TRAGEDY ISLAND

Many Woes for Stricken Insuls

 

 

 

 

First Tsunamis, Now Child Sex Ring?

O’Reilly and Hannity and Colmes today tackled the issue of the possible new wave of disastrously tragic opportunistic kidnappings by those in the sex trade of children left orphaned or estranged after the destruction of the Tsunamis. I mentioned the problem of the notorious sex trade in the region last week, but I stated a hope at the time the tsunamis might disrupt that activity. It seems instead it has only provided more opportunity for this heinous and unimaginably cruel, violent and godless behavior.

 

The story hit the presses today that one Swedish boy was apparently kidnapped after the tsunamis. The father is no doubt at wits’ end. In the ensuing days after the giant waves flooded eight countries and took from this earth 150,000+ lives there have been not just a few outrages. When the world’s most generous nations are accused of being stingy, while some of the Middle East’s wealthiest hardly give a dime or China barely gives any more than Taiwan, a country of only 20 million as no one in the UN hints at a criticism. We saw the cruel rejection of Israeli aid in some countries, just because it was Israeli without giving the victims a chance to vote on the matter. We even heard about how the Thai government ignored warnings to alert the public of a possibly imminent tsunami, helping to doom thousands more souls that would likely have otherwise lived to see their families another day. But the worst outrage by any standard is that many that survived are being swallowed up by a monster that according to Compassion International in a report titled, “Sexual Exploitation: Childhood Lost” is the third-largest income generator worldwide, just behind illegal drug and illegal arms sales. In fact, over 30 million women and children have been trafficked in Asia in the past three decades alone, making it “the largest slave trade in history”, Compassion quotes UNICEF as stating, yet another number suggests an even larger problem, estimating at least 10 million children are presently being commercially exploited for sex around the world, of which most in Asia are living in Thailand, India, Taiwan and the Philippines.

 

Truly the vultures in the south-Asian child sex trade pale all else by comparison. And truly, something needs to be done now to nip this nightmare in the bud. While it is regrettable some of these sex-offenders survived the tsunamis (and still have no fear of God), steps must be taken now by anyone who can to put a stop to this. How this is done is another matter and if you ask me, I think these vicious criminals should be nailed to trees by their rib cages and left for dead- and as a warning. But I can be primitive sometimes.

 

Profile of Rescue in the Dragon’s Lair

A friend of someone I know in Nashville runs an orphanage north of India in Nepal. The man and his wife work independently to provide a home, along with food and medical assistance for girls trying to escape the Asian child sex trade. They even at times will “buy” these girls from their “owners” in order to get them out of the hell they are in. Girls as young as 11 are frequently kidnapped or sold by their parents to these sex rings. The Nepalese ring is particularly notorious. It is said the first thing they do to the girls after tearing them away from their families and all that they know is rape them until they stop resisting…and no longer cry. In such a way they are robbed of their very souls and all of their childhood dreams. Many never make it to adulthood – a good number of those will commit suicide. The man and his wife’s “safe house” not only provides a way out, but even, as I understand it, actively works with any means available to rescue even more. The government in Nepal is hopelessly corrupt, as are many in the region, but this act of mercy is winning some cooperation last I heard. Meanwhile thousands wait for some hope.  

 

 

Related:

 

Swedish Boy Feared Abducted from Thai Hospital after Tsunami

Swedish and Thai police were jointly conducting the search effort for the adolescent, Kristian Walker, who was apparently last seen Monday with an unknown German man at a hospital near the resort of Khao Lak.

 

Jakarta, Indonesia: Steps Taken to Halt Child Trafficking

 

Fears Rise of Child Trafficking

 

Asia Observer: Child Trafficking Continues to Threaten Young Women in India

 

 

 

 

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Saying, “TAK!” to a Happy New Year

 

 

 

Party-goers and the like once more filled the streets of Ukraine’s capital city to celebrate the New Year – their first coveted year of freedom. With a country separated on Election Day between orange parts and blue parts, an American can certainly identify. But it is indeed wonderful to hear how peaceful things have really been. And for good reason. One need only take a casual stroll down the road of Ukraine’s recent history to see there is little doubt Ukrainians have suffered violence at the hands of outsiders more than any country should be forced to. It is hopefully for this reason that cooler heads will continue to rule the day – and freedom will prevail.

 

The Ukrainians are a hearty and generous people, they have suffered much, but now they are in charge of their own destiny. But even some ethnic Russians are happy to part ways with the old regime – something I think is vastly under-reported in all of this. Freedom knows no ethnicity, after all. Ideas exist in men’s heads, not on their faces.

