Wonderful Women Of The World
Posted by Michelle Moquin on January 15th, 2011
Good morning!
Late last year, Aung San Suu Kyi, after 15 years was released from her most recent house arrest. But as much as no one knew exactly what it would mean for their home country Burma, now called Myanmar, human rights advocates were joyous over her release, and the promise of what it could mean for Burma and the U.S.
Who is Aung San Suu Kyi?
In her own country she’s an uncrowned queen; a slight, fragile but unbending figure glimpsed by few but known to all as The Lady. Beyond it, she has become an icon, a universal symbol of courage, endurance and peaceful resistance, a new Mandela.
The word’s a commonplace but Aung San Suu Kyi really is a legend: daughter of the man who won Burma its independence from the British, but who was assassinated when she was barely two; a political leader herself who for the past 22 years has headed, with a delicate but compelling charisma and unimaginable determination, her nation’s “second struggle for independence”; a prisoner of one kind or another for 15 of the past 20 years; and winner, in 1991, of the Nobel peace prize.
Those who have met her (which isn’t many, recently) speak of a beauty every bit as striking as the photographs, a proud poise and a demure gentility acquired, certainly, at the Anglo-Indian finishing school she attended in New Delhi, where her mother was ambassador.
She apparently also has, though, a quick and by no means prim wit and an infectious giggle. Not, by all accounts – including her own – a born political strategist, she knows precisely the system her country needs, if not precisely how to get there. Her Nobel citation called her a shining example of “the power of the powerless”.
Born on 19 June, 1945, two years before independence, Aung San Suu Kyi – the name means “a bright collection of strange victories” – left Burma with her mother in 1960. In 1964 she was at St Hugh’s, Oxford, studying politics, philosophy and economics. A friend, Ann Pasternak Slater, recalls her “tight, trim lungi [Burmese sarong] and her upright carriage, her firm moral convictions and inherited social grace”.
She worked as a research assistant at the University of London and then for the UN in New York. She got engaged to Michael Aris in 1971, and wrote to him every day before their marriage the following year: “I only ask one thing,” she said: “That should my people need me, you would help me to do my duty by them.” She added: “I am beset by fears that circumstances and national considerations might tear us apart.”
It took 16 years for that need to arise. Michael and Aung San Suu Kyi’s first son, Alexander, was born in London in 1973, followed by their second, Kim, in Oxford, where Michael had a junior fellowship. She resumed her own academic career, teaching Burmese studies and taking research assignments first in Japan, and then in India. One evening in Oxford in late March 1988, the boys in bed, Aung San Suu Kyi took the phone call that changed her life: her mother had suffered a severe stroke.
Back in Burma, the military dictatorship that had run the country since 1962 was suppressing a student-led protest movement. On 8 August 1988, soldiers fired into a peaceful demonstration, killing up to 5,000 protesters. Barely two weeks later, Aung Sun Suu Kyi addressed 500,000 people at the great Schwedagon pagoda in Rangoon. As her father’s daughter, she said, she could not stand by. “True,” she said, “I have lived abroad. It is also true that I am married to a foreigner. These facts have never lessened my love and my devotion for my country.” She demanded freedom and democracy, a multi-party government, and free and fair elections.
The rest is as sad as it is familiar. The National League for Democracy was formed with Aung San Suu Kyi as its general secretary.
“We listened to the voice of the people, that our policies might be in harmony with their legitimate needs and aspirations,” Aung San Suu Kyi wrote. “We explained why, in spite of its inevitable flaws, we considered democracy to be better than other political systems. Most important, we sought to make them understand why we believed political change was best achieved through non-violent means.”
Despite detentions and intimidation, the NLD won 82% of the seats in Burma’s parliament in the 1990 elections, whose results the dictatorship have never recognised. Aung San Suu Kyi was held under house arrest until 1995, and then banned from travelling. In 1999 her husband died of cancer in London; had she left the country to visit him, she would never have been allowed back in. Detained again in 2000, released again in 2002, she was rearrested once more in May 2003. Her phone line cut, her post blocked and her NLD colleagues banned from visiting her, she has lived under house arrest at her home on University Avenue, Rangoon, ever since, writing, reading, exercising and meditating. Not even the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, was allowed to meet her on a visit in 2009.
