That's the way it is

I came across this article that I thought would be useful to be posted as it might address how immoral and unethical interests play a significant and sometimes determining role in US politics.

"Senate Democrats are seeking to counter defections by some major Jewish donors to the Republicans by stressing their party’s pro-Israel stance.
The lawmakers met privately last Thursday with nearly 80 Jewish interest groups to make their case.
Although Jews make up slightly more than 2 percent of all Americans, they have played a wider political role for both demographic and financial reasons."

That is why the US politics will remain corrupt for quite some time.

No wonder....!

Did you know: Half of all recruits to Army read at level of 11-year-olds and that is in Britain where the average level of education is higher than in the US.
Also"....fifth of recruits have the literacy and numeracy levels of seven-year-olds."

"It (the study - Faramin) reveals that four per cent of new recruits possessed a basic skill level equivalent to a five-year-old; 20 per cent equivalent to a seven-year-old; 50 per cent equivalent to an 11-year-old and 26 per cent had literacy levels equivalent to GCSE grades D to G in English and mathematics."

Imagine when they try to use "smart" weapons systems.

Via writersblot.

UN "stopping food aid to Gaza" due to Israeli restrictions

Food deliveries to the Gaza Strip will be halted this week because of Israeli restrictions, the United Nations said.... Peter Hansen, the UN chief responsible for Palestinian refugees, said his agency was no longer allowed to take empty food containers out of Gaza..... Their loss added "intolerable costs to a programme already stung by underfunding", Mr Hansen complained...
An Israeli spokesman told BBC News Online suicide bombers had used the containers for hiding in.
He (Mr Hansen - Faramin) also said some aid workers could not enter the Gaza Strip anymore, because Israeli restrictions forced them to cross the border in exposed areas, "creating unacceptable risk and danger". Read it here.

Looking for Fidel

This is an article worth reading about how the mainstream media in the US does not want the Americans to truly make up their own minds about many issues and that how the same media always tries to hide and/or mis-represent the events or personalities in order to manipulate their audience.

Some excerpts:
"Canadians have always been open to Castro and Cuba, they go down there a lot. You know, what harm is there in seeing it? What harm in letting someone speak for himself?"

"Oliver Stone argues that his country should emulate Canada and end its four-decade-old boycott of Cuba. He is not the least apologetic about his clear admiration of Castro, as a survivor and as a person. And he has no regrets about his now-infamous statement that he found Fidel to be one of the world's wisest people."

"US's care for world Human Rights": nothing but an ugly lie

Recently in this post, I mentioned about the experience of Canadian General Romeo Dellaire and the recent speech he had in Carleton University in Ottawa about the Rwanda genocide in 1994. Now, in tenth anniversary of that world community's failure that resulted in the terrifying death of 800,000 people in only 100 days, newly declassified documents show that the United States knew in advance that the 1994 Rwandan genocide was likely to happen but nevertheless insisted that United Nations peacekeepers should be withdrawn. Read here.

I feel sickened when the US leaders talk about humanity and human rights. I just feel sick of their ruthlessness and their ability to lie so easily. Everyday, it becomes more clear to me how hypocrite they are. Words cannot describe the dirt they carry in their resumes as the most powerful world leaders. I am sick of them.

Yes, as General Dellaire said, the response to his plea for help to save lives was that Rwanda had no strategic and economic value, so "we" wouldn't get involved.

And as far as the western media is concerned, we are still bombarded by the events of 60+ years ago and the crimes against the humanity that took place then, but no, no time for what happened recently to 800,000 people in Rwanda. Conservatively speaking, average American perhaps doesn't even know what Rwanda is. Thanks to the "democratic" media.

Please help save CounterSpin

Relatively speaking, one of the most democratic weekly programs on CBC that covers almost all significant events in Canadian and International politics with a fair approach to provide all sides of the arguments with the opportunity to be heard is CounterSpin in which those voices that are not heard elsewhere are given a rare opportunity to be heard.

In this program, always there are debates between a balanced number of participants with usually opposing views. There are always audience in the studio that can ask questions from the members of the panel or just express their own points of view about the issue.

Unfortunately, this program is scheduled to end after this season. Please help save this tiny opportunity to keep the democracy alive. The democracy that is not strictly in the hands of some powerful media to decide what we should hear and what we shouldn't. The voices and different opinions are heard in CounterSpin. Please help save it. Complete version of all its programs/debates are also posted on it's website. So it is not limited to Canadian TV viewers only.

There is a petition made up for this program that is addressed to the Board of Directors of CBC. Please take part in it. Sign the petition and help save CounterSpin.

You can also call Audience relations at 1-866-306-INFO (4636)
or send emails to the President of the CBC: Robert Rabinovitch, President and CEO, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Here is the address: letournf@ottawa.cbc.ca
Also please cc your email to: feedback@counterspin.tv

I would like to urge other blogers to mention this issue on their blogs.

