I make no apologies for reporting this story of an Iranian teenage girl executed at the age of 16. It happened on August 16, 2004, we should not forget her or the wicked religious judge who sentenced her to death. Her name was Atefah Rafavi Sahaaleh, the judge’s name is Haji Rezai.
Iran is ruled by a criminal pseudo-Islamic regime. What the unelected* rulers of this brutal state claim as the laws of Islam are archaic, inhuman laws from a bygone age. Modern Islam does not teach such things. Modern Muslims do not agree with the twisted interpretations of these pervert mullahs.
Just how many people and children are executed by Iran is not clear. Trials are often held in secret and openness is not something the authorities are known for. It is estimated that only China executes more of it’s citizens, so Iran is second in this infamous league table.
In Iran the strict application of their version of Sharia law means that ‘offending public morals’ carries a death sentence. The religious courts acting under Sharia law ignore National and International law. Atefah was murdered by Judge Haji for “acts incompatible with chastity” under International law he is guilty of at least two violations, morality is not a capital offence and executing a child is illegal.
Despite International condemnation Iran is still executing kids and will continue until the Iranian people take power and overthrow these despots. Give them your support, show the masses that the world is behind them.
It is estimated that over 100 other children facing execution in Iran. Sign the petition to stop child execution in Iran. Visit: www.stopchildexecutions.com.
*The so-called democratic elections of June 2009 were rigged and the opposition crushed.
Prime Minister Brown the liar
The Prime Minster told Sir John Chilcot’s Iraq inquiry that the budget for British troops had risen above the rate of inflation every year for the last decade. He later repeated the claim to members of Parliament.
This claim was a lie. The PM should be ashamed that having collaborated with former Prime Minister Blair and sent our troops to the illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan he short changed the military by not providing enough funds.
The ITN video shows this warmongering incompetent reluctantly giving an inadequate apology after being exposed by a Commons library research note prepared last October.
Brown should go!
The General Election could be as early as May this year. It’s the opportunity to rid British politics of corrupt Brown and the other cheats and liars infecting the political process.
It was almost inevitable that the US would experience a earthquake after the recent disasters in Haiti and Chile. Had this tremor been the same magnitude of those in the Caribbean and South America we would see similar chaos and destruction.
The California quake on the Wittier fault was 11-miles deep. The last big quake in Los Angeles was in 1994 and it killed sixty people.
UPDATE: Prime Minister Brown squirming in his seat as a bereaved mother challenges him about her son being sent out on patrol without adequate equipment. Go here for the video as the BBC despite being a public service organisation does not allow embedding.
The Labour government under Blair engaged in an illegal war with his crazy right-wing buddy George Bush. He not only sentenced unknown thousands of Iraqis to death but also sent 179* British troops to their deaths. Not all Labour MPs voted with the government.
One hundred and thirty nine Labour members rebelled and the government would have lost the vote but was saved by the Conservatives (Tories) who voted in favour.
I will get a list of MPs who voted for war and a list of the rebels. This just one very important reason we should be selective with our votes at this election. Think! Don’t blindly vote for a party lets find the best men for the job and vote for them. In other words dump party political voting vote for the rebels.
I am writing a series of articles on this subject on the site WikiNut, here is the first: [Click link. www.wikinut.com]
UPDATE: March 13, 2010. Associated Press has just announced that Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamil leaders have dropped their demand for an independent state.
The civil war in Sri Lanka may be over but the suffering of the civilian population is not. Many are still in internment camps unable to go home either through government prevention or because of the danger from land mines.
It is clear from witness stories that both sides, the Sri Lankan military and the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) have committed atrocities. However, the refusal by the Sri Lankan Government to allow independent journalists in the war zone during the conflict does raise the question, what was it hiding. The press can visit now but with restrictions. There are still no-go areas and the army escorts journalists even in the permitted areas.
The people bear witness to massive shelling by government troops of civilian areas including hospitals. Video evidence has surfaced of bound prisoners being shot and of naked women being abused by soldiers. Watch the shifty President Mahinda Rajapaksa lying when confronted by awkward questions. He has also rejected a United Nations proposal for an enquiry into human rights abuses. [CLICK LINK: http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2010/03/sri-lanka-president-rejects-proposed-un.php]
The following videos from CNN feature Sara Sidner who travelled to report from ethnic Tamil areas.
