Walmart, The High Price for Low Cost

Even tho documentary came out in 2005,

it features the deep personal stories and everyday lives

of families and communities struggling to survive in a Wal-Mart world.

It’s an emotional journey that will challenge the way you think, feel and shop.

http://www.walmartmovie.com/

I missed this the first time around the media circuit, but the ASPCA magazine recently featured the story of a kitten who was abandoned in a Boston mailbox.

Postina, later renamed PD for “postage due” by her new owner, was discovered by a postal worker in June. She’s found a home with a New Hampshire postal worker and is healthy and happy, but helps highlight the problem of animal abandonment and mistreatment here in the US.

By Rudie Laloi

DelFraize, the Belgian association for the protection of strawberries, has said that this year’s crop of the plump usually red soft-fruit is not affected by a virus that has been linked to the new bright, almost luminous yellow colour of the fruit’s skin.

Diseased strawberries?

“Yellow strawberries are in fact totally normal and not diseased, they are just suffering from a slight skin discolouration”, Mr. Reed Fruite, a spokesperson from DelFraize said. Fruite said he was “alarmed” by the apparent “mistreatment” of strawberries by some Belgians who have been using the yellow varieties to dye workmens’ visibility jackets.

“Given the large number of workmen across Bruxelles-Capitale it is unsurprising that the yellow dye quality of the fruit is so popular for this purpose,” one jacket-maker said.

The price of strawberries in recent weeks has shot up since fruit buyers have been refusing the yellow varieties. Fruite said he was “disappointed” by those who have blacklisted yellow strawberries. They will “suffer when they realise strawberry smoothies are no longer on offer at their local café,” he said.

That’s what we should consider calling a “private” guard working for the US Embassy in Afghanistan.

They are private, because they are not ashamed to show their private parts.

They are ferocious and fearless, because they’re not afraid to shock the Taliban into retreat by showing up in the line of fire armor-free.

It’s always with a great sense of fiction that I read such stories on the news. That can’t be real…???

We are daily bombarded with news and opinions about the lack of progress in Afghanistan 8 years after the US, with the help of NATO, kicked the Taliban out of the country.

Hundreds of European and American soldiers get killed there, the Taliban are coming back from Pakistan to reclaim territory and sabotage all progress achieved so far and things are just not working well or as well as we would like them to.

As I follow the news in that part of the world I am always left wondering. Why? Why can’t we succeed there? We are throwing military and economic resources in that country, yet we seem to be the ones into retreat 8 years after we supposedly Talibanned the place.

Something just doesn’t feel right.

Then I read this news and that something which didn’t feel right becomes clear.

“Allegations surfaced last week that contractor ArmorGroup North America allowed mistreatment, sexual activity and intimidation within the ranks of private guards hired to protect the embassy in Kabul. The company and U.S. officials are investigating.”

“We’ve immediately taken several actions,” said Ambassador Karl Eikenberry. “First of all, 13 of the employees of ArmorGroup have been terminated from their contracts. That’s a combination of some management and any of the individuals that were involved in this very disgusting behavior that occurred.”

Two things amaze me in this story. The fact that “management” is involved is the first. The second is the use of the word “disgusting” to describe how WE feel about it.

If it is “disgusting” to us in the West who are supposed to be a little more tolerant of parties, booze, boobs and gays, how are the locals supposed to feel about it?

The irony is that this has nothing to do with the Koran or Islam and the locals’ morals, their tolerance or lack of it to things Western. This is us calling ourselves disgusted and us firing the people who we hire to guard us from the people we feel disgust for their hate of us and who we force to change with overwhelmingly superior force which also doesn’t seem to bring the results we want.

First it was Abu Ghraib in Iraq. A few years later, Obama wants Guantanamo closed as well. One would expect that “management” of the private guards in the US embassy in Kabul would know by now that this is not the kind of behavior to permit under any circumstances whatsoever anywhere in the world, least of all in fucking Afghanistan.

Unless they really believe that place has been totally fucked up and the hopes for a better outcome there are a pie in the sky, it just doesn’t make sense that these incidents still keep happening with the “disgusting” patterned frequency they are happening.

It is one thing when one private soldier does something indecent and a different thing altogether when 13 people, including management are fired for “disgusting” behavior in Afghanistan.

This is a US embassy spokesman referring to the incident NOT using diplomatic language. The most diplomatic of all institutions representing the US government is using emotional language to describe the way WE feel about the way the people we hire to do things we don’t want them to do.

This is very unusual and sick. We seem to be at a loss as these incidents are popping up like dots in a pattern we can’t seem to be able to put an end to or at least bring under control.

Sure. We fired all 13 of them. But that’s only after the news came out and was impossible to cover up. For all we know, orgies are addictive and whoever claims they only took part once or they had to take their shirts off because it was too hot dancing so close to the fire, it’s like claiming they smoked the poppy but never inhaled it. Yeah, right!

