Meredith Kercher: Friends Left Her to Die

Arline Kercher, Meredith's mother, being comforted at a trial in Perugia, Italy. (Source: AP photo by Antonio Calanni)


At this very moment there are millions of people suffering immensely -- children orphaned in Iraq, kidnapped children prostituted in the United States, refugees under attack as they seek refuge, and millions of people starving worldwide.

But somehow, a sensational trial grips international attention and everybody forgets about the bigger, sadder things happening in the world because it's easier to grasp just one person's fate and follow that story to its end.

The murder trial of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher -- she would have been 22 this year, but her age will forever be 21 now -- is front page news in many places around the world and it's hard to fathom why. Though it's equally hard to fathom why not: a young girl was brutalized and tortured by her comrades in her own home -- and left to die.

Over the past year, Kercher's roommate -- 21-year-old Amanda Knox of the United States -- and Knox's 2-week old boyfriend 24-year-old Raffaelle Sollecito, and their drug dealer 21-year-old Rudy Guede have all 3 done everything they can to avoid any responsibility for the loss of this young lady. And not one of them at any time took any action to help her in any way.

Today, it has been announced that Guede is guilty of Kercher's murder and of sexual assault -- the judge has sentenced him to 30 years in prison. In addition the judge formally charged Knox and Sollecito of murder and sexual assault and the added charge of theft -- Guede was relieved of any charges of theft -- and announced their trial would commence December 4th.

But the one detail that nobody has yet mentioned in the news coverage of this entire trial is the one question that is on everybody's mind, not how could these people have done this, not why they are trying their best to diminish any responsibility for it, but how anyone could knowingly leave someone to die like this.

In legal terms would they be in less trouble if they had tried to at least save her by calling an ambulance? It seems likely: she may well have survived and then this wouldn't have been a murder trial as it is now. Is this about legal terms or about moral terms? It would be about moral terms if these 3 individuals were actually normal people but as the trial has proceeded it has become more and more apparent that Knox is some sort of raging sociopath, Sollecito has strange emotional and mental issues and Guede is the only one of the 3 that has any idea that what he did was wrong.

So today we will blame Guede because he is normal and he could have done something. Perhaps tomorrow we will find out more about why Knox did this and why she doesn't seem to have any remorse and why Sollecito was obviously a disturbed young man but his family and the few friends he had did not bother to notice until it was too late.

The only thing we do know for sure is that these 3 young people were all secretly living miserable lives and Meredith Kercher was the one who sacrificed her life to let the world know.


For the latest Saccharinist coverage of Selection '08 click here.

Austria's Haider Was Gay, Lover Admits

Petzner, right, admitted this week that he and Haider had been together for 5 years.

Why is it always the hateful, bigoted, angry white politicians who are fiercely closeted gays?

The latest conservative homosexual was outed posthumously this week when Austria's neo-nazi poster boy Joerg Haider was outed by his lover of 5 years, his replacement party leader Stefan Petzner.

"He was the man of my life," Petzner said this week of Haider, adding that Haider's wife and the mother of his two children was comfortably aware of their "special relationship."

This could explain why 58-year-old Haider was caught drinking in a gay bar shortly before he took off the drunk driving spree that cost him his life. Petzner, 27, has now been fired from his position as successor to Haider of the neo-nazi party -- whose platform, amongst other things, stood against homosexuality -- for outing Haider.

Note to the public: be wary of the most vile of your politicians -- they are probably huge hypocrites who do exactly the opposite of everything they tell you to do.

Hmmm....hateful, bigoted, angry white politician....who's next to be outed? John McCain anyone?

For the latest Saccharinist coverage of Selection '08 click here.

NATO News Update

................................A dog dressed for tea? Headline news? Equally absurd, indeed.

It's been weeks since the Saccharinist posted but nothing has changed in the world, as nothing changes when the present becomes history and when the past is repeated. But it's still worthwhile to learn what we can. Yes, the bad stuff of headlines has kept its promise to remain constant.

In the last few weeks in the NATO News (you know, all of the world and local news that pertain to the interests of NATO governments -- excluding all those former Soviet bastions that were recently added to make places like Slovakia feel like they actually exist in the eyes of places like the United States -- and without regard for the point of view of anyone else, even if they happen to be living in a NATO country)... The French elected a hateful conservative to improve their economy, not knowing that money doesn't bring happiness -- may they suffer the greasy consequences. Wolfowitz still hasn't stepped down (what gall), though he may be pushed out before long. The US, desperate for Iran's help in its royal Iraq error, has, out of the blue announced that Iran has suddenly reached high (i.e. still too low to count as even a 1/2 life of nuclear activity) levels of activity in its nuclear reactors -- we all know this is a ploy to force Iran's hand into as much assistance as possible over Iraq. Tony "evil eye" Blair announced he'd step down as Prime Rib and make way for the Lochness Monster. And 3 US soldiers who are missing in Iraq have been shoved off of the world headlines because nobody (i.e. The American Public) wants to hear about how Iraqis somehow not only killed more American soldiers but kidnapped and tortured them before doing so.

