All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Conservative Group Urges Changes at Japanese War Shrine – NYTimes.com

The 14 war criminals were secretly added to the list of souls honored at Yasukuni by the shrine’s priests in 1978, a move that reflected the belief of some Japanese nationalists that they were actually patriots who had been victims of victor’s justice by the triumphant Allies. When the enshrinement was made public a year later, in 1979, the emperor at the time, Hirohito, protested by refusing to visit Yasukuni, a boycott continued by his son, the current emperor, Akihito.

The honoring of the 14 has also been the main reason given by China and South Korea for their objections, starting in the 1980s, to Japanese politicians’ visiting the shrine. In those countries, the inclusion of the war criminals has helped make Yasukuni a symbol of Japan’s perceived lack of repentance for its wartime misdeeds

via Conservative Group Urges Changes at Japanese War Shrine – NYTimes.com.

SC opts not to quarantine health care workers

South and North Carolina have protocols short of quarantine in place.

South Carolina is following federal guidelines, which call for active monitoring of these workers by public health staff as opposed to quarantine, according to Doug Mayer, spokesman for South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

“Going forward,” he told The Greenville News, “we are awaiting the updated guidelines … and will evaluate whether or not there is a need to take additional measures.”

In North Carolina, state epidemiologist Dr. Megan Davies said public health nurses will monitor for 21 days travelers from the affected countries who have no identified risks.

Those with an exposure risk but no symptoms will undergo daily personal assessments, and their movement will be monitored and restricted if necessary, she said.

via SC opts not to quarantine health care workers.

Three glasses of milk a day can lead to early death, warn scientists – Telegraph

Dairy councils and lobbyists across the globe are going to attack this study pronto and on a jobs basis, not science!

 

“A higher consumption of milk in women and men is not accompanied by a lower risk of fracture and instead may be associated with a higher rate of death.”

via Three glasses of milk a day can lead to early death, warn scientists – Telegraph.

Video: Woman Endures Endless Catcalls During 10 Hour Walk In NYC: Gothamist

A woman wearing jeans and a crewneck t-shirt walked around NYC for ten hours with a hidden (to everyone else) camera fixed on her. Below is the result, which features a greatest hits of catcalls, like: “Smile!” and “Hey baby!” Also featured is the most infuriating catcall of all: “Somebody’s acknowledging you for being beautiful—you should say thank you!” Ladies whenever will we learn to smile and thank our street harassers?

On the non-verbal side, there’s a cameo by the creepy lingerer who decides to walk right next to you forever like you’re on you’re on a goddamn first date or something.

Take a walk in one woman’s all women’s shoes:

The PSA, highlighting the impact of street harassment, was put together by Rob Bliss and Hollaback—they explain that the woman, Shoshana B. Roberts, “volunteered to be the subject… For 10 hours, Rob walked in front of Shoshana with a camera in his backpack, while Shoshana walked silently with two mics in her hands.”

Bliss says he wanted to create this “because I think a lot of men don’t understand the collective weight that this harassment causes. They see it as just an innocent ‘compliment’ but are missing the forest for the trees.”

via Video: Woman Endures Endless Catcalls During 10 Hour Walk In NYC: Gothamist.

myMADRE » Sounding the Drum for Women’s Rights

We were right in front of the beautiful home of Rose Cunningham, the Director of MADRE’s sister organization Wangki Tangni.

Within moments, Rose smiled down on us from her balcony and greeted us with a shout: “You made it!” Stepping inside, we found a place buzzing with activity, as the Wangki Tangni organizers worked hard, using her home as a staging ground to put everything in place. It was a big task — no wonder with over 1,000 Indigenous women from across the region converging in Waspam. Some of them had even traveled for days to arrive, some by foot, some on boats along the nearby river, the Rio Coco.

(A few days later, we even met one woman who traveled for two days in a canoe with her one-month old baby daughter strapped to her chest – just so that she could be part of this Forum. Pause for a moment to think about what that must have been like.)

via myMADRE » Sounding the Drum for Women’s Rights.

Hey, Jian Ghomeshi, I Call B.S.! | Dame Magazine AKA: Nails It!

It’s not just that one woman is so angry about being rejected by him that she falsely accused him of criminal behavior. It’s that she rounded up a bunch of other women, who all agreed they would lie to reporters in an effort to smear an innocent man. He has done nothing wrong, nothing non-consensual, yet all of these women hated him enough to conspire to get him fired and publicly humiliate him. They “colluded” to establish a false “pattern of [nonconsensual, potentially life-threatening] behavior.” Because one of them was rilly, rilly mad.

Can we take a moment to think about how incredibly unlikely that is? That doesn’t necessarily mean it can’t be the truth—sometimes, as they say, that’s stranger than fiction. But goddamn, it’s unlikely.

via Hey, Jian Ghomeshi, I Call B.S.! | Dame Magazine.

Thanks to Gov. Christie: Ebola Bullies Shun African Immigrants in Schoolyard Panic – NBC News.com

In New York City, two Senegalese brothers — only 11 and 13 — were beaten so badly on the playground that they were taken to a hospital emergency room. Their bullies chanted: “Ebola! Get away from here!”

At a high school soccer game in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, a 16-year-old who had moved from Guinea in West Africa three years ago was taunted with chants of “Ebola!” by players on the opposing team. Ibrahim Toumkara was thrown out of the game after he charged at one of the bullies.

via Ebola Bullies Shun African Immigrants in Schoolyard Panic – NBC News.com.

How Unscientific Ebola Steps in U.S. Could Help Spread Virus Elsewhere – NYTimes.com

that it pays to be 100% safe and to isolate anyone with a remote chance of carrying the virus. What harm can that approach do besides inconveniencing a few health care workers? We strongly disagree. Hundreds of years of experience show that to stop an epidemic of this type requires controlling it at its source. Médecins sans Frontières, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and many other organizations say we need tens of thousands of additional volunteers to control the epidemic. We are far short of that goal, so the need for workers on the ground is great. These responsible, skilled health care workers who are risking their lives to help others are also helping by stemming the epidemic at its source. If we add barriers making it harder for volunteers to return to their community, we are hurting ourselves….

We should be guided by the science and not the tremendous fear that this virus evokes.

We should be honoring, not quarantining, health care workers who put their lives at risk not only to save people suffering from Ebola virus disease in West Africa but also to help achieve source control, bringing the world closer to stopping the spread of this killer epidemic.

via How Unscientific Ebola Steps in U.S. Could Help Spread Virus Elsewhere – NYTimes.com.