nuclear ambitions while the U.S. aggressively pursues a program to build new nuclear warheads.”

That’s from the House Appropriations Committee report. It seems they think that the rest of the world may have a little tiny bit of problem with the USA being a huge hypocrite.

The legislation would significantly increase nuclear nonproliferation activities, including money to secure nuclear weapons and materials in the former Soviet Union and to increase efforts to keep them from entering the United States.

OP-ED: You’re Stupid, and Words That Kill

Want to know a sure way to get away with murder? Tell your children day in and day out they are stupid. Or ugly. Or worthless. Oh shot you can go ahead and try out this experiment on your wife or boyfriend. Pick and choose. Destroy at will.

That’s how it is with verbal abuse. Slowly but surely words are used to kill the spirit of those being attacked. Verbal abuse is more damaging to the spirit than physical abuse. One leaves bruises. There is no doubt that you shouldn’t be hit. Verbally? The bruise is still there but it’s deep into the soul and unlike that black eye this bruise doesn’t go away. It may fade but it’s always there just on the edge.

It’s a slow painful death.

Let me be clear here. I am not talking about the occasional lapse in judgement when the day is too long and you lose it. I am talking about a concentrated effort to repeatably verbal torture someone.

To scar without marks.

That old saying of sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me is a crock. Words have more power than any gun out there. We treasure them, cultivate them. Words can help a person soar when used in a positive manner. And they can be used to bury a walking corpse.

We tell our kids to ignore the bullies. We roll our eyes at those who are just horrid and think to ourselves in one ear and out the other. Does that really play out well?

I bet you don’t remember much of what was said to you in school by your friends but there was that one kid. You know the one, who you remember to this day and you remember the words they said.

Words hurt.

It’s time for people to take a stand. When you hear someone being cut to the quick speak up. When you see a child with eyes so sad that they rip you apart tell them they are loved.

Words have power.

They can heal. Or destroy. It’s up to you what your word power is.

Op-Ed: Habeas Corpus Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

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What does the former Soviet Union, China, Colombia and the modern day United States have in common? It isn’t communism since the USA is a democracy. It’s illegal kidnapping, torture and hiding of individuals that the government deems to be dangerous.

Habeas corpus used to be the way of the US. Times have changed.

Habeas Corpus is the freedom from being thrown in prison illegally, with no help and no end in sight.

One word. Guantánamo.

Habeas Corpus doesn’t live in the States anymore. Not if the President thinks you’re against the government. Not if his government made up a new act of government called the Military Commissions Act. The MCA eliminates the constitutional due process right of habeas corpus for detainees at Guantánamo Bay and elsewhere.

The government has been taking questionable people into custody for six years now. They have lied to the suspects that they were businessmen, nationals from other governments and whatever else may work. The CIA has become much like the Gestapo, sneaking in and taking people off to question them for years. It’s been very hush hush. Details are buried as far to the back of the newspaper as possible. Let’s not alert the masses, they may want some answers that don’t come from a Cracker Jack box.

There have been times when it’s not been until years later that the details come out, even to the families of the captives. They have kept secret that the CIA has invaded people’s homes in foreign countries to imprison and interrogate.

One thing that most of the detained have had in common is their religion. They are almost always members of the Muslim faith. Not surprising. We all know that all terrorists are Muslim. (Not my opinion, simply the way it seems when it comes to the Bush administration.)

The CIA has a term for these kidnappings, “extraordinary rendition”.

Scheuer said the CIA invented rendition because it was ordered by the White House to deal with al-Qaida but had few options on what to do with terrorists it captured. “The practice of capturing people and taking them to third countries arose because the executive branch assigned to us the task of dismantling and disrupting and detaining terrorist cells and terrorist individuals,” he said. “And basically, when the CIA came back and said to the policymaker, where do you want to take them, the answer was – that’s your job. And so we developed this system of assisting countries to capture individuals overseas and bring them back to the particular country where they are wanted by the legal system.”

Hossein Alikhani v. United States, Case 4618/02

Alikhani sued the government of the United States after he was kidnapped by two undercover U.S. Customs Service agents posing as directors of ITR in October of 1992. The agents had gotten Alikhani to meet them in the Bahamas. Under false pretenses they arranged for him to travel to another Bahamian island to do business and some fishing. The true destination was a prison in Florida during Hurricane Andrew.

The final ruling in the case? Finally, referring to a number of national court decisions[3] in which, according to the State, luring without force was found to have been justified, the United States argues that it cannot be said that there is any customary international law or general principle which has developed against “luring.”

In late June 2005, it was reported that an Italian judge had issued arrest warrants for 13 U.S. CIA agents accused of kidnapping imam Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr in Italy in 2003, and sending him to Egypt for questioning regarding possible terrorist activities.

The CIA officers have not nor will not be turned over to Italian authorities. While the taking of Nasr was in violation of the Geneva Convention and the United States-Italy Extradition Treaty the States have not admitted any wrong doing in this case.

An Italian defendant who had been convicted on a charge of conspiracy to import narcotics into the United States countercharged that he was brought into the United States illegally after being forcefully abducted from Uruguay. He wanted to be returned to the country that he was residing in before being kidnapped. His appeal was denied. He had been wanted for drug charges here in the States therefore the agents were within their rights to get him into the country for those crimes.

One can argue that the cases presented were not Americans so Americans shouldn’t worry about it.

I leave you with this thought. If a government gives so little regard to the citizens of another country would it do the same with it’s own? If you talk back and ask questions are you in danger of being whisked away on a “fishing” trip?

It’s just a thought.

additional resources:
http://peaceandjustice.org/article.php?story=20050413000655263
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-9300%28197504%2969%3A2%3C406%3AUSVT5F%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H&size=SMALL&origin=JSTOR-reducePage
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cases/63-05.html

OP-ED: Sorry I Left My PhD In My Other Pants

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I am the first to admit I am not a member of the Grammar Stars. I wish I could remember all the facts and nice little tricks to writing perfectly. That said, pardon me as I blunder on and express myself.

This is not a I have an excuse editorial. Nope. It’s I am a human one. I write. Sometimes I am dead on. Concise, straight forward. My words even make it seem like I have more intelligence than my foot size. Other times? Sigh, I guess those are the days my PhD is in my other pants.

To write the news one should write short and concise sentences. It’s proven that most readers simply skim the news for the facts. I wish I could get that rule down. Short. Concise. Not using words to colour a picture.

I try, I really do, to get all the grammar rights into place. I know I have a tendency to do it backwards. I am Queen of Grammar Wrongs. Please to meet you friends. Royalty with a kick.

I forget sometimes that news is not art. Editorials now they can be art. Words can paint and decorate. They can raise a person up or tear someone down. When you write you have to thicken your skin or those tear downs can make for a river of tears.

I think there are a few of us on DJ that make the Grammar Police cringe. I know I do. I have a sinking fear that one or two of the staff have slapped their foreheads once or twice, exclaimed OY VEY! and then headed out for a brew before attempting to correct me again. And I thank them.

I need the grammar police to keep me on my toes. To protect the innocent eyes of bystanders reading by.

Not even going to comment on spelling. If not for spell check I would be sitting in a special place created in Hell for torturers of the word. When I am writing on pen and paper my best friend is the dictionary.

I know when I read the articles here on DJ I am amazed by the degree of knowledge that comes forth. I have hopes that some of my articles enlighten as well.

When it all is said and done that’s what matters. Yes, correctly crafted words written with the rules should always be the goal but the most important thing for a news site is knowledge. Teaching and learning. Sharing theories and opinions.

And that’s what Digital Journal is all about. Researching and sharing that little tidbit of knowledge that with someone else.

Even if you left your PhD in your other pants.

When Will Housing Our Troops Be a Priority

With their family members overseas in Afghanistan you’d think that military families have enough to worry about. Unfortunately with housing the families are trying to make ends meet in poor quality housing.

Families can either choose to live in substandard housing on the base or break the bank in expensive private market housing in Edmonton.

With 200 families on the waiting list at Edmonton Garrison even with it’s shoddy housing most have no choice be to look at the private market. Only a fraction of the 4,500 soldiers stationed there have housing.

Instead they have to make due with cramped quarters off base that have inflated rents. Such is the case of Carrie Levesque’s family living in Legal 30 minutes north of Edmonton. Her husband is away fighting for our country while she and their two daughters due with a tiny two bedroom bungalow. From the small house Carrie takes care of four other children to make ends meet.

Carrie and her girls know that they need a bigger place but without the extra money for higher rent they are stuck behind a rock and a hard place. Military housing though is not an option for this young family.

“The PMQs are horrible,” said Levesque, who lived in one for the first two years of her husband’s posting, which started in 2002.

“They’re old, the plumbing sucks, the sewer comes up, the windows are old.”

Housing prices in Edmonton rose 25% in 2006. The average cost of a home now is $300,000. Quite a hefty price tag for a military family that could be moved without much warning. Rental costs are even more hard to manage, a typical two-bedroom apartment will be renting for $1,115 a month in 2008.

One family was so worried about the housing that they asked for a delay when they were to be deployed to Edmonton. They were switched to a Winnipeg post instead.

The military is looking into ways to help their soldiers. One small band-aid is using 69 units at the former site of CFB Griesbach that is being changed into a civilian residential neighbourhood. That’s just a drop in the overfull bucket though.

There is another solution for families. Ask not to be deployed to Edmonton until the housing situation improves. That one may just get a little more action than anything else.

Filaih Wadai Mijthab Killed By Gunmen

Journalists around the world have lost another brother. Filaih Wadai Mijthab was found murdered dead in a Baghdad mortuary today. The Iraqi newspaper editor was kidnapped last week by unknown gunmen.

“His body was found in the mortuary today,” the union’s secretary Mualid Allami said. “The body was riddled with bullets.”

June has been a deadly month for journalists. Since June 6 182 journalists have been murdered and yet they continue to hold fast and report the news in spite of the threats on their lives.

This week we have lost many brethren.

Garrid Muñoz Tello, aged 68, founder of radio La Voz del Cinaruco, who was gunned down in Villavicencio, Colombia.

“Garrid Muñoz Tello was never afraid to tell the truth. Sometimes he did it with a radiant sense of humour that was typical of him, which we will miss from now on, and sometimes much more seriously and incisively,” editorial staff at La Voz del Cinaruco told Agence France-Presse.

