Radiation Danger from Japan

I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop in Fukushima Daiichi, worrying about what is too frightening to tell the public, and Arnie Gundersen just dropped it for me. He is a nuclear engineer who had worked at Three Mile Island, and is clearly explaining the science of the leakage of radiation in Japan.
http://www.fairewinds.com/

Astounding Stats on how few Americans are Rich

Mother Jones magazine/website has created these 11 charts that explain the gross inequality in the United States today, a big shift from how things were 30 years ago.

It's the Inequality, Stupid

Eleven charts that explain everything that's wrong with America.
In Colombia, it was obvious that the vast majority of people are poor, and a small percentage of wealthy people run the show.  In America, it is far less obvious, because so many people have homes. But we work all the time to keep them. I was really shocked to see that 1% of Americans own over one third of our country's wealth, and that the next 9% of the richest people own another third, with the rest of us 90% owning the last third, and these 90% have an average income of $31,244.
So I checked the GINI index at the CIA World Factbook. The GINI index measures how evenly the GNP is distributed among the population of each country. The higher the number, the more concentrated the wealth is, in the hands of a few.

Yes, Colombia has an even more unequal income distribution than the USA. But geez,  a few of the countries with a more equitable distribution than us are Cameroon, Iran, Nigeria, Kenya, Guyana, Thailand, Morocco, Turkey, Tunisia, Ghana, Burkina Faso...not just the obvious like Sweden and Norway.
So what income qualifies you as part of the middle class? It seems that America will soon have only the upper classes, and the working class and poverty levels left. A sure sign of a decaying economy.

In Colombia, a sugar cane cutter's house

abandoned home in Detroit, USA

back from Colombia

quick suggestion: tell your congress people to vote NO to the Colombian FTA (Free Trade Agreement). Clinton and Obama and backing free trade, but this will be as bad as NAFTA.
Here is a letter from the Washington Office on Latin America to Congress with more details.
Wondering how was my trip?
I've been home nearly two weeks now, but I feel like I absorbed so much that I have had difficulty summarizing it. I nearly filled a notebook with notes. Compared to the problems and injustices that so many of the people we met are facing, any concerns of mine seem trivial. Although I feel physically safe with enough income to live in a big comfortable house, I saw a richness in spirit, and communities so tightly-knit, which I admire and even envy. The people I am closest to (including myself) spend more time at computers alone in rooms than with other people. Of course we do make many connections with friends in this cyber-world. But the contrast of spending 10 days with 12 people in close quarters, talking, listening, sharing experiences, meeting so many fine brave people, this was really different, both fun and challenging. I wished I could have rewound and edited a few things I said, but, oops, in RL we just have to blunder on.
About half the people in this photo are our Witness for Peace delegation, and the rest are Colombians who have lost family due to state violence by military, paramilitary, or police.

I can see how common dire straits can deepen a community's bonds. Also, it makes sense that life threatening situations cause trivial concerns to slip away, and bring people in close touch with what is of real value in their lives. But returning to the USA has been an adjustment. I am so busy, running from errands to half-planned tasks. So much of American lifestyle (meaning United Statesian) is filled with trivial pastimes that promise self-satisfaction..... shopping, the latest gadget, TV, movies, the prescription drug which will fill that need you didn't know you had until the ad "educated" you. Not to mention all the illegal drugs consumed by US citizens which keeps up a high demand for cocaine, of which 90% comes from Colombia.

This line of thought about consumerism and profit vs an enlightened loving healthy planet of people and all living beings co-existing in peace reminds me of the "Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream Symposium" (which I highly recommend). It seems clearer than ever to me that the USA with it's tax dollars and many powerful Americans working within trans-national corporations are perpetuating a system that is harming the planet, and directly causing misery to the majority of people on earth.

Here is a painting by Jafeth, an internationally acclaimed but humble Colombian artist, who is working to build a better world within a violence torn rural area. This painting shows planting Seeds of Corn, which is the name of a school he founded, which teaches children art, dance, ecology, theatre, and ethical values. It was so healing to meet this wonderful artist after having heard of many atrocities throughout the week.

