Mass Graves

Last week I went to hear Judge Raid speak on his experiences as the Chief Investigative Judge of the Iraqi High Tribunal that prosecuted Saddam Hussein for his crimes against Iraq's Kurdish minority. It was interesting to say the least. The highlight of the lecture was hearing about how the tribunal compiled all of the evidence against Hussein.

As with most things that I find interesting in my life, these interesting things ride on the coattails of irony.

So how did they "get" Saddam? When they started digging up all of the mass graves that Saddam buried the Kurds in, they found the murdered Kurds' national identification cards. Because of this, they were able to identify the bodies and prove that a targeted genocide had taken place.

Saddam and his army murdered thousands of Kurds by gassing them, shooting them, and burying the women and children alive. However Saddam's army didn't search the women thoroughly enough before they buried them because of their cultural beliefs. So the Kurdish mothers, grandmothers, daughters, and sisters-the women that Saddam buried alive were the very ones who would carry the evidence that would be used to convict Saddam.

*Stay tuned for a lesson on global hegemony from Bob the Builder.

I Learned It On NPR

(1) As the Democratic nomination process continues and Wyoming is next in line to function as "The Decider", a Professor of Women's Studies at the University of Wyoming was interviewed on NPR about what Clinton and Obama face as they try to appeal to a predominantly Republican state. She said the ONLY issue that voters want to talk about is the lack of JOBS!

According to her research, Wyoming-ites as she referred to them have the highest divorce rate in the country. She says one of the factors that contributes to this is that Wyoming-ites marry young. Also in Wyoming, the greatest disparity in the nation exists between men's and women's earnings. She attributes this to the type of jobs that are available that she says are sterotypically men's jobs like working in oil and other natural resources industries.

Job security and job loss really seem be on most voter's minds throughout the country. Clinton knew this in Ohio and won Ohio. Now Pennsylvania is an important battleground and "jobs" is the big issue.

(2) Continuting with the "jobs" theme, on NPR's "Marketplace", I learned that 63,000 jobs were lost last month. This is not good. However there is good news for "the man". Top executives are doing great. The C.E.O. of Goldman Sachs raked in 100 million dollars last year. Why should any one person be paid 100 million dollars? Because he is probably awesome, that's why.

(3) From "The Splendid Table": Pinot Noir grapes are not as hard to grow and harvest as they were once touted to be. Good news for wine snobs. Or is it bad news?

(4) Also from "The Splendid Table": Foraging is now in for Yuppies. One of the segments of this week's program followed a UCLA instructor around as she foraged for food on the streets of LA. She gathered plants and weeds from a down town street for a salad. Yuppies really do have a lot of time on their hands. In order to have enough time in your day to do this sort of thing you are either one of two things: (1) unemployed or (2) make a six-figure salary at one of those jobs where you really don't have to work all that hard.