Concerted and Captivating Conquest by China

China opened its curtains to the world and cast a massive presence of its capacity and capability as an ascendant world power. In spectacular fashion and stunning presentation of fireworks and pageantry at the opening of the 2008 Olympic Games, China effectively used a resource it had in greatest abundance - people. Some 12,000 performers took part in the extravaganza to an estimated 91,000 people in the Bird's Nest arena, telecast to at least a billion viewers worldwide. An additional 15,000 musicians and acrobats encapsulated 5,000 years of Chinese history into 55 minutes of artistically choreographed and exquisitely illuminated sequences.

The opening ceremonies undoubtedly mesmerized the 91,000 spectators at the Birds Nest, with elaborate costumes and a giant screen at the center of the field; plus 29 sets of pyrotechnics representing the editions of the games. Those who watched at the arena were generous and unanimous in their praise. What was evident was the determination of each participant to provide their best efforts without mistakes, yet their pride and enthusiasm for their involvement and contribution resonated ceaselessly throughout; and their joy, marked the genuine smiles on their faces as their respective sequences came to a close. It was China's grandest coming out party and they were awesomely successful.

The event was very capably handled by Chinese Film Director Zhang Yimou, who took over after American Director and Oscar Winner Steven Spielberg backed out for political reasons. Having over a billion people in their country, it was not difficult to find a worthy, if not better, replacement for Spielberg; apart from knowing, sharing, and caring for, the aspirations of the Chinese people.Ten months of rehearsals plus a US $ 40 billion budget for the hosting of the games paid off handsomely for the Chinese.

US President George Bush may have attempted to downplay China's imminent success by citing the country's human rights record in a recent speech, but he attended the games nonetheless together with 90 other Heads of State who ignored calls for a boycott. Earlier on CNN, Larry King was interviewing Christian music recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman about the tragic death of their adopted daughter who was born in China. It may be dismissed as pure coincidence but the timing is certainly in bad taste. The awaited event that would earn China enormous praise was akin to being discredited by the fact that Chinese children were being adopted by the US. Much of the interview covered the process, procedures and costs of adopting children. However, these efforts failed to diminish in any way, the global response to what China had to offer. In some respects, it was the proverbial sun rising in the east, after it has gone down in the west.

Western leaders have a lot to learn about the meaning and practice of respect in Asia. Admonitions about human rights, military conflicts, among others, from countries whose own hands have been dirty for much longer periods and in several continents, are futile attempts to project themselves as better. It is a delusion of unworthy leaders who believe they can convince others of their higher moral authority by putting others down. Coming from one whose tenure has brought more damage to the face, image and economy of his country than any one of its past Presidents; and whose national conscience carries no remorse nor apology for what they had done to their native inhabitants, the admonitions are spits aimed at the heavens that will only splatter on their faces.

Chinese President Hu Jintao expressed it succinctly when he remarked, " it's inevitable that people from different countries may not see eye to eye, so we should try to expand our common ground on the basis of mutual respect". Politics has no place in sports, and it must be reiterated that it was the Western nations that initiated and perpetuated such practices; not the east, not the Asians, and certainly not China. China's hosting of the games has brought honor and glory for its country, and its courteous and diplomatic management of the proceedings will bring the same upliftment and pride to most, if not all, of Asia. This is the inevitable outcome of this event, and it will strengthen China's influence in the region, and the rest of the world.

Haarrrrwwwwwk...Twoooooooph...Ting!

Addington's Assault on America

Americans have yet to comprehend the devastating impact of its legal strategies in the War on Terror that has defaced the country's image in the global community, and has tarnished the nation's soul. The "New Paradigm" made a mockery of the Constitution and disregarded ideals consistent with American values which the country once so proudly proclaimed, and nearly succeeded in overturning 200 years of jurisprudence that defined the limits of the President's powers - by making war a substance of dictatorial prerogative. The chief architect of this abomination is David Addington.