 

“Tak”, by the way means “yes” (as well as having other affirmative uses as a flavoring participle). While similar to Russian in some ways, Ukrainian is actually very distinct. But to understand its relationship, the word “Tak” is to the Russian ”Da” what “Yes” is to the German ”Ja”. Alles klar?

 

So there is much to celebrate in Ukraine. That and having arguably the handsomest First Couple anywhere in the world with President-elect Yuschenko and his lovely and capable wife. They are sure to achieve a celebrity status all their own.

 

 

Yanukovych hopefully fading away gracefully:

 

From the AP: Ukrainian PM Resigns, Vows to Keep Up Election Fight

The Prime Minister may believe it is time to slowly fade away while talking tough to save face in hopes that merely acting like an opposition party member as Viktor Yushchenko was in actuality, may help him retrieve his party from the status of political afterthought and perhaps one day recover his lost bid for the presidency.

 

Meanwhile, revelers in Ukraine’s capital city of Kiev (or Kyiv, to say it right) will be out in force tonight to celebrate the New Year and the prospect of blessed freedom it hopes to bring, along with a decidedly citrus flavor.

 

And here is just some of that revelry, coupled with the apparent sober clear-thinking that no doubt has helped Orange Revolution supporters stay on track. This is from shortly after Yuschenko was declared the Victor on Monday, care of Orange Ukraine blog:

 

 

- “We’ve done it. This is victory, victory for the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian nation. It took us several hundred years to get here. We had 14 years of independence, but now… we are free.” – That’s a powerful statement. I hope Yushchenko stays true to it.

 

 

- The greatest good news, Dan…Now comes the next major job – keeping this man alive!

 

 

- Hallelujah!

 

 

The friends of freedom around the world hope he stays alive for a long, long time too.

 

 

 

 

Resources:

 

 

The Orange Ukraine blog is a terrific place to go if you really want to take the pulse of the Orangies. There is even a place to order t-shirts and other memorabilia as well as hear excellent interviews (in mp3 format) with the blog’s creator, Dan McMinn, an American ex-pat who now abides in Kiev with his wife and works for a local software company.

 

A good site for those who need to catch up on some of the basic Ukraine facts can visit this site: http://www.uatour.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?lang=en&page=main.

 

You can also listen to that famous and infectious song everyone (at least the supporters of Yuschenko) in Ukraine seemed to be singing of late, particularly while they were protesting for a clean election after Yanukovych had won under such fraudulent circumstances. The song is performed by Tartak, a local group out of Kyiv. The euro-hip-hop tune was composed in just a few hours, but it’s actually quite catchy. You can visit their website here.

 

 

 

 

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PLANET FUN

 

We at Blogbat Are Very Proud to Present:

The First-Ever SITE OF THE DAY AWARD

 

(To be held sporadically and arbitrarily whenever we find something sufficiently worthy)

 

 

 

Today’s Category:

 

Political Special-Needs

 

Sub-Category:

 

Socio-Political Autism

 

Today our site of the day belongs to none other than Communist Party USA (not to be confused with Communists for Kerry, which is way more fun), for the CPUSA’s extra-worldly sheepiness, unimaginative exploration beyond the barely literate inculcations from public education and the very most predictable shoutouts to their trusted friends in the media, Islamofascism, Liberal establishment and elsewhere.

 

Comments are added when relevant.

 

Their Most Cherished Desire:

 

To one day fool enough people to actually think that bloody dictators are actually really great.

 

CPUSA Deep Thoughts:

 

People say that recent Tsunami which killed over 100,000 was an “act of God”. Stalin killed over 20 million. Doesn’t that make him God?

 

Maybe that’s why Communists think God is dead…

 

And now some sultry sampling of what you will find at CCCP USA’s website:

 

 

1. On the death of Yasser Arafat

by CPUSA National Board, 16.11.2004 00:00

The Communist Party USA expresses its deep sorrow on the death of Yasser Arafat, the decades-long leader and larger-than-life symbol of the Palestinian people’s quest for justice, human rights, self-determination and statehood.

 

In the full article you can find this gem:

 

He rejected terrorism as a path to liberation, and harshly condemned the harming of innocents. He and the PLO officially recognized Israel’s right to exist within secure borders.

 

 

Some more of that relying on the ignorance of the publicly-educated, CNN crowd? Yassir of course, never renounced the PLO charter which calls for the elimination of Israel. In fact, the PLA’s official seal shows them occupying ALL of the land currently held by Israel. 

