World Book Day

World Book and Copyright Day - April 23

A symbolic date for world literature, for on this date and in the same year of 1616, Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. It is also the date of birth or death of other prominent authors such as Maurice Druon, K.Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo. It was a natural choice for UNESCO's General Conference to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity.

Shakespeare and Cervantes, then, are appropriate to quote today:

In short, he became so absorbed in his books that he spent his nights from sunset to sunrise, and his days from dawn to dark, poring over them; and what with little sleep and much reading his brains got so dry that he lost his wits. His fancy grew full of what he used to read about in his books, enchantments, quarrels, battles, challenges, wounds, wooings, loves, agonies, and all sorts of impossible nonsense; and it so possessed his mind that the whole fabric of invention and fancy he read of was true, that to him no history in the world had more reality in it.

-Cervantes, Don Quixote, Part I, Chapter 1

XXIII

As an unperfect actor on the stage
Who with his fear is put besides his part,
Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart,
So I, for fear of trust, forget to say
The perfect ceremony of love's rite,
And in mine own love's strength seem to decay,
O'ercharged with burden of mine own love's might.
O, let my books be then the eloquence
And dumb presagers of my speaking breast,
Who plead for love and look for recompense
More than that tongue that more hath more express'd.
mmmO, learn to read what silent love hath writ:
mmmTo hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit.

-William Shakespeare, Sonnet XXIII

Life / Leben / La Vie

Thinking of The Countess, of mama, of Rose,

who so often aggravated, tickled, dismayed, surprised, depressed, thrilled, angered, amused, bored, scolded, admired, encouraged, criticized, praised, guided, and even heeded me,

I feel nothing but

gratitude,

not in the least diminished one year after her death,

and see her smile and hear her voice in mine.

August 30, 1926 - April 21, 2007

Rose Tyson Gardner

Pre- & Post-Birthday Party

For Roswitha,

whose birthday was on Friday,

and Bernhard,

whose Geburtstag is coming on Tuesday,

we wish you BOTH

ALLES GUTE ZUM GEBURTSTAG

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The bowling party was a lot of fun and the meal delicious!

Get It Right and You're Elitist !

Anyone honest will confirm what Barack Obama said about small-town America and its fears, biases, easy refuges, bigotry, phobias of all and anything the least bit different. And Hillary is also smart enough to know how right he is. (She need only recall an episode or two she experienced in the small town of DC.) It would be nice if the thoughtfulness of Obama and his appeals to think could gain sway, whether he wins or not!

Might I ask you to recall:

• Growing up in such an American small town and hearing this wonderful explanation from people that they of course have nothing against XXXX : "Some of my best friends are XXXX." You knew better than to ask them to tell you the name of a single XXXX they knew.
• Those people who tell you the definition of marriage is man+woman and how evil homosexuality is and then add that they don't mean you of course, cause you and your mate are nice and helped your mom move in to her new place or tried to help her in her last months and they all loved you both in that little nest.
• Your cousins who got sent off to a private christian academy when the public schools were finally totally integrated and therefore of course no good anymore.
• That poor girl from Boston whose father got transfered to the south and had to say "park your car in the Harvard yard" everyday at recess for an entire school year just so everybody could laugh at her accent.
• How whites loved to call any black who knew more than they did "uppity".
• The lady who explained how she conducts her children's home-schooling by praying, reading the bible, drawing bible pictures, counting the generations in the bible, and then praying some more.
• That bushbaby who has played the redneck game long enough to last for the rest of all time.
  

Comedy Central's Daily Show gets it right:

Bushbaby Awareness Unusual in Playpen

He even admits authorizing unconstitutional measures, measures in violation of all international agreements on torture and prisoners...

ABC News: Bush Aware of Advisers' Interrogation Talks:
"And yes, I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved."

Unfortunately, most of us are not surprised.

Italian Idol

or: Berlusconi bewilders thoughtful government; rights and justice in Italy once more faced with cavalier cynicism and patronage...

Veltroni: «Berlusconi ha cominciato male,faremo un governo dell'opposizione». Corriere della Sera:
«Sono rimasto negativamente colpito dalle dichiarazioni di oggi del vincitore delle elezioni, Silvio Berlusconi. L'annuncio di non dare all'opposizione la presidenza di una Camera, un certo tono nei confronti delle altre forze politiche, non solo il Pd, una certa idea di autosufficienza, non fanno vedere un buon inizio».

"Si on ne sait plus lire, ..."

"... il n'y a plus de formation de l'esprit critique. Cela veut dire que l'on ne peut plus comparer. Si l'histoire et la capacité de lecture disparaissent, c'est-à-dire le temps et la mémoire, vous préparez des esclaves parfaitement déterminés à obéir. C'est très grave. "
[-Ph.S. in the interview segment below]

« If people are no longer able to read, critical thinking can no longer be developed. That means people can no longer make comparisons. If history and the ability to read disappear, in other words, time and memory, you're preparing slaves perfectly programmed to obey. That is very serious. »
[-my own quick anglicization]

Invité Sud Ouest - Philippe Sollers - le Livre
by journalsudouest

Le 9 avril 2008 à Bordeaux, l'écrivain Philippe Sollers est l'invité du journal régional SUD OUEST

Worth practicing your French to understand, in depth. This link will lead you to a print version also including some mp3 files to hear some more of the replies. There is a total of five video files and many more audio files as Sollers answers questions on 68, China, Tibet, musty France, Bordeaux, etc.

Along the lakes, hiking from Karow to Buch

Well, another nearly spring day, sunshine, and we took another hike, with photos to document it for the interested. We enjoyed it. A morning in the countryside in a city of 3.5 million inhabitants.

Trampling on Human Rights is not China's Prerogative Alone (Sadly) !

In the United States, as playpenaly mismanaged and perverted by bushbaby and his playmates:

Think Progress » Blog Archive » ABC Report: Bush’s ‘Principal’ Advisers OK’d Torture:

ABC News reported tonight that President Bush’s most senior and trusted advisers met in “dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House” beginning in 2002 to approve the use of “combined” interrogation techniques (the joint use of harsh interrogation techniques). Those tactics included whether detainees “would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding.”

And in Egypt, where they also can be very kind to people not so well off but of persuasions the government dislikes:

Egypt jails five 'homosexuals' for three years

CAIRO (AFP) — A Cairo court on Wednesday jailed five men, four of them HIV positive, for three years on charges of "debauchery" linked to homosexuality, the latest example of what rights groups call a "witch hunt."
The men were arrested three weeks ago in a central Cairo restaurant following an argument after which a client accused them of practising homosexuality, in what rights groups say is becoming a familiar pattern of persecution.
A police doctor carried out anal inspections on the men "which confirmed their homosexuality," the court official said. Human Rights Watch said such examinations constitute torture and are medically spurious.

Man can think and should be prepared to stand up for that right to think and live and be. The above are two examples of the opposite and of efforts to prevent thought and the freedom necessary to sustain it.

Freedom is really more than just another word for nothing left to lose!

It Is Possible To Speak Up !

Thank you, Majora Carter!

Olympic torch bearer from Bronx in Tibet protest:

As she ran with the flame, Majora Carter, 41, a South Bronx environmental activist, whipped out a small Tibetan flag to condemn China's human rights abuses in the Himalayan province.

Torchbearer gets kicked out of relay:

"At first I was like look, yes I'm carrying a flag, that is my right, as an American citizen," said Majora Carter.
Carter was selected as a torchbearer for her environmental work. Little did organizers know, she would use the opportunity to protest. Video from Sky 7 shows Carter pulling a small Tibetan flag from her sleeve and waving it, before a Chinese official took it away from her. Video from SF Gate then shows a police officer shoving her toward the sidewalk.

