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In Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, A New American Perspective is Needed
I have never been to Israel or to Palestine, and I have no ancestral connection to those lands. Growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, I have never known anyone who overtly associated themselves with Judaism or Islam. You could say that I have no stake in the resolution of this conflict. You could say that I have no right to an opinion. In fact, my opinion will anger many Americans, because I question our nation's unwavering support for the Israeli State. I see a disturbing pattern, set in motion over the past seventy years, whereby our "special relationship" with Israel has...More
2009 Wishes
These past few days, I have been wishing everyone “A Very Happy New Year” and receiving similar wishes. I do hope that the coming year is a happy one for my friends and colleagues, but having just put down the New York Times and The Guardian, the “Happy” part of my usual New Year wish sounds so insensitive to me! Am I saying that I hope you and I will be “happy” while the world around us is in tears - witnessing death, illness, rape, violence and war? No, this wish doesn't sound right. And to say I wish 2009...More
The Apron Chronicles
My Nana Florence told me about this exhibit over the holiday and reading through the various stories, I was moved to share them here... www.apronchronicles.com For my birthday this year, my mother made me a beautiful apron with beautiful bright colors on one side and dancing dia de los muertos skeletons on the other side. (She gets teased a lot for her love of all things Day of the Dead, but I think it's because we have lost so many loved ones in the last 10 years - those little figurines remind me of how previous life is and how...More
Water regime in Bulgaria
I had promised to write a post about the situation with water in my country, Bulgaria, in this month. Because today is Dec. 31, I must make an effort to meet my deadline :-). Because Bulgaria has sufficient water resources and good chlorination system, the population has success to safe drinkwater. Indeed, water companies as "natural monopolies" backed by government try their best to deteriorate people's lives. Even when European investors come to our water companies, they very soon learn the good Bulgarian traditions of corruption and making profits by robbing and harassing poor people. A good example is "Sofiiska...More
Message to Hillary and USA Christians
The Times They Are a'Changin'- FREE Vanunu Mordechai! Now! Began on Face Book on November 15, 2008 by an Italian with a vision for a Global V Day. The groups objective is "to help VANUNU enjoy in full his human right and to promote confrontation and a new mental approach toward the Palestine tragedy. Open your minds, stop hate." On June 4, 2008 Vanunu wrote: Dear Editors I am Mordechai Vanunu, the man who told the truth about Israel's Nuclear Weapons. Program in 1986 and paid with 18 years of my life in Israel Prison. I was released in April...More
Medical "Conscience Rule" is Unconscionable
Of all the terrible policies enacted by the Bush Administration, the eleventh hour “Medical Conscience” ruling is one of the most deplorable. The New York Times reports that the move is heralded by supporters as a necessary step to prevent medical practitioners from having to choose between their morals and their professional standing. Like many citizens and patients, I see right through that logic to the truth: it seriously undermines public health in the name of allowing individual health care employees to impose their own moral code on their vulnerable patients. I seriously doubt that it will prevent the obstetricians...More
The Freedom to Hate
I love my right to free speech as much as the next blogger and being a journalist, I happen to be a big fan of the US Bill of Rights. The problem is, those rights are extended to ignorant and bigoted fools as well. The right to bear arms is a prime example of an American freedom gone awry, with every wacko and potential psychopath having only to walk to Walmart to exercise that right. But I won’t go into the number of Americans who die from guns now. That’s another post. What I’ve been considering lately, as have German...More
Remove the Global Gag!
The Global Gag Rule was first established in 1984 by U.S. President Ronald Reagan. It prohibits any overseas organization receiving U.S. aid from having anything to do with abortion. Organizations that do not meet this condition lose all U.S. funding, including essential supplies of contraceptives. Please watch this video and sign EngenderHealth's petition asking President-elect Obama to overturn the Global Gag Rule. Then, be sure to help spread the word by forwarding the video and petition to your friends. Together we can make sure that issues like eliminating the Global Gag Rule don't get pushed far down on the priority...More
Give Free Music To Our Troops For Free!
Spread the holiday cheer by giving the gift of free music to a Soldier in the U.S. Army this holiday season, free of charge by going to http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/specials/soldier/sendasong.shtml Billboard's got the free tunes. You choose one message from: We support our troops! Happy Holidays! Or Happy New Year! And they will send your message and a unique PIN Code for two free music downloads to a currently enlisted Soldier. The program runs through December 31st 2008. Thanks for encouraging our troops!...More
Women and science education
"Two young, attractive blonde women are duscussing the latest discoveries in quantum physics and molecular biology. Suddenly one of them suggests changing the subject to haircuts, because a man is approaching." This joke underscores a stereotype prevailing in society - that women have lower affinity for science than men. I don't intend to discuss this stereotype here, so let me assume for simplicity that it corresponds to the truth. Most stereotypes do, and this is why people stick to them. It is quite possible for women to be more suited for the subconscious, emotional reasoning known as intuition than for...More
Marriage American Style
If you want someone to bring you flowers, plant your own garden, but don’t marry them! People get married for all the wrong reasons. I had such a laugh the other night when a girl friend of mine who’s in love and engaged to be married said, “you know it hit me while I was driving today. I am getting married to the RIGHT guy. I am the first person in MY family to do that!” People get married when they are trying to control outcomes. They choose someone to be a mother or a father to their children. They...More
Please Take A Moment To Thank Our Troops In Iraq For Free!
