Global
BANGKOK, Thailand -- The American who swam across a lake in 2009 and illegally spent two nights with Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in her home, resulting in an extension of her house arrest, said now that she is free, she will be "assassinated" as a pawn to topple the junta.
"I'm not talking about the [Burmese] junta killing her," said John Yettaw, a Mormon from Missouri, in an interview conducted via Skype.
Instead, an "expendable" Mrs. Suu Kyi will now be assassinated by anti-junta "Burmese," to spark the regime's collapse, Mr. Yettaw warned.
Mr. Yettaw's dream in September 2009 compelled him to swim across Inya Lake in Rangoon to reach Mrs. Suu Kyi's two-story villa, to show her that killers could use that relatively unguarded route, enter her lakeside home, and easily murder her.
Mr. Yettaw was arrested after he swam back across Inya Lake from Mrs. Suu Kyi's home in May 2009, put on trial, jailed for three months, and finally expelled from Burma.
"I'm not talking about the [Burmese] junta killing her," said John Yettaw, a Mormon from Missouri, in an interview conducted via Skype.
Instead, an "expendable" Mrs. Suu Kyi will now be assassinated by anti-junta "Burmese," to spark the regime's collapse, Mr. Yettaw warned.
Mr. Yettaw's dream in September 2009 compelled him to swim across Inya Lake in Rangoon to reach Mrs. Suu Kyi's two-story villa, to show her that killers could use that relatively unguarded route, enter her lakeside home, and easily murder her.
Mr. Yettaw was arrested after he swam back across Inya Lake from Mrs. Suu Kyi's home in May 2009, put on trial, jailed for three months, and finally expelled from Burma.
I recall the first sentence of my fifth grade essay on "Education and Youth". Written with the occasional aid of my father, and dotted with clichés, it might have read something like this:
"Youth is the backbone of any nation, and education is essential to arm the youth with the knowledge they need to lead their societies toward change, progress and prosperity."
The grayish blue pencil I used to write my essay with was one of several items handed annually by United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff to refugee children in many schools scattered throughout the Gaza Strip. My Arabic teacher was Abu Kamal al-Hanafi, a wonderful man with a terrible temper, who was also the Imam of the local mosque. My classroom had exactly 62 students. My desk was as old as the Israeli occupation of Gaza, if not older. The roof was filled with holes, creating an exciting spectacle as birds flew in and out, often nesting in available spaces. Watching these scenes made the brutish Arabic grammar lessons bearable, and eased the fear caused by Abu Kamal’s bouts of anger and the occasional Israeli gunfire in and around the refugee camp.
"Youth is the backbone of any nation, and education is essential to arm the youth with the knowledge they need to lead their societies toward change, progress and prosperity."
The grayish blue pencil I used to write my essay with was one of several items handed annually by United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff to refugee children in many schools scattered throughout the Gaza Strip. My Arabic teacher was Abu Kamal al-Hanafi, a wonderful man with a terrible temper, who was also the Imam of the local mosque. My classroom had exactly 62 students. My desk was as old as the Israeli occupation of Gaza, if not older. The roof was filled with holes, creating an exciting spectacle as birds flew in and out, often nesting in available spaces. Watching these scenes made the brutish Arabic grammar lessons bearable, and eased the fear caused by Abu Kamal’s bouts of anger and the occasional Israeli gunfire in and around the refugee camp.
In his first term, President Franklin Roosevelt denounced "the economic royalists." He drew the line against the heartless rich: "They are unanimous in their hate for me -- and I welcome their hatred."
What a different Democratic president we have today.
For two years -- from putting Wall Street operatives at the top of his economic team to signaling that he’ll go along with extension of Bush tax cuts for the wealthy -- Barack Obama has increasingly made a mockery of hopes for a green New Deal.
The news from the White House keeps getting grimmer. Since the midterm election, we’re told, Obama has concluded that he must be more conciliatory toward the ascendant Republican leadership in Congress -- and must do more to appease big business.
Fifteen days after the election, the Washington Post reported that Obama -- seeking a replacement for departing top economic adviser Lawrence Summers -- “is eager to recruit someone from the business community for the job to help repair the president’s frayed relationship with corporate America.”
What a different Democratic president we have today.
For two years -- from putting Wall Street operatives at the top of his economic team to signaling that he’ll go along with extension of Bush tax cuts for the wealthy -- Barack Obama has increasingly made a mockery of hopes for a green New Deal.
The news from the White House keeps getting grimmer. Since the midterm election, we’re told, Obama has concluded that he must be more conciliatory toward the ascendant Republican leadership in Congress -- and must do more to appease big business.
Fifteen days after the election, the Washington Post reported that Obama -- seeking a replacement for departing top economic adviser Lawrence Summers -- “is eager to recruit someone from the business community for the job to help repair the president’s frayed relationship with corporate America.”
