Human rights made whole

Human rights made whole
 
Louise Arbour Opinion in Malaysiakini on Jul 4, 08
On June 18, the United Nations’ intergovernmental Human Rights Council took an important step toward eliminating the artificial divide between freedom from fear and freedom from want that has characterized the human rights system since its inception. By giving the green light to [...]

38 die as ferry sinks in Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A ferry sank in a river in Myanmar’s cyclone-battered Irrawaddy delta, killing nearly 40 people, state-media reported Friday.
The motorized ship sank in the Yway river Tuesday after water entered its stern section, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported. The report did not give details on how the accident happened.
The newspaper [...]

Experts unveil index to check nations’ rule of law

7/3/2008, 11:24 a.m. CDT
By WILLIAM J. KOLE
The Associated Press
 
 

VIENNA, Austria (AP) — Legal experts from 95 countries have devised a way of measuring how well leaders, officials and judges are meeting the basic principles of law and human rights.
The “Rule of Law Index” — unveiled Thursday at the World Justice Forum in Vienna — is [...]

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

Try and Read This All the Way to the End and Prove It Wrong!
July/August 2008 Atlantic Monthly
What the Internet is doing to our brains
by Nicholas Carr
Illustration by Guy Billout

RantingsbyMM
“Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave?” So the supercomputer HAL pleads with the implacable astronaut Dave Bowman in a famous and weirdly [...]

Deep Down, We Can’t Fool Even Ourselves

Deep Down, We Can’t Fool Even Ourselves
By JOHN TIERNEY, New York Times
Source: Marina Mahathier’s RantingsbyMM
In voting against the Bush tax cut in 2001, Senator John McCain said he “cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate.” Today he campaigns in favor of extending [...]

Enough of ‘tolerance’, please

Enough of ‘tolerance’, please
Helen Ang in Malaysiakini Jun 26, 08
A lot has happened the last 100 days. Over here in the pace of politics has outstripped me. In The People’s Parliament – Haris Ibrahim’s blog – I occasionally try to brush away ‘Holy smoke!’ (title of my miniseries).
The political developments are occurring fast and [...]

The humanity of journalism

The humanity of journalism
Eric Loo in Malaysiakini on Jul 2, 08
Two-thirds of the world’s poor live in Asia. But a random check on mainstream media contents shows the poor are starkly invisible.  
It’s not for the lack of journalistic spirit that the poor are rendered invisible in our media. It’s the editorial system, driven by profits or [...]