The heartless comedian - Update

As a result of the Iraq war which was justified by the bogus fear-creating "Iraq's terrorist link" and "Iraq's WMD", more than 500 US soldiers have died and thousands more have been injured (not to mention thousands of innocent people who have lost their lives), and this idiot jokes about it. How low-life this dumb clown could be? See George Bush, The Comedian at kevin's.
Update:
Bush's Iraq WMDs joke backfired.

Big brother is there for you Israel, no matter what you do

Without having the chance to hear the details, I heard on the radio today that a resolution backed by Human Rights Watch condemning Israel's recent assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was passed by 31 votes "for" and 2 votes "against". Only the US and Australia voted against it. Surprised? I would be if it was otherwise.

Congratulations US leadership, Once again you showed how isolated you are becoming from the rest of the world. This is just one more reason why the US government is increasingly hated by the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, "A leader of Morocco’s Jewish community has condemned what he describes as the “arrogant” killing by Israel of Hamas founder Shaikh Ahmad Yasin, calling it “an act of bestiality”. Simon Levy, secretary general of Casablanca’s Jewish community, also accused the United States of “implicitly justifying” Yasin’s assassination, in a statement on Wednesday."

Does this clown even know what integrity means?

Watch the clip.

Thanks to Kevin at Take Down the Wall.

I thought Israel wouldn't be that stupid; I was wrong

Yesterday, While I was flipping through TV channels, I saw Hamas's Spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in a backyard of a house with some children around him. I couldn't understand what the report was about (as I don't know Arabic and it was an Arabic channel). But the only thing I could think of was that it was so easy for Israeli army to kill the guy by some missiles or something. So, I wondered why the Israelis hadn't done that yet. Then again, I thought, Israeli leaders wouldn't be that stupid, because they would know what would happen after doing such a thing. So, I quickly dismiss this possibility.

Guess what, I was wrong. Israeli leaders are in fact stupid. They did in fact attacked and killed the guy today. I have no doubt that the price of this stupidity of theirs who live under the protection of tens of bodyguards, will be paid by the ordinary Israeli citizens in days to come. I next little while, it can sadly be expected that the Hamas people who were not considered a significant force 3-4 years ago (but "thanks" to Israel, they are now), will retaliate this and then, who will suffer? Again, civilians. In addition to scores of Palestinian civilians who have been killed everyday by the Israelis especially in last few days, there will be Israeli civilian casualties in the near future and possibly many of them.

Israel just created another reason for Hamas to recruit even more people. How stupid, how stupid of Israeli leaders who are so incapable of understanding that killing is a failed deterrent tactic when dealing with the Palestinians. How stupid....

Israeli army’s moral principles in doubt by the reservists

Erlik Alhanan said 80% of Israeli reservists lost confidence in the army’s moral principles.

"At the end of the day, it is nothing but occupation of other’s land", "I am convinced that when I, as an Israeli, took part in such operations, I in the meanwhile create another kamikaze, who blows himself up in Israel."
Read the rest here.

Happy NoRouz (the New Day)

This year, Tehran regime was forced to respect and recognize the Iranian tradition of Chahar-Shanbeh-Soury (year-end fire work celebrations).

let's hope for the next year to see them forced to accept the will of the Iranians who do not consider them as their representatives. Let's hope for them to be forced to give up the power that doesn't belong to them.

With that hope in minds and in hearts:

Let's share this special day with the world.
Happy the re-birth of the nature. Happy the arrival of spring.
Happy New Year to whoever celebrates NoRouz; Iranian or non-Iranian.

Force cannot defeat terrorism

A year is passing from the time when first bomb was dropped on Iraq on march 19, 2003. Since then, there have been thousands of casualties which were mostly civilians. There have been enormous destruction of Iraqi infrastructure. Iraq is practically in chaos, there is no security in Iraq, people can't move without fear of not returning home safely.

Relative to a year ago, other places in the world are not safer either. The latest bombing in Spain that resulted in the death of at least 200 civilians is a good evidence confirming that "the war on terrorism" has been a huge failure of those who could only see the world as black or white, good or evil, either with us or with the terrorists, with their simplistic vision of the world and its affairs.

As correctly stated by the EU chief, force won't beat terrorism and terrorism is more powerful today than it was a year ago. This is despite deployment of about 200,000 troops for the so-called war on terrorism. The idea that suggests that advanced military machines and more soldiers can defeat terrorism, can only be initiated from those with lack of vision and understanding of what their enemies are. It is the result of their incapable minds that cannot see that the threat of death does not work against those who are not afraid of death (for any reason; Nobel or not). In fact when the world tried to warn these powerful idiots that this is not the way to go, they stuck to their own stupid and arrogant agendas with the even more stupid motto of "you are either with us or with the terrorists".

