53 Brentwood Blog

Friday, April 30, 2004

IRAQ: Concern over classification of prisoners (classification, hum... you mean sodomization??)

BAGHDAD, 8 Oct 2003 (IRIN) - The United States is trying to sidestep its obligations under the Geneva Convention by creating new categories of prisoners it is holding in Iraq, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) spokesman has warned.

In Iraq, the US military has categorised about 4,000 of its prisoners as "security detainees", a classification not covered by the Geneva Conventions, a set of international war rules agreed to by many countries, according to HRW. "A 'security detainee' is any individual who has committed a crime against US-led coalition forces," US Brig-Gen Janis Karpinsky, who is in charge of all detainees in Iraq, told IRIN in the capital, Baghdad.

"Prisoners are taken into the system, and within 72 hours they're given an initial review, and a determination is made on their status," US Brig-Gen Janis Karpinsky said. "Depending on the category, they're afforded the opportunity for a magistrate review, or a tribunal," she added.

"I think the main complaint that people might have is that due process might have been delayed. But we're clearing that. We've been doing the right thing, just not as quickly as some people would like," US Brig-Gen Janis Karpinsky asserted.

"Some of them will be charged with war crimes possibly, some of them will be charged with crimes against the coalition, simply security threats, or could be charged with terrorism or acts against Iraq particularly," US Brig-Gen Janis Karpinsky explained.

"I can tell you there's sometimes a light on all the time, but there is no torture, there is no abuse, there is no violent extraction of information in any of our facilities," US Brig-Gen Janis Karpinsky stated.

Karpinsky also admitted that conditions for prisoners were not of the best, but pointed out that many US-led coalition troops lived under the same conditions. "You can't keep prisoners at a level of treatment or housing or feeding that is vastly different than the coalition members are living," she noted. "We're doing everything possible, given the situation and the setting, that they're being treated humanely," she added.

(edited by MPC)

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

WHAT are you TWO talking about??

Pigs with sparkles and cray paper on motorbikes??

Happy Big 4-0??

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

"A first sign of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die." -Franz Kafka

"Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old." - Franz Kafka

"Firstly, there is no such person as Death. Second, Death's this tall guy with a bone face, like a skeletal monk, with a scythe and an hourglass and a big white horse and a penchant for playing chess with Scandinavians. Third, he doesn't exist either. " - Neil Gaiman

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." - Phillip K. Dick

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

If I could live my life again,
in the next one I'd make more mistakes.
I wouldn't try to be so perfect. I'd relax more.
I'd be even more fool than I had been,
Actually, just a few things I'd take more seriously.
I'd be less hygienic.
I'd take more risks; I'd travel more,
I'd watch more sunsets,
I'd climb more mountains; I'd swim in more rivers.
I'd go to more places where I never had been,
I'd eat more ice cream and fewer beans
I'd have more real problems and less imaginary ones.

from INSTANTS by Jorge Luis Borges.

Friday, April 16, 2004

Thanks for the happy birthday!

I'm now a year older than last year, though I feel five years younger than two years ago.

My whole family just left Holland, it was really a fun week. I surely saw more of Holland this week than in the past two years!

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

Happy Birthday G!

Friday, April 09, 2004

Buona Pasqua. Happy Easter.

My whole family (Antonio included) is coming to Holland for a week.

It's going to be... wild.

see you next week.

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

Yeah, that might be interesting.

But, then I'm now 31.

So there.

And I have read Richard Pipe's "A Concise History of the Russian Revolution"

I know things, important things. Like this, right now I am drunk. Also, Irish Car Bombs are potent. The world is a diverse exo-thermic relationship. Blue is a good color.

I might also know secret things. But then if I did I couldn't let you lot in on them.

This is no longer truth for one reason, "Never trust anyone over 30." The reason is that Maiko is the only one on this blog that is under 30, and you can never trust her.

English test? No, grazie!

Anyway, about minorities and majorities:

A U.S. official in Baghdad accurately insists that the violent insurgency involves "a minuscule percentage" of the 25 million Iraqis. However, history usually is made not by majorities but by intense minorities. Remember 1917, and this from Richard Pipes's "The Russian Revolution": "The Bolshevik triumph in October was accomplished nine-tenths psychologically: the forces involved were negligible, a few thousand men at most in a nation of one hundred and fifty million." There may have been fewer Bolsheviks than there are members of Sadr's militia, which is one of many. The cancellation last weekend of a Baghdad trade fair was symbolic of the ability of a minuscule minority to sow chaos sufficient to prevent a majority from attending to mundane matters.


By George F. Will, Wednesday, April 7, 2004. The Washington Post Company



Monday, April 05, 2004

Somehow this just does not seem right:

Grammar God!
You are a GRAMMAR GOD!


If your mission in life is not already to
preserve the English tongue, it should be.
Congratulations and thank you!


How grammatically sound are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Panorama photos of the Paris Metro

Sunday, April 04, 2004

"Death's alright with me, when its on TV.
I guess I'll go and shoot myself"
- The Dead Milkmen "Death's Alright with Me"

New Links:
Anal Avenger for President &
Gambarota.com

also, all the old and current Gamabrota nonsense:
53 Brentwood, Giulio
Splweb Harvard, Giulio
BC, Giulio

Friday, April 02, 2004

Blame Maiko for Godzilla. I mean it might be the Americans fault for dropping atomic weapons on an atoll in the Pacific and mutating a small, defenseless, lizard into a giant, atomic flame throwing, laser eyes shooting, menace, but the Japanese made him into a star.

Also, Maiko brought a small Godzilla egg to the UK and then lost it.

I knew it, it's him again. I've always hated Godzilla.