Human Rights
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to claim that the resumption of peace talks between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority have thus far yielded nothing of value, at least not as far as settling the decades-long struggle.
For one, the media has paid the talks little attention, aside from the ceremonial coverage of the first round of talks in Washington on September 2. It barely noticed the following round in the Middle East nearly two weeks later. What did capture the media’s attention was US President Barack Obama’s attempt to minimize the damage he invited upon himself for merely pressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to issue a partial moratorium on settlement building (about 11 months ago), and then to extend the settlement freeze.
For one, the media has paid the talks little attention, aside from the ceremonial coverage of the first round of talks in Washington on September 2. It barely noticed the following round in the Middle East nearly two weeks later. What did capture the media’s attention was US President Barack Obama’s attempt to minimize the damage he invited upon himself for merely pressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to issue a partial moratorium on settlement building (about 11 months ago), and then to extend the settlement freeze.
The documents on the U.S. War in Iraq published by Wikileaks contained data on 15,000 Iraqis killed in incidents that were previously unreported in the Western media or by the Iraqi Health Ministry, and therefore not counted in compilations of reported Iraqi war deaths by Iraqbodycount.org. The Western media are dutifully adding these 15,000 deaths to their so-called "estimates" of the total numbers of Iraqis killed in the war. This is deceptive. What the unreported deaths really demonstrate is that the passive methodology of these body counts is a woefully inadequate way to try and estimate the number of deaths in a war zone. These 15,000 deaths are only the tip of an iceberg of hundreds of thousands of unreported Iraqi deaths that have already been detected by more serious and scientific epidemiological studies, but the U.S. and British governments have successfully suppressed these studies by confusing the media and the public about their methods and accuracy.
Speaking out a year ago against the idea of holding civilian trials for terrorism suspects, Liz Cheney captured the paranoid arrogance of the past decade with stunning efficiency:
“This demonstrates conclusively that we are going back to a pre-9/11 mentality,” she said.
Oh the horror! Fair trials, rule of law, habeas corpus, Miranda rights, blah, blah, blah — remember what a nuisance our justice system used to be before Liz’s father and the rest of the neocon High Nooniacs made us safe by hustling us off to a police state and perpetual war?
I can’t help but think about the younger Cheney’s comment — and the fear it implies, not of terrorists but of liberals — in connection with the lawsuit that a recently freed Guantanamo detainee, Abdul Razak al Janko, has filed in U.S. Federal Court against Robert Gates, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and about a hundred other current and former military and government officials.
“This demonstrates conclusively that we are going back to a pre-9/11 mentality,” she said.
Oh the horror! Fair trials, rule of law, habeas corpus, Miranda rights, blah, blah, blah — remember what a nuisance our justice system used to be before Liz’s father and the rest of the neocon High Nooniacs made us safe by hustling us off to a police state and perpetual war?
I can’t help but think about the younger Cheney’s comment — and the fear it implies, not of terrorists but of liberals — in connection with the lawsuit that a recently freed Guantanamo detainee, Abdul Razak al Janko, has filed in U.S. Federal Court against Robert Gates, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and about a hundred other current and former military and government officials.
The war on dissent, rather than terrorism, continued full steam with FBI SWAT teams breaking down doors at 7 am Friday (Sept 24) morning and raiding the homes of several anti-war leaders and activists in Minneapolis, Chicago and possibly a couple other Midwest cities. Members of the FBI's "Joint Terrorism Task Force" spent a few hours at each Minneapolis residence, seizing personal photographs and papers, computers and cell phones as well as serving Federal Grand Jury subpoenas on the various activists.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Using a penis to create a vagina is relatively easy, compared to the surgical difficulty of constructing a penis with a clitoris.
Thailand's most famous transgender surgeon, Dr. Preecha Tiewtranon, bends people both ways.
"I have done more than 3,500 of this kind of operation in 30 years," Preecha says during an interview at his modern, three-story, white-walled Preecha Aesthetic Institute on upmarket Thonglor Road. (Pai)
The Thai government recently changed its law on transgender operations, and now requires Thais to wait at least one year before undergoing a sex change.
