The Foolishness Of Mankind

Humans are supposed to be very cunning and clever.  Maybe not very intelligent in simple arithmetic. How foolish can mankind be?

The curse of mankind : Human trafficking

(Anuradha Koirala : CNN Hero of the Year 2010)

The curse of mankind : Human Trafficking.  This encompasses every conceivable form of human exploitation.  The first in line is human sex slavery.  There are human animals who have no conscience at all exploiting innocent girls.  These people are actually not fit to even be classified as animals, for animals do not indulge in this despicable activity.

Human trafficking exists in almost every country.  But to consider Nepal is far from everyone's mind.  Fortunately Nepal has a saviour, Anuradha Koirala.  She was voted CNN’s Hero of the Year in 2010. Her sole mission? To rescue innocent girls who have been tricked and enslaved in the sex trade in Northern India.

If you want to read more please go to my "Hubpages" site by CLICKING HERE:

Please support Maiti Nepal.  I just did.

911 Survey in the Buddhist Perspective

This posting is meant for my Buddhist readers, and it came via an email:

Hi there Justin, and “Sawasdee Kha” as we say in my home country of Thailand (although I live in the USA now).

This is Srisuda Hongthai from The Buddha Garden and I wanted you to know that we are conducting a survey on Buddhism in the ten years since the 9/11 Tragedies. I don't know what impacts the 9/11 attacks had on your home country of Malaysia. But here in the USA, many people found solace in the teachings of Buddhism after 9/11. The survey is at:
http://www.thebuddhagarden.com/911survey/

Wouldn’t it be great to know why so many people become interested in Buddhism after the 9/11 attacks? Does Buddhism still play a role in their lives ten years after the attacks? How do the attitudes of new Buddhists differ from those who were Buddhists before 9/11?

No matter how long you have been interested in Buddhism, we encourage you to take this survey yourself. The fact that you DON'T live here in the USA is even better, since it will help to add diversity to the responses.

We also kindly ask that you will join other webmasters like you by telling your readers about the survey and encouraging them to take it as well. You would be doing a great service to the Dharma community.

Will you kindly let us know if you will be joining hundreds of like-minded bloggers and webmasters by linking to the survey, or mentioning it on FaceBook or Twitter?

Thank you, and Sawasdee Kha,

Srisuda Hongthai
The Buddha Garden

War atrocities : Human madness

Whenever there is war, there is sure to be a certain level of atrocities committed on the defeated civilian population.  The Holocaust and the Japanese atrocities  were the worst.  The Jews had suffered under the German Nazis and the Chinese had suffered under the Japanese.  The extent and brutality of these atrocities were beyond decent human imagination.

NEVER LET THIS HUMAN MADNESS EVER HAPPEN AGAIN TO ANY HUMAN!

If you are interested to know more please CLICHHERE:

Save Yong Vui Kong

(The Court of Appeal has dismissed the latest appeal made by 23-year-old Malaysian national, Yong Vui Kong, for his execution to be stayed.

On Jan 17 this year, Vui Kong's counsel M.Ravi had made an appeal for his client's execution to be stayed on the grounds that he had been denied a fair clemency process and called for judicial review of the clemency plea.

When asked what the next step will be, Ravi told Yahoo! Singapore that it will be to seek clemency from the Cabinet which will take around 6 months. It will take an estimated three months to file the clemency and another 3 months for the Cabinet to respond to the appeal, he added.

The lawyer also said that he will file a complaint to the Human Rights Council next week and will be making a request for the Malaysian government to intervene and apply for the stay of execution for Vui Kong through the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

“We are going to fight and fight till the last day,” said Ravi.)

The above from below:
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/what-is-buzzing/court-dismisses-malaysian-latest-death-sentence-appeal-20110404-014532-266.html


*************************************************************

It is very sad to read about this decision.  Can't we have some compassion?  Can't they just imagine that if this person were their son or loved one??  Yes, a "crime" had been committed.  Can we just show some mercy as human beings with conscience? 

Yong Vui Kong's Facebook.

The Humane Society of the United States: Email - Tell your friends to take action: Don't let the seals' future fade

The Humane Society of the United States: Email - Tell your friends to take action: Don't let the seals' future fade

What the hell is going on : Another fatal bus crash!!

( Fatal accident: The damaged bus after it was put upright, following the deadly accident along Jalan Genting Sempah Friday night. — AZMAN GHANI / The Star)

Karak bus crash: Blacklisted driver had no licence for past 13 years, reports The Star Online. To add salt to injury, he had held only a learner licence in 1997, and after that he was blacklisted.

Another seven innocent lives lost just like that!  Can we ever trust those responsible for checking and enforcing traffic safety?  No.  Never will they change unless we change the present regime and hope that the new one may do a better job.  Why this sort of mediocrity and irresponsibilty do not happen in Singapore? 

