Testimony at a Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing this week. I hope we can end the use of drones.
On Drone Strikes
26 Apr 2013 Leave a Comment
in news, opinion, politics, USA, YouTube find Tags: drone wars, senate, Senator Durbin
John Green on Flags and Helpers
18 Apr 2013 Leave a Comment
in essay, news Tags: Boston, Boston Marathon, crime, Fred Rogers, murder, punishment
I feel we should focus on the helpers. I trust that we’ll find the terrorists and I trust that justice will be done.
A few weeks ago I saw on Anderson Cooper 360° a woman whose husband, a prison chief, was murdered. She has a policy of not mentioning the murderer’s name. She doesn’t want to bring him fame. I think that’s an excellent policy. Whoever’s behind this should not get famous or infamous. They should simply be punished.
Good News
16 Apr 2013 3 Comments
in news Tags: children's rights, Christian Science Monitor, Lois Prater, mission work, Orphanage, Philippines, service
On a day when the world’s stunned by tragedy, I thought I’d share this: t was the last place Lois Prater’s children expected her to go – overseas to become a missionary.
At age 80, Ms. Prater, who had been a stay-at-home housewife all her married life, sold her Seattle-area home, her car, and other belongings to build an orphanage in the Philippines. She became the unlikely helping hand for hundreds of orphaned children over the years, many of whom were abused or abandoned.
“She sold everything,” says Bonnie Swinney, one of Prater’s three daughters. “The only things she kept were the things she could use in the orphanage.”
In 1991, Prater, with her own money, bought 12 acres of land covered with mango and coconut trees near Orion, a small town in the Philippines. Three years later, the doors would open to King’s Garden Children’s Home, a 2,000-square-foot, white stucco building, giving orphaned children from infants to teens new hope.
“I can’t imagine at my age going over there now,” says Ms. Swinney, who is 73. “What she did was amazing.”
For 13 years, Prater lived in the Philippines, enduring both physical and financial hardships. She had to overcome a number of challenging physical ailments along the way. And there was the difficult task of living in a foreign country, far from her family. Yet she refused to come home.
Click for more.
Spare Me: International Women’s Day
09 Mar 2013 3 Comments
in expat life, news, opinion Tags: Domestic violence, International Women Day, Rape, violence, violence against women, Women
Yesterday was International Women’s Day, which is sort of a silly day anyway. It doesn’t have to be, but in my experience it just is.
It’s not a big deal in American, in fact, it gets less attention than say Secretary’s Day.
On campus the university sponsored an event with games races in which participants see who can carry an egg on a spoon the fastest. Really? Is this something women need? What are they commemorating?
Most women I know would like more time or money. I think a great way to celebrate would be to give all women around the world a day off with pay. Let’s see what happens then.
As I’m doing my homework today, I run across this blog post on Ogilvy’s Asia website encouraging women to surround themselves with more flowers. Come on.
Really?
Really?
Talk about demeaning. I think we’re better off without the day. Teachers here were encouraged after a day of work, before going home to more work, to run around with eggs on spoons and to try to pick up ping pong balls with chopsticks. I am not making this up. I did not participate. I could not bring myself to watch such a spectacle.
The Ogilvy article links to some videos of women skipping and leaping through fields of flowers.
Earlier today I was troubled to read an article on Al Jeezera about child brides and another on the prevalence of gang rape throughout the world! One in four men admit to raping women in the Asian Pacific region. One in four.
Why don’t we focus on these problems on March 8th?
Related articles
- In Pictures: Egyptian women march on International Women’s Day (dailynewsegypt.com)
- Happy International Women’s Day (marvaseaton.wordpress.com)
- Indian women call for justice on International Women’s Day (cbc.ca)
- International women’s day: voices from around the world – interactive – The Guardian (guardian.co.uk)
Robert Levinson
08 Mar 2013 Leave a Comment
in news Tags: FBI, Iran, public servant, sacrifice
I get State Department emails and I thought I’d post this one:
March 9, 2007 marks the sixth anniversary of the disappearance of U.S. citizen Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent who went missing in Iran on .
A husband and father to seven children, Mr. Levinson has missed birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, and other important milestones since his disappearance six years ago from Iran’s Kish Island. He is also the grandfather of two, the second of which was born in his absence.
The United States continues to welcome the assistance of our international partners in this investigation and calls on the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to uphold its offer to help find
Mr. Levinson and return him safely to his family.
I met with Mr. Levinson’s wife and son today to reiterate that the U.S. Government remains committed to locating Mr. Levinson and reuniting him safely with his family.
Last year the FBI announced a $1 million reward for information on Mr. Levinson’s whereabouts that could lead to his safe return. Anyone who may have information about this case is asked to contact the FBI.
Local Currency
19 Nov 2012 1 Comment
in musing, news Tags: creatie solutions, economics, good ideas
I didn’t know that during the Depression some localities created their own currency. Now the practice is re-emerging. Champaign-Urbana, Illinois has started Smile Bucks, like the Berkshares currency described in the video.
I would use these if they were offered in my town.
Sepia Saturday
22 Sep 2012 18 Comments
in Blogging Challenge, History, news, Sepia Saturday Tags: Al Capone, Bonnie & Clyde, Chicago, Chicago Tribune, Frank Calabrese Sr., Operation Family Secrets
Convicts? Really?
I’m from Chicago. It’ll be more of a database than a post. Well, let’s see who we can find.
Al Capone, mob king pin during the depression. Impossible to catch till Elliott Ness got assigned to the case.
