Friday, December 19, 2014


News Clips For The Day


http://abcnews.go.com/International/pope-francis-celebrates-birthday-donating-400-sleeping-bags/story?id=27715183

Pope Francis Celebrates Birthday by Donating 400 Sleeping Bags
By BEN GITTLESON
 via GOOD MORNING AMERICA
December 19, 2014

After Pope Francis got a cake and an impromptu tango flash mob for his 78th birthday Wednesday, he made sure Rome’s homeless got a gift, too -- sleeping bags emblazoned with the papal coat of arms.

The pontiff donated 400 of the sleeping bags to homeless people in the Italian capital, the Vatican said, continuing his tradition of helping the poor on his birthday.

Members of the pope’s famed Swiss Guard and volunteers handed out hundreds of the sleeping bags Wednesday evening, stopping at railway stations and an area near a cemetery frequented by the homeless.

“This is a gift for you from the pope on the occasion of his birthday,” they said as they passed out the sleeping bags, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Francis, who is known for his humble, charitable lifestyle, also greeted eight homeless people bearing sunflowers during his Wednesday general audience.

He marked his birthday last year by sharing breakfast and attending Mass with four homeless people. On Wednesday, he received more than 1,700 pounds of chicken meat the Vatican said would be distributed to soup kitchens.

His chief alms-giver often carries out acts of charity in Francis’ name. The Vatican has started work on three showers for the homeless just off St. Peter’s Square after the Pope requested they be built, has given out checks to those in need across Rome -- and even has enlisted off-duty Swiss Guards to drive a stranded person home.

Francis has reinvigorated the office of the Vatican almoner, entrusting the almoner, Konrad Krajewski, with hitting the streets daily in his name on mini-missions to help the poor.

Krajewski told journalists last year that each morning, the pope sends him bundles of letters he has received from the faithful, along with notes like, “You know what to do,” or, “Go find them.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.




Bless Pope Francis. He has an imaginative and generous turn of mind. The 400 sleeping bags will be exhausted before all the homeless people in the city receive theirs, but it's a gesture. The chicken for soup kitchens will undoubtedly reach some of the others. I'm glad to see that he celebrates his birthday this way. I would like to see the “tango flash mob.” He's having some fun, I see. He's a very interesting Pope because he isn't the somber and rigid type. I get the feeling he likes to have fun and make contact one to one with his "sheep."





http://abcnews.go.com/Health/school-takes-blind-boys-cane-punishment-acting/story?id=27702312

School Takes Away Blind Boy's Cane as Punishment for Acting Up
By SYDNEY LUPKIN
 via GOOD MORNING AMERICA
Dec 18, 2014, 5:36 PM ET

A school took away an 8-year-old blind boy's cane as punishment for acting up and replaced it with a pool noodle, his father told ABC News today.

Dakota Nafzinger, who was born with no eyes, was listening to his music on the school bus when the driver took it away from him, his father, Donald Nafzinger said. Dakota often taps his cane to the music, but this time, his father said he threw it in the air. Nafzinger said school officials told him they thought Dakota was getting violent.

Then they gave Dakota a foam pool noodle in its place and sent him home with it, Nafzinger said.

"It is his eyes," Nafzinger, 35, told ABC News. "He said he was upset because he that's something he needs to get around with."

Dakota was born with a rare condition called bilateral anophthalmia. Nafzinger said Dakota's mother chose to call the local news media because she feared that "there weren't caring people left in this world."

"They shouldn't treat my kid any different than the kids that have eyes," said Nafzinger, who works in Kansas City, Missouri, as a stage hand. "My kid is normal except he doesn't have eyes."

The school district, North Kansas City Schools, admitted to the mistake and has since given Dakota his cane back. Nafzinger said not only was that a good outcome, but sharing the story has shown his family how many supporters they have.

"The District has reviewed the situation," North Kansas City Schools wrote in a statement. "We regret that a mistake was made in making sure the student was in possession of his cane when he boarded the bus Monday evening. The District has apologized to the family and is working to rectify the situation. When we were made aware of the mistake, corrections were made. It is always the District’s policy when we become aware of situations like this, we thoroughly and immediately investigate to ensure a safe learning environment for all students."




"They shouldn't treat my kid any different than the kids that have eyes," said Nafzinger, who works in Kansas City, Missouri, as a stage hand. "My kid is normal except he doesn't have eyes." The school district, North Kansas City Schools, admitted to the mistake and has since given Dakota his cane back. Nafzinger said not only was that a good outcome, but sharing the story has shown his family how many supporters they have.”

This is a pretty strange story all the way through. I remember one story some years ago in which a school bus driver “forgot” a mentally disabled boy and left him on the bus when they unloaded all the other students. That raised a fuss. The driver is responsible for every kid on the bus, no matter what his abilities. They should be sufficiently well trained to see that no kid is abused in any way. Taking his cane away and sending him home with “a pool noodle” instead is senseless and sounds abusive to me. If he threw the cane up into the air and the driver took it away from him he should have given it back to him before letting him off the bus. Why didn't he just verbally tell the boy to stop throwing his cane? He is only 6 years old. Were the authorities actually afraid of him?




http://www.npr.org/2014/12/19/371202059/when-a-hospital-bill-becomes-a-decade-long-pay-cut

When Nonprofit Hospitals Sue Their Poorest Patients
CHRIS ARNOLD, PAUL KIEL, PROPUBLICA
DECEMBER 19, 2014

Photograph – Keith Herie is swamped in debt from medical issues he and his wife encountered starting about a decade ago. Heartland hospital is seizing 10 percent of his paycheck and 25 percent of his wife's wages, and has placed a lien on their home.

On the eastern edge of St. Joseph, Mo., lies the small city's only hospital, a landmark of modern brick and glass buildings. Everyone in town knows Heartland Regional Medical Center — many residents gave birth to their children here. Many rush here when they get hurt or sick.

And there's another reason everyone knows this place: Thousands of people around St. Joseph have been sued by the hospital and had their wages seized to pay for medical bills. Some of them, given their income, could have qualified to get their bill forgiven entirely — but the hospital seized their wages anyway.

NPR and ProPublica have been investigating the increase in so-called "wage garnishment" by credit card and other companies. For this story, we looked specifically at nonprofit hospitals and found the practice widespread in five different states around the country.

Nonprofit hospitals get huge tax breaks — they are considered charities and therefore don't pay federal or state income tax or local property tax. In exchange, they are obligated to provide financial assistance or "charity care" to lower-income patients.

Some nonprofit hospitals around the country don't ever seize their patients' wages. Some do so only in very rare cases. But others sue hundreds of patients every year. Heartland, which is in the process of changing its name to Mosaic Life Care, seizes more money from patients than any other hospital in Missouri. From 2009 through 2013, the hospital's debt collection arm garnished the wages of about 6,000 people, according to a ProPublica analysis of state court data.

After the hospital wins a judgment against a former patient in court, it's entitled to take a hefty portion of the patient's paychecks going forward: 25 percent of after-tax pay. For patients who are the head of household, if they tell the hospital or court that information, the hospital can seize only 10 percent of each paycheck.

But Heartland, through the debt collection company Northwest Financial Services, often sues both adults in a household — garnishing one at the 10 percent rate and the other at the full 25 percent of their pay. The hospital also charges patients 9 percent interest, the maximum allowed under state law.

They're Greedy'

Back in 2005, Keith Herie was working as a truck driver making about $30,000 a year. His wife, Kathleen, was a stay-at-home mom with their two kids. The couple says they couldn't afford health insurance and Keith's employer didn't offer it.

But sometimes you have to go to the hospital anyway. That's what happened when Kathleen doubled over with a burst appendix and needed an emergency operation. "I felt sharp pains, I was vomiting, I was running a fever," she says. "It was bad."

That operation meant upwards of $14,000 in medical bills. It was a staggering debt for the Heries. They say the hospital told them they could apply for financial aid, but when he went to inquire about that, Keith says, "they basically told me I made too much."

Just a few months after the operation, the hospital expanded its charity care policy. The Heries, given their income, would have qualified under the new policy. But the hospital didn't make the change retroactive.

In 2006, the hospital sued the Heries and got a court judgment against them for the full bill plus legal fees — more than $18,000 in total. Ever since, the hospital has been taking 10 percent out of Keith Herie's paychecks.

He says that has also hurt his credit score. "Where I should be making a $250-a-month car payment, I'm making $368 in payments," he says. Likewise, the mar on his credit has prevented him from refinancing his mortgage to take advantage of lower interest rates. "It affects everything," Keith says.

To make some more money, Kathleen Herie got a low-wage retail job at Sam's Club. But then Heartland hospital began seizing 25 percent of her paychecks after taxes — meaning both she and her husband were now getting their pay docked at the maximum level allowed under state and federal law. On top of that, the hospital placed a lien against their home — which also prevents them from refinancing. According to a Heartland operations memo, this is done in all cases in which the company has won a judgment exceeding $1,000.

"They're greedy," Kathleen says. "I owe more in interest on those bills than I do the bill alone."

Court records show that the couple has now paid more than $15,000 on this debt. But because the hospital has been charging them 9 percent interest on that large bill for going on 10 years now, the interest has added up — so the couple still owes $10,000 more.

"It's like a never-never plan," Keith says. "You're never going to get rid of it and you're never going to get ahead of it."

Is Seizing Wages Worth The Effort For Hospitals?

As far as the hospital's finances go — it's doing well. Heartland made $605 million in gross revenues last year, and $45 million of that was profit. "We've been very successful in terms of being profitable and being a good community asset," says Tama Wagner, chief brand officer for Heartland.

