Hello people, I have been away for a while, hope everyone is well...
OK this post is going to be about the ways you can help with relief efforts for the victims of the Tsunami, and also a reminder that events like these should bring attention to the other tragedies happening in the world, and make us respond to them with equal compassion, not draw attention away from them. Our giving of what we can and our capacity to care should be limitless:
1- Several sites have in depth coverage, in case you want to get more info: The BBC has a lot of information and they have links to relief efforts and ways to locate those who are still missing---The WHO has a page on what kind of diseases spread through flooding disasters, so that you know what people there need---A Blog that has a wealth of info is the SEA-EAT blog --- Air America has news and you can listen to the radio shows..
2- For those of you who want to find relief agencies that are working to help the victims take a look at Doctors Without Borders, they are dedicated amazing people who are setting up relief centers/clinics and sending in medical supplies and aid, if you are a doctor or emergency worker you can volunteer to go over there and help out, through them---Oxfam, as always, is out there and helping, so give what you can---Save the Children is out there too in several regions including Madras, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Thailand---the UN agencies involved in the disaster relief work are the World Food Programme, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization---The International Red Cross is in Sri Lanka and Indonesia---even Amazon is taking donations for the American Red Cross.
3- For those in Kuwait: Kuwait has so far pledged 2 million worth of aid, keep an eye on them so that they keep their promise---The Red Crescent can be a place you go to see how you can help---The Embassies of the countries affected by the disaster can be a source of information, ask them what they are doing to help and how you can help the victims, and help their families who might be in Kuwait---Things that are needed to be sent there, if you know someone in the area or someone who is going there, include: rehydration pills/kits, Malaria pills, paracetamols, diarrhoea pills for adults and children, multivitamins, water purification tablets/chlorine tablets, antibiotics, clothes, blankets, some places need more of some things than others so ask around..(also remember, north of our border those supplies are also desperately needed)
Indian Embassy---Indonesian Embassy---Thai Embassy---Anyone have info on the Sri Lankan embassy/consulate?
Kuwaiti blogs who also have info are Zaydoun's and Jambino's..the others out there let me know, I just haven't had enough time..
4-Lastly... disasters are taking place everyday, and they need a sustained effort from us as a world community to give relief to the victims and to help prevent them...our hearts all opened up for the victims of these horrendous floods, as they should, and it was probably very much due to the media attention and the heartbreking pictures and stories...our compassion should not end at the events that gain public attention only...or which stir us to a moment's need to do some good...let's remember the over two million dead in the DRC (Congo)--Lets remember 100,000 dead across our northern border, their wounded civillians and their devastated infrastructure---let's remember the wars that are raging all over the world that we are silent about---there is hunger that we can prevent worldwide (over six million children die each year, of hunger)---Write to the media, ask them why they don't do live coverage of suffering that goes on daily in war stricken countries? Where is their coverage of AIDS victims in Africa? Where is their coverage of hunger worldwide? Where is their coverage of the spending that goes on useless items while children and labourers and minorities worldwide become more and more needy..
The United Nations Development Program estimates that the basic health and nutrition needs of the world's poorest people could be met for an additional $13 billion a year. Animal lovers in the United States and Europe spend more than that on pet food each year
Peace everyone, let this new year be one we can all be proud of.
Friday, December 31, 2004
Tsunami
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Mobile phone cameras have caused yet more trouble, this time in India where a seventeen year old boy has been arrested for filming a sexual encounter he had ...also arrested was the chief exec. of India's version of ebay, because a copy of the video was offered on the auction site..Condi Rice is said to have taken personal interest in the case because he is an American citizen, the story is in the Guardian---The Guardian also had an article about Iranian blogs yesterday. There are 75,000 Iranian blogs out there , bravo Iran--- A majority of Americans, according to CNN, think Rumsfeld should resign---Jehane Noujaim, who went to school in Kuwait when she was young, has followed up her hit Startup.com with the highly praised Control Room, it's on DVD now---The magazine American Prospect has an article about how badly American democracy ranks among world democracies---According to a poll released by ABC and the Washington Post, Bush's approval is the lowest of any returning president ever---Newly released documents have even more prisoner abuse scandals in them---Due to continued attempts to convert Christian Copts in Egypt to Islam, the Coptic Pope has gone into seclusion to draw attention to the problem---Saad Eddin Ebrahim has been in Kuwait for the past two days, he gave a talk at KU and then at The Graduates Society (is that what it's called) and was interviewed on KTV as well---Finally, this is old news but here it is, if you're in the mood for learning, MIT has a free and open courseware site you can take a look at..
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Monday, December 13, 2004
Sunday, December 12, 2004
Morning folks, I read a strange article in the Kuwait Times about bottled water..Apparently a Kuwaiti family were nearly poisoned by dirt and insects in bottled water from Saudi. The company in charge told the father to stop making such a big fuss and then when the father informed him that his child almost died, the company representative told him it would be no more than losing a dog..hhmm..really guys? Well, the family will be suing the company..
Are we really surprised that in this world we have created, profits come over people? Are we surprised that poisoned people are not as important as the bottom line? Why would we be? Is there anything on our store shelves that doesn't poison you one way or another? When companies take shorcuts, is that done for the good of the consumer or for an increase in profits? The documentary The Corporation shows you that if the the corporation were a person, it would be clinically diagnosed as a 'psychopath'..The documentary has been getting great reviews.
