BANGKOK - If it's your job to report on Asia's sex industry, suffice it say that it's not too uncommon to encounter some extremely strange bedfellows. When you find yourself in Hong Kong things are, of course, no different. But here the local sex industry is pervaded by the subtle and omnipresent influence of the Chinese organized crime syndicate known as the Triads.
That said, I shouldn't have been so surprised to find a story where I certainly wasn't looking for one ...
#4
The stories of the Triads are pretty amazing. They take organized crime to entirely new plateaus, and are utterly intertwined with the enormous ruling families of Asia. Some have private armies at their disposal.
For almost 40 years prior to the turnover of Hong Kong to mainland China, the FBI planned for what they estimated would be an enormous transfer of Triad operations to North America. What they didn't figure was that the Triads are so integrated into society over there, that the government doesn't really matter.
Capitalist, communist, evil alien overlords, whatever. It still boils down to extended family, money and power.
Some years ago a book was written about one such family. Political and military leaders in half a dozen countries, complex and intertwined marriages and business arrangements, hundreds of corporations, you name it. And all sorts of both legitimate and Triad connections.
It's just business. Kinda puts the Sicilians to shame.
#5
...but silence on the organized sexual slavery of women world-wide.
Given that its buried in the piled of ignore priorities, Prez. Bush actually has a policy on that along with actions never heard of because the MSM hates his guts. But then again, the Donks and their sympathizers were rather fond of slavery as long as it didn't include them.
NY Man Tries Bogus Bill for Bail HT AOSHQ
MELVILLE, N.Y. (AP) - Police say it was no surprise a bogus $50 bill got a Long Island man arrested: He was trying to use it to pay his bail on a traffic charge. The transaction compounded Cyheam Forney's legal problems and landed him in jail.
Police say they spotted the 31-year-old Forney making an illegal left turn in Melville on Thursday and discovered his license had been suspended.
Forney was arrested on a misdemeanor suspended license chargeuntil officers said he proffered the counterfeit currency as bail money. He was being held early Friday on a felony charge of possessing a forged instrument. nice job, genius
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Speaking of geniuses, Frank, consider this bright bulb. In 1997, Sam Frabian was arrested and charged with robbing vending machines in Andover, MD. The police felt sure they had solved a string of vending machine robberies when Frabian promptly paid his four hundred dollar bail--entirely in quarters.
JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP, N.J. A piece of artillery that was apparently misfired by the military crashed through the roof of a home miles away Friday and injured a young girl's cat, which had to be euthanized, officials said.
No people were injured when the 2-pound piece (of an artillery shell) hit the Jefferson Township home about 2 1/2 miles from the Picatinny Arsenal.
Police: Baby Mama A Crip, Father A Westside Baller Either way, I'm sure he'll grow up to be a fine asset to "the community". Much like his parents.
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. -- A couple fighting about which gang their 4-year-old toddler should join caused a public disturbance that resulted in the father's arrest, Commerce City police said Thursday. So what is this kid, like, Gang Baby Jesus. That's "Gee-zus" not "Hay-zeus".
On Saturday, Joseph Manzanares stormed into the Hollywood Video store where his girlfriend worked, threatened to kill her and knocked over several video displays and even a computer, Commerce City police Sgt. Joe Sandoval said. After he ran out of the store, police were called and the 19-year-old was arrested at his home. Well, obviously, he has "anger management issues". Perhaps more tax dollars should be used to help resolve them...
His girlfriend told police that they had been arguing about the upbringing of their son and which gang he should belong to. The teen mother, who is black, is a member of the Crips. Manzanares is Hispanic and belongs to the Westside Ballers gang, the woman said."They have different ideas on how the baby should be raised. Basically, she said they cannot agree on which gang the baby would 'claim,'" Sandoval said. Obviously, an important decision faced by all young parents. I don't know how mine worked their way through it.
Manzanares was charged with disorderly conduct, harassment, and domestic violence. He was transported to the Adams County Detention Facility. On Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was sentenced to a year of probation. The misdemeanor harassment charge was dropped. Oh, good. That should solve everything...
#3
Sounds like a *gang* of Texas Rangers needs to mozie on up to Colorado and "take care of bid-ness."
