“We will help supply food and medicines like any enlightened and moral country must do,” he said.

The reality is very different.

Remote farm reduced to rubble and the farmer, who was not a supporter of Hamas, to “Just a pile of flesh”

His grieving son says, “My grief carries no desire for revenge, which I know to be always in vain. But, in truth, as a grieving son, I am finding it hard to distinguish between what the Israelis call terrorists and the Israeli pilots and tank crews who are invading Gaza. What is the difference between the pilot who blew my father to pieces and the militant who fires a small rocket? I have no answers but, just as I am to become a father, I have lost my father”.
The Independent report in full

Oxfam supported health worker killed and ambulance destroyed in Israeli shelling in Gaza. Israeli offensive puts families’ and aid workers’ lives at risk, Oxfam warns.
Oxfam report in full

The Red Cross (ICRC)
The situation in Gaza since the Israel Defense Forces launched their ground offensive on Saturday night has become both chaotic and extremely dangerous. It is difficult for the ICRC to move around and assess the urgent humanitarian needs created by the continued shelling and bombing, and by fighting on the ground. The ground attack has forced a number of people in the north of the Gaza Strip to flee their homes.
Red Cross report in full

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Reports:
According to the Coastal Municipalities Water Utilities (CMWU), about 70% of the Gaza Strip population has no access to water…
The OCHA report in full

More reports of the “non” humanitarian crisis here.
Haaretz.com report

This report was compiled from a report in Alternet.org

Apart from personal study I have a Portuguese teacher when I am in London and my Brazilian friends help me when, like now, I am in Brazil.

I have found that to watch Brazilian made movies with the dialogue and subtitles in Portuguese is very helpful. By listening and reading at the same time I learn the pronunciation and improve my vocabulary.

Rummaging through the DVD shelves of a Campinas second-hand store I found a used copy of the Brazilian movie OLGA. Olga is a film made in 2004 by Brazilian director Jayme Monjardim, inspired by the biography written by Fernando Morais on the German, Jewish and communist Olga Benário.

Olga Benário

It is based upon the true story of Olga Benário, the German-born wife of Brazilian communist leader Luís Carlos Prestes. During the dictatorship of Getúlio Vargas (1930-1945) she was arrested and sent to Nazi Germany, where she was put to death in a concentration camp.

The film is emotionally moving and an inspiration to all people who want a better, fairer world. Her journey starts from her first steps in Communism when she ran away from Berlin to Moscow in 1928, to her cruel death, at Bernburg in 1942.

To me she is one of the great heroes of the left, a true revolutionary. Olga Benário was a woman who lived and lost her life fighting for freedom from fascism, poverty and oppression. I highly recommend this movie, go to the trailer here.

 Trailer

They hate Hamas but Hamas is the democratically elected government of Gaza. This proves too that Bush’s claim that his wars are fought to spread democracy (an illogical and stupid claim) is one more lie that still fools some of the people. Bush hates democracy, Neo-Cons hate democracy, America’s christion right hate democracy and Israel hates democracy.

Israel complains of ‘terrorist’ rocket and suicide attacks by Hamas but Israel is at war with Hamas and Gaza. It has blockaded the State on land and sea. It has prevented vital supplies, food and medicine from being delivered. It prevents free movement of the population. It prevents free reporting of events. Israel, or to be precise, the government of Israel, is the aggressor and as its actions are against International Law they are the terrorists.

Mass murderer and war criminal Bush have only a few days left to continue his illegal hostilities in the Middle East. He, his Neo-Con buddies and the Christian-right hate Islam and would, if they could, wipe every Muslim from the face of the earth. But this is only a side-show for them, they wanted disparately to control the Middle East and, of course, the World’s diminishing oil supplies.

They have failed in their mission and like spoilt children who can’t get their way, they are now, along with the Anglo-American created State of Israel killing as many Muslim innocents as they can.

David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary has condemned the Israeli action but let us not forget the British government fully supported the US criminals in their illegal wars. The governments of the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel have blood on their hands.

The World should bring them to book.

Jardim Publico, Rio Claro, SP, Brazil

 Eu vi um dos policiais tocando os genitais do garoto. O garoto usava camisa e shorts e estava de costas para mim. Os policiais usavam farda cinza típica da policia militar.

Eu assisti horrorizado ao fato do policial, com uma de suas mãos, tocar o garoto por entre suas pernas chegando aos anus, tudo por dentro de suas calcas. O policial fez mais alguns movimentos procurando por algo e depois retirou sua mão. Levando o garoto para um outro canto do jardim e continuou a  tê-lo em seu domínio.  Acho que percebeu que eu estava observando o ato.

As I watched one of the police officers appeared to be intimately searching the boy’s genital area. The boy dressed in lightweight shorts had his back to me and the two police officers in grey uniforms were in front of him.

I continued to watch in horror as the officer’s hand appeared through the boy’s legs, from front to back, and his hand closed on the boy’s anus. His hand moved around his bottom searching for a few seconds and then was withdrawn. They then pulled the boy further into the square away from the stalls and continued to hold him. I think they saw me witnessing this disgraceful episode.

