Italy Welcomes Man Who Fled Afghanistan
ROME - Italy granted asylum Wednesday to an Afghan who faced the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity, and Premier Silvio Berlusconi said the man was in the care of the Interior Ministry after arriving in Italy earlier in the day. Abdul Rahman "is already in Italy. I think he arrived overnight," Berlusconi said, declining to release more details. Rahman's jailing in Afghanistan inspired an appeal by Pope Benedict XVI to Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and efforts by the United Nations to find a country to take him.¡Muchisimas gracias, Italia![...] Anticipating that Italy's Cabinet would approve Rahman's asylum, Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said Tuesday that such a move would bring "all the forms of protection and assistance" related to recognizing refugee status.
Italy has close ties with Afghanistan, whose former king, Mohammed Zaher Shah, was allowed to live with his family in exile in Rome for 30 years. The former royals returned to Kabul after the fall of the Taliban regime a few years ago.
Sharon Stone: Teens Should Give More Oral Sex.
"I was in the store the other day and I watched a young girl trying on clothes, showing her abdomen.Who do you think you are, Ms. Stone? Who are you to talk to some stranger's daugther about ANYTHING let alone sex?"Her mother was trying to talk to her about not being inappropriately luring. I said, 'Gee that would look much nicer with a camisole under.' "Her mother walked away, and I said to the girl, 'I'd like to give you a two-minute conversation about sex.' "Young people talk to me about what to do if they're being pressed for sex? I tell them (what I believe): oral sex is a hundred times safer than vaginal or anal sex.
"If you're in a situation where you cannot get out of sex, offer a blow job. I'm not embarrassed to tell them."
Chris Bergman of the National Ledger says it best:
I'm certain she's not embarrassed - she has no shame. So if a teen is in a situation where they cannot get out of sex? What does she mean - like rape? This may be the dumbest words ever to leave Stone's mouth.I'm a mom with a teen - so I understand the importance of safe sex for teens - but to tell a girl to give a guy oral sex if he is aggressive is asinine.
Wow - Sharon Stone - way to step up and be role model for teens. Reward your would be rapist with oral sex.
Former defense chief Caspar Weinberger dies at 88
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Caspar Weinberger, U.S defense secretary under President Ronald Reagan, died on Tuesday at age 88, his family said.Weinberger died about 5 a.m. in a hospital near his home in Mount Desert, Maine. He had recently been treated for pneumonia.
"He was just a worn-out guy," his son, Caspar Weinberger, Jr., told Reuters.
"He should be remembered as a world statesman, a great American patriot," the son said. "What he did with Reagan really brought down the Soviet Union. They stuck to their plan and simply outspent the Soviets despite all sorts of doubts here."
H/T: Matt @ Blackfive.
...Doss never liked being called a conscientious objector. He frequently said that he preferred the term “conscientious cooperator.”Raised a Seventh-day Adventist, Doss did not believe in using a gun or killing because of the sixth commandment, which states, “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13). Doss was a patriot, however, and believed in serving his country.
During World War II, instead of accepting a deferment, Doss voluntarily joined the Army as a conscientious objector.
Assigned to the 307th Infantry Division as a company medic, he was harassed and ridiculed for his beliefs, yet he served with distinction and ultimately received the Congressional Medal of Honor on October 12, 1945, for his acts of bravery.
According to his Medal of Honor citation, time after time Doss’s fellow soldiers witnessed how unafraid he was for his own safety. He was always willing to go after a wounded fellow, no matter how great the danger. On one occasion, in Okinawa, Japan, he refused to take cover from enemy fire as he rescued approximately 75 wounded soldiers, carrying them one by one and lowering them over the edge of the 400-foot Maeda Escarpment. He did not stop until nearly 12 hours, later when he had brought everyone to safety...
Latino Community Protests With "Day For Latino Dignity"
[...] Immigrant communities encouraged a work stoppage to protest a bill passed by the Georgia House yesterday that allows sweeping changes to the state's immigration policies. Some estimate that as many as 800,000 would take part in the protest.What? You think you're going to bring down our economy by not making our hotel beds or cleaning our toilets for a day?The bill, which must still be approved by the state Senate before going to Governor Perdue, would deny state services to adults living in the U.S. illegally and impose a five percent surcharge on wire transfers from illegals.