Shocked At Telephone Call Costs? You should be. Many calls you are deliberately being overcharged by companies and even the Government. How many times do you see numbers starting with 0844, 0845, 0870 and 0871?
They are called Lo-Call numbers, note the special spelling. Lo-Call means that in most cases your telephone provider will be charging up to 10p per minute - more with a mobile telephone. To further confuse the public, numbers that used to be called local are now called geographic. Are you beginning to see how this rip-off has evolved?
What is more agents (old name: operators) often claim that these Lo-Call numbers are local, low-cost numbers. They are lying to you. They will even tell you that no geographic or freephone numbers available, that is also a lie. There may not be a freephone number but there is always geographic number. Telephone users who have opted to pay a monthly fee to receive free evening and weekend calls get charged for using the 0844, 0845, 0870 and 0871 numbers.
The Pension Service do not give geographic numbers on their correspondence so when an elderly person calls the Pension Service they pay for the call from their meagre state pension. The same goes for the unemployed and people on low incomes who need to call a government department.
I must make it clear there are exceptions, some government services do have geographic or freephone numbers for specific services however that is not the norm. The following scan makes the point. Only 0845 numbers are shown but both geographic and a freephone number is available.
Numbers starting with 01, 02 or 03 are cheaper than 0844, 0845, 0870 or 0871 numbers. 0800 and 0808 numbers are freephone numbers and are free from landlines but not mobiles.
Here are some freephone numbers for major services who all deny that an alternative exists:
British Gas Billing: 0800 107 0224
British Gas Customer Service: 0800 048 0202
E.On Electricity: 0800 363 363
State Pension: 0800 731 7898
Pension Credit: 0800 731 7898
Notify Pensions of Change of Address: 0800 991 234
Natwest Bank Customer Services: 0800 200 400 Option 2
More alternatives can be found at this excellent web site SayNoTo0870
Joe Arpaio, the vicious, cruel and corrupt Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona is a symbol of a society that has become infected with hatred and fear. Arpaio’s brand of ‘law enforcement’ is now becoming commonplace not only within the United States but wherever the US has or attempts to grab control.
It’s infected the police departments in city after city, State after State. It is now common place to Taser torture citizens just because they are deemed to be uncooperative or combative. Just because people object to being treated rudely and sometimes roughly by cops the charge becomes resisting arrest and the Taser gets used.
It’s not just Arpaio’s fault of course, the Bush administration employed torture in secret prisons and foreign lands. Human rights and the US Constitution were ignored and this behaviour from the top has given the green light to every sadistic coward employed in the police, armed forces and the security services.
The unacceptable has become the acceptable and as a society unacceptable behaviour usually towards minority’s and the poor is being condoned. But this behaviour is not just spreading across the United States, it’s happening across the world.
The corruption and racism within Arpaio’s Maricopa County has to be reversed. He is proud of the harsh treatment he metes out to suspects and prisoners, he’s proud that Mexicans are being murdered by his henchman and bigoted citizenry.
That same ignorant-no-mercy-lynch-mob mentality has resulted in extraordinary punishment of children in American schools. Zero tolerance policies are now being applied to minor offences and the notoriously unjust three strikes law is being adopted in some form by more and more countries throughout the world. Criminal law is applied disproportionately against minorities and the disadvantaged, resulting in even more loss of respect for law and order.
“While Arizona boasts about its harsh stance on illegal immigration, not one report is made on how many children are without parents. The local media spends more time covering animal abuse then what is happening to children who lose their parents as a result of racial profiling and unjust immigration policies.” says Humanleague
As we have seen the problem is not just Maricopa’s, it’s problem that is creeping throughout the United States and the world. More people need to be aware that this breakdown in natural justice because it affects us all.
This following video is a celebration of Arpaio being booted from his Wells Fargo offices. It is also a celebration that protesting works. Protecting the imaginary lines that we call borders has become a destructive and costly business. Costly in lives, costly for justice and human rights and costly in millions of of wasted taxpayers dollars.
Video by Dennis Gilman, voted as Best Videographer by Phoenix New Times for 2009.
