Resident Scholars of the A.P.I.
Amnesty International and the Flow of Renewal
Things did not go the way I intended today, so I finally kicked back, and decided to go with the flow. It ends up that the flow took me on a different trip entirely!
I had decided to finish up a piece that I had researched and written several months ago. It was three-quarters complete when distracted by another issue, I put it away for "sometime in the future." This morning that "sometime" arrived. I would complete the piece and post it - a perfect plan!
It was no where to be found. I looked in all of my files, folders, piles of papers, binders, legal pads, and even checked between the pages of several books to see if I may have used it for a bookmark! It sounds as if I am disoroganized, I'm not...it's just that I am a wee bit over-whelmed on occasion. I hope that I did not condemn it to the dumpster during one of my paper purges!
What to do?.......What to do? I did what any Dishpan Chronicler would do.....I attacked the sink full of last night's dishes with a vengence! While washing the coffee cups, I found myself thinking about the quote I found on the Net and printed this morning. I dried my hands, poured another cup of coffee, and read once again, what Amnesty International's director, William Schultz, said to Amy Goodman on Democracy Now on Tuesday, June 1, 2005. His statement follows:
"It's quite interesting that the Vice President doesn't take Amnesty seriously. The President calls us absurd. But, you know, when Amnesty International took on Saddam Hussein 20 years ago, when Donald Rumsfeld was courting him, and even in the run up to the Iraq war, when Amnesty International was regularly quoted by Mr. Rumsfeld and other officials about Saddam Hussein's brutality, under those circumstances, this president, this adminsitration didn't think we were absurd at all. When we criticize Cuba, when we criticize North Korea, when we criticize China, as we have repeatedly, this administration applauds Amnesty International. But when we criticize the United States, we are suddenly absurd. I think the administration doth protest too much."
Amnesty International is the only voice and hope for many people all over the world, who suffer torture and abuse at the hands of the corrupt and powerful. What a caring, dedicated, honorable group of people do this most important job! "I'm so glad that I am a member", I thought to myself. Oh no! I picked up a stack of old mail and there it was, the membership renewal that I had forgotten to send in. I got out the check book and went to work. I will mail it down in town today.
America has become what we were told the Soviet Union was when I was a kid, and there was a lot of Cold War propaganda. We invaded another country based on lies, we kill people, torture people, and hold people without charges for as long as we want (I remember quite well that one being described as a Soviet practice). We have, under this administration, become thugs. We are seen as terrorists by the rest of the world; a direct result of the ABSURD policies of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
Mr. William Schultz is an honorable, courageous man who is deserving of our respect. I applaud him and Amnesty International for standing up for Human Rights in the face of the mighty United States.
Sometimes you've just got to go with the flow.......
............Kitchen Window Woman.........................
I had decided to finish up a piece that I had researched and written several months ago. It was three-quarters complete when distracted by another issue, I put it away for "sometime in the future." This morning that "sometime" arrived. I would complete the piece and post it - a perfect plan!
It was no where to be found. I looked in all of my files, folders, piles of papers, binders, legal pads, and even checked between the pages of several books to see if I may have used it for a bookmark! It sounds as if I am disoroganized, I'm not...it's just that I am a wee bit over-whelmed on occasion. I hope that I did not condemn it to the dumpster during one of my paper purges!
What to do?.......What to do? I did what any Dishpan Chronicler would do.....I attacked the sink full of last night's dishes with a vengence! While washing the coffee cups, I found myself thinking about the quote I found on the Net and printed this morning. I dried my hands, poured another cup of coffee, and read once again, what Amnesty International's director, William Schultz, said to Amy Goodman on Democracy Now on Tuesday, June 1, 2005. His statement follows:
"It's quite interesting that the Vice President doesn't take Amnesty seriously. The President calls us absurd. But, you know, when Amnesty International took on Saddam Hussein 20 years ago, when Donald Rumsfeld was courting him, and even in the run up to the Iraq war, when Amnesty International was regularly quoted by Mr. Rumsfeld and other officials about Saddam Hussein's brutality, under those circumstances, this president, this adminsitration didn't think we were absurd at all. When we criticize Cuba, when we criticize North Korea, when we criticize China, as we have repeatedly, this administration applauds Amnesty International. But when we criticize the United States, we are suddenly absurd. I think the administration doth protest too much."
