Well Done Brazil

Here is a "copy and paste" of a posting from Boing Boing:

Tuesday, May 3, 2005
Brazil rejects Bush's faith-based AIDS money
Brazil has rejected Bush's AIDS-relief money because it came with strings attached: a requirement to condemn prostitution, rather than working with sex-workers to promote safe sex. The Bush AIDS money comes with requirements to block abortion, birth control and sex-ed in favor of abstinence programs. Developing countries can't afford the luxury of hypocritical "faith based" HIV/AIDS prevention (e.g., if you believe hard enough, prostitutes will stop plying their trade), but Brazil is the first country with the guts to stand up to America's extraterritorial bullying. This is gutsy as hell -- bravo, Brazil!

Yesterday Pedro Chequer, the director of Brazil's HIV/Aids programme, said the government had managed to resist US pressure during negotiations on the Aids funding to focus on promoting abstinence and fidelity rather than condoms - another ideological battle being waged by the religious right. But the US negotiators insisted that the clause on prostitution had to stay.

"I would like to confirm that Brazil has taken this decision in order to preserve its autonomy on issues related to national policies on HIV/Aids as well as ethical and human rights principles," he told the Guardian.

You can go to the Boing Boing post here and to the full article from The Guardian here.

Accountability???

The US are just not accountable for anything are they!!

Italy agent death was 'accident' The US military has confirmed that it will not discipline soldiers who shot dead an Italian agent in Iraq as he escorted a freed hostage to safety.

Who will police them!!

Edit:

Part 1.

You are probably aware of the famous "censored" PDF format report that was released by the US regards the killing of the Italian agent in Iraq during a rescue mission.

You can get more information about it here and also download the actual censored PDF and see for yourself how easy it is to view the censored content.

I have to say that after reading the uncensored version I mostly take back what I said above about the US being accountable.

My brief summary and interpretation of the document is as follows:

1. The majority of accountablility was the Italian driver who did not slow down. He was driving far too fast, with many distractions and did not realise he was arriving at a US blocking point. He passed the "warning line" still at high speed.

2. The minority of the accountablility rests with the US military for the following reasons:
a. less than adequate signs.
b. less than adequate procedures.
c. less than adequate communication.
d. longer than necessary blocking position was required to be maintained for this particular incident.
e. lack of education of locals and foreigners as to US military procedures within Iraq.
f. less than adequate vehicle slow down devices at blocking points.

3. Also the minority of accountablility rests with the lack of co-ordination between Italian and US officials and US military.

4. The censored areas of the document were there to protect US military personnel, procedures and local knowledge. It did not hide any critical information pertaining to responsibility or accountablility.

It was a sad, tragic event that should never have happened.

You still must wonder though - how the hell could they release such a leaky "censored" document?

Part 2.

Then there is the Italians version and I don't think we will get a convenient "censored" PDF with "copy and paste" capabilities.

According to them the reponsibility lies with the inexperience of the US military.

Here's a partial quote one article of the net that can be found here

An Italian report released on Monday blamed the killing of Nicola Calipari, while he was escorting a freed Italian hostage, on the "inexperience" of US troops acting under stress and without proper rules of engagement.

Also looks like Italy's big boy does not want to upset the yanks!! The same article as above in Part 2.

So, conclusion at this stage.

If you look at any argument between 2 parties then there is there is always 2 conflicting stories and the truth somewhere within.

I don't normally go with the US but this time I lean their way and think the major reponsibility lies with a speeding Italian driver with numerous distractions aided somewhat by US troops without adequate training, procedures, etc.

Bush's Good Friend

A friend of mine pointed something out quite interesting.

Bush's "best mate" in the middle east, asia area is a chap by the name of "President" Pervez Musharraf, the military dictator of Pakistan!!

I thought Bush was all about spreading democracy?

WMD's

Here's an article for you :

Vietnam pledges to pursue Agent Orange compo

Wouldn't Agent Orange classify as a WMD. It was used as a massively destructive defoliant and now, many years later, we link the dioxin that it contains to all sorts of cancers, birth defects, etc.

The US veterans of the Vietnam war have been awarded compensation. The Vietnamese have not.

So how can George W. use WMD's as an excuse to go into Iraq when the USA will not take responsibility as to what they did in Vietnam and compensate the victims?

He's a bloody war criminal.

Who Has Heard Of Marla Ruzicka ???

For those of you that don't know who was Marla (including myself until less than a week ago) then here is some information about an amazing human being.







I think the best way to express sentiment towards her and more importantly her cause is to list these links, you'll get my point after that:

Raed In The Midle

And this!!

And this!!

Why didn't I see anything about Marla on CNN or BBC? Maybe it was there but I didn't see it!!!

It just goes to show that there is a God (pick the one you believe in) and Marla was a part of his living desciples,; male or female, it doesn't matter. It also goes to show that many of us are not "famous" until we are dead. This young life of hers appears to have been lived to the fullest in the only way she knew how; "helping others".

Is He Good?

Schumacher came from nowhere, a starting postion of 13th to finish on the bunda (ass in portuguese) of Alonso in 2nd. He is the best whether we like it or not!!!



Good to see Jenson there, he and BAR might have some surprises for us this year.

Renault; well what can anyone say, it's just a pleasure to have a new top team.

Must say that Williams (I'm an Aussie so I support Webber) is in a deep hole. Doesn't seem to be the drivers, they come in on equal times.

Sport

I've been neglecting sport and have started to get more "Political".

Let's look at what is going on in sport:

1. Cricket: The MCC want to ban Australian captain Ricky Ponting's revolutionary cricket bat ahead of this year's Ashes series in England.


My comment: If England don't take the first test in the upcoming "Ashes" series they will not win one.

2. Tennis: A stab in the dark is that the up coming French Open "Roland Garros" will go to a woman from Begium (2 possibilities) and a man from Switzerland (only one).


3. Rugby "Super 12" Style: The Crusaders are continuing to post points (they should considering the amount of ex-internationals they have). I'm a Brumbies supporter but my money is with the Waratahs.


4. Golf. A big congrats to Vijay for his recognition into the "Hall of Fame". Small countries like Fiji don't have an opportunity to have their very own sporting hero too often.


5. Looks like Chelsea have it wrapped up.


6. Looks like Barca have it wrapped up also.

Well, I'd put an image in here but Barca don't need help. They are the best and they will win!!!!! Ronaldinho didn't win the FIFA footballer of the year by accident.

7. I don't have a 7. Let's see what happens from here.

Comments

Blog open to comments again; feel free!!!

So,

tell me I'm wrong!!!

No. 265

We now have the 265th Pontiff!!



Is he a good choice?

Will he really help those that will be born into poverty?

Will he really help those that will contract AIDS in developing countries?

Will traditionalism be good for them?

I don't care what anyone believes, we weren't born to suffer!!

I really thought that one of the Latin American or African candidates were (are) the correct (progressive) choices.

Looks like it's more years of head-in-the-sand stuff....................

Boing Boing Stats

Firefox has made a real impact over at the Boing Boing tech blog for the month.



Quote:
Kris sez, "Firefox has taken the lead in the Internet Browser war for Boing Boing! Firefox currently leads with 38.4% of visitors using the browser, and Internet Explorer is in 2nd place with 35.1% of visitors using it. This is probably the first time in Boing Boing's history, that Internet Explorer is not #1... Microsoft, watch out!" I switched from Mozilla to Firefox a couple months ago and never looked back.

Go here to see the article and here to see full Boing Boing stats.

Way to go :-))