In short, the forces of evil prevail, as usual, in our lawless, greedy world -- according to the news. But elsewhere, in abundance that far surpasses the horror that makes the headlines, hundreds of millions of wonderful happy things are happening in the lives of good people -- and this is the sum of today's news, this is why life, on the whole, is rather good for most of us.

Mexico City Legalizes Abortion for Americans

.........................Celebrations in Mexico City this week

Since this week's vote legalizing abortion, Mexico City -- a city state of its own -- is now officially ahead of the US -- at least on this crucial women's health issue. Doubtless, it's not just Mexicans who are relieved by this news: American women now have a viable and nearby option for their abortions, too. Which reminds me, is there any important political, health, economic, or environmental issue which George W. Bushler hasn't screwed up for America? Nope.

Of course, on the day of the vote local (and no doubt cross-border) anti-abortion protesters took to the streets to holler their cause. The Saccharinist continues to be amazed at the depth of funding available to save an unborn foetus from a life of neglect from parents who cannot care for it or worse do not want it, while so little is done in comparison to save actually born children who are suffering beyond belief.

Anti-abortion protesters should just be totally against contraception as well, if they intend to have at least some credibility for their position -- though that would just prove what is obvious here: that there is no logic to the premise that all children that can be born, should be born. If that were the case, then lots of boys (not to mention men) need to have their hands cuffed all day long so they won't destroy billions of opportunities for creation.

Maybe anti-abortion protesters should join forces with anti-porn protesters -- who knows what could be born of that marriage.

France Run-Off: Hitler vs. Hope

Next week, France will arguably decide on its most important election in 50 years in a battle between center-right and center-left: it's the run-off of

Nicolas "Sarcophagus" Sarkozy

vs.

Segolene "Princess" Royal

A battle between a ruthless xenophobic Bushler and an intellectual mother-of-four.

Will France lead the world in turning against aggressive, hateful, divisive politics or will it follow its nemesis Germany by electing an ugly angry beast to office? This is France's chance to be a leader for the first time in a long time, let's see how they decide on May 6.

What's most interesting about this election, though, are the profiles of these candidates:

Sarkozy is a 2nd-generation Hungarian immigrant (on his father's side) of Jewish ancestry (on his mother's side) who was raised as an angry Catholic who blamed all his misery on foreigners (as ironic as that is). A couple years ago, his wife left him for another man, during which time he took up with a younger woman, and then they both reunited for the chance at sharing the paltry glory of ruling France.

Royal is a mother-of-four children with a man she has been living with since the 1970's but to whom she is not married. She once sued her own father for refusing to divorce his mother and pay alimony to her. She often diverges from her party's main platforms and is seen as more of a centrist than a leftist in her ideology and policies.

With these backgrounds alone, these two individuals would have been stuck in a second-rate, low-profile State Department job at best in the United States! It's an amazing commentary on French social values.

In any case, let's hope that anger and bitterness do not surpass reason and intellect in the second-round -- conservatives worldwide seem not to realize that voting for a conservative means EVERYONE's rights are impeded on, not just the people who conservatives hate.

Save the Eggs, Not the Embryos

Natallie Evans and Howard Johnson (not to be mistaken for the Hotel Chain) in happier times

An interesting ethical and legal dilemma:

6 years ago, a young British woman was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. With her then-partner, they fertilized and froze 6 embryos before she would lose all her eggs due to cancer treatment. Flash forward to today: after years of personal and legal wrangling, the woman lost her final appeal to use those frozen embryos, along with her last possible chance to have a biological child of her own (though technically, someday cloning and other options may be available to her).

The European Court of Human Rights basically ruled that both the egg donor and the sperm donor must consent to the use of the embryos and since, in this case, the woman and the man are so antagonistic that they have taken their private matter to the courts, it is clear that both parties are not in agreement.

I feel sorry for this 34-year-old woman: she has been through cancer and legal wrangling over a very sensitive issue. I don't know the details here but clearly both sides are lacking some empathy for the other person's situation. It is understandable that the woman would want a biological child of her own (after this court ruling, the 6 embryos will be destroyed). It is also understandable that the man would not want a child with a woman he is not with and does not want to be with.

Ultimately, the ruling seems to make sense -- just think: if people could produce children with the genetic material of unconsenting others, the legal ramifications could be taken to ridiculous extremes that could see individuals seeking child support for such children!

