Rashid Minhas: Book Launch Friday 6pm (intro here)

Educational Resource Development Centre (ERDC) and PAF KIET cordially invite you to the book launch of Rashid Minhas (Urdu)- the first full-length biography of Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas Shaheed, N.H. - by Khurram Ali Shafique and published by Al-Fattah Academy, Pakistan


6:00 pm - Friday, July 23, 2010

At PAF Kiet (City Campus), 28-D, Block 6, P.E.C.H. Society, Shahrah-i-Faisal, Karachi

Kindly confirm ERDC for participation
at(021)36723454, 36051229
or info@erdconline. org

Select quotes, paraphrases, other introductory early portions which
Khurram Ali Shafique Sahib offered at The Republic of Rumi Blog Website/blog...

"...The exact circumstances remain a mystery but it can be said reliably that Rashid was taxiing for his third solo flight in T-33 aircraft when his flight instructor Matiurrahman got into the rear cockpit. Mati was from East Pakistan and had been grounded as a precaution in those tension-ridden days. Soon after the takeoff, Rashid sent message to the control tower, “1-6-6 hijacked.” Apparently, the instructor was diverting the plane towards India. Rashid was able to repeat the same line a few more times before fading out from the radar.

Rashid Minhas's actual voice here

'His aircraft was later found crashed 32 miles from the Indian border...It was determined through the examination of the wreckage that in order to prevent the hijack, “Rashid Minhas tried to regain control of his aircraft, but finding this to be impossible in the face of the superior skill and experience of his instructor, forced the aircraft to crash.” Nine days after the incident, he was awarded the highest military honor."

Shafique Sahib told his blog-readers last year how he began the biography years ago:
"There was no footage of him from life, nor any voice recording (except that “1-6-6 hijacked”). Yet, his charisma outshines celebrities. I also fell captive to it in 1985. I was a teenager then. I got intrigued by a story in the English weekly MAG, (which)... mentioned that Rashid was fond of playing gramophone records of Western music at loud volume whenever he came home on vacation...

'I (was) amazed to see that Rashid (when I eventually read his choice of Iqbal's poetry) had chosen precisely the lines which suited the end of his story – the end which he could not have foreseen. The gist was that we are like a short-lived spark but it is not our lot to end up in smoke. We can pierce the heart of this universe and become immortal.

'...Destiny? Yes, destiny was the most oft-repeated theme in the few quotes printed in the magazine... I’m not referring (just)to his life...I am talking about mine.
...I found and read everything which I could find about him but I wasn’t satiated: the intrigue was increased. The face of the sophisticated Rashid, his mild looks and gentle gaze kept haunting me...

'Soon, I found myself visiting the house where Rashid had lived. I gained unrestrained access to all his private papers, his letters, diaries, and the entire collection of his books...'I wanted to...try to get into his mindset...

'The family was still living in the house where Rashid had spent many of his years when they were in Karachi. It was built in the early 1950’s and as I began to frequent it – sometimes every day for an entire week – it began to feel like traveling back in time. Sometimes (his brother) Rahat would play the same music for me that used to fill the house when Rashid was home: Jim Reeves, Kishore Kumar, Ahmad Rushdi. Then it would feel, really, as if Rashid was in the other room and we were just waiting for him..."

The following is condensed from a long letter he wrote to his younger brother Rahat and Anjum (Ratti and Jimmy in the letter) when he was eighteen from P.A.F. Academy
Risalpur 29/10/69

Dear Ratti Jimmy: I’ve been thinking for a long time about this letter...Life is fast but because of the routine, happy! Settled in a way that is. Studies are there mainly of all sorts of things about aircraft. The fuel systems, communications, navigation, aerodynamics, engines..We also do a bit of procedures – what you do when you get lost without radio and such like things...

Then there’s gliding – for sport. Its fun though you hardly ever go up above 1000! I’ve done a take off and tried my hand at landing too but the thing just doesn’t go straight! (If there’s even a slight breeze it carried the thing with it!) So that’s all I’m doing here – next time inshallah I’ll be learning to fly T-6G’s...Now let me know what you are doing? Studies the usual bore but cheer up! They’ll soon be, over, honestly I’m telling you – you won’t know it and THE day will be there when you are free...

