test blog #10

I'm very interested in what people to do to heal. I'm intrigued by people's private healing rituals, as well as public forums such as speak-outs. South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Hearings fascinated me. (A good movie was made about them.) I found this story very moving. KONJEVIC POLJE, Bosnia and Herzegovina About 500 Bosnian Muslim men set out on foot at 7:30 a.m. Sunday from this quiet farming village in eastern Bosnia on the third and final day of their re-enactment of the "march of death" a decade ago this week. Bearing Bosnian and Bosnian-Muslim flags, the men completed their solemn retracing of the route taken by an estimated 15,000 Muslim men during the war in Bosnia. They had fled the town of Srebrenica in panic in July 1995, after lightly armed United Nations peacekeepers failed to protect them from advancing Serb forces. The Serbs killed more than 7,000 of the fleeing Muslims in ambushes and mass executions that war crime judges later declar...

A commenter seems to think we oppose military recruitment efforts because we oppose George Bush. He's got it all backwards. We oppose this immoral, senseless war. We oppose young people risking their lives, limbs and sanity in order to kill people who are not their enemies and have done them no harm. We oppose young people having so few options that they're willing to kill and risk death for a shot at education and advancement. We don't oppose the war because it's Bush's! We oppose the war. We would oppose any president who lied to the country in order to start a war for profit and distraction. We oppose this president because he did (among many other important reasons).

We move to canada is one year old today! Let's see, what was happening in my life on July 11, 2004? - Our immigration application had been in the queue for five weeks. - I was spending my days and nights trying to elect John Kerry. - The Yankees were seven games up in the AL East. - I didn't know any of you great people. Today: - The Red Sox are two games up in the AL East. - I am 50 days away from moving to Canada. - We are renting a house in the exact location I wanted. - I am part of this supportive community. It's been a big year! * * * * Last year at this time: - About 780 Americans , English, and don't forget Polands, were still alive. - Some 10,000 Iraqis were still alive. - Thousands of people still had two legs, two arms and functioning eyes, who are now adapting to life with a permanent disability. Let's never forget what's at stake.

Salman Rushdie speaks about human rights . In honor-and-shame cultures like those of India and Pakistan, male honor resides in the sexual probity of women, and the "shaming" of women dishonors all men. So it is that five men of Pakistan's powerful Mastoi tribe were disgracefully acquitted of raping a villager named Mukhtar Mai three years ago. Theirs was an "honor rape," intended to punish a relative of Ms. Mukhtar for having been seen with a Matsoi woman. The acquittals have now been suspended by the Pakistan Supreme Court, and there is finally a chance that this courageous woman may gain some measure of redress for her violation. Pakistan, however, has little to be proud of. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says that there were 320 reported rapes in the first nine months of last year, and 350 reported gang rapes in the same period. The number of unreported rapes is believed to be much larger. The victim pressed charges in only one-third of the reported ...

Has anyone else gotten mail from this guy ? Both Redsock and I have received similarly charming emails from someone identifying himself as Joe Blow. However, neither of us replied with as much wit and gusto as Crabletta.

I'm loathe to praise the Poodle, who dragged his country into a useless and immoral war, and only a bit less reluctant to quote conservative columnist John Tierney again . But... It was just so refreshing to watch people recover from hardship without the attendant flag-waving, patriotic songs and war-mongering that goes on here. I happened to catch Blair's post-G8 press conference on C-Span yesterday, and what can I tell you, I was impressed. John Tierney thought so, too . Tony Blair was as eloquent as ever when he faced the press at the G-8 summit meeting yesterday, but what was most impressive was what he didn't say. After uttering three sentences of gratitude to the other leaders for their support after the London attacks, he dropped the subject of terror. . . . Television and print editors rushed to assign what is known in the business as the "Fear Stalks" story, as in, "We need a 'Fear Stalks Suburban Bus Riders.' " The commuters' alarm ...

Murderball is a new movie to put on your "must see" list. It's about wheelchair rugby, a rough-and-tumble sport played by quadriplegics. That may sound like an oxymoron, but once you've seen wheelchair rugby, you'll understand the word quadriplegic in a different way. I covered wheelchair rugby at the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, and have interviewed rugby players for various wheelchair sports stories along the way. It's an irresistible sport - fast, aggressive, strategic. It also happens to be Canadian in origin. The Canuck quads who dreamt it up called in Murderball, hence the name of the movie. The New York Times reviewed it yesterday , and some photos of the sport here , here and here .