And a big "too bad" to Mr. Ma Conrong, the Chinese Ambassador to Germany, who told the newspaper the Tagesspiegel here that he feels his country is being treated unfairly with all these protests about human rights or in favor of Tibet's cultural autonomy (NOT separatism). He should explain to the world how he thinks all those feel who are arrested in his country for dissenting opinions, who are prevented from accessing information sources his country's government deems unsuitable (such as this blog, or youtube, or any website with access to uncensored literature), who are denied the possibility of expressing their opinions openly in whatever forum, who are denied retirement benefits as senior citizens and told to turn to their family (limited by state-ordered birth control), who as workers on the Olympic construction sites are denied the right to belong to labor organizations or form unions, who are so unfortunate as to maintain a culture outside the narrow confines of the single-party-state's wishes...

A Note on Freedom

"[die] Freiheit des Daseins ist nur im Sichbefreien des Daseins. Das Sichbefreien des Deseins geschieht aber je nur, wenn es sich zu sich selbst entschließt, d.h. für sich als das Da-sein sich erschließt." - [MH GA Bd.29/30 §32(b)]

"die innerste Notwendigkeit der Freiheit des Daseins [, ...] die Notwendigkeit des Verstehens, daß allererst das Dasein sich wieder ins Freie bringen muß, als Da-sein begreifen muß. [...] die Menschheit im Menschen befreien, [...] d.h. das Wesen des Menschen befreien, das Dasein in ihm wesentlich werden lassen." - [MH GA Bd.29/30 §38]

Freedom of (human)being-there is only in (human)being-there's self-liberation. This self-liberation only occurs, however, when the (human)being-there opts for and to itself, i.e. opens up to itself as the Being-There.
the innermost urgency of the freedom of (human)being-there ... the urgency of understanding that first of all (human)being-there must bring itself back into the free, grasp itself as Being-There. ... liberate the human in man, ... i.e. liberate the essential sway of man, let the being-there within him essentially sway.
-[RG English transl.]

To put a lot into a nutshell of my own words:
In time and of time, man, being-there, is alone capable of distinguishing beings and Being, glimpsing the Nothing, of conceiving of death, enabling time, and IS therefore FREE. And if man does not take on this task, it will not be, and man will not fully be.

And Thank You, San Francisco !!

In advance in SF, outside of the playpen, beyond the reach of the repressors in China, in the true spirit of the Olympics:



Here, also, from Paris yesterday, as the flame went out --- just as the flame of human rights is constantly extinguished in Peking!

Thank You, London ! Thank You, Paris !

It is good and right that inhabitants of London yesterday and Paris today demonstrated against the Chinese in their attempt to coopt the Olympic flame to distract from their violations of human rights, justice, and simple human dignity.
The Chinese should realize that the world is not ready to accept them as "hosts" for the Olympic Games despite their renegging on their promise to "improve their performance" in the area of rights and freedoms, a promise the IOC should never have believed, one for which they should never have sited this years games in Peking, the capital of a dictatorial one-party state pretending to belong to the modern world, which it only copies when it can sell it.
These pictures WILL BE SEEN around the world, pictures of people saying NO to China!
Thank you, London. Thank you, Paris.

Thousands protest as Olympic flame carried through London
Police and security staff forced to fend off demonstrators

Le parcours de la flamme olympique à Paris émaillé de nombreux incidents
LEMONDE.FR 07.04.08

©

What about "Fitna" ?

Putting it all into context, polemics can be avoided and the potential dangers equally well exposed while pointing to possible paths OUT of the violence and intolerance incipient in most religious notions, in particular monotheistic, missionizing ones.

Que penser de "Fitna", le film de Wilders ? (Caroline Fourest):

C’est à ce genre de nuance que l’on distingue un engagement sincère, destiné à éveiller l’esprit critique d’un acte de propagande visant à éveiller l’instinct. Wilders fait plutôt partie de la seconde catégorie, comme les islamistes. Ils n’ont aucune leçon à lui donner. Puisqu’ils utilisent exactement les mêmes procédés pour accréditer l’idée d’un complot de l’Occident contre l’Islam, à partir de dessins ou de phrases sorties de leur contexte. Mais en prime, leurs films incitant à la haine trouvent des mains pour tuer. Ce qui fait tout de même une sacrée différence.

Dutch Lawmaker to Edit Anti-Quran Film - The Washington Post - Tuesday, April 1, 2008

A Dutch lawmaker whose anti-Quran film drew worldwide condemnations will edit out a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad after complaints of copyright infringement, his office said Monday.

Irshad Manji
Anti-Muslim Film Boorish and Boring

A more engaging approach would have been to pepper the film with positive verses from the Qur'an, thereby revealing that Muslims who expound hostility are actively choosing to ignore the better angels of Islam.

Irshad Manji, a scholar at New York University and the European Foundation for Democracy, is creator of the award-winning film "Faith Without Fear."

April has begun ...

... and so has daylight savings time here in Europe (ok, on the last Sunday in March, 2 days before April)
... and it's cloudy and rainy and only occasionally a hint of sunshine
... and we're as busy as little bees (or great big ones, for that matter)
... and the Berlin mom is in for her third round of chemo (forbidding us to visit, so we'll have to wait till she gets home on Saturday)
... and this is the month's first blog post
... and it won't be the last

This, Too, Is Berlin...

And after such a hike, ours today, when you leave the woods, there's a very good Italian restaurant waiting to serve you lunch: antipasto misto, pasta mista, chef's salad. MMMM. And then you walk over to the S-Bahn for the ride home, upload the photos, tell the blog to share them, and ...

We Can and Must All Speak Up Against China's Scorn for Human Rights!

Not only can French athletes petition the Chinese president, not only can Tibetan monks manage to decry their plight during China's "controlled" roadshow for hand-selected foreign journalists at risk of reprisals, YOU TOO, as I have, can sign a petition FOR human rights and AGAINST Chinese authoritarianism:

Petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao:
As citizens around the world, we call on you to show restraint and respect for human rights in your response to the protests in Tibet, and to address the concerns of all Tibetans by opening meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Only dialogue and reform will bring lasting stability. China's brightest future, and its most positive relationship with the world, lies in harmonious development, dialogue and respect.

Here is the link to the AVAAZ.ORG website to add your signature to this petition:
ADD YOUR VOICE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN CHINA!

Human Rights and the Olympics in China

As a group of fifteen olympic sportsmen in France have shown, it is possible to say to Chinese leadership that their actions in TIBET are NOT acceptable. It is indeed time to remind the "clique" there again and again that they promised to improve the human rights "situation" in that commando-communist-capitalist country with internal border controls and without retirement benefits or rights for its citizens prior to the Olympic games opening there. They have not done so!

It was a mistake to site the games in Peking this year!

Quinze athlètes français appellent Pékin au respect des droits de l'homme
LEMONDE.FR 27.03.08
En plein débat sur la répression au Tibet et un éventuel boycott de la cérémonie d'ouverture des Jeux olympiques de Pékin, quinze sportifs français – parmi lesquels Christine Arron, Muriel Hurtis et Yohann Diniz – signent dans les colonnes du Nouvel Observateur, jeudi 27 mars, un appel au président chinois, Hu Jintao, pour qu'il tienne sa parole de "respecter les droits de l'homme" et qu'il ne "gâche pas les Jeux".

