Human Rights
Catholic Worker Brian Terrell of Maloy, Iowa has been sentenced to serve 6 months in a federal prison for his witness against the use of drone warfare.
Below is a message from Brian and his statement before the court.
Friends, We are just out of court. I have been ordered to surrender to a federal prison not yet designated on November 30 to serve a six months in lock up, co-defendant Ron Faust was sentenced to five years on probation. Below is the statement I made to the court. Judge Whitworth took great offense at my reference to Air Force security personnel as "goosestepping riot police." Comparing our fighting men to Nazis (the judge's word, not mine) was reprehensible, he said. He is not offended, apparently, by goosestepping US military police intimidating nonviolent protestors, nor by Air Force drones committing crimes against humanity and murdering children. Mentioning these embarrassing facts, however, is an affront to good manners.
Many thanks for love, prayers and solidarity from many quarters. Brian Punishing Free Speech and Letting Murder Off the Hook, Justice Denied in Missouri
Below is a message from Brian and his statement before the court.
Friends, We are just out of court. I have been ordered to surrender to a federal prison not yet designated on November 30 to serve a six months in lock up, co-defendant Ron Faust was sentenced to five years on probation. Below is the statement I made to the court. Judge Whitworth took great offense at my reference to Air Force security personnel as "goosestepping riot police." Comparing our fighting men to Nazis (the judge's word, not mine) was reprehensible, he said. He is not offended, apparently, by goosestepping US military police intimidating nonviolent protestors, nor by Air Force drones committing crimes against humanity and murdering children. Mentioning these embarrassing facts, however, is an affront to good manners.
Many thanks for love, prayers and solidarity from many quarters. Brian Punishing Free Speech and Letting Murder Off the Hook, Justice Denied in Missouri
BANGKOK, Thailand -- A Burmese drug lord and five gang members pleaded guilty in China to murdering 13 innocent Chinese sailors on the Mekong River, and loading nearly one million illegal amphetamine pills onto their two cargo ships during a murky smuggling scam.
The Chinese sailors had been blindfolded, tied up and shot onboard their vessels on Oct. 5, 2011, sparking demands by China for a full investigation and better security.
In response, Thailand, Burma and Laos are now for the first time allowing Chinese "border police" gunboats to lead their four-nation patrols on that narrow stretch of the Mekong River -- beyond China's territory -- in the heart of Southeast Asia.
Smiling and placing his hands together as if respectfully praying, notorious drug lord Nor Kham (also known as Naw Kham) begged the court and the 13 victims' families for leniency on Friday (Sept. 21) while facing a possible death sentence.
He then pled guilty to murder, drug trafficking, kidnapping, and hijacking two ships.
Hours earlier, all five of his gang members also pled guilty to the same charges.
The Chinese sailors had been blindfolded, tied up and shot onboard their vessels on Oct. 5, 2011, sparking demands by China for a full investigation and better security.
In response, Thailand, Burma and Laos are now for the first time allowing Chinese "border police" gunboats to lead their four-nation patrols on that narrow stretch of the Mekong River -- beyond China's territory -- in the heart of Southeast Asia.
Smiling and placing his hands together as if respectfully praying, notorious drug lord Nor Kham (also known as Naw Kham) begged the court and the 13 victims' families for leniency on Friday (Sept. 21) while facing a possible death sentence.
He then pled guilty to murder, drug trafficking, kidnapping, and hijacking two ships.
Hours earlier, all five of his gang members also pled guilty to the same charges.
Every loss of life is tragic and that is why I oppose the current US policy of killing. The US is currently regularly killing people in Asia and in Africa. Taken to its extreme, the Obama Administration even claims authority to kill US citizens on US soil!
The unfolding situation in Libya is troubling, not only for the bloodletting and carnage that is taking place, but also because of the murkiness that surrounds the events themselves. I have several observations and a few questions:
The unfolding situation in Libya is troubling, not only for the bloodletting and carnage that is taking place, but also because of the murkiness that surrounds the events themselves. I have several observations and a few questions:
As a direct result of the illegal United States-led attack on Gaddafi and the subsequent coup, pan-Islamic fundamentalists killed the U.S. ambassador and three other American diplomats in Benghazi, Libya Tuesday, on the anniversary of 9/11. As anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan recently noted, "Libya today is the creation of the U.S., NATO, and al Qaeda, acting in a criminal partnership."
