Spoken Movement

Ethnic riots spread in China's west; 156 killed (AP) - Yahoo! News - Yahoo! Buzz

2009-07-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

Ethnic riots spread in China's west; 156 killed (AP) - Yahoo! News - Yahoo! Buzz

"Somethings wrong with the world today, I don't know what it is. There is something wrong with our eyes. If you can judge a wiseman by the color of his skin, at least your a better man then I. We are living on the edge you can't help yourself from falling. Tell me what you think about this situation, complication, aggravation is it getting to you? Even if the sky was falling would tell me whoud you still come crawling back again? I bet you would my friend, again and again and again." Steven Tyler of Aerosmith.

He wrote this a few years ago and in my eyes it still stands true today. Just thought I'd share this with anyone who reads this. Feel free to let me know what you think.

Palin resigns as governor, leaves plans secret

2009-07-03T19:27:00.000-07:00

One of the many pictures anyone can find just by typeing her name in a search. Let us not forget the wolves please.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090704/ap_on_re_us/us_palin_resigning;_ylt=As4bGeyP2ysbaaWPsMYqhjl0fNdF

Please read the above link.

Running from her Oath and responsibility.... nothing shocking about this to me. She can't take the heat she's brought upon her-self. Guess this gives her more time to promote her book (not that I'd read it even if I got it for free!!!!) Allbeit wrong for her to run away I'd say its the best thing she's EVER done. I just hope she stays gone and we don't hear from her come 2012.

Angelina Jolie voices support for Myanmar refugees in northern Thailand camps

2009-04-24T18:04:00.000-07:00

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie has called on the Thai government to grant Myanmar refugees in northern Thailand greater freedom of movement, after spending a day listening to refugees tell of the difficulties they have faced in two decades of living in closed camps."I was saddened to meet a 21-year-old woman who was born in a refugee camp, who has never even been out of the camp and is now raising her own child in a camp," Jolie said after her visit Wednesday to Ban Mai Nai Soi camp, home to 18,111 mainly Karenni registered refugees, just three kms from the Myanmar border, near Mae Hong Son."With no foreseeable chance that these refugees will soon be able to return to Burma (Myanmar), we must find some way to help them work and become self reliant," she said.The 111,000 registered refugees who live in nine camps in northern Thailand along the Thai-Myanmar border are not allowed to venture outside the camps to work or receive higher education.In a thatched two-room house on stilts, Jolie sat down on the floor and chatted with refugee Ma Pai, a 44-year-old minority ethnic Kayan woman who has applied for resettlement to the United States.At a boarding school for orphans and children separated from their parents, Jolie listened attentively as two teenage girls – sent across the border to the refugee camp by their parents for education – told of their fears that they might have to go back to Myanmar when they finish their schooling."I hope we can work with the Thai authorities to speed up the government admissions process and that you will not be forced to go back to Burma if danger remains," Jolie said.The Thai government's Provincial Admissions Board, the only body that can grant refugee status to people fleeing fighting or persecution in Myanmar, has yet to process some 5,000 people who arrived in Mae Hong Son province in 2006 and 2007, the last time there was significant fighting in Kayah State just across the border. Throughout last year, people continued to trickle into Ban Mai Nai Soi and three other camps in the province, mostly fleeing forced labor and other human rights abuses.One 26-year-old woman, Pan Sein, told Jolie she fled her village in Kayah State last November, and took a circuitous, hazardous journey on foot that finally brought her to the camp at the beginning of January."Weren't you scared to leave your parents and come on your own?" Jolie asked."Yes, I was scared," Pan Sein replied. "It was dangerous to flee, but even more dangerous to stay in my village."Jolie's visit came at a time of worldwide attention to the large numbers of Rohingya migrants fleeing Myanmar's northern Rakhine state in rickety boats, and just after UNHCR gained access to 78 Rohingya boat people in detention in Ranong in southern Thailand."Visiting Ban Mai Nai Soi and seeing how hospitable Thailand has been to 111,000 mostly Karen and Karenni refugees over the years makes me hope that Thailand will be just as generous to the Rohingya refugees who are now arriving on their shores," Jolie said."I also hope the Rohingya situation stabilizes and their life in Myanmar improves so the people do not feel the desperate need to flee, especially considering how dangerous their journey has become," she added. "As with all people, they deserve to have their human rights respected."

Note:

This woman is so beautiful inside and out to me.

Airlift to displaced civilians in Sri Lanka

2009-04-24T17:53:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you’ve seen the news of the fierce fighting in Sri Lanka, and the mass exodus of tens of thousands of civilians from the war zone.The UN Refugee Agency has been assisting the victims of the conflict for months and - at this very moment - is preparing to ramp up its emergency support.

Plans include an airlift to Colombo of 5,000 lightweight family tents and other relief items. UNHCR’s Emergency Response Team is also being dispatched, in order to assess the needs of the victims and coordinate the life-saving operation.The urgent response follows a dramatic escalation in fighting between government forces and Tamil rebels in recent days. According to government reports, more than 100,000 people have left the conflict area since April 20. Some 35,000 had already arrived in internally displaced camps as of Friday.
Aid workers cite growing problems of malnourishment, lack of transport to move the sick to hospitals, and a shortage of medical personnel. Many families have not eaten for days.UNHCR is spearheading the international community’s efforts to provide shelter to innocent men, women, and children displaced by the conflict and is also coordinating the distribution of relief items and monitoring the security of the displaced. More to come....

Blasts kill 78 in Iraq's bloodiest day in a year

2009-04-23T14:32:00.000-07:00

BAGHDAD – Suicide bomb blasts tore through crowds waiting for food aid in central Baghdad and inside a roadside restaurant filled with Iranian pilgrims Thursday, killing at least 78 people in Iraq's deadliest day in more than a year.
The toll — at least 31 dead in Baghdad and 47 to the north in Diyala province — follows a series of high-profile attacks this month blamed on Sunni insurgents. The violence highlights potential security gaps as Iraqi forces increasingly take the lead role from U.S. forces in protecting Baghdad and key areas around the capital.
The insurgent push is still nowhere near the scale of violence in past years, but it has undermined confidence that Iraq's security gains were on solid footing at a time when the U.S. military is shifting its focus and resources to Afghanistan.
Thursday's attacks happened as American soldiers who specialize in clearing bombs from roads boarded a plane from Iraq to the Taliban heartland in southern Afghanistan, part of the largest movement of personnel and equipment between the two war fronts.
Iraqi authorities, meanwhile, say they have struck back at the heart of the insurgency: claiming they arrested one of the most wanted leaders of a militant network linked to al-Qaida.
The reported capture of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the head of the Islamic State of Iraq, could mark a setback to insurgents as they try to intensify attacks after a relative lull.
In the past, however, Iraqi officials have reported al-Baghdadi's arrest or killing, only to acknowledge later that they were wrong. The U.S. military has even said al-Baghdadi could be a fictitious character used to give an Iraqi face to an organization dominated by foreign al-Qaida fighters.
A U.S. military could not confirm the arrest, said a spokesman, 1st Lt. John A. Brimley.
In 2007, Iraq's government reported that al-Baghdadi had been killed and released photos of what it said was his body. Later, security officials said they had arrested al-Baghdadi. In both cases, the U.S. military said at the time it could not be confirmed — and the reports turned out not to be true.
The two attacks — along with a suicide blast that killed three Sunnis who joined the anti-insurgent fight north of Baghdad — made it the deadliest day in Iraq since March 8, 2008, when at least 110 people were killed.
The two main blasts Thursday carried separate messages.
The carnage in Baghdad showed insurgents were still capable of hitting the center of the capital. The devastated restaurant, to the north in Diyala province, was a reminder that the area remains an insurgent stronghold despite sustained offensives by U.S.-led forces.
Diyala — with its good roads and proximity to Baghdad — is considered a crucial gateway to the capital and a key to its security. U.S. commanders, facing a planned end of combat operations in August 2010, have dedicated increasing firepower to the region to try to cripple insurgent networks.
The Baghdad attacker hit about noon as police were distributing Iraqi Red Crescent food parcels in the central neighborhood of Karradah — an area where many shops, restaurants and nightclubs have reopened in recent months as violence ebbed.
Police officials and staff members at Ibn al-Nafis hospital said at least 31 people were killed, including eight police officers, and that at least 50 were wounded. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the death toll.
It not immediately clear who carried out the attack, but one witness said it appeared to be a woman. Women have been used in suicide bombings in Iraq, most recently during a Feb. 13 attack on Shiite pilgrims.
Muhanad Harbi, a shop owner near the blast site, said he saw a woman wearing a black robe move into the crowd. He said it appeared she detonated an explosives belt.
Shanoon Humoud, 70, sat weeping among burned food packages scattered on the ground. Her husband, her son and two grandchildren were killed in the blast.
Humoud said she was in her apartment praying when she heard the blast.
"I came down to look for my relatives who were getting the food," she said. "But I couldn't find them."
Abbas Ibrahim, a 24-year-old college student, rushed to the scene, dodging through pools of blood and wincing at the smell of scorched human flesh.
"We regret that violence has come back to Baghdad," he said.
A spokesman for the Iraqi Red Crescent, Mohammad al-Khuzaie, called the attack "a brutal assault on humanitarian activities."
"We were trying to help the widows, orphans and divorced women when the blast occurred," he said.
North of Baghdad, the target was a crowded restaurant near Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, and a popular rest stop for Iranian pilgrims traveling by road to and from Shiite shrines in southern Iraq.
At least 47 people were killed and 69 were wounded, said U.S. military spokesman Derrick Cheng. Iraqi officials gave the same death toll.
Iranian state television reported that the blast killed about 35 Iranian pilgrims and wounded 60 others. It did not elaborate and there was no immediate reaction from Iranian officials.
Iraq's Shiite-led government has close ties to Tehran and has dedicated significant security resources to protect processions during major Shiite pilgrimages.
In January, a suicide bomber mingling among Iranian pilgrims killed more than three dozen people outside a mosque in Baghdad.
___
Associated Press

Reply:

U.S. troops...stay in your protected bases, protect the flow of oil, and let the Iraqi police their own civil mess. US will need to maintain small bases in Iraq, similar to Germany and Japan after WWII to protect oil interests.

Remember when soldiers were complaining that the armor proof vehicles we sent weren't really armor proof? Thank you Don Rumsfeld for supporting the troops. Or when the shame and embarrassment of Abu Ghraib came out and 11 U.S. soldiers were either imprisoned or demoted only to find out now that the torture methods they used came directly from the White House. Poor bastards were just left twisting in the wind, thanks for supporting our troops George and Dick. Sadly, 4,000+ dead U.S. soldiers later, it comes to light that George and Dick subverted the constitution, blurred the lines of separation of duties, watered down our founding fathers' system of checks and balances and bullied and lied their way into an unjust and uncessary war.

These people in the Middle East have been fighting for thousands of years over religion horses swords & knives. A religion that allows torture, dismemberment, slaves, multiple wives, and the only ones with rights were the clerics and the rich. Now, the only way that they have upgraded is their tools of war- cell phones, computers, AK47s, rocket launchers, high speed motorized vehicles. Only their tools have changed, not their ideals.