 Photo op: Susan with Jafeth :-)

So I don't want to rant on in generalities. Over the next few weeks I will try to squeeze in the time to blog about the various people we met, and places we saw.

  But if you have read this far, Thank You!

Here are more pictures of Jafeth's School, community murals and the Magic Pathway to the mother nature  goddess called Pachamama.

Immunizations Daily!

geez, I feel like a pin cushion, and worse, these shots are expensive! Yellow fever $164, Malaria meds $134, typhoid $69, hepatitus A $80, hepatitus B $51 x 3, polio, and a few more I can't remember. I think Blue Cross will cover the polio booster, but they said they don't cover travel vaccines. That is just stupid, because it will cost Blue Cross a lot more if I came home with these diseases than to prevent them. Anyway, I have been warned to drink only bottled water and to do without ice, so with all these precautions I expect to stay healthy throughout the trip. Most of these shots give immunity for at least 5 years or more, so I guess I should become a world traveler soon!

I've been walking with my backpack nearly every day to prepare for my trip to Colombia on Jan 13. Hiking in Sedona was good practice, because it is a high elevation. There are 11 interesting people going on this trip with me... a diverse spread of age range from 21 -71, and from various parts of USA. One man is a lawyer for men held in Guantanamo. Also a union rep, a journalist, an artist, a business owner, and others. I can't wait to meet them... 11 days with these 11 people would be interesting anywhere, but sharing what we learn from the people in Colombia will be amazing!

I'm grateful to all my friends and family who donated to Witness For Peace to help fund this trip.

Thank You, and Happy New year!

my trip to Colombia

I am thrilled about going to Colombia this coming January on a Witness For Peace delegation.
http://witnessforpeace.org/article.php?list=type&type=111
We will meet with indigenous people and afro-colombians who are negatively affected by US trade policies.

Globalization & Immigration

I was so impressed by Marisol Jiménez McGee's presentation that I asked her permission to put her whole talk on Globalization & Immigration on Youtube. She is advocacy director for El Pueblo, and a passionate speaker with an easy-to-understand analysis of a complex situation. It is 24 min long in total, but in four 6 min parts.


It's well worth the time if you want to get the big picture, right from the formation of the UN, World Bank, and IMF to the effect of the wall and militarization at the U.S./Mexican border. The event was held at my UU Fellowship, ERUUF, to raise money to send two 18-24 yr olds on a Witness For Peace expedition to Mexico.

Economic Hitman

I've been thinking more about the grip that multi-national corporations have on how prosperity flows and poverty perpetuates. I googled Bill Perkins, who wrote "Confessions of an Economic Hitman". He also is active in the Awakening the Dreamer effort. In fact, they said he was one of the first to go down to Ecuador and meet with the tribal leaders there.

Here's a 2 minute cartoon narrated by Perkins, which explains the enormous dilemma in an amusing nutshell.

but what can we do, personally, to change this power dynamic?

Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream

I trained as a facilitator for this workshop a few months ago, and finally had the wonderful experience of leading it with four friends on May 16. We had 17 people attend and most people stayed for the whole session and seemed to really appreciate it. Here is a video about a typical Symposium:

Awakening the Dreamer Symposium Trailer from Pachamama Alliance on Vimeo.

The main idea is to awaken people to the necessity of living in balance with nature, and with social justice for everyone. .. and also to empower them to be engaged with being part of the solution.

There's an amazing story of how the organization got started, by indigenous people in the rainforests of Ecuador in 1995. The first group they started is called the Pachamama Alliance.

Palin Quits for Alaska's Sake?

Wow. If she can help more by not governing, will everyone please remember that if she makes a grab for POTUS in 2012?
Her long, rambling and inconsistent resignation speech
showcases her folksy mumbo-jumbo politco-speak. Rah rah, just keep repeating it long enough and your audience absorbs your talking points.
I watched a video of her speech, and could not detect any reason why she chose to quit before completing her first term as governor, nor any explanation why this is best for Alaska. Yet she said:

"...besides faith and family, nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska. Serving her people is the greatest honor I could imagine...
And there is such a need to build up and fight for our state and our country.
I choose to fight for it!
But I won’t do it from the Governor’s desk.

