Month: February 2009

National Geographic News

Lost cities, baffling pyramids, and ancient graveyards are just some of the mysteries covered in National Geographic News’s most viewed archaeology stories of 2008.

10. Inca Skull Surgeons Were “Highly Skilled”
Dangerous skull surgery was commonly and successfully performed among the Inca, likely as a treatment for head injuries suffered during combat, a May study found.

9. Ancient “Lost City” Discovered in Peru?
Stone ruins discovered in Peru this past January could be the ancient “lost city” of Paititi, according to claims that sparked serious but cautious responses from experts.

8. New Pyramid Found in Egypt: 4,300-Year-Old Queen’s Tomb
Long buried by deep sands, the once five-story-tall pyramid is a testament to a pharaoh’s reverence for his mother, experts said in November.

7. Alexander the Great’s “Crown,” Shield Discovered?
An ancient Greek tomb once thought to have been that of Alexander’s father is more recent than thought and may contain treasures belonging to Alexander himself, experts said in April.

6. Mystery Pyramid Built by Newfound Ancient Culture?
The Huapalcalco pyramid in central Mexico may be the work of a previously unknown culture of ancient people, the Huajomulco, archaeologists said in December.

5. Rare Egyptian “Warrior” Tomb Found
Feathered arrows lying near a well-preserved coffin suggest that the mummy inside, when alive, may have been a mercenary for an Egyptian king, experts said in February.

4. Stonehenge Was Cemetery First and Foremost
From the start 5,000 years ago, the site was a burial ground—perhaps for prehistoric rulers—and it remained so for centuries, a May study said. ALSO SEE: related photos and maps.

3. Maya May Have Caused Civilization-Ending Climate Change
A satellite program designed to improve environmental policies in Central America found evidence of ancient, self-induced climate change—offering lessons on how to combat today’s warming.

2. Great Pyramid Mystery to Be Solved by Hidden Room?
A sealed space in Egypt’s Great Pyramid may help solve a centuries-old mystery: How did the ancient Egyptians move two million 2.5-ton blocks to build the ancient wonder?

1. Portal to Maya Underworld Found in Mexico?
An underground labyrinth filled with stone temples and pyramids, found in August, likely relates to Maya myths of the afterlife, archaeologists said.
Read More

Defence secretary accuses BBC among others of being biased towards Tamil Tigers
by Randeep Ramesh, South Asia correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 1 February 2009 17.13 GMT

Sri Lanka has publicly warned foreign media, western media and aid
agencies that they will be expelled from the country if their
reporting is deemed sympathetic to the Tamil Tiger guerrillas, who are
making a last stand deep in the island’s jungle.

In an interview to local media, the defence secretary, Gotabhaya
Rajapaksa, highlighted the role of ambassadors of Switzerland and
Germany, and television networks CNN, BBC and al-Jazeera in his
criticism of foreigners, accusing them of being biased towards the
rebels, known formerly as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

“They will be chased away [if they try] to give a second wind to the
LTTE terrorists at a time the security forces, at heavy cost, are
dealing them the final death blow,” he said.

The blunt words underline how difficult it has become to cover one of
the world’s bloodiest and most under-reported conflicts. The
government controls access to the war zones and international media
groups complain of reporters being intimidated.

European diplomats have come under fire in Sri Lanka for their
high-profile support of journalists and media freedom, particularly
after the assassination of crusading editor Lasantha Wickramatunga.

Rajapaksa claimed that media reports were damaging the security forces at a time when they were “dealing the final death blow” to the Tigers.
In the newspaper article, he singled out the BBC correspondent
reporting from Colombo, Chris Morris, saying that “if he does not act
responsibly and attempts to create panic, I will have to chase him out
of the country”.

The BBC said it had been assured by the Sri Lankan government that the comments had been “misreported”. In a statement the corporation said it welcomed these reassurances. “The BBC remains committed to
reporting the story in Sri Lanka in a fair and balanced manner,” it
said.

When contacted by the Guardian, Rajapaksa said he had not seen the
reports indicating his apparent readiness to throw journalists out of
Sri Lanka. “I have given many interviews,” he said. “What I have been
saying is that the BBC, CNN and al-Jazeera have to be careful in their
reporting so that they do not worsen the situation.”

The defence secretary said that these three organisations had been
taken on guided tours to “areas free from LTTE. It is very clear we
used no shelling or air strikes [in civilian areas] but what I say is
sometimes not reported.”

