[PEN-L:1914] Russia: Weir on Orphanages
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 For the Hindustan Times From: Fred Weir in Moscow DIMITROV, Russia (HT) -- Seven year old Maxim claps his hands and smiles delightedly as he rummages through a package of New Year's treats brought by visitors from Moscow. The goodies include a toy car, a chocolate figure of Ded Moroz -- the Russian version of Santa Claus -- a bag of apples and a bunch of bananas. ``I hope he'll share it. None of the children here have seen fresh fruit since last summer,'' mutters Nina Sergeyeva, head doctor of the Dimitrov Specialized Children's Home, a facility for severely disabled orphans. Little Max, paralyzed from the waist down by a birth defect and abandoned by his natural mother, looks radiant as he chatters excitedly with Alyona, a Moscow professional woman who has been helping out financially with his care for the past couple of years. But otherwise it's not a pretty picture. The orphanage, which occupies the outbuildings of an old Orthodox hillside monastery in Dimitrov, about 100 km north of Moscow, looks like something Charles Dickens might have described. About 120 children live in the combination school-hospital, sleeping on narrow cots, four per tiny room, amid peeling paint, fraying linoleum and rattling pipes. In a small, cold common room, about a dozen kids crowd around a single TV set -- with no adult supervision in sight. ``I know that many of these children wouldn't be institutionalized in a Western country,'' Ms. Sergeyeva says. ``But here there are so few options for them.'' She admits that life in the orphanage is tough. Ms. Sergeyeva is the only permanent doctor in the entire facility, with just four nurses to help. None of the staff has been paid in at least two months. Morale is extremely low, she says. State funding, never very much, has virtually dried up since financial crisis struck Russia last August. ``It's a lucky thing we have our own garden in the orphanage. We still have some potatoes, cabbage and beets left from last summer's crop,'' Ms. Sergeyeva says. ``Otherwise there would be very little. We haven't eaten meat, cheese or eggs for months now.'' Despite the grim conditions, the children in the Dimitrov home appear reasonably well cared for and their relations with the staff seem warm and friendly. That is not the case everywhere in Russia's vast network of state orphanages, according to a report issued this month by the non-governmental monitoring agency Human Rights Watch. The result of a year-long investigation, the report alleges that Russia's 200,000 institutionalized orphans are subjected to systematic ``cruelty and neglect'' and are deprived of their most basic human rights. It says that Russian orphans are routinely mislabelled as ``ineducable'' and warehoused in closed institutions -- like the Dimitrov facility -- where minimal resources are expended on caring for them. The report alleges a widespread pattern of abuse by staff in Russian orphanages that includes beatings of children, sexual assault, criminal neglect and punishment by public humiliation. ``The abuse in orphanages cannot simply be attributed to Russia's economic crisis,'' says Kathleen Hunt, the report's author. ``The problem of scarce resources does not justify the appalling treatment children receive at the hands of the state.'' Photographs accompanying the study depict concentration camp-like conditions in some Russian orphanages, including starvation, filth, overcrowding and physical mistreatment. (The entire report, with photos, is available on the internet at: http://www.hrw.org). Russian experts say the abuses cited in the Human Rights Watch report are the exception rather than the rule, but admit that the system is not working. ``In today's harsh economic climate many parents are simply dumping their children on the state,'' says Maria Ternovskaya, director of Children's House number 19, a clean and apparently well-run orphanage in downtown Moscow. ``More than half the kids we get have parents somewhere. The numbers are increasing every year, and the system is overburdened''. Ms. Ternovskaya says it is true that the state medical commission is often too quick to diagnose a child as ``retarded'' or ``disabled''. ``Resources are stretched to the limit, and we have no staff to bring up all these children properly,'' she says. ``The easy way is just to say nothing can be done with them, and that's what happens all too frequently.'' About half the children from Children's House 19 have been given to foster families over the past year, an experimental approach for Russia that Ms. Ternovskaya believes should be widely adopted. ``We pay professional foster parents, often unemployed women, to do what we cannot: give the children some sort of normal family life,'' she says. ``It doesn't
[PEN-L:1913] Fwd: Re: Fwd: Re: Fwd: Re: Vicious Holiday Silliness
Just as a further addition to this I note that in Arabic even now the Palestinians are the "Filistineen". "Palestine" is the name the Romans gave to their province in that region of the world. Happy New Year everybody and hope to see some of you in New York! Barkley Rosser On Mon, 28 Dec 1998 13:40:53 EST [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In a message dated 12/28/98 10:24:01 AM Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I was wondering: is the word "philistine" a version of the word "Palestine"? (That's why I put this negative term in quotation marks.) Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clawww.lmu.edu/Faculty/JDevine/jdevine.html Response: Indeed it--the term "Philistine"--is the origin of the modern Palestinian just as the ancient Philistines are considered descendants of the modern Palestinians who stood versus Caananites in various Biblical accounts. The perjorative aspects of the term "philistine" and the slurs associated with the term to the point that the term "philistine" itself became a slur embodying--as a kind of shorthand--a set of other slurs (mercenary, pecuniary, lacking in good taste and graces, crass materialistic etc) go way back. But suffice to say that many Palestinians--and non-Palestinians--know the popular or vulgar use and know that most who use it are unaware of the ethnic orgins/implications, but nonetheless feel that it can be likened to terms like "Jewing down", "Gypping or Gypped", etc. After all, no one says "Caananite capitalists" or "The Pawnbroker 'Anglo- Saxoned me down from the price I should have got. Just as a point of history and clarification in response to your question and in no way intended as a criticism off use of term quite obviously used with no intent to slur any group Jim Craven -- Rosser Jr, John Barkley [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:1912] Re: Daimler's new culture: How wide?