 

 

 

Now here’s a tasty trifle:

 

 

2. Youth vote 2004: a whole new level

by Jessica Marshall, YCLUSA Co-coordinator, 20.11.2004 00:00

If you turned on the TV on November 3rd CNN mentioned to you that young people showed up at the polls but it was nothing too impressive. They told you that while the numbers went up, so did all voter-turnout numbers and there was no significant shift or big change in how many young folks showed up as compared to the rest of the population. Some of them even went so far as to blame the youth for not turning out enough to impact the elections favorably for Kerry. But the numbers tell another story.

 

For the first time in quite some time the category of “youth” was recognized and respected to some degree as a legitimate voting block to be addressed or looked at — we weren’t that apathetic generation too into video games or shopping at the mall to notice the elections. Young people were actually setting up their own youth-led and run election efforts.

 

We saw amazing work done by the hip hop community — from mainstream groups with famous names like P.Diddy’s “vote or die” efforts to the grassroots National Hip Hop Political Convention and its local organizing committees we saw a new level of organization and the development of political platforms to address the concerns and aspirations of the hip hop generation. Groups like the League of Pissed Off Voters did amazing voter education and mobilization, organizing youth voter blocs, creating their own youth voter guides and challenging young people to look beyond November 2nd and think about running youth candidates. In states with early voting, concerts were held featuring famous artists, rappers and singers to encourage young people to vote.

 

 

These efforts paid off. (emphasis added)

 

 

Apparently not enough, thank goodness. Ironic a Communist would ever be excited about the notion of anybody being able to vote, isn’t it. I guess they just sort of hold their nose hoping if they get one going their way, that nasty voting mess can be done away with forever and ever, amen. Or… not amen

 

Some more notable quotes:

 

 

It’s important to note here that this is a generation of young people that have no particular allegiance to the Democratic Party and show hope for the possibility of further developing independent and progressive voter coalitions and voting blocks. But this generation of voters also was mature enough to recognize the importance of uniting in this year’s election to elect John Kerry … (Or would have, had he won). This represents a tremendous opportunity for the YCL as we continue to grow and work to build broader, progressive coalitions of youth and students.

 

 

Back to the drawing boards, I guess.

  

We found that we were very well received where we participated in these youth operations and we shared our strategic vision about the elections and building a broad, progressive youth and student movement. We were encouraged to discuss our views openly and our magazine Dynamic and other materials were very well received. While everyone didn’t agree with everything we said, they appreciated our hard work and engaged in dialogue with us finding that more often than not we had similar visions about what it was going to take to win our country back from the ultra-right.

 

 

Wow, I have to ask, if the Commies are calling us “ultra-right”, we must be Left-of-Center for everyone else. I think I should do some soul searching and try to find how I can move farther to the right!

 

 

Of particular importance to the YCL (Commie Youth)  in our efforts to deepen and broaden our relations with other progressive youth and student organizations, were our YCL Midwest Summer and GOTV election projects. In July, we went to St. Louis where 13 YCLers (5 of whom stayed for the whole month) volunteered alongside the party, Planned Parenthood, CBTU, SEIU and AFSCME, and others on several campaigns including the victorious campaign of John Bowman who is here today. In August we sent 8 YCLers to Cincinnati to work on a campaign to repeal anti-gay legislation in the city council, and participated in NAACP voter registration efforts and Working America canvasses. During that same period we sent 12 volunteers to Cleveland where volunteers worked with the Vote Mob and participated in labor walks.

 

 

Vote Mob? Is it an oxymoron or just simple irony?

 

 

Apparently we made quite an impression because when I went to the Vote Mob’s office in Ohio to discuss the YCL participating in their GOTV efforts, the head of their operation smiled and told me, “ok, don’t take this the wrong way but we’re so glad you’re coming back. People around the office keep saying, when are the commies coming back?!” Four of our national staffers headed out to Ohio where we volunteered with the Vote Mob at Cleveland State University and the University of Akron.

 

We worked on everything from phone banking to lit drops and led precincts in Akron for the VoteMob operation. On the 2nd as we waited for the returns to come in, several of the volunteers and leaders came over to thank the YCL for stepping up and helping play a positive role. One volunteer told Docia that he had always heard that the YCL was like the marines of the youth activist and organizing circuit and now he was convinced. While I’m not sure we like to be compared to the marines, we appreciated the sentiment.

