I sometimes wonder why I bother to try and help stop de-forestation and train for this run through the Amazon what a crazy sad world we live in these 3 things caught and annoyed me recently:
1 Outcry in China over hit-and-run toddler left in street
Chinese media and internet users have voiced shock at a hit-and-run incident involving a two-year-old child left injured in the road as passers-by ignored her.
The toddler was hit by a van on in the city of Foshan.
After the van sped off, several pedestrians and vehicles passed the girl without stopping. Several minutes later she was hit by another vehicle.
A rubbish collector finally helped her, but she is said to be seriously hurt.
The incident was captured on surveillance cameras and aired on local media.
'Lacking conscience'
The footage showed the van hitting the little girl, pausing briefly while she was under the vehicle and then driving off, running over her legs.
It then showed about a dozen passers-by, including cyclists, a motorcyclist and a woman and child, noticing the little girl lying injured in the street but walking on.
“Start Quote
There's been so many cases where people have been treated unjustly after doing good things”
Comment on microblogging site Weibo
After she was hit by the second vehicle, a rubbish collector spotted the little girl and moved her to the kerb, then began looking for her mother.
The child, Yue Yue, was taken to hospital for emergency surgery but pronounced brain dead on Sunday, the China Daily reported.
The newspaper said she had wandered off while her mother went to collect some laundry.
The drivers of both vehicles have now been arrested, the newspaper said, but the incident has also triggered outcry among Chinese citizens.
It provoked a storm of comment on microblogging site Weibo.
"Even pigs and dogs are better than they are!" said one angry contributor about the passers-by.
"In China, there's no bottom line for human ethics anymore! China is 'smashing' new records again and again!" commented another.
Others were more reflective. "Now people ignore everything other than money. This society is lacking people with a conscience badly."
Scam fears
Some said they understood the dilemma for the passers-by - that if they helped out they might incur costs or be blamed for the accident.
The China Daily reported incidents in January in which elderly men who fell in the street were left alone because people did not want to get involved.
It cited an earlier case in which a man, Peng Yu, who helped an injured elderly lady to hospital was then found by a court to be liable for some of her medical costs.
Another case - in which an elderly woman believed to have fallen in the road accused a man, Xu Yunhe, who stopped to help her, of hitting her with his car - also attracted considerable attention.
"There's been so many cases where people have been treated unjustly after doing good things," one comment said.
"I am not as rich as Xu Yunhe and Peng Yu are, we are all poor grassroots people," said another. "If we get caught in a scam, this is it. All we can do is to dial 120 (the emergency number)."
2
Chef 'serves own father-in-law to customers'
Victim's remains allegedly cooked in giant pastries in Russian restaurant
A Moscow chef killed his father-in-law and then allegedly served him to customers at his restaurant.
According to police, the 54-year-old chef worked at an unnamed establishment well-known for its chebureki, or large meat-filled pastries: items that could easily disguise the odd hunk of flesh or human limb.
The chef reportedly killed his 82-year-old father-in-law during a drunken brawl. But police are refusing to either confirm or deny a claim by tabloid newspaper Life News that the chef then ran the dead man's body through a meat grinder, used the resultant slurry to fill his chebureki, and then served the pastries to customers for three days before being caught and sent to a psychiatric institution.
What makes this story even more remarkable, observes Elder, is the way Russians are treating it with such nonchalence. "These [sorts of] tales would fill most readers with horror but in Russia they are so commonplace as to barely inspire a raised eyebrow. What's more, the system is such that whistleblowers are actively discouraged from speaking out."
3
Westboro Baptist Church Continues Their Assault on Steve Jobs
Still tweeting from their iPhones...
If you aren’t familiar with Westboro Baptist Church, they are a fringe organization from Topeka, Kansas that travel around the country protesting high profile funerals of fallen American soldiers and celebrities.
The membership is small – 71 members as reported in 2007 – but they are widely known due to their unorthodox and outspoken positions on homosexuality and calls for God to destroy America.
You might know them as the “God Hates Fags” people (that’s the title of their official website), and you might have seen them at funerals and other events holding signs that read, “You’re Going to Hell,” “God Hates America,” “America is Doomed,” and “Thank God For Fallen Soldiers.” I don’t really want to try to summarize their beliefs in a succinct statement, but if I had to, I would say that they espouse that our culture is wicked, and God hates it, and that his punishment for homosexuality and other “Godlessness” is Hell.
