Worse, Bad, Okay.

1. In 2001, the U.S. abducted Al Jazeera reporter Sami al-Haj in Afghanistan, where he was on assignment.  They ended up bringing him to Guantanamo Bay, where he was held without being charged for six years.  He has just been released, after being continuously tortured and fed through a tube during a year-long hunger strike.  Here is his statement, reposted from a column by Amy Goodman:

“I’m very happy to be in Sudan, but I’m very sad because of the situation of our brothers who remain in Guantanamo. Conditions in Guantanamo are very, very bad, and they get worse by the day. Our human condition, our human dignity was violated, and the American administration went beyond all human values, all moral values, all religious values. In Guantanamo, you have animals that are called iguanas, rats that are treated with more humanity. But we have people from more than 50 countries that are completely deprived of all rights and privileges, and they will not give them the rights that they give to animals.” He described the desecration of the Quran as part of the effort to break him: “They hold the Quran in contempt, destroyed it several times and put their dirty feet on it. They also sat on the Quran while trying to get us angry. They repeatedly committed violations against our dignity and our sexual organs.” At least one official in the Defense Department has denied the charges.

2.  In the Americans Fetishize Size, Luxury and Consumption Department, a family that was featured on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is now unable to pay their new utilities and taxes.

Marrero, who lives on a pension of $939 a month, paid $2,016 in property taxes in November. In February, he wrote out a check for $1,512. On May 1, another $1,512 was due.  And the utilities, he said, cost about $10,000 a year.  "It's too much," said Marrero's son Billy Joe. "We tried taking out lightbulbs and doing other things to save energy, but the house still eats a lot of power."

3. In sorta nice news, a Nepal just elected their first gay MP!  Quothe him:

"There has been a significant change in the Maoist attitude toward sexual and gender minorities. I and the Blue Diamond Society [a gay group] had many meetings, dialogues, and orientations with several parties, including the Maoists. And this year, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the Nepali Congress Party [the second-largest party in the constituent assembly], and the Communist Party-(United) all included LGBT rights in their election manifestos."

This is after many years of queer people being systematically harassed, beaten and ostracized by the government, which declared homosexuality "the project of capitalism."  Sometimes things get better.  Sometimes.

Love
Dan