Women for Women, founded by a refugee, works to empower women in developing countries.
"Women for Women International was founded in 1993 to help women overcome the horrors of war and civil strife in ways that can help them rebuild their lives, families, and communities. Women for Women International’s tiered program begins with direct financial and emotional support; fosters awareness and understanding of women’s rights; offers vocational skills training; and provides access to income-generation support and microcredit loans that together can help women restart their lives in ways that are independent, productive, and secure.
Women for Women International has direct experience in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, Kosovo, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Colombia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq. We have assisted more than 21,500 women, distributing $9 million in direct aid and microcredit loans."
Now go check out their site.
2004-05-30
Building the Future: Mercy Corps
Portland's own Mercy Corps helps people in places as far away as Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, and Guatemala. Check out their site, and make a donation if you can.
Calling Planet Earth: Sudan Needs You
How many people have to die before the world takes Sudan seriously?
Jane writes:
Where is the noise, the rumbling, the Al Gore outburst regarding the Sudan? Where's the vocal, blustering intellectual-academic-media contingent? Where are the Arab Street and Rush Limbaugh? As the world averted its eyes from the hacking machetes in Rwanda, we turn our back again on Africa. A half a million Sudanese people may die at the hands of their own government within short months and there's little screaming; we barely hear a word. Sudanese sovereignty will not be breached.
In the last year the Sudanese government has been killing its own people systematically. ...
Today's CNN story says:
For several months my colleague, Dr. Camilo Valderrama, has been raising alarm about the need for regular food distributions in this area, where nearly a fourth of the refugees that fled to Chad are seeking shelter.
...
It's May 12 and Camilo is attending to Hadiya Beshir Issa, 25, and her 15-month-old daughter Munira at an IRC health facility in Bahai. They are recent arrivals in a seemingly endless stream of refugees fleeing brutal attacks in Darfur, Sudan.
Munira hardly has the strength to open her eyes and her skin is shriveled from dehydration. Camilo says the tiny girl is severely malnourished and he instructs Hadiya how to administer oral re-hydration solution and antibiotics.
Hadiya is from a village near Kutum in northern Darfur, where the IRC is also providing humanitarian aid. She told me that a militia attacked her village last August and that her family fled to the town of Orshi, on the way to Chad.
But that town was ransacked by gunmen last month and in the chaos, Hadiya became separated from her husband and the rest of her family. She told me that she has no idea if they are still alive. After an eight-day trek, she crossed into Chad with her baby, arriving in Bahai with 17 other families.
As Hadiya recounted her story, Camilo continued to treat Munira. But in the next couple of hours, the little girl's condition rapidly deteriorated. We quickly took her to the hospital in Tine, two hours away, but doctors there couldn't even find the child's veins in order to administer intravenous liquid. She was beyond help. ...
In the BBC:
UN Emergency Relief Co-ordinator Jan Egeland said many donors failed to realise that the crisis was the biggest humanitarian drama of our time.
He said the UN still only had a 20% of the resources needed to help 2m people.
Mr Egeland criticised the Sudanese government for making it difficult for them to bring in trucks and medicines. ...
A report last month by the UN human rights commissioner described systematic attacks on villages by the Sudanese government and the militias, known as the Janjaweed, who killed, raped and looted.
READY TO DO SOMETHING?
Here's the link to donate to UNICEF-USA.
One of my favorite humanitarian organizations is American Jewish World Service. Information on their Sudan appeal is here.
If there's another humanitarian group that you prefer, donate to them. Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend.
Jane writes:
Where is the noise, the rumbling, the Al Gore outburst regarding the Sudan? Where's the vocal, blustering intellectual-academic-media contingent? Where are the Arab Street and Rush Limbaugh? As the world averted its eyes from the hacking machetes in Rwanda, we turn our back again on Africa. A half a million Sudanese people may die at the hands of their own government within short months and there's little screaming; we barely hear a word. Sudanese sovereignty will not be breached.