At this stage maybe I should pore out my lecture to you as an elder brother – at least I’m supposed to, it’s only that I’ve no lecture for you but just a piece of advice more as a friend than as an elder brother. I don’t ask you to do anything for me, for yourself, for anybody, for that matter, for I can’t ask you – It’s your life your wish your will your mind your world...Believe me, when I say that I have the fullest confidence in you...

Nothing in this world is meaningless – if we just stop and think about it. I’m sure you know that already and I’m sure you never let things pass...everything, every person, belief, action has a reason isn’t it? But then there are so many things we never think about – we never bother because we think we are too busy, don’t you think so? Have you ever thought of why you go to school? ...You must be knowing already that it is just because man wants to know the truth, the truth about himself, about the world, about everything...

YOU MUST FIND OUT THE TRUTH YOURSELF. Satisfy your self. The books just give you the thing how it happens. People can just advise you, HOW? & WHY? You must answer yourself think it out. It’s just like geometry, your reasoning, use it! Try to find for yourself what happens around you and why? Wake up! (That’s what the drill instructor says!) Whatever appeals to you, think over it and come to your own conclusions about it...So many delicious secrets to be known by you...

Then you must also ask questions about yourself to yourself. What will happen? What am I to do? What is “good” what is “bad”? And then you’ll find so many strange things in this world – discover them. You’ll find more oddities than you can imagine. Standing on the earth you are traveling at 900 nautical miles an hour (even more rather much more than that!! Why?)

...you (are) also in this world...(for) some purpose, some reason for being here – and now it is up to you to accomplish it. It is for you to decide where you fit in the giant machinery of our world. Soon, very soon, people will look up to you...DO NOT LET THEM DOWN ...

Khuda Hafiz
Rashid

See the test page of first page (URDU) of biography here

For more, GO here or here and continue with 'newer' or 'older' posts...

Khurram Ali Shafique Sahib (as final introductory transition on one of these early blog posts) says - as conclusion to his search to understand Rashid's youthful grasp of DESTINY - "I found the answers. I now realize that in all these twenty-three years I have hardly shared them with anyone. I will now..."

The Uyghers from Gitmo Get a Visit from US Peace Group

AN OCEAN IDYLL and peace at last: Salahidin Abdulahat, left, and Khaleel Mamut, Uyghur Muslims freed from Guantánamo Bay last year swam in Bermuda on Sunday. Mr. Abdulahat said his first-ever ocean swim was "the happiest day of my life." Justin Maxim, NYT Photo Credit

Let's support (other) triple-victimized Uyghurs (notice that journalists and others differ in spelling of this name yet I'm using Uyghers because that's how it's spelled in some of the Human Rights sites on their behalf)

“One of the many things that has impressed me in our conversations with these men, whom the Bush administration repeatedly labeled as the ‘worst of the worst,’ is their gentleness and compassion. While these men fiercely criticize the rationalizations behind their detention, they have expressed NO resentment towards their captors, but rather have focused solely on the imperative to release the remaining Uighur detainees at Guantánamo.” Excerpt from Release below...

FIVE Uighurs remain in Guantánamo - Plz Support these double-victimized courageous Muslim men.

American Anti-Torture Activists Visit Former Guantánamo Prisoners in Bermuda

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, July 19, 2010

Contact: Matt Daloisio, 201-264-4424, daloisio@earthlink.net
Luke Hansen, 605-407-2799, lukejhansen@yahoo.com

New York City — Three Christian activists from Witness Against Torture traveled to Bermuda on Friday, July 16, 2010 to meet with four Uyghur men who were detained in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba for more than seven years.

(The Uyghur ethnic group primarily resides in western China)

The Bush administration conceded that the men are not “enemy combatants,” and in October 2008 a federal judge ordered their release. Eight months later, four Uyghurs were resettled in Bermuda. Other Uyghur detainees were resettled elsewhere while five Uyghurs remain in Guantánamo.

The purpose of the delegation to Bermuda is to build relationships with the Uyghurs, seek their counsel concerning further advocacy for both current and former Guantánamo prisoners, and to bring a message of atonement and reconciliation from the American people to the former prisoners. “In the United States, public discourse on Guantánamo is mainly informed by various perspectives from the military, politicians and the U.S. public,” says John Bambrick, a Chicago youth minister. “We
have come to Bermuda to seek the perspectives of men who have
experienced Guantánamo firsthand.”