I've never believed that I, nor anyone else, needs a title to do this - to make a difference... to help people. So I choose, for my State and my family, more "freedom" to progress, all the way around... so that Alaska may progress... I will not seek re-election as Governor.

I have given my reasons candidly and truthfully"

"candidly and truthfully?" yeah right!
After reading the entire speech, I think the reason is her concern that her legal battles are costing the Alaskan taxpayers ( and her family) too much money. This part of her incredibly long and rambling speech had been left out of the video:

Every one – all 15 of the ethics complaints have been dismissed. We’ve won! But it hasn't been cheap - the State has wasted thousands of hours of your time and shelled out some two million of your dollars to respond...
Todd and I are looking at more than half a million dollars in legal bills in order to set the record straight...
It’s pretty insane – my staff and I spend most of our day dealing with this instead of progressing our state now...
I choose to work very hard on a path for fruitfulness and productivity. I choose not to tear down and waste precious time; but to build up this state and our country, and her industrious, generous, patriotic, free people!
I'll work for and campaign for those proud to be American, and those who are inspired by our ideals and won't deride them...

as Governor, I love my job and I love Alaska. It hurts to make this choice but I am doing what’s best for Alaska.

I think she is sincere.. a delusional pathological manipulator, but she believes her own hype. That was the problem with W. These people are dangerous, when backed by ignorant masses.
There are so many bible conservatives who adore her... I hope enough people will recognize her lack of judgement to keep her out of any future political office!
P.S.
More ethical scandals brewing. This Kos blogger says David Shuster of MSNBC may break news of criminal charges soon. See video in his post:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/4/45050/74116

Health Care Reform

President Obama encouraged us to make a YouTube video with questions for him, so here goes!

I had given up blogging last year, since I was so busy... in part volunteering with the Democrats during Obama's campaign. Now that he is in office, I feel the need to rally all of Congress to support him. As he said, the goal wasn't just to get elected. It is for the real change we can make in this country together. I really want to see affordable health care for all people in this land. we need to fight against the power of greed and self interest. If a huge number of citizens speak up, I think we can do it!
The environmental legislation is even more important. If the biosphere of the planet collapses, no health care can save us!

Have you heard anything from the 200 men released from Guantanamo?

Well here is an interview on "This American Life" (a radio show aired on NPR) that was produced last year, and won awards. They have re-released it with updates about a few of the many men who were mistakenly detained and tortured.
Not in the mood for something depressing?
Don't worry, it is actually funny. Ira Glass is like that.
These guys were totally innocent(big surprise), but sold by Pakistanis to collect the American bounty.
One of the guys they detained was a joke writer (for the Pashtu version of The Onion), and the other a rich Bahrainian 19 yr old who spent Spring Break in Daytona Beach with his college buddies (he attended college in Virginia- remind me not to vacation in Pakistan!)
The good news is that they were released after four years.
and there is an amusing part of the show by a bbc reporter about the origin of Habeous Corpus in the 1600's.
Go to this link http://thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Archive.aspx?year=2007#4
and choose the show called "Habeous Schmabeous"
If the link doesn't get you there just go to http://thisamericanlife.org and look in archive for 2007 shows in April.

Warmongers

"A Collapsing Presidency", optimistically titled, by Paul Craig Roberts, reveals how dangerous our Warmongering administration has become. The whole article is worth a read, here's a taste:

"Neocons don’t believe in diplomacy. They believe in coercion. Neocons denigrate diplomacy as the epitome of weakness. Neocons slap down diplomacy before it can rise. The Iranians offered talks, and neocon National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley immediately slapped down the offer as "simply a device by the Iranians to try to divert pressure that they are feeling." The Bush neocons are bent on war with Iran."

