Here’s why I don’t need a kid. Last year, Eric and I rented a cabin in the NC mountains for Thanksgiving, and invited my parents, his dad, and step-mom to meet us there. My mother brought so much stuff to prepare a homestyle feast that their car literally got stuck in the snowy driveway coming up to the cabin and we had to spend an hour freezing our butts off digging it out. But all was good, because when it comes to holidays, I am a traditional gal. I want the same foods I’ve had since I can remember, I want the same decorations, the same music, etc. Yeah, I know, I’m a princess.

So, Mom brought her Pilgrim and Indian decorations that she’s had for 35 years, little painted figurines portraying the first Thanksgiving meal. My husband (child, husband, whatever) staged a coup, arranged the Pilgrims and Indians in a war with each other, hung one Pilgrim from a bannister, kidnapped all of the little girl Pilgrims, and left a ransom note behind.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families. I hope they’re all as crazy as mine. -K

(And yes, the hostages were released after some intense negotiations.)

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Creech Air Force Base, NV — Thirty years ago this week a group of Iranian “students” shouting “death to America” stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, taking nearly 100 hostages — among them 65 Americans. Though foreign national employees and some Americans were released within a few weeks, the remaining 52 were held for 444 days. For the American people, it was an introduction to militant Islam. For President Jimmy Carter, intent on “engaging” the radical regime that replaced Shah Reza Pahlavi, it was a disaster. The Obama administration appears to have missed the lessons of this debacle.

 

Though Mr. Carter described the embassy takeover as “a disappointing development” and “surprising,” it shouldn’t have been. Strikes, mass demonstrations and student protests throughout Iran began early in 1978. In September, the Shah responded by declaring martial law. It didn’t help.

On January 16, 1979, the Shah, seriously ill with cancer, fled and sought refuge in Morocco, Mexico and the United States. Two weeks later, February 1, 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned from exile in France to be greeted by more than five million devotees lining the streets of Tehran. Ten days later he proclaimed himself Iran’s Supreme Leader.

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When hundreds of students chanting anti-American slogans flooded into, and briefly occupied, the U.S. embassy on February 15, the Carter administration delivered a “strongly worded diplomatic note” protesting the “lack of protection by Iranian authorities.” For the next eight months, despite increasingly strident pronouncements by Khomeini and officials of his new “Islamic Republic,” Mr. Carter and his aides made repeated overtures to “engage” the regime in Tehran.

On November 1, 1979, Zbigniew Brzezinski met in Algiers with the Ayatollah’s Prime Minister, Mehdi Bazargan. Three days later the “students” charged into the U.S. embassy again. This time they stayed.

Though some of those who participated in the takeover subsequently claimed they planned nothing more than a “sit in” like those on U.S. college campuses during anti-Vietnam War protests, the Ayatollah’s most radical followers were actually in control of events. Despite Carter administration protests, Khomeini’s “Revolutionary Guards” and police, posted outside the embassy walls, did nothing to end the take-over or the hostage situation. Mr. Carter responded by freezing Iranian assets in the U.S. and “severing diplomatic ties” with Tehran.

On Christmas day, less than two months after the hostages were seized in Tehran, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Once again, President Carter, wracked by intelligence failures and indecision, said he was “shocked and surprised” and boycotted the Olympics.

Over the course of the next year, while the Carter administration dithered, Khomeini and his council of militant clerics created all of the instruments of state control common to revolutionary regimes, but with an Islamic twist. He purged the military and the Iranian civil service, created a massive internal secret police network, a “block warden” system to spy on neighbors, took control of print and broadcast media, rounded up opponents and tried them in “special courts” under Sharia law.

By the spring of 1980, when President Carter ordered our deeply under-funded U.S. military to rescue the hostages held in Tehran, Khomeini was convinced that he was on a divine mission to “purify Islam” and re-establish a “Caliphate” in the “Lands of the Prophet.” When Operation Eagle Claw failed catastrophically on the night of April 24-25 with the loss of 8 American lives — and without the Iranians firing a shot — the Ayatollah claimed it was because Allah “protected the Islamic State from infidels.” He also began predicting an apocalyptic battle against the U.S. and Israel which would destroy “The Great Satan,” and “the Zionist entity.”

