Friday, April 27, 2007
Rumblings...
I haven't gone out anywhere new lately. I do have to post some reviews about a couple of restaurants that I've been to in the past couple of months. Hopefully, I'll get those posts up next week. I have two papers I am working on for school and I actually have plans to go out next weekend...so...until then, happy drinking, eating, adventuring!
Cuban dissident Luis Garcia Perez freed after 17 years
Here is the article from Taipei Times (original source here).
AP, HAVANA
Wednesday, Apr 25, 2007, Page 7
Cuban dissident leader Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, who wrote a book about prison conditions on the island while behind bars, was freed after serving his full 17-year sentence, human-rights groups said.
Garcia Perez, widely known as "Antunez," was released on Sunday, the opposition human-rights group Bitacora Cubana said on Monday.
He was arrested for enemy propaganda and attempted sabotage in 1990. Pope John Paul II petitioned for his early release before his historic visit in 1998. Cuba freed 14 others as a goodwill gesture tied to the pope's visit, but left Garcia Perez in prison.
PRISON JOURNAL
While serving out his sentence he wrote Boitel Lives, a book about prison conditions that was published outside Cuba.
The book is named after Pedro Luis Boitel who died in 1972 in a Cuban prison after 53 days on hunger strike.
The Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation, a which represents anti-Castro exiles, congratulated Garcia Perez for his "consistency of principles."
While Garcia Perez got out, two other dissidents have been imprisoned this month after secret trials, according to a Havana-based rights group.
NEW TRIALS
A lawyer, Rolando Jimenez Posada, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for painting graffiti and distributing pamphlets with an anti-government message.
He was tried over the weekend without a defense attorney or family members present, and convicted of disrespect for authority and revealing state secrets, said Elizardo Sanchez, a spokesman for the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation.
Officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday about these cases.
Sanchez said Jimenez Posada was brought to Havana for the trial from Isla de la Juventud, where he has been jailed since his arrest in early 2003. It was unclear if the time already spent in jail would count toward the 12-year sentence.
According to Sanchez, Jimenez Posada's relatives say his request to represent himself in court was denied and that after he protested, he was not allowed to attend his own trial.
The rights commission also criticized the proceedings against journalist Oscar Sanchez Madan, who wrote about dissident groups and the hardships of island life.
He was arrested April 13 and tried in secret that day, the commission said. Found guilty of "social dangerousness," he was sentenced to four years in jail.
AP, HAVANA
Wednesday, Apr 25, 2007, Page 7
Cuban dissident leader Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, who wrote a book about prison conditions on the island while behind bars, was freed after serving his full 17-year sentence, human-rights groups said.
Garcia Perez, widely known as "Antunez," was released on Sunday, the opposition human-rights group Bitacora Cubana said on Monday.
He was arrested for enemy propaganda and attempted sabotage in 1990. Pope John Paul II petitioned for his early release before his historic visit in 1998. Cuba freed 14 others as a goodwill gesture tied to the pope's visit, but left Garcia Perez in prison.
PRISON JOURNAL
While serving out his sentence he wrote Boitel Lives, a book about prison conditions that was published outside Cuba.
The book is named after Pedro Luis Boitel who died in 1972 in a Cuban prison after 53 days on hunger strike.
The Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation, a which represents anti-Castro exiles, congratulated Garcia Perez for his "consistency of principles."
While Garcia Perez got out, two other dissidents have been imprisoned this month after secret trials, according to a Havana-based rights group.
NEW TRIALS
A lawyer, Rolando Jimenez Posada, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for painting graffiti and distributing pamphlets with an anti-government message.
He was tried over the weekend without a defense attorney or family members present, and convicted of disrespect for authority and revealing state secrets, said Elizardo Sanchez, a spokesman for the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation.
Officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday about these cases.
Sanchez said Jimenez Posada was brought to Havana for the trial from Isla de la Juventud, where he has been jailed since his arrest in early 2003. It was unclear if the time already spent in jail would count toward the 12-year sentence.
According to Sanchez, Jimenez Posada's relatives say his request to represent himself in court was denied and that after he protested, he was not allowed to attend his own trial.
The rights commission also criticized the proceedings against journalist Oscar Sanchez Madan, who wrote about dissident groups and the hardships of island life.
