Muslim, Jewish, Christian girls gather in Denver to create bonds of familiarity
By James B. Meadow, Rocky Mountain News
July 31, 2006
For the first time in their 16-year- old lives, the Jewish girl in the WHY BE NORMAL? T-shirt and jeans and the Muslim girl in the hijab covering her head and full-length dress covering the rest of her are able to sit in the same room and talk and smile and share.
Yes, 7,000 miles away the maelstrom of war, fear, mistrust and percolating hatred that has swirled through and defined so much of their lives whorls on, taking more lives, poisoning more souls. But here, right now, in Denver, there is something else going on.
There is a beginning.
"She is wonderful," says Islam of Ofer.
"She's very cool," says Ofer of Islam.
And all of a sudden, they had more in common than "peace, music, the color green" and the fact that both "like to talk too much."
Which is just what Melodye Feldman is hoping for as she watches and hopes while a delicate process is set in motion.
Thirteen years ago, Feldman helped create the Building Bridges for Peace program, which brings together adolescent girls - Muslim, Jewish, Christian - from Israel, the West Bank and the United States and tries to inaugurate a process that helps peel away differences and expose similarities.
Feldman knows that a yearlong program - two weeks of that time spent in Colorado - isn't going to end the conflict that has been raging for generations in the Middle East, erupting with new ferocity in recent weeks. But she's content with any small victories that may occur in the hearts and heads of the 52 girls as they begin their path toward discovery, bonding and self-exploration, first in Denver and for the next two weeks up in the mountains.
"If I can get a kid who says to me, 'I'll never talk to a Palestinian,' or 'I'll never share about myself with an Israeli,' to sit down and share something of herself, then that for me is success," she says.
Feldman is thinking of the Israeli girl who came to the program years ago inflamed with the memory of her three 9-year-old friends being stoned to death by a Palestinian mob. She is thinking of the Palestinian girl whose father died at the hands of Israeli soldiers and told her, "I am the face of a suicide bomber. I only came to tell the Israelis how much I hate them."
She is thinking how both left, shedding tears of revelation and nurturing a new sense of understanding.
Every year there are new candidates, candidates whose last names cannot be given because there are those in their country who do not approve of their peace mission and would hurt them or their families.
Dalal is 18; a Christian, a Palestinian. Her dark eyes sparkle as she talks about Beit-Jala, her village that is near Bethlehem.
But the sparkle recedes and something hard replaces it when she talks about how Israeli rockets destroyed her family's first home. About how Israeli soldiers came into her family's second home and stole money. How they climbed to the top of the roof of her family's home and shot at Palestinians "who were doing nothing." About how bullets have passed above the head of her and her brother many times and once lodged in the leg of her sister.
"Always there is tension living there. We don't know if we are going to live tomorrow. If bullets and bombs can take a family eating dinner, they can take us, too."
Is she hopeful then that the Building Bridges program will help?
"Maybe. I'm not sure."
But she is sure that "I want to know the Jewish opinion about our current situation. This is my first time to meet them."
Tslil knows how she feels.
"This is my first time to meet Palestinians; I want to learn more about them. I want to talk to females who will share with me and tell me how they feel. I only know the Israeli side and I want to know more," says the 18-year-old from Karkur, in the middle of the country.
Tslil knows this will be her only chance for a long time - maybe ever - to talk to Palestinians. Two days after the program ends on Aug. 13, she will return home and begin her required two-year stint in the army.
Perhaps over the next two weeks Tslil will be able to sit down with Hiba, a 19-year-old sweet-but-very-serious Muslim from Hura in the south of Israel. Hiba is here because, "This is the first step to make peace and I want to make peace very much."
Around her, the room is filled with many girls in casual dress - T-shirts, cut-offs, short skirts, sleeveless blouses. She doesn't mind, just as she feels they shouldn't mind that she wears the hijab and her dress. "I am happy to wear it; it's religious wear, to cover our beauty. The only person who can see your beauty not from your family is your husband."