 

I want to point out that it wasn’t just through the YCL’s Midwest project that the YCL was received in such a warm way. What was so amazing about all of this is that in every location YCLers were involved in these efforts we saw the same positive and inspiring experiences repeated. Both the Milwaukee and Chicago YCLers worked in Wisconsin, helping to chaperone a group of 400 high school students on election day who participated in a massive knock and drag effort to get people to the polls, in addition to their work with Vozes, an immigrants rights group, the League of Conservation Voters and ACT on door-knocking and GOTV efforts.

 

 

Commies chaperoning high schoolers. “Well Johnny, you see, the condom goes on the bayonet this way…”

 

 

In New York YCLers were delegates and founders of the local organizing committees of the National Hip Hop Political Convention. In Providence, Miami and Chicago YCLers helped head up the League of Pissed Off Voters efforts. YCLers staffed Democratic Party operations and headed up precincts in Ohio and Florida. A YCLer from Virginia was a canvas director for a progressive young candidate in a tight race in Ohio. In Miami, the newly formed club helped ACT organizing efforts at Miami Dade Community College.

 

 

I guess if you’re a Communist, you head first where folks are renowned for being too dumb to vote.

 

 

In Chicago YCL members were very active in the Youth for Obama efforts and one member worked with the United States Student Association and his student government to register over 1,000 new voters. New York YCLers worked on the election bid of Frank Barbaro in Brooklyn and to defeat Republican Olga Mendez in Upper Manhattan. In Buffalo, YCLers worked with Citizen Action and went to work in Ohio. In St. Louis and other places around the country YCLers worked with SEIU and other labor efforts.

 

The list goes on and on. Thousands of young people were registered, thousands of doors were knocked and collectively our membership learned what it takes to seriously get involved with electoral campaigns.

 

 

Collectively…you caught that, right? :p Of course they are enjoying themselves. After the “revolution” you don’t get to volunteer for anything anymore…

 

 

On Fashionwares (Speaking of Collecting…)

 

The CPUSA also offers a whole host of items to shop for in their store, as done in the traditional capitalistic communist way (I suppose this is the Beijing model), hence the URL: http://host5.cpusa.org/shopping

 

 

 

The ever-famous “Books Not Bombs” button. Much loved by Communists the world over…that is unless of course your book happens to be the bible or a critical essay or satire…then it’s Bombs, Not Books for you…

 

 

“Healthcare Not Warfare” – Because we all know about how wonderful those hospitals are in North Korea, China, Cuba or were in the Soviet Union. What? Because they didn’t get enough western aid? Well, what were the Communists doing while the west was allowing its free-market citizens to build the best hospitals in the world? Hmm, stuff to get your books bombed, eh?

 

 

 

“No War, No Terror”. Hmm, seems Mau and Stalin did a pretty good job creating terror without a single war, wouldn’t you say? The worst terror imaginable is when you surrender to the mercies of the ruthless.

 

All manufactured to the highest quality imaginable by little 8 year old Chinese laborers forced to work 14 hour days with only one bathroom break and a bowl of rice (breath) to punish them because their parents spoke out against the regime.

 

 

And that’s why the Communist Party USA wins Blogbat’s first ever Site of the Day award. Given away of course, in homage to that savvy socialist sensibility…

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATE:

 

A really great read over at Route 82 blog “Going Dutch in the Communist Party” would be well-worth your time. Fun facts and great writing!

 

 

 

 

 

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Tsunami Update

 

 

 

- Official Thai Government Casualty List

 

I have noticed a bunch of traffic to yesterday’s post which provided a link to a running list of the injured and dead from Sunday’s tsunami which hit Thailand. If you have a friend or a loved one and want to check this list, click the link to that post which links to the site, or click here to be taken directly to the official Thai site. Once you are at the site, type in “USER” for username and “PASSWORD” for password, without the quotation marks.

 

Also since there seems to be a lot of traffic coming from one site, if someone could tell me which one, I will link back to it so that those who regularly read my blog may be able to access relevant information at that site as well.

 

 

- The Next UN Scandal

 

It seems to be turning out that President Bush and a handful of other leaders have elected to work independently of the UN. This is a good idea considering the institutionalized filtration system that operates in the UN whenever money is involved. Of course the UN leaders are not delighted about this, but between direct involvement from the US, Australia, Israel, the UK and others, along with low-overhead non-profit relief agencies, something might actually get done on the ground.