Listen, I'm no fan of commie/totalitarian regimes determining how does or does not have kids (a'la China's one child policy), but Jeebus, some folks need to be sterilized. The problem is, we'll end up paying for this kid's upbringing (both financially and morally/security-wise).
Posted by: BA ||
04/12/2008 9:54 Comments ||
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#4
This can't be true, can it? It must be the Onion, or Snappleface, or Huffingtonpost, or Debka or CBS...
Posted by: regular joe ||
04/12/2008 10:27 Comments ||
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This is a press release from Skyy, taking advantage of Absolut's recent screw-up. Don't know about you, but I think it's hilarious.
Americas Most-Popular Domestic Vodka Decries Absolut® Vodkas Suggestion to Redraw North American Map
SAN FRANCISCO--In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican-America War (1846-1848). With the signing of this treaty, the United States gained control of what was to become the Golden West, including California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and parts of Colorado and New Mexico. Today, SKYY® Vodka, the number-one vodka produced in the United States, spoke out against suggestions by Absolut® Vodka to disregard that treaty, as well as the joining of Texas to the Union in 1845, as depicted in Absoluts recent advertising.
Like SKYY Vodka, the residents of states like California, Texas and Arizona are exceptionally proud of the fact that they are from the United States of America, said Dave Karraker, SKYY Vodka. To imply that they might be interested in changing their mailing addresses, as our competitor seems to be suggesting in their advertising, is a bit presumptuous.
In the ad, an Absolut World is depicted where the map of North America is re-drawn with Mexico claiming much of the Western United States, negating the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, as well as the Gadsden Purchase (1853), and the independence of Texas (1836).
Dont get me started on the Gadsden Purchase, continues Karraker. I think the folks in Tucson and Yuma would be rubbed the wrong way if they hear this landmark deal was somehow nullified as suggested by Absolut, a Swedish-owned brand. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
04/12/2008 05:29 ||
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#1
:-) sweeeeet
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/12/2008 7:01 Comments ||
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#2
I'll drink to that. Skyy is yet another reason I don't quite recommend nuking Baghdad by the Bay and being done with it, something like God's willingness to spare Sodom if 10 righteous men could be found there (Gen. 18:32).
They were out of luck, but Frisco may scrape by with some righteous booze.
#4
The laws surrounding ethanol are bizarre indeed. If you ever visit a plant that makes grain alcohol, they usually make it both for liquor and industrial use, since its the same stuff.
On the plant grounds, the alcohol must be strictly accounted for, inspected and certified, to insure that not a drop is diverted to illegal beverages.
The pipeline transporting the alcohol on plant grounds is covered with inspection stickers and labels certifying that there are no illegal taps on it. However, as soon as the pipeline passes through the perimeter fence, it just becomes an ordinary industrial product that nobody gives two hoots about.
#6
I drank to that last night and Skyy it was. Tasty. Interesting story too behind the product and the man who "invented" it. Best of all, it's practically a hometown (San Francisco) product for me. I pass by it everyday on way to work.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/12/2008 11:58 Comments ||
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#7
They were out of luck, but Frisco may scrape by with some righteous booze. A good bottle of Anchor Steam helps too. Plus they never call it "Frisco"
PAHRUMP, Nev. - Nicki Amouri hands her camera to a friend, throws her arm over another and smiles wide as she leans in for a shot with the monument her class came to visit. It's a typical field trip memento - except that Amouri is in a brothel. The monument is a fluffy, queen-sized bed in a Western-themed party room reserved for VIPs and big spenders. Personally, I never take off my boots and spurs. I can ride em with the best!
Amouri was one of a dozen Randolph College students who toured the Chicken Ranch, a legal bordello in the desert 60 miles outside Las Vegas. Thursday's class trip, which included seminars from the working girls, capped a course on American consumption and "the ideas that consume us." American Consumption, hmmm?
"I think it's fascinating, this is fun for me," said Amouri, a junior at the private liberal arts school in Lynchburg, Va., that until last year admitted only women. "Not many people get to do this." Oh, I don't know about that, Honey. I'd say a lot of women do this.
Academic and media inquiries are daily occurrences at many of Nevada's 27 legal brothels. Some shy away from the scrutiny, others, like the Chicken Ranch, welcome the publicity.