I have resolved that I shall never take a bus for long distance travel.  You simply cannot trust anyone involved in the long haul bus service.    

It will just be a repeat if I were to write more.  You may read my earlier postings on the previous bus accidents HERE, and HERE.


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(Postscript: You can also read comments in this USJ FORUM)

Malaysia Bo Liau

                                                          

 (Tan Zhongshan)

(Picture from Staronline)

The Star reports:

A 23-year-old Malaysian has emerged as the top student in his final-year law examinations at Cambridge University.

Tan Zhongshan (pic) obtained a first-class honours in the Bachelor of Arts (Law) in June this year at Queens’ College, which is part of the university, one of England’s oldest and most prestigious.

“I will also join the Singapore Legal Service in January,” said Tan, who was awarded an Asean scholarship by Singapore’s Ministry of Education after completing his A-Levels at the Temasek Junior College there.

 

Well, well.  What does this say about brain drain.  The latest report states  that close to 800,000 brilliant brains from Malaysia are out there working and contributing to the advancement and well-being of other countries.  At the Singapore Mount  Elizabeth Hospital, more than half the doctors are from Malaysia.

 

I am crying my heart out.  Beating my chest like a Gorilla not for any victory but for the utter frustration.  But the power that is, is not worried about this dilemma.  They view it as if nothing has happened to the country.  Talk about wooing back the brains.  They are not taking any positive step to prevent brain drain.  Still wanting to woo back what is lost?   Only talk cockeral, bloody hypocrites. 

 

Malaysia is bleeding, Malaysia Bo Liau.  The last two words in Hokkien may mean "no more" or "no standard" depending on your intonation.  Either way it's a losing game.

 

 

AiyoooooooH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Stop these horrendous bus accidents!!!

I have written about the horror of bus accidents.  Here I am not going to write anything new, for the root cause of all these still remains the same.  Unless we get rid of this root cause, many will still have to die from this senseless attitude.  Now we have added 12 more innocent lives in the Simpang Ampat accident.  I am really sick of this "cancer disease".  

The latest was the arrest of two express bus drivers high on drugs.  And they were caught while driving buses filled with passengers!!  "Johor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff said the drivers were detained during a state-wide operation conducted by the narcotics department here Wednesday."   We must thank the authorities this time for their prompt action.  If not for this action,  who knows what will happen!!  The Police and the Transport Department must maintain this vigiliance  and ensure there is 100 enforcement at all times.  They should remember, even their loved ones may be in danger with these monsters driving around.  

I don't have to repeat here what I wrote about these horrendous accidents.  You can just CLICK HERE to go to the article. 

Is there hope for Yong Vui Kong???

IS THERE HOPE FOR YONG VUI KONG!!!!??????

IS THERE MERCY AND COMPASSION?????????????????

CAN THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE, SLEEP IN PEACE????????????

LATEST UPDATE 8.20PM :  I SAW IN THE TV NEWS; SINGAPORE PRISON DEPARTMENT HAS GIVEN AN EXTENDED DEADLINE!!!!!!!!!

THERE REALLY IS HOPE!!

And this is from my internet friend "A True Malaysian" :
Vui Kong's update,

January 2011 – that’s the date the Registrar of the Supreme Court has set for the Court of Appeal to hear Yong Vui Kong’s appeal against the High Court’s decision on his judicial review application.

Vui Kong’s lawyer was today informed that the appeal hearing has been set “for the week commencing 17 January 2011”.

“This early notice is to give sufficient time for parties to be ready for the hearing, though we are aware that the record of appeals and cases have still not been filed,” the Registrar’s letter said.

http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/08/breaking-news-vui-kongs-appeal-set-for-jan-2011/

September 1, 2010 5:30 PM

Stop this senseless killing : Canned Hunting.

(Please Click HERE to act)

[This mail was sent to me by HSI.  Please do your litle part to save the animals.  Remember, a little will add up to much.]

Dear Concerned Readers,

People visit South Africa to experience the rich diversity of wildlife there. Unfortunately, not all tourists come with the intention of taking photographs. Some come to kill wild animals so that they may take them home as prizes. They are trophy hunters.

In South Africa, thousands of lions are bred, reared and held in captivity for the purpose of canned hunting. On canned hunts, shooters are led to feeding and watering stations where the semi-tame and fenced-in prey make easy targets. Please help ensure this practice is not promoted by South Africa's tourism ministry.