But for Hiba, today and tomorrow aren't about clothes, they are about ideas.
"I am here to meet people who I don't know, to learn things I never knew. This is very exciting."
Fun is part of program
It is also much fun, this first day of two weeks in the U.S., a place Hiba has never been. After each girl introduces herself, it is time to eat lunch. Pizza - no meat toppings - is provided, as are salads. For those girls who keep kosher, there is food, too. Feldman emphasizes the program rigorously respects the customs and dictums of each girl's religion.
After lunch there is singing, one of the cornerstones of BBP. If I Had a Hammer and The Circle Game are two favorites, as the girls follow along to Deedee Huntingon's guitar. At times, the singalong takes on the trappings of a sleepover, pajama party and tent show revival all at once, with the girls laughing and singing, twirling and hopping.
After this comes a drawing exercise. Girls are paired off - Israeli and Palestinian, American and Israeli, Palestinian and American - and work together to discover similarities and differences. Though all the girls speak English, translations in Arabic and Hebrew are provided as the girls are given instructions.
The exercise is interesting as strangers encounter common ground, first tentatively, then in widening circles.
Noga, 19, a Jew, and Amira, 17, a Muslim - both from Israel - find they both like "ice cream, chocolate, shopping," and "Mama Nature." Even better, in the spot where the girls are supposed to list their fears, the girls have discovered, "We are not afraid of anything."
With a grin that stretches for 7,000 miles, Noga says, hanging out with Amira is "great, so natural."
And so it goes through the afternoon. Smiles. Discovery.
Of course, there is more work to be done. Overcoming a legacy of dark mistrust does not happen overnight. Wading through a history stained with rivers of blood to reach a peaceful place takes time. When you've grown up being taught that you must choose sides, listening to what the other side has to say with an unclenched fist isn't easy.
But as she watches the scene unfurl, as she watches a shy smile slide across Hiba's face, as she sees Delal and Stav, Sarah and Rawan, begin the first awkward steps toward bonding, Feldman doesn't look worried. She's seen this before and she has come to know a thing or two about building a bridge for peace.
And what she knows is that the task isn't about making waves. It's about creating ripples.
Copyright 2006, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.
Monday, July 31, 2006
How do food manufacturers calculate the calorie count of packaged foods?
Just thought it was interesting, you could check the calculation on the food labels....
written by:
S. Connery
Friday Harbor, Wa.
Jim Painter, an assistant professor of food science and human nutrition at the University of Illinois, explains.
In order to answer this question, it helps to define a calorie. A calorie is a unit that is used to measure energy. The Calorie you see on a food package is actually a kilocalorie, or 1,000 calories. A Calorie (kcal) is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water 1 degree Celsius. Sometimes the energy content of food is expressed in kilojoules (kj), a metric unit. One kcal equals 4.184 kj. So the Calorie on a food package is 1,000 times larger than the calorie used in chemistry and physics.
The original method used to determine the number of kcals in a given food directly measured the energy it produced.The food was placed in a sealed container surrounded by water--an apparatus known as a bomb calorimeter. The food was completely burned and the resulting rise in water temperature was measured. This method is not frequently used today.
The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA) currently dictates what information is presented on food labels. The NLEA requires that the Calorie level placed on a packaged food be calculated from food components. According to the National Data Lab (NDL), most of the calorie values in the USDA and industry food tables are based on an indirect calorie estimation made using the so-called Atwater system. In this system, calories are not determined directly by burning the foods. Instead, the total caloric value is calculated by adding up the calories provided by the energy-containing nutrients: protein, carbohydrate, fat and alcohol. Because carbohydrates contain some fiber that is not digested and utilized by the body, the fiber component is usually subtracted from the total carbohydrate before calculating the calories.