"We're always open to trying to educate the public about legalized prostitution," said Chicken Ranch general manager Debbie Rivenburgh, who acknowledged this was the first class tour request she'd received in 21 years. Besides, it's a lot of free publicity!
The brothel tour was a natural fit for a class that tells students "don't just study America - live it," said Julio Rodriguez, the director of the college's American Culture Program. Is this a "Hands On, so to speak, Field Trip?
Each semester the course examines a strain of American culture and ends with a class strip trip. Past destinations included post-Katrina New Orleans, Walt Disney World and the Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery, Ala.
This year's focus on Nevada started with a professor's interest in water rights and conservation. It grew to include discussions of the wedding and entertainment industries and, inevitably, prostitution.
Nevada is the only state where prostitution is legal. Damnit! Brothels are allowed in 10 Nevada counties, though not in Las Vegas.
As part of their research, students were assigned "The Beauty Myth," by feminist author Naomi Wolf, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," by Hunter S. Thompson, and a "20/20" episode on prostitution with Diane Sawyer, among other research, professors said. Any actual, ya know, field work?
"We gave them all the option to either opt out or express reservations privately. No one did," said Rodriguez, adding that he received no objections from parents or administrators. I'd like to get Reservations! Problem is, I'm too far away.
Prostitutes at the Chicken Ranch had plenty of reservations. Most don't jump at the chance to talk to strangers about what they do, Rivenburgh said. They worry about friends or family finding out. They know how others see them. It can be uncomfortable. What's green and jumps from bed to bed? A Prostitoad.
"Ninety-nine percent of the working girls will not participate. Each woman's got her reason and her limitations," Rivenburgh said. "I couldn't have done better with the two that said yes, though."
Alexis, 38, and Alicia, "over 30," sat on white folding chairs in front of the young, earnest women in the brothel's Victorian-style parlor, usually the setting for the "lineup." They would not give their last names. The group took close notes as a handful of television cameras and reporters looked on.
A blonde in jeans and platform boots, Alexis talked about the job's flexibility and the free time it has allowed her to write a book about her life. Alicia wore a black-and-white gingham nighty and a tattoo on her left breast that read "Famous." I bet she is really flexible.
"I enjoy giving back what some people don't get in their lives, as far as companionship, time, just the touch of a woman," she said. The job allows her to take care of her mother and grandmother. She's also in real estate. I'm in LOVE!!
The introductions gave way to questions.
Do you consider yourself a feminist?
Alexis: "Most women in this business wear the pants in the family." I, however, don't wear any pants.
Is there a certain look most men prefer? Female and breathing does just fine for a lot of men.
Alicia: Every man wants something different. "There's all different kinds of girls." SMORGASBOARD!!
Why aren't there brothels with male prostitutes? Most men don't want sexual contact with other men, dope.
Rivenburgh: Former Hollywood Madame Heidi Fleiss is trying.
Do you still give a military discount?
Rivenburgh: Yes. Oh, Boy! I didn't know that! OS, OP, Frank G, USN,RET, Maybe we can get a Military Group Discount!!
What's the worst part? Fat, ugly, stinky men.
Alicia: "Being confined, being cooped up. I have to be here 24 hours a day." My heart bleeds.
With a tour and time to mingle, the students packed up gift bags containing a menu of services, a Chicken Ranch key chain and a brochure. They had to get back to Las Vegas in time for a backstage tour of the risque revue "Jubilee." With any luck, they might get to interview the showgirls. DAMN, and I took a tour of Architectural Masterpieces when I was in school. Dopey me!
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I took a tour of Architectural Masterpieces when I was in school
Maybe because your school hadn't debased itself completely as a paper mill yet, generating income attendance by offering majors without employment prospects.
#4
On second thought, this may be in the curriculum for Public Service majors [insert snark about working girls and the office of the Governor of New York here].
#5
Legal prostitution has never really gotten a fair shake as a modern business. Most likely operated by a hotelier, with a business oriented to an orderly, middle class clientele of both men and women.
Along with a more respectable accommodation, guaranteeing clean prostitutes, clean rooms, and more amenities than just sex, such a business would need a shuttle service from Las Vegas and Reno, and a general atmosphere appealing to the business class.
The business needs to be strongly oriented to employee welfare, offering better than average benefits and perquisites, and mainstreaming employees into the local community to get an "employee vote" against those who would shut the business down.