Fortunately, South Africa's new Minister of Tourism has been outspoken in the past against canned lion hunting, declaring it a "rogue" and "reprehensible" practice. When he worked for the Ministry of the Environment, he introduced new regulations to ban canned lion hunts, but these regulations have yet to be implemented. The canned lion hunting industry appealed, bringing things to a standstill. The case will hopefully be considered by the end of this year, but until then, canned lion hunting in South Africa continues.

We need your help to urge the Minister of Tourism in South Africa to keep speaking out against canned hunting. He recently released a new tourism strategy for the country which touts the idea of responsible tourism. This was a perfect opportunity to promote "humane tourism"; yet abolishing canned hunting was not mentioned.

As a South African who has followed a family tradition and dedicated my life to saving animals, it saddens me to see my country permitting this kind of needless cruelty. Please join us in asking South Africa's Department of Tourism to include "humane tourism" as part of their new responsible tourism strategy. Wildlife tourism brings in significant amounts of revenue for the country and to ignore this in their overall strategy will ultimately affect their tourism goals and drive people away from South Africa. Submit your comments on their tourism plan by July 30th.

(Please click HERE to act)

Sincerely,

Andrew Rowan

President & CEO

Humane Society International

Are we doomed with the uncontrollable oil disaster in Mexico?

If this engineer is right, this is truly a scary scenario! Here's his story.

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"Heard your mention of the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico this morning, and you (and most everyone else except maybe George Noory) are totally missing the boat on how big and bad of a disaster this is.

First fact, the original estimate was about 5,000 gallons of oil a day spilling into the ocean. Now they're saying 200,000 gallons a day. That's over a million gallons of crude oil a week!

I'm engineer with 25 years of experience. I've worked on some big projects with big machines. Maybe that's why this mess is so clear to me.

First, the BP platform was drilling for what they call deep oil. They go out where the ocean is about 5,000 feet deep and drill another 30,000 feet into the crust of the earth. This it right on the edge of what human technology can do. Well, this time they hit a pocket of oil at such high pressure that it burst all of their safety valves all the way up to the drilling rig and then caused the rig to explode and sink. Take a moment to grasp the import of that. The pressure behind this oil is so high that it destroyed the maximum effort of human science to contain it.

When the rig sank it flipped over and landed on top of the drill hole some 5,000 feet under the ocean.

Now they've got a hole in the ocean floor, 5,000 feet down with a wrecked oil drilling rig sitting on top of is spewing 20 0,000 barrels of oil a day into the ocean. Take a moment and consider that, will you!

First they have to get the oil rig off the hole to get at it in order to try to cap it. Do you know the level of effort it will take to move that wrecked oil rig, sitting under 5,000 feet of water? That operation alone would take years and hundreds of millions to accomplish. Then, how do you cap that hole in the muddy ocean floor? There just is no way. No way.

The only piece of human technology that might address this is a nuclear bomb. I'm not kidding. If they put a nuke down there in the right spot it might seal up the hole. Nothing short of that will work.

If we can't cap that hole that oil is going to destroy the oceans of the world. It only takes one quart of motor oil to make 250,000 gallons of ocean water toxic to wildlife. Are you starting to get the magnitude of this?

We're so used to our politicians creating false crises to fo rward their criminal agendas that we aren't recognizing that we're staring straight into possibly the greatest disaster mankind will ever see. Imagine what happens if that oil keeps flowing until it destroys all life in the oceans of this planet. Who knows how big of a reservoir of oil is down there.

Not to mention that the oceans are critical to maintaining the proper oxygen level in the atmosphere for human life.

We're humped. Unless God steps in and fixes this. No human can. You can be sure of that!

Horrific oilspill in Gulf of Mexico

I am number 373,563 to sign the petition.  Below is the Avaaz message sent to subscribers worldwide:

Dear friends,

A horrific oil spill is spreading through the Gulf of Mexico. Yet U.S. law-makers still plan to ramp up offshore oil drilling. Let's send a global outcry to President Obama and Congress urging them to overturn offshore drilling expansion -- sign the petition, it will be delivered to the White House:

We've all seen the outrageous images: a monstrous oil spill is gushing as much as 2,500,000 gallons of crude a day into the Gulf of Mexico.

Before the spill, U.S. President Obama and Congressional leaders were planning to ramp up offshore drilling. Now, with the spill, the politics have shifted -- and an opportunity has opened for the world's biggest historical climate polluter to shift away from oil and towards climate-safe energy sources.

At a moment like this, when leaders are making up their minds, the world's voices can help tip the balance. Sign the petition urging the U.S. to stop offshore drilling and invest instead in clean renewable energy -- the signatures will be delivered to the White House in Washington DC when we reach 500,000! Click to sign on now and spread the word:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_offshore_drilling_2/?vl

This disaster is expected to be catastrophic for the land and people in the gulf. The oil has already reached land, contaminating wildlife sanctuaries. Authorities are so concerned about the impacts of more oil reaching land that they are prefer to set the gulf on fire, burning as much of the oil as possible.