©

The text of the appeal to the President of China reads in quick English translation as follows:

Mister President...
For being granted permission to organize the Olympic Games in Peking, the Chinese government committed itself to respecting human rights. Today, the violent repression of the riots in Tibet seriously conflicts with this promise given to the Olympic movement. The most fundamental rights are not being respected: neither personal integrity nor freedom of expression are possible in China. Mister President, some of us will be your guests in five months. As sportsmen, we have dedicated our entire existence to achieving this honor: participating in the most beautiful event invented by man. We believe that the Games, beyond the merchandising of sports, political rivalries, and instrumentalization, represent the purist humanity has: overcoming the self, brotherhood, friendship, and respect among peoples. We cannot be made hostages of politics nor a shield for an authoritarian regime. That is why, Mister President, we are asking you, today, solemnly, to honor your word. Do not spoil the Games.

Easter Update - Pictures

worth thousands of words...

Easter Greetings to Everyone

Well, we had no White Christmas in Berlin last time, but we're having a White Easter Sunday, albeit only powdery in the city, but we're expecting to see more of a ground cover when we go out to visit and lunch with Edith. Although we actually all wanted to go to Heiko's birthday party (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, brother/brother-in-law!), their son Malte has fever and bronchitis, not something Edith can deal with after her second chemo round only a good week ago and her counts still down. So we're spending the day with her and leaving Heiko with his snotty-nosed family but with our best wishes (also to father-in-law Bernie & wife Rosie, who will risk infection to eat birthday cake).
How can you hide Easter eggs in the snow?
Maybe we can get some photos of this early Easter Berlin landscape and one of the few instances of winter weather we've had this year.
The Chick that laid colored eggs near an NC cotton field last year is on our windowsill looking out at the snow this year.
Chicora Court also has our best wishes and fond memories, and we trust they can sense how endeared they are to us there.
The Dukey traitorous niece (heard we supported the wrong team against UNC in a major game) still has warm greetings headed her way...
To Charleston we're sending a grown-up nephew wishes for fulfillment of his own.
And to Greenville, SC, the lady-in-waiting and her consort are getting big virtual hugs.
To any and all tysonial and gardnerian visitors, you of course know that we miss you all and wish you too a beautiful new season as Easter comes and goes.

Change Without Blame

I for one have long - for oh so very long - not heard a speech, especially by a politician, that so goes to the core of things as did Mr. Obama's in Philadelphia yesterday. Blame has never fixed anything, but recognizing where antagonisms and resentments arise is indeed, as he says, a beginning for improvement. His remarks show an aptitude of thought which goes far beyond the narrower confines of the US-American arena and is directed at the essential questions of our world of humans. Consider Being, just consider the possibility of others also wishing for a humane, peaceful, just world of true freedoms and equitability. This speech by Mr. Obama, provoked by the festering wound of latent-to-blatant racism in the US and the puss and pain that it produces, in conversations, in a sidelong glance, in a sneer, in a shrug of the shoulders, in an unfair accusation, denial of a request, rejection of an application, or even a blow in the face, and this time in his own pastor's divisive and bigoted statements, demonstrates that Mr. Obama is ready, willing, and able to address REAL problems and issues, rather than to succumb to the distractions of our world society of spectacle, that he can and DOES think deeply of what is important for individual humans to live together in a society sharing without exploiting, that he is fit to be President of the United States, that he as President of the US would also finally place a thinker in the arena of World Politics, one determined NOT to avoid the issues of real import confronting us but to tackle those issues dividing the peoples of this world which we really all must share. Thank you.

Fifth Anniversary of a Playpen War

Iraq five years later.

Baghdad City of Walls

Baghdad is more divided than ever - A short film courtesy of Guardian Films, Tuesday March 18th, 2008
On the fifth anniversary of the US/British-led invasion of Iraq, the Guardian's award-winning foreign correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad has teamed up with ITV News to bring us a series of extraordinary films for the ITV News and guardian.co.uk. In these unprecedented films he, as an Iraqi, goes where foreign journalists can no longer go - to the heart of Baghdad's most dangerous sectarian zones. He uncovers Iraq's own killing fields where only the "killers and the killed" can
visit; and he reveals the desperate truth of the trafficked children of Iraq.

At least on the sixth anniversary, there won't be any bushbaby around to lie about it anymore.

Another Example of Chinese "Improvements" in Human Rights

Chinese Forces Say They’ve Secured Tibet’s Capital - New York Times

Foreign journalists are being restricted from traveling to Lhasa, and the precise death toll remains unknown. State media reported 10 deaths and characterized most of them as shopkeepers. The government’s official news agency, Xinhua, reported that the victims had been “burned to death.”
The demonstrations in Lhasa began Monday and continued through Wednesday as peaceful protests by Buddhist monks from three different monasteries. Some monks protested against religious restrictions while others demanded an end to Chinese rule and even waved the Tibetan flag. The police arrested scores of monks and then reportedly tightened security around the three monasteries so that monks could not leave.

Welcome to the Olympic Spirit of the "people's" republic of china. Maybe the bushbaby should send his playpen on a tour of this dynamic example of respect for freedom and justice.

Etat de siège au Tibet
LE MONDE 15.03.08
L'exaspération des Tibétains doit être grande pour qu'ils prennent le risque de défier Pékin au coeur du sanctuaire de Lhassa, la ville la plus contrôlée de Chine. Là est le principal enseignement de cette poussée de fièvre : malgré une implacable répression, que le dalaï-lama qualifie d'"inimaginable", malgré une politique de sinisation brutale qui pourrait un jour rendre les Tibétains minoritaires sur leur sol, des moines bravent la peur pour interpeller la communauté internationale. Ce courage mérite d'être salué.
La partie, hélas, s'annonce périlleuse. Pour le régime, le Tibet constitue un enjeu stratégique sur lequel il ne fléchira pas. Il y a fort à parier qu'au lendemain de ces troubles il jouera sur une corde nationaliste à laquelle la population chinoise est extrêmement sensible. Nombre de Chinois, et pas seulement ceux qui soutiennent le PCC, ont du mal à s'affranchir d'une vision paranoïaque de l'histoire. Ils sont convaincus que l'Occident conspire afin d'entraver l'essor de la Chine, jadis humiliée, aujourd'hui renaissante. Il faut qu'ils comprennent qu'une puissance n'est grande que si ses minorités souhaitent l'intégrer sur une base volontaire, et non forcée.

©

Takes One to Know One ...

... or: Playpen Seeks New Playmate Made in China

The ricey version of a State Department subservient to the bushbaby has announced, contrary to ALL other assessments of the situation there, that China has "improved" in human rights! Shocking considering the nearly daily reports of censorship and bludgeoning that its "citizens" must endure, including the fact that most do NOT even have any form of state retirement (now that's comm(unist)ando-style economics for you!).

To wit:

Reporters Without Borders
Beijing Games update
12.03: monks arrested in Lhasa protests, while exiles in India start long march

The New York Times, Washington, By HELENE COOPER, Published: March 12, 2008
U.S. Drops China From List of Top 10 Violators of Rights
"The State Department no longer considers China one of the world’s worst human rights violators, a decision that immediately earned the ire of human rights groups."

Washington retire la Chine de la liste des Etats les plus répressifs
LE MONDE 12.03.08
La Chine, qui figurait l'an dernier et en 2005 sur cette liste, change de statut. Le département d'Etat la requalifie en "pays autoritaire en pleine réforme économique ayant vécu des changements sociaux rapides mais n'ayant pas procédé à des réformes politiques et continuant à nier à ses citoyens les droits de l'homme et les libertés fondamentales basiques".

