children

This is not a story about Matthew Costa and Justin Brady. This is a story dedicated to Justin and Matthew. I didn't know them. After reading about them, I would have liked to have known them, but now it is too late. They both died tragically in a boating accident on the Niger River in Mali. Matthew was from my home state Connecticut (and somehow his death has profoundly effected me) and Justin was from Oregon. Both young men were Peace Corps volunteers. It is evident to me both young men cared about the condition of the world and those inhabiting it. It is also evident to me if we had more Matthews and Justins we would certainly be living in a far far different and MUCH BETTER world.

So to Matthew and Justin I say thank you for your hearts and thank you for your service to the world.

What this story IS about is children. Children forced into doing such horrid things one cannot even imagine. Children forced to give up their education, their homes, their families and their lives. Children who cannot ever possibly recover from the nightmares that they have lived. CHILDREN OF WAR.

Did you know there are at least 43,000,000 children from at least 30 countries, who, because of war have been prevented from going to school? Did you know their schools have been either destroyed or commandeered and their teachers driven out OR killed? Did you know in 2003, more than half of armed conflicts had children under 15 as combatants? Did you know that in just ONE country alone, the "Democratic" Republic of the Congo, more than 5 million children between the ages of 6 and 11 are out of school and more than 6 million under the age of 17 have NEVER been to school?

War leaves 43 million children without education, study finds

Save the Children


Did you know that even when families are helped with money to assist with their children's schooling, that money sometimes doesn't get used for schooling? Oh, it's wasted on things like groceries and seeds to plant so the family can actually LIVE.

Cut Off, Gazan Economy Nears Collapse

Few here are using the United Nations grants for school. The Abu Reziqs are
carefully investing the rest of their relief money. More than $20 went straight
to the local grocer, Tamam said, as a down payment on the credit extended to the
family, which still owes more than $200. About $11 went to buy the ingredients,
including two chickens, for the couscous dish that Tamam and her daughter,
Fatma, 29, are making early this morning, kneading relief agency flour in big
aluminum bowls, pouring in relief agency oil, rubbing the flour over a screen to
get the right consistency.
The result will serve 15 people, Tamam said. “We
want to feed the people who helped us with the land,” she said, and some of
their neighbors, even worse off than they.

Did you know in Uganda (and I am imagining it as one of THE most evil places on earth) the people are willing to forgive and forget the perveyors of this evil in order to get on with their lives? Did you know children there are forced to not only pick up arms and fight against their own brothers and sisters and uncles and aunts and mothers and fathers BUT they are forced to "slice off lips and pound newborn babies to death in wooden mortars, as though they were grinding grain". Can you even fathom something like that? Did you know the leader of this mayhem, Joseph Kony has over 60 ABDUCTED child brides?

Uganda Peace Hinges on Amnesty for Brutality

"I would like you to give a message. Please do your best to tell the world what
is happening to us, the children. So that other children don't have to pass
through this violence."
The 15-year-old girl who ended an interview to
Amnesty International with this plea was forcibly abducted at night from her
home by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), an armed opposition movement fighting
the Ugandan Government. She was made to kill a boy who tried to escape. She saw
another boy being hacked to death for not raising the alarm when a friend ran
away. She was beaten when she dropped a water container and ran for cover under
gunfire. She received 35 days of military training and was sent to fight the
government army.
The use of children as soldiers has been universally
condemned as abhorrent and unacceptable. Yet over the last ten years hundreds of
thousands of children have fought and died in conflicts around the world.

Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers

I could keep on linking article after article. There is no need. What there IS a need for is us putting an end to war. War here or war there. War that the United States is fighting or war in a country we have never heard of. Our children have to be protected and cherished NOT made to fear and fight. Our children should be the Matthews and Justins of the world. They did something. They cared. And as I said and as I know, thanks to Matthew and Justin the world is just a tiny bit better for their having lived in it.

pictures: terredeshommes.org, worldrevolution.org, un.org, child-soldier.org, bbc.co.uk

children

i am going to write an essay/article on children - i hope sometime this weekend. child soldiers to be exact. i came across this article today. i know a while ago rory shock did a GRAND piece on young boy camel jockeys. how can we allow ourselves to be 'buds' with countries who allow practices like this?