AP source: Craigslist suspect had victims' items

2009-04-22T15:10:00.000-07:00

BOSTON – A Boston University medical student accused of robbing women who advertised erotic services on Craigslist, killing one of them, had items belonging to both victims in his apartment, a law enforcement official said Wednesday.
Philip Markoff is charged with killing a masseuse at the Marriott Copley Place hotel April 14. He is also charged in the robbery of another woman who he allegedly met at another Boston hotel four days earlier.
A law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said police found items belonging to both women in Markoff's apartment in Quincy, south of Boston. The official wasn't authorized to speak about evidence in the investigation.
The official would not confirm a report by ABC News that the items seized by police included the victims' underwear. ABC News said two unidentified law enforcement sources said Markoff appeared to be collecting underwear as "souvenirs" from his alleged victims.
ABC News did not say how Markoff took the underwear, and he has not been accused of sexually assaulting either woman. Prosecutors have said he went through the purse of the first woman he allegedly robbed.
Investigators are looking into gambling as the possible motivation. The law enforcement source said Markoff was a "frequent visitor" to Foxwoods casino in Connecticut.
Markoff, 23, is accused in the death of Julissa Brisman, 26, of New York City, a masseuse who was found dead in the doorway of her hotel room after being bashed in the head and shot three times. He's also accused of robbing and tying up another woman, and police have said there could be more victims.
Foxwoods Resort Casino, in Mashantucket, Conn., has confirmed it is cooperating with authorities investigating Markoff's gambling habits.
Markoff was arrested on Monday on Interstate 95 in Massachusetts as he and his fiancee drove to Foxwoods.
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley said he believes Markoff's original motive was robbery, but he ended up killing Brisman when she fought back.
The first woman Markoff is accused of robbing said she believes she's alive because she didn't resist.
"I just complied with everything he wanted me to do and I didn't resist him in any way and I think that's why," she said in an interview with Boston television station WCVB. "I just hope that they can put him behind bars for the rest of his life."
Prosecutors have not released her name.
The woman, 29, of Las Vegas, who also advertised as a masseuse on Craigslist, was allegedly attacked on April 10 at the Westin Copley Hotel.
She said she had identified Markoff from the surveillance photos police distributed. He was wearing the same clothing and she recognized his face, she said.
The woman said she was able to slip out of the plastic ties she was bound with about a minute after Markoff left and escape. She said she was robbed of $800 in cash, a debit card and $250 in American Express gift cards.
Markoff is also suspected in an attempted robbery in Warwick, R.I., of a woman who had posted a Craigslist ad as a stripper. She was held at gunpoint before her husband entered the hotel room and her attacker fled.
Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch said in a statement Wednesday that Warwick police have developed "promising information" about the April 16 robbery at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites.
"Although we're encouraged by the progress being made, this is a complex investigation and is going to take more time," Lynch said.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on Wednesday called on Craigslist to stop what he calls "pimping and prostitution in plain sight." He asked the site to immediately eliminate photographs in the "erotic services" section, hire staff to screen images and ads that violate the site's terms of service and fine those who violate those terms.
Craigslist representatives did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
A wake for Brisman was scheduled at a New York City funeral home on Wednesday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Reply:
We always hear this about serial killers...they are meek and mild, everyone they know says they wouldn't hurt a fly, they were caring loving people, they were studying hard to be a [doctor, lawyer, teacher, etc], they were good with children, they did volunteer work, it's always the same. Same as it ever was.
If the women who posted erotic things on craigslist, which is also illegal, did not do this then they would not have been robbed, or in one case killed. I am not taking this guy's side but I am saying craigslist needs to do something about this and pull the plug on the sexual part of their site. They are partly at fault as I see it. No they didn't do this but they didn't do anything to help stop it after many reports of all types of sexual abuse and etc. had been reported. I for one will not use their site EVER. I understand that there are other ways to post ad's for these people but why make it easier?

Red Cross: Sri Lankans in 'catastrophic' situation

2009-04-21T15:39:00.000-07:00

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Tens of thousands of civilians trapped in Sri Lanka's northern war zone face a "catastrophic" situation, the Red Cross said Tuesday, amid fears a final assault against the Tamil Tiger rebels would lead to a dramatic rise in casualties.
The U.N. and others have called for a negotiated truce to allow civilians to leave the rebel-held coastal strip — and the government says more than 52,000 had escaped since Monday.
But it has refused to heed those international pleas to halt the fighting, saying it is on the verge of crushing the separatists and putting an end to the 25-year-old war.
The United Nations estimated more than 4,500 civilians have been killed in the past three months.
The rebels said more than 1,000 civilians died Monday in a government raid, while the government said it rescued thousands after they broke through a barrier built by the insurgents that protects their last stronghold.
Human rights groups say the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are holding many people in the enclave against their will and using them as human shields. Those groups have also accused the government of indiscriminate shelling in the region. Both sides deny the allegations.
Thousands of civilians also fled in packed small boats, and they were picked up by navy patrols and transported to camps where Tamils who have escaped the war are being held. More than 2,000 people in about 100 boats were picked up Monday.
The Red Cross said about 50,000 civilians were still stranded, while Human Rights Watch put the number between 50,000 and 100,000.
A worker for Doctors Without Borders said hundreds of wounded were arriving at her hospital in Vavuniya, south of the war zone, in government-arranged buses, and some had died en route. The hospital is overcrowded with 1,200 people being accommodated in a facility with only 400 beds, said mental health officer Karen Stewart, according to a statement from the aid group.
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres was concerned about the "dramatic situation" for civilians still in the war zone, said commission spokesman Ron Redmond.
"There are innocent civilians — women and children — caught in the middle of the conflict ... so the high commissioner is saying there should be a pause in the hostilities and the LTTE should allow civilians to leave," Redmond said.
Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara denied that 1,000 civilians died, saying 17 civilians were killed Monday by rebel shelling and by three suicide bombers.
"Our troops are rescuing the trapped civilians. It's the LTTE which is preventing civilians from fleeing," Nanayakkara said.
It was impossible to get independent accounts of casualties because journalists are restricted from the war zone.
The number of fleeing civilians made it clear that the government had vastly underestimated how many people were caught in the fighting.
"Both sides need to show far greater concern for civilians, or many more civilians will die," said Brad Adams, Asia director for the New York-based group Human Rights Watch.
A final government offensive "could lead to a dramatic increase in the number of civilian casualties," the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
"The situation is nothing short of catastrophic. Ongoing fighting has killed or wounded hundreds of civilians who have only minimal access to medical care," said Red Cross operations director Pierre Kraehenbuehl. "I cannot remember ... as much concentrated pain and exposure to violence with very, very minimal possibilities to reach anywhere that could be called safe."
The U.N. Children's Fund South Asia director Daniel Toole said he was worried about the safety of children still in the war zone because "our greatest fear is that the worst is yet to come."
The military spokesman said there was no fighting Tuesday evening, adding that it avoids using heavy, long-range weapons.
Nanayakkara said 39,081 civilians fled the war zone Monday, the most in a single day, and at least 13,000 people crossed over Tuesday, with the stream continuing.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the U.S. was pleased so many civilians had fled, but he remained concerned about what he called credible reports of increasing casualties and indiscriminate firing on civilians by rebel forces.
Encouraged by the exodus, the government Monday asked the rebels to surrender within 24 hours, warning of a final assault if they failed. The ultimatum expired at noon (2:30 a.m. EDT) Tuesday without a response from the rebels.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa rejected a call by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for a pause in the fighting, his office said Tuesday.
The president's office said in a statement that Rajapaksa deemed a pause "unnecessary" considering the "unexpected exodus of civilians" when the two leaders had spoken by phone Monday.
Red Cross spokeswoman Sarasi Wijeratne said the organization could not confirm or deny the figures quoted by the military. According to figures received by the Red Cross, 11,000 people crossed the front lines Monday and another 5,000 came Tuesday, she said.
The U.N. refugee agency said it is ready to provide shelter and aid to tens of thousands of displaced civilians.
Redmond said the UNHCR was working with the government to make more land available for displacement camps because existing sites were overcrowded, he said.
The rebels have fought since 1983 for an independent state for Sri Lanka's ethnic minority Tamils. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the years of violence.
___
Associated Press

Reply:

It is good that a dead line is given because otherwise, how long we would or should wait before capture the remaining heart of the LTTE terrorists in the remaining part of Sri Lanka. I encourage many people live around globe that LTTE's final moments approaching and do not be afraid to stand up and help to eliminate without being fooled and helping LTTE and other organizations May the freedom come all sides. May the terrorism ends, May thriple jem bless Sri Lanka and civilians.

An UAV footage from an unmanned aerial vehicle was shown during the exodus of the 35000 Civilians yesterday escaping the clutches of the LTTE and this was shown to the Diplomats and Journalists.The claim of the LTTE in their email is incorrect that the Army killed 1000 civilians.There is no truth in the LTTE claim.The civilians who escaped have exposed the brutality of the LTTE and can be questioned by any journalist.

Do not expect the United Nations to intervene. A sad commentary on the times we live in. U S media is more interested in first family's new pet named Bo than many who protested new taxes and policies that could cost our grandchildren their right to live the American Dream.

When the media uses the word REBELS, it always makes them sound like the bad guys, like all of the are REBELS WITHOUT A CAUSE. Rebellion exists because too many in power ingratiate themselves and their clan, or group at the expense of others. If we treated others like we are selves wanted to be treated there would be no cause for rebellion. So when will those who can make a difference find real solutions to the inequities that have been created and are getting worse as statistics bear out. No wonder murderous rebellion is everywhere.

I just think that this is awful for the civilians; they should not be caught up in such a battle. I would like to see this war end and the civilians get back to a normal life. Why should a person have to try to flee the only home he or she has known just to be safe?

Med student held without bail in Craigslist death

2009-04-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

BOSTON – Prosecutors said Tuesday they found a semiautomatic weapon at the home of a Boston medical student who has been ordered held without bail on charges he shot to death a masseuse he had lured to a hotel through Craigslist. Philip Markoff said nothing during the brief hearing in Boston Municipal Court.
Authorities said they followed a computer trail to Markoff, linking an account used to set up appointments on Craigslist with two women who were attacked to his address in Quincy.
They say a search of his home found the gun, ammunition and materials exactly matching those used in an attack on another masseuse in a Boston hotel.
Markoff is charged with murder in the death of Julissa Brisman of New York City and kidnapping and armed robbery in the other assault.
The second-year Boston University medical student lives with his fiance, who claims police have the wrong man.
"He could not hurt a fly," Megan McAllister said in an e-mail to ABC's "Good Morning America. "All I have to say is Philip is a beautiful person, inside and out," she said in the e-mail read on Tuesday's program.
Markoff's attorney, John Salsberg, did not immediately comment.
Authorities have said there could be more victims.
"Our top priority is holding Philip Markoff accountable. He's a predator," Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley said Monday night in announcing Markoff's arrest earlier in the day during a traffic stop south of Boston.
An e-mail message sent to McAllister via her Facebook page was not immediately returned Tuesday. The McAllister family did not respond to knocks of the door of their Little Silver, N.J. home Tuesday. Shortly after, a police officer emerged from home and said the family did not wish to speak with reporters, and asked the media respect their privacy.
Michael Bernard, who lives in Markoff's building in Quincy, was shocked to recognize his neighbor on television reports of the killing.
"He was smart, he carried himself well, he was clean, a good looking guy," said Bernard, a retired electric company worker. "He seemed like the type that would have it all. It doesn't make sense."
Authorities believe Markoff also may be connected to the attempted robbery Thursday in Warwick, R.I., of a stripper who had posted an ad on Craigslist. She was held at gunpoint before her husband entered the room and her attacker fled.
A Boston University spokeswoman said Markoff was suspended from the medical school after his arrest.
___
AP

Reply:

Remember folks Ted Bundy was a law student. Don't look thru rose colored glasses, lets wait to see how this plays out. Guilty or not it's for a jury to decide. If more women come forward and name this guy then the picture will become clearer to everyone. No one knows what is in someone's character or heart.