Though the hostages were released on January 20, 1981 — just hours before Ronald Reagan’s inaugural — Tehran’s wave of terror didn’t stop. By 1982, despite a bloody war with Iraq, the Ayatollah’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had created a proxy force in Lebanon — Hezbollah. Over the course of the next five years Hezbollah terrorists armed, trained and paid for by Tehran, hijacked, kidnapped, bombed, and killed more Americans than any terror organization on the planet until the attacks of 9-11-01.

In the three decades since the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, the rhetoric of Revolutionary Islam is little changed. The words and pronouncements of Iran’s current Supreme Leader, Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and the declarations of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad echo those of Khomeini thirty years ago.

Their actions are also unchanged. This week, while our FOX News Team was at this Air Force Base in the Nevada desert, Israeli commandos seized 60 tons of Iranian weapons enroute to Hezbollah.

The regime in Tehran still proclaims “Death to America.” They still promise to destroy Israel. Only now the Iranians are building nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them.

Like the Carter administration, Mr. Obama and his advisers are apparently convinced that “engaging” the Iranian regime will somehow make things different. After 30 years they still don’t get it.

Despairing, the state of affairs of the expected liberation of two FARC hostages, Pablo Emilio Moncayo and Josué Calvo. It seems that Colombia’s government cannot make up its mind about what to do, and meantime these guys keep on suffering.

Senator Piedad Córdoba, who has been trying to intermediate in this issue, is even been trying to get help from Mexico and the Dominican Republic, to get the thing going again. Gustavo Moncayo, Pablo Emilio’s father, who has been walking across half Colombia to get his son free, has said he is tired of begging.

What’s the problem? We all know the FARC are animals, criminals without a heart. The liberations will not give them any credits, as Colombia’s president Álvaro Uribe seems to keep thinking. But the country’s peace commissioner Frank Pearl (again) announced that the government will only cooperate with Moncayo’s and Calvo’s liberation if afterwards the FARC release all the 20 something hostages at a time. The government knows that this complicates the liberation of the two and one wonders why it is so cruel.

Meanwhile Piedad on Twitter calls for creative solutions. She must be quite desperate, let alone the families of the hostages. Another Christmas without them?

I was nine years old when the hostage crisis began. I remember sitting around my television with my parents watching the images flit across the screen. It is one of the most searing memories of my political upbringing. Take a moment today and remember those who died trying to save the hostages and ask for peace for those who had to survive it.

clipped from www.foxnews.com

Rival pirates and militia groups have fought for control over a British couple held hostage for more than a week, an Islamic militia commander and a local elder said Monday. The couple were not injured in the fighting.

Meanwhile, a U.S.-flagged cargo vessel with 21 Americans aboard came under gunfire from suspected Somali pirates but managed to escape, a U.S. Navy spokesman said.

A British couple invested their life savings into a yacht with which they could sail to exotic locales, only to end up in the hands of Somali pirates. Last week, searchers found the empty vessel belonging to Paul and Rachel Chandler with no sign of the couple aboard, but soon received a message from their captors demanding a $7 million ransom. Now, however, the pirates seem to be rethinking their demands, especially after much outcry that the couple was not as rich as it may have appeared. Word from the hostage-takers is that they have moved the Chandlers onto land, and now seek the release of other comrades jailed for piracy in exchange for the pair. The British government has sworn off the payment of ransoms as concessions to hostage-takers.

Did you know the majority of people on planet Earth are at war?

It’s true.

But it’s a war with no name. And it’s silent and sneaky. Very few people talk about it. There’s no protests, or political action to bring it to an end. But it takes plenty of hostages and casualties. It cuts a path of destruction on all seven continents. There’s no place it does not reach…

This my friends, is the Great War. The murderer of souls. The sniper of happiness. The assassin of freedom. The destroyer of self-acceptance.

