Tag Archives: real life

Human Rights at Risk

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gay pride, LGBT

(photo: upload.wikimedia.org)

Serious readers do not need to turn to fiction to encounter stories full of compelling human drama. Peter Montgomery’s May 3 roundup of international human rights news for Religion Dispatches included the following (and much more):

  • A profound hypocrisy underlies the critique of Norway’s human rights record recently leveled by Russia and Saudi Arabia, where homosexuality is a crime punishable by death.
  • The Sultan of Brunei announced the first phase of Brunei’s new Sharia law, which includes fines or jail for out-of-wedlock pregnancy, failure to perform Friday prayers, and propagating other religions; phase 2, coming into effect next year, will address theft and alcohol offenses, punishable by whipping and amputations; phase 3, a year later, will cover sodomy and insulting the Koran or the Prophet Muhammad, which are offenses punishable with the death penalty, including death by stoning. Most of these laws will apply to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
  • Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta has signed a new law legalizing polygamy. “When you marry an African woman, she must know the second one is on the way, and a third wife,” MP Junet Mohammed told the house during the debates.
  • Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, banned from travel to the European Union because of alleged human rights abuses and election rigging, traveled to Vatican City for the ceremonies making saints of two former popes. Mugabe and his wife met Pope Francis after the canonization mass, attended Pope Francis’s inaugural Mass last year, attended Pope John Paul’s funeral in 2005 and his beatification in 2011.
  • Wisconsin state senator Glenn Grotham and GOP congressional candidate recently said on a Christian radio program that Secretary of State John Kerry had “upset God” by criticizing Uganda’s anti-gay law, asking, “what must God think of our country?”
  • By contrast, Akie Abe, wife of Japan’s conservative Prime Minister, attended Tokyo’s third annual Pride Fest, posting photos on her Facebook page, where she reportedly wrote, “I want to help build a society where anyone can lead happy, contented lives without facing discrimination.”

The Joys of Minor League Baseball

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baseball

(photo: author)

Last night the Trenton Thunder (Yankees’ AA team) beat the Richmond Flying Squirrels (SF Giants AA team) 8-1. Great game! Because:

  • Fabulous seats
  • @ $12 apiece
  • Pat Venditte—who pitches either right or left-handed, depending (you don’t see that every day)
  • Brendan Ryan – Yankees’ player rehabbing (2 hits)
  • Gary Sanchez – (# 35) DH and top prospect in Yankees’ organization
  • The weather did not live up to the Thunder’s sobriquet (rarely have a chance to use THAT word!)
  • The golden retriever that came out of the Thunder dugout and, living up to his breed mission, retrieved a bat
  • How the padded up home-plate umpire looked like a Lego man
  • 3 home runs, count ’em
  • Home in 18 minutes flat

Hackers in the Hospital

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Innocent-looking bedside computer!(photo: c1.staticflickr.com)

Innocent-looking bedside computer!(photo: c1.staticflickr.com)

Seven years after the Vice President Dick Cheney’s cardiac defibrillator was disconnected from the net to protect him from a wireless attack, hospitals have done little-to-nothing about the security problems in a myriad of medical equipment and devices, according to a recent Wired article by Kim Zetter. Worse, they seem unaware of the risks.

The defibrillator problem resurfaced in a 2012 episode of Homeland, but the thriller-writing community has yet to explore the full horror of this catastrophe in waiting. The problem? All the old familiars: hard-coded passwords, simple easily-guessed passwords, problem notification features that can be turned off, and lack of authentication systems. With equipment networked to provide medical records with test and x-ray results, placing false information in the record is comparatively easy. Even if equipment and devices aren’t themselves connected to the internet, the easily hacked internal systems they are connected to may be externally accessible—and certainly internally accessible if one employee responds to a phishing attack.

Additional examples of potentially lethal equipment hacks include: changes to morphine or other drug dosages delivered to patients via drug infusion pumps; adjustments to temperature settings on refrigerators that store blood and drugs; and alterations in electronic medical records.

It might be difficult to target specific patients with such rogue equipment and documentation changes, at present, but “random attacks causing collateral damage would be fairly easy to pull off,” the article reports. Some devices, unique to an individual, such as the implantable defibrillators, are targetable now.

Medical thrillers using these vulnerabilities as plot devices might do an inadvertent public service by sensitizing hospitals and the public to the risks.

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***** The Civil War of 1812

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War of 1812

Naval Engagement off Kingston: H.M.S. “Royal George” pursued by Commodore Chauncey in U.S.S. “Oneida,” November 9, 1812.

