Interesting Stuff # 67
As counter-evidence goes, Time's misreporting unfortunately does little to clear up what happened in Haditha. But as a case-in-point lesson in how the media can artfully angle a story, it's evidence enough.
Gulf bloggers: a new breed of Arab activists
Internet blogs are giving rise to a new breed of Arab activist as ordinary residents increasingly use them to press for more political rights and civil liberties in conservative Gulf states….
HELLO MUDDA, HELLO FADDA, HERE I AM AT CAMP AL QAEDA
The NYTimes, tribune of the oppressed, has now launched a campaign on behalf of misunderstood Jihadis. It has found a former Gitmo inmate to jerk our tear ducts with a tale of woe. Mourad Benchallali's Op-ed weeper follows a familiar form: the Western coming-of-age story, in which a young, innocent and idealistic boy seeking adventure, leaves home for a "dream vacation", has a series of dangerous experiences, then returns, sadder but wiser. Mr. Benchallali's variation on this time honored form, derives its impact from the way it employs fictional devices to create an appearance of verisimmilitude. We are required to suspend disbelief in the 'reality' of what is being described, when we're told that the author/narrator chose, for a "dream vacation", Afghanistan in the summer of 2001….
(New York, June 14, 2006) - Vietnamese authorities have detained, interrogated, and even tortured Montagnard refugees and asylum seekers who have returned to Vietnam from U.N. High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) camps in Cambodia, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The government is violating an agreement with UNHCR, which is supposed to monitor returning refugees and ensure they are safe.Drawing on eyewitness accounts and published sources, the 55-page report, "No Sanctuary: Ongoing Threats to Indigenous Montagnards in Vietnam's Central Highlands," provides fresh information about ongoing religious and political persecution of Montagnards, or indigenous minority communities, in Vietnam's Central Highlands.
"The Vietnamese government continues to persecute Montagnards once they are out of the sight of international observers," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The international community should oppose their forced return to the Central Highlands as long as the authorities continue to persecute them."
Human Rights Watch urged the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to review its participation in promoting and facilitating voluntary repatriation, given the disturbing accounts of mistreatment of returnees, as well as weaknesses in UNHCR's monitoring mechanisms. It also called on the U.S. government to keep Vietnam on its list of "Countries of Particular Concern" for religious freedom violations, and urged Cambodia to continue to provide temporary asylum to Montagnards, in line with its obligations as a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention.
Vietnamese officials continue to force Montagnard Christians to sign pledges renouncing their religion, despite passage of new regulations last year banning such practices. Authorities in some areas restrict freedom of movement between villages - in particular for religious purposes not authorized by the government - and ban Christian gatherings in many areas unless they are presided over by officially recognized pastors.
More worrisome, the Vietnamese government persists in criminalizing peaceful dissent, unsanctioned religious activity and efforts to seek sanctuary in Cambodia, by arresting and imprisoning Montagnards who engage in those activities. The most harshly treated are evangelical Christians who belong to independent or unregistered house churches and supporters of a non-violent movement for the protection of, and greater control over, ancestral lands.
More than 350 Montagnards have been sentenced to prison since 2001, largely for peaceful political or religious activities. Most have been charged under Vietnam's Penal Code with vaguely worded national security crimes. These include "undermining the unity policy," "disrupting security" and "causing public disorder". More than 60 Montagnards have been imprisoned after being forcibly returned from Cambodia, where they were seeking asylum….
BBC: GAZA ROCKETS REAL THREAT TO ISRAEL
This is a very sobering BBC Special Report and a most welcome change from the previous one which referred to the rocket attacks as "symbolic."
Qassam rockets are homemade weapons that have been fired by Hamas and other Palestinian militants in their hundreds at Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip.
Read the entire article. It goes a long way towards explaining the reason Israel must preempt the shooting of these rockets.
Two hundred thirty-one years ago today, when Britain owned our country and only a few men had the nerve to cry “enough!”, a small but determined band was organized. Before there was even an America, there was the American Army. These brave men took on the British and all the odds against them, and made the world better through their courage and sacrifice.That legacy lives on in today’s generation. Say it loud, say it proud: “Happy Birthday, ARMY!”
CLIMATE SCIENCE (CHOCK FULL OF INTERESTING LINKS)
Like Rathergate, only the EXACT OPPOSITE!
Rove attorney Robert Luskin speaks to a bit of new media overreach, specifically, to partisan attempts by many bloggers and (fringe) journalists—the vast majority of whom list leftward, politically—to practically will his client’s phantom indictment….Lots of lawyerly precision there, but to put it layman’s terms: policing the MSM by keeping them honest, good; making up news to try to sink a political opponent whom you very clearly despise, and whom you’d like to see frog marched across the White House lawn in a hoop skirt and a Marlo Thomas “That Girl” wig, not so good.
Standing Up For Our Servicemen
… The common thread here seems to be the willingness of military brass to knuckle under to political pressure rather than stand up for our servicemen.
The failure to communicate responsibly and strategically in this case, coupled with the rush to judgment in the international court of public opinion, has hurt not only the Marines under investigation, but also all our military men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
House to Consider Federal Spending Database Proposal
Looks like the House will consider a proposal directing the U.S. Office of Management and Budget to establish a publicly accessible database of all federal spending…. such data will greatly improve the public's ability to understand what actually happens to their tax dollars after Congress approves spending bills.
House panel approves line-item veto bill
Congress is moving to give President Bush and his successors greater power to try to weed bills of certain spending, though the new power would pale compared with the line-item veto law struck down by the Supreme Court in 1998…. Under the proposal, it would take a simple majority in both House and Senate to approve the items over the president's objections. The idea is that wasteful "pork barrel" spending would be vulnerable since Congress might vote to reject such items once they are no longer protected by their inclusion in bigger bills that the president has little choice but to sign.
| Jun. 15, 2006 | 12:05 AM