One piece by the BBC had angered the Sri Lankan authorities because it featured video clips from Tamilnet, a website which is seen as pro-Tamil Tiger. “It is a mouthpiece of the terrorists and the BBC are
using the [footage] and saying civilians are being shelled.”

The defence secretary, the younger brother of Sri Lanka’s president
Mahinda Rajapaksa, is a powerful figure in Sri Lanka and is credited
for bringing the Tigers to the brink of extinction.

The LTTE, which has fought for a separate state for the Tamil minority
for 25 years, has been routed in military clashes. Once in control of
large swathes of the north and east of Sri Lanka the rebels are now
confined to a mere 100 square miles of jungle.

The war has extracted a terrible human toll. Humanitarian groups say
as many as 250,000 unprotected civilians are trapped in the area –
used, say Sri Lanka’s government, as “human shields” by the rebels.
Over the weekend tens of thousands of Tamils marched in London in
protest over the Sri Lankan army’s actions.

The army has promised to allow safe passage to trapped civilians and
urged the Tamil Tigers to do the same. However, United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who have staff in the area, say that civilians are still being killed in the crossfire.

Today CNN reported that artillery shells fell on a hospital in the
northern Sri Lankan district of Mullaitivu, where civilians, including
children, were being treated.

By Amy Kazmin
With its gritty depiction of Mumbai’s underbelly – and an unlikely rags-to-riches tale of resilience and hope, the film Slumdog Millionaire has gained critical acclaim and box office success round the world, plus 10 Oscar nominations.
Despite the film’s pedigree as a British production, its international success has enthused many urban Indians, now embracing it as a triumph of India’s cinema industry, which generates about 900 films a year.
In Indian media interviews, Danny Boyle, the British director, has insisted his work is a mainstream Indian “feel-good” film, given its romantic love story and underdog hero who overcomes tremendous adversity to secure triumph and, of course, the girl.
Yet, among directors and producers in Mumbai – the heart of India’s film industry – the success of Slumdog Millionaire has generated both excitement and angst over Bollywood’s relationship with global audiences.
Read more

Whether it takes place in Afghan wastelands, in Mangalore or in Margaret Atwood’s dystopian republic of Gilead, one thing is obvious: every form of religious coercion involves the regulation and control of female behaviour. In a disgraceful incident, around 20 members of the Sri Rama Sena, a stray sprout of the Bajrang Dal, barged into a pub called Amnesia in Mangalore and roughed up the young women drinking there — “in the interests of society”. “There are some activities going on here that spoil Hindu tradition. We’ve just shown our frustration at that assault on Indian tradition. We don’t like such indecent behaviour and tried to stop it,” said a spokesman.
Read more

by William Blum
http://www.killinghope.org/

Change (in rhetoric) we can believe in.

I’ve said all along that whatever good changes might occur in regard to non-foreign policy issues, such as what’s already taken place concerning the environment and abortion, the Obama administration will not produce any significantly worthwhile change in US foreign policy; little done in this area will reduce the level of misery that the American Empire regularly brings down upon humanity. And to the extent that Barack Obama is willing to clearly reveal what he believes about anything controversial, he appears to believe in the empire.
The Obamania bubble should already have begun to lose some air with the multiple US bombings of Pakistan within the first few days following the inauguration. The Pentagon briefed the White House of its plans, and the White House had no objection. So bombs away — Barack Obama’s first war crime. The dozens of victims were, of course, all bad people, including all the women and children. As with all these bombings, we’ll never know the names of all the victims — It’s doubtful that even Pakistan knows — or what crimes they had committed to deserve the death penalty. Some poor Pakistani probably earned a nice fee for telling the authorities that so-and-so bad guy lived in that house over there; too bad for all the others who happened to live with the bad guy, assuming of course that the bad guy himself actually lived in that house over there.
The new White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, declined to answer questions about the first airstrikes, saying “I’m not going to get into these matters.”1 Where have we heard that before?
After many of these bombings in recent years, a spokesperson for the United States or NATO has solemnly declared: “We regret the loss of life.” These are the same words used by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) on a number of occasions, but their actions were typically called “terrorist”.
I wish I could be an Obamaniac. I envy their enthusiasm. Here, in the form of an open letter to President Obama, are some of the “changes we can believe in” in foreign policy that would have to occur to win over the non-believers like me.