How on naked earth do we expect that just by firing the privates we can still win the locals’ hearts and minds and TaliBan this Fucking Poppyland?

Oh yes, silly me. Of course I should have noticed the naked truth staring at me through the fire like a Talibani imbecile.

The privates’ faces in the photo are covered in black ink so they are not exposed.

YES! That’s something the Taliban and the locals can appreciate.

Cover Up!

If we can start by covering up the faces, at some point, we will learn to cover up the rest of the body and private parts.

That’s the kind of logic we can expect all local Afghanistanis to appreciate.

These guys should really like us. They are so wrong hating us and not welcoming us there with OpenArms, ArmsUp, UnArmed, UnArmored and Totally EnAmored!

In my private parts, I know that’s the case. But I’ll keep it private for now, for my private pirate code of ethics doesn’t allow me to expose all my private thoughts in public.

But I don’t mind if You want to!

Yours EnAmored,
JackSparrow

http://www.thinkaloo.com

So last night i rushed my boyfriend up to the local hospital as he had been vomiting all day long and was in a whole load of pain in the stomach area due to the vomiting, cramping and such and has a history of a swollen pancreas.

We arrived there around 7ish by 7.30 he had bloods taken and had started vomiting again within the emergency dept (not wait room), they took him out of an observation room and placed him in a room full of Recliner chairs.  whilst in the room he was continuing to vomit and doubled over in pain, a nurse came to put the drip in his arm with some anti-vomiting agent, whilst she was there she said to him when he was cramping and trying to vomit, “oh don’t try and force yourself to vomit” between wretches he told her it was his body automatically doing it and he had no control to stop it, so she grabbed his shoulder and shoved him back into the chair, he said to her “hey i cant sit back my stomach is cramping it hurts” she continued to shove until he sat back so she could put the drip in, she couldnt just wait until he stopped wretching?  not long later he went to do his urine sample and started vomiting again in the bathroom, this time vomiting blood and having extreme crampin in the stomach area. i went over to the nurses station and tried to ask a question of the nurse and found 2 nurses standing around talking about mobile fone providers, i stood there waiting for a few mins and neither of them made any attempt to ask me if i needed help, i then saw a nurse walking around and asked her if they could get someone to help him and get him a bed as he was vomiting up blood and in severe pain, in reply she said “he has been seen by the nurse, we have done all we can he will have to wait his turn” so i replied “meanwhile, he rips the lining of his stomach whilst vomiting as there is nothing to vomit up.” at around 8pm i again asked them if they could find a bed for him as he was still in extreme pain and needed to lay down,  i had never seen him in such agony, he was crying in pain and on and off the chair and onto the floor as he needed to lay flat due to the cramping in the stomach and sitting up was putting strain on his stomach area.

By 9.20 he was still on and off the floor as he needed to lay down and i had seen enough of my boyfriend having to lay on a dirty hospital floor to gain some relief of his pain and discomfort, so i started to record him laying on the floor in the room and walked out of the room he was in to record the empty beds in the emergency bed area.  at first i had seen 6 empty beds, by the time i went with the video camera i could see and access 3 but had nurses watching me and couldnt get access to film the other empty beds, i was then followed by a nurse and told id have to wait in the waiting room, i said no im staying with my partner as he is sick and she again said no you will have to leave. i again repeated “im not leaving without my partner, he is sick and laying on the floor” she then states she will call security and have me removed from the hospital because i was filming people/ “i replied im not filming anybody….and then had to  stop recording:  My sentence ended “im not filming anybody im filming my partner and the empty beds to prove your treating him like an animal after our requests for a bed.

I stood and complained as to why i was being asked to leave and she said cuz i was filming in the hospital and this was not allowed. i stated there were no signs and i had no knowledge of this and that was not good enough, the security by this time had arrived and asked the nurse what she wanted, she told them i had to leave the hospital. so they evicted me from the hospital, in protest i tossed a foam cup of ice in the air and stormed out (security closely following me) letting ppl in emergency waiting area know they had a man on the floor in pain and refused to get him a bed when they had empties.

outside i was laughed at by staff and security and being so distressed i yelled at them for laughing, i had the security guards then cross the car drive area and threaten to have me arrested if i did not leave and i refused and said id call the police myself after he got up in my face whilst i was on the phone to my mother who was looking after both keith’s and my children (we have 2 together and 1 each from previous relationship)

i immediately called channel 10 and spoke with reporter Harry. i have sent them the video footage.

I then called the police and waited until after 11pm for them to arrive(outside in the car park), even the cop agreed with me and shared her personal experience of mistreatment of her father at blacktown hospital.  When she went in to deliver him his fone she said he was still in the same chair and no bed had been given to him.