It’s probably hard for any reasonably well-informed American to know less about the War of 1812 than I did when starting an audio-read of Alan Taylor’s 2010 The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, & Indian Allies.(Taylor just won his second Pulitzer Prize for history for a new book.) The extent of my knowledge was irritation that the British burned the National Archives, making my genealogical researches more speculative and numerous trips to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, where I’d visited Fort George (British) and Fort Niagara (American), on the shore of Lake Ontario, and barely separated by the Niagara River. There, I’d heard a bit about Canadian heroes Sir Isaac Brock and Laura Secord. Despite growing up near Detroit, I escaped unscathed by information about the role of that city and the Michigan territory in the war or the legendary naval battles on the Great Lakes.

This book was remarkable in making this conflict so interesting and relevant. Taylor describes it as a “civil war” for several reasons. For one, Irish immigrants fought on both sides and the British claimed these former nationals as their own; for another, the uncertain allegiances of the northern New Englanders and Canadians alike, with allegiances to the new nation not as firmly fixed as we might think and much trade and movement across the weak border. Within the United States, Federalists (leaning toward Britain) and Republicans (anti-British) were at odds throughout, maneuvering against each other, thwarting efforts to recruit and equip an adequate army. Militarily, both sides made disastrous tactical mistakes and miscalculations. For example, the Americans thought the Canadians would welcome being “freed” from the oppressor Britain, but for the ordinary citizen of Upper Canada, the side to choose was the one most likely to end the war soonest.

Especially intriguing was Britain’s calculated use of Indians to terrify ill-trained American soldiers, who had such fear of the natives they would flee an impending battle rather than engage. And, while the conflict is often described as “a draw,” in Taylor’s analysis, the losers were the Indians, because the peace did not secure their lands, and the British no longer supported them against American expansion and territorial expropriation. A fascinating read.

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Blackfish

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killer whale, Blackfish

Being in the pool with killer whales during performances, as in this photograph, is now banned (photo: farm1.staticflickr.com)

The Northwest Natives call them Blackfish. Tilikum is a Chinook word meaning “friends, tribe, nation”—exactly what Tilikum, the killer whale, has been denied. Finally, last night I watched the Magnolia Pictures documentary Blackfish, aired by CNN last October and November, which tells the story of Tilikum and the three humans he has killed.

Blackfish has sparked renewed questions about the capture, confinement, and training of cetaceans—especially killer whales—for human entertainment. From 1976 to 1997, 77 whales were taken from the wild in Iceland, Japan, and Argentina for aquariums and aquatic theme parks. Some additional number died during attempts at capture. Now about 50 of these animals are on display throughout the world, and a large number of them were born in captivity.

Not surprisingly, SeaWorld Orlando, where Tilikum lives, has many objections to the documentary (and provides only half-answers to the questions it raises), but their ultimate concern boils down to money. This was apparent in comments at an April 8 hearing on California Assemblyman Richard Bloom’s proposal to make it illegal to hold killer whales in captivity and to use them for performance or entertainment. According to NPR coverage, the President of SeaWorld San Diego “reminded committee members that the park is an important part of the regional economy,” with 4.6 million visitors last year and making $14 million in lease payments to the city.

SeaWorld’s lobbyist was even more blunt, saying that “if the bill passes, SeaWorld would just move the 10 killer whales it has in San Diego to other parks.” Such a restriction would cost the park hundreds of millions of collars, and SeaWorld “would expect the state to make restitution.” In short, he said, “if you ban them, you buy them.” The Assembly committee called for further study.

SeaWorld officials label Blackfish as propaganda and unbalanced. If by that, they mean the film is powerfully made, emotionally gripping, and makes a strong point, they certainly are correct. Filmmaker Gabriela Cowperthwaite, however, says she is not an animal rights activist and developed an interest in the story of Dawn Brancheau’s 2010 death by wondering, “How could our entire collective childhood memories of this delightful water park be so morbidly wrong?” Rotten Tomatoes critics rating: 98%.

Cowperthwaite provides background about killer whales in the wild that enables viewers to appreciate why the idea of penning them in pools is inherently flawed. Subspecies of orcas establish matrilineal, multigenerational family groups that are the most stable of any animal species. Throughout their lifetimes, individuals are never away from their family group for more than a few hours. Several related family groups form pods of perhaps 20 animals. They range great distances and are found in every ocean. Each group’s preferred foods, vocalizations (dialect), hunting methods, and behavior is specific to that group and is passed from generation to generation. In other words, the groups have an identifiable culture.