A person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. In this case high tech investigating has eliminated this premise. The authorities are certain they have the right man through the tactics used. They also have physical evidence. It will be difficult for this person to be proven innocent with so much evidence already against him.

Why doesn't Craiglist at least delete the sections where people can advertise "erotic services"... of course this should be illegal, it's prostitution?! It will only get worse... I don't think that Craiglist should completely be shut down, but how about eliminating the personal adds for dating and erotic services. This was bound to happen and I think Craiglist should be somewhat liable for this woman's death. There have even been problems with Human Trafficing on this site. Only the lowest of the low would let this happen on a site.

1st Post on Examiner.com for Animal Care

2009-04-12T03:04:00.000-07:00

A few tips on how to keep your pets safe and well.

Pets rely on you to protect them. Normally you should only feed your pets food and treats made for the type of pet that you have. Some human food and drink can make animals sick or worse, so keep an eye out.

Some examples:
• Alcoholic beverages
• Items containing caffeine, such as coffee,soda etc.
• Chocolate (Big no-no)
• Fatty foods
• Chicken and turkey bones (beef and pork bones normally are fine just watch them when they have one)

Here are a few odd ones that most people aren't aware of:
• Grapes and raisins
• Onions
• Macadamia nuts
• Salt and sugar
• Yeast dough
• Aspirin is especially harmful to cats
There are many other things in or around your home can cause illness or even death in your pet. Here are some more examples:
• Antifreeze
• Bait for rodents
• Batteries (they can contain corrosive fluid)
• Car care products
• Fertilizer
• Household cleaners
• Ice-melting products
• Nicotine products
• Pesticides for insects
• Plants that are toxic to pets ( see below for more information on what plants )
• Pool chemicals

For more information on what to do for a poisoned animal, what plants are poisonous visit the website on "Animal Poison Control Center."
If you suspect your pet has been poisoned and you need immediate assistance, call Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435. The nonprofit hot-line is staffed 24/7 by a team of veterinarians, including veterinary toxicologists.There is a donation fee however. Or call information for your local 24 hour emergency vet hospital.

Just make sure to take a look around your house and make it pet-safe that's what makes a good pet parent.

Marine acquitted of murder in Iraq slaying

2009-04-09T14:02:00.000-07:00

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – A military jury on Thursday acquitted a Marine sergeant on charges of murdering an unarmed detainee during battle in Fallujah, Iraq. The jury also acquitted Sgt. Ryan Weemer of dereliction of duty in the November 2004 death.
The panel of eight Marines who served in Iraq or Afghanistan got the case Wednesday and deliberated more than four hours.
Weemer, of Hindsboro, Ill., could have faced a maximum sentence of life in prison and dishonorable discharge if convicted of murder. The maximum sentence for dereliction is six months in prison and a bad conduct discharge.
In closing arguments Wednesday, a defense attorney said the 26-year-old Weemer acted in self-defense.
The prosecutor, Capt. Nicholas Gannon, recounted that Weemer said in recorded interviews that he shot the man and told a squadmate that he would have to live with that for the rest of his life.
Weemer also said in interviews that he and other Marines shot a total of four men in a house after their squad suffered its first fatality.
"I can't bring you an autopsy report," Gannon said. "I don't have one, but we have a lot of evidence that shows you beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused shot an individual in the chest twice.... The killing was unlawful."
The prosecutor told jurors they should convict Weemer of lesser charges of voluntary manslaughter or assault if they acquit him of murder.
During the one-week court-martial, the defense argued that the government could not prove Weemer killed the unarmed captive because there are no bodies, no relatives complaining of a lost loved one and no forensic evidence.
Weemer's civilian attorney, Paul Hackett, said in his closing argument that Weemer fired while he and other Marines were trying to seize a house from insurgents. He recounted testimony and statements of Weemer's squadmates that portrayed a confusing scene.
"This was chaos!" he said. "(The detainees) were not cooperating. If they're not cooperating, they're not under control. If they're not under control, they pose a threat to these Marines."
Hackett told jurors to be skeptical of a 2006 recorded interview that Weemer gave to Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents in which he describes shooting the detainee. He said one agent was an experienced interrogator who knew how to wear Weemer down.
"It is a very, very, very complicated, confusing interview," Hackett said.
Weemer told two NCIS agents that he was covered with the blood of his best friend, who had been killed by a sniper, just before his squad leader ordered him to kill the prisoner, according to a tape recording played at the court martial.
"I grabbed a gun and took him to the back of the house," Weemer, 26, said on the tape. "I shot him twice in the chest."
Weemer said he argued with his squad leader, former Sgt. Jose Luis Nazario, before complying with the order to kill the man, who was taken prisoner when Marines stormed a house on the first day of the assault on Fallujah.
"I definitely wasn't the type to disobey an order," he said.
Last August, Nazario was acquitted in Riverside federal court of killing two prisoners and ordering Weemer and another Marine to each kill one.
Another sergeant, Jermaine Nelson, has pleaded not guilty to unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty, but his court-martial has been indefinitely postponed because of a flurry of last-minute motions filed by his attorney.

REPLY: 1st I have to say read Kevin Sites book " In The Zone. One Man, One Year, Twenty Wars". Even in the 1st few chapters you will see the real side of things that have happened. 2nd at this moment I personaly know a PFC that is in jail for this same matter at hand. Difference is he wasn't the shooter, 2 other PFC's were and said they were. They also told the court that my friend did not shoot. The courts told him either plead guilty and hopefully get out in around 6-9 years or don't and plan on being there for 18- 25 years. They gave him no time to think about it. He was barely 21, scared and didn't know what to do. So he pled guilty hopeing that the truth would set him free. He's been there for over 3 years now.

He finally had a hearing and awaits the outcome. If they don't let him go he has to wait a year to file again. They bullied him into saying he did something he did not do. I know him very well, he is not a murder. Corey Clagett is his name. Look him up and you'll see what I'm talking about. He has many people pulling for him but not enough. Even Doctors, a radio DJ, an Author and many more know what I know and are trying to help him. I speak to him about once a week, I write him as much as I can. People have come and gone while he's been there. 1st saying they would support him and write him then slowly they fade away leaving him feeling even more alone. He has changed in these 3 years into someone else. He's angry (wouldn't you be?) and our hopes are that when he gets out that he can be helped to have a normal life again. There are a few of us that won't give up on him.

It makes me ill to know what has been done to him. I'll spare you the details about how they treat him (just think of how helpless you could be and can't do anything about it but just take it). I hope this reaches a few people and they too try to free a free man but hope is something that fades fast when you ask people to help in these matters. People either don't want to hear it, don't care, don't want to be bothered to do anything that might help, are to selfish and involved in their own lives to take any time to do something because they don't get anything out of it and much more. I have seen the UGLY side of humans (so many). I've also seen the good side. The good ones are out numbered 20 to 1 but those who fall in that 1 work 20 times as hard to do whats right. The blinders people wear do it by choice!!!!

South African prosecutors drop case against Zuma/Beshir personality cult grips Khartoum

2009-04-06T23:42:00.000-07:00

PRETORIA, South Africa – Prosecutors dropped their corruption case Monday against Jacob Zuma, clearing the way for him to become South Africa's next president but leaving behind questions that could haunt the next government.
Zuma, a colorful character and well-known champion of the poor, is the presidential candidate for the governing African National Congress in April 22 elections. He is almost certain to win given the party's dominance.
Hundreds of Zuma supporters reveled in the streets after prosecutors said they would not pursue — now or in the future — accusations Zuma accepted bribes to thwart an investigation into wrongdoing by a French arms company involved in a massive weapons deal in the late 1990s.
But prosecutors said the withdrawal had nothing to do with Zuma's guilt or innocence. They claimed to have a strong case, and said it was withdrawn because of prosecutorial misconduct. They noted that others could file civil cases, an option that may be pursued by opposition parties who decried Monday's announcement.
Zuma did not comment Monday, but scheduled a news conference for Tuesday in Durban, where he was to appear in court for the charges to be formally dropped.
Reactions to the decision highlighted the issues that remain as the country's fledgling democracy attempts to move forward.
Gwede Mantashe, the ANC's secretary general, called Monday's decision "a victory for the rule of law, decency and common sense," and told reporters that Zuma should now be seen as free of suspicion.
"There are no allegations" against Zuma, Mantashe said at ANC headquarters. "They have been withdrawn this morning by the people who laid the charges."
The presidential candidate for COPE, a recently formed political party that broke away from the ANC, countered saying prosecutors should have gone forward with the case.
"We still have not heard about the merits or the demerits of the case against Mr. Zuma. The South African people want to know: Is he innocent or is he guilty?" COPE's Mvume Dandala said.
Mokotedi Mpshe, acting director of public prosecutions, said Monday that key prosecutors had abused their powers by trying to time the announcement of charges against the 66-year-old former guerrilla leader to a key ANC conference in late 2007, presumably to undermine his bid to become party president.
Zuma won the leadership race at that conference, and two days later Mpshe said he had enough evidence to try Zuma. On Monday, Mpshe said he had been unaware in 2007 of attempts to manipulate the case.
"An intolerable abuse of process has occurred which requires discontinuation of the prosecution," Mpshe said at a packed news conference that was broadcast live nationwide.
Mpshe's decision came after Zuma's legal team brought him taped phone conversations between prosecutors discussing the announcement timing. It was unclear how Zuma's team obtained the recordings, but Mpshe said prosecutors determined they were authentic.
Even before Monday's decision, the accusations that Zuma had taken a $55,600 (500,000-rand) bribe to protect a French arms company had not appeared to hurt Zuma among his base — impoverished black South Africans who embrace him as a man they believe understands their struggle.
Support was not even affected by rape charges in 2006, which ended in Zuma's acquittal. In that case, he outraged AIDS activists by testifying that he had unprotected, consensual sex with the HIV-positive woman and then took a shower in the belief that it would protect him from the virus.
Monday's news was greeted with an outpouring of joy and Zuma supporters danced through the streets of downtown Johannesburg, while car horns blared and whistles shrieked. Hundreds waved ANC flags in a downtown square, dancing and singing "Bring Me My Machine Gun," the anti-apartheid song that has become Zuma's trademark.
"I'm very happy for the decision, hoping that this gives our president what he needs for us to go forward," said Victress Iwabi, an ANC town councilor. "I think under Zuma people will have decent work, free and quality education, quality health care for all. And we are going to defeat crime."
Former President Thabo Mbeki fired Zuma as his deputy because of the corruption scandal, but Zuma bounced back. The Zuma-led ANC forced Mbeki to resign as national president last September.
Prosecutors said Monday they had found no evidence Mbeki was behind the attempt to manipulate the Zuma case. But Zuma allies called for an investigation into the former president's possible involvement. Mbeki had no comment, spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said.
Adam Habib, a political analyst at the University of Johannesburg, called on Zuma to "come clean with the nation" about the corruption case.
"If he does not, not only does he taint the image of his own administration, but the image of his country as well," Habib said.
Neren Rau, chief executive of the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said investors needed to have confidence in the rule of law in South Africa, and for that the prosecutors' office "must be perceived as independent, above reproach and free of the perception that it offers political solutions."