After speaking with the police i headed home and emailed the footage to channel 10.

at 1.20am i called the hospital and found out he was still in the same chair and awaiting results of bloods they took at 8am.  He told me at 2am he was finally given a bed to lay down in and some pain medication and an injection that put him to sleep for a few hours. Upon awaking at 6am he was told he was being discharged. He got home at 8.50am this morning, still pale and pasty and not well, no energy, can barely walk etc with a letter saying he presented with Severe Pain, Vomiting etc.  They also noted that he denied any alcohol or drug abuse…are they insinuating that he is an addict or junkie? I had overheard all night nurses making statements about him and walking past him laying on the floor , they giggled and said things to the effect ” oh dont worry ive seen him here before like this…..” i couldnt clearly make out all of the rest of sentence but it wasnt nice .  From my opinion they labelled him a junkie as he has 2 broken and severely rotted teeth in the front of his mouth, yet if they check his medical records, he acutally presented at blacktown hospital with 2 broken teeth and a broken nose in the 90’s due to being hit in a bar fight!

Im so disgusted in the treatment of my partner and would appreciate any comments of your treatments at any hospitals within australia as im defianately taking this further.

At his request i have made the video a private only viewable file. I am keeping hold of this for further action. Thank you.

UPDATE:  He was discharged on Wednesday Morning with a letter stating he was in SEVERE Pain and vomiting. Denies any take away foods, alcohol or drug abuse. a copy of blood tests was enclosed and blood tests were all normal.  No Scanns or Ultrasounds were given to him at this time at blacktown hospital.  His first set of blood tests taken had been lost and they had to retake bloods, i am unsure of the time this was done as i was already evicted from the hospital and hnim was so overcome in pain and exhaustion had no idea as to what time after i left things happened, only that they advised him someone called at around 1.30am and 2pm he was given a bed to lay in and sometime (unsure of time) afterwards a shot in the bum to sleep with some pain killers. When he awoke around 6am they said they were discharging him as they could not find anything wrong….well no wonder when they dont do anything except a blood test, not everything comes up in a blood test!

UPDATE: he has heard nothing back from the head of hospital as at 30/11/09

Police arrested an American man from Bountiful early Friday for allegedly groping a nurse who was helping a woman who was in labor with his baby at an Ogden hospital.

Adam Jay Manning, 30, brought a pregnant woman in labor to McKay-Dee Hospital around 3 a.m. Friday, said Ogden police Lt. Loring Draper. When a nurse came to assist the couple, Manning looked the nurse “up and down” and made an observation about her appearance, Draper said.

“He makes a comment about how cute she looks,” Draper said.

The nurse ignored Manning and continued helping the woman in labor, who was in a wheelchair and waiting to be taken to a delivery room. Manning continued his pursuit of the nurse, however, by telling her something looked wrong with her neck, Draper said. He attempted to massage the nurse’s neck and then reached out and grabbed her breast, Draper said.

The nurse pushed Manning away and moved to the other side of the wheelchair, Draper said. She reported the incident to police, who arrested Manning on suspicion of felony forcible sexual abuse. He was being held in the Weber County jail.

Manning pleaded guilty in February 2008 to shoplifting, a class B misdemeanor, and was sentenced to a year of probation that included classes at New Horizons, a mental health and substance abuse treatment center. In June, Manning pleaded guilty to criminal mischief, also a class B misdemeanor. He was sentenced to fines and a year of probation, which he allegedlyviolated — a judge issued a warrant for his arrest Sept. 14, court records show.

Draper said it’s unclear whether the woman in labor was married to Manning or if she was a girlfriend. She gave birth to the baby after Manning’s arrest.

“Obviously, he wasn’t there for the birth of the child,” Draper said.

bron: www.sltrib.com [9-10-2009]

A co-worker took a client to a hospital and sat with him in the ER for several hours. During her time there, she noticed a cop bring in a man bleeding from his raw forehead. He was crying, “This cop just beat me up! You can’t beat me up!” But nothing happened.

The man was treated and the officer left. But my co-worker started to realize how many other cops were at this hospital, bringing in people with various ailments and states of sobriety. She approached him with a question: “What happens when a cop brings in someone who says the cop has beat him up?”

She was assured there is an internal affair process. Oh good–no, wait. Who is questioned for that. The cop who is accused and past people who have been arrested by the officer. Oh, okay. But wait again. How is a complaint filed?

I know many people who hate their run-ins with the police are hardly likely to rush down to the police station and face more cops to file a complaint. I have one member who turns and walks the other way any time she sees a cop due to her “cop-ophobia.” If a person has sustained injuries from a police officer, would the fear or negative repercussions be too much to risk facing more officers and file a complaint? Would that officer (or others) then target the person in the future and harass them for such action? Maybe, maybe not. But I know plenty of people with anxiety or depression or schizophrenia (etc) would hardly be willing to take the risk.