In fact, the hospital brings in so much money that all of this wage garnishment turns out to be a minor item on its balance sheet. Totaling up all the money the hospital seized from patients' wages last year, according to court records, shows that wage garnishment brought in just half of 1 percent of its revenues.

Other hospitals in Missouri have found ways to avoid suing low-income patients. BJC Healthcare, a nonprofit, operates a chain of 12 hospitals, including Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, the largest in the state. In 2013, the BJC hospital chain filed just 26 lawsuits. Unlike Heartland, BJC automatically slices 25 percent off its standard rates for uninsured patients and never includes interest on payment plans, said June Fowler, BJC's spokeswoman.

By comparison, Heartland hospital's debt collection arm filed over 2,200 lawsuits in Missouri courts in 2013. "It's not fair to those who are paying to not be aggressive with those who have the ability and aren't paying," Wagner says.

She says the hospital does everything it can to fulfill its mission as a nonprofit, charitable institution. Patients are offered multiple opportunities to qualify for financial assistance and avoid the possibility of legal action, she says. It would be better for everyone, Wagner says, "if we attempt to work on things before it gets to this level."

In recent years, the hospital has made its charity care policy more generous. Heartland's policies state that anyone making less than three times the poverty line can qualify to be billed at a reduced rate, similar to what an insurance company pays, and then get that amount cut in half. If they make less than twice the poverty line, the entire bill is forgiven.

The hospital makes every effort to let patients know that they may qualify for help, Wagner says. "Financial counselors are available if a patient asks for that." But if patients don't utilize those resources, she says, the hospital must take action.

"No one goes into this with the goal or the desire to ruin someone's life," Wagner says. "But at the same time, the services were rendered, and we have to figure out how to get them paid for."

Asked why the hospital sues more patients than any other in the state, Wagner said, "I don't know."

Last year, about 8,700 Heartland patients had their bills cut or zeroed out, according to data provided by Heartland. About half of those were uninsured, while the rest were spared full payment of deductibles or other obligations not covered by their insurance.
But uninsured patients like the Heries who don't receive charity care — either because they were turned down or never applied — are billed at Heartland's standard rates, the sticker price that insurers never pay. In 2013, more than two-thirds of the accounts the hospital's debt collection division handled involved uninsured patients, according to data provided by Heartland.

Suing Patients Who Qualify For Free Or Reduced-Cost Care

In 2010, Heartland sued Keith and Kathleen Herie again. Keith was experiencing chest pains, had tests done and ended up with new bills totaling upwards of $10,000. But this time, based on his income on his tax returns, the couple could have qualified to get their entire bill forgiven under the hospital's financial aid policy.

But they say nobody told them that. They didn't formally apply for aid. So the hospital charged them the full bill and garnished their wages again. Altogether, over the years, the couple has paid $19,779 through garnishments, according to court records. They still owe $25,739.

The Heries' case highlights a key point: When a hospital garnishes patients' wages, it learns how much they make. But even if the patient is very low-income, Heartland doesn't consider that. Once you get sued, you no longer qualify for assistance. "The time to do that would have been back when you got the bill or when the bill initially went to collections," Wagner says. Hospital spokesperson Tracey Clark says charity care is reserved for patients who "seek it and legitimately work with us."

Meanwhile, the hospital is seizing the wages of many patients who could qualify for free or reduced-cost care. Just last year, Heartland garnished the pay of more than 400 people who worked at Wal-Mart, fast-food restaurants such as McDonald's and a local pig slaughterhouse, according to court records. Clark said that Wal-Mart employees constituted "only 3.6 percent" of the thousands of patients currently being garnished by the hospital's debt-collection arm.

The employees of the local pig slaughterhouse were Heartland's most frequent target. One of the largest employers in St. Joseph, Triumph Foods processes 6 million hogs a year and has 2,800 employees, according to its website. In 2013, at least 255 Triumph employees had their wages garnished by Heartland's debt-collection arm — about one of every 11 employees.

Tammy Berry, who earns $8.20 an hour working at the fast food chain Taco John's, has been sued by Heartland repeatedly. Berry, 48, and her husband Keith, 47, were first sued in 2009. Since then, the hospital has garnished $4,500 from Tammy's pay, almost all of it going to pay off interest. (Keith Berry says he does not work and is applying for disability payments). The Berrys still owe $7,000 on that debt.

The couple have had a number of ailments, including issues with Keith's heart, but they aren't sure which hospital visits led to the suits.

Then, while still being garnished for those bills, Tammy said, she fell ill with pneumonia and went to Heartland for treatment again. The hospital's debt collection arm sued them for $4,600 more.

Federal law only protects the poorest of the poor from garnishment, and Tammy is not poor enough. If she takes home more than $870 a month, her wages can be garnished. On the weeks she works full time, the garnishments bring her take-home pay below the minimum wage.

But like the Heries, the Berrys are poor enough to qualify for free care under Heartland's official financial aid policy. In fact, the Berrys had qualified for charity care at Heartland for bills at other times, so the hospital has known that their finances were precarious. Yet, they were charged full price for Tammy's treatment for pneumonia. Clark, the Heartland spokeswoman, declined to explain this, but said, "Information has to be a two-way street."

Outside a courtroom in the county courthouse on a recent Wednesday morning, the couple slumps on a bench dejectedly. They say they're uncertain how they will absorb this latest blow.

"We're living paycheck to paycheck," Tammy says.

Under The Affordable Care Act, A Tougher Standard

If a nonprofit hospital gets too aggressive with debt collection these days, "they're putting at risk their federal tax exemption," says Mark Rukavina. He runs Community Health Advisors, a consulting firm that helps hospitals comply with the Affordable Care Act.

The ACA actually sets a new and higher standard for debt collection.

"The statute is quite clear," Rukavina says. "It says nonprofit hospitals should not engage in extraordinary collection actions before making a reasonable effort to determine whether someone is eligible for financial assistance."

And if a hospital is garnishing wages of many low-income residents in their community, Rukavina says, "it's really questionable whether that is in compliance."

Chi Chi Wu, an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center, says Heartland's tactics appear to run counter to its mission. Nonprofit hospitals are "given tax-exempt status because they are supposed to be serving the public and especially the poor," she says.

The NCLC has criticized hospitals in the past for charging uninsured patients higher prices than the hospitals charge insurance companies. The insurance companies negotiate reduced rates from hospitals. Wu says if hospitals are charging low-income patients more than they charge insured patients, "and then garnishing their wages on the basis of these inflated amounts," there ought to be consequences. "They should lose their tax-exempt status," she says.

The center has recommended that federal regulators prohibit debt collectors from garnishing wages based on the higher prices hospitals charge uninsured patients.

Heartland's Board Reviewing the Hospital's Practices

After NPR and ProPublica brought all this to Heartland hospital's board of directors, the board says it is reviewing the hospital's debt collection practices. Mark Rukavina says nonprofit hospitals around the country should do the same.




“Federal law only protects the poorest of the poor from garnishment, and Tammy is not poor enough. If she takes home more than $870 a month, her wages can be garnished. On the weeks she works full time, the garnishments bring her take-home pay below the minimum wage.... Yet, they were charged full price for Tammy's treatment for pneumonia. Clark, the Heartland spokeswoman, declined to explain this, but said, "Information has to be a two-way street."... Under The Affordable Care Act, A Tougher Standard. If a nonprofit hospital gets too aggressive with debt collection these days, "they're putting at risk their federal tax exemption," says Mark Rukavina. He runs Community Health Advisors, a consulting firm that helps hospitals comply with the Affordable Care Act.... The NCLC has criticized hospitals in the past for charging uninsured patients higher prices than the hospitals charge insurance companies. The insurance companies negotiate reduced rates from hospitals. Wu says if hospitals are charging low-income patients more than they charge insured patients, "and then garnishing their wages on the basis of these inflated amounts," there ought to be consequences. "They should lose their tax-exempt status," she says.... After NPR and ProPublica brought all this to Heartland hospital's board of directors, the board says it is reviewing the hospital's debt collection practices. Mark Rukavina says nonprofit hospitals around the country should do the same.”

Clearly Heartland is completely heartless, and may be about to lose its non-profit status as a result of their money-grubbing excesses. I see the need for the Affordable Care Act, as the patient who has insurance is charged less than the uninsured. There should be a federal law covering unfair hospital charging practices and requiring them to adjust the bill for those under those income levels, whether the patient applied for the bill reduction or not at the time of the treatment.

It is so interesting that the hospital, now that NPR and ProPublica have weighed in on the matter, are “reviewing the hospital's debt collection practices.” There's nothing like a little adverse publicity to change people's minds. So much of the increasingly high cost of medical care that is going on today originates with the healthcare provider. If the law regulating this worked the way I would like for it to, it would outrightly ban all of the charging practices detailed in this article. Not only would the hospitals lose their tax free status, but they would have to close their doors, pay back money taken from the thousands whom they have sued, and in addition, their board of directors and owners should be put in prison.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/12/18/371570033/supreme-court-refuses-to-block-arizona-drivers-licenses-for-dreamers

Supreme Court Refuses To Block Arizona Driver's Licenses For 'Dreamers'
By Lauren Hodges
December 18, 2014

Arizona hoped an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court would prevent the state from having to grant driving permits to young undocumented immigrants, also known as "dreamers," who entered the country as children. A federal appeals court ruled in July of this year that Arizona must start issuing the licenses to dreamers, who under Obama administration policy are permitted to remain in the United States.

NPR's Nina Totenberg reported on the Supreme Court's Wednesday decision and the background of the legal dispute:

"When Arizona refused to allow dreamers to get driver's licenses, a group of these young adults challenged the action in court. A federal appeals court ruled that since the dreamers were likely to prevail, the state must go ahead and grant the licenses while the case is litigated. Arizona then appealed to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to block that order."

