Asylum Street Spankers, revisited...
posted on May 24, 2008 - View this thread

Mehdi Kazemi is granted asylum in the UK. Mehdi, now 20, was studying in the UK when Parham (his boyfriend) was arrested for the crime of homosexuality by the Iranian government. Mehdi was named by his boyfriend and warned he was liable to arrest on his planned return. The UK Home Office denied him asylum [despite a thoughtful campaign by human rights campaigners] - because it was said he had overstayed his student visa and was therefore not seen as genuinely seeking asylum. So he escaped to the Netherlands. That's where it gets complicated.
posted on May 20, 2008 - View this thread

The Buffalo State Hospital is a vast complex of moldering Victorian buildings, sitting right in the middle of a residential neighborhood of Buffalo. It is also an architectural gem, not only by Buffalo standards, but for the nation as a whole. It is one of the largest and most complex commissions of New England architect H. H. Richardson, who is known for promulgating his unique, heavy looking stone Romanesque variant of the then dominant Queen Anne style. The Buffalo asylum’s grounds were planned by landscape architect (and designer of Central Park) Fredrick Law Olmsted.
posted on Oct 26, 2007 - View this thread

The Lives They Left Behind. Previously on MeFi, the Village Voice article. Related are efforts to restore cemeteries located on the grounds of old "insane asylums," creating memorials See information from Washington, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Georgia.
posted on Mar 21, 2007 - View this thread

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (née Magan) has already been mentioned in several times in Metafilter. Whether you consider her a couragous campaigner for women's rights and against Islamofascism, or a crass opportunist, there's no denying that she's some character. However, it now seems that her Becky-Sharp-ish rise to fame and power also left a similar trail of embittered ex-friends and lies that has ended up landing her in serious trouble with fellow right-winger (also previously mentioned in Metafilter) Rita Verdonk, Dutch Immigration Minister. Before feeling too sorry for Ayaan, consider that she's moving to Washington DC, where she's landed a job at the American Enterprise Institute. I'm sure she'll fit right in...
posted on May 15, 2006 - View this thread

Jihad, terrorism and asylum - in rhyme and iambic pentameter (small QT movie, some profanity) A Middle-Eastern chef and a xenophobic Northern English cook argue about war, bombs and asylum seekers - in the kind of flowing verse one might expect from Shakespeare. It's from British indie director Sally Potter and quite apposite, representing the kind of debates which are going on following the London bombings.
posted on Aug 3, 2005 - View this thread

On being sane in insane places [via]
posted on May 20, 2005 - View this thread

For young deserters, refuge is hard to find It seemed like a drastic but simple solution: a step over the border into a country that had offered sanctuary before to Americans fleeing their homeland. Instead, the growing band of US soldiers who have sought political refuge in Canada after defying orders to serve in Iraq have found themselves in a political limbo.
posted on Apr 25, 2005 - View this thread

Abas Amini is knocking on deaths door, after sewing his eyes and mouth shut to bring attention to his request for asylum. He claims if he is sent back to Iran he will be executed for his political past. This guy is hardcore, he is threatening to set himself on fire if anyone tries to force feed him.
posted on May 27, 2003 - View this thread

Welcome to Magdalene Asylums. Now a film, the Asylums were generally staffed by the Sisters of Mercy, and were found throughout Ireland and Scotland.
posted on Nov 29, 2002 - View this thread

Save your local insane asylum. When I was young and my mother would get frustrated with her brood she would merely have to say, "You are all going to send me straight to Milledgeville!" to strike terror in our souls and cause us all to behave for at least the rest of the day.
posted on Nov 9, 2002 - View this thread

China thumbs nose at Japan, sends asylum seekers on their way. A happy ending (beginning) for five North Korean asylum seekers who were dragged out of the Japanese consulate in Shenyang by Chinese police -- with more than tacit initial approval from local Japanese officials.
posted on May 22, 2002 - View this thread

Just a defacto "Nope". "Refugees" from the US seeking asylum in Canada will no longer have any hoops to jump through. The hoops are to be replaced by impenatrable legal barriers, otherwise known as "inking the deal".
posted on May 7, 2002 - View this thread

North Koreans would rather drink poison than return Refugees seek asylum at the Spanish embassy in China. "We are now at the point of such desperation and live in such fear of persecution within North Korea that we have come to the decision to risk our lives for freedom rather than passively await our doom," the group's statement said. "Some of us carry poison on our person to commit suicide if the Chinese authorities should choose once again to send us back to North Korea," the statement said.
posted on Mar 14, 2002 - View this thread

Woomera detainees sew lips together At least 58 asylum seekers have sewn their lips together during a hunger strike at the Woomera detention centre. I don't know what to think, I know we have to take precautions against letting terrorists in, but this is just awful.
posted on Jan 18, 2002 - View this thread

The Australian HMAS Manoora is taking hundreds of Afgan asylum seekers to the island of Nauru after they were rescued by a Norwegian freighter. Many Australian's supported the Government's move not to let them into the country but much of the rest of the world (and a few Australian do-gooders who took the Government to court and won) think we should let these people in.

Today on the radio I heard the mother of one of the sailors on the Manoora saying that the majority of these "refugees" cheered and celebrated when they heard the news of the WTC and Pentagon attacks. And these are the people that the do-gooders want in our free country???
posted on Sep 16, 2001 - View this thread

Online Scientology critic seeks political asylum in Canada A couple of weeks ago computer engineer Keith Henson was found guilty in California of a criminal act related to posts he made in the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology, which contained obviously comical (all right, Sophomoric) references to targeting Scientologists with a nuclear missile.

The United States. Liberty and justice for all. Oh yeah, baby.
posted on May 20, 2001 - View this thread