From crimes like Bhopal (see the post on it below), to scandals like Enron, to the poisoning of communities like Woburn, MA described in A Civil Action to all the the chemicals we eat and drink everyday..are we really surprised? The question is why we continue to allow it...or why we just sit back and say, well thats what we have, and there's no changing it..or even, "ma feenna shay, ka 3aysheen wishzeenna! there can't be any problems"..The whole idea of just looking for profit (which tends to be very limited to few people, and also short term) instead of taking into consideration the effects these products will have on our health and the environment should have become extinct by now. But because we continue to be silent, continue to make lazy choices and continue to say 'well that's the way of the world', companies, corporations and profit seekers will not have to stop doing what they are doing. I hope the case against this water company comes to something, but will it be a loud enough shout for others to hear?
To read more about the way we have poisoned ourselves read the classic Silent Spring...and Trust Us We're Experts, watch Supersize Me and read Fast Food Nation and Affluenza: The all Consuming Epidemic...
To get an idea of how corporations are making sure that nothing stands in the way of business and profits, not the environment, not human rights, not sovereignty of states, not law..see: The Yes Men---This is What Democracy Looks Like---Bretton Woods Project----Corpwatch..
Saturday, December 11, 2004
What a beautiful day, take a look out the office window, or step outside and take a deep breath and smile..Isn't this planet just a wonderful place to be?...
(when you don't think about all the damage we have done to it)
So what's in the news?
The Independent says this:
And just some lighter stuff so you don't feel like the world is just too depressing (which it isn't, if we don't want it to be)-
- A German company is planning to launch a new web service, Cybersky, that will allow you to watch TV shows from almost anywhere in the world, for free..
- Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy) was in Dubai this week and spoke about the need for more starring roles for women in Hollywood films...and a film-makers' guild might be set up soon in Dubai..
- Watch the Daily Show for a good laugh.
Peace everyone, and have a sweet day under these blue skies..
Wednesday, December 8, 2004
News in Brief
Another cloudy day, and people turning three highway lanes into 5 and slowing everyone down..
The news: Kuwaiti co-ops are recalling chicken meat due to a salmonella infection--A chemical commonly found in shampoo,methylisothiazolinone (MIT), may cause brain damage according to research at Pittsburgh University---Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRINFO), titled "The Internet in the Arab World: A New Space of Repression?" finds many of the area's estimated 14 million Internet users facing shutdowns of Web sites, the closing of Internet cafes and prosecution for a variety of crimes, real or imagined.---The US is also flexing it's muscles on that front, seeking to limit the freedoms of the internet"I know that these actions will be controversial in this age when we still think the Internet is a free and open society with no control or accountability," Tenet told an IT security conference" ..
As for the news to our North:
- "Forty-six eminent figures including military men, ex-diplomats and bishops have written to Tony Blair urging a inquiry into civilian deaths in Iraq"BBC
- The 1000th US soldier dies in combat in Iraq, while the death toll from both combat and other causes in the war totals 1,275, while 9,765 US troops have been wounded. (The Guardian)
- The CIA says that Iraq looks bad and is getting worse..(International Herald Tribune)
- "Devastation, bitterness for Fallujah residents" (Kuwait Times)
Tuesday, December 7, 2004
The clouds are great, and the weather smells like rain.. A thing I love here in Kuwait.
Ok guys the news goes a little like this, Al-Hayat reports that the Jon Stewart's book has been named book of the year by Publisher's Weekly--- Eight Us Soldiers in Iraq and Kuwait plan to sue the army for not letting them go home after their enlistment ended---If climate change isn't dealt with properly, populations in low-lying areas by the water will be forced to migrate. Bangladesh is one such place---Rich countries, who are richer today than they have ever been, are breaking promises they made to aid the poor, which Oxfam says will lead to the deaths of 45 million children by 2015..
Thursday, December 2, 2004
- limit the hours of domestic workers by specifying:
-a forty hour work week, with adequate remuneration for overtime work;
-the specification of the maximum hours of work permitted per day;
-a fixed uninterrupted rest period of eight hours per day;
-a limition on the hours spent "on call" and adequate remuneration for those hours; - ensure that minimum wage laws and regulations apply to domestic workers and that domestic workers are included within the minimum wage fixing system, having due regard to the general level of wages in the country, the cost of living, social security benefits, the relative living standards of other social groups and economic factors;
(From HRW report about Abuse In Saudi Arabia)
Reports and articles to look at:- BAD DREAMS:Exploitation and Abuse of Migrant Workers in Saudi Arabia (Human Rights Watch)
- Indonesia's abused migrant workers
-----
"On July 1, 2003, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families* will enter into force. Its primary objective is to protect migrant workers, a particularly vulnerable population, from exploitation and the violation of their human rights...
...At present, the impact of the Convention remains limited, given that it has not been ratified by countries in either Europe or North America, where nearly 60% of the world’s migrants live (56 and 41 million respectively), nor by other major receiving countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan, Israel, Japan or Australia." (UNESCO)
Abuse happens worldwide, including in Europe and the US, but this is about abuse here because we live here..and it's shameful.
