Monday, October 31, 2005

 

Halloween at the Yakima Gulag People's Institute of Higher Re:Education





Trinity, sideways, A student body biggie in the suit, Comrade Katja with morning coffee, note real Soviet insignia, The others will be there tomorrow. There are a LOT of pix almost 30, and every picture tells a story.
Other pictures will follow tomorrow, I could not get them off the Yakima Gulag Network Ivan the Terrible must have gone to sleep. oooj

Friday, October 28, 2005

 

This article in particular, Please Read

My family had an elaborate in joke about the adverts for flu medicine we called it the 'ads for flu' ! and had a long seris of tasteless jokes around that subject.
This shows that our instincts were not all that out of line.

 

PR Watch essential reading

My instructor likes to post things that say 'Please Read' I am suggesting that people who want to have clear labeling in news have a look here.

 

This is a disturbing story.

The people arrested in the part of this case relevant to Bosnia-Hercegovina for one thing as far as I gathered spent a lot of time in the West. They were arrested in a flat in a neighborhood very familiar to me. That reason alone was reson to be distressed. The other was the ages of these young people. It's obvious who is doing the better job of propaganda and I can't say that pleases me very much either.
The Bosnian Muslims have not been notable in modern times for being fanatics. In fact Bosnians of what ever religion tended not to go too overboard with religion until very modern times and it's not a good thing to start now. I can see keeping the rules and customs of one's religious community, and trying to lead a good life within those rules. We all need a way to organize our lives and nothing is wrong with having religion be that way but there is everything in the world wrong when it becomes an excuse for violence.

 

A reallly outstanding blog by a Serbian liveing in America

This guy is really interesting, and intelligent, and well informed. He's someome else I found thanks to Gordy, and well worth a visit because he'd really done a LOT with his blogs on all sorts of subjects. I am not goint to say I always agree with every word, 1. I haven't read every word 2. I wouldn't expect him to agree with everything I said but I have liked how he writes what he writes, and he has some good stories abut himself, always a plus! Besides he's a friend of Gordys and an Otpor guy which makes him an alright guy as far as I'm concerned. He was there for all that stuff so read what he has to say about it. Good primary source material.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

 

and the Purple Prose Award for the Day goes to the Washington Times

for this little gem.

 

You know things are bad when you ...

Seek asylum in Kosovo!
Seriously!

 

Serbian who shot down stealth bomber talks

This article is interesting on any number of levels. I've never been a huge fan of gadgets and high tech in war. After a certain point it really is not so effective. The more moveing parts you got the more stuff can break.... or be broken.

The other thing is no one should ever underestimate the determination of any people to defend their country. Americans often make the mistake of underestimateing the patriotism of opponants.

That is always a serious mistake whatever you may think of the justice of your opponants cause.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

 

Vigil for the 2000 American soldiers who have died in Iraq.

There was a candle light vigil in the Yakima Gulag to remember the soldiers who died in the war in Iraq. It was a peaceful event and well attended, better attended than is usual for these events.
I don't think anyone said anything that would have offended anyone right wing. The media was present in the form of someone from KNDO and I think a photographer from the Yakima Herald Republic. The candle light vigil was held in the Millenium Plaza, a piece of NeoPagan architecture down town accrosss from the Capitol Theatre. I didn't take my camera. Others will have pictures I'm sure. If the paper carries anything I will provide a link to that.
Everyone wanted to do this in a respectful manner. To just remind people that war isn't cheap. It comes at a terrible cost. Many were at pains to say that not one statement against the war was intended against the soldiers. There is a VERY different attitude from the Vietnam era.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

 

Again Bloggers link function is wierd.

As soon as Blogerr can get it's act together about linx I will post the link to the original BBC story. This is something everyone who has lost hope for the people in Bosnia Hercegovina getting it together should see.


Srebrenica: A survivor moves on
By Leslie Woodhead
Storyville producer

When I met Hasan Nuhanovic in 1999, I thought he was the angriest man I had ever known.

Hasan Nuhanovic
Hasan helps to bury a coffin at Srebrenica's memorial cemetery
Sheltering from the pouring rain under the balcony of a ruined house and interviewing him for Cry From The Grave, my film about the Srebrenica massacre, was something I will never forget.

He told me then how he had been trapped in the little town of Srebrenica for three years, besieged by the Bosnian Serb army with his parents and younger brother, along with 40,000 desperate refugees.

Starving and fearing constant bombardment, Hasan had found a job as an interpreter for the Dutch Battalion of Peacekeepers, deployed to watch over the first UN "safe area".


I realised I was weary of living with my rage - I wanted a future with my wife and daughter more than I wanted revenge
Hasan Nuhanovic
His stunning account of the fall of the town had reached its terrible climax with the moment when he had to watch his family being thrown out of the haven of the Dutch base and into the hands of the Serb army, knowing they were going to their deaths.

They joined 8,000 other victims of Europe's worst atrocity since World War II.

Mother's death

Over the years since that interview, I had often thought about Hasan, and for my new film on the 10th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica, I wanted to find out how he was faring.

Now, half a dozen years after our last meeting, he was walking towards me in a pizza place in Sarajevo.


Leslie Woodhead

Leslie Woodhead describes his return to Srebrenica
Hasan Nuhanovic seemed to be a changed man. He actually smiled.

I told him he looked well, and he said: "That's because I've decided to live for my daughter rather than die for my mother."

We talked for hours, and he made me understand what that simple statement meant for him.

Hasan discovered only recently how his mother had died.

She had been dragged away from his father and brother after they were evicted from the Dutch base and imprisoned in a nearby town.

Fearing the menaces of drunken guards, she had killed herself by cutting her wrists.

Hasan had been told the name of the man who led the assault on his mother.

"But in the end, " he said, "I realised I was weary of living with my rage, and of replaying the past. I wanted a future with my wife and daughter more than I wanted revenge. I wanted a normal life".

Nightmares

Hasan told me it had taken him years to begin to deal with his traumatising experiences in Srebrenica.


It was as though my mind was telling me that my mother didn't like me any more because I hadn't managed to protect my brother's life
Hasan Nuhanovic
"For a long time I couldn't even bear to look at signs or newspapers in the Serb Cyrillic alphabet," he said.

And he talked about his endless struggle with guilt.

"After the Srebrenica massacre, I had terrible dreams, like I'm flying over scorched land, and everything is destroyed and black. And there are many graves, and one grave opens up suddenly under me, and my mother comes out of the grave and says to me: 'I don't like you!'"

Hasan looked stunned by the memory.

"It was as though my mind was telling me that my mother didn't like me any more because I hadn't managed to protect my brother's life".

Over a difficult year, I followed Hasan's attempts to pursue the Dutch authorities in court and to seek compensation.

At last in June, he had a chance to confront the officer he accuses of sending his parents to their deaths.