In addition to the prostitutes, there would be a large number of security and maintenance staff, and even business and 'social' consultants, to insure that employees lead orderly and normal lives, have good health care and retirement benefits, and even have outsourcing to other jobs when they no longer work in the business.
Since the margins are so high and the overhead so low, yet employee turnover relatively brisk, the long term concept would be to establish a prostitution "community", surrounded by businesses sympathetic to the business and catering to the *other* needs of the clientele.
Things like a very competitive class golf course, a specialist surgical hospital for a particular high-end medical condition, and perhaps a very high-end 'millionaires' club and retail center.
Basically, other plausible reasons to pay a visit to the town.
#6
Anonymoose, sounds very much like the way Vegas was founded. (Not snark)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/12/2008 14:47 Comments ||
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NSFW:
In the late 60s & early 70s Nevada's whore houses were always 10-15 miles outside of any big Town, Reno for instance.
This was a golden era for Cat-houses because all the bad Viruses and other STDs hadn't exploded in epidemic proportions. AIDS, Herpes, Clap, Syphilis etc. Condoms were NOT even required, the girls just examined youse... [not sayin it waz schmart to go without mind you]
The Whore houses in Nevada were cheap and the girls were GREAT and a REAL GOOD TIME could be had with a couple whimmin/girls for a couple of hours.
On a real good night heh we went back to gambling and getting high on c______, and then went BACK for a second round at the whore house, just out of town. >:>
There are bar snacks, quiz nights, snooker tables and blaring music. But if you fancy a beer you've come to the wrong pub. The Halal Inn is open for non-alcoholic business only. The country's first Islamic pub opened last December in Oldham and although trade is not exactly roaring, it is purring along.
Behind the bar, there are fizzy drinks and fruit juices, including non-alcoholic spritzers and buck's fizz for those special occasions. In addition to tea and coffee, a range of Asian snacks is available, while Islamic songs are played over loudspeakers. Pubgoers can play snooker, darts or karam, an Indian board game similar to billiards. Islamic-themed quiz nights have also been organised.
Owners Azizur Rahman and business partner Muzahid Khan spotted the potential in the former Westwood Inn which was lying empty on the edge of the town centre. "Muslims are a major consumer group and they need somewhere to relax and socialise just like anybody else," said Mr Khan yesterday. "But the presence of alcohol means traditional pubs are off-putting to those who want to follow strict Islamic rulings, so this is the perfect place for them to come. More and more pubs are closing down across the country, and we believe turning them into Islamic pubs could be a success anywhere that has a large Muslim community."
Although the pub, like many traditional British versions, is definitely a male dominated environment, there is no ban on women customers. Bartender Ali Yaris, 44, said: "Local people have been very supportive although sometimes it does cause a bit of confusion. "One night a man came in, sat down at the bar and said to me: 'Pint of lager, please, mate'.
"I looked around and he followed my eyes and realised that there weren't any beer pumps, there weren't any optics and there weren't any bottles of spirits on the shelf behind the bar. We had a bit of a laugh. I think he went somewhere else to find something a bit more traditional."
The pub has its own snooker league with about 20 competitors vying to be its first champion. Office worker Mohammed Ali, 27, was enjoying a quiet game after work. "There are usually a decent mix of people - not all of them Muslims. It's a very sociable place," he said. "It's a bit different from a pub because you don't get drunks and so you don't get too much aggro. I think it's a brilliant idea."
Abdus Shahid, 29, a regular at the pub, said: "It is just like a pub only it doesn't sell alcohol. We come here to relax, have a game of snooker and generally just meet up with mates after a day at work. I think the main point of going to a pub for English lads is the drink, but here the aim is just to see your friends and relax a little bit."
Almost as glaring as the absence of alcoholic drinks is the fact that there are no televisions at the inn. Mr Khan agreed that showing live football or cricket could attract more customers. "It's a new concept and it's going to take people a while to get used to it, even in the Muslim community, but it's early days still," he said.
#9
Welcome to Britain's first alcohol-free Islamic pub?
1) Let's see no carousing with the opposite sex.
2) No Booze, No Beer, No Wine.
3) If fact No whimmins.