He was arrested April 13 and tried in secret that day, the commission said. Found guilty of "social dangerousness," he was sentenced to four years in jail.
Vagina Dentata Materialized!
It's not just a male fear/fantasy anymore!
Here is the New York Times article "Anti-Rape Condom" by Christopher Shea. (See original source here.)
There are obvious problems with this device. Using this may give women a false sense of security. Men who rape are violent and rape is a violent act. Causing this type of injury to men will not debilitate them, they can still use their hands, arms, legs, body weight, etc. to hold women down and inflict even more vengeful violence onto them. The website's claim that it will give women a chance to get away is idiotic.
Also, this device will enable women to commit violent acts towards men. An unsuspecting boyfriend can be seriously injured by this device. Unfortunately, many women use rape in order to seek criminal charges against men. When false rape charges are brought against men, the only result is further invalidation of women whose real claims of rape are disbelieved and questioned. This putts them in danger and allows perpetrators to get away unpunished.
Here is the New York Times article "Anti-Rape Condom" by Christopher Shea. (See original source here.)
The vagina dentata - a vagina with literal or figurative teeth - is a potent trope in South Asian mythology, urban legend, Freudian rumination and speculative fiction (the novel "Snow Crash," by Neal Stephenson, for example). But it took a step toward reality this August with the unveiling of the Rapex, a female "condom" lined with rows of plastic spikes on its inner surface.
The Rapex is the brainchild of Sonette Ehlers, a retired blood technician in South Africa who was moved by the country's outlandish rape rate, which is among the highest in the world. The device is designed to be inserted any time a woman feels she is in danger of sexual assault. Its spikes are fashioned to end an assault immediately by affixing the Rapex to the assaulter's penis, but also to cause only superficial damage. The Rapex would create physical evidence of the attack as well and, as Ehlers laid out a course of events for reporters at a news conference, send the offender to a hospital, where he would be promptly arrested.
Ehlers estimates that each Rapex would cost 50 to 60 cents - a pricey proposition in Africa for a nonreusable item. On a Web site, www.rapestop.net, she answers other frequently asked questions: How is it inserted and removed? In each case, with an applicator. Do you hate men? No. Won't it get some users killed? Many rapists kill anyway; you stand a better chance against a temporarily disabled man. (On this last point, some may find Ehlers a little blithe about the prospect of an enraged rapist.) In a phone interview, she said that she has found the Rapex prototype to be more comfortable than a tampon. But Chantel Cooper, director of the Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust, remains unimpressed. The Rapex, she said in an e-mail message, sends the retrograde message "that women should be responsible for their own safety."
There are obvious problems with this device. Using this may give women a false sense of security. Men who rape are violent and rape is a violent act. Causing this type of injury to men will not debilitate them, they can still use their hands, arms, legs, body weight, etc. to hold women down and inflict even more vengeful violence onto them. The website's claim that it will give women a chance to get away is idiotic. Also, this device will enable women to commit violent acts towards men. An unsuspecting boyfriend can be seriously injured by this device. Unfortunately, many women use rape in order to seek criminal charges against men. When false rape charges are brought against men, the only result is further invalidation of women whose real claims of rape are disbelieved and questioned. This putts them in danger and allows perpetrators to get away unpunished.
Are You Thorney?
Recently I filled out a survey for the American Family Association (AFA). A friend on MySpace posted the following bulletin:
Well, needless to say I did. However, the APA took my e-mail address when I confirmed my vote (which goes against their philosophy) and just sent me a propaganda e-mail telling me to boycott Ford. However, that's not really what interests me... What does interest me is an advertisement (obviously from a company that they endorse and which financially supports the APA's political agenda). Here is the ad:
What a beautiful, heartfelt idea. Let's give our mothers a crown of thorns to wear around their necks! Metaphorically it does represent the constant struggle, discrimination, and suffrage of working women with families and the blatant pressure placed on them by society and organizations like this one, which endorse the "nuclear" (see Jane Caputi for her discussion on this topic) family.
The AFA (American Family Association) is expecting an overwhelming majority of respondents to say that they would be 'less likely' to do business with a company if they knew it supported the "homosexual agenda" - whatever that is. So far, they are getting the results they seek. Of course, they are only sending it where they will get the expected results. Let's change the outcome by completing the 1-question survey and sending it to everyone we know who is tired of this archaic and hateful way of thinking. Follow the link to take action on this important issue.
