Close Guantánamo!

Yet another post to call for an end to this questionable detainment center, years after Obama's election and promise to close the incarceration center at Guantánamo, where people are held under suspicion, without trial or tribunal, and with scanty or no evidence, only the claim (by whom? how determined?) that they are "dangerous" to the U.S. and its allies.

CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO NOW!

The WikiLeaks disclosures, though feeding both the pros and cons, offer NO information whatsoever that could justify continuation of this facility and detention of those "suspects" against whom the suspicion is not even substantial enough to bring charges against them in either criminal or military courts or tribunals!

CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO NOW!

Here only one of the many articles in the press since yesterday, this one from The Washington Post:

Guantanamo documents revive debate

Anne E. Kornblut, Monday, April 25, 9:40 PM

A trove of newly released documents about detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has revived familiar questions: Were too many innocent men incarcerated there over the past decade?

Or did U.S. officials ultimately free too many dangerous detainees?

Advocates on both sides of the debate have new evidence to cite in the documents, obtained by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, which say how the current and former detainees were classified by U.S. investigators.

Some initially considered dangerous were freed after spendIng years in the facility; others, released because they appeared harmless, later returned to battlefields in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and elsewhere.

The documents — whose overall thrust is consistent with years of reporting on Guantanamo but offer new details — did not shake partisans from long-held positions.

“These documents are remarkable because they show just how questionable the government’s basis has been for detaining hundreds of people, in some cases indefinitely, at Guantanamo,” said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project. “The one-sided assessments are rife with uncorroborated evidence, information obtained through torture, speculation, errors and allegations that have been proven false.”

CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO NOW!

Easter Sunday on the Way to Recovery

What a gift this weather is, in addition to the absolute joy of having these few weeks out between chemo treatments, transplant, etc., to be able to walk around the most beautiful parts of our wonderful city of Berlin! Detlef & I together, just relishing every second we have, basking in love and life, determined to go on and on and on and on and on and on and .....

Calling on China to Respect Human Rights!

FREE AI WEIWEI!

CALL FOR THE RELEASE OF AI WEIWEI

Greetings,

To the Honorable Minister Mr. Cai Wu

Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China

Our museums are members of The International Council of Museums (ICOM) and the International Committee of ICOM for Museums and Collections of Modern Art (CIMAM), a non-governmental organization with formal relations with UNESCO. On April 6, CIMAM sent a communiqué calling for the release of Ai Weiwei. Our museums, foundations, and communities of Facebook fans and Twitter followers support CIMAM's statement:

"The detention of artists and activists is not only inconsistent with China's commitment to the fundamental freedoms guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in China's own constitution, it is also inconsistent with the Chinese government's pledge, through the Ministry of Culture, to promote all artistic disciplines and to advance artistic ideas. As organizations that represent modern and contemporary art around the world, such actions and the obscurity surrounding them are diametrically opposed to our values. They are of grave concern and consequence for the well-being of Ai Weiwei and for the artistic community at large, and hinder future collaboration with the Chinese colleagues we welcomed at our recent annual meeting in Shanghai."

请愿书

致 中华人民共和国文化部 蔡武

诉求: 要求释放艾未未

本博物馆為国际博物馆协会(ICOM)之成员。也為其下负责现代美术之博物馆暨收藏国际委员会(CIMAM)之委员，此委员会虽非为政府机构，但与联合国教科文组织有着正式的关系。我们在此支持国际委员会于四月六日所发表之请求释放艾未未的声明:

"对艺术家及人权份子的拘捕，不仅违反了中国在国际人权宣言以及宪法中对于基本人权的保障，同时与中国政府藉由文化部所宣导，對於各式艺术创作及创意的提倡並不一致。身为代表着全球现当代艺术的机构，此做法与我们所深信的价值是背道而驰的。我们对于艾未未的人身安全以及整体艺术界感到深切的忧虑。此外，这也将影响我们于上海举行的年度会议中与中国艺术界所建立的合作关系."

Sign the petition to free Ai Weiwei here.