©

The Washington Post
U.S. Delisting of China Upsets Rights Activists
By Jill Drew, Washington Post Foreign Service, Thursday, March 13, 2008; A13

BEIJING, March 12 -- Human rights activists on Wednesday decried the U.S. State Department's decision to drop China from its list of the world's worst human rights violators, saying that China's crackdown on dissent is getting worse as it prepares to host the Olympic Games in August.
"We and others have documented a sharp uptick in human rights violations directly related to preparations for the Olympics," said Phelim Kine, Asia researcher with New York-based Human Rights Watch. The decision comes at the worst possible time for activists seeking to pressure Beijing to relax restrictions on free speech, release political prisoners and improve human rights protections, Kine added.

Human Rights Watch (New York, March 12, 2008)
China: Beijing’s Migrant Construction Workers Abused
Builders of the ‘New Beijing’ Cheated of Wages, Denied Essential Services – Migrant construction workers building the “new Beijing” are routinely exploited by being denied proper wages, under dangerous conditions with neither accident insurance nor access to medical and other social services, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.

U.S. State Department: 2007 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

For example, China’s overall human rights record remained poor in 2007. Controls were tightened on religious freedom in Tibetan areas and in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and the treatment of petitioners in Beijing worsened. The government also continued to monitor, harass, detain, arrest, and imprison activists, writers, journalists, and defense lawyers and their families, many of whom were seeking to exercise their rights under the law. Although the government pursued some important reforms, such as the Supreme People’s Court’s resumption of death penalty review power in cases handed down for immediate execution, efforts to reform or abolish the reeducation-through-labor system remained stalled. New temporary regulations improved overall reporting conditions for foreign journalists, but enforcement of these regulations was not consistent, hindering the work of some foreign journalists. The year 2007 saw increased efforts to control and censor the Internet, and the government tightened restrictions on freedom of speech and the domestic press. The government continued to monitor, harass, detain, arrest, and imprison journalists, Internet writers, and bloggers. NGOs reported 29 journalists and 51 cyber-dissidents and Internet users remained in jail at year’s end. There was a 20 percent increase over 2006 in convictions of citizens under China’s overly broad state security law that is often used to silence government critics. In December, well-known human rights activist Hu Jia was arrested at his home and detained for suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power.” His wife and infant daughter were reportedly put under house arrest at the same time. NGOs, both local and international, faced intense scrutiny and restrictions.

The above quote from the report is enough to show how little the chinese plutocrats care about their citizens and their rights. Perhaps they're too busy making cheap plastic copies of everything westerners desire for their big smoke and veil olympic-show, coming to a tv near you. They deserve total scorn and no audience at all.

Second Round

The Berlin mom is back in for her second round of chemo, started yesterday, hoping to get out on Friday. It was all delayed by a week due to her running a fever which put her in to the hospital over the weekend a week ago as her counts were still too low. Other than being ticked off by having to spend time away from home, and recognizing that her hair is going, she's hanging in there, doesn't want any visits (!), just peace and quiet, and wants to cook for us on the weekend (!), which we hope she'll have the energy and stomach for (at least for a visit even if she can't see food then, who knows).
Anyway, we're hoping she won't have any secondary problems this time, since the fever induced hospitalization really got on her nerves. She didn't want to go, till we insisted that she's not in the same situation as before.
At least she agreed to let us call her (but only once a day)! And she's promised to pay attention to what the doctor says (for fear we'll otherwise consult her ourselves).

The Brainless Preserve a No-Brainer

The bushbaby, seeking to satisfy the chaingang in his playpen and prove he's still in charge of the rattle, vetoed a bill to prohibit torture (which is actually already forbidden by international law and many treaties the US has signed and all of which the playpen ignores) by the central-agency-for-unintelligence (the one that was caught with its pants down when the Berlin Wall fell, not even to mention in september seven years ago).
Fitting is that the tortured mac-cane himself voted against this bill, cause you just have to let the spies torture to find out stuff, he mumbled in exasperation though not able to throw his arms up in the air for emphasis. Cane that bushbaby!
Embarrassing!
Justice and democracy are different.

The New York Times: Bush’s Veto of Bill on C.I.A. Tactics Affirms His Legacy

By STEVEN LEE MYERS / Published: March 9, 2008 / WASHINGTON

President Bush on Saturday further cemented his legacy of fighting for strong executive powers, using his veto to shut down a Congressional effort to limit the Central Intelligence Agency’s latitude to subject terrorism suspects to harsh interrogation techniques.

Mr. Bush vetoed a bill that would have explicitly prohibited the agency from using interrogation methods like waterboarding, a technique in which restrained prisoners are threatened with drowning and that has been the subject of intense criticism at home and abroad. Many such techniques are prohibited by the military and law enforcement agencies.

International Women's Day 2008

Best wishes to all the women we know and all who happen to read this blog on this day in recognition of them and their rights and achievements.

"In just three years time, 2011 will see IWD's Centenary - 100 years of women's united action for global equality and change. Organizations around the world have already commenced planning for their IWD Centenary celebrations.

The first International Women's Day was launched on 8 March 1911 in Copenhagen by Clara Zetkin, Leader of the'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party in Germany. This followed many years of women's campaigning dating back to British MP, John Stuart Mill, the first person in Parliament calling for women's right to vote.

On 19 September 1893 New Zealand became the first self-governing nation in the world to give women the right to vote."

International Women's Day 2008

A Strike is No Insult

That the employees of Berlin's BVG public transportation system for buses, subways, and trams have been on strike since yesterday and will continue it indefinitely is certainly an inconvenience for the city and its citizens and visitors, as only the regional trains and S-Bahn express trains (another company) remain in operation for the millions of people who use the system daily. Some 3.5 million trips daily must be reorganized, and the S-Bahn, though fast, does not have as frequent stops, given that the BVG net should be the more local. On Monday, life could become yet more difficult, as the D-Bahn, operator of regional and S-Bahn trains, will probably again face a driver's strike for not signing the contract they negotiated with them in January. Then, there will only be feet, bikes, mopeds, cars, and taxis for everyone in Berlin (and for many in other towns served by DB or communal firms whose workers are also on strike).

Yesterday, one of this winter's ultra-rare snowstorms further complicated matters, cars stood more than they drove, bike riders arrived with numb fingers, and pedestrians came as snowmen. (Here a photo of the situation from the Berlin newspaper Der Tagesspiegel: )

Nonetheless, when an employer deigns to label a strike an insult or an idiotic action rather than negotiating in good faith with the unions on the latters' (legitimate) demand for salary and wage increases, when that employer refuses even to consider paying workers more after years without a pay raise, then those staff members have only one means of pressure in their hands: going on strike, withholding their work.

It is time that stockholders, managers, owners, counseling firms, etc. STOP maintaining that paid work is something to be eliminated, that workers should be reduced at all costs, that wages should only be cut, whether the firm is doing well or not. Workers are people. Companies are not. People work for money to live on. They must. Companies are constructs, but it is not legitimate for them to maintain that their existence and rising profitability is more important than the people working there. THAT IS NOT SO!

So, though we may have to bike or walk to work and appointments, most of us here in Berlin SUPPORT the demands of the BVG strikers and understand their plight. Let us citizens put pressure on the government (who is the employer here) to offer the workers a decent wage increase. And to set a good example for all other employers. Social responsibility and the general welfare of society is much more important than any return on investment anywhere.

Let There Be Art ...

Again it is time to speak out and up for freedom of expression, artistic expression, even satire, even if someone claims to be or is insulted by a work of art, as long, at least, as it is not personally libellous or slanderous.

