Destroyed dinner today, to much time on the phone talking to my mother, and not enough time watching the pita breads.
[video:youtube:LSOWMOTKbHI]rblog
Howto not make pancakes
Had some spare time…
[video:youtube:MBewcMM9MsA]Courage to resist – Bradley Manning
Written by the Avaaz Team:
Right now, Wikileaks whistleblower Bradley Manning is being tortured in a US military prison. Manning is subjected to utter isolation that can drive many people insane, with short periods each day where he is stripped naked and abused by jeering inmates.
Manning is awaiting trial for releasing secret military documents to Wikileaks – including a video of US soldiers massacring Iraqi civilians. And his brutal treatment appears to be part of an intimidation campaign to silence whistleblowers and crack down on Wikileaks. The US government is split on this issue, with diplomats publicly criticizing the military for Manning’s treatment, but President Obama has stood aside so far.
Obama cares about the US’ global reputation – we need to show him that it’s at stake here. Let’s build a massive global call to the US government to stop torturing Manning and uphold the law. Sign the petition below — our message will be delivered through hard-hitting ads and actions in Washington DC as soon as we reach 250,000 signatures:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/bradley_manning/97.php?cl_tta_sign=2347d4719aaa15e30d3c6529bfc479b6
On paper the United States opposes torture. The US Constitution forbids “cruel and unusual punishment”. And, along with almost a hundred other countries, the US has signed an international convention promising to treat all prisoners “with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person”. But today Bradley Manning is utterly isolated in a cell without sheets, not allowed to exercise and is being subjected to brutal humiliation that is causing serious mental harm. This violates US and international law.
Bradley is being held under ‘prevention of injury’ status despite 16 reports from military mental health professionals that he should be removed from these severe conditions. His lawyers are trying to enforce his basic Constitutional and international human rights in court, but so far the military tribunal responsible for Bradley’s fate has ignored his suffering.
There has been a crack down on Wikileaks since the explosive revelations of US military crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many speculate that this brutal pressure on Bradley is intended to force him to implicate WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. But Obama promised Americans and the world that he would protect, not persecute, whistleblowers:
“Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled.”
Bradley’s cruel treatment does the opposite and sends a chilling message to others who may want to expose important information. Let’s act quickly to put massive international pressure on the United States government to honor its commitment to human rights and the protection of whistleblowers and end the shockingly cruel treatment of their own citizen. Sign the petition below:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/bradley_manning/97.php?cl_tta_sign=2347d4719aaa15e30d3c6529bfc479b6
Bradley Manning claims he is a patriot and has admitted to releasing information that he felt the world had a right to know. While reasonable people can disagree about the approach of Wikileaks and the the rights or wrongs of those who delivered information to them, the illegal torture of Bradley Manning, who has yet to receive a fair trial or be convicted of any crime, is a shameful violation of human rights and human dignity.
With hope and determination,
Emma, Ricken, Pascal, Janet and the rest of the Avaaz team
Sources:
Check out Obama’s statement on the importance of whistleblowing released on his official website http://change.gov/agenda/ethics_agenda/
PJ Crowley resigns over Bradley Manning remarks, The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/13/pj-crowley-resigns-bradley-manning-remarks
Soldier’s inhumane imprisonment, LA Times
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/10/opinion/la-ed-manning-20110110
US: Explain Conditions of Bradley Manning’s Confinement, Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/03/16/us-explain-conditions-bradley-manning-s-confinement
Stripped naked every night, Bradley Manning tells of prison ordeal, The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/11/stripped-naked-bradley-manning-prison
WikiLeakers and Whistle-Blowers: Obama’s Hard Line, Time
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2058340,00.html
The Implications of the Inhumane Treatment of Bradley Manning, Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-kane/bradley-manning-obama_b_832933.html
U.S. Pledges Rights Improvements, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/world/19briefs-ART-Nations.html
Bradley Manning: charge sheet
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/interactive/2011/mar/04/bradley-manning-charge-sheet
Voluntary Communal Work (Dugnad)
Today we had the first day of voluntary communal work, Elin and Anders raking leaves, while others where cleaning the parking lot and such.
