The Baby Trade

How far would you go to adopt a baby?
A mother in Guatelmala had her baby taken from her right out of the hospital because attnorney Javier Oswaldo Morales claimed that she was unfit to have it because she was single and unemployed. Bascially Elivia Ramirez Cano was bribed with money to give up her baby for adoption.
There has beena growing demand for orphan babies from Latin America in both the US and Europe. In the 1980s thousands of children disappeared during the "dirty wars" that were waged on civilians in Latin America from governments. It has now been discovered that most of those children currently reside in the US, Canada, and Europe because they were taken and sold as "war orphans." Currently Guatemalan attorneys are using social workers to coerce, bribing, and forcefully take babies from their homes in order to supply the high demand. They falsify birth records and accuse mothers of being abusive and or a drug user. Meanwhile 20,000 Guatemalan orphans sit in poorly funded orphanages, because the older the child is the less desirable, everyone wants a baby.
The US has finally decided to end the baby trafficking and has threatened to stop allowing adoptions of Guatemalan children unless Guatemala changes its adoption system. While this is a step in the right direction it is appalling that this has been going on since 1980. The whole thing seems wrong to me on so many levels, not only are the child's rights being violated but so are the mothers. And the fact that the families who are buying these babies turn a blind eye to the illegal process makes it seem so synical. Some might argue that these kids are given a better life in the long run, but I see it as stealing someone's baby.

(The link is to a an older article from the late 1990s, but a recent article can be found at http://news.yahoo.com)

The Midterm Elections: What can they tell us?

W.C. Fields once said, "I never vote for anyone. I always vote against."

"In its simplest terms, that's what this election was all about - it was a vote against."
According to Tim Egan of BBC news the midterm elections last week were an important step in gaging American sentiment about the current administration and the war in Iraq. Among the most important issues were the administration's record with torture and war policy against terrorists. Egan also pointed out that "corruption" was one of the most important issues to the American people. He then goes on to summarize the recent scandal involving Reverend Ted and the evangelical church. What was this past election really about? I think that corruption is an appropriate word. It covers domestic corruption of elected officials as well as war-policy corruption such as the process of extraordinary rendition. I think that this past election was a referendum on the policies of the current administration, and obviously the American people had something to say...

On Positive Note

FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL STUDENTS RAISE MONEY FOR WOMEN IN AFRICA, AND TRY TO RAISE AWARENESS. Last night our pay-it-forward group had our fundraiser for The International Organization for Women and Development (IOWD). The link attached is a recording of one of the songs that was played at the concert. We were just shy of making our goal of $100, but what we have is better than nothing, and we are all proud and pleased that we can make a contribution to the IOWD.

Human Face of Genocide

On the front page of the NY Times Website today, there is a video on the Human Face of Genocide. Journalist Nicholas Kristof speaks of how the international community is ready to provide bandages to those who are mutilated as a result of this genocide, but that we seem to be doing little to end it. The video shows a man whose eyes have been gouged out as he lies in bed. So we ask, "how can someone do this to others?" And, then as Kristof points out, we provide bandages once the damage has been done. But is that where our role ends? Is that all we can do? This viedo really got to me because Kristof seems to be asking the questions that makes you question yourself.

It is a video that is hard to watch...

Rumsfeld and Others to be Tried for War Crimes.

Only one week after the midterm elections and the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense, the Center for Constitutional Rights is filing a request in Germany for investigation and prosecution of at least twelve high-ranking officials in the Bush Administration who allegedly ordered or failed to prevent torture, including Rumsfeld, George Tenet, and Al Gonzales. Eleven of the plaintiffs were held at Abu Ghraib, and one other at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A similar complaint was filed in 2004 but was dropped after pressure by the United States. This new complaint reportedly has new evidence and comes on the heels of the Military Commissions Act and the resignation of Rumsfeld, which apparently removed his immunity from war crimes prosecution. A brief, easy-to-read PDF file can be found on the linked site which details the new complaint.
How far do you think the case will go? Should the US put pressure on Germany to drop the case, and if they do, is that tantamount to admission of guilt? We've talked about Pinochet's punishment being 'too little, too late,' so isn't this case a good thing? I say let the trial commence. If these men are guilty, they should pay. Why should Americans be above the international laws and conventions to which they have agreed?

The Genetic Basis for Behavioral Differences

Dmitri K. Belyaev studied the genetics of domestication in an animal breeding farm in Siberia. In 1959 he started developing colonies of silver foxes. Belyaev hypothesized that the single criterion that led to domestication was selection for tameness. He tested his hypothesis by breeding silver foxes, an animal which had remained wild, despite being kept on farms for about 50 years by fur farmers. After 40 years of the experiment, "a group of animals had emerged that were as tame and as eager to please as a dog...they were clean and quiet and made excellent house pets."