“After a year and a half of protesting daily, Wells Fargo has decided to boot Arpaio out. This video shows footage from beginning to end. Plenty of it comes from the one year anniversary last September. I tried to get as many people in this that helped. I’m sure I missed plenty and if you are one of them-I apologize. This was a community effort and people came from other states to join in making the crowd into the hundreds from time to time. Other days it was just a few dedicated warriors like Rob enduring 115 degree heat!”
“Getting Arpaio booted from Wells Fargo is a great first step but as those who dedicated so much understand-it’s only a beginning. Please enjoy this victory and share it with your friends.”
The creeping domination of “don’t be evil” Internet company Google of the Internet has now become so worrying that people and governments are questioning their motives. Nobody who is serious about using the internet for business, pleasure or campaigning can avoid using many of Google’s services.
This blog does not use the Google Blogger service, I use the Wordpress engine and host with CanadianWebHosting*, but I do use the Google search engine, YouTube, Gmail (Googlemail as it known in the UK) and Google Analytics as aids to research and publicity. Privately I use many other Google services on an occasional basis so I am probably typical of how individuals and organisations have been enticed onto Google’s planet wide sticky flypaper of free services.
And this is the point ‘free’ is good isn’t it? Yes but lack of choice isn’t. I don’t care that capitalist organisations devour each other in orgiastic frenzy but I do care not to end up completely reliant on Google for permission to operate. Once the evildoers have World domination they could and probably wouldl dictate what can be published and what can’t.
I am going to take stock of the services I use, maybe I can find alternatives and help keep the torch of freedom alive. While I’m doing that have a look at this entertaining YouTube video by Australia’s ABCTV called Hungry Beast.
Graphics by Patrick Clair, written by Elmo Keep and Jon Casimir.
Hungry Beast airs in Australia on the ABC, 9PM Wednesdays.
*This link, here and above, could earn TheDuckShoot a commission if hosting is purchased from Canadian Web Hosting* through that link. I would never endorse anything I didn’t use or recommend a service I was not completely satisfied with. My opinion of this company may change of course and if it does the links will be removed.
“The flimsiest of evidence was allowed to stand because her defence lawyer, one of the worst in recent American history, failed to see her until two weeks before the trial. He was so disinterested in the case, he failed to interrogate prosecution witnesses and to call to the stand those who would most certainly have saved Linda’s life.”
Key facts:
Linda Carty was born on the Caribbean island of St Kitts and holds a UK dependent territory passport.
In 2002 she was convicted of the abduction and murder of a 25-year-old woman, Joana Rodriguez, after a ”catastrophically flawed” trial.
She is now on Death Row in Texas.
The trial was flawed, her defence lawyer a cretin.
Legal assistance was denied her from the British Consulate because the Texas judiciary failed to inform them of her arrest. (A legal obligation when non-US citizens are arrested)
She worked in the United States Drug Enforcement Agency as an informant.
She was ‘fitted up’ by a criminal drug gang, it is claimed.
She has appealed to the US Supreme Court and is awaiting a decision. “The request for a retrial is based around the belief that Carty was given an incompetent defence lawyer during the original trial and that the British Government was wrongfully prevented from providing support.”
The Supreme Court only decides in appellants favour in very few cases that is why she desperately needs support from us.
Actors Colin Firth, Julie Christie, Philip Pullman, Zadie Smith and Martina Cole have all backed the campaign.
Amnesty International is supported her and Reprieve is providing legal assistance as well as coordinating the campaign.
In May 2006, over 45 women were arrested without explanation in San Salvador Atenco, Mexico. Many were subjected to physical, psychological and sexual violence by the police officers who arrested them and then held in prison for days before being released on bail. More than three years have passed and they are still waiting for justice.
None of the officials responsible for their abuse have been adequately held accountable. The Mexican Supreme Court has already affirmed that human rights violations occurred at Sal Salvador Atenco. Before concluding that it did not have jurisdiction in the case, the Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against Women and Human Trafficking (FEVIMTRA) identified 34 members of the state security forces as suspects in the crimes. The investigation is now in the hands of Mexico State authorities.
Call on the governor of Mexico State, Enrique Peña Nieto, to see to it that those responsible for the crimes against the women of Atenco are brought to justice and that adequate reparations are provided to survivors and their families.
NEW YORK, USA, 5 March 2010 A side event at the 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on 4 March 2010 convened by UNFPA and UNICEF focused on recognizing the need to involve boys and men in the promotion of gender equality.