The New Paradigm was structured from an interpretation of the Constitution that would compel America's founding fathers to commit harakiri. It provides that the President, as Commander-in-Chief, has the authority to violate the Civil Liberties of its citizens, trash International Laws, and contravene the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War if national security so requires. All known legal boundaries are eliminated, and illegal surveillance, torture, secret and prolonged detention shall be used to allow the Pentagon to contain terrorists, preempt and prevent future attacks. It devised a system of detention and interrogation called "rendition" that placed suspects outside of the US and beyond the reach of Criminal and Military courts, whose stringent standards on evidence and protecting defendants rights were seen as too complex. Instead, Military Commissions were created and the suspects were not designated as prisoners of war but as illegal enemy combatants - a legal euphemism to go around the established standards of the Geneva Conventions on treatment of prisoners.

David Addington is Vice-President Dick Cheney's General Counsel, and their partnership dates back to the late 80's and early 90's. Both share the belief that the Presidency was weakened by the reform movements after Vietnam and Watergate, and that the Office of the President was meant to be very powerful. When Cheney became Vice-President, Addington masterminded the transition of setting up the most powerful Vice-Presidency in American History. He merged the office of the President with Cheney's into a single Executive Office under the rationale' that the Vice-President is the executive and implementer of the President. Cheney thus became the de facto President of the less than intellectual lightweight George W. Bush, whose eloquence and use of the english language is slightly below the level of porky pig.

Addington is a summa cum laude Foreign Service graduate of Georgetown University who also earned honors at Duke Law School. After 9/11 he was the only lawyer in the Bush Administration's inner circle who was ready and prepared to provide legal certainty at a time of momemtous political and legal confusion. This gave him enormous power and influence in crafting the paradigm that sunk America's respectability and credibility as a just and humane society.

Despite his legal brilliance and mastery of National Security laws, Addington's creations manifest ignorance of military law or the laws of war. Military Commissions can try only violations of the Laws of War, and conspiracy to commit terrorist acts is not a crime under these laws as established by the Nuremberg trials after World War ll. Otherwise, all soldiers can be charged with conspiring to fight for their chosen side. In addition, his model has failed to produce results. Of the 700 detainees at Guantanamo, only 8% are alleged to have associated with Al Qaida, 55% never engaged in any hostile act against the US, and the rest were charged with spurious crimes like fleeing from US bombs. All but 5% were captured by non-US players, many of whom were bounty hunters.

Addington is a reclusive operator unknown to most US voters. But his arrogance, expressed in legal machinations that defy congressional oversight, public accountability, and a predilection for what is legally plausible rather than what is morally upright - even if it is a convoluted method of proving his philosophy of Presidential power. He has become so obsessed with this philosophy to the point of madness, that he would destroy all notions of America's fairness and proceed to construct rules with a vested interest in conviction. He frequently cites Lincoln's suspension of the writ of Habeas Corpus during the civil war, which Lincoln never claimed an inherent right; as justification for placing National Security above the rule of law. In this, he has turned a historical aberration into a dogma of Presidential prerogative.

David Addington has assaulted America's honor among the community of nations which has damaged the country's reputation beyond what any other US President has done. But it is the face of George W. Bush that will be dragged to the slime and the mud for this atrocity; and it will be the American people who will carry the burden of this shame. The only real restitution that can be obtained for this crime is to make him a stateless person with sanctions on any country that would grant him asylum. Then we will witness what justice will be unleashed by the forces the New Paradigm sought to demolish, to this dog of war.

Haarrrrwwwwk...Twoooooooph...Ting!