4) "male dominated" environment? Sounds like the disgusting kind of San Fran bar.
leave it to the muzz-paleos to destroy a fine olde institution like the English Pub.
A former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg has been honoured at the annual 'Muslim Writers Awards 2008' for his book chronicling his time in the US detention centre and his return back home to Britain.
Begg was awarded the 'Published Writer of the Year' award for his book, 'Enemy Combatants: A British Muslim's Journey to Guantanamo and Back'. Giving a powerful acceptance speech, Begg, who owns a bookstore in Birmingham recalled how faith and prayer strengthened the bond between the "Enemy Combatants" during the abuse and humiliation meted out to them by their captors.
LONDON - Britains Prince William, watched by his admiring girlfriend Kate Middleton, received his Royal Air Force wings from his father Prince Charles on Friday. William, the fourth successive generation of the monarchy to become an RAF pilot, learned to fly on his four-month attachment. He fulfilled a childhood ambition by flying solo for the first time.
Air Chief Marshal Glenn Torpy told the graduates: This is probably one of the most significant milestones in an aviators career. Its something that not many people can do and you should be very proud of what you have done.
The second in line to the throne, who was known as Flying Officer William Wales, starts an attachment to the Royal Navy in June. William, the future head of the Armed Forces, spent a year with the Household Cavalrys Blues and Royals before his stint with the Royal Air Force.
He called his RAF colleagues a bunch of really good guys, they loved their flying, they were all really dedicated guys.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Anyone see the FCS "Dune/Sand Buggy" photo over at DEFENSETECH.org???
Looks like a lotta fun, but also inherently unprotected ergo also unsafe, espec vv BASRA-style combat ops.???
#3
Now you know which princes to bypass when you hand that crown out, if it is worth a shit when those two idiots are through with it. Maybe they need heart trouble. Harry is the pick.
ZACATECAS, Mexico, April 11 -- Cuba's government quietly enacted new regulations Friday that clarify the rights of state workers to live in their state-owned homes long-term and transfer the dwellings to family members after death.
The decision seemed to inch property rights forward, but it stopped well short of allowing the unfettered purchase and sale of private homes. The measure was published in the official gazette of the Cuban Justice Ministry but went unmentioned in state media, and was only beginning to be discussed in public late Friday following reports by international wire services based in Havana.
In theory, the Cuban government has long controlled where its citizens live, requiring government approval of any proposed moves and forbidding real estate transfers or sales. But in practice, there is an active black market in which Cubans openly bribe government officials so they can move into roomier apartments or homes. Cubans lucky enough to live in the crumbling mansions that dot Havana and other cities frequently convert their homes into illegal apartment buildings and collect rent from tenants, though they must pay bribes to ensure they are not cited.
A cryptic law passed in 1987 is interpreted by many Cubans as giving them the right to a limited form of home ownership, though some legal experts on the island say the law is more akin to a "right of use" rather than full ownership. But the question of inheritance rights has always been fuzzy, and Cubans who considered themselves quasi-owners of their homes feared that if they died, their children could be forced out. They also feared being kicked out of their homes if they retired or lost their jobs. The regulations published Friday seemed to ensure that they could keep their homes even if they left their jobs.
Oscar Espinosa Chepe, a dissident economist who like most Cubans has not read the new regulations, said in an interview that he was "cautiously optimistic" after hearing news reports. "It's a step in the right direction. It's something," Espinosa Chepe said in a telephone interview from Havana. "But what we're asking for is that we are given our property and that we have the right to sell it if we want to."
The property decision is the latest in a series of measures enacted since February, when Fidel Castro officially ceded power to his brother, Raúl. The younger Castro has also legalized the ownership of cellphones and lifted a ban on the sale of computers. A commentator on state-run television said this week that Castro will also lift the ceiling on state salaries.
Rather scary that Raul Castro is more conservative than Barack Obama ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/12/2008 00:00 ||
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TOKYO -- Masahisa Tsujitani is getting a lot of attention these days for a man who has spent much of the last 40 years bent over a lathe in a garage workshop, where amid the sharp smell of burnt oil and iron he grinds out some of the finest 16-pound shots ever tossed by Olympic athletes.