As we celebrate the freedoms we have remember those whose words have helped us achieve those freedoms. Soldiers fight with bullets. Journalists fight with words and ideas.

Let those ideas never die even as the bodies become dust in the wind.

Today’s Marketing Is a Whole New World

Remember Darwin Stevens? Under stress that the next project had to be the best. Advertising agencies used to be the benchmark of marketing. Those in the web agency biz are the new Darwins pulling their hair out as they venture into new territory.

“Advertising is salesmanship mass produced. No one would bother to use advertising if he could talk to all his prospects face-to-face. But he can’t.”

- Morris Hite, quoted in Adman: Morris Hite’s Methods for Winning the Ad Game, 1988, Dallas, TX: E-Heart Press, p. 203.

The two agencies have separate objectives in some degree but the overlaying one for both is profit. Both type of advertising designers deal with new ways of approaching potential clients. The ultimate goals are the same but the two mediums are completely different.

“I am one who believes that one of the greatest dangers of advertising is not that of misleading people, but that of boring them to death.”

- Leo Burnett, quoted in 100 LEO’s, Chicago, IL: Leo Burnett Company, p. 18.

Ad agencies deal with passive approaches. Their clients don’t have to click on this or that to explore. They have one shot to get their message across. there will always be a place for those TV spots and print campaigns but in today’s marketing world it’s simply the jam and not the bread of a complete package.

“It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that the Internet has evolved into a force strong enough to reflect the greatest hopes and fears of those who use it. After all, it was designed to withstand nuclear war, not just the puny huffs and puffs of politicians and religious fanatics.”
- Denise Caruso, (digital commerce columnist, New York Times)

Web agencies deal with a very interactive audience. Even the simplest web sites require for the viewer to point and click to get there. The world has become much more interactive. The mass majority of consumers has already researched a product before buying. If a company’s web site crashes their computer or takes forever to load they get bored and select the next one from their search list.

Instead of listening across the clothesline about who makes the best product consumers are turning to blogs to see who has what and how well designed that product is. Gone is the day where consumers bought products on blind faith. Today’s consumer is well informed and wants to be treated as such.

While advertising agencies and PR firms are very talented they are not web designers. The web sites that come out of the advertising firms are often poorly formatted. Web agencies deal the problems of formatting and accessibility. Coding. The designers can come up with the next greatest innovation but if the coders can’t find the right web language then the site will fail. Coding has taken on a new dimension for the web. Prior to the rise of web marketing campaigns code languages although complex didn’t have to deal with the types of media that are now being requested of them. Everything in the web coding world is changing at a rapid pace. Within a web agencies the front end and the back end have to work together to produce a reliable product that doesn’t crash a consumers computer. Even if that consumer has a computer from the stone age.

“For marketers . . . the mass media are no longer the sole choice. Traditional media retain an important advantage: the ‘rub-off’ credibility that accrues from being part of a broadcast or publication invited into the home. But for many marketers, media advertising is a shotgun. The new technologies provide rifles, which can target prime prospects.”

- Stanley E. Cohen, “The Dangers of Today’s Media Revolution,” Advertising Age, September 30, 1991, p. 18.

Web designers have the tools to produce a format that is able to sustain almost all browsers.

Corporations are beginning to understand that the future of their businesses may very well be in the web. While print and other media sources do bring in profit the Internet is a first stop for many consumers today. To compete in the world marketplace today without an impressive web site is a sure fire pathway of failure.

Additional resources:
zolmedia.com/TechVille
driestone.com

Wounded British Soldiers Wait Hours For Treatment

They fight and serve. If a British soldier is wounded in the battlefield he may have to wait up to several hours to be seen by medical personnel. Injured troops in Vietnam were treated sooner than modern British troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That’s the word of senior British Army surgeon, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Parker. The lack of helicopter ambulances and piles of red tape are forcing injured British soldiers to endue painful wounds much longer than they should. In some cases it could take several hours to transport casualties even short distances to a field hospital.

“On Operation Herrick IV (Afghanistan 2006) the average pre-hospital time was seven hours,” Parker was quoted as writing.

“A Casevac (casualty evacuation) request has to go through too many layers of command.

“There seems little point in providing high technology in-hospital care when our patients still take several hours to travel a few miles to us.

“We use support or anti-tank helicopters that are re-roled on an ad hoc basis for the critical care and transport of our sickest patients.

“We still do not have a dedicated all-weather military helicopter evacuation fleet. Should we not be asking why?

“We have gone backwards in terms of our evacuation time-lines.”

An MoD spokeswoman said the comparisons between Nam and the current wars are misleading. She further stated that the military does not feel that a dedicated helicopter evacuation fleet is necessary.

There is one dedicated helicopter permanently on call in both war zones. For some reason the British government thinks that is enough to deal with the increasing amount of soldiers being wounded during combat.

While during Parker’s report none of the soldiers that waited for transport died it doesn’t mean that it wasn’t risky.

“The care that we provide is equal to that which would be expected in any major trauma centre in Europe and the United States,” the Surgeon General, Lieutenant General Louis Lillywhite, said in a statement.

“Helicopters are always available to the medical services when required and are manned by highly qualified medical teams.

“It is damaging to the morale of our troops to falsely suggest that the care is otherwise than excellent.”

I wounder if Prince Harry was wounded if he will have to wait hours. Somehow I don’t think so.

Mormon Sect’s Polygamy Causes Most Of The World’s Fumarase Deficiency Cases

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Those stories of inbreeding and mental retardation are true. A sect of Mormons has the largest population of fumarase deficiency in the world. A rare disorder that until recently was unheard of is cropping up in Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah.

Those two towns are the home bases of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a break away group from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The group is composed of many of the descendants of Joseph Smith Jessop one of the founders of the communities, and his wife either of which could have carried the gene.

The disability is caused by an enzyme irregularity that causes severe mental retardation brought on by cousin marriage.

“Arizona has about half the world’s population of known fumarase deficiency patients,” said Dr. Theodore Tarby, a pediatric neurologist who has treated many of the children at Arizona clinics under contracts with the state.

“It exists in a certain percentage of the broader population but once you get a tendency to inbreed you’re inbreeding people who have the gene there, so you markedly increase the risk of developing the condition,” he said.

It has become common enough among the group to be nicknamed “Polygamist’s downs”. The condition causes not only severe mental retardation but also unusual facial features, brain malformation, and epileptic seizures.

The two towns make up the community of about 10,000 people who shun outsiders. They broke away from the Mormon faith 72 years ago over their views of polygamy. About 85% of the residents are the blood relatives of two men, John Y. Barlow and Joseph Smith Jessop.

“There aren’t any new people coming in. It’s a closed door and that gene just keeps getting passed around,” said Bruce Wisan, a court-appointed accountant overseeing a trust of the sect’s assets.

They avoid all forms of media. The women dress in conservative 19th century clothing. They marry young and marrying a cousin is common practice.

“The disease itself is very rare in the rest of the world,” said Dr. Vinodh Narayanan of Arizona’s St. Joseph’s Hospital & Medical Center and Barrow Neurological Institute. Doctors worldwide had only studied about 10 cases just a decade ago.

“Once you get people within in the same community marrying, then the chances grow of having two people carrying the exact same mutation.”

The community doesn’t believe that the children affected with the condition suffer because of inbreeding. They think it’s in the water. They are wrong but with outdated theories which as that the disease will continue to crop up in town.

op-ed:Can I Ask a Question?

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Can we change the world? Can one person write an article that makes millions stop and rethink their way of life? Can we support an idea and see it come to light? Can we research until our eyes bleed? Can we not?

What is our potential? As a collective whole do we matter? As a single voice in the mass media does what we type make a difference?

Are the ideas that we write about good for others? Do we preach about something that could harm the human race? Do we stay silent for fear of rejection?

If the grammar isn’t perfect does that make an idea of less value? If spellcheck is ignored do your thoughts make it past the public? If you don’t know million dollar words are you still worth listening to?

Should journalists stick to the facts? Be neutral? Should emotion pour into a story? Does that make it not as true?

Can a journalist cause civil discourse? Cause a takeover of government? Make the public think? Make the public demand more answers? Make officials stop humming and hawing and tell the truth?

Can a writer change the education of children? Inspire them to greatness? Challenge them to achieve more? Turn them away from free thinking and put them back into a box?

Can a reporter write a piece without feeling it? Without living it? Without breathing it?

Can a journalist ever stop asking questions?

Do you even want to?

Chernobyl Has Wildlife Returning

Twenty years after the disaster at Chernobyl nuclear plant wildlife seems to be returning. Wild packs of wolves, wild boars, fox, rabbits and snakes all wander through small villages that dot the landscape.

Maria Urupa is one of about 300 who refused to leave the contaminated evacuation zone after the meltdown. Most of those who stayed behind were the elderly.

Twenty years later they live amid lush forests. Animals that are rare in other areas flourish. The lynx and moose have a home.

And radiation. The levels are 10 to 100 times higher than the background levels. They have fallen from the toxically high levels following the meltdown but are still higher than what scientists thought was possible to see the growth that is taking place.

There are different theories of course. One being that the animals are coming from other places to the quiet ground where humans are a rarity. Others say that by wiping away the old habitat it is allowing new to emerge.

The scientist are excited about the amount of research that needs to go on. They do all agree that the long term health effects of the animals need to be studied.

Biologist Robert J. Baker of Texas Tech University has discovered that the rodents of the area seemed to tolerate the high radiation levels. Timothy Mousseau of the University of South Carolina found that the barn swallows haven’t been as lucky. Many of the birds suffer from radiation-induced sickness and genetic damage.

The optimists though see growth in what should be a barren area.

“Our studies show that a dynamic ecosystem is present in even the most radioactive habitats,” Baker’s group wrote in the Journal of Mammology.

The Baker team has recorded DNA changes among the wildlife. His team is funded by pro-nuclear U.S. Department of Energy.

“The resulting environment created by the Chernobyl disaster is better for animals,” Baker told the Associated Press in a phone interview.

The pessimists like Mousseau’s group are on the opposite end of the pole. They see the abnormalities that the radiation helped create. Around one third of the barn shallows have ill-formed beaks, albino feathers, bent tail feathers and other malformations.

Funded by National Science Foundation and National Geographic Society Mousseau’s team see the area as a “sink” where animals come but quickly die off.