Reply:

Zuma is a typical African Politician. He is a Murderer, has murdered entire families, He's a Rapist, and is a ruthless mobster.

How can we have someone like Jacob Zuma run a country, if he has been in court for crimnal cases. If this was anyother country, they wouldn't have a leader like this. This just shows us is that you can get away with crime.

Bashir personality cult grips Khartoum

KHARTOUM (AFP) – Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir beams from billboards, T-shirts and baseball caps as pictures of the defiant African leader wanted for war crimes in Darfur mushroom across Khartoum.
Once rare portraits of the soldier who grabbed power in a bloodless coup 20 years ago have sprouted in the capital since March 4, the day the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest.
Giant posters showing the 65-year-old leader of Africa's largest country clad in full military regalia can now be seen everywhere since the court accused him of war crimes and crimes against humanity in war-torn Darfur.
And with general and presidential elections due in February 2010, it appears that Bashir has finally succumbed to the traditional temptation of presidential iconography as he bids for political survival.
Since early last month, Bashir has been on the warpath to rally support against the ICC warrant -- the first ever to target a sitting head of state.
He has delivered fiery speeches, made multiple television appearances, gone on trips to the four corners of Sudan and also travelled abroad several times in clear defiance of the international court.
Pictures of the president accompanied by the slogan "All with you, Bashir" are distributed at rallies to which ordinary citizens and supporters of his National Congress Party (NCP) are bused in.
Bashir, who often punctuates his speeches by jabbing the air with his trademark walking stick and doing a little dance, has addressed Darfuris, soldiers, tribal chiefs and even donned a traditional feathered headpiece of Southern Sudanese chiefs.
He began this furious pace more akin to that of a campaigning candidate even before Sudan formally announced on April 2 that it will stage its first general election in 24 years next February.
The elections, which will see Sudanese vote for both their president and the national assembly, will be crucial to Beshir's political future.
"The electoral process starts this April and will finish in February 2010," Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, deputy head of the electoral commission, told AFP.
Under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended Sudan's decades-long civil war between north and south, the elections should have taken place this year. But they were postponed over delays in census results.
"The president is not campaigning for the next elections. What you see is a response to the decision by the ICC," Mandoor al-Mahdi, NCP political secretary, told AFP.
"But the ICC has created a situation which has made the president more popular... and we feel that the conditions are more favourable than before" for his re-election, Mahdi added.
A defiant Bashir recently even went as far as "thanking" the ICC for accusing him, since the court's move enabled him to bolster his support base.
Sudan does not recognise the ICC and refuses to hand over its citizens, but this policy could change under a new government.
"They (the NCP) would like a quick election and a quick victory" in order to cement Beshir's position after the ICC decision, said one Western diplomat who asked to remain anonymous.
But he also added that despite mass rallies in support of the president, "they would have to cheat to win the elections."
The last general election in April 1986 saw a victory for the Umma party of Sadiq al-Mehdi, whose three-year-old democratically elected government was overthrown in the 1989 coup that brought Beshir to power.
Beshir secured 87 percent of the votes in the 2000 presidential election, which were considered a farce by opposition parties despite promises by the president of "free elections."
In next year's polls, the Sudanese people will also vote for the head of the semi-autonomous south, the South Sudanese parliament and local governors.
Holding the vote in Darfur where a deadly conflict has raged since 2003 will take a great deal of "political will" amid great insecurity, according to a study published last month by the United States Institute of Peace.
The ICC accuses Beshir of criminal responsibility for "exterminating, raping and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians" in Darfur, where the United Nations says the conflict has cost 300,000 lives.
Sudan puts the death toll from the six-year war at 10,000.
Sudan analyst Alex de Waal has described Beshir, who joined the military at a young age, as "intensely proud."
"When he feels humiliated, he is prone to angry outbursts marked by extreme rhetorical excess. His language becomes replete with exhortations to avenge insult and betrayal, and crush the cowards and traitors."

Reply:

What can I say that I haven't already????

IRA dissidents burn cars, block Belfast roads

2009-03-30T14:21:00.000-07:00

DUBLIN – Suspected IRA dissidents and their supporters hijacked cars Monday in working-class Catholic areas of Northern Ireland in a coordinated effort to block roads and threaten police stations, police said.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said it was receiving a wave of reports of vehicles being hijacked by masked gunmen in several parts of Belfast and in the Kilwilkie district of Lurgan, a power base for Irish Republican Army dissidents southwest of Belfast.
Some vehicles were being set on fire in roads to disrupt traffic at rush hour, while others were abandoned near four Belfast police stations and on Northern Ireland's major motorway near Lurgan.
Police said they were treating all the abandoned vehicles as potential car bombs, although they cautioned this was unlikely. They urged motorists to avoid Kilwilkie and parts of Catholic west Belfast entirely.
Monday's upheaval came at the end of a month in which IRA dissidents shot to death two soldiers and a policeman — the first killings of British security forces since 1998, the year of Northern Ireland's peace accord.
Police said at least two cars were hijacked in Lurgan's Kilwilkie district, the power base of suspected IRA dissident Colin Duffy. Duffy, 41, was charged last week with murdering the two soldiers.
One of the hijacked cars was abandoned on the M1 motorway, which connects Belfast to Dublin, 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the south. Authorities shut part of the motorway as a precaution.
One abandoned vehicle — which police said did not contain a bomb — was left near the Stormont Parliamentary Building, the center of Northern Ireland's power-sharing government between the British Protestant majority and Irish Catholic minority.
The coalition's Protestant leader, First Minister Peter Robinson, said the rising dissident IRA threat would not spur Protestants to sever links with Sinn Fein, the IRA-linked party that represents most Catholics today.
"The criminal terrorists responsible for the series of bomb scares and hijackings are beneath contempt and have no support whatsoever in the community," Robinson said.
The hijackings and security alerts also coincided with a widespread breakdown of Belfast's traffic lights system. Police in a statement called that an "unfortunate coincidence."

From Gaza to Sudan, Ban Highlights Crises Confronting Arab World

2009-03-30T14:15:00.000-07:00

From Gaza to Sudan, Ban Highlights Crises Confronting Arab World

From The Widening Fallout of The Global Economic Crisis to The Suffering of Victims of Armed Conflict, The Arab World Faces Insecurity Today and The Potential for More Tomorrow, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon <"http://www.Un.Org/apps/news/infocus/sgspeeches/statments_full.Asp?statid=455">told The Summit of The League of Arab States in Doha Today.
"the Toll in Human Lives and Deferred Development Has Been Tragically High," He Said in His Address to The Gathering. "the Region's Large Groups of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons Continue to Live With Their Dignity Under Attack and With Little Ability to Plan for Their Futures."
mr. Ban Said He Remained Gravely Concerned About The Situation is Gaza, Which is Dealing With The Aftermath of The Three-Week Offensive Launched By Israel in Late December 2008.
"the People of Gaza are Suffering, and The Situation At The Crossings is Intolerable," He Stated, Asserting That The Way Forward is a Durable Ceasefire, Open Crossings, and Palestinian Reconciliation.
on Sudan, The Secretary-General Urged The Government Once Again to Reverse Its Decision to Expel Key International Non-Governmental Organizations (ngos), and Suspend The Work of Three National Ngos That Provide Life-Sustaining Services for More Than One Million People.
the Sudanese Government Took That Decision on 4 March, Immediately After The International Criminal Court (<"http://www.Icc-Cpi.Int/menus/icc/home">icc) Issued An Arrest Warrant for President Omar Al-Bashir, Who Was Also Present At Today's Summit in The Qatari Capital.
"despite The Efforts of Sudanese Line Ministries, UN Agencies and The Remaining Ngos, The Gaps Cannot Be Filled With Existing Capacities," Mr. Ban Noted Concerning The Humanitarian Crisis in The Western Darfur Region of The Country. "relief Efforts Should Not Become Politicized. People in Need Must Be Helped Irrespective of Political Differences."
turning to Another Hot-Spot on The Continent, He Said The Present Situation in Somalia Offers a "rare Window of Opportunity," and Urged Immediate Support for The New Government That Was Sworn in Last Month.
"those of US With Influence on The Groups Remaining Outside of The Peace Process Should Call on Them to Join for The Sake of National Reconciliation," Mr. Ban Said, Adding That More Must Also Be Done to Promote Security on The Ground, Including By Supporting The African Union Mission There (<"http://www.Africa-Union.Org/root/au/auc/departments/psc/amisom/amisom.Htm">amisom) and Somali Security Forces At An Upcoming Donor Conference.
the Secretary-General Also Highlighted The Multiple Elections Taking Place This Year in Iraq to Strengthen Democratic Representation, Advance The Political Process and Promote Stability, and Said He Looked Forward to Free and Transparent Polls on 7 June in Lebanon.
while in Doha, Mr. Ban Held Bilateral Talks Today With The Secretary-General of The League of Arab States, Amre Moussa, as Well as With The Secretary-General of The Organization of The Islamic Conference, The Foreign Minister of Norway and The President of The United Arab Emirates.
yesterday, He Held Separate Meetings With The Emir of Qatar and The Presidents of Lebanon, The Palestinian Authority, Somalia and Syria.
tomorrow The Secretary-General Will Open The International Conference on Afghanistan in The Hague, Which Will Assess The Current Political, Security and Development Issues in The South Asian Nation.source: United Nations

URGENT - Stop the killing of kangaroo babies like this.

2009-03-30T14:08:00.000-07:00

Target:
Australian Government
Sponsored by:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/feedback/439891577
Here is Australia's Dirty Secret...it is home to the largest wildlife massacre in the world. And Canberra, the nation's capitol, has earned the title, "Kangaroo Killing Capitol of the World". The title is well earned. Last year, the government massacred over 500 kangaroos on a decommissioned military base. They refused all non-lethal solutions, including relocation. This year they plan to kill 5,000 kangaroos including mothers and babies, and they plan to do it in secret because they don't want negative publicity.To learn more: http://www.kangaroolives.com/The government doesn't protect public land from cattle or horse over-grazing; the only solution the government provides is to first blame and then kill the kangaroo. All information presented to the public is confusing, and conflicting. The Australian government has shown no respect to its own national icon, the gentle kangaroo, and is "managing" Australia's native land and animals to death.Sign this petition to tell Australia's government to immediately stop this kangaroo cull, and to actively research and provide alternative solutions. Your signature and comments will be delivered via email to the Australian government.
Here is Australia's Dirty Secret...it is home to the largest wildlife massacre in the world. And Canberra, the nation's capitol, has earned the title, "Kangaroo Killing Capitol of the World". The title is well earned. Last year, the government massacred over 500 kangaroos on a decommissioned military base. They refused all non-lethal solutions, including relocation. This year they plan to kill 5,000 kangaroos including mothers and babies, and they plan to do it in secret because they don't want negative publicity.To learn more: http://www.kangaroolives.com/The government doesn't protect public land from cattle or horse over-grazing; the only solution the government provides is to first blame and then kill the kangaroo. All information presented to the public is confusing, and conflicting. The Australian government has shown no respect to its own national icon, the gentle kangaroo, and is "managing" Australia's native land and animals to death.Sign this petition to tell Australia's government to immediately stop this kangaroo cull, and to actively research and provide alternative solutions. Your signature and comments will be delivered via email to the Australian government.