Sources: Jane Mayer, The Hidden Power
The Legal Mind Behind the White House War on Terror
The New Yorker

Jeffrey Steinberg, Cheney's Lawyer Addington Penned Key Torture Memo
Executive Intelligence Review

Bob Herbert, Madness and Shame
New York Times

Spain's Surviving Socialist Soldier

The savagery of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) created unprecedented carnage and wholesale bloodshed, under conditions of outrageous hatred and the fiery rhetoric of rabid patriotism. Atrocities committed numbed the country's sensibilities, and desensitized its citizens towards the extent of violence and human suffering resulting from deeply rooted political differences. It was a struggle by a legitimately elected socialist oriented government against a Coup d' etat led by rightist General Francisco Franco, that had the support of the businessmen, industrialists, landlords, and the nobility; as well as the Catholic Church.

The Civil War became an international arena, a proxy war for the battle against the forces of fascism by all individuals from many nations opposed to it - even if their own governments supported the rightist coup. Volunteers for the socialists who were referred to as Republicans, battled against soldiers of their own country who fought for the fascists. The Franco fascists labeled themselves Nationalists, and sought to retain the status quo to deny the Republican plan of wealth redistribution. Adolph Hitler used the war as a rehearsal for many of the Blitzkrieg tactics he used for the war in Europe, and perhaps to refine his plan for the extermination of the Jews.

After ferocious battles and untold atrocities on both sides, the Nationalists soundly defeated the Republicans to establish a dictatorship. The massacre of Republicans and their sympathizers and supporters followed in earnest in what was considered a preview of the holocaust of World War ll. But one socialist survived to reveal his version of this chapter in the history of Spain. His name is Antonio Garcia Baron.

Baron's story is a remarkable tale of survival, not only of his physical existence, but his principles as well. Despite his advanced years, he has maintained his health well and kept his memories of the Civil War intact. He is the only survivor of the anarchist Durruti column, which prevented the advance of the Franco forces to Madrid. After the defeat of the Republicans, he escaped to Britain to join the war against Germany. He was captured in 1941 and sent to Mauthausen concentration camp. Here, Himmler confirmed the collaboration of the Catholic Church with the Third Reich, but who also expressed the plan to go against the Church leaders at some later date. He survived the Mauthausen and lived in Paris in 1945, however, Franco's minions continued to hound him while purges of Republicans went on in Spain. His eyes were damaged by poisoned coffee in France, in what he termed as one of more than a hundred attempts on his life.

In the1950's he settled for a sparsely populated place in a region of Bolivia where he could be as far away from any priest. He claimed that the Spanish press covered up the massacre of 2 million Republicans which was masterminded by the Catholic Church. In the Bolivian community he went to, the presence of a German priest who bad-mouthed him as a criminal forced him to move to a jungle 67 kilometers away with his Bolivian wife Irma. Believing the priest continued to spy on him and made attempts to inform his enemies of his whereabouts, he established an anarchist community with nomadic indians in the heart of the wilderness. His community thrived, and he has survived the harsh jungle, and perhaps all his enemies.

Notwithstanding his status as a stateless citizen which was taken away by Franco, he believes he should not request for a reinstatement of his citizenship because it was stolen from him by the government. He averred that Franco wanted the Nazis to exterminate them in silence at Mauthausen. Paintings from events in prison provide a visual reminder of his past under the Nazis. Baron is determined to share his version of the Civil War to a larger audience. Recent developments in Spain could assist him in this effort. Thousands of documents from the Civil war detailing the campaign of the Nationalists versus the Republicans were ordered released by Spain's socialist government as part of its policy of redressing the wrongs of Franco's era. The order is controversial since the documents include Franco's campaign of brutal repression against his perceived enemies.

The documents and the details that are to be revealed by Baron may face rejection or may be acknowledged and embraced. It could lead to division or forge unity. But for Baron, the truth can no longer be suppressed, and the fulfillment of a promise to fallen comrades must now come to pass since his opportunity to do so diminishes with time. As with all dictatorial regimes then and now, in whatever form or whatever part of the world they insidiously breed, a day of reckoning will come. Like Baron, who survived the horrors of war, the inhumanity of torture, the paranoia of assassinations, and the isolation and deprivation of an unforgiving wilderness environment, someone will emerge with the truth which may open old wounds, or commence the healing of several decades of bleeding from wounds inflicted by injustice and perpetuated by blatant lies.