If Iran is Bush's next target, will he restart a draft? We must get them out of office!
I spoke with a friend tonight who knows a contractor who is helping build tons of new barracks in Fayetteville, NC. He thinks the draft is coming. Surely that would decimate a lot of the Republican's support.
In January 2006, the North Carolina State Executive Committee of the Democratic Party (about 300 Democrats who come from all over the state) unanimously passed a resolution calling for impeachment of Bush and Cheney, and also to remove Alberto Gonzalez from office. The press was there, but they didn't report it. hmmm...
It blows my mind that Bush still has so many loyal supporters. After what he has done, I wouldn't think there would be any left at all. Ah, but the corporate media does put such an appealing spin on our cowardly cowboy.
Even Martin Luther King Jr's children succombed to the crushing pressure of the Bush administration. I heard a poignant interview of Harry Belafonte by Amy Goodman last night on Democracy Now, explaining how they first invited him to give one of the eulogies for his friend, Corretta Scott King. Then a couple days later, President Bush announced that he planned to attend the funeral. The next day the family called Harry to uninvite him, because had spoken his mind about Bush. Last January, when Belafonte was in Venezuela visiting democratically elected Hugo Chavez, he called Bush 'the greatest terrorist in the world'. Belafonte didn't want to embarrass the King family by talking about it at the time, but I'm glad he finally did come forward. It is courageous and probably dangerous to criticize our Tyrant. To hear Harry Belafonte tell it, go to http://www.democracynow.org/ and search for Belafonte, it's worth a listen. He is a loving soul.

Howard Dean Speaks at Durham Precinct Event

Precinct Leaders Troy and Milo had planned a fun local event at a bar called "Satisfactions". They invited all of Durham County's Democrats to come suffer together through the State of the Union speech by you know who, and then listen to the Democratic response in a conference call with Howard Dean, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi. Next thing you know, Howard Dean decides to attend!
Apparently the DNC had put out an e-mail asking if there were any interesting Precinct events happening, for Dr. Dean to drop in on. Troy (now known locally as "The Man"), replied and the rest is history. Here's Troy getting interviewed by one of the TV networks.

The day before the great event, I wrote a note to Dr. Dean, with a gift of two of my "Definition of a Democrat" t-shirts. Some of the ringleaders who were going to meet with him first, gave him the tees. They say he opened it up, read the t-shirt, and really liked it. That was exciting moment numero uno.
At Satisfactions, I volunteered at the Voter Education table which gave me a chair to stand on, so I could see him speak. What an inspirational speaker. He had solid ideas for universal healthcare, saying "36 other industrailized countries do it while balancing their budgets, and we can too." He said that in Vermont they used gov't money to insulate homes of the elderly, rather than subsidizing fuel. He said, "think of how many jobs it would create if we insulated every home and building in America!". wow, exciting moment number two, that's what I'm always saying. And he mentioned biofuels and other clean energy sources. In contrast, Bush said we need to break our addiction to oil by using "clean coal" and nukular powr. Puh-leaze!

But the third exciting moment happened two days later, and really knocked my socks off. I thought someone returned a t-shirt with no return address, and I opened it up to find this:


He was so thoughtful to mail this one back to me, signed.
More comments and photos are at durhamdemocrats.org. If you are a Durham Democrat, please browse through the site, they have just added a lot of useful info about local organizing.

The national website, Democrats.org has also posted pictures and comments at"State of the Union Watch Party Recap"

I heard they were talking about us at Daily Kos too. This guy came to North Carolina to attend, and said
"I witnessed, in North Carolina, the template for rebuilding the Democratic Party and reclaiming the country ..."
The grassroots keep getting stronger!

