July 31st, 2008 by Manila Ryce
Monica Goodling, a graduate of the ever-prestigious Bible study group called Messiah College, is being crucified for simply answering to a higher power – the president. Rather than deny that she repeatedly broke the law, Goodling employs Bush’s own strategy of claiming to be completely ignorant and incompetent in order to dodge blame and responsibility. Stewart also has a little something to say to Blitzer and the bickering children holding this hearing.
July 28th, 2008 by D.C.
“Fish and Chips” and “Number 16 Bus Shelter,” what would you call these? sentence fragments? Things? Objects? If you guessed any of those answers you would be dead wrong, because they are names for children chosen by parents! I’ll let that sink in… … … Yes, that’s right, the names of children.
In a recent Yahoo news story, the use of absurd and ridiculous names for children has angered a New Zealand judge to take action. Judge Rob Murfitt, of family court in New Zealand, renamed a young girl who had been given the name Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii (No word of a lie, that was her real name). She has been renamed, but the court is keeping her new name confidential to protect her privacy.
The court is profoundly concerned about the very poor judgment which this child’s parents have shown in choosing this name It makes a fool of the child and sets her up with a social disability and handicap, unnecessarily.
Personally, I do not understand what could be going through the minds of the parents who agreed to name their child this-I-won’t-even-repeat-it-because-it’s-so-ridiculous name. Some people just do not seem to have the sense to raise children. I believe that these two parents fall into this category. I cannot understand how they would think that this name would be a suitable name to give to someone. Were they high on drugs? People like this do not deserve to have children.
No parent in their right mind would cause greater burden to be placed on their own children by giving bullies and such an easy target. On the other hand, I also would like to know if Talula, and the other children, had their names registered on birth certificates. If they did, I think it should be illegal to name someone in such a way. I am all for open expression, but in the case of a child’s name, since they have no say about what they are called, the parents should show some restraint in ‘expression.’
Some of the names in the Yahoo story and just plain pitiful. ‘Sex Fruit,’ is an actual name given to a child. If a parent could not comprehend that this name would provide a hard life for their child, then they do not deserve to have a child. If they debated between “David, Peter, and all the other names in the English language” and thought Sex Fruit was the most fitting, then they should have a psychiatric evaluation. Even Gweneth Paltrow’s daughter’s name, Apple, is a more fitting name than ‘Sex Fruit!’
If people are looking for fame and fortune, or looking to get on the Jerry Springer show, at the expense of their child, they really need to re-evaluate their priorities. If they actually thought, at the time, that the name ‘Talula does the hula in Hawaii’ or ‘Fish and Chips,’ were proper names then they need a straight jacket. There are too many people out there that find ways to belittle people that have absolutely nothing wrong with them. By giving them a clear target such as a ‘unusual’ name, the child’s life would most likely result in ridicule. In the case of Talula, her lawyer stated:
The girl had been so embarrassed at the name that she had never told her closest friends what it was. She told people to call her “K” instead
July 26th, 2008 by Manila Ryce
Three white teens were charged Friday in what officials said was an epithet-filled fatal beating of an illegal Mexican immigrant in a small northeast Pennsylvania coal town…
…According to a police affidavit, the defendants and three 17-year-olds encountered Ramirez, 25, and a teenage girl in a park the night of July 12.
The youths goaded Ramirez and the girl, saying, “You should get out of this neighborhood” and “Get your Mexican boyfriend out of here,” documents said. After Ramirez and the girl began walking away, someone yelled an ethnic slur at him, court documents said. He responded, “What’s your problem?”
A fight ensued, during which police said Walsh punched Ramirez in the face. The victim fell and hit his head on the street, leaving him unconscious, after which Piekarsky kicked him in the head, police said.
All three suspects used ethnic slurs during the fight, which ended with Ramirez in convulsions and foaming at the mouth, authorities said. The attackers fled the scene; Ramirez underwent surgery but died July 14 of head injuries.
July 25th, 2008 by Manila Ryce
By now, most of you are probably aware that the majority of prisoners the US is holding are in secret prisons. While Guantanamo Bay prison is the most well-known, it only represents around 1 percent of the total population of those illegally held around the world.