The court's decision, she says, ultimately did not go in the state's favor.

"The justices, by a 6-to-3 vote, refused to intervene, at least for now. The three dissenters were Justices Scalia, Thomas and Alito."

The state has been fighting for more than two years to deny the licenses, beginning with an executive order by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer in August 2012. The Arizona Republic published a timeline of the state's legal actions surrounding the issue, showing Brewer issued the order on the same day President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program took effect. The program allows those undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S. for two years in order to apply for immunity.

The Tucson Sentinel reported in November that a three-judge federal panel ruled that the state's actions to deny licenses to dreamers was illegal and in violation of the president's deferred action program.

"Over the summer, a three-judge panel said there was no legitimate interest in treating the Dreamers differently. Arguing that the state's policy appears to be motivated by animosity to the young immigrants and is likely unconstitutional, the court ordered an injunction blocking Gov. Jan Brewer's 2012 executive order.

" 'We discern no rational relationship between defendants' policy and a legitimate state interest,' wrote Judge Harry Pregerson for the panel."

The Supreme Court's refusal to intervene clears the way for as many as 22,000 dreamers in Arizona to obtain legal permits to drive.




The “animosity” of the far right knows no bounds. These young people were brought into the country by their parents against their will, and they shouldn't be punished for that. I have gotten tired of the exclusionary actions by privileged white people against everybody whose “skin is a different shade.” Love thy neighbor as thyself is not the rule here, and equal justice under the law is just words on paper. I will probably never see the realization of our country's ideals. I will continue to fight for it, though.





http://www.npr.org/2014/12/18/371438087/arctic-is-warming-twice-as-fast-as-world-average

Arctic Is Warming Twice As Fast As World Average
By Christopher Joyce
DECEMBER 18, 2014

The latest word from scientists studying the Arctic is that the polar region is warming twice as fast as the average rise on the rest of the planet. And researchers say the trend isn't letting up. That's the latest from the 2014 Arctic Report Card — a compilation of recent research from more than 60 scientists in 13 countries. The report was released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Jackie Richter-Menge, a polar scientist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who collaborated with NOAA on the analysis, says the findings demonstrate the "power of persistence" in the Arctic — "persistence in the warming air temperatures and the impact that is having on this icy environment."

That's largely because of arctic amplification. Here's how it works: Normally, snow and ice cool the surface by reflecting a lot of the sun's energy back up into the atmosphere. But warming air temperatures melt snow and ice. "And when they melt," says Richter-Menge, "they expose darker regions."

Darker regions, once covered in snow and ice, now absorb more heat, like a dark shirt does on a hot, sunny day. The same thing happens when sea ice melts — the exposed water is darker and warms up.

Calved icebergs from the nearby Twin Glaciers float off the coast of Qaqortoq, Greenland in 2013.

So what happens as a result of this amplification? Well, warmer water affects what lives in it. Apparently, plankton like the warmer conditions; they're thriving. Scientists say they don't know whether that's good or bad for the rest of us. But unlike plankton, polar bears don't like the warmer water and having less sea ice around.

"There's a strong connection between what's going on with the sea and polar bears," says Richter-Menge. In regions where the sea ice is holding steady, bears are doing OK, according to the report card. Where the ice is gone, bear numbers are down.

Then there's Greenland. The giant land mass is covered in ice that's a mile thick. GeophysicistBeata Csatho at the University of Buffalo has just completed the most comprehensive satellite survey of that ice cover.

"There are some places," she says, "where in the last 20 years the ice surface is just lowering, lowering, lowering very uniformly."

Csatho, whose research appears separately in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week, says she has noticed something else about Greenland's blanket of ice: Because the ice melts from the top down, the surface elevation gets lower over time. And at lower elevations, the air generally is warmer.

"As Greenland is losing ice, it gets more and more irreversible," Csatho explains, "because you get the ice into lower and lower elevations."

The research shows some exceptions to the warming trend — places where ice is building back up or temperatures are cooling. But overall, warming is winning in the Arctic.




“That's largely because of arctic amplification. Here's how it works: Normally, snow and ice cool the surface by reflecting a lot of the sun's energy back up into the atmosphere. But warming air temperatures melt snow and ice. "And when they melt," says Richter-Menge, "they expose darker regions."... The research shows some exceptions to the warming trend — places where ice is building back up or temperatures are cooling. But overall, warming is winning in the Arctic.”

It really is disheartening to see the lone polar bear looking for some polar ice to stand on while it hunts. They have taken to scrounging in people's garbage like black bears. Too many of them will likely starve over time. If they aren't clever enough to start seeking land mammals, fish, etc. to hunt they are probably doomed.

There's also the changes in our planet's flow of ocean currents, caused by all the meltwater diluting the salt in the ocean of the North Pole. Hence the formidable “snowball earth” bringing the worst possible “climate change.” That's a theory, of course, but the rationale behind it is possible. Land temperatures on earth are governed by the sea currents flowing beside it. When the “conveyor belt” is stopped by the decreased desalination of the water at the Arctic Circle it will cause the gulf stream to stop its movement bringing tropical water north, and thus the air above the ocean would cool precipitously. Whether snowball earth conditions return or not, the warming changes that we are already experiencing are going to present problems for all humans here. We need to cut those CO2 and methane emissions fast if we are to prevent a lot of practical life issues. Running out of water due to evaporation and lack of rain are occurring now. It's sad and even frightening to think of our earth as a wasteland. I hope I don't live so long as to see that.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/12/17/371397185/a-tweet-on-womens-veils-followed-by-raging-debate-in-saudi-arabia

A Tweet On Women's Veils, Followed By Raging Debate In Saudi Arabia
By Deborah Amos
DECEMBER 17, 2014

The man at the eye of the storm in Saudi Arabia is Ahmad Aziz Al Ghamdi. He's a religious scholar, the former head of the religious police in Mecca, a group officially known as the Committee for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

He has the pedigree of an ultra-conservative. Yet he stunned Saudis with a religious ruling, known as a fatwa, that is very liberal by Saudi standards. He declared that the niqab, the black face veil that is ubiquitous among women in Saudi society, is not obligatory.

His answer came in a Twitter response to a tweet he receive from a Saudi woman who had turned to him for religious guidance. She asked: Does Islam allow her to post a picture of her face on social media?

His affirmative answer went viral within hours, with more than 10,000 comments on his Twitter feed that ranged from congratulations to death threats.

When Twitter commentators asked, "What about his own wife?" Al Ghamdi promptly stepped up the controversy another notch.

He appeared Saturday on the most popular TV talk show in Saudi Arabia. The Badria program is broadcast each week from Dubai in the neighboring United Arab Emirates, where the traditional rules for women's dress are less restrictive. Ghamdi went on air with his wife, Jawahir Bint Shekh Ali, who appeared without a face veil.

She spoke to the program host, Badria al-Bishr, about her decision to show her face, not just among close family and friends, but in a broadcast that could be seen across Saudi Arabia. She covered her hair, but was wearing makeup, another point that enraged conservatives. Her husband specifically approved of makeup in his religious ruling.

Ahmad Aziz Al Ghamdi, a prominent religious figure in Saudi Arabia, said that the face veil for women is not mandatory. He then appeared on a popular talk show with his wife, who was not wearing the veil, known as the niqab.

The reaction on Saudi Twitter feeds was immediate and furious.

Saudi Arabia is a deeply conservative society, the only country in the world that effectively prohibits women from driving. Girls and women are forbidden from traveling, conducting official business or undergoing certain medical procedures without permission from their male guardian.

Gender segregation is mandatory in schools, hospitals and restaurants. Even banks have separate tellers for women. The names of mothers and sisters are not shared with others outside the family, even with best friends at school.

But norms are changing as global culture is beamed into the kingdom through social media and satellite television. Education is changing expectations in a country where the majority of the population is younger than 35. Twitter usage in Saudi is booming, considered the fastest-growing market in the world, despite regular crackdowns by the religious police.

Ghamdi has stirred a public debate over the face veil that is unlikely to end with the television appearance. The controversy reflects a wider debate in many Saudi households as urban, college-educated, professional women abandon the face veil as impractical in a work environment.

The reaction from the top religious authorities was predictable.

Saudi Arabia's grand mufti, Sheikh Abdul Al Aziz Al Shaikh, has called on Ghamdi to repent and declared that Muslim women have a duty to cover their faces.

"Some brothers even took the step to show their wives in public. This is a very dangerous thing," he said in comments posted on a local news site.

But the Twitter debate then erupted again, challenging the interpretation of the highest religious authority in the kingdom.




“The man at the eye of the storm in Saudi Arabia is Ahmad Aziz Al Ghamdi. He's a religious scholar, the former head of the religious police in Mecca, a group officially known as the Committee for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.... He has the pedigree of an ultra-conservative. Yet he stunned Saudis with a religious ruling, known as a fatwa, that is very liberal by Saudi standards. He declared that the niqab, the black face veil that is ubiquitous among women in Saudi society, is not obligatory. His answer came in a Twitter response to a tweet he receive from a Saudi woman who had turned to him for religious guidance. She asked: Does Islam allow her to post a picture of her face on social media? His affirmative answer went viral within hours, with more than 10,000 comments on his Twitter feed that ranged from congratulations to death threats.... Ghamdi went on air with his wife, Jawahir Bint Shekh Ali, who appeared without a face veil. She spoke to the program host, Badria al-Bishr, about her decision to show her face, not just among close family and friends, but in a broadcast that could be seen across Saudi Arabia. She covered her hair, but was wearing makeup, another point that enraged conservatives. Her husband specifically approved of makeup in his religious ruling.... Saudi Arabia's grand mufti, Sheikh Abdul Al Aziz Al Shaikh, has called on Ghamdi to repent and declared that Muslim women have a duty to cover their faces. "Some brothers even took the step to show their wives in public. This is a very dangerous thing," he said in comments posted on a local news site.”