But the biggest question is: why would this woman want to have a child from this stubborn, unfriendly, unsupportive man who left her alone during a serious illness and put her through years of court-rulings once she'd managed to recover? If she's happy having just 50% genetic material from someone she cares about, then she should have a child with the man who she is in a loving relationship with, which means she's still got a lifetime's chance ahead of her.

It's all about attitude. Always.

Pesos for Peace

This week, the greatest evidence to date of the biggest creeping revolution in the world came to the surface: a pizza chain in Texas, USA has announced that it will be accepting pesos in addition to dollars.

Trivial you say? Hardly. It's a clear indication of the only cure for American hegemony: balancing out White English ancestral power. America may be a land of immigrants but it's a world of conformity to what remain English Protestant values, attitudes and customs. Though all of that has taken a healthy turn -- for the first time ever in American history -- for change. What was the catalyst for this reversal of over two centuries of racist, prejudiced culture? The events of and after September 11, 2001.

That's right, in its efforts to cohese Americans into a patriotic fervor, Bushler's administration has convinced more and more Americans that their heritage is something value, something they'd been denied for far too long, something they now want to embrace. Italian-Americans are taking their children to Italian language lessons, sending them abroad to study in Italy. African-Americans are introducing their youth to the vibrance of African culture, language and life. Anything-Americans are suddenly and passionately taking an interest in a past that their parents, grandparents and ancestors were forced to forget in order to live comfortably in the United States.

Yes, America is only now becoming a cultural melting pot and the Hispanics, mainly the Mexicans, are doing the most to make this statement loud and clear.

Bravo to the Pizza Patron for paving this peso path to world peace. Muchas Gracias!!

Lord of War

Andrew Niccol is a filmmaker who has stood head and shoulders above the majority of his colleagues in one very significant way: he has used his ability and talent to gain influence in Hollywood to make films that criticize the US government for being the biggest criminal organization in the world, if not in history.

Lord of War, his 2005 masterpiece about the business of gunrunning -- whose superb cinematographer is the Iranian Amir Mokri -- is a philosophy for life, is an answer to the helplessness we all feel when we read the news every day: stop trying to beat the system, because it's unbeatable.

This powerful government, its allies, and the thousands of people who work for it and its undemocratic goals worldwide -- including gunrunners like the perfectly cast Nicolas Cage (nee Coppola -- remember? Francis Ford is his uncle) -- will never stop doing what it does best.

So what should we do with our lives, those of us who are horrified by the inhumanity of the world? The one thing we can do: be happy, so we can be humane.

Unhappy people do unfriendly things.

We can make a good life for ourselves so that maybe we'll have the means to help others and it doesn't even have to be in huge ways. Perhaps the most inhumane things that happen in the world are not the stuff of headlines, but the little things that we do and say each day to hurt each other -- those little big acts of unkindness that far outnumber the incidents of death and destruction we read in the news.

You see, the world does not have too much hate, it just has too little love. Too few people value love above everything else. And that's killing more people than guns are.

Saddam Executes the Imperialists

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The execution of Saddam Hussein has left few people sympathetic to his personal cause but most people -- MOST of the people of the world, undoubtedly -- reeling with even more disdain for the United States and the United Kingdom. The way Saddam was hanged was an insult to all the people of the world whose lives are dictated by client governments of the US and UK -- and that is several billion people who are exceptionally politically aware and totally mistrustful of the US and UK whose interests never have and never will lie on the side of humanity or democracy in any sense of the term.

It was an insult to every nation where execution is not legally undertaken via a supposedly humane device such as an electric chair or lethal injection. It was an insult to the knowledge and awareness of the great majority of the world, with the exception only of Americans, who are absolutely apprised of the reality of this scenario: that the US and UK killed one of their own agents when he turned on them. And it was a blatant comment on the paltry symbolism and pathetically non-existent efforts of Western-based institutions such as the International Court of Justice which have failed on an exceedingly and increasingly large number of accounts to prosecute American, British, German, French, Dutch and other Western criminals of far greater magnitude than Saddam Hussein -- many of whom remain in power to this day.

They hung Saddam -- he requested a bullet to the head, military style -- to insult all of us -- to say he is backward, his country is backward, his people are backward. The US and UK (U SUK) hung Saddam to spit in the face of the majority of the world that does not condone their own governments' barbarism, for their actions over centuries have proven more than anything that they are the biggest barbarians of all. But even more, with this action, the US and UK have formally declared their own downfall.

For the US and the UK to take it upon themselves to "execute" a man who was an agent for them for decades and instigated one of the bloodiest and most politically rabid wars of the last century for them and with them -- the Iran-Iraq war -- is an undeniable comment on the governments of the US and UK but even further on the culture and people of these countries, too. Americans and Brits have no excuse whatsoever when their governments behave like barbarians because they have a free society with free elections where they vote for these institutions and have done for centuries.