U.S. deploys anti-missile ships before North Korea launch

2009-03-30T02:17:00.000-07:00

POST: 1

SEOUL (Reuters) – The United States deployed a missile-interceptor ship from South Korea on Monday, a military spokesman said, days ahead of a North Korean rocket launch widely seen as a long-range missile test that violates U.N. sanctions.
The launch presents the first significant challenge by the prickly state to U.S. President Barack Obama, who will discuss Pyongyang's intentions with global leaders including Chinese President Hu Jintao this week at the G20 summit in London.
The United States, however, has no plans to shoot down the rocket in a test seen by Washington as part of Pyongyang's goal to eventually develop an intercontinental ballistic missile, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday.
"I would say we're not prepared to do anything about it," Gates said on "Fox News Sunday" when asked if the Pentagon planned to shoot down the missile.
"If we had an aberrant missile, one that looked like it was headed for Hawaii, we might consider it," he said, adding the Pentagon does not believe North Korea can put a warhead on the missile or reach the U.S. West Coast.
U.S. Forces Korea dispatched one Aegis-equipped destroyer on Monday and plans to send another one later in the day from the South Korean port of Busan, a spokesman said without offering further details.
Local media quoted informed sources as saying the vessels with sophisticated radar will monitor the launch, which Pyongyang has said is planned for April 4-8. South Korea also plans to dispatch one of its missile intercepting destroyers closer to the launch date, officials have said.
Japan deployed two missile-intercepting vessels to waters off its west coast at the weekend and another off its Pacific coast.
The North Korean rocket is supposed to drop booster stages to the east and west of Japan. Government officials said Tokyo is poised to shoot down debris that poses a threat to its public.
PEACEFUL PURPOSE OR TEST?
North Korea has installed the completed three-stage rocket on a launch pad at its Musudan-ri missile base on the east coast but it was unclear what was at the top of the rocket, the Institute for Science and International Security said at the weekend based on an analysis of satellite imagery.
North Korea has said the launch is for the peaceful purpose of sending a satellite into orbit, while the United States, South Korea and Japan see it as a disguised test of the Taepodong-2 missile and a violation of U.N. sanctions.
The three have said they want the U.N. Security Council to punish the North for the launch but analysts see China, a veto-wielding permanent council member and the closest the North has to a major ally, blocking new sanctions and reluctant to call for tighter enforcement of existing ones.
Japan is considering tightening its unilateral sanctions on North Korea, Kyodo news agency reported. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said he opposes a military response to the launch.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Lee said he also does not want to punish Pyongyang by ending a joint business park located just north of their heavily militarized border or cutting humanitarian aid because that could hurt separate nuclear disarmament talks and Seoul's goal of peaceful unification.
"For us to go the other way, taking a harder stance, I don't think that would necessarily be helpful in achieving this ultimate objective," Lee said.
In July 2006, the only time the North tested the missile designed to carry a warhead as far as Alaska, it exploded just seconds into its flight.
North Korea is expected to start fuelling the rocket this week, starting a process experts said takes three to four days to prepare it for launch. U.S. spy satellites can watch the moves at the Musudan-ri missile base.
Weather forecasts for the area indicate rain on Saturday, the first planned day for the launch, followed by clear skies.
Investors said the impending launch has not cast much of a shadow, for now, over trading this week in Seoul.
"They will worry about that once the rocket is launched," said Kim Joong-hyun, a Goodmorning Shinhan Securities analyst.
Japan's Sankei Shimbun at the weekend said the North may also test-fire a barrage of mid-range ballistic missiles when it shoots off the rocket, as it did in 2006, but experts see that as unlikely because it could undermine Pyongyang's position.
"Such a test would be squarely contradictory to its arguments thus far that the rocket launch is for peaceful space development," said Moon Hong-sik, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul.

POST 2:
SKorea opposes military reaction to NKorean launch

SEOUL, South Korea – President Lee Myung-bak said South Korea opposes any military response to North Korea's planned launch of a rocket, while Washington's defense chief said the U.S. won't try to shoot it down.
The remarks by Lee and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates appear to reflect concerns that any tough reaction could send tensions spiking out of control at a time when the communist regime is warning that even U.N. sanctions would prompt it to quit nuclear disarmament talks.
North Korea says it will launch a communications satellite into orbit between April 4 and 8 as part of its space development program. Regional powers, however, suspect the North is using the launch to test long-range missile technology.
South Korea, the U.S. and Japan have warned the North that if it goes ahead with the launch it could face international sanctions under a 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution prohibiting ballistic activity by Pyongyang.
Pyongyang has said sanctions would violate the spirit of agreements in nuclear disarmament talks, and said it would treat the pacts as null and void if punished for exercising its right to send a satellite into space.
In an interview with the Financial Times published Monday, Lee said all countries, including China and Russia, oppose the North's plans. But Lee stressed that he is against using military means as punishment.
"What I do oppose is to militarily respond to these kind of actions," Lee said, according to a transcript of the interview released by the presidential office.
Lee also ruled out shuttering a joint industrial complex in North Korea — widely seen as a source of hard currency for the impoverished nation — as punishment. He said he does not believe "taking a harder stance" would be helpful in achieving Seoul's ultimate objective of ridding the North of nuclear programs.
In Washington, Gates said in an interview broadcast Sunday that the U.S. has no plans to try to intercept the North Korean rocket but might consider trying if an "aberrant missile" were headed to Hawaii "or something like that."
Still, Gates said the North's launch is a step toward developing an intercontinental ballistic missile that could carry a nuclear warhead, and "a mask for the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile."
Commercial satellite imagery taken Sunday by DigitalGlobe clearly shows what appears to be a three-stage launch vehicle on the launch pad in Musudan-ni on North Korea's east coast, said Tim Brown, an analyst for globalsecurity.org.
However, it remains unclear whether the rocket is a long-range Taepodong-2 intercontinental ballistic missile or a space launch vehicle designed to carry a satellite, Brown said.
He noted that the service-level swing arms appear to be rotated away from the launch vehicle.
"The loading of liquid fuel from nearby fuel storage buildings and final check-out procedures could take place in the next few days," Brown said.
On Monday, two U.S. destroyers were to depart from South Korea on a mission believed to monitor the North's rocket launch. The ships are equipped with Aegis radar, a system that enables the vessels to locate, track and shoot down missiles.
U.S. military spokesman Kim Yong-kyu said the ships would depart from the South Korean port of Busan, but declined to give details.
South Korea also plans to dispatch an Aegis-equipped destroyer off the east coast to monitor the launch.
In addition to the long-range rocket, North Korea is preparing to launch a short- or medium-range missile, a Japanese newspaper reported Sunday.
The Sankei newspaper, citing several unnamed Japanese government sources, said the North is preparing to test-launch another missile from Wonsan, about 155 miles (250 kilometers) south of Musudan-ni. It said U.S., South Korean and Japanese intelligence analyses said the missile could be short or medium range.
The report said the North may conduct another missile test if the U.N. Security Council approves sanctions against it or if it cannot wrest concessions from the United States.
Japan's Defense Ministry declined to comment on the Sankei report. South Korea's Defense Ministry and National Intelligence Service — its main spy agency — said they couldn't immediately confirm the report.

Reply:

Is this just all a game NK is playing? They will launch it then will say that future launches can be avoided for more aid, recognition and to bolster their egotistical image of themselves infront of their brainwashed people. NK knows full well that starting a war would be disasterous for them because most of their military hardware is antiquated not to mention that they dont have the resources for a prolonged war.

If the countries around North Korea don’t want to do anything then we need to just leave it alone. Stop spending the tax payer’s dollars on other people’s problems. These guys only have the technology to hurt the countries around them, not us. Also with our missile defense system we could shoot down any missile that would be shot from North Korea. Watch when they piss off the countries that are around them they will be taken care of and we won’t have to lift a finger.

America stands up for those who can't stand up for themselves???? OR do they???? This is why we are watching ( as always pretending to care), to make sure that korean bottle rocket doesn't go nuclear over Japan or some other innocent country!!! Technology just gives us more efficient ways of killing eachother and they call it advances in civilization. What a joke.

Long-delayed Khmer Rouge genocide trial opens

2009-03-30T02:06:00.000-07:00

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – A former teacher accused of carrying out the murderous policies of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge went on trial Monday, as prosecutors opened their first case against the hard-core communists who turned the country into a killing field three decades ago.
A U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal has charged Kaing Guek Eav, 66, with committing crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as torture and homicide.
The tribunal is seeking to establish responsibility for the group's brutal 1975-79 misrule of the country under Pol Pot, the group's leader who died in 1998. An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died of starvation, medical neglect, slave-like working conditions and execution under the Khmer Rouge.
"Cambodians have been waiting 30 years for the Khmer Rouge to be tried for the violence and suffering they inflicted upon the population," said Professor Alex Hinton, director of Rutgers University's Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights. "That day has arrived."
Cambodian state television and radio were broadcasting Monday's proceedings live, and 70 percent of the country's 14.3 million people were expected to tune in, Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said. The verdict at the end of the trial is also expected to be broadcast live.
The defendant stood when asked to identify himself and gave his name as, "Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch," — his nom de guerre (pronounced "Gang Geck Ee-uu" and "Doik"). He then listed other names he used while in hiding after the regime's fall.
Duch ran the Khmer Rogue's main prison, the notorious torture center known as S-21, or Tuol Sleng, in Phnom Penh. As many as 16,000 men, women and children were brutally tortured there before being sent to their deaths.
According to Duch's lengthy indictment, which was read aloud by court officials, "Every prisoner who arrived at S-21 was destined for execution."
"Interrogators used several forms of torture in order to extract confessions from prisoners," said the indictment, listing the main methods as "beating, electrocution, placing a plastic bag over the head and pouring water into the nose."
Duch has acknowledged there was also a practice of puncturing or removing finger and toenails, it said, and "at least one prisoner was force-fed excrement."
Scores of survivors traveled from around the country to witness the hearing. Among them was Svay Simon, a one-legged, 64-year-old farmer whose limb was blown off by a Khmer Rouge bomb in 1975. He lost 10 relatives, including his sister and brother, to the regime.
"I never thought I would have a chance to see Duch and sit in on this trial," he said, walking with a cane as he entered the courtroom.
Duch holds the distinction of being not only the first member of the Khmer Rouge to face trial for the regime's atrocities, but also the only one to express remorse for his role.
Duch's French lawyer, Francois Roux, said during a procedural hearing that his client wished "to ask forgiveness from the victims, but also from the Cambodian people. He will do so publicly. This is the very least he owes the victims."
Duch disappeared after the group fell from power, living under two other names. He returned to teaching and converted to Christianity before he was discovered by chance by a British journalist in the Cambodian countryside in 1999.
Since then he has been in detention awaiting trial. Technically, Duch's trial opened in February, when the judges ruled on procedural issues such as scheduling and witnesses. But Monday's hearing marks the start of its substantive phase, including the first chance for Duch to publicly tell his story and face the families of victims.
Duch methodically recorded the treatment of each prisoner in thousands of documents that were found in the compound after the fall of the Khmer Rouge in January 1979. One shows Duch's signature on a list of prisoners, with the words "Kill them all."
"It's going to be a painful process but it's a process that we believe will lead to ... a feeling that finally justice is achieved, and it will be worth experiencing this pain," Tribunal spokeswoman Helen Jarvis told The Associated Press.
Human rights groups want the number of defendants increased beyond Duch and the four senior Khmer Rouge leaders being held for trial in the next year or so.
Critics of the tribunal also charge that Cambodia's government has sought to limit its scope because other suspects are now loyal to Prime Minister Hun Sen, and to arrest them could be politically awkward.
___
Associated Press

Reply:

"Cambodians have been waiting 30 years for the Khmer Rouge to be tried for the violence and suffering they inflicted upon the population," said Prof. Alex Hinton, director of Rutgers University's Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights. "That day has arrived."What took so long? Most Cambodians don't even have a Memory of this in their Country..some still deny it even ever happened..Why the UN and War Crimes Tribunal dragged its feey for so long in bringing these criminals to justice..is just another example of how truely ineffective they are..Would it be that China as a Security counsil member had anything to do with the delay?