My co-worker tracked down several nurses and asked them how that patient would be responded to for making such a claim at that hospital. Would the complaint be logged and researched? “Oh, no, we don’t get involved in that.” Oh. Well, do you pass the information to a social worker who follows up with that? “We treat the patient; we don’t get involved with that.”

I asked a friend who works at another local hospital, and she assured me this should not be the case. Social workers should assist patients who come in and declare abuse.

Well, maybe we just need to verify the process with the hospital then. But I’m thinking about past experiences there verses other places, and am starting to wonder if I’ve seen police officers bring in more patients to this one particular hospital than others.

The most disturbing piece of information to me? If a patient is taken by the police to the hospital instead of jail, the police officer does not have to file a report on the situation. Or, at least, so says the police officer my co-worker spoke with.

Try this scenario on for size then: A police officer sees a drunk in the park. He approaches him, bangs him up a bit for behaving drunkenly and not giving appropriate “respect” to the officer, and then takes him to the hospital. The police officer doesn’t file a report because the injuries sustained keep the client in the hospital. No social worker follows up on the claim. The client suffers from mental health issues and is too intimidated to walk down to the police station and file a complaint himself.

Is there a hole in the system?

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I’m so surprised how people get away with so much.  I’m specifically talking about folks who oppress others, control others…I’m calling all of yall to speak up.  I’m about to do it this Tuesday.

My manager is your typical abuser.  He can be so nice, yet he can be so angry and mean.  There’s normally no middle point.  This guy should not be a manager because he does not know how to deal with his employees nor does he know how to talk to customers.  As a manager things are gonna go wrong and you need to have some self-control to address these problems and come up with a viable solution.

Whenever any one of us makes a mistakes he blows up on us like we’ve done a terrible crime.  When a customer disagrees with him, he engages in a drawn out argument with them.  Although what they’re arguing about is not that important or doesn’t matter, he makes sure that they know that they are wrong and he is right.  And just to add, I work with a company that is obsessed with customer service where we’re supposed to say yes to customers.  When they are ague with us, we’re supposed to bite our tongues if what they’re arguing about doesn’t conflict with our company policies.  And lastly, I don’t know how this guy got promoted to management.  Every task he does, he grunts, complains, yells out some profanity.  (Well actually, I know how he got promoted.  Just last week, when upper management came by, he made the office spotless and acted like your sweetest and best employee.  He knows how to act like a great employee, but when it comes to everyday situations, his default crazy guy comes out.)

I’m speaking up to upper management on Tuesday because of what happened last Friday.  My co-worker forgot to finish a minimal task and probably didn’t notice, so he left for the weekend.  When my manager found out, he called him back full of anger.  My manager called him a jackass, said I don’t care if you have a wedding to attend Saturday, you get your ass here and complete this.  You should feel so ashamed of yourself, I can’t keep on cleaning up your mess, you should feel guilty because you’re making your other co-worker stay.

In the end, everything my manager said was an act to make my co-worker feel horrible.  In the end, my manager actually took 10 seconds to fix the problem.

The time has come where this injustic has to be made visible.  I can see why people are afraid to report things like this because I felt all the feelings.  I didn’t want to at first because first I was feeling like a tattle-teller, I worried I might lose my job, I worried no one would believe me, I worried my manager would find something to pin on me as revenge, I worried I would break the for the most part calm environment of my office, I worried some co-workers would no longer like me.  I like to uncover all these feelings that prevent me from doing what’s right in my heart so I can challenge its validity and challenge its likelihood.

I’m moving beyond those fears because I’m getting to the point where I feel like I can’t function unless I do what I feel is right in my heart.  Call me sensitive, but my belief against fighting against abuse is so strong, that my body can’t handle it if I don’t do something about.  I guess I can call it a curse and a blessing.

Plan of action:  talk to upper management and until I get someone to move on this, I’ll keep on going up.  That’s how much I believe in fighting against folks who feel like they can just treat people this way.  I’m doing this because I’m worried for my co-worker who my manager always picks on, I’m worried for my sanity in being able to continue my job, I’m worried for his future employees, and I’m worried for my manager.  He probably has an inkling he has a problem or has no idea about it.  This might be a blessing in disguise for him.

FYI: I would rather not have to speak up about his treatment of employees, but I’m knowing more and more than it’s my calling to fight against abuse.  To reveal abuse.  I have the skill and the eye of recognizing abuse.  It’s not easy, the signs of abuse can be very stuble because abusers have a very sly way to manipulate and take away your self-worth that you won’t want to speak up or you’ll be too afraid to.  I would also rather not because it takes a lot of guts, breaking into a system of living, and having people mad at you.  I’ve done it twice before and it doesn’t feel good when you feel what you’re doing is right and others are mad at you for what you’ve done.  One, because they don’t see the abuse or two, that person is their friend.  I’d also rather not speak up because it takes a lot of mental energy away.