The Atwater system uses the average values of 4 Kcal/g for protein, 4 Kcal/g for carbohydrate, and 9 Kcal/g for fat. Alcohol is calculated at 7 Kcal/g. (These numbers were originally determined by burning and then averaging.) Thus the label on an energy bar that contains 10 g of protein, 20 g of carbohydrate and 9 g of fat would read 201 kcals or Calories. A complete discussion of this subject and the calories contained in more than 6,000 foods may be found on the National Data Lab web site at http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/. At this site you can also download the food database to a handheld computer. Another online tool that allows the user to total the calorie content of several foods is the Nutrition Analysis Tool at http://www.nat.uiuc.edu.
written by:
S. Connery
Friday Harbor, Wa.
Jim Painter, an assistant professor of food science and human nutrition at the University of Illinois, explains.
In order to answer this question, it helps to define a calorie. A calorie is a unit that is used to measure energy. The Calorie you see on a food package is actually a kilocalorie, or 1,000 calories. A Calorie (kcal) is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water 1 degree Celsius. Sometimes the energy content of food is expressed in kilojoules (kj), a metric unit. One kcal equals 4.184 kj. So the Calorie on a food package is 1,000 times larger than the calorie used in chemistry and physics.
The original method used to determine the number of kcals in a given food directly measured the energy it produced.The food was placed in a sealed container surrounded by water--an apparatus known as a bomb calorimeter. The food was completely burned and the resulting rise in water temperature was measured. This method is not frequently used today.
The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990 (NLEA) currently dictates what information is presented on food labels. The NLEA requires that the Calorie level placed on a packaged food be calculated from food components. According to the National Data Lab (NDL), most of the calorie values in the USDA and industry food tables are based on an indirect calorie estimation made using the so-called Atwater system. In this system, calories are not determined directly by burning the foods. Instead, the total caloric value is calculated by adding up the calories provided by the energy-containing nutrients: protein, carbohydrate, fat and alcohol. Because carbohydrates contain some fiber that is not digested and utilized by the body, the fiber component is usually subtracted from the total carbohydrate before calculating the calories.
The Atwater system uses the average values of 4 Kcal/g for protein, 4 Kcal/g for carbohydrate, and 9 Kcal/g for fat. Alcohol is calculated at 7 Kcal/g. (These numbers were originally determined by burning and then averaging.) Thus the label on an energy bar that contains 10 g of protein, 20 g of carbohydrate and 9 g of fat would read 201 kcals or Calories. A complete discussion of this subject and the calories contained in more than 6,000 foods may be found on the National Data Lab web site at http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/. At this site you can also download the food database to a handheld computer. Another online tool that allows the user to total the calorie content of several foods is the Nutrition Analysis Tool at http://www.nat.uiuc.edu.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
AVID
So I spent the past week at a training in San Diego for a program called AVID. It is designed to help middle-achieving underrepresented students get into college. It consists of an elective class in which students would get tutorial help, develop study skills, learn to apply for tests and colleges, etc. It also consists of encouraging classroom teachers to use best practice strategies in their content areas, such as tools that support writing and reading across curriculums and encourage inquiry and collaboration. (WICR, Cornell Notes being the two chief strategies taught, wich reference to Marzano and Costa's questioning list roughly equivalent to Bloom's Taxonomy).
Attending a strand for mathematics, I realized I am already well-trained in all of these strategies and our department, through its own volition, is light-years ahead of most in the country. Our goal in our school is to try to get the 'disappearing' kids in the program - there is a national phenomenon going on of minority kids underperforming, and lower income kids disappearing as the schooling years progress. It isn't designed for the so-far-gone kids, but rather to move that middle ground of kids who are doing sort of okay but just getting by and not moving toward college up into college preparatory programs and college. One thing I like is the philosophy, supported by research, that kids who take a rigorous course but get a D are better off in the long run than a student who takes the easy schedule and gets B's. Way too much emphasis on GPA in this world and not enough on actual learning. I hadn't learned Cornell notes before and there are some good ideas there I can use.