Then John Yettaw, a confused American, swam across the lake by her house to see her, ensuring she was charged and convicted with breaking the terms of her house arrest and sentenced to 18 months further house arrest – until tomorrow, a convenient six days after Burma’s recent elections. “It is not power that corrupts, but fear,” Aung San Suu Kyi once wrote. “Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it, and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.” But even under the “most crushing state machinery, courage rises up again and again. For fear is not the natural state of man.”
Jon Henley
guardian.co.uk, Friday 12 November 2010 19.12 GMT
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I wanted to honor Suu Kyi, Burma’s first lady of freedom, as a “wonderful woman of the world”, today. I too am joyous over her release, and HOPE that it is the last. With her calm but passionate manner, she is a strong, resilient and relentless advocate of freedom and democracy for her country, and to many, including me, an inspiration and a voice of HOPE.
In light of the state of our country, our own democracy, I think of the words that Suu Kyi said to the New York Times, “To achieve democracy we need to create a network, not just in our country but around the world. I will try to do that. If you do nothing you get nothing.”
“…a network…around the world…If you do nothing you get nothing. I am HOPEing that many of my readers will be inspired to do something, in some way, shape or form. If even only an hour a week in support of something that helps move our country towards peace, equality, whatever…whatever you feel passionate about that is for the betterment of all...in our country and in our world.
When I end my write with the words, “PEACE OUT”, I don’t just mean, I am signing off with peace…it means that I am sending peace out…out to the world. But that alone is not enough.
I ask you in a country where complacency is common, to allow yourself to be moved…to be inspired by someone or something. Whether it be Suu Kyi or someone else, or peace…or something else…spread peace through some sort of action.
PEACE OUT….
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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January 15th, 2011 at 11:50 am
Veterans Benefits You May Not Know About
Christopher Michel
No country in the world offers more benefits to those who have served in its armed forces than the US.
Some of the benefits are available only to active service members or military retirees (those who have retired after at least 20 years of service), but many are offered to all of America’s 24 million veterans and their families.
HOME LOANS
Under the GI Bill, vets can buy homes with no money down and without a monthly mortgage insurance premium.
The Veterans Administration (VA) doesn’t actually lend money — it simply guarantees a portion of the loan with your lender. (Of course, you have to meet your lender’s credit standards.)
More information: Call 800-827-1000 or go to the Loan Guaranty Web site (www.homeloans.va.gov), where you can download VA Form 26-1880.
EDUCATION
Under the GI Bill, if you have served in the military in the past 10 years, you are probably eligible for up to the maximum in-state tuition and fees for a public institution, plus a housing allowance and $1,000 a year for books and supplies for up to 36 academic months (a total of four years). This money is tax free.
More information: Visit the GI Bill Express (www.gibillexpress.com), where you can download VA Form 22-1990. Or call 888-442-4551.
Other educational benefits for vets include…
Scholarships. More than $300 million worth of scholarships from colleges and universities are available to vets and their dependents.
Many of these scholarships are poorly publicized, improving your odds of winning one.
More information: Visit my organization, Military.com (www.military.com), the country’s largest military and veteran organization and a business unit of Monster Worldwide.
Type “scholarships” into the search box… or select “Scholarships” from the left-hand menu to use the Scholarship Finder.
College credits. Colleges often award vets credits for their military training and experience, meaning less time (and expense) until graduation.
More information: Visit http://www.military.com/education/content/timesaving-programs/college-credit-for-military-experience.html or contact individual schools for information about the benefits they offer
.
State education benefit programs. Some states offer veterans tuition discounts at their public colleges.
More information: Visit http://www.military.com/education/statebenefits.
CAREERS
Thousands of jobs are listed on Military.com (www.military.com/careers) by companies that are eager to hire vets.
Or head to the Veteran Career Network (http://benefits.military.com/vcn/search.do) to find a helpful vet in the company, industry or city where you would like to work.
There are more than 600,000 veterans willing to provide fellow vets with career assistance.