Haarrrwwwwk...Twoooooooph...Ting!

Apology for An Abrupt Absence

By the time this post gets published, I would have been gone from the blogosphere for over two weeks. Sudden disappearances have been part of my life, not as a matter of personal choice, but largely forced upon by circumstances and events in the type of causes I have pursued. But I have always managed to bring myself around conditions that restrain the need and desire to communicate, and this is no exception. The problem is, it may take a little time.

I apologize to my dearest friends in the blogging community, my buddies, my readers, and those whom I have just recently been in contact with through blogging; for the abrupt and unannounced departure.This is actually the third post on the subject, starting with an announced leave from blogging, to a sorry for the 7 day silence, to this post. The carrier of this post could not leave immediately to get the posts encoded. I hope this one makes it.

Our team has been commissioned to do a rationalization program for relief operations, then a survey of resources and skills in our assigned area to develop a rehabilitation program, then a strategy for the reconstruction and development of sustainable mechanisms for education, health care, livelihood and income generation, and skills training. This is in a country recently ravaged by a cyclone whose government remained unmindful of the suffering and took their time accepting much needed aid. We have been deployed in a province that is so backward and primitive, and thrust immediately into the process of getting our hands and feet wet, as we merrily slush through the waters where decomposing bodies still abound and our arms swelling from injections to prevent disease.

The sad part is, my laptop crashed just before our departure for this country, and my techie son determined that it was a virus (trojan) obtained from one of the sites clicked for Entrecard. He noted that Entrecard hardly screens any application for membership and it's approval is instantaneous. In addition, the spam comments began to appear on the comments box after a day of heavy clicking.

Our departure has also been moved two days earlier, so we rushed to this country on July 9. There is no electricity in the area where we are, it is as primitive as Tarzan's tribal contacts - thanks to the long rule of this Military government who are attempting to legitimize their rule rather shamelessly. We have assigned vehicles with military drivers, our quarters were built by the military, we have only battery power for lights at night and for the electric fans - making computers useless, we were not allowed to bring our batteries and satellite communication equipment so we could at least get to the internet. Typewriters are available but the soldiers will do the typing, thus all reports we have are read before it even gets to the Aid agencies we are connected with. The photos on this post ( if it could be uploaded) were provided by the citizens, some of which are being sold in the black market. We only get to the capital city once every week, but power supply even there is intermittent.

So to my friends and readers, I apologize for the absence. At the rate we are working here, and much needs to be done fast, I could be doing regular posting by the end of August. Until then, I will attempt to smuggle out posts but I am unsure if I can answer comments as much as I used to. Perhaps a week's delay in response if I'm lucky at the Capital City. The truth is I miss blogging a lot and miss all those blogs I greatly admire. I will also not be able to make posts about this country as I may endanger the messenger of the article. The risk for this particular apology post is minimal because they find our team hardworking and dedicated. I hope you keep the faith as I have, and thank you for the concern you have shown and the support you have provided. And for those I have commitments for guest posting, I will meet those commitments even if they are late. If the late posts are `refused, I will understand. In the place where I'm at, there is so much that needs to be understood that my perspective is inclined to be very open and enduring.

Harrrrrrrwwwwk...Twooooooph...Ting!

Mama Mia the Movie!

The electrifying element that entices audiences to watch Mama Mia stems from a deftly crafted story built on the musical appeal of Abba's songs. The 22 selected songs of this Swedish pop group, active between 1972 to 1982, have been woven into a simple tale with tremendous potential for awkward circumstances and embarrassing moments that can be mined for hilarity and ridiculous conviviality. But the star is undoubtedly Abba.