As for the negatives, AVID comes across as a big business with lots of commercials and hefty prices. In order to be standardized for success, they require certifications and what - not year after year and purchase of particular AVID curriculum etc. and the price tag and FTE cost involved (teaching staff, which if not additionally funded, must be pulled AWAY from electives (bad bad bad)) is in the tens of thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, that means without grants it is inaccessible to most, particularly where the program is needed most. We have grants now for it, but what about when the grants dry up? That is why, when we attended the afternoon sessions with other AVID schools in the state, 1/2 the room was Cherry Creek, the district with the reputation of being the most affluent, upper-crust district in the state.
The keynote speaker apparently ruffled some feathers for taking some stabs at the Shrub and his cabinet. But I enjoyed him. And he had some very interesting research to share about just how something is presented to students drastically alters their performance: for example, the brightest math students in the country ( or nearly so) - a group of mostly white male students at an ivy league school in an engineering program were given a math test. Those told that the test was not going to be used to evaluate them in any way did very well. Those told that it was going to be used to see why white male students did well in math did well, did well. Those told it was going to be used to see why asians did better in math than any other group - they did much worse - same test and every thing else the same.
It goes to show that any prejudice about student performance often self-actualizes. We have to expect ALL of our students to succeed, really mean it, and communicate that to them sincerely, consistently, and continually through not only words but actions.
Attending a strand for mathematics, I realized I am already well-trained in all of these strategies and our department, through its own volition, is light-years ahead of most in the country. Our goal in our school is to try to get the 'disappearing' kids in the program - there is a national phenomenon going on of minority kids underperforming, and lower income kids disappearing as the schooling years progress. It isn't designed for the so-far-gone kids, but rather to move that middle ground of kids who are doing sort of okay but just getting by and not moving toward college up into college preparatory programs and college. One thing I like is the philosophy, supported by research, that kids who take a rigorous course but get a D are better off in the long run than a student who takes the easy schedule and gets B's. Way too much emphasis on GPA in this world and not enough on actual learning. I hadn't learned Cornell notes before and there are some good ideas there I can use.
As for the negatives, AVID comes across as a big business with lots of commercials and hefty prices. In order to be standardized for success, they require certifications and what - not year after year and purchase of particular AVID curriculum etc. and the price tag and FTE cost involved (teaching staff, which if not additionally funded, must be pulled AWAY from electives (bad bad bad)) is in the tens of thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, that means without grants it is inaccessible to most, particularly where the program is needed most. We have grants now for it, but what about when the grants dry up? That is why, when we attended the afternoon sessions with other AVID schools in the state, 1/2 the room was Cherry Creek, the district with the reputation of being the most affluent, upper-crust district in the state.
The keynote speaker apparently ruffled some feathers for taking some stabs at the Shrub and his cabinet. But I enjoyed him. And he had some very interesting research to share about just how something is presented to students drastically alters their performance: for example, the brightest math students in the country ( or nearly so) - a group of mostly white male students at an ivy league school in an engineering program were given a math test. Those told that the test was not going to be used to evaluate them in any way did very well. Those told that it was going to be used to see why white male students did well in math did well, did well. Those told it was going to be used to see why asians did better in math than any other group - they did much worse - same test and every thing else the same.
It goes to show that any prejudice about student performance often self-actualizes. We have to expect ALL of our students to succeed, really mean it, and communicate that to them sincerely, consistently, and continually through not only words but actions.
Psalm 84
Interesting: Baca is old name of Mecca. And Hajar discovered the well (wife of Abraham), and AbdulMuttalib rediscovered it (the well of Zam Zam, which remains to this day and hajj pilgrims often bring back water from), and the psalm could fit either of them......
(From National Geographic RSS)
It's not the end of the world, experts announced today. The opening passage of a thousand-year-old Christian prayer book discovered in Ireland does not say that doomsday is near.
When the medieval text—a Book of Psalms dated to about A.D.1000—was unearthed by a construction worker in a bog last week, archaeologists described the find as a miracle.
But the discovery has since met with some nervous speculation about its possible religious significance.
Doomsayers have focused on the passage that the 20-page text, written in Latin, was opened to when it was first uncovered: Psalm 83.