Something with your morning coffee..
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Charity Drive
OK Guys, spread the word...On the first day of every month there will be a charity drive for a particular cause...this will be held at the charity shop at Zahra Center...The charity shop runs all the time, but the cause changes monthly...December 1st, the money will be going to a charity that helps children who are not allowed an education due to their lack of citizenship, and children who can't afford an education...every fils you donate can help, so try to make it over at some point tomorrow..
You can also find out what causes are next on the list and how you can donate things you have at home to the shop so that the sale of the object can go to charity..send your family and friends over, send someone with a couple of KD if you can't make it yourself...
Location: Zahra Center- The space where there used to be a cafe upstairs..ask for the charity shop 'Artizana'
Time: 10am-1pm and 5pm-9pm
Date Wednesday the 1st of december.
BHOPAL
This coming week (December 2/3) is an important anniversary ...It's when the Union carbide factory in Bhopal, India killed 8,000 people in one night...and left a legacy of poison that has killed and maimed tens of thousands of people to this day...that night there was no siren (sound familiar?)...the safety systems were not functioning due to poor design and those that were working were turned off to save costs....20,000 thousand people have died since the disaster...50,000 are too sick to work for a living...500,000 were exposed to the gases...Union Carbide has refused to appear in court for criminal charges along with its chairman at the time Warren Anderson...Dow Chemical, which acquired Union Carbide, has refused to clean up any of the chemicals which continue to leak out of the plant even 20 years later...the water is poisoned, the soil is poisoned and the people continue to suffer...
For a moving and well written book about the tragedy see Five Past Mignight in Bhopal
Union Carbide was acquired by Dow Chemical in 1999, a move that outraged people around the world. It shouldn't have been shocking though, considering Dow's less that spotless past:
infamous chemicals, from Agent Orange and napalm for use in
the Vietnam War, to ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs) and the widely used insecticide Dursban. Dow has a
history of unethical behavior, including testing its chemicals on
humans and withholding information from the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)...
...Dow was one of the companies that produced DDT, the carcinogenic,
endocrine disrupting pesticide banned in the U.S. in
1972 after it was made famous by Rachel Carson’s Silent
Spring."(a book everyone should read)
Fact Sheet on the Bhopal tragedy.
"There were thousands of bodies. There were bodies everywhere. And people were dying all round." Amnesty's site..
New Evidence compiled by New Scientist..
Champa Devi, a survivor of the Bhopal disaster
Gas survivor Rashida Bi, who lost five gas-exposed family members to cancers
- This Friday the 3rd is the Global Day of Action for Bhopal...see what can be done...sign the petition above...or you can just reslove to tell people you know about the tragedy and you can hang a sign on your car or out your window saying you remember Bhopal.
- "Sambhavna is a Sanskrit / Hindi word which means "possibility". Read as "sama" and "bhavna" it means: "similar feelings" or "compassion"(The Sambhavna Medical Appeal)
- "EQUATE was established in 1995 as a joint venture between Government-owned Petrochemical Industries Company of Kuwait and Union Carbide Corporation, which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow. Each holds 45% ownership with the additional 10% held by Boubyan Petrochemical Company a publicly traded company on the Kuwait Stock Exchange."(Dow.com)(In case you thought it has nothing to do with us here)
- Remember there are factories everywhere, we could all be living in the next Bhopal..Ignore one's crimes and you encourage others.
Monday, November 29, 2004
In The News
"Twenty-one writers, including five Nobel prize winners, have produced an anthology to raise money for a charity helping those with Aids and HIV in southern Africa.
Telling Tales, a collection of short stories by Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Gabriel García Márquez, Susan Sontag, Woody Allen, John Updike and 15 others, will be launched at the United Nations headquarters in New York by Kofi Annan tomorrow, before World Aids Day"
(Guardian, London)
"They teach us to do dead-checking when we're clearing rooms," an enlisted Marine recently returned from Iraq told me. "You put two bullets into the guy's chest and one in the brain. But when you enter a room where guys are wounded you might not know if they're alive or dead. So they teach us to dead-check them by pressing them in the eye with your boot, because generally a person, even if he's faking being dead, will flinch if you poke him there. If he moves, you put a bullet in the brain. You do this to keep the momentum going when you're flowing through a building. You don't want a guy popping up behind you and shooting you."
(The Village Voice, NY)
I have had Jane Birkin's last album on repeat since I got the cd delivered in an opened, checked, invaded, unwrapped cd case inside an amazon package that was wrapped in endless kwt censorship tape..except i could pull the cd out of the side of the package which was unsealed..If they aren't going to seal the whole thing up again, why wrap the little package with sooo much tape? And if they are going to wrap it, and they have already invaded our privacy and poked their noses and fingers and whatever else into our belongings, why bother to tape up the package so maniacly that if i couldn't luckily yank the cd out of the side i would have had to get in there with a chainsaw?
Then I was listening to the amazing Be Good Tanyas ('Chinatown' album) in the car when the guy in the white chevy in front of me, with his perfectly starched shmagh stuck his fingers out of the top of his window (too cold to open all the way) and gave us all the gift of his filthy kleenex...I did the typically annoying headshake because i didn't know what else to do..and then when he got really generous and threw out the second batch, I instinctively went for the horn and held it until the guy squeezed through the other lanes to get away from the crazy person behind him honking the horn and waving a tissue box..