Supporters say the plan is a vital homeland security measure that frees up limited state service for Georgia residents who are legally entitled to them. Opponents say it unfairly targets workers who are merely responding to the demands of some of the state's largest industries. [...]
And stop with this absolute bullcrap liberal talking point excuse that illegals are "merely responding to the demands of the [sic] industries." That's just a way to ignore admitting that no matter how valued their labor is, they are STILL BREAKING THE LAW!
Who do you pays for all of those public resources you are draining??? Yes, all of those HOSPITALS and SCHOOLS are payed for by US! The TAXPAYERS! Not illegals who wire most of their paychecks over the border without paying taxes on them!
You want to talk about dignity? Stop spitting on the dignity of the laws of the very country that supports your families back home in whatever failed Latin America economy you hail from.
Disgusting.
(Yes, I know this post is unusually vitriolic, but every once in a while, an article as flamingly off-the-wall as this just gets me going. Besides, who needs to present statistics when the only fact you need is the existence of the LAW?)
***We now return to mild-mannered me.***
Argentines Remember Victims of Dirty War
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Thousands of Argentines swayed to protest songs Friday at an early morning vigil marking the 30th anniversary of a military coup that ushered in the country's Dirty War.Gracias, las Madres, para todos sus esfuerzos.The gray-haired Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo took center stage at the rock concert-styled rally, wearing the trademark white handkerchiefs of their long human rights struggle.
"Thirty Years of Life Defeating Death!" and "Not One Step Back!" read large banners strung alongside black-and-white photographs of hundreds of "desaparecidos" — Spanish for the "Missing" victims of the seven-year dictatorship and its bloody crackdown on dissent.
It was just after 3 a.m. on March 24, 1976, that coup leaders announced they had toppled the government of Maria Estela Martinez de Peron, widow of the former strongman Juan Domingo Peron. She was flown away by helicopter from the pink Government House, steps from where the rally was held Friday on the Plaza de Mayo.
The junta would remain in power until 1983, leaving a trail of nearly 13,000 now officially listed dead or missing during the era. Human rights groups put the toll for a systematic crackdown on dissidents, now known as the Dirty War, at nearly 30,000.
Today marks the 26th anniversary of the death of Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Goldámez, or more commonly known as just "Romero."
From the sermon just minutes before his death:
"...We know that every effort to improve society, above all when society is so full of injustice and sin, is an effort that God blesses; that God wants; that God demands of us."
(Click to learn more)
Via Powerline via GatewayPundit (who has video):
Reporter: Do you feel embattled at this point in your tenure? In a recent column, Maureen Dowd quoted an unidentified administration official who described you as an "eccentric old uncle who's ignored." She claims that you don't hold the same sway in meetings.Niiiice.Rumsfeld: Did you get all that? You want to be on camera, right? That’s a sure way to get on the evening news. The answer to your question is no.
Reporter: Well, I'm asking about the facts reported in the column. Do you feel you hold the same sway in meetings?
Rumsfeld: I'm not going to comment on that.
(Pause)- Rumsfeld looks away for a moment, then...
Rumsfeld: If you believe everything you read in Maureen Dowd, you better get a life.
Afghanistan: Christian Convert Faces Execution.
PRAGUE, March 21, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Some 15 years ago, Abdul Rahman made a decision that may now cost him his life.German defense minister, Friedbert Pflueger states, "Germany sent peacekeeper to help Afghanistan 'become a democratic country, not so that people can be sentenced to death on religious grounds.'"While working for an international Christian aid organization helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan, he abandoned Islam and became a Christian.
On his return to Afghanistan from Germany in 2002, 41-year-old Abdul Rahman told his relatives about his faith.
And it is they who reportedly denounced him to authorities in February. When police arrived to arrest and charge him with rejecting Islam, they found him carrying a Bible.
I dare say we feel the same way.
[...] International Christian Concern (ICC), a U.S.-based organization that assists Christians who are victims of persecution and discrimination because of their faith, has called for Abdul Rahman's immediate acquittal.What's the point of including two completely contradictory elements in the constitution?In a statement, the ICC says "Afghanistan had already had enough of religious extremism under the Taliban."
The organization is calling on President Hamid Karzai to defend freedom of religion by pardoning Abdul Rahman.
But reports say Karzai's office has indicated he will not intervene in the case.
Judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada has said that if Abdul Rahman does not reconvert to Islam, the court would have no alternative but to sentence him to death.