Meanwhile, the fossil fuel industry is raking in windfall profits. BP, which operated the sunken rig, more than doubled its first quarter profits in 2010 to $5.65 billion.

For years, the world has waited for the U.S. to step up on climate. But with the carbon lobby's strangle-hold on Washington, we’ve had more drilling in place of stronger investment in cleaner, safer energy sources. It’s time to for a change -- Senator Bill Nelson of Florida has already introduced legislation to repeal plans to expand offshore drilling. Let's back him up with an outpouring of global public outrage. Sign the petition calling on President Obama and Congress to end offshore drilling, and take the US and the world to clean energy future:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_offshore_drilling_2/?vl

With Hope,

Ben, Iain, Alice, David, and the Avaaz team

Stop seal slaughter in Canada!

The worst ice conditions on record already threaten the survival of harp seals pups on Canada's east coast. Yet the government has actually increased the number of seals that can be killed this year! Tell Canada's Prime Minister not to let sealers decimate the survivors. Time is running out -- the hunt is scheduled to begin this Sunday.

Dear Friend,

I just wrote to Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper to demand that he cancel the 2010 commercial seal hunt. Will you write to him, too?

There's an unprecedented disaster for seals off Canada's east coast: So many baby seals will die because the sea ice upon which mother harp seals give birth virtually hasn't formed in key birthing areas.

Worse, the Canadian government may actually allow commercial sealers to slaughter the few seals that survive.

Please join me in telling Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to cancel this year's commercial seal hunt.

Please go to the site CLICK HERE:

If only, if only..........

If only I knew how stupid I was.

If only I was matured enough to think and act correctly.

If only, if only.

Sometimes it's too late to "if only". I would have drowned 40 years ago if the small "boat" had capsized!! You see, I was just an ignorant teenager following friends to an outing, not knowing that they were going into a very small boat of not more than 6 feet. I did not know how to swim at that time.

I think there were 4 of us in the fragile dingey. Before embarking, I was apprehensive but plain youthful naivety took the day and in I got into the boat. We did "sail" out into deep waters. I was destined to live. If the small dingey had capsized, I would be in the news for a few days and of course forgotten in due course.

Only when you have gone through real life experiences can you then understand why accidents can happen.

This is life. If you are to die tragically, you die. If you have good fortune like me, you live to see another day.

This has got to stop!

(Picture from The Star)

The Malaysian Insider:

"Ten passengers were killed and two injured after a double-decker Sani Express bus skidded and hit the road divider at Km272.8 of the North-South Expressway as it was heading north, about 8km from the Ipoh Selatan toll plaza, early today."

This has got to stop. How to stop? The news only reported the deaths, and tomorrow we get on with our lives as if nothing has happened. Think about the lives of the loved ones of the deceased. The breadwinner, the main care-giver, the son/daughter whom the whole family has high hopes for their future, the unfortunate children who have lost their parents, and the list goes on.

Why this is happening so very often? To me it is the lack of "mental culture" of the people who are responsible for these "crimes" of humanity. Remember...this can happen to you and me. What is this "mental culture"? It calls for common sense, responsibilty, and conscience. If you are feeling sleepy while driving, then stop for a rest. Think for yourself if not for others, unless you want to commit suicide. What has happened to our people, and I am assuming that this driver is a Malaysian. Nowadays, you never know. He might be from Timbuktu!

What is the root cause for this lack of "mental culture"? It comes to politics again. The education system (if there is a system at all), the negative examples of those who claim to "rule" over us, and of course the lack of control and enforcement of the authorities concerned. It will take a generation or two to revert to our good old values if we can change the "SYSTEM' and the "EVIL POWER".

Can we do it? Or do we want to die in a bus-ride?

-------------------------------------------------------

(Postscript: A subsequent comment I made.)

Hi all,

I shall share two experiences with you.

The first was narrated by my sister who previously travelled from KL to Penang quite often. On one occasion she rang up the bus company to complain about the driver smoking and sending smses while driving. You know what the person on the line answered? He smoked so that he won't fall asleep.

And this was my personal experience. I was in a hurry to reach JB withing the same day, so I bought a ticket supposed to go straight in the morning from Penang to JB. I think I started about 10am. The driver looked sick to me, and was coughing. I was exasperated when he turned into Ipoh to have a stop-over. I was the only stupid passenger who took this bus to JB. The others had disembarked at the various destination. I then knew I was literally taken for a ride around town! He didn't bother to inform me that it was a break, and just disappeared. I was too nervous to disembark fearing he might just drive away. Then I just took a chance, and jumped down to have a bite and to ease myself. When I came back the bus was somewhere else; luckily I found it on time. Then the poor fellow drove all the way to JB. He was an Indian driver. When we reached JB it was past 10pm. This poor fellow had been driving for more than 12 hours. There was no assistant on standby.

