There's an earlier diary on the following subject that is swiftly slipping down the page with 11 comments. Rather than comment in that diary, I'm reposting some of the information with my comments after the fold. So with a hat tip to the former diarist -
In a startling revelation, the former commander of Abu Ghraib prison testified that Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, former senior US military commander in Iraq, gave orders to cover up the cause of death for some female American soldiers serving in Iraq.
Follow me ...
Last week, Col. Janis Karpinski told a panel of judges at the Commission of Inquiry for Crimes against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration in New York that several women had died of dehydration because they refused to drink liquids late in the day. They were afraid of being assaulted or even raped by male soldiers if they had to use the women's latrine after dark.
The latrine for female soldiers at Camp Victory wasn't located near their barracks, so they had to go outside if they needed to use the bathroom. "There were no lights near any of their facilities, so women were doubly easy targets in the dark of the night," Karpinski told retired US Army Col. David Hackworth in a September 2004 interview. It was there that male soldiers assaulted and raped women soldiers. So the women took matters into their own hands. They didn't drink in the late afternoon so they wouldn't have to urinate at night. They didn't get raped. But some died of dehydration in the desert heat, Karpinski said.
In the above quoted story, they happen to be American women. Of course, dying women is old news, since the AsiaNews recently reported on a British Lancet study estimating there are 10 MILLION 'MISSING WOMEN'in India. And I quote:
According to research published by the British medical journal, Lancet, selective abortions and a traditional preference for male sons could be among the causes of this serious phenomenon. A team of scientists, who analyzed data on fertility on the basis of a nationwide survey in India with six million respondents, discovered that in 1997, half a million less females were born than expected. Projected over a 20-year period, the figure climbs to 10 million.
http://www.asianews.it/...
Now to enter the (current)fray.
There are many in this community who feel that the Democratic party is a shit-poor excuse for opposition to the death-dealing politics of the current Regime. I happen to agree with them. Then again, I never equated the Dems with being progressive. It's only in the light of the Rethug de-evolution that some of us have even begun to think in these terms. Prior to the 1980s, most progressives thought of both parties as Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee. Shows you how far we've fallen, huh? The Repugs shifted so far to the right that the Dems now "look" left.
Nobody had more at stake at Alito's nomination than the 52 percent of the U.S. population who happen to be women. We lost that battle. Hell, we've lost MOST battles - the ERA among the most prominent. But we sure as hell haven't given up.
We have a two-party system. It stinks to high heaven and I'd MUCH rather have a parlimentary system along the lines of the Brits. Forces political parties to compromise. But we go to the polls (or hang freeway banners) with the parties we have, not the parties we want. (Don't start with the stolen vote. I agree with you. But we can fix that with a citizen's movement towards paper ballots.)
So, if you're switching to Independent, that's fine. As long as you can vote in Democratic primaries. Because it's highly unlikely a third independent party is going to get invited to this party. So, while I am Independent in mind, body and spirit - I hold my nose (a lot) and vote for democrats come election time.
Don't get me started on the piss-poor local dems in my county. I KNOW what's wrong with the party. But we have two choices (giving up is NOT one of them): put more Dems in the Senate or put a gun to your head.