In response to the new law, Preecha says he sends his Thai patients to two psychiatrists, to confirm the individuals qualify.
Most of Preecha's patients, however, are men from America, Australia, Europe, China, Japan, South Korea and the Middle East, who become women.
Preecha leads a staff of 15 plastic surgeons.
After a surgeon slices off the male organ, and plumps the breasts with implants, the newly created woman can usually enjoy sexual relations and climax, he says.
Thailand's most famous transgender surgeon, Dr. Preecha Tiewtranon, bends people both ways.
"I have done more than 3,500 of this kind of operation in 30 years," Preecha says during an interview at his modern, three-story, white-walled Preecha Aesthetic Institute on upmarket Thonglor Road. (Pai)
The Thai government recently changed its law on transgender operations, and now requires Thais to wait at least one year before undergoing a sex change.
In response to the new law, Preecha says he sends his Thai patients to two psychiatrists, to confirm the individuals qualify.
Most of Preecha's patients, however, are men from America, Australia, Europe, China, Japan, South Korea and the Middle East, who become women.
Preecha leads a staff of 15 plastic surgeons.
After a surgeon slices off the male organ, and plumps the breasts with implants, the newly created woman can usually enjoy sexual relations and climax, he says.
This is it. We have only days to save an innocent man's life. Yesterday, the Ohio Parole Board made a nonbinding, advisory recommendation to Governor Strickland that Kevin Keith should be executed, but the Parole Board's own findings do not erase the doubt about Mr. Keith's guilt. We need you and your friends - especially people living in Ohio - to urge Governor Strickland to spare his life, when so many questions about his case remain unanswered.
Thanks to you, more than 20,000 petition signatures have been delivered to Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, asking him to save Kevin Keith. But that is not enough. Now, with Mr. Keith's scheduled execution less than one month away, it's time to turn up the volume and make our voices heard.
Please send a letter to Governor Strickland today asking him to grant clemency to Mr. Keith, who is scheduled to be executed on September 15, despite new evidence of his innocence.
Thanks to you, more than 20,000 petition signatures have been delivered to Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, asking him to save Kevin Keith. But that is not enough. Now, with Mr. Keith's scheduled execution less than one month away, it's time to turn up the volume and make our voices heard.
Please send a letter to Governor Strickland today asking him to grant clemency to Mr. Keith, who is scheduled to be executed on September 15, despite new evidence of his innocence.
Beirut, Lebanon - Two young girls stood, as if frozen, starting below them at an ever vibrant Beirut. Their balcony, like the rest of their house and most of their refugee camp was of an indistinct color. It was dirty, as were their clothes. They, on the other hand, looked beautiful and bright, although their future didn't.
Here in Bourj el-Barajneh, one of a dozen Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, time seems to have stood still for years. Generation after generation, children grow up in the same desperate reality, punished for crimes they did not commit, injured by a history not of their making. They stand on dirty balconies, cracked beyond repair, watching Beirut and the world go by.
The city is abuzz with life, politics, rumors, anticipation and intrigue. It remains perpetually divided between many worlds and contradictions, in a way that seems almost impossible to reconcile or bridge.
Here in Bourj el-Barajneh, one of a dozen Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, time seems to have stood still for years. Generation after generation, children grow up in the same desperate reality, punished for crimes they did not commit, injured by a history not of their making. They stand on dirty balconies, cracked beyond repair, watching Beirut and the world go by.
The city is abuzz with life, politics, rumors, anticipation and intrigue. It remains perpetually divided between many worlds and contradictions, in a way that seems almost impossible to reconcile or bridge.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Fearless body snatchers careen through traffic, with sirens blaring and lights flashing, to morbid disaster sites where they seize fresh human corpses to pack in mustard-colored coffins for yet another profitable cremation.