So far, Rahman shows no sign of relenting [God bless him! --ed.]. Mawlavizada says Abdul Rahman was asked but refused to return to the religion of his birth.
[...] Afghanistan's constitution states that "no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam." At the same time, it says that the country should abide by the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That states that everyone has the right to change his religion or belief.
We did not shed our blood, sweat, and tears to oust one theocracy (and liberate millions of people at that!) only to replace it with another masquerading as a democracy!
Please keep Abdul Rahman in your prayers.
Basque Group Ends Movement With Cease-Fire.
VITORIA, Spain - The Basque separatist group ETA announced a permanent cease-fire Wednesday, ending a decades-long campaign of violence and closing the door on one of Western Europe's last active armed separatist movements.Translated: "We're getting our butts kicked and this whole 'violent separatist revolution' thing just isn't working out any more so please don't hunt us down like the vile scum we are and prosecute us."The news prompted quiet jubilation in Spain, which has endured more than 800 deaths and $15.5 billion in economic damage since the 1960s as part of the group's campaign to carve out an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwest France.
In a video statement, ETA said it "has decided to declare a permanent cease fire as of March 24, 2006."
"The aim of (the cease-fire) is to promote a democratic process in the Basque country and to build a new framework in which our rights as a people will be recognized," the group said. "ETA also calls on the Spanish and French authorities to respond positively to this new situation, leaving their repressive ways behind."
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero expressed caution and hope. He was evasive when asked if he would now start negotiating with ETA under an offer he made last year, contingent on the group renouncing violence.Interesting point."Any peace process after so many years of horror and terror will be long and difficult," he told parliament.
Zapatero said that until now, Spain's political parties were joined in pain over ETA violence. "Now I trust we will be joined in hope," he said
[...] Many Spaniards believed that after the March 11, 2004, attacks in Madrid carried out by Islamic extremists, ETA had effectively been stymied. The idea is that popular revulsion over terrorism made deadly violence politically unthinkable for the group.
As the rest of the article appears to demonstrate, most Spaniards were cautiously optimistic about the supposed declaration, but, as Sandra Dorada, a 29-year-old postal worker stated, "'[...] (ETA) have said this before and it wasn't true.'"
Neo-Nazis threaten to massacre Muslims at World Cup.
ROME (AFP) - The World Cup in Germany is set to become a battleground between facists and Muslims, an Italian member of a new European neo-Nazi movement warned.Between state-authorized mega-brothels in Berlin and now this --- things are bound to get interesting this summer...In a statement published by Italian daily Repubblica, the memeber of AS Roma's notorious ultras hooligan group claims neo-Nazis across Europe met in Braunau in Austria to plan attacks against supporters from Islamic countries during the World Cup in Germany from June 9 to July 9.
"We are united. For the first time we are talking and planning together, with the English, the Germans, the Dutch, the Spanish, everyone with the same objective. At the World Cup there will be a massacre," said the Italian ultra.
"We will all be in Germany and there will be Turks, Algerians and Tunisians. The Turks, we can't stand them. In our country (Italy) there are not many, but in Germany, there are many of those guys there. They are Islamic terrorists.
"We will attack them. They are all enemies that need to be eliminated, just like the police. If we make the Roman greeting (the fascist salute) they put us in prison. We will be tens of thousands. Nothing but the English are feared."
Via KFOX news (El Paso, TX): Gang Activity In The Military.
The El Paso FBI office has renewed its focus on gang activity after discovering some U.S. soldiers are affiliated with one of the most violent gangs in country. El Paso FBI agents are now focusing on identifying soldiers they believe are affiliated with the Folk Nation gang.Agents told KFOX there is an increase in gang activity across the city, including the area around Ft. Bliss.
"We have identified in excess of 800 members that claim allegiance to a gang under Folk Nation. In that we've identified approximately 80 personnel both civilian and military ...who have participated in violent criminal activity," said Jeremy Francis, a special agent with the El Paso FBI.
"There are some cases that the El Paso Police Department is aware of and that the military officials are aware of," said Cesar Cortez, FBI supervisor with the Criminal Enterprise Division.
The FBI said the leadership in these types of gangs will look for people who are young and interested in joining the organization and then encourage them to join the military.
"They will hand pick them, ask them to keep their record clear so that they can enlist in the military and then once they're in the military, they want them to try and gain access to weapons and explosives and basically try to filter that back to the street level," said Francis.
