on refugees

Palestinian homes on sale to 'private buyers' - 22 Jun 09

One of the issues sharply dividing Israelis and Palestinians is the so-called right of return to Israel by refugees from the 1948 war.

Most of the property they abandoned has been held by the Israeli government.

But as Dan Nolan reports, it has now begun to sell Palestinian properties to private buyers.

Refugees in Europe find it hard to fit in - 19 Jun 09

Europe is home to more than 1.5 million refugees who were driven from their countries by war or persecution.

Of the many asylum seekers who arrive in Europe each year, thousands are unaccompanied children.

Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri met one young Afghan refugee, who has battled to create a normal life for himself in Britain.

Inequity of Haitian refugees in Mexico - 20 Jun 09

The UN says that at least 42 million people have fled their homes last yfear because of conflict or persecution.

Mexico is considered to have one of the most open refugee policies and as a result it has become a popular destination for many Haitians who fled their country.

But as Al Jazeera's Mariana Sanchez discovered, despite government help many are facing economic hardship and discrimination.

Palestinians 'stranded' in Iraq refugee camp - 20 June 09

The creation of the state of Israel in 1948 triggered an exodus of millions of Palestinian refugees across the Middle East, including a community who found refuge in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

But facing persecution from Iraqi militias after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, many Palestinians fled to the Al Waleed refugee camp near the Iraqi-Syrian border.

As Al Jazeera's Nisreen El Shamayleh reports, these refugees say they now live in "horrendous" conditions.

One law for the rich, another law for the poor....

Hullabaloo points out:

Following up on my post last week about the shall we say, friendliness between the business and national security elites, here's a story from 2006 for the wtf files:

President George W. Bush has bestowed on his intelligence czar, John Negroponte, broad authority, in the name of national security, to excuse publicly traded companies from their usual accounting and securities-disclosure obligations. Notice of the development came in a brief entry in the Federal Register, dated May 5, 2006, that was opaque to the untrained eye.

Unbeknownst to almost all of Washington and the financial world, Bush and every other President since Jimmy Carter have had the authority to exempt companies working on certain top-secret defense projects from portions of the 1934 Securities Exchange Act. Administration officials told BusinessWeek that they believe this is the first time a President has ever delegated the authority to someone outside the Oval Office. It couldn't be immediately determined whether any company has received a waiver under this provision.

...



A trip to the statute books showed that the amended version of the 1934 act states that "with respect to matters concerning the national security of the United States," the President or the head of an Executive Branch agency may exempt companies from certain critical legal obligations. These obligations include keeping accurate "books, records, and accounts" and maintaining "a system of internal accounting controls sufficient" to ensure the propriety of financial transactions and the preparation of financial statements in compliance with "generally accepted accounting principles."MORE

Think of the possibilities...


Pam'ss House Blend:

Meantime, our Obama's response to 77 members of Congress sending him a letter to ask him to help repeal DADT?Pass the hot potato

ENDA has been been introduced into the house and it includes the transgender population this time


Our heterosexual privilege knapsack


NC:Anti-bullying bill passes -- awaits Gov. Perdue's signature


In the meantime:

Obama: No apology for CIA fucking up Chile Let us look forward! Ignore history!

Q The point being that almost no Latin American nation has been free from CIA -- bloody CIA intervention, Chile being a prime example, President Bachelet being one of its victims. Is it time for a historical apology?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, look, I think you answered your own question right at the beginning, which is I’m interested in going forward, not looking backward. I think that the United States has been an enormous force for good in the world. I think there have been times where we’ve made mistakes. But I think that what is important is looking at what our policies are today, and what my administration intends to do in cooperating with the region.MORE

It's a good thing we don't have rationing like all those horrible European countries or people wouldn't be able to get health care when they need it...



Glenn Greenwald:

The "Neda video," torture, and the truth-revealing power of images


Obama, the Right, an defendants Rights Remember that Supreme Court ruling that defendants have no constutional right to access states evidence and request a DNA to prove their innocence? Guess who supported this? Obama's DOJ.

Dear Obama. This is shitty. And it breaks teh laws int'l and domestic.

Former detainees have alleged they were beaten, deprived of sleep and threatened with dogs at the Bagram military base.The BBC interviewed 27 former inmates of Bagram around the country over a period of two months. Oh. And these guys? Were released cause they were determined innocent.

Uh no. nononononononononoNo. EDITED

via: voz_latina whose posts are here and here
1. We've got to able to detach emotionally from our institutions and be able to admit when they are wrong. And its hard as hell. And it hurts. But it hurts the transgender population to the point that their lives can be lost as a result of this discrimination. Incite, much as I rate and respect them, is WRONG on this. This is bad.

*sigh* and why is it so hard for us to see when we are perpetuating on other people the same things we are raising cain about when they are hitting us?

Women and trans health care


and fail apparently took place here as well...


More links available here

popelizbeth...

you saw this?

via transgriot

HR676 - The Single Payer Solution, Part 1 of 4

The most important piece of legislation in America today, with nearly 100 cosponsors in the house, H.R.676 is the only health care bill that will truly reform our tragically broken health care system.

This is the bill that your insurance company doesn't want you to know about. This is the bill that presidential candidates (except Kucinich) are afraid to talk about, presumably because they like to keep getting campaign contributions from the insurance industry.MORE

( Read more... )