In this case, a Berlin art gallery

GALERIE NORD - KUNSTVEREIN TIERGARTEN

has temporarily, we trust, been forced to close its exhibition opened on February 22 entitled

ZOG-Surrend - Subversive Practice in the Public Space

because six neighborhood thugs stormed in and threatened to return with stones and more if they didn't remove one of the works, a poster of the Kaaba with the title (in German) "Stupid Stone", an insult to their religion, a poster, it must be added, hanging next to one of an orthodox Jew wearing what in the title is called a "Stupid Hat". The entire exhibition is to lay bare the absurdity of neo-Nazi claims of Zionist Occupied Governments, a claim also widespread in the Arab world.

All authorities have agreed to reopen the exhibition on Monday after speaking with law enforcement agencies about measures to protect the exhibition and its visitors and staff.

It is time to put an end to all these iconoclast ravings and be sure we protect and promote the only thing that makes us human: the ability to speak and think freely, even of the uncomfortable and disturbing.

Here, a photo of the corpus delicti from Der Spiegel and the link to their article with more photos; next, the article in Berlin's alternative newspaper TAZ Die Tageszeitung reminding us that this is the sort of thing Putin attempts to do in his "managed Russian democracy" to protect his and his cronies' status and prevent the spread and usage of rights; and finally, the New York Times article from an AP report summarizing the whole situation in English.

Right to Privacy of Electronic Data in Germany Ensured

Das Bundesverfassungsgericht, Germany's supreme court on the constitutionality of laws in the country, yesterday struck down a state law allowing government agencies to use "trojans" to spy on private computers via internet without court order or establishment of due cause in a dire situation.
This is being hailed as the establishment of a new civil right to bring the right to privacy and freedom of expression and research into the 21st Century and the Internet Age.
The link above is to the court's own press release, where there is also a link to the full text of the decision. Here, an excerpt from the press release:

§ 5 Abs. 2 Nr. 11 Satz 1 Alt. 2 VSG, der den heimlichen Zugriff auf informationstechnische Systeme regelt ("Online-Durchsuchung"), verletzt das allgemeine Persönlichkeitsrecht in seiner besonderen Ausprägung als Grundrecht auf Gewährleistung der Vertraulichkeit und Integrität informationstechnischer Systeme und ist nichtig. Die Vorschrift wahrt insbesondere nicht das Gebot der Verhältnismäßigkeit. Angesichts der Schwere des Eingriffs ist die heimliche Infiltration eines informationstechnischen Systems, mittels derer die Nutzung des Systems überwacht und seine Speichermedien ausgelesen werden können,verfassungsrechtlich nur zulässig, wenn tatsächliche Anhaltspunkte einer konkreten Gefahr für ein überragend wichtiges Rechtsgut bestehen.Zudem ist der Eingriff grundsätzlich unter den Vorbehalt richterlicherAnordnung zu stellen. Diesen Anforderungen wird § 5 Abs. 2 Nr. 11 Satz 1 Alt. 2 VSG nicht gerecht. Darüber hinaus fehlt es auch an hinreichenden gesetzlichen Vorkehrungen, um Eingriffe in den absolutgeschützten Kernbereich privater Lebensgestaltung zu vermeiden.

Playpen to Lapdog's Successor in Government: Oops, we lied!

Not only did they violate British and European law by using British bases to "render" suspects to secret cia prisons, the playpen (bushbaby & cunninglizard) also claimed never to have done so, putting the British government in the positon of lying to the British Parliament.
Today they corrected it. Just a mix-up.
OOOPS ! Sorry! Won't happen again!
(It would never happen if they would simply abide by recognized standards of justice: charge suspects, bring them to a court for arraignment and trial, let a jury determine a verdict, and, if guilty, let the court impose a sentence...)
Easy. And no more OOPS !

Miliband admits US rendition flights stopped on UK soil

David Miliband's statement Politics guardian.co.uk

In its Report on Rendition the ISC (28 June 2007) said 'we are satisfied that there is no evidence that US rendition flights have used UK airspace (except the two cases in 1998 referred to earlier in the report) and that there is no evidence of them having landed at UK military airfields'. The Government welcomed these conclusions in its response to the Report in July 2007. Parliamentary answers, interviews and letters followed this evidence. I am very sorry indeed to have to report to the House the need to correct these and other statements on the subject, on the basis of new information passed to officials on 15 February 2008 by the US Government.
Contrary to earlier explicit assurances that Diego Garcia had not been used for rendition flights, recent US investigations have now revealed two occasions, both in 2002, when this had in fact occurred. An error in the earlier US records search meant that these cases did not come to light. In both cases a US plane with a single detainee on board refuelled at the US facility in Diego Garcia. The detainees did not leave the plane, and the US Government has assured us that no US detainees have ever been held on Diego Garcia. US investigations show no record of any other rendition through Diego Garcia or any other Overseas Territory or through the UK itself since then.

U.S. says sorry to U.K. on rendition flights

"We came up with fresh information that in short order we shared with the British government," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. "We regret that there was an error in providing initially that inaccurate information to a good friend and ally," he told reporters.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Wednesday to express U.S. regret over the error, he told reporters.
Miliband told Britain's parliament earlier on Thursday that contrary to earlier U.S. assurances, two planes used for "rendition flights" in 2002 had refueled at a U.S. base on the British Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.
The British government had previously insisted it was not aware of any British territory being used to transfer terrorism suspects outside normal extradition procedures since U.S. President George W. Bush took office in 2001.
McCormack strongly denied there was an initial cover-up in providing information to the British government about the flights and attributed it to an "administrative error" by the Central Intelligence Agency.

Timeline: CIA rendition

A recent history of the US programme of moving suspects from one country to another without due process (from the Guardian online)

Miscellaneous Good News

1. Berlin mom home a week after chemo and doing splendidly well! No complaints whatsoever!
2. Stitches removed from heel of palm of right hand without difficulty, healing fine, sometimes bandaid free.
3. US Congress passed measure against torture in interrogations, even by the CIA (even if the playpen and its newly outed playmate McCANE are against it).
4. The German DA charged the multimillionaire head of the "Post AG" here with tax fraud in the millions, and others are about to get whacked!
5. Danish papers republished the mohammed caricatures in response to the murder plot against one of the cartoonists.
6. Beautiful sunny cold day here in Berlin.

weekend update

The Berlin mom is doing extraordinarily well! 5/8 finished with her first course of chemo, Edith was happy to see us, is ready to go home Monday morning after her last infusion Sunday evening, has to relieve her bladder more often than usual and is a bit puffy faced from all the fluid she's getting, but has yet to have any queasiness, perhaps due to the anti-nausea meds she's receiving, and consumed a big bowl of green-bean soup in front of us to prove it, is joking that she doesn't even need the wig yet, and announced we should head on out so she can have some peace & quiet.

May she continue just as spunkily and go on being spared side effects!

She even sympathized with me about my hand; admonished me for not having scrubbed every last trace of the surgical disinfectant paint from my hand, then accepted the explanation that I can't wash it freely and only today did the first home-change of bandages - a real hassle -but thereby had the opportunity to preserve photographically the stitchs for posterity.

Towit:

Glass Out, Stitches In, Sleepless Infusee

It looked dramatic enough, with the surgical disinfection paint and the gauze wound around my entire lower hand, to frighten Koko and make him temporarily a left hand sitting bird, but the 3 glass splitters are gone (I did NOT save them.), the zigzag incision with 7-8 stitches is healing fine, the surgeon was pleased when he changed the bandage to a smaller one this morning, which no longer frightens Koko and which I can finally replace with a waterproof bandaid to be able to wash again, and (sorry Sis) it hasn't really hurt much at all. Just pulls a little with a slight burning sensation. A week from today, the doc will remove the stitches and, as he put it, I'll finally be finished with this story.
Our Berlin mom finally got her first infusion yesterday beginning at 3 in the afternoon, running until this morning at 3; the only disturbance she reports till now is that she couldn't sleep as long as the stuff was running (she uses any excuse not to sleep), so we told her the nurses can watch it without her help, but she wants them to start earlier today so she can fall asleep around 10. Tomorrow we're going to visit her, which she has forbidden us to do today. Then we can report more, and are of course hoping she continues to cope well...
Should we take the camera? Or should I photograph my stitched up hand the next time I change the bandage? Time will tell.