FEMA thwarted Local, National, and International Relief

Not only did FEMA prevent the Red Cross from delivering food and water to people trapped in the Superdome and Convention centers, (see post below for details), but they have denied aid all over the place.
Andrew Sullivan has links to lots of info about FEMA and Michael Brown's incompetence, including the following:
http://femafailures.blogspot.com/
Articles exposing FEMA's failures in Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and more.
Constructive Interference
This site lists many of the relief workers and aid supplies that were refused entry to New Orleans and/or the Gulf area. FEMA also blocked civilian response, both neighbors from the region and Americans from all over the USA were turned away, even if they had boats, supplies, medical training, whatever.
But a few Duke students managed to sneak in and help:
In the Durham Herald Sun, Sept 4, 2005
Three Duke students, disgusted by the inadequate relief effort, drove to the Gulf on Friday, posed as jounalists, got past the National Guard and evacuated 7 people from downtown New Orleans in their little Hyundai.
Fire Brown Now
Spin First, Save Lives Later
FEMA Director Michael Brown's memo to Chertoff shows the focus was not on getting rescuers in there right away.
Check the local news for best coverage and photos:
The Times-Picayune http://www.nola.com
New Orleans WWL TV http://www.wwltv.com
What does this sad pic of New Orleans remind you of?

Homeland Security Admits They Denied Red Cross Access to New Orleans

This is killer information that should be distributed widely to media, politicians, church leaders, and everyone you know.
Both Red Cross and Homeland Security have admitted that Red Cross was not allowed into the city of New Orleans ALL WEEK.
I find it very disturbing that people died of dehydration and starvation in the Superdome "shelter", while President Bush's suggestion was "Send cash to the Red Cross". Red Cross was allowed access to the outlying more white communities where they gave out food and water.
What reason do they give for withholding food and water from 50,000 predominantly poor African Americans left in the city because they did not have cars to evacuate?
Red Cross says the reason was that their "presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city."
Kevin Cowan at the Louisianna Office of Homeland Security said they "don't want to put anyone at undue risk". I guess that reference to "anyone" must only refer to white Red Cross workers. Certainly the 20,000 people in the Superdome and the other thousands at the Convention center were put at grave risk by being held at gunpoint with no food, water, or bathroom facilities for days. Ten bodies were found in the Superdome.
So if they were afraid to put the Red Cross workers at risk, why didn't they escort them in with military back-up, or just have the National Guard drive in the darn truckloads of Red Cross food & water?
When there are disasters in other countries, the Red Cross is there right away with food and water, because other countries do not deny them access to the victims.
A few bloggers posted that they had heard on CNN and on Larry King Show, the head of Red Cross saying they weren't allowed in.
I found this news at Dailykos, which has a lot of information now about the disastrous disaster response.
See for yourself on the FAQ section of Red Cross's website:
Here is an excerpt in case they remove it from their website soon:

Disaster FAQs
Hurricane Katrina: Why is the Red Cross not in New Orleans?
Acess to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders.
The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

A DailyKos blogger called up Homeland Security to verify this statement on Red Cross's web-page. The Federal Homeland Security guy admitted it at first, but would not stand by his statement. On the Red Cross Webpage it says ""state Homeland Security department", so then he called the Communications Center for the Louisianna Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness at 225-925-7500. Lt. Kevin Cowan (Public Information Officer) confirmed that their office did prevent Red Cross from coming in! Read the text of his phone calls here.
He goes on to say

"Orj Ozeppi reports that the Salvation Army is telling people the same thing as the ARC(Red Cross): "if we help, people won't leave." So we have a discrepancy between these relief agencies and LA Homeland Security as to the reason. The relief agencies are consistent. It may be that this policy is just because it's a disaster zone, as the LA Homeland Security guy said, but this question needs to be answered. Was the decision to keep the relief agencies out made to force people to evacuate (and punish those who didn't... perhaps making a lesson of them?) by making conditions intolerable??? If not, why do these relief agencies say so? "

