Humanitarian Texts

Linked on our blogs with Eric Walberg – Canada. – Published on EricWalberg.com, by Eric Walberg, November 3, 2010.

… The only Democratic ray of hope was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada whose Tea Party opponent advocated ending Medicare and Social Security, abolishing the Energy and Education departments, and vastly reducing the size of government, turning even Republicans against her.

But the real problem is more Congress than Obama and will continue to fester. Seventy-three per cent disapproved of Congress and only 49 per cent of the job Obama is doing as president. An almost identical 72 per cent disapproved of Congress in 2008 while an unprecedented 73 per cent disapproved of Bush in his final year.  Continue Reading…

Published on openDemocracy, by John Hoyland, 28 October 2010.

To mark the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we have a true story from its early days. It is about a young man’s rites of passage, but also an era of deception, self-deception and co-option, when those who made the journey to the other side could be turned by the Cold War into weapons

Introduction:

“LABOUR MP MEETS ATOM SPY FUCHS IN SECRET” shouted the newspaper headline.

The year was 1961. Six weeks earlier, the East Germans had suddenly built the Berlin Wall, plunging the world into some of the darkest and most threatening days of the Cold War.  Continue Reading…

Published on Online Journal, by Ramzy Baroud, Nov. 8, 2010.

Democracy in the Middle East continues to be a hugely popular topic of discussion. Its virtues are tirelessly praised by rulers and oppositions alike, by intellectuals and ordinary people, by political prisoners and their prison guards. Yet, in actuality, it also remains an illusion, if not a front to ensure the demise of any real possibility of public participation in decision-making.

Bahrain was the latest Arab country to hold free and fair elections. It managed a reasonable voter turnout of 67 percent. The opposition also did very well, winning 45 percent of the seats. In terms of fairness and transparency, the Bahraini elections could serve as an excellent example of how ‘things are changing’ in the Middle East. Continue Reading…

a first hand account by WAR child’s project manager

Linked on these blogs with War Child Canada. – Published on War Child Canada, not dated.

After 24 hours of travel to Afghanistan, a dizzying ride from the airport quickly shook us awake. At points I can’t tell which side of the road people drive on – it’s a fender free-for-all – find a space and gun it!  Drivers don’t yield for anyone, and that includes oncoming traffic. There was none of the orchestrated madness you see in Delhi.

Kabul has all the images you expect – robin egg blue burqas, bullet-ridden buildings, busy streets full of police, army, roadblocks and security check points. It’s a dusty, tan-coloured city with crumbling clay and brick buildings. Any building of even the slightest importance is barricaded by tall concrete walls, barbed wire, armed guards and sandbags to protect from blasts. The UN guesthouses are practically fortresses.  Continue Reading…

Rights Abuses based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Published on Human Rights Watch HRW, November 4, 2010.

This 62-page report details how the government uses article 347 bis of the Penal Code to deny basic rights to people perceived to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). The report describes arrests, beatings by the police, abuses in prison, and a homophobic atmosphere that encourages shunning and abuse in the community. The consequence is that people are not punished for a specific outlawed practice, but for a homosexual identity, the groups said.  Continue Reading…

Barack Obama thinks that the rise of India will be good for American jobs. There is another side to the story – Published on The Economist, Nov 4, 2010.

… India is producing a legion of new global giants that are competing head-to-head with established American companies. Look at Arcelor Mittal and Tata Steel in steelmaking; Bharat Forge and Sundram Fasteners in car parts; Hindalco in aluminium rolling; and a host of companies, including Infosys, Tata Consulting Services (TCS), Cognizant and HCL Technologies, in information services. Twenty years ago India had no global companies worth mentioning. Today the Tata group earns 60% of its revenues abroad, and Indian companies ranging from natural-resource firms, such as Reliance Industries, to health-care companies, such as Pirmal Healthcare, have been snapping up American brands. Continue Reading…

(wurde schon am 14. Juni 2005 auf dem Blog Mein privater Garten veröffentlicht):

Paradiesvorstellung ist das, was ich mir selber als mein ureigenes Paradies vorstelle. Die Realität, in welcher ich sein möchte. Es ist das, was ich in meinen innersten Wünschen mir ausmale. In allen Aspekten. Immer dann, wenn etwas nicht so recht läuft, wird unbewusst auch diese Vorstellung etwas angepieckst, deren Inhalte – meist unbewusst – mit der Realität verglichen.

Die Paradiesvorstellung ist die geradeste innere Verknüpfung zwischen dem Ist- und dem Soll-Zustand.

Sie ist das, was ich fühle in mir als das Versprechen, welches das Leben für mich bereit hält. Die Paradiesvorstellung ist zuerst ein unbewusstes, aber sehr starkes Wissen, Fühlen, Erwarten, das Leben liege mir zu Füssen und ich werde es verschlingen.  Continue Reading…

Published on CHOWK, by Nadeem Akram, November 3, 2010.