Adults are big (up to 26 feet long and weighing six tons or more), mobile (often traveling 100 miles a day), and fast (swimming nearly 35 miles per hour at top speed). They have big brains, especially well developed and for analyzing their complex environment and identifying prey. In the wild, females can live to age 90, and males to age 60, but their average lifespan is 50 for females and 29 for males. In captivity, they generally live into their 20s, despite the supposed advantages in feeding and veterinary care the parks provide.

Contrast this picture with their life in captivity. Generations are separated. Whales from different groups (culture and language again) are penned together. The environment is not particularly stimulating. And, if they don’t do what their human trainers expect, food is withheld. Killer whales, an apex predator, may find this baffling and unacceptable.

Intelligent, curious, playful, problem-solving–all these positive traits have helped create the friendly, seemingly affectionate Shamu image. In truth, although there are few documented attacks on humans–and no fatalities–by the tens of thousands of killer whales in the wild, the small number of captive killer whales reportedly has made nearly two dozen attacks on humans since the 1970s, four of which have been fatal, and three of which fatalities have involve Tilikum.

Born in 1981, Tilikum is the largest orca in captivity, 22.5 feet long and weighing 12,000 pounds. He was responsible for the drowning and battery deaths of a trainer in British Columbia in 1991, a SeaWorld Orlando intruder in 1999, and SeaWorld Orlando trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010, when he grabbed her arm and pulled her under the water. The latter death led to new safety procedures at SeaWorld, although the parks have unsuccessfully appealed OSHA safety penalties and are looking to install new technologies that would let trainers return to the orca pools.

Ironically, the sea parks that have fostered public affection for these giant creatures and cultivated interest in their welfare may also have created the environment in which concern over their captivity has again erupted, 20 years after Free Willy.

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**** Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt, Savannah, Georgia

Savannah (photo: wikimedia.org)

As it seems I’m one of the last people in America to read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt’s 20-year-old best-seller, I’d heard enough sly references and snippets—especially when the movie (trailer) came out–to have a pretty good idea of what I’d encounter in its Historic District (free map!). I was not disappointed. While many people gravitated to the over-the-top drag queen, The Lady Chablis, my favorite character was Minerva, the purple-glasses wearing juju expert. Berendt allows that, although his book is nonfiction, he did mess with the time sequence a bit and disguise a few characters who needed a veil of privacy. Savannahians surely know when and who.

I hadn’t realized Savannah was so geographically and topographically isolated and that its residents used that isolation to their advantage, wanting “nothing so much as to be left alone,” Berendt says. “Every nuance and quirk of personality achieved greater brilliance in that lush enclosure than would have been possible anywhere else in the world.” It’s sadly ironic, then, that his book has inspired so many tourists and Midnight-themed tours.

And the perfect, related cocktail?

A Failed Censorship Attempt

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Afghanistan war, military, Mike Martin, Intimate War

(photo: Hurst Publishers)

The UK Ministry of Defence has been trying to stop publication of a book it requested on the British Army’s 13-year campaign in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. The MoD commissioned captain Mike Martin of the Territorial Army to write the book, entitled An Intimate War – An Oral History of the Helmand Conflict 1978-2012, but does not like its conclusions. It therefore held up publication for almost a year, under a policy governing books and articles by serving military personnel.

The ongoing dispute  prompted captain Martin to resign from the Army, and the book will be published soon. In the U.S., it’s available from Amazon for pre-order, coming Friday, April 18.

According to an account in The Guardian, “the book presents a bleak picture of British and American involvement, claiming that troops failed to grasp that it was primarily a tribal civil war.” As a result, Martin says, the troops “often made the conflict worse, rather than better. This was usually as a result of the Helmandis manipulating our ignorance.” Involvement in Afghanistan has cost the Britain 448 deaths, many of which occurred in Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold and one of the country’s major poppy-growing regions.

Martin’s book argues that the Taliban were not the “main drivers of violence,” but rather that the conflict was driven by the personal motivations of Helmandi individuals, including local politicians  and tribal chiefs. This made the conflict akin to a civil war  between clans, “rather than a clash between the ‘good’ government of Afghanistan and the ‘bad’ Taliban,” says The Daily Mail.

Martin wrote the book as part of his PhD work for Oxford University and was one of a very few British soldiers who speaks Pashtu fluently. The book was the result of six years of research, involving 150 interviews conducted in Pashtu, and it begins with the problems the Soviets faced in Afghanistan in the 1970’s.