I believe the price of the actions of these irresponsible idiots, will be first paid by the ordinary people who have not chosen to be in the current chaos as well as the secularist people in the middle east who will definitely have more difficult time speaking up against the fundamentalism, as they can easily be branded as the traitors who have sold themselves to the west and against Islam. Today, fundamentalism is even more powerful and more acceptable by many compare to a year ago and this is the first result of the cowboy policies that see no other alternative but the use of force to solve the conflicts.

In addition to the crimes against the humanity committed by the Bush administration during its crime-filled rule and its powerful Zionist elements, this administration should be put on trial for creating the environment for further rise of fundamentalism around the world, and particularly in the middle east that will cause more suffering for its secularist people.

Rwanda: West closed ears to General Dallaire's plea for help

When the eyes and ears of the western people in general and the Americans in particular were being bombarded by constant and non-stop reports on O.J.Simpson and Tanja Harding's knee-cap injury, 800,000 people were being slaughtered in small African country of Rwanda during the course of 100 days. That is almost 6 people every minute for 100 days.

During that terrifying period, Now retired Canadian General, Romeo Dallaire who was in charge of the small UN force, was helplessly doing what he could to minimize the extent of the genocide. He practically begged for help to stop the genocide. He was ignored. He was told by some western government officials that they would not help because "Rwanda had no strategic value, Rwanda had no economical value, Rwanda had nothing but tea and coffee farms, the only thing that Rwanda had was people and no, we would not act just for the people".

Unlike many of his counterparts who have only learned to kill and to satisfy their criminal bosses, Mr. Dellaire who is a good example of a true soldier for humanity, was a guest speaker in a symposium in the Canadian Carlton University in Ottawa. The symposium was called "The media and Rwanda Genocide". In his remarkable speech, he talks of the deliberate neglect from the west in saving hundreds of thousands of lives and he tells about the Media which NOT surprisingly did not do its supposed part to let the world know what was happening in Rwanda. A ten minute clip of Mr. Dallaire's speech under "clip of the week" (at the bottom of right column - obviously it will not last long), is part of the remarkable speech from an Army General who in addition to guns, is perfectly familiar with and equally values the lives of all the people on earth and lashes out on those who apply their barbaric double standards when dealing with human beings.

Here are some excerpts of what I heard from Mr. Dallaire:
".....If I could only shame the international community to act, by just having the media on my side, although there was courageous people who reported the ongoing events, their report never got beyond the editor's desk..."
"...O.J. Simpson and Tanja Harding got more coverage than 800,000 people being slaughtered"

Mr. Dallaire ended his speech by warning the audience about the significant mis-information and dis-information by the media:
"Ladies and gentlemen, you are powerful, individually and collectively, but you can be set up easily if you neglect your complete awareness".

Fashion show in front of the West Bank wall

Look at the priorities. Click here.

700 percent profit for "poor" Canadian insurance industry

Canadian insurance companies have profited about 7 times of what they profited in the previous year. And this is while they had raised their rates because they claimed that they were losing money. Poor bas...ds! How could this be explained to the people whose insurance premiums rose by 20 to 40 percent and even 200 percent in some cases? Many people have difficulty operating a single vehicle, yet there is no end to the greeds of these blood suckers for more profit. Many people including me, have ie, auto insurance only because I am obligated by law to have one, otherwise my auto insurance is only a free money that I pay every month to these greedy companies. It does not even provide me with a little peace of mind, as after having an accident, first thing that crosses my mind, as it crosses the minds of many people, is what to do to avoid claiming the damage because of the fear of the increase in my premium due to the claim.

Insurance companies will never lose. It is the consumers who are the biggest losers, as is the whole fundamental of capitalism. For example, if nothing happens, the insurance policy holder will continue paying his/her monthly premiums, and if something goes wrong, for example if there is an accident, if the so-called insured is forced to make a claim, his/her premiums will go up for quite a long time, that every penny paid to him/her, will be taken back by the insurance companies.

These bas....ds who are of the symbols of capitalism are complaining that the entire insurance industry in Canada still made less profit than the Royal Bank. I don't understand why they would compare their profit to Royal Bank which is the thirstiest blood sucker in so-called Canadian free market. Why do they not compare themselves with hundreds of thousands of Canadians who dipped below the poverty line last year? Who is going to stop these bas...ds?

In my opinion, insurance should be run by the government and based on not-for-profit operations or reasonable profit. However, I have heard the nonsense argument that this will push the insurance industry out of the country and as a result, many jobs will be lost. This will not result in the lose of jobs of course. As the operation of the insurance business by the government, will require its own staffing, so those who are the employees of the insurance industry, will be employed by the government. Beside, I, as a consumer, would rather to see the government profit from my premiums than bunch of greedy big share holders of the insurance companies and their bas...rd CEOs.