Well, needless to say I did. However, the APA took my e-mail address when I confirmed my vote (which goes against their philosophy) and just sent me a propaganda e-mail telling me to boycott Ford. However, that's not really what interests me... What does interest me is an advertisement (obviously from a company that they endorse and which financially supports the APA's political agenda). Here is the ad:
Mother's Day
May 13th
Whether it's a Crown of Thorns necklace or something else for Mom, Samaritan Arts has hundreds of Christian jewelry ideas. For that gift they will always remember...
What a beautiful, heartfelt idea. Let's give our mothers a crown of thorns to wear around their necks! Metaphorically it does represent the constant struggle, discrimination, and suffrage of working women with families and the blatant pressure placed on them by society and organizations like this one, which endorse the "nuclear" (see Jane Caputi for her discussion on this topic) family.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Seven Cuban dissidents freed
HAVANA - The Cuban government has released seven dissidents from prison, including a 42-year-old man who had been behind bars for 17 years, dissident sources said on Tuesday.
Six dissidents were released Tuesday after spending two years in prison for “public disorder,” ”posing a danger” and “insolence,” the sources said.
Their release came two days after another prominent dissident, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, 42, was freed after spending 17 years and 37 days in prison on charges of “verbal enemy propaganda,” ”attempted sabotage” and failing to respect Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Perez, known as Antunez, was arrested for speaking out against Castro, who leads the Americas’ only one-party communist regime, on March 15, 1990.
Dissidents did not see the prisoners’ release as a goodwill gesture from the government, saying recent summary and secretive trials show that the government repression persists.
“We don’t see anything special in this,” Elizardo Sanchez, who leads the Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, told AFP.
“We are happy for (Perez’s) release, but he is coming into the streets of a country under a government that doesn’t respect any civil, political and economic rights,” Sanchez said.
“He has come out only to be exposed to an atmosphere of intolerance and political persecution,” he said.
While Cuba insists it hold no political prisoners, dissidents say almost 300 are behind bars.
Sanchez also announced the releases of Manuel Perez Soria, 55; Lazaro Alonso Roman, 32; and Emilio Leyva, 42.
Another dissident group, the outlawed National Coordinator for Past and Current Political Prisoners, said three other dissidents were released: Duylian Ramirez, Elio Chavez and Jose Diaz Silva. There ages were not immediately given.
One of the newly freed dissidents reiterated his opposition to Castro’s regime.
“I am an opponent of this government and my life is fully dedicated to this, because I am on the right side,” Perez Soria told AFP. “This country is screaming for economic, political and social changes.”
Original Link: Khaleej Times Online
Six dissidents were released Tuesday after spending two years in prison for “public disorder,” ”posing a danger” and “insolence,” the sources said.
Their release came two days after another prominent dissident, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, 42, was freed after spending 17 years and 37 days in prison on charges of “verbal enemy propaganda,” ”attempted sabotage” and failing to respect Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Perez, known as Antunez, was arrested for speaking out against Castro, who leads the Americas’ only one-party communist regime, on March 15, 1990.
Dissidents did not see the prisoners’ release as a goodwill gesture from the government, saying recent summary and secretive trials show that the government repression persists.
“We don’t see anything special in this,” Elizardo Sanchez, who leads the Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, told AFP.
“We are happy for (Perez’s) release, but he is coming into the streets of a country under a government that doesn’t respect any civil, political and economic rights,” Sanchez said.
“He has come out only to be exposed to an atmosphere of intolerance and political persecution,” he said.
While Cuba insists it hold no political prisoners, dissidents say almost 300 are behind bars.
Sanchez also announced the releases of Manuel Perez Soria, 55; Lazaro Alonso Roman, 32; and Emilio Leyva, 42.
Another dissident group, the outlawed National Coordinator for Past and Current Political Prisoners, said three other dissidents were released: Duylian Ramirez, Elio Chavez and Jose Diaz Silva. There ages were not immediately given.
One of the newly freed dissidents reiterated his opposition to Castro’s regime.
“I am an opponent of this government and my life is fully dedicated to this, because I am on the right side,” Perez Soria told AFP. “This country is screaming for economic, political and social changes.”