The Obama administration referred to their efforts that led to the unleashing of al Qaeda and other Islamic fundamentalists in Libya as a "kinetic humanitarian action." In reality, it was regime change, a hi-jacking of resources, and an illegal war.
Libya, under Gaddafi, was stable. Gaddafi had nationalized Libyan oil resources and his nation had one of the highest standards of living in Africa and in the Middle East. At the time he was overthrown by the U.S.-led coalition, he was busy promoting an African currency and a continental development bank to liberate all the natural resources of Africa from the International Monetary Fund. In fact, Gaddafi bragged that he was the first state leader to issue an international arrest warrant for Osama bin Laden.
The Obama administration referred to their efforts that led to the unleashing of al Qaeda and other Islamic fundamentalists in Libya as a "kinetic humanitarian action." In reality, it was regime change, a hi-jacking of resources, and an illegal war.
Libya, under Gaddafi, was stable. Gaddafi had nationalized Libyan oil resources and his nation had one of the highest standards of living in Africa and in the Middle East. At the time he was overthrown by the U.S.-led coalition, he was busy promoting an African currency and a continental development bank to liberate all the natural resources of Africa from the International Monetary Fund. In fact, Gaddafi bragged that he was the first state leader to issue an international arrest warrant for Osama bin Laden.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- A top American United Nations official said attempts to indict five additional former Khmer Rouge for alleged war crimes may be boosted when a new American investigating judge is added to a U.N.-backed court in Cambodia in September.
The Nuremberg-style trial is currently prosecuting only the senior five of the late Pol Pot's leaders.
Five additional suspects who could be brought before the court are "former military commanders and former provincial chiefs, or leaders," who were among Pol Pot's 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime, said Ambassador David Scheffer, the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Expert on the U.N. Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials.
"They are all retired," and currently being investigated for "war crimes and crimes against humanity," Mr. Scheffer said in a brief interview on August 15 during a stopover in Bangkok.
Mr. Scheffer, who is also a law professor and director of the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern University, declined to name them "because they are not officially designated."
The Nuremberg-style trial is currently prosecuting only the senior five of the late Pol Pot's leaders.
Five additional suspects who could be brought before the court are "former military commanders and former provincial chiefs, or leaders," who were among Pol Pot's 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime, said Ambassador David Scheffer, the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Expert on the U.N. Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials.
"They are all retired," and currently being investigated for "war crimes and crimes against humanity," Mr. Scheffer said in a brief interview on August 15 during a stopover in Bangkok.
Mr. Scheffer, who is also a law professor and director of the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern University, declined to name them "because they are not officially designated."
The death of Reverend Sun Myung Moon hopefully ends one of the strangest chapters in U.S. security industrial complex history. The self-proclaimed "Messiah" who owned dozens of businesses including Kahr Arms, and who once claimed to have presided over Jesus' wedding posthumously in order to get the Christian savior into heaven, was ultimately a front in the United States for friends in the CIA like George Herbert Walker Bush.
Moon founded the Washington Times newspaper in 1982 and the Washington Post went out of its way to avoid any mention of the "the dark side of the Moon" upon his death Monday, September 3, 2012 at age 92. When George W. Bush faltered in New Hampshire in early 2000, it was Moon's shadowy cultish right-wing network that came to its rescue in South Carolina. Moon's forces helped turn a certain primary defeat into a double-digit victory by spreading Moonies, his zombie-like followers, throughout the state. As the Washington Post reported, "An array of conservative groups have come to reinforce Bush's message with phone banks, radio ads, and mailings of their own."
Moon founded the Washington Times newspaper in 1982 and the Washington Post went out of its way to avoid any mention of the "the dark side of the Moon" upon his death Monday, September 3, 2012 at age 92. When George W. Bush faltered in New Hampshire in early 2000, it was Moon's shadowy cultish right-wing network that came to its rescue in South Carolina. Moon's forces helped turn a certain primary defeat into a double-digit victory by spreading Moonies, his zombie-like followers, throughout the state. As the Washington Post reported, "An array of conservative groups have come to reinforce Bush's message with phone banks, radio ads, and mailings of their own."