Western hypocricy

".....We see the Palestinian suicide bomber as a terrorist - but not Sharon, the overseer of the massacres of Shatila and Sabra. We abhor the killers of Omagh, but not yet those of Bloody Sunday. We rightly condemn the killing fields of Pol Pot, but not the murderous attacks of Nixon and Kissinger. To many in the third world, the hypocrisy of the west is beyond belief....." Read the entire Guardian article here.

16th anniversary of US-backed Saddam's crimes in Halabjah

The American Iraq administrator, Paul Bremer, has been in Halabjah commemorating the 16th anniversary of the gassing of the village by Saddam's regime. He was promising justice for the victims of the massacre. He was also using the opportunity to justify invasion of Iraq. He was asking people to look into the eyes of the survivors and then decide whether the invasion was justified or not. He was sounding like a good a caring human being and....

But what Mr. Bremer was not touching was the role the United States played in this whole affair. What he was not mentioning was that the US looking the other way, emboldened Saddam to become even more brutal on his people and in his war against Iran in which he constantly used the same chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers. What he was not mentioning was that the US was a partner with Saddam in his crimes against humanity. Yes, Mr. Bremer was only mentioning what was beneficial to his and his boss in Washington.

Just to refresh the memory of Mr. Bremer, I will repost this that shows Saddam didn't do it alone. This was first posted on September 15, 2003.

In the memory of courageous Rachel Corrie

The courageous Jewish-American woman, Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer on March 16, 2003 while trying to prevent demolition of a Palestinian house; America never really went after the killers. "Rachel's death was in fact only first of several Israeli attacks on foreign citizens in the West Bank and Gaza. Brian Avery, from New Mexico, was shot in the face on April 5; Tom Hurndall, a British citizen, was shot in the head on April 11 and died Jan. 13, and James Miller, another British citizen, was also shot and killed in April. To date, only in Hurndall's case will the Israeli soldier responsible for the attack face trial, and this is because the British government, after several months, finally responded to the overwhelming evidence presented by the Hurndall family."

"...When three Americans were killed, presumably by Palestinians, in an explosion on Oct. 15, 2003, as they traveled through Gaza, the FBI came within 24 hours to investigate the deaths. After one year, neither the FBI nor any other U.S.-led team has done anything to investigate the death of an American killed by an Israeli."

Since last year when she was killed, Rachel has been at the center of the most vicious attacks from those who are so stranger to humanity in general and the pro-Israeli bloggers in particular for the "guilt" of trying to protect civilians from the harms of the Israeli forces.

Please hold a minute of silence for this courageous woman who left the comfort of her home to protect those who needed protection from the armed-to-the-teeth Israeli military. Rachel will be remembered for her commitment to stop those who constantly terrorize the innocent people.

Also, visit the web-site dedicated to Rachel and read about US Campaign National Day of Action for Rachel Corrie .

Rightwing reaction to Spain elections

Whoman has an interesting post titled "Do they realize how ridiculous they sound?" in which he tells about the contracdictions in the rightwing positions regarding who is winning the so-called "war on terror". Also, he correctly points out that the terrorists have scored because of the policies adopted by those who are supposed to be fighting terrorism. You might wish to check it out.

An occupation force; no more - Update

Spanish socialists win the election and are to form the new government. First move: Stop being part of the occupation forces in Iraq. Say no to George Bush and his hawkish administration. Take the Spanish troops out of Iraq. Congratulations Spain.

Update:
Spain's prime minister-elect has hit out at United States President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on their decision to launch a war against Iraq.

"Mr Bush and Mr Blair need to engage in some self-criticism," Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said. "You can't just go ahead and do things. You can't bombard a people just in case [they pose a perceived threat]. "You can't organise a war on the basis of lies."

Humor: Similarities between Republican party and condom!

The GOP National Committee announced today that it is changing the Republican emblem from an elephant to a condom because it more clearly reflects the party's political stance, i.e., a condom stands up to inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks and gives one a sense of security while screwing others.

Via The Common Man

Mass murder in Madrid

A few days are passing from when bunch of criminals caused 200 deaths, and over 1400 wounded in train bombing in Madrid, Spain.

It is terrible to see that always the price of the actions of the most powerful is paid by the most powerless. It is extremly unfair that many who perhaps had nothing to do with anything are perished and many families are devastated by the train bombing in Madrid. Although, other killings that are not less significant than this one, usually do not get as much coverage and attention by the media (especially if they are committed by the great powers), I am glad to see at least this one (for any reason) gets the attention it deserves as people are people and no matter what origin they are from.

