 | Last login: 1 hour agoEllie is a single woman from up a palm tree on the, Virgin Islands (U.S.).  SU is deader today than ever. Maybe the holiday weekend ..
... wide-eyed and innocent, but with a sharp little switch-blade hidden in my pink faux-leather purse just in case. Mostly though I'm just here to relax and have fun. By the way, if you message me and I don't answer it always means I'm not at my computer. Even if Stumble shows me as being online I may be wandering aimlessly, hiding in the cupboard to escape my aunt or performing some menial task for the cat.
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I'm also on 'Twitter' now. Plus why all my pages have vanished |
- 6:30am
- The Blog Bit .. Rendition .. whats in a name ? · 6:22am
Rendition ..Whats in a Name ? - have you noticed how much the bad guys love their euphemisms ? When women and children are torn apart by our bombs they're called 'collateral damage' and when they engage in vile torture that would have made the Spanish Inquisition or the Nazis cringe, well they're just using 'enhanced interrogation techniques'. Its the same when the CIA kidnap foreign nationals around the world and fly them to black prisons and hell-holes run by abusive regimes where they can be held without due process of law, tortured and sometimes killed. No need to worry about that. Its just 'extraordinary rendition'.
To be fair, 'extraordinary rendition' , the transfer of prisoners from one state to another without due process of law, was a crime practiced by the USA before the Bush torture regime. Under his spurious 'war on terror', though, its abuses reached new heights. According to a European Parliament report of February 2007, the CIA conducted 1,245 known rendition flights, many of them to destinations where suspects could face torture, in violation of article 3 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture. Many innocent people were kidnapped in this way. Many suffered hideous torture, both at the hands of the USA and probably to a harsher degree from the abusive ally states (Egypt for example) to which America outsourced some of the really heavy-duty torture.
For all Obamas fine rhetoric about 'America does not torture' (yes it does) he signally failed to end Americas international crime of 'extraordinary rendition'. In fact he deliberately chose to continue with it. Under executive orders that he signed it remains available to the CIA and intelligence officials say that the rendition program might even be poised to play an expanded role. Lets be clear. Whatever Obama signs or does not sign, no-one in America can enact any law which has effect outside of its own territorial limits on the citizens of other countries. Sorry, but thats just delusions of grandeur gone mad. If they kidnap people off the streets of other countries and fly them to secret destinations then the CIA are criminals and must be prosecuted under the laws of that country for kidnapping. Any government that won't protect its own citizens by ensuring they receive due process of law is useless and should be kicked out of office. Any country that accepts kidnapped (rendered) people from the US should be strongly condemned by the international community.
Theres a strange kind of mentality which says if 'we' do something criminal or inhuman then its alright, but of course if anyone else did the same thing we would complain bitterly. 'We' are somehow inherently good and righteous and that justifies anything, however barbaric, in the mind of some. The kinds of people who practice, condone or excuse the use of torture or the criminal abuses of 'extraordinary rendition (kidnapping) would have made fine Nazis. They have the right mind-set. They are the real enemies of decent people all over the world.
I guess those 'bad guys' will always be there like a cancer in society but at least we can call them on their cynical use of language. So never let anyone get away with 'collateral damage' when they mean slaughter of innocents: never accept the expression 'enhanced interrogation techniques' when they mean torture and please .. no more 'extraordinary rendition' when they mean kidnapping, illegal imprisonment and out-sourced torture. We may not be able to totally stop the bad guys but we don't need to collude in their deceptions.
Ellie
- Jul 4, 2:55pm
- This July 4th, Rebel and Agitate for Change | | AlterNet
 Jul 4, 12:34pm  (4 reviews) politics http://www.alternet.org/story/141055/thi...- Celebrate the True Spirit of 4th July By Being an Agitator .. a timely article that reminds everyone that America was built on the guts and determination of people who refused to accept the status-quo and 'shut-up' or 'do what they were told'. It really is the duty of every patriotic citizen to constantly question the actions of the government and to hold it to account. It is genuinely patriotic to agitate for change and to protest when its not forthcoming. The 4th of July is a good day to remember that *you're* the boss, not some public official, not some governor or senator or even the president. They all work for you and have to answer to you so remind them of that as forcibly as you need to. Oh .... and happy 4th of July ..:))
- Wrestling Midgets Killed By Fake Prostitutes [PIC]
- Jul 3, 2:30pm
 (1 review) bizarre, bizzare http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/wrestling... - Wrestling Midgets Killed By Fake Prostitutes - and just when I was starting to think there wasn't any serious news today. Two Mexican wrestlers from the "Lucha Mini" league were poisoned by two women posing at prostitutes. The wrestlers picked up the fake prostitutes (they were actually part of a gang) after a match and took them to their hotel. The ladies of the night spiked their drinks and robbed them. Being little guys, the standard amount of the knockout drugs were probably a bit much for them and they never woke up. RIP horny midgets.
- Jul 3, 2:29pm
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You Must Be Joking !
(more random stuff that tickled my funny-bone)
Jennifers knicker fetish was definitely getting out of hand
Only alcohol makes you more attractive *and* a better dancer as well
Susans friends had lied when she asked .. "Does my bum look big in this" ?
- Man uses nail clippers in DIY circumcision - Telegraph
- Jul 3, 10:55am (9 reviews) bizarre http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5...
- Man uses nail clippers in DIY circumcision - a man in London, UK, who gave himself a DIY circumcision using nail clippers was taken to hospital for emergency treatment. A medic said .. "This is something we would advise men never to attempt". Quite so.
- Jul 1, 11:25am
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- The Blog Bit .. What does Iran have that Burma doesn't ? · Jun 30, 9:42am
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So what does Iran have that Burma doesn't ? - Burma, officially the Union of Myanmar, is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia. Since a military coup in 1962 that overthrew a democratic government it has been ruled with an iron fist by a brutal military junta, who have one of the worlds worst human rights records. Protests in favor of a return to democracy have been ruthlessly and repeatedly crushed and protesters massacred. For anyone who is interested theres more information about Burma here.
My question, though, is what does Iran have that Burma doesn't ? By any objective standards the rulers of Burma are more brutal, more repressive, more ruthless in suppressing democracy, and the plight of the people there is worse in almost every respect. So why is the mainstream western media focusing obsessively on Iran rather than Burma ? Why did Mr Bush sign a presidential order instructing the CIA to subvert and overthrow the government of Iran rather than that of Burma? Why are western bloggers not writing furious calls for 'freedom' in Burma ? Why is Twitter not groaning under the weight of tweets in support of the people of Burma ? Why are pop stars not queuing up to record songs in support of the Burmese people ? In short, why is Americas focus on Iran and not on Burma ? Don't get me wrong, I'm passionately in favor of genuine freedom and democracy (not just some version of it that happens to suit another more powerful country) but here I'm wondering about the motives behind what we're seeing. I mean, if you really care about 'freedom and democracy' you start where its most needed and go from there .. right ?
So thats my question. What does Iran have that Burma doesn't. I suspect honest answers might have to include the word 'oil' and mention the possibility of propaganda and 'media manipulation' to further the agenda of middle-east domination the US and Israel share. But then what do I know ?
Ellie
- Jun 29, 10:08am
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Top 3 Stumbling Activities
(as scientifically established by my skilled survey team)
1. Being molested by tiny alien robots (it happens to me all the time)
2. Making lots of lovely friends who are all exactly who they say they are
3. Waiting patiently for irritating Stumbleupon bugs to be fixed
(Note: there is a 3.7% possibility that these survey results are 86.4% accurate)
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