In the last year the Sudanese government has been killing its own people systematically. ...
Today's CNN story says:
For several months my colleague, Dr. Camilo Valderrama, has been raising alarm about the need for regular food distributions in this area, where nearly a fourth of the refugees that fled to Chad are seeking shelter.
...
It's May 12 and Camilo is attending to Hadiya Beshir Issa, 25, and her 15-month-old daughter Munira at an IRC health facility in Bahai. They are recent arrivals in a seemingly endless stream of refugees fleeing brutal attacks in Darfur, Sudan.
Munira hardly has the strength to open her eyes and her skin is shriveled from dehydration. Camilo says the tiny girl is severely malnourished and he instructs Hadiya how to administer oral re-hydration solution and antibiotics.
Hadiya is from a village near Kutum in northern Darfur, where the IRC is also providing humanitarian aid. She told me that a militia attacked her village last August and that her family fled to the town of Orshi, on the way to Chad.
But that town was ransacked by gunmen last month and in the chaos, Hadiya became separated from her husband and the rest of her family. She told me that she has no idea if they are still alive. After an eight-day trek, she crossed into Chad with her baby, arriving in Bahai with 17 other families.
As Hadiya recounted her story, Camilo continued to treat Munira. But in the next couple of hours, the little girl's condition rapidly deteriorated. We quickly took her to the hospital in Tine, two hours away, but doctors there couldn't even find the child's veins in order to administer intravenous liquid. She was beyond help. ...
In the BBC:
UN Emergency Relief Co-ordinator Jan Egeland said many donors failed to realise that the crisis was the biggest humanitarian drama of our time.
He said the UN still only had a 20% of the resources needed to help 2m people.
Mr Egeland criticised the Sudanese government for making it difficult for them to bring in trucks and medicines. ...
A report last month by the UN human rights commissioner described systematic attacks on villages by the Sudanese government and the militias, known as the Janjaweed, who killed, raped and looted.
READY TO DO SOMETHING?
Here's the link to donate to UNICEF-USA.
One of my favorite humanitarian organizations is American Jewish World Service. Information on their Sudan appeal is here.
If there's another humanitarian group that you prefer, donate to them. Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend.
2004-05-28
In Memoriam
My unit, the 1st Light Armored Infantry Battalion, 1st Marine Division, lost several men in January and February of 1991. We took the first combat-related losses of the ground offensive in Desert Storm. Please take a moment to visit the memorial page of the unit veterans' website:
1st LAI fallen comrades
Thank you.
1st LAI fallen comrades
Thank you.
Mayfield's Faith
CORRECTION: In an earlier post, DiL incorrectly reported that Brandon Mayfield's Muslim religion was not mentioned on the FBI affidavit. In fact, as the Portland Tribune discloses, the affidavit showed more interest in Mayfield's religion than in his fingerprints (8 paragraphs to 3, respectively). Read Ben Jacklet's article at the link.
Bridge and Roses: May 28, 2004 - New Feature!
BRIDGE AND ROSES: News and Views from the Center of the Known Universe
Cleric wanted to start terrorist camp in Southern Oregon. Abu Hamza al-Masri, who was arrested in London Thursday, is accused of trying to set up a “real live” terrorist training camp in the remote town of Bly, according to Portland-based FBI agent Robert Jordan.
Oregonian: Arrest for Bly camp
Appeals court ruling: kiss of death for Ashcroft’s intervention? Oregonians are known to be an independent-minded lot, and in 1997 they asserted the right to exit life in a peaceful and dignified manner with the nation’s first and only law legalizing physician-assisted suicide. In 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft pitted the Federal Government against the State, declaring assisted suicide “not a legitimate medical practice”. But Ashcroft received a smackdown from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday, which ruled 2-1 that Ashcroft had overstepped his authority.
