Program Note - Come Back Please

Program Note - Come Back Please
Most communications efforts as ambitious as this Have a staff Here there's just meThe result is that I edit pieces once they are upThat includes proofingThat means the readers who click immediately after I post to all the networksEnd up encountering what they must regard as carelessOr stupid stuffWell my advice is thisCome back and see if it has not been correctedSeriouslyI think the experimental purpose of this blog is to Encourage coming back and exploring
Anything you type into the search box to your rightWill reveal all manner of short and hopefully pithy piecesEverything is relatedSo I repeatIf you saw this and clicked immediately you gotThe results of this being a one person operationWhile here explore the rest of the blog and related blogsAnd come backAlways
Global Online Privacy

How about endangering ongoing freedoms

FBI rejects FOIA request for Carrier IQ info - Computerworld:

'via Blog this'

The FBI says ongoing investigations excuse the lack of transparency. This is chicken and egg logic. These days, with the Court we have and its recent record, all rights are endangered.



Global Online Privacy

Ethiopia Stumbles on the Human Rights Front

Ethiopia must end crackdown on government critics | Amnesty International: "All five have been vocal in their criticism of the government, and had recently undertaken public or written activities calling for reform.

At least 100 opposition politicians and five journalists have been detained in Ethiopia since March. All have been accused of terrorism-related offences. "

This is retro stuff. Ethiopia should know and do better. All nations should.

Global Online Privacy

Vietnam versus fighters for land rights

Vietnam: Free Peaceful Land Rights Activists | Human Rights Watch: "(Bangkok) – The Vietnam government should immediately release four peaceful land rights activists when their appeals cases are heard by the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City on August 18, 2011, Human Rights Watch said today. By criminalizing freedom of speech and association in yet another trial of dissidents, the Vietnam authorities are violating the commitments they undertook by ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Human Rights Watch said."


Global Online Privacy

Angola needs a Jane Jacobs

Angola to forcibly evict hundreds of families | Amnesty International: Hundreds of families in Angola’s southern city of Lubango could be left destitute, as authorities prepare to demolish their homes on Thursday to build a new road.

They do a lot worse there.


Global Online Privacy

Egypt has a full plate when it comes to things it needs to clean up

Staying Connected: Egyptian Women Use Social Media to Combat Gender Inequality, Violence | Human Rights First: A new generation of Egyptian women is speaking up to address long-standing gender and equality issues. Since the fall of President Mubarak, sexual harassment cases have become more public as women’s political participation becomes increasingly widespread. Campaigners stress the need for Egyptian women to unite as they face some of the worst treatment in the world. Domestic violence, harassment, work and legal discrimination, arranged marriages and systematic female genital mutilation validated by Islamic holy texts, are all prevalent in different regions of Egypt.


Global Online Privacy

Côte d’Ivoire regresses on the appointment front

Côte d’Ivoire: Military Promotions Mock Abuse Victims | Human Rights Watch: "(Washington) – The promotion of two Côte d’Ivoire military commanders against whom there are serious allegations of involvement in grave crimes raises concerns about President Alassane Ouattara’s commitment to end impunity and ensure justice for victims, Human Rights Watch said today."

Ordinarily when trying to improve conditions you do not allow the fox into the chicken coop. But promotion has a tendency to double as a means of trying to get rid of problems. In general the result is a further delay of progress warranting continued agitation for democratic reform.


Global Online Privacy

Progress in the battle to end FGM

Iraqi Kurdistan: Law Banning FGM a Positive Step | Human Rights Watch: "(Beirut) - A Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) law that bans female genital mutilation (FGM) is a crucial step in eradicating the practice, Human Rights Watch said today."

I have just finished Abraham Verghese's Cutting for Stone which is a graphic illustration of the circles of pain that female genital mutilation creates.


Global Online Privacy

Impunity: What Else Do You Call Israel's Razing of Bedouin Villages?

Israel: Stop Demolishing Bedouin Homes | Human Rights Watch: "(Jerusalem) - The Israeli government should immediately stop demolishing the homes of Bedouin citizens in the Negev desert in southern Israel and should compensate those displaced and allow them to return to their village pending a final agreement that respects their rights under international law, Human Rights Watch said today." Lots of things could be said, I'll add only this. When Israel exceeds any reasonable definition of rights it does everything it stands for a large disfavor.

Syria Does Not Deserve To Be Seen as a State Its Actions are Beyond Reprehensible

Syria Slammed for Crimes Against Humanity - The Daily Beast: "Human rights groups are hoping Syria's leaders will be tried for their brutal crackdown on protesters. Amnesty International said the government’s deadly siege in Talkalakh in May, when at least 27 civilians were reportedly killed by security forces, may have amounted to crimes against humanity." Syria needs to be placed on a global quarantine with all eyes focused on its daily criminality. This is where media should redeem itself - shunning the Nancy Grave- Casey Anthony axis for something that is truly terrible and must be stopped. Otherwise we condemn ourselves for our own apathy amd acedia.

Global Online Privacy

China's lead poisoning denial flagged by HRW

“My Children Have Been Poisoned” | Human Rights Watch: "This 75-page report draws on research in heavily lead-contaminated villages in Henan, Yunnan, Shaanxi, and Hunan provinces. The report documents how, despite increasing regulation and sporadic enforcement targeting polluting factories, local authorities are ignoring the urgent and long-term health consequences of a generation of children continuously exposed to life-threatening levels of lead."


Global Online Privacy

Will China arrest the head of Sudan? Do pigs fly?

China: Sudanese President Bashir’s Visit Raises Eyebrows · Global Voices: "The visit by Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir - a fugitive from the International Criminal Court since being charged in 2009 with crimes against humanity and war crimes in his country's western Darfur region - to China this week is proving to be a controversial one, at least online."


Global Online Privacy