Dubai princes accused of masterminding trade in jockey slaves

By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles
Published: 15 September 2006

Dubai's ruling family has been served with a class-action lawsuit in the United States accusing them of masterminding an international child slave trade to provide jockeys and attendants for the popular desert sport of camel-racing.
The suit names both Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the crown prince of Dubai, and his brother, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al-Maktoum, as being "the most active participants" in the slave trade, which was described and denounced in a US State Department report on human trafficking last year.
According to the suit, as many as 30,000 boys from South Asia and Africa could have been victimised in what it calls "one of the greatest humanitarian crimes of the last 50 years".
"Because camel racing is extremely dangerous and arduous, especially for children," the suit says, "the Arab sheikhs would not make their own children jockeys and trainers. The sheikhs instead bought boys who had been abducted and trafficked across international boundaries and enslaved as young as two years old............

not everyone realizes how horrid conditions for women are in some countries

yes, i firmly believe we are second class citizens even in america. if we are raped, some even think 'we were asking for it'. yet, in america we will NOT get stoned if we were raped. we will not be thrown in jail if we were raped. it is NOT like that in pakistan.

Pakistan Bid to End Abuse of Women Reporting Rape Hits Snag

By CARLOTTA GALL and SALMAN MASOOD
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sept. 13 — The Pakistani government has run into difficulties in its efforts to pass a law to end the worst abuses suffered by women who report rape or are accused of adultery under an Islamic ordinance. The opposition comes from members of the governing coalition, as well as from Islamic parties.
President Pervez Musharraf has sought to use the measure, the Women’s Protection Bill, to burnish his credentials as a modern and moderate Islamic leader before his visit to the United States this month. But the opposition has, temporarily at least, disrupted his well-orchestrated campaign.
A vote on the bill was postponed Wednesday, as senior clerics representing the government and the Islamic opposition parties failed to resolve differences. At least one partner in the governing coalition said it would refuse to accept any amendments being demanded by a coalition of religious parties, the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal.
Under the Hudood Ordinance, enacted in 1979 by Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, then the president, thousands of women, in particular the poor and illiterate, have been jailed for adultery on the flimsiest evidence, often when a former husband refuses to recognize a divorce, or even when a woman has reported being raped.
Muhammad Ali Durrani, the information minister, said that the government could win the vote, but that it preferred to try to bring the Islamic parties on board. “We are not under pressure,” he said, at a news briefing. “We have the majority. We can take it through any day.”...........

i thought this story was fake

but i am VERY afraid it's real. i don't know too very much about kazakhstan but i would imagine there are far worse problems than a comedian making fun of the country.

Bush to hold talks on Ali G creator after diplomatic row

Last updated at 16:11pm on 12th September 2006

US President George Bush is to host White House talks on British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.
Cohen, 35, creator of Ali G, has infuriated the Kazakhstan government with his portrayal of Borat, a bumbling Kazakh TV presenter.
And now a movie of Borat's adventures in the US has caused a diplomatic incident.
The opening scene, which shows Borat lustily kissing his sister goodbye and setting off for America in a car pulled by a horse, had audiences in stitches when it was first shown last week.
But the film, which has just premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, has prompted a swift reaction from the Kazakhstan government, which is launching a PR blitz in the States.
Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev is to fly to the US to meet President Bush in the coming weeks and on the agenda will be his country's image. ...........

bye ann

sure do wish you won that second term instead of you know who..............

at any rate, you were one hell of a woman!

Former Texas Governor Ann Richards Dies


By KELLEY SHANNON
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Former Gov. Ann Richards, the witty and flamboyant Democrat who went from homemaker to national political celebrity, died Wednesday night after a battle with cancer, a family spokeswoman said. She was 73.
She died at home surrounded by her family, the spokeswoman said. Richards was found to have esophageal cancer in March and underwent chemotherapy treatments.
The silver-haired, silver-tongued Richards said she entered politics to help others - especially women and minorities who were often ignored by Texas' male-dominated establishment.
"I did not want my tombstone to read, 'She kept a really clean house.' I think I'd like them to remember me by saying, 'She opened government to everyone,'" Richards said shortly before leaving office in January 1995...........

Betrayal of the national security of my country is an act of treason.

that was said by joe wilson and he's right. a treasonous act occurred and those responsible have NOT been brought to justice and i have a feeling they never will be.

i am not a member of congress or the senate. i do not have the power they have. i DO have the power of my vote though and i sure as shite am going to use it (as i always have. i have always felt you have NO RIGHT to complain unless you DO vote). it is beyond my comprehension why and how any person can still support the current administration. they are war mongers and money grubbers. that is ALL they are. they are systematically destroying our nation and it's people. they care not who they hurt OR who they will hurt in the future.

we MUST stop the madness of king george.