“The Uyghur men in Bermuda, like us, are people of faith,” says Jeremy Kirk, a Ph.D. student in social ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. “We are practicing our Christian faith by seeking connection with our Muslim brothers, in whose detention and abuse we have participated as U.S. taxpayers and citizens.”

On Saturday, the three activists visited the Uyghurs’ apartment, shared a meal and swam in the ocean with the former prisoners, and swapped stories about family and religious faith. The Uyghur men shared some of their experiences of being in Guantánamo and discussed their gratitude for and challenges associated with resettlement. (They are very grateful to the Bermudan Government’s support and hospitality.) On Sunday, the activists will speak with the Uyghurs in further detail about their experiences at Guantánamo and the conditions currently faced by the men
who remain in detention. Luke Hansen, who is studying to become a Jesuit priest, states, “One of the many things that has impressed me in our conversations with these men, whom the Bush administration repeatedly labeled as the ‘worst of the worst,’ is their gentleness and compassion. While these men fiercely criticize the rationalizations behind their detention, they have expressed no resentment towards their captors, but rather have focused solely on the imperative to release the remaining Uyghur detainees at Guantánamo.”

The delegation to Bermuda included:

John Bambrick, 31, works as a Catholic youth minister in Chicago and is a member of the White Rose Catholic Worker. He earned his B.A. at Marquette University in 2001 and his M.A. in Pastoral Studies from Loyola University Chicago in 2008.

Luke Hansen, S.J., 28, is part of the Wisconsin Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). In May, Luke earned an M.A. at Loyola University Chicago. His thesis is titled, “Countering Terrorism with Justice: A Catholic Response to Policies of Indefinite Detention in the Fight Against Terrorism.”

Jeremy Kirk, 32, is a Ph.D. student in social ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where he studies interfaith response to crisis and liberation theology. He has worked as an organizer with various environmental and human rights groups.

All three are members of Witness Against Torture, a grassroots organization that formed in December 2005

=============
By the way, the group releasing this report along with sister groups - Creative Voices for Peace and Christian Peacemakers - have been pioneers among US and world-wide peace activists in seeking attention for and the ending of use of DRONES in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. SEE item just in today "Drones Lend Dangerous Silence to War" here
===============================
NOTE: What about "sharing this heart-warming and current "Peace Piece" with inter-faith groups and others to show how the "One Heart of Us All" might work in unison world-wide to provide justice, peace and a safe place to be for many others already cleared detainees/prisoners but nowhere to go and petition for justice for others still behind bars?

For more updates and history GO to Uyghurs in Gitmo at the UHRP site here and see both Cage Prisoners dot com and Andy Worthington dot co dot uk for plenty more details.

Current mainstream news report here

Earlier item at Dawn dot com here AP" After eight years in U.S. military custody and were resettled in Bermuda. The former detainees' attorneys say the men were picked up by mistake in Pakistan and should never have been kept in the detention facility in Cuba."


The four freed Uyghurs toured the historic district of St. George in Bermuda on a Sunday soon after arrival on the island and had ice cream. They have been greeted with hospitality by the island's residents. Justin Maxim photographer NYT Read More from this early news report and more photos early after the Uyghers arrival GO here

"Early (in their residency) on this idyll island, the Uyqhurs praised Bermuda for showing courage in the face of potential Chinese pressures that, in their view, powerful European countries had failed to muster. The men were among a larger group of Uyghurs (pronounced WEE-gers) who had fled what they called Chinese persecution of Muslims in western China and spent part of 2001 in a Uighur camp in Afghanistan. They fled, apparently unarmed, when the Americans bombed the camp, and were later turned in to the authorities by Pakistani villagers in return for an American bounty." NYT/AP

Years into their captivity, American officials concluded that the men should not be considered enemy combatants. Although a court ordered their release, it was delayed by the inability to find a host country and a court reversal that prevented their move to American soil." Let's change that by encouraging communities world-wide to accept cleared detainees. Plz write/petition the US Government to release the other four Uyghurs.

At least three Human Rights Groups applauded Bermuda's hospitality to the four Uyghers here

Summer Rain (Rumi Answers Rilke)

Summer Rain by Rainer Maria Rilke

Suddenly, from all the green around you,
something-you don't know what-has disappeared;
you feel it creeping closer to the window,
in total silence.