In the King James Bible, the psalm is a lament to God describing the attempts of nations to wipe out the name of Israel.
"Thine enemies … have said, Come, and let us cut [thy people] off from being a nation," the psalm reads, "that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.'"
Given the current conflict in Lebanon between Israeli troops and Islamic Hezbollah guerrillas, this detail struck some observers as particularly ominous.
"Mention of Psalm 83 has led to misconceptions about the revealed wording and may be a source of concern for people who believe Psalm 83 deals with 'the wiping out of Israel,'" officials at the National Museum of Ireland, where the manuscript is being kept, said in a statement today.
The true meaning of what the text reveals, they say, has been quite literally lost in translation.
"[We] would like to highlight that the text visible on the manuscript does NOT refer to wiping out Israel but to the 'vale of tears,'" the officials said.
The newfound prayer book, they explain, is an ancient Latin translation from the Greek known as the Vulgate. But the King James Bible, which was translated from Hebrew to English more than a thousand years later, assigns different numbers to the psalms.
So the Psalm 83 found in the Irish book, they say, appears in King James as Psalm 84, which is a song of praise and longing for godliness.
"Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee," the passage reads, "… who passing through the valley of Baca [the vale of tears] make[s] it a well."
The museum officials say they expect the difference speaks for itself.
"It is hoped that this clarification will serve comfort to anyone worried by earlier reports of the content of the text," they said.
(From National Geographic RSS)
It's not the end of the world, experts announced today. The opening passage of a thousand-year-old Christian prayer book discovered in Ireland does not say that doomsday is near.
When the medieval text—a Book of Psalms dated to about A.D.1000—was unearthed by a construction worker in a bog last week, archaeologists described the find as a miracle.
But the discovery has since met with some nervous speculation about its possible religious significance.
Doomsayers have focused on the passage that the 20-page text, written in Latin, was opened to when it was first uncovered: Psalm 83.
In the King James Bible, the psalm is a lament to God describing the attempts of nations to wipe out the name of Israel.
"Thine enemies … have said, Come, and let us cut [thy people] off from being a nation," the psalm reads, "that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.'"
Given the current conflict in Lebanon between Israeli troops and Islamic Hezbollah guerrillas, this detail struck some observers as particularly ominous.
"Mention of Psalm 83 has led to misconceptions about the revealed wording and may be a source of concern for people who believe Psalm 83 deals with 'the wiping out of Israel,'" officials at the National Museum of Ireland, where the manuscript is being kept, said in a statement today.
The true meaning of what the text reveals, they say, has been quite literally lost in translation.
"[We] would like to highlight that the text visible on the manuscript does NOT refer to wiping out Israel but to the 'vale of tears,'" the officials said.
The newfound prayer book, they explain, is an ancient Latin translation from the Greek known as the Vulgate. But the King James Bible, which was translated from Hebrew to English more than a thousand years later, assigns different numbers to the psalms.
So the Psalm 83 found in the Irish book, they say, appears in King James as Psalm 84, which is a song of praise and longing for godliness.
"Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee," the passage reads, "… who passing through the valley of Baca [the vale of tears] make[s] it a well."
The museum officials say they expect the difference speaks for itself.
"It is hoped that this clarification will serve comfort to anyone worried by earlier reports of the content of the text," they said.
Yay, I'm Home!
Very glad to be home, but I would've liked to be in Clovis for this one!
Gas war: Station sets price at 49 cents
The Associated Press
CLOVIS, N.M. - A price war between two Clovis gasoline stations reached a fever pitch when one store dropped its fuel price to 49 cents per gallon.
The price war between Town and Country and Allsup's convenience stores snarled traffic in the eastern New Mexico town as about 200 vehicles lined up Wednesday to buy cheap gas, blocking the stores and a local fire station, Clovis Fire Marshal Allan Silvers said.
Silvers said he put an end to the battle because the traffic was a public safety hazard. He asked the stores "if there was anything they could do reasonably to remedy the situation."