 

Well, that is if local officials allow that help to reach their people. Already reports have come out that suggest some leaders in the suffering countries, including Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand might be setting things up to skim some off the top, by asking for supplies, but no doctors or other human personnel, even though local doctors and such say they are in desperate need of human relief as well as supplies. Though this doesn’t prove anything improper is destined to take place, it certainly raises my eyebrow. Given the track record of countries such as Thailand, for example (whose officials decided not to activate a tsunami alert because they feared it might discourage tourism), this could be a very real problem. Indeed one of the biggest shocks was the discovery Thai officials decided against any form of warnings for the above reason. The irony is that their decision will exact a far greater toll on their cherished tourist industry than earning the respect and trust of the tourist industry by warning of a possible tsunami. The Singapore Press quotes one official as saying,

 

“The very important factor in making the decision was that it’s high (tourist) season and hotel rooms were nearly 100-per cent full. If we issued a warning, which would have led to evacuation, (and if nothing happened), what would happen then?

 

Business would be instantaneously affected. It would be beyond the Meteorological Department’s ability to handle. We could go under, if (the tsunami) didn’t come,” said a source who attended the meeting.

 

Also see Wizbang for more on this.

 

 

I also had mentioned a few charities I know from experience and interaction have been present in the tsunami-damaged countries for many years with a well-established track record with the local population as well as with independent auditors, due to its great financial accountability and extremely low overhead.

 

The charity I recommended last time was World Vision. I highly recommend anyone wishing to give to the relief effort investigate this group. I know several people within this organization, and they are very passionate and effective in what they do.

 

I’m also going to recommend another organization as well this time though. Compassion International performs a slightly different function than does World Vision. Together their individual focus is indispensable. While World Vision focuses on building infrastructure and teaching the townspeople how to improve it, maintain it and so forth, Compassion is more focused on the education and welfare of children, providing both general help to children in a community and linking individual sponsors to individual children in need. As a sponsor myself, as well as a volunteer, I can also with much confidence recommend Compassion as a group that will see to it the needs are genuinely met. If you are not interested in directly sponsoring a child, you can also donate to their tsunami disaster relief fund, which will help to assist children affected by this tragedy.

 

 

 

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Wormwood, the Moscow Legacy

(Kids get in free!)

 

 

 

Chernobyl is probably one of the most provocative and lasting (not to mention undeniable) examples of the fact that things get much worse, not better for people and the ecology when the land is ruled by tyrants. This especially such when they are occupiers, as was the case with the Kremlin dominance over the region of Ukraine and the rest of Eastern Europe up through the 1980’s.

 

In a regime which valued appearance over safety, afraid enough of the people to propagandize them and not to set them free, the Soviet Empire brought numerous tragedies to fruition in its iron-booted wake. From toys rigged with bombs handed out to children in Afghanistan to babies born without arms and legs in the Ukraine, the regime of Stalin showed to all the world why Communism has its place alongside Nazism and Fascism in history as examples of a true affront to the very ways of nature.

 

The good news for much of Eastern Europe today is that the people have cast off this awful tyranny. Now that period is little more than a museum piece and a lesson to many, alongside the German concentration camps.

 

In a recent article in the Moscow Times titled “Meanwhile, Back in Chernobyl”, writer Helen Womack describes a new offering now available to tourists visiting Ukraine, and to be certain one of incomparable historical intrigue.

 

Chernobyl and the nearby ghost town of Pripyat are now frozen in the Red “glory” of the Soviet Evil Empire and provide for the willing tourist the somewhat risky opportunity to venture back twenty years and see exactly how things were in the USSR before it all finally flew apart. The Chernobyl power plant was the height of Soviet glory and collective ingenuity. It was also where a good friend of mine was stationed as a Soviet soldier before the meltdown. His stories of the historic Soviet inefficiencies alone make one wonder why the meltdown didn’t happen quite a bit sooner.

 

But now it seems at least, some want to turn the place called “Wormwood” into a Nuclear Disneyland, complete with its own lighting. One of the main companies involved in making this happen is Chernobyl External Services.

 

Helen tells us that,

 

Chernobyl External Services deals mainly with foreign specialists going to ecological conferences, of course, but it will also get out the white minibus and roll out the red carpet for the curious layperson. If 20 people can be found to fill the bus, then the cost for each individual is only $60.

The firm says that on a short visit to Chernobyl, the danger from radiation is now no greater than flying in an airplane, and advertises its guided tour as a “safe adventure.” In fact, CES is not the only company offering trips to the Zone, although the number of takers among visitors from overseas has evidently not been great so far. The contaminated air is only one disincentive: In order to enter the 30-kilometer exclusion zone that was thrown around the nuclear plant after the accident and is still in force, visitors also need permission from the SBU, the Ukrainian successor to the Soviet KGB.