In fact, many aid offers have been turned down by President Bush & Homeland Security. Even Homeland Security was blocked by Bush! The Homeland Security division, "NorthCOM" in Colorado, which was supposedly coordinating the relief efforts (Surprise! This must be a stealth mission), said they did not send 9 million meals which were ready before the hurricane hit, because they were waiting for Bush's order.
A Canadian Med-vac team was denied access to the USA. They have now made a deal directly with local officials to come in by ship.
according to the Washington Post, Cuba offered med teams and supplies.
France and Germany offered med teams, tents, water purification equipment, but were initially turned down.
President George W. Bush said in a television interview that the United States could take care of itself. In contrast, Sean McCormack of the State Department said,
"Anything that can be of help to alleviate the tragic situation of the area affected by Hurricane Katrina will be accepted".
Al Gore knows a doctor at one of the hospitals in NO and lined up TWO 747 airliners to fly in and evacuate victims in order to fly critical care patients to waiting hospitals around the nation.
Homeland Security BLOCKED this from happening. Why? Because FEMA is not allowed to help PRIVATELY funded hospitals.
Those people in critical condition, in hospitals were DENIED a free and safe evacuation.
According to nola.com (the N.O. Times-Picayune website), Homeland Security has also declined the Forest Service's offer to put out the fires in New Orleans.

"The Forest Service has offered fixed plane aircraft used to fight forest fires to help extinguish blazes in New Orleans, according to two congressional sources. But the sources said the planes, which can pour large amounts of water on fires, remained grounded in Missouri Friday because the Department of Homeland Security hasn't authorized their use.
"We've been asking them to request that the planes be used, but nothing has happened," said one of the two congressional sources, both of whom asked to remain anonymous. The planes were offered by the Forest Service because of news reports that firefighters in New Orleans lacked adequate water pressure to fight a number of fires in the city."

President Bush is returning to the area to do more cheerleading and take more photo ops to shift the rising tide of public anger.
Meanwhile, our government's disaster response seems more like sabotage than aid.

Katrina Disaster Relief

If you know anyone in or near the disaster area, or if you want to offer temporary housing, the following website has a well organized system of free housing offers for evacuees. It can be printed out for a wall poster to be put near pay phones, or for relief workers to bring in. I plan to see if the Red Cross knows about this effort.
http://www.katrinahome.com/
Another similar site:http://www.nola.com/forums/homesavailable/
I agree with this post at Daily Kos, that the government should get more buses in theres RIGHT AWAY by any means possible:
"You know what else I was thinking? Why didn't the government send every available bus to New Orleans to take everyone away who was stranded their. Surely a national emergency would allow the President to comandeer all the local Greyhound buses for this purpose."
Is it Wrong to Politicize a Disaster?
http://central-scrutinizer.dailykos.com/
"A lot of people are going to huff and bluster about making this disaster a political issue. Put bluntly, however, what government does and does not choose to spend money on for the essential safety of its citizens is a political issue, and a very basic one at that. The administration willfully reduced the budget for the protective levees around New Orleans to a level where even maintaining the current levee height was impossible, in order to shift that Corps money into Iraq. I'd say that's a political big deal."
Check out this article of Feb 16, 2004, in New Orleans CityBusiness:
Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen?

On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; told the Times-Picayune: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

This Salon article expands on how Bush policies also failed to protect the wetlands which would have mitigated this disaster.

The Corporation

Five of us *enjoyed* watching "The Corporation". It is actually a very entertaining movie, with a lot of funny soundbites from the 1950's and 60's extolling the benefits of corporate power. Michael Moore is in it, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, and a very interesting CEO of a formerly polluting carpet company, named Ray Anderson, fondly referred to as "the carpet guy". This guy seems to have had an enlightenment experience, and has changed his company to help move towards an environmentally sustainable world. If people like him can change so profoundly, I think there is hope for the world. We must reach people's hearts.
I also saw "Weapons of Mass Deception", Danny Schecter's film on the Iraq War as shown through the distorting eyes of the media. Afterwards, James M made this profound comment in regard to fighting against the neo-con's takeover by manipulation of fears:

"We need to stop fighting against what we can't defeat, and embrace what can't be defeated".

For me, the top undefeatable energy is love, followed closely by truth and fairness ( a kinder word than justice).
http://www.thecorporation.com/ is an activist tool, with interactive discussion on whether to reform, regulate, or rewrite the structure of corporations. They held an online debate in which over 800 logged in, (video clips at website). They are working on an action agenda of how we can help:

What Do We Do Now?