The endless and infinite "war on terra" is bankrupting the planet. I don't mean moral bankruptcy; that goes without saying. I mean financial bankruptcy. And don't take my word for it. This is the argument made in a new book called "Terrorism and the Economy: How the War on Terror Is Bankrupting the World," by Loretta Napoleoni, a financial reporter for Internazionale, l'Unita, il Caffe, Mondo e Missione, El Pais, Vanity Fair Spain, and Vanity Fair Italy.
Perhaps Napoleoni is insufficiently subservient to Wall Street to write for U.S. newspapers -- unlike, say, the United States government: "Washington needs Wall Street's help to keep international investors funding the U.S. debt," the author explains, "which in turn provides the $1.6 billion needed each month to keep troops in Iraq and Afghanistan." Which explains the lack of criminal prosecutions and serious regulation of Wall Street.
Perhaps Napoleoni is insufficiently subservient to Wall Street to write for U.S. newspapers -- unlike, say, the United States government: "Washington needs Wall Street's help to keep international investors funding the U.S. debt," the author explains, "which in turn provides the $1.6 billion needed each month to keep troops in Iraq and Afghanistan." Which explains the lack of criminal prosecutions and serious regulation of Wall Street.
David Swanson, author of "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union," which rose to #1 among nonfiction books on Amazon.com the day it was published, will publish a new book called "War Is A Lie" on Monday, November 22nd and encourage readers to purchase it that day on Amazon.
More information as well as a variety of audio and eBooks, and bulk purchasing are available at http://warisalie.org
WAR IS A LIE is a thorough refutation of every major argument used to justify wars, drawing on evidence from numerous past wars, with a focus on those wars that have been most widely defended as just and good. This is a handbook of sorts, a manual to be used in debunking future lies before future wars have a chance to begin.
“David Swanson despises war and lying, and unmasks them both with rare intelligence. I learn something new on every page.” — Jeff Cohen, founder of FAIR and author of Cable News Confidential.
More information as well as a variety of audio and eBooks, and bulk purchasing are available at http://warisalie.org
WAR IS A LIE is a thorough refutation of every major argument used to justify wars, drawing on evidence from numerous past wars, with a focus on those wars that have been most widely defended as just and good. This is a handbook of sorts, a manual to be used in debunking future lies before future wars have a chance to begin.
“David Swanson despises war and lying, and unmasks them both with rare intelligence. I learn something new on every page.” — Jeff Cohen, founder of FAIR and author of Cable News Confidential.
In the gap between a boy’s passionate fantasies and the smell of dead bodies in a mass grave marches . . . America’s Army.
“He wonders if God is punishing him because before he joined the Army he thought of war as something fun and exciting.”
We couldn’t wage our current wars without the all-volunteer military whose recruitment goals get fed every year by idealistic young people, who continue, despite all counter-evidence bursting off the front pages, to buy into the romance and excitement of war and armed do-goodism that the recruiters, with the help of a vast “militainment” industry, peddle like so many Joe Camels.
The words quoted above are from a psychologist’s PTSD evaluation of a young soldier named Brad Gaskins, whom I wrote about several years ago; he was one of the soldiers in the first wave of our 2003 invasion of Iraq. He went AWOL after his second deployment.
“He wonders if God is punishing him because before he joined the Army he thought of war as something fun and exciting.”
We couldn’t wage our current wars without the all-volunteer military whose recruitment goals get fed every year by idealistic young people, who continue, despite all counter-evidence bursting off the front pages, to buy into the romance and excitement of war and armed do-goodism that the recruiters, with the help of a vast “militainment” industry, peddle like so many Joe Camels.
The words quoted above are from a psychologist’s PTSD evaluation of a young soldier named Brad Gaskins, whom I wrote about several years ago; he was one of the soldiers in the first wave of our 2003 invasion of Iraq. He went AWOL after his second deployment.
Read My Pins: Stories From a Diplomat’s Jewel Box
My nephew, Rob Havener, teases me that I am instantly captivated by shoes and shiny objects, and he is right. I love jewelry–shoes too, but that is another book review–and brooches are my favorite. They are at once distinctly adult and wonderfully feminine.
The Museum of Arts and Design in New York found Albright’s jewelry and the role it played in her diplomat career worthy of an exhibition, and the book was written as a companion volume. Read My Pins is a delightful romp through the history of jewelry, the third wave of feminism, American foreign policy and Albright’s own personal journey.
My nephew, Rob Havener, teases me that I am instantly captivated by shoes and shiny objects, and he is right. I love jewelry–shoes too, but that is another book review–and brooches are my favorite. They are at once distinctly adult and wonderfully feminine.