From the nearby wood
you hear the urgent whistling of a plover,
reminding you of someone's Saint Jerome:
so much solitude and passion come
from that one voice, whose fierce request the downpour
will grant.

The walls, with their ancient portraits,
glide away from us, cautiously, as though
they weren't supposed to hear what we are saying.

And reflected on the faded tapestries now;
the chill, uncertain sunlight of those long
childhood hours when you were so afraid.
END


(from Feeling the Shoulder of the Lion)
You Are the Only Student You Have
a Paraphrased Answer from Rumi

You are the only faithful student you have.
All the others leave eventually.

Have you been making yourself shallow
with making other eminent?

Just remember, when you're in union,
you don't have to fear
that you'll be drained.

The command comes to speak,
and you feel the ocean
moving through you.
Then comes, Be silent,
as when the rain stops,
and the trees in the orchard
begin to draw moisture
up into themselves.


A Plover (do you feel his hesitation?)

1st Image by Parke - Summer Rain here

2nd (end) here

Irresponsible Major Media Reporting on Torture (Harvard Study and Stephen Lendman)

Also see Related Report for July 17th on this site oneheartforpeace - a Recap for 1st part of July:
"Racial Profiling, Rendition and the Rule of Law" just below...

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Harvard Study Documents Media Bias and Misreporting - by Stephen Lendman

This writer's November 2009 article titled "Paid Lying: What Passes for Major Media Journalism" also discussed it in detail, accessed through the following link:
here

It called major media journalism biased, irresponsible, and sensationalist - misreporting, distorting, exaggerating, misstating, or suppressing vital truths - serving state and corporate interests over the common good, including bankers controlling the nation's money, unpunished corruption at the highest levels, democracy for the select few, sham elections, a de facto one party state, imperial wars, occupation, and torture.

Harvard Report on Waterboarding

Prepared by Neal Desai, Andre Pineda, Majken Runquist and Mark Fusunyan, Harvard's JFK School of Government published their April 2010 Harvard Student Paper titled, "Torture at Times: Waterboarding in the Media," documenting how the practice was covered by America's four largest newspapers over the past 100 years - The New York Times (established in 1851), Los Angeles Times (established 1881), Wall Street Journal established 1889), and USA Today (established 1982, America's most widely circulated newspaper, why it was chosen for the study).

Waterboarding Defined

By any definition, it's torture, strictly prohibited under US and international law at all times, under all circumstances, with no allowed exceptions.

Yet the Bush administration defended it, saying it's used to train US service members to resist torture, when, in fact, training involves a cloth placed over their face one time (perhaps twice) for about 20 seconds, a love tap compared to detainee torture, using so-called "enhanced interrogation" techniques.

It involves six or more 40-second "applications" in each two hour session, multiple ones daily, forcing water in detainees' mouths and noses for 12 minutes, repeated daily, sometimes for weeks.

Harvard writers defined it as follows:

"....the practice of intentionally inducing the sensation of drowning in the victim....achieved in a number of ways, including but not limited to (1) placing a cloth or plastic wrap, (2) pouring water directly into the mouth and nose of the victim, (3) placing a stick between the victim's teeth and pouring water into his or her mouth, often until the victim's stomach becomes distended, then forcing the water back out of the victim's mouth, and (4) dunking and holding the victim's head under water."

Merriam Webster online calls it "an interrogation technique in which water is forced into a detainee's mouth and nose so as to induce the sensation of drowning."

The Duhaime.org legal dictionary defines it as:

"A criminal investigation technique whereby a person suspected of having or withholding relevant information is blindfolded and bound on the back, sometimes with the face covered with porous or nonporous material, and subjected to water poured over their mouth and nose such as to simulate drowning and to thus, under duress, elicit information."

Wikipedia calls it:

"a form of torture that consists of immobilizing the subject on his/her back with the head inclined downwards; water is then poured over the face into breathing passages, thus triggering (a sensation) of drowning. In contrast to submerging the head face-forward in water, waterboarding precipitates an almost immediate gag reflex (causing) extreme pain, dry drowning, damage to (the) lungs (and) brain....from oxygen deprivation (as well as) other physical injuries including broken bones due to struggling against restraints, lasting psychological damage or, if uninterrupted, death."