Iran

Just leave them alone. There is no “Iranian problem”. They are a threat to no one. Iran hasn’t invaded any other country in centuries. No, President Ahmadinejad did not threaten Israel with any violence. Stop patrolling the waters surrounding Iran with American warships. Stop halting Iranian ships to check for arms shipments to Hamas. (That’s generally regarded as an act of war.) Stop using Iranian dissident groups to carry out terrorist attacks inside Iran. Stop kidnaping Iranian diplomats. Stop the continual spying and recruiting within Iran. And yet, with all that, you can still bring yourself to say: “If countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist, they will find an extended hand from us.”2
Iran has as much right to arm Hamas as the US has to arm Israel. And there is no international law that says that the United States, the UK, Russia, China, Israel, France, Pakistan, and India are entitled to nuclear weapons, but Iran is not. Iran has every reason to feel threatened. Will you continue to provide nuclear technology to India, which has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while threatening Iran, an NPT signatory, with sanctions and warfare?

Russia

Stop surrounding the country with new NATO members. Stop looking to instigate new “color” revolutions in former Soviet republics and satellites. Stop arming and supporting Georgia in its attempts to block the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhasia, the breakaway regions on the border of Russia. And stop the placement of anti-missile systems in Russia’s neighbors, the Czech Republic and Poland, on the absurd grounds that it’s to ward off an Iranian missile attack. It was Czechoslovakia and Poland that the Germans also used to defend their imperialist ambitions — The two countries were being invaded on the grounds that Germans there were being maltreated. The world was told.
“The U.S. government made a big mistake from the breakup of the Soviet Union,” said former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev last year. “At that time the Russian people were really euphoric about America and the U.S. was really number one in the minds of many Russians.” But, he added, the United States moved aggressively to expand NATO and appeared gleeful at Russia’s weakness.3

Cuba

Making it easier to travel there and send remittances is very nice (if, as expected, you do that), but these things are dwarfed by the need to end the US embargo. In 1999, Cuba filed a suit against the United States for $181.1 billion in compensation for economic losses and loss of life during the almost forty years of this aggression. The suit held Washington responsible for the death of 3,478 Cubans and the wounding and disabling of 2,099 others. We can now add ten more years to all three figures. The negative, often crippling, effects of the embargo extend into every aspect of Cuban life.
In addition to closing Guantanamo prison, the adjacent US military base established in 1903 by American military force should be closed and the land returned to Cuba.
The Cuban Five, held prisoner in the United States for over 10 years, guilty only of trying to prevent American-based terrorism against Cuba, should be released. Actually there were 10 Cubans arrested; five knew that they could expect no justice in an American court and pled guilty to get shorter sentences.4

Iraq

Freeing the Iraqi people to death … Nothing short of a complete withdrawal of all US forces, military and contracted, and the closure of all US military bases and detention and torture centers, can promise a genuine end to US involvement and the beginning of meaningful Iraqi sovereignty. To begin immediately. Anything less is just politics and imperialism as usual. In six years of war, the Iraqi people have lost everything of value in their lives. As the Washington Post reported in 2007: “It is a common refrain among war-weary Iraqis that things were better before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.”5 The good news is that the Iraqi people have 5,000 years experience in crafting a society to live in. They should be given the opportunity.

Saudi Arabia

Demand before the world that this government enter the 21st century (or at least the 20th), or the United States has to stop pretending that it gives a damn about human rights, women, homosexuals, religious liberty, and civil liberties. The Bush family had long-standing financial ties to members of the Saudi ruling class. What will be your explanation if you maintain the status quo?

Haiti

Reinstate the exiled Jean Bertrand Aristide to the presidency, which he lost when the United States overthrew him in 2004. To seek forgiveness for our sins, give the people of Haiti lots and lots of money and assistance.

Colombia

Stop giving major military support to a government that for years has been intimately tied to death squads, torture, and drug trafficking; in no other country in the world have so many progressive candidates for public office, unionists, and human-rights activists been murdered. Are you concerned that this is the closest ally the United States has in all of Latin America?