Original Link: Khaleej Times Online
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Petition to Protest Gloria Estefan's new CD: 90 Millas
Apparently, Gloria Estefan is collaborating with Carlos Santana for her new CD. During the 2005 Oscars Santana appeared wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt, a very trendy fashion statement for uneducated and uncultured Americans. As a result, many Cuban Americans, the majority of Estefan's fan base, may be outraged by her decision to collaborate with a communist sympathizer.
In order to spread the news about this please visit the link below to read more about and sign the petition.
http://www.petitiononline.com/05201902/petition.html
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
20 Images for 200 Years: Teacher Jailed for Possessing Child Pornography
The US Supreme Court refuses to hear an appeal by a teacher jailed for 200 years for possessing child porn.
read more | digg story
I find it amazing that in our society full of technological advances we still manage to do so many things that seem below our capabilities.
Rather than scapegoating, rather than upholding our societal honor, rather than crucifying one we should focus on the root cause of the dilemma: in this case, the websites hosting the child pornography, identifying the children in the images, and finding those who took them, financed them, and distributed them. The media is a dirty lens through which we see our society and ourselves. Big media buries the real issues while news stories like Ana Nicole Smith, which in reality is a private family issue dealing with a handful of people, takes precedence over situations that affect everyone.
This man's sentence is absurd, disproportionate to his crime, and a blatant failure of our justice system.
If hundreds of people associated with the recruiting of the underage children (who most likely did so violently, forcibly, illegally, and maliciously) were also associated with processing these pornographic images and subsequently profiting from their distribution on the internet, were making headlines for receiving 200-year sentences--I would not be so upset.
If our court system realized the flaws imbued in their rulings, such as assigning an arbitrary ten year sentence for every image (although there were reportedly thousands, and only 20 were used in determining a sentence), without taking into consideration that the real harm was done to those children before that man ever viewed those images--I would not be so upset.
If this court system did not hide behind the same curtain as the media, and use language to muddy the waters of truth, by using metaphors and doubletalk in order to hide the reality of events, such as saying a “200 year sentence” rather than saying “life”--I would not be so upset. The fatalistic ring of the world “life without parole” seems reserved for the most violent and hardened criminals and we need to use it sparingly lest its catchy ring lose its luster.
This man will spend his life behind bars because of images on child pornography on his computer. Keep in mind that the people who took those images, who host those images, who profit from those images and many of us who may have even seen those same images (viewing a 17 year old in a pornographic situation is considered child pornography) are not serving 200-year sentences. We should be thankful for that, for our justice system.
read more | digg story
I find it amazing that in our society full of technological advances we still manage to do so many things that seem below our capabilities.
Rather than scapegoating, rather than upholding our societal honor, rather than crucifying one we should focus on the root cause of the dilemma: in this case, the websites hosting the child pornography, identifying the children in the images, and finding those who took them, financed them, and distributed them. The media is a dirty lens through which we see our society and ourselves. Big media buries the real issues while news stories like Ana Nicole Smith, which in reality is a private family issue dealing with a handful of people, takes precedence over situations that affect everyone.
This man's sentence is absurd, disproportionate to his crime, and a blatant failure of our justice system.
If hundreds of people associated with the recruiting of the underage children (who most likely did so violently, forcibly, illegally, and maliciously) were also associated with processing these pornographic images and subsequently profiting from their distribution on the internet, were making headlines for receiving 200-year sentences--I would not be so upset.
If our court system realized the flaws imbued in their rulings, such as assigning an arbitrary ten year sentence for every image (although there were reportedly thousands, and only 20 were used in determining a sentence), without taking into consideration that the real harm was done to those children before that man ever viewed those images--I would not be so upset.
If this court system did not hide behind the same curtain as the media, and use language to muddy the waters of truth, by using metaphors and doubletalk in order to hide the reality of events, such as saying a “200 year sentence” rather than saying “life”--I would not be so upset. The fatalistic ring of the world “life without parole” seems reserved for the most violent and hardened criminals and we need to use it sparingly lest its catchy ring lose its luster.
This man will spend his life behind bars because of images on child pornography on his computer. Keep in mind that the people who took those images, who host those images, who profit from those images and many of us who may have even seen those same images (viewing a 17 year old in a pornographic situation is considered child pornography) are not serving 200-year sentences. We should be thankful for that, for our justice system.