There are several places to put used tissue, half eaten sandwiches, aluminium foil smeared with leftover meat, jam3iya plastic bags filled with an assortment of rotting smelly stuff and trash...These places are called trash cans and they are on every corner, also cars do have ashtrays..and you can also keep a little bag in your car in case you ever have to use a tissue and are confused as to whether you should put it in your ashtray or throw it out your window at passing cars..this bag can have instructions on it (trash here/ do not throw me out your window) for the unimaginative polluters who can't figure out the difference between a garbage dump and public space.
I have seen people have to open their doors because the trash they are about to spill on the road is just too much to go out the little window..unbelievable..
Otherwise the day is quite nice isn't it? Blue skies and biting cold..very nice..
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Who's driving a Hybrid these days?:
Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Sting, Cameron Diaz, Tim Robbins, Leonardo DeCaprio, Susan Sarandon, Billy Crystal, Harrison Ford, Arianna Huffington, David Duchovny, Bill Maher, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Anniston, Alanis Morissette, Gwyneth Paltrow, Blythe Danner...
The Guardian has assembled the following "You don't want a CO2-spewing monster, but you do want to drive in style and comfort. It can be done: here are 10 cars, from city runarounds to sports cars, that won't destroy the world. Selected by the Environmental Transport Association, which raises awareness about the impact of excessive car use"
The EPA has got a list of the greenest cars too..
How do hybrids work??
---------------------------------------------
"We generate our own environment. We get exactly what we deserve. How can we resent a life we've created ourselves? Who's to blame, who's to credit but us? Who can change it, anytime we wish, but us?" Richard Bach
"Our environmental problems originate in the hubris of imagining ourselves as the central nervous system or the brain of nature. We're not the brain, we are a cancer on nature." Dave Foreman
Tonight at KU, Shuwaikh campus there will be a panel discussion on "Corruption and the Third World"...If you are feeling particularily vocal and politically minded go there and ask the panelists some tough questions...let them know they can no longer just turn up and say a couple of already known things and take the lecture fee without a struggle...Let them know there is a questioning public..if indeed there is one...
On the other hand, if you're in the mood for a film...Starting today 7pm (be there earlier) and going till Thursday there will be a festival of Kusturica's films at the Qibliya School (next to Sadu House)...One film every night till thursday in this order: "When Father was Away on Business"- "Time of the Gypsies" --"Arizona Dream"--"Underground"--"Black Cat White Cat"
These are films you won't get to see on the screen here too often, and they are supposed to be quite good..
Friday, November 26, 2004
With a nod to Zaydoun's posts on the topic of the The Da Vinci Code, today's papers report that the Holy Grail code has supposedly been broken by an American codebreaker...the code is an inscription on the estate of Lord Lichfield in Staffordshire..it's known as the Shugborough code and it is : D.O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V.M.
It is under a monument called the Shepherd's monument on the estate, which is reversed reproduction of a painting by Poussin called Et In Arcadia Ego (which hangs in..you guessed it..the Louvre)...
"Et in Arcadia ego... is supposedly the official motto of both the Plantard family and the Priory of Sion"
Last May, Lord Lichfield's estate teamed up with the famous codebreakers at Bletchley Park(made popular by the Kate Winslet film 'Enigma')..they have received tons of theories from different people and seem to favour the one sent by an anonymous American defense expert..he thinks that the Shugborough code spells 'Jesus (as diety) defy' (as in: Defy the idea that Jesus is Christ/Diety)
You can read more in today's Independent and The Guardian,
"The American was last seen heading back to Staffordshire to test his theory that the alignment of other monuments built by George Anson on the estate might point to the grail's position. "I really think that might be it, don't you?" he said. " (Guardian)
Goodmorning, hope everyone is enjoying the cold..We have really missed it..I haven't missed the enormous hormone accident flies..those could go somewhere far away..
Several weddings this past week prompt me to just mention the following..it is a beautiful thing to see two people really in love and really friends get married (as opposed to the strangers who sit awkwardly making small talk on the kosha)...it is also a beautiful thing to see the entire family and all the couple's friends celebrate with them (as opposed to women on bleachers staring at women and men doing a kissing train all the way out the door..Ever watched a video of the men congratulating the groom on 'fast-forward'? It's like a bunch of mad chickens pecking at each other)..it is also a beautiful thing to see parents and family and friends celebrating marriages that fall outside of the 'arranged', or the 'you only marry your cousin, or a Kuwaiti of your class, or, at any rate, a Kuwaiti' ...Mix bloods people! Improve the gene pool, widen the horizons, give your kids family from a different culture, let them grow up knowing the complexity of human presence on this planet..Let them grow up used to diversity and even the slight hardship that might come with it all..They will be better equipped...and think of the gift you give to all the closed minded people around you...they might learn to open their hearts a little every time they see someone step out of bounds successfully, and happily.