Members of the group have even said that their goal with all the protests is to spread “God’s hate.”
Lovely. I’m sure you can see why they are quite the controversial group.
In 2009, they protested the funeral of Michael Jackson. In 2010, they picketed the funeral of Ronnie James Dio. By their count, they have conducted over 30,000 pickets all across the country.
Right after Jobs’ death on Wednesday evening, Westboro top member Margie Phelps tweeted the fact that they planned on protesting his funeral. Here’s what that tweet looked like:
If you look carefully, you’ll see that the tweet to announce Jobs’ funeral protest was sent via iPhone. Of course, this is some pretty incredible irony and quite a healthy dose of hypocrisy thrown in the mix.
When the fact that Phelps had tweeted her anti-Jobs tweet via iPhone spread around the internet, Phelps addressed it on Twitter:
@MargieJPhelps
MargiePhelpshttp://t.co/4Khk7ygv via @manstuffjoe
Rebels mad cuz I used iPhone to tell you Steve Jobs is in hell.God created iPhone for that purpose! 1 day ago via web • powered by @socialditto
After you read that, once the stupid stops burning, check out how other members of Westboro have been addressing the Steve Jobs thing over the past couple of days:
@WBCSteve
sʇǝʌǝ pɹɐıu#SteveJobs was an idolatrous fool and he split hell wide open! You got an app for that? Westboro Baptist Church will picket his funeral. 5 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone • powered by @socialditto
@WBCPhotos
Grace Eliza PhelpsVia @FieldRR “@WBCPhotos you going to take photos at Steve Jobs funeral protest? Then upload pics & tweet from your Mac?” That’s the plan! 18 hours ago via Tweetbot for iPhone • powered by @socialditto
@jaelphelps
Jael PhelpsWestboro Baptist Church thanks God for the cancer that ate Steve Jobs like a moth! “For the moth shall eat them up like a garment” (Isa51:8) 1 day ago via Twitter for iPhone • powered by @socialditto
Before you ask, yes, those were all tweeted from an iPhone.
When we first told you about the Margie Phelps tweet via iPhone story, we received a great amount of comments expressing not only disapproval of Westboro, but disbelief at how they would be allowed to do this. The answer is pretty simple – the Supreme Court of the United States has upheld their right to protest. An 8-1 decision in a case involving Westboro and the picketing of a military funeral said that their speech was protected under the First Amendment. They can’t be denied that right because their speech is unpopular and outrageous.
Dissenters of that opinion said that the families of the fallen soldiers in these cases are being attacked by Westboro, verbally, in order to draw attention. They claim that free speech rights are not a license for vicious verbal attacks.
On their blog, Westboro has a post saying “Thank GOD! Steve Jobs is Dead.” They then modify a biblical passage to suit their needs and proclaim that Jobs played a part in gay marriage, which will bring civilization down –
Genesis 6:4 There were giants (in business/industry) in the earth in those days…the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
Those captains of business/industry in Noah’s day did what Jobs and his cohorts do TODAY: turn the country over to the fags!
Fag marriage will bring your destruction! Jobs is responsible!
Of course this is nonsensical bullshit. Most of us can agree on that. And yes, some say that talking about Westboro only legitimizes their ridiculous message.
While it’s true that “media whores” isn’t a strong enough description of WBC, and they feast on the attention, they obviously have an impact on the national dialogue. Just look at all the internet chatter concerning their Steve Jobs statements over the last 2 days.
For such a small group, they have been able to affect the lives of many military families and draw the attention of millions of people. Should their ability to picket the funerals of fallen soldiers and celebs like Steve Jobs be limited? Can free speech go too far, and if so, does their speech apply? Or is there something quintessentially American in the fact that they are allowed to demonstrate, no matter how vile the material happens to be
Westside Baptist is not a Christian organization. Christianity believes in the Bible which in the words of Jesus indicates “Judge not lest ye be judged” and “Judge ye righteousness alone”.
Thursday 27 October 2011
Deforestation campaigning led to deportation from Indonesia
One thing I cannot stand in life is hypocrisy and even worse when big companies can through money around like it is confetti trying to convince the public or governments of something that is actually not true.