Although it is not completely clear who has done this murderous act, as there are conflicting reports, however it doesn't really matter as the first priority. What matters is to realize who has suffered the most, and who will potentially benefit from this. Whether this was done by ETA (Spanish separatist group from northern province of Basque) or the Islamic extremist groups such as Al-Qaeda or any other criminal entity, the fact remains that this can potentially result in the re-election of the one of the most un-democratic governments of Spain in last few decades. How could we interpret this action just before general elections in Spain? Spanish prime minister Aznar, is the one who despite overwhelming disapproval of the Spaniards (about 80%) joined the team of the current criminal Bush administration in invading Iraq. Spanish people did not wish to be part of this, but their prime minister made a decision for them despite clear dis-satisfaction of the people. As a result of that move (perhaps amongst others) by Aznar, he was suffering a serious disapproval rate in the Spanish public opinion. But who knows what impact this action will have to the Spanish public opinion. Angry people may not make wise decisions, and Spanish people are (rightfully) angry these days. This may even result in them wanting a government to continue the policies of the current government in so-called fight against terrorism. If that's the case, they might decide "why change then? May be Aznar should stay in the office after all". Here is why I call this a possible benefit to Aznar government. On the other hand, this might back fire on Aznar as his failure in his so-called fight against terrorism.

If I was in Madrid yesterday, I would absolutely be one of the millions of people who demonstrated against this mad massacre of ordinary people. A sick world we live in. Why should these things happen to the ordinary people? Why should ordinary people be the target when the craziest creatures want to take revenge on each other. Why not top guys who are the decision makers suffer? Yeah, they live with tens of bodyguards around them even in their bed-rooms. They have no worrying. They're going to be fine and continue living their comfortable lives in their kingdoms even after they finish their terms in the office. But the child who lost his father or mother, the parents who lost their son or daughter, the brother who lost his sister two days ago, have to deal with this horrible tragedy that they will always wish it to be just a scary nightmare that would end as soon as they wake up. Yes, they will have to deal with this for the rest of their lives.

Words cannot express how much I hate, yes I hate those who have so much disregard for the lives of the ordinary people only to push ahead their agendas.

Today, not only the world is not asafer, but it is significantly more dangerous than a year ago, no matter what bunch of ruthless idiot criminals claim that the world is a safer place as Saddam Hussein is not around anymore. In fact, Saddam Hussein was just the little guy, the big Saddam Husseins are in fact the ones who make the "safer world" claims and are still very much around.

Will be away for a couple of days

I might not be able to post in the next few days, as I will be away with less access to the internet. However, I will not "disappoint", if I get a chance to post.

"Freedom-loving" US, kills freedom

It was in the news that some of the families of the European Guantanamo Bay detainees, are in Washington appealing for their loved ones who are in the US custody. I was listening to it on the radio on my way back form work. Here is shortened version of what one of the detainees fathers had to say:

"Mr President, I am not here to ask you any favor, I am here to ask you to either release my son, or charge him if he has committed any crime. I am not here to beg you for his life. I am here to ask you not to abuse his human rights and charge him, and punish him for his crime, or let him go. This is not much to ask...."

Also, one of the former hostages (I am not sure British or American), who had spent time in the hands of Islamic fundamentalist groups and was there as solidarity with the families of the detainees, said:"The conditions of these detainees remind me of what I have been through. I was in the hands of terrorists, but these detainees are in the hands the free world, but the injustice and uncertainty that they are facing is similar to what I faced in the hands of the terrorists".

It should be noted that after about 2.5 years, only two of the over 600 detainees have been charged and the rest are neither charged nor freed by the "democracy and freedom-loving" US.

Worth Repeating: Past and present criminal admissions of the Israeli leaders

Palestinians have been always accused of trying to push all Israelis and Jews into the sea. This accusation has been magnified by the western media which always have tried to show Israelis as the civilized victims and Palestinians as the barbarian terrorists. I've had no doubt that the Israeli leaders such as Ariel Sharon are war criminals who have always aggressively violated the Palestinians rights and killed thousands of Palestinians during their dark and criminal careers. But I never thought that they would so openly admit their criminal agendas. This is what I came across today:

"If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country. It is true God promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been Anti - Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault ? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?"
David Ben-Gurion - Quoted by Nahum Goldmann in Le Paraddoxe Juif (The Jewish Paradox), pp121.

"Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves. politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves. The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country."
(Speech by David Ben-Gurion, 1938, quoted in Zionism and the Palestinians by Simha Flapan, 1979)

"I don't know something called International Principles. I vow that I'll burn every Palestinian child (that) will be born in this area The Palestinian woman and child are more dangerous than the man, because the Palestinian child's existence infers that generations will go on, but the man causes limited danger."
(Ariel Sharon in an interview with General Ouze Merham, 1956)

"We have to kill all the Palestinians unless they are resigned to live here as slaves."
(Chairman Heilbrun of the Committee for the Re-election of General Shlomo Lahat, the mayor of Tel Aviv, October 1983.)