“From every rock we turn over, we find consequences,” he told the Associated Press in a phone interview. “These reports of wildlife flourishing in the area are completely anecdotal and have no scientific basis.”

As for Maria? She doesn’t fear the radiation. She grows her own tomatoes, eats fish from the river and drinks her own moonshine vodka. She tells her side best.

“Radiation? No!” she said. “What humans do? Yes.”

The 2008 Olympics And Child Labour

There’s only a year until the world descends upon Beijing for the next Olympics. In between the games will be the souvenirs that visitors will grab up. Will they ask themselves who made it? There’s a chance the answer would be a child in a sweat shop.

Packed into factories, employees are churning the mechandise out for the next Summer games. While their employers will be getting rich, the staff isn’t even making minimum wages. That’s the answer from a report made by PlayFair 2008.

An alliance of global trade unions and labour groups have been watching over the factories that make Olympics-licensed products. And they are not pleased.

“Licensing of the Olympic brand is a major source of income for the IOC and national Olympic committees,” said Guy Ryder, general secretary of the Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation, a PlayFair campaign member and worldwide union association. “It brings shame on the whole Olympics movement that such severe violations of international labour standards are taking place in Olympic-licensed factories.”

The Beijing Olympic organizing committee hasn’t issued a statement saying they haven’t yet read the report.

The alliance went undercover to see what was happening in four of the major factories that produce the trinkets that will be available. What they found is shocking to many in the developed world.

Employees are being forced to work overtime. Long 12-hour work days are common. Employers are failing to pay overtime. Staff are being paid wages below the legal minimum. Saddest of all are the child workers as young as 12.

So when you reach down to get that Olympics T-shirt, remember the Games by taking a moment to wonder who exactly made it.

Is Guantanamo a Concentration Camp?

Do modern-day concentration camps exist? Is Guantanamo the concentration camp of the United States? Is there a difference in the treatment of living prisoners?

It can be said that there is no comparison since there are no gas chambers. There have been internment camps all over the the world. We don’t generally hear about them because they are closed off from the rest of the world. They are the little dirty secrets that countries don’t want to have in the press. During WWII, most countries had some form of these camps, including Canada and the United States. People of Japanese heritage were interned simply because of their origin. It’s commonly known, yet still swept under the carpet.

The proper term for these camps is Internment. Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. It also refers to the practice of neutral countries in time of war in detaining belligerent armed forces and equipment in their territories under the Second Hague Convention.

Today’s version of the internment camp is Guantanamo. It’s a federal military prison and interrogation camp. Prisoners, though, do not have to have a trial. They are not innocent until proven guilty. They are guilty. Even when there has been a trial they often remain behind the barbed wire fences. A danger to the American way.

The detainment camp is run by the Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO). The prisoners are suspected by the executive branch of the U.S. government of being al-Qaeda and Taliban operative. Along with the suspects are those who are waiting to be relocated after being cleared. The majority of the prisoners were captured in Afghanistan.

There are actually three camps at the base. Camp Delta (which includes Camp Echo), Camp Iguana, and the now-closed Camp X-Ray. Common names for the camp itself are, Guantanamo, Gitmo and Camp X-Ray.

The prisoners are often interrogated. There are rumors of torture.

The U.S. administration claims that those held are not subject to the Geneva Convention’s protections of prisoners. They are labeled “enemy combatants.” Roughly translated, it’s someone who wasn’t wearing a uniform when captured in an act of war. That rule was changed though and the Geneva Conventions were to be put in place on July 7, 2006.

(Little side note: During the American Revolution most of the militia didn’t have uniforms. Guess if they were at war now they would be termed the same and not entitled to basic human rights either)

Most of those held at this camp are not scheduled for any trial. As of November 2006 there were 435 prisoners. Prior to that there had been 775 detainees. 340 had been released. Of the remaining 435 men left in the camp only 70 will face trial. 110 have been labeled for release. There are 250 who have no release date, no trial date, so they are in virtual limbo.

The conditions that “detainees” are held in wouldn’t pass muster in most American prison systems. The cells are small with mesh sides. The lights never go off. They receive rations comparable to the troops with special Muslim considerations.

Is this the let’s-sweep-it-under-the-carpet treatment? There’s some sleep deprivation, truth serums, locking in confined and cold cells, and being forced to maintain uncomfortable postures. Isolation. Forbidden to speak.

At one time they had a Muslim chaplain. James Yee, though, was charged with sedition, aiding the enemy, espionage. He was to serve his sentence at the Fort Bragg brig. The charges were eventually dropped.

Did Yee speak out about the conditions to higher ups? He states that he resigned because no apology was given, nor was there an acknowledgement of error by the United States.

There is no word when the detainees will be freed. Or given a sentence. They are like ghosts. People who once had a life and now there is nothing. No dreams of tomorrow. There is no future.

I stated at the beginning of this article that It can be said that there is no comparison since there are no gas chambers. Now the question I leave you with is, how are they different? When one is still living yet in limbo, is that better? Or is it being in Hell while the rest of the world looks away?

The Internment Camps of Japanese Canadians In Canada During World War II

Most Western countries had internment camps during the second world war. In Canada people of Japanese heritage were interned until a few years after the end of the war. Not until April 1, 1949 were they allowed to live where they wanted in Canada.

Every country that was guilty of the internments share the shame of the deplorable conditions that humans allowed other humans to endure. That the children of one culture had to be raised up like animals in some cases because the adults of another culture deemed it so must not ever happen again. It would be nice to think that would happen. The conditions that those who were interned within them differed but on a general rule were the reason that the Geneva conventions were made to insure mistreatment’s never happened again. And yet even today it happens. This article is about what did happen in Canada when fear overtook the way it should have been.

The Canadian government along with the United States government interned people of Japanese Canadian (Nikkei Kanadajin) heritage after the attack of Pearl Harbour.

The “Order in council PC 1486″ expanded the power of the Minister of Justice to remove any and all persons from a designated protected zone (100 mile radius of the BC coast) who were of Japanese heritage. Immediately after the attack 38 Japanese nationals were interned by the RCMP. Later the RMCP rounded up 720 Japanese, most of which were Canadian citizens. Members of the Nisei Mass Evacuation Group had resisted being separated from their families. More than 20,000 Japanese Canadians were removed form the Pacific Coast in 1942 but not interned as is commonly believed. They were housed in isolated areas though and had many restricts placed on them.

On March 4, 1942 22,000 Japanese men were given 24 hours to pack before they were to be imprisoned. Sent off to do labour on road crews or beet farms the men were separated from their families in the initial time period of the internment of the Nikkei Kanadajin. 699 of the 945 men working the road crews complained about being separated from their families and others broke curfew hours. They were sent to POW camps at Angler and Petawaw in Ontario.

Women and children were moved to six inland B.C. towns; Greenwood, Sandon, Kaslo, New Denver, Rosebery, Slocan City, Bay Farm, Popoff, Lemon Creek, and Tashme created to relocate the populace. The conditions were so poor that even the citizens of war torn Japan sent provisions for the detainees. In the latter years of the war they petitioned the Royal Commission for better housing and more stoves. After the petition they were allowed to grow vegetable gardens, dig basements and create extra rooms in the small houses they were living in.

After struggling to obtain the right to teach the children the Lemon Creek camp was given permission to school them until grade 10.

“Self-supporting” camps were established in Lillooet, Bridge River, Minto City, McGillivray Falls, and Christina Lake. At these camps men paid to be allowed to farm the land and live in a less restrictive area.

Before they were interned Japanese Canadians had their property, businesses, and cars confiscated and sold by the Canadian government. The “Custodian of Aliens” allowed for the government to liquidate the possessions of those being interned.

“I was in that camp for four years. When it got cold the temperature went down to as much as 60 below. The buildings stood on flat land beside a lake. We lived in huts with no insulation. Even if we had the stove burning the inside of the windows would all be frosted up and white, really white. I had to lie in bed with everything on that I had… at one time there were 720 people there, all men, and a lot of them were old men.” Hideo Kukubo

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney formally apologized to Japanese Canadians and authorized the provision of $21,000 (CD.) to each of the survivors of wartime detention in 1988.

addition resources:
http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/projects/canadianhistory/camps/internment1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Canadian_internment#Post-War
http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/Canada/internment/intro.html
http://www.csuohio.edu/art_photos/canada/canada.html
http://aolsearch.aol.ca/redir?urn=http://www.michaelkluckner.com/bciw4slocan.html&url=http://www.michaelkluckner.com

39 Terror Suspects Are Missing — Are They Ghost Detainees?

A coalition of human rights groups are asking the where abouts of 39 terror suspects. The groups including Amnesty International have printed out a list of the missing “ghost detainees”.

The speculation that the United States have hidden some of the men came from interviews with former prisoners and officials in the United States, Pakistan, Yemen and Afghanistan.

“What we’re asking is where are these 39 people now, and what’s happened to them since they ‘disappeared’?” Joanne Mariner of Human Rights Watch said in a statement.

The CIA has been known to “hide”some detainees in the past which makes the questions reasonable. Last year it was revealed that detainees were held in secret prisons dotting Europe and beyond.

“The plain truth is that we act in strict accord with American law, and that our counter terror initiatives — which are subject to careful review and oversight — have been very effective in disrupting plots and saving lives,”CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said. “The United States does not conduct or condone torture.”

The group is admitting that some of the information may be incomplete. Some of those interviewed only remember seeing photos while they were detained. In another case one on the list “al-Rubaia” was added because someone saw his name on a wall. That said, 21 of the detainees in question have been conformed by at least two sources.

In September 2006 Bush admitted that there had been secret detention centres. In the same statement he said they were now empty and the men had been sent to Guantanamo Bay.

“We wanted (the detainees’) names in the public eye because of the impression that this is over, this is finished, and they’re not doing this anymore,”Anne Fitzgerald of Amnesty International said. “That’s clearly not the case.”

Among those missing is Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahman, the son of the “Blind Sheik” behind the first plot of the World Trade Centre. Hassan Ghul and Ali Abd al-Rahman al-Faqasi al-Ghamdi are both on the list of missing detainees. They are tagged as al-Qaida operatives. One of the most wanted Mustafa Setmarian Nasar was seized in Quetta in November 2005 but is no where to be seen.

Others on the list were handed over to the United States and have never been heard from again.

The four other groups involved in drafting the report were the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University’s School of Law, and Reprieve and Cageprisoners — both London-based rights groups.