“This is a very dangerous thing.” I don't understand such fear brought on by men being able to see a woman's face. Are they afraid that Allah will doom them to some form of “hell?” Are they afraid they will have to face up to their natural responses to women and keep them under control like decent gentlemen around the rest of the world do? The US torturers had their prisoners, among other things, be physically close to naked American female soldiers, which made them feel “contaminated.” The fear of our basic sexual nature must be behind this. We all have to keep it under control, but that's just part of being an adult in a law-abiding society. If I had been born into such a restrictive society I would probably have been executed by now. Religious extremism is probably the worse thing we could live under because it is profoundly illogical, and that's why I will fight those Christian fundamentalist here who are actively trying to change this country into a theocracy.









http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/12/17/371534533/s-c-judge-says-boy-14-shouldn-t-have-been-executed

S.C. Judge Says 1944 Execution Of 14-Year-Old Boy Was Wrong
By Bill Chappell
December 17, 2014

An African-American boy, George Stinney Jr., who was executed at age 14 in the killing of two young white girls has been exonerated in South Carolina, 70 years after he became the youngest person executed in the U.S. in the 1900s. A judge ruled he was denied due process.

"I think it's long overdue," Stinney's sister, Katherine Stinney Robinson, 80, tells local newspaper The Manning Times. "I'm just thrilled because it's overdue."

In her ruling, Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen wrote that she found that "fundamental, Constitutional violations of due process exist in the 1944 prosecution of George Stinney, Jr., and hereby vacates the judgment."

The case was brought by Stinney Robinson and two of her surviving siblings.

"It took less than a day for a jury to convict George Stinney Jr. and send him to the electric chair," NPR'S Hansi Lo Wang reports. "He was convicted of the deaths of 11-year-old Betty June Binnicker and 7-year-old Mary Emma Thames in deeply segregated Alcolu, S.C."

Matt Burgess, an attorney for the Stinney family, tells Hansi, "There were no African-American people in that courthouse. It was a jury of 12 white men. Everyone in that courthouse was white."

Stinney's family has maintained he was innocent, insisting that he was too small to carry out such a crime and too naive to handle the pressure put on him by law enforcement officials.

Bolstered by a key ally in local historian and school board member George Frierson, family members have insisted that they didn't want Stinney to be pardoned for a crime they believed he didn't commit.

"There's a difference: A pardon is forgiving someone for something they did," Norma Robinson, George Stinney's niece, tells the Manning Times. "That wasn't an option for my mother, my aunt or my uncle. We weren't asking forgiveness."

George Stinney Jr. was executed less than three months after the two girls were murdered. His trial lasted just one day. After the jury needed less than 10 minutes to declare him guilty, no appeals were filed on his behalf.

"His executioners noted the electric chair straps didn't fit him, and an electrode was too big for his leg," The State newspaper reports. The paper adds, "It took Mullen nearly four times as long to issue her ruling as it took in 1944 to go from arrest to execution."
The Manning Times notes that in her decision, Mullen granted a "writ of coram nobis, a rare legal doctrine held over from English law that 'corrects errors of fact' when no other remedy is available to the applicant."

Back in 2004, NPR marked the 60th anniversary of Stinney's death with a Sound Portrait featuring interviews with his sister, Katherine Stinney Robinson, and Lorraine Bailey, the sister of Betty June Binnicker.

The two women's recollections are strikingly different — except in some aspects.

For instance, both of them recalled how fond they were of the siblings they lost. And they both think it's possible their mothers "never got over it," as Stinney Robinson said.




“In her ruling, Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen wrote that she found that "fundamental, Constitutional violations of due process exist in the 1944 prosecution of George Stinney, Jr., and hereby vacates the judgment." The case was brought by Stinney Robinson and two of her surviving siblings.... Matt Burgess, an attorney for the Stinney family, tells Hansi, "There were no African-American people in that courthouse. It was a jury of 12 white men. Everyone in that courthouse was white." Stinney's family has maintained he was innocent, insisting that he was too small to carry out such a crime and too naive to handle the pressure put on him by law enforcement officials.... The Manning Times notes that in her decision, Mullen granted a "writ of coram nobis, a rare legal doctrine held over from English law that 'corrects errors of fact' when no other remedy is available to the applicant." Back in 2004, NPR marked the 60th anniversary of Stinney's death with a Sound Portrait featuring interviews with his sister, Katherine Stinney Robinson, and Lorraine Bailey, the sister of Betty June Binnicker.”

Justice, even when it comes too late to save a citizen's life, is at least a means of clearing his name in such a case, and that is important to the family. I'm glad to see that. People in our society have to start caring deeply about justice, rather than sitting back in our personal comfort and doing nothing. Judge Mullen, in the deeply racist state of SC, should be considered a hero, but I'm sure many “conservative” people there will be angry at her instead. Maybe bringing this into the light of day will improve some people's attitudes and behavior now, though, or even set a precedent for future legal cases.

Thursday, December 18, 2014


News Clips For The Day


http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2014/12/17/347383068/an-alternative-to-suspension-and-expulsion-circle-up

An Alternative To Suspension And Expulsion: 'Circle Up!'
Eric Westervelt
DECEMBER 17, 2014

One by one, in a room just off the gym floor at Edna Brewer Middle School in Oakland, Calif., seventh-graders go on the interview hot seat.

Some 80 students have applied to be "peer leaders" in the school's new, alternative discipline program called "restorative justice."

Kyle McClerkins, the program's director, grills them on aspects of adolescent life: "What is the biggest challenge for middle school girls? What has changed about you from sixth grade to now?"

This school and the Oakland Unified School District are at the forefront of a new approach to school misconduct and discipline. Instead of suspending or expelling students who get into fights or act out, restorative justice seeks to resolve conflicts and build school community through talking and group dialogue.

Its proponents say it could be an answer to the cycle of disruption and suspension, especially in minority communities where expulsion rates are higher than in predominantly white schools.

Oakland Unified, one of California's largest districts, has been a national leader in expanding restorative justice. The district is one-third African-American and more than 70 percent low-income. The program was expanded after a federal civil rights agreement in 2012 to reduce school discipline inequity for African-American students.

At Edna Brewer Middle School, the fact that students are taking the lead — that so many want to be part of this effort — shows that it's starting to take root.

"Instead of throwing a punch, they're asking for a circle, they're backing off and asking to mediate it peacefully with words," says Ta-Biti Gibson, the school's restorative justice co-director. "And that's a great thing."

Last school year — the program's first year — Gibson says, kids weren't ready to talk things out. "Last year there was a lot of different conflicts, a lot of fights."

This year, he says, they're more willing to "circle up."

The school tried this alternative discipline approach a few years ago. But problems with teacher buy-in, training and turnover killed it before it got off the ground.

And it's still a big work in progress, says Principal Sam Pasarow. "I believe our staff is struggling with restorative justice because they might feel at times a consequence didn't come down on a student when it should have."

Districtwide, Oakland says the approach is working. The district says new, as-yet unpublished research shows the percentage of students suspended at schools that have fully adopted the program has dropped by half, from 34 percent in 2011-12 to just 14 percent in the following two years.

They say the data show chronic absence is down dramatically and graduation rates are up at restorative-justice schools, and that at two sites last year the disproportionate discipline of African-American students was eliminated.

Several other urban districts are trying some version of the approach, among them: Chicago; Minneapolis; Palm Beach County, Fla.; and Denver.

But there is no real agreement, yet, on how best to implement these kinds of programs, says Trevor Fronius, who's researching the trend with WestEd, a national nonprofit education research and development agency.

"Most programs involve dialogue and some form of talking circle," he says. "But there are a wide variety of types, and there's no consensus yet on best practices."

Fronius adds that it's not clear that anyone is tracking just how many U.S. school districts are doing restorative justice "in a serious way."

Teacher Concerns

At Edna Brewer, Principal Pasarow says he's trying to work with the handful of remaining teachers who have yet to embrace the approach: those who think it's not their job to lead talking circles when kids misbehave.

Some teachers, he says, have told him, "I don't know how to teach circle, and I don't know how to have deep conversations about my feelings and emotions with students." Pasarow says he understands the concern and thinks it's a valid one, but he points out that the program "is not group therapy; it's community-building."

But some critics say it is pretty close to group therapy, and they worry that some kids might think they can rig the system and get away with behaving badly if they talk about their feelings.

Teachers "have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable" to make it work, McClerkins says.

Students here say the "harm circle" talks do come with consequences — that's the restorative part — including school community service, apologies, public acknowledgement of their bad behavior and more.

At lunchtime, I asked some students if they'd seen any difference this year in terms of school culture, discipline and community.

"They're not as judgmental," 13-year-old Kweko Power says of her classmates.

Her friend Eva Jones, 12, agrees. She says there have been fewer hurtful rumors and fights, and there has been less gossip. "It seems easier now to, like, make friends with people, because people are less angry and defensive. It's just way easier," she says.

Last year, "there was, like, a lot of fights — like, every other week there was a fight. And now there's, like, a fight once per year. "

Well ... not quite.

About a half-hour later, I hear some yelling. In the gym, pushing and verbal sparring has descended into a full-blown fistfight between a seventh-grade boy and an eighth-grade girl.

The program's director, McClerkins, has pinned the boy to the gym floor.

After the students are pulled apart and people calm down, the restorative justice process kicks in.

Encouraging Dialogue

After a weekend "cooling off" time, the school schedules what they call a "harm circle." Both of the students — the eighth-grader, Briona, and the seventh-grader, Rodney — must attend. The school has asked us not to use their full names.