"Everybody has to move, run and grab as many hilltops as they can to enlarge the settlements because everything we take now will stay ours... Everything we don't grab will go to them."
(Ariel Sharon addressing a meeting of militants from the extreme right-wing Tsomet Party, Agence France Presse, November 15, 1998)

Unless somebody can dispute these quots, there is now even more reason for me, to continue writing about these murderers.
Quots via stageleft

March 8: International Womens' Day

It's March 8 again, the day that is specifically supposed to belong to women from all over the world. March 8s are coming and going but what is changing for women? Almost none. Women are still the main victims of violence and the most abused human beings. They are abused by the political, economical and religious systems, they are abused by friends and finally they are abused by their own families. In order to see how terrible this is, we all have to remember that our mothers are all women. Can we stand seeing them abused?

The latest figures released by the Amnesty International, are shocking. Just by looking at them, we can see how our mothers have been and are still being treated in this world of double inequalities for women. For more complete figures, see here.

Here are some of the numbers:

-In Egypt 35% of women reported being beaten by their husband at some point in their marriage.
-In Iraq at least 400 women and girls as young as eight were reported to have been raped in Baghdad during or after the war, since April 2003.
-In the USA a woman is battered, usually by her husband/partner, every 15 seconds
-In Bangladesh 50% of all murders are of women by their partners (-In Pakistan 42% of women accept violence as part of their fate; 33% feel too helpless to stand up to it; 19% protested and 4% took action against it.
-In France 25,000 women are raped per year. This number is 350,000 in the US.
-80% of the refugees are women and children.
-In Rwanda between 250,000 and 500,000 women, or about 20% of women, were raped during the 1994 genocide.
-In Iran 45 women under the age of 20 have been murdered in so-called "honour" killings by close relatives in Iran's majority ethnic Arab province of Khuzestan in a two-month period in 2003.
-In Egypt 47% of physically abused women never told anyone.
-In the USA 16% of women report rapes to the police; of those who do not, nearly 50 per cent of women would do so if they could be assured that their names and private details would not be released publicly.
-In Bangladesh 68% of women never told anyone about being beaten.
-In the United Kingdom 13% of all raped women report the assault to the police
-So called "honour" defences (partial or complete) are found in the penal codes of Peru, Bangladesh, Argentina, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, the West Bank and Venezuela.
-World-wide, over half of new HIV infections are occurring among young people between the ages of 15 to 24, and over 60% of HIV-positive youth between the ages of 15-24 are women.

A Dead Dog Over Dead Soldiers

Kevin at "take Down the wall" has written a piece about the death of Bush's family dog and the sorrow it has caused the family:

Spot, an English springer spaniel with a White House pedigree who spent nearly 15 years with President Bush and his family, has died, the White House announced Saturday.
An administration official told CNN that Spot was put to sleep Saturday around 1:30 p.m. after suffering a series of strokes. Her remains will be taken to the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas.
The White House issued a statement saying the first family was "deeply saddened" by Spot's passing."

No one is more of an animal lover than me, but where are your priorities George? And why is this a top story?
No doubt that there will be a special funeral held for the dog back in Crawford that you will take time out to attend, yet last time I checked, you still haven't attended a single funeral for a fallen soldier. Soldiers who died and continue to die for your "War on Terrorism". Read the rest here.

Another story from Israeli paper, Haaretz

"This is an admission of failure. The written word is a failure at making tangible to Israeli readers the true horror of the occupation in the Gaza Strip...."

"....Tell the story of how 15-year-old Yusuf Bashir's family home in Dir al-Balah has been turned into an army fortress, and in Israel they'll say, "there is no choice, the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom must be protected, like Kfar Dekalim, Atzmona and Morag."'

"....And then, it will be reported that the boy, Yusuf Bashir, was shot in the back (by an Israeli army officer - Faramin) as he waved goodbye to the visitors from the UN, and it is possible he'll remain paralyzed for life - maybe that word "paralyzed" will give a few readers pause. But so many stories about so many Yusufs never get reported, and never will get reported." Read the entire article here.

Israeli killing machine in full gear again

Israeli occupation forces continue their killing of the Palestinians. If you hear about new suicide bombings, don't be surprised as the Israeli killing machine, at the same time, produces more suicide bombers.

CBC reports "One of the biggest Israeli incursions in the Middle East in recent weeks has left as many as 14 people dead and about 80 others wounded. Occupying forces launched strikes early Sunday in the Gaza Strip, sparking a gunfight, one day after Palestinian militants attacked the Erez crossing point.... Israel has closed the checkpoint used by 19,000 people to get to their jobs."