The Anatomy Of The Female Orgasm

The female orgasm is a mysterious thing. Some women have multiple orgasms while some have never experienced the mind blowing pleasure. One thing is known, the larger a woman’s G-spot, the better chance she has to climax.

The biology of the female orgasm is a complex time line of body tissues merging to form contractions that bring pleasure. Before the orgasm the clitoris becomes erect and the vaginal opening moistens. The labia minora (inner lips) become darker as blood is rushing to them. At the no turning back stage the outer third of the vagina tightens and narrows while the vagina itself lengthens and dilates. The uterus gets involved and starts to contract. Those Sally Met Harry orgasms…..everything is going. The uterus, vagina, anus, and pelvic muscles undergo a series of rhythmic contractions and the woman is in heaven.

Many women have an orgasm without penetration. Stimulation of the clitoris lets many women feel the waves of pleasure.

The G-spot and the Skene’s Gland are both partners in helping give a woman sexual fulfillment. The gland is located on the upper wall of the vagina near the urethra. Surrounded by tissues, including the the part of the clitoris that reaches into the vagina. The clitoris tissues inside the vagina swell just like the clitoris itself when sexually aroused. The female hard on.

The Skene’s Gland is homologous with the prostate gland in males. It is believed that it is the source of female ejaculation. Now here’s the good and bad news. Some woman don’t have the gland. And some women’s glands are smaller than others. This is a time when we can really say size counts. The larger the gland the better chance of having orgasms that rock the house.

If you are one of the women who gush fluid during orgasm your Skene’s Gland is probably large. Chances are you’re also very happy lady.

The fluid that is present in female ejaculation is much like the fluid in prostate ejaculation, minus the sperm. The marker enzyme PDE5 is present in both male and female fluids.

Research has shown that 13% of women experience multiple orgasms. Generally the orgasms after the first one are stronger. Some women have had rolling orgasms where the orgasm lasts in waves.

When it’s all said and done with everything calms down and returns to normal size within ten minutes.

addition resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skene’s_gland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgasm#In_female_humans

We’re Planting Ourselves Into a Corner

We have heard how genetic agriculture will “save” the planet by being able to produce more produce for the world. The negatives haven’t had a lot of press though. And there are many.

The first is the fact that we are altering the very nature of the produce that is being grown. By altering the basic plant DNA we have started the process of eliminating whole species of plants in favor of the genetically produced ones. As with the honeybees when only one species is there to produce massive amounts of something they become stressed. Simple viruses can wipe out an entire species and then there is nothing to turn to. The other older and natural plants are no longer part of the ecosystem. Are we setting the planet up to elimination by being too scientific for our own good.

One complication is the fact that soil is not designed for the genetically designed produce. When you enter foreign matter into soil, it rebels. The biology of the soil is altered and can affect the fertility. The Bt toxin is in every part of a GE plant with the Bt genes. It has been proven the toxin persists in soil and harms the soils micro-organisms.

“Up to now, living organisms have evolved very slowly, and new forms have had plenty of time to settle in. Now whole proteins will be transposed overnight into wholly new associations, with consequences no one can foretell, either for the host organism, or their neighbors…. going ahead in this direction may be not only unwise, but dangerous. Potentially, it could breed new animal and plant diseases, new sources of cancer, novel epidemics.”

Dr. George Wald. Nobel Laureate in Medicine 1967. Higgins Professor of Biology, Harvard University.

Adding antibiotic marker genes to produce has an even more serious potential hazard to the human population. It has been proven that this practice has contributed to making people more prone to be antibiotic resistant. With the growing predictions of a world pandemic this very practice could prove to be catastrophic.

Genetically manufactured foods have no safety testing. There have been instances in the past where the food produced sickens thousands. A case in point is the Showa Denko Tryptophan disaster that started in the 1980’s ending in the 1990’s. The tryptophan food supplement produced by the Japanese firm Showa Denko created a poison within the supplement. By the time it was stopped it had killed 37 and permanently disabled 1.500 people in the US in a disease called eosonophil myalgia syndrome.

While in the future it may become necessary to add genetic engineering to plants, we are simply at this stage too young in the field to risk the world’s produce.

There have to be more controls and safety tracking before we can take the chance of eliminating our food sources.

Liam Hoekstra, the Mini Superman

Liam Hoekstra is your typical 19 month old. He likes to eat. He eats all the time. A full meal every hour. Liam has myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy and he’s strong as an ox.

Amazing since the toddler has overcome medical odds since birth.

Liam was born four weeks early to a troubled mother who put him up for adoption. His beginnings were filled with a host of medical problems; a small hole in his heart, eczema, enlarged kidneys, was lactose intolerant and had severe stomach reflux that made him vomit several times each day. Luck was with him though when he was adopted by by the Hoekstras. Dad Neil’s a physician assistant and mom Dana is devoted to her little Hulk.

Liam healed quickly. The only problem for his parents was how very hungry he was and how he didn’t gain weight quickly. His doctor found an answer why. Myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy of his leg, calf and arm muscles as well as increased strength. Simply put Liam is all muscle and very little body fat. He weighs a mere 22 pounds. Thankfully the condition doesn’t affect the heart and has no known negative side effects.

Myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy was first discovered in beef cattle and mice in the late 1990s. In 2000 a German bay was diagnosed with it. The condition is so rare that doctors have no idea how many people have it. A genetic mutation prevents some people from producing myostatin.

Without body fat normal a child’s growth can be stunted and the central nervous system can be impaired Infants need fat to learn.

“He’s hungry for a full meal about every hour because of his rapid metabolism,” Dana Hoekstra said. “He’s already eating me out of house and home.”

The hardest part of parenting their little muscle man is getting enough protein into him. Liam eats six full size meals a day and still struggles to gain weight.

“Liam’s never had any body fat,” his mother said. “The only fat he has is in his cheeks.”

At nineteen months old he can do inverted sit ups. His little belly is a six pack that men would envy.

“When you’ve got that kind of power and that kind of strength, the world is open to you,”Dr. Larson said. “He’s agile because he’s so strong — when you’ve got that incredible power as a kid you’re going to try a lot more things.”

Liam’s dad just hopes someday he plays for the his beloved University of Michigan football team.

Canadian Great White North is Melting Away

It’s not good. The latest report on the glaciers in upper Canada are melting much faster than expected.

If the trend keeps up by 2010 there will be substantially less of the ice shelf. By 2050 it will be gone.

These latest findings came from a research mission started on Monday when a team landed on Ayles Ice Island installing beacons to track the floating island.

Geologist Luke Copland of the University of Ottawa, and his colleague Derek Mueller of the University of Alaska Fairbanks installed the beacons that will give hourly information, including the temperature of the ice.

The island , 3 by 10 miles, had spilt from Canada’s Ellesmere Island in August of 2005 but that only discovered this year.

After visiting the island for the first time this week, Copland said: “You really need to see it. Normally Arctic sea ice has a very, very rough surface … But this piece is just so big, it’s flat and smooth.”

The satellites will track the movement of the floating ice as it heads west towards Alaska. There is some potential danger as it floats towards offshore oil rigs.

“We know roughly that it will drift to the west and that it’s driven by the ocean current, but beyond that we don’t know how long will it take to reach Alaska. It might take five years, 10 years, we don’t know exactly,” Copland said.

The Arctic has seen the most damage from global warming. Almost 90% of the ice covering is gone since the 1906 expedition that first discovered it.

“It does not look particularly good for them for the future,” Copland stated.

“Normally, the sea ice pushes up against the ice shelves and really protects the front of the ice shelves. If there is no sea ice, then the ocean waves can get in cracks much more easily,” and make the glaciers brittle.

The two researchers, accompanied by a team of BBC television reporters, also took measurements of the ice thickness near Ayles Glacier, which spawned the ice island, hoping to better understand the phenomena.

This is one time that’s its not good to see the future’s so bright I have to wear shades.

Dangerous Times Without Bees Could Be Ahead

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The biggest threat to our food supply is on us. The disease that is slowly but surely killing off honey bees in North America and in fact the entire world could soon change the way we eat.

We think of honey bees as just producing honey when they help provide many more crops. Plants such as apples, nuts, avocados, soybeans, asparagus, broccoli, celery, squash, cucumbers, citrus fruit, peaches, kiwi, cherries, blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, cantaloupe and other melons all rely on bees to pollinate them. With the shrinking population of bees due to the Colony Collapse Disorder we are in danger.

Scientists are struggling to figure out what causes the disease and work on ways to counteract it. In the meantime colony after colony disappears.

We take the little buzzers for granted but without them we will see a less of produce in the very near future. And it’s not just humans that will suffer. Farm animals depend on the grains they pollinate too. The alfalfa crops that feed cattle are already being affected.

The problem with the honeybees disappearing is complex. They are not designed to handle viruses. When a wide spread virus appears that attacks the bee population they die. Add in pesticides and parasites and you have a one, two, three countdown of disaster. A mite almost completely wiped out the wild honeybee in the 1990’s. These tiny industrial workers are very fragile indeed.

Beekeepers can’t keep up either. They are facing millions of dead or disappearing bees. The trade has been overstressed to producing more and more honeybees may have a factor on the recent problems too.

The bees have been taken from being wild and free to virtually farm animals. The stress on their very nature has seen Queen bees aging and dying quicker than they used to. The effects of global warming are another factor. With shorter winters the bees have less down time to produce.

Another concern is that bees are having less and less area to forage for nectar. With new breeds of crops that are seedless growers implement “no-fly zones”. It’s been seen that the honeybees thrive when they are not limited to where they forage.

With the population of the honeybee dwindling the cost to farms for their pollination is greater adding to the cost of food production.

This year the price for a bee colony is about $135, up from $55 in 2004, said Joe Traynor, a bee broker in Bakersfield, Calif.

The cost of production for the beekeepers rise every year also. A typical colony ranges from 15,000 to 30,000 bees. By the time you factor in the cost of energy supplements and equipment a hive nets $11 a year. That does not include the cost of labour.

By the end of the summer we will have an idea how close to the edge we are with this problem.

Hopefully the bees will make a come back. If not we may soon be a world of bread and water gourmets.

addition resource:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/business/27bees.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5088&en=3aaa0148837b8977&ex=1330232

Lost Alzheimer Patients Can be Found With Devices

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Alzheimer patients wander off without always knowing how to get home. There are now devices that can help locate them before they get in dangerous situations.