When I say I’d rather not, it doesn’t mean I don’t want the abuse to stop, it just means I know it takes a lot of work and standing up and not caring what others think.  I also say I’d rather not so you understand that I don’t enjoy hurting people and embarassing people by revealing their faults.  My point is, I don’t have this self-righteous attitude where I feel I’m perfect and everyone else is beneath me.  I’d rather not because I am not perfect myself and we all have something to work on.  But in these cases, only a few recognize the maltreatment and only a few feel they can’t function unless they say something like me. =)

I hope yall learned something.  My point is: let’s learn how to speak up when managers or whoever mistreat people on a regular basis.  It’s not okay, they need to be ashamed of themselves and taught a different way of dealing with people.  A human life is so precious, so full of potential, that no one should be experiencing oppression from another human.  No one deserves it and we need to help our people who aren’t strong enough to realize this.  And if you are going through this treatment, step up and don’t be afraid to speak up for what is right.  Peace!

Palestinians Admit They’re Treated Better in Israel

         I ran across an old article from the first invasion of Iraq in 1990, written just after we had liberated Kuwait. In the article by Richard Price, USA Today, many Palestinians were seeking out the American press to register complaints of their treatment in Kuwait and the rest of the Arab world.  That caught my attention and so I cut it out and threw it in a shoebox, where I found it the other day.

         Few people are aware of how badly the Palestinians have been treated in Kuwait and elsewhere in the Mid-East. They were virtually run out of Syria and Jordan, and are kept in concentration camps in Lebanon, where they can best serve the purposes of the Hezbollah and others hostile to the only Jewish nation in the region, or the world for that matter. Since most of the time it suits their purposes to paint the Israelis as “oppressors”.  I thought this article would help underline that the real reason Arabs wish  to destroy Eretz Israel, is ideologically  and spiritually based, not due to the way they’re treated.

         They told reporters, “At least they (Israelis) won’t bother you if you don’t bother them”.  And, “Their democratic ideals protect us. But in Arab countries they’ll treat us as a lower life form”.

         The Palestinians told reporters that the U.S troops had tried to intervene for them, but there was little they could do. It sounds as if they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place…it doesn’t pay to curse Israel.

(article follows, though I couldn’t get the format to work very well and lost the Photo)

 
Palestinins say they’re Taunted and beaten in Kuwait

By Richard Price USA TODAY

KUWAIT CITY – Five days after allied forces recaptured the city, Mazim Younes and his mother were driving across town when they ran into an allied checkpoint

Today, 17-year-old Mazim has a broken left arm, more than 100 welts and bruises, and a gash in his skull.

He says he was beaten by Saudi troops, as U.S. troops watched. The reason: He’s a Palestinian.

“I have lived in Kuwait for 33 years,” says his father, Mah-moud. “We went through as much agony as any Kuwaiti. I lost a business. My children have lost a year of their lives. Now I would like to celebrate as all Kuwait is celebrating. But we cannot. If we go in public, we will be taunted or beaten.”

Many Palestinians say revenge is being exacted against them without discrimination – because a number of Palestin­ians aligned themselves with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein or acted as Iraqi collaborators.

Some of them here say bluntly that Israel treats them better than anyone in this region.

“At least they won’t bother you unless you bother them,” says Han-ifi Younes, Mahmoud’s oldest son. “Their demo­cratic ideals protect us. But in Arab countries, they’ll mistreat us as low­er life forms.”

Things will be tougher than ever particularly here in Kuwait, where people are embittered by the Palestinian con­nection with Saddam.

Dozens of Palestinians have been stoned or beaten, turned away from gas stations, re­fused service in stores, and taunted in the streets.

> At least 4,000 Pales­tinian and other suspect­ed collaborators have been jailed since libera­tion, according to resis­tance officials manning…etc

Before September 11 I never really thought or worried about terrorism. As a U.S. citizen I felt that I was always protected from the savagery that is experienced by other nations. Suicide bombers and fighting in the streets just weren’t a part of our everyday lives. But on 9/11 all of that changed, terrorism and the hatred that the rest of the world has for the country that I love touched home and it unexpectedly became very real for me as it did for many other Americans.

The September 11th attack wasn’t the first terrorist attack on the United States but it undoubtedly was the worst. Almost 3,000 lives were claimed during the attack on the World Trade Center and life as we knew it suddenly changed. The passing of The Patriot Act gave the government power to pry into almost every aspect of our lives with no questions asked, security at our airports increased, and citizens of Middle Eastern descent automatically became targets of racism and prejudice. No longer did we look at our friends or neighbors the same. On that fateful day those terrorists took more than just lives they took a part of our freedom and part of our peace of mind. They took our freedom to live worry free. I can no longer board a plane without wondering if it will be hijacked. I often worry that if they were successful in planning and carrying out the September 11^th attacks then they can do it again and I’ve lost faith in my country’s ability to protect its citizens.