This has got to stop.

Let's make sure the present evil and incompetent regime is changed, come next election.

January 1, 2010 9:52 PM

News that won't attract attention:Yong Vui Kong.

(Yong Vui Kong)

I came across this post from blogger "Charles Hector", the extract is as follows:

[Yong Vui Kong was arrested in June 2007, when he was 19, by officers from the Central Narcotics Bureau. He was charged with trafficking 42.27 grams of heroin, and then sentenced to death in January 2009. Yong Vui Kong received a stay of execution on 3 December, but is now scheduled for execution on 11 December. His appeal will be heard by the Court of Appeals on 8 December.
Is it a matter of gender discrimination? Both men and women get duped ....and unjustly end up with the death penalty... not just the 'lasses' or the 'girls' .]

This is the first time I heard of Yong and the news is not good. He is to be executed by the Singapore Authority. And I don't like it. So I googled search "yong vui kong" and found more information from across the causeway.

This is not "news worthy" as far as the main stream media is concerned. Shame on them. A young man's life is at stake.

This is a "copy and paste" from a Singaporean source, The Online Citizen:

[Yong Vui Kong’s story will now be familiar with regular readers of The Online Citizen and the activist community, but alien to many Singaporeans who will go about their daily lives without batting an eyelid.

This is largely the fault of the mainstream media, which have completely failed in their duty to explain what Vui Kong’s case means for individual Singaporeans. This needs to change.

The justice system distinguishes between civil law and criminal law. Civil law is enforceable between individuals, whereas criminal law is enforced by the State. In the latter case, the State moves to punish acts deemed injurious to society. It acts on society’s behalf, through statutes passed by our elected representatives.

When the State brings its criminal jurisdiction to bear, it acts on behalf of you and me. If Vui Kong is hanged, he will be hanged in your name and mine.

Singapore’s head in the sand

The national media has given minimal attention to Vui Kong’s case and the obvious issues it raises about the fairness of the mandatory death penalty.

While the mainstream media is sometimes unfairly criticized for its conservative reporting and commentary, its’ see-no-evil attitude to glaring defects in our criminal justice system crosses the negligent into the realm of the unconscionable.

Forums and activities conducted by local anti-death penalty campaigners have gone unmentioned, and there is no national dialogue about the whether the mandatory death penalty is defensible.

Why has the national media not initiated a debate into a practice which the UN Special Rapporteur on arbitrary executions says is prohibited by “almost every judicial or quasi-judicial human rights body in the world”?

Our national media has blatantly failed to highlight countries across the Commonwealth that have invalidated the mandatory death penalty. A strange silence for a press that delights in comparing Singapore to other countries when it comes to economic indicators.]

Where is human compassion, justice and fairplay??

SICK SICK SICK!!!!!!


Please read this post from TOC : "President rejects clemency petition for Yong Vui Kong"

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Latest with HOPE:

I just came across this posting in another blog, bearing some hope for Yong Vui Kong:

[For the first time ever in Singapore the High Court has granted a prisoner on death row a stay of execution. The prisoner, Yong Vui Kong, 21, was found guilty of drug trafficking. At a High Court hearing just days before the execution was due to be carried out Justice Woo Bih Li allowed the stay pending a hearing before the Court of Appeal to be held this coming Tuesday. Yong’s petition for clemency was rejected by the President on November 20th.Representing Yong, Mr. M. Ravi, argued that executing Yong before his appeal was heard violated his constitutional rights. The Court of Appeal have yet to hear Yong’s case, as it was withdrawn by his previous counsel, who had been assigned by the State. As the Court of Appeal is currently on vacation and unable to convene Mr Ravi asked the High Court to grant a stay of execution for Yong, until his application for an extension of time and a full appeal can be heard. After hearing arguments presented by both the defense and the prosecution, Justice Woo accepted Mr. Ravi’s request.

This case has drawn attention to executions in Singapore which, together with Japan and the US, is the only fully developed country to retain the death penalty. It has created some interest within the Buddhist community also because Yong has converted to Buddhism during his time in prison. That his conversion is genuine is suggested by statements of contrition and his willingness to take his punishment.]

You can read the full article @ Dhamma Musings.

As the name suggests, this blog is a Buddhist blog and maintained by one of my teachers in Buddhism.

The photo that struck your conscience!

The above picture returned to haunt me again via another email chain letter today.

I think most of you would have seen the above photo by now. But did you take the trouble to search for more information? This time I took the trouble to dig deeper, and the first place I went was Wikipedia. This is the story you can read below.