As a result, the El Paso FBI Office has renewed its focus on gangs, especially with thousands of more soldiers who are expected to move to El Paso in the coming years.
"It can be a problem. It has been a problem in other military installations and by trying to take a proactive stance we're trying to keep it from becoming a problem here at Fort Bliss, Las Cruces area," said Cortez.
Group to honor Medal of Honor recipients.
[...] On March 25 at noon the Delaware Medal of Honor Historical Association will pay tribute to [Sgt. William] Nelson and all who have received the nation's highest award for valor, including 13 other Delawareans.I wish I could attend this ceremony and honor my state's MOH heroes.The ceremony honoring the recipients will be held at Dover Air Force Base's Air Mobility Command Museum.
"These recipients received their Medals of Honor for their actions against the enemy under combat conditions, above and beyond the call of duty at the risk of their life," said Paul Cathell, association founder and president. "They did not 'win' the Medal of Honor for it is not a lottery or a game and the word 'winners' is not part of their vocabulary."
Cathell said the museum is an ideal location for the annual ceremony because its displays include the "Hallway of Heroes," which has more than 800 photos and memorabilia from Medal of Honor recipients.
The association is trying to convince the federal government to declare March 25 a national holiday to honor and remember the nation's Medal of Honor recipients, Cathell said. The first Medal of Honor was awarded on March 25, 1863.
Major Gen. Frank Vavala, adjutant general of the Delaware National Guard, will be among the speakers at the ceremony.
"It's always appropriate to honor our heroes, but these 14 Delawareans deserve special recognition," Vavala said.
Descendants of seven of Delaware's Medal of Honor recipients will attend the March 25 ceremony at the air base, Cathell said. Among those will be descendants of Sgt. William Nelson, he said.
Heck, I'd like to just be there for a homecoming ceremony for troops returning from overseas but the Delaware Army National Guard's 280th Signal Battalion just came home a month ago.
Dedicated to all of our men and women in uniform and their families (and yes, our Coalition friends, too) defending the cause of freedom in Iraq.
3 Years On (A Semi-Rhyming Laundry List of Gratitude)
3 years on,
...you're still my heroes.
...you make me believe in the character of America.
...you help me sleep more soundly at night.
3 years on,
...with each sacrifice, we share in your loved ones' pain.
...many lives have been lost, but not in vain.
3 years on,
...I am confident you will do whatever it takes.
...the main-stream media can't cut you a break.
3 years on,
...you are continuing to make our country proud.
...millions of people are no longer without a voice.
...despite what the naysayers say, you have accomplished so very much.
3 years on,
...no matter how long the fight, we will always love and support you.
...we will continue to defend your honor and your good name.
3 years on,
...we will never cease in our prayers for you.
...I still wish I had the courage to defend our nation as you do.
...I still "thank my God every time I remember you."
P.S. To our forces engaged in Operation Enduring Freedom, the same most definitely applies to you, too.
Hungarian researchers find H5N1 bird flu vaccine for humans: PM.
Hungarian researchers have devised a vaccine for humans against the current form of the H5N1 bird flu virus, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany revealed.¡Hurra Hungría!This vaccine was developed by the Hungarian company Omnivest and has been approved by the country's pharmaceutical authorities, he told a press conference at the firm's laboratories at Bilsborosjeno, near Budapest.
Showing journalists a vial of the vaccine, Gyurcsany said it "contains six micrograms (of an active agent), enough for one person to be immunised against the H5N1 virus."
The vaccine would be used to protect people working in close proximity to diseased birds.
It is not intended, though, as a shield against a feared mutated form of the H5N1.
In its present form, H5N1 is transmissible amongst birds, and humans can catch it if they are closed to fowl which carry the virus.
But it cannot be transmitted from human to human. The fear is that the virus may acquire the genes to do these, triggering a global pandemic.
El Pais.es: The tragedy...animated.
(Sorry, but it's in Spanish.)