Friday, February 02, 2007
World Market
Tony and I had a few errands to run today. First, I went to sign the deposit contract for our pre-construction townhouse at Montclair in Miramar! Then we went to buy some turtle supplies at Petsmart in Pembroke Pines. That was when we noticed a new store next door and decided to check it out.
World Market
11960 Pines Boulevard Pembroke Pines, FL 33026
According to their website there are only five of these stores in Florida, and this one in Pembroke Pines is the only one in south Florida. Tony and I wanted to check it out for a few minutes and we ended up browsing and buying for the better part of an hour. Their furniture is very Pier1esque; however, their selection is not as broad. What this store gets props for is their pretty heavy line of imported foods and beverages. We bought some Hawaiian chips, canned Salmon pate, an English chocolate bar, another imported chocolate bar, and some cool garlic stuffed olives. Their selection of foods is fun and whimsical, like the Pez candies they have on stock, or the 3 liter extra virgin olive oil jug. Also, on hand is a huge selection of teas, coffees, and imported wines organized by country.
This is a really cool store that both of us hope is still around when we finally move into our house. We'd love to decorate it with items from this store, and fill our plates with the fun food selection.
World Market
11960 Pines Boulevard Pembroke Pines, FL 33026
According to their website there are only five of these stores in Florida, and this one in Pembroke Pines is the only one in south Florida. Tony and I wanted to check it out for a few minutes and we ended up browsing and buying for the better part of an hour. Their furniture is very Pier1esque; however, their selection is not as broad. What this store gets props for is their pretty heavy line of imported foods and beverages. We bought some Hawaiian chips, canned Salmon pate, an English chocolate bar, another imported chocolate bar, and some cool garlic stuffed olives. Their selection of foods is fun and whimsical, like the Pez candies they have on stock, or the 3 liter extra virgin olive oil jug. Also, on hand is a huge selection of teas, coffees, and imported wines organized by country.
This is a really cool store that both of us hope is still around when we finally move into our house. We'd love to decorate it with items from this store, and fill our plates with the fun food selection.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Virgin Post
Here is a quick little blurb about this blog:
My boyfriend and I grew up in Miami and we've been to lots of places, and are always visiting new ones. For a long time I have been upset about living in Miami (I hate the traffic, sometimes rude people, never-ending construction, high-rises...the list goes on). But, lately I have grown a bit fonder of Miami (perhaps because I am probably going to live here for many years to come). So I plan to post little blurbs about places that I visit so I can keep a journal of good memories about Miami and share with others some cool places to visit.
**UPDATE: haha, this post has a ton of views. Pervs!
My boyfriend and I grew up in Miami and we've been to lots of places, and are always visiting new ones. For a long time I have been upset about living in Miami (I hate the traffic, sometimes rude people, never-ending construction, high-rises...the list goes on). But, lately I have grown a bit fonder of Miami (perhaps because I am probably going to live here for many years to come). So I plan to post little blurbs about places that I visit so I can keep a journal of good memories about Miami and share with others some cool places to visit.
**UPDATE: haha, this post has a ton of views. Pervs!
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
What's all this about?
I need to voice some pent-up frustrations about Cuba, Cubans, Cuban-Americans, Castro, and injustice.
I can't believe that in America, a country so focused on justice, the concept of justice itself vanishes from discourses about Cuba. Within a system of justice, justice is ignored in order to perpetuate the status quo, in order to mystify the public of the atrocities that occur 90 miles from Key West, and in order to vanquish the voices of those who dare to notice and speak out.
I thought that the next best thing to getting an aneurism because of people's idiocy on this subject is to write about my feelings. So, I'll post articles, blogs, videos, things my friends write, and things that I have written over the years. At the very least, I hope that one or two people will stumble across my blog and be educated, and have the opportunity to voice their opinions about the subject.
I can't believe that in America, a country so focused on justice, the concept of justice itself vanishes from discourses about Cuba. Within a system of justice, justice is ignored in order to perpetuate the status quo, in order to mystify the public of the atrocities that occur 90 miles from Key West, and in order to vanquish the voices of those who dare to notice and speak out.
I thought that the next best thing to getting an aneurism because of people's idiocy on this subject is to write about my feelings. So, I'll post articles, blogs, videos, things my friends write, and things that I have written over the years. At the very least, I hope that one or two people will stumble across my blog and be educated, and have the opportunity to voice their opinions about the subject.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)