The next place I went was to Hoax Slayer which commented on this email chain letter. The relevant comment follows after the wikipedia article. Please read to the end.

The links to Wikipedia and Hoax Slayer are provided at the end of this post.

This is from Wikipedia:
Kevin Carter (September 13, 1960 in Johannesburg – July 27, 1994) was an award-winning South African photojournalist and member of the Bang-Bang Club.

Carter had started to work as weekend sports photographer in 1983. In 1984 he moved on to work for the Johannesburg Star, bent on exposing the brutality of apartheid.

Carter was the first to photograph a public execution by "necklacing" in South Africa in the mid-1980s. He later spoke of the images; "I was appalled at what they were doing. I was appalled at what I was doing. But then people started talking about those pictures... then I felt that maybe my actions hadn't been at all bad. Being a witness to something this horrible wasn't necessarily such a bad thing to do."

Prize-winning photograph in Sudan
In March 1993 Carter made a trip to southern Sudan. The sound of soft, high-pitched whimpering near the village of Ayod attracted Carter to an emaciated Sudanese toddler. The girl had stopped to rest while struggling to a feeding center, whereupon a vulture had landed nearby. He said that he waited about 20 minutes, hoping that the vulture would spread its wings. It didn't. Carter snapped the haunting photograph and chased the vulture away [2]. However, he also came under heavy criticism for just photographing — and not helping — the little girl:

The St. Petersburg Times in Florida said this of Carter: "The man adjusting his lens to take just the right frame of her suffering, might just as well be a predator, another vulture on the scene."[3]
The photograph was sold to The New York Times where it appeared for the first time on March 26, 1993. Practically overnight hundreds of people contacted the newspaper to ask whether the child had survived, leading the newspaper to run a special editor's note saying the girl had enough strength to walk away from the vulture, but that her ultimate fate was unknown.

On April 2, 1994 Nancy Buirski, a foreign New York Times picture editor, phoned Carter to inform him he had won the most coveted prize for photojournalism. Carter was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography on May 23, 1994 at Columbia University's Low Memorial Library.


Alternative account of the photograph
South African photojournalist Joao Silva, who accompanied Carter to Sudan, gave a different version of events in an interview with Japanese journalist and writer Akio Fujiwara that was published in Fujiwara's book The Boy who Became a Postcard (絵葉書にされた少年 - Ehagaki ni sareta shōnen).

According to Silva, they (Carter and Silva) went to Sudan with the United Nations aboard Operation Lifeline Sudan and landed in Southern Sudan on March 11, 1993. The UN told them that they would take off again in 30 minutes (the time necessary to distribute food), so they ran around looking to take shots. The UN started to distribute corn and the women of the village came out of their wooden huts to meet the plane. Silva went looking for guerrilla fighters, while Carter strayed no more than a few dozen feet from the plane.

Again according to Silva, Carter was quite shocked as it was the first time that he had seen a famine situation and so he took many shots of the children suffering from famine. Silva also started to take photos of children on the ground as if crying, which were not published. The parents of the children were busy taking food from the plane so they had left their children only briefly while they collected the food. This was the situation for the girl in the photo taken by Carter. A vulture landed behind the girl. To get the two in focus, Carter approached the scene very slowly so as not to scare the vulture away and took a photo from approximately 10 metres. He took a few more photos and then the vulture flew off.

[edit] Death
On 27 July 1994 Carter drove to the Braamfonteinspruit river, near the Field and Study Centre, an area where he used to play as a child, and took his own life by taping one end of a hose to his pickup truck’s exhaust pipe and running the other end to the passenger-side window. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning at the age of 33. Portions of Carter's suicide note read:

"I am depressed ... without phone ... money for rent ... money for child support ... money for debts ... money!!! ... I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain ... of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners...I have gone to join Ken if I am that lucky."

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And this is from Hoax Slayer:

The chain email content:
Subject: How lucky are we reminder

As sad as this is it makes you grateful and appreciative of the way we live and the things we have. It just proves no matter how bad things seem there is always someone suffering more than we will ever know.

Have a close look at both of the photographs & read the messages below them. Forwarding this message to as many people as you can won't fulfil a wish; nor deleting it will cause any misfortune; but its our moral duty to be concerned...towards humanity

Commentary:(by Hoax Slayer)
This email chain letter contains a very disturbing photograph of a starving child being stalked by a vulture. As the message states, the photograph won a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in 1994 for the photographer, Kevin Carter. Carter took the photograph during a trip to the Sudan in 1993.

The incredibly powerful image graphically illustrates the terrible plight of those inflicted by desperate poverty. Even the most hard-hearted individual is likely to be affected by the photograph. For most people, there is an instinctive desire to somehow reach out and rescue the child from her terrible situation. Thus, it is not surprising that the photograph won such a prestigious award.