For Cambodia to have arrived at the point of being able to put anyone responsible on trial for the Communist period of their past is terrific...Lets trust that the current free government will not allow any of those responsible, regardless of their present status, to save themselves from the consequences of the genocide committed upon the Cambodian people in those "killing fields" of the past

N. Ireland police re-arm after killings

2009-03-29T14:29:00.000-07:00

BELFAST (AFP) – Police in parts of Northern Ireland have begun wearing flak jackets and carrying rifles for the first time in years following three high-profile killings, they said Sunday.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has returned to arming some of its officers after the fatal shootings of two British soldiers and a police officer within 48 hours of each other in early March.
"Regional commanders will decide where it is appropriate to advise patrols to carry Heckler and Koch rifles," a police spokeswoman said.
One member of a PSNI mobile patrol unit on the Foyle Bridge in Londonderry, an area northwest of the province near the border with the Republic of Ireland, said the practice had become common there.
"All patrols carrying out checkpoints like these in the city of Londonderry have at least one officer armed with a rifle and we are wearing flak jackets," he told AFP on condition of anonymity.
He added: "After the killings in Masserene (army barracks) and in Lurgan, we were told to start carrying these weapons."
The PSNI spokeswoman confirmed officers have to undergo "specialist training" to use the rifles, explaining: "No officers passing out (qualifying) in the past two years would have been trained in the use of those weapons."
Police are being re-armed only in certain areas, including Lurgan where constable Stephen Carroll was shot dead on March 9.
After the killings, Northern Ireland assembly member Ian Paisley, the son of former first minister Ian Paisley, expressed concern about a shortage of flak jackets for police officers.
"At this time of increased terrorist criminal threat it is vital that our officers feel safe and secure as they serve the community," he said.
Civil strife between the largely Catholic and Protestant communities in the British-ruled province raged for three decades before 1998 peace accords led to power-sharing.
The recent murders were claimed by dissident republicans who reject the peace process and want a united Ireland.
On Saturday, violent clashes also kicked off between rival fans attending a Northern Ireland-Poland football match in Belfast. Four men have been charged with disorderly behaviour in connection with the disturbances. There is a lot of history on the rival "fans" that many don't know about. They are more like gangs then fans. Enough said for now.
(my post on yahoo)

NKorea launch threatens to undo disarmament talks

2009-03-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea's plans to launch a rocket as early as this week in defiance of warnings threatens to undo years of fitful negotiations toward dismantling the regime's nuclear program.
The U.S., South Korea and Japan have told the North that any rocket launch — whether it's a satellite or a long-range missile — would violate a 2006 U.N. Security Council Resolution prohibiting Pyongyang from any ballistic activity, and could draw sanctions.
North Korea said sanctions would violate the spirit of disarmament agreements, and said it would treat the pacts as null and void if punished for exercising its sovereign right to send a satellite into space.
"Even a single word critical of the launch" from the Security Council will be regarded as a "blatant hostile act," a spokesman with North Korea's foreign ministry said Thursday, according the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency. "All the processes for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, which have been pushed forward so far, will be brought back to what used to be before their start and necessary strong measures will be taken."
That would be a sharp reversal from June 2008 when the North made a promising move toward disarmament, dramatically blowing up a cooling reactor at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex.
But the regime routinely backtracks on agreements, refuses to abide by international rules and wields its nuclear program like a weapon when it needs to win concessions from Washington or Seoul, analysts say.
"History has shown them that the more provocative they are, the more attention they get. The more attention they get, the more they're offered," Peter M. Beck, a Korean affairs expert who teaches at American University in Washington and Yonsei University in Seoul, said Sunday.
Despite years of negotiations and impoverished North Korea's growing need for outside help, it's clear the talks have done little to curb the regime's drive to build — and sell — its atomic arsenal, experts say.
"If this is Kim Jong Il's welcoming present to a new president, launching a missile like this and threatening to have a nuclear test, I think it says a lot about the imperviousness of this regime in North Korea to any kind of diplomatic overtures," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in an interview broadcast on "Fox News Sunday."
North Korea, a notoriously secretive country, has been challenging the international community with its atomic ambitions since 1993, when the regime briefly quit the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty amid suspicions it was secretly developing atomic weapons.
In 1994, North Korea and the U.S. worked out an agreement that promised Pyongyang oil and two light water nuclear reactors if the country would give up its nuclear ambitions. The power-generating reactors cannot be easily used to make bombs.
Four years later, North Korea fired a multistage Taepodong-1 missile over Japan and into the Pacific Ocean. The North pledged in 1999 to freeze long-range missile tests, but later threatened to restart its nuclear program and resume testing missiles amid delays in construction of the reactors.
In 2002, Pyongyang admitted to a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of the 1994 agreement, prompting the U.S., Japan and South Korea to halt oil supplies promised as part of the pact. The North withdrew again from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 2003, and announced it had reactivated its nuclear power facilities.
That August, six nations — the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the U.S. — began negotiations on disarmament now known as the "six-party talks," eventually resulting in a landmark accord on Sept. 19, 2005. The agreement called for North Korea to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for economic aid, diplomatic recognition and a security guarantee from Washington.
As the talks continued in fits and starts, the North in 2006 carried out a surprise 5 a.m. test-fire of six missiles, including its Taepodong-2 long-range missile, which U.S. and South Korean officials believe has the potential to strike Alaska.
The rocket fizzled just 42 seconds after takeoff but the launch, denounced as "provocative" by Washington, angered even North Korea's longtime ally and main donor, China, which agreed to a U.S.-sponsored U.N. Resolution 1695 condemning the move.
Later that year, an underground nuclear test prompted U.N. Resolution 1718, which bans the North from any ballistic activity. The U.S., South Korea and Japan say that sending satellites into space since the technology for launching a satellite and a missile are virtually the same.
By February, Pyongyang agreed to concrete steps toward disarmament: disabling its main nuclear facilities in exchange for the equivalent of 1 million tons of energy aid and other concessions. Disablement began that November.
But the North halted the process in 2008 amid a dispute with Washington over how to verify its 18,000-page account of past atomic activities. The last round of talks — in December 2008, weeks before President Barack Obama moved into the White House — made little apparent progress.
Analysts speculated that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was holding out for talks with Obama. But in forming its North Korea policy, the fledgling Obama administration has made it clear it will work through the six-party process.
The rocket launch scheduled for April 4-8, at a time when Pyongyang has custody of two American reporters detained March 17 at North Korea's border with China, could provide the opening North Korea needs to force direct talks with Washington, analysts said.
"The timing couldn't be better for North Korea. It strengthens the North's bargaining position with the U.S. in dealing with the nuclear issue. They can try to link these two issues in some way," said Daniel Pinkston of the International Crisis Group.
Bringing everyone, including North Korea, back to the talks will be "rough going," said Paik Hak-soon, an analyst at the Sejong Institute think tank.
But South Korea's envoy expressed confidence the talks would be back on track soon. "I am looking forward to seeing the talks resume after certain amount of time, and I am not deeply worried or concerned about resumption of the talks," Wi Sung-lac said last week.
Ultimately, the talks may never achieve their aim, Beck said.
"It may very well be that in the end, the North will try to play it both ways: continue to negotiate for goodies while never giving up its nuclear trump card," he said in his House testimony. "After all, that is essentially what it has done for the past 16 years."
___
(Associated Press)

Reply:

They have money for missile's but lack money to feed there people, how cruel. Well now Russia, maybe you should wake up before you find yourself sandwiched between two power hungry 3rd world radicals. Not to mention supplying them with fuel for at least a dirty bomb. Good luck Mr. Putin!!!!

"I would say we're not prepared to do anything about it," Gates told "Fox News Sunday."-ie our administration does not have the balls to stop them.This is not a minor matter, if they sucessfully carry this off, they will have a nuclear program capable of hitting the US with an icbm.

I believe the U.S. should shoot any rocket down as soon as it lifts off the launch pad, even if it is just a satellite. If we don't, then Japan or South Korea should. It is foolish for us to concede anything to that despotic regime. We have conceded too much already and it isn't working, plus it sets a bad example to other regimes we are dealing with in that they now know, if they get far enough with their weapons development....need I say more? We need to draw a line in the sand and take the hard line approach.

Picture: March 29th 09' Black and White picture of missile/rocket area.

3 Part Post about Sudan, UN, US etc. With reply at the end.

2009-03-26T14:07:00.000-07:00

I took some time to sit back and watch/read whats been happening feeling much like others -powerless, not knowing what to do, what the right move would be etc.... Well, here it is I have to speak/write. Sitting back is as good as doing nothing. Sure I've started a pledge here and there and sent it to others but there is so much more I could and will be doing.

One thing I'd like to point out at this time is Genocide, Darfur,Bashir, Chad, ICC, UN and many more are misunderstood mostly do to not knowing the history of the truth. Its like watching a movie starting in the middle. To many this can be confusing, misunderstood, not understood at all and etc. If you want a good way to learn about this and more please check out "Not on Our Watch" by Don Cheadle and John Prendergast or " In the Hot Zone" by Kevin Sites. You can even look them up on line Kevin Sites has a web-site that provides a mass amount of information. Although Kevin's book is "One man, One year, 20 Wars" it is insightful and helpful all the way around. There are many other great books out there so please I ask you just pick up one. Thanks.

