It seems only right that we should keep track of all the bloggers who contribute to the show. We’ll keep adding to page as we go along. All blogs are being updated and relevant to WHYS when we list them, but of course we can’t be sure what becomes of them over time.
10 April 2008
Dan Harris, a lawyer in Seattle who blags at www.chinalawblog.com, and Anna Chen from Madam Miaow says … joined us (and others) to answer the question Do you want your leader to go to the Olympics?
7 April 2008
Agostinho in Kingston, Jamaica is a regular WHYS listener and writes this blog.
Mwesigye is a WHYS listener in Kampala and write his Tales from Abyssinia blog.
14 March 2008
Betsy Hart author of: It Takes a Parent, and talk show host in Chicago joined us to talk about: What is the best way to prevent STDs?
11 March 2008
WHYS listener Kihumuro is in Uganda and blogging here.27 February 2008
Kirsten from motherhooduncensored.com and Raye from the Bad Mother Chronicles who blogs at Raising Maine joined us to talk about the myths of motherhood.
25 February 2008
Kevin is a journalist who we met in Takoradi in Ghana. He writes the Talkaloti blog.22 February 2008Lubna in Baghdad has started a blog called Untold Stories.
18 February 2008
Carol Platt Liebau from LA appeared on our programme about whether kids should take responsibility for their anti-social behaviour. Here’s her blog
14 February 2008
Meg writes on the Beijing Olympic Fan blog. She’s been on the programme a few times talking about issues surrounding China and the 2008 Olympics.
Anna is a stand-up commediene based here in London and writes on the Madam Meow Blog and will be updating it with reviews of any China related television and radio coverage between now and the Olympics.
13 February 2008
Abdelilah in Morocco writes ‘Regular Comments Based on Issues Raised by BBC WHYS’
Craig in Brisbane took part in our programme about pain, he writes ‘The Mindfulness Blog’.
8 February 2008
Maria in LA writes ‘Musings of the Sweetpea of Darkness’
30 January 2008
Jerrynguwa’s Weblog: Set the world on the other side. A Kenyan perspective.
Will Rhodes’ Oh for the love of free time
Ken in Cleveland’s Mediocrity of Life
25 January 2008
John in the UK blogs as Jailhouselawyer on http://prisonersvoice.blogspot.com/
Jane in the UK blogged about how she didn’t get on the insanity and murder programme at Gemmak.
10 January 2008
Sebastian Blanco from Auto Blog Green joined us to talk about Tata’s 1 Lakh car in India, and had so much to say he had to write it down.
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What can American Democracy give Africa - ongoing discussion
I’ve met many Africans here in Europe whose only goal it is to get to America because they believe only there do blacks have a real chance. I believe many do make it and “take home” some experiences and thoughts. I also believe - as valid as much criticism might be deserved - real freedom still only really exists in America - sorry to disappoint all who would have the opposite true.
Thanks for adding my blog to the list, guys! Can I just add that I don’t stick to one particular genre re: politics - I cover many things that came to mind on that day.
My tags are ‘My thoughts, General banter, Beliefs.’
I would like to thank Lubna personally for sending me her message of how she enjoyed reading it. I hope others feel the same.
Will Rhodes.
Hi Carolyn in Berlin,
You may be right to believe that real freedom still only exist in America. But my question is do you think in 20, 30 or 50 years to come, we will still be talking about real freedom in America?
I am asking this question because I think that as the Africa collapses, more Africans will want to leave and get to the place you believe real freedom exists but when these Americans will be tired of receiving freedom seekers, trouble will occur.
So I think that instead of focussing more on America, we should ask America to sacrifice and share some of its too much powers with other nations so that people can be free and better everywhere. Empower those who suffer where they are rather than frustrating them and making them to think that getting to America is the only solution.
Reflect over this: “The wealthier you are, the less your vote counts and the poorer you are, the more your vote count”. Can this be the solution to a better world?
Health care in developing countries leaves much to be desired. Hospitals are short of modern equipments. Medicines are expensive. Poor patients resort to traditional medicine as it is cheaper.