It will also be his first vital step in mounting a legal case against the Dutch state.

Column of coffins

I was with Hasan when he returned to Srebrenica for the anniversary of the massacre when 338 newly identified victims were to be buried in a spectacular ceremony.

Children at Srebrenica memorial site
Children are among those marking the Srebrenica anniversary
"I'm trying not to think about what happened to me here", he told me.

He still has no information about his family's remains, but he was a key figure in the campaign to build the memorial cemetery.

I filmed as he joined the column of men helping to transport an endless procession of green-covered coffins to newly-dug graves.

It was a sombre occasion, but afterwards Hasan told me about a little Serb girl he had spotted on his drive to Srebrenica that morning.

"I looked at this girl and I asked myself: 'She's a Serb - do you hate this girl?' And the answer is, 'No'. This little girl and my daughter should have a future."

Leslie Woodhead's Film 'Srebrenica: Never Again?' will be screened on Monday July 11, the anniversary of the Srebrenica Massacre, on BBC4 at 2200 (2100 GMT).

Monday, October 24, 2005

 

Update to the post about Karadzic's govni poetry over at East Ethnia

There is a really funny post in the Guardian about the hobbies of dictators which Gordy was kind enough to share with us all!

 

Damn if only it was REAL $$$!


My blog is worth $3,387.24.
How much is your blog worth?


 

But I have no interest in liveing in such a cold politically correct place...

You Should Learn Swedish

Fantastisk! You're laid back about learning a language - and about life in general.
Peaceful, beautiful Sweden is ideal for you... And you won't even have to speak perfect Swedish to get around!
What Language Should You Learn?


OK sorry another dummass qviz thingie zao mije! izvini! For those of you in Rio Del that was NOT svensk

 

Queen Katarina Vukcic-Kosaca Last Queen of Bosnia and Hercegovina


80kosacakatarinalateinlife
Originally uploaded by Yakima_gulag.

Queen Katarina Vukcic-Kosaca died October 25 1478 after a five day illness. She was a very great figure in the history of Bosnia-Hercegovina. Some historians want to put her in the background, deny her importance etc, but she was at very least a great, learned and noble woman, and such people should be respected.


Sunday, October 23, 2005

 

NOOOOOO! PLEASE DON"T GO!

I just want everyone that reads my words to let Gordy know we don't want him to go away! His blog is very good and enjoyable reading. I have learned a lot and met many cool people as a result and it would just be a damned shame!
Rada, I came to visit your blog because he was linked to you, Skelly, I first visited your blog because of Gordy's blog, and John because of Gordy's blog, I went to Skelly's blog and because of Skelly's blog I visited your blog, see how it works guys?

Saturday, October 22, 2005

 

This is long, and about touchy subjects.

There has been some discussion elsewhere about whether or not Muslims ought to have mosques in areas where they constitute less than 100% of any areas population. I think that is a crock to even say such a thing.

OK Religion and Ethnicity disclosure time just so you can realize where I'm comeing from.
My family mostly are Catholic,(Irish, Scots,Swedish (prior to Luther,after Luther the Swedes had a nasty time of killing off and forciably converting Catholics.), French,English,Hungarian,Polish,Bosnian branch of the family, As well I'm part Native American.(this is my mother's side, pretty much the tie with all the disparate European elements is the House of Anjou, we were very mixed before any Europeans ever came to the Americas.) there is a Jewish branch of my family, (This is on my father's side and I didn't know about it until 2 years ago, I also don't know a lot about it.) , and an Orthodox Christian branch,(Russians, and in the 11th century, and before, some Serbian Orthdox ancestors. On my mother's side my line traces right back to Emperor Constantine) and a Muslim branch of my family. (Some of my Bosnian ancestors converted to keep their lands and lower their taxes The father of my kids was at least nominally a Muslim, from India, his family had ties all over not just the Indian sub-Continent, but Central Asia as well).

Last time Croatia had a census I was there visiting and because I'm Catholic I was counted in the census as being an ethnic Croat. So my complex family tree comes down to this, I never felt accepted among Celtic people despite speaking and reading Irish very well, but before I spoke Bosnian decently I felt accepted.
I should say that as I've gotten older I find religion not terribly valuable or comforting. There have been times that religion has been the exact opposite of a comfort. I believe in God, I observe certain basic things,I suppose it has a social value, but as far as being wonderful, no it isn't.
It seems to mostly be an excuse to do or not do things for too many people, the things they do or don't do are all the wrong things.
I haven't often seen religion improve the behavior of bad people, and I have seen it worsen the behavior of good people sometimes. I am speaking of EVERYONE'S religion, not any one denomination, sect or specific religion.

I really don't care so much about religion. I observe the basic rules for Catholic people. Which includes modest dress, the most un-observed of the rules for Catholics. OK we have my religion/ethnicity thing covered.
My friends have been of many religions. So have people who have let us say.... not been my friends.
I don't hold a brief for, or have an ax to grind for any religion.

The idea that an area has to be 100% Muslim before there can be a mosque, is SILLY. Anyone who is saying that should think, what if also no area should have a church unless that area is 100% Christian. Since Christianity is a bit divided, (we are talking about a religion that doesn't even have the same CALENDAR! Muslims have the same calendar if they are Shia or Sunni, Jews have the same calendar if they are Orthodox, Reform or whatever, Hindus have the same calendar, but not Christians! ) So to be totally with this concept, then no church could exist unless 100% of all inhabitants of an area were that DENOMINATION. Think about this, it would not be tolerated by the members of whatever religioun or religious denomination was in the minority.
As to the thing with azan being called with a loudspeaker, I also don't like that. It isn't necessary, and it isn't really traditional. Traditional is a guy with good strong lungs and poor eyesight goes up the minaret and does the call five times a day at the appointed times, NOT that there is a loudspeaker.
There is sucha thing as churches, especially in the U.S. haveing not bells, which I LOVE to hear, man I LOVE the sound of real church bells, it's beautiful!, there are tape players set on timers which play hymns on carrillion thingies. They sometimes have glitches and go off at the wrong time, or scramble the tunes of the hymns and things that are played on carrillions and recorded for this use.
As far as shoveing someone's religion down another's throat, there is on the Hill of Hum, near to Mostar, this gigantorific concrete cross, it isn't just visible on the West side of Mostar, but for MILES. It was put up like a big digitus impudens to the Muslims who once were the majority community in Mostar, and who gave the city much of it's beauty, with the bridge and other lovely buildings.
A lot of Christians in recent years have worn a bracelet that has WWJD on it, What Would Jesus Do? Would Jesus want a HUGE big HERKING big HUGE Cross on a hill just to spite other people?

I have always maintained that in at least the last 150 years the Christian resentment toward Muslims was more about the Christian failure to live as Christians and the Christian failure from the time of the Great Schisim to have unity. By live as Christians should live, I mean modestly, without war. A Christian isn't a braggart, a Christian should not be consumed with lusts, or on fire for vengence. There is in the popular culture of the modern Western world much which would make our Savior Jesus get out his whip like he did when he found the money changers in the Temple.
Some of the hostility of some Christians to both Muslims and Jews is because Muslims and Jews both refuse to totally cave in to vile elements of the popular culture. They make a sincere effort to know and keep the laws and customs of their faiths. I wish more Western Christians would do that! We might find that the West and the Muslim world would have less problems.
I am not talking about takeing on an attitude like that rotter Rvd Phelps or that other intolerant jerk, Rvd Ian Paisley. That is the LAST thing I mean by liveing as Christians. I am talking about liveing by the basic precepts Jesus gave us, about how to live in the world, without becomeing corrupted.
I find myself increasingly disgusted that little children and teenagers in our country are dressed like little hookers and thugs. Worse than that, they turn into little hookers and thugs. I have to ignore really disgusting songs about sex, 'ma hump ma lovly lady hump' and all that govno, I'd rather listen to the azan the rest of my life than have to walk by the baseball field or the park or the Student Union and hear that!

They are not educated correctly at home or in church, or school about sex or family life, about the fact that this is a very great responsibility, not a game.
I find myself disgusted with the love of violence in our society, and the drugs. We have our nerve if we say that any people cannot pray in their own way.
Think for a moment what has been done, I know certain people want to deny that it has been done too! The Muslims of Bosnia were slaughtered, plundered, burned out of their homes and raped. Their children were killed. This happened under the noses of the West, the oh so civilized West. And people who are oh so civilized did these things, despite being heirs to very great and noble cultures.

That spirit is not Christianity and that will destroy the West faster than a hundred bin-Ladins or a hundred Mehmet IIs.

My first time to visit Sarajevo was the first time I heard the azan given from a mosque. I had of course heard it on those occasions when my former husband had very religious guests, or if I visited with people who were his friends. It's very different when you hear it as it's meant to be done, loud like that. I remember rather likeing it.

There was an occasion my significant other got really fed up hearing it. He'd been sick. He made fun of it. Something rang wrong about makeing fun of someone else's beliefs. I don't care for that sort of thing. The first couple times I let it go. The second time got on my nerves. I said 'the radio is over there, go ahead and turn on some loud music, it's over in a couple minutes!' Later when I was a little calmer I asked him what his beef with Muslims was. It wasn't Oric, it wasn't the nasty bunch of foreign mudzahadin down in Hercegovina back during the war, it wasn't Delic or Halilovic he mentioned, it was this sentance that came out of his mouth 'nema da jest ali pravi dzamije!'. 'They don't have anything to eat but they build mosques!'
My reply was 'ok a bunch of Croats go back where either the cetniks or the mudzahadin burned everything, and they rebuild?' 'Of course they build their church first!' 'But they just got back to their burned village, their children are hungry and 'nema da jest!' Everyone builds their place that they pray in first before they worry about food, I don't care if they are Serbs, Croats or Muslims, Hindus or Jews, everyone does that, that isn't a sign that the Muslims are bad people, or good people, it's a sign that they are people like any other people. They put what they believe in first.'
He kind of nodded, he was thinking about what I was saying.
Let me say something here, my significant other is not a saint, he's not perfect, but he thinks things over, and I wish there were more people like him in BiH, in SiCG, and the rest of this sorry world, because there would be mroe peace, he's a simple man, he came from a peasant family, he's known a life of hard work, and survived war. he has more sanity than a lot of people I know who have had it way better in life.
I respect him very greatly.


I can't hate them because of a few bad ones. That would be like if we decided to hate your Serbian neighbors because of Milosevic or Arkan!
And you like the Pope right? ' (Papa Ivo Pavo II) 'Yes he is a good Pope, and a good man!' 'Well what did he say we Catholics should think about Muslims? Didn't he come to this city when it was still very dangerous? Didnt' he urge Croat Catholic people not to be enemies with Muslims?' He nodded. The truth is that many of his friends happen to be Muslim, many of his friends happen to be Serbian people. When I was in BiH his friends were my friends regardless of religion or ethnicity.
Let people put their churches and mosques where they want, let them not ring their bells or call their azans so loud it is a nuisance.
Oh about that azan that was so loud my first and second visits? It was less loud the last time I was there. It was still called, just not with a loudspeaker anymore.

 

Die Milosevics


Die Milosevics
Originally uploaded by Melita.

This was passed on to me by a friend on Flikr, and it's too funny, do check it out for wacky music and funny stories and pure Balkans goodness!



Oh I checked out links provided to the show and there are some screamingly funny pictures, rehersal pictures, and such, as well as I must warn that the movies are all Quicktime and Quicktime has NEVEr worked on my computer.
There are writeups about the concept of the show, done by a German guy who has ok but sometimes funny English.
Some of the things on the show basically are takeoffs on things that really happened in the lives of the Milosevic family in real life. This show needs to come here to the States but it never will.
steta..

 

Pamuk has guts!

I really respect Orhan Pamuk as a writer, I have read his book 'My Name is Red' in translation, Frankly yes, a very large portion of respect goes to a good translator, but still, it's really a cleverly written and moveing novel, and you feel like you are right in the middle of daily life in the 1500s Otooman Empire. He made some enemies and took risks saying what he said. He has balls of brass as my late mom would have said.

 

East Ethhnia's Beans Recipe: And a Bosnian recipe

The recipe that East Ethnia has is good, I am fairly sure that they would also give me horendous gas. I can only eat a couple kinds of beans without the room being seriously polluted.
Still here is the recipe that I learned when I was in BiH. It's probably exactly what people have in Croatia too.

There are these pink coloured beans that are about the same size as pinto beans, but no spots.

First thse beans have to boil for a very long time, like six hours, adding water as needed.
Once they are nice and soft you take some oil, and fry up the onions and garlic, one or two onions, and one or two cloves of garlic. Fry until the onions are translucent, and have slightly browned edges.
Then take them out of the oil. The best oil to use is sunflower oil. Then you do the same deal with the flour and paparika, if you don't know how it's done, have someone show you, timeing is critical. (This stuff isn't just used in beans, you need it for
sarama as well.)
Add that to the beans, and then about the equivalent of six or seven strips of bacon in the form of Bosnian type bacon. If you are haveing guests who don't eat pork, smoked lamb or goat ribs are substituted.
Either way it tastes very good. You let it simmer for about another hour or two, and then have it with bread a salad and a nice white zinfandel.

In some big cities in Croatia, it's the custom that all the workers, whether at the time employed or not, get together in the main square on May Day, and eat this type of beans and bread. It's also a political event, visited by the president, and political candidates. They make a day of it and it's on TV and stuff.

I grew up eatting very hot foods, my digestion doesn't work as well it should if I don't have hot foods about once a week. I found that I could eat the paparika available in BiH and Croatia by the spoonful, it tasted like powdered tomatoes to me, even what they call 'ljut paprika' and it burned my friends to eat that. Ajvar is deliecious to me but BLAND. I liked it with a boiled egg. I always get some when I go to Seattle. They have it at the Souk, a nice place in the Pike Street Market area. It's actually a shop run by Pakistanis, but they carry things used by people from the Balkans as well. They're nice guys and have been in business there for over 20 years.

 

Tiger on the Job


Tiger on the Job
Originally uploaded by Yakima_gulag.

The book store is one of my refuges. I am nuts about Tiger, and he always comes to say 'hi'!


Friday, October 21, 2005

 

English invented Thermal Shelter

I had a look at this and was really impressed, I was impressed with the practical design and the cheapness of the matierials. The need for an easily made shelter that will withstand extreme cold is a real need when war or natural disaster occur in any extreme climate, remember whatever can keep you warm, as well can keep you cool! I saved the details in case God forbid I ever need to know this information. I have on hand always some tent parts and several large tarps of the type shown in the picture, and almost any house has some blankets and quilts in it. This may not be beautiful, but it's got warmth and cheapness going for it, and ease of construction, given that many times there are not all that many able bodied healthy male survivors, it's particularly important to have ease of set up.

The other thing I want to mention is that bird flu has shown up in Croatia, which means it will hit Bosnia Hercegovina soon if it hasn't already done so. The fact is that anything which is carried by migratory birds is not stoppable. It will have to run it's course.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

 

Karadzic is a Poseur not a Poet.

A war criminal turned poet

Radovan Karadzic
Thursday October 20, 2005
The Guardian

Pursuers of world's most wanted man - Radovan Karadzic, the leader of the Bosnian Serbs during the Balkans conflict, are poring over potential clues - in a newly published volume of his poetry. We reprint one below:

I surmise the sun is wounding me

With its sharp malignant rays

I surmise the stars are healing me

I am the deity of dark cosmic space

A horned cow reveals a faithless goddess

Everything's turned against me the one true god

I created the world to tear my head off

Judges torture me for insignificant acts

I am disgusted by the souls who radiate nothing

Like a small nasty puppy puny death

Is approaching from afar

I don't know what to make of all these things

But I can't stand the sight of you you file of scum

You file of snails

Well hurry up in your slime

Because if I can turn my words into thunder

I can turn you into a pool of stagnant water

Now that I am in this crazy fervour of mine

I could do just about anything

So your stupid rotten your vain souls

Wouldn't stare at me with their stupid peaceful eyes

If you take women out of the equation

I don't even know what

These slimy creatures are for

What all their words are for

What their lectures are for

I demand and I want just as God rightfully wants

The immediate abolition of all things

Without a purpose and with no beauty

Without a purpose

And no soundness

OK Radovan, less rakija, in fact if you were my student I'd send you out to scythe the back 40 for this pathetic effort.
As for clues, my 'quick and dirty' analysis is that he's really mad at God. He doesn't like academics, and perhaps whereever he is the library REALLY sucks. A cow tried to gore him or simply ddin't supply him with milk, condemning him to an exclusive diet of snails. He doesn't like snails and he thinks killing all those people was a 'trivial act' and he's liveing in a really dark cave and only traveling by night.He sunburns easily, and perhaps he is a vampire. OH and it's plain Radovan doesn't like women very much, or female animals of any kind. Maybe my guess that he's fled to Mt Athos is correct. But he can't stand all that religion.
Hey Radovan there is only one God and you are NOT IT!

 

Kultur in the Gulag

Last night began the free Faculty Lecture Seris. Ricardo Chama one of the two instructors in Spanish language spoke on two class trips he's led to Peru.
He spoke about the trip, and showed a very good PowerPoint presentation of pictures and music.
I love Andean music to start with, and the pictures went with it so well. I particularly enjoyed the pictures of the majestic condors, those birds are so amazeing in flight, and the parrots and macawas comeing to the clay lick. The amazeing Inca ruins and the modern day descendants of the Incas also were pretty amazeing. I had a wonderful time at this talk and Mr. Pinon, my former instructor in Spanish gave a wonderful introduction.
He pretended it was a eulogy, and it was hilarious, full of injokes familiar to anyone who ever had a Spanish class at the Yakima Gulag People's Institute of Higher Re:Education and everyone enjoyed it. Then Mr. Jeske, (famous for haveing the name thingie on his desk which sas 'Satan') got everyone in to the nice reception which followed.

 

President Tihic objects to a Dutchman as High Commissioner

And I for one agree, it would not be a wise choice.

 

Milosevic may not question more witnesses...

Is it just me or does it look like ol' Slobo is getting heavier?

 

This story gave me the giggles!

I liked this story, it is almost funny.

 

BiH updates telecom - internet infrastructure

This is cool, now if one could only look things up without problems in the imenek. I can't find several of my friends phone numbers due to their system no longer allows you to just type in the name minus diacritical marks. I hope it means the imenik will finally work again!

 

Serbian /War Criminal dies in Argentina.


 

UMMM why to do the really do a background check!


 

An Idea Who'se Time Has Finally Come

The Bulgarian police have something here! We should do it where I live, signage very often blocks the view of on coming traffic, and you know those flashy lights that can be seen for like a mile? ONLY the police ever ought to have such lights, not an espesso bar or thrift store or whatever...

 

Ante Jelavic update

This whole wierdness was going on when I was last in BiH.

 

Montenegrin police prosecuted over 1992 deportations of Bosnian Muslim Refugees.


Tuesday, October 18, 2005

 

The Hotel Rwanda

Joseph Sebarenzi came to speak in Yakima, he is a survivor of not one but really a seris of genocides in what now is Rwanda. He spoke about the need for forgivedness. He also spoke about domestic violence, and spoke very well I might add.
There has been a real need for people in th United States, in small towns to realize just what is going on out there in the world with genocide. Right there it was of value, because most of us have not the remotest concept what genocide means in human terms.
People got to meet him, tho speak with him about things and to meet with each other. I met someone who was from the Roslyn Black Pioneers organization a wonderful woman, and I got to meet the new Chicano Studies instructor, and she's cool, so that was all good, in fact she gave me a ride home, Thanks Ms Harrelson! :)

 

Notes From All Over.

http://cbs4boston.com/worldwire/KaradzicsPoetry-ai/resources_news_html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-10-18-fugitive-poetry_x.htm

All I can say is some of the damndest people get into print. Karadzic has a book of poems out.
I wonder how much these poems are clues and how much they are disinformation?

The second link has the title of the book, which I consider pointlessly cheesy and a little more detail.


Bird Flu may have reached Macedonia...

http://news.viewlondon.co.uk/Bird_flu_suspected_in_Macedonia_15069136.html

http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read.html?id=5128

The Royal Family of Serbia has place a Matrimonial ad! This story had one huge thing I would dispute. NO the Royal Family of Serbia are NOT one of the oldest royal families of Europe, nor is it even remotely connected to the Nemanjic dynasty. I have more Nemanjic in my family tree than they do.

Another secondary mass grave:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4350840.stm





Story of the Day!
When Religion Goes Bad!
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1576068.html

This man goes straight to the top what can I say....!

Sunday, October 16, 2005

 

Dia de Los Muertos Exhibit,




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These are some pictures from the Dia de Los Muertos exhibit which opened yesterday downtown. It is well worth seeing! do go! I really liked it and will go again to take more pictures. These are only a few of the pictures I took.

Saturday, October 15, 2005

 

It's Autumn, and there's a riot going on...

in Toledo Ohio...linkage, sorry I have had endless hours of fun with linking on Blogger, not giveing myself a migraine over it.


http://www.theconservativevoice.com/articles/article.html?id=9015

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051015/ap_on_re_us/nazi_march;_ylt=Aj.KeeOd8TdGVdtEaFEVLVOs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,172379,00.html

Yet more shit my country doesn't need right now.

yet more shit my country doesn't need. sorry I plean flat hate NAZIs. Yes it's a little personal with me.

Friday, October 14, 2005

 

The Winner of the Caption Contest Hands Down is John 1975 of 'My Ghosts!'

John 1975 wins because his was such a wonderful steal from Danis Tanovic's great film 'Nicije Zemelja' or 'No Man's Land' as those of you in Rio Del, IF you ever got to see the film, will know it.
THere is the scene where Ciki, the Armija BiH soldier, played by (a very handsome Serbian actor), and Nino, the Serbian soldier, (who was played by a Muslim actor who majorly needed some hair!) were stuck in the bunker in the old Serbian lines, and under Serbian fire, kind of compact the whole debate about the war into 'You started the war!' 'No you did!' 'No you did' etc.
This is one of the best scenes in the film. Especially the moment where Ciki later is forced into the same debate.

My own view of the war is pretty close to Danis TAnovic's.
This was a great film and has made it into my short list of favorite films of all time.
Sadly it wasn't shown in my area, it wasn't to my knowlege shown ANYPLACE in my State, which is a disgrace!

Sunday, October 09, 2005

 

Caption Contest!




Somehow this image lets me think of silly things to say which I will keep to myself for the moment, but I want to see other people's captins.
All I can promise is the publicity I will give you. Granted, it's a very narrow level of publicity,
The snarkier and funnier the comments are the better! Have fun! Knock yourselves out!

 

By now you all know if you don't live in a cave someplace..

There has been a very terrible earthquake in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. I wonder if this earthquake, speaking of caves accounted for Mr. bin-Ladin? Depending how which reports you have seen casualties in Pakistan alone are from 20,000 to 30,000 people.
It hit the very area he's been rumored to be hideing out.
Speaking of Mr. bin-Ladin, there is a rumor floating around that he's applied to the U.K. for assylum. I don't give this rumor much credit. It seems far too far-fetched to have even a small kernel of truth.

UPDATE*UPDATE*UPDATE*UPDATE*

this is in Croatian language but to cut to the chase it says bin-Ladin survived the earthquake

http://www.iskon.hr/vijesti/page/2005/10/10/0002006.html

UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***

I just knew it, hell even Michael Savage knew it, the subway deal in New York, total GOVNO! it was pure political manipulation and it disgusts me. People who do that should be whipped in public.

Certain people are suffering low rateings.
Oh another thing, don't get me wrong, we SHOULD help the people in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan when people have been injured and killed in the terrible earthquake, I have no problem with that, but I want to know how it is that American forces can help faster there than inthe continental United States?

Saturday, October 08, 2005

 

Some folks at Metafilter Don't Know Cow from BULL! :)

This is a Russian language Livejournal post, but the pictures speak for themselves, dogs can't stand up to even a hornless tame bull. This little spontaneous incident of bull-baiting leaves the dogs whipped silly!
Oh and whoever submitted it to Mefi didn't recognize the differences between cows and bulls proveing that whoever posted this grew up in a city!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE: The bull didn't look like anything Russian to me, and I was right, he is one of the breed known as 'Cracker cattle' This event took place in Louisiana and the dogs were tossed around real good but a passing National Guard convoy shot them on the grounds that loose dogs in a disaster area, especially loose pitbulls are more trouble and of less worth than the bull. There has been serious concern that dogs would start running in packs and cause problems for people and livestock. Pitbulls by the way were bred in England specifically for a cruel sport called 'bull-baiting' that's what the name comes from, and if you look you will see that the dog was firmly attached to the bull's lip. The bull turned because it's not unheard of for such dogs to go after a bull's testicles.
'Cracker cattle' are descendants of corriente cattle left in Georgia and Florida by the Spaniards. Corriente cattle are fairly closely related to toros bravos, and will charge cleanly if they grow up in open rangeland. This is something I can attest to from personal experience.

 

The Ice Man Cometh

sorry just could not resist this cheeezy title, it was too wierd to resist, it was so right for this story of a man condemned to live in Siberia, not by the authorities, but by his rare 'Heat Exchange Disorder' !
I found the story scary and interesting. The article does have a picture of the guy.

Friday, October 07, 2005

 

Interesting seris on the BBC..

I don't trust politicians who talk too much about God. I don't mind if they believe in God, I don't mind if they pray, but if they are too God obssesed it should scare us all...

President George W Bush told Palestinian ministers that God had told him to invade Afghanistan and Iraq - and create a Palestinian State, a new BBC series reveals.



In Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, a major three-part series on BBC TWO (at 9.00pm on Monday 10, Monday 17 and Monday 24 October), Abu Mazen, Palestinian Prime Minister, and Nabil Shaath, his Foreign Minister, describe their first meeting with President Bush in June 2003.



Nabil Shaath says: "President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, "George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan." And I did, and then God would tell me, "George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq …" And I did. And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, "Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East." And by God I'm gonna do it.'"



Abu Mazen was at the same meeting and recounts how President Bush told him: "I have a moral and religious obligation. So I will get you a Palestinian state."



The series charts the attempts to bring peace to the Middle East, from President Bill Clinton's peace talks in 1999/2000 to Israel's withdrawal from Gaza last August.



Norma Percy, series producer of The 50 Years War (1998) returns, with producers Mark Anderson and Dan Edge, to tell the inside story of another seven years of crisis.



Presidents and Prime Ministers, their generals and ministers tell what happened behind closed doors as peace talks failed and the intifada exploded.



Israel and the Arabs: Elusive Peace - Mondays 10, 17 and 24 October, from 9.00 to 10.00pm on

 

8th October Happy Croatian Independance Day!

For those of my readers who are Croatian, Happy Independance Day tomorrow if you are in my time zone, in Croatia of course that day is today!

Thursday, October 06, 2005

 

B92 Journalists threatened during meeting...

This for your edification...Thanks Mario Profaca!

Serbian B92 journalists under government attack
24 August, 2005
»
Freedom of speech | Freedom to publish

ANEM, the Association of Independent Electronic Media in Serbia has issued an alarming statement about the lack of respect for press freedom in the country. ANEM "protests strongly at the re-emergence of unacceptable and irresponsible rhetoric in the public arena in Serbia" and "urges all democratic public and professional journalism and media associations to express solidarity with journalists and media who are subject to attacks and threats."

On 15 August 2005 Capital Investments Minister Velimir Ilic called the journalists from the renowned radio and television station B92 "sick and in need of a psychiatric clinic". When a B92 journalist attempted to ask him about his role in the withdrawal of charges against Marko Milosevic, the son of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, the media advisor of the minister, former state media journalist Petar Lazovic, stepped in. He told the reporter to send a message to RTV B92 Director Veran Matic that he would kill him.

Consequently, Minister Ilic burst out in a rage. Ilic said: "We've come here for an important, a very serious investment. Ladies and gentlemen from B92, wherever you go you make chaos. Wherever you come you practice provocation. You're sick, you need a psychiatric clinic, you need to go for collective treatment. You need treatment at Kopaonik, we'll make a centre for you, to take care of you. I can promise you that, here I'll promise you that your great professional, Veran Matic, makes people look like idiots in Serbia. I claim that openly. We've gathered here for a serious matter. You're just talking about Marko Milosevic, forget Marko, why is Marko so important in your life? Please, don't get in our way in this serious work."

Culture and Information Minister Dragan Kojadinovic responded bravely, by firing his own media advisor for similar statements about B92. He also told the weekly Svedok: "It seems to me that the next step is for someone to pull out a gun and shoot at a journalist, which happened in the Milosevic era."

B92 is famous in the internet community for using the Internet so effectively to circumvent government restrictions and remain strictly independent.

Minister Warns Journalists May Be Shot (23.08.2005)
http://www.b92.net/doc/statements/050823-1.php

 

Those J**** Dogs AGAIN! ! !

the neighbors on the corner have a number of large boxers. all during Summer Quarter they impeded my way to my 6:30 am math class. The fence hasn't been working it seems. I've seen evidence that the damn dogs were at least TRYING to escape. There was a cute little dog, the kind of small yappy mixed breed my sister calls a 'drop-kick'. My sister only has dogs with pedigrees at least as good as our own. She's a confirmed dog snob adn very good with dogs. Me I'm fine as long as they don't sneak up on me in the dark and statt threatening behaviors.
The dogs got out this morning. I found out in an unpleasant way. I didn't even make it to the middle of the damn block, the tawny bitch came after me, and this other dog who never was a problem dog before came along and joined in the 'fun'! I faked picking up a rock, there weren't any acutal rocks, and faked throwing it. Turned, went back home and called 1. Animal Control, and 2. the police non-emergency other business number. I didn't know that calling 911 ws in order, but I strongly considered it. Once they were called I set off again and took my old dog avoidance route which put me three blocks out of my way. I was pissed off.
I came home sooner than expected.
I came home the long way as well. It was a good idea. Trinity came over, she of Goth Barbie fame. Those dogs NEVER barked at her before. The tawny boxer bitch menaced HER! Anyway the guy from Animal Control called me, and asked clarification as to where the stupid dogs live, so I described the property in detail, unfortunately I was not able to give an address, it's kind of around the corner from the yard where the dogs live. So a detailed description of the premises had to do. He got there and rang off as he knocked on those people's door. He had been trying to ccollect her before that because Trinity witnessed that dog avoiding him. In talking with the Animal Control machine and in talking with the human at the police department, I mentioned that the city had gotten pretty agressive when my yard got over-grown when I was sick this spring, and I expected a similar level of firmness in regard to the dog or I would be seriously annoyed. I expect equal enforcement of the laws. I kept it nice, and thanked everyone. I did mention that I've called about those dogs before, and did inform the Animal Control guy that these people didn't seem to know how to properly train a dog, 'they seem to think you train them by throwing rocks at them like that works!' Anyway I hope something substantial has been done. It was a definate I wish I had a camera phone moment.

 

Hej KOOL I just made it to Crawly Amphibian! How is that done?

I noted that now i'm no longer a Flippery Fish, I'm a Crawly Amphibian! Cool! Makes my day!

 

This link has some 'numa numa' Mp3s.

for a good time click the above headline, it's the only place I found them. izvolite!

 

Glavobolje

I had a real nasty migraine much of yesterday, I was spoiling for it since Monday and it hit bad, now I'm in the post-migraine munchies syndrome, and a bit wonky. Oh well, at least the worst of the pain is gone, I'm going to go to sleep now, I should have about two hours ago.
Anyway, I spent some time searching for free Mp3s of two things 'the numa numa' dance and got THREE nice ones. I'll put the source in tomorrow, and I was looking specifically for a nice really authentic Mp3 of Ajde Jano, one of my favorite Serbian songs. I mean it's really nice, Talitha MacKenzie who in fact is Scots and a Gaelic speaker has a KILLER version on her CD Spiorad (sic) which I listened to obsessivly Monday as I rode down to class, there is a Macedonian tune called 'Hopa' as well on that CD, and both are wonderful, you would not expect Scots to carry it off so perfectly, their version of Ajde Jano was good! Better in fact than most of the versions I've found online, I now have enough to have an burn CD of nothing but versions of that song from Poland to Scotland! totally funny! as for that 'numa numa dance' it was my third attempt to find an Mp3, I got two remixes, the O-Zone's original, And a totally funny video clip of a Mexican guy and an Asian guy doing their take on it. so not a bad haul. My plot to get a bunch of people to learn the words and perhaps perform a version of it at school and film it is moveing right along.

 

Senate Weighs in on detainee issue.

Again from BBC, The Senate amended a defense funding bill with some rules on the treatment of detainees. It looks like Senator John McCain (R. Arizona) had a good bit to do with it, and frankly I think that's a good thing. Behaveing properly in the treatment of prisoners of war, or detainees is of use to the U.S. If our guys fall into enemy hands they will only be as good as the enemy is treated in our hands...

 

Python vs Alligator, no winners UUUGGLY MESSORAMA

Given that I heard this on several UNRELIABLE propaganda sources first, I decided not to believe it at first but it was on the BBC complete with a picture I will NOT reproduce here since it's kind of GROSS, I warned you. If despite this warning you still want to see the picture, go ahead be moj gost, klik na title, but don't say I didn't warn you! For those who have weaker stomachs, here is the article minus the picture.