But Tsujitani's cheerful face is showing up on Japanese television and in newspapers not because of what he does, but because of what he is refusing to do. After four Olympics in which his finely grooved iron balls were the shots of choice for most medalists, this Tokyo craftsman has told Chinese Olympic officials they will not be receiving any of his products at this summer's Beijing Games.
"This is a personal statement about my pride as a craftsman and how my work is used," said the fit 74-year-old, standing in his home's low-ceilinged garage surrounded by drill bits, the detritus of shorn metal and cardboard boxes filled with polished shots.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john frum ||
04/12/2008 00:00 ||
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GREENPEACE: Vessel (RAINBOW WARRIOR) attempted to stall coal shipment, protestors arrested 25 Mar 08 in the evening at Port Lyttelton, New Zealand. The Greenpeace used their vessel and climbers to prevent a shipment of coal from leaving Lyttelton resulting in the arrest of six people. The police reacted quickly. Thirty officers raced to the scene, storming both vessels, attempting to get rid of the protestors and to get the (RAINBOW WARRIOR) to move. A Spanish protester put herself on the line by being bolted to the anchor chain of the peace vessel. The (RAINBOW WARRIOR) was eventually forced to move and the coal shipment, owned by Solid Energy, set sail for Europe (LM: TVNZ.co.nz).
#2
"A Spanish protester put herself on the line by being bolted to the anchor chain of the peace vessel."
I don't see the problem here. Surely, as big and powerful as a cargo ship's anchor winch must be, they should have been able to winch up the chain with the protester attached.
Bit messy, sure, but easily washed off....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/12/2008 12:56 Comments ||
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#3
Sounds like the Kiwi Kops in Helengrad could use some help from the French Navy.
#4
I don't see the problem here. Surely, as big and powerful as a cargo ship's anchor winch must be, they should have been able to winch up the chain with the protester attached.
Nah, far simpler to lower the anchor chain, either he comes loose or feeds the fish, no mess.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/12/2008 19:26 Comments ||
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If you're Jewish you better put your coffee down and run the kids out of the house. I'm not even going to sprinkle snark throughout this article. Belarus' attitude kind of takes care of this for me.
Workers rebuilding a sports stadium on the site of an 18th century Jewish cemetery in Belarus say they have no choice but to consign the bones to city dumps. "It's impossible to pack an entire cemetery into sacks," said worker Mikhail Gubets, adding that he stopped counting the skulls when the number went over 100.
But critics say it's part of a pattern of callous indifference toward Belarus' Jewish heritage that was prevalent when the country was a Soviet republic and hasn't changed.
The stadium in Gomel, Belarus' second largest city and a center of Jewish life until World War II, is one of four that were built on top of Jewish cemeteries around the country.
The Gomel cemetery was destroyed when the stadium was built in 1961, but the remains lay largely undisturbed until this spring when reconstruction began and a bulldozer turned up the first bones.
A Jewish leader in Gomel, Vladimir Gershanok, says he asked the builders to put the bones into sacks for reburial at a cemetery that has a monument to Holocaust victims. "We know we can't stop the construction but we're trying to minimize the destruction," Gershanok said.
But city authorities have ruled that the construction can go ahead because the bones are more than 50 years old. Igor Poluyan, the city official responsible for building sports facilities, says he doesn't understand the problem. "If something was scattered there, we'll collect it and take it away," he said.
A history professor, Yevgeny Malikov, sees the cemetery as part of the city's heritage. He has filled three sacks with bones and pulled aside two of the unearthed marble gravestones. Other gravestones are piled near a trash bin or already carried away. Some of the bones have been carried off by stray dogs. "The history of the city is being thrown into the dump together with the human remains," Malikov said.
Jews began settling in Gomel in the 16th century and by the end of the 19th century made up more than half of the population. In 1903, they made history by being the first to resist a pogrom, defending 26 synagogues and prayer houses.
Most of Gomel's 40,000 Jews managed to flee before the Nazis arrived. The 4,000 who remained were shot in November 1941. Only a few thousand Jews now live in the city of 500,000.
Oleg Korzhuyev, 38, who lives on Karl Marx Street at the edge of the site, said the workers aren't happy about digging up human bones, "but if they find a gold tooth then it's a real celebration."
Another city, Grodno, experienced a similar problem while reconstructing a stadium built on a Jewish cemetery. The excavated earth and bones were scattered into a ravine.