TRAVEL
Air travel. Veterans who are retired from the military and family members who fly with them can fly for free or close to free on certain military flights, space permitting.
This is standby travel, so it’s only appropriate when your schedule is flexible.
Military flights aren’t always comfortable and might not be well-heated or include meal service, so bring a jacket and snacks.
More information: Visit Military Living’s SpaceA.info (www.spacea.info) or Military.com (www.military.com/spacea).
Lodging. Military retirees and their families have access to inexpensive lodging — either on-base lodging or at Armed Forces Recreation Centers — on a space-available basis.
Examples: Shades of Green resort within Walt Disney World and Hale Koa Hotel on the beach at Waikiki.
More information: Air Force retirees, visit Air Force Services Agency (www.afsv.af.mil)… Army retirees, US Army MWR (www.armymwr.com)…
Coast Guard retirees, the US Coast Guard site (www.uscg.mil/mwr)… Marine Corp retirees, the MCCS site (www.usmc-mccs.org/lodging/index.cfm) … and Navy retirees, visit Navy Lodge (www.navy-lodge.com).
MEDICAL BENEFITS
The Department of Veteran’s Affairs is required by law to provide eligible veterans with “needed” hospital care and outpatient care.
VA defines “needed” as care or service that will promote, preserve and restore health. This includes treatment, supplies and services, such as physical exams and immunizations.
The decision of “need” will be based on the judgment of the vet’s health-care provider at the VA and in accordance with generally accepted standards of clinical practice.
There are also VA clinical health programs that vets may be eligible for, including treatment for blindness rehabilitation, AgentOrange exposure and HIV/AIDS.
Veterans’ dependents are also eligible for these VA health-care programs in many cases. Final eligibility depends on several factors for each program.
These factors include the nature of a veteran’s discharge from military service (e.g., honorable, other than honorable, dishonorable), length of service, service-connected disabilities, income level and available VA resources, among others.
Generally, the vet must be enrolled in the VA health-care system — there are 1,326 VA facilities throughout the country — to receive benefits.
More information: Visit the United States Department of Veterans Affairs site (www.va.gov/healtheligibility/eligibility/PriorityGroupsAll.asp).
BURIAL BENEFITS, TOO
Veterans are eligible for free burial in any of 125 VA national cemeteries, space permitting. Veterans’ spouses are also eligible.
The cemetery plot, headstone, transportation of the remains, burial with military honors, if requested, and grave upkeep are provided by the government at no charge.
The casket and other funeral home expenses remain the responsibility of the family.
More information: Call the VA at 800-827-1000 for more information. You will need a copy of the vet’s discharge papers.
Burial at Arlington National Cemetery is subject to greater restrictions. For more information call 703-607-8585.
If a vet prefers to be buried in a private cemetery, the VA still can provide a free headstone. Call the VA for more details, or visit http://www.Military.com and submit VA Form 40-1330.
CORPORATE DISCOUNTS
Many companies offer discounts to active military personnel, and some extend these discounts to vets. Military.com lists more than 700 discount programs, including some for airfare, computers and electronics, dining and entertainment.
Examples: Veterans and their families can get 10% off Nike merchandise (in-store) and 10% off jewelry at Blue Nile (online) through January 1, 2010.
Retirement interviewed Christopher Michel, a former naval flight officer and founder of Military.com, America’s largest military membership organization, located in San Francisco.
He is author of The Military Advantage: A Comprehensive Guide to Your Military & Veterans Benefits (Simon & Schuster).
January 15th, 2011 at 12:20 pm
About 500 documents written in Guam’s native language have a new home.
They’ll serve as a resource for the next generation of islanders who wish to research their mother tongue.
In what was referred to as “an important and historical event” by the university’s faculty yesterday, Chamorro language students in assistant professor Peter Onedera’s class at the University of Guam hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to launch the opening of the CHamoru Language Documents Reference Room at the Micronesian Area Research Center.
Onedera tasked his intersession students with collecting documents written in Chamorro as a project for his class.
“Today, University of Guam marks another milestone in its continuous efforts to improve its educational services and resources towards students on the island of Guåhan …
with the hope that it will be passed on to future Chamorro language students,” said Severina Ogo, the student chairwoman in charge of the project for the current class.
