Archive Category: The Bad

Lucky Man

Four years’ ago, he was forced out of his job as bishop of Ferns by the Vatican, not because of revelation of the child abuses but as a part of a PR campaign to silent the press.

Four months’ ago, the Ferns Report makes references to his failure to act in the case involving paedophile priest Father Sean Fortune.

He did not even have the moral courage to get near the victims’ family, let alone speaking to them.

It was a flagrant case of utter hypocrisy and a merciless act of cover-up but now he said, publicly, that he had found peace.

But if you are just like me, a normal human being and spiritually, a sinner, you may find it impossible to find peace whenever you think of the horrors and the helplessness experienced by the victims of the abuses. He was laughing because he is in Ireland and he is, sort of, beyond the laws. If he was in France, he would be finding his peace in jail together with the bishop of Evereux who was there for not reporting an abuse of a minor.

How I wish his appalling comment was made because it was just a case of old-habits-die-hard; a hypocritical mumble to conceal his guilt or, he would be stinking to high heaven.

Posted on April 19, 2006 11:36 AM | Comments (0)

The Bullying Dog

“On several occasions, America’s closest ally in the war on terror, Britain, was irked by what U.S. and British sources say were efforts by Bolton to undermine promising diplomatic openings. Perhaps the most dramatic instance took place early in the U.S.-British talks in 2003 to force Libya to surrender its nuclear program, NEWSWEEK has learned. The Libya deal succeeded only after British officials “at the highest level” persuaded the White House to keep Bolton off the negotiating team.” - Newsweek

The story followed the principal US negotiators on North Korea coming forward to say Bolton was a dangerous disaster on North Korea.

Being tough and aggressive is certainly not a problem if circumstances warrant but being a bully is a always problem even at the right time and at the right place. And this is exactly what Mr Bolton is seen - a bullying dog.

Posted on April 24, 2005 08:29 PM | Comments (0)

Damned by the Hour

It is hard not to get angry as we watch the great liberators continue to entertain themselves through the use of strangulation, beatings and placement of lit cigarettes into people’s ear openings. If these damned cowards have the guts to practise these acts on Saddam himself, they may have got something they want. But they can only practise them on illegal detainees – having been tortured for 3 years, they have yet to give these cowards enough information to prosecute them. Maybe they really do not know anything and are indeed innocent.

As the rest of the iceberg begins to emerge slowly (thanks to the effort of ALCU), how many more Abu Ghraib do we need to convince ourselves that these tortures are not systematic and are not supported by those at the top of command.

When I was reading the fresh evidence of torture, I became so angry that I thought, given the opportunity, I would have no hesitation to do something for these poor people. Anything.

Now the thought came from a non-Muslim living in the picturesque and peaceful environment of western Ireland. Imagine how people who are more closely related to these torture stories may react?

“You’ve got to understand the dilemma we’re in. These are people that got scooped up off a battlefield attempting to kill US troops. And I want to make sure, before they’re released, that they don’t come back to kill again”, said Bush in a news conference yesterday about Guantánamo.

Well, don’t worry about them. They are pretty useless anyway after being tortured for 3 years. There are new blood - each of these stories should comfortably create thousands of people whom you fear most.

Posted on December 22, 2004 01:09 PM | Comments (0)

God's Balancing Act

I’ve got this from AOL Democrats:

God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael, the archangel, found him, resting on the seventh day.

He inquired of God.

“Where have you been?”

God sighed a deep sigh of satisfaction, and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds,

“Look, Michael. Look what I’ve made.”

Archangel Michael looked puzzled, and said, “What is it?”

“It’s a planet,” replied God, “and I’ve put Life on it. I’m going to call it Earth and it’s going to be a great place of balance.”

“Balance?” inquired Michael, still confused.

God explained, pointing to different parts of earth.

“For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while southern Europe is going to be poor. Over there I’ve placed a continent of white people, and over there is a continent of black people. Balance in all things,”

God continued pointing to different countries.

“This one will ! be extremely hot, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice. “

The Archangel, impressed by God’s work, then pointed to a land area and said,

“What’s that one?”

“Ah,” said God “That’s Washington State, the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful mountains, rivers and streams, lakes, forests, hills, plains, and coulees.

The people from Washington State are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent, and humorous, and they are going to be found traveling the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, high achieving, and they will be known throughout the world as diplomats, and carriers of peace.”

Michael gasped in wonder and admiration, but then proclaimed, “What about balance, God? You said there would be balance.”

God smiled.

“There is another Washington…wait until you see the idiots I put there.”