This side event Boys and Men: Partners for Gender Equality was planned as a thought-provoking way to generate more effective partnerships between those in the women’s movement and those who work with men to promote gender equality.
The panellists acknowledged that there are many programmes for male adolescents and men that promote equality, but that such programmes need to be extended to boys still in their early childhoods in order to achieve better results.
Abundant empirical evidence has shown that through direct engagement about gender inequality issues, boys and men not only become more gender sensitive, but more willing to challenge patriarchal structures, masculine social norms and the imbalance of power within relationships.
The Boys and Men: Partners for Gender Equality event was a positive step towards the active participation of males in the effort to make gender equality a reality.
“Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights.” – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
In a video made for International Women’s Day 2010, Nadege Auguste, from Haiti tells how she was raped 3 days after the earthquake. Jean-Claude Fignole, ActionAid’s Country Director, describes how we are working with community groups to strengthen security, particularly for women. Immacula Jeanty, widowed by the earthquake tells us how she feels more secure for the protection that is in her camp.
“According to the information we have, no one remains under the rubble. The work has been ended,” an official from the governor’s office told the news agency AFP.
The death toll now reportedly at least 51 and “dozens” of people are injured.
80 aftershocks measuring up to 5.5 and 5.3 magnitude
At least 17 of the dead came from the largest village, Okcular, where up to 30 houses collapsed, rescuers said.
The Turkish Kandilli Observatory seismology centre says there have been more than 20 aftershocks the strongest of which was 4.1 magnitude.
CNN-Turk television said the dead included four young sisters trapped in the rubble.
Reuters is reporting a strong earthquake of 6.0 magnitude in the eastern Turkish village of Okcular in Elazig.
It struck in the early hours of Monday morning February 8 at 4:32 am local time. Turkey’s Kandilli earthquake observatory said the quake had its epicentre at Basyurt-Karakocan.
ICELAND LATEST: Icelanders Say “Fuck Off ” It Wasn’t OUR Fault!!
Overwhelming majority of Icelanders (93% of voters) have rejected the payback deal that there government was bullied into by the British and Dutch government. The Bankers caused the crisis the bankers should pay is the message.
That’s people power and has been left to this cold and tiny island with an equally tiny population to stand and be counted. Come on people stand against the greedy capitalists they have stolen our money and run for the hills. Let’s flash mob the banks, flash mob the bosses mansions, let’s show them who’s boss.
Ragnar Axelsson/Reuters, People gathered in Reykjavik in January at the residence of Iceland’s president to present a petition against a plan for repaying $5.3 billion in a failed bank’s debt.
The Iceland referendum is under way. It is widely expected that the people will vote NO! I think they should after all it wasn’t only the Icelandic bankers that behaved badly. What is more the British government has acted like a school yard bully to this tiny country.
[Quote] So, let me get this straight. Icelandic bankers behaved very badly, collapsing their country’s banking system, and losing the money of scores of British and Dutch overseas depositors. The British and Dutch governments could have said to their unlucky citizens, “Sorry, but you took the risk of putting your money in an overseas bank. We can’t help you.” But they did not take that path; instead, they bailed out their citizens — and are now trying to hit Icelandic taxpayers — keep in mind that this is a tiny country — with the bill. Today Icelanders are voting on whether or not to pay that cost. [End of Quote]
[Quote] The Icelanders feel as though they’ve been bullied (especially by the British) and it’s hard not to agree with them. Quite why the Icelandic government should be held responsible for the British government’s entirely voluntary decision to bail out savers and investors is a mystery.
Worse still was the manner in which her Majesty’s Government treated Iceland – seizing all Icelandic assets in the UK and using anti-terrorism legislation to do so. [End of Quote]
[Quote] Their leadership and example will encourage people in other democracies to reject harsh cuts in public services and living standards made at the behest of the very people and institutions — the bankers and the regulators — responsible for the crisis. [End of Quote]
Ann Pettifor - Debtonation – After Iceland’s Referendum, What Next?
[Quote] So the negotiations have broken down, British and Dutch “bullying” (FT 27 February, 2010) continues and the referendum goes ahead. What next?
We emphasize that this is not a sovereign debt crisis, even if the British and Dutch want us to think it is.
It is a crisis of EU regulatory failure, and of the Anglo-American economic model. [End of Quote]
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