In Morocco, the ratio of doctors is one to every 10,000 people. There are areas short of well-equipped hospital for childbirth and surgical operations. Patients have, sometimes, to travel hundreds of kilometres, to get medical check-up and diagnosis. Ironically, there are many people trained in nursing who are still unemployed. Those with training have to undergo a test for the selection of just a few of them. Some cases were registered in which there were some hospital with medical staff and no equipments as there were hospitals with medical equipments and no medical staff!
In poor countries, there can be many reasons for doctors to migrate. There are the conditions in which they work. The hospitals where they work are ill-equipped. The salary is small and the load of work is heavy. Some are sent to work in impoverished areas in their countries. There is a sense of frustration because there is little they can do to help the patients as they have no equipments to work with or hospitals are understaffed so the work is painfully carried out.
The West provides a full contrast where ambitious doctors can have the opportunity to evolve professionally and to have high living standards.
As doctors have an oath to save human lives, theoretically they should stay in their own countries to save the lives of their fellow citizens and not to migrate to the West to save the lives of those who can pay a much higher price. These doctors must have cost their country a fortune to educate them and finally they are offered to the West on a silver plate.
So what’s the compromise? As qualified doctors can’t be persuaded to stay in their poor countries while the West offers them the best opportunities, the West should work to train more doctors in poor countries and to build more hospitals. As there will a surplus of doctors in them, their recruitment won’t create a shortage in their countries. Governments should create incentives for doctors to stay at home by investing in medical projects.
Many people in poor countries die from preventable diseases. Others die from illnesses that can need simple operations. The medical staff needed is in the West enjoying prosperity. Health care is fundamental for prosperity. “Stealing” doctors from countries that badly need them is like transplanting healthy organs of a poor person in the body of a rich one to make it possible for them to survive.
There should international regulations to govern such recruitments to preserve the rights of all parties. Making health services a part of international free trade, in this age of globalisation, will just deepen the gap between the healthy North and the aching South.
Why has the cost of our EU membership risen at such a pace. Why do we not get the same return per capiter that other contributing countries receive. Why does Germany/France/Ireland get a greater return than we do. Is it down to incompetence of this goverment, that whilst we are in the grips of a slow down we are in the fast lane for the highest contribution and least return. Is it so that when this party are ousted they can rely on fat cat jobs for the boys. I have lost faith like the majority of people. My earnings are not rising as fast as my outgoings, yet Mr Brown in his wisdom [prudently] keeps on making my costs go up.
On air: Are protestors ruining the Olympics?
It’s important to understand numerous important points about these Olympics:
1. We must remember the results of the Olympics in Germany in 1936 in what happened in Auschwitz.
2. China has the highest human rights abuses in the world including the highest execution rate in the world, especially of those who innocently detained and were sentenced to death without a justified trial.
3. Athletes are being told they cannot bring religious materials with them to the Olympics, such as Bibles and Falun Gong materials.
4. Athletes are being robbed of his or her freedom of speech, opinion, and religion. For instance, Belgium athletes are being told he or she cannot voice his or her opinions regarding China’s social affairs and human rights abuses while he or she is in China. If he or she does so he or she will be banned from the Olympics. Athletes from other countries have been asked to do the same, but his or her government are refusing to bow to China’s request.
5. Various media are being refused to enter China to cover the Olympics. Media are being told what they can and cannot report. This is the first time in Olympic history this has happened to such an extreme extent. Media may not be allowed to tell the outside world the true situation of the Olympics. Therefore, the world may never know the real story of the 2008 Olympics in China.
6. The Chinese government has issued an order as a sort of “clean up of society” in preparation for the Olympics. Part of that order used to arrest and detain as many Falun Gong practitioners as possible, which also consists of an award given to those who give information leading to the arrest of a Falun Gong practitioner. Falun Gong practitioners practice a peaceful, honest, upright, and self-improvement Buddhist/Daoist belief system. These are innocent people who are thrown into torture and Manfred Nowak, the UN Rapporteur on Torture, has highlighted the extreme illegal and unusual torture of Falun Gong practitioners in China. Lately, with the increased arrests and detentions deaths of Falun Gong practitioners has drastically increased, including the death of a famous Chinese singer Yu Zhou.