FBI case against Mayfield dissected. Brandon Mayfield, the Oregon lawyer wrongly accused by the FBI in connection with the Madrid bombing, was charged on the basis of a fingerprint that FBI investigators never looked at, according to the Portland Tribune. The article suggests that zealous Federal investigators found what they believed to be a strong match based on a computerized fingerprint, and then, on April 21, traveled to Madrid to pitch their case to the Spanish authorities, who were already expressing doubts about Mayfield. This stands in contrast to the Bureau’s more circumspect actions after a more recent, and perhaps more credible, suspect (Ouhnane Daoud) was identified by the Spanish police: this time, agents traveled to Madrid to see “exactly what the Spanish National Police were looking at”, according to the FBI’s Bob Jordan.
Tribune: Mayfield
Ameri sweeps GOP primary for House. Iranian-American businesswoman Goli Ameri won a decisive victory in the GOP primary for Oregon’s First Congressional District, where she will face Democratic incumbent David Wu in the main election. Ameri is running on a pro-business, pro-technology platform.
Goli Ameri
Cleric wanted to start terrorist camp in Southern Oregon. Abu Hamza al-Masri, who was arrested in London Thursday, is accused of trying to set up a “real live” terrorist training camp in the remote town of Bly, according to Portland-based FBI agent Robert Jordan.
Oregonian: Arrest for Bly camp
Appeals court ruling: kiss of death for Ashcroft’s intervention? Oregonians are known to be an independent-minded lot, and in 1997 they asserted the right to exit life in a peaceful and dignified manner with the nation’s first and only law legalizing physician-assisted suicide. In 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft pitted the Federal Government against the State, declaring assisted suicide “not a legitimate medical practice”. But Ashcroft received a smackdown from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday, which ruled 2-1 that Ashcroft had overstepped his authority.
FBI case against Mayfield dissected. Brandon Mayfield, the Oregon lawyer wrongly accused by the FBI in connection with the Madrid bombing, was charged on the basis of a fingerprint that FBI investigators never looked at, according to the Portland Tribune. The article suggests that zealous Federal investigators found what they believed to be a strong match based on a computerized fingerprint, and then, on April 21, traveled to Madrid to pitch their case to the Spanish authorities, who were already expressing doubts about Mayfield. This stands in contrast to the Bureau’s more circumspect actions after a more recent, and perhaps more credible, suspect (Ouhnane Daoud) was identified by the Spanish police: this time, agents traveled to Madrid to see “exactly what the Spanish National Police were looking at”, according to the FBI’s Bob Jordan.
Tribune: Mayfield
Ameri sweeps GOP primary for House. Iranian-American businesswoman Goli Ameri won a decisive victory in the GOP primary for Oregon’s First Congressional District, where she will face Democratic incumbent David Wu in the main election. Ameri is running on a pro-business, pro-technology platform.
Goli Ameri
Sudan progress: thanks to you, it's working.
Thanks to all those who have been participating in the Sudan campaign. According to this CNN report:
"A spokeswoman for Kofi Annan said the U.N. secretary-general will focus on stemming the fighting in western Sudan, where the lives of hundreds of thousands of people are threatened.
Annan has been flooded with requests from people across the world beseeching him to provide emergency assistance to end the killing in Darfur, spokeswoman Marie Okabe told reporters Thursday.
"The secretary-general fully shares the concerns of the public at large. ... He is following the situation in Darfur very closely and with great concern," she said.
Thanks, Jane, and all who are helping. Keep spreading the word.
"A spokeswoman for Kofi Annan said the U.N. secretary-general will focus on stemming the fighting in western Sudan, where the lives of hundreds of thousands of people are threatened.
Annan has been flooded with requests from people across the world beseeching him to provide emergency assistance to end the killing in Darfur, spokeswoman Marie Okabe told reporters Thursday.
"The secretary-general fully shares the concerns of the public at large. ... He is following the situation in Darfur very closely and with great concern," she said.
Thanks, Jane, and all who are helping. Keep spreading the word.