At 04:26 PM 12/29/98 -0600, you wrote: Does Herr Tropitzsch merely refer to the new company's own corporate culture, or more grandly to a world-shaper's prerogatives? obviously the former, since D-C can't change the world on its own. It needs A-C's help. ;-) Seriously, it's capital as a whole (including its intramural competition) that shapes the world's culture, along with the resistance by working people against being treated as interchangeable parts. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clawww.lmu.edu/Faculty/JDevine/jdevine.html
[PEN-L:1909] Daimler and Macdonalds
Before anyone rushes out to buy Daimler stock with December's extra bi-weekly cheque because of Valis' hydrogen fuel cell hype, this is really being developed by their 'partner' here in Vancouver, Ballard Power. Their stock just dropped because of problems reported in their experimental engines installed in public transit buses (in Chigago, I think). Ford is another 'partner'. Ballard is one of those stock market wonders that has yet to sell a product other than its name, plus Daimler's, Ford's and the other signers-on. BTW, it always talks about how the hydrogen cell emits only H2O, but their production cells apparantly will actually use natural gas or even gasoline. But don't ask me what a fuel cell is, I don't understand how it works even though I hope it does. On a much more important topic, I'm happy to report that the MacDonalds workers in nearby Squamish have won a Labour Board challenge by the employer against their 61% strike vote. The Canadian Auto Workers Union refuted the employer's claim that workers had been hoodwinked into voting for a strike. The union reports some progress in negotiations under a mediator - e.g. agreement on seniority and no harassement clauses. Under B.C. labour law, a first contract may be imposed by the labour board if one cannot be reached through negotiations. From the workers point of view they often do not amount to more than the employer's obligation to recongize the union as sole bargaining agent and a minimalist grievance procedure, but this is better than nothing. The CAW has blamed MacDonald HQ for the problems in negotiations, saying they could have reached agreement if it was only the local franchise owner involved. Bill Burgess
[PEN-L:1907] Fwd: (Fwd) Twas The Night Before Impeachmentboundary=part0_914996460_boundary
This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --part0_914996460_boundary In a message dated 12/29/98 9:31:14 AM Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: j:(Fwd) Twas The Night Before Impeachment Date: 12/29/98 9:31:14 AM Pacific Standard Time From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (James Michael Craven) To:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Forwarded Message Follows --- To:[EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "Robert Ward" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Twas The Night Before Impeachment Organization: Angelfire (http://email.angelfire.com:80) Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] " TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE IMPEACHMENT " byChris Duel 'Twas The Night Before Impeachment, when all through the House, All the Congress was stirring, even Gingrich, the louse. The Articles were hung by the Capitol with care, In hopes that Saint Bubba would be trapped in the lair. The Republicans were nestled, all smug with The Feds, While visions of perjury danced in their heads. And Barr with his rhetoric and Hyde with his trap, Had just settled in for a long evening's nap. When out in The Gulf, there arose such a clatter They clicked on CNN to see what was the matter. When what to their wondering eyes should appear But Tomahawk cruise missiles flying like reindeer. With a Presidential address, so lively and quick, They knew in a moment, it must be Saint Slick! More rapid than eagles, his supporters they came, And he whistled and shouted and called them by name: "Now Conyers, now Gephardt, let's forget about The Vixen! On Barney! On Maxine! I'm no Richard Nixon!!!" "From Capitol Hill to the Washington Mall, Now dash away, dash away, dash away all !!!" And then the Republicans heard on the roof The prancing and pawing of each little hoof. As they scratched their heads and were turning around The resilient Saint Willie scored another rebound. No longer was he eating from his humble pie, While assaulting Saddam with his bombs from the sky. A bundle of weapons he had flung at Iraq, It looked once again like "The Prez" had bounced back. His eyes, how they twinkled! His dimples, how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry. His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, And the hair on his head was as white as the snow. The stump of a stogie, he held tight in his teeth, And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath. He had a broad face and a little round belly That shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly. He was chubby and plump - a right jolly old elf, And the Republicans wept, in spite of themselves. And a wink of his eye and a twist of his head Soon gave them to know they had something to dread. He spoke the right words and went straight to his work Hard to believe that an Intern once called him "The Jerk." And shaking his finger and thumbing his nose, By "Wagging The Dog," up the polls he rose. He turned to his spinmeisters and gave them a whistle, Then they cheered-on "The Prez" as he launched another