Andy Tait a senior campaigns adviser at Greenpeace wrote this article for the Guardian newspaper on Monday 24 October 2011 15.05 BST
It's no coincidence that my expulsion came after witnessing the huge tracts of rainforest cleared by Asia Pulp and Paper.
Last week, I was in Indonesia. I'd travelled there to work with colleagues in Jakarta and Sumatra on our continuing campaign to end the devastation of the country's magnificent rainforests.
But after an extremely intense few days, I left the country prematurely on Wednesday evening. I had been due to stay longer and had a business visa to allow me to do so, but we were receiving advice that if I stayed it was likely to bring more risk to my colleagues working there.
I feel very sad about leaving, not least because the last parting gesture from a group of officials at the airport was to place a large red deportation stamp in my passport. I was not even informed I was being deported. I was stopped while queuing at immigration to leave the country, interviewed for an hour and then rushed at the last moment onto a plane to Singapore. My passport, with its prominent new stamp, was handed to me as I entered the plane. I don't yet know when – or if – I will be allowed back into a country that I have enjoyed visiting so much for nearly a decade.
So, why was I deported? Currently, I work on the campaign to reform the practices of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), an Indonesian company which, as our growing dossier of evidence shows, is still destroying huge tracts of rainforest. I work with our international team across a range of countries to find ways to encourage APP to change and to expose its extraordinary greenwash. I am also in regular contact with some of the major international businesses that have recently suspended contracts with APP. Before this I had been working with my Indonesian colleagues who negotiated with Golden Agri Resources (GAR), which – like APP – is part of the Sinar Mas group. Earlier this year, GAR introduced a new forest conservation policy and this new approach is regarded as the most progressive in the palm oil industry. If fully implemented, it could have hugely positive impacts across the whole sector.
Our work against APP has focused upon asking it to follow GAR's lead on sustainability, something that it is resisting ever more strongly. The weekend before last, as part of this work, I was due to take part in a trip to visit the forests of South Sumatra, to see the forest clearance for myself.
And then things became a little surreal. I was tailed from my hotel in Jakarta that morning by two men, all the way to the airport. There I was stopped and shown a letter, apparently authorising my deportation. The only problem was it wasn't for me – the wrong middle name, wrong date of birth, wrong passport number and no photograph. After much back and forth with my colleagues, the men left. I was allowed to depart for the trip and while a number of "administrative hurdles" were placed in our way en route, we were able to see some of the areas of deforestation caused by APP suppliers.
These are areas the company claims are degraded and therefore suitable for clearing and replacing with plantations. But as soon as you see it for yourself, it's obvious it's not degraded. Our experience is that they are continuing to clear huge swaths of natural forest, much of it on areas of deep peat, and much of it in areas mapped as habitat for the endangered Sumatran tiger.
The more attention the issue gets, the more efforts the company throws at countering it. In Indonesia, this centres on trying to discredit the investigations of organisations like Greenpeace. Now some authorities are stepping in to try and stop those investigations from being conducted. Perhaps it is just a coincidence that, a few short hours after the airport incident, it was reported in the Indonesian media that I was travelling on false documents in the country. Perhaps it's just a coincidence that my boss John Sauven, who had been due to accompany me on the same trip, hadn't even been allowed into the country despite having a valid visa. I'm not a great believer in coincidence.
Around the world, the campaign is more obvious. It comes through a co-ordinated multimillion dollar global PR campaign including a series of TV adverts that have been on heavy rotation on outlets like CNN and Sky.
There is also a newspaper advert that states that, in order to see APP's commitment to conservation, you just need to follow their tracks. Well, last weekend my Indonesian colleagues and I did just that. The tracks that we saw the company leaving are those left by the miles and miles of canals which have been cut through the vast peatlands in order to drain them. Those canals are followed by the tracks of caterpillar diggers bulldozing their way through hectare after hectare of natural forest, clearing and stacking the timber before it's transported to APP mills. The tracks left by APP are the tracks of the destruction on an industrial scale of Sumatra's rainforests.
