June 2000
06/16: Tara Lopez; Valencia, CA
06/18: Kelly Clow; Camarillo, CA
I know I have to be forgetting someone!
June's thoughts on May
I think you spend cinco de mayo in the United States, wonder why you decided to party there when you know very well that you should have been in Mexico. I guess that is why June is around, sort of a do-over. At least a warm up for the party that represents summer in this part of the world. I think July 4th would be all the better in Mexico. Now that is something to consider!!.
SILVER: Goes to Suzanne Hackman and Julia Langfelder as they escaped the tight grip of their former (key word) employer. Salud!
BRONZE: Dan Reece for somehow fitting a week long vacation in the same month as his trip to Germany and other parts of Europe. That gets some type of medal.
>>Since the Taliban took power in 1996 in Afghanistan, women have lived in a constant state of fear. One woman was beaten to death by an angry mob for accidentally exposing her arm while she was driving. Another was stoned to death for trying to leave the country with a male who was not her relative. Women are not allowed to work or go out in public without a male relative.
The situation before 1996 was never this extreme. Professional woman -- teachers, lawyers, artists, and translators -- are now restricted to their homes completely dependent and in constant fear of men.
Depression is now to be considered at emergency levels. In a restricted society, the suicide rate is impossible to gauge but relief workers claim it to be extraordinarily high. Since health care for women is poor or non-existent, women die of basic and common infections or viruses.
If the United States can claim humanitarian intervention in Kosovo, there is no reason to ignore this. Custom and culture do not supercede basic humanitarian rights. Take five minutes, find your local phone book, and contact your congressional representative and explain this is intolerable.<<