blatherings

hat tip to my cotillion sister kat at cathouse chat

don’t have nightmares now!

you will remember many of us have been blogging about abdul karim al-khaiwani, who has been awaiting sentencing by the government of yemen.  and now we know. 

yemen is a country with little or no regard for human rights, democratic principles, and freedom for their people.  they actively suppress journalists like al-khawani who seek to uncover and promote truth. 

here’s a partial report from jane novak who has been leading the blogging charge:

This from the same court that finds it legal and even admirable when Yemenis murder Iraqis in Iraq. But writing about the Yemeni civilians suffering during Ali Mohsen’s personal jihad in Sa’ada is punishable by six years in jail.

Every journalist in Yemen is much less free now. And so is the world.

“Among those sentenced to jail was Abdul Kareem al-Khaiwani, editor of al-Shura newspaper, who is accused of supporting al-Houthi rebellion in Sa’ada because photos of the fighting in Saada were found with him….

Also he interviewed some of the rebels, ergo he is trying to overthrow the state, as opposed to engaging in normal journalistic practices.”

there has been some real truth to come of this whole al-khaiwani’s ordeal:

At least no one believes the Yemeni regime anymore. The government has been totally discredited on both the “partner in the war on Terror” and the “emerging democracy” fronts. Its pretty clear they are a mafia like tyranny that is more loyal to bin Laden than to the West with no respect for civil rights.

and we can only imagine what this fine yemeni journalist will go through for the next six years.  this has a chilling effect to any progress made toward democratic principles and freedom of speech in places like yemen.  they wanted him dead but for jane’s vigilence, her incredible blogging, and her tireless advocacy. 

Saviour of Warsaw Ghetto children dies

WARSAW (Reuters) - Irena Sendler, a Polish woman who saved thousands of Jewish children during World War Two by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto, died in the Polish capital on Monday after a long illness, local media said.

Israel’s Holocaust remembrance authority, Yad Vashem, said in a statement that it mourned her death.

The web portal of Poland’s leading daily, Gazeta Wyborcza, said Sendler, 98, died in Plocka Street hospital early on Monday. The hospital declined to comment on the report.

Yad Vashem chairman Avner Shalev said: “Irena Sendler’s courageous activities rescuing Jews during the Holocaust serve as a beacon of light to the world, inspiring hope and restoring faith in the innate goodness of mankind.”

Using her position as a social worker, Sendler regularly entered the ghetto, smuggling around 2,500 children out in boxes, suitcases or hidden in trolleys.

The children were then placed with Polish families outside the ghetto, created by Nazi Germany in 1940 for the city’s half a million strong Jewish population, and given new identities.

But in 1943 Sendler, who led the children’ section of the Zegota organisation which helped Jews during the war, was arrested and tortured by the Gestapo.

She only escaped execution when Zegota managed to bribe some Nazi officials, who left her unconscious but alive with broken legs and arms in the woods.

“People who stand up for others, for the weak, are very rare. The world would have been a better place if there were more of them,” Marek Edelman, the last surviving commander of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, said on national television.

His sentiments were echoed by former Polish President Lech Walesa as well as religious leaders.

Sendler was honoured with Israeli Yad Vashem Righteous Among the Nations medal in 1965 for her actions, and later made an honorary Israeli citizen.

dear Irena Sendler knew what it meant to look death in the eye for the sake of others — and most assuredly knew real fear.   but she did not tire, she did not falter, and she did not fail.  after the escape from prison, she assumed a new identity and continued her work of saving the lives of jewish children from certain death at the hands of the Nazi’s.

she was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last year but, despite her bravery, she denied she was a hero.  she said this in one of her last interviews:  “The term ‘hero’ irritates me greatly. The opposite is true. I continue to have pangs of conscience that I did so little.“  

she didn’t win that Nobel Peace Prize but if she had, it would have been the first time a nobel prize was awarded in connection to the holocaust. (haaretz.com)  Al Gore won instead of Irena.

such a magnificent face and such a magnificent life.  

h/t jwf

can you help?

my new friend and Cotillion member, Jane Novak, blogs passionately about the corruption of the Yemeni government at her blog, the Armies of Liberation.  she is also a contributor at the Jawa Report.  as we all know, the government of Yemen has little or no regard for human rights, democratic principles, and freedom for their people.  they actively suppress journalists who seek to uncover and promote truth. 

her post today is compelling and calls us all to action.  it’s about a prominent pro-democracy journalist in Yemen who is facing a jail sentence again for simply printing the truth, and speaking his mind.

Renowned journalist Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani is one of Yemen’s most prominent democracy advocates - for which he has paid a steep price. His paper has been closed, his website blocked, and his children threatened. He is now due to be sentenced on May 21 for “insulting the president” and “demoralizing the military.”

During his arrest in June of 2007, Al-Khaiwani was beaten and his six-year-old daughter slapped unconscious. While released on bail in August, Al-Khaiwani was kidnapped and tortured by thugs who threatened his life if he continued to write about Yemen’s president.

you can help Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani by clicking on the widget in my sidebar over there —>> or going here.  
 