Ambassador Joseph Wilson Updates BuzzFlash on the Bush Administration's Betrayal of Our National Security

On August 3, 2005, we honored Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame with a BuzzFlash "Wings of Justice Award." We noted then:
"In a nation of quivering politicians and cowering media, Joe Wilson has fearlessly stood up for the personal safety of Americans. He is a Lancelot riding high in a Kingdom of Fear. The White House endangered the American people, but Joe Wilson didn't blink.
And Valerie Plame didn't back down from working at the CIA, even though Bush and his staff did everything they could to stop her from trying to ensure our safety. You see, the truth exposes the incompetence of the Bush Administration, and they take no prisoners when it comes to patriots who reveal the ineptitude and deceptions of the White House.
Joe Wilson, however, fought back on behalf of the truth. 'Baby Doc' Bush was forced to admit that Wilson was correct, but unleashed Karl Rove to out a covert CIA operative and smear the Wilsons anyway. 'Baby Doc's' father thought differently of Wilson, however. Bush the Senior recognized Joe for his brave efforts to save Americans in Iraq when Saddam was threatening them in the period before the 1991 Gulf War.
Wilson recently told BuzzFlash that he didn't consider himself particularly courageous; he is just doing his civic duty. BuzzFlash disagrees. Wilson and his wife Valerie are American heroes and are honored with this week's BuzzFlash 'Wings of Justice Award.'"
Since that recognition by BuzzFlash, our admiration for Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame has only increased.
This BuzzFlash interview with Ambassador Joseph Wilson was conducted on the morning of Wednesday, September 7, 2006. This is our third interview with Ambassador Wilson.......................................

i read this yesterday afternoon

and i was in the state of shock and disbelief. of course i SHOULD know better. i should know the big corporations ALWAYS end up on top. end up with money in their pockets. end up walking all over the backs of the common folk

25-million-dollar Coca-Cola plant opened in Afghanistan

President Hamid Karzai formally opened a 25-million-dollar Coca-Cola bottling plant, one of the most significant investments in Afghanistan since the ousting of the Taliban five years ago.
Karzai said it was an endorsement of the government's efforts to push ahead with reconstruction of the war-damaged country.
The plant had its first products, which will compete with imports from Pakistan and Iran, on the streets of the capital in January.
Its initial formal opening was postponed in May after riots in which hordes of men rampaged through the city, setting fire to buildings and vehicles after a deadly traffic accident involving a US military vehicle...........

keith olbermann speaks

(again) and so very much better than i could

This hole in the ground

Half a lifetime ago, I worked in this now-empty space. And for 40 days after the attacks, I worked here again, trying to make sense of what happened, and was yet to happen, as a reporter.

All the time, I knew that the very air I breathed contained the remains of thousands of people, including four of my friends, two in the planes and -- as I discovered from those "missing posters" seared still into my soul -- two more in the Towers.

And I knew too, that this was the pyre for hundreds of New York policemen and firemen, of whom my family can claim half a dozen or more, as our ancestors.

I belabor this to emphasize that, for me this was, and is, and always shall be, personal.

And anyone who claims that I and others like me are "soft,"or have "forgotten" the lessons of what happened here is at best a grasping, opportunistic, dilettante and at worst, an idiot whether he is a commentator, or a Vice President, or a President..........

cool blog of the day

ok, what is this?

note: there were TONS of other pictures, i chose these at random. please look at the archives. amazing amazing amazing.

rico and coco

let's see how they dance around this one

how they turn numbers in their (our) favor. how they deny this report (from someone who obviously KNOWS what's going on in iraq). where is the outrage from the american public as we send more and more women and men over there? why isn't this story at the top of EVERY news outlet? yes, it got coverage but NOT top coverage. WAKE UP

Marine calls situation in Anbar province dire
U.S. military can do little to secure region in western Iraq


By Thomas E. Ricks
Updated: 3:59 a.m. ET Sept 11, 2006

The chief of intelligence for the Marine Corps in Iraq recently filed an unusual secret report concluding that the prospects for securing that country's western al Anbar province are dim and that there is almost nothing the U.S. military can do to improve the political and social situation there, said several military officers and intelligence officials familiar with its contents.
The officials described Col. Pete Devlin's classified assessment of the dire state of Anbar as the first time that a senior U.S. military officer has filed so negative a report from Iraq.............

if you are in the connecticut area

stop by the new britain museum of american art today.