At first blush, the circle session looks a little California flaky: teachers, parents and the students sit in a circle of desks. On a small stand in the middle sit a rock, feather, candle and water jar — representing earth, air, fire and water.

Rodney's mom, Tozma, sets the tone early on.

"I be worried about Rodney," she tells the group. "He's tall for his age, and a lot of stuff happens to black boys. And I try to get that across to him."

Tozma is raising her son on her own, and tells the circle that she's deeply worried about where he's headed. He has an anger problem, she says, and she's tried to get him counseling.

"Talk to Rodney like he your own son," she says. "I'm not the kind of parent who's gonna argue with you about chastising my son, because I want him to be here. I don't want him to be in jail."

Then Briona's mom, Marshae, looks at Rodney and, with a mix of gentle reprimand and warning, talks about her own son.

"He used to go to counseling and they'd say, 'Oh, he's angry.' But he knew you don't hit a female." Her son was an athlete in track and football, but now, "he's in jail," she says. "He just turned 18 in jail. You don't want to go there," Marshae says.

This kind of communication is central to alternative discipline. Here are two mothers sharing fear and worry about raising kids through hard times in a tough neighborhood.

It's not a he said/she said breakdown of a fight. The hope is that dialogue builds trust and community and reduces the need for suspensions and expulsions.

McClerkins tells the students, who are both African-American, "you already have a lot against you and it has nothing to do with what you've done good or bad. There is wisdom in this circle that can help you navigate this. Stay close to it as you get older, and listen. Really listen."

Eventually, the circle does get around to the fight on Friday and who did what.

Rodney shows some remorse with a whispered apology. But his mom is not satisfied and wants to know what's going to change.

"What do you plan on doing to make sure these kinds of incidents don't happen again?" she asks.

Rodney pauses. He thinks for a moment and answers in a quiet voice. "Like, I don't play with people and stuff, I won't horseplay and stuff like that."

Then Briona admits she helped instigate by yanking his backpack and teasing.

The school's restorative justice co-director, Ta-Biti Gibson, reminds Briona, who runs track, how much she has improved this year in sports and in class. "I think about your future," he says, "I talk with you about college."

Her mother tells her to "really learn from this" and "pick your battles."

It's agreed as a group that the two students will have to write and post anti-bullying posters and do after-school service. And they'll have to do joint morning announcements offering tips on how students can get along better.

Rodney's mom ends the meeting by thanking the group. "He really don't have a man voice at home," she says, "so I appreciate everybody. And just keep working with my child."

Rodney responds, too. "I appreciate my mom for not giving up on me."

As the circle breaks up, Briona's father, Al, tells Rodney: "I can tell your mom will never give up on you."




“Some 80 students have applied to be "peer leaders" in the school's new, alternative discipline program called "restorative justice." Kyle McClerkins, the program's director, grills them on aspects of adolescent life: "What is the biggest challenge for middle school girls? What has changed about you from sixth grade to now?" This school and the Oakland Unified School District are at the forefront of a new approach to school misconduct and discipline. Instead of suspending or expelling students who get into fights or act out, restorative justice seeks to resolve conflicts and build school community through talking and group dialogue. Its proponents say it could be an answer to the cycle of disruption and suspension, especially in minority communities where expulsion rates are higher than in predominantly white schools.... "Instead of throwing a punch, they're asking for a circle, they're backing off and asking to mediate it peacefully with words," says Ta-Biti Gibson, the school's restorative justice co-director. "And that's a great thing." … The district says new, as-yet unpublished research shows the percentage of students suspended at schools that have fully adopted the program has dropped by half, from 34 percent in 2011-12 to just 14 percent in the following two years. They say the data show chronic absence is down dramatically and graduation rates are up at restorative-justice schools, and that at two sites last year the disproportionate discipline of African-American students was eliminated.... At Edna Brewer, Principal Pasarow says he's trying to work with the handful of remaining teachers who have yet to embrace the approach: those who think it's not their job to lead talking circles when kids misbehave. Some teachers, he says, have told him, "I don't know how to teach circle, and I don't know how to have deep conversations about my feelings and emotions with students."... "They're not as judgmental," 13-year-old Kweko Power says of her classmates. Her friend Eva Jones, 12, agrees. She says there have been fewer hurtful rumors and fights, and there has been less gossip. "It seems easier now to, like, make friends with people, because people are less angry and defensive. It's just way easier," she says.”

I feel greatly relieved after reading this article. It is clear to me that restorative justice is, or at least should be, the wave of the future. It works so well that I think it will be adopted progressively across the nation. It is especially important in schools with lots of interracial strife and fighting. A bully or a gang member is a kid who needs some mental health work, and this “circle” process can teach the disruptive kids to have empathy with others and solve issues peacefully. We are so into punishment per se as a society – teachers, police officers, parents and I think “conservatives” – that we as a society have not learned to make peaceful relationships. The sicker the individual is the more this is true of him. Poverty, status seeking, lack of interest or emotional involvement with others are the cause of peer groups becoming violent gangs and everything from racism to angry acting out of every form.

The young age of these students makes most of them more pliant for retraining rather than incarceration than they will be at twenty, so Middle School is the time to tackle these things. It is also the age when they begin to mature sexually, and therefore become more aggressive. It's not just a problem with their parents, though gentle but firm parents who daily talk to their children about life in a non-dictatorial way will of course produce happier, more academically inclined, more mature and more gentle children. Grinding poverty among any racial group will tend to cut down on that particular form of parenting, because such parents tend to be rigid and punitive instead. They also can't provide some of the most basic needs for their kids, too often, and a kid who comes to school in torn or dirty clothing will not be treated well on the playground by his peers, so he may become depressed or even the bully. He may have to fight for his own safety.

Restorative justice in the schools is a way of intervening in the school system at the very point when the young people are learning to get along with others and cooperate. It's a winning technique. Of course, teachers have to believe in it philosophically. If they're all into “spare the rod and spoil the child” and other angry things, they have a lot to learn before they can successfully work as leaders in this process. Teaching is like policing – to be a just, fair and successful person they may need a little mental health work themselves. Anyone who has ever done group therapy can vouch for its success in making real inner changes.

I had just about given up on the old idea of “school discipline,” until I read this article, because as a correction for behavior problems, it is so ineffective. Kicking a kid out of school doesn't teach him as much as getting him to develop talking and thinking skills. Being ever more punitive and less interactive is not creating peace in the huge overcrowded city schools where these kids tend to study. No wonder they don't learn as well as we want them to. They are scared of their peers, and rightfully so. These students are actually learning how it works to talk out problems rather than throwing a punch. The fruits are much more peaceful schools and academic improvement, plus simply less absenteeism and higher graduation rates. Some of those “failing schools,” will begin to succeed instead, and young tough teens can be “softened up” rather than kicked out of school and set on their way to becoming hard core criminals. This article is a true piece of good news. I'm glad I found it.





http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/12/17/370959584/a-holy-land-christmas-porridge-honors-a-damsel-in-distress

A Holy Land Christmas Porridge Honors A Damsel In Distress
DANIELLA CHESLOW
December 17, 2014

The winter holidays are a time of abundance, but for Christians in the Middle East, the official start of the Christmas season is marked by a decidedly rustic dish: porridge.

Archbishop Swerios Murad of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem says his congregation will eat boiled wheat kernels this week to mark the Feast of St. Barbara, or Eid el-Burbara in Arabic.

"It's a simple porridge," Murad tells The Salt, "but it's very important that it be sweet."

St. Barbara was an early convert to Christianity in the town of Nicomedia, today Izmit, in modern Turkey, Murad explains. She was the daughter of an over-protective father who built her a home in a tower to cloister her from the outside world. Yet, while her dad was traveling, Barbara converted to Christianity in secret. When her father found out, he tried to kill her.

Barbara fled her tower to the nearby hills. Murad says a shepherd tried to help her by keeping her hidden and feeding her simple porridge. But soldiers on patrol in the area found her and dragged her back to her father. Barbara's father had her tortured and beaten, and when she refused to renounce Christianity, he cut off her head. In divine punishment, he was struck by lightning and died. Because of this lightning, Barbara became the patron saint of those who faced death by fire and, later, artillery. Some folklorists have suggested that Barbara also helped inspire the Brothers Grimm's Rapunzel tale many centuries later.

Murad says his congregation serves a porridge of boiled wheat, called burbara, to remember the food the shepherds gave to the young convert — and to recall the lessons of Barbara's fate.

"She obeyed our God, and not her father, as the Bible told us," Murad says. "First of all we must obey the words of God, and after that we respect our parents."

The feast is celebrated on Dec. 17 according to the Julian calendar, which is followed by Orthodox Christians in the Holy Land, including about 700 families in Israel and the West Bank. This tiny Syriac sect traces its roots to the earliest days of Christianity. Syriac is a dialect of the ancient language Aramaic, and it is still used in liturgical services held in St. Mark's Church, tucked into an alleyway of Jerusalem's Old City.

On Tuesday night, Nadia Ishaq stirred a soup pot full of fresh burbara in her home in the Old City. She decorated the dish with ground chickpea flour, ground coconut heaped across the bowls in the shape of a cross, and candied fennel seeds scattered across the top. Ishaq says she and her neighbors mark the holiday by bringing bowls of their porridge to each other. Syriac Orthodox Christians will celebrate Christmas this year on Jan. 7.

In total, there are nearly 200,000 Christians in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Catholics in the Holy Land — and around the world — marked the holiday earlier this month, on Dec. 4, according to the Western church calendar. Bernard Sabella, a retired associate professor at Bethlehem University, says that in his Roman Catholic family, the porridge tradition actually had an air of luxury when he was growing up. Boiling the wheat kernels takes between two and three hours, and the pot sends a rich, cinnamon aroma throughout the house.