We were able to capture Saddam Hussein but still have been unsuccessful in capturing the master mind of the 9/11 attacks, Osama Bin Laden. I often wonder what the country will do to him if we ever do get him within our grasp. President Obama recently signed an order to close Guantanamo Bay Prison because of the alleged mistreatment of its prisoners and inhumane interrogation tactics. I don’t agree with our President’s decision to close the prison. If terrorists are inhumanely treated then it serves them right. They are getting exactly what they deserve. What rights should they have after killing hundreds and sometimes thousands of innocent people? Were they thinking of the rights of the innocent people that they killed? The rights of the families left behind just because of their distorted beliefs and misinterpretation of religion.

These men should suffer every day of their lives for their actions. Guantanamo Bay is exactly where they belong. Where does the President plan to send them once Gitmo closes? No country wants to allow them back into their own countries and does America really want these prisoners in their own backyards? Is he going to send them into our own domestic prison system? Having even one of these prisoners in an American prison invites terrorism to the country. The men in Guantanamo are evil and filled with nothing but hate. They should be contained in a prison that is established, secure, and equipped to deal with them. Putting them into our own prison system will only do more harm to our country and it will be our tax dollars paying to house and support them.

Earlier today the Associated Press reported that Scotland has freed terrorist Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted in the Pan Am Lockerbie bombing. Megrahi was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for his role in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which blew up over Scotland on December 21, 1988. In 2001, Al-Megrahi was convicted and since has been serving his sentence in a Scotland prison. Scotland has decided to free the terrorist citing compassionate grounds solely because he has been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer and has been given less than three months to live. I am totally confused and angry with this decision. Why should a convicted terrorist who killed innocent people be shown compassion? He should spend the remaining last months of his life suffering just as those family members who lost loved ones suffer every day of their lives. Am I just too cold-hearted and lack compassion for wanting these despicable human beings to suffer or should we really being showing them mercy?

So many self-proclaim the greatness of their maturity level. But there are several tests of maturity – many of which we fail to pass and yet profess out maturity. I ran across one of those checkpoints of maturity today.

* Can you overlook an offense of a person who doesn’t know any better? *

For those of us who say that we are becoming more mature, can we overlook a situation when we are done wrong by someone who doesn’t know any better – who haven’t risen to our point of maturity. If someone doesn’t know any better they can’t do any better! So how can we hold against them what they haven’t come to the point to understand. Can you forgive them for mistreating you? Can you overlook the fact that you are making effort towards them but they haven’t understood what their role should be?

If you have matured – you can overlook that, and lovingly teach them and guide them to get (and know) better. And let them mature at their own pace.

Davidism #24 – Forgive Them, They Don’t Know Any Better

WARNING: this may be a bit of a rant.  But hey, it’s my blog right? 

I spent Tuesday evening this week completing a “writing test” for an employer I’m interviewing with.  I had no problem doing it at first, after all, the position I’m interviewing for is a communications position, but as I sat in front of my computer for 2 hours drafting appropriate communications using corporate communications vehicles directed at targeted audiences instead of going to the gym, I began to get annoyed. 

I am, after all, a graduate-level educated person who wrote countless papers and presentations in school and managed to do quite well. (Ahem, I graduated with a 3.7/4.0 thank you very much.)  I write concise, relevant cover letters and even provide a series of blog entries to potential interviewers so they can judge my ability to communicate via the written word.  (I will not be providing this entry going forward however )  And, while I understand companies believe their messages, products and services are truly unique, professional writing is professional writing; and I think I do it quite well.  So, needless to say my level of annoyance has only grown since Tuesday evening and reached almost feverish levels after I read this article: 5 Ways Companies Mistreat Job Seekers http://bit.ly/H8xNQ.  Over the last few months, I’ve experienced all of these things and I’m just about fed up. 

Having no regard for the candidate’s time: I was sent an interview confirmation at 10pm the night before the interview.  Gosh, thanks for the notice.  Had I not checked my blackberry on my way to bed, I would have missed it.  Helps to know if you have to wear a suit when you’re getting dressed.  I was also given an unrealistic deadline for returning the writing test since I told the HR rep I was going out of town.  The organization seemed annoyed that I asked for additional time.  Newsflash: I have a life.  I understand you’re also testing reliability, but let’s get real here. 

Not sharing their timeline: I interviewed for a position 3 months ago and was told they wanted to move on it quickly.  Then, my contact person dropped off the face of the earth without so much as “our timeline has changed, I’ll be in touch.”  I followed up via email twice with no response.  He conveniently called me this week, out of the blue, wanting to get back in touch because “they really want to get going on this.”  Really?  This hurry up and wait game is super fun.

