'The moment you commit yourself, then providence moves too. All manner of things happen to help you that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events are started by the decision, creating all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance in your favour, which no-one could have dreamed would have come your way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.'
Johan Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1842 (translated from German)
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Torture in Bahrain
Blind eye to the butcher (torture in Bahrain)# - eye opening documentary shown in 2002 on British TV.
2002 article in the Observer
Britain silent on 'Butcher of Bahrain'
Tony Thompson, crime correspondent The Observer, Sunday 30 June 2002 01.00 BST
The Government has been accused of stalling attempts to prosecute a British citizen accused of running a brutal regime of torture in Bahrain in order to protect the UK's relationship with the Arab state.
Scots-born Colonel Ian Henderson, dubbed the 'Butcher of Bahrain', spent 30 years as head of the Bahraini secret police. During this time his men allegedly detained and tortured thousands of anti-government activists.
Their activities are said to have included the ransacking of villages, sadistic sexual abuse and using power drills to maim prisoners. On many occasions they are said to have detained children without informing their parents, only to return them months later in body bags. Between 1994 and 1998 at least seven people died as a result of torture at the hands of the Bahraini regime.
Human rights organisations have collected evidence from thousands of victims of the regime who have provided horrific accounts of the torture they suffered. Yaser al-Sayegh's case is typical. 'My wrists were shackled to my ankles and they suspended me upside down from a pole,' he said. 'They then beat me on my legs and feet and face with iron bars and rubber hoses.'
Hashem Redha, a Bahrainian pro-democracy activist who now lives in Britain, said he was attacked personally by Henderson. 'He tortured me one time. He kicked me and shook me two times. He said, "If you like to be hit, we can hit you more than that".'
A Carlton documentary, Blind Eye to the Butcher, to be screened on Wednesday, reveals that despite solid evidence torture took place on many occasions, a two-year investigation by Scotland Yard's Serious Crimes Branch and questions being asked in Parliament, Henderson has never been interviewed about the allegations.
However, under international law, he would be responsible for acts of torture carried out under his command, regardless of whether he was personally involved.
A file was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service last August but police say they are still waiting for a response.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have repeatedly called for an investigation into the allegations but believe successive governments have been reluctant because of Britain's close ties with the Arab state. Britain has 85 defence staff based in Bahrain and members of the country's armed forces are invited to defence colleges in this country for training.
Since retirement, Henderson has spent much of his time living at an extensive property called Stoke Shallows on the edge of Dartmoor where his neighbours know nothing of his past. He continues to travel frequently to Bahrain where he remains an adviser.
In the programme Henderson denies allegations of torture and refused to take part in any discussion. However, he issued a statement saying there was no truth in any of the allegations.
The Home Office refused to comment on allegations of torture in Bahrain.
2002 article in the Observer
Britain silent on 'Butcher of Bahrain'
Tony Thompson, crime correspondent The Observer, Sunday 30 June 2002 01.00 BST
The Government has been accused of stalling attempts to prosecute a British citizen accused of running a brutal regime of torture in Bahrain in order to protect the UK's relationship with the Arab state.
Scots-born Colonel Ian Henderson, dubbed the 'Butcher of Bahrain', spent 30 years as head of the Bahraini secret police. During this time his men allegedly detained and tortured thousands of anti-government activists.
Their activities are said to have included the ransacking of villages, sadistic sexual abuse and using power drills to maim prisoners. On many occasions they are said to have detained children without informing their parents, only to return them months later in body bags. Between 1994 and 1998 at least seven people died as a result of torture at the hands of the Bahraini regime.
Human rights organisations have collected evidence from thousands of victims of the regime who have provided horrific accounts of the torture they suffered. Yaser al-Sayegh's case is typical. 'My wrists were shackled to my ankles and they suspended me upside down from a pole,' he said. 'They then beat me on my legs and feet and face with iron bars and rubber hoses.'
Hashem Redha, a Bahrainian pro-democracy activist who now lives in Britain, said he was attacked personally by Henderson. 'He tortured me one time. He kicked me and shook me two times. He said, "If you like to be hit, we can hit you more than that".'
A Carlton documentary, Blind Eye to the Butcher, to be screened on Wednesday, reveals that despite solid evidence torture took place on many occasions, a two-year investigation by Scotland Yard's Serious Crimes Branch and questions being asked in Parliament, Henderson has never been interviewed about the allegations.
However, under international law, he would be responsible for acts of torture carried out under his command, regardless of whether he was personally involved.
A file was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service last August but police say they are still waiting for a response.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have repeatedly called for an investigation into the allegations but believe successive governments have been reluctant because of Britain's close ties with the Arab state. Britain has 85 defence staff based in Bahrain and members of the country's armed forces are invited to defence colleges in this country for training.
Since retirement, Henderson has spent much of his time living at an extensive property called Stoke Shallows on the edge of Dartmoor where his neighbours know nothing of his past. He continues to travel frequently to Bahrain where he remains an adviser.
In the programme Henderson denies allegations of torture and refused to take part in any discussion. However, he issued a statement saying there was no truth in any of the allegations.
The Home Office refused to comment on allegations of torture in Bahrain.
Saturday, March 05, 2011
Tim Hortons-turned-ER
(Tim Hortons is a Canadian coffee shop. The news story is about a Canadian Emergency Department having to overflow into the hospitals coffee shop. Story pasted below).
B.C. Health Minister Colin Hansen says the system worked just the way it's supposed to when emergency patients at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster ended up in a Tim Hortons next door to the ER.