After the photograph was published in the New York Times, it became world famous and helped to raise awareness of global poverty. However, Carter was roundly condemned for taking the photograph and leaving the scene rather than actually helping the child. What happened to the child after Carter left is unknown. An entry about Carter's life on BBC – h2g2 explains the circumstances in which the photograph was taken.

A soft whimpering sound caught his attention. It was a pitiful, animal-like sound. He moved towards it until he found the source. A young African girl was crawling weakly towards the centre of a clearing. She didn't have the energy to stand and, emaciated, stood little chance of survival. If the plight of this little girl couldn't stir the world into action nothing would, as Carter knew instinctively and immediately. He crouched with his camera, ready to frame an eye-level shot. As he did so, a vulture landed behind her, obviously awaiting the moment of death. He carefully framed the photograph, being careful not to disturb the bird, and clicked. He waited about 20 minutes, waiting for the bird to fly off, and when it didn't, he chased it away.

Carter sat under a tree, watched her struggle for a while, smoked a cigarette and 'talked to God'. He did not help the girl. Utterly depressed, he went back to Silva and explained what had happened, wiping his eyes and saying 'I see all this, and all I can think of is Megan. I can't wait to hug her when I get home.
At the time that Carter took the photograph, he was a deeply troubled man, haunted by the things he had seen during his career, plagued by personal problems, and battling a drug habit. Only months after receiving the Pulitzer, Kevin Carter took his own life.

Although the core claims in the email are factual, there are also some inaccuracies. Firstly, the photograph was taken in 1993, not 1994 as stated in the email. The Pulitzer Prize itself was awarded in 1994. Secondly, the supposed diary entry recorded in the message is not genuine. The words were not written by Kevin Carter and were apparently added to the message to create extra impact – an entirely unnecessary lie given the power of the photograph itself. The fact that the "diary entry" refers to a "little boy" when the child in the photograph is female exposes the quote as bogus.

A detailed article about the life of Kevin Carter is available on BBC – h2g2. An award winning documentary by filmmaker Dan Krauss, The Death of Kevin Carter also examines the photojournalist's troubled life and career.

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Link to Wikipedia click HERE:

Link to Hoax Slayer click HERE:

Incidentally, I have posted a video a long time ago with a clip of this same picture. If you are interested click: "Counting our blessings" .

Barbaric Mass Animal Sacrifice Planned in Nepal.

There will be a Barbaric and Cruel mass murder of animals of all sorts today November 24 and tomorrow November 25. If you feel for these pitiful and defenceless animals, please read through and go to the site and send your messages to the Nepalese Authorities to stop this senseless, cruel and barbaric killings.

Please forward their message to as many of your contacts as possible. This time we may not be doing much, but with the international internet community actions the time will come that they stop these barbaric, senseless and cruel killings. We hope the next time around, all our actions will save millions of innocent and defenceless animals. Don't underestimate your individual actions; all added up will be millions!

I "copy and paste" this article from Humane Society International for your information and follow-up.

[Animal sacrifice is foreign to many in today’s day and age, but it still happens. One of the worst scenes of such slaughter in the world is the Gadhimai Jatra festival, held in the Bara district in the south of Nepal. Every five years, hundreds of thousands of animals are massacred in the name of a Hindu deity. During the last event, more than 200,000 animals were killed in just two days. This year, organizers are calling for nearly a half million animals to be slaughtered November 24 and 25.

The details of these so-called “festivities” are particularly horrific. There is no slaughterhouse or system in place for humane killing; instead, the animals are kept trapped in enclosures. The “panchhbali,” or five offerings, involves slicing the throats of five kinds of animals (buffalo, goats, pigs, roosters and rats) with a knife. This is not a quick death, but slow and agonizing for the victims. Buffalo, due to their size, suffer the most. Men swinging swords, often drunk, enter the corral and begin to hack away at the huge beasts. They target the hind legs first to bring the animals down and then proceed with a slow chopping at the neck, often requiring tens of cuts to actually kill the animal. The cruelty is unspeakable and the pain these creatures endure is unfathomable.


Take Action
Stop the massacre! Write to Nepalese leaders now to express your horror over the planned bloodshed.



In fact, more Indians attend this festival than do Nepalese; Bara is just over the border from India, where sacrificial slaughter has been banned in some states. Additionally, the only real beneficiaries of the event are the local business people, who pressure the villagers to offer excessive numbers of farm animals for the sacrifice. Reportedly, the businessmen can earn as much as $2 million from the sale of the carcasses and hides, while the community gains nothing. Superstition and pressure from organizers impede local action, though many people view the carnage as barbaric.