I found it interesting that this species that had been aggressive and wild could be bred into a domesticated pet by only letting the tamest of the silver foxes mate. Is the effect genetics plays on our behavior greater than we think? Applying the findings of this experiment to humans seems to suggest that the offspring of aggressive parents are much more likely to be aggressive themselves because they either have an "aggression gene" or lack a "tame gene." Could the end to human rights abuses actually lie in the hands of geneticists? Currently the technology to silence a targeted gene is readily available. We also know how to determine the role of genes. If there is a gene for aggression and we know where in our chromosomes it lies, we will have the potential to "domesticate" the most vicious criminals.

Another Nazi Scheme

Apparently starting World War II and the Holocaust wasn't enough for the Nazis...

This article describes a lesser known project of the Nazis to expand their 'superior race'. This program was called 'Lebensborn' or 'Spring of Life'. Supposedly, the program was developed to halt the high rate of abortions occurring during the inter-war years. More importantly, the program wanted to create 'racially and genetically valuable' families. It took in orphaned children with Aryan qualities and gave them to high ranking SS officials. The program also encouraged 'blond, blue-eyed' men and women to mate and increase the master race.

Recently, children from the Lebensborn program who are now around 60 years old are stepping forward and confronting their dark past. Many of them are unsure of their past and do not know who their real parents are. And then there is always the fear of finding out if their fathers were war criminals.

The Big Verdict!

Well, I will be the first to post on this breaking news that I am sure you have all been hearing about. Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to death by hanging. Many Iraqis are celebrating this verdict, feeling that in this way justice has been served regarding the many human rights abuses committed under Hussein's regime. This is such a huge development- with all of our discussions about punishment for powerful leaders who have orchestrated campaigns of violence, this certainly provides an example of the most extreme form of punishment. As a strong believer in the need for harsh punishments for leaders guilty of human rights abuses, I surprised myself by feeling slightly bad for Hussein as I watched the video of his reaction while his death sentence was delivered. But it only takes a tiny reminder that we are looking at the face of evil. President Bush, as expected, is extremely pleased with this verdict and sees it as a symbol for the promising future of Iraq. Personally, my views on the death penalty are not firmly formulated- but whether you support it or not, we can perhaps agree that if death as a punishment should ever be enforced this instance might be it. Is this the best way justice can be delivered to the Iraqi people? Should this set precedent as punishment of other guilty world leaders?

Jesus Camp

http://www.jesuscampthemovie.com/

In class it seems we’re always asking, “how could that happen?” and “how could someone bring themselves to commit crimes of hate against someone else?”
We wonder how the Nazis were able to massacre Jews, how some Islamic extremists wanted so desperately to destroy us, and the list (unfortunately) goes on.
This trailer shows just how easy it is. These camps focus on the manipulation of innocent minds and the creation of a generation of children who want nothing more than to die for Jesus. They are teaching blatant religious stereotypes and we’ve seen the devastation that springs from that.

These young children are learning that “there are two types of people in this world, people who love Jesus and people who don’t.” They are learning separation from those who don’t is the right thing to do and even separate themselves from other schoolmates, neighbors, etc. by pledging allegiance to the Christian flag. They are learning to alienate those who think differently, instead of learning cooperation

Every conflict we’ve studied starts this way: with one group declaring to be the chosen ones- the ones who are right while everyone else’s beliefs are wrong. These divisions are obviously not just a thing of the past or something occurring somewhere else across the ocean. Intolerance is being taught right here in the United States, right now.

Guard our secrets: Deny you a lawyer

Majid Khan, 26 immigrated from Pakistan and graduated form Owing Mills High School, Maryland. He was arrested in 2003 while in Pakistan and spent more than three years in a CIA prison. Defense attorneys say that his treatment in the prison amounted to torture. Being labeled a "suspected terrorist," Khan has been denied access to a defense lawyer and in September of this year, he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay. This is the Military Commissions Act in practice. Even worse is the reason that is being given to deny this man a lawyer: according to the government,the CIA's network of prisons, are among the nation's most sensitive secrets. Prisoners who spent time in those prisons should not be allowed to disclose that information, even to a lawyer.

I'm just wondering what prisoners can do then? They can't get a lawyer. If by some stroke of luck, they are somehow given access to a lawyer, they cannot give them information about their treatment while in prison. So basically, this situation implies that prisoners who are in all probability being tortured have been abandoned not only by the government, but also that people who could help them cannot because it is necessary to guard the secrets of this nation.