Bless all the couples that have decided to leap into the future by promising themselves to each other.. and I have a feeling that those who had to think twice, three times and a hundred times before making that leap have already developed some of the skills necessary for a healthy existence together...they have learnt to communicate, to stand by each other and to realize that it's something that you have to work on daily, this thing called marriage.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Listening to BBC radio (90.1) on the morning drive I heard the story about swimmers in New Zealand being saved from shark attack by dolphins:
"four swimmers were saved from a great white shark by a pod of altruistic dolphins, who swam in circles around them until the humans could escape. "(guardian)
Dolphins have saved humans countless times..the name comes from the greek “dolphis” which means “spirit of the sea”. In Antiquity these cetaceans were believed to have special powers to guide ships and save shipwrecked sailors---which is bittersweet since we do not tend to show the same respect for dolphins' lives:
Every bite of tuna you have might have killed countless dolphins to get..because tuna swim under schools of dolphins, fishermen look for dolphins and then use nets that not only catch tuna but trap and kill dolphins as well..
We do have one 'dolphin safe' tuna brand sold here and that is Starkist..I have bought it at the Sultan Center, check your local co-ops for it..
"StarKist will not purchase any tuna caught in association with dolphins.
StarKist continues its practice of refusing to purchase tuna caught with gill or drift nets, which are known to be dangerous to many forms of marine life. StarKist condemns the use of these indiscriminate fishing methods that trap dolphins, whales, and other marine life along with the intended catch of fish. " From the Startkist FAQ's
Save the Dolphins
About the Dolphin-Safe label
Adopt a Dolphin
"Two-member women gang robs another in Farwaniya" was a headline in todays Kuwait times.. ..doesn't the word gang make it sound so much more headline worthy?..as opposed to two ladies take 100 KD from a lady they knew...bravo KT for the harmless exaggeration..the club of journalistic hyperboles welcomes you.
Monday, November 22, 2004
"When she woke up she asked about her baby. "Again a girl! Are you not ashamed of yourself? The third time and still a girl." Malli did not open her mouth after that. Neither did she ask for her newborn. She knew what awaited her. She knew the eventuality. She knew her mother-in-law. She knew her husband, who had threatened to send her to her parental home if she delivered a baby girl again.
She knew someone may have already inserted a grain into her daughter's mouth, or fed her yerakkam pal, or may have drowned her in a bucket of water. She knew everything, but she remained silent. The hapless young mother of two unwanted girls wanted to sleep forever." (Rediff)
I have been reading a book I picked up at one of the Kuwait Bookshop branches (someone in purchasing is doing a good job these days) ..It's called 50 Facts that Should Change the World..
And in recognition of the 15th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (this last saturday the 20th) i thought i would mention one of the many sad facts that are in the book..a fact that has something to do with the painful quote above..
China has 44 million 'missing' women
What's that about?
"The phenomenon of "missing women" is almost certainly due to behavioral factors that reflect a preference for male children. These include selective abortion, infanticide and neglect (Foster and Rosenzweig, 2001). The result is that an estimated 30-70 million women
are "missing" from India and China alone." (Nancy Qian)
As defined by UNICEF, Female infanticide is defined as the abortion of a fetus because it is female or the killing of an infant by a relative because it is female. Infanticide has been practiced as a brutal method of family planning in societies where boy children are still valued, economically and socially, above girls... Medical testing for sex selection, though officially outlawed, has become a booming business in China, India and the Republic of Korea. (V-Day)
In case you thought it only happens in developing countries..Infanticide is a worldwide problem..though its causes differ among countries..
In the US:
Of all children under age 5 murdered from 1976-2002 --
31% were killed by fathers
30% were killed by mothers
23% were killed by male acquaintances
6% were killed by other relatives
3% were killed by strangers
(US Dept of Justice)
Statistically, the US ranks high on the list of countries whose inhabitants kill their children. For infants under the age of 1 year, the American homicide rate is 11th in the world, while for ages 1 - 4 it is 1st and for ages 5 - 14 it is 4th. From 1968 to 1975, infanticide of all ages accounted for 3.2% of all homicides in the US.(karisable.com)
Nearly five infants under the age of 1 are killed in the United States each week, according to a CNN review of FBI statistics.(1995 study)
China and India:
"gendercide" in China has resulted in the deaths of at least 50 million girls.
The government is promoting what it calls "Girl Care Project" – teaching rural families to value daughters as much as sons " (WND)
"(Amrtya) Sen used the concept of "missing women" to dramatize the wrenching consequences, in many parts of the world, of anti-female bias in nutrition, health care, and other basics of life. In China and other countries where there is a strong preference for male babies, sex-selective abortion and even infanticide of female babies undoubtedly contribute to the number of missing women."(Dollars and Sense)
For more information about female infanticide in China and India see Gendercide...or here..
Gender-based infanticide, abortion, malnutrition and neglect are believed to be behind 60 to 100 million women ‘missing’ from the world’s population. 90 per cent of child domestic workers are girls between 12 and 17 years old.(UNICEF)
81:9 باي ذنب قتلت
And when the girl-child, buried alive, is asked for what possible sin she was murdered'
Sunday, November 21, 2004
More than 800 people in northern Sweden may have developed cancer as a result of the fallout of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, a new study says. ---Pentagon hawks have begun discussing military action against Iran to neutralise its nuclear weapons threat, including possible strikes on leadership, political and security targets.--- Saudi Arabia is ready to combat swarms of locusts, which have already descended on Egypt, Cyprus, Lebanon and Israel--- Abdul-Hadi Al Khawaja, executive director of the dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, is convicted of inciting hatred of the government and sentenced to one year in prison
In todays news also...Scientists have unearthed remains of a primate that could have been ancestral not only to humans but to all great apes, including chimps and gorillas---this may come as shock to some 'creationists' considering:
- At a park called Dinosaur Adventure Land, run by creationists near Pensacola, Florida, visitors are informed that man coexisted with dinosaurs. This fantasy accommodates the creationists’ view that the Earth is only 6,000 years old and that Darwin’s theory of evolution is false...