"Whether or not you've been part of a DVD House Party and debate, or if you've just seen the film -- we really want your feedback around the issues and around the three "R's. Tell us what you think: Please fill out our online feedback form. We will be using all this information we collect to formulate a Framework for Action document around Corporate Harm Reduction and using it to fuel future campaigns. "

I'm ordering the 2 DVD set of "The Corporation", which has more interviews and action ideas.

Rasul vs. Rumsfeld

Rasul v. Rumsfeld
Wow, have you heard about this? Why don't we hear this story in the mainstream media? I think I know why. Rumsfeld is GUILTY.
I read about it in this Common Dreams article released May 6. It is pertinent now, because it contains descriptions of Koran desecration that these (now-released) detainees sent to our government last fall.

My hero, Rep John Conyers is on to it though. He posted a letter on his blog page at dailykos ,which he just sent to the Whitehouse Press Secretary,Mr. Scott McClellan.
Here is a key excerpt from Conyers' letter:

"Third, the public deserves to know what precisely the White House is asserting with respect to the mistreatment of the Koran by interrogators: are such reports categorically false or are they, in the words of one publication, "manifold?" For example, a May1st New York Times report indicated that a Koran was thrown into a pile and stepped on at the Guantanamo detention facility and "[a] former interrogator at Guantanamo, in an interview with the Times, confirmed the accounts of the hunger strikes, including the public expression of regret over the treatment of the Korans." The incident where a Koran was allegedly thrown in a toilet was also recounted by a former detainee in a March 26, 2003 article in the Washington Post, and corroborated by another detainee in a August 4, 2003 report by the Center for Constitutional Rights. The question is: are you categorically denying that the mistreatment of the Koran occurred, or are you simply denying the Newsweek report is accurate on hyper technical grounds?" [my emphasis]

SYNOPSIS:
Rasul v. Rumsfeld represents four British citizens formerly detained at Guantánamo Bay: Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed and Jamal Al-Harith. Three of them wrote a 115-page document detailing the torture and abuse they suffered and witnessed while imprisoned at Guantánamo, and it can be downloaded from the Center for Constitutional Rights web site at www.ccr-ny.org. I read quite a bit of it and it is a fascinating and detailed personal account of life from the inside of a cell in Guantánamo.
I'll paste in a bit of it below,(not the most disgusting parts).
The beginning of the document describes their horrific journey from Afghanistan to Cuba, in freezing weather, shackled and packed into trucks, where many died, and then the cargo planes. I'm skipping that part.
Shafiq Rasul (age 27) lives in England. Before he went to Afghanistan, he worked at an electronics store, and was attending the University of Central England. The other two men who give this amazing first-hand account are now 22 years old.
Here is the the pdf file of their document, which includes paintings (oil or acrylic) of the prisoners. Worth a peek for the paintings alone.
The suit, filed last fall in conjunction with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, seeks $10 million in damages for these detainees. It charges that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon chain of command authorized and condoned torture and other mistreatment in violation of the Alien Tort Statute, the U.S. Constitution, the Geneva Conventions and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
None of the detainees had ever been a member of any terrorist group or taken up arms against the United States.

"This is a case about torture,” said Eric Lewis, lead lawyer for the detainees. “The government tries to ignore this, but it is clear now beyond dispute that detainees were tortured at Guantánamo as part of a deliberate policy devised and implemented by Secretary Rumsfeld and senior generals. If the United States’ policy is against torture—and the President says it is—then senior officials must be held accountable."