Imagine enduring it 183 times in one month, what CIA interrogators did to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (besides years of other horrific tortures), forcing him to admit being the 9/11 mastermind, when, he's almost certainly innocent, confessing only to stop the pain, or because he was so psychologically damaged, he regurgitated words told him with no comprehension.

Press Coverage of Waterboarding

Mentioned or examined for over 100 years, almost uniformly it was called torture until Bush administration usage became public in 2004.

The New York Times

From 1901 - 1925, The Times seldom called it torture, doing so in only 11.9% of its articles. From 1931 - 2004, it called or implied it torture in 81.5% of articles, then from 2002 - 2008 in only 1.4% (2 articles), neither about America. Times opinion pieces "were more likely than news (stories) to call waterboarding torture during all time periods," but not often or in detail enough to matter.

The Los Angeles Times

During America's war on the Phillippines (1899 - 1902), The Times used the term "water cure," calling it torture in 63.6% of articles in 1901 and 02. From 1902 - 1917, in only 3.1%. From 1917 - 1935, no coverage. Then from 1935 - 2001, it was called torture 96.3% of the time. No mention again until 2006. From 2006 - 08, in only 4.8% of articles. Only one Times opinion piece mentioned it before 2003. Thereafter, it followed the same pattern as in New York Times editorials and op-eds, mentioning it more often than in news articles, not enough or explicitly, however, to matter.

Wall Street Journal and USA Today

Neither paper has a long history of coverage, USA Today publishing only for the past 28 years this September. It first mentioned it in 2004, thereafter never saying or implying it was torture, except in opinion piece coverage like the above papers.

Before 2005, the Journal mentioned it only in two articles, one calling it torture. From 2005 - 08, one mentioned it in East Germany under its communist government. In 2008, the paper either had no coverage or quoted others calling it torture. Unlike the above papers, Journal opinion pieces followed the same pattern as its news stories, only one saying or implying it was torture, steering clear (like the above papers) of condemning Bush administration practices.

Articles in the papers studied "were far more likely to classify waterboarding as torture" in other countries or individuals in them, regurgitating government propaganda about domestic use, even though America's longstanding policy condemned the practice, a November 4, 2007 Evan Wallach Washington Post article saying so.

Headlined, "Waterboarding Used to Be a Crime," it called it "simulated drowning," explaining the procedure as follows:

Victims experience "sensations of drowning: struggle, panic, breath-holding, swallowing, vomiting, taking water into the lungs and, eventually, the same feeling of not being able to breathe that one feels after being punched in the gut." It added that studies show "it can cause severe psychological trauma, such as panic attacks, for years."

Further, America knows a lot about waterboarding, the government - "whether acting alone before domestic courts, commissions and courts-martial or as part of the world community - has not only condemned (it), but has severely punished those who applied it," including Japanese soldiers against US and allied POWs, and their superiors for ordering it.

In 1983, federal prosecutors charged a Texas sheriff and three of his deputies with "subject(ing) prisoners to a suffocating water torture ordeal (to) coerce confessions," waterboarding by any definition. They were convicted, the sheriff getting 10 years for using torture.

The public record shows that US military tribunals and civil courts examined water-based interrogations, concluding they constituted torture. Evan Wallach should know. He's a US Court of International Trade judge and law professor at Brooklyn Law School and New York Law School.

Final Comments

Harvard's report showed "a sudden, significant shift in major print media's treatment of waterboarding at the beginning of the 21st century," during the GW Bush administration, at best calling it "harsh" or "coercive," not torture.

Most often, however, they reported nothing, staying neutral, suppressing the truth about government lawlessness, except others, not allies, regimes America vilifies to justify targeting them, including isolation, sanctions or war, the major media in lockstep defending US policies, even illegal ones like high-level corruption, suppressing the nation's worst ever ecological disaster, premeditated war, occupation, and torture - official policy under Bush and Obama.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com GO here and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests

==========

Also see Lendman's article on Lynn Stewart's re-sentencing for Today Sunday July 18 2010 on blogsite nomorecrusades.blogspot.com TO here

Racial Profiling/ Renditions/ Rule of Law/ July 17

Image from ACLU December 9, 2005

"Our greatest tool in advancing democracy is our own example."
— Barack Obama (3/2/2008) Oops!