Graydon Parrish, The Cycle of Terror and Tragedy: September 11, 2001, 2001-2006, oil on canvas, 8 x 18’, Charles F. Smith Fund and the family of Scott O’Brien, a native of New Britain, who died in the attack.
and remember those lost

Art museum to host 9/11 exhibit
By: Scott Whipple , Special to Imprint Newspapers
NEW BRITAIN - New Britain native Scott O'Brien was in the World Trade Center Sept. 11, 2001. He was there to set up a computer software trade show exhibit on the 106th floor.
The last communica-tion from him was a telephone call to his wife, Kelly and his two children. He told them he was waiting to be rescued.On Sept. 9 and Sept. 11 the New Britain Museum of American Art will mark the fifth anniversary of 9/11 with events commemorating O'Brien and the attack on the World Trade Center.The museum has acquired an 8 x 18 foot oil painting on canvas, "The Cycle of Terror and Tragedy: September 11, 2001" now on view in the museum's new Chase Family Building. The painting by Graydon Parrish of Amherst, Mass. was funded by the museum and family of Scott O'Brien. The O'Brien family has been involved in the New Britain school system for years. Scott's father was a principal for 35 years; his mother, an elementary school teacher; his sister is a special ed teacher at New Britain High School; his twin brother teaches school in Hamden.Parrish will offer his personal comments about his work on Sept. 9 at 4 p.m. The painting took four years to complete. A reception follows his talk, which is free with museum admission.On Sept. 11, the museum will offer free admission to the public from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visitors can view the painting and reflect on the significance of the day. Normally the museum is closed Mondays...........

the new britain museum of american art

if they continue to use katie couric on 60 minutes

i will be forced to stop watching

a perfect example of a delusional being

no concept of reality. NO HONOR. money in his pockets and tens of thousands of lost souls upon him (well the whole court of king george). he and they don't give a flying yoo hoo. not at all.

and me protesting the war is NOT aiding terrorists. the terrorists are MY enemies just as much as they are his. i just know we only stirred up any terrorists who were residing in iraq. iraq NEVER ATTACKED US prior to our INVASION OF THEIR COUNTRY

War's Critics Abetting Terrorists, Cheney Says
He Cites Allies' 'Doubts' About U.S. Will


By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, September 11, 2006; Page A12
Vice President Cheney offered a veiled attack yesterday on critics of the administration's Iraq policy, saying the domestic debate over the war is emboldening adversaries who believe they can undermine the resolve of the American people.
"They can't beat us in a stand-up fight -- they never have -- but they're absolutely convinced they can break our will, [that] the American people don't have the stomach for the fight," Cheney said on NBC's "Meet the Press."...........

the wire (one of my favorite shows)

is beginning it's 4th season. i watched the opener yesterday. it did NOT disappoint. in general the writing is superb. the characters are so very real. the drug dealers, the kids they recruit, the killers, the dock workers, the cops, or they would say, the police, the politicians, the citizens.

ahhhhhhhhhh charm city

Hard Knocks This Season, Gritty HBO Drama `The Wire' Takes On Blighted City Schools

By ROGER CATLIN Courant TV Critic September 9 2006

As if it were a manifesto on urban ills instead of TV's richest drama, HBO's "The Wire" returns Sunday to take on no less than the crisis in city schools.There, crumbling buildings and defeated teachers conspire to provide dead ends for youngsters who see street-corner drug dealing as the only viable way out of poverty. Not that making such a strident point is the show's primary purpose, says creator David Simon. "The first job is to be entertaining," the former writer for the Baltimore Sun told reporters at a press tour this summer, "and I think it's enormously entertaining. The characters are vibrant, and I think you care about what happens.""The Wire" is a drama based loosely on a major crime unit's sophisticated wiretapping. In its three previous seasons, they tracked down a notorious drug syndicate in the city, and also touched on politics and tough times down at the docks."The first year was the law enforcement and the drug war; the second year was the working class and the idea of the death of work; the third season was the political element," says Simon. "And now, it's just quite natural to do schools. "We always sort of conceived the show this way," Simon says. "Rather than do the same thing over and add incremental characters to a continuing theme, we really wanted to reinvent the theme of the show every season."Eventually, he says a picture of the modern urban life will emerge. "We really wanted to depict an American city at the millennium, with all of its attendant problems, all of its promise, and really examine...why it is that we've built - and why it is that the richest, most powerful country in the world can't solve its fundamental problems when it comes to places like Baltimore. And there are a lot of places like Baltimore. It's not a unique place.".......