Venezuela

Hugo Chavez may talk too much but he’s no threat except to the capitalist system of Venezuela and, by inspiration, elsewhere in Latin America. He has every good historical reason to bad-mouth American foreign policy, including Washington’s role in the coup that overthrew him in 2002. If you can’t understand why Chavez is not in love with what the United States does all over the world, I can give you a long reading list.
Put an end to support for Chavez’s opposition by the Agency for International Development, the National Endowment for Democracy, and other US government agencies. US diplomats should not be meeting with Venezuelans plotting coups against Chavez, nor should they be interfering in elections.
Send Luis Posada from Florida to Venezuela, which has asked for his extradition for his masterminding the bombing of a Cuban airline in 1976, taking 73 lives. Extradite the man, or try him in the US, or stop talking about the war on terrorism.
And please try not to repeat the nonsense about Venezuela being a dictatorship. It’s a freer society than the United States. It has, for example, a genuine opposition daily media, non-existent in the United States. If you doubt that, try naming a single American daily newspaper or TV network that was unequivocally against the US invasions of Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Panama, Grenada, and Vietnam. Or even against two of them? How about one? Is there a single one that supports Hamas and/or Hezbollah? A few weeks ago, the New York Times published a story concerning a possible Israeli attack upon Iran, and stated: “Several details of the covert effort have been omitted from this account, at the request of senior United States intelligence and administration officials, to avoid harming continuing operations.”6
Alas, Mr. President, among other disparaging remarks, you’ve already accused Chavez of being “a force that has interrupted progress in the region.”7 This is a statement so contrary to the facts, even to plain common sense, so hypocritical given Washington’s history in Latin America, that I despair of you ever freeing yourself from the ideological shackles that have bound every American president of the past century. It may as well be inscribed in their oath of office — that a president must be antagonistic toward any country that has expressly rejected Washington as the world’s savior. You made this remark in an interview with Univision, Venezuela’s leading, implacable media critic of the Chavez government. What regional progress could you be referring to, the police state of Colombia?

Bolivia

Stop American diplomats, Peace Corps volunteers, Fulbright scholars, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, from spying and fomenting subversion inside Bolivia. As the first black president of the United States, you could try to cultivate empathy toward, and from, the first indigenous president of Bolivia. Congratulate Bolivian president Evo Morales on winning a decisive victory on a recent referendum to approve a new constitution which enshrines the rights of the indigenous people and, for the first time, institutes separation of church and state.

Afghanistan

Perhaps the most miserable people on the planet, with no hope in sight as long as the world’s powers continue to bomb, invade, overthrow, occupy, and slaughter in their land. The US Army is planning on throwing 30,000 more young American bodies into the killing fields and is currently building eight new major bases in southern Afghanistan. Is that not insane? If it makes sense to you I suggest that you start the practice of the president accompanying the military people when they inform American parents that their child has died in a place called Afghanistan.
If you pull out from this nightmare, you could also stop bombing Pakistan. Leave even if it results in the awful Taliban returning to power. They at least offer security to the country’s wretched, and indications are that the current Taliban are not all fundamentalists.
But first, close Bagram prison and other detention camps, which are worse than Guantanamo.
And stop pretending that the United States gives a damn about the Afghan people and not oil and gas pipelines which can bypass Russia and Iran. The US has been endeavoring to fill the power vacuum in Central Asia created by the Soviet Union’s dissolution in order to assert Washington’s domination over a region containing the second largest proven reserves of petroleum and natural gas in the world. Is Afghanistan going to be your Iraq?

Israel

The most difficult task for you, but the one that would earn for you the most points. To declare that Israel is no longer the 51st state of the union would bring down upon your head the wrath of the most powerful lobby in the world and its many wealthy followers, as well as the Christian-fundamentalist Right and much of the media. But if you really want to see peace between Israel and Palestine you must cut off all military aid to Israel, in any form: hardware, software, personnel, money. And stop telling Hamas it has to recognize Israel and renounce violence until you tell Israel that it has to recognize Hamas and renounce violence.

North Korea

Bush called the country part of “the axis of evil”, and Kim Jong Il a “pygmy” and “a spoiled child at a dinner table.”8 But you might try to understand where Kim Jong Il is coming from. He sees that UN agencies went into Iraq and disarmed it, and then the United States invaded. The logical conclusion is not to disarm, but to go nuclear.

Central America

Stop interfering in the elections of Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, year after year. The Cold War has ended. And though you can’t undo the horror perpetrated by the United States in the region in the 1980s, you can at least be kind to the immigrants in the US who came here trying to escape the long-term consequences of that terrible decade.

