Polygamy’s Children
I feel sorry for the 436 Texan children who were separated from their polygamist parents earlier this month, for they are the real victims in this raiding of the polygamists compound. Their mothers themselves are victims, as young brides given by their religious leader in a polygamist marriage to much older men. The women are brainwashed to believe in the superiority of the men as preached by the leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Both mothers and children need a re-education program on human rights, citizen’s rights and self-reliance to get out of their blind religious faith which they follow the preaching of an American man, Joseph Smith Jr. from his sudden divine revelations in 1830 when he wanted to take young girls as his new wives. The West Texas incidence reminds me of what Christopher Hitchen said in his book “God is not Great” that religion poisons everything. He has a chapter on “Is Religion Child Abuse?”. To which my answer is yes, as in the recent case, the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints has abused the 436 children and their mothers. They are just a small example of millions of children around the world who are psychologically maimed by various religious teachings. Hitchen is right in calling this kind religious practice upon the unformed and undefended minds of the young as a moral terrorism.
Women Outnumber Men in Spanish Government
I want to congratulate the Prime Minister of Spain, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero for making the world record by the appointment in his government of more women than men (9 women-8 men). By this last week action, he has broken the world and also his country’s record in the appointment of Carme Chacon, a 37 year-old woman to head the Ministry of Defense. The Prime Minister has also announced, when re-elected for the second term, that the “equality between men and women” is one of the chief goals of his government. Prime Minister Zapatero can also be proud that Ines Alberdi, a respected Spanish sociologist, has just been appointed last week at the United Nations as the new Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). The combined work of his action and Ms. Alberdi’s new work with other men and women in leadership role in the Spanish Government will tremendously help us around the world to accelerate the achievement of the goal of gender equality. Spain has given a very good example to all governments on how to lead in taking a common action on the UN Millennium Development Goal of gender equality, beginning with having “gender parity” in appointments to the highest level of the government.
Filed under Gender Issues | Comment (0)Agreement on Work Program for Climate Change
I am glad that negotiators from 163 countries have agreed at the end of the UN-sponsored meeting in Bangkok, which runs from March 31 to April 4, on the work program for the Bali Action Plan for Climate Change. People are hopeful that industrialized developed countries and developing countries can come up with solutions that both sides “can live with”, based on a common interest to deal urgently with the problems and the pressing issues of global warming, while the Antarctica Ice Shelf is cracking and disintegrating at this moment. Action requires the industrialized countries to stop the increase in global emissions within the next 10 to 15 years. and to dramatically cut back emission by 2050, said the UN environmental scientists. They warn us that failure to do so will see average world temperature increase over 2 degrees, leading to adverse effects such as food and water shortages, rising seas level and increase in extreme weather events. Further discussions will continue for a year and a half, to be concluded in 2009, at a major summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. Key areas that the government representatives will focus their discussion on are: human intervention to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emission; helping developing countries to adapt to the ravages of global warming; cleaner technologies for economic growth; and a financial package to help developing countries to find appropriate responses to climate change. A successor agreement must be ready for ratification three years before the Kyoto Protocol, which will expire in 2012, to allow countries to make its law in time. Climate change is a threat to us all. It is a matter of “life or death” for island developing countries. So we must pressure our own government to speed up negotiations to prevent future disaster.
Filed under Environment | Comment (0)