Guantanamo Bay Petition

Hello Funny One here. Today I’ve drawn a picture of funny one at gitmo. Here’s a link for the petition.

http://www.change.org/petitions/president-obama-close-detention-facility-at-guantanamo-bay-3?utm_source=supporter_message&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=petition_message_notice

Prisoners released from the Guantanamo bay camp have said that there was mistreatment of religion including flushing the Quran down the toilet, defacing the Quran, writing things on the Quran, tearing pages out of the Quran and denying copies of the Quran to the detainees.

Three British Muslim prisoners, “Tipton Three”, have said that there was ongoing torture, sexual degradation, forced drugging and religious persecution being committed by U.S. forces at Guantánamo Bay.

The former Guantanamo detainee Mehdi Ghezali was freed without charge on 9 July 2004, after two and a half years imprisonment. Ghezali has said that he was the victim of repeated torture. Omar Deghayes said he was blinded by pepper spray during his detention. Juma Al Dossary said he was interrogated hundreds of times, beaten, tortured with broken glass, barbed wire, burning cigarettes and sexual assaults. David Hicks also said he was tortured and mistreated in Guantánamo Bay, this included sensory deprivation, stress positions, having his head slammed into concrete, routine sleep deprivation and forced drug injections.

Hunger-striking detainees have said that guards were force feeding them in the fall of 2005: “Detainees said large feeding tubes were forcibly shoved up their noses and down into their stomachs, with guards using the same tubes from one patient to another. The detainees say no sedatives were provided during these procedures, which they allege took place in front of U.S. physicians, including the head of the prison hospital.” “A hunger striking detainee at Guantánamo Bay wants a judge to order the removal of his feeding tube so he can be allowed to die, one of his lawyers has said.” Within a few weeks, the Department of Defense “extended an invitation to United Nations Special Rapporteurs to visit detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station.” This was rejected by the U.N. because of the DOD restrictions: “that the three human rights officials invited to Guantánamo Bay wouldn’t be allowed to conduct private interviews” with the prisoners.

In 2005, it was reported that sexual methods were used by female interrogators to break Muslim prisoners.

Despair at extended imprisonment without trial and vagueness of their futures led prisoners to start a widespread hunger strike in May 2013. They are being force fed. During the month of Ramadan that year, the US military claimed that the amount of detainees on hunger strike had dropped from 106 to 81. But according to defense attorney Clive Stafford Smith, “The military are cheating on the numbers as usual. Some detainees are taking a token amount of food as part of the traditional breaking of the fast at the end of each day in Ramadan, so that is now conveniently allowing them to be counted as not striking.”

Many of the released prisoners have complained of persistent beatings, sleep deprivation, prolonged constraint in uncomfortable positions, prolonged hooding, sexual and cultural humiliation, forced injections and other physical and psychological maltreatment during their detention in Camp Delta.

Mohammed al-Qahtani, nicknamed the “20th hijacker of 9/11” was refused entry at Orlando, Florida Airport. That stopped him from his plan to take part in the 9/11 attacks. During his Guantánamo interrogations he was given 3 1/2 bags IV fluid and then he was forbidden to use the toilet and forcing him to soil himself. Some accounts of the treatment that he received are as follows: Water is poured over the detainee. Interrogations start at Midnight and it last 12 hours. When he falls asleep he is then woken up by American pop music and water. Female personnel tries to humiliate and upset him, which is successful. A military dog is used to intimidate him. The soldiers would play the American anthem and force him to salute. They stick pictures of 9/11 victims to him. He is forced to bark like a dog. His beard and hair are shaved. He is stripped nude. Fake menstrual blood is smeared at him and he is forced to wear a women’s bra. Some of the abuses were documented in 2005, when the Interrogation Log of al-Qathani “Detainee 063” was partially published.

