Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Free Journalist-- The Mumia Abu Jamal Case |
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| Saleema |
| 05/28/01 at 22:07:06 |
| It's been a while, but here comes the latest FeuerThoughts. This message consists of the following: * Update on Mumia Abu Jamal case * Feedback from last FeuerThoughts, from hoof and mouth disease to British prisons... But first a word from the author...I have been overwhelmed of late, both with my professional work (I am now a Senior Technology Advisor for Quest Software and published in late April my sixth book, Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices) and, since October 2000, virtually non-stop organizing within the Jewish community to protest Israel's brutal occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. This work culminated in early May in an international conference of over 175 Jewish activists from the US, Canada, Brazil and Israel...leading to the formation of the Jewish Unity for a Just Peace network. I urge you to visit www.junity.org and www.nimn.org for more information on all these activities. In addition...my wife, Veva Silva, graduated from Northeastern Illinois University in May with a bachelor's degree in fine arts and English, summa cum laude. Her undergraduate career spanned 25 years; we celebrated with a fantastic party of May 20. Well, so...I could now talk about George Dubya and his attack on the environment, women, the poor and, well, anybody who isn't worth at least $10 million and/or is an oil company executive -- but then I might get some flack from some of the conservatives on the list. I could gloat about Senator Jeffords swinging Independent and handing the US Senate over to the Democrats -- is that enough to give Dubya an ulcer, or WHAT? Instead, I will simply wish you all the best. Until the next FeuerThoughts, Steven THE LATEST ON the MUMIA ABU JAMAL CASE Mumia is a radical journalist in the US who has been on death row for years, put there by what many of us in the US and around the world consider to be a grosshy unfair trial. He has come close to execution several times. His case, and all the facts surrounding it, is hotly contested -- he was convicted of killing a policeman. Now, we have some remarkable news, including a confession by the person who might well prove to be the real killer of Daniel Faulkner. For the latest information on this case, I encourage you to visit: http://www.freemumia.com/news.html where you can the affadavit of Anthony Beverly, a hit man for the mob, confessing to the killing Police Officer Daniel Faulkner under orders from the mob. This site also features the first public statements ever made by Mumia and his brother about the case. Assuming this information holds up and clearly demonstrates the railroading of another innocent man, this case could be (pardon the macabre assocation) the nail in the coffin of the death penalty in the United States. HOOF AND MOUTH DISEASE I got a number of responses to my meanderings about hoof and mouth disease. I offer a portion of those comments below. First, a recommendation from Paul for a link with lots of information: http://www.newscientist.com/dailynews/news.jsp?id=ns9999576 From Kevin in Wisconsin: The reason that animals innoculated against HAMD are not exported is that the anti-viral agent given to the animals continues to exist after the animal has been slaughtered. This anti-viral, while not necessarily transmitted to humans (most is destroyed during the cooking process), can be ingested and cause random and rare allergic reactions. Export restrictions have been put in place in Europe, including America and Russia, to prevent cultural and political quagmires from occuring due to exported meat which has been 'tainted' with the anti-viral. If for some reason and allergic reaction were to cause a death, and the meat was imported from a particular country, then the resulting tragedy may well be a stoppage of all exports or serious restrictions. As a safety measure, and due to varying levels of product handling standards in different countries, these laws were established to protect the consumer. From Kevin in the UK: The Foot & mouth (HAMD) IS a very complex issue indeed. It basically is an economic disease, and at the moment the cost of the cure (in terms of tourist revenue) is probably worse than the illness. At the moment it is affecting less than 1% of the livestock of the UK, with most areas being totally unaffected. I have heard may "experts" debating the issue of vaccination and they mostly disagree. I think on balance, the slaughter policy is the best option for those involved. The only people who should be taking a moral high ground on the killing are those who beleive it is wrong to kill animals at all, after all the vast majority of these creatures are destined to die anyhow. - to get a perspective I beleive there are around 30,000 per week killed in UK. Perhaps if as much media time had been given to showing the daily scenes inside an abbatoir, as the pyres of cattle there would be an uptake of vegetarianism. The irony in this all, is that the suspension of democracy may well give enough parliamentary time to get the bill on outlawing of foxhunting on the statute book. From an admittedly cynical Duncan: As a result of culling, many small farmers and smallholders are likely to go bust or just give up livestock farming in despair. The result of this will be that the farming industry will become even more dominated by the large multinational agri businesses who can easily weather this little storm. What one reads into this depends upon how cynical one is... I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that the world food industry is rapidly coming under the control of a handful of Trans-National Corporations. AND WHAT ABOUT THAT H-BLOCK COMMENT? Dear Steven I read your occasional 'email columns' with interest. They regularly supply a thought-provoking read, and a refreshingly alternative view on current events. I felt I couldn't let the following statement you made pass without comment: >Perhaps that is because the Irish want to steer >away from referring to the >second building as Block H because it reminds them >of H Block, a notorious British prison where >many IRA members were imprisoned, tortured and died. This statement is uncharacteristically off the cuff, poorly researched, and somewhat provocative (OK, so provocative statements aren't that uncharacteristic for you :-) ) Actually, the prison is the notorious Maze Prison - it was also refered to as the H-Blocks, because of the H-shaped buildings which housed the inmates. The prison housed both Republican and Loyalist prisoners- some of the most dangerous terrorists who took part in the rival terror campaigns during the 'Troubles'. (These people bombed government and civilian buildings, opened fire on mourners at a funeral, and brutally killed men, women and children. No matter what cause they were acting in does not excuse such actions. Timothy McViegh believed he was acting in a just cause when he planted the Oklahoma City bomb.) Conditions inside the maze in the 70s and early 80s were brutal, and led to a series of protests by inmates, including the shooting of 24 prison officers, including the governor. The protests culminated the in the hunger strikes by IRA prisoners in the early eighties, which resulted in the deaths of 10 prisoners. Following the protests, prisoners where afforded 'political' status in all but name, and IRA and Loyalist groups were able to effectively run their own wings. The Maze has now been shut down, as prisoners have been released as part of the peace process. The release of prisoners has been a very painful process for the people of Northern Ireland - not least for the families of their victims. You might want to look at the following articles, for a more in-depth look at the Maze prison... http://www.lineone.net/express/00/07/28/news/n2700maze-d.html http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,346421,00.html Hope that you found this informative, Keep up the good work... Will (I'm a British (English) citizen, currently working on the West Coast of the USA) And finally, on my general ignorance, from Thomas: Your personal site shows that you don't understand a basic fact about economics, that it is not always a zero-sum game. |
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