Have you any opinions on whether vaccines contribute to autism?

They don’t, and that’s not an opinion, that’s a fact. The dude who promoted that shitty claim has...

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Why representation of POC is important, a three generation trillogy

whtbout2ndbrkfst: A young black girl decided to not bleach her skin after seeing the success of...

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http://bit.ly/1fg0pam:...

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Revealed: The women we failed

Revealed: The women we failed: #AUSTRALIA #DV #VAW: some appalling stats about Domestic/Gender-Based...

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#AUSTRALIA #PNG #MANUS #AsylumSeekers: an update on the...

#AUSTRALIA #PNG #MANUS #AsylumSeekers: an update on the situation on Manus, especially wrt G4S v. Police versions of what happened that night.

VIA “CUMA PNG”

—————

QUOTE:

SOME LATEST NEWS ON THE MANUS DETENTION CENTRE

G4S employee contradicts PNG police report on Manus violence

Story by ABC Australia:

An Australian employee of the security firm on Manus Island has contradicted a leaked PNG police internal incident report into the violence at the detention centre.

That report says G4S security staff lost control of the camp, but G4S staffer has told AM that the PNG police stood back and allowed locals to break into the compound, did nothing to stop the beatings, and in some cases joined in the violence and intimidation.

The riot has left many of the expat G4S staff traumatised. Some have left the island suffering from serious post traumatic stress and one who has spoken to the ABC, and says the situation is now so tense that the asylum seekers are refusing to have anything to do with local staff.

And a warning: This story from our national security correspondent Michael Brissenden contains some disturbing details.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Speaking on condition of anonymity, one Australian G4S employee, who describes themselves as badly traumatised after witnessing a frenzy of out of control violence, has told the ABC that after a second night of protest at the detention centre G4S staff asked to withdraw from the facility and agreed to hand over security to PNG police.

The source says PNG police then fired five or six warning shots and stood back as enraged locals poured into the compound over a back fence. Locals employed by G4S were the first ones in, followed by contract staff.

To protect the identity of the G4S employee, the statements are being read by an actor.

G4S EMPLOYEE (voiceover): We saw them going in with machetes. They had anything they could pick up: rocks, sticks, the poles from the exercise weights. Once they knocked people to the ground, they were stomping on their heads with their boots. A day later you could still see guards and staff and cleaners walking around with blood on their boots.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: One of the injured asylum seekers has also told AM what happened to him in this interview recorded from hospital after the attack:

ASYLUM SEEKER (translated): Six people were on top of me, hitting me. At the end I was holding my hand to my face to protect my face from being hit. Then (redacted) came; I know him personally. He kicked me with his military boots on my face.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Contrary to the PNG police incident report that describes it as exclusively a confrontation between G4S guards and asylum seekers, the G4S employee says once the violence began, PNG police did nothing to try and control the situation and some even joined in.

G4S EMPLOYEE (voiceover): The police went from room to room as well and held guns to people’s heads and said, ‘If you don’t give me your cigarettes, we’re going to shoot you.’

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Some local staff and expats were also inside trying to get transferees out and protect others with shields. One expat guard lay across a terrified asylum seeker to prevent him being shot.

G4S EMPLOYEE (voiceover): There were guys who wet themselves and shit their pants out of total fear. There are handles broken where they’ve tried to get in and the transferees have been holding the doors closed, and they’ve snapped the handles off and they’ve tried to get in with machetes.

There was blood everywhere; faces kicked in, noses - it’s all head injuries. I just remember blood everywhere I looked. Blood everywhere.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: Eventually, the wounded were taken to the wharf.

G4S EMPLOYEE (voiceover): The wharf was full from one end to the other and there were puddles of blood everywhere. They did an emergency tracheotomy out in the open. There were people moaning; it was terrible. Everyone pitched in to do what they could. You just needed every single person who was there.

MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: The G4S guard says the asylum seekers now feel so unsafe that when they tried to bring local cleaners in the day after the incidents, it just about started another riot. The asylum seekers now want nothing to do with any of the locals.

The expat staff member says the atmosphere is now so tense that it won’t take anything much to kick off another round of unrest. The asylum seekers are asking them who they can trust, and who’s going to keep them safe.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Michael Brissenden reporting.

And the Immigration minister Scott Morrison’s office says there are three investigations underway into the Manus Island incident, including a full independent inquiry headed by Robert Cornall, which seek to establish the events on Manus Island that evening, and the Minister will await the outcome of the reviews.

He also said the Government has taken steps with the PNG Government to ensure there is information sharing, cooperation and convergence, as appropriate, to get the clearest possible picture of what occurred that night.

And AM has repeatedly tried to contact Papua New Guinea’s deputy commissioner of police operations Simon Kauba, without success.

