Vital Concerns for the World: Hazaras in Mongolia, a report that uncaps a host of memories and feelings

Monday, October 31, 2011

Hazaras in Mongolia, a report that uncaps a host of memories and feelings

My good friend Hannah has sent me a link to this site. It portrays Hazaras from Afghanistan who are studying in Mongolia. For me is was a surprising treat and brought back so many memories. I am so glad to see the young women, few of whom I actually got to meet in the Hazarajat; clearly the times and the context are different. In ways difficult to explain I have a deep feeling for the Hazaras, among whom I spent the better part of two years many years ago. For this reason I will never be able to read the Kite Runner -- I break down in the first few pages; the experience brings something out of me I never knew was there. Could other anthropologists have such sentimental attachments to the people they studied? For reasons I can't explain I dearly loved the people I knew. Now I see their offspring, and I am thrilled.
[Click on the title to see what has stimulated such memories.] http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64351

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A major source of the American debt problem

Notable Concerns

"Not one has taken responsibility for the biggest foreign policy disaster in U.S. history." Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condolezza Rica, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith.
The crash of September 2008 brought the largest bankruptcies in world history, pushing more than 30 million people into unemployment and bringing many countries to the edge of insolvency. AlJazeera 10/15/11
GE, America's largest corporation, paid no taxes last year even though it made 5.1 billion dollars profit in the country [and even more outside the country] [source: same as below]
In 2009 the richest 5% held 63.5% of American wealth; the bottom 80% controlled 12.8%. [source: same as below]
Between 2000 and 2007 the richest 10% in America benefited from all of the average growth in the period. In the post WW II period the top 10% benefited from only one third of the growth, the bottom 90% benefiting from the rest of the growth. [Economic Policy Institute, cited by Bob Herbert, NYT 3/26/11]
In 2010 a "premier" investment bank paid each of its 26,000 employees an average of $370,000. [Bill Gross Pimco Investment Outlook Feb, 2011.]
In 2005, one-quarter of the corporations in America making a trillion dolars in revenue paid no taxes.
The 833% Medical Insurance Ripoff: Medicare charges 3% for service; the health insurance companies in Missouri charge 25% for services
The richest 1 percent of Americans have more net worth than the bottom 90 percent.
The richest 1 percent of Americans receive more income than the bottom 50%. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/dec/10/bernie-s/bernie-sanders-viral-speech-says-top-1$ >