Big Tuesday Primaries

If you are registered to vote in any of the 24 states holding primaries today, be sure and do so. Citizens of democracies who do not bother to vote have not understood what privilege they have to live in a system where their voices count! Stand up for your rights and fulfill your duty to participate in decisions concerning the state you live in!

Another step on the slow but steady road to the end of the playpen....

Protect Ayaan Hirsi Ali !

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: DC\696833EN.doc PE399.291v01-00 / 2004-2009 / 10.12.2007 0110/2007
WRITTEN DECLARATION pursuant to Rule 116 of the Rules of Procedure by Benoît Hamon, Ana Maria Gomes, Véronique de Keyser and Harlem Désir on the EU taking over the protection of Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Lapse date: 26.3.2008 / PE399.291v01-00 2/2 DC\696833EN.doc / EN 0110/2007

Written declaration on the EU taking over the protection of Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The European Parliament,
– having regard to Articles 6, 10(1) and 11(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights,
– having regard to Rule 116 of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas Mrs Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Netherlands citizen, is under threat of death for having exercised her freedom of expression as guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and whereas Article 6 of the Charter states that ‘everyone has the right to liberty and security of person’,
B. whereas the EU is founded on the values of democracy and the rule of law, and whereas religious fundamentalism, when it threatens death to anyone who dares to criticise the symbols or ideology of a religion, is a direct threat to the fundamental freedoms of the individual, and whereas therefore European citizens should be protected from it, particularly when they have sought refuge from this danger in the EU,
C. whereas, whatever one’s opinion of what Mrs Ali says, she has the right to express herself freely, including on religious, political and philosophical matters,
1. Calls for the EU to take the necessary measures to take responsibility for protecting Mrs Ali, since such protection is no longer afforded by the Netherlands, whatever country she chooses as her country of residence, so that her liberty, already infringed by threats, is not further restricted;
2. Instructs its President to forward this declaration, together with the names of the signatories, to the parliaments of the Member States, the Council and the Commission.

++++

PARLEMENT EUROPÉEN: DC\696833FR.doc PE399.291v01-00 / 2004-2009 / 10.12.2077 0110/2007
DÉCLARATION ÉCRITE déposée conformément à l'article 116 du règlement par Benoît Hamon, Ana Maria Gomes, Véronique De Keyser et Harlem Désir sur la prise en charge par l'UE de la protection d'Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Échéance: 26.3.2008 / PE399.291v01-00 2/2 DC\696833FR.doc FR 0110/2007

Déclaration écrite sur la prise en charge par l'UE de la protection d'Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Le Parlement européen,
– vu l'article 6, l'article 10, paragraphe1, et l'article 11, paragraphe 1, de la Charte des droits fondamentaux,
– vu l'article 116 de son règlement,
A. considérant que Mme Ayaan Hirsi Ali, citoyenne néerlandaise, est menacée de mort pour avoir exercé sa liberté d'expression, garantie par la Charte des droits fondamentaux, laquelle dispose en son article 6 que "toute personne a droit à la liberté et à la sûreté",
B. considérant que l'Union européenne se fonde sur les valeurs de la démocratie et de l'État de droit et que l'intégrisme religieux, dès lors qu'il menace de mort quiconque ose critiquer les symboles ou l'idéologie d'une religion, menace directement les libertés
individuelles fondamentales; qu'en conséquence, il faut protéger les citoyens européens contre un tel intégrisme, a fortiori quand ceux-ci ont fui ce danger pour trouver refuge dans l'Union européenne,
C. considérant que, quel que soit le jugement que l'on puisse porter sur les propos de Mme Ayaan Hirsi Ali, cette dernière a le droit de s'exprimer librement, y compris sur des questions d'ordre religieux, politique ou philosophique,
1. demande que l'Union européenne prenne les mesures nécessaires à la prise en charge de la protection de Mme Ayaan Hirsi Ali – qui n'est plus assurée aujourd'hui par les Pays-Bas –, quel que soit le pays où celle-ci a choisi de résider, afin de ne pas restreindre davantage sa liberté, déjà entravée par les menaces;
2. charge son Président de transmettre la présente déclaration, accompagnée du nom des signataires, aux parlements des États membres, au Conseil et à la Commission.

***

EUROPÄISCHES PARLAMENT: DC\696833DE.doc PE399.291 / 2004-2009 / 10.12.2007 0110/2007
SCHRIFTLICHE ERKLÄRUNG eingereicht gemäß Artikel 116 der Geschäftsordnung von Benoît Hamon, Ana Maria Gomes, Véronique De Keyser und Harlem Désir zur Gewährleistung des Schutzes von Ayaan Hirsi Ali durch die EU
Fristablauf: 26.3.2008 / PE399.291 2/2 DC\696833DE.doc DE 0110/2007

Schriftliche Erklärung zur Gewährleistung des Schutzes von Ayaan Hirsi Ali durch die EU
Das Europäische Parlament,
– gestützt auf die Artikel 6, 10 Absatz 1 und Artikel 11 Absatz 1 der Charta der Grundrechte,
– gestützt auf Artikel 116 seiner Geschäftsordnung,
A. in der Erwägung, dass Ayaan Hirsi Ali, niederländische Staatsangehörige, aufgrund der Ausübung ihres von der Charta der Grundrechte garantierten Rechts auf freie Meinungsäußerung mit dem Tod bedroht wird und dass gemäß Artikel 6 dieser Charta „jeder Mensch das Recht auf Freiheit und Sicherheit“ hat,
B. in der Erwägung, dass die Europäische Union auf den Werten der Demokratie und der Rechtsstaatlichkeit beruht und der religiöse Fundamentalismus, indem er jeden mit dem Tod droht, der es wagt, die Symbole oder die Ideologie einer Religion zu kritisieren, die grundlegenden persönlichen Freiheiten unmittelbar bedroht und den europäischen Bürgern daher Schutz zu gewähren ist, was umso mehr gilt, wenn sie bereits vor einer solchen Gefahr geflohen sind und in der EU Schutz suchen,
C. in der Erwägung, dass Ayaan Hirsi Ali unabhängig von den Auffassungen, die zu ihren Äußerungen bestehen mögen, das Recht auf freie Meinungsäußerung zusteht, einschließlich der Äußerung zu religiösen, politischen oder philosophischen Fragen,
1. fordert, dass die Europäische Union die erforderlichen Maßnahmen zum Schutz von Ayaan Hirsi Ali ergreift, der von den Niederlanden derzeit nicht mehr gewährleistet wird, und zwar unabhängig von dem Land, das sie zu ihrem Wohnsitz erkoren hat, um ihre bereits durch die Bedrohungen beeinträchtigte Freiheit nicht noch weiter einzuschränken;
2. beauftragt seinen Präsidenten, diese Erklärung mit den Namen der Unterzeichner den Parlamenten der Mitgliedstaaten, dem Rat und der Kommission zu übermitteln.