For a copy of the filing, e-mail the attorney: Paul Hughes at Baach Robinson & Lewis
Paul.Hughes@baachrobinson.com
excerpts from the document by three of the four plaintiffs:
Detention in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay
Statement of Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Rhuhel Ahmed
26th July 2004

1. All three men come from Tipton in West Midlands, a poor area with a small
community of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin. The school all three attended is
considered one of the worst in England. Rhuhel Ahmed and Asif Iqbal who are now
both aged 22 were friends from school, although one year apart. Neither was
brought up religiously but each was drawn towards Islam.
2. This statement jointly made by them constitutes an attempt to set out details of their treatment at the hands of UK and US military personnel and civilian authorities during the time of their detention in Kandahar in Afghanistan in late December 2001 and throughout their time in American custody in Guantanamo Bay Cuba. This statement is a composite of the experiences of all 3. They are referred to throughout by their first names for brevity.
72. They were never given prayer mats and initially they didn’t get a Koran. When the Korans were provided, they were kicked and thrown about by the guards and on occasion thrown in the buckets used for the toilets. This kept happening. When it
happened it was always said to be an accident but it was a recurrent theme.
73. Eventually the prisoners went on hunger strike because of the way that they were treated and in particular the way their religion was treated.
74. Asif says that ‘it was impossible to pray because initially we did not know the
direction to pray, but also given that we couldn’t move and the harassment
from the guards, it was simply not feasible. The behaviour of the guards
towards our religious practices as well as the Koran was also, in my view,
designed to cause us as much distress as possible. They would kick the
Koran, throw it into the toilet and generally disrespect it.’
129. Delta was placed very close to the sea and as such, the salt air would cause the
containers to rust. This meant that there was constant reconstruction work and
therefore large electric generators were running 24 hours a day. This made it
difficult to sleep. There was also constant noise from the 48 or so other men all
detained in the same “block”. An unusual, but foreseeable problem that emerged in
Delta was that the cages and the entire area around the containers were infested
with rats. These were huge “banana” rats which would climb over the containers or
around the cages. Every morning, the men would wake up to find rat droppings on
their blankets or on the floor. There were also snakes in Delta but less than Camp
X-Ray.
130. In normal circumstances such conditions would be difficult to endure. In
Guantanamo Bay however we were deliberately kept hungry the whole time.
We were constantly in a state of anxiety about our future and totally at the
mercy of the guards’.
133. Shafiq comments “while we were in Guantanamo each of us was
interrogated for hundreds and hundreds of hours by the Americans. The same
questions were repeated over and over and over again.
134. During the whole time that we were in Guantanamo, we were at a high level
of fear. When we first got there the level was sky-high. At the beginning we
were terrified that we might be killed at any minute. The guards would say to
us ‘we could kill you at any time’. They would say ‘the world doesn’t know
you’re here, nobody knows you’re here, all they know is that you’re missing
and we could kill you and no one would know’.
139. (In the first few months, they were allowed a one minute shower per week. Later
this increased to 5 minutes per week and after 7 or 8 months in Delta, they were
allowed 2 showers a week. This was still not enough because as a result of the
heat and the humidity they would be constantly sweating and feel dirty.
1. Medical – I said that I together with others were suffering with infections on
our ankles as a result of the scraping by the shackles. The officials would
tell us that we simply needed to wash our ankles with soap and water, but
this was impossible as we only had a one minute shower per week. Often,
when we were in the shower, we had barely put the soap on when they
would turn the water off and take us away.

Why the fuss?

Bush holding hands with Saudi Prince Abdullah

as shown on CBS news
At "the political junkies.net" Jay Greene comments about why there isn't more fuss about this. I agree it is likely that the cons would have lambasted Clinton, had he done the same thing.
Personally I don't think there should be a fuss because men hold hands, the fuss should be over WHO he's holding hands with... leader from the country that privately condones the insurgent attacks, the country which is allowing men on their death row to go to Iraq as suicide bombers, country which has not reprimanded their 2nd top cleric for preaching in his mosque that Arabs should go to Iraq now to fight with the insurgents, country that spawned most of the 911 terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, country that doesn't allow women to vote, and only recently had any election at all.
imho our country engages in total hypocrisy in being so chummy with Saudi Arabia and dozens of other countries with the worst human rights records in the world. If they have oil to sell us or money to buy up US bonds, then we'll support them, send weapons and technological secrets, which could be used against us at a future date, whatever.
The world must laugh at how STUPID our foreign policy is. But since these policies (including our total disregard/denial of global warming) will bring down the whole planet with us, it is no laughing matter.