Posted on September 8, 2004 01:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Beneath the Gleaming Yellow Skin

No it’s not the Yellow Peril. It’s the Banana - the world’s most popular fruit with an annual production of 86 million tonnes. It was once dominated by three producers: Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte, who between them control approximately 60 per cent of the world market. Although excessive production in the 90s led to a collapse of price paid to the producers, we continued to pay an artifical high price for our consumption of this majestic fruit - thanks to our demand for cosmetic ‘quality’. Our insistence upon large, blemish-free bananas, which has nothing to do with how tasty the banana is has but one sad consequence:

A 1999 study by the National University of Costa Rica found that women working in packing plants for the country’s banana industry suffer double the average rate of leukaemia and birth defects. And 20 per cent of male banana workers in the country have been left sterile. Could it possibly have something to do with the amount of pesticides they unwittingly consume during the course of their work? eight times the global average at a staggering 4kg per person per year?

For the unblemished skins which symbolize health and energy, we need an even greater reliance on pesticide. Let’s take a look at the truth about the banana trade from this perspective.

Posted on August 30, 2004 11:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Perfect Rip-off

Hearing damages resulted from gun-fire from a soldier?

Well, this has cost the Irish Government 276.8 million euro so far. One-third of this sum, however, went to lawyers as reported by the Irish Independent.

“The King of Torts” is not John Grisham’s best book but it should give us some ideas how the game is played by these greedy lawyers.

Posted on August 21, 2004 09:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

What Human Rights?

We should be pleased that someone finally had to courage to ask an obvious question: What did the medical staff do after treating the abused detainees in Abu Ghraib?

According to Steven Miles, a physician at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, there was at least one instance in which medical staff left after reviving a prisoner who collapsed after a beating, allowing the abuse to continue.

How complicit are doctors in abuses of detainees?

The emerging evidence is that doctors and other medical personnel have helped, covered up, or stood by silently when humiliation, degrading treatment, and physical abuses have taken place. There is also evidence of falsifying and delaying death certificates, and covering up homicides.

Should doctors be more concerned about the well being of their patients or their loyalty to the country? Do doctors have any principles of medical ethics?

But as Dr Miles said, “….the described offences do not merely fall short of medical ideals; some constitute grave breaches of international or US law.”

Posted on August 20, 2004 11:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Day After Tomorrow

You have seen the movie and here now are some facts¹:

1. Air - Bush policies have rolled back protections in one of the strongest and most health-protective environmental laws ever written, the Clean Air Act, allowing old power plants to continue polluting without taking steps to clean up their operations and without any threat of meaningful enforcement.

1. Water - Bush’s stated support of the Clean Water Act contradicts his policy decisions that diminish funding for clean water infrastructure, increase water pollution, and do not adequately protect wetlands.

1. Toxic Waste - The Bush administration has been content to allow the Superfund (a program to address the effects of toxic waste on New Hamsphire’s environment) to go broke, and in March 2003, the Senate killed a Democratic attempt to reinstate the tax, thereby slowing cleanups and jeopardizing the health of those who live near toxic waste sites which are treatening the surface and drinking water supplies.

1. Global Warming - After only sixty days in office, President Bush violated his campaign promise to support mandatory reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the primary cause of global warming. In addition, he withdrew the United States from the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, the international agreement targeting reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

1. Energy - The Bush administration shows unwavering support for the coal and oil industries, while giving mere lip service to alternative forms of, and methods for, securing efficient technologies and clean energy resources. In addition, this administration has cut the budgets of renewable energy programs over the past 3 years, and in the proposed budget for FY2005, the administration proposes cuts in efficiency improvement programs for vehicle efficiency technology research, industrial efficiency projects, renewable energy and liquid fuels from farm products, and state energy programs.

And in Oregon, what the White House did were:

• Repeal of the roadless rule, which protected nearly 2 million acres of federal forests in Oregon
• An initiative that allows logging of large healthy trees in the back country under the guise of fire protection
• Repeal of the old growth habitat protection rules in the Northwest Forest Plan

¹ source from Environment 2004

Posted on July 30, 2004 10:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Double Standard

This was the focal point of Bush’s address to the United Nations General Assembly on September 12, 2002. Bush said, “The conduct of the Iraqi regime is a threat to the authority of the United Nations, and a threat to peace. ? All the world now faces a test, and the United Nations a difficult and defining moment. Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced, or cast aside without consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?”

Israel’s construction of its West Bank barrier continued full force yesterday, hours after the U.N. General Assembly demanded the structure be torn down in compliance with a world court ruling.

And the reality and legality of the Israel’s wall.

Posted on July 25, 2004 09:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Children at Abu Ghraib

Breathe. Deeply.

Spiegel, a German equivalent of Time magazine first broke this news about torturing of children at Abu Ghraib, to get their parents to talk. As reported by NRK, the news may influence Norway’s continuous support for sending troops to Iraq.

Here is Google’s translation of Spiegel’s article - Samuel Provance, an NCO stationed in the notorious torture prison Abu Ghureib, said, a 15 to 16 years old girl was sent to their cell and the military police intervened only when she was half undressed.

Posted on July 8, 2004 12:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack