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The New York-based group Human Rights Watch got involved saying in a statement that "the brutal murder of a vulnerable woman by a mob on Kabul's streets" calls for the punishment of police officers who took no action to stop the killing, reported by AP.
Subsequently 13 police were suspended at the same time the suspects in the attack were arrested. Although in Afghanistan this kind of violence is unconstitutional, the guarantees of equality for women are not respected, and they are treated as inferior and violence against them goes unpunished. It is the responsibility of the new Afghan President Ghani to change the dynamic and send a message that heinous acts against women will not be tolerated and perpetrators will be caught and punished. Ghani put women’s rights and equality at the forefront of his presidential campaign last year and has given his wife, Rula, a prominent public profile. A Christian of Lebanese descent, she has spoken for women’s rights in Afghanistan-- a country named often by international rights groups as one of the world’s worst places to be a woman. Revenge killing by mullah Farkhunda's parents believe the killing was instigated by a local mullah of the Shah-e-Do Shamshera Mosque in Kabul, who became angry because Farkhunda had accused him of distributing false tawiz. Tawiz are pieces of paper containing verses of the Quran which can be worn as pendants or attached to clothing to ward off evil and bring good luck. TOLOnews reported that "in order to save his job and life," the mullah reportedly began shouting accusations that Farkhunda had burned the Quran, they said. If a mullah wields the power to order the death of another human being by merely making a public statement, the government must instill restrictions and consequences for death threats. In the three articles read in the preparation of this story, none of them reported an arrest of the mullah at the Shah-e-Do Shamshera Mosque. Arrests of perpetrators and police were conducted, but there was no mention of the mullah being arrested for his participation in initiating the attack. Because the mullah was the primary instigator in the killing of Farkhunda, he must be held responsible. Resources http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/23/asia/afghanistan-woman-killed/index.html http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/22/afghan-woman-beaten-to-death-kabul-mob-buried
 “We know from studies of big populations of people that the incidence of depression goes up in the fall and winter,” says Dr. Thomas Koonce, associate medical director at the UNC Family Medicine Center. “And we think that that's affected mostly by decreased sunlight hours.”
The truth then about spring fever is that it exists because we can compare it to its darker relative seasonal affective disorder present in the dark days of winter. Poets have been describing spring fever for centuries without actually saying “spring fever” from Virgil to W.S. Merwin. One poet, however, captures the enigma of the vernal equinox in a mystery. E.E. Cummings challenges the “usual” and draws us into his poetry of inferences. He describes spring as a “perhaps hand,” and indeed it is like an invisible hand of possibility beckoning us to be somewhere else in the ether, whether it’s a balcony, a porch, a vegetable patch or a faraway place we have never been. It’s your journey—he is merely the gentle conductor. Spring is like a perhaps hand (which comes carefully Out of Nowhere) arranging A window, into which people look (while People stare Arranging and changing placing Carefully there a strange Thing and a known thing here) and Changing everything carefully Resources http://www.emaxhealth.com/1506/spring-fever-real.html http://www.poets.org/text/poems-spring
 “We’ll continue to have Internet Explorer, but we’ll also have a new browser . . . code-named Project Spartan. We have to name the thing.”
But in a market dominated by Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox users, few are likely to shed tears over the loss of Internet Explorer, said Toronto IT consultant Aaron Lazare, reports the Toronto Star. Microsoft will be partnering in China with Lenovo and Tencent for the new Windows offering. China will be offering the upgrade as well with 2,500 service centers and retail outlets in the country. Both partnerships are obvious moves by Microsoft to make Windows available in China, and a way to combat issues of software piracy in the region. Microsoft is even offering its Windows 10 upgrade to customers who have non-genuine copies of Windows. This is a concession by Microsoft as there have been previous attempts to tackle software piracy in China. Terry Myerson, Microsoft's operating systems unit director, announced the plan at the WinHEC technology conference in Shenzhen, China, reported by Reuters. The new perspective on pirated versions of Windows is unprecedented and an attempt by Microsoft to get legitimate versions of its software onto machines of the hundreds of millions of Windows users in China. Reports say three-quarters of all PC software is not officially licensed there, they said. We are upgrading all qualified PCs, genuine and non-genuine, to Windows 10," he said in a telephone interview with Reuters. The plan is to "re-engage" with the hundreds of millions of users of Windows in China, he said, without elaboration. Whether Microsoft was referencing the Greek definition of “Spartan” in the renaming process is unknown, and it could intimate a few things. The Spartan’s of ancient Greece became the preeminent social system with a constitution completely focused on military training and excellence. A “Spartan” existence was characterized by minimalism in consumption and lifestyle. Spartan women had considerably more rights and equality to men than elsewhere in the classical world at the time. Even in its own time Sparta was the subject of fascination as a democratic city-state. At the city’s peak around 500 BC the size of Sparta would have been some 20,000 – 35,000 free residents, including numerous helots and perioikoi—serfs or indentured servants. At 40,000 – 50,000 it was one of the largest Greek cities. If Project Sparta is the representation of excellence, conscientious consumption and a model of democracy, then the name is well chosen. But it’s a polemic because the roll out will be in China—but then perhaps not. Positions of significant power in the state structure and in the military are occupied by members of the Communist Party of China that is basically controlled by a group of less than ten people who make all decisions of national significance. Who among us has not felt that we are controlled by our computer software? Just saying... The art for Microsoft, from their point of view, is in making us believe we are in control of computers, when in fact we are benign bystanders hoping when we try access the internet or use our computers the darn thing will work. Does that mean we are helots and perioikoi in Project Spartan? Resource http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/17/8239033/windows-10-release-date http://www.thestar.com/business/2015/03/17/microsoft-to-replace-internet-explorer-with-new-browser.html
 While reading the extensive report in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience about romantic love, the idea occurred to me about the many different kinds of love we experience, and could the same MRI results be captured for those experiences as well. For example, can loving one’s work or participating in a recreational or leisure time activity that we love produce the same MRI measurable result?
The creative arts like writing and painting have personal rewards not necessarily based on remuneration. Writing is considered one of the most difficult creative professions; it can also be one of the most rewarding from a creative point of view. Writers are not only compelled to write, but also they love writing and seek the personal satisfaction of accomplishment and creativity. It’s its own reward. Writers can experience a state when the words and ideas flow effortlessly. During these events, the writer is truly “in love” with what they are doing. There is no sense of time—only focus on the work. Conversely when writer’s block takes over, they have “fallen out of love” with the mercurial creative force that seemed ethereal, timeless and wonderful in the love state. The interesting part of this dynamic, however, is once a high level of creativity has been experienced a writer will endeavor to reach that plateau again and again—sort of like looking for love again. Similarly, runners experience an altered state called “runners’ high,” when the brain tells them they can run forever. In the past it was thought that endorphins were responsible, but new research has shown that endorphin molecules “are unable to pass the blood-brain barrier,” said Matthew Hill, a postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University in New York, reported in the New York Times. A new emerging field of neuroscience indicates that an altogether-different neurochemical system within the body and brain, the endocannabinoid system, may be more responsible for that feeling. Still, the runner—like the writer—is compelled to constantly seek the highest level of brain gratification. Mapping the human brain and the broader adaptations together with the ability to measure its changing architecture is the frontier for learning about different kinds of love, not only romantic. But for now the Chinese researchers have definitely captured our imagination for developing a romantic love test. The question now is would you ask your partner to take the love test? Resources http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/science-of-love-it-really-is-all-in-the-mind-say-experts-10108781.html# Tina Turner’s official video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGpFcHTxjZs http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00071/abstract http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00071/full http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/phys-ed-what-really-causes-runners-high/?_r=0
The religion's two major sects are Sunni and Shia. In Iraq, Sunni Arabs comprise 15% to 20% of Iraq's population, with about half in urban areas like Baghdad, Mosul and Tikrit, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. About 18% of Iraq's population is Sunni Kurds.
That means the vast majority of Iraqis are Shiite Muslims. During his decades-long rule, Saddam Hussein gave positions of power to Sunnis, and marginalized Shiites, according experts. Shiite families fled to Iran and the country gave them housing and jobs and educated their children. “That imbued Iraqi Shiites who have returned home with a fierce allegiance to Iran,” they said. What are terrorism experts saying? Jessica Stern, a lecturer on terrorism at Harvard University wrote this, "ISIS: The State of Terror," says it's imperative to address the sectarian divisions in Iraq and continue pushing for changes in its government, in the CNN report. She notes that "the anti-Sunni, Shia-promoting government of Maliki" was a big reason ISIS was able "to take root" in Iraq. "Many Sunnis feel under siege. ISIS is saying, 'We're going to protect you. ISIS is presenting itself as a savior of Sunnis," she said. U.S. Army Lt. Col. Rick Francona, a CNN military analyst. "The Iranians are smart enough to know that's a possibility, so they would be telling the Shia-led militias not to make this a Sunni v. Shia fight," Francona said. Should the US consider Iran's efforts to defeat ISIS by backing Shia-led militias? Speaking at the congressional hearing about the White House's request for use of force to fight ISIS, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff reminded the gathering that Iran's involvement in helping Iraqi forces is a good thing. "Anything anyone does to counter ISIS is in the main a good outcome," Gen. Martin Dempsey said. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter suggested that the matter was more nuanced. The US is worried about Iran's role, he said. "It is something that is concerning to us," he said of Iran's role, "in particular because the sectarian danger in Iraq is the principal thing that can unravel the campaign against ISIS." For now fighting back ISIS appears to be the main focus and is experiencing success, but sectarian divisions in the region definitely will be a challenge moving forward once ISIS has ultimately been degraded. The ability to create long standing peace will be decided by the ability of the Shia and Sunni to present a united front against further incursions by ISIS. Still, trust is one of the main considerations, and some believe it is thin when dealing with Iran. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the committee chairman, wondered aloud if the Iranian-backed militia might attack the 3,000 American troops currently in Iraq. “We have no indications that they intend to turn on us,” Dempsey said. Resources Time Cnn |
Dava Castillo
is retired and lives in Clearlake, California. She has three grown
children and one grandson and a Bachelor’s degree in Health Services
Administration from St. Mary’s College in Moraga California. On the
home front Dava enjoys time with her family, reading, gardening, cooking
and sewing. Archives
November 2015
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