/QUOTE http://on.fb.me/1fawYlr

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Welcome back to White Australia

Welcome back to White Australia: #AUSTRALIA #AsylumSeeker POLICIES: there are reasonable and...

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Manus Island inquiry: Asylum seekers and camp staff to have their say

Manus Island inquiry: Asylum seekers and camp staff to have their say: #PNG #AUSTRALIA #MANUS...

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When ‘Religious Liberty’ Was Used To Justify Racism Instead Of Homophobia

When ‘Religious Liberty’ Was Used To Justify Racism Instead Of Homophobia: #USA AZ #DISCRIMINATION:...

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Human misery of transferred asylum seekers turns into big business

Human misery of transferred asylum seekers turns into big business: #PNG #AUSTRALIA #AsylumSeekers:...

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The Manus menace that's a ticking time bomb

The Manus menace that's a ticking time bomb: #PNG #MANUS #AsylumSeekers: on paper, the concept of...

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#USA #RELIGION CRAZY PEOPLE: James Manning - always good for a...

#USA #RELIGION CRAZY PEOPLE: James Manning - always good for a bit of bare-cheeked effrontery.

http://bit.ly/1eP0GML

QUOTE:

This is devastating what Obama is doing to the black man and the black woman, and how the white homo is now moving into the black neighborhoods looking for black men that have been converted into homosexuality. But black woman let me say something to you: you have a very hard time competing against a white homosexual male. He’s usually got money — a white homo usually has an American Express card. He usually has an opportunity at the theater — homos love the theater. They love to go out to dinners, parties, they love that kind of a thing… black people need to rise up in mass and recognize the utter destruction that Obama is going in to destroy the black family with these homosexual statements that he has done and release of demons.

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Maine GOP Rep [Lawrence Lockman] Apologizes for Saying Men...

Maine GOP Rep [Lawrence Lockman] Apologizes for Saying Men Should Get to Rape Women… Because Abortion

There’s no statute of limitations on the crime of being a jackass.

QUOTE:

“If a woman has (the right to an abortion), why shouldn’t a man be free to use his superior strength to force himself on a woman?” Lockman said. “At least the rapist’s pursuit of sexual freedom doesn’t (in most cases) result in anyone’s death.”

/QUOTE

http://bit.ly/MaineGOP-rape http://on.fb.me/1hLHX84

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The One Thing Christians Should Stop Saying

The One Thing Christians Should Stop Saying: #RELIGION v. #FAITH: how Christians over-use the word...

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#AUSTRALIA #PNG #AsylumSeekers: former (conservative) PM Malcolm...

#AUSTRALIA #PNG #AsylumSeekers: former (conservative) PM Malcolm Fraser comments on the Manus Island situation.

"If the minister will not inform the public, then we are within our rights to assume the worst." http://on.fb.me/1fziWOC

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O-Shen

O-Shen: #AUSTRALIA #freewestpapua: O-Shen weighs in on Australia’s role in West Papua.

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Paitim Garamut

Paitim Garamut: #PNG #CABINET RESHUFFLE: is it enough? Will it matter? Or is it just buying time?

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Abu Ghraib - 9 years on

USA ABU GHRAIB IN HINDSIGHT: fascinating to read this article - written 9 May 2004 - featuring an interview with an Al Jazeera employee interrogated by US forces in Iraq.

QUOTE:
As I write, Rumsfeld is before Congress trying to explain how U.S. forces could do such things. Many of the journalists in Baghdad think that this will surely finish him off, that it’s only a matter of time. I watched Bush give his apology last night, but it all seems too late. The revelations of torture in Iraq by U.S. soldiers have pushed the country through a bloody and bruised event horizon. There is no apology that can bring us back.
/QUOTE

Yeah - amazing what time and disinterest will do to justice. No cakes and sparklers for this anniversary.

Again, I strongly recommend reading Rachel Maddow's book Drift and watching the MSNBC presentation of Hubris.

DOMA

US #DOMA MARRIAGE EQUALITY ARGUMENTS: it's hard to maintain a stance that holds the US Constitution to be some sort of divinely-inspired & infallible document (except that one bit they forgot to put in but added later but that's OK because obviously, guns), while ignoring the bit about state-sponsored religion...

But since cognitive dissonance is NOT making their heads explode, here's a little snippet from the DOMA hearings that should make it extremely clear:

Elena Kagan read from the House Report from Congress when it passed the law in 1996, which summarized DOMA's entire legal underpinning: "Congress decided to reflect and honor a collective moral judgment and to express moral disapproval of homosexuality."

Collective moral judgement; enshrined discrimination.

At various times in history, it was the collective moral judgement that interracial couples should not marry; that women should not vote; that humans could be owned; that indigenous peoples should be eradicated; that old women with cats should be accused of witchcraft. Some people still hold those judgements, but we don't give them airspace any more.