The plot is centered around Sophie Sheridan (Amanda Seyfried), an 18 year old teenager about to get married but remains unaware of who her father is. After reading her mother's (Meryl Streep) diary, she invites 3 men from her mother's past back to the Greek island paradise they last visited 20 years ago, to satisfy her quest for the identity of her real father. This puts her mother in a very discomforting dilemma. Surely, a request for blood samples for DNA testing wouldn't be as funny nor eventful; and the romantic rusticity of Abba's songs wouldn't include anything remotely clinical. The film version of this musical, which was first staged in 1999, has become one of the most successful musicals of all time; and the film stars are compelled to perform the songs in the movie. Actors were terrified singing in front of Abba, but were complimented by the band members for their rendition. Meryl Streep, who performed in school musicals, including Oklahoma during her younger days, welcomed the challenge to return to her first love. Being over 50, it would be interesting to hear if age has not caught up with her inactive singing talent that was last heard more than 35 years ago; where even Abba's "Dancing Queen" would be quite formidable to perform.

Abba is an acronym from the first letters of the group's members: A-Agnetha, B-Bjorn, B-Benny, A- Anni-Frid. The group received immense popularity employing catchy song hooks, simple lyrics, and a wall of sound achieved by overdubbing the female singers' voices in multiple harmonies. They have sold over 400 million records and continue to sell 2 to 3 million records a year. Songwriters Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus were initially reluctant about the Musical, but were later convinced by the producers. When they were broached with the idea of a movie, there was no longer any hesitation. Both are surprised at the continued popularity of their songs which they believed ended in the mid 80's.

The story may not fully explain why Sophie's mother never sought the real father, nor if these 3 gentlemen from her past ever married, had children, are divorced, or widowers. Most importantly, why none of them married her - perhaps because she was such a cheat - cavorting with 3 men at the same time. She really duped 3 men out of their pants and into her most powerful ovulating moments. Or, she could have refused to see them again preferring instead to live with the memories of a magnificent period, rather than living through the emotional difficulties of a disintegrating relationship.

Well... this is the real story: two of these men were, and still are, sterile, and she just didn't want to know who they were.

Haaarrrrwwwwwk...Twoooooooph...Ting!

Australian Art Attack

A sense of shameless squeamishness is gripping the Australian government with regard to the substantiation of nudity and childhood as subjects of art. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has shown enormous inflexibility about the depiction of children in artistically executed photographs. Last May 8, he ordered the closure of Bill Henson's photo exhibit after complaints were raised over the e-mail invitation which included the nude image of a 13 year old girl. Several other pieces were seized to determine violations of Australia's obscenity and Child protection laws, but the charges were dropped. Bill Henson, a renowned and accomplished artist, cancelled the exhibit.

This case sparked an inflamed nationwide debate in Australia. International movie star Cate Blanchett defended Henson, citing the risk to Australia's cultural reputation, the wrong signal it sends towards building a creative Australia, and the impact that the closure of the exhibit has on the index of social freedom in the country. She argued that Henson's work is not child pornography and has been affirmed by respected curators and critics worldwide. But PM Rudd expressed being sickened by these creations which he described as "revolting".

The controversy does not stop here. Yesterday, the Art Monthly Australia reignited the debate on pornography and censorship by publishing a nude photo of a 6-year old child on its front cover, to protest the closure of the exhibit and to"restore some dignity to the debate". It seems art supporters and artists are doing what Kevin Rudd has described...revolting.

Depictions of child nudity appear in works of art in different cultures and historical periods. During the Italian Renaissance, nudity was featured in art especially those with Christian themes. Cherubs were also painted nude and were called putto, as with Jesus Christ as a baby. But PM Rudd's counter argument that a little child cannot fully discern being depicted naked , and is therefore abused, is a classic censorship reasoning. It is based on the belief that children have limited rights, child development and cognitive abilities are not mature enough, and that parental rights and responsibilities should be supported by libraries. Arguments against point to the right to learn, the right of parents to raise their kids as they see fit without interference, that parents ought to oversee the child's development - not libraries, and that children are underestimated, and are more capable than adults give them credit for.