But Saddam's execution at the hands of the foreign agents who funded and supported him for decades is also a sad and embarrassing comment on the Arab people -- and that includes all Arabs. So often, I have seen Egyptians, Algerians, Lebanese, Jordanians, Tunisians and so many Arab-speaking people deny that the Arabs are one people and that is ridiculous and inaccurate. Why? Because very little remains of the ancient pre-Islamic cultures in all of these countries -- the culture of Islam has embedded itself into these lands and their people. Even the Christians and Jews of these nations have an undeniable Islamic-based culture to their attitudes, their traditions, their way of life -- even they live lives revolving around a Islamic pivot of thought, attitude and values. You are Arabs and the reason why the jewels of your culture and lands, such as Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and other places are festering with foreign corruption, deception and destruction is because you are not united, you are in denial of your communities and your cohesion. Saddam may have been a horrible neighbor to non-Arabs such as Kurds and Iranians, but he was a leader for Arabs. He created equal educational opportunities for girls and boys, women and men. He modernized Iraq while its neighbors stagnated with the limitations of religion. He supported the Palestinians more than any other Arab leader -- the Palestinians so many Arabs have forgotten and disowned. And, before he realized, as all CIA agents do, that you can never sever ties with your American-British masters, his iconic image of steadfast strength and power gave Arabs of all shades a figurehead to look up to with pride, though many of them have been too ignorant to realize this until now.

In fact, his last few moments in our world cast a certain eternal iconism to his legacy because of the strength and confidence with which he exited the world. Saddam died a martyr and furthered the one cause that hardly needed furthering: a deep distrust, disgust and disdain for the United States and the United Kingdom. He also paved the way for the next round of executions in Iraq and elsewhere: the current leaders of US and UK client governments everywhere are sweating in their American-made boots. As well they should. We the people of these countries that are ruled by proxy by U SUK -- and that includes the Islamic Republic of Iran -- see what this symbiosis of aggression has done to our people, our lands, our way of life and now, more than ever, we are determined to put a stop to it because we can.

Goodbye Saddam -- your execution was the final nail in the coffin of British ancestral rule -- a coffin that's been waiting for its corpse for centuries.

Just Another CIA Agent

They say Saddam Hussein has been executed. I wouldn't even believe it if I saw the corpse with my own eyes.

I have just one question: why do some criminals get "executed" for their crimes against humanity, and others live a full life of luxury for it? Why do the Kissingers, Nixons, Reagans, Gorbachevs, Thatchers, Bushes, Clintons, Pinochets, Rumsfelds, Cheneys, Rices, Musharrafs, Khomeinis, Khameneis, Khatamis, Rafsanjanis and countless other criminals of world history get away with murder even as we embark upon the year 2007?

Saddam's greatest crime was that he did the CIA's bidding against his own people and his neighbors. Being "executed" by the US government and its present underlings in Iraq is hardly a case of justice being served.

Nationalism is Humanity

................................................(Click on the maps for link to higher resolution)

This, friends, is the future of the "Middle East" -- all of those nations stretching across the north of Africa through the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is the plan that has been implemented and will reach fruition when this Wart on Terror is over, according to the tiny elite of overseers who decide the fate and fare of most of the rest of us.

The Cold War lasted 50 years and wasn't even a war: no blood was shed. The Wart on Terror has officially lasted just 5 years now and millions have already been killed. For this "map" to reach fruition, millions more of your family, friends, neighbors, kin must too be killed.

What can you and I do? The only hope for the future of our world is in the Internet. Use this powerful military tool to effect change by communicating to others, by passing on information, by opining, by being a source of news for yourself and others. Don't rely on mainstream media: these are bought organizations who churn out propaganda for their buyers and this includes any and every media organization you think you can trust.

Finally, do not be a Saddam Hussein -- this horrible individual was the key weapon that foreigners used to bring this region of the world to the frighteningly victimized position that it is in right now -- under no circumstances form an alliance big or small with any representative of a government or powerful entity who turns you against your kin and your neighbors. Britain and the United States are notorious for this, but they are not alone. The former colonizers of the world are the imperialists of today and they buy and sell the low-life traitors like Saddam who unlock their agendas for inhumanity in our countries. Identify these agents in your countries and use the Internet to speak out against them. In Iran, we have Rafsanjani at the top of the list, but there are others who work in embassies throughout the world, who are heads of corporations, politicians, journalists, and above all, cowards.

Scholars may tell you that nationalism is dead -- yes, the Western definition of it as a supreme allegiance to one nation is, but nations are not confined to borders in our world so do not fall for such rhetoric: be nationalist!

