Energy in the Senate – Following up on my last post, on the energy debate in Congress, there were a couple of interesting developments yesterday. In the Senate, an amendment offered by John Warner of Virginia to allow offshore drilling was narrowly defeated. More importantly, an amendment offered by the ranking Republican on the Senate […]
Former U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim died yesterday of heart failure. Waldheim served at the head of the world body from 1972-1981 and later held the largely ceremonial presidency of Austria from 1986-1992. His tenure was tarnished by his service in German high command during World War II. In response, the U.S. Justice Department placed […]
Fear not the power your words have on your children, you are their teachers, idols and role models. Whether a parent or not, their are children out there looking up to you for guidance, be open, be honest and most of all allow children those same rights as they express their own ideas and thoughts.
In September 2003, British soldiers raided a hotel in the southern Iraqi city of Basra during operations there. They had detained several Iraqi citizens, including Baha Musa, a receptionist at the hotel whom British soldiers had suspected being an insurgent. Musa was detained with several other Iraqi's, blindfolded, subjected to stress positions, and beaten over […]
After working in government for 11 years (in a state environmental agency) and having been an environmental and political activist for a fair number of years before, during and after that, I have come to have a healthy skepticism — okay cynicism — about the reach of good public policy in legislation and actual real […]
Ali Hassan al-Majid, widely known as "Chemical Ali", is expected to be sentenced to death by hanging on June 24, according to the Iraqi high tribunal. Majid is on trial with five other defendants , including several former military intelligence officers and the deputy director of operations for the Iraqi Armed Forces , for atrocities […]
With a third of the population in the European Union being Children, it's about time their voices where finaly getting a platform to be heard on. The European Commission recently issues three press releases concerning their efforts to increase their protection of children in the EU, aiding in the prevention of human rights violations. On […]
The Soviet Propaganda poster above, translates to say, “Keep your tongue behind your teeth” or Keep quiet, which to me has always summed up what we have done about communism and the victims to whom it befell. Since it's Bolshevik infancy, the world has watched with silent eyes and still tongues, as it took hold […]
The former president of the Serbian breakaway Republic of Serbian Krajina, Milan Martic, was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Martic was found guilty on 16 counts of crimes against humanity and violations of laws and customs of war. Judges dropped one count […]
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Sorry that I've been off the air since early last week. Wednesday through Friday, I was attending the annual conference of an international scholarly association, for which I am the newsletter editor. I also gave a paper there. Saturday, it was an all-day rugby tournament, a fundraiser for an injured clubmate of ours. Yesterday, I […]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President George W. Bush cannot order the military to seize and indefinitely detain a Qatari national and suspected al Qaeda operative, the only person being held in the United States as an “enemy combatant,” an appeals court ruled on Monday. In a major setback for Bush's policies in the war on terrorism […]
A majority of the Rwandan parliament voted to abolish the death penalty there last Friday. The move will eliminate obstacles regarding the extradition of war crimes suspects back to Rwanda to face prosecution. Many countries will not execute extradition treaties with countries that practice capital punishment. The new legislation is somewhat controversial, however. Some of […]
Photo by Time The obvious answer to many would, be a definite yes, however in Mexico tradition often out ways, ones obvious reasoning. In the latest issue of Time, the article, In the Ring with The World's Youngest Bull Fighter, covered a story on child matadors, in Mexico. For ten year old Rafita Mirabal, who […]
At only of five, Om Prakash Gurjar, was he was taken away from his parents and then held as a slave for the next three years. Om was forced to work in the fields, attend to cattle and even work with hazardous pesticides. Om was one of many victims of bonded labor in India, he […]