Hate Crimes Up Nearly 8 Percent in 2006

Jose Luis Magana
Thousands of people march around the Justice Department in Washington, Friday, Nov. 16, 2007, during the "March Against Hate Crimes" to protest hate crime issues. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The escalation started years ago, when three caucasian men dragged a black man to his death in Texas. Now, we have nooses hanging all over America, and primarily the South, all over again. At least this time the nooses aren't around necks, but, if these seemingly nuisance 'misdemeanors' aren't stopped by punishment of law including mandatory sentences behind bars stipulating exhibition of 'nooses in protest' is nothing short of a hate crime, felony and terroristic threat by anyone exhibiting it we may be looking at lynching all over again. Laws of "Terroristic Threats" were around long before September 11, 2001

MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Hate crime incidents in the United States rose last year by nearly 8 percent, the FBI reported Monday, as racial prejudice continued to account for more than half the reported instances.
Police across the nation reported 7,722 criminal incidents in 2006 targeting victims or property as a result of bias against a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin or physical or mental disability. That was up 7.8 percent from the 7,163 incidents reported in 2005.
Although the noose incidents and beatings among students at Jena, La., high school occurred in the last half of 2006, they were not included in the report. Only 12,600 of the nation's more than 17,000 local, county, state and federal police agencies participated in the hate crime reporting program in 2006 and neither Jena nor LaSalle Parish, in which the town is located, were among the agencies reporting.
Nevertheless, the Jena incidents, and a rash of subsequent noose incidents around the country, have spawned civil rights protests in Louisiana and last week at Justice Department headquarters here. The department said it investigated the incident but decided not to prosecute because the federal government does not typically bring hate crime charges against juveniles....

If Cuban Doctors are exiles and moving to the USA for better wealth management than it's time the USA start being globally competitive for MDs.

These are the patients. Not bad. Dressed and awaiting attention. How many Americans have the RIGHT to wait comfortably for their doctors in settings where OBVIOUS emergencies aren't happening? Everyone ready to invade Cuba to free the poeple of human rights abuses at the hands of tired doctors? I don't think so.


..."Cuban doctors abroad receive much better pay than in Cuba, along with other benefits from the state, like the right to buy a car and get a relatively luxurious house when they return. As a result, many of the finest physicians have taken posts abroad.

The doctors and nurses left in Cuba are stretched thin and overworked, resulting in a decline in the quality of care for Cubans, some doctors and patients said."...


The health care crisis in other countries is real. The USA allows physicians and surgeons to practice in the USA and become wealthy. These medical professionals cannot achieve the income in their own countries they can in the USA. We know that across the board, countries around the world, including Africa are losing MDs and nurses to wealthier systems of reimbursement.

In realizing that, isn't the responsibility of the USA to scale back the wealth accumulation of it's MDs. I don't want to hear about the enormous debt they have to pay after school. There are lots of ways of handling that debt including serving in areas of the USA that are impoverished and struggling to find and keep MDs.....OR...OR...the USA could provide incentives for MDs to practice abroad in countries like Cuba to remove their financial aid loans and/or allow for less or no taxes while practicing abroad.

There are answers to all these issues, if the USA had universal health, single payer systems for the populous of the USA without health insurance and/or inadequate health insurance. The world suffers not only due to American excesses on venues of the environment, but, also when it comes to countries maintaining their 'mind trust' and health care excellence. Time for the United Nations to act to bring equity to the circumstances so well mapped out in The New York Times providing of course it is honest and factual reporting.

Impact of Biotechnology on Cuban Healthcare to Be Analyzed
Havana, Nov 9 (acn) The impact of biotechnology on the Cuban healthcare programs will be one of the main topics for debate on Friday at the 6th Congress on Healthcare and Epidemiology underway in this capital since Monday, with the participation of over 600 experts in the field.

http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/2007/1109biotecnologia.htm


Cuba's National Immunization Program protects the island's population from 13 diseases and has eradicated ailments such as poliomyelitis, tetanus, diphtheria, measles, and congenital rubella syndrome.
Four diseases are currently under control thanks to Cuban vaccines, while a new recombinant vaccine is been developed by the island's scientists to fight Hepatitis B.
Since 1992, Cuba has carried out periodical vaccination campaigns that have contributed remarkably to reducing the infant mortality rate and in raising life expectancy up to 78 years.
Other topics of debate at the event will include the Cuban healthcare system's strategies, the success of the Barrio Adentro medical project in Venezuela, and the current situation of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS.

Well all is right with the world.The New York Times has announced that Baghdad is now prime real estate and flowers are growing everywhere(click here)

Local screening of film showcasing struggles in Baghdad (click here)
..."This is a hard one to leave behind," says Susan Consentino, who notes that she and her husband have developed personal relationships with several of the Iraqis involved in its production, all of whom are in danger from the random violence characteristic of post-invasion Iraq.
"The situation is every bit as terrible as has been reported," says Joseph Consentino, "but the film isn't about pointing fingers -- who's to blame and what went wrong.
"It's about people, and what a terrible thing war is, how much it costs in human terms -- not only for those who lose their lives but those who survive and must deal with that reality day after day."