Be someone who cares for his or her neighbors for the mere reason that they have suffered the ills of colonialism and modern-day imperialism along with you. Feel the pain of the Iraqis. Feel the pain of the Kurds. Feel the pain of the Turks. Feel the pain of all of the Uzbeks, Pashtuns, and Baluchis. Feel the pain of the Sunnis, the Shias. Feel the pain of the Jews, the Christians and all the religions of your neighborhood. Religion is a political concoction that will wither like a weed against the antidote of a common humanity. Feel the pain of your extended kin and feel it with the intensity of a nationalism that knows no borders. Instill it in your friends, your lovers and your families.

We are all one people -- this duality, this enmity, this polarization that the imperialists are trying to impose on us is nothingness -- it does not exist. Do not follow blindly, but most of all, do not remain silent. Silence is the sanctuary of fools and traitors. Silence is the entrapment of your humanity. Do not let anyone scare you into silence. The mere act of sending an email, of forwarding a piece of knowledge or information releases you from this burden of silence. Exercise your free will, exercise your self-respect and your sense of humanity. Do not silence your mind: educate yourself by reading, reading, reading!

Today's borderless nationalism is strength and love and humanity. Do not let anyone convince you otherwise.

The imperialists' redrawing of the maps of our lands would be irrelevant if borders meant nothing to us -- this is their cage for controlling us and ripping the threads of our common humanity. But what they don't know is that their maps have never meant anything to any of the people whose lives have coincided with the borders of these fabricated nations. From East to West, North to South, the former colonizers manipulated the map of the Earth with the mere scrawl of a pen. The borders they drew throughout the world only made sense to their need to control us, our lives, our resources, our futures.

Today's imperialists can draw and redraw these meaningless lines -- if we stand together against them, our blood will not flow with their ink. Thanks to the Internet, the powerless are a dying breed and we ourselves will redraw our own maps as and when we see fit.

Bushler Seeks More Blood

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Bushler has today announced that he is setting the ball in motion to kill thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of more Iraqis. Yes, he's going to send more Hispanic, Black and lower-middle class White Americans -- also known as the US Army -- to Iraq as part of his new plan to not have a new plan in Iraq. That's right, the vampire is seekin' young blood to do his biddin'...

Which reminds me, for any of you out there who still think Iran is worried about a US attack -- think again. Another chance for these martyr-worshippers to re-create the highly successful shahid culture of the Iran-Iraq War is nothing short of a God-send for extending the Islamic Regime of Iran -- a regime whose lifeblood has gotten a much-needed revival jolt thanks to the US war in Iraq.

It is an unbelievable commentary of shame on those governments -- also known as "the West" -- who claim to be democracies, who claim to have respect for human rights, who even have the political and economic power to make a difference in this world but who knowingly stand by and let the Iraqi genocide continue, amongst other major humanitarian crimes being committed in broad daylight today. "The West" in its indifference to the US and British governments is nothing short of a criminal, too. Fifty years from now, we'll be studying Bushler and Bliar and the entire "Coalition Against Terror" in our school textbooks and learning about how evil they were and how nobody did anything to stop them. Funny how the "nobody" is the same then as it was now.

I believe that's why the UN was created in the first place -- to make sure such crimes do not occur again. Except, on the contrary, even more crimes and genocides have occurred since the inception of the UN than before it. But what do you expect when to get to the top of that organization you have to be a bumbling two-faced, immoral, idiot like Kofi Annan who doesn't even have the decency to condemn a crime when he sees it with his own two eyes. Wonder if he would have been more apt to open his greedy mouth if he didn't have a cushy home in Manhattan, USA.

Too Cruel for School

This, dear friends, is one of many of the faces that will launch a million tears someday down the line in history when the Islamic Regime of Iran is finally replaced by a secular constitutional government for the first time in its history.

This remnant of seventh century stagnation is none other than the President of the University of Tehran -- one of the most prestigious universities in the world, boasting a student body that despite all odds, is carrying Iran through the 21st century. He is the first cleric president of this revered institution. Let us hope he is the last.

This, too, dear friends, is the reason why the clergy are a danger to everyone, including themselves, why an apparent member of society such as Khomeini would be so indifferent to other members of society that when asked by a reporter what he was feeling upon returning to Iran on 1 February, 1979 after decades of exile, could only muster a mumble through his beard: "hichi" (nothing). The clergy everywhere in the world, whether they be Muslims or Catholics or Buddhists or Jews or anything can and should never be expected to know anything of our world, let alone how to guide us in it, since they've never experienced it.

People like this guy, like all the priests of the Vatican, the monks of Tibet, and the rabbis of Jerusalem are confined, from a very early age, not only to the education system of the seminaries and madressehs and monasteries but to the isolated life within the four-walls of these institutions. In short, they could memorize holy books front to back and never have a fundamental sense of the practical lives of anyone who lives in normal society. Their advice, their counsel, their knowledge is meaningless because it lacks empathy -- empathy which is derived from living with and learning to love one's neighbor -- something these people are never exposed to.