- In Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Washington, and West Virginia legislators introduced anti-evolution bills, while Alabama mandated evolution disclaimers for biology textbooks and Louisiana tried but failed to do the same.
with regard to the idea of evolution and what it really means as opposed to what each side says about the other:
Fossils show that Hominids (human like species) have existed for 7 Million years...
Evolutionists have been very clear about this distinction of fact and theory from the very beginning, if only because we have always acknowledged how far we are from completely understanding the mechanisms (theory) by which evolution (fact) occurred. Darwin continually emphasized the difference between his two great and separate accomplishments: establishing the fact of evolution, and proposing a theory--natural selection--to explain the mechanism of evolution.
- Stephen J. Gould, " Evolution as Fact and Theory"; Discover, May 1981 (Found at:
PBS has a great site that explains what is scientifically known about evolution and what fossils and bones and geological evidence tell us..it is user friendly, colourful and playful..
The BBC has a site also, and so does skeptictank...
"..biological evolution in its complete form was presented by a great early zoologist, al-Jahiz in the ninth century...An early exponent of the zoological and anthropological sciences, al- Jahiz discovered and recognized the effect of environmental factors on animal life; and he also observed the transformation of animal species under different factors. And in many remarkable passages of his book, he also described for us the struggle of existences for survival, its aim and mechanisms and value in a scientific way, as well as in a folkloric way. As to know the mechanistiis of evolution, al-Jahiz described three mechanisms. These are Struggle for Existence, Transformation of species into each other, and Environmental Factors. " (from salaam)
Muslim views:
- HUMANKIND’S RELATIONSHIP WITH NATURE AND PARTICIPATION IN THE PROCESS OF CREATION BY TECHNOLOGY-ISLAMIC POINT OF VIEW
- The Muslim Responses to Evolution
- Does Islam believe in Evolution?
Peace..
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Goodmorning people, It's a beautiful cloudy cool day..finally..
Nearly got run over by several SUV's..what is it about some guys that they have to try to run you over when they can see that there is no way to switch lanes because of the cars on the right? And why do those guys always have to be in their 40's...It's pretty sad that you still need to speed to prove you're a man at 40..you would think by that age they would realise that it's a stupid thing to do..
While I was dodging sad older men on the road, I heard on Radio Monte Carlo (FM107.3) that a Brazillian woman, paralysed on one half of her body, was able to walk and talk again after doctors injected stem cells into her brain..That's good news right Q? At least for the woman..The controversy over stem cell research is still going on..
I also heard that "Pupils were left in tears after a teacher told them that an asteroid was about to hit Earth and kill them all"..apparently the creepy news was the teachers idea of making the students understand the value of everyday..of seizing the moment...the teacher realised it might have been a little over the top when the students became traumatised..reminds you of the time radio listeners went into a panic frenzy when they thought the Orson Welles radio version of "War of the Worlds' was real news and they started heading for the hills to escape an invasion from Mars...You can hear the original broadcast here...
Friday, November 19, 2004
Ma3rath il Kitab starts on the 23rd you guys..I guess it's at the usual place, Ardh il ma3arith..if anyone has any info that's different let us know..Yes I know that most of the books suck, but the trick is to go there and ask for books you want to see and complain about what you think is not so good. Otherwise the only consumers there will be the ones that they cater to already..Your voice is the only thing that will change the kind of stuff we get here. It is a business after all..they hear enough people wanting change and they will find a way to bring you the books you want..Let your demands and your Dinars do the changing..challenge the dearth and the mediocrity..
For those of you from the UK, you lucky people have the chance to win all 20 books on the Whitbread Awards shortlist, courtesy of the Guardian...Good luck.
For Arabic books online check out Saqi Books in London, L'olivier in Geneva..
Some sites about Arabic literature: Columbia Uni's page on Arabic literature, Arabic Poetry online..
Want to read books online? See Project Gutenberg and the Online Books Page.
You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture.Just get people to stop reading them.
Ray Bradbury
A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.
Chinese proverb
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
After a week of hibernation, hello again folks. Hope everyone had a safe and restful 3eid..
Margaret Hassan has been murdered, killed, butchered, like so many others north of our border...and for what? Wars are dirty dirty things...so take heed and learn from the mistakes of those before you..wage peace people, not war. no matter how noble you think you are..it reduces you to murderers, whoever's side you are on.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
What are we doing?
Left your refrigerator door open for 6 years
Left your bathroom light burning for 30 years or
Left your color television turned on for 28 years
Global warming ..yes it's real and it's coming and we are helping it to come faster than ever..I would think those of you out there with kids would have to worry about this even more becasue we are helping to make their world a real mess..We are going to have a water crisis world-wide by 2025 ---the arctic is melting---the polar bears have only decades to survive and then poof! all gone, along with lots of other living things --ice caps are melting at alarming speed---Summers are getting hotter and hotter...and on and on..
