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http://Malua.stumbleupon.com/review/9719457/

Fri, 11 May 2007 12:33:41 -0700

This poem was written by a Brazilian political prisoner during the military dictatorship that lasted 20 years in Brazil (all my youth days). It is amazing how it applies to what the Americans are doing right now, under everybody's eyes in Iraq and Afghanistan. What kind of people is that that allow their elected government to do such horrors?
The translation from Portuguese is mine. The poem is dedicated to the very friend he saw tortured and murdered in military quarters in Rio de Janeiro. Any similarity with Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo is not casual. The Americans were in Brazil and trained our military and police in the torture of political prisoners. They actually were all over South America during the 60s, 70s and 80s. Any South American knows that (but the American people seem not to.)

"Paul's" Song (To Stuart Angel)

Alex Polari de Alverga

They stitched your mouth
with silence
and wrapped your body
in a chain.
They dragged you behind a car
and filled you with gases
they covered your screams
with mockery.

An icy wind blew outside
and the moans followed the cadence
of the guards stepping on the yard.
There, feelings had no echo
there the bayonets were of steel
there, feelings and bayonets
stifled.

A completely different sense of being
one discovers there,
in that room.
A completely different sense of dying
one dies there,
in that hollow.

They burnt our skin with wires
and connected our fates to the same electric stream.
In the same way we saw our faces inverted
and I witnessed when they carried your corpse
wrapped in a rug.

Then there was the journey with no return
there was the rain which didn't wet
the night that wasn't dark
the timeless time
the love without love
the thing that wasn't a thing anymore.

Left to such perplexities,
my hairs have gone white
and the days passed away.

In: ALVERGA, Alex Polari de. Invent�rio de cicatrizes. Apres. Carlos Henrique de Escobar. 3.ed. S�o Paulo: Teatro Ruth Escobar; Rio de Janeiro: Comit� Brasileiro pela Anistia, s.d.

http://Malua.stumbleupon.com/review/9718690/

Fri, 11 May 2007 11:49:57 -0700

http://www.medialens.org/alerts/07/070508_the_shining_city.php

This is the permalink for the article below (The Shinning...part I)

http://www.medialens.org/alerts/07/070511_the_shining_city.php

and this is the permalink for part II, both worthy a good reading. These are just previews. Go for the full text!

The Lexicon Of Totalitarianism

In Part 1 of this alert http://www.medialens.org/alerts/07/070508_the_shining_city.php), we analysed Justin Webb's recent BBC Radio 4 series on "anti-Americanism", `Death to America'.

It is worth considering Webb's premise that "anti-Americanism" is a meaningful concept that merits `balanced' analysis.

In fact the term must be adjudged essentially meaningless, or at least hopelessly misapplied. Few serious critics of US government policy seek to diminish the many accomplishments of American people in, for example, science, music, art and literature. After all, these achievements include an inspiring tradition of social activism that has led to real improvements in people's lives, very often won in the face of bitter opposition from business and political elites.

But the deeper point about "anti-Americanism" has been expressed well by Noam Chomsky:

"The notion `anti-Americanism' is a revealing one. It is drawn from the lexicon of totalitarianism. Thus people who think that the US is the greatest country in the world are `anti-American' if they criticize the acts of the Holy State, or join the vast majority of the population in believing that the corporate sector has far too much influence over government policy, or regard private corporate institutions created by state power and granted extraordinary rights as `a return to feudalism' (to quote old-fashioned conservatives, a category that now scarcely exists). And so on." (Interview with Noam Chomsky, Media Bite, May 5, 2007; http://www.mediabite.org/article_On-the-Media--Anti-Americanism-and-Disparity_393277505.html)

In totalitarian societies, such terms are reflexively used to condemn dissidents as `anti-Soviet' or `anti-Russian.' Chomsky comments:

"If people who criticize Irish government policies were condemned as `anti-Irish,' I suppose people would collapse in ridicule in the streets of Dublin. At least they should." (Ibid)

http://Malua.stumbleupon.com/review/4907029/

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 06:57:34 -0700

I just got this message from a fellow teacher.

Hi everybody,

My friend is currently teaching ESL in Japan and he sent me this picture. The picture was taken by a another teacher in his town. The 9 year-old kid wore this to school, totally oblivious (so too were the teachers in the school) to the meaning of the words. My friend told me in Japan, wearing shirts with an English message, regardless of grammatical errors (which is commonplace apparently) or the wearer's lack of understanding of English, brings to the wearer instant "cool" status. Enjoy!!

http://Malua.stumbleupon.com/review/4805032/

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 17:00:38 -0700

Ma belle

http://Malua.stumbleupon.com/review/4790668/

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 16:44:05 -0700

Military trials "should not be set up as a sham," Leahy said. "They should be consistent with a high standard of American justice, worth protecting."

Daniel Dell'Orto, the principal deputy general counsel at the Pentagon, told the committee that the current treatment of detainees already complies with Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which states no person should be extradited "to another state where there were substantial grounds for believing that he or she would be in danger of being subjected to torture."

"The military commission set up does provide a right to counsel, a trained military defense counsel and the right to private counsel of the detainee's choice," Dell'Orto said.

"We see no reason to change that in legislation."

Abuse allegations include Canadian detainee

The U.S. military has also been dogged by allegations and documented cases of abuse at military detention facilities.

Most recently, a U.S. human rights group on Monday released a report on alleged abuses and torture at Guantanamo Bay, including rape, sexual harassment and vicious beatings.

It includes allegations that Canadian teen Omar Khadr was carried into interrogations on a stretcher, was dangled from a door frame for hours and was used as a human floor mop to clean his own urine.

With files from Associated Press
� 2006 Bell Canada, Microsoft Corporation and/or their contributors. All rights reserved.

http://Malua.stumbleupon.com/review/3358311/

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 16:35:42 -0700

This is my sticky post when I am not online.
People I love

Ela era minha estrela guia

Tanto mar

Baby, h� quanto tempo...

Era uma vez...
Once upon a time...

http://Malua.stumbleupon.com/review/3556203/

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 16:34:59 -0700

A nobel lady my grandmother was
who slowly sipped her afternoon tea
Her silver teapot simmered riches of
luxury and flavour
Beauty - the showcase of her dream -
An empty room - sterile, clean
stares now at me.

Luba Encheva

Elisabeth B. - Jan 1931 - July 2005
Hulda B. - 1935 - 1996
My mothers - 2 sisters - too missed.

http://Malua.stumbleupon.com/review/4027406/

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 05:40:45 -0700

To all my friends who have visited me and left kind messages and gifts, I'd like to let you know that I haven't been online much for a while, but I'll be around and really appreciate being your friend.
Beijos,
Malua

http://Malua.stumbleupon.com/review/3631365/

Sun, 19 Mar 2006 09:14:41 -0800

Thanks Shokwyr and Carouselle

http://Malua.stumbleupon.com/review/3501010/

Sun, 05 Mar 2006 15:53:41 -0800

http://www.caughtintimephotography.com/
Thanks heralias