The adamant stance of Kevin Rudd, who said he was acting as a parent, is bewildering. The exhibit was by private invitation, from collections by a famous and respected artist who has not been accused of child molestation. Is the Prime Minister afraid that the exhibit might arouse the prurient interests of pedophiles in Australia? Is he cautious about keeping the secret of several education ministers and deputy ministers who have pending child abuse cases in schools, and who are in fact harassing the whistle blowers rather than the predators? How many of these pedophiles have been sentenced? How many more cases pending? How many teacher whistle blowers lives have been ruined by persecution from these higher ups? How many more cases are not being reported?

Prime Minister Rudd is misdirected. The problem is not in the art or the artists' depiction. Neither is the problem with the children used as subjects of art. The problem is that there are those who are blind to art and who can only salivate at the images with their sinister and pernicious minds. Kevin Rudd said " I'm passionate about children having innocence in their childhood". If his words match his passion, then he should prosecute those who willfully take this innocence away wantonly, to the fullest extent of the law. Not the artists who depict the beauty and splendor of innocence, but the pedophiles who ravage and devour the spirit and soul of this essence found only in the purity of childhood.

Haaarrrrwwwwk...Twoooooooph...Ting!

The Birth of Beatie's Baby

Should there be other men who wish to become pregnant, carry the baby for the full 9 month term, and make a normal delivery, their role model and trailblazer has completed that journey. Of course, they should have functional reproductive organs too, (aside from their manhood) which would make them genuinely androgynous; but that would also leave doubts about being "men of miracles" in this highly skeptical age. However, Thomas Beatie, 34 years old and married to Nancy is the first husband to become a mother, and he will still be the father to his baby daughter. That, is multi-tasking of the highest order.

Beatie was born as Tracy Lagondino, was a former girl scout, model, and beauty pageant finalist. He lived as a man in his 20's and officially changed his gender. He had taken testosterone treatments to grow his facial hair but kept his reproductive organs intact. He however, had his breasts removed. That would effectively eliminate breast feeding from his motherly duties as a father, or whatever he wants to be and however he wants to be referred to. According to his wife of 5 years who has 2 daughters from a previous marriage, their roles will not change, and Mr. Beatie...errrrr Mrs. Beatie...ahh Thomas, will still be the dad.

He made headlines last March when he announced his miraculous pregnancy, and even appeared on Oprah. The thought that a man could become pregnant and possess strong motherly instincts was an incredible idea, but the process of gender reassignment explains it all logically. It involves several stages. Diagnosis for transsexuals is the first and is done by a psychiatrist. Counselling is done before, during and after treatment. The second stage is real life, where the patients must live their lives in their chosen gender for a significant period; change their name, legal status, clothes, and appearance; among friends, family and at work. They are given hormone treatment during this period.

Stage 3 is hormone treament. Women becoming men are given androgens for a deeper voice, facial and body hair, and the lightening and ceasing of menstrual periods. For men becoming women, oestrogen treatment develops breast tissues and a more feminine figure. But the voice and hair remain, and they will have to learn to speak falsetto. The last stage is surgery, but not everyone will have it. Before a woman's breasts are removed, she will have to live as a man for a year. Her uterus and ovaries will also be removed as the testosterone will increase the risk of cancer. Genital surgery will follow after at least 2 years.

The good news for those married gay men is that creating female genitalia is a highly successful procedure. According to those who've had it, their male partners couldn't tell the difference. Perhaps because they were not interested in it before.and don't really know how it looks. But creating the male genitalia is more complicated because of the rise and fall process of this attached article. The bad news for married lesbians is that only a third of transsexuals want to have a penis constructed. This is understandable because this creation does not have the brains of a man in it. But this low preference would definitely lessen the chances for a real miracle. A woman turned into a man, who actually fertilizes the female egg with a created instrument. That's a bigger story than test tube babies, and it could make men obsolete.

Haarrrrwwwwwk...Twoooooooph...Ting!