The book, Inside the Wire by Erik Saar and Viveca Novak, claims the abuse of prisoners. Saar, a former U.S. soldier at Guantánamo, repeated allegations that a female interrogator ridiculed prisoners sexually and in one occasion wiped what seemed to be menstrual blood on the detainee. Other instances of beatings by the immediate reaction force (IRF) have been reported in the book.

In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in June 2005, Dick Cheney defended the treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo:
“There isn’t any other nation in the world that would treat people who were determined to kill Americans the way we’re treating these people. They’re living in the tropics. They’re well fed. They’ve got everything they could possibly want.”

Former President Jimmy Carter criticized the methods used to obtain confessions: “…some of the few being tried (only in military courts) have been tortured by waterboarding more than 100 times or intimidated with semiautomatic weapons, power drills or threats to sexually assault their mothers. Astoundingly, these facts cannot be used as a defense by the accused, because the government claims they occurred under the cover of “national security”.

It’s disgusting that they defaced the Quran. That’s a holy book. I am offended by this and also if someone were to deface the bible. That happened in Glasgow, Scotland in 2009. It was at an art exhibition. Here’s a link to a news article so you can see it.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1201568/Art-exhibition-encourages-visitors-deface-Bible.html

Also I’m of course against torture. It doesn’t matter what religion a person is, you shouldn’t torture them. It’s never right. Dick Cheney claims that, “They’ve got everything they could possibly want.” What? Being blinded by pepper spray, beaten, tortured with broken glass, barbed wire, burning cigarettes, sleep deprivation, prolonged hooding, sexual and cultural humiliation, forced injections, being stripped nude, intimidated with semiautomatic weapons, power drills or threats to sexually assault their mothers. But it’s ok because Dick Cheney says so. But let’s not forget who opened Guantanamo Bay Detention. That was George W. Bush.

Anyways, I’ll be saying my prayer for all affected by prison.

The Prisoners Week Prayer

Lord, you offer freedom to all people.
We pray for those who are held in prison.
Break the bonds of fear and isolation that exist.
Support with your love: prisoners, their families and friends,
prison staff, chaplains and all who care.
Heal those who have been wounded by the activities of others,
especially the victims of crime.
Help us to forgive one another, to act justly, to love mercy,
and walk humbly together with Christ
in his strength and in his Spirit,
now and every day.
Amen.

funnyone - guantanamo bay

New York is One in a Million

Hello, it’s the Funny One here. Today it’s the last state, New York. I have no idea what I’ll do now. The picture is of me dressed like the Statue of Liberty. Me and my sister went there last year. I got vertigo while climbing up it. You can buy tickets in advance on their website or in person at the box office near the ferry departure points. Here’s the website: http://www.statueoflibertytickets.com/ There are also Liberty Helicopters Sightseeing Tours. The Big Apple tour is 15 minutes or you can go on the NY tour which is 20 minutes. It costs $30.00 per person.

We saw the Empire State Building, We didn’t actually go in but we did walk past it and got some photos taken of it. It has two observatories, and an open air terrace on the 86th floor that contains an indoor viewing gallery for chillier days. Outside, they have high-powered binoculars so you’ll get a great view of the city. The other Observatory is on the 102nd floor. It’s the highest public point in New York City. Maybe one day I’ll get over my vertigo and go.

Like I said in my first blog, me and my sister went on the tour of the NBC building. It was amazing. The staff there were making jokes. It must be really fun to work there. I hope that one day I’m lucky enough to be on Saturday Night Live. I love it! We also saw the Radio City Music Hall. We didn’t go in but we went to a shop that’s opposite it (and, yes, we got photos!)They do have a tour of the building where you can see the theater, lounges and corridors of the most iconic theater in New York!; The Rockefeller Center, with soaring views of Top of the Rock to a backstage pass at NBC Studios, every tour at Rockefeller Center will bring you inside and behind-the-scenes of to some of the city’s most beloved treasures. Rock n Roll baby!