SOURCE FOR ALL THREE VERSIONS:

LAST ENTRY on this EU Parliament Site

English PDF Document

In Paris, there will be an important meeting to help achieve this goal on February 10th:

Avec Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Protégeons la liberté de penser

Le Meeting aura lieu le 10 février à 20 H à l’Ecole normale supérieure (annexe, amphi Jules Ferry), 29 rue d’Ulm 75005 (venir dès 19h en raison du dispositif de sécurité).
La soirée est organisée par : La Revue ProChoix, La Règle du Jeu, Libération et Charlie Hebdo
En présence de Darina al-Joundi, Monique Canto-Sperber, Caroline Fourest, Benoît Hamon, Laurent Joffrin, Dominique Sopo, Bernard-Henri Lévy, Mohamed Sifaoui, Pascal Bruckner, Philippe Val, Ségolène Royal, Rama Yade, et bien sûr Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

For details see: Tous autour d'Ayaan Hirsi Ali le 10 février à Paris

One Year Ago / Two Days from Now

Unbelievable, but one year ago today I was arriving to visit the Countess, still at the Ducal station, and then to accompany her and the Lady-in-Waiting to Chicora Court for the following month.
Just as unbelievable is that the Berlin mom will begin chemo two days from now, having completed her six radiation doses in three weeks without noticeable impairment. She's already bought a wig, was out with Steffi to do so today. She'll be in the hospital for three-four days for the chemo, then released, barring infection danger, to return three weeks later to repeat the process, a total of five-six times. So we're talking 15-18 weeks total, close to the Chicora Court duration.
But this story is different, heading in another direction. And the Berlin mom's in top spirits and ready for the ordeal to ensure full cure.

Biking in the Wind

Thanks to the BVG strike of subway, buses, trams, and ferries today we headed to work on our bikes. The strike will continue till tomorrow around 3pm, because the BVG refuses to make any decent offer of wage increases to its employees for the new contract period.
We have no problem whatsoever with them striking for their demands. Employees have no other power with employers, especially such who these days would prefer to have employees pay for the privilege of working rather than give any money at all.
Without its employees, the BVG would have a lot of empty useless immobile trains and buses, as they did today. We all want a decent living, so lets be willing to pay those whose services we use.
The DB train company's locomotive engineers managed to get a new contract only after months of occasional strikes, which includes the S-Bahn, the only transit system operating in Berlin today. Hopefully the BVG management will negotiate a decent contract with its workers more quickly!
They can't outsource transit workers to some third-world country! It's time "globalized" firms begin to learn that personnel is their most important resource. And every member of the personnel is also, if he receives enough money to buy anything, a potential customer. If they don't get paid for their work, they aren't anybody's customers anymore.

CDU-Candidate in Hessia Gets the Hard Punishment He Sought for Others

Two articles with appropriate assessments of the convicted party balance sheet fraudster Koch's loss in yesterday's election in Hessia, both from

taz.de :

Amtliches Ergebnis in Hessen: Roland Koch droht die Abschiebung

Roland Koch droht die Abschiebung
Der CDU-Ministerpräsident kann in Hessen nur noch in einer Großen Koalition weiterregieren. Doch die ist unwahrschienlich. SPD-Chefin Ypsilanti will lieber eine Ampelkoalition.

Cohn-Bendit für Minderheitsregierung

Nur Rot-Grün verhindert Lähmung
Der Grüne Fraktionschef im Europaparlament, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, plädiert für eine rot-grüne Minderheitsregierung in Hessen als Weg aus dem Patt. Die müsste sich von den Linken tolerieren lassen.

After his latest gambit of playing the law-and-order trump card and blaming crime on foreign kids, while his own administration had cut funding for police, district attorneys, and judges in his state while also reducing programs for integration, education, and social work, this Minister President had to eat some crow, finally. Already, in the CDU slush fund scandals, the courts had deemed him indeed guilty of falsifying his party's books with his signature verifying fraudulent donations and money laundering through third countries, though it was not punishable, as fraud in political party books at that time was not a crime! Unethical it was, though, as was his entire campaign this time round.
Now he and buttoned up Chancellor Merkel are claiming he should form the next government there anyway, because everything he did, of course, was, in their opinion, right, though he has no chance of assembling a coalition majority and his party (and hers) was the major loser in the election, despite squeaking to first place with 36.8% of the votes ahead of the SPD with 36.7%.
Cohn-Bendit's proposal of a minority government with toleration by the Linke may be the only possibility open, if the FDP, till now in the CDU swindler's pocket, continues to resist a three-party coalition with Greens and SPD.

The results were as follows, in percent, 2003 in parenthesis, change afterwards:
CDU 36,8 (48,8) -12,0
SPD 36,7 (29,1) + 7,6
Grüne 7,5 (10,1) - 2,6
FDP 9,4 ( 7,9) + 1,5
Die Linke 5,1 ( --) + 5,1

Seats in the parliament in Hessia will now be divided up as follows:
CDU 42
SPD 42
Grüne 9
FDP 11
Linke 6
110 seats in total, for a majority, a coalition needs 56 seats.

We may soon see some of Merkel's buttons pop soon!

55%

Fifty-five percent for Obama with a message of change in South Carolina is indeed a sign that my homeland may finally be ready to return to the path of advancement it left with after the murders of those calling for a turn to the future in my childhood and adolescence (JFK, RFK, MLK, Malcolm).
Fifty-five percent in South Carolina for a black man as nominee of the Democratic Party for the presidency of the United States is reminiscent of the hope for progress I knew when we merged into a single highschool the white and black ones in my hometown in the '60s without negative incident.
Whoever ultimately wins the nomination, I hope with every breath that this sentiment for change and progress and civilization and justice and fairness and equitability and future wins in November. Obama, Clinton, and Edwards should ALL play major roles in the next administration! The rest of the world could then heave a sigh of relief, to witness the US returning to the ranks of civilized, enlightened, democratic countries committed to human rights and justice and freedom everywhere.
When it is darkest, as it surely is with that bushbaby in his playpen (even his Wolf-O-Witz [="wolf-of-the-joke" in German] has been restored to a place of "honor" among the playmates), this light may still gain force and remind constantly the candidates in November that the United States is NOT the land of torture and senseless war and spying and police-state measures, but a land where the people can indeed still stand up and say: Change it!

Contemplating Freedom

Having read this essay several times, today I found myself concentrating on two paragraphs concerning freedom. In a treatise on the danger and chance of technology (not of technologies, but of the essence of technology, the concept of Being it derives from), these thoughts on freedom, liberty, Freiheit, liberté may appear abstract. Perhaps that is precisely the reason we so often do not consider freedom in essence. Perhaps that is precisely the danger. So here, at the risk of bemusing some, disturbing others, and giving some few pause to think, I am providing my own translation of those few lines, followed by the original. For the moment the English version satisfies me somewhat. Whether it still will do so tomorrow is difficult to predict; for I will continue thinking about what is thought worthy. What is worth considering is worth saying in another way another day. But it must at all costs be spoken. It's worth thinking about!

Freedom’s essential sway (essence) is not originally attributable to will or merely to the causality of human desiring.
Freedom administers the free, in the sense of the illuminated, i.e. of the revealed. The occurrence of revealing, i.e. of truth, is what freedom is most closely and most intimately related to. All revealing is part and parcel of a sheltering and a concealing. Liberating, however, is concealed and always conceals itself, the secret. All revealing comes from the free, goes into the free, and brings into the free. The freedom of the free consists neither in unbound arbitrariness nor in the bonds of mere laws. Freedom is illuminating concealment in whose illumination that veil flutters which conceals the essential swaying of all truth and which makes that veil appear as one that shrouds. Freedom is the realm of that sending forth which each time sets a revelation on its path.

[-RG transl.]