Democracy Now's Amy Goodman interviews ADC American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's Founder, former senator James G. Abourezk about Helen Thomas and The ADC Welcomes Introduction of End Racial Profiling Act Washington, DC | GO to ADC Home here | July 16, 2010 - The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) welcomes the introduction of H.R. 5748, End Racial Profiling Act of 2010 (ERPA). House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) and Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) introduced the bill on July 15, the bill currently has nearly 60 co-sponsors. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee work includes hate crimes hotline, incident reporting, advice for educators and Arab-American parents, educational resources, and statements of support. For this specific ADC release, GO here

Photo at The Miami Herald
Just in - Supreme Court clears way for repatriation of Algerian detainees from Guantanamo here - Saturday, July 17, 2010 5:59 PM ET



Photo of Maher Arar with his children found at Slate dot com here

MAHER ARAR, | McGill Alumni Portal Jul 14, 2010 - McGill alumnus Maher here

Maher Arar: Justice Denied « P U L S E VIDEO here Maher was awarded 10 million $ by Canada and was denied his innocence by US courts

Items today and earlier on Maher Arar and related here from War Is A Crime .org | formerly AfterDowningStreet- Jul 17, 2010

And by the way, there's now a strong call to say Bye, Bye, Bybee - a key torture lawyer in the Bush administration plz to to the above site and also here to take ACTION

Find the following items: UK sought rendition of British nationals to Guantánamo; Tony Blair directly involved; Various items on Omar Khadr, and Andy Worthington's "Guantánamo: The Definitive Prisoner List" (Updated for Summer 2010)*** here as well as here

Clare Hanrahan: Confronting Rendition to Torture in North Carolina
Jul 9, 2010 ... Clare Hanrahan is a contributing editor to War Crimes Times, an associate member of Veterans For Peace Chapter 099, member of the National ...
here

Also see another North Carolinian's account of the same conference attended by Clare Hanrahan ... scroll down to July 12th a few posts below on this site:
Who Stands to Account for These Crimes by Patrick O'Neill

For those already receiving/familiar with No More Guantanomos, simply scroll below the following...

About No More Guantanomos here

Newsroom specifically about Resolutions and nogitmos dot org here

July Newsletter for No More Gitmos dot org here

Town Resolutions at No More Gitmos dot org here

To receive free & state of the art info regarding Gitmo/Rights/Related GO here

▼ See earlier related items on this oneheartforpeace blog for July - July (9)
BAGRAM: US should not implement a policy that damages... Also find
"Call Torture by its Real Name" at this same site.

Find the following and related at bordc.org/news here
Jul 16, 2010, Sahar Aziz, ACS Blog, Delegitimizing Civil Society: Why the Supreme Court Got it Wrong in Humanitarian Law Project

Jul 15, 2010, Judiciary Committee, Conyers Releases Committee Interview of Torture Memo Author Bybee and Sends to Justice Department

Jul 14, 2010, Max Schoening, Matt Sledge, Huffington Post, Hollman Morris, Colombian Journalist, Says Patriot Act Visa Rejection for "Terrorist" Activities "Puts My Life in Danger"

Jul 13, 2010, Saleyha Ahsan, Guardian (UK), Guantánamo: holding the 'healers who harm' accountable

And many more Including Jul 8, 2010, Jeremy Scahill, The Nation, Former Top CIA Spy on How US Intelligence Became Big Business and Jul 6, 2010, Sherwood Ross, The New Nation (Bangladesh), US Doctors forced to approve torture - Find all the above and more with live links at bordc.org/news here from © 2002-2010 Bill of Rights Defense Committee · All Rights Reserved · info@bordc.org 8 Bridge St., Suite A · Northampton, MA 01060 · (413) 582-0110 · fax (413) 582-0116 www.bordc.org - Privacy Policy · Last Updated: July 16, 2010 4:13 pm EDT

STATS on GITMO (By the Numbers at Miami Herald)as of 07/14/2010 (To find out more on the Stats below GO here Which has evidently been Updated July 14, 2010 - The Miami Herald

• Current detainee census: 180, from 24 countries.

• Youngest: 23, Omar Khadr of Canada.

• Oldest captive: 62, Saifullah Paracha of Pakistan.

• Detainees who have won their habeas corpus petitions whom federal judges have ordered set free: 37.

• Detainees who have lost their habeas corpus petitions: 14.

• Size of Navy base: 45 square miles, straddling Guantánamo Bay, from prison camp to air strip.

• Prison camp commanders over eight years: 10 admirals and generals.