There are a variety of tracking devices on the market, including those that use Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology, radio-frequency homing systems and special cellphone locators.

There are also microchips that can be inserted with medical information for patients with dementia. Hospitals can scan the chip and be able to know what medicines and treatments the patient is on.

“I don’t look at this as a big ethical challenge in the usual construct of ethics,” says Gordon. “You’re trying to promote the person’s autonomy as much as possible, even though they have a degree of impairment.”

“You’re trying to avoid harm while giving them the best independence, the best freedom, the best decision-making as possible. . . . A chip is just a technology to do that.”

Although some may think the devices are extreme, people who care for Alzheimer patients understand just how much value they are. Every month we hear on the news about a patient who has wandered away from their home. Sadly often they are found to late. With the devices in place the trail is quicker to pick up on and bring the person safely home.

Patients in the early stage of the disease can help their family plan what devices would be best for them. That’s the advice from Alzheimer patient David Fost of Edmondton.

Wearing a locating device could mean “saving your life,” Fost tells those also afflicted with dementia, who may one day end up getting lost.

“And if you think, ‘Well that’s not important,”‘ he says, “your caregiver and your grandchildren would disagree.”

United States Upholds the Ban on Gay Blood

The United States Food and Drug Administration didn’t listen to the Red Cross or other blood groups upholding the 1983 ruling that gays are banned from donating blood for life.

The original ruling was in the beginning of the AIDS crisis when little was known about the disease. Before giving blood a man is asked if he has had sex even once with another man since 1977. If the answer is yes then he is banned from donating blood for life. The Red Cross and other blood services have suggested one-year deferral following male-to-male sexual contact. That was ruled out on Wednesday.

“I am disappointed, I must confess,” said Dr. Celso Bianco, executive vice president of America’s Blood Centers, whose members provide nearly half the nation’s blood supply.

The FDA says that although the HIV testing is almost 100% accurate there would always be the chance that infected blood could be taken. Anyone who’s used intravenous drugs or been paid for sex also is permanently barred from donating blood.

The same ruling also applies to Canadian blood services.

If You’re Invisible Do You Matter?

They are the forgotten. The invisible. Scores died in the Holocaust and yet their very mention is brief. They are a timeless people.

The fact that there is little mention of their beginnings leads belief that they predated written word. DNA evidence shows that they started out in Asia, slowly migrating to Eastern Europe.

What we do know is there language is very much like Indian languages. They were likely to have been slaves of their conquerors moving into the Byzantine Empire between 1000 and 1050 A.D. That theory is based on their language and the Hindu words therein. They remained in the Empire until the Muslims expanded into the area. Again the Roma moved on.

Some say that they were the Atsinganoi that Saint Athanasia gave food to in 800 A.D. In 803 A.D. Theophanes the Confessor wrote of having the help of the Atsinganoi during a riot and that they used magic.

Constantine IX was visited by the Atsinganoi in the form of fortune tellers and wizards in 1054. They were on hand to rid the forest of wild animals threatening the farm animals. Later they were accused of being evildoers who poisoned his favorite hound.

Around 1360 the Atsinganoi had a community in Corfu. They were an important portion of the local economy at that time.

By the 14th century the Roma had made it to the Balkans. By the 16th century they were in England, Germany, Scotland, France, Spain and Sweden. They ventured to the New World during the colonial days of Virgina and French Louisiana. Larger immigration to North America happened around 1860 and 1900.

In Romania they were enslaved for five centuries. They endured the Holocaust as the Nazis murdered 200,000 to 800,000 trying to rid them from the Earth in what was known as the Porajmos.

Their language was banned from performances in Bulgaria. They have been forced to have sterilization from various European Countries.

They are a people with no country. They are the Gypsies.

This series will look at their culture, the Holocaust, where they are today, and the children.

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With their culture based in early Indian society the Roma culture is often looked down upon by the Western world they have migrated to.

Roma Culture

Extended family is very important to the Roma. Marriage is entered into early. by today’s standards criminally early. With young girls as brides at the age of 12 or younger some of the communities they reside in have interfered in this practice. In 2003 Ilie Tortică, a prominent Gypsy king told his people to stop using child brides. The same year a rival patriarch Florin Cioabă married off his daughter at the age of 12.

The groom’s family pays a dowry to the bride’s family. Purity laws or “marime” are closely observed by its society.

Parts of the human body is considered to be unpure, including the genitals. Clothes for the lower body and menstruating women must be cleaned separately from all other clothing. Many of these practices are also in the Hindu culture.

With their Nomadic lifestyle the Roma have often been deemed untrustworthy. American pop culture has had references to this. Cher’s early hit “Gypsy’s Tramps and Thieves” was about the Roma people.

Cultures in Europe tried to have their assimilate into the norms of society. Often banning their language and customs. This has caused a continual conflict between the different societies and the Roma people.

The Holocaust

Considered by the Nazis to be outcasts the Romani were targeted for annihilation. Between 1918 to 1933 anti-Romani laws were commonplace within Germany. They had to register with government authorities, unable to travel freely and forced to work in work-camps.

When the Nazis came into power in 1933 it only got worse. The July 1933 sterilization law saw many of the people being forced to under go sterilization. During the same year the “Law Against Dangerous Habitual Criminals” was passed. Considered asocial, the Romani were sent to concentration camps along with the other undesirables (Beggars, vagrants, the homeless, and alcoholics)

By 1935 they were being denied their civil rights. The marriage between a Romani and an Aryan was forbidden. By 1938 German and Austrian Romani were rounded up and sent to concentration camps. They were forced to wear either a black “asocial” patch or a green Z. It is estimated that between 220,000 to 500,000 were killed during this time.

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The Romani are among us. Scattered like the wind they fit in the cracks that very little see. Still thought of as the thieves they stick to the old ways whenever possible. They are the Nomads of the West.

Welcome to the road well travelled! There is a fine art to travelling, and a magnetism to some of us. There are many things that you miss when you stay rooted in one spot. Roma and Travellers have developed this to a fine art, yet maintain a strong sense of family, perhaps with even stronger family ties than Gadjo. – Latcho Drom!

In Eastern Europe they reside in the poorest areas of town. High unemployment plagues them. And yet a few branches of this vast family tree does prosper. Expert coppersmiths, the Kalderash clan are fixtures of Romanian life. Though they are Nomadic in spirit most moves in the modern world have been because they have been pushed out of their small settlements by society.

Few of the children finish secondary school. They are still looked down upon in much of the Eastern bloc and former Yugoslavia where larger majorities inhibit. Almost always in this area they are in ghettos struggling to survive.

Instead of living hand to mouth from small low paying jobs many Romani live off the system. This furthers the way others in the towns they live in look at there as lower class peoples.

Because the Romani who stick closest to the purity laws, they shun the others in towns in the European areas they live. They stay among their own and rarely fit in with the rest of the people, sticking out like a sore thumb. They are the ones that people know of, the gypsies. The ones who have assimilated into the modern culture tend not to be noticed as Romani.

Most of the Romani in North American came from the Irish and Scottish Travelers. They are like in Europe, considered thieves. Often they leave towns in the Southern United States in the midst of scandals. There is little out there about them. Mostly because they live along side everyone else. They tend not to have as strict laws among them as the European Clans.

I personally lived among a family of Romani when I was eighteen. I had an opportunity to spend a few months after schooling with a carnival that traveled the Southern States. I found them to be a proud and entertaining group of people. The stories and laughter they gave treated me to a love of their ways. Overly protective of those they considered family, I was lucky to live as a daughter of their heart.

Oh and yes, count your change at a carnival, it’s not that they steal….just adding isn’t the same among all people.

In Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia Romani children face poverty, discrimination and a lack of vision for the future. UNICEF is hoping to change this plight.

By breaking the chains of exclusion the Romani children will have a better chance of a future while still being able to hold onto their cultural beliefs. As it stands now the Roma children are often hungry. They live in absolute poverty, as did their forefathers. They are unhealthy and much of the population is underweight.

The children often do not finish secondary school. Confined to only Romani schools that are under budgeted and understaffed they struggle to keep up with their peers in these European countries.

UNICEF is hoping to make strides for these children.

If you want to see how you can help please contact:

Jadranka Milanovic, Communication Officer,UNICEF Serbia Office: Tel + 011/ 3602 100; e-mail:belgrade@unicef.org

http://www.fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/people/victroma.htm

Book Burning

“Those that live by the pen shall die by the sword”

Some things just irk me. The number one is the banning of books.

To take away knowledge in any form is simply intolerable to me. It doesn’t matter what the content of the words are, just a “higher” power saying “nope, that’s off limits” bothers me.

Granted I would prefer my kids didn’t read about sixty nine ways to satisfy their partners but in time they should. In a free world words have value. And that value is on every word.

I liken book banning to the Salem Witch hunts. If there’s a problem it can’t be the fault of the person doing wrong, no siree bob, it’s because of television, books, video games, they masturbated too often, they didn’t jerk off enough, their parents were boobs, their parents were on welfare, their parents worked too much, the school didn’t educate properly, those damn atheists were next door, those damn Bible thumpers were next door, etc. I could go on but I do have a life.

“Local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books …”
— U.S. Supreme Court in Board of Education, Island Trees School District v. Pico (1982)

It’s not like banning books is a new thing. The Chinese and the Greeks did it way back in the B.C. years. And then it become common place with the upswing of Christianity. Popes started saying what books you couldn’t read back in 1559 with Pope Paul IV. They have updated their list 20 times throughout the centuries. In 1563 Charles IX of France decided to go one better . He didn’t allow anything to be printed unless he gave it a thumbs up.

Back before the printing press banning a book was easy. You burnt it. Problem solved. Just think of all the words that were written that we’ve never had a chance to wonder at.

In 1650, a religious pamphlet by William Pynchon was confiscated by Puritan authorities in Massachusetts, condemned by the General Court and burned by the public executioner in the Boston marketplace. The incident is considered to be the first book-burning in America.

When newspapers started flying off the presses in the 18th century governments decided it would be in their best interest to be strict on what could be printed. In modern times, restrictions on press freedom continue in many African and Asian countries, in eastern Europe, and in Latin America. And we see it to a degree in western countries.