Allsup's raised its fuel price from 49 cents to $2.83 a gallon and Town and Country raised its 99 cents per gallon price tag to $2.86, Silvers said.
"They raised prices on their own accord to dispel the traffic and after that was done, as you can imagine, people lost interest," Silvers said.
On Tuesday, the stores were selling below wholesale costs.
Dan McCurdy, a spokesman for Town and Country Food Stores, told The Clovis News-Journal on Tuesday that the competition has been going for several weeks. He said the Allsup's store has dropped its price per gallon to remain an average of 3 cents lower than Town and Country.
"In very simple terms, we're staying competitive with our competitors. We're not going to lose our customers because they're offering a lower price," McCurdy said.
Gas war: Station sets price at 49 cents
The Associated Press
CLOVIS, N.M. - A price war between two Clovis gasoline stations reached a fever pitch when one store dropped its fuel price to 49 cents per gallon.
The price war between Town and Country and Allsup's convenience stores snarled traffic in the eastern New Mexico town as about 200 vehicles lined up Wednesday to buy cheap gas, blocking the stores and a local fire station, Clovis Fire Marshal Allan Silvers said.
Silvers said he put an end to the battle because the traffic was a public safety hazard. He asked the stores "if there was anything they could do reasonably to remedy the situation."
Allsup's raised its fuel price from 49 cents to $2.83 a gallon and Town and Country raised its 99 cents per gallon price tag to $2.86, Silvers said.
"They raised prices on their own accord to dispel the traffic and after that was done, as you can imagine, people lost interest," Silvers said.
On Tuesday, the stores were selling below wholesale costs.
Dan McCurdy, a spokesman for Town and Country Food Stores, told The Clovis News-Journal on Tuesday that the competition has been going for several weeks. He said the Allsup's store has dropped its price per gallon to remain an average of 3 cents lower than Town and Country.
"In very simple terms, we're staying competitive with our competitors. We're not going to lose our customers because they're offering a lower price," McCurdy said.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
AVID
Well tomorrow I am off again - this time to a training in San Diego for work in some sort of study skills type program called AVID. The whole process of getting information from the district about going to this training was frustrating, but insha'allah hopefully the trip itself will be good. Due back late next Friday. Then Monday it is basically back to work for the next school year.....
I think it is so horrible people are held in custody without charge for so long when it is known they have no connections to terrorism, etc. In my thinking, it is downright evil and torturous.
Last 9-11 Detainee Released From Lockup
By TOM HAYS
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- An Algerian man believed to be the last domestic detainee still in custody from a national dragnet after Sept. 11 - and who was cleared of links to terrorism in November 2001 - was set free this week, his lawyer said Friday.
Benemar Benatta, 32, went to Ontario, Canada, where he is seeking political asylum, after being released from a Buffalo immigration lockup Thursday, attorney Catherine Amirfar said.
"After five years, he had become all but hopeless," she said. "Now he's cautiously optimistic."
Benatta was among 1,200 mostly Arab and Muslim men detained nationwide as potential suspects or witnesses in the investigation following the terrorist attacks. The government has refused to discuss their fate, but human rights groups have said they believed the former Algerian air force lieutenant was the only one still in custody.
Heather Tasker, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, refused to discuss Benatta's release, which was first reported by The Washington Post.
U.S. officials agreed to release Benatta after the Canadian Consulate General's office in Buffalo granted him temporary residency, according to court papers filed Wednesday in New York.
The last detainee's odyssey began Sept. 5, 2001, when, after overstaying a six-month visa, he crossed the border near Buffalo to seek asylum in Canada. After the Sept. 11 attacks, his background as a Muslim man with flight experience prompted Canadian officials to turn him over to U.S. authorities.
He spent the next six months in solitary confinement in a federal jail in Brooklyn. Though the FBI concluded he had no links to terrorism, he was eventually charged with carrying false identification - a case that was dropped after a federal magistrate found his right to due process had been violated.
The magistrate wrote in a 2003 decision that Benatta had been "undeniably deprived of his liberty," and "held in custody under harsh conditions which can be said to be oppressive."