It is a crime against society that these people are allowed to be indoctrinated in these confines. It should be a mandatory law of all societies that even clerics -- ESPECIALLY clerics -- should be required to be educated in a public schooling system from the age of 5 until 18, just like everybody else. Clerics, of all people, need to know what real life is like if they intend to devote their entire lives to improving it.

Legal Injection

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Out of no where and with very little media coverage, the states of California and Florida in the US have this week deemed capital punishment "unconstitutional." For now, that is. The problem, really, is how Jeb "I'm smarter but was passed up for Prez cuz my name isn't George" Bush and Arnie "Ich bin Nazi" Shschwaartszinaeygre can find a way around the pesky faults in the lethal injection system -- since in both of their states it has publicly failed at least once (experts have come forward saying that there is a high chance that Step 1 in the lethal injection process is not actually numbing the victim so the pain of Steps 2 and 3 is being felt) to be (a) humane or more importantly for their cause (b) effective killing devices.

Sadly, this is all too late for Tookie.

This brings us to the whole question of "humanity" in regards to capital punishment. It is a clear indication of the weakness of the American constitution that a little bit of legal mumbo jumbo can pass as democratic and just. How humane is knowing the exact time, date, and method of your impending demise? Not at all. The mental and emotional torture of this significant fact is inhumane beyond belief, made only more gruesome by tragicomic details such as a "last meal" and choice of audience members.

Grameen Bank Saves Women

Taslima Begum (r), a Board member of the Grameen Bank and a former borrower herself, stands next to Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. (Source: Norwegian Nobel Institute)

Democracy Now is this week broadcasting parts of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, including the speech made by winner Muhammad Yunus. There are some elements to this man's achievement which are remarkable and worthy of reiteration:

-Grameen means "village" in Bengali -- this is the bank for villagers and other very poor people in Bangladesh

-Yunus himself is the founder of the hugely beneficial micro-credit system of banking and loans which has been duplicated, in his own words, "in almost every country in the world"

-Grameen Bank have over 7 million"borrowers-cum-owners" of which 97% are women in over 73,000 villages in Bangladesh!

-Yunus presented shocking details of the world's income distribution:

• 94% of the world's income goes to 40% of the population


• 60% of people live on only 6% of the world's income


• half of the world population lives on only $2 a day


• over 1 billion people live on less than $1 a day

-Just to put things into perspective and place shame on the US and its largely ignorant taxpayers: "Till now over $ 530 billion has been spent on the war in Iraq by the USA alone."

-"Since [Grameen Bank] introduced them in 1984, housing loans have been used to construct 640,000 houses. The legal ownership of these houses belongs to the women themselves. We focused on women because we found giving loans to women always brought more benefits to the family."

-Helping the poor doesn't make you poor, too: "In a cumulative way the bank has given out loans totaling about US $6 billion. The repayment rate is 99%. Grameen Bank routinely makes profit."

-58% of Grameen Bank's borrowers "have crossed the poverty line."

-There are 85,000 beggars who are borrowers, "About 5,000 of them have already stopped begging completely. Typical loan to a beggar is $12."

-Yunus has proposed a new business model called a "social business" which will "produce desired social results cost-effectively and efficiently" while also making a profit. This basically is a business model for socially-conscious young people throughout the world, but especially young people who are wealthy or come from "rich countries" who want to make a difference in the world but also want to have a career and good income of their own. For more information on this, read the "Free Market Economy" and "Grameen's Social Business" segments of Yunus's speech and check out the website for the Grameen Foundation.

Blair the Bigot Strikes Again

In today's installation of Hypocritic Rhetoric from the Former British Empire, we offer the following: Tony Blair's hollow statements about Iran-as-threat.

"Iran poses a major strategic threat to the cohesion of the entire region," Mr Bliar Bliar Pants on Fire humorously overexerted himself today.

Let's reverse the ridiculousness of this scenario into the following: Iran stating the British pose a major strategic threat to Europe. Hmm... actually, that does make sense. The British have indeed done everything they can to destabilize any sense of equilibrium in Europe -- just look at their refusal to adopt the Euro. Just look at the hate politics they have spread in the region -- and don't just count the British monarchy and establishment's open support of the Nazis or their anti-immigration rhetoric that comes not only from racist political parties like the British National Party, but also from Labour, and of course the Tories. Just look at their "coalition against terror" which consisted of them, the former President of Italy (a tried criminal), and a Nazi sympathizer over in Germany. Just look and see.

Iran has posed far less a threat to the Middle East or any other region than Britain always has. The daily death, destruction, human rights violations, torture and countless crimes committed in the Middle East are a direct and unbelievably unprosecuted result of British interference, manipulation, and war in that region.