BBC reports "At least 14 Palestinians, including four children(emphasis by Faramin), are killed in fierce battles with Israeli troops in Gaza." "Terrorism is pouring out of this refugee camp [al-Bureij], and we have to stop it," Mr Pazner (Israeli government spokesman - Faramin) said. "We believe that by doing so we have prevented acts of terror in Israel and saved many human lives." Perhaps next few days will be the evidence whether Mr. Pazner is right as not surprisingly, "Palestinian militants have threatened to exact a "painful revenge"."

Meanwhile, according to the Israeli group B'T selem, since 1987, Israel has always beaten the Palestinians by a large margine in the race of who can kill more children. However, according to the exact statistics since September 29, 2000 (the beginning of the latest uprising), Israel has killed 382 Palestinian children in the occupied territories, and Palestinains have killed 56 Israeli children in Israel. It should also be noted that according to the statistics by the same Israeli group, no minor Israeli was killed in Israel by the Palsetinians in year 2000, while Israel killed 82 Palestinain children in last 3 months of that year alone. Wave of suicide bombings began after that year.

History repeats itself

Click NEW in here to see what I came across through a called Iraqi Victims.

"History is always repeated.. In spite of the mass development in technology we find the war and destruction is the aim of the civilized countries. Maybe it is now more advances and they know how to explain the reasons behind it, but the result is always the same "Destruction of civilization and death of innocent people". Let those who are killing and destroying remember what happened to the previous destroying powers, and let's try to build peace in an honest and decent way." (a video associated with it - Faramin)

"Here they are, who paid the price "war victims"... This is what they did!! This is their liberation!! ... If getting rid of Saddam Hussein costs Iraq thousands of innocents, then let's be honest and say that USA and UK are war criminals not peace pigeons or liberation forces!!!" (a video associated with it - Faramin)

"They came to apply peace.. they said "Human Rights are our first concern" .... They said "It will be a clean war" ... They said "We are coming to liberate you people, but this cost us a lot of many" ... they forced Iraqi people to give them what they saved ... It is a wonder !!! robbery and insults are considered now a noble acts that we should appreciate the invaders for!!." (a video Associated with it- Faramin)

Questions 9/11 victim families have

September 11 was indeed a turning point in activating the NeoCons' "American New Century Project". So far, the result of that activation has been devastating for the world in general and Iraq in particular as thousands of people have been already killed and scores of people are continuing to be killed every day. In addition to alleged presence of the WMD in Iraq, the other major excuse for attacking Iraq, was the alleged link between Al-Qaeda and Saddam's regime. Something that was never proved and has become a factor for further loss of credibility for the Bush Administration.

So what really happened on September 11, is a question that not only should be answered to the American public, but also should be addressed to the rest of the world.

Now, The Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Independent Commission, that represents many of the families who lost one or two loved one/s in September 11, has many questions about the events of September 11 that they want the Bush Administration to answer. They want the Bush Administration to be pressured to agree that President George Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Richard Myers, publicly testify under oath before the American people to explain why they sat at their desks and in a school classroom, failing to take decisive action on September 11, 2001, until after four planes attacked the United States and killed 3,000 Americans and citizens from many other countries. This, despite knowledge of the hijackings earlier that morning before any of the four planes crashed. They have 23 specific questions they want to be answered by the Administration officials.

Orthodox Jews to burn Israeli flag

Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, spokesman for Neturei Karta International, announced today that the organization of anti - Zionist Jews will publicly burn the Israeli flag in a series of ceremonies around the world on “Purim” Tuesday, March 7.

"The Zionist experiment has reached its inevitable conclusion. Death tolls mount and no viable solution is in sight. Slowly the Jewish people are awakening to the reality of Zionism, its rejection of Torah views of exile and redemption, combined with its aggressive stance towards Gentiles in general and Palestinians in particular."

The Rabbi explained, "By burning the Israeli flag we are symbolically declaring that the Israeli state, contrary to its absurd claims, is not representative of the Jewish people. In fact, its denial of our faith and its brutalization of the Palestinian people, renders it antithetical to Judaism." Read it here.

Recent bomb attacks in Iraq

I read the comments poted on BBC website. There were 3 comments from Iraqis and their reactions at the time of this post. Here they are:

Paul, USA: America is full of arrogance. We don't want you there. We wanted a neutral force to supervise and solve Iraq's problem. The US has simply messed things up and could be the cause of outright civil war very soon. Get a grip America and solve the mess you caused.
Tahir, An Iraqi Citizen,, London, UK

To Paul, USA. As an Iraqi, I hate to break it to you but most Iraqis did not want American troops in the country. And if your hawkish Bush administration had done their research prior to colonising my homeland, they would have come to the conclusion that even before Saddam there were tensions between Sunnis and Shias.
Amaan, Leeds

The above two comments were in response to this comment:

We saw it coming. Besides, this is mainly al-Qaeda and Saddam loyalists who are perpetrating these attacks on the innocent Iraqi people. They are trying to start a civil war between the Sunnis and the Shia. I hate to break it to most of you, but most Iraqis WANT America there.
Paul, USA

Also:
Bush said the aim of this was is to make the world safer, well surly it didn't make it safe for us Iraqis.
Dia, Baghdad, Iraq

There were many other comments, mostly critical of the US/UK, but the ones that I quoted here are by those who clearly seem to be Iraqis. Check them all out here.

