I picked up from today's mail, the Wilson Quarterly. This article titled "Call it Slavery" penned by John R. Miller who was the former director of the State Dept's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons leapt right out. Miller starts out with an anecdote reflecting that the State Dept. has/had little clue about current human trafficking and bonded labor in World. He narrates some interesting personal meetings with victims of human trafficking and 'slave' labor. Few astonishing statistics:

1. 80% of all slaves are women and girls subjected to human trafficking
   
2. No reliable estimates of number of people held in slave bondage in this World is available.
   
3. According to State Department there are as many 17500 slaves brought into the United States every year from many different countries. It is likely many more times trafficking are taking place within the borders of USA.
   
4. Did you know Saudi Arabia banned slavery only in 1962 and Mauritania in 1981?

The author makes the following point of difference between today's and yesterday year's slavery...

Today's slaves are not dragged off in chains, but they are just as effectively deprived of their freedom by force or threats. They are bought, sold, and leased. For years during the Bosnian civil war a sex slave auction operated in Belgrade, and many auction sites thinly disguised as sex tourism sites have functioned on the Web. Slaves may receive some pay for their work, but their wages amount to no more than the subsistence provided to people in bondage in the past. Because it is illegal, the trade is dominated by organized crime. It takes a network of workers to persuade a woman like Katya to leave her home country, to sell and transport her, and to keep her terrorized for years. Some law enforcement officials believe that the trade in humans is the third-largest source of profits for organized crime, after drugs and ­arms.

Unlike the slaves of yesterday, those of today are not captured in raids or warfare, but usually are either deceived into or in some cases willingly enter into slave status, then find themselves trapped. Yet, as in the past, the slave trade is defined by greed, sexual exploitation, beatings, and rape. Race is still a factor. In Mauritania, lighter-skinned descendants of Arab invaders sometimes ensnare darker-skinned Africans in slavery as shepherds or domestics. In India, the survivors of sex and agricultural slavery I met tended to be darker-skinned members of lower ­castes.

Miller bemoans the fact that despite no dearth of international agreements and national laws to address human trafficking and bondage labor, this World have failed in its mission to protect its most vulnerable from the grasp of this civilizational plague.

There is no dearth of multinational agreements designed to address trafficking, including the United Nations' Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (2003). But in all my travels, I never encountered a government that attributed a specific action to an international covenant. Indeed, some of the governments with the worst reputations for ­non-­enforcement, such as Mexico and Equatorial Guinea, were among the first to ratify the UN protocol. The UN's own moral authority in this area has been compromised by the fact, documented in a 2004 report to the organization by Prince Zeid Ra'ad ­al-­Hussein of Jordan, that UN peacekeeping troops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other countries have been guilty of rape and of using food and money to entice children into ­sex.

There is no substitute for solid national laws and vigorous enforcement, and obtaining both requires moral suasion from abroad and, most of all, constant effort by nongovernmental organizations in each country. Prosecutors convicted more than 3,000 slave owners and traders around the world in 2007, up from just hundreds seven years ago. But far too many countries still treat slave trading lightly. In Germany and other European nations, convicted traffickers often get only suspended sentences or probation. Near Chennai, India, I met members of three generations of a lower-caste family--a boy, his father, and his grandfather--who had been freed by the government after many years of servitude as bonded laborers, working to pay off a debt to a local businessman who ensured that the debt grew ever larger. (With their millions of victims, India and Pakistan are the great exceptions to the rule that most modern slaves travel across national borders.) Just when I was feeling pleased with the provincial government's efforts, the father pointed to the rice mill where they had toiled. It was still operating, and the owner had not been ­punished--­he was bringing in more slaves to replace those who had been ­released.

To read more about one of the continued saga of heinous crimes against humanity that the World is still seeing please see the following hyperlink.

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fu seaction=wq.essay&essay_id=459603

Wanna Help Win the November General Election..Do something..
Donate: http://donate.barackobama.com/page/contr ibute/standard?source=mainnav
Vote: http://www.registrationbyworkingassets.c om/register/?ms=sidebar&api_key=gQKG Z9xr0iTIct4XGnRHB1ALGT4
Volunteer: http://action.barackobama.com/page/s/vol unteer
Fight the Smears: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/f actcheckactioncenter
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/f ightthesmearshome/

Go to...
http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

Christian Defense Coalition: Are you **** serious? Readers, Admins, please pardon my language. I'm so upset at these rightwing loony crazies right now. I'm dumbfounded at the hate of these folks. Are these folks part of our dear country? Do they live in 21st Century? I'm sorry but can't say much. Isn't there a law against these hateful websites? I'm not linking up their hate site but linking the news that came out on the ABC weblog. Didn't McCain promise that his side would be doing a new campaign? No matter what the Republicans Conservative rightwing nutcases would have to preach racist hatred hiding behind the oft repeated slander against abortion....Next i'm expecting gay marriage, gun control et al..typical rightwing hate trash with overt and sublimal racist contents. Please read on if you care to know that these folks still exist in this country.

The Christian Defense Coalition held their anti-Obama press conference today -- "An Appeal to Catholics Regarding the 2008 Presidential Election" -- complete with the "I want you to pay for abortions" Obama-as-Uncle-Sam picture we told you about Monday as well as some other interesting material.

Such as: this image of slavery, invoked in the CDC's literature to argue that there is nothing wrong with Catholics being "single issue" voters on abortion.

Argues the CDC: "if that issue involves a fundamental right, such as the right to life for a certain group of human beings, and there is only one morally legitimate position on that issue...no faithful Catholic would vote for a candidate who, although 'personally opposed to slavery,' supported 'a white man's right to choose' to own slaves."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/ 2008/07/conservative-ch.html

Are you angry, upset, tired of this racist bullshit rearing its head over and over during election cycle and wanna make a change? I say Do Something..Take our Country Back!!!!

Donate: http://donate.barackobama.com/page/contr ibute/standard?source=mainnav
Vote: http://www.registrationbyworkingassets.c om/register/?ms=sidebar&api_key=gQKG Z9xr0iTIct4XGnRHB1ALGT4
Volunteer: http://action.barackobama.com/page/s/vol unteer
Fight the Smears: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/f actcheckactioncenter
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/f ightthesmearshome/

Fuck You CDC!!!

Go Obama!!!
http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

...is two below this one, Maryscott O'Connor's "An American Stain", and the fact that it's not on the rec list yet is a bit mind-blowing.

Go read, and recommend.

When the RBC meets on Saturday it looks like they will cut the MI and FL delegations in half (or give them half votes). I believe that this is the worst possible outcome for Barack Obama. Herewith are several reasons why Obama should support Hillary's request to have the delegations seated in full.