Tour leader Sergei Akulinin works with good humor and military precision. “See you at the bus in eight-and-a-half minutes,” he joked. Not eight, not nine, but eight-and-a-half.”

 

Then travelers get to sit down for a meal in a converted bomb shelter with a charming seaside theme: “Trout was on the menu, not locally caught. The drinking water was bottled.” Maybe a lead suit might be good fashion for this excursion.

 

 The tour then heads to a museum at the site of the accident dedicated to the workers who lost their lives trying to contain it.

 

“”It was not an atomic explosion but a heat explosion,” Sergei made clear. Nevertheless, radioactive dust from the ruined reactor was carried on the wind over a wide area of Ukraine and into neighboring Belarus and Russia. The communist authorities failed to warn the population immediately — indeed, May Day parades went ahead in Kiev — and it was Sweden that first alerted the world to the disaster.”

 

Upon reading that I thought to myself, “Now that history has repeated itself in Thailand, perhaps we can re-examine the much-extolled benefits of elitist regimes who have no regard for the lives of their ordinary citizens.” But who knows, and at least for that matter the people of Ukraine have asserted themselves as the ones rightfully in charge of their own destiny, which will surely be a blessing for their children.

 

Workers still worked at the plant, manning and minding the sarcophagus now enclosing the fourth reactor, which was the one that failed two decades ago. The sarcophagus is said to becoming “unstable”. Yet the workers and the tours continue.

 

In the ghost towns surrounding Chernobyl, such as Pripyat, not much is left of the communities which once eked out a living there, save a few stray dogs, abandoned buildings and one or two courageous souls who have ventured to return to their homes in most cases.

 

Still, there sit entire fields of abandoned tanks, military helicopters, trucks and other equipment worth an untold amount of money to Moscow- and one has to wonder if things are indeed so much safer now, why is it none of this equipment has been reclaimed.

 

One is left with the same sense of iron-cold lifelessness in this town of death and tragedy that strangely enough hung like a cloud over the entire country even before the accident many winters ago. The sterile, inhospitable machine of Soviet Communism, its artwork on billboards reminiscent of cog wheels though dying off at the time, first left in Chernobyl in its abandoned buildings and deformed babies a lasting and ugly death mask.

 

Aside from the fact Helen Womack cites the now renowned Yelena the Biker, whose alleged hoax was a claim she traveled throughout the entire closed-off sector surrounding the Chernobyl accident which included highly radioactive areas – displayed a surprising amount of gullibility for anybody let alone a writer for the Moscow Times, I still find the entire idea of such a tour enticing. In addition to this, I think the story brings out an interestingly unexplored and fascinating aspect of Ukraine’s history that truly helps to show us why a free and sovereign Ukraine is in the world’s best interest, which is no doubt what comes of any reflection from such a tour.

 

 

Related:

 

Wormwood – A Shrine to Nuclear Contamination

 

Chernobyl – An Engineering Disaster

 

Dr. Meshkati’s Page on Chernobyl

 

Internal Workings of the Soviet System

 

 

To find out more about taking a tour of Chernobyl through CES, you can contact Sergei Akulinin at chvs@slavutich.kiev.ua

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Names of Missing and Dead

 

 

The Jerusalem Post in an update on the tsunami casualties today posted a link to a password-protected Thai government site listing all of the known names of the victims from Saturday’s tsunami, along with the password to access it.

 

 

If you wish to locate the victims for a particular nationality, you can access them by following this link and typing in “USER” for the username and “PASSWORD” for the password…without the quotation marks, of course. The site offers the option of listing the names by country of origin.

 

This information should be of particular value to anyone with friends or family known to be in the immediate region at the time of the catastrophe.

 

The servers seem to be a bit bogged down presently, so your best bet if it is yet too sluggish upon your reading this is to simply wait awhile and try again.

 

 

 

UPDATE: Click here for the latest

 

 

 

 

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The Next UN Scandal

And the local scandals we’ll never hear about

 

 

As we begin to assess the scope of the horror that literally shook the whole world, those of us who are in a position to do so might consider beginning to put in place a method to monitor the true journey made of cash from billfold and government coffers to open hand.

 

While certain within the UN have hinted that some peoples are not supplying enough monies via government taxation to the various UN relief programs, a thinking person might wonder why any money should be made available at all given the history of mismanagement only most recently evidenced in the still-burgeoning Oil-For-Food scandal, the largest international scandal in history, which now we have learned has been dwarfed by yet another scandal involving the simple smuggling operation run by Saddam Hussein, which bribed many on the UN security counsel with kickbacks for their silence.