Jewish graves also have been disturbed in neighboring Ukraine. "It's not just a Jewish issue, it's this general Soviet legacy," said Ukraine's chief rabbi. Yakov Blaikh. "They didn't respect people while they were alive and they don't respect them when they are dead."
This month, the Jewish community in the city of Vinnyntsa was able to stop construction of an apartment building on a pre-World War II Jewish cemetery.
Ukrainian authorities apologized, saying they did not realize the construction would affect the cemetery. Belarus, on the other hand, has been "one of the least responsive countries on all Jewish issues," according to Efraim Zuroff, director of the Israeli Simon Wiesenthal Center.
"The government is simply erasing Jewish history from the face of this land," said Yakov Basin, vice president of the Belarusian Jewish Council.
Before the war, about 1 million Jews lived in Belarus and 800,000 of them died in the Holocaust. Today they number 27,000 in the country of 10 million.
Belarus' president, Alexander Lukashenko, has shown little respect for Jewish culture. In a radio broadcast in October that provoked a sharp protest from the Israeli government, he suggested that when Jews were numerous in another town, Bobruisk, they turned it into "a pigsty." "You know how Jews treat the place where they live. Look at Israel; I was there," he said. No need to advertise your ignorance, Lukashenko.
#1
You do not know what you are doing so I will run this for you.
You have but NO CHOICE but to Consign and protect such remains in a safe place. You shall document every member of any remain found. You shall Document the precise 18 digit grid coordinate where you found it. You are not allowed to touch any remains from that site at all. There is a work stoppage, Only forensic personnel may work on this site. You shall contact the embassy of Israel and ask for forensic assistance. You shall pay for and assist them in obtaining the remains of these PEOPLE in any way possible, You shall document and provide to the Hague war crimes commission and Holocaust museum all data that you have gained during your feeble endeavor to date and offer assistance to any delegation that requests visa entry and access to these sites.
You shall issue a press release.
You shall stop all development immediately and pursue Insurance and debtors column for a stay of production. You shall notify all families of identifiable remains, items, and tissue samples that their kin has been found.
You shall identify 18 specific families that you wiped out during WWII. Only I know who they are.
You shall petition the government of Germany for all information they have on this camp and they must provide it to you.
You must Say a prayer.
And you must prepare for the end of your country forever. You shall be like the Jews.
#2
There has never been great respect for bones of any culture or religion. The very idea of the ossuary, or chapel decorated with human bones, came from the "recycling" of cemetery grounds.
This is doubly so in Asia, as, for over two thousand years, when there were periodic plagues of anthrax and other diseases, the dead humans and animals were thrown into a mass grave, covered and forgotten.
Ironically, even after an extended time, when such graves are discovered, the only response is fear that it was anthrax, and the disease spores are still active. Typically, it is unearthed with caution, then fuel oil is poured on it and it is set afire.
A year after the battle of Waterloo, the bones of the dead still lay on the battlefield, and were collected, then ground and sold to English farmers as fertilizer.
#3
In other words, this is standard operating procedure. Had an AP reporter not passed by, none but the construction workers and the Jews of Gomel would ever know.
Yitgadal v'yitkadash Sh'mai rabbah. Magnified and sanctified is the name of the Lord.
/the beginning of the Jewish prayer in remembrance of those who died.
#4
Anonymoose, a year after the battle of Cold Harbour during the US Civil War the skeletons were still on the battlefield. They, however, were collected and burried in a proper cemetary. The callousnes of the Belarus is not surprizinf to me. There are still Soviet and German unburried dead there.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/12/2008 21:03 Comments ||
Top||
#5
trailing wife: I am afraid you are correct. Where there is no respect for life, one can hardly expect respect for the dead. The cemetery was not built by those who despoiled it, it was built by those who cherished and honored their dead, and their memory.
In fact, I am surprised that any foreign reporter would learn of such a thing, under such a bitter and repressive regime. But I am not surprised by the nature of the defilement. In many places it is the rule, not the exception.
Hundreds of shtetls existed for years in Europe and Asia, then were obliterated, with not a stone left to suggest that they ever existed. Often side by side with a European or Slavic town that did not mourn its passing, and maybe even joined in its destruction. For any reason, or none.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
NY Man Tries Bogus Bill for Bail