That’s right. I’m talking about the collateral damage we drag through our lives. The absolutely violent thoughts and actions we take against ourselves every day. The unkind words. The self-neglect. The hyper-critical and unfair attitude we have about our actions and/or appearance. The public and/or private flagellation we suffer at our own hands.

Let’s not forget the way we pass our own misery on to the next generation so that it may flourish… through our actions, we show them how to be self-defeating and self-loathing. We teach them that that’s how life is for most people.

One of the worst fall outs of this war is the way we’re so willing to believe anything negative about ourselves at the drop of a hat, while being unable to accept a compliment or be proud of our achievements.

We are displaced people. Displaced in our sense of Self.

And I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of it. Because all of this adds up to an unacceptable abuse of human rights.

Worse – most of these campaigns of self-hatred are conducted behind closed doors. Of course, some do make it out into the streets too, where we drink excessively or take drugs, or lay our self-disgust at the feet of others.

But almost everyone else is engaged in their own internal warfare. And so we try to relate the best we can, limping along, tending to our war as well as those belonging to the people we love.

And sometimes we mistake other people for combatants in our war. So, we take the fight externally and make them the enemy. At last, someone tangible to fight with – the driver of the car that cut you off, your lover, your friend, your parents, your boss, the rude waitress… and so on.

Appalling isn’t it? And yet, so very difficult to control. This war has agents everywhere!

The big question for me is this: How are we ever going to make peace with other people if we can’t even make peace with ourselves?

Y’know, Ahimsa (non-violence/non-injury) is the first of the five Yamas (restraints) of Patanjali’s system of yoga. The very first discipline to master, for developing consciousness on the path to enlightenment.

And yet, it seems to be one of the hardest things to do. We can sympathise with the trials of others. We give money and/or service to charities. We’ll give a guy on the street food or cash. We’ll help someone change a flat tyre.

But we can’t stop looking in the mirror and thinking about all the ways we are “deficient”. Can we?

And to win, we have to find a way to make peace with ourselves. Have to!

I’m still working on it. What about you?

~Svasti

If, and that’s a big if, I wanted to sail around the world, you can bet your ass I would steer clear of the waters off the coast of Somalia. You don’t have to be Einstein to make that sort of travel plan adjustment.

Besides, if I was kidnapped by Somali pirates, they’d be screwed. (And by logical extension, I’d be somewhat screwed as well.) I don’t think there is anyone on the planet who would be willing to pay more than $50 US to save my bacon. Sorry pirates, bad move kidnapping this guy.

The World Bank (PDF) tells us that Somalia is a country without government. “Somalia has lacked a recognized government since 1991″ and “Somalia is the quintessential failed state.” According to the World Bank the per capita household income in Somalia is about one-half of it’s neighboring countries. Something tells me that is really really poor.

Amazingly the pirates are successful at getting their hands on ransom money – again and again and again. America.gov says: “More than 60 ships have been attacked in 2008, and ransom money paid to the pirates over time has grown to more than $100 million.” I surmise that it shouldn’t be that hard to find the recipients of that kind of money in a country that is so poor. You think that kind of money would stand out a bit?

Most of us are familiar with the sensational headlines when a ship is attacked or when people are taken hostage, like the British couple that were taken this week. But did  you know that Somali pirates may be holding over 100 other hostages from commercial vessels? According to the BBC on October 13, 2009, pirates were holding 36 people from a Spanish fishing vessel and were demanding that Spain release two Somali men charged with piracy. And late last year FOX News reported the actual number may be even higher: “Somali Pirates Keep Hundreds of Hostages in Pirate City of Eyl.”

Something needs to be done. It boggles my mind that here in the 21st century that this sort of thing can even happen at all, much less drag on and on and on with no resolution in sight.

I saw on TV this week the new “security system” they hope will solve the pirate problem. It included loud noises, a “wall of water” cascading down the side of big ships, increased detection and last but not least mercenary snipers. I don’t think this approach will work because it approaches the problem from the wrong direction. It’s stop-gap at best.