This is nothing new. While an estimated 600,000 minimally are dead in Iraq due to an illegal invasion and the realities of life in Baghdad and the rest of Iraq are tenuous; the Bush White House has demanded the USA media does not show enough of the 'Good Iraq.' This type of celebration has gone on ANYWAY in Iraq from the beginnings of the invasion. This has been documented for years, including hour to two hour editions of "Report Card On Iraq" produced by CNN years ago.


By enhancing the propaganda from Iraq as upbeat and progressing to civility, it diminishes the suffering that still exists there as if we are to believe all is right with the world and everyone has every reason to be ashamed of opposing the war and demanding the troops come home.
If Iraq is so flowery and stable than there is 'the real war' in Afghanistan that demands attention and there are still enormous amounts of people; women, children, men and the elderly dead, displaced and maimed due to one of the worst human rights violations the USA has ever pulled off in the name of National Security.

Honestly ! Where does this stop?

Hello? Anyone home at The New York Times or is it simply dominated today by Michael Powell and the Giuliani railroad? Wait, the one about Cuban health care is even better !

Suicide attack kills 3 US soldiers, 3 Iraqi children (click here)
By Kim Gamel, Associated Press November 19, 2007
BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber detonated his explosives as American soldiers were handing out toys to children northeast of Baghdad yesterday, killing at least three children and three of the troops, US and Iraqi authorities said.
Seven children were wounded in the attack near Baqubah, where US soldiers wrested control from Al Qaeda in Iraq last summer. The attack, along with a series of other blasts in the capital and to the north, underlined the uncertainty of security in Iraq even as the US military said violence is down sharply across Iraq.
Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, a US military spokesman, said yesterday that terrorist attacks in Iraq are at their lowest levels since January 2006. He said overall violence has dropped 55 percent since a US troop buildup began this year.
Police said the bomb attack occurred as US soldiers were handing out toys, sports equipment, and treats in a playground near Baqubah, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. Few details were available, but the US military said it was a "suicide vest attack" and that three American soldiers were killed.
Rasoul Issam, 16, said he and his friends were playing soccer when the US soldiers called to them from their vehicles to come get gifts. "We ran toward them and I caught a ball when suddenly an explosion took place about 20 [yards] from us," Issam said from his hospital bed in Baqubah.
Mohammed Sabah, 11, was hit by shrapnel in his hand and chest. "The soldiers gave me pens and I thanked them. After this, the explosion took place and I was hit by shrapnel," he said.
As of yesterday, at least 3,871 members of the US military have been killed since the start of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The US military attributed the suicide attack to Al Qaeda in Iraq. "This is another example of how Al Qaeda in Iraq cares nothing about the Iraqi people," said Major Peggy Kageleiry, a spokeswoman for US forces in northern Iraq.
Iraqi children frequently converge on American troops who usually carry soccer balls and stuffed animals crammed in their armored vehicles as they seek to garner good will.
In July 2005, a suicide car bomber sped up to American soldiers distributing candy to children and detonated his explosives, killing as many as 27 people, including a dozen children and a US soldier.
That occurred about nine months after 35 Iraqi children were killed in a string of bombs that exploded as American troops were handing out candy at a government-sponsored celebration to inaugurate a sewage plant in Baghdad.
Rocket and mortar barrages also hit several US bases in Baghdad overnight Saturday.
Smith said the attacks caused some casualties but no deaths. "The fight we're up against has not gone away. Today's mortar and rocket attacks demonstrate that the enemy has the capacity to wage violence," he said.
At least 29 people were killed yesterday, including the three soldiers. The deadliest attack was a parked car bomb targeting a convoy carrying Salman al-Mukhtar, an adviser to the Iraqi finance minister. Mukhtar escaped injury, but the blast in the predominantly Shi'ite district of Karradah in central Baghdad killed at least 10 people and wounded 21, including two of the official's bodyguards, according to police and hospital officials.
Sattar Jabbar, the chief editor of an independent daily newspaper, al-Bayan al-Jadid, was in the car with the minister's adviser when the explosion occurred but also was not hurt, said Jabbar's brother, Abdul-Wahhab.
Smith said overall attacks in Iraq have fallen 55 percent since nearly 30,000 additional American troops arrived in Iraq by June, and some areas are experiencing their lowest levels of violence since the summer of 2005.
Iraqi civilian casualties were down 60 percent across the country since June, and the figure for Baghdad was even better - 75 percent, he said. But he acknowledged the "violence is still too high" and warned that Iraq still faces serious threats from Shi'ite militants and Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Smith told reporters that Iran continues to be the principal supplier of weapons, arms, training, and funding of many militia groups.
"A large number of Iranian weapons still exist here in Iraq. We do believe there are still individuals who are coordinating activities. . . . The degree to which Iran has ceased completely its training, equipping, financing, and resourcing has yet to be witnessed or determined on the battlefield, but the trends are going in the right direction," he said