Chamorro is an oral language, and for years after World War II, while under Navy governance, Chamorro people weren’t allowed to use their language in schools or other public facilities, Ogo has said.
But Onedera said documents in Chamorro did exist.
“These things have existed for the longest time but they seem to be scattered all over the place, and it’s not until something like this, that …
we’re finding out that there’s a lot more than meets the eye,” Onedera said. “It’s been in existence for the longest time. It’s just that no one has taken the time to collect them.”
During the first week of class, students solicited people in the community — teachers, family, friends — trying to find documents that would help start the collection.
As the second week of class ensued, students were “viciously searching” for documents, in addition tp completing regular coursework, tests and preparing Juan Malimanga comic strips, said student Joshua Perez.
“It was definitely a challenge,” he said.
By the third week, the class went on two radio shows and a TV segment, which generated great public support — but produced few material documents, said student Samantha Revo.
“Although we appreciated all of the support, we were still lacking the actual documents,” Revo said with only days remained before the opening of the room.
By the end of the fourth week, the class finally had collected textbooks, lesson/guidebooks, resolutions, poetry, essays and articles, with the help of contributions from the Northern Mariana Islands, and with the hope that more documents are still on the way.
“People were saying they have letters to hand over and family memorabilia to turn over and so, apparently, we’re gelling that kind of response from the community at large,” Onedera said.
“We had a challenge of contacting as many people as possible to get these documents,” he said. “We got an overwhelming response from the CNMI and we got a lot of documents, and some are still forthcoming.”
“I know that soon we will be getting a lot more from the community,” he added.
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Hafa Adai
Anna
January 15th, 2011 at 3:10 pm
You earthlings don’t live in a chemical universe. But your science believes that you live in one. Hence, they seek to improve your health via chemicals. I come from a world that is part of a chemical universe.
Your universe is electrical. All you will ever find inside your atom are positive and negative electrical charges. Consider this water is made up of 2 atoms of hydrogen and 1 atom of oxygen.
Hydrogen is an explosive gas and oxygen is the essential element in burning. Put the two together and you have a disaster. Is water a disaster? It would be if you lived in a chemical universe.
I come from a world galaxies away from you. My galaxy is part of a chemical universe, we do not have water on it. A combination of H2O on my planet would produce an explosion not unlike dynamite on your world.
We have discovered that your science cannot achieve thousand year life spans for its inhabitants because its scientists believe that they exist in a chemical universe. They shape their data to reflect such. And seek to improve the quality of live via chemicals.
Your mantra is: BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY.
Earthlings are electrical. Everything they eat, drink and breathe is electrical. We have returned with specimens we took from your earth more than a thousand years ago.
What we discovered is that the entire planet is populated by different beings. No one is alive today that we met more than a thousand years ago. Yet, we did nothing to increase the life span of the beings that we collected more than a thousand years ago.
After checking we discovered that providing humans with the correct electrically charged foods, liquids, and air is what enabled your bodies to continue living indefinitely as they were made to do. The human body was designed to last indefinitely. Thereby providing a continuous healthy supply of food for us.
We are not like the scavengers that prey upon your farms today. We have and always prefer the natural product. Ageless meat with untainted bodies.
Image our surprise to discover that you are pathetic herd of meat. You have polluted the food you eat, the liquids your drink and the air you breathe with poisoning chemicals. What have you done to yourselves?
Greprom
January 16th, 2011 at 9:34 am
Greprom n Cattlemen-
Perhaps humans don’t want to be a food source for you. What better way to accomplish it?
January 16th, 2011 at 9:46 am
[...] Cattlemen/Greprom: We have been told before that we are electrical beings. But your explanation takes it to an entire other level. To hear that humans were “designed to last indefinitely” is quite a shock. Especially because our lives are so short to begin with, and because of that, we as a society are obsessed with youth. Now to say, that we could last “indefinitely” if we only treated our bodies etc., electrically not chemically, would be creating an entirely different planet, not to mention mindset, with regards to our existence, our livelihood, etc. It makes sense to me, if we are electrical beings, as you say. [...]