This horrendous cruelty somehow existed without much publicity until this year. Animal advocates and religious leaders both within Nepal and around the world have displayed outrage and disgust and are working together to pressure on the Nepalese government to put a stop to the mass animal sacrifice. HSI is joining in this effort by working with two of our local partners in Nepal, Kathmandu Animal Treatment Center and Animal Nepal and asking our supporters to write to Nepalese leaders to voice their concern.

Animal Nepal is organizing events in the capital ahead of the event and filing a case at the Supreme Court, as well as planning a symbolic ritual blessing in the hope that compassion will reign. HSI intends to keep the pressure on Nepalese leaders and help spread awareness of the horror of the event. Even “tradition” is no excuse for cruelty in a civilized society. As Mahatma Gandhi is credited with saying, “The greatness of a society and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.”]

Please click HERE to go to the site for your compassionate action.

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(Postscript)
Gyanendra's kin leads campaign against animal sacrifice

KATHMANDU: Five years ago, when he enjoyed unbridled power and was planning to stage an army-backed coup to become the head of the government,

Nepal’s king Gyanendra attended the festival of Hindu goddess Gadhimai in southern Nepal, throwing his weight, as the world’s Hindu emperor, behind an orgy of animal and bird sacrifices.

Today, with his crown abolished and Nepal declared a secular state, the former king’s kin is spearheading a passionate campaign to prevent animal sacrifices in the Terai temple.

“I stopped animal sacrifices at my parents’ house when I was eight,” says Pramada Shah nee Rana, whose grandfather Nir Shumsher Rana was a field marshall of the Nepal Army. “When I was married to Ashish Shah, King Gyanendra’s nephew, I realised animal sacrifices were deeply rooted in the family tradition. However, I have put an end to that too.”

Now her animal rights organisation Animal Welfare Network Nepal has grouped with animal activists in Nepal, India, France and the UK to begin a public campaign against the Gadhimai Temple fair starting from Nov 24, when the temple authorities say at least 500,000 birds and beasts will be slaughtered. The fair is held every five years when Hindu devotees from Jndia and Nepal gather to slaughter birds and animals for two days.

“The government must take immediate action to address the grave health risks of the mass sacrifice including bird and swine flu, TB and food poisoning,” Shah said. “If such mass sacrifices are still allowed in Nepal in the 21st century, it will send out the message to the world that we are still a barbaric nation.”

In 2002, a year after he ascended the throne following the assassination of his elder brother King Birendra, King Gyanendra had visited India where animal rights activists protested against his offering panchabali – five sacrifices – at the Kamakshya temple in Assam

Shah, who was educated in Delhi’s Army Public School and studied in Mumbai’s Sophiya College for two years, says her inspiration is former Indian minister and animal rights campaigner Maneka Gandhi.

Gandhi has already written to Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, urging him to prevent the wanton killings. “Many people in Nepal and the subcontinent are concerned about this sacrifice,” she wrote. “Your government has taken so many humane steps – banning the export of monkeys, for instance. Since you have introduced the Meat Act, which makes the humane killing of animals mandatory, these acts during the Gadhimai Festival would be illegal.”

Shah is hoping that Gandhi will come to Nepal since a visit by her would give greater momentum to the campaign. “We are not against the Hindu religion,” she said. “We are against its perversions. No religion says that animals have to be sacrificed to appease god.”

At home, the campaign against the mass animal killings has been boosted by Nepal’s Buddha Boy Ram Bahadur Bomjan taking up cudgels on its behalf. Bomjan, who stunned the world five years ago when he was reported to be meditating without taking food or water, is asking the temple management as well as pilgrims and the district administration not to spill innocent blood in the birthplace of the Buddha, the apostle of peace.

“The campaign is producing results,” said D B Bomjan, a prominent member of the Buddhist Tamang community to which the Buddha Boy belongs. “Three villagers have already handed over three buffalos to us, which were intended for sacrifice at the fair, saying they have had a change of heart.”

What went wrong??

(Maj Nidal Malik Hasan)

American soldiers shot dead within their own compound!!

This is from Associated Press:

"There are many unknowns about Nidal Malik Hasan, the man authorities say is responsible for the worst mass killing on a U.S. military base. Most of all, his motive. But details of his life and mindset, emerging from official sources and personal acquaintances, are troubling."

This is from another report:

"The base commander at Fort Hood says soldiers who witnessed a shooting rampage that left 13 people dead reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!" before opening fire at the Texas post.

Hasan was shot four times during the rampage....he is hospitalized in stable condition and that military officials will interrogate him as soon as possible."

The most astounding fact is that this man is "a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry".

What went wrong??

A very sensitive and dangerous question!!