Vietnam

In your inauguration speech you spoke proudly of those “who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom … For us, they fought and died, in places like … Khe Sanh.” So it is your studied and sincere opinion that the 58,000 American sevicemembers who died in Vietnam, while helping to kill over a million Vietnamese, gave their life for our prosperity and freedom? Would you care to defend that proposition without resort to any platitudes?
You might also consider this: In all the years since the Vietnam War ended, the three million Vietnamese suffering from diseases and deformities caused by US sprayings of the deadly chemical “Agent Orange” have received from the United States no medical attention, no environmental remediation, no compensation, and no official apology.

Kosovo

Stop supporting the most gangster government in the world, which has specialized in kidnaping, removing human body parts for sale, heavy trafficking in drugs, trafficking in women, various acts of terrorism, and ethnic cleansing of Serbs. This government would not be in power if the Bush administration had not seen them as America’s natural allies. Do you share that view? UN Resolution 1244, adopted in 1999, reaffirmed the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to which Serbia is now the recognized successor state, and established that Kosovo was to remain part of Serbia. Why do we have a huge and permanent military base in that tiny self-declared country?

NATO

From protecting Europe against a [mythical] Soviet invasion to becoming an occupation army in Afghanistan. Put an end to this historical anachronism, what Russian leader Vladimir called “the stinking corpse of the cold war.”9. You can accomplish this simply by leaving the organization. Without the United States and its never-ending military actions and officially-designated enemies, the organization would not even have the pretense of a purpose, which is all it has left. Members have had to be bullied, threatened and bribed to send armed forces to Afghanistan.
School of the Americas
Latin American countries almost never engage in war with each other, or any other countries. So for what kind of warfare are its military officers being trained by the United States? To suppress their own people. Close this school (the name has now been changed to protect the guilty) at Ft. Benning, Georgia that the United States has used to prepare two generations of Latin American military officers for careers in overthrowing progressive governments, death squads, torture, holding down dissent, and other charming activities. The British are fond of saying that the Empire was won on the playing fields of Eton. Americans can say that the road to Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and Bagram began in the classrooms of the School of the Americas.

Torture

Your executive orders concerning this matter of utmost importance are great to see, but they still leave something to be desired. They state that the new standards ostensibly putting an end to torture apply to any “armed conflict”. But what if your administration chooses to view future counterterrorism and other operations as not part of an “armed conflict”? And no mention is made of “rendition” — kidnaping a man off the street, throwing him in a car, throwing a hood over his head, stripping off his clothes, placing him in a diaper, shackling him from every angle, and flying him to a foreign torture dungeon. Why can’t you just say that this and all other American use of proxy torturers is banned? Forever.
It’s not enough to say that you’re against torture or that the United States “does not torture” or “will not torture”. George W. Bush said the same on a regular basis. To show that you’re not George W. Bush you need to investigate those responsible for the use of torture, even if this means prosecuting a small army of Bush administration war criminals.
You aren’t off to a good start by appointing former CIA official John O. Brennan as your top adviser on counterterrorism. Brennan has called “rendition” a “vital tool” and praised the CIA’s interrogation techniques for providing “lifesaving” intelligence.10 Whatever were you thinking, Barack?

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi

Free this Libyan man from his prison in Scotland, where he is serving a life sentence after being framed by the United States for the bombing of PanAm flight 103 in December 1988, which took the lives of 270 people over Scotland. Iran was actually behind the bombing — as revenge for the US shooting down an Iranian passenger plane in July, killing 290 — not Libya, which the US accused for political reasons.11 Nations do not behave any more cynical than that. Megrahi lies in prison now dying of cancer, but still the US and the UK will not free him. It would be too embarrassing to admit to 20 years of shameless lying.
Mr. President, there’s a lot more to be undone in our foreign policy if you wish to be taken seriously as a moral leader like Martin Luther King, Jr.: banning the use of depleted uranium, cluster bombs, and other dreadful weapons; joining the International Criminal Court instead of trying to sabotage it; making a number of other long-overdue apologies in addition to the one mentioned re Vietnam; and much more. You’ve got your work cut out for you if you really want to bring some happiness to this sad old world, make America credible and beloved again, stop creating armies of anti-American terrorists, and win over people like me.
And do you realize that you can eliminate all state and federal budget deficits in the United States, provide free health care and free university education to every American, pay for an unending array of worthwhile social and cultural programs, all just by ending our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not starting any new ones, and closing down the Pentagon’s 700+ military bases? Think of it as the peace dividend Americans were promised when the Cold War would end some day, but never received. How about you delivering it, Mr. President? It’s not too late.
But you are committed to the empire; and the empire is committed to war. Too bad.