The Pentagon has a study which predicts wars and famines and disappearing cities (and it's not fantasy) all thanks to climate change:
- Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us
· Secret report warns of rioting and nuclear war· / Britain will be 'Siberian' in less than 20 years ·/Threat to the world is greater than terrorism. - An imminent scenario of catastrophic climate change is "plausible and would challenge United States national security in ways that should be considered immediately," according to a report commissioned by the Pentagon and obtained by media outlets in February 2004.> Download the report
- Global Warming Basics What it is, how it's caused, and what needs to be done to stop it.
- The Day After Tomorrow facts..
What can we do? It's not that hard actually--every Dinar we spend is a vote, so vote for cars that use less gas (or for public transport) , vote for appliances that last longer... don't fall for all the fashionable electronics we have to keep buying..there's nothing cool about them--get what you need only, and enjoy what's left of nature---ask the shops to stock organic food, natural products, healthy choices--why pay to kill yourself? Watch what you waste and what you consume...There are tons of ideas I am sure you guys have billions of them swimming around in your heads..Does anyone's work-place encourage paper-free work? Do you guys recycle? Where do you recycle?
- 30 ways to do the right thing
- Non-Consumer gift ideas
- Games to play and learn: Here and here .
We have organic stores in Kuwait (2 in suq ilSalmiya and 1 in the Qurtuba jam3iya, right? and the organic meat shop in salmiya on the street where La Baguette is in old Salmiya...and organic choices in some supermarkets...what else is there? We don't have any Hybrid cars yet, as far as I know...we don't have a great recycling system, i'm not sure why and the way we waste water and electricity is kinda crazy..If anyone has any info i'd love to hear it..
After a cat and mouse game with death all his life, and after a weird week of everyone guessing and second guessing whether he was dead or alive and whether he had AIDS (Israelis' favourite theory) or whether the Israelis had poisoned him (Palestinians' favourite theory, though even US soldiers in Iraq have joked about that) Arafat is dead..at least we are pretty sure he is..
Whether you just hate the man or idolise him...both views that are pretty narrow i would think...since life is infinitely more complicated than that...It cannot be denied that he left a mark on history..whatever that means to people.
Yasser Arafat, Obituary
Political leaders' reactions to Arafat's death
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Chew on these:
"Mohammed Abboud said he watched his nine-year-old son bleed to death at their Falluja home yesterday, unable to take him to hospital as fighting raged in the streets and bombs rained down.
"My son got shrapnel in his stomach when our house was hit at dawn, but we couldn't take him for treatment," said Mr Abboud, a teacher.
"We buried him in the garden because it was too dangerous to go out." The Guardian
His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah stressed Monday that the "quick developments and turmoils in the region require all to exercise caution and alertness, and to get ready for any possibly arising emergency." Arab Times
MPs Faisal Al-Muslem and Dr Awwad Barad have raised more questions to Information Minister Mohammad Abulhassan on music concerts and parties at hotels. . Arab Times
"We speak with John Perkins, a former respected member of the international banking community. In his book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man he describes how as a highly paid professional, he helped the U.S. cheat poor countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars by lending them more money than they could possibly repay and then take over their economies" Democracy Now
Tuesday, November 9, 2004
Music and News..
Spending the morning going through cd's, no one in the office, so what the hell... The first time I heard Kinnie Star's 'Sun Again' album, I wasn't drawn to it at all..but I just heard it again and I think it's genius...Also been listening to Jimmy Reed's 'Cry Before I go' and Buddy Guy's 'Sit and Cry'...And I think I am just about ready to get some Joni Mitchell on before i get too blue..
Now for a bit of news:
Everyday there is New Evidence Bush Stole Election (Again)---New airline plans flights from Dubai to Baghdad starting Nov. 18---The Berlin Wall fell 15 years ago today---UN urges calm on Lebanon border---The Arab Times writes that "A radical Islamic group threatened to attack the premises of Kuwait satellite channel and its correspondents in Iraq unless action is taken to stop the play 'Kuwaiti in Fallujah' on grounds it defames the image of Jihad in Iraq.---and in case that didn't leave enough of a sour taste in your mouth, apparently one tenth of the world's crops are irrigated with sewage water---and for some humorous news: The government says it is 'serious' about giving women their political rights (insert hysterical laughter here, and a 'where have I heard that before")...and also says that the citizens are as happy with the 200kd grant as the governement is... how sweet...
Now to try and figure out some technical glitches on the site...
Monday, November 8, 2004
Ok just some things to while away the time..
The Guardian has an amazing site, and one of the things you can do is take a little quiz and they will generate a poem to suit your mood: Poetry Mood Matcher
Here is another one of the amazingly odd and funny things Harpers puts in their magazine, because they know it is odd and funny.