The Museum of Arts and Design in New York found Albright’s jewelry and the role it played in her diplomat career worthy of an exhibition, and the book was written as a companion volume. Read My Pins is a delightful romp through the history of jewelry, the third wave of feminism, American foreign policy and Albright’s own personal journey.
In September 2010, the Ohio Highway Patrol finally released the photos [reproduced below] of Cindy Stankoski mentioned in the Ohio inspector general's report on Marc Dann's 16-month tenure as attorney general.
Dann had been forced to resign in May 2008 after an internal report supported the claims of Stankoski and Vanessa Stout that they were sexually harassed by Dann’s director of general services, Anthony Gutierrez.
When the internal investigators issued their report on May 2, 2008, they did not have the photos, which were found during the inspector general’s subsequent investigation. The public did not become aware of the photos’ existence until the inspector general issued his report on Dec. 22, 2008.
Without releasing the photos, the inspector general’s report described them this way: “During our investigation, we found several risqué photos of Cindy Stankoski on [coworker] Mariellen Aranda’s cell phone. In each, Stankoski flirtatiously sported Gutierrez’s Attorney General-issued badge at her bosom. Stankoski is now claiming that she was sexually harassed by Gutierrez.”
Dann had been forced to resign in May 2008 after an internal report supported the claims of Stankoski and Vanessa Stout that they were sexually harassed by Dann’s director of general services, Anthony Gutierrez.
When the internal investigators issued their report on May 2, 2008, they did not have the photos, which were found during the inspector general’s subsequent investigation. The public did not become aware of the photos’ existence until the inspector general issued his report on Dec. 22, 2008.
Without releasing the photos, the inspector general’s report described them this way: “During our investigation, we found several risqué photos of Cindy Stankoski on [coworker] Mariellen Aranda’s cell phone. In each, Stankoski flirtatiously sported Gutierrez’s Attorney General-issued badge at her bosom. Stankoski is now claiming that she was sexually harassed by Gutierrez.”
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made it clear that America's 104 licensed atomic power reactors are not accidents waiting to happen.
They are accidents in progress.
And proposals to build a "new generation" of reactors are not mere scams. They comprise a predictable plan for permanent national bankruptcy.
On November 10, the USNRC delivered a stunning reprimand to Japanese-owned Westinghouse, which proposes building new atomic reactors here and around the world. The Commission warned that the containment design for the new AP1000 did not include a "realistic" analysis of its ability to withstand a jet crash.
An NRC rule introduced in 2009 requires that the integrity or cooling of used fuel, the containment and the cooling of the reactor core on new reactors must be able to withstand the impact of a large passenger jet. The failure of Westinghouse to explain its case amounts to a violation of that requirement.
They are accidents in progress.
And proposals to build a "new generation" of reactors are not mere scams. They comprise a predictable plan for permanent national bankruptcy.
On November 10, the USNRC delivered a stunning reprimand to Japanese-owned Westinghouse, which proposes building new atomic reactors here and around the world. The Commission warned that the containment design for the new AP1000 did not include a "realistic" analysis of its ability to withstand a jet crash.
An NRC rule introduced in 2009 requires that the integrity or cooling of used fuel, the containment and the cooling of the reactor core on new reactors must be able to withstand the impact of a large passenger jet. The failure of Westinghouse to explain its case amounts to a violation of that requirement.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Freed after seven years under house arrest, Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Sunday (November 14) she will investigate "many allegations of vote-rigging" in last week's election, but offered to talk with the ruling military junta and consider the effects of U.S.-led economic sanctions.
After years of monitoring her radio, Mrs. Suu Kyi said she now wants to "listen to human voices" to learn from Burma's masses about their woes and suggestions.
She also marveled at the ubiquitous use of mobile phones, revealing a sense of culture shock after her shuttered existence.
"I am for national reconciliation. I am for dialogue," soft-spoken Mrs. Suu Kyi (pronounced: "Sue Chee") said during a speech to 5,000 cheering people at the headquarters of her recently disbanded National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
Hours later, she told the British Broadcasting Corp (BBC) on Sunday: "I think we have to sort out our differences, across the table, talking to each other, agreeing to disagree, or finding out why we disagree and trying to remove the sources of our disagreement, if we possibly can."
After years of monitoring her radio, Mrs. Suu Kyi said she now wants to "listen to human voices" to learn from Burma's masses about their woes and suggestions.
She also marveled at the ubiquitous use of mobile phones, revealing a sense of culture shock after her shuttered existence.
"I am for national reconciliation. I am for dialogue," soft-spoken Mrs. Suu Kyi (pronounced: "Sue Chee") said during a speech to 5,000 cheering people at the headquarters of her recently disbanded National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
Hours later, she told the British Broadcasting Corp (BBC) on Sunday: "I think we have to sort out our differences, across the table, talking to each other, agreeing to disagree, or finding out why we disagree and trying to remove the sources of our disagreement, if we possibly can."