Now banning books some to be in vague with certain groups. If a book seems vulgar to a group it’s free reign. Books from Harry Potter to Huckleberry Finn have been said to be “wrong” for the public.

Ready for a “fun” time line of great events in the world of book banning? thought you would be.

259–210 B.C.-Good old Shih Huang Ti, emperor of China, had a nice little BBQ. 460 Confucian scholars got to be the fuel for the fire.

A.D. 8- Ovid wrote about love and got the heave ho from Rome. His book Ars Amatoria caused him to be exiled in Greece until he died. they burned all of his books in Florence.
(oh and a nifty bit of more current news……his book was banned by U.S. Customs in 1928…..he must have had some wicked words)

35- Roman emperor Caligula decided that the ideas of Greek freedom of Homer’s The Odyssey were not a good idea.

640- There was a big bonfire in Egypt. Omar burned all the volumes at the library in Alexandria . “If these writings of the Greeks agree with the Book of God they are useless and need not be preserved; if they disagree, they are pernicious and ought to be destroyed.” The good news here, the books provided heat for the city’s baths for six months.

1497–98- The season of Florentine bonfires was given to us by Savonarola. He invited artists and authors to join in by contributing their works to the fire. Ironically, in May of 1498 another great bonfire was lit—this time under Savonarola who hung from a cross. With him were burned all his writings, sermons, essays, and pamphlets.

1525- Latin rules! William Tyndale’s English translation of the New Testament was printed 6,000 times and smuggled into England to light up the night. The church said the Bible had to be in Latin.

1597- Richard II that little play from Shakespeare had a scene that ticked off the Queen. Key word, had a scene. It was removed.

1614- The History of the World by Sir Walter Raleigh was deemed to saucy. Way to go Walt!

1624-The Pope ordered the burning of Martin Luther’s German translation. Gee whiz don’t those kids ever learn?

1616–42- Galileo had views not becoming the church about the solar system and his support of the discoveries of Copernicus. He got jailed at 70.

1720-Robinson Crusoe was banned by the Church.

1843- English plays started being censored by the Lord Chamberlain. That ended a few years later, 1968.

1859- The year of Darwinism! Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species was published. Anyone up for movie time? Inherit the Wind is on somewhere I bet.

1864–1959-The Vatican strikes again. This time Les Miserables gets the no no ruling.

1881-Walt Whitman gets the last laugh. When Boston’s district attorney threatened to ban Leaves of Grass the public went wild for it. the profits paid for Whitman’s house.

1885-Huckleberry Finn started getting booed. First by the library of Concord, Massachusetts. By 1907 it’s said the novel by Mark Twain had been banned at least once a year by some place in America.

1929–62- Papa Hemingway’s books have been banned worldwide. Heck the Nazi’s hated him so much they did that old bonfire thing with his works.

1931- Alice in Wonderland is banned in China. Why you ask? Because animals shouldn’t have human voice.

1937- Quebec came up with the Padlock Act. The statute empowered the attorney general to close, for up to one year, any building that was used to disseminate “communism or bolshevism.” (These two terms were undefined.) In addition, the act empowered the attorney general to confiscate and destroy any publication propagating communism or bolshevism. Anyone caught publishing, printing, or distributing such literature faced imprisonment for up to one year without appeal. In 1957, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the Padlock Act in a case called Switzman vs. Elbling.

1954- That evil Mickey Mouse was banned from East Berlin. You know he’s an “anti-Red rebel.”

1980s- Beatrix Potter’s bunnies were banned in England. The novels The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny only showed middle class bunnies. How very non PC!

1983- Alabama’s textbook committee ruled that the diary of Anne Frank was too much of a downer for kids to deal with. Oops, I guess impending death is too big a subject for kids.

1987- If you close your eyes it doesn’t exist. Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was removed by the Wake County, North Carolina reading lists. The reason? She described being raped at seven.

2001- The U.S.A. PATRIOT Act allows for the collection of information of every book an
American checks out of a library. Hi Big Brother.

additional resources:

http://www.freedomtoread.ca/links_and_resources/bannings_and_burnings.asp
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/speech/libraries/topic.aspx?topic=banned_books

Be the Best You Can Be Unless You’re a Mom

In a report to Congress about women in the United States military on Friday it was reported that they are underpaid, stressed and need help with childcare.

24,475 women are currently serving in Iraq. Many of those are mothers.

Child care resources are not keeping up with the deployments of the women being sent to war. With 40% of women mothers the country is not keeping up with the needs of their young.

Women serving the U.S. only get 6 weeks of maternity leave. That is simply to short a period of time compared to the rest of the western world.

In order to preserve the use of women in the military there needs to be greater strides made in family services available to them.

“Making sure military mothers have the quality child care, generous family leave, and access to mental health services they need is key to their family well-being and our national security,” New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney said in a statement.

“Not addressing these issues could have serious implications for the retention of women in the military, and the readiness and effectiveness of our forces.”

With women being the most underpaid in the military the question is why would young mothers join up? Unless changes are made soon there may be less of that.

One Woman’s Story of Death Row in Iraq

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Samar Saed Abdullah is an attractive 25 year old Iraqi woman. She’s scheduled to hang. There isn’t a date, but she knows it will be on a Wednesday. That’s the day they hang people in Iraqi.

She says she is innocent.

Doesn’t matter, she has no appeal.

She’s convicted of killing three relatives. A crime that she was tried and convicted in one day for. On August 15, 2005 the court decided not to listen to her testimony. She had confessed to being an accomplice when she was charges. That was after she was brutalized by the police.

“She didn’t confess,” her mother, Hana’a Abdul Hakim, told CNN. “It was from the beating they gave her. She was bleeding. She finally said write what you want, just stop.”

Under Iraqi law her claim to being tortured should have been looked into. It wasn’t.

She lives on death row. She’s not alone, four other women share the space with her. The children of two of the women also reside on death row.

She prays for an appeal.

It was denied. Her family doesn’t have the heart to tell her the sad news.

“I couldn’t tell her,” her mother said. “I was afraid that she would do something to herself.”

Amnesty International is appealing for Samar Saed Abdullah and the three other women that wait along side her.

As for now she dreads Wednesdays. The thought that they could come for her is torture. Prisoners are led away every Wednesday unannounced to the gallows.

“I don’t sleep at all on Wednesdays,” she said. “I stay scared all day.”

Since August 2004 when the death penalty was reinstated in Iraq with more than 270 death sentences at least 100 people have been executed. Saddam Hussein the most famous of them.

Special Report:Teen Suicide

I will be doing a week long special report on child and teen suicide. With the recent “suicide pact” of school children in Barrie, On. it’s time to focus on the causes of one of the most preventable teen deaths.

 

The Myths

There are many myths considering teenage suicide. The most common being most teens don’t think about it. Statistics show otherwise. In a survey of 15,000 grade 7 to 12 students in British Columbia, 34% knew of someone who had attempted or died by suicide.

Talking about and educating youth on suicide makes them think harder about it. This myth is along the lines of if we don’t have sex education the kids won’t have sex. False on both accounts. Rather education has shown that youth find it a relief when they see others can and do feel the same as they are. The isolation kills, not the knowledge.

People who talk about it, don’t do it. Or the youth are seeking attention or trying to manipulate others using the old I’m gonna kill myself. False! If you know someone who’s talking about these feelings find a way to get them help. And even if the slim chance that they are seeking attention, isn’t it better to give them attention while they are alive instead of saying goodbyes at a casket.

If a person is suicidal they want to die. The truth is in adolescence death isn’t the main want, it’s peace. Kids don’t always get that thing as adult we know, “this too will pass.”

Sex Does Make a Difference- The Different Sides of Suicide with the Teenage Genders

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Young girls are more likely to attempt suicide yet more boys die. How can that be? Simple, when girls do the act of suicide they choose means which as overdose while boys go for the gusto.

Early in the morning of October 29, Jeffery shocked neighbours, relatives and friends by tying an 18-foot extension cord around his neck and over the branch of a poplar tree.

Anonymous

Females in Canada are three times more likely to attempt suicide. There are ten times more attempts than deaths when it comes to teenage girls. Even though boys attempt suicide less, they succeed more often, six times more often than girls in fact.

Sadly those odds could be changing. The Centers for Disease Control noted that in 1970 fewer than one-third of the suicides by women aged 15 to 24 were carried out with a firearm, while in 1984 firearms were used in a little more than half of the female suicides in that age group.

Boys quite simply use the best method they can to end their lives. Guns and nooses succeed more often than drugs. There’s no turning back when lethal means are used. With drug overdose there’s always that chance that someone will discover the child before it’s too late.

addition resource:
http://www.cfc-efc.ca/docs/cich/00000012.htm

Romeo and Juliet weren’t Just a Play

There are times when young lovers who face problems from the outside turn to suicide. They may think being like Romeo and Juliet is poetic. It never is.

Kids forget, the story never had a happy ending. In the end the couple was still dead. Death is forever, after all.

Teenagers are more impulsive than adults. They feel their pain will never escape and a few decide that they can’t survive it.

When they have a tragic heartbreak teens don’t have the experience to understand that the pain will end. As adults we know it’s a stage of growing up but our hearts took a lot of knocks (at least most people) prior to gaining that knowledge. Couple the pain with the natural tendencies of impulsive behaviour and in some cases you have a disaster on your hands.

According to reports from Virginia Tech, the shooter was hunting down the new boyfriend of a former girlfriend. In the end, blood on his hands he committed suicide.

A 16 year old in Maryland became the first person charged with assisted suicide. His girlfriend

used the gun they had planned for their joint suicide. Young Jennifer Garvey, 15 died. Her

boyfriend, unidentified because of his age, ran to a friend’s house after witnessing Jennifer

shot her herself. The couple had penned a note to family and friends,”You’ve kept us apart

and hurt us with your insensitivity. Now we can be together.”

Girls involved in violent sexual relationships are 8 to 9 times more likely to attempt suicide than girls who are not.

Christian Davila, 14 and Maryling Flores, 13 two Florida sweethearts had been forbidden to

see each other. In November 1995 they met one last time, joined hands and jumped 15 feet
to their deaths.

additional resources:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2001-releases/press07312001.html
http://www.nami.org/Content/ContentGroups/Helpline1/Teenage_Suicide.htm
http://www.euthanasia.com/teenas.html

I Had No Clue; The Warning Signs

She seemed so happy yesterday. That’s a common comment from the survivors of suicides.