Moral judgements change. DOMA, too, will find itself consigned to history.

Coincidences

I've just listened to the Coincidence episode from This American Life and I SO wish I'd had the opportunity to contribute! I have a metric ton of them - growing up as a global nomad, running into people at unexpected places in random countries, etc... But this one's a doozy.
It's too late for TAL, but I decided it deserved an airing anyway.
*************
I graduated from a high school in Papua New Guinea in 1988, with 26 people (of 8 different nationalities) in our graduating class. Over the next 7 years, my best friend in the USA keeps track of everyone as best she can (pre-Facebook); then she gets married & sends all the notes and Contact slips to me in Australia.
So in 1998 I'm organising our 10-year reunion, to be held in Dallas, TX. One person in particular I've lost completely, and his surname is a common one; but I have a contact slip from 3 years prior, saying that he's in Philadelphia and marrying this girl with a very distinctive Polish surname. I call Information and there are two listings in Philadelphia - Charles Jr & Charles Sr. I call Jr, get an answering machine, leave a message saying "I'm looking for Paul L, he married this woman and was she by any chance related to you? If so, please ask him to ring me." Then I call Sr, talk to the guy, he has no idea who Paul is. Dead end - I write off the other number as well.
A week later, my phone rings - it's Paul! So I'm excited to talk to him but also a bit confused about the chain of events - I ask him, so how did you get the message?
* He says, what do you mean - didn't you leave me a message?
* I said, well, yes; but how did it get to you?
* He says, I got home and played it...?
Confusion reigns.
Took a bit longer to get to the bottom of it, but - turns out: he'd split up with his wife (she of the distinctive surname) 6 months earlier, and rented a random apartment where the phone was already connected. That phone? was the one listed under Jr's name. He literally came home & pressed Play.
o_O
I've had the chills over that, for 15 years!

[Suzanne's Travels] Homeward Bound

It's 8am on Sunday morning. My flight back to Brisbane is Tuesday lunchtime.

I'm finding it difficult to sum up the "feel" of this visit: on the one hand, I have been reminded again of
* the incredible advantages of the wantok/tambu systems,
* the generosity of spirit overall and
* the joys of communal living;
on the other hand, I have been reminded again of
* the incredible bonds & disadvantages of the wantok/tambu systems,
* the frustration of dealing with "PNG time",
* the unbelievably annoying aspects of communal living and
* despair over whether or not it is remotely possible to do something which will genuinely (eventually) bring change to the underlying & perpetual potential for violence & corruption.

As I write this, it's 8am & I'm sitting on the front porch of my niece's house. My 9yo cousin E1 is up; one of my tambus (T1) has left for work (security guard) & one (T2) just arrived home, the worse for wear after falling asleep (drunk) at a bus stop & being mugged; my nephew D & 1 other wantok (Y) are asleep on the porch; my 2 aunties T3 & C who look after the house, & the wantok (L) who is the Official Babysitter to The Destroyer (my niece's 21-month-old daughter E2), are still asleep inside, as are my niece G & her husband R and (thankfully!) E2 herself. That's 10 people in a 4-bedroom house, and the numbers fluctuate throughout the day/week.

Last night there was a massive kerfuffle round the side of the house & I went out on the back porch to see what was going on. (First, I have to explain that the downstairs of the house is split into two flats: one 1-bedroom currently occupied by an American MK (M) on a Fulbright scholarship, the other a 4-bedroom rented by 5 sisters from Kimbe.) So, a man - who one of the sisters was acquainted with at Uni this year - had come to the house on Friday, when said sister (J) had expressed concern that he even knew where she lived and had told him to leave. He came back, drunk, last night. F, the only other sister at home had opened, & then immediately shut, their door - he shoved the door open, an altercation ensued & then he punched J in the head & split open a 1" long gash at her temple. So the kerfuffle was 9 of our lain (pronounced "line", means - at its most basic level - "family") all turning out to confront this guy. He was so drunk that he didn't even react when he was poked (or, as I call it, "stabbed") twice with a sharp machete/bush knife by T1, & eventually had to be physically carried to, & thrown out, the gate because he would/could not leave on his own. J said not to call the police because of how difficult it can be to get them to do anything without bribing them. M provided butterfly bandages to hold J's cut closed; I applied 2 of them after 15 minutes of J holding ice against the wound, then a carful of people (R, G, C, D, F, J) left to take J to the hospital for stitches, and I went to bed.

Variations of this scene happen over and over and over again in PNG, every night, and it's why I'm involved with the Domestic Violence group here. J is lucky enough to live in a private home with a group of people & access to a car to go to the hospital - many/most women don't have that option. The police corruption is another subject entirely.

S.

**********
"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.". -- Edward Everett Hale