] Thousands of people are responding to pleas having seen
] pictures of 12-year-old Ali Ismaeel Abbas lying in a
] hospital bed after a missile hit his family's home in the
] Diala Bridge district east of Baghdad.
]
] "Can you help get my arms back? Do you think the doctors
] can get me another pair of hands?" Ali, who wanted to
] become a doctor, had asked from Baghdad's Kindi Hospital.
] (Full story)
]
] "If I don't get a pair of hands, I will commit suicide,"
] he told a Reuters reporter.

At first when I read this, I thought that anyone who would say such a thing ("if I don't get a pair of hands, I will commit suicide") must be crazy, but then I got to thinking about it. How would I feel if I were missing limbs? Missing one, I could maybe live with. And of course, living in the good ol' US of A, I could get the medical treatment necessary to get, say, a prosthetic limb. Also, I have education and skills enough that I could get and maintain a job.. maybe not my current one if I couldn't type (actually my union would find me a job. woohoo!), but I could probably get the training to be able to learn to type again. But imagine being this child... imagine having NO hands, and living in Iraq.. what are his chances to live a normal life? (hell, after this war is over, what are his chances of living a normal life even if he hadn't lost most of his family and his arms?) Practically none. So after thinking of all this, I can see the poor boy's plight. I'd probably see no reason to go on either.

Think about how many children are facing/will be facing this same issue.

Yes, we may get the dictator out of power, and yes, Ali and all the others will never have to worry about chemical baths and electrocution again, but will his society ever be able to accept him? Not all countries are tolerant of people who are disfigured.

I'd probably want to kill myself too.

Ali's plea prompts huge response

] Music alive in Waretown
]
] I enjoyed your "Day in the Life" section about Waretown,
] but was disappointed there was no reference to the Albert
] Music Hall. My husband and I recently discovered the
] music hall after seeing a reference to it in the Datebook
] feature of the Asbury Park Press. What a delight.
]
] Who would have thought that New Jersey has such a
] valuable resource -- its own Pine Barrens blue grass
] music. We felt as if we were in the hills of West
] Virginia or North Carolina enjoying a good-old-fashioned,
] foot-tapping hoedown. Banjos, fiddles and acoustic
] guitars -- no ear-splitting sounds, no pyrotechnics, no
] ghoulish stage makeup. Just down-to-earth,
] good-old-fashioned music, performed by accomplished
] musicians. What a treat to the ear.
]
] It's a great way to spend a Saturday evening with the
] family.
]
] Liz Olexsak
]
] FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP

Letter to the Editor

] UConn is the national champion of women's basketball for
] the second straight season and for the third time in four
] years.
]
] UConn 73, Tennessee 68.

GO UCONN!!!!!!!

] Here's how you know the Tennessee-Connecticut women's
] basketball rivalry is something big: Almost all the
] participants spend a lot of time sidestepping the
] question of how big it is.
]
] Though they represent the two most decorated programs in
] the sport and between them will have won six of the past
] eight national championships after tonight's NCAA title
] game, the players and coaches on both sides say they are
] simply two teams who tend to play each other a lot.

NCAA WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT Connecticut, Tennessee are teams that need no introduction

] An expert on the health effects of cannabis says that
] there is growing evidence that the drug is responsible
] for mental health problems.
]
] Professor John Henry, a consultant in toxicology from St
] Mary's Hospital in London, told the BBC that studies from
] Sweden and elsewhere pointed to an increase in
] schizophrenia among regular cannabis smokers.

Cannabis 'damages mental health'

] Mac-Users from all over the world send pictures of their
] apple cars (German: Apfelautos). The Apfelautos can be admired in the gallery

www.apfelautos.com

] A musical concert featuring volunteer performers will be
] held later this month to raise money for the victims and
] survivors of the West Warwick nightclub fire, officials
] announced Thursday.
]
] The April 22 concert will feature performances from at
] least 15 acts ranging from church groups to Southern rock
] bands. It will be held at the Providence Performing Arts
] Center, which has offered use of its venue free of
] charge. Tickets prices are $35, $45 and $50.

Boston.com / Latest News / Northeast / Benefit concert April 22 for nightclub fire victims

] Following through on a threat to sue illegal
] file-swappers at universities nationwide, the Recording
] Industry Association of America (RIAA) has slapped four
] lawsuits against operators of what it described as
] "Napster-like internal campus networks" that aid in the
] theft of copyrighted songs.
]
] Just months after seeking the cooperation of college
] administrators and sysadmins to eliminate the
] peer-to-peer networks from campuses, the association
] filed suits against two individuals from the Rensselaer
] Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and file-sharing operators at
] Princeton University, and Michigan Technological
] University.
]
] The student operators were identified as Daniel Peng of
] Princeton, Joseph Nievelt at Michigan Technological
] University and Jesse Jordan and Aaron Sherman from
] Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, which is based in New
] York. The RIAA is seeking damages of $150,000 per song
] traded on the networks.

RIAA Sues College File-Swappers

Google H4x0r

Google H4x0r

] What started as an April Fool's joke involving bad
] grammar landed seven people in jail Tuesday.
]
] Sturgis police arrested seven Sturgis men for placing
] more than 20 threatening letters on various businesses,
] schools, banks and at the post office. At least 12 signs
] were posted Monday morning. Another 20 were put up
] Tuesday evening, according to Sturgis police.
]
] The letters all read "All your base are belong to us and
] you have no chance to survive, make your time."

'All Your Base' Signs Land Seven in Court