This house of cards the company has built has already started to fall down. Mattel was the latest in a long line of major international brands to suspend contracts with APP. Others will surely follow. And eventually APP will have to reform. The question for now is how long will it take, and what will be left of the few remaining large areas of rainforest in Sumatra when they do?
I hope to be allowed back to Indonesia again to support the fantastic work that my colleagues there are doing on this campaign. They are on the go 24-7, under extraordinary pressure and stress. Their work supports the commitments of Indonesia's president who has pledged to stop the deforestation. It's clear that if that commitment is to turn into reality, the campaign against APP must succeed, and soon.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/24/deforestation-deportation-indonesia?newsfeed=true
Andy Tait a senior campaigns adviser at Greenpeace wrote this article for the Guardian newspaper on Monday 24 October 2011 15.05 BST
It's no coincidence that my expulsion came after witnessing the huge tracts of rainforest cleared by Asia Pulp and Paper.
Last week, I was in Indonesia. I'd travelled there to work with colleagues in Jakarta and Sumatra on our continuing campaign to end the devastation of the country's magnificent rainforests.
But after an extremely intense few days, I left the country prematurely on Wednesday evening. I had been due to stay longer and had a business visa to allow me to do so, but we were receiving advice that if I stayed it was likely to bring more risk to my colleagues working there.
I feel very sad about leaving, not least because the last parting gesture from a group of officials at the airport was to place a large red deportation stamp in my passport. I was not even informed I was being deported. I was stopped while queuing at immigration to leave the country, interviewed for an hour and then rushed at the last moment onto a plane to Singapore. My passport, with its prominent new stamp, was handed to me as I entered the plane. I don't yet know when – or if – I will be allowed back into a country that I have enjoyed visiting so much for nearly a decade.
So, why was I deported? Currently, I work on the campaign to reform the practices of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), an Indonesian company which, as our growing dossier of evidence shows, is still destroying huge tracts of rainforest. I work with our international team across a range of countries to find ways to encourage APP to change and to expose its extraordinary greenwash. I am also in regular contact with some of the major international businesses that have recently suspended contracts with APP. Before this I had been working with my Indonesian colleagues who negotiated with Golden Agri Resources (GAR), which – like APP – is part of the Sinar Mas group. Earlier this year, GAR introduced a new forest conservation policy and this new approach is regarded as the most progressive in the palm oil industry. If fully implemented, it could have hugely positive impacts across the whole sector.
Our work against APP has focused upon asking it to follow GAR's lead on sustainability, something that it is resisting ever more strongly. The weekend before last, as part of this work, I was due to take part in a trip to visit the forests of South Sumatra, to see the forest clearance for myself.
And then things became a little surreal. I was tailed from my hotel in Jakarta that morning by two men, all the way to the airport. There I was stopped and shown a letter, apparently authorising my deportation. The only problem was it wasn't for me – the wrong middle name, wrong date of birth, wrong passport number and no photograph. After much back and forth with my colleagues, the men left. I was allowed to depart for the trip and while a number of "administrative hurdles" were placed in our way en route, we were able to see some of the areas of deforestation caused by APP suppliers.
These are areas the company claims are degraded and therefore suitable for clearing and replacing with plantations. But as soon as you see it for yourself, it's obvious it's not degraded. Our experience is that they are continuing to clear huge swaths of natural forest, much of it on areas of deep peat, and much of it in areas mapped as habitat for the endangered Sumatran tiger.
The more attention the issue gets, the more efforts the company throws at countering it. In Indonesia, this centres on trying to discredit the investigations of organisations like Greenpeace. Now some authorities are stepping in to try and stop those investigations from being conducted. Perhaps it is just a coincidence that, a few short hours after the airport incident, it was reported in the Indonesian media that I was travelling on false documents in the country. Perhaps it's just a coincidence that my boss John Sauven, who had been due to accompany me on the same trip, hadn't even been allowed into the country despite having a valid visa. I'm not a great believer in coincidence.
Around the world, the campaign is more obvious. It comes through a co-ordinated multimillion dollar global PR campaign including a series of TV adverts that have been on heavy rotation on outlets like CNN and Sky.