 

While the first round of this biblically-themed disaster may have been an earth-shattering quake followed by multiple and epoch tidal catastrophes, these represent only but the beginnings of woes for the local surviving populations of the several countries affected ff not mitigated by a truly noble and serious effort of some sort.

 

What comes most notably next after the initial disasters is likely the horrific onset of disease brought on by the filth of rotting bodies from unfortunate souls, along with of course the dead dogs, birds, fish and other wildlife, along with the spilled fuels, chemicals and septic systems. This along with the salty seawater has contaminated much of the drinking water and food supply. The standing water adds to this the danger of serious illness due to mosquito-borne illnesses and disease transferred from corpse or sickly to the uninfected living via parasite. Dehydration and poor nutrition prior to and certainly after the disaster will leave many more prone to succumbing to such disease. There is also the possibly of long-term ecological and economic devastation from a likely mass fish-kill caused by the swiftly-rushing bulges of water as they rolled the five hundred or more miles from the epicenter of the earthquake to their terminus points, or the gardens and food-animals swept away by the water. If there will be anyone left to fish, hunt or garden, they may be unable to do so – at least for awhile.

 

A longer term problem with rebuilding will be the drop in tourist revenue which will be in severe decline for at least the coming decade or so, until infrastructure can be rebuilt and traveler confidence can be restored. Part of this will only come after local governments include the creation of a tsunami early-warning system, such as the one in place in the pacific, along with sea walls and other safeguards. Of course the only silver lining to come out of this sudden and extended drop in tourism will be the likely steep decrease in the child-slave trade which will accompany it in the region.

 

But clearly the present need is simply for food, clean water, clothing, antibiotics and electrolytes along with a place to put the dead and decaying (and perhaps the temporary relocation of survivors to a dryer area). If these are not quickly addressed, we will see that much-feared doubling of the death toll. And to see to it those in need receive the aid they must receive, there needs to be some manner to insure that local corruption and apathy among local authorities doesn’t help put the final nail in the coffin for many during this time. Sadly, such help has traditionally been tiered in favor of those with more important social standing in this part of the world, such as businessmen or tourists. Instead, we need to insure that aid is rendered to those first who are most greatly in need. A sad example of the above callousness comes from a friend who spent some time in Chiang Mai Thailand. He related a story of sitting near a river when suddenly a local man accidentally fell in who couldn’t swim. There were several police nearby, but they did nothing to save him and instead simply waited until the cries for help ceased and the struggling stopped to snag his lifeless body out of the water and away from sight.

 

Add to that known element the more than usual UN bribe-taking and political quid pro quo and the those who survived the initial tsunami have many odds indeed to beat in order to survive the coming year. And we, the taxpayers have about the same odds of significant relief-per-UN dollar as you might have maneuvering a camel through the eye of a needle.

 

I have little doubt and would be greatly surprised if this UN effort turns into anything but a huge kickback for the usual roundup of profiteers, along with local opportunists. And as I said, it would do honest entities well to monitor any intergovernmental relief efforts as closely as possible.

 

 At the same time, there are numerous worthwhile charities which have historically made much more efficient use of relief money with far less overhead – and far less politicizing – that are actively working in the regions hardest hit by Saturday’s tsunamis, and have been developing local community ties for many, many years.   

 

One such organization is World Vision. It is an organization which works with local residents and officials with primary disaster relief as well as helping them learn how to rebuild their infrastructure. And unlike the UN, this group has a proven track record – one in which the money meets its target.

 

And there is much to do. Regardless of the charity however, it is essential we contribute what we can to the organization of our choice because in the end, every little bit will help.

 

 

 

UPDATE: Click here for the latest

 

 

 

 

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MODERN DYSFUNCTION DEPT.

 

 

Pillow Talk: Pygmalion and Galatea Act II

 

 

 

Something for everybody this holiday season (these people really need to get together):

 

New laptop technology for him

 

 

A girl should always be able to arm herself

 

 

This, seriously to me is a tragic statement about the “distance” many “modernists” value as independence today. Ultimately people need each other, even if it has in some quarters arguably become more taboo to admit to than it has become to actually own just such a substitute seemingly straight out of the prop closet.

 

There once was a movie in the 1980’s about a lonely guy who fell in love with a mannequin and we used to call such “humor-through-absurdity.” The ancient Greeks had a story as well, which in fact was the story upon which the movie twenty years ago was loosely based; we used to call it Greek myth.