First Post:

Defying warrant, Sudan's president visits Libya

TRIPOLI, Libya – Sudan's president visited his third country in four days Thursday, this time touching down in Libya, the latest nation to welcome the leader who's wanted by an international court on war crimes charges.
Omar al-Bashir met with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, praising Libya's support for Sudan following the March 4 arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. His visit Thursday came after a trip Wednesday to key U.S.-ally Egypt and a stop Monday in the isolated African nation, Eritrea.
The Sudanese leader has been emboldened by the decision of the 22-member Arab League to not enforce the warrant even though three of its member countries are signatories to the court's founding treaty.
The court accuses al-Bashir of orchestrating a counterinsurgency against Darfur rebels that has involved rapes, killings and other atrocities against civilians. His government has been accused of unleashing Arab militiamen against Darfur civilians in a drive to put down a revolt by ethnic Africans in the western region.
Up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have been driven from their homes since 2003, according to the U.N. Sudan says the U.N.'s figures are exaggerated.
Al-Bashir responded to the arrest warrant by expelling 13 foreign aid groups from Darfur, exposing hundreds of thousands of people already suffering from the six-year conflict to an even greater crisis.
He has been greeted warmly in the countries he's visited.
But as al-Bashir was in Libya, the Libyan ambassador at the United Nations in New York, Abdurrahman Mohamed Shalgham said his country and the U.N. are urging the Sudanese leader to reconsider the expulsion of the aid organizations from Darfur.
Shalgham, who presides over the Security Council this month, said council members agreed Thursday that al-Bashir "should reconsider the decision on suspending the activities" of the aid groups.
On Wednesday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak received al-Bashir at Cairo's airport in a show of solidarity with the wanted Sudanese leader.
Al-Bashir's visits are designed to challenge the ICC and show that "he doesn't care about the arrest warrant," said Mohammed Aboul Fadl, an analyst with the Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram.
"This is the same agenda that Sudan has adopted ever since the indictment became public," Aboul Fadl said. "By visiting those countries, he is saying that his African relations are not being affected by the ICC ... All those messages confirm that Sudan is not retreating, despite all the political pressures being practiced by the West."
Another goal of the visits is to get Arab countries to help Sudan cope with the gap that was left by the departure of the aid groups, Aboul Fadl said.
The Sudanese president is also slated to attend the Arab League summit March 27 in the tiny Gulf nation of Qatar. However, there have been public calls in Sudan for him to stay away over concerns he might be taken into custody while there.
Neither Libya or Egypt are signatories to the ICC's founding treaty, and both countries as well as the Arab League have backed al-Bashir, arguing that the warrant could further destabilize the country.
The United States is also not a signatory to the ICC but has been strongly critical of al-Bashir following the arrest warrant.
(AP)

Second post:

U.N. council urges Sudan to let back aid groups

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council appealed to Sudan on Thursday to reconsider a decision to expel some aid groups in Darfur after an international court issued an arrest warrant for the country's leader.
Khartoum ordered out 13 foreign groups and shut down three local ones after the International Criminal Court issued the warrant on March 4 against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of war crimes in the conflict-torn Darfur region.
In a statement, the council said its members "stressed the importance of continuing the distribution of humanitarian assistance to all the needy in Darfur."
They urged Sudan's government "to continue cooperating with the United Nations and humanitarian organizations and appeal to it to reconsider the decision on suspending the activities of some non-government organizations in Sudan."
The statement was read to media by Ambassador Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam of Libya, this month's council president. Diplomats said it had been agreed unanimously by all 15 council members, who include Libya, a neighbor of Sudan.
Bashir, defying the international arrest warrant, traveled to Libya on Thursday for talks with leader Muammar Gaddafi, Libya's government said.

(Reuters)

Third Post:

At least two dead in arson attack on Darfur camp

KHARTOUM (AFP) – At least two people were killed after assailants set fire to a camp for displaced people in Darfur, destroying hundreds of shelters, Sudanese and UN officials said on Wednesday.
"An unknown group burnt Abuzar camp" in the overnight attack, a local government official said, requesting anonymity. "The fire destroyed 600 shelters."
The UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said two people died in the blaze at the camp near the West Darfur state capital of El Geneina. It spread fast because of strong winds, affecting about 1,500 residents.
UNAMID military and police sent to probe the fire were informed that "two armed men in military uniform and two others in civilian clothes were seen entering the camp, starting a fire ... and then fleeing," it said.
A woman died at the scene and a 22-year-old man later died in hospital, UNAMID said in a statement. Three others were seriously hurt and are being treated at El Geneina hospital.
Amy Martin, in charge of a UN aid programme in West Darfur, said the fire destroyed the food distribution centre in the camp.
A spokesman for the Darfur rebel group Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) put the toll at three dead and three injured and blamed a pro-government militia for the attack.
Ahmed Hussein accused the Khartoum government of trying to "dismantle the refugee camps."
Abuzar houses more than 12,000 of the estimated 2.7 million people displaced by six years of fighting in Darfur. The camp also came under attack earlier this month, local sources said.
A Sudanese man working for a Canadian aid group was shot dead in West Darfur on Monday night, in the third murder of a member of the embattled relief operation in war-ravaged Darfur since the start of 2009.
The United Nations says 300,000 people have died -- many from disease and hunger -- after ethnic Darfur rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government, complaining of discrimination.
Khartoum puts the death toll at 10,000.

Reply:

This fills me with anger that can only be reduced when this genocide is halted and justice is served for the perpetrators, or at least those who orchestrated this madness. Until that happens, I will not stop sounding the alarm. In fact, I cannot stop. I hope many feel the same way. Two realities I'd like to share with anyone reading this would be....

1) If conflicts aren't resolved, efforts to support Africa's development will be underminded repatedly.

2) Political will for supporting positive agendas in Africa has a great deal of competition from many other pressing priorities, so unless we become much more vocal, little will change in how we respond to Africa.

So it is absolutely imperative that resolving conflicts and confronting mass human rights abuses be central objectives of U.S. policy of Africa. However, the U.S. government usually does not respond to cases of mass atrocities (particularly in Africa). When American people - or influential subsets of them - do not make noise, then it is highly unlikely that the U.S. government will do much more then express (or pretend to express) concern and call on the parties to lay down their arms. In the case of Darfur this is different. We have expressed great horror and DEMAND more action. So for those of you that have sat back speak up, write the government, tell your friends and family, make calls. Do what it takes!!!! If you don't know how ask, if you don't care then be on your way with your head turned away from the mass genocide that has and is still in full force.

ACTIONS FOR DARFUR

2009-03-26T00:54:00.000-07:00

ACTIONS FOR DARFUR

Here's what you can do
Submit a shareholder proposal to companies and funds where you invest, to ensure they are genocide-free. We've made it easy for you to submit a shareholder proposal on genocide-free investing to your mutual fund or investment firm.

Send a message to complicit companies. You can send to all at once, or select the one below where you invest. You don't have to be an investor to object. Financial companies want your business now or in the future, so your voice will matter.

Donate online to the campaign for genocide-free investing and sign up for our email list.

Distribute our campaign materials when you hold Darfur or other events. Click here for materials.

Raise awareness at your workplace, especially if your employer offers Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, or funds from other problem investment firms in its retirement plans. Get your company and co-workers involved.

Contact your company's 401k plan administrator to request genocide-free investment options. Ask the plan administrator to avoid offering Sudan-related stocks and mutual funds, to offer alternatives to using Fidelity funds, and to register a complaint with Fidelity on behalf of the company and its employees. Click here for suggested 401k actions.

Publicize the campaign to your group's members via email to your list, website, internal magazines and bulletins.

Provide a statement of support from your group.

Check your portfolio and move your money to ensure you are not investing in companies in Sudan's oil industry and not investing with the problem investment companies. (Note that if you are going to submit a shareholder proposal, you must maintain an investment of at least $2,000.) Click here for how to divest from Sudan.

Tell your friends what you did and why. If you are an organization, publicize what you did and why.
Get people (and students!) in your community and congregation involved. Speak out to your congregation and other organizations and distribute the information to members. Divest your organization’s endowments from problem investment companies and Sudan oil investments.

Write a letter to the editor of your local or school newspaper. Click here or here for a sample. Most local weekly and campus newspapers (not the large metropolitan dailies) will publish all letters to the editor received from town residents. You can easily find the email address by searching for your paper on the Internet. You will most likely find instructions on submitting a letter to the editor in the "Opinion" section. It's easy to cut and paste from the sample into an email that you can send to your hometown paper.

Contact local radio, and TV media to place articles and write letters to the editor, Public Service Announcements, and op-eds to share your concerns for Darfur and your actions to divest from companies that fund genocide.

Learn more about genocide-free investing and our strategy and plans for shareholder proposals.
Support state and pension fund divestment from Sudan.

Riverside Humane Society walk draws over 1000 people -- and pets

2009-03-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

More than 1,000 people and their pets came out in support of the Riverside Humane Society Pet Adoption Center's 17th annual Walk With The Animals at Riverside's Fairmount Park on Saturday.
That was 200 more than last year, society officials said in a news release.
The event raised more than $30,000 and more money is expected to be coming in, Executive Director Denise Perry said by phone.

The Riverside Humane Society board approved Perry as director at their March 18 meeting, she said.
The money will help the nonprofit "continue to find our animals 'forever' homes," Perry said.
Funds were raised through registration fees, walker sponsors, "paws" sold at various vendors to promote the walk and events at the walk.
The top service organization team was Blindness Support Services Inc. of Riverside, which will be recognized with a commemorative plaque in the Pet Adoption Center at 6165 Industrial Ave.
Among the schools, Ramona Elementary School of Moreno Valley collected the most pledge money.
Ileana Liel, of Riverside, won an art quilt featuring sea turtles in a raffle. The quilt was crafted and donated by Tim Tourtellott.
The event featured a two-mile pledge walk around Lake Evans, Muttley Crew K-9 Entertainment and a search dog demonstration by the Riverside Fire Department, which also brought its month-old rescue unit.
The Riverside Humane Society Pet Adoption Center is a non-profit charitable organization.
It accepts owner turn-ins of cats and dogs and transfers from area animal control shelters.
Visit http://www.petsadoption.com/ for more information and to see animals available for adoption.

The Press-Enterprise

Reply:

Many useful groups, non-profits, careing people etc. Please look into adoption before buying.

Downed Animal Protection - No Downers Campaign

2009-03-25T01:20:00.000-07:00

Downed Animal Protection - No Downers Campaign
The USDA closed a loophole and banned downed cattle from being slaughtered and entering the human food supply. While this step is a milestone in efforts to protect those animals too sick and injured to walk, or even stand, protections need to be expanded to all species. Help continue this momentum.Thank you for closing the loophole that allowed downed cattle to be slaughtered and to enter the food supply. This will prevent a lot of cruelty and suffering and demonstrates a commitment to the humane treatment of livestock.
Please take another step forward, and apply this rule to all species of livestock, including pigs, sheep and goats. They too suffer when they are unable to stand and walk on their own and are pushed and prodded to the slaughter line.

LINK:https://secure2.convio.net/fsi/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=255&JServSessionIdr008=yo45719f62.app8b

Reply:

Thank you to those that helped closeing the loophole that allowed downed cattle to be slaughtered and to enter the food supply. This will prevent a lot of cruelty and suffering and demonstrates a commitment to the humane treatment of livestock. This will also contribute to better, safer food for everyone.take another step forward, and apply this rule to all species of livestock, including pigs, sheep and goats. They too suffer when they are unable to stand and walk on their own and are pushed and prodded to the slaughter line. There is NO EXCUSE for so many downed animals. It is a sign of gross mis-management of all resources. We still have work to do please keep fighting the good fight and giving a voice to the voiceless.