What we really need is human intelligence assets on the ground. We need to identify the ring leaders who have suckled on the teats of ransom money and become fat. We simply need to determine who they are and take them out. It shouldn’t be that friggin’ difficult. Once it becomes know that something real is being done and being a pirate will get you dead, then and only then we might see something change.

The theory at work is simple: If you get money, you spend money. If you spend money, you stick out like a sore thumb. It’s time to hammer those sore thumbs.

They were hometown football players from Colombia who played under the team name of Los Maniceros – the Peanut Men. Twelve men were kidnapped roughly two weeks ago as they played the beautiful game, and over the weekend ten of their bodies were found across the border in Venezuela, bullets the likely cause of death. The culprit in this grotesque crime is said to be the ELN, a long-time Colombian guerrilla group with a history of kidnapping and brutality, as evidenced in the video below. Fundación País Libre estimates that the ELN was responsible for killing more than 150 hostages between 2000 and 2007.

President Uribe spoke out against the crime, saying it shows that terrorism has no respect for borders.

Edmonton hostage taker called CBC Edmonton, and Esther Enkin, CBC’s executive editor of news operations, writes about her views and the thinking behind some CBC decisions.

“Gareth Hampshire, who is News Coordinator in Edmonton, did an excellent job of deconstructing the episode on The Current Thursday morning.” (highly recommended)

I am glad that CBC News got the call and not “Cox” News.

Now, here is a hypothetical question.

What if the hostage taker actually had the capability to broadcast live video or tweet live? What would then be the appropriate thing for the media to do? What if individuals are spreading the news themselves already? You see, we would not only be dealing with the media (which may or may not exercise their journalistic integrity), we would then be dealing with anyone who has a Twitter account or YouTube account and news/rumours will likely spread fast like a wild fire.

In the age of Twitter and Youtube and other social media tools, we collectively will have to learn how to act appropriately. There are no easy answers but we need to think deep and hard.

[via InsideTheCBC]

Universal Artists, Int'l. Supports Our Troops

As the United States comes close to the end of yet another year mired down in what appears for all purposes to be a fruitless and senseless pursuit of security and freedom without solid basis or foundation in Iraq, it must ask itself, how much longer to wander aimlessly down this road without without clear end in sight? Swept into a dream state, a nightmare of neither sleep nor rest, it wanders pointlessly throughout a hostile land which hasn’t changed in culture or resentment since the close of the second world war and the dismantling of the days of naked colonialism.

In America’s blind pursuit of economic latitude, and longevity of the securement of reasonably priced crude, it has inadvertently fallen pray to a foe it had once believed itself worthy of side stepping the second time around, entrenchment and siege, such as it had experienced on the level of Vietnam. In spite of the U.S.S.R.’s history of similar suffering and beleaguer in their occupation of the troublesome and perilous nation of Afghanistan, the US continues its drive into the region, threatening to ignite the ire of a people legendary in defiance of any power which fails to recall its opposed mindset in search of its own sovereignty and freedom since the days of the Khyber Pass.

Throughout the sixties and early seventies, Generation X suffered the daily bombardment of images of the Vietnam War broadcast from pitch battle and directly piped into their living room’s television sets. The throngs of protestors, largely known today collectively as baby boomers, sought freedom from propaganda, secrecy, and war. They proceeded so loudly and defiantly, they unwittingly forced the proverbial powers behind the throne to take notice to the extent they would pay heed to such lessons and censor future generations of Americans.  Perhaps they’ve reverted to secrecy to stave the threat to national peace given the reality of polar extremes of political,  moral, and ethical thought, but their public reasoning seems veiled and questionable.

Again, as the year draws close to the end, we are left to ponder the question of an end to all of this. Do we truly believe this will draw to a close with any Congressional Act for withdrawal given the seeds we’ve planted throughout the region? Yes, for all purposes it will appear we’ve weathered the storm, but have we truly, and at what future cost? What does destiny hold for generations to come in a region notorious for religious, cultural, racial, and political conflict since the beginning of time.