Despite the ruling, immigration officials kept him in custody in Buffalo while he appealed a deportation order and renewed his quest for asylum based on a claim that, as a military deserter, he would tortured or killed if he returned to Algeria.
A United Nations human rights group that studied the case noted that most asylum seekers are released pending the outcome of their cases.
"The imprisonment Mr. Benatta has endured has been a de facto prison sentence," the U.N. group wrote in findings made public in March. "In no way can the simple administrative offense of having stayed in the United States after his visa had expired justify such a disproportionate sentence."
I think it is so horrible people are held in custody without charge for so long when it is known they have no connections to terrorism, etc. In my thinking, it is downright evil and torturous.
Last 9-11 Detainee Released From Lockup
By TOM HAYS
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- An Algerian man believed to be the last domestic detainee still in custody from a national dragnet after Sept. 11 - and who was cleared of links to terrorism in November 2001 - was set free this week, his lawyer said Friday.
Benemar Benatta, 32, went to Ontario, Canada, where he is seeking political asylum, after being released from a Buffalo immigration lockup Thursday, attorney Catherine Amirfar said.
"After five years, he had become all but hopeless," she said. "Now he's cautiously optimistic."
Benatta was among 1,200 mostly Arab and Muslim men detained nationwide as potential suspects or witnesses in the investigation following the terrorist attacks. The government has refused to discuss their fate, but human rights groups have said they believed the former Algerian air force lieutenant was the only one still in custody.
Heather Tasker, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, refused to discuss Benatta's release, which was first reported by The Washington Post.
U.S. officials agreed to release Benatta after the Canadian Consulate General's office in Buffalo granted him temporary residency, according to court papers filed Wednesday in New York.
The last detainee's odyssey began Sept. 5, 2001, when, after overstaying a six-month visa, he crossed the border near Buffalo to seek asylum in Canada. After the Sept. 11 attacks, his background as a Muslim man with flight experience prompted Canadian officials to turn him over to U.S. authorities.
He spent the next six months in solitary confinement in a federal jail in Brooklyn. Though the FBI concluded he had no links to terrorism, he was eventually charged with carrying false identification - a case that was dropped after a federal magistrate found his right to due process had been violated.
The magistrate wrote in a 2003 decision that Benatta had been "undeniably deprived of his liberty," and "held in custody under harsh conditions which can be said to be oppressive."
Despite the ruling, immigration officials kept him in custody in Buffalo while he appealed a deportation order and renewed his quest for asylum based on a claim that, as a military deserter, he would tortured or killed if he returned to Algeria.
A United Nations human rights group that studied the case noted that most asylum seekers are released pending the outcome of their cases.
"The imprisonment Mr. Benatta has endured has been a de facto prison sentence," the U.N. group wrote in findings made public in March. "In no way can the simple administrative offense of having stayed in the United States after his visa had expired justify such a disproportionate sentence."
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Tiling
Well the past few days I've been learning something new. My parents are putting new tile in the third level and I'm working to help them. It is hard work and it is important to have the right tools, but it is pretty neat.
Leaving Saturday for Orange County, due back next Thursday. Will try to check in.
Leaving Saturday for Orange County, due back next Thursday. Will try to check in.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Good idea
Man offers free lawn mowing to lose weight
The Associated Press
COON RAPIDS, Minn. - A local man who has struggled to lose weight is hoping a lawn mower will help him shed between 30 and 50 pounds.
After working up quite a sweat mowing his own lawn this summer, Darrell Nelson thought that he could get a good workout by mowing lawns for other people as well.
So, on the Web site Craig's List, he placed an ad offering to mow lawns for free.
He figures if he eats better and mows a lawn per day nearly every day of the week, he will be able to keep an exercise program going. He said he has a hard time keeping commitments to himself, but he will stick to commitments he makes to others.
"This
is no joke or gimmick," he wrote on the Web site. "I need to lose weight. I have struggled on sticking to exercise programs, including just walking, for quite a while now."
