Power of you, the common man.

UPDATE 1: A preliminary hearing of Siddqui's case is set for Aug. 19, 2008 in NY.

UPDATE 2: Siddiqui's lawyer in Pakistan, Iqbal Jaffry's motion aimed at compelling the Pakistani government to disclose what it knows about her status after her disappearance is set for Sept. 2, 2008 in Pakistan.

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A 30 year old Pakistani woman, an MIT-trained biologist. March 30, 2003 she disappears with her three kids in Karachi/Pakistan, allegedly picked by FBI and Pakistan’s ISI (FBI equivalent). Agencies either deny any connection to her or claim she was working for Al-Quaida.

A Story about a prisoner 650 in Afghanistan’s Bagram prison surfaces, who has allegedly lost her mind due to years of continuous torture and rape.

It’s suggested by various media outlets and people in the “inner circles” that they are both the same person, Dr. Afia Siddiqui.

Here is her picture http://karachi.metblogs.com/2008/07/30/prisoner-650-dr-afia-siddiqui-missing-since-2003/

For five years, no definite news on Dr. Afia come to light except rumors until yesterday, August 4, 2008. All of a sudden it’s reported that Dr. Afia has been flown to New York from Afghanistan to face charges for assaulting US officers in Afghanistan.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/aafia-siddiqui-arrested-attempting-kill/story.aspx?guid=%7B3A35E6A8-B07A-4D91-BDB9-CEA47FF0E47B%7D&dist=hppr

I have not heard anything about her three kids yet.

What one makes of this story is up to oneself. I just hope that she, along with thousands of innocent victims of this blind and brutal secret machines, gets justice.

I believe the reason for this extraordinary development is that as more and more people found out and questioned the authorities about it, the more pressure it put on them to which they finally succumbed.

People did not let her story die despite of all the odds and as a result she seems to be walking alive today. The power of people seems to have once again won the odds.

If you think this is worth spending your time, here is a very basic list of things you could do, if you can suggest more, please do, I’ll add it to the list (except for facebook which does not allow editing Notes).

1) Sign the Asian Human Rights Commission’s Urgent letter of Appeal http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/support.php?ua=UAC-167-2008 which will send an email to Bush, Karzai, Gilani, Farooq Naek & Rehman Malik

2) Sign the online petition http://www.petitiononline.com/af258633/petition.html for her release

3) Join the two groups in Facebook which are participating in raising awareness for her release http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=28530506102 and http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21777867538

4) Email left-oriented bloggers like DailyKos http://www.dailykos.com/contactus (send email to Markos Moulitsas) and Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/contact/ (can email scoop@huffingtonpost.com)

Points you could mention in the emails/calls:

1 - The secret detention program is now well known and we are just starting to learn the facts about how extensive it was.
2 - There is mounting evidence that Aafia Siddiqui was illegally detained at Bagram.
3 - The government's charges against her seem too ludicrous to believe and need to be fully investigated.
4 - Now that she is in the U.S. this is an important opportunity to hear her story and learn the truth.

Save a life, literally!

I got this as an email forward, and thought it would be worth sharing...

STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Letters...S.T.R.

http://www.bio.uci.edu/bsa/stroke.htm

Stroke Identification

During a barbeque, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) and that she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 pm, Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BarBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this...

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

Recognizing a Stroke

Remember the 3 steps, STR. Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

• S: Ask the individual to SMILE .
• T: Ask the person to TALK to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. . It is sunny out today)
• R: Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

NOTE: Another sign of a stroke is this:

Ask the person to stick out their tongue. If the tongue is crooked (if it goes to one side or the other), that is also an indication of a stroke. If the person has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

http://www.bio.uci.edu/bsa/stroke.htm

Ending the ban on Offshore Oil Drilling in the US

This seems to be the headlines all over today http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/washington/19drill.html?hp

Some claim that this would bring down the oil prices, and decrease American dependence on foreign oil (read Middle Eastern) in general.

Generally it's thought that the less dependent the US economy is on the Middle Eastern oil, the more peaceful ME would be, since the US would not be interested in ME oil anymore.

While the truth is, I think, that as long as oil itself is a valuable commodity and could benefit the competing international powers like Russia, China, Europe, the US would not accept losing 'control' over such a commodity, hence, would not stop meddling in ME affairs.

No other explanation seems to explain US' relentless meddling in the ME for over half a century.

Moral of the story, if you want peace in the Middle east, do whatever it takes to make oil useless. ME millionaire/billionaire sheikhs and American corporations will become poorer (can I get an aww?), but the regular people will not be bombed (chemically and otherwise) and pummeled with tanks and gunship helicopters as much. I have a feeling people will appreciate the change.

PS: On a similar note, check out Chomsky's recent interview http://dissentmag.wordpress.com/2008/05/13/kunstler-and-chomsky-peak-oil-and-the-middle-east/

Turkey, a secular extremist?

When religion takes a fanatic turn, Taliban/Saudi type societies come into being, when secularism takes a fanatic turn, Turkey-like societies come into being, it seems ...

This was a news headline on BBC today:

"Court annuls Turkish scarf reform"

In other words, if you wear a head scarf, you cannot attend a public university.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7438348.stm

"False Religion": McCain "Spiritual Guide" Says America Founded to See Islam Destroyed

Islam is 'pernicious' and the 'extremists' are the 'mainstream' Muslims, says McCain's spiritual leader.

http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=100193

Don't you love the Republicans!

Syria and Rwanda more peaceful than the US and Russia?

http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi/news/24/us-and-russia-ranked-among-least-peaceful-nations/

This bit particularly caught my eye:

"The low ranking of the US, which comes below Syria, Rwanda and Mongolia, reflects its high level of -military expenditure and engagement. It also has proportionally more citizens in jail than any other state."

You can see the rest of the rankings : http://www.visionofhumanity.org/gpi/home.php

Britains Got Talent - Desi Michael Jackson Dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpU7zzteddM