The fact that Blair would make such a comment in the context of his antagonization of the Holocaust conference happening in Iran today openly demonstrates the opportunism and valueless intentions he has: if Blair had even a measureable amount of regard for human rights, he and his government wouldn't have been doing business with Iran for all these years even as it continues to be one of the most human-rights-deficient governments in the world. Neither Blair, nor any other world leader for that matter, has ever condemned Iran for its severe deficiency in recognizing human rights. Someone who cares for only some people's rights, cares for no one's.

Unfortunately for Blair, world Jewry is less and less inclined to make friendly with bigots who jump on the anti-Semitism bandwagon -- bigots like Tony Blair.

Peace Prize Deserved: Muhammad Yunus

The Nobel Peace Prize committee rarely offers the prize to someone who truly deserves it -- someone who has truly done something to help humanity through a sincere and concerted effort toward preserving and encouraging human rights.

The choice of Muhammad Yunus is to be commended and admired: this individual and his Grameen Bank which provides loans for the very poor in Bangladesh without demanding any collateral, is truly an individual who has made an effort to save lives and change the course of poverty and human rights conditions in his country. Hopefully, he will encourage other well-to-do people to make a difference in this world where over 50% of the wealth is in the hands of only 2% of the population.

Previous winners of the Nobel Peace Prize have been insults to the value of human rights and to the many people who actually make a sincere effort toward peace and humanity. These poor choices tend to fall into one of two categories: attempts at revering failed statesmen (think Kofi Annan, 2001; Jimmy Carter, 2002; Arafat, Peres and Rabin, 1994; Gorbachev, 1990 and a long list of others) and tokens: minorities and women chosen to prove that the Prize Committee isn't prejudiced.

Sadly, the only Iranian to ever win the prize falls into this second category. The choice of Shirin Ebadi in 2003 was the committee's desperate attempt to give much needed voice to the deplorable dearth of human rights in Iran while at the same time finally awarding the prize to a Muslim -- sort of like killing two birds with one stone, really. Unfortunately, they didn't do their research and they picked an establishment pansy who did little before she won the prize and even less after.

Is Yunus the start of a trend toward justifiable Peace Prize laureates? Probably not, but then again, let's just be happy when credit is given where credit is due. Congratulations Muhammad Yunus and thank you.

Human Rights Day

The champions of democracy and human rights -- the "West" -- and their lamentable weapons of mass democracy, the media, have managed again to spectacularly bludgeon any sense of decency they may be in possession of. Yes, today, though you'd never know from reading BBC News Online, CNN, Le Monde, Sueddeutsche Zeitung (though they've managed to cover the earth-shattering news of the birthday of the 'Master of Trash Talk, Larry "Tweety" Bird' ), or any number of "reputable" Western media institutions, is International Human Rights Day.

How fitting that Pinochet -- a known war criminal, who like most war criminals in history gets away with murder -- should exit our world on such a memorial to the sanctity of human life, no? How even more fitting that not one of these major "Western" news outlets troubled themselves to remind their readers of the irony of Pinochet's passing on such a day.

What a debasement of the concept of human rights it is that one day must be set aside each year to remind the world that human rights are still predominantly unrecognized and disrespected, and that humanity is still far from appreciating human rights as anything less than second nature. Human rights are the inherent, inviolable rights that each and every human being is born with: the right to health, education, nourishment, due process and equality under the law, and the most misunderstood and overlooked one of all: respect as an individual human being.

Human rights day is everyday, not just today...

Fanning the Flames of Hate in Iraq

You don't have to be a jihadi to seethe in anger at photos like this.

Can you imagine this young Iraqi man to be your brother, your cousin, your neighbor? These people, these young brainwashed aggressive American soldiers would not stand it if anyone did this to them in their country, how can they not believe that the Iraqis are fighting back? These brainless automatons are cogs in the hate machine of our future, but that doesn't make them any less culpable for their crimes.

Shame on these soldiers and shame on all of the war criminals in Washington Dc, London, Geneva, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Islamabad, Amman, Cairo and yes, Tehran, and every other nation where a leader has condoned or failed to condemn this genocide in Iraq.

This world has a long long way to go before humanity is restored and justice actually has meaning. The Poop with his official visit to Turkey this week is rightly condemned by the Turkish protesters -- he is another world leader who has fanned the flames of hate -- the most unpunished crime in human history.

Hudud’s Limits in Pakistan

Dr Shazia Khalid's rape is internationally known and is an example of the fact that rape in Pakistan is not just limited to the lower classes.