Implicated in 18 murders, sports gambling, racketeering
Calabreze, from the Family Secrets Trial, which I attended often in the summer of 2008. Here’s a good article by The Chicago Tribune’s John Kass, who’s written extensively on the trial. Riveting days in court as his son and brother Nick testified against him. Calabrese forced his son at age 14 go around with his uncle intimidating people who hadn’t paid up. They’d set fire to a garage, blow up part of a building, that sort of thing. Calabreze would rake in $400,000 a year from football betting. He was a loan shark and murderer. He’s currently living in a Federal prison.
Bonnie & Clyde – not from Chicago, but I liked the movie so I’m including them.
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow
Butch Cassidy & The Hole in the Wall Gang
Remember the start of the movie?
An Under Reported Story: The NSA’s Stellar Wind
19 Sep 2012 Leave a Comment
in news, opinion, politics Tags: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, government, National Security Agency, New York Times, Newsroom, Stellar Wind, United States, USA PATRIOT Act
In episode 8 of The Newsroom, there’s a story brewing on a spy program called Global Clarity. I was alarmed to learn about a pervasive system of wire tapping that’s “probably illegal.” I had to stop the program and see if this was mere fiction.
It isn’t. There actually is a program called Stellar Wind. However it hasn’t gotten much attention from the press or the public.
Why doesn’t this story get picked up?
Related articles
- Stellar Wind – What You NEED to KNOW (fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com)
- Stellar Wind – The Program That Tracks You (fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com)
- The Newsroom (mbbsmkmedia.wordpress.com)
- Op-Doc: ‘The Program’ (Stellar Wind) (elkhartcountygrassrootshub.wordpress.com)
- Stellar Wind (everwas.com)
Vivian Maier – A Great News Story
02 Aug 2012 3 Comments
in Chicago, news Tags: Chicago, Chicago Tonight, Photographer, photography, Street photography, Vivian Maier
Maier in one of several self-portraits she took on the streets of Chicago (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Chicago Tonight has run a terrific story on Vivian Maier this week. Maier was a nanny all her life and lived a quiet life. It wasn’t till a man bought a large box of her photo negatives at a garage sale did anyone realize that Maier was probably the best street photographer of her era in Chicago.
Her black and white photos show drama, emotion, and beauty. I love that she lived her life in anonymity. Most of the 100,000 photos she took were never printed.
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- Beautiful Short Film Sheds Light on Life and Work of Vivian Maier (petapixel.com)
- The Women Photographers of This Fall and Winter (slog.thestranger.com)
- Vivian Maier Book Is Published (theonlinephotographer.typepad.com)
- Vivan Maier (carrpartyoffive.wordpress.com)
- The Art We Leave Behind (truthandcake.com)
- Vivian Maier’s turn on the Circle (jpgphotography.typepad.com)
Coverage of Chicago’s Violence
10 Jul 2012 3 Comments
in Chicago, news, opinion Tags: BBC, Carol Marin, CBS Evening News, Chicago, HARDtalk, Rahm Emanuel
After a top notch look at the hospitals caring for the shooting victims in Chicago, CBS Evening News interviewed Rahm Emanuel about the increased murder rate this summer. I found the piece disappointing. Since I live near Chicago, I know the statistics and the stories, such as seven year old Heaven Sutton’s murder. She was caught in the crossfire while she was selling snow cones and candy on the street with her grandma.
One shortcoming of the interview was its brevity. It seemed to last 2 minutes so by the time the problem was identified and Emanuel clarified Scott Pelley‘s depiction to his own liking as politicians do, there was little time to discuss how to address this problem. The other big problem was that Pelley just played softball with the mayor, whose chief of police is cutting the budget so that while in the past, when the murder rate went down, Chicago had 5 detective units, it now has 3. Also while after a shooting police strike force would move in, now they don’t.
Emanuel didn’t say much specific. He defended his new chief in spite of the poor results. He also went on a tangent about how it’s all about values and called for gang bangers to step away from children so that they don’t get hurt. His call seems unrealistic. Why would you assume a criminal is going to make it easier for someone shooting him to get shot? It’s incredibly naïve to appeal to a sense of valor. While the problem, like all crime, is a matter of morality, Emanuel had no plan on how to inculcate values. Pelley didn’t bother to question him on that. Pure softball.
Perhaps it’s not a national issue so Pelley went easy on Emanuel. Yet if it’s not a national story it doesn’t belong on CBS Evening News. I wish Pelley would watch the BBC’s Hard Talk to sharpen his interviewing skills.
Marin conducting a different interview
Later Chicago Tonight did a splendid job on the same issue. Elizabeth Bracken recapped the issue and Carol Marin interviewed two aldermen, who’ve come forward questioning the new police strategy. Marin asked all the right questions and the interview never felt like a T-ball game. Pelley can attain this level and should.
Related articles
- Chicago is coming apart: Cars of black males stopping & beating people on the streets; MURDER RATE SOARS 38% (investmentwatchblog.com)
- Chicago’s Murder Rate Soars, Mayor Defends Tactics (snspost.com)
- Rahm Emmanuel Has A Unique Solution To Chicago’s Soaring Murder Rate: More Considerate Gang Thugs (minx.cc)
- THIS IS Marxism: Rahm Emmanuel’s Chicago: 6 Shot To Death, 26 Wounded In Weekend Violence (themadjewess.com)
- Mayor Appeals to Gangsters of Chicago (gunnyg.wordpress.com)
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