Nelson is a former power lifter who's about 5-foot-9 and 258 pounds. Since news of his ad spread, he has fielded calls from the media, strangers - even some women who have asked him out on dates.
"My life has been turned upside down, man, unbelievable," he said. "I was planning on doing five lawns: Mine plus four others. Now, I'm doing six lawns: Mine plus five others. ... I was just trying to do some yards and lose some weight, and it just - voila - away it went."
----------------
Yesterday I went with Laura to buy toys for the Sylvan store, that was fun. Today mom and I and Jeff's family went to the Renaissance Festival up in Larkspur. It rained pretty much all day and was muddy, wet, and cold (about 50 degrees, feeling colder since you're wet). But aside from that, we had a good time. And I'm not complaining about the rain - alhumdooleluh we really need it, we've been in drought in so long it is great to have some rain even if it means cold, flash floods, etc.
The Associated Press
COON RAPIDS, Minn. - A local man who has struggled to lose weight is hoping a lawn mower will help him shed between 30 and 50 pounds.
After working up quite a sweat mowing his own lawn this summer, Darrell Nelson thought that he could get a good workout by mowing lawns for other people as well.
So, on the Web site Craig's List, he placed an ad offering to mow lawns for free.
He figures if he eats better and mows a lawn per day nearly every day of the week, he will be able to keep an exercise program going. He said he has a hard time keeping commitments to himself, but he will stick to commitments he makes to others.
"This
is no joke or gimmick," he wrote on the Web site. "I need to lose weight. I have struggled on sticking to exercise programs, including just walking, for quite a while now."
Nelson is a former power lifter who's about 5-foot-9 and 258 pounds. Since news of his ad spread, he has fielded calls from the media, strangers - even some women who have asked him out on dates.
"My life has been turned upside down, man, unbelievable," he said. "I was planning on doing five lawns: Mine plus four others. Now, I'm doing six lawns: Mine plus five others. ... I was just trying to do some yards and lose some weight, and it just - voila - away it went."
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Yesterday I went with Laura to buy toys for the Sylvan store, that was fun. Today mom and I and Jeff's family went to the Renaissance Festival up in Larkspur. It rained pretty much all day and was muddy, wet, and cold (about 50 degrees, feeling colder since you're wet). But aside from that, we had a good time. And I'm not complaining about the rain - alhumdooleluh we really need it, we've been in drought in so long it is great to have some rain even if it means cold, flash floods, etc.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
My Kellogg Reflector Travel Bug reached its goal!
http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=126924
Woo hoo!
Incidentally, at the dollar store today I found a bit of cool nostalgia - neon bicycle spoke pegs that dress up your bike and clank - so I got some for Sammy for her upcoming b-day - she just got my old banana seat bike a few weeks ago - with the bell still on it (ding ding!), but no longer with the cool handlebar streamers or basket that both passed away at some point long ago...
Woo hoo!
Incidentally, at the dollar store today I found a bit of cool nostalgia - neon bicycle spoke pegs that dress up your bike and clank - so I got some for Sammy for her upcoming b-day - she just got my old banana seat bike a few weeks ago - with the bell still on it (ding ding!), but no longer with the cool handlebar streamers or basket that both passed away at some point long ago...
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Elitch's
Jeff's kids stayed over Sunday night so we could get up early and catch the Fun Bus to Elitch's (Six Flags) up in Denver. We played there all day, getting back home close to 10p.m. Sammy is tall enough for most of the rides now. Our favorite is the Twister, a wooden roller coaster. Yesterday was the annual 4th barbecue at aunt Susie's house for the Anderson and Wichman families (my mom's family is the Anderson family). So we met there for three or four hours. Today mom had off and was watching Sammy so we went to see Nacho Libre (really silly/dumb, kind of in the same genre as Napoleon Dynamite). ran errands and went to the funeral of aunt Susie's sister-in-law.
We got a nice rain yesterday hoping for more today insha'allah.
We got a nice rain yesterday hoping for more today insha'allah.
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