There is also a newspaper advert that states that, in order to see APP's commitment to conservation, you just need to follow their tracks. Well, last weekend my Indonesian colleagues and I did just that. The tracks that we saw the company leaving are those left by the miles and miles of canals which have been cut through the vast peatlands in order to drain them. Those canals are followed by the tracks of caterpillar diggers bulldozing their way through hectare after hectare of natural forest, clearing and stacking the timber before it's transported to APP mills. The tracks left by APP are the tracks of the destruction on an industrial scale of Sumatra's rainforests.
This house of cards the company has built has already started to fall down. Mattel was the latest in a long line of major international brands to suspend contracts with APP. Others will surely follow. And eventually APP will have to reform. The question for now is how long will it take, and what will be left of the few remaining large areas of rainforest in Sumatra when they do?
I hope to be allowed back to Indonesia again to support the fantastic work that my colleagues there are doing on this campaign. They are on the go 24-7, under extraordinary pressure and stress. Their work supports the commitments of Indonesia's president who has pledged to stop the deforestation. It's clear that if that commitment is to turn into reality, the campaign against APP must succeed, and soon.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/24/deforestation-deportation-indonesia?newsfeed=true
Monday 24 October 2011
Drunk driver kills five runners in S Africa
Terribly sad news I have just read on MSN.
An allegedly drunk driver has killed five athletes training for a marathon in South Africa
South Africa's transport minister has called for murder charges against an allegedly drunk driver accused of killing five runners who were training for a marathon.
A sixth runner preparing for next month's Soweto Marathon was badly injured in Saturday's accident in Johannesburg.
In a statement, Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele said: "Following allegations that the driver of the vehicle was drunk, the driver should be charged with murder."
Gideon Sam, head of South Africa's Olympic committee, says South African sport "is rocked by these tragic deaths".
Earlier this year, the Olympics committee noted in a statement, South Africa's leading road cyclist, Carla Swart, died after being hit by a truck while she was training.
RIP so sad to hear the news.
Training here in NE Brasil I am seriously hampered by the bad roads, sun and n street lightning. If I have not finished my run by 09.00 I am in serious danger of getting sun burnt and the only safe window in the afternoon is between 16.30 and 18.00 after that it is too dark and dangerous, the street lights are very poor if any at all.
This part of Brasil for sure has a bully boy attitude nobody follows the highway code lorry drivers think they are king of the road and so it goes on down to the cyclist turning and expecting pedestrians to halt even though they have the right of way. Add the animals wondering all over the road, I kid you not, horses, donkeys, cattle, pigs, the odd goat or sheep and chickens I have often said there is a computer game just waiting to be created on getting from A to B in Piaui.
An allegedly drunk driver has killed five athletes training for a marathon in South Africa
South Africa's transport minister has called for murder charges against an allegedly drunk driver accused of killing five runners who were training for a marathon.
A sixth runner preparing for next month's Soweto Marathon was badly injured in Saturday's accident in Johannesburg.
In a statement, Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele said: "Following allegations that the driver of the vehicle was drunk, the driver should be charged with murder."
Gideon Sam, head of South Africa's Olympic committee, says South African sport "is rocked by these tragic deaths".
Earlier this year, the Olympics committee noted in a statement, South Africa's leading road cyclist, Carla Swart, died after being hit by a truck while she was training.
RIP so sad to hear the news.
Training here in NE Brasil I am seriously hampered by the bad roads, sun and n street lightning. If I have not finished my run by 09.00 I am in serious danger of getting sun burnt and the only safe window in the afternoon is between 16.30 and 18.00 after that it is too dark and dangerous, the street lights are very poor if any at all.
This part of Brasil for sure has a bully boy attitude nobody follows the highway code lorry drivers think they are king of the road and so it goes on down to the cyclist turning and expecting pedestrians to halt even though they have the right of way. Add the animals wondering all over the road, I kid you not, horses, donkeys, cattle, pigs, the odd goat or sheep and chickens I have often said there is a computer game just waiting to be created on getting from A to B in Piaui.
Monday 17 October 2011
Congratulations to100 year old marathon man
Fauja Singh, 100, receives a finishing medal after crossing the line in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in Toronto
The world's oldest marathon runner, 100-year-old Briton Fauja Singh, has achieved another feat - completing the Scotiabank Toronto Marathon in Canada.
Mr Singh finished the race in eight hours, 25 minutes and 16 seconds.