Notes

1. Washington Post, January 24, 2009 ^{killinghope.org/bblum6/aer66.html#link-1}
2. Interview with al Arabiya TV, January 27, 2009 ^{http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer66.html#link-2}
3. Gorbachev speaking in Florida, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, April 17, 2008 ^{http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer66.html#link-3}
4. http://www.killinghope.org/bblum6/polpris.htm ^{http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer66.html#link-4}
5. Washington Post, May 5, 2007, p.1 ^{http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer66.html#link-5}
6. New York Times, January 11, 2009 ^{http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer66.html#link-6}
7. Washington Post, January 19, 2009 ^{http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer66.html#link-7}
8. Newsweek, May 27, 2002 ^{http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer66.html#link-8}
9. Press Trust of India (news agency), December 21, 2007 ^{http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer66.html#link-9}
10. Washington Post, November 26, 2008 ^{http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer66.html#link-10}
11. http://www.killinghope.org/bblum6/panam.htm ^{http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer66.html#link-11}

–

William Blum is the author of:

• Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2
• Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower
• West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir
• Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire
Portions of the books can be read, and signed copies purchased, at http://www.killinghope.org/
Previous Anti-Empire Reports can be read at this website.
To add yourself to this mailing list simply send an email to bblum6@aol.com with “add” in the subject line. I’d like your name and city in the message, but that’s optional. I ask for your city only in case I’ll be speaking in your area.
(Or put “remove” in the subject line to do the opposite.)
Any part of this report may be disseminated without permission. I’d appreciate it if the website were mentioned.
http://www.killinghope.org/
(Submitted by Ingrid B. Mork)

From Times Online, November 3, 2008

Worried your winter blues might be something more sinister or having a manic day? Find out if you need help with our simple questionnaires
We often use words like stressed or depressed to describe our mood, but when does a normal period of the blues or one too many drinks become a serious problem and what can you do about it? If you’re worried about your mental health explore our easy-to-use questionnaires.
Bipolar Disorder is a mental health condition featuring extreme mood swings. If you think you might have Bipolar disorder or are worried for someone you know visit our bipolar questionnaire
Depression is a mental health condition characterised by sustained periods of unhappiness, feelings of hopelessness and physical symptoms such as insomnia or over and under-eating. If you’re worried you might be depressed take our depression questionnaire
Stress and anxiety disorders are characterised by mental and physical symptoms from feelings of panic to an irregular heartbeat. If you think you are suffering from acute stress or an anxiety disorder take our stress questionnaire
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a common mental health problem. Sufferes find they are compelled to perform certain rituals or are plagued by obsessive, repetative thoughts. If you are worried you may be suffering from OCD, take our OCD questionnaire
Alcoholism occurs when your alcohol intake begins to seriously and negatively affect your life. If you are worried your regular drinking might be becoming a problem, take our alcoholism questionnaire
Drug abuse is often spotted by people close to the person involved. If you think somebody you know or you may have a problem with drugs take our drug problem questionnaire
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Concerning Hobbits is composed by Howard Leslie Shore for the film Lord of the Ring: The Fellowship of the Ring (Part I)

(Submitted by Salim Amersi)

It’s winter break for school children in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. It’s a time of year the students usually look forward to. But this year, it’s a time of anxious anticipation and fear for the future. The Swat Valley is in Northwest Pakistan about 160 kilometres north of the capital, Islamabad.
The people who live there say the valley has fallen almost entirely under the control of the Taliban. And the Taliban have issued a ban on the education of girls … a ban they say will take effect when schools are scheduled to re-open next month.
To underscore their seriousness, militants have blown up or attacked close to 200 schools in the last six months. And they’ve threatened to kill teachers and students if they refuse to stay home.
Read/Hear More
(Submitted by Salim Amersi)

On one side of the equation, is a woman’s religious freedom. On the other, is the right of an accused to face those testifying against him. And in between them, is the Niqab. A Niqab is a head covering that obscures most of a woman’s face … all but her eyes. Some Muslim women wear it as an important part of their religious tradition.
Last fall, one woman expressed a desire to wear a Niqab while she testified in court. She cannot be identified because she is a complaintant in a sexual assault trial that is covered by a publication ban.
Read/Hear More
(Submitted by Salim Amersi)