There seems to be a sense of peace right before some young people commit the act. Remember though, depression does not magically disappear. If you know a young person who has been on the binge of it all suddenly become very happy keep a close eye on them. While we hope it’s a turning point, sometimes it’s that last clue we miss.

With more than ninety percent of suicide deaths stemming from depression we would like to

think we can see it coming and beat it off at the path.

In the United States suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers beating out cancer and birth defects.

In any given classroom it is safe to assume at least three students have attempted suicide. There has to be a way to curb the increase of this problem. Children need not die.

There is another factor in suicide. There is recent evidence that it can be a family affair putting members at higher risk.

The highest number of suicides are among young white males.

Recent studies indicate that those who have attempted suicide may also have low levels of the brain chemical serotonin. Children who have daily migraines are also more prone to take their lives.

Although suicide among young children is a rare event, the dramatic increase in the rate among persons aged 10-14 years underscores the urgent need for intensifying efforts to prevent suicide among persons in this age group The rate of suicides among the youngest of our children has risen 109% in recent years. This epidemic is claiming more lives everyday. As adults we have to become more aware of the signs before it’s too late.

Parents should be aware of the following signs of adolescents who may try to kill themselves:

change in eating and sleeping habits
withdrawal from friends, family, and regular activities
violent actions, rebellious behavior, or running away
drug and alcohol use
unusual neglect of personal appearance
marked personality change
persistent boredom, difficulty concentrating, or a decline in the quality of schoolwork
frequent complaints about physical symptoms, often related to emotions, such as stomachaches, headaches, fatigue, etc.
loss of interest in pleasurable activities
not tolerating praise or rewards
A teenager who is planning to commit suicide may also:

complain of being a bad person or feeling rotten inside
give verbal hints with statements such as: I won’t be a problem for you much longer, Nothing matters, It’s no use, and I won’t see you again
put his or her affairs in order, for example, give away favorite possessions, clean his or her room, throw away important belongings, etc.
become suddenly cheerful after a period of depression
have signs of psychosis (hallucinations or bizarre thoughts)

Nearly 60 percent of all completed suicides are committed with a firearm. Just one more reason not to have firearms in your house.

When our children’s futures are at risk we sometimes have to tackle hard subjects. Any parent’s child can get depressed. Any parent’s child can take their own life. We can’t stop all suicides. Sadly, it’s something that happens. We can though educate ourselves and understand that it could happen. To our children. Although with education the risk will go down.

additional resources:
http://www.nami.org/Content/ContentGroups/Helpline1/Teenage_Suicide.htm
http://www.suicidology.org/associations/1045/files/Youth2004.pdf
http://aacap.org/page.ww?name=Teen+Suicide&section=Facts+for+Families

last in a four part series

part 2 special report: History of American War Involvement Post WW2

At the present time the United States is involved in three wars. We all hear nightly about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet since 1999 the military has been in Serbia as well.

The Serbian invasion was an act with NATO. Designed to destroy the Serbian air defenses and stop the ethnic killings, NATO and it’s Allies had to battle bad weather as well as the Serbian army. Within weeks of the “peacekeeping” campaign 850,000 people had fled causing a huge refugee exodus. The official war stopped 12 June, 1999. That doesn’t mean the battles have gone away, nor has the presence of the US military.

After 9/11 the Bush administration pushed to fight the terrorists where they lived. Thus October 7, 2001 in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States Afghanistan was invaded. The purpose of the invasion was to capture the mastermind behind the World Trade Towers attack, Bin Laden and other key members of the Taliban.. He has yet to be captured.

At the start of the war it looked like the mission would be quick and successful. The Taliban’s numbers were greatly reduced and they were removed from power. That power shift did not last with the Taliban increasing in power since 2003.

Since the invasion Afghanistan has become a very unstable government. The people suffer in poverty and fear. Bombings are a daily occurrence.

In 2006 NATO began the process of replacing U.S. troops with their International Security Assistance Force. That force is mostly made up of troops from Britain, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands.

The country has been named a failed state.

The Iraq War began on March 20, 2003. The end of the war is no where in sight. Rationale for the war offered by the George W. Bush administration at the time of invasion was that Iraq possessed an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction which posed an “urgent threat” . Later the facts came out that this was not the case. Saddam Hussein’s government was quickly overthrown. After a brief period of hiding out the displaced dictator was captured and fled for trial. That trial finished earlier this year and Hussein was executed for his crimes against the people he ruled.

The cost of both military and civilian lives add up daily. The unstable government and the insurgents both using guerrilla style warfare. Car bombs are a daily occurrence.

The American public remains spilt about the war, although most supporting the troops regardless of how they view the war.

additional resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%93present)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Allied_Force

special report: History of American War Involvement Post WW2

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The last war that the United States entered into with approval of the Congress was the second World War. Since that time the States have violated it’s own Article I Section 8 of the Constitution several times.

With several of those war being renamed as conflicts to bypass the very foundation of the law of the United States. The “conflicts” that have been entered to were supposedly to reinstall peace. That was the way to get the UN to approve such junctions. Until the current war with Iraq which even violated the United Nations.

The wars (conflicts) that the States have entered into since WW2?

1950-1953 Korean War
1960-1975 Vietnam War
1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion
1983 Grenada
1989 US Invasion of Panama
1990-1991 Persian Gulf War
1995-1996 Intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina
1999 – present U.S. invasion and occupation of Serbia
2001 – present U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan
2003 – present U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq

What was the outcomes of the some of the “conflicts” mentioned?

The Korean War

Started on June 25, 1950 the official cease fire finish was July 27, 1953. Started by the invasion of South Korea by the South Korean army Sunday, June 25, 1950, the attack surprised the world.

America entered the war for many reasons, one of which was that Truman had appeared too “soft” when dealing with Communist countries. What a better way to disprove that then to enter into the war.

American troops were for a time under orders to consider any Korean civilians on the battlefield approaching their position as hostile and were instructed to “neutralize” them due to fears of infiltration.

Results of that action were the horrors like the murders of No Gun Ri, where women, children and old men were shot by the military.

During this 3 year conflict over 53,000 Americans lost their lives. A total of 8,142 U.S. personnel were also listed as Missing In Action.

Results of the war? The two Korean countries are still battling each other, as they had been for decades before the action. American troops are still maintaining a heavy presence.

The Vietnam War

The American part of the war with Vietnam officially started in 1959, although there had already been a large amount of troops deployed to the country since 1954. The official end of the war was April 30,1975 with the Fall of Saigon.

The war claimed 58,000 U.S. combat dead and the lives of between 2 and 5.7 million Vietnamese, a large number of whom were civilians. Although exact numbers are difficult to verify, the disparity in deaths illustrated the overwhelming superiority of U.S. firepower.

The war was a turning point for the American people. Protests were held as more and more people opposed the war. Returning veterans were treated with hatred and called among other things “baby killer.” The ravages of the battlefield wore many soldiers out, coupled with the treatment at home.

The result of the war? America lost. The Vietnam countries fell in 1975 to the Khmer Rouge.

The war still haunts us. The chemicals used in warfare have had lasting effects.

The U.S. Veterans Administration has listed prostate cancer, respiratory cancers, multiple myeloma, type II diabetes, Hodgkin’s disease, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, soft tissue sarcoma, chloracne, porphyria cutanea tarda, peripheral neuropathy, and spina bifida in children of veterans exposed to Agent Orange as possible side effects of their parent’s exposure to the herbicides.[citation needed] Although there has been much discussion over whether the use of these defoliants constituted a violation of the laws of war, it must be noted that the defoliants were not considered weapons, since exposure to them did not lead to immediate death or even incapacitation.

1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion

After the Cuban Revolution tensions were strong between Cuba and the United States. Starting in 1960 exiles from Cuba were drilled for information about the country that they had left. Advisers of President John Kennedy thought that the US could easily overthrow the government of Cuba

On the morning of April 15, 1961, three flights of Douglas B-26B Invader light bomber aircraft displaying Cuban Fuerza Aerea Revolucionaria (FAR – Revolutionary Air Force) markings bombed and strafed the Cuban airfields of San Antonio de Los Baños, Antonio Maceo International Airport, and the airfield at Ciudad Libertad. attacks, though planned did were not carried out because of communication problems.

In the end the mission failed, but not before scores of Cubans were killed.

1983 Grenada

On October 25 The united States along with several other countries invaded the tiny nation of Grenada. The invasion was to overthrew the government of Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard. With only 1,200 members of the People’s Revolutionary Army they were quickly able to
finish their task and a new government was formed by the Governor-General.

1989 The Invasion of Panama

The invasion of Panama took place after more than a year of heated tension between the States and Panama. The dictator in charge, Manuel Noriega protested the harsh sanctions put on his country. The States protested the hostile government.

Listing four reasons to invade ( Safeguarding the lives of U.S. citizens in Panama, Defending democracy and human rights in Panama, Combating drug trafficking and Protecting the integrity of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties.) George Bush, Sr. ordered the invasion on December 20, 1989. The conflict was over when Noriega surrendered to American authorities on January 3, 1990.

The short action took the lives of 18 US soldiers. Many more Panamanian were killed, a large percentage civilians.

1990-1991 Persian Gulf War

Five days after Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990 troops from the US were deployed to the region. Several reasons have been given for the States involvement, from oil to the abuses that Saddam Hussein put on his people. The bottom line though was to get Iraq out of Kuwait. Massive bombing took place on both sides of the offense. President Bush declared a cease-fire and on February 27 declared that Kuwait had been liberated.

Coalition military deaths have been reported to be around 378. The aftermath is still being seen today. Chemicals used during the war have had lasting effects. Many suffer from “Gulf War Syndrome.”

In how many countries do we now have American combat troops?
According to the Defense Department’s Base Structure Report, FY 2002, U.S. troops are stationed in 156 countries. There are only 46 countries left without an American military presence.