Last Updated: Wednesday, 5 October 2005, 21:42 GMT 22:42 UK
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Snake bursts after gobbling gator

The predators died in the clash

Enlarge Image
An unusual clash between a 6-foot (1.8m) alligator and a 13-foot (3.9m) python has left two of the deadliest predators dead in Florida's swamps.

The Burmese python tried to swallow its fearsome rival whole but then exploded.

The remains of the two giant reptiles were found by astonished rangers in the Everglades National Park.

The rangers say the find suggests that non-native Burmese pythons might even challenge alligators' leading position in the food chain in the swamps.


Clearly, if they can kill an alligator they can kill other species
Prof Frank Mazzotti

The python's remains with the victim's tail protruding from its burst midsection were found last week. The head of the python was missing.

"Encounters like that are almost never seen in the wild... And here we are," Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

"They were probably evenly matched in size. If the python got a good grip on the alligator before the alligator got a good grip on him, he could win," Professor Mazzotti said.

He said the alligator may have clawed at the python's stomach, leading it to burst.

"Clearly, if they can kill an alligator they can kill other species," Prof Mazzotti said.

He said that there had been four known encounters between the two species in the past. In the other cases, the alligator won or the battle was an apparent draw.

Burmese pythons - many of whom have been dumped by their owners - have thrived in the wet and hot climate of Florida's swamps over the past 20 years.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

 

In a continueing vien of shot by his own side, a tasteless but wonderful Suljo joke from Alihjodza at Flikr...

So .... it's '93 and Mujo gets a pass to go to the market in Grbavica and asks Suljo to watch out for him from a sniper position in a towerblock across the river. Suljo's watching his friend through the sniper rifle optic and he sees Mujo buying tomatoes and then some krompirusa .. then suddenly ... blam! ... he shoots him through the head.

"Why did you shoot your friend?" ask the sniper.

"He was a Christian convert," answers Suljo.

"How did you know?"

(wait for it!)

"He had a cross on his forehead"

Ba - ba - ching!

 

So did his 'own side' shoot him and will someone else be blamed?

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Gunmen killed a former leader in Northern Ireland's largest Protestant group on Tuesday, the most high-profile victim of a spate of violence among armed Protestant factions in the province.

Jim Grey, who survived an assassination attempt in 2002 and was ousted from the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) in March, was killed outside his home in Belfast, said sources among the armed
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factions. Police declined to give any details.

Tensions are high among the province's Protestant majority despite an official report last month that the IRA, who draw support from the Roman Catholic community, had abandoned weapons used in three decades of fighting against British rule.

Violence and distrust has exacerbated difficulties facing the British and Irish governments in trying to persuade Protestant and Catholic politicians to restore a power-sharing, home-rule deal that collapsed in 2002.

Many Protestants, who want to maintain links with Britain, accuse the government of having made too many concessions to the IRA. Their resentment resulted last month in some of the worst rioting in Northern Ireland in years.

Television pictures showed Gray's body lying on the ground, his boots sticking out from under a blood-stained white sheet. Police cordoned off the area.

FEUDING PROTESTANT FACTIONS

A senior source among the Protestant armed factions said he was "99 percent sure" the killing of Grey, a former UDA head in east Belfast, was unrelated to a feud between Protestant groups.

"He was either shot as an internal issue by the UDA who have tried him for treason in the past or else it was somebody who had a grudge against him," said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Grey, nicknamed "Doris Day" for his striking bleached blond hair and year-round suntan, had been on bail facing charges of money laundering.

At least four other people have been killed in the past few months as a result of rivalry between armed Protestant factions.

The Independent Monitoring Commission, set up by Britain and Ireland to rule whether groups are sticking to cease-fire pledges, said last month the feud between Protestant groups had "erupted in bloodthirsty thuggery".

It pointed the finger at the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Loyalist Volunteer Force.

Peter Robinson, deputy leader of Northern Ireland's main Protestant political party, condemned the shooting.

"Those who take the law into their own hands have nothing to contribute to society," said Robinson, whose Democratic Unionist Party has taken a tough line over negotiating with Catholic politicians until it is satisfied the IRA has given up violence.

The UDA was formed in 1971 and during the three decades of conflict in Northern Ireland it mounted attacks on Catholics. It is widely estimated to have killed more than 400 people.

Ceasefires in the 1990s ended the worst of the violence in the province, but lasting peace remains elusive despite the so-called Good Friday peace agreement between Protestants and Catholics in 1998.

=====================================================================================
I just wonder if the IRA which is really out of business now will get blamed...

 

Apuntes de aqui y alla....

Sorry I had to gloat because of the timeing, and the situation...guy goes to jail, goes to trial, electricity on his home is cut off just as the weather is getting cooler, but I'm sorry, I just can't feel sorry for Slobodan Milosevic. That's asking too much of me...

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=2039922005

sorry this bloody thing just won't hyperlink in any reliable way! I'm tired of that kind of stupid bug....

Milosevic is cut off

SERBIA'S power company has cut off electricity to the family home of the former president Slobodan Milosevic because of unpaid bills.

The state-run supplier said the family owed about 480,000 dinars (£4,000) and the house in Pozarevac, central Serbia, would be left without power unless the bills were paid.

Milosevic is being tried at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, for fomenting the Balkan wars of the 1990s.




A story from BBC about the list that the Serbian government put out a list of the people involved in perpetrating the massacre at Srebenica. This makes me wonder how many further immigration raids we may see in the U.S. over connections to Srebenica.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4310310.stm


Srebrenica massacre list compiled
Srebrenica massacre grave
Many victims found in mass graves have been reburied
The Bosnian Serb government has drawn up a list of 19,473 Serb soldiers who operated in the region of Srebrenica at the time of the massacre there in 1995.

The secret list, compiled since 2003, includes almost 900 people still thought to be working for the Bosnian Serb government, army or police.

It will be forwarded to the state prosecutor's office for review.

More than 7,000 Muslim men and boys died when Bosnian Serb troops overran the UN-protected enclave in 1995.

The disclosure is part of an ongoing process instigated by the international community to force the Bosnian Serb government to acknowledge and account for the war crimes committed at Srebrenica, the BBC's Matt Prodger says.

Prosecution aid

Not every single person on it was directly involved in the massacre, our correspondent says.

The list also steers clear of apportioning responsibility onto people involved in the massacre.

Woman mourns at a graveside in the Bosnian Serb republic
Many have not yet come to terms with the loss of loved ones
But it does include people previously identified as giving orders for the killings and the actual executioners.

Authorities have pledged to investigate the roles of the 892 people who are still understood to be holding official positions in the autonomous Bosnian Serb republic.

The list is also supposed to provide Bosnian prosecutors with a fuller picture of how the crimes were perpetrated.