On our trip, we managed to visit the FDNY Fire Zone and saw some of the tools and equipment they use. They’re so big and heavy-looking! We also tried on some firefighter jackets, too. They also have a model fire truck there and we took pictures of us in it. Now, for all you souvenir-savvy travellers, they have a gift shop (check out the HOT calendars!!!!). I couldn’t go there without getting a souvenir (a notebook and pen, for writing down all my crazy ideas!)

We also saw Times Square. It really is amazing. There was also a huge ads for The Lonely Island album Turtleneck And Chain, when we went, which was very distracting. I kept seeing that picture almost everywhere on the top of the cabs. That album was released on the last day we were there so I was lucky enough to buy it before going to the airport. Unfortunately when I returned to Scotland there was a crack on the cover. Shit! I guess that’s what you call a cracking album!!!

There’s the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. Every genre of the is represented: comic strips, animation, caricature, graphic novels, humorous illustration, anime, illustration, comic books, cartoons, political illustration, sports cartoons, computer-generated art, editorial cartoons and gag cartoons. Cool! That would be interesting to visit.

The Guggenheim Museum, from October 5th to January 23rd there will be an exhibition which focuses in-depth on Pablo Picasso’s exploration of a black-and-white palette. There are 110 works, including paintings as well as some sculptures and several works on paper. And, yes, there’s a gift shop, too! They sell cool bright Urbanears Headphones. There is also the Wright restaurant where you can have Organic Scottish Salmon Tartare Avacado and Cucumbers, Salmon Caviar and a wine. Or there is Cafe 3 where you can get a beer and a sandwich. Both sound good to me.

Staying with food there’s the Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours. The tour is 4 1/2 hours which covers pizza and Brooklyn. You’ll get award-winning Neapolitan-style pizza at Grimaldi’s under the Brooklyn Bridge, the legendary Sicilian-style pizza at L&B Spumoni Gardens in Bensonhurst. The tour includes seeing the locations from movies that were filmed in Brooklyn such as Scent of a Woman, Annie Hall and Goodfellas and many more movies.

The New York City Police Museum has a permanent multi-media exhibit that “keeps track of the extraordinary role that the NYPD played in response to September 11, 2001. There are on-camera interviews, striking photographs, and numerous Ground Zero artifacts.” The exhibit tells of the dramatic and remarkable story of New York’s Finest, through their own words from their experiences. There’s also the Hall of Heroes that honors the brave men and women who have served nobly,  placing their responsibility to the City before all other matters. Gift shop, too!

There’s the United Nations Headquarters, We didn’t go in but we did get some photos of it. There are FREE exhibits at the Visitors Lobby which feature photographic, art, and multimedia presentations by world-renowned photographers, artists and global institutions on varied topics such as climate change, human rights, malaria, children in armed conflict, plus lots more. It’s free to see these exhibits and the galleries can be viewed daily from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. You can also get a guided tour of the building (remember, the visitors’ entrance closes at 4:45 p.m.) They’ve also got a Coffee Shop, UN Bookshop, UN Gift Shop and other shops. UN-believeable!

Who wants to know where some movie locations are? I do! Did you know that some of the movie Godfather was filmed in New York? Michael Corleone and his fiancée, Kay stayed at the St. Regis Hotel. http://exclusives.stregis.com/St-Regis-New-York-Hotel-81/so.htm?PS=PS_aa_NorthNY_NorthNY_-_Google_-_BD_new_york_st_regis_Exact_110810_NAD_FM The baptism scene in the Godfather was filmed in the Old Cathedral, also was the scene in Godfather Part 3 where Michael Corleone receives an honor from the church. It was also used in a scene from Martin Scorsese’s movie Mean Streets. It was the set in the cathedral’s walled graveyard. 128 Mott Street,  New York is where Vito Corleone’s attempted assassination took place. The hotel from the movie Home Alone 2 – Lost in New York is the Plaza hotel where I’ve always wanted to stay in there ever since I first saw the movie. One day I will. http://www.theplaza.com/

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