"Breakfast was usually a cup of tea with a piece of bread and that's it," he recalls. "And therefore, making burbara was something out of the ordinary for us kids at the time."

In Bethlehem, he says, families often cook more than 2 pounds of wheat for the holiday, well exceeding what the household can eat. Workers take portions of burbara to the office to share with Christian and Muslim colleagues alike. Often, the burbara pot lasts a full week. Along with eating porridge, families also put up the Christmas tree during Eid Al-Burbara.

"It's a celebration of the season," Sabella says. "And for us, when we prepare and eat the burbara porridge, it's really preparing for Christmas."

While there's some doubt about whether St. Barbara actually existed as a historical figure, she is known and celebrated throughout the Christian world. She is the patron saint of the Italian navy. Santa Barbara, Calif., got its name because its founder, the Spanish explorer Sebastian Vizcaino, survived a storm just offshore on the eve of the St. Barbara feast day.

Archbishop Murad says that even though the Jerusalem Christmas season opens with porridge, the food of the holiday gets far richer, with chicken baked in sumac, colorful vegetable salads and sumptuous meat.

"The first thing we think about on Christmas is lamb with rice," he says. "Most Christian families will have it."

Daniella Cheslow is a journalist based in Tel Aviv. She hosts a weekly radio show about food called The Tel Aviv Table.



“Archbishop Swerios Murad of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem says his congregation will eat boiled wheat kernels this week to mark the Feast of St. Barbara, or Eid el-Burbara in Arabic. "It's a simple porridge," Murad tells The Salt, "but it's very important that it be sweet." St. Barbara was an early convert to Christianity in the town of Nicomedia, today Izmit, in modern Turkey, Murad explains. She was the daughter of an over-protective father who built her a home in a tower to cloister her from the outside world. Yet, while her dad was traveling, Barbara converted to Christianity in secret. When her father found out, he tried to kill her.... Because of this lightning, Barbara became the patron saint of those who faced death by fire and, later, artillery. Some folklorists have suggested that Barbara also helped inspire the Brothers Grimm's Rapunzel tale many centuries later.... The feast is celebrated on Dec. 17 according to the Julian calendar, which is followed by Orthodox Christians in the Holy Land, including about 700 families in Israel and the West Bank. This tiny Syriac sect traces its roots to the earliest days of Christianity. Syriac is a dialect of the ancient language Aramaic, and it is still used in liturgical services held in St. Mark's Church, tucked into an alleyway of Jerusalem's Old City.... Ishaq says she and her neighbors mark the holiday by bringing bowls of their porridge to each other. Syriac Orthodox Christians will celebrate Christmas this year on Jan. 7. In total, there are nearly 200,000 Christians in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Catholics in the Holy Land — and around the world — marked the holiday earlier this month, on Dec. 4, according to the Western church calendar.... In Bethlehem, he says, families often cook more than 2 pounds of wheat for the holiday, well exceeding what the household can eat. Workers take portions of burbara to the office to share with Christian and Muslim colleagues alike. Often, the burbara pot lasts a full week. Along with eating porridge, families also put up the Christmas tree during Eid Al-Burbara.... Archbishop Murad says that even though the Jerusalem Christmas season opens with porridge, the food of the holiday gets far richer, with chicken baked in sumac, colorful vegetable salads and sumptuous meat. "The first thing we think about on Christmas is lamb with rice," he says. "Most Christian families will have it."

I would really love to taste this dish. I used to buy dried barley and brown rice to put a sizable handful of them into a thickened beef stew. It helped thicken it, tasted wonderful and provided a nice “chew.” The dried fruits that go into burbara would be just sweet enough, especially if a dollop of butter were cooked into it. I also like the story about the Christians in Jerusalem making up large batches of it to share with friends, co-workers and neighbors. That's what Christmas is all about.

The story of Rapunzel, also, is a great favorite of mine of all the Grimm fairy tales. My second favorite was Jack and the Beanstalk. I love to follow a cultural link back in time to its origin, in this case a religious tale. I borrowed a book of the lives of the saints from a Catholic friend of mine and read a dozen or so of their life stories. The stories are very old, possibly older than their association with Christianity. Many saints stories are thought to be based on pre-Christian folk tales going deeply into prehistoric times. The saints lives contain often grisly and mysterious material which is full of magic. The tale of St. Nicholas is almost exactly like the midwinter festival of the Sami when the shaman comes to the village pulled by reindeer (they are reindeer herders) and comes down through the smokehole of the lavvo – a reindeer hide tent in which they live. They are nomads. This Sami tradition is still observed today. There is a great documentary about the Sami on one of my many video tapes. For your own enjoyment, I suggest you go to the library and get out a book on the Christian saints. It's every bit as good as a mystery novel.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/million-mummy-cemetery-unearthed-in-egypt/

​Million-mummy cemetery unearthed in Egypt
By OWEN JARUS LIVESCIENCE.COM December 18, 2014

TORONTO -- She's literally one in a million.

The remains of a child, laid to rest more than 1,500 years ago when the Roman Empire controlled Egypt, was found in an ancient cemetery that contains more than 1 million mummies, according to a team of archaeologists from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

The cemetery is now called Fag el-Gamous, which means "Way of the Water Buffalo," a title that comes from the name of a nearby road. Archaeologists from Brigham Young University have been excavating Fag el-Gamous, along with a nearby pyramid, for about 30 years. Many of the mummies date to the time when the Roman or Byzantine Empire ruled Egypt, from the 1st century to the 7th century A.D. [See photos of the million-mummy cemetery]

"We are fairly certain we have over a million burials within this cemetery. It's large, and it's dense," Project Director Kerry Muhlestein, an associate professor in the Department of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University, said in a paper he presented at the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities Scholars Colloquium, which was held last month in Toronto.

This cemetery was not a burial ground for kings or royalty. The people buried here were often laid to rest without grave goods, and without coffins for that matter, the researchers said. The deceased's internal organs were rarely removed; instead, it was the arid natural environment that mummified them. "I don't think you would term what happens to these burials as true mummification," Muhlestein said. "If we want to use the term loosely, then they were mummified."

Despite the low status of the dead, the researchers found some remarkably beautiful items, including linen, glass and even colorful booties designed for a child.

"A lot of their wealth, as little as they had, was poured into these burials," Muhlestein said.

The mummified child was buried with several other mummies. It was wrapped in a tunic and wore a necklace with two bracelets on each arm.

"There was some evidence that they tried much of the full mummification process. The toes and toenails and brain and tongue were amazingly preserved," the researchers wrote on the project's Facebook page. "The jewelry makes us think it was a girl, but we cannot tell."

Researchers estimate the infant was 18 months old when she died. "She was buried with great care, as someone who obviously loved her very much did all they could to take care of this little girl in burial," the researchers wrote. It's "very sad, but they succeeded. It was a beautiful burial."

Million mummy mystery

Where exactly these million mummies came from is an ongoing mystery, and one that the team has yet to solve. A nearby village seems too small to warrant such a large cemetery, the researchers said. There is an ancient town named Philadelphia (so named after King Ptolemy II Philadelphus) not far away, but that town has burial sites of its own. [8 Grisly Archaeological Discoveries]

While there is a small pyramid nearby, it was built more than 4,500 years ago, which is more than two millennia before the cemetery was first used.

"It's hard to know where all these people were coming from," Muhlestein told Live Science.

A mummy over 7 feet tall

The stories that these million mummies tell appear endless. The Brigham Young team has excavated more than 1,000 of the mummies over the past 30 years, and Muhlestein admits the team has a publishing backlog.

One discovery that hasn't been published is of a mummy who is more than 7 feet (2 meters) tall. "We once found a male who was over 7 feet tall who was far too tall to fit into the shaft, so they bent him in half and tossed him in," Muhlestein told the audience in Toronto.

That's an extraordinary height given the generally poor nutrition these people had, Muhlestein told Live Science in an interview, adding that "even with great nutrition, it's really unusual" for an individual to reach that height. The great height could be because of a medical condition that caused an excess of growth hormone, but more research needs to be done to determine this.

This surprisingly tall mummy was discovered before Muhlestein became director, and the findings have yet to be published, he said. "We have a large publishing backlog, [and] we're trying to catch up on making our colleagues and the public aware [of the finds]."

Blond and redheaded mummies

While excavating and publishing the discoveries from the cemetery pose daunting challenges, they also provide archaeologists with terrific opportunities.

For instance, the team is in the early stages of creating a database of all the mummies it has excavated. When complete, the database will help the researchers study burial patterns in the area.

While the database is in the early stages, it has already provided some intriguing initial results. Muhlestein said he and the other researchers can use the database to "show us all of the blond burials, and [it shows] they are clustered in one area, or all of the red-headed burials, and [it shows] they're clustered in another area."

These clusters are interesting because they suggest "perhaps we have family areas or genetic groups [in certain areas], but we're still trying to explore that," Muhlestein said.