Amnesty International is the only voice and hope for many people all over the world, who suffer torture and abuse at the hands of the corrupt and powerful. What a caring, dedicated, honorable group of people do this most important job! "I'm so glad that I am a member", I thought to myself. Oh no! I picked up a stack of old mail and there it was, the membership renewal that I had forgotten to send in. I got out the check book and went to work. I will mail it down in town today.
America has become what we were told the Soviet Union was when I was a kid, and there was a lot of Cold War propaganda. We invaded another country based on lies, we kill people, torture people, and hold people without charges for as long as we want (I remember quite well that one being described as a Soviet practice). We have, under this administration, become thugs. We are seen as terrorists by the rest of the world; a direct result of the ABSURD policies of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
Mr. William Schultz is an honorable, courageous man who is deserving of our respect. I applaud him and Amnesty International for standing up for Human Rights in the face of the mighty United States.
Sometimes you've just got to go with the flow.......
............Kitchen Window Woman.........................
posted by Kitchen Window Woman at 2:15 PM
7 Comments:
This adminstration has perfected the art of believeablity. It kills me that simply because they "said" Amnesty is unreliable, millions will have nothing more to do with them, and will consider it their personal responsibility to spread the slander.
We really are turning into the society that we read about in the Soviet Union. Pravda reports what the Kremlin tells them to say; the Bush administration sends its own infomercials to TV stations. The stations play them and report it as "news."
People held with no trial or even charges for over 3 years -- this is the kind of thing we've always read about other countries doing, and thought "thank God this couldn't happen in America."
Amnesty International has lost its credibility - and my money. Do your homework. Guantanamo Bay is in no way a gulag. Your argument doesn't address the issue. Now go mop the floor!
I hate typos...so I deleted and typed it again.
Keith...540 "Prisoners of War" form 40 countries are held at Guantanamo without the protection of the Geneva Conventions. Their American captors have abused and tortured them. The American government has not mounted charges. So far, it seems, some of the "Prisoners of War" may be guilty of fighting against the Americans. Since when is it a crime to fight an enemy? That is why the term "Prisoner of War" applies and why these people should be protected under the conventions. Anything less demands a full investigation by an international tribunal. Add this to the list of "Why do they hate us?" Like I said...we are the new thugs. Worry about American prisoners, anywhere in the world, in the future.
It is not important to me to mop the floor today. I have already planned my day, therefore, your input is irrelevant, and will be summarily disregarded.
However, if you happen to be in the hemisphere in which I reside, on the day that I CHOOSE to mop my floor, Beware!.....I have wielded a mop for a good many years and will have no problem spic and spanning you hide!
*Note: the mop remark indicates that you do not know much about women...mopping and doing dishes...The Perfect Time to THINK!
....And you probably do not know how to use your time wisely. KWW
Jet......
You are right, this admin. has perfected the art of believeability.....I like the way you put it.
However, Amnesty puts out a pretty good publication that documents cases of human rights abuse the world over, along with Amnesty's actions in each case. It is there to see so let's hope that Amnesty's former stellar reputation will remain untarnished. After all, the enire world and half of us here in the states know that Bush and Company are liars and are daily being proven unreliable.
Tom......
Recently Putin made a remark to George W. Bush about American elections being fixed in Florida...if anyone would recognize such a pattern of control..Putin is the man. And I think Wolf Blitzer has gone off the deep end! He is like a cheerleader for this Liars' War...not a journalist.
More like Neo Con-artists.
I see the denying deniers are out in force on this one.
I get a choice-lovely! The choices are "it never happened" or "it only happened to 540 people who are all terrorists."
Of course, both of the above stated positions are LIES, as our own Government has acknowledged-funny things will happen when you start offering cash bounties in territory you do not know well-like local warlords will "sell" you people who are botherseome to them. It would seem that out Parrotriots only want to believe those things our Government says that fir their own (lack of a) worldview.
It seems to me that you cannot create honest people out of terrorists by using terrorism on them-but you can damn sure make a terrorist out of an honest man with the same tactics. Hitler had no trouble finding willing collaborators when he hit the USSR, for good reason.
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