Sept. 11 -- a very bad day

Sept. 11 is black memory for the U.S. This bad-day karma hovers over Chile, too. On this day in 1973, a coup, led by Augusto Pinochet, overthrew democratically elected Salvador Allende (Marxist). During Pinochet's dictatorship, Chile's human rights record was despicable. Thousands were murdered, tortured and 'disappeared.'

From the BBC's this day in history:

1973: President overthrown in Chile coup
President Salvador Allende of Chile, the world's first democratically-elected Marxist head of state, has died in a revolt led by army leaders.

One report says the 64-year-old leader committed suicide rather than surrender to the commanders of the armed forces and the paramilitary police.

Pinochet's obituary. Amnesty International's report on Pinochet.

Rock on UDHR!

Human Rights 2.0. There's a blog and a twitter feed on human rights violations and blogging. Hooray! You are so not persecuting people for speech undetected! Web speech is also protected speech, even if you don't agree.

Article 19, Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Take that, despots!

Committtee to Protect Bloggers blog
Committee to Protect Bloggers on Twitter

Found via a comment by Curt on Web Strategy by Jeremiah

Hypocrisy

Look at the proud, middle-aged white guys surrounding the president. Such hypocrites. "Right to life" is just for pre-birth I guess. Once you're out of the womb, the government can do anything to you.

Bush signs law authorizing harsh interrogation

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush signed a law on Tuesday authorizing tough interrogation and prosecution of terrorism suspects and took an indirect, election-year swipe at Democrats who opposed the legislation.

Bush, trying to help Republicans maintain control of the U.S. Congress by emphasizing national security, called the Military Commissions Act of 2006 "one of the most important pieces of legislation in the war on terror."

Human rights groups charge that the measure would allow harsh techniques bordering on torture, such as sleep deprivation and induced hypothermia...

The American Civil Liberties Union expressed outrage, calling the new law "one of the worst civil liberties measures ever enacted in American history."

"Nothing separates America more from our enemies than our commitment to fairness and the rule of law, but the bill signed today is an historic break because it turns Guantanamo Bay and other U.S. facilities into legal no-man's-lands," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero.

No torture, no secret prisons!

I've been writing letters to dictators and despots for years asking them to stop torturing, stop hiding people in jails. I knew the U.S. was up to plenty of nasties. I never would have guessed this.

Go to Amnesty International's page and sign the petition! Send it to your friends! Bother your elected officials! And vote on Nov. 7!

While you're at AI's site, write a letter to the president of Indonesia. For peacefully raising a flag, Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage may spend the next decade or more in prison. Need some back up for your letter? Check out the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, see 18-20 in particular. 30 Articles in the document and their all ours baby!