The demise of local papers means the official version of events may soon be the only versionSomeone tell him about t'internet for gawd's sake!
Dead babies, mothers weeping on their children's graves, a gun aimed at a child and bombed-out mosques - these are a few examples of the images Israel Defense Forces soldiers design these days to print on shirts they order to mark the end of training, or of field duty. The slogans accompanying the drawings are not exactly anemic either: A T-shirt for infantry snipers bears the inscription "Better use Durex," next to a picture of a dead Palestinian baby, with his weeping mother and a teddy bear beside him. A sharpshooter's T-shirt from the Givati Brigade's Shaked battalion shows a pregnant Palestinian woman with a bull's-eye superimposed on her belly, with the slogan, in English, "1 shot, 2 kills." A "graduation" shirt for those who have completed another snipers course depicts a Palestinian baby, who grows into a combative boy and then an armed adult, with the inscription, "No matter how it begins, we'll put an end to it."And yes, I am a certified "anti-Semite" i.e. someone who criticises Israel, so don't bother emailing me with the usual shit. Thank you!
There are also plenty of shirts with blatant sexual messages. For example, the Lavi battalion produced a shirt featuring a drawing of a soldier next to a young woman with bruises, and the slogan, "Bet you got raped!" A few of the images underscore actions whose existence the army officially denies - such as "confirming the kill" (shooting a bullet into an enemy victim's head from close range, to ensure he is dead), or harming religious sites, or female or child non-combatants.
Via The New Civil Rights MovementFor the Pope to say that condoms aggravate the problems of HIV/AIDS is sillier than calling the world flat. As Rebecca Hodes from the Treatment Action Campaign said, "Pope Benedict XVI's opposition to condoms conveys that religious dogma is more important to him than the lives of Africans."
This Pope deserves to isolated on the global scene. The Catholic Church has become one of the most irresponsible institutions on the international scene under his watch, siding with countries like Sudan and Iran when it comes to imprisoning or executing LGBT people, and now flagrantly saying that condoms spread HIV.
The best article so far on the Red Cross report is Mark Danner's lengthy piece in the New York Review of Books. Danner has been on the torture case for years, and presents an excellent history and summary of the Bush torture system, along with its craven approval by the Democratic-controlled Congress in the notorious -- and never-repealed -- Military Commissions Act of 2007. [For more on this act and other authoritarian encroachments, see here , here and here.]
Danner also lets the tortured speak for themselves, in the harrowing testimonies they gave to the Red Cross. Danner's entire article deserves a close reading but it should be remembered that while the article and the Red Cross report focus on the treatment of 14 "high-value detainees" in CIA custody, many if not most of the same torture techniques used on these "hard cases" were also employed on countless other captives swept up by the thousands in the Terror War dragnets.
Remember too that according to the Red Cross, at one time up to 70 to 90 percent of the thousands of captives held by the Americans in Iraq were innocent of any crime whatsoever. For torture, like rain, falls on both the just and the unjust.
A politician who is labelled by some as racist, who is being probed for corruption, and who once pleaded guilty to hitting a child in the face, is due to become Israel's next foreign minister.This thug, demagogue, facist piece of filth shows the true face of many Israelis today.
A top Muslim judge (sic) yesterday revealed a terrifying blueprint for the complete Islamisation of Britain, expected to begin in the next few weeks (sic) (emphasis mine) pending inevitable approval from New Labour's multiculturalism czars. It is thought that all Muslims, including so-called 'moderates', hold similar views to Choudary and are desperate to see traditional British institutions such as everything that you like destroyed...insiders agree that Choudary is an important figure who almost certainly embodies the beliefs of anyone with a beard and an aversion to pork.
Shurely Shum Mishtake!
"Five Guantanamo prisoners accused in the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the U.S. staunchly defended their actions, calling the operation "blessed" and "great" and the accusations against them "badges of honor"
-How did these 5 men discuss and approve this statement if some of them and their attorneys were not even aware of it?
-Why did the court happen to accept this filing given the above issue?
-Why did the court decide to release this to the public, despite years of secrecy on everything else, including denying access to something as basic as current photographs of the accused?
-Why is this being released now?
-How does it benefit anyone to release this this to the public? (it only benefits one group of people)
Comic Relief's celebrity climbers have spoken of their delight at being back home after conquering Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.Now someone needs to get munching:
Having climbed this unforgiving peak myself, I can confidently say that not all of them will make it to the dizzy (quite literally) heights of the impossibly beautiful summit, Uhuru Peak.Smart arse!
In fact, I'll eat Moyles' post-trip underpants - or at least his bush hat - if even half of them make it to the top on Sunday.
Climbing Kilimanjaro five years ago was an exhilarating personal achievement, but it was also the most physically gruelling, mentally draining and terrifying experience of my life.
Of the group of ten I travelled with - all of us healthy and fit - only five succeeded, of which I was the only woman. Two people ended up in hospital after collapsing during the arduous final push to the summit.
For the Pope to say that condoms aggravate the problems of HIV/AIDS is sillier than calling the world flat. As Rebecca Hodes from the Treatment Action Campaign said, "Pope Benedict XVI's opposition to condoms conveys that religious dogma is more important to him than the lives of Africans."