Twenty-six miles is a hugely draining test for anyone and after almost 22 miles it looked like the centenarian might have to stop. But he battled on for another two hours to reach the finishing line in 3,850th place - ahead of five other runners.
Mr Singh, who only started running 11 years ago after the deaths of his wife and son, trains every day, running 10 miles.
He attributes his success to ginger curry, cups of tea and "being happy".
He holds the world record for the men's over-90 category after completing the 2003 Toronto marathon in five hours and 40 minutes.
He has previously said: "The secret to a long and healthy life is to be stress-free.
"If there's something you can't change then why worry about it? Be grateful for everything you have, stay away from people who are negative, stay smiling and keep running."
Born in India on April 1 1911, Mr Singh was a farmer in the Punjab when he first developed a love for running, but he only took the sport seriously when he moved to the UK 50 years later.
Thursday 13 October 2011
Grizzly Adam cuts back on chips, chocolate and beer and is now sizing up a World Cup final
Adam Jones is closing in on the most implausible of collision courses with the All Blacks coach who repeatedly dismissed him as too fat for Test rugby.
Wales’ sixth week of their wonderful odyssey leaves the original Hair Bear one more win away from the World Cup final and a likely confrontation with the New Zealand pack drilled by Steve Hansen, the man Jones blamed for ‘wrecking’ his early days.
Now the indispensable cornerstone of the Welsh scrum, Jones’ unbending role as arguably the most automatic of choices is in stark contrast to the misery of his World Cup debut, in Brisbane eight years ago.
Against England in the quarter-final, he suffered the humiliation of being substituted after just half an hour.
Hansen, then running the team after Graham Henry’s forced resignation the previous year, was adamant about Jones being a 30-minute player, overweight and under-prepared.
‘He didn’t think I could last any longer,’ Jones said in the aftermath of his second World Cup quarter-final against Ireland, when he went the full distance without any thought of being withdrawn.
‘Being taken off that early used to wreck me a bit. He never spoke to me about it, but I suppose it helped me in the long run because it gave me a thick skin.’
Jones made his debut off the bench against England eight years ago, when Sir Clive Woodward sent his reserve XV to Cardiff for a pre-World Cup friendly which Wales lost 43-9.
When Hansen decided that Jones had run out of steam against England’s first team in Australia less than three months later, he was replaced by the one other Welsh forward who will be running out against France in Saturday’s semi-final, Gethin Jenkins.
The lowest point of Jones’ early days arrived later that season in the early stages of a Six Nations match against Ireland at Lansdowne Road.
Hansen, who had been a detective in Christchurch before going into coaching full time, issued a damning verdict: ‘He is not very agile, not very mobile and soon runs out of energy.’
After a second unfulfilled World Cup in France, where Wales failed to survive the pool stage, Warren Gatland began his regime by giving Jones a stark choice — lose weight or lose your place.
He changed his diet and reduced his bulk to the right side of 20 stone, a downsizing based on reducing his huge intake of chips, chocolate and beer. Some 18 months later, the 30-minute man had become an everlasting part of the famed Lions’ Test front row, establishing himself as the best tighthead in Britain and Ireland.
Now that Jones is at his best fighting weight, a touch under 19 stone, nobody dares question his durability.
At 30, the Osprey from Abercrave in the Swansea valley has become a fully paid-up member of the alcohol-free zone as driven by the younger players.
‘Hardly any of the boys drink,’ he said. ‘None of the younger ones drink, which is a big thing. So the rest of us think, “We’d better not drink either”. There’s such a wide age range. Most of the boys would like a pint but we all realise how much is at stake. We will hope to save it for after the final.’
Jones, the third senior member of the Wales first team behind fellow prop Jenkins and the ageless Shane Williams, responds with typical candour to the question of whether he ever thought he would be where he is today, in the semi-finals of the World Cup.
‘No, I don’t suppose I did,’ he said. ‘But there has been a belief in the squad which has been getting stronger for some time. You have these young boys who are so fit and so professional.
‘People like me have to keep up with them, otherwise you fall by the wayside. ‘We’re ticking over nicely, the boys are on a roll and you don’t get the chance to play a World Cup semi-final every week.’
No amount of defeats in recent years have ever affected Jones’ status as one of the first, if not the first name on the team sheet.
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