Does the cradle of civilization reside within the borders of Iraq, or is it the bath of chaos, the source of churning conflict, and the slaughter mill of not only our youth but theirs?

In the sad, telling music video, “Johnny Get Your Gun,” written, directed, produced, and edited by Joe Stern-McGovern, and performed by A-Dub and Lil’ Chase, the story told is that of a youth of today swept abroad into the conflict in Iraq. The video shows the progression and doomed fate of Johnny as he transitions from fear, insecurity, despair, and then oddly boldness, only to find his end at the conclusion story’s end. Narrated by his grieving friend (Lil’ Chase), Johnny’s (A-Dub) sad letters home are read to his worried mother throughout the song’s chorus. It’s touching, heartfelt, and inevitable conclusion to a story thousands have come to realize in this tangible world.

Please join us now as Joe Stern-McGovern and Universal Artists, International, accompanied by Shaka Productions, present to you the beautiful and haunting music video, “Johnny Get Your Gun,”  a recurring theme which seems to trail America since the days of its inception. 

When will we, or anyone else, ever truly be free? How long will this violence continue? Where is end in sight? How many more of our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, and friends will continue to bear this senseless grief in a muddied and oft questioned conflict? Support our troops, but who in their right mind could support a concept so miserable as war, by definition a pall on the blighted soul of mankind? 

“Disconnected realities without proper analysis or sufficient information, blindly defended through violent means under questionable circumstances, and born on the backs and blood of our children in a distant land…Farewell Vietnam, hello Iraq, goodbye to our sons…and with a stroke of the brush, the world was painted red!”

Joe Stern-McGovern    

Support our troops, but think before you blindly support the cause. Ask yourselves, in a world with civilizations as advanced as ours, isn’t their any other means than war?

For more information, or to view the video, please visit us at www.myspace.com/universalartists or www.youtube.com/universalartistsintl.

Coming soon! The debut of the Black Flock Gang: BFG! For more information, please visit them at www.univeralartists.net under talent or at www.myspace.com/blackflockgang.

For more information regarding booking any of our acts, here or abroad, please write to universalartists@myspace.com or info@universalartists.net.

A-Dub & Lil' Chase

Mock executions, unsanitary water and a climate of fear – these were the conditions that Sharon Commins and Hilda Kawuki faced as hostages in Darfur for over three months. The aid workers were released early Sunday morning and flown to Khartoum, then onto their homelands of Ireland and Uganda. The women slept in the open air in the mountainous area where they were held, and kept each other’s spirits up when the circumstances became depressing.

I’ve written previously in this blog about the excellent work of journalist Herbin Hoyos, founder of Las Voces del Secuestro. Now it seems death threats in his home country have forced Hoyos to leave Colombia for Europe. Hoyos escaped a failed assassination attempt by FARC militants and flew to Spain on Monday. He vows to continue broadcasting his show, which provides voices of hope to those in captivity. Hoyos also is participating in a motorcycle caravan from Madrid to Rome in early November, along with hundreds of other Colombians – including ex-hostages – to draw attention to the plight of persons still captured.

22 hostages were freed after military commandos raided a Pakistan army headquarters in Rawalpindi on Sunday that had been taken by militants, reports said. Four militants and three hostages had been killed in the resulting clashes.

Pakistani forces have freed several dozen hostages who were captured during a raid on military headquarters in Rawalpindi, near the Pakistani capital. Armed Taliban militants in fatigues broke through a checkpoint and stormed the garrison in broad daylight yesterday. The ensuing raid by the Army resulted in a quick resolution to the day-long drama, but at least three hostages – who included military personnel and civilians – were killed along with four rebels in the operation.

Many of the hostages were kept in a single room, guarded by a militant wearing a suicide bomb vest. Army officials claim they caught the leader of the group alive. The attack represents the growing problem of militant violence in Pakistan, during a week in which the UN World Food Programme experienced several deaths due to a bombing of its Islamabad premises, and bombs killed many in a Peshawar bazaar.