The Daily Mail story says “his criticism of intelligence blunders and the failure of commanders to understand the conflict is said to have embarrassed officials.” Although the Ministry opposes the book, Major General Andrew Kennett, who commanded Martin’s unit, said: “I think he has done the Army a great service by writing this,” and General Sir David Richards, the recently retired head of the Armed Forces, who commanded international forces in Afghanistan between 2006-07, said, “I sincerely wish it had been available to me when I was ISAF Commander in Afghanistan.”

Martin plans to donate proceeds from the book to military charities.

Three years ago, the Ministry of Defence bought up and destroyed all copies of a book by Sunday Times journalist Toby Harnden: Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the Real Story of Britain’s War in Afghanistan. Harnden’s award-winning book also was about the British deployment to Helmand, and after deletion of 50 words, it was reprinted.

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Hollywood Directors’ WWII Mission

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Leni Riefenstahl, Nazi Party

1934 Nazi Party Congress, Nuremberg (photo: wikimedia.org)

The wartime experiences of five major film directors are recounted in the Mark Harris book, Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War, which has garnered impressive reviews. The book describes the military contributions of five directors near the top of their careers: Frank Capra, John Ford, William Wyler, George Stevens, and John Huston. David Denby gives a nice summary of Harris’s book in the March 17 New Yorker.

(The pre-war activities of Tinseltown’s studios were pretty bad, according to two widely discussed books last year. The studios held back on films attacking fascism or condemning persecution of the Jews, in order to continue doing business in Germany, according to Ben Urwand in The Collaboration. As a result, “Nazis were all but invisible in American movies at the time when depicting their savagery might have done the most good,” said Dave Kehr in a NYT review of  Thomas Doherty’s Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939.)

Capra was put in charge of Why We Fight, a series of training films for U.S. recruits, at the request of Gen. George C. Marshall. Capra saw this assignment as a democratic response to Leni Riefenstahl’s inspiring propaganda film, Triumph of the Will, depicting the 1934 Nazi party congress and the aims and ideals of the Third Reich.

The five directors approached their assignments differently, but in every case with impressive results. George Stevens’s documentary approach to recording the post-war liberation of Dachau became two films used at the first Nuremberg Trial.

What the directors produced upon their return home was irrevocably colored and deepened by these experiences, including Ford’s They Were Expendable, as Denby says, “a film suffused with an elegiac melancholy that is unique in American movies”; William Wyler’s The Best Years of our Lives; and Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, in its way, the answer to Marshall’s challenge: a vision of a way of life “for which Americans would have gone to war,” says Denby.

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AMC’s “Turn”

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George Washington

General George Washington at Trenton by John Trumbull

AMC’s espionage series Turn (review) is based on the exploits of the Culper Ring, a loose network of Revolutionary War spies–including one woman–from whom George Washington learned of the movements and plans of the British in and around New York, then in the redcoats’ hands. It was the era of the martyr Nathan Hale,  the dashing British spy, Major Andre, and the dastardly Benedict Arnold. And this quiet group of brave patriots. Episodes will air  numerous times over the next month, and if the series succeeds, may continue next season. It’s based on the book Washington’s Spies by historian Alexander Rose. A book on the same topic, George Washington’s Secret Six was  recently reviewed here.

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There Are No Children Here

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By Alex Kotlowitz – This is an award-winning, almost 25-year-old book that I’ve wanted to read for a long time (thank you West Windsor Library book sale!), documenting living conditions in the Henry Horner Homes a now-demolished housing project of the notorious Chicago Housing Authority. It is credited with making a substantial contribution to reforms in public housing that have attempted to reduce the isolation of the poor, combat violence and drug abuse, and improve building maintenance and living conditions for those who remain in public housing. Chicago-based media impresario Oprah Winfrey produced a made-for-tv movie version in 1993.

The book focuses on one large family, particularly two young brothers, Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers, ages 10 and seven at the outset, and follows their lives for three years. While Kotlowitz says he didn’t start out with the goal of public housing reform, no one who read the book—then or now—can fail to be affected by how public systems have failed so many American children. A 2011 interview with Kotlowitz revisted his experience writing this book and the subsequent fates of Pharoah and Lafeyette.

This year’s Peabody Awards recognized coverage of the continued neglect of low-income teens in WBEZ (This American Life) radio documentaries about Chicago’s Harper High School (Part 1 and Part 2) and the PBS documentary about a Washington, D.C., high school, 180 Days: A Year Inside an American High School. But, as Chicago Public Radio’s Linda Lutton said, “I would trade every prize in the world for them to live in a different reality.”

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