“The remains of a child, laid to rest more than 1,500 years ago when the Roman Empire controlled Egypt, was found in an ancient cemetery that contains more than 1 million mummies, according to a team of archaeologists from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. The cemetery is now called Fag el-Gamous, which means "Way of the Water Buffalo," a title that comes from the name of a nearby road. Archaeologists from Brigham Young University have been excavating Fag el-Gamous, along with a nearby pyramid, for about 30 years. Many of the mummies date to the time when the Roman or Byzantine Empire ruled Egypt, from the 1st century to the 7th century A.D.... This cemetery was not a burial ground for kings or royalty. The people buried here were often laid to rest without grave goods, and without coffins for that matter, the researchers said. The deceased's internal organs were rarely removed; instead, it was the arid natural environment that mummified them. "I don't think you would term what happens to these burials as true mummification," Muhlestein said. "If we want to use the term loosely, then they were mummified."... Despite the low status of the dead, the researchers found some remarkably beautiful items, including linen, glass and even colorful booties designed for a child. "A lot of their wealth, as little as they had, was poured into these burials," Muhlestein said. The mummified child was buried with several other mummies. It was wrapped in a tunic and wore a necklace with two bracelets on each arm.... Where exactly these million mummies came from is an ongoing mystery, and one that the team has yet to solve. A nearby village seems too small to warrant such a large cemetery, the researchers said. There is an ancient town named Philadelphia (so named after King Ptolemy II Philadelphus) not far away, but that town has burial sites of its own. [8 Grisly Archaeological Discoveries] While there is a small pyramid nearby, it was built more than 4,500 years ago, which is more than two millennia before the cemetery was first used. "It's hard to know where all these people were coming from," Muhlestein told Live Science.... While the database is in the early stages, it has already provided some intriguing initial results. Muhlestein said he and the other researchers can use the database to "show us all of the blond burials, and [it shows] they are clustered in one area, or all of the red-headed burials, and [it shows] they're clustered in another area." These clusters are interesting because they suggest "perhaps we have family areas or genetic groups [in certain areas], but we're still trying to explore that," Muhlestein said.”

I do wish I could have been an archaeologist. Ancient patterns of life, cultural and blood lines (DNA is now making archaeology even more fascinating), relationships of languages and religious forms – all of it is intensely thrilling to me. I loved this story. Hope you liked it, too!






NEW LEGISLATION – POLICE ACTIONS


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/16/1352210/-How-Sandy-McElroy-and-Prosecutor-Bob-McCulloch-colluded-to-destroy-the-case-against-Darren-Wilson

How Sandy McElroy and Prosecutor Bob McCulloch colluded to destroy the case against Darren Wilson
By Shaun King
December 16, 2014

Four days ago I wrote this report about "Witness #40" in the case against Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Mike Brown. The most recent record dump by St. Louis prosecutor Bob McCulloch included all of her testimony for the first time and what we discovered upon studying the records is perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the entire case.

The Smoking Gun, however, has uncovered the identity of Witness #40 as St. Louis resident Sandy McElroy in what I honestly think is the most important and thorough investigative piece written about this case in months.

Here is my report on her testimony and how Sandy McElroy is the most quoted witness from conservative media. Here are 18 pages of source documents from The Smoking Gun on Sandy McElroy.

My conclusions are below the fold.

Sandy McElroy was never near Canfield Drive on August 9. She completely fabricated her entire story weeks after Darren Wilson killed Mike Brown. During their interrogation of her, Sandy McElroy was completely shredded by the FBI as a racist, a liar, unstable, and more. They proved in their own interview, with evidence, that McElroy lied about ever being there, about how she left the scene, about key details of the case that she claimed she witnessed, and more.

Furthermore, Sandy McElroy, beyond being a convicted felon, had a record in St. Louis of interfering with investigations and making preposterous claims about connections she had to cold cases. All of this was known to St. Louis officials. Her extreme racism was not private, but public, and was discussed at great length with the FBI before she was ever allowed to testify before the grand jury.

You must understand, then, that Sandy McElroy, whose testimony matches that of Darren Wilson's better than any witness who testified, was only called to the grand jury, not once, but twice, and allowed to present concocted physical evidence at that, because she was a neutron bomb for this case. Not ONE PIECE OF EVIDENCE proving that she was there could be found and scores of evidence that she made the entire thing up was presented weeks before she was ever allowed to testify before the grand jury, but it was all deliberately ignored.

Not only was it negligent to allow Sandy McElroy to testify, it was a deliberate attempt at poisoning the grand jury, who stated to her on record many times that they did not believe she was lying. Furthermore, her testimony has been used to champion the credibility of Darren Wilson time after time by conservative media who seem to not care at all about her character or credibility.

All by itself, I believe the inclusion of Sandy McElroy as a witness before the grand jury is grounds for a new grand jury. Her testimony did irreparable damage to the case—which was clearly her intent from the start.

ORIGINALLY POSTED TO SHAUNKING ON TUE DEC 16, 2014 AT 08:29 AM PST.




New and highly discouraging information about the Darren Wilson hearing is claimed here. Daily Kos is a politically liberal activist publication, but their stories are right on the money with many significant issues, and I include them when I think they are important. The fact that the Grand Jury knew about her unsuitable status as a witness, but included her testimony anyway, is truly shameful. For corroboration of this story, see “The Inquisitr‎, politicusUSA, thesmokinggun.com, deathandtaxesmag.com , heavy.com, slate.com, aattp.org, huffingtonpost.com. What I didn't see when I searched her name was CBS, NPR, NBC, etc. so maybe there's no fire here, but there certainly is “heap big smoke” in the air.




http://www.dailykos.com/?detail=action

Act to count all who die in police custody passes Congress … but will law be enforced this time?
By Meteor Blades
WED DEC 17, 2014

Twenty years ago, Congress passed a bill requiring the U.S. Department of Justice to gather data and report on instances of "excessive" force by the nation's police forces. For some reason, the task of collecting the data soon fell to the International Association of Chiefs of Police. But it stopped in 2001. And no report was ever published.

That may be about to change. As Allie Gross and Bryan Schatz at Mother Jones report, Congress just passed a bill now awaiting the president's signature, the Death in Custody Reporting Act. It mandates that states receiving criminal justice assistance grants annually report all deaths that occur in law enforcement custody, including when an arrest is made. Federal law enforcement will be required under the same law to report every other year on deaths occurring in its custody. This is good news … if it actually happens this time:

Older versions of the Death in Custody Reporting Act have also struggled to compel comprehensive data. The bill passed last week is the reauthorization of the original act, passed in 2000. Initially created in reaction to prison confinement deaths—lawmakers inserted a provision requiring tallies of arrest-related deaths in 2003—that first version accomplished little: Several years passed before states started sending in data, and the bill expired shortly thereafter, in 2006, without a single report having been released. Since then, the provision requiring state counts of arrest-related deaths has stayed on the books—but reporting has never been enforced. Many local law enforcement agencies provide incomplete data, and the Justice Department has published no comprehensive reports in over a decade.

The bill that passed last week aims to force reporting by tying law enforcement funding to cooperation: States that fail to report police-involved killings can lose up to 10 percent of their federal law enforcement grants. However, it's up to the Attorney General to mete out fines. "Hopefully there will be better compliance and enforcement than existed then, and also more cooperation. There's certainly more awareness now about the importance of this data, and much more focus on it," says [Connecticut Sen. Richard] Blumenthal.

Unofficial tallies, like those at the Facebook-based aggregator Killed by Police, are all we have to go on until the officially mandated reports start appearing a few years down the road. The Facebook site says it takes its data from "Corporate news reports of people killed by nonmilitary law enforcement officers, whether in the line of duty or not, and regardless of reason or method. Inclusion implies neither wrongdoing nor justification on the part of the person killed or the officer involved. The post merely documents the occurrence of a death." As of Nov. 21, the site had counted at least 1,811 people who had died at the hands of police since May 1, 2013.

Those numbers cry out for the legislation contained in the act. But notice the language used by Blumenthal, attorney general for Connecticut for 20 years. "Hopefully" there will be better enforcement by the feds and cooperation by the states. That he should have to inject such a qualifier into the discussion speaks volumes about just how willing American law enforcement agencies are to put themselves under scrutiny even in the case of an act that will depend on self-reporting.




“Twenty years ago, Congress passed a bill requiring the U.S. Department of Justice to gather data and report on instances of "excessive" force by the nation's police forces. For some reason, the task of collecting the data soon fell to the International Association of Chiefs of Police. But it stopped in 2001. And no report was ever published. That may be about to change. As Allie Gross and Bryan Schatz at Mother Jones report, Congress just passed a bill now awaiting the president's signature, the Death in Custody Reporting Act. It mandates that states receiving criminal justice assistance grants annually report all deaths that occur in law enforcement custody, including when an arrest is made. Federal law enforcement will be required under the same law to report every other year on deaths occurring in its custody. This is good news … if it actually happens this time.... Since then, the provision requiring state counts of arrest-related deaths has stayed on the books—but reporting has never been enforced. Many local law enforcement agencies provide incomplete data, and the Justice Department has published no comprehensive reports in over a decade. The bill that passed last week aims to force reporting by tying law enforcement funding to cooperation: States that fail to report police-involved killings can lose up to 10 percent of their federal law enforcement grants. However, it's up to the Attorney General to mete out fines. "Hopefully there will be better compliance and enforcement than existed then, and also more cooperation. There's certainly more awareness now about the importance of this data, and much more focus on it," says [Connecticut Sen. Richard] Blumenthal.... As of Nov. 21, the site had counted at least 1,811 people who had died at the hands of police since May 1, 2013. Those numbers cry out for the legislation contained in the act. But notice the language used by Blumenthal, attorney general for Connecticut for 20 years. "Hopefully" there will be better enforcement by the feds and cooperation by the states. That he should have to inject such a qualifier into the discussion speaks volumes about just how willing American law enforcement agencies are to put themselves under scrutiny even in the case of an act that will depend on self-reporting.”

I don't like the fact that this law is only enforced by the Attorney General if he so chooses, and that the penalty is only “up to 10 percent of their federal law enforcement grants.” The fact that these bills go back twenty years and have been weakened or dropped several times is discouraging, but the fact that Congress came up with this on their own after the outpouring of anger from the streets (at least as far as I have seen) and even before a new Martin Luther King has emerged, shows me that they are pretty sensitive to the problem. There is a certain tension in the air around the country that has stimulated enough Republicans in both the House and the Senate to vote for the aptly named Death in Custody Reporting Act, even though a number of them have been caught in the news this year making racist statements or jokes, so I am hopeful that more police related bills will be coming out. This is the second one.