 

Today we see that shockingly but not surprisingly, some men and women similar to those in the photos shown above or movie and myth have actually conceded defeat in their desire for human companionship of any kind, instead accepting a lie which in the end produces a loneliness compounded by an ocean of regrets from a life missed out on- the worst kind possible. Though this ultimately is the choice of each person, I think it a tragedy when we so retreat into isolation that we lose all form of meaningful contact in the bidirectional give and take that our human existence craves, in order to hide behind the short lived safety of a dummy, or perhaps other distractions.

 

Sadly for many, emotional candy is the substitute of choice for the nourishment they really need, walling themselves off with the illusion of fulfillment as a result. It would seem then they have merely kept themselves sufficiently from the feeling of loneliness for awhile long enough to prevent their being compelled, as is the way of things in nature, to go out and find a suitable mate (not to mention general human contact).

 

In many parts of Japan, as well as many other parts of the world people are literally surrounded by millions of other people, yet more often than elsewhere those who dwell in the most populous areas feel the greatest isolation, not seeing the trees for the forest. I know it’s a cliché, but really, folks should try to simply slow down a bit and take the time they need to see the opportunities around them for relationship-building throughout their day. I think the sales figures for those “human” pillows should tell us as much. If each of those who buys one would instead at the same time step outside his or her front door and greet those they saw, there is little doubt they would in the long run find themselves a lot happier and more fulfilled than otherwise, with the added benefit of leaving a worthwhile mark on society and saving some bling along the way. It is most unfortunate that the two models featured above and those who end up buying these products could be giving to others and having that gift of attention reciprocated by those nearby but instead decide to effectively smother their dreams and their lives with a pillow.

 

 

 

 

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NOTES FROM THE GARDEN JOURNAL

 

Coder’s Burnout and Fish from Chernobyl

 

It’s my new blog, you see. It is not cooperating. (Waiting as you check the item listed at left as my occupation which reads “Consulting, Software”.) While it is true I earn my shekels as an IT consultant, I am not in a “coder” field and if I may be perfectly candid right now, editing raw templates and style sheets in order to make them even the semblance of functional and perhaps also even aesthetically tolerable is like pulling teeth from a puppy.

 

The reason for this is not so much their complexity, no doubt, but something else, which I attempt for your enjoyment to outline below:

 

A finding it hitherto untenable to turn up any smartly collected and contiguously ordered documentation (apparently a state secret or something shared only among members of a shadowy secret lodge residing in the underground depths of catacombs beneath Paris somewhither). Most of the technical “look & feel” progress made and knowledge gained thus far I have simply scared up by way of classic reverse-engineering of other blogs, as I figure out how one applies the look he has decided upon.

 

Another factor has been time, though less-so. And perhaps there is yet hope the above missing documentation is waiting just behind the next key-word search. But I have often been forced to choose between doing this or actually posting at my Xanga blog, which has sometimes been a frustrating decision for me. Nevertheless, they both continue, albeit a bit more slowly. Perhaps to this end I should henceforth strive to spend less time out on the weekends and turn off Blogbat’s phone when the girls start calling, though arguably the sacrificing of one audience for another would hardly seem fair.

 

I’m not giving up, though (however I am always happy to entertain receiving a federal grant to study coding for the non-coder in agonizing detail, if the chance should fall upon me). Perhaps one day I’ll even become that page-coding cyber genetic deity to whom the rest of the online world solemnly burns incense and offers their first-borns, but we’re not there yet. </sarcastic_understatement>

 

These are the exact and troubling sugar plums currently dancing in my head, sugar plums which hold the key to bringing my frankenblog to life:

 

-          How and where in MT I create additional sidebars, such as for links etc. and how to tell MT where I want them

-          How and where I point to my banner image- presently it prefers to appear somewhere in the middle of the content area like a three-eyed fish, if I may float such a comparison, though I’ve tried to specify proper alignment etc.

-          Wallpaper? Same question, different stuff.

 

Thus stand these three, the accused, the items which prevent us all from presently enjoying my new digs (it just needs to function).

 

I’ll keep working on it. In the meantime you, the gentle reader should take comfort in the fact fewer posts at present do not equal a newly-attained moonbat status, where between all the wine and women I may occasionally post a paragraph or two (and link them to Matt Drudge). Rather they represent a continuous grinding away and busying of the cranium with the aim of both the learning of what I must in order to finish the new home for my rantings and the putting down of the resistance of the entire right side of my brain which finds distasteful standing by patiently as the other half learns and coherently understands page coding in order for the first to write deep analyses and cute little quips about matters of worldwide importance…such as anything not having to do with the Scott Peterson trial.

 

More updates forthcoming.

 

 

 

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