Morning Report: May 28, 2004
- Sudan: North/South accord brings hope for Darfur as well. (various) According to Sudan’s vice president Ali Osman Taha, the signing in Khartoum of a power-sharing agreement between government forces and rebels in the south of the country will also pave the way for peace in the western Darfur region, where ethnically motivated atrocites have led to a humanitarian disaster. The BBC report notes that northern and southern Sudanese mingled freely at the signing ceremony, something previously uncommon in Sudan. In the wake of the accord, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has stated his intention to involve the United Nations in Darfur-related negotiations and humanitarian aid. Annan said he was responding to a flood of requests from around the world for the UN to intervene. However, the Head Heeb warns that “atrocities are still continuing in Darfur”.
BBC News: Sudan
CNN: Sudan
Head Heeb: Sudan
- Najaf accord doesn’t stop Kufa attack. (Fox) Despite an agreement between Shia leaders and Muqtada al-Sadr to stop hostilities, Americans came under small-arms fire in Najaf’s twin city of Kuja, and mortar shells struck a US base in Najaf.
Fox: Kufa attack
- Earthquake strikes Sari, Iran. (various) A 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck the northern Iranian city of Sari on Friday. More details will be posted upon availability.
SUDAN UPDATE. My Pet Jawa stresses that the recent peace accord will have "no impact" on the Darfur conflict (contrary to what was suggested by the BBC report).
BBC News: Sudan
CNN: Sudan
Head Heeb: Sudan
- Najaf accord doesn’t stop Kufa attack. (Fox) Despite an agreement between Shia leaders and Muqtada al-Sadr to stop hostilities, Americans came under small-arms fire in Najaf’s twin city of Kuja, and mortar shells struck a US base in Najaf.
Fox: Kufa attack
- Earthquake strikes Sari, Iran. (various) A 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck the northern Iranian city of Sari on Friday. More details will be posted upon availability.
SUDAN UPDATE. My Pet Jawa stresses that the recent peace accord will have "no impact" on the Darfur conflict (contrary to what was suggested by the BBC report).
2004-05-27
I never
post after I've had a couple of beers.
I'm just too mellow to be effective.
See you in the morning.
I'm just too mellow to be effective.
See you in the morning.
The New York Times Takes DiL's Advice
... well, sort of.
This blog recently offered the traditional media several pieces of advice on at least two points: (1) to pay more attention to the phenomenon of blogging; and (2) to readily admit one's past errors. It appears the New York Times has followed this advice, albeit in its own fashion. (Of course, it is just possible that these articles were in the works anyway. But I say, think positive.)
Ah, but let's look at how the Dame Grise has seen fit to interpret our sage counsel.
Shall we begin with Katie Hafner's blogging article? The Times seems to think that it can counter the threat of blogging (and make no mistake, we ARE a threat to the NYT) by writing a derisive article on it. Could the Times possible acknowledge the relevance of blogging for an audience disillusioned with the manipulations of the media? Too much to expect, I suppose. I'll have more to say on this later.
And then there was the Times' so-called "correction" of its Iraq coverage. Well, it would be nice if this "correction" included a re-assessment of the Times' anti-American bias, but that, too would be asking too much.
This blog recently offered the traditional media several pieces of advice on at least two points: (1) to pay more attention to the phenomenon of blogging; and (2) to readily admit one's past errors. It appears the New York Times has followed this advice, albeit in its own fashion. (Of course, it is just possible that these articles were in the works anyway. But I say, think positive.)
Ah, but let's look at how the Dame Grise has seen fit to interpret our sage counsel.
Shall we begin with Katie Hafner's blogging article? The Times seems to think that it can counter the threat of blogging (and make no mistake, we ARE a threat to the NYT) by writing a derisive article on it. Could the Times possible acknowledge the relevance of blogging for an audience disillusioned with the manipulations of the media? Too much to expect, I suppose. I'll have more to say on this later.
And then there was the Times' so-called "correction" of its Iraq coverage. Well, it would be nice if this "correction" included a re-assessment of the Times' anti-American bias, but that, too would be asking too much.
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