If you go to www.LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it send it to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services. How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! It is FREE and it only takes a second. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind...More
The Thing About Pirates
I’ve told my eldest son several times that pirates are not real, which is pretty much true since the parrot-toting, one-eyed characters in his books don’t really exist. The problem is, my son has caught on to the fact that pirates sure seem to be mentioned a lot in the news as of late. He doesn’t watch TV but he does listen closely when I try to get in a couple minutes of English-language radio every day. “You know mom,” he said, “I don’t think you’re right about pirates. Are you listening to this?” Indeed, I was listening to the...More
Michelle Obama's Inaugural Dress
We are in a recession but the inauguration is still coming and there has been much talk about Michelle Obama's inauguration dress. Well as you know designers will do anything for publicity and now many are vying to dress the first-lady elect for the inauguaration including the established designers. Not that is any of my business however, I totally don't agree with her choosing one of the dresses offered by these brand name designers. To go with the Obama's "Change" theme, in my opinion Michelle should not go with a brand name designer. If not for her position they would...More
Honor Killings
I am very passionate about women's issues because I come from a culture where women are often treated as second class citizens. Where did the notion that a woman's life is worth nothing come from? It always breaks my heart when I read about how women are being mistreated all over the world. It happened again today as I read about the honor killings occuring in Iraq. After reading the story, I googled and was appalled to read of the honor killings occuring everywhere including right here in America. I am blogging today to as a reminder to the WIP...More
Pregnancy in Malawi is Pakati or Between Life and Death
As America ushers in a new administration, the developing world, including Africa, is keen to know what improvements will trickle down from the world’s super-power. For the women of Malawi, a poor southern African country where up to 45 percent of the country’s 13.1 million people lives below the poverty line of $1 a day, their very lives depend on it. Malawi has one of the worst indicators when it comes to women’s health. The country’s maternal mortality is among the worst in the world - up to 807 women die per every 100,000 live births. Pregnancy in this country...More
Inherited Silence
The girl child in the photograph has committed many mistakes - the first is being born a girl in a society where girls are simply a burden, and the second is being born with tumors in her head that require constant medical attention. In India, there are less than 93 women for every 100 men. The horrendous reason for such disparity is the practice of female infanticide in India, partly prompted by the existence of a dowry system. For a poor family, the birth of a girl child can signal the beginning of severe hardship and even financial ruin. There...More
Burma Must Not Be Forgotten
In a country that has been ruled by the military junta since 1962, where its ethnic women are raped with impunity by military soldiers, and where less than 3% of the national budget is spent on healthcare, Burma must not be forgotten by the international community. Half of Burma’s 54 million people are women. The ignorant and failed policies of Burma’s military regime have caused women and children to endure extreme suffering. UNIFEM reports a high rate of maternal mortality (approximately 517 per 100,000 live births), and their children suffer from an extremely high rate of moderate malnutrition and preventable...More
The Drug of Obstinance
More than 5,000 people will die in the Mexican drug wars this year. Many of them will be non-combatants; innocents caught in the crossfire, or the parchment on which terrorist messages are sent. The Mexican government has promised to do something about the killing, and tens of thousands of federal troops have been dispatched in a vain effort to stop the flow of drugs and the escalating violence. Perhaps they have been successful; perhaps the situation would be much worse without the intervention, though such speculation is horrifying in itself. Their government increasingly blames the United States for the problem,...More
Curious motives at the Arab American Festival
The weekend before the US Presidential Election, I attended the first Arab American Festival in Glendale, Arizona. We have a very small Arab American community (so small that I had wrongly assumed it was nonexistent), and I was very intrigued to see what types of vendors and performances they might put on. I was especially interested when I visited their website. It stated that: "The Arab American Festival is a Non-political, Non-religious, Non-profit Organization established to build community pride in the valley and showcases our diversity of music, arts, and cultures. Multi-generational and multi-cultural families gather to enjoy free music,...More
Tonight on PBS
A week after our historic presidential election, PBS (as part of Frontline) will be broadcasting Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story. I reviewed the film a few weeks ago, and it’s a very engaging documentary!...More
Begin to Hope.
Last night, I witnessed one of the seminal events of my lifetime. When CNN called the vote at 9 pm my local time, I did a double take. Could it really be that easy? I sat numbly for a moment, silently staring at the screen in front of me- afraid to blink lest it all disappear into the mist of another lost hope. The footage suddenly cut to the mass of humanity pumping their fists and jumping up and down in unison; the colossal roar jarred me out of my stupor. After eight years of alienation in my own land,...More
IMPROVE U.S. IMAGE?
Would Electing Obama or McCain have the Most Impact On Improving the U.S. Image Around the World? When I realized that this global image problem was the key reason that I was planning to vote for Senator Obama, I wondered if that was just my viewpoint. Was this a valid idea or an idea that other people shared? I decided to ask acquaintances and friends who were born in other countries or who were steeped in another culture this question, in order to explore an international consensus…. or not. I set out to find out, first with my friend who...More
Mother Serbia and Her Children
For the last ten years or so, the Serbs have been in danger of disappearing - yes, that's right, completely and utterly - a decrease in numbers of Serbs has been blamed on "new trends coming from the west", such as contraception and "women who pursue carrier instead of trying to conceive", together with "more and more gay people popping up all the time because of the latest fashion." Campaigns launched to try and help with this matter, both governmental or private, didn't appear to be working - it seemed as if the Serbs just refused to mate and multiply!...More
Darfur Week of October 26, 2008
"> Sudan Launches Peace Initiative for Darfur Amid accusations that the recent initiative that was launched by the ruling National Congress Party is merely window dressing, a conference was held to discuss the implementation and goals of the peace initiative. Various rebel groups and observers did not attend and dismiss the initiative as a means to avoid the arrest of President Bashir. Any effective settlement of the conflict will need to encourage rebel participation. Turabi’s Popular Congress Party also did not attend. The initiative is being supported by the SPLM, however they are divided from within. A few within...More
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