Cumberland Ale and Coop popcorn
Yesterday evening Elin was away partying, and I was home alone with the kids. What else to do than test beer newer tasted before. This time it was the Cumberland Ale.
Enjoyed the taste, might actually buy it again (and again). And since I was in the mood of testing new stuff yesterday I had to test the Coop micro popcorn. It cost less than half the price of Maarud micro popcorn, which is by far the best one I’ve tasted until now. Must admit that the Coop popcorn was not all that good, but it was well worth the 8 NOK instead of 21 NOK. Might buy it again…
Making snow go away
It is just 5 days since I started spreading the snow pile on our lawn, and now it is totally gone away, so spring is here.
Spread the last two snow piles as well, so now we should be ready for voluntary communal work (dugnad) on Sunday.
My neighbor towing away some branches cut down by ISS this winter.
First one this season
Had to go to the post office, and when heading home I felt I deserved an ice cream, the very first one this season, outside at least.
Hard work outside
Me and my oldest son Anders helped spring yesterday. The Department of Transport will be doing their annually cleaning of the streets already on the 12’th of April, so we need to get rid of the snow in order to rake the lawn. Much sand and such after a long winter, and in order to do that we need the lawn to dry as much as possible. Therefore trying to spread out the snow yesterday, and when finished my son said to me “It’s hard, working outside daddy…”
Swan and “Den Rustne Eike”
Not a very good picture, anyhow: Last Sunday I had to go out to Fornebu to empty my locker, so I jumped on my bike and headed for Fornebu. Passing Skøyen, both ways, I had to pass a swan standing on one foot on the side of the pathway.
Did not want to stop to get a better picture, video showing why.
Then another bicycle related issue. Yesterday I had to go to “Den Rustne Eike” (The Rusty Spoke) to get a new tyre for Elins kombisykkel. Turns out that 24 inches it not just 24 inches, it is a jungle out there. So XXL could not help me, they had only 24 1.75, and I needed 24 1/2, and it even turned out that among the three different types of 24 1/2, it was the 543mm one I needed. All this knowledge thanks to Einar Støp-Bowitz, a living encyclopedia when it comes to Norwegian bicycles – you can read more in this article.
Took some (really bad) pictures of how to find the bicycle garage. When entering the “inner room”, it was like being part in a Harry Potter-movie or such. See the picture found in the article mentioned above, you can imagine.
This seasons first descent – Hemsedal
Got my first four days of downhill skiing last week, two days with my colleagues and then two days with Espen and Anders. First picture of me waiting for the bus downtown Oslo last Wednesday resting at the bus stop tired of carrying my enormous bag and two pair of skis.
View from our cabin which was close to Skarsnuten Hotel. Nice weather and it seems to be plenty of snow, sadly not true. No reason doing off-piste, hard and icy conditions with a lot of rocks.
Walking up to Radiohytta on Thursday, someone has forgotten their thermos there and some broken bottles of beer.
Not much snow at all, this picture taken the 3’rd of March, compared to the picture found at Skiinfo from the 15’th of May 2008, no reason to argue, Hemsedal is in desperat need for more snow.
Resting at Radiobollen
Radiobollen
Cross country skiing on Thursday in nice weather, a bit to windy but apart from that very nice. Started from Holdeskaret, did Beihovdløpya, then later Systerskarløypa. The following pictures taken while heading up to what I guess would be Systerskaret. The track is not in mint conditions I would say, but still it was no problem at that point, but while heading trough Systerskaret and down on the other side it was bad. Very bad snow conditions, rocks and such made it hard to ski downhill with my cross country skis, so I do not recommend that track this year.
Looking closely you should see the track
Pictures from Såhaug on Friday. Windy conditions, but still nice.