"I see dead people all the time, but I've never seen ghosts," Anyawut Phoamphai, 36, says in Thai, maniacally chuckling and slamming his foot on the accelerator of a new Toyota van.
"Before doing this work, I was afraid of ghosts. But I'm not afraid of ghosts now. And I'm not afraid to get sick while handling dead people. I'm not afraid to touch their corpses. I wear Buddhist amulets and they protect me."
If you or anyone else you know -- Thai or foreigner -- suddenly drops dead in Bangkok, chances are your body will be grabbed by a team of eager men and women who will carefully wrap you in white cloth, carry you away hammock-style, and lay you into the back of a van for a trip to a nearby hospital's forensic lab.
"I see dead people all the time, but I've never seen ghosts," Anyawut Phoamphai, 36, says in Thai, maniacally chuckling and slamming his foot on the accelerator of a new Toyota van.
"Before doing this work, I was afraid of ghosts. But I'm not afraid of ghosts now. And I'm not afraid to get sick while handling dead people. I'm not afraid to touch their corpses. I wear Buddhist amulets and they protect me."
If you or anyone else you know -- Thai or foreigner -- suddenly drops dead in Bangkok, chances are your body will be grabbed by a team of eager men and women who will carefully wrap you in white cloth, carry you away hammock-style, and lay you into the back of a van for a trip to a nearby hospital's forensic lab.
Consider the following statement offered by Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a news conference last week. He was discussing Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks as well as the person who has taken responsibility for the vast, still ongoing Afghan War document dump at that site. "Mr. Assange," Mullen commented, "can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing, but the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family."
Now, if you were the proverbial fair-minded visitor from Mars (who in school civics texts of my childhood always seemed to land on Main Street, U.S.A., to survey the wonders of our American system), you might be a bit taken aback by Mullen's statement. After all, one of the revelations in the trove of leaked documents Assange put online had to do with how much blood from innocent Afghan civilians was already on American hands.
Now, if you were the proverbial fair-minded visitor from Mars (who in school civics texts of my childhood always seemed to land on Main Street, U.S.A., to survey the wonders of our American system), you might be a bit taken aback by Mullen's statement. After all, one of the revelations in the trove of leaked documents Assange put online had to do with how much blood from innocent Afghan civilians was already on American hands.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- When a Muay Thai kickboxer's brain is battered by the star-twinkling impact from too many hits, and the fighter becomes spaced-out and forgetful, retirement can mean a dismal life far from the maddening crowd of cheering and jeering fans at sweaty boxing arenas.
The elderly Amnuay Kesbumrung and his aged colleague, Sompong Janpatrak, however, are defying those black-and-blue odds and they continue to enjoy Thailand's most popular sport.
Muay Thai allows fists, elbows, feet, shins, knees and jumps to be used.
During Thailand's history, several kings became great boxers or patrons, and kickboxing was also taught to their security forces. Early competitive boxers often wrapped rope around their fists, resulting in brutal injuries, until gloves were introduced in the early 1900s.
"I was born December 14, 1935, and am now 73 years old," Amnuay said in Thai language during an interview.
"I boxed for about 10 years, beginning when I was 12 years old. After I quit, I had different jobs, including selling automobiles. But I have also been president of the Muay Thai Institute for the past 22 years."
The elderly Amnuay Kesbumrung and his aged colleague, Sompong Janpatrak, however, are defying those black-and-blue odds and they continue to enjoy Thailand's most popular sport.
Muay Thai allows fists, elbows, feet, shins, knees and jumps to be used.
During Thailand's history, several kings became great boxers or patrons, and kickboxing was also taught to their security forces. Early competitive boxers often wrapped rope around their fists, resulting in brutal injuries, until gloves were introduced in the early 1900s.
"I was born December 14, 1935, and am now 73 years old," Amnuay said in Thai language during an interview.
"I boxed for about 10 years, beginning when I was 12 years old. After I quit, I had different jobs, including selling automobiles. But I have also been president of the Muay Thai Institute for the past 22 years."