Additionally, due to a complete lack of public knowledge of these secret prisons, those held are given even worse treatment than the abuses we’ve learned are taking place in Gitmo. What could be worse than being waterboarded and having your genitals electrocuted? Are they forced to watch a Two and a Half Men marathon? We may never know, especially since the people who could potentially inform us about these situations are being locked up by the US military themselves.
This is mafia-style intimidation. Can you imagine if another nation were to forcibly kidnap and imprison any journalist in any country indefinitely for daring to report its methods?
The US military is holding Jawad Ahmad, who has worked with Canadian Television (CTV), at its detention facility at Bagram north of Kabul on allegations he is an “unlawful enemy combatant.”
Ahmad is among 650 people being held at Bagram without trial, US-based International Justice Network executive director Tina Monshipour Foster told reporters.
“Many people in Afghanistan and in Iraq that have been targeted for detention are local journalists covering the conflict in their own country,” said another prominent US human rights lawyer, Barbara J. Olshansky.
“When the United States detains reporters, photographers, camera operators and holds them for long period without charge for any offense and without trials and without any evidence, we know that part of the goal is to just shut people up,” she said.
The intention was to “make sure that the people of those countries and the United States do not know what is going on,” she alleged.
July 23rd, 2008 by Manila Ryce
Can Obama become any more of a joke? I’m posing this question honestly to the few Obama supporters who visit or stumble across this blog: What’s your breaking point? At what point do you finally drop your support? Is there even such a point, or is the “anyone but a Republican” syndrome too strong to be defeated by reason? If you can type in complete sentences and don’t need a helmet to surf the web, please let us know whether there is hope for you and your kind or if we’re just wasting our time with words.
July 22nd, 2008 by Manila Ryce
No, not by the fashion police. The UN War crimes tribunal announced Monday that Former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadžić is in custody after being on the lam for more than a decade. He is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the law of war.
When Bosnia and Herzegovina seceded from Yugoslavia in 1992, Karadžić declared himself president of a Bosnian Serb republic. The Bosnian Serbs were backed by Yugoslavian military and paramilitary forces, and quickly seized control of most of the country. During the conflict, Serb forces ethnically cleansed the territories they seized with forced displacements and killings of Muslims and Croats.
One crime in particular, which Karadžić is accused of overseeing, is the massacre at Srebrenica. The area was a UN “safe area” until it was overrun by Serbian troops who killed almost 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys. It was the largest massacre in Europe since World War II.
It’s believed that added pressure lead to Karadzic’s arrest. In December, the European Union warned Serbia that it would have to cooperate with the war crimes tribunal if it wanted to join the organization. Serge Brammertz of the Tribunal said, “It is also an important day for international justice, because it clearly demonstrates that nobody is beyond the reach of the law and that sooner or later all fugitives will be brought to justice.”
July 21st, 2008 by Manila Ryce
The above video shows an Israeli soldier shoot a rubber coated steel bullet from just 1.5 meters away at the left foot of Abu-Rahma, a bound and blindfolded Palestinian who was protesting the continued construction of Israel’s Apartheid Wall. The incident was taped by a fourteen-year-old girl on July 7th in the West Bank. A probe was only launched into the conduct of the soldiers when human rights organization B’Tselem received the video and demanded that the Military Police Investigation Unit conduct an immediate investigation.
Despite IDF claims that such abuse is in “direct contradiction with IDF values and principles”, just as the US military claimed to be true when pictures from Abu Ghraib were made public, it is well known that this kind of abusive behavior is standard procedure, and that it comes down from the top. In fact, it’s a lieutenant colonel who is seen holding Rahma’s arm in the film as the lower-ranking soldier takes aim and fires.
July 12th, 2008 by Manila Ryce
This reminds me of the time when that other chickenhawk bolted when confronted with the threat of accountability. Oh, I’m beginning to think that the bourgeoisie might not actually be as tough as they make themselves out to be. It’s a good thing the corporate media is focusing on Tony Snow’s death rather than covering this story instead. The last thing we need during an economic crisis is for the masses to get the idea that rich and powerful men can be challenged.
h/t Anita Stewart
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