… We the educated people of this country hold opinion on everything and anything but since oral and anal syndrome ails us therefore we go about our business without giving a second thought to the vehemently argued ‘issues’ of the day. For instance, just this morning we were all complaining about the rising prices of edibles including meat. Most of us agreed that the shortage of livestock has aggravated in wake of the recent floods. A highly informed colleague privy of the fact that, sub-standard meat imported from India is being sold in Karachi, shared it with great pride. However, all hell broke loose when someone suggested that we as a nation should not sacrifice animals on this Eid, instead the money could be donated to some credible organization involved in rehabilitation of the flood victims. His suggestion was based on the logic that a) to help prevent the supply and demand imbalance and b) to speed up the rehabilitation process as winter is knocking at our doors while the government is still squabbling over distribution of the aid money. A logical suggestion indeed!   Continue Reading…

Published on Online Journal, by Kona Lowell, Nov. 5, 2010.

As expected, many of us are angry, frustrated with our party, vowing to never vote Democrat again or kneeling on the kitchen floor with our heads in the oven.
Me? I’m amazingly tranquil. Even serene … //

… I am also having a pre-schadenfreude moment of sorts, imagining the Republicans, led by wet-drunk crybaby and walking Cheeto, John Boehner, attempting to govern. Or not govern. Or both. He will find it hard to accomplish much, if anything, by simply blubbering profusely or screaming “Hell no!” at the top of his lungs. Not that that will stop him, which is where the hilarity will come in. Hope someone on SNL is practicing their Boehner.  Continue Reading…

Published on ZNet (Source: NYT), by Jürgen Habermas, October 31, 2010.

SINCE the end of August Germany has been roiled by waves of political turmoil over integration, multiculturalism and the role of the “Leitkultur,” or guiding national culture. This discourse is in turn reinforcing trends toward increasing xenophobia among the broader population.

These trends have been apparent for many years in studies and survey data that show a quiet but growing hostility to immigrants. Yet it is as though they have only now found a voice: the usual stereotypes are being flushed out of the bars and onto the talk shows, and they are echoed by mainstream politicians who want to capture potential voters who are otherwise drifting off toward the right. Two events have given rise to a mixture of emotions that are no longer easy to locate on the scale from left to right — a book by a board member of Germany’s central bank and a recent speech by the German president.  Continue Reading…

Published on Online Journal, by Larry Pinkney, Oct. 29, 2010.

It is October of the year 2010, and there is something earth-shaking taking place, with and among, many college / university students throughout this nation.

The Students for a Democratic Society SDS*, whose organizational roots and history run deep, are once again on the move. Don’t expect to be intelligently informed about this by the corporate-stream media. But pay close attention to what these courageous students are in the process of doing today.   Continue Reading…

The Working Families Party – How you can get involved in New York State’s liveliest progressive political force.

Linked with Working Families WF / Working Families Party WFP (see on Nov. 4, 2010). – Published on AlterNet, by Katrina vanden Heuvel, November 1, 2010.

Since its founding in 1998, the Working Families Party WFP has emerged as New York State’s liveliest progressive political force. It has helped Democrats take back both the US Congress and the State Senate by bringing disaffected Democrats, union members and independents into a coalition with insurgent Democratic candidates. Continue Reading…

Whistleblower: Coast Guard Implementing Martial Law
Published on Global Research.ca,  by James Corbett, October 27, 2010 (with Videos in the Global Research Text).

… On October 23, 2001, unconvicted war criminals John Yoo and Robert J. Delahunty wrote to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales giving the legal opinion that “The president has ample constitutional and statutory authority to deploy the military against international or foreign terrorists operating within the United States.” The Bush Administration then tried to use that very opinion to justify sending American troops into the suburbs of Buffalo to seize a group of men who were claimed to be working with Al Qaeda. The decision was evidently made not to pursue that course of action at that time, but the legal opinion stood and the Administration waited for the opportunity to formalize the legality of deploying troops on home soil.  Continue Reading…

(was already published on my blog Mein privater Garten on February 26, 2008):

Everyone has the right to change his individual behaviour, his believes, the way we understand ourselves. We are allowed to change all those arrangements giving an individual its Identity. Clan traditions have to come second. Formulated in UN language we could say: We have the right to change our identity, as long as we have the consciousness to do so.

But these Rights were created by a society of individuals, our western world. If we do not accept the behaviour, the mentality, the law of a group, we leave it as soon as we can. Or we try to change the group, we manipulate it in our sense. Continue Reading…

(wurde schon am 16. August 2010 auf dem Blog Heidi Barathieu-Brun veröffentlicht)

Ein Gerücht kursiert, die Gefallenen-Engel hätten freiwillig das Grosse-Ganze (oder Paradies) verlassen, um genetisch ihre eigenen Welt basteln zu dürfen /können. Weiter habe ich verstanden, dies verlange deren endgültigen Abschied aus diesem Paradies wegen Inkompatibilität mit dessen technischen Eigenheiten: entweder man kann GANZ dazu gehören, oder eben nicht.

Das heisst, die Gefallenen-Engel wurden nicht aus dem Paradies verjagt, sondern haben freiwillig ein sogenanntes Exil gewählt … aber vielleicht waren sie ja einfach dieses ewigen Paradieses überdrüssig … oder dieses Exil wurde ihnen als Projekt vorgeschlagen, um sie endlich los zu werden, falls sie in diesem Paradies zu viel Langeweile und Unruhe verbreiteten.  Continue Reading…