Saturday, November 6, 2004
The weekend was surreal with all the Arafat 'dead or alive' maddness---The Israeli media said he was dead---Even the minister of Luxembourg said he was dead---then he said oops I didn't mean that, I take it back---Bush said "God Bless His Soul"---Then everyone said 'he's not dead, what's wrong with you people!'---He's brain dead---No he isn't, and will everyone please stop guessing (at least that's what that French guy in Uniform might have said)---then envoys said that he was in a reversible coma, to counter the claims that he was in an irreversible coma---Now the papers just say ' he is between life and death', because it's just too damn confusing to say anything else...the fast food style of life has made everyone so impatient, can't wait for official declarations about a man's health, can't wait to count votes, can't wait to invade countries...fast fast fast...
The blogs and news sites are filled with stories about how the votes were stolen this time round, and some are pretty scary:
The Ultimate Felony Against Democracy by Thom Hartmann
Machine Error Gives Bush Thousands of Extra Ohio Votes November 5, 2005, Associated Press
Polls match outcome in paper trail votes, But don't match in the e-voting states
Although the exit polls show that most voters in Ohio punched cards for Kerry-Edwards, thousands of these votes were simply not recorded. This was predictable and it was predicted. [See TomPaine.com, "An Election Spoiled Rotten," November 1.]
But then again, maybe some people just can't believe the result...you decide.
The ever helpful Canadians have started a "marry an American' drive to, and I quote, "sacrifice their singlehood to save our southern neighbours from four more years of cowboy conservatism."---will they get a lot of Americans dressed in wedding gear knocking on their doors? Reuters says: "The number of U.S. citizens visiting Canada's main immigration Web site has shot up six-fold as Americans flirt with the idea of abandoning their homeland after President George W. Bush's election win this week"---Good luck folks, maybe a liberal country and a conservative one can live peacefully side by side...
Fallujah is about to be blasted some more---The BBC (FM 90.1) had a spokesman for the families of the town begging coalition forces not to attack, he said that families have fled their homes and their belongings to save themselves from the attack, and that it feels like world war 3 That was on the 9am news, it will probably be repeated---10,000 GIs Ring Fallujah in Preparation for Massive Battle---The Seattle Times reports that "The number of dead and wounded from the expected battle to retake insurgent-controlled Fallujah probably will reach levels not seen since Vietnam" ---The BBC News website spoke by phone to a reporter in Falluja, who described how people left in the city live on through siege and bombardment---UN chief Kofi Annan has warned Iraqi and coalition governments against an assault on the Iraqi city of Falluja---Allawi rejects Annan's Fallujah warning... Pictures from Fallujah..
Thursday, November 4, 2004
Some articles that caught my attention in this weeks Talea :
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Wednesday, November 3, 2004
i am drifting in and out of sleep...stayed up watching the the maps go red and then blue and then red...so much red...Won't write much, because i may fall asleep very soon...everyone I talked to is really depressed. This place and people have changed a lot since the time when they just blindly worshipped anybody named after a shrub...of course there are still the people who bow before the memory of an intervention many years ago, and many others who are happy to justify all the current destruction and carnage and also the march of a leading modern country back to medeival thinking; justify it all by pointing to the great economic gains that war has wrought for this little place here...I suppose we can leave them to their consciences...
Voters Report Problems with Computer Systems -Reuters
Voting Problems Widespread in Florida, Pennsylvania
B is at 254
K is at 252
What's left?
Ohio which is so far 51B/49K- It has 20 Electoral points/votes--it won't be called till the 100,000 to quarter million provisional ballots are counted 11 days from now-- what are provisional ballots?-"Voters were allowed to cast provisional ballots if their names weren't on registration lists when they showed up at their polling place. Election officials must validate that the ballots were properly cast before counting them"(Bloomberg)
Iowa is 50B/49K (7 Electoral points)- waiting for results of absentee ballots to be counted and also equipment failures caused delays. The absentee ballots are more than the lead B is currently enjoying.
New Mexico is 50B/48K (5 electoral points)- "In New Mexico, election officials indicate there are over 20,000 provisional ballots that need to be validated and counted – almost double the amount of votes Bush is leading by"(rediff.com)
rumour has it that Kerry will give a consession speech around one today...why the hurry folks, count the votes.
Monday, November 1, 2004
Ahh the blackout...One of the richest and tiniest countries in the world (that is a rare combo) couldn't turn the electricity back on for some of its areas till past 9pm yesterday (Funaitees was out till 9:30)...that means 8 hours of the food in the freezer saying its last goodbyes before it was ruined...and it's not like they had a continent to deal with...how much smaller do we have to be for them to be able to run the country properly...or is that not really the problem..hmmm..And of course the radio was useless as ever..."uhm mr policeman please tell us how the roads are"..and you would expect a road report, like: 'well number 60 is backed up, but there seems to be less traffic on istiqlal' etc...instead we get.."i would like to thank the kuwaiti people for being so patient and helpful"..well patient and helpful doesn't help me and feels like we don't need your pat on the back. Why do they think that they can talk to the people of this country like children? Like when a kid falls over and is about to cry and suddenly you start clapping for him and he is all fine because he forgot about the pain. What we wanted to hear was Why this happened, Where the electricity was off, and what they are doing to fix it and a traffic report would have been just lovely. Instead we get patronizing rubbish about being good citizens. And of course today we get the 200kd that isn't going to make people any less pissed off that this place is so topsy turvy when it has all the resources able to turn it into an amazing country.
cranky? me? never.