The head of the Bosnian Serb army at the time, Ratko Mladic, and his civilian counterpart, Radovan Karadzic, have been charged with genocide over Srebrenica.

But they remain fugitives thought to be hiding in Bosnia or neighbouring Serbia and Montenegro.

The massacre in eastern Bosnia is considered the worst single atrocity in Europe since World War II.

http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=80117

ass grave contains remains of 213 massacre victims
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TUZLA, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Forensic experts have recovered the remains of 213 victims of Europe's worst massacre since World War II, an official said Tuesday.

The mass grave in the northeastern Bosnia village of Liplje has so far been found to contain "212 incomplete (bodies) and one complete body," said Murat Hurtic, the head of the forensic team.

In 1995, Serb troops overran the eastern Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica, which had been declared a safe zone by the United Nations, and killed as many as 8,000 Muslim men and boys.

The bodies found Tuesday were originally buried elsewhere but later dug up by bulldozer and moved to Liplje to cover up the massacre, Hurtic said. About 1,000 victims were found in four other mass graves previously discovered in Liplje, Hurtic said.

After the remains are found, DNA is extracted from the bones of victims and matched with DNA from living relatives. Thousands of victims from the 1992-95 Bosnian war have been identified this way, Hurtic said.

Over the years, U.N. and local forensics experts in Bosnia have exhumed 16,500 bodies from more than 300 mass graves. Thousands of people remain missing and are presumed dead.

About 260,000 people were killed and 1.8 million driven from their homes during the 1992-1995 war, which pitted Bosnia's Muslims, Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs against one another.


man I hope this link works it's for the Jurist, and it's possible that Gotavina may surrender, provided he will be tried in Croatia.

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2005/10/lawyer-wanted-croatian-general-will.php

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1558684.html?menu=news.quirkies

Nurses ordered to wear skirts

Nurses in a Croatian hospital have been ordered to go back to wearing skirts instead of trousers after complaints from patients.

Some nurses at the town hospital in Firule had been wearing trousers while on duty, but patients had complained they looked untidy and unprofessional.

Hospital director Dujomir Marasovic has now written to inform all female staff of the skirts only rule.

He told local media: "We want to put everything in order here in the hospital.

"We want all nurses to wear the same clothes and we have imposed a rule which says they should wear skirts. The length of those skirts, be they mini skirts or otherwise, is up to the nurses."

I am of the opinion that nurses are better off if they have the option to wear slacks, because a knee length or shorter skirt could go up if the nurse lifts someone! I prefer skirts myself, but NOT short ones! And I think there have to be common sense exceptions to rules. Surgical nurses in the U.S. mostly wear pants. There is nothing unprofessional about it.

 

Saturday's Croatian Fest

Saturday's Croatian Fest in Seattle was covered in the main overground news source for the Yakima Gulag, namely The Yakima Hereld Republic, which ran an article on it in the Sunday edition.
The Fest celebrates the large Croatian population in the Soviet of Washinton yearly and is something I could not do because it would have involved takeing a bus and missing an obscene amount of homework. Still it's worth going, and loads of fun.
Two towns not far from the Gulag, namely Cle Elum and Roslyn have large populations from various towns in Northern Croatia, Mrkopolje and places near there, who arrived in the late 19th century and early to mid 20th century, and worked as miners, there used to be a number of coal mines in that area. They lived quietly and worked hard. They are a nearly invisible minority.There used to be a dance troupe from the Cle Elum/ Roslyn area which billed itself as a Yugoslav dance troupe, they came into existance before the breakup, and were multi ethnic as the community there did have some non-Croats such as Albanians and Serbs, and a tiny number of Bosnian Muslims and Serbs. This dance troupe wore varied lovely national dress,whatever ethnicity a member was, that is what he or she wore, except I think a few of the guys may not really have been Albanian, it's just that the everday dress of modern day male Albanians is easy to run up on a machine, (I got a kick out of how similar it is to the traditional everyday dress of male South Asian Muslims, with the white kurta like shirt, pajama like pants, and crochet caps and vests, you see that to this day on Muslim men in Pakistan, India and even Afghanistan!) they had both live and recorded music and did all the various regional dances in their widely varied costumes with out a change, so for any given dance, the costumes were mixed and varied, it was for a time a visual does of 'Brotherhood and Unity' I really enjoyed their performance the time I saw them perform out of picking out which was the national dress of which ethnicity. The war caused the breakup of the ensemble. They were nearly all of them understandably very upset by the war, and could not bring themselves to concentrate on music and dance at such a time. On top of it, after a time despite their best efforts, they got into political arguments. Ages ago I remember reading in the paper about their break up as a group. They were such a unique and beautiful group, it was one of the things about the war that made me cry, that something so far away could have repercussions in a part of the United States which is so far away from what was going on there is an interesting lesson in our interconnected world! I felt sad because it meant even here there was no hope of creating that type of unity. One of them said the group broke up because 'how can I dance with people who'se cousins are killing my cousins? How can we make music together?' I felt sad when I read that. I often remember that quote, and think in time of war, this is what kills art, not the dictators and not the censors. People will defy dictators and censors instinctively, but indeed I myself could not dance or sing with people who were killing my relatives, or expect if my relatives were killing their relatives, expect that person to sing or dance with me. I could understand it. I hope some of them tried to at least do relief work for their assorted peoples. I hope some of them tried to at least help their relatives in those awful times and I am sure if they felt strongly they tried to do something helpful, not destructive.
There are a still a few old families of Croats in the gulag itself, who are mostly related to families in Cle Elum and Roslyn and there are newer immigrants who came as a result of the war in Bosnia. Many of those families who arrived from Bosnia are mixed couples, mostly Croat-Serb couples. They are hard working and hardly make a ripple as they work their way through the steps of getting in on the American Dream of learning English, getting a job and a house.
The community liveing on the coast is more visible, they have things like the dance ensembles and the picnics etc. They tend to come from places like Vela Luka, Split and Dubrovnik, and to live in places like Aberdeen, Cosmopolis, Seattle, and Tacoma.
One reporter who started at the Yakima Herald Republic as a teenager is Croatian American, her name is Adriana Jovanovic and she has been an excellent reporter, she's helped a lot of the young people who worked on Galaxy, the defunct YVCC (Yakima Gulag People's Institute of Higher Re:Education) to get a toehold in journalism. She was who wrote the very excellent article in Sunday's paper.
She has a nice eye for the human interest type of story and everyone I ever talked to who has met her has nothing but nice things to say about her as a reporter and as a person.
Unfortuantely you have to pay for online articles after a certain time period at Yakima Herald Republic, but there are links about the article in another blog, go to my skellywright link then go to his link called Idajevo or just go to his profile, his other blogs and you will find Idajevo. He has a nice writeup and some nice links to pictures of one of the dance groups that performed at the Fest.

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