Doctors had to set up temporary beds in the closed coffee shop Monday night between 11:15 p.m. PT and 12:45 a.m after the hospital was swamped by about 200 patients.
"It does happen from time to time that emergency rooms are under tremendous stress because of the number of patients presenting themselves on that day," Hansen said.
Hansen said it doesn't happen as frequently as it did 10 years ago, when he was the Liberal opposition's health critic.
"They had all the ambulances lined up outside waiting to unload passengers," he said. "Today we have protocols in place where the patients are brought inside, they're cared for, they get the attention of medical staff."
Fraser Health Authorty spokesman David Plug says the space inside the Tim Hortons is a "designated overflow area" to be used in extreme high-volume situations where the emergency room sees an unexpected surge.
Plug said about 100 patients checked into the emergency room, half the number later cited by Hansen.
The hospital has suffered from a shortage of beds and an overcrowded emergency room for several years. In May 2008 the hospital announced plans to build a temporary portable emergency room in the parking lot to ease overcrowding.
Plug says the hospital needs an expansion, but other facilities run by the Fraser Health Authority are first in line.
"We've built a new hospital in Abbotsford. We're working to build a new critical care tower at Surrey hospital at our regional hospital there, and Royal Columbian Hospital would then be next," he said.
Doctors concerned
But one emergency doctor at Royal Columbian disagrees. Dr. Sheldon Glazer said corridors and coffee shops are not adequate for patients.
"We can't appropriately examine someone in a hallway. We can't get them undressed. We can't do a thorough examination on a patient in a waiting room," said Glazer.
Treating people in makeshift conditions leads to mistakes and poor care, Glazer said, but it also points to a larger problem.
"There are not enough hospital beds in the system and the emergency room ends up being an overflow ward of the hospital, so that emergency patients, patients who have the acute problems, have to be seen in chairs, in hallways or now in a coffee shop," he said.
B.C. Nurses Union president Debra McPherson blames the health authority and the government for overcrowding.
"I don't know what it's going to take to get this government out of its coma of inaction, and for the Fraser Health Authority in particular to wake up and smell the coffee and finally admit that it has problems," said McPherson.
NDP health critic Adrian Dix has blamed what he calls the ill-conceived decision to shut down nearby St. Mary's Hospital in 2004 and underfunding for acute-care beds.
(Tim Hortons is a Canadian coffee shop. The news story is about a Canadian Emergency Department having to overflow into the hospitals coffee shop. Story pasted below).
B.C. Health Minister Colin Hansen says the system worked just the way it's supposed to when emergency patients at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster ended up in a Tim Hortons next door to the ER.
Doctors had to set up temporary beds in the closed coffee shop Monday night between 11:15 p.m. PT and 12:45 a.m after the hospital was swamped by about 200 patients.
"It does happen from time to time that emergency rooms are under tremendous stress because of the number of patients presenting themselves on that day," Hansen said.
Hansen said it doesn't happen as frequently as it did 10 years ago, when he was the Liberal opposition's health critic.
"They had all the ambulances lined up outside waiting to unload passengers," he said. "Today we have protocols in place where the patients are brought inside, they're cared for, they get the attention of medical staff."
Fraser Health Authorty spokesman David Plug says the space inside the Tim Hortons is a "designated overflow area" to be used in extreme high-volume situations where the emergency room sees an unexpected surge.
Plug said about 100 patients checked into the emergency room, half the number later cited by Hansen.
The hospital has suffered from a shortage of beds and an overcrowded emergency room for several years. In May 2008 the hospital announced plans to build a temporary portable emergency room in the parking lot to ease overcrowding.
Plug says the hospital needs an expansion, but other facilities run by the Fraser Health Authority are first in line.
"We've built a new hospital in Abbotsford. We're working to build a new critical care tower at Surrey hospital at our regional hospital there, and Royal Columbian Hospital would then be next," he said.
Doctors concerned
But one emergency doctor at Royal Columbian disagrees. Dr. Sheldon Glazer said corridors and coffee shops are not adequate for patients.
"We can't appropriately examine someone in a hallway. We can't get them undressed. We can't do a thorough examination on a patient in a waiting room," said Glazer.
Treating people in makeshift conditions leads to mistakes and poor care, Glazer said, but it also points to a larger problem.
"There are not enough hospital beds in the system and the emergency room ends up being an overflow ward of the hospital, so that emergency patients, patients who have the acute problems, have to be seen in chairs, in hallways or now in a coffee shop," he said.
B.C. Nurses Union president Debra McPherson blames the health authority and the government for overcrowding.
"I don't know what it's going to take to get this government out of its coma of inaction, and for the Fraser Health Authority in particular to wake up and smell the coffee and finally admit that it has problems," said McPherson.
NDP health critic Adrian Dix has blamed what he calls the ill-conceived decision to shut down nearby St. Mary's Hospital in 2004 and underfunding for acute-care beds.
Getting organised...
3 home office zones
5 steps to a permanently cleaner office
Desktop zones
It's all about the zones. Apparantly...
I wish I was one of those naturally uber-organised-neat-freak type people, who has everything organised all of the time. I try. I try hard. But it just feels like a cycle of intense tidying followed by a slow but steady decline into a natural state of organised chaos, followed by intense tidying, followed by...
You get the picture.
5 steps to a permanently cleaner office
Desktop zones
It's all about the zones. Apparantly...
I wish I was one of those naturally uber-organised-neat-freak type people, who has everything organised all of the time. I try. I try hard. But it just feels like a cycle of intense tidying followed by a slow but steady decline into a natural state of organised chaos, followed by intense tidying, followed by...
You get the picture.
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