Das Wesen der Freiheit ist ursprünglich nicht dem Willen oder gar nur der Kausalität des menschlichen Wollens zugeordnet.
Die Freiheit verwaltet das Freie im Sinne des Gelichteten, d.h. des Entborgenen. Das Geschehnis des Entbergens, d. h. der Wahrheit, ist es, zu dem die Freiheit in der nächsten und innigsten Verwandtschaft steht. Alles Entbergen gehört in ein Bergen und Verbergen. Verborgen aber ist und immer sich verbergend das Befreiende, das Geheimnis. Alles Entbergen kommt aus dem Freien, geht ins Freie und bringt ins Freie. Die Freiheit des Freien besteht weder in der Ungebundenheit der Willkür, noch in der Bindung durch bloße Gesetze. Die Freiheit ist das lichtend Verbergende, in dessen Lichtung jener Schleier weht, der das Wesende aller Wahrheit verhüllt und den Schleier als den verhüllenden erscheinen läßt. Die Freiheit ist der Bereich des Geschickes, das jeweils eine Entbergung auf ihren Weg bringt.

[„Die Frage nach der Technik“ in MH GA Bd.7, S.26 bzw. Klett-Cotta-Ausgabe S.24-25]

Playpen Security Shenanigans to Snoop on YOU

The FISA Follies, Redux - New York Times

The Senate (reportedly still under Democratic control) seems determined to help President Bush violate Americans’ civil liberties and undermine the constitutional separation of powers. Majority Leader Harry Reid is supporting White House-backed legislation that would expand the administration’s ability to spy on Americans without court supervision and ensure that the country never learns the full extent of Mr. Bush’s illegal wiretapping program.

The 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA — which Mr. Bush decided to ignore after 9/11 — requires a warrant to intercept telephone calls and e-mail messages between people in the United States and people abroad.

[...]

It is now up to the House to protect Americans’ rights. Mr. Bush has already started issuing the ritual claims that if his bill is not passed instantly, Osama bin Laden will be telephoning his agents in the United States and no one will know. Let us be clear, Mr. Bush has always had the authority to order emergency wiretaps — and get court approval after the fact. That has never been the problem with FISA.

The House should vote to extend last summer’s flawed rules for at least 30 days and go on recess, forcing the Senate to do the same thing, and then bring the whole matter to a conference committee. There will then be plenty of time for a real debate.

Lawmakers and the rest of the nation should bear this in mind: Mr. Bush’s version of this law does not make intelligence-gathering more robust. Opponents like Senators Christopher Dodd and Patrick Leahy want to spy on Al Qaeda, too. They’re just not willing to do it in a way that undermines the very democracy that the spies, Congress and the president are supposed to be protecting.
- The New York Times, Editorial, Published: January 26, 2008

It's time to start concentrating on real security issues, real efforts to protect democracy and justice, human rights and freedom, and, yes, our physical safety, instead of trampling on everything the "enemy" is supposedly trying to destroy in Western civilization while telling a grandmother she can't bring two jars of homemade marmelade onto an airplane to take them to her grandchildren. Security risk. The simple question is, who and what is the security risk ?

Recognize Anything ?

A little contest: If you recognize anything in these photos, then you can also guess what must and will be done. Enter your hypotheses as comments.

This is all an aftermath of the incident referenced in my post from January 3rd, the sixth paragraph concerning the perils of sobriety.

Having Fun in the Playpen (Middle East Version)

Yes, that darling bushbaby has been on the road again, perhaps imagining that other countries might be nicer to him, i.e. be even less intelligent than those he has bamboozled back home. Sooo, I'm giving space to Comedy Central, to sum up the import and impact and impotence and implosion and impossibility of what the clown's up to these days.

(By the way, my absentee ballot for the NY primary, Dem, is already in the mail, so you can't change my mind on that one anymore, whoever you are, however much you scowl or cry or grin or sermonize or cajole or coax. My vote has been cast.)

subterfuge, scandal, shock

Undertake whatever is necessary to maintain each and every individual's freedom to speak, write, sing, paint his/her own opinion and to uphold the right to read and look at whatever we want, in other words: to think!

CHARTER OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

TITLE II

FREEDOMS

Article 11

Freedom of expression and information

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.
2. The freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Stop the Shame / Institute Justice !

The sixth anniversary of the opening of the prison camp at Guantánamo is a reminder of how long its inmates have been confined there without receiving any semblance of JUSTICE. They have not been charged, have not been tried, have not been convicted or sentenced. They have been held against all enlightened and democratic principles of justice for as much as six years.

Close this place down. If we hope to protect democratic principles, an essential one being justice, then we must charge and try, have a jury convict or release, those held up to now without anything even resembling what justice demands.

Here, photos from The Atlantic of this place outside of any legal system.

This sad anniversary as seen by the Associated Press in the Washington Post, by Libération, and by Die Zeit.

Essential Knowledge

Go to the mailbox, take out an envelope from DHL, open it, read a notice about some package for you from the US having been given to Customs for processing of duty fees, with the address where you have to go to pick it up and pay whatever, without knowing what it is, and all within 3 days or you'll be charged a "storage" fee. The place is nearly an hour away, halfway between 2 S-Bahn stations, which means a hike is also involved, only open till 6:30pm and it's now 4. So you take off immediately, get there shortly before 5 to see a line a mile long, wait a half hour to be asked if you have a receipt for the order from Amazon, tell the customs agent you don't know what it is, it must be a gift. OK. You can wait in the next waiting room till they call your name, which they do after another half-hour, again ask what it is, you say open it and we'll both find out. Then you see it's a book from your wish list, was sent on December 6, is your Xmas present from your sister, and tell the guy so. A gift is good, he says, and wants to know how much it costs, cause it doesn't say on the packing slip (of course not, it says merry christmas from T), but the jacket bears a price, which you tell him would be lower at Amazon, and he says that's ok, cause the dollar amount shown amounts to less than 45 euros, the maximum amount permissible for a gift without duty on it, and you can take it and leave. And take the packaging off the counter.

It was "The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge", and picking it up also expanded my knowledge about christmas presents arriving from across the ocean. Today is almost mid-January.

HO HO HO, MERRY CHRISTMAS !

( And thanks, really, for the present, sis, it's great ! )

Reason means THINKING

And that's what Ayaan Hirsi Ali does in her review of Lee Harris' new book The Suicide of Reason. Here a link to that book review-essay in the NYTimes Book Review.
The necessity to defend reason, free thinking is an utter necessity, an urgent need, and it is my hope that this year will bring some light into the jungles of mystical romantic fundamentalist mindsets.
It does not help to look the other way: darkness must be seen to give light a chance.

"And behold, another year begins, [...]

[...] It knows what it is. And somehow, as if by magic, everyone in the whole world does, as well. The sweet sound passage of time."
(Bubble, from Absolutely Fabulous, comprehending the beginning of 1995)

Today is the beginning of the election of a a non-bushbaby so that the US can finally have a president again.

"Etwas, das noch so leis ist und kaum entstanden, soll man nicht gleich mit Worten belegen. Es ist genug wenn man es spürt." -W.Bräunig: Rummelplatz, S.584.

But once you can find the word, can speak it, you are contemplating existence.

Tomorrow we accompany the Berlin Mom to the radiation therapy planning session.

My hand stopped bleeding about an hour after I fell on some glass on the way home from an otherwise very enjoyable New Year's Eve celebration in Erich's village. It doesn't even hurt anymore, just looks disgusting, but now only scabbed, also bruised. D was my first-aid man, as he is anyway in my life. And we weren't even inebriated.

Enjoying some time to finish up some books, write a bit, think, before I start teaching again next week.

So, Happy New Year, everyone!