missile. They all heard him exclaim, with Impeachment out of sight, "Happy Ramadan to all, and to all a good night." Angelfire for your free web-based e-mail. http://www.angelfire.com James Craven Dept. of Economics,Clark College 1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Vancouver, WA. 98663 [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Tel: (360) 992-2283 Fax: 992-2863 - - "The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards Indians; their land and property shall never be taken from them without their consent." (Northwest Ordinance, 1787, Ratified by Congress 1789) "To speak of atrocious crimes in mild language is treason to virtue." (Edmund Burke) *My Employer has no association with My Private and Protected Opinion* - --- --- Headers Return-Path: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Received: from rly-za01.mx.aol.com (rly-za01.mail.aol.com [172.31.36.97]) by Received: from odin.clark.edu (exch.clark.edu [168.156.144.2]) by rly-za01.mx.aol.com (8.8.8/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0) Tue, 29 Dec 1998 12:31:13 -0500 (EST) (Microsoft Exchange Internet Mail Service Version 5.5.1960.3) Received: from OOI/MAILQUEUE by ooi.clark.edu (Mercury 1.43); 29 Dec 98 09:31:12 +800 Received: from MAILQUEUE by OOI (Mercury 1.43); 29 Dec 98 09:30:43 +800 From: "James Michael Craven" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Organization: Clark College, Vancouver WA, USA To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: (Fwd) Twas The Night Before Impeachment Priority: normal X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.42a) Message-ID: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:1908] Fwd: Daimler's new culture: How wide?boundary=part0_915001664_boundary
This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --part0_915001664_boundary I believe I saw an announcement like this from Daimler dated around 1933. Something about high quality engines for German bombers and fighters that could operate on both sides of the Atlantic. Also something about providin= g employment opportunities for slave labor to stirve for higher levels of productivity to produce a new culture, weltordnung, and weltanschaaung. Absent at Nuremburg: Krupp Werke, Badische Analin und Sodafabrik, I.G. Far= ben, Daimler-Benz Werke, ITT, Texaco, Ford, GM, Standard Oil, Messerschmidt Wer= ke, etc. Jim Craven In a message dated 12/29/98 9:02:28 PM Pacific Standard Time, valis@EXECPC= ..COM writes: Does Herr Tropitzsch merely refer to the new company's own corporate culture, or more grandly to a world-shaper's prerogatives? Daily News - 12/08/1998 Treading Carefully Toward a New Culture Stuttgart, 12/08/1998 - 'We are going to create a new culture,' DaimlerChrysler Board member Heiner Tropitzsch explained to the German business newspaper Handelsblatt. Emphasizing the need to tread carefully on both sides of the Atlantic, he added that cultural integration must follow the principles of a 'merger of equals.' During a recent interview, Tropitzsch once again stated that DaimlerChrysler's goal 'is to become the world's leading and most successful automotive, transportation and services company.' =A91998 DaimlerChrysler. All rights reserved. --- Headers Return-Path: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Received: from rly-zc03.mx.aol.com (rly-zc03.mail.aol.com [172.31.33.3])= by Received: from galaxy.csuchico.edu (galaxy.CSUChico.EDU [132.241.82.21]) =09 by rly-zc03.mx.aol.com (8.8.8/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0) =09 Wed, 30 Dec 1998 00:02:25 -0500 (EST) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) =09Tue, 29 Dec 1998 21:03:05 -0800 (PST) Received: from mailgw00.execpc.com (sendmail@[169.207.1.78]) Received: from earth ([EMAIL PROTECTED] [169.207.16.1]) Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1998 16:26:32 -0600 (CST) From: valis [EMAIL PROTECTED] X-Sender: valis@earth To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L:1902] Daimler's new culture: How wide? Message-ID: Pine.GSO.3.95.981229162157.8931D-10@earth MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from QUOTED-PRINTABLE to 8bit by galaxy.csuchico.ed= u id Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.2.08 -- ListProc(tm) by CREN --part0_915001664_boundary Return-Path: [EMAIL PROTECTED] by rly-zc03.mx.aol.com (8.8.8/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0) Wed, 30 Dec 1998 00:02:25 -0500 (EST) Tue, 29 Dec 1998 21:03:05 -0800 (PST) Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1998 16:26:32 -0600 (CST) From: valis [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L:1902] Daimler's new culture: How wide? Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Does Herr Tropitzsch merely refer to the new company's own corporate culture, or more grandly to a world-shaper's prerogatives? Daily News - 12/08/1998 Treading Carefully Toward a New Culture Stuttgart, 12/08/1998 - 'We are going to create a new culture,' DaimlerChrysler Board member Heiner Tropitzsch explained to the German business newspaper Handelsblatt. Emphasizing the need to tread carefully on both sides of the Atlantic, he added that cultural integration must follow the principles of a 'merger of equals.' During a recent interview, Tropitzsch once again stated that DaimlerChrysler's goal 'is to become the world's leading and most successful automotive, transportation and services company.' ©1998 DaimlerChrysler. All rights reserved. --part0_915001664_boundary--