Inquiry into Aristide's claim - Update on Haiti

"South Africa joined 14 Caribbean nations Wednesday in calling for an independent international inquiry into Jean-Bertrand Aristide's claim that the United States forced him out of office. ". Read Countries push for inquiry into Aristide's claim .

Also an article in the Financial Times of UK exposes the spin coming out of White House. What is interesting is that even a conservative staid newspaper like the Financial Times would allow an article that insinuates the hand of the CIA in the overthrow of an elected government.

Some excerpts:
"The crisis in Haiti is another case of brazen US manipulation of a small, impoverished country with the truth unexplored by journalists. In the nearly universal media line on the Haitian revolt, President Jean- Bertrand Aristide was portrayed as an undemocratic leader who betrayed Haiti's democratic hopes and thereby lost the support of his erstwhile backers. He "stole" elections and intransigently refused to address opposition concerns. As a result he had to leave office, which he did at the insistence of the US and France. Unfortunately, this is a gravely distorted view...."

Cartoons

Via Liberals are Really Swell

Sad but interesting coincidence

On my way to work today, I was listening to the radio when I heard a commercial message from one of those dating agencies. During most of this ad, a ridiculously happy sounding woman was talking about her "happiness" which she claimed was resulted from using that agency to connect to her "current" husband. She was sounding like the luckiest woman on earth and was urging other people to do the same and contact that agency "who had plenty of professionals who were just dying to help people". Finally and with an absolute confidence in her voice, she hurried the listeners: "What are you waiting for? Don't leave your happiness to chances, contact such agency right now".

I was thinking about this commercial and how stupid it was sounding to me when something interesting happened. It wasn't more 5 minutes after the commercial that I heard in the news that Police were in search of a man who dated a single mother through these agencies and a short while after that, the man sexually assaulted her 3-year old boy.

Then I remembered the commercial and its message that echoed in my ears: "...Don't leave your happiness to chances, contact .... right now".

US involvement in Haiti; another dirty chapter of US history book?

I don't know much about the details of recent events of the Haiti including the "departure" of its democratically elected president. But based on the dirty history of the US involvements in the affairs of other countries including the 1953 Coup d'etat in Iran against the democratically elected government of Dr. Mosaddegh as well as the recent mumblings by Powell; the clown calling for Haitian president's resignation, it is not hard to see the dirty American hands at work again. How is it possible for this warmonger US Administration to sit back and watch Haitian rebels move towards the capital without making any move on this! They can't stand anything that would not sound perfect for their own interests and they would do anything to crush what they don't like. They can easily victimize democratically elected governments as well as people by thousands to protect their own greedy interests. Yes, this is the "glorious" recent history of the United States of America.

All the evidence suggest that there have been a coup d'etat against the democratically elected president of Haiti and he was forced to go to exile by the threat from the Americans. The issue has been brought up by the Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Also listen to this.

Having said this, one should not forget about the potential role France has played in this whole affair. Guardian has an interesting article about this issue: Why they had to crush Aristide .

Also Jamaica Observer calls this The deed is done. Haiti has been raped. The act was sanctioned by the United States, Canada and France .

And this article tells its take on the issue: An excerpt:
"American tampering in Haiti is quite obvious. Before the violence erupted, the Bush administration was in full support of the opposition, and have been trying to force Aristide to share power. As frustration over the political stalemate escalated and the rebels took to the streets, the US simply stood by and watched, refusing to help calm the situation in any way. The goal of the White House was simple: to have Aristide removed from power at whatever cost, even if meant allowing the country to descend into civil war. So much for the doctrine of humanitarian intervention as was used in such far away places as Kuwait and Bosnia.

Modern genocide: millions starving in world of plenty

I read this letter to Toronto Star' editor and I decided to share it with you. In the letter, you will be introduced to the modern style of ongoing huge genocide committed by the West against the starving people of the world. The genocide that we tend not to notice but we still like to call ourselves "civilized".

The bloody price of occupation

"The whole world knows that Bush and Blair lied to justify the war, but do they know the price being paid on the ground in Iraq? First, the blood price - paid by civilians and others this week as every week. More than 50 people died on Tuesday when a car bomb ripped through Iraqis queuing to join the police force. The US military blamed al-Qaida loyalists and foreign militants for this and other suicide bombings. But occupations are usually ugly. How then can resistance be pretty?"

Read How far will the US go to maintain its illegitimate primacy in Iraq?