7. If you are a Falun Gong practitioner and an athlete from any country you are not allowed to participate in the 2008 Olympic Games in China no matter what your level of talent is.
8. Various groups of peaceful people are being refused to attend the Olympics as spectators. Instead, some are labeled terrorists when they are nonviolent. This is just because these people do not like the Chinese Communist regime’s practices. Whether or not these people disagree with the Chinese Communist regime it doesn’t mean he or she will protest wild he or she is in China to view the Olympics.
9. The Chinese Communist Party has stepped up in its oppression of its human rights lawyers in preparation of the Olympics and has robbed its people of property rights when taking his or her land from him or her to build Olympic buildings. These people have been rendered homeless and have been given no financial compensation or assistance to find a home. This is not the Olympic spirit.
10. In all aspects surrounding the Olympics China has been successful in robbing the athletes and the people of the world of the true Olympic spirit, which contains the ability to be our selves through freedom. No person should be robbed of his or her human rights for the Olympics to take place and that has happened in China to a greater extent than it has happened ever in the history of the Olympics. The Tibetans did not stage violent protests, but rather the CCP orchestrated violent protests to change the world’s view of the Tibetan people. Rather, the Tibetan monks, the real ones, were nonviolent. In addition, there is online footage of the People’s Liberation Army shooting and killing unarmed peaceful Tibetan monk’s walking on foot towards India. Is this the human rights upon which China was awarded the Olympics?
11. If you study what Asian values are as argued by scholars you will find they tend to be positive idealistic pictures portrayed by totalitarian regimes to cover up that totalitarian regime’s sinister acts; in a sense creating lies in order to gain a greater economy from the outside world, which in the end is temporary since the desire is really complete political global control that will never last. If you read the Nine Commentaries you’ll find this is true. Therefore, protests against the Olympics in China are justified.
The Olympic torch relay and the Olympic movement should not be used to promote or protest a political ideology. These games are about unity. If the Olympics become a platform for exposing Human Rights violations to the world,it will no longer be what it was created to do. I look forward to the games in China. I feel the host nation should be respected as we would like ours to be. They should not have to worry about being embarrassed by protests no matter the cause. The P.L.O. used the Olympics to try to gain public support and understanding of their problems with regard to Israel. Their protest used and murdered Israelis athelets. I believe if the Olympics movement and torch relays are allowed be used as a political platform,it will eventually be used again to gain a world stage.
I PERSONALLY FIND IT HARD TO COMBINE POLITICS WITH SPORT.
ONE COLD FACT EXISTS: POLITICS EXISTS IN EVERY FACET OF OUR LIVES. ITS ALL AROUND US. ITS NOT SOMETHING WE CAN AVOID. EVEN A DEAD PERSON IS STILL SUBJECT TO POLITICS.
The Two Americas
Greetings from Detroit , MI, USA. I am writing to let the world know that I am ashamed of the actions of my country over the last ten years. Primarily with the Republican Party. It started in 1998 with the impeaching of President Bill Clinton, and has continued with the administration of George W. Bush, the war in Iraq, and the way he exploited our citizens for his own gain after 9/11.
The problem with America today, is that there are two Americas existing in the states at this point.
First: The America after World War II. An America where you could have a good job, and your employer would take care of you. With good health care, good benefits, and you could retire well. Higher education was easily available to anybody. And America that believes, unfortunately, that as long as we’re blowing somebody up somewhere, than all is right with the world.
Second: The America that exists now. A country taken over by crooked corporations. The weak and helpless are left to suffer. AS for jobs that could provide you a wage that could help you provide for your family, the number is rapidly dwindling . Higher education is only available to those from wealthy families.
World, please be advised that when the Americans go to the polls in November, that is the battle that is being waged.
One last thing!!! People of the world!! We must petition the United Nations to investigate the Bush administration for war crimes!!!