Óscar Abril Alegre, Spain, 19 years old
Liliana Guillermina Acero Ushiña, Ecuador, 26 years old
Florencio Aguado Rojano, Spain, 60 years old
Juan Alberto Alonso Rodríguez, Spain, 38 years old
María Joséfa Alvarez González, Spain, 48 years old
Juan Carlos Del Amo Aguado, Spain, 28 years old
Andriyan Asenov Andrianov, Bulgaria, 22 years old
María Nuria Aparicio Somolinos, Spain, 40 years old
Alberto Arenas Barroso, Spain, 24 years old
Neil Hebe Astocondor Masgo, Peru, 34 years old
Ana Isabel Avila Jiménez, Spain, 43 years old
Miguel Ángel Badajoz Cano, Spain, 34 years old
Susana Ballesteros Ibarra, Spain, 42 years old
Francisco Javier Barahona Imedio, Spain, 34 years old
Gonzalo Barajas Díaz, Spain, 32 years old
Gloria Inés Bedoya, Colombia, 40 years old
Sanaa Ben Salah Imadaquan, Spain, 13 years old
Esteban Martín De Benito Caboblanco, Spain, 39 years old
Rodolfo Benito Samaniego, Spain, 27 years old
Anka Valeria Bodea, Romania, 26 years old
Livia Bogdan, Romania, 27 years old
Florencio Brasero Murga, Spain, 50 years old
Trinidad Bravo Segovia, Spain, 40 years old
Alina Maria Bryk, Poland, 39 years old
Stefan Budai, Romania, 37 years old
Tibor Budi, Romania, 37 years old
María Pilar Cabrejas Burillo, Spain, 37 years old
Rodrigo Cabrero Pérez, Spain, 20 years old
Milagros Calvo García, Spain, 39 years old
Sonia Cano Campos, Spain, 24 years old
Alicia Cano Martínez, Spain, 63 years old
José María Carrilero Baeza, Spain, 39 years old
Álvaro Carrion Franco, Spain, 17 years old
Francisco Javier Casas Torresano, Spain, 28 years old
Cipriano Castillo Muñoz, Spain, 55 years old
María Inmaculada Castillo Sevillano, Spain, 39 years old
Sara Centenera Montalvo, Spain, 19 years old
Oswaldo Manuel Cisneros Villacís, Ecuador, 34 years old
Eugenia María Ciudad-Real Díaz, Spain, 26 years old
Jacqueline Contreras Ortiz, Peru, 22 years old
María Soledad Contreras Sánchez, Spain, 51 years old
María Paz Criado Pleiter, Spain, 52 years old
Nicoleta Diac, Romania, 27 years old
Beatriz Díaz Hernandez, Spain, 30 years old
Georgeta Gabriela Dima, Romania, 35 years old
Tinka Dimitrova Paunova, Bulgaria, 31 years old
Kalina Dimitrova Vasileva, Bulgaria, 31 years old
Sam Djoco, Senegal, 42 years old
María Dolores Durán Santiago, Spain, 34 years old
Osama El Amrati, Morocco, 23 years old
Sara Encinas Soriano, Spain, 26 years old
Carlos Marino Fernández Dávila, Peru, 39 years old
María Fernández del Amo, Spain, 25 years old
Rex Ferrer Reynado, Phillipines, 20 years old
Héctor Manuel Figueroa Bravo, Chile, 33 years old
Julia Frutos Rosique, Spain, 44 years old
María Dolores Fuentes Fernández, Spain, 29 years old
José Gallardo Olmo, Spain, 33 years old
José Raúl Gallego Triguero, Spain, 39 years old
María Pilar Gamiz Torres, Spain, 40 years old
Abel García Alfageme, Spain, 27 years old
Juan Luis García Arnaiz, Spain, 17 years old
Beatriz García Fernández, Spain, 27 years old
María de las Nieves García García-Moñino, Spain, 46 years old
Enrique García González, Dominican Republic, 28 years old
Cristina Aurelia García Martínez, Spain, 34 years old
Carlos Alberto García Presa, Spain, 24 years old
José García Sánchez, Spain, 45 years old
José María García Sánchez, Spain, 47 years old
Javier Garrote Plaza, Spain, 26 years old
Petrica Geneva, Romania, 34 years old
Ana Isabel Gil Pérez, Spain, 29 years old
Óscar Gómez Gudiña, Spain, 24 years old
Felix González Gago, Spain, 52 years old
Ángelica González García, Spain, 19 years old
Teresa González Grande, Spain, 38 years old
Elías González Roque, Spain, 30 years old
Juan Miguel Gracia García, Spain, 53 years old
Javier Guerrero Cabrera, Spain, 25 years old
Berta María Gutiérrez García, Spain, 39 years old
Sergio de las Heras Correa, Spain, 29 years old
Pedro Hermida Martín, Spain, 51 years old