Refusing to share their salary range, but asking you yours: Yep, check on this one too.  “So, what kind of salary are you looking for?”  Gosh, I don’t know, let me just pick a number out of thin air.  Or better yet, let me divulge how much I was making at my last job, so we can compare apples to anteaters in terms of company size, position budget and level of responsibility.  Oh and since that job I got an MBA which cost me $60,000, so how about we actually book-end this discussion with some sort of range because neither one of us is naive enough to think that the company hasn’t dictated one.  I’ll automatically go to the high end, and you’ll automatically go to the low end, but at least we’ll be playing in the same ballpark. 

Something to note: job seekers are PEOPLE, not numbers.  The salary discussion you’re having is their livelihood, their ability to pay their mortgage and feed their kids.  This time you’re on THAT side of the table, but you’ll be on THIS side again at some point.  If I were you, I’d watch my karma.

Misrepresenting the work: I don’t know if this is happening since I haven’t experienced the jobs, but this definitely happened at my last job.  Yikes.  Why do you think I quit and went back to school?  And here’s a newsflash, “misrepresenting” is simply another word for “lying.”  Just don’t lie.  Again, karma. 

Not notifying candidates that they’re no longer under consideration: I thought this was happening until I got that phone call from the fall-off-the-face-of-the-earth guy the other day, but apparently I’m still under consideration for them.  Another one of the firms I applied to actually sent me an official “rejection email,” that’s what the receptionist called it.  I never thought I would thank someone for rejecting me, but at least you’re informed and don’t waste time following up.  So, thanks for the rejection and you’re way ahead of other companies who just stop responding.

I’m passionate about this not only because I’m smack-dab in the middle of the process, but also because there seems to be a trend toward business/work being an excuse or avenue to treat people like crap.  A good friend of mine calls on financial advisors for a living and has countless stories of people being flat-out inconsiderate and rude.  It’s ridiculous.  Treat other people the way you would like to be treated, with respect and consideration for their time, feelings and hard work.  

Thanks for reading my rant. 

Last House on the Left, The Movie Download

DOWNLOAD NOW Imdb rating: 5.7 (with 7039 votes) Year: 1972 Genres: Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller

Last House on the Left, The Storyline

After kidnapping and butchering two teenagers, a gang of rapists and murderers unknowingly seeks refuge with the parents of one of the victims.

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Actors

Hess, David as Krug Stillo, Lincoln, Fred J. as Fred ‘Weasel’ Podowski, Sheffler, Marc as Junior Stillo, Towers, Richard as Dr. John Collingwood, Anker, Marshall as Sheriff, Kove, Martin as Deputy, Edwards, Ray as Postman, Craven, Jonathan as Boy With Balloon, Forcelli, Anthony J. as Ice Cream Store Clerk, Miner, Steve as Hippie taunting deputy

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Did you know that Israel is outsourcing some of its checkpoints to private security firms?

Is this a good idea?  I don’t think so. Military services should be run by military personnel.  Reminiscent of the U.S. Blackwater scandal, issues have arisen regarding the behavior of private security guards working at the checkpoints and their mistreatment of Palestinians.

For more information check out http://www.whoprofits.org/.

Morning Star Online, Friday 17 July 2009

by Paddy McGuffin

The public inquiry into the death of Iraqi hotel worker Baha Mousa in British army custody and the torture of six other Iraqis began its first proper phase this week.

Although the trial, which is expected to last a year, is in its infancy, serious questions have already been raised over the guidelines laid down by the army for the interrogation and treatment of detainees.

Mr Gerard Elias QC for the inquiry, who has previously represented the British army at the Saville inquiry into Bloody Sunday, has meticulously laid out army protocols, raising a number of issues.

In particular, he queried why the guidelines for combat troops contained no reference to the use of techniques during internment in Northern Ireland in 1971, which are very similar to those used on Mr Mousa and the other detainees.

That case ruled that such practices, including hooding, stress positions, sleep deprivation and beatings, amounted to mistreatment.

He raised the question of whether the response of the MoD, Defence Intelligence Services and serving commanders was “adequate.”

Turning to the events immediately before and during the period that the detainees were held by the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment in Basra, Mr Elias said that a well-respected officer had been killed a month previously and a number of military police had been murdered at al-Amara.

It was suggested that this may have been a reason for the mistreatment.

The men had been arrested after a weapons cache was discovered at the Haitham Hotel, where the majority of them worked.

The inquiry heard repeated evidence – both from detainees and military personnel – of savage brutality inflicted by the soldiers from punching and “martial arts kicks” to repeated and sustained use of stress positions. All are acts which breach the Geneva Convention.

Mr Elias referred to previous evidence by a number of those accused of perpetrating the torture.

“If one considers the injuries suffered alongside the current paucity of evidence from soldiers which could explain these injuries, there is what might well be said a compelling argument that at least some of the soliders are not giving a full and truthful account,” he suggested.

California lawmaker seeks apology for the Chinese immigrants

California’s Chinese immigrants helped build ships, levees, irrigation systems and the transcontinental railroad. They worked in farm fields and mines and helped develop the abalone and shrimp industries.