One of today’s top international headlines is that Pakistan’s upper house of parliament has today finally passed very minor amendments – but improvements nonetheless – to a set of laws which should actually be completely eradicated, regarding premarital and extramarital sex, as well as rape. The laws, called “Hudood” which is Arabic for “limits” basically follow sharia law in their governance of people’s private matters, as well as matters of criminal sexual conduct which according to various human rights groups both in Pakistan and abroad are in high numbers and increasing in Pakistan.

The amendments to the Hudood law include punishments that still fail to be in line with a universal standard of human rights:

--for those people convicted of having consensual sex (including those who are
indeed at the legal age of consent) there will no longer be a punishment of
death or flogging, however they are still subject to 5 years imprisonment or a
10,000 rupee fine (equivalent to approximately USD 160). It is worth pointing
out that the average salary in Pakistan, according to the Islamic Relief Agency is approximately USD 420 annually .

-- DNA and other scientific evidence can now be admissible in court for rape cases

--the great newsmaker is that now, according to the discretion of a judge, a rape case can be tried in either a sharia court or a civil court – the improvement being
that in a civil court a rape victim is not obligated to produce 4 male witnesses
to the rape in order to justify the fact that her life has just been ruined.

However, one wonders at the benefits of a law that would place major decisions on rape cases in the hands of men at all, for two reasons: rape is most often a crime against women, and rape cases against men are reported even less than women, especially in societies where any reference at all to homosexuality is extremely intolerable, even when it is nonconsenual. A close look at the situation of women judges in Pakistan indicates that, well, there aren't that many of them:

--Of the 77 judges in the courts of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Human
Rights – which, by the way, doesn’t even have a Human Rights Court amongst its 8
different courts -- only 4 are women

--Of the 4 major high courts, only 2 of 78 judges are women: Lahore High Court (0/36); Sindh-Karachi (2/23); Peshawar (0/14); Baluchistan (0/5)

--Of the 8 judges on the Shariat court, all are men

The interesting thing about the Pakistan situation is that like many of its neighboring countries in the late 1970's, it fell prey to a US-backed religious dictator, in this case Mohammad Zia ul-Haq -- who was not only crucial to helping the US fight the communists in the region (Zia ul-Haq was a fundamental tool for the US-backed Mujaheddin forces against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan), but was specifically hand chosen by the US to implement a religious environment on his country.

Prior to Zia ul-Haq's Islamization of Pakistan -- wherein he created Shariat courts to rule the peoples' private lives, massively increased religious madrassah schools and religious training in the country, and overall imposed religious beliefs and practices in all levels of Pakistani life -- most Pakistanis were actually not very religious at all, except in the sense that they identified themselves as Muslims. This is the reason why, according to famed Pakistani intellectual Tariq Ali, most Pakistanis of his generation were very secular and today's generation (the progeny of Ali's generation) are so very religious. He has asserted time and again that it was not even a common practice for people to celebrate Ramadan or Eid-ul-Fitr back then, though today it is perhaps the most significant holiday of the calendar year.

Pakistan, like Iran, like Afghanistan, like so many of these neighboring nations, has become a hotbed of not only religious fundamentalism but of intense religious moderation -- yes, the moderates are arguably more dangerous than the fundamentalists since they are more influential on a broader scale and since fundamentalism is initially rooted in moderation -- for one reason and one reason only: because the US wished it that way to fight off any chances of communist takeovers. Too bad the people don't recognize this -- that's how powerful religious brainwashing is.

It now remains to be seen whether the President decides to pass the amendments to the Hudood law too, though at this point it is a mere formality and he will almost certainly do so. However, human rights violations continue to be on a large and disturbing scale in Pakistan and there is still a long way to go before basic human rights are not only respected by the law but by the people themselves.

As I've always done, I like to put these things in perspective: Western and non-Islamic nations are hardly an improvement when it comes to equal employment for men and women. The US Supreme Court has only 1 of 9 judges who is a woman, for instance. However, in those countries there is one significant positive: a lot more of the basic human rights (as indicated in the UN Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights documents) that all humans deserve are being respected. In places like Pakistan, basic human rights issues are years, perhaps generations away from being up to standard.

This is the issue at hand -- this is the reason why it is so easy for the West to condemn non-Westerners: because so many non-Western nations fail to meet basic standards of human rights for the bulk of their people -- though, to be fair, many of these non-Western governments are being led by ignorant, uncompassionate criminals placed and supported in power by Western governments. Nonetheless, on the face of it, this is why the West is so arrogant and condescending toward the non-West. But this is also why the non-West should get its act together, recognize its shortcomings and fall in line with progressive and logical standards for the treatment of people -- standards most often referred to as human rights.

A wise person once said that "laws are for idiots," meaning that certain things should just be common sense. Sadly, as we know, common sense is a rare commodity which is why there is so much stagnation in human advancement. Pakistan's laws have today taken a tiny step toward advancement, but the bigger question is whether Pakistan's people will take that step, too.