Seven months ago, in December, 2011, Brian Arredondo, age 24, hanged himself in a shed in his mother’s backyard. Brian was the brother of US Marine Corps Lance Corporal Alexander Arredondo, who was killed in Iraq in 2004. For seven years Brian had had difficulties dealing with the death of his brother.
Brian, like so many military brothers, sisters, spouses, children and parents, fell into the depths of depression following the death of his brother.
These difficulties in coping with his brother’s death played out in Brian in his depression, dropping out of school, using alcohol and drugs, being in and out of drug rehab facilities, in continuing incidents with police for disorderly conduct and finally in suicide.
After the death of their son Alex in Iraq, Brian’s father Carlos Arredondo and his stepmother Melida travelled the country reminding the public of those dying in America’s wars on Iraq and Afghanistan-Americans, Iraqis and Afghans. Brian had joined them at Veterans for Peace events and at Occupy Boston. The Arredondos are now embarked on a mission to better understand the suicides that are occurring in military families.
Brian, like so many military brothers, sisters, spouses, children and parents, fell into the depths of depression following the death of his brother.
These difficulties in coping with his brother’s death played out in Brian in his depression, dropping out of school, using alcohol and drugs, being in and out of drug rehab facilities, in continuing incidents with police for disorderly conduct and finally in suicide.
After the death of their son Alex in Iraq, Brian’s father Carlos Arredondo and his stepmother Melida travelled the country reminding the public of those dying in America’s wars on Iraq and Afghanistan-Americans, Iraqis and Afghans. Brian had joined them at Veterans for Peace events and at Occupy Boston. The Arredondos are now embarked on a mission to better understand the suicides that are occurring in military families.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's military, narcotics bureau, airports and other security forces bought 1,576 fake "bomb detectors" for $30 million, investigators said, which the army currently uses against Islamist guerrillas despite a U.S. Embassy alert that the devices are "like a toy."
The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) --Thailand's equivalent to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation -- announced on July 18 that the manufacturers and distributors of the useless devices fraudulently sold them to Thailand's security forces and other agencies.
The DSI then sent the case to the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which set up 13 panels on July 24 to investigate the purchases.
About a dozen government agencies spent a total of $30 million on the similar hand-held units -- named GT200 and Alpha 6 -- despite a lack of proof that the items could function.
Thailand's top generals endorse the devices.
"Do not say the GT200 used as a bomb detector in the far south does not work," Defense Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat said in July, referring to southern Thailand where 40,000 troops are fighting Muslim separatists.
The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) --Thailand's equivalent to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation -- announced on July 18 that the manufacturers and distributors of the useless devices fraudulently sold them to Thailand's security forces and other agencies.
The DSI then sent the case to the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which set up 13 panels on July 24 to investigate the purchases.
About a dozen government agencies spent a total of $30 million on the similar hand-held units -- named GT200 and Alpha 6 -- despite a lack of proof that the items could function.
Thailand's top generals endorse the devices.
"Do not say the GT200 used as a bomb detector in the far south does not work," Defense Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat said in July, referring to southern Thailand where 40,000 troops are fighting Muslim separatists.
The original website for this special report includes three unpublished video clips of interviewees from the Politics of Genocide documentary film project: Ugandan dignitary Remigius Kintu, former Rwandan prime minister Fautisn Twagiramungu, and Nobel peace prize nominee Juan Carrero Saralegui.
The historic ruling by the Robert’s Court based on common law, precedent and moral judgment is a victory all Americans. Opponents of the PPACA claim that it will bankrupt our country. The Office of Management and Budget, OMB, the bipartisan congressional committee which scores the financial effects of bills and laws, estimates that it will cost $200 billion to implement the PPACA. But, that it will save $200 billion in health care cost during the first during decade and it will save $1.2 trillion during the second decade. Benefits to workers, from the PPACA and other safety nets are spent. With secondary spending, markets for goods and services increase. Everyone, including entrepreneurs, profit. Unemployment is reduced and the economy grows.