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Antigua
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belgium
Belize
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burma
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Congo
Costa Rica
Cote D’lvoire
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominican Republic
East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji

Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guatemala
Guinea
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Liberia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Mali
Malta
Mexico
Mongolia
Morocco
Mozambique
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
North Korea
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia and Montenegro
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovenia
Spain
South Africa
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Suriname
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
Uruguay
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Angola Rwanda
Armenia Slovakia
Gabon Somalia
Guyana Sudan
Moldova Uzbekistan

addition resources:

http://www.newnation.org/Archives/AmericanWars1812-2003.html
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul57.html
http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance20.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_invasion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Grenada
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_invasion_of_Panama
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War

part two coming soon, focusing on the present invasions

Teddy Bear Held Camera for Child Pornography

The Durham Regional Police found a disturbing means for Ian Matthew Dean to observe one of the children he is accused of abusing. The child’s teddy bear held a camera inside it’s eyes.

The chilling find is just the latest as police gather more evidence with it’s case against Dean. The man was charged earlier this week with sexual assault, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and having a relationship with two girls under the age of 12. He has now also been charged with child pornography.

The teddy bear was discovered as the detectives were searching Dean’s house. The camera had a remote that allowed for it to be operated by remote control. The visuals lead them to the residence of the child.

Officers additionally discovered a wristband device similar to a watch capable of recording images.

Dean was a active member in the Salvation Army in Bowmanville.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Det. Randy Norton or Det. Andy Bussanich at 905 579-1520 ext. 5363. Anonymous tips can be made to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

And the World Stopped Turning

As the taxi entered the highway I started to shake. Knowing that one life was going to end finally and not knowing where my future was going to start at.

I was beginning the road to being a survivor instead of a victim.

And I was terrified.

When I walked through the doors of the shelter my heart was breaking. I had to admit defeat. I couldn’t change my abuser. I couldn’t help him sort out his anger anymore. My spirit had already been shattered from years of emotional and verbal abuse. I wore no scars, my body wasn’t bruised yet I was as damaged as anyone else residing in those hallowed walls.

We were the same.

It made no difference the colour of our skin, our age, our sexual preference. We were all struggling to understand why. Why we allowed someone else to take our power. Why we had stopped fighting back. And why did it take us so long to leave a bad situation.

Just as abusers resemble each other, so do the victims of abuse. Without some one to talk to, a place to go, a safety net many will never escape.

The good news though is with the safety net a victim can become a survivor. Learning that you don’t have to except abusive behaviours is a hard lesson. The hidden scars don’t leave, but they fade with time changing from a painful reminder to a victory patch. Surviving abuse and becoming stronger is how the circle begins to break away.

Abuse is one of the few circles that must be broken.

Four Premature Babies Linked to Pseudomonas aeruginosa

 

Ste-Justine hospital in Montreal announced that four premature babies died from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The bacteria has been found in the plumbing pipes on the neo-natal unit of the hospital.

Several dozen other premature infants are suffering from the bacteria as well. The infants died between 2004 and 2005.

The bacteria causes pneumonia and septicemia. The premature infants are at added risk because their immune systems haven’t developed fully.

The unit was closed in December 2005 after the bacteria was found in the plumbing system, but by then the four lives had already been claimed. After the first death in June of 2004 doctors had requested for the unit to be closed. Hospital officials along with the Montreal’s Public Health Department though choose to let the unit remain open.

“Every time we thought that the next measure was enough, there were weeks or months without any cases. So we sincerely thought that the problem was over,” Amyot explained to CTV Montreal.

Once the bacteria was located sterilized water instead of tap was used with the infants. From the time of that measure there were no other deaths.

After renovations have been completed the unit will reopen next year. The hospital is the only one in the area that caters exculsivly to children, adolescents and mothers.

Ontario May Ban Incandescent Light Bulbs

Ontario is proposing a ban of incandescent light bulbs by 2012. The older bulbs use 75% more energy than newer fluorescent ones.

The removal of the bulbs could have a huge effect on the energy consumption for the province.

“It’s the equivalent of taking 250,000 cars off the road,” said Environment Minister Laurel Broten.

The bold move makes Ontario the first in Canada to commit to the energy saving plan. While it will be illegal for store owners to sell the older model homeowners will not be penalized for using them in their homes.

The Australians plan on having the incandescent bulbs by 2010 prompting some in the government to ask why Ontario couldn’t also use that year as a target.

Stuart Hickox of Project Porchlight stated,

“There is a profound sense of urgency about climate change that can only be sustained by giving everyone something to do,” he said. “The simple act of changing a light bulb takes people from awareness to action; people become part of the solution.”

Personally we already use the CFL bulbs. It just makes sense, they are lower in energy costs and last longer than the older ones. Although the initial cost is a bit more, a bulb that lasts for years as opposed to one that makes it months if you’re lucky is just a no brainer.

Adult Asthma and You

With the dramatic increase of asthma most people know someone with the condition or suffer from the disease themselves.

Scientists are puzzled to way there has been such an increase but there is no denying that more people experience the shortness of breath associated with the condition.

There are several different triggers that can activate an asthma attack. Genes, along with environmental and biologic triggers are the key triggers that affect adults. In children allergies play a higher role, but in recent years it has been suggested that these triggers are impacting adults as well.

Atopy, the allergic process, is a series of events that lead to inflammation of the airways. When the allergen is recognized in the body white blood cells ( TH2-cells) begin to surround the offender. As the cells increase they produce Interleukins 4, 9, and 13 which produce immunoglobulin E. (I) People with both asthma and allergies appear to have a genetic predisposition for overproducing IgE.(/i) During the asthma attack immunoglobulin E antibodies bind to mast cells, which are concentrated in the lungs, skin and mucus membranes. These cells cause spasms in the airways and an overproduction of mucus. Finally at the end of the attack interleukin 5 appears and lingers for several weeks medicating the particles that remain in the lungs.

Asthma can cause irreversible structural and functional changes in the airways over the years a person suffers from it. This remodeling can then cause chronic asthma. Asthma is truly a family affair, with about a third of the sufferers sharing it with another family member. The confusing thing in this case is that even with the familiar background, the patients don’t always have the same causes for an attack.

Female hormones also seem to be a cause. Severity of the conditions can be affected by the menstrual cycle. Women who suffer from asthma can have more severe attacks during any hormonal change. Although it would seem that oral contraceptives would help this it has not proven to be the case. Menopause is not a help either, women’s hospitalizations increase fourfold at this time.

Aspirin can also cause an attack in 10% of the asthmatic population. While aspirin generally helps with inflammation in the asthmatic it has the opposite affect. The attack of an aspirin sensitive asthmatic is often severe and results in up to 25% of asthma hospitalizations.

Asthma is primarily a nocturnal disease, occurring in 75% at that time. Some of the reasons are as follows:

* Chemical and temperature changes in the body during the night that increase inflammation and narrowing of the airways.

* Delayed allergic responses from exposure to allergens during the day.

* The wearing off of inhaled medications toward the early morning.

* An increase in acid reflux (back up of stomach acid) that causes airways to narrow.

* Postnasal drip that occurs during sleep.

* Conditions relating to sleep, such as sleep apnea or sleeping on one’s back, which may worsen any asthma attack that occurs at night.

Another trigger in adult inset asthma are infections, sometime that differs with child induced asthma. Researchers are particularly interested in the organisms Chlamydiapneumoniae, Mycoplasmapneumoniae, adenovirus, and the respiratory syncytial virus. These viruses cause both mild and severe respiratory infections and are looking to be a cause of adult asthma. The common cold itself is assiciated with asthma.

GERD is also a possible factor with about half of adult sufferers having both conditions.

Some theories for the causal connection between GERD and asthma are as follows:

* Acid leaking from the lower esophagus in GERD stimulates the vagus nerves , which run through the gastrointestinal tract. These stimulated nerves in turn trigger the nearby airways in the lung to constrict, which causes asthma symptoms.

* Acid back-up that reaches the mouth may be inhaled into the airways ( aspirated). Here, the acid triggers a reaction in the airways that cause asthma symptoms.

GERD is sometimes hard to detect and might be suspected as a contributor in the following asthmatic patients:

* Those who do not respond to asthma treatments.

* Those whose asthma attacks follow episodes of heartburn.

* Those whose attacks are worse after eating or exercise.

* Those whose coughs follow episodes of acid reflux. (One study found that GERD was associated with about half of the episodes of coughs and wheezes in asthmatic patients.)

Exercise also can be a trigger. Although with exercise induced asthma it is more likely to respond to short acting medicines.

What is Shaken Baby Syndrome

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Shaken Baby syndrome is a preventable disability that strikes more than 1,200 children annually. 25% to 30% of the tiny victims die as a result while the rest of the sufferers deal with lifelong problems.

SBB causes head trauma with infants under the age of one at most risk. The chief attackers of this form of child abuse are the parents and long term caregivers. Generally it’s in an act of desperation to stop a baby from crying that a caregiver starts to shake the child. While the shaking does quiet the child, it’s not from soothing, it’s because the brain is being damaged. Approximately 60% of the victims are males, and between 65%-90% of the abusers are also male.

The actual damage is done by pitching the brain back and forth. The violent movement bounces the infant’s brain in the skull, rupturing blood vessels and nerves throughout the brain and tearing the brain tissue. The neck muscles of infants can not withstand the force of aggressive shaking. In severe cases of SBB the infant also endures actual forced impact to the skull.

The effects of this abuse are devastating.

Children who survive may have:

* partial or total blindness
* hearing loss
* seizures
* developmental delays
* impaired intellect
* speech and learning difficulties
* problems with memory and attention
* severe mental retardation
* paralysis (some particularly traumatic episodes leave children in a coma)

In mild cases the damage isn’t picked up at times until the child enters school. By that time it’s harder to pinpoint the root of the cause of learning disabilities.

Some of the symptoms that a child has been shaken are:

# lethargy
# irritability
# vomiting
# poor sucking or swallowing
# decreased appetite
# lack of smiling or vocalizing
# rigidity
# seizures
# difficulty breathing
# altered consciousness
# unequal pupil size
# an inability to lift the head
# an inability to focus the eyes or track movement

Often the child is never brought to a doctor, or when brought to the doctor mentions of shaking are not brought up. With the symptoms often associated with other conditions SBB is difficult to determine.

The harsh reality of SBB is that it is a total brain injury even in the mildest of cases.(i) The development of language, vision, balance, and motor coordination, all of which occur to varying degrees after birth, are particularly likely to be affected in any child who has SBS.(/) In the unlikely case that the child is identified prior to three state programs can help with treatments to help overcome some of the damage. Once the child enters school programs therein take over.

The good news though is SBB is completely preventable. As long as an infant is not shaken it will not suffer the damage.