 

let freedom ring… even in Yemen. 

it’s time for you to hit the road or it’s off with your head.  or at least your head will be covered…

we knew this was coming didn’t we?  the nutz, oops, regime in Iran is declaring war on Barbie!  she is just way too Un-Islamic and poses a danger to the health of children.

here is what the AFP reported:

Iran’s toy market is being inundated by models of Barbie, Batman, Spiderman and Harry Potter and the young must be protected from their harmful cultural effects, the prosecutor general was quoted as saying on Sunday.

“Promoting figures like Barbie, Batman, Spiderman and Harry Potter and the uncontrolled import of CDs of video games and films should alarm all the country’s officials,” Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi was quoted as saying by the student ISNA news agency.

“We need to find substitutes to ward off this onslaught, which aims at children and young people whose personality is in the process of being formed,” he added.

Dori Najafabadi’s comments came in a letter to an Iranian vice president, urging measures to protect “Islamic culture and revolutionary values”.

While officials regularly lambast Western culture for polluting the minds of the public, Western toys have become a regular and popular feature on the shelves of toy shops in Iran in recent years.

Affluent Iranian parents are known for indulging their children and the purchase of such toys has become for many an obligatory treat.

But Dori Najafabadi said: “These toys, which do not respect the required norms, present dangers for the health of children and affect the survival of toy factories in this country.”

Two years ago, police raided toy shops to put black stickers on the packaging of Barbie dolls to hide their bodies. In public in Iran, women must cover all bodily contours, a rule that Barbie conspicuously fails to obey.

take note here:  the Ayatollah Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi was previously the minister of intelligence of islamic republic of Iran.  during his term of ministership, some journalists and reformist politicians were murdered by security agents.

now it’s Barbie’s turn to be picked on.  stand tall Barbie!

will no democrat ever pass up a chance to ingratiate themselves with a communist dictator and undermine our foreign policies?  good grief. 

when we are just coming down from the incredibly successful middle east ”tour with terrorists,” by jimmy carter.  pfft.  now bill richardson, governor of new mexico meets with that sulfur-spewing diablo himself, dictator hugo chavez of venezuela.  check out the full story from reuters:

Sun Apr 27

CARACAS (Reuters) - The governor of New Mexico met on Saturday with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in an effort to restart talks with neighboring Colombia to secure the release of hostages held by leftist rebels.
 

Chavez this year helped free six hostages held for years by the Marxist FARC rebels in Colombia’s four-decade old civil war, but talks have sputtered amid continued bickering between Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

“I’ve had a good meeting with President Chavez … (he) has told me that he is willing to help in this situation,” Gov. Bill Richardson told reporters after the meeting…

The leftist Chavez and right-wing Uribe have exchanged bitter accusations throughout the year, even during the hostage release negotiations.

Uribe accuses the self-styled socialist of supporting the FARC rebels, while Chavez says the Colombian leader of advancing Washington’s agenda in the increasingly anti-U.S. Latin American region…

so ok.  maybe gov. richardson is just trying to duplicate his incredible success with getting the North Koreans to disarm.   *cough*  

even putting gov. richardson’s dangerous behavior aside, amazing how our watchdog media refers to the dictator chavez as a “leftist” and president uribe as “right-wing”?  *cough, cough*

i gotta get something for that cough!

though a relative newcomer to national politics, much of the country has been bedazzled by the eloquent and charismatic barack obama.  and certainly by now we all know that obama wants us to think of him as the change agent — that he’s hopeful, has sound judgement at 3 am, will take the country in a different direction. 

the sun is breaking through the storm clouds as a choir begins to sing…  i digress.  *cough*

i guess it’s that “will take the country in a different direction” part that bothers me the most.  so here we go: 

obama isn’t the uniter we hope for - there’s that little irritation called a 20 yr relationship with his anti American pastor ;  obama isn’t that pro-american advocate in chief for our country’s interests we hope for - there’s that equally troubling relationship with an unrepentant terrorist; and obama isn’t that ‘agent of change’ we need - he seems quite easily linked to a crooked indicted political fundraiser named Tony Rezko .  all of this and i haven’t even mentioned that he has the most far left votes in the Senate of anyone.  can you say socialism? 

he showed his true feelings at a private fundraiser in San Francisco saying condescendingly that many people cling to their religion and guns and are bitter.  his speeches now resemble most other political speeches. he defends himself against attacks and he attacks back — feeling quite put out that someone would actually call him on inconsistencies.

perhaps obama looks at ayers - the unrepentant terrorist - and really does see an english teacher; looks at Wright - the anti american pastor - and really sees only your average Christian pastor.  if that is so, then the question that needs to be asked of all those bedazzeled by obama is: 

are you comfortable with a president who looks at Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and thinks, “oh yeah, he’s that engineering student who was mayor of Tehran”?   yikes.

h/t Andy McCarthy

dear president carter;

hi there.

please, please, please go away.  and by “go away,” we clearly do NOT mean go to the middle east and give aid and comfort to the terrorists. 

we mean stay away from microphones, tv cameras, print organizations, and writing books.  we mean quit trash talking every administration but your own.

we mean, that the locals really miss you in plains, georgia and wish you would hang out more often in the local coffee shop buying breakfast every morning and never speaking of world affairs ever again.
 
we know you love thugs — the castro boys, kim jong il, palestinian “freedom fighters”    **cough**
… but as it stands, you are really messing stuff up and its quite disgraceful.

thank you and have a nice day,
the entire world

h/t americanprincess blog