• Captives who have died in the camps: Six. Two Saudis and a Yemeni were found hanging simultaneously in June 2006 in a suspected coordinated suicide; another Saudi, was found hanging in May 2007; an Afghan man died of colon cancer in December 2007; and a Yemeni man was found dead of suspected suicide June 1, 2009.

• Captives who arrived Jan. 11, 2002, to inaugurate Camp X-Ray: 20

• Last known arrival: Muhammed Rahim al Afghani, described as a high-level al Qaeda captive, on March 14, 2008.

• Last departure: Mohammed Odaini, 26, also called Mohammed Hassen, back to his native Yemen in compliance with a federal court order on July 12, 2010.

• International Committee of the Red Cross visits to the detention center since it opened Jan. 11, 2002: 75.

• Nations that have resettled cleared detainees who are not their citizens: 11: Albania, Bermuda, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Georgia, Ireland, Palau, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland.

• Nations that has resettled the largest number of non-citizen freed detainees: : Albania has taken 11 to include Uighurs, Egyptians, an Algerian, Libyan, Tunisian and Uzbek.

• Captives convicted by Military Commission: Four. David Hicks under a plea agreement, now free in his native Australian. Salim Hamdan of Yemen, now free in his homeland. Ali Hamza al Bahlul, also of Yemen, sentenced to life. Ibrahim al Qosi under a plea agreement. Sentencing hearing begins Aug. 9.

• Cases involving detainee rights that have gone before the U.S. Supreme Court during the War on Terror: Four.

• Times the justices have sided with detainees against the Bush administration: Four.

• Largest captive population since detention center opened: About 660 in November 2003.

• Smallest: 20 on Jan. 11, 2002.

Read more - GO here Which has evidently been Updated July 14, 2010 - The Miami Herald

North Carolina's Price & Watt are Co-sponsors of H.R.5748 To eliminate racial profiling by law enforcement - Let's hope more NC representatives sign onto HR 5748 soon! We need to stop more counties from supporting AZ Bill SB 1070!

As a follow-up on the Physicians for Human Rights reports in June on complicity of US Doctors not only in torture of detainees yet also complicity in experimentation,
here are several ways we can all support the cause of accountability (and we don't have to be in the health profession to do so nor do those who sign on and write letters to Obama and others need to be a US citizen ) Go here and here and here

Salutation by Rabindranath Tagore

Monet's Sunrise


Salutation by Tagore

In one salutation to thee, my God,

let all my senses spread out and touch this world at thy feet.

Like a rain-cloud of July

hung low with its burden of unshed showers

let all my mind bend down at thy door in one salutation to thee.

Let all my songs gather together their diverse strains into a single current

and flow to a sea of silence in one salutation to thee.

Like a flock of homesick cranes flying night and day

back to their mountain nests

let all my life take its voyage to its eternal home

in one salutation to thee.

END

Late Afternoon Gulf


'Salutation' was found in the collection 'Gitanjali' is also here

Monet's famous Sunrise, alleged to be as famous to many as the Mona Lisa...Credit goes here

Late Afternoon Gulf Painting found here "Late Afternoon Gulf" - just renamed and posted by beautiful artist, Jill Berry on gorgeous website, July 14, 2010

The Creativity Crisis ... and You

Guggenheim Museum gets credit for the Kandinsky image

"All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."-- Picasso

"Creativity has always been prized in American society, but it’s never really been understood. While our creativity scores decline unchecked, the current national strategy for creativity consists of little more than praying for a Greek muse to drop by our houses. The problems we face now, and in the future, simply demand that we do more than just hope for inspiration to strike. Fortunately, the science can help: we know the steps to lead that elusive muse right to our doors." (excerpt from article below it's complimentary piece)

An alleged predictive test in the creativity arena, the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. here


Experts assess 10 drawings by adults and children for signs of out-of-the-box thinking. How Creative Are You? Gallery here

The Creativity Crisis
by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman July 10, 2010

For the first time, research shows that American creativity is declining. What went wrong—and how we can fix it.

Experts assess 10 drawings by adults and children for signs of out-of-the-box thinking. How Creative Are You?