The NAACP, ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center are actively looking for reform and hundreds of thousands of normal citizens are joining in the primarily black demonstrations. We need a full reform of policing in this country, and the RICO laws and other such things that have been used against poor people and people committing minor crimes (but getting major punishments) should be questioned by some well-placed lawsuits against the police department or the individual who abuses his power. That would give the Supreme Court some more things to look at. If amendments of the laws that allow police such wide and unchallenged authority to make snap judgments on the streets are needed, then there needs to be a push for more legislation to prevent this rampant police crime, whatever the skin color of the suspect is. Poor whites have been beaten by police, too, especially homeless and mentally deranged people.

If we make comprehensive restrictions in what police are allowed to get away with, maybe then the department heads and supervisors – I assume the cop on the beat does have a supervisor – will start disciplining the officers who make deadly and basically stupid knee-jerk reactions or worse still – purely sadistic abuse. I do believe the problem lies at the hands of the Chief of Police, the Mayor, the on the job supervisor, the local prosecutor or grand jury, and whatever state regulations are being followed (which varies from state to state), and is a large part of the problem. Too many states have elected a really right-wing bunch of legislators, and have written abusive laws. It's one big racist and classist problem based inour society as a whole, but it is being enforced on poor neighborhoods locally. It needs to be reformed from the top all the way down to the cop on the beat, and enforced by withholding funding, requiring more education and mental health evaluations of police recruits, investigation by the Department of Justice, individual court appeals by convicted people, personal lawsuits against abusers, and federal pressure on the state governments. Shaming would help, too. That's really what's happening in this case, beginning at Ferguson but occurring all over the country. It's one big “mell of a hess,” and requires many solutions. I think these recent laws are a step in the right direction.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cody-robert-healey-florida-man-dies-2-weeks-after-police-used-stun-gun-on-him/

Fla. man dies 2 weeks after police used stun gun on him
By CRIMESIDER STAFF AP  December 18, 2014

PENSACOLA, Fla. - The medical examiner is reviewing the case of a 28-year-old man who died about two weeks after sheriff's deputies used a stun gun on him.

The Pensacola News Journal reports the incident happened Dec. 1 near a Pensacola elementary school. Callers to 911 reported a man who had exposed himself and was throwing himself against cars and trees near the school's entrance.

According to reports, deputies fired their stun guns five times after Cody Robert Healey resisted arrest. He was finally brought to the ground and put in leg shackles.

Healey was taken to a hospital and placed on life support. His family took him off life support on Monday.

Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan says his deputies complied with department protocol.

An autopsy is being performed.




Stun guns are fairly often lethal. Five applications with a stun gun is a lot of electricity. Anyone with heart problems or other underlying physical problems is more likely to be killed. I looked up stun gun deaths on the Net and found ten pages of articles about it, plus there have been warnings about their use in the news over the last few years since they came out and became so popular. This article proves that police can be abusing their power with stun guns as well as with bullets. This man was very violent, apparently, and arresting him would have been dangerous, so there's some excuse for it.







CUBA – TWO ARTICLES

Without examining all these articles closely, I will just say that the range of them proves the often observed fact that anything Obama does will be criticized roundly by most Republicans and many Democrats, especially if they are from Red States and fear the next election. Making a peaceful and useful trading relationship with Cuba now, especially since Fidel Castro is no longer in charge, is all to the good in my book. I have never felt comfortable with having a sworn enemy about a hundred miles off our Florida coast. The situation increased the Cuban tendency to pal up with Russia, with the ever present threat of a new batch of nuclear weapons there. Thank your for being proactive, Mr. Obama.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bank-cards-trade-and-travel-to-open-up-between-cuba-u-s/

Bank cards, trade and travel to open up between Cuba, U.S.
By AIMEE PICCHI MONEYWATCH December 17, 2014, 12:40 PM

For many Americans and Cubans, a thawing of the frosty relationship between the two countries will have an economic upside.

With Cuba releasing American Alan Gross after five years in prison there, President Obama is announcing significant changes in U.S.-Cuban relations, which include an easing of some restrictions on issues including travel, sending money to Cubans and using bank cards in the country.

The changes mark the biggest shift in relations between the two countries since 1961. The White House said it wants to encourage "positive changes" in Cuba partly by sparking economic activity between the two countries. The U.S. will also discuss re-establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba, which were cut off more than half a century ago.

The thawing of economic relations raises the prospect that the U.S. embargo of Cuba will come to an end after half a century. The embargo has been viewed by some as a misbegotten policy that failed to incite the Cubans to demand democratic reforms.

Despite the embargo, the U.S. is Cuba's largest supplier of food, while remittances -- or money sent from Cubans and Cuban-Americans to family members in Cuba -- contribute a significant chunk to Cuba's economy. In 2012, about $2.6 billion in cash remittances were sent to Cuba, with almost two-thirds of Cuban homes receiving remittances, according to the Havana Times.

That may be poised to boom, given the U.S.' plans to raise remittance levels to $2,000 per quarter from its current $500 threshold, while donations to humanitarian projects and the support of private businesses won't require a license any longer, the White House said.

Exports will be eased, allowing agricultural equipment, some building materials and goods for private-sector Cuban entrepreneurs to be sent from the U.S. Imports will also be loosened, with licensed U.S. travelers authorized to import $400 worth of Cuban goods, including $100 of liquor and tobacco products.

For travelers and business people, transactions are set to become easier as well, as U.S. institutions will be allowed to open accounts at Cuban financial institutions. Perhaps most importantly for travelers, U.S. credit and debit cards will be allowed for U.S. by visitors.

Obama, who also said he wanted to spur the flow of information to Cuba, announced plans to ease the embargo, while noting that it is "codified in legislation."

So why make these changes now? While the move was tied to Gross' release and billed as a humanitarian effort to help the Cuban people, the fact is that the changes come as one of Cuba's biggest trade partners, Venezuela, is struggling with low prices for crude oil as well as an economic and political crisis.

Cuba receives about 80,000 barrels of Venezuelan oil each day, although deliveries fell by as much as one-third in 2013. With sliding oil prices and unrest, that's raised the risk that Venezuela will shut down subsidies to Cuba, as well as the potential for a default or other credit event.

If oil prices remain at their current levels or continue to fall over the next year, Venezuela may be more likely than not to have a "credit event," such as bankruptcy or credit default, the Eurasia Group said in a Wednesday research note.

As for the U.S., the White House is eyeing an opportunity to spur reform through economic and diplomatic changes.

"We know from hard-learned experience that it is better to encourage and support reform than to impose policies that will render a country a failed state," the White House said in a statement. "With our actions today, we are calling on Cuba to unleash the potential of 11 million Cubans by ending unnecessary restrictions on their political, social, and economic activities."

Not everyone was convinced. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) condemned Obama's actions as having "vindicated the brutal behavior of the Cuban government." In a statement, he added, "Let us all remind ourselves that an untold number of ordinary people yearning for democracy remain imprisoned by the exact same tormentors that have punished Alan Gross and they, along with all Cubans, deserve a free and liberated Cuba."




Cuba-U.S. relations: Colin Powell backs Obama on diplomatic changes
CBS NEWS December 18, 2014

President Obama announced Wednesday that more than 50 years after the U.S. cut diplomatic ties with Cuba, he would begin normalizing relations between the two countries. While critics from both parties voiced their concerns, some officials are optimistic.

"This is still a terrible regime. We don't support their form of government. We don't like what they're doing," former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday on "CBS This Morning." "But I think having diplomatic relations, as we have had with the Soviet Union, with Vietnam and so many other places, we can produce positive change."

President George W. Bush supported the economic embargo on Cuba as did Powell during Mr. Bush's first term. Eleven years ago, Powell opposed relaxing restrictions against Cuba because he believed Fidel Castro would use it to enhance his power.

"Over the last 50 years I have watched this policy unfold, and I have been a part of it," he said. "And as secretary of state ... I supported it and even strengthened the sanctions against Cuba. But I think it's time now to turn that page of history."

Powell said Congress won't lift U.S. sanctions against the dictatorship but said having an ambassador in Cuba is a step forward.

"My experience in all of this is once you start talking to someone, you're almost inserting a poison pill into the system where they have to start responding to the pressures that they are still under," he said.

But Powell warned against overemphasizing the leaders' recent actions.

While this is a move in a different direction, Powell said there are still many steps Cuba needs to take to solidify its relationship with the U.S., including "releasing political prisoners, opening up the economy, making life easier and more open for the Cuban people."

"I hope our ambassador going in will make sure that we give this message to them at every opportunity," Powell said.

The former secretary of state also addressed theSony hacking scandal as the U.S. was moving closer to blaming North Korea for the attack.

"If we can identify that the North Koreans did it and if we can be specific as to who did it within North Korea, then I think appropriate action has to be taken," Powell said. "... We are rather limited in what we can do to North Korea that we haven't already done, but I'll wait and see what the administration announces, and then we'll go from there."




RELATED ARTICLES – GO TO CBS WEBSITE


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cuba-us-make-way-for-new-reality-citizens-celebrate-in-street/

Cuba, U.S. make way for new reality as citizens celebrate in street
CBS NEWS December 18, 2014


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/can-congress-block-obamas-efforts-to-normalize-cuba-relations/

Can Congress block Obama's efforts to normalize Cuba relations?
By REBECCA KAPLAN CBS NEWS December 18, 2014