Alejandra Iglesias López, Spain, 28 years old
Mohamed Itaiben, Morocco, 27 years old
Pablo Izquierdo Asanza, Spain, 42 years old
María Teresa Jaro Narrillos, Spain, 32 years old
Oleksandr Kladkovoy, Ukraine, 56 years old
Laura Isabel Laforga Bajón, Spain, 28 years old
María Victoria León Moyano, Spain, 30 years old
María Carmen Lominchar Alonso, Spain, 34 years old
Myriam López Díaz, Spain, 31 years old
María Carmen López Pardo, Spain, 50 years old
María Cristina López Ramos, Spain, 38 years old
José María López-Menchero Moraga, Spain, 44 years old
Miguel de Luna Ocaña, Spain, 36 years old
María Jesús Macías Rodríguez, Spain, 30 years old
Francisco Javier Mancebo Záforas, Spain, 38 years old
Ángel Manzano Pérez, Ecuador, 42 years old
Vicente Marín Chiva, Spain, 37 years old
Antonio Marín Mora, Spain, 43 years old
Begoña Martín Baeza, Spain, 25 years old
Ana Martín Fernández, Spain, 43 years old
Luis Andrés Martín Pacheco, Spain, 54 years old
María Pilar Martín Rejas, Spain, 50 years old
Alois Martinas, Romania, 27 years old
Carmen Mónica Martínez Rodríguez, Spain, 31 years old
Míriam Melguizo Martínez, Spain, 28 years old
Javier Mengíbar Jiménez, Spain, 43 years old
Álvaro de Miguel Jiménez, Spain, 26 years old
Michael Mitchell Rodríguez, Cuba, 28 years old
Stefan Modol, Romania, 45 years old
Segundo Víctor Mopocita Mopocita, Ecuador, 37 years old
Encarnación Mora Donoso, Spain, 64 years old
María Teresa Mora Valero, Spain, 37 years old
Julita Moral García, Spain, 53 years old
Francisco Moreno Aragonés, Spain, 56 years old
José Ramón Moreno Isarch, Spain, 37 years old
Eugenio Moreno Santiago, Spain, 56 years old
Juan Pablo Moris Crespo, Spain, 32 years old
Juan Muñoz Lara, Spain, 33 years old
Francisco José Narváez de la Rosa, Spain, 28 years old
Mariana Negru, Romania, 40 years old
Ismael Nogales Guerrero, Spain, 31 years old
Inés Novellón Martínez, Spain, 30 years old
Miguel Ángel Orgaz Orgaz, Spain, 34 years old
Ángel Pardillos Checa, Spain, 62 years old
Sonia Parrondo Antón, Spain, 28 years old
Juan Francisco Pastor Férez, Spain, 51 years old
Daniel Paz Manjón, Spain, 20 years old
Josefa Pedraza Pino, Spain, 41 years old
Miryam Pedraza Rivero, Spain, 25 years old
Roberto Pellicari Lopezosa, Spain, 31 years old
María del Pilar Pérez Mateo, Spain, 28 years old
Felipe Pinel Alonso, Spain, 51 years old
Martha Scarlett Plasencia Hernandez, Dominican Republic, 27 years old
Elena Ples, Romania, 33 years old
María Luisa Polo Remartinez, Spain, 50 years old
Ionut Popa, Romania, 23 years old
Emilian Popescu, Romania, 44 years old
Miguel Ángel Prieto Humanes, Spain, 37 years old
Francisco Antonio Quesada Bueno, Spain, 44 years old
John Jairo Ramírez Bedoya, Colombia, 37 years old
Laura Ramos Lozano, Honduras, 37 years old
Miguel Reyes Mateos, Spain, 37 years old
Marta del Río Menéndez, Spain, 40 years old
Nuria del Río Menéndez, Spain, 38 years old
Jorge Rodríguez Casanova, Spain, 22 years old
Luis Rodríguez Castell, Spain, 40 years old
María de la Soledad Rodríguez de la Torre, Spain, 42 years old
Ángel Luis Rodríguez Rodríguez, Spain, 34 years old
Francisco Javier Rodríguez Sánchez, Spain, 52 years old
Ambrosio Rogado Escribano, Spain, 56 years old
Cristina Romero Sánchez, Spain, 34 years old
Patricia Rzaca, Poland, 7 meses
Wieslaw Rzaca, Poland, 34 years old
Antonio Sabalete Sánchez, Spain, 36 years old
Sergio Sánchez López, Spain, 17 years old
María Isabel Sánchez Mamajón, Spain, 37 years old
Juan Antonio Sánchez Quispe, Peru, 45 years old
Balbina Sánchez-Dehesa France, Spain, 47 years old
David Santamaría García, Spain, 23 years old
Sergio dos Santos Silva, Brazil, 28 years old
Juan Carlos Sanz Morales, Spain, 33 years old
Eduardo Sanz Pérez, Spain, 31 years old