Back in 1958, Ted Schwarzrock was an 8-year-old third grader when he became one of the “Torrance kids,” a group of nearly 400 Minneapolis children who completed a series of creativity tasks newly designed by professor E. Paul Torrance. Schwarzrock still vividly remembers the moment when a psychologist handed him a fire truck and asked, “How could you improve this toy to make it better and more fun to play with?” He recalls the psychologist being excited by his answers. In fact, the psychologist’s session notes indicate Schwarzrock rattled off 25 improvements, such as adding a removable ladder and springs to the wheels. That wasn’t the only time he impressed the scholars, who judged Schwarzrock to have “unusual visual perspective” and “an ability to synthesize diverse elements into meaningful products.”

The accepted definition of creativity is production of something original and useful, and that’s what’s reflected in the tests. There is never one right answer. To be creative requires divergent thinking (generating many unique ideas) and then convergent thinking (combining those ideas into the best result).

In the 50 years since Schwarzrock and the others took their tests, scholars—first led by Torrance, now his colleague, Garnet Millar—have been tracking the children, recording every patent earned, every business founded, every research paper published, and every grant awarded. They tallied the books, dances, radio shows, art exhibitions, software programs, advertising campaigns, hardware innovations, music compositions, public policies (written or implemented), leadership positions, invited lectures, and buildings designed.

Nobody would argue that Torrance’s tasks, which have become the gold standard in creativity assessment, measure creativity perfectly. What’s shocking is how incredibly well Torrance’s creativity index predicted those kids’ creative accomplishments as adults. Those who came up with more good ideas on Torrance’s tasks grew up to be entrepreneurs, inventors, college presidents, authors, doctors, diplomats, and software developers. Jonathan Plucker of Indiana University recently reanalyzed Torrance’s data. The correlation to lifetime creative accomplishment was more than three times stronger for childhood creativity than childhood IQ.

Like intelligence tests, Torrance’s test—a 90-minute series of discrete tasks, administered by a psychologist—has been taken by millions worldwide in 50 languages. Yet there is one crucial difference between IQ and CQ scores. With intelligence, there is a phenomenon called the Flynn effect—each generation, scores go up about 10 points. Enriched environments are making kids smarter. With creativity, a reverse trend has just been identified and is being reported for the first time here: American creativity scores are falling.

Kyung Hee Kim at the College of William & Mary discovered this in May, after analyzing almost 300,000 Torrance scores of children and adults. Kim found creativity scores had been steadily rising, just like IQ scores, until 1990. Since then, creativity scores have consistently inched downward. “It’s very clear, and the decrease is very significant,” Kim says. It is the scores of younger children in America—from kindergarten through sixth grade—for whom the decline is “most serious.”

The potential consequences are sweeping. The necessity of human ingenuity is undisputed. A recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the No. 1 “leadership competency” of the future. Yet it’s not just about sustaining our nation’s economic growth. All around us are matters of national and international importance that are crying out for creative solutions, from saving the Gulf of Mexico to bringing peace to Afghanistan to delivering health care. Such solutions emerge from a healthy marketplace of ideas, sustained by a populace constantly contributing original ideas and receptive to the ideas of others.

It’s too early to determine conclusively why U.S. creativity scores are declining. One likely culprit is the number of hours kids now spend in front of the TV and playing video-games rather than engaging in creative activities. Another is the lack of creativity development in our schools. In effect, it’s left to the luck of the draw who becomes creative: there’s no concerted effort to nurture the creativity of all children.

Around the world, though, other countries are making creativity development a national priority...

Read Rest of Article GO here

Related Article: Forget Brainstorming » GO here

NOTE: from one heart blogger:

I suggest that in order to Creativity to become especially fertile, constructive and nurturing, the elements of Spirit, Beauty and Nature are necessary ingredients.
The way I want to end this post is with the beginning of 'Fireflies' - one of my favorite poems for years now which has a way of inspiring my creativity when in nature...

'Fireflies'
by Rabindranath Tagore

My fancies are fireflies, —
Specks of living light
twinkling in the dark.

...In the drowsy dark caves of the mind
dreams build their nest with fragments
dropped from day's caravan.

Joy freed from the bond of earth's slumber
rushes into numberless leaves,
and dances in the air for a day.

My words that are slight
lightly dance upon time's waves
when my works heavy with import have gone down.

...the butterfly counts not months but moments,
and has time enough.

...Days are coloured bubbles
that float upon the surface of fathomless night...

( Sometime soon look for more of 'Fireflies' just below )