For their efforts, they were rewarded with special high taxes, forced out of towns and denied the rights to own property, to marry whites and to attend public schools. They also were subjected to violence and intimidation and denied equal protection by the courts. In 1882, they were made the targets of the United States’ first law limiting immigration based on race or nationality, the Chinese Exclusion Act.

State Assemblyman Paul Fong, a Democrat whose maternal grandfather was subjected to immigration restrictions, thinks it’s time the state and the federal governments formally apologize for mistreatment of the Chinese.

“It was a double standard all the way” until the mid-20th century, Fong said Tuesday. “They couldn’t marry who they wanted. They couldn’t buy property until the 1950s. Asians couldn’t become (naturalized) citizens.”

It’s not the first time that state lawmakers have sought to make amends for past mistreatment. Earlier this month, Connecticut became the seventh state to apologize to blacks for the wrongs committed under slavery. Alabama, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia are the others.

The Chinese started coming to California in large numbers during the Gold Rush, hoping to strike it rich and return home. Many stayed and more came, working in the mines or taking other jobs, including helping build the transcontinental railroad.

Eddie Wong, executive director of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, said Chinese immigrants made “tremendous contributions to building society, building the economy of California. That should be recognized along with an apology.”

Fong has introduced a resolution in the Assembly that cites the contributions made by the Chinese and expresses California’s deep regrets for the discrimination. The measure is scheduled to be considered next week by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, the first step in winning approval from the Legislature.

Fong said he also plans to seek an apology from the federal government and some form of reparation, such as a contribution to maintain the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay. The center housed Chinese immigrants between 1910 and 1940 as they tried to prove they were eligible to enter the U.S.

The island is a state park that could be shut because of California’s budget problems. Apologies for government mistreatment and reparations have been rare in Congress. In 1988, Congress apologized for the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II and offered $20,000 payments to survivors. It also issued an apology in 1993 to native Hawaiians for the unlawful overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Legislation is pending in Congress to apologize for slavery, and for years of mistreatment to Native American Indians.

Fong and a resolution co-author, Assemblyman Kevin De Leon, also a Democrat, said it has drawn some negative and “very racist” reaction in reader comments on newspaper Web sites, but they predicted it would pass the state Legislature.  “To move forward and become a stronger state, we need to recognize our mistakes,” Fong said Wednesday at a news conference.

Fong’s maternal grandfather experienced the discrimination in California firsthand. When he arrived in the United States in 1939, he spent two months on Angel Island undergoing questioning to determine if he was eligible to enter the country, Fong said.

He wasn’t eligible, under the immigration restrictions that allowed Chinese to immigrate if they were members of certain professions, were the children of immigrants in those professions or were the children of Chinese-Americans who were citizens because they were born in the U.S.

Fong’s grandfather paid about $2,000 for fake identification papers and took a new name of Chan Share, becoming a “paper son.” The term referred to immigrants who purchased fake identification papers from the Chinese who claimed they were citizens and wanted to help their children in China immigrate to America, a practice that blossomed after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that destroyed many birth records.

“There were discriminatory laws on the books at the time, and he had to get around them,” Fong said. “That was the way they did it.” His grandfather settled near San Mateo and became a flower grower, later becoming one of the founders of the Chinese Bay Area Chrysanthemum Growers Association.

bron: www.etaiwannews.com [18-6-2009]

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Photo taken by Anatelle Ford for the Adonis Musati Project.

More than a decade ago, Archbishop Desmond Tutu defined Ubuntu as an ethic which is upheld by someone  who ‘…has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.’ In short, he described ubuntu as the essence of being human.

But what is the meaning of these words in the face of the mistreatment of refugees in South Africa? In front of the Department of Home Affairs, there are always refugees who have been sleeping on the pavement for days, trying to obtain an asylum seeker’s permit. They are not even allowed to use the building’s toilets and risk losing their place in line when seeking this service elsewhere.

 Recently it was said in the news that a lorry reportedly carrying sewerage had sprayed effluent onto hundreds of desperate immigrants – young and old –   at the Methodist Church refugee camp in Johannesburg.

 For decades, refugees have been a significant feature of the South African landscape.  South Africa has given official recognition to refugees, a move that has been highly appreciated.  However, refugees have experienced varying degrees of acceptance or rejection as they strive to make a living in a foreign land.  

Photo taken by Anatelle Ford for the Adonis Musati Project

 The scenarios presented above and other untold stories, makes one wonder whether the ethics of Ubuntu will remain a political philosophy. Ubuntu calls us to place equal value on all individuals, to raise the voice of those who otherwise cannot do it for themselves. It defines what it really means to be a human being.

The Adonis Musati Project, for one, believes in the spirit of Ubuntu. Named after a young Zimbabwean who died of starvation on the streets of Cape Town, this organisation aims to support refugees in their endeavours to make a life for themselves.

 The Development Works team hopes to support them as much as possible.