This report has been passed it to the city newspaper Jornal Cidade do Rio Claro. I will also be informing the Headquarters of the Policia Militar and the Governor of the State of São Paulo. Let’s hope that exposing this pervert and his collaborator such abuses of power will cease.

What can you do? Protest to the São Paulo State Governor here:

São Paulo State Governor

Policia Militar

Unprecedented storms have caused untold damage and mayhem in Santa Catarina south Brazil. Landslides and floods have devastated the whole State and whole communities are cut off. All services have been mobilised and President Lula has pledged Federal funds to help the State reconstruct.

Thousands of people have lost everything including their homes and everything in them and Brazilians have responded generously to the appeals help. The Army have collection points in city centres where donations of clothing, blankets and food are taken. With typical generosity Brazilians have responded with tonnes of needed supplies and millions of Reais.

So is this Brazil’s New Orleans? Certainly the scale of the disaster exceeds the New Orleans’ catastrophe but the response by the Brazilian Government is not. The Government didn’t hesitate it fully backed the Santa Catarina local authorities.

The response in New Orleans by the irresponsible and incompetent Bush regime was the exact opposite. Had they responded like the Brazilians in Santa Catarina the death toll in New Orleans would have been much less. Bush and his conies now have another reason to hang their heads in shame.

State Government (Portuguese)

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Long haul flights are a different matter. To get to distant lands on holiday or business we have no other choice as distance and time are against travelling by bus, train or ship.

I flew British Airways to Brazil recently, my tenth visit and the first time with BA. Now I haven’t had time to research this but I am sure the space between seats was less than other airlines I had flown with. Having visited Brazil three times this year it’s not like my memory has faded too much but when I get the chance I will check the facts.

On the Jumbo Jet I was on there were ten seats to a row with two aisles. The configuration was 3-4-3. I was on the right side of the cabin sitting on the middle seat of three. When eating I had to tuck my elbows under my armpits to avoid poking my immediate neighbours in the ribs.

The young Spanish woman sitting aisle side of me commented that we were like “fishes going to market”. Obviously the Spanish equivalent to “packed in like sardines” or “like cattle to market” except that cattle have more rights in law and more space as a result.

The way economy passengers are shoe-horned into aircraft should be illegal. It is uncomfortable and it is dangerous.

Legal note: The legal status of cattle (and sheep) I mention is certainly law in England and Wales and probably Scotland and Northern Ireland. The rest of Europe may have similar laws but I need to check this and will add this article later.

Long haul flights are different there is no viable alternative. Terminal 5 at Heathrow is better than most and when I passed through on a Sunday evening recently there were surprisingly few passengers and check-in was very quick. Maybe people are being dispatched quicker so it seemed like less passengers because the Jumbo Jet I travelled on was full and it wasn’t the only flight that evening.

Possibly it was the appearance of fewer people that made it seem as if passing through security would be a bit smoother than my normal experience but that feeling didn’t last. Things went wrong in the relatively small area where the storm troopers oops immigration officials congregate with their scanning machines and petty rules.

The scanner that scans personal belongings is very modern and all silver and shiny. Everything must be put into grey plastic trays; electronic equipment, hand baggage, jacket, belt, coins and shoes. But there is no place to fill these trays other than on the moving conveyor belt. So you are temporarily parted from valuable electronic devices and any other treasures you may have in your bags while you remove your belt, shoes and anything else you may be required to surrender.

The result is that as other passengers do the same your trays become mixed going through the scanner. You then pass through the metal detector contraption and hope your gold teeth or the high iron content of your blood doesn’t set off the alarm.

I passed through without incident and started taking my things, the trays still moving towards the end of the conveyor where the empty ones disappear below and return to the start. They do stop if they contain anything but you don´t know this when youfirst use them.

Unfortunately an inconsiderate passenger left a pile of luggage on the floor in front of the conveyor preventing easy access to trays so I took my last tray off the belt and started to retrieve my smaller belongings such as my cash, mobile phone etc. Suddenly I heard a voice from behind telling me to put the tray back on the conveyor belt and as he obviously thought I wasn’t capable of completing such a simple task used his hand to give it a shove. The tray then shot off towards the hole at the end and I grabbed what I thought was my last item.

Did he tell the inconsiderate passenger to move his unattended baggage? NO! Did he stop to be spoken to or even help? NO! He just turned on his heels and swaggered away. What is it about some working-class people in uniform with a badge?

Did I take everything out of my last tray? No, I left my keys in the tray, house keys and luggage keys. I didn’t see them as the tray sped away. So now not only did I have to break into and ruin one of my bags but I have a problem, when I return to England, getting into my home.

The frightening thing is that had I challenged the ignorant bastard and expressed my concerns even without using such colourful language I would almost certainly been arrested under the anti-terror laws. And if I did the same in the United States I would be wearing one of those brightly coloured jumpsuits.

And orange doesn’t suit me!

For the definition of bollocks see “Airport Security What A Load Of Bollocks!”