Here are the initiating signatories:
Richard Armstrong, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation
and Alexandra Munroe, Samsung Senior Curator, Asian Art
Juan Ignacio Vidarte, Director General, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao,
and Deputy Director and Chief Officer for Global Strategies, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
Glenn Lowry, Director, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Sir Nicholas Serota, Director, Tate and Chris Dercon, Director, Tate Modern
Kaywin Feldman, President, Association of Art Museum Directors and Director
and President, Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Yongwoo Lee, President, The Gwangju Biennale Foundation
Michael Govan, Director, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Vishakha Desai, President and Melissa Chiu, Vice President of Global Arts, Asia Society
Jim Cuno, President and Director, Art Institute of Chicago
Julián Zugazagoitia, Director, Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City
Ann Philbin, Director, Hammer Museum, University of California, Los Angeles
Olga Viso, Director, Walker Art Center
Alfred Pacquement, Director, Musée national d'art moderne/Centre de création industrielle, Paris
Arnold Lehman, Director, Brooklyn Museum
Jill Medvedow, Director, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
Julia Peyton-Jones, Director and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-director of Exhibitions and Programmes
and Director of International Projects, Serpentine Gallery, London
Poul Erik Tøjner, Director, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark
Nathalie Bondil, Director and Chief Curator, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Neal Benezra, Director, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Tony Ellwood, Director, and Suhanya Raffel, Deputy Director, Queensland Art Gallery, Australia
Thomas W. Lentz, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director, Harvard Art Museums
Ann Goldstein, Director, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Apinan Poshynanda, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre Foundation, Bangkok, Thailand
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Artistic Director, dOCUMENTA (13) and Bernd Leifeld, CEO, documenta
Manray Hsu, Founding Director, Taipei Contemporary Art Center
Holly Hotchner, Nanette L. Laitman Director, Museum of Arts and Design, New York

Joel Wachs, President, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Pittsburgh

Ai Weiwei arrest protests at Chinese embassies worldwide
Inspired by artist's installation with 1001 Qing dynasty seats, curator suggests taking chairs into street in silent protest

AND DO NOT FORGET:

Free Liu Xiaobo, free Liu Xiaobo, free Liu Xiaobo!

A Lunchtime Stroll

The 200 bus from our house to Museum Island, and then follow the river/canal bank right along to Am Köllnischen Park, where we had lunch, and then back again.... All that you can do when you're on the path to complete cure!
This is OUR city!

From 2011-04--05

Home is Glorious!

With counts that allow it, we're building up for the next rounds in the battle to full victory over leukemia!

HOMECOMING

I just found out this afternoon, 7 weeks after coming in here, that I can finally go home on Friday morning.

HOMECOMING

JOY

LOVE

WINNING THE BATTLE

Tax Cuts Are Robbery!

Just read what the NY Times has to say about the lies and distortions of those Republicans promising to "save" the country, while they are actually only interested in that part of it they benefit from!

Editorial - The New York Times
Budget Battles: Tax and Spending Myths and Realities

Here are two numbers to keep in mind when thinking about the House Republicans’ budget plan: They want to cut spending on government programs over the next decade by $4.3 trillion. And they
want to cut tax revenues over the same period by $4.2 trillion.
Government spending needs to be brought under control. But slashing vital services just to pay for more tax cuts is bad public policy and bad economics.
It won’t fix the deficit, no matter what the Republicans claim.
We’ve seen this play before. President Ronald Reagan promised that tax cuts would spur more economic growth and pay for themselves. During his tenure, the deficit hit what was then a peacetime high of 6 percent of gross domestic product, and he eventually decided that he had no
other alternative but to raise taxes to try to close the gap.

[...]

Here are a few more numbers to consider: Stimulus spending since Mr. Obama took office — including tax cuts — accounts for about $600 billion of the current $14.2 trillion in accumulated debt. The Bush-era tax cuts coupled with major new spending for two wars and a Medicare drug benefit, have added $3.2 trillion to the debt.
Mr. Obama must make the case for tax increases, based on reality, not ideology. Then, and only then, can a serious debate on the deficit begin.

Obama for President 2012

I'm so glad he's already announced his candidacy for reelection. Such a good president accomplishing so much positive CHANGE needs more time to complete the task. Don't let the reactionaries, the fearmongers, and big business interests have a chance to stop him: Speak out to reelect Obama now and tell everyone you know to do likewise!

We only have ONE world; let's work to make it steadily better for the PEOPLE who inhabit it.