12:16 a.m. - 2003-10-01
The Truth is OUT There
I found an interesting website today, Reporters_Without_Borders. There is a lot of compelling information about how and where freedom of speech or comment is suppressed or subverted at this point in time. If one reads any of Amnesty International's yearly reports, a consistent pattern soon emerges whenever repressive governments are gaining control of a nation. The first targets they go after? The press. Either media outlets are taken over or shut down - often violently. Almost immediately after? Teachers, universities, and students are attacked, because, of course, their job is to think and analyse what they hear. It is often where members of the media will work from, when mainstream outlets are no longer available. Next? The judiciary followed by medical personnel. Have to have someone who knows the most excruciating forms of torture that can be carried out without killing the individual. Anyone in any of these disciplines who resists is either arrested, murdered or publicly discredited by a campaign of character assassination.
The purpose of the site is to act as a barometer for the state of democracy in all regions of the world. There was a pdf report on the fastest growing area of surveillance and suppression of information by repressive regimes - that being the internet. I tried downloading it several times. Whenever I actually opened the document my computer crashed. Hmmm. There was an article in the newspaper a few days ago, about a blogger in Iraq who was talking about what was really going on in that country prior to and during the invasion. The individual and two of their friends have had to leave the country to avoid punishment. The blog's web address was given in the article, but it has since been removed from its host - blogspot. For anyone who publishes or communicates via the web, dear diary, the site is a must see/read, even if only as a cautionary tale.
I had a burst of energy today, so I spent about half of it working on my resume and cover letters and researching better job-hunting techniques. I'm never afraid to learn something new that might help. The rest of the time was devoted to housework - peeling off the next layer of the onion so to speak and exercising. I've found that I can get around the trouble with the muscles attached to the ischial tuberosity ("sit bone") that haven't fully healed, by using the exercise ball I have. Normally, I find working with it isn't challenging enough, but it can be used to isolate muscle groups that are still healing and replace their effect for an exercise. Instead of relying on my hamstrings to stabilize my body while I did push-ups and other upper body work or to do a yoga asana like the bridge, I relied on the ball by placing it in a position so that it would do the work of the hamstrings.
Called my number two son at supper time to find out how P's Dad was doing. He had died just a few minutes earlier. My son was really struggling with the reality, but with the death of someone you care about there isn't any easy way to go through the grieving process. Somedays I know all I could do was concentrate on the next breath in or the next breath out to get through it. Time is the only thing that brings healing, as long as you don't get stuck in denying or fighting the process. My son knows I'll be here whenever he or P need help, but they'll have to decide when and how for themselves.
Got another call for Angela later in the evening. Turned out to be her mother. I asked her to relay the information I'd been given by my service provider to her daughter when next they spoke. I was careful not to say anything critical - just stuck to the details - hoping that if I don't inflame the situation, perhaps it can finally be resolved. If not, I now know Angela's service provider and I can try to ask them to ensure that their "terms of service" aren't being violated through the actions of the child. Don't like that option very much either, but it beats involving the police. I think so anyway.
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