Guillermo Senent Pallarola, Spain, 23 years old
Miguel Antonio Serrano Lastra, Spain, 28 years old
Rafael Serrano López, Spain, 66 years old
Paula Mihaela Sfeatcu, Romania, 27 years old
Federico Miguel Sierra Serón, Spain, 37 years old
Domnino Simón González, Spain, 45 years old
María Susana Soler Iniesta, Spain, 46 years old
Carlos Soto Arranz, Spain, 34 years old
Mariya Ivanova Staykova, Bulgaria, 38 years old
Marion Cintia Subervielle, France, 30 years old
Alexandru Horatiu Suciu, Romania, 18 years old
Danuta Teresa Szpila, Poland, 28 years old
José Luis Tenesaca Betancourt, Ecuador, 17 years old
Iris Toribio Pascual, Spain, 20 years old
Neil Torres Mendoza, Ecuador, 38 years old
Carlos Tortosa García, Spain, 31 years old
María Teresa Tudanca Hernández, Spain, 49 years old
Jesús Utrilla Escribano, Spain, 44 years old
José Miguel Valderrama López, Spain, 25 years old
Saúl Valdez Ruiz, Honduras, 44 years old
Mercedes Vega Mingo, Spain, 45 years old
David Vilela Fernández, Spain, 23 years old
Juan Ramón Zamora Gutiérrez, Spain, 29 years old
Yaroslav Zojniuk, Ukraine, 48 years old
Csaba Olimpiu Zsigovski, Romania, 26 years old
Fantastic.
Germany's Carnival – OK to Bash Catholic Church but Islam off Limits.
COLOGNE, March 2, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday and Pancake Tuesday are among the many names for the custom of keeping a festival on the last day before the beginning of the Christian penitential season of Lent. In most countries that have European roots, Mardi Gras has always included elements mocking Catholic ceremonies and customs.But the tone has changed since the growth of what Christians are recognizing as a new militant secularism that specifically fosters hatred of Christianity. One skit planned for Cologne features the Pope and the Cardinal Archbishop of Cologne as homosexual pop stars who end up in bed together. Last year, a float in the Dusseldorf parade showed Cardinal Meisner striking a match to a pregnant woman tied to the stake, the words "I had an abortion" written on her. The float's caption read, "Fostering Tradition."
The custom for making fun of Cathlic symbols goes back to the middle ages said Matthias von der Bank, a historian from Cologne's Carnival Museum said, "In the Middle Ages, carnival was a festival of reverse worlds and a playful expression of this," von der Bank said. "So Christian symbols, for example, were turned upside down."
Von der Bank said, however, that the tone today has changed from playful satire to one of vicious attack. Slandering the church was not part of carnival's festivities he told a German newspaper.
"Our philosophy is that Carnival should be fun and friendly," Sigrid Krebs, spokesman for the Cologne carnival committee said. "But they have never been aimed at harming or offending people nor will they in the future," Krebs said.
Although the rule of the Düsseldorf carnival committee was that there would be no floats dealing with religion this year, parade organizers seem to feel that Catholicism does not qualify. A float in the Dusseldorf parade featured a statue of Pope Benedict wearing the jersey of the often-defeated soccer team Fortune. The message was clear: the Catholic Church is the losing team and attacking it is acceptable.
Bernd Jost, spokesman for the Dusseldorf carnival committee said that the religion the committee wants to exempt is Islam. "In view of the current debate, we will be keeping very clear of things related to Muslims," Jost said. "We don't want to fuel hatred," Jost said. But he admitted that the real motive is the need to keep parade spectators safe.
Last year's parade floats reflected a more egalitarian secularism and included one in which a Muslim Imam was crawling out of a hamburger.