the wire

scary people

what sorts of people are mercenaries? what is their make-up? why would anyone want to fight in a strange country for values NOT their own? i never understood nor will i ever understand. this michele memo writing executive for select armor babe is JUST as scary. i don't know how these cold blooded soul-less ghouls sleep at night, but i am guessing they have NO trouble at all

US accused of covert operations in Somalia

Emails suggest that the CIA knew of plans by private military companies to breach UN rules Antony Barnett and Patrick Smith Sunday September 10, 2006 The Observer
Dramatic evidence that America is involved in illegal mercenary operations in east Africa has emerged in a string of confidential emails seen by The Observer. The leaked communications between US private military companies suggest the CIA had knowledge of the plans to run covert military operations inside Somalia - against UN rulings - and they hint at involvement of British security firms.
The emails, dated June this year, reveal how US firms have been planning undercover missions in support of President Abdullahi Yusuf's transitional federal government - founded with UN backing in 2004 - against the Supreme Islamic Courts Council - a radical Muslim militia which took control of Mogadishu, the country's capital, also in June promising national unity under Sharia law.
Evidence of foreign involvement in the conflict would not only breach the UN arms embargo but could destabilise the entire region.
One email dated Friday, 16 June, is from Michele Ballarin, chief executive of Select Armor - a US military firm based in Virginia. Ballarin's email was sent to a number of individuals including Chris Farina of the Florida-based military company ATS Worldwide.
Ballarin said: 'Boys: Successful meeting with President Abdullay Yussef [sic] and his chief staff personnel in Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday ... where he invited us to his private hotel suite flacked by security detail ... He has appointed is chief of presidential protocol as our go to during this phase.'.................

hmmmmmmmm IF this is true (and it appears to be)

well then yet ANOTHER reason why saudi arabia should NOT be our buds. women have to cover up and they CANNOT drive AT ALL. NOW people cannot have cats and dogs? well i don't want to have ANYTHING to do with a society like that. NOTHING to do with them at all


Saudis Hate Dogs

Meanwhile, in the xenophobic apartheid theocracy of Saudi Arabia, the religious police have banned dogs and cats.
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia’s religious police, normally tasked with chiding women to cover themselves and ensuring men attend mosque prayers, are turning to a new target: cats and dogs.
The police have issued a decree banning the sale of the pets, seen as a sign of Western influence. The prohibition on dogs may be less of a surprise, since conservative Muslims despise dogs as unclean. But the cat ban befuddled many, since Islamic tradition holds that the Prophet Muhammad loved cats — and even let a cat drink from his ablutions water before washing himself for prayers.....................

col jim van riper (ret) has a soul

click on the title above for the video


Video: Lifelong conservative Marine assails Bush policies
RAW STORY

Some conservative Republicans disagree with President Bush's policy on Iraq, reports Byron Pitts, CBS News. Pitts talks to retired marine Col. Jim Van Riper about his views on the Iraq war and President Bush. Riper is a lifelong conservative Republican and he is disappointed in President Bush's handling of the war.

journalist paul solopek has been released

i was unsure he was ever going to get out of there. the really GOOD news is his interpreter and his driver were also released.

U.S. Journalist Freed From Darfur Prison

By MOHAMED OSMAN

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - American journalist Paul Salopek was released Saturday from a prison in the war-torn Darfur region where he was held for more than a month on espionage charges.
A judge in the North Darfur capital of el-Fasher released the Chicago Tribune journalist and his Chadian driver and interpreter after a 13-minute hearing.
Speaking at a news conference after arriving in Khartoum, Salopek, 44, thanked the Sudanese president and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson for their help in securing his release, and he said his "treatment was excellent" while in detention.
Richardson traveled to Sudan on Friday to meet with President Omar al-Bashir and persuaded him to release Salopek, as well as the driver and interpreter. He picked up Salopek and his colleagues in el-Fasher on Saturday and took them back to Khartoum..........