Jacques Tilly, an organizer of Dusseldorf's parade said he thought the restriction was a compromise. Reflecting a more even-handed antipathy for religion, Tilly said, "Religion is in my eyes a delusion and hence should be mocked. The humour depicted on the floats simply needs to have some bite otherwise there is little point."
Cross-posted @ Vince Aut Morire
Human trafficking a growing global problem.
Dover session will teach ways of recognizing victims
By MIKE BILLINGTON
The News Journal02/20/2006
Human trafficking -- the modern version of slavery -- is a multibillion-dollar-a-year criminal enterprise, ranking behind drug trafficking in global crime statistics.Some victims of human trafficking are probably working in Delaware, experts say.
"There's no doubt that there is human trafficking in every state in the union," said Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Molloy of Fort Myers, Fla. Molloy has prosecuted several human-trafficking cases.
"If you have an agricultural industry, for example, or large numbers of undocumented workers, you have slavery."
Delaware has a large agricultural sector and other businesses -- such as food service and construction -- that lend themselves to human trafficking, but there have been no specific charges brought to date in the state, U.S. Attorney Colm Connolly said.
"Some local law enforcement agencies have brought matters to us that they thought could be human trafficking, especially in areas such as prostitution rings, but further investigation did not bear that out," Connolly said.
Despite the lack of evidence human trafficking is a problem in the state, one advocacy group is organizing a training session Wednesday in Dover to promote ways to recognize potential victims and signs.
Attendees at the event will include police, social workers, hospital personnel and others who come into contact with the state's immigrant population. It is not open to the public.
A number of experts have said that police and prosecutors are not trained well enough to recognize obvious signs and to deal with victims.
"You need to know how to interview these victims, because they are frightened," said Anna Rodriguez, the founder of the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking. "They have been coached in what to say and threatened repeatedly.
"You have to understand that it can take weeks, even months, to get the full story from victims," she said, because traffickers typically use force, fraud or coercion to rope people into slavery.
In some cases, they kidnap children and women from remote villages in Central America and then tell the victims that their families will be killed if they refuse to comply with the traffickers' demands.
They often rape, beat and confine their victims to control them.
"It's amazing that we have to even talk about human trafficking in the 21st century, but we do because it's a huge issue and it's growing," said Cecilia Cardesa-Lusardi, executive director of the Wilmington-based Voices Without Borders.
Cardesa-Lusardi's group is sponsoring Wednesday's training session.
"The fact that no cases have surfaced in Delaware could be a matter of education," according to Christina Miller, coordinator of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's anti-trafficking project. "People need to know how to recognize these cases."
In other areas of the country, a wide range of people are being taught how to recognize signs of human trafficking.
In Florida, Rodriguez said, health inspectors are asked to report when they see mattresses in the back rooms of restaurants or other signs that someone is being forced to live there.
Meter readers for water and power companies are also trained to look for signs people are being held against their will, Rodriguez said.
If a meter reader sees a mobile home with locks on the outside to keep people inside, she said, "they know to call us and we will investigate."
Cardesa-Lusardi and other organizers of Wednesday's conference want to establish a similar process here that will enable police and community members to work together.
"We talk about human trafficking as a concept that is so abstract that we sometimes fail to make a connection as to how it affects us here," she said.
At the conference, she said, "we want to dissect human trafficking in terms of the ways in which people are brought in as victims and the way they are exploited through commercial sex, pornography and as labor."
In many cases, fraud is used to trap victims into slavery, and phony job offers are a major recruiting tool, experts said. Usually this involves women and children who answer advertisements promising jobs as waitresses, maids and other occupations overseas. Once they arrive in their new country, they are trafficked for prostitution or domestic slavery.
"That is a classic example of human trafficking and we're seeing the same pattern all over the United States, especially with European women," said Terry Coonan, executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Human Rights at Florida State University. "They answer an ad, sign a contract, and when they get here they find that the job doesn't exist and they are forced to do something else."
Many European women who are tricked into slavery are victims of Russian gangsters, he said.
"Human trafficking is a multibillion-dollar growth industry because, unlike drugs, which are gone as soon as they are used, humans can be recycled," Coonan said. "Because they can continue to be exploited, they're a better investment for the traffickers."
Contact Mike Billington at 324-2761 or mbillington@delawareonline.com.