NKorea reasserts right to satellite launch (AP)

2009-03-24T13:46:00.000-07:00

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea warned the United States, Japan and their allies not to interfere with its plan to launch a satellite into space next month, saying Tuesday any intervention could doom already stalled talks on ending its nuclear weapons program.
North Korea has declared its intention to send a communications satellite into space between April 4 and 8, and a defense analyst said recent images of the launch pad indicated preparations were continuing. Regional powers suspect the North will use the launch to test its long-range missile technology, and has warned Pyongyang the launch would trigger international sanctions.
A 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution prohibits North Korea from engaging in ballistic activity, which Washington and its allies say includes firing a long-range missile or using a rocket to send a satellite into space.
On Tuesday, the North's Foreign Ministry reasserted its right to peaceful development of its space program.
"The countries which find fault with (North Korea's) satellite launch, including the U.S. and Japan, launched satellites before it," said the statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. The stance proves their "their hostility toward us," it said.
The impending launch has raised tensions in the region. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that the country's top nuclear negotiator, Wi Sung-lac said Seoul is working on responses to any rocket launch.
"As the clock ticks, we are placing more weight on countermeasures after a launch," he was quoted by Yonhap as saying on Tuesday.
Satellite images from March 16 indicate that preparations for the launch of a satellite are moving forward, but the rocket was not yet on the launch pad in those photos, analyst Christian Le Miere, an editor at Jane's Intelligence Review, said Tuesday.
It's possible the rocket has been placed on the launch pad since the images were taken, he said from London.
Japan has said it could shoot down debris from a botched missile launch, but the country's foreign minister cast doubt on that assertion on Tuesday. Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said "it would be difficult" for Japan to intercept fragments of a missile that might fall into Japanese territory after a launch.
The North warned that the attempts by Washington and Tokyo to deny Pyongyang the right to use space for peaceful purposes was discriminatory and not in keeping with "spirit of mutual respect and equality" of a disarmament pact Pyongyang signed in 2005 with five other nations: China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the U.S.
Under the deal, the North pledged to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security guarantees. In 2007, the country agreed on the initial disarmament steps — disabling its main nuclear facilities in return for the equivalent of 1 million tons of energy aid and other benefits.
The disarmament process, however, has been stalled since last year over a disagreement with Washington over how to verify the North's past atomic activities.
The statement warned that sanctions would "deprive the six-party talks of any ground to exist or their meaning."
The North also said it would not abandon its nuclear weapons and had no choice but to strengthen its forces in the face of such hostility. The statement didn't elaborate.
Regional powers are looking to China, North Korea's biggest benefactor and longtime communist ally, to help calm tensions in the region and persuade the North to return to the negotiating table. Both China's president and premier have urged North Korea to come back to the talks in recent days.
Tensions have been running high on the divided Korean peninsula since a pro-U.S., conservative government took office in Seoul one year ago with a tougher policy on Pyongyang. The North cut off ties with South Korea, halted key joint projects and significantly restricted border traffic.
The U.S. stations about 28,500 troops to deter aggression from North Korea, which is still technically at war with South Korea since their 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
___
Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this story from Tokyo.

REPLY:

"Saying Tuesday any intervention could doom already stalled talks on ending its nuclear weapons program."I am Tired of them playing Games....There is no Stalling anything with This Regime....they will do what they want...They Gain strength from one another and get Bolder as time goes by....They look at us as weak...nowdays......They dont fear anyone anymore....and the strange thing is...that will be their end......because we will respond unmercifully one day...because we wouldn't have a choice....hope it doesn't come to that.

N.Korea cracks me up with it's craziness. That part about basically becoming enemies with six other countries was gold! Warning world super powers? C'mon lol. Some big egos over there. They're like a spoiled bratty kid that doesn't listen. Oh, and isn't too bright either. The sad thing is, they'll eventually force action to be taken against them. Lets hope China no longer has their back by then.

N.Ireland teen charged with killing policeman

2009-03-23T19:36:00.000-07:00

DUBLIN – Authorities charged an Irish Catholic teenager Monday with killing a policeman — one of two deadly gun attacks by IRA dissidents this month that rocked Northern Ireland's peace process.
The 17-year-old male suspect was arrested the day after the March 9 death of Constable Stephen Carroll, 48, an attack claimed by a splinter group called the Continuity IRA. The suspect was not further identified pending a court appearance Tuesday in a Belfast suburb.
In a statement the Police Service of Northern Ireland said the teenager faces counts of murder, possession of a firearm, collecting information likely to be of use to terrorists, and membership in the outlawed Continuity IRA.
Nobody has been charged in connection with the other attack, a March 7 ambush outside a British Army base that killed two soldiers as they collected pizzas from delivery men. A rival splinter gang, the Real IRA, admitted responsibility for that attack, which also wounded two other soldiers and both pizza couriers.
The killings were the first of British security forces since 1998, the year that leaders of the British Protestant majority and Irish Catholic minority achieved a peace accord designed to end the three-decade conflict over Northern Ireland.
Both sides of Northern Ireland's unity government, including former IRA commanders from the Catholic-backed Sinn Fein party, demanded that the public tell police about the IRA dissidents sheltering in Catholic areas.
However, Monday's charges come against the backdrop of rising complaints over the police's exceptionally long detentions without charge of suspected IRA dissidents. The detentions come under terms of a 2006 anti-terror law never before used in Northern Ireland.
Two Craigavon men, ages 31 and 27, who were arrested March 16 on suspicion of involvement in the attack on Carroll were released without charge earlier Monday.
But eight others — largely being questioned about their alleged roles in planning or committing the army base shooting — continued to be held.
Northern Ireland's human rights watchdog Monica McWilliams visited the interrogation center Monday and protested afterward that police were abusing their newfound powers to hold terror suspects for up to 28 days without charge. She specifically protested that the 17-year-old, the youngest suspect, had been held for too long.
Six of the eight suspected IRA dissidents still in police custody are pursuing a lawsuit challenging the police's right to hold them under terms of the Terrorism Act of 2006, which introduced the 28-day rule. A Belfast High Court judge is expected to make an initial ruling on their case Tuesday.

St. Patrick's Day: Some Hope from Ireland

2009-03-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

St. Patty’s day has reminded me of the free market revolution that took place in Ireland in the nineties. Ireland was the poorest economy in Europe then, but by 2006, it had the highest per capita GPD on the continent and economic growth rates of 9 percent or higher. How did they achieve it? They massively reduced the size and role of government in their society. They cut taxes, abolished agencies, cut spending, and stopped inflation. They moved from one of the least free states in Europe to the freest.
Government debt as a percentage of GDP in Ireland in 1990 was 95%. By 2007, it was 25%. In 2008, our debt to GDP ratio was 40%. According to the Obama budget, ours will be 65% in 2010. What debt to GDP ratio do we have to achieve for this country to turn around? If we’re like Ireland, then we might not be far from it.
Let’s hope, on this Saint Patrick’s Day, that we, like Ireland, can have a free market revolution to push this country back toward freedom and prosperity and away from government growth and fascism.

Sudan's president: Foreign aid groups must leave

2009-03-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

KHARTOUM, Sudan – Sudan's president said Monday he wants all international aid groups out of the country within a year, insisting they can drop off supplies "at airports or seaports" and let Sudanese organizations take care of it.
Government officials later tried to downplay the president's comments, calling his directive a "process" and stressing that U.N. agencies operating in Sudan would not be affected.
President Omar al-Bashir has already expelled 13 large foreign aid agencies, most of them operating in Darfur, accusing them of spying for an international court that issued an arrest warrant against him on March 4 for war crimes in the western Sudanese region.
He also shut down three local aid groups, including one of the largest operating in Darfur. The United Nations said those expulsions would leave millions at risk of a humanitarian crisis.
"We directed the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to Sudanize voluntary work," al-Bashir told a rally of security forces as thousands shouted their support for the president and waved their guns in the air.
"Within a year, we don't want to see any foreign aid group dealing with a Sudanese citizen," al-Bashir said. "If they want to bring relief, let them drop it at airports or seaports. Let the national organizations deal with our citizens."
But Sudan's humanitarian minister later played down al-Bashir's remarks. When asked if his comments meant all international aid groups would be expelled from Darfur within a year, he said: "Not necessarily."
State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Ahmed Haroun told The Associated Press that ministers will draw a plan to work out a transition. But it will not apply to U.N. agencies, said Haroun, who is also wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes. Sudan refuses to hand him over.
In Washington, the State Department said it was reviewing the latest threat and repeated its demands for Khartoum to reverse its earlier decision to expel relief organizations from Darfur.
"Any responsibility for the humanitarian suffering that flows out of this decision should fall squarely on the shoulders of the Sudanese," said spokesman Robert Wood.
U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said he was seeking urgent clarification of al-Bashir's announcement. He pointed out that the vast majority of relief workers in Darfur were already Sudanese.
"Of course, we're happy for Sudan to take on a larger role looking after these people, but it needs to be done in a practical way and it's not clear that that would be possible on the basis of what president Bashir has said at the moment," Holmes told reporters in New York.
He said foreign aid organizations would not hand over their goods to the Sudanese government because they would want to monitor how they were distributed.
Joel Charny, vice president of the Washington-based advocacy group Refugees International, said al-Bashir was "playing politics" with the new threat.
"If you really push and expel all agencies a year from now, the consequences will be so catastrophic to the point of making Sudan virtually ungovernable," he said.
The Netherlands-based ICC accuses al-Bashir of orchestrating atrocities against civilians in Darfur, where his Arab-led government has been battling ethnic African rebels since 2003. Up to 300,000 people have been killed and 2.7 million have been driven from their homes.
Sudan denies the charges and says the figures are exaggerated.
The government had warned that issuing the warrant could lead to spontaneous revenge attacks by enraged Sudanese, though it pledged to defend aid workers and diplomats in the country.
Sudanese officials said three foreign aid workers and a Sudanese man kidnapped for three days in Darfur last week were taken by a group in revenge for the court's decision.
At Monday's rally, al-Bashir again railed against foreign aid groups, which he accuses of providing the court with false testimony against him and his government and of profiting from the Darfur conflict.
Sudan, he said, must be cleared of "spies and agents" who "trade" in the Darfur crisis and warned remaining aid groups to respect Sudan's sovereignty or "pay the price."
Al-Bashir said his government is ready to fill the gap. Late Sunday, he attended a fundraising conference by private businesses and civil groups in Sudan that raised some $115 million in pledges for Darfur aid.
The price tag for the U.N.'s current activities there, described as the largest aid operation in the world, exceeds $1 billion.
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Associated Press Writer Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report from the United Nations in New York.

REPLY:

Drop off aid and let the Sudanes government handle the distribution? Funny. That Aid will never get to the people it is intended for.More support for the Darfur genocide. Haven't we already failed enough? HA let the wonderful, kind, caring and compasionate goverment handle the distrobution to the ppl that need it??? Who the H.. is actually going to believe THAT ????

Idea....Tanks and troops, we have lots. Instead of shipping all that stuff from Iraq, back to the states, how about a pit stop in this nearby country?? Im sure our troops would enjoy the target practicve???? Heck we could even ask who wants to go I'm sure many would raise a hand. Pick this guy up for the world court!!!!

U.N. takes over Chad force amid growing Darfur fears

2009-03-15T14:53:00.000-07:00

ABECHE, Chad (Reuters) – The United Nations took over command of an EU protection force in eastern Chad on Sunday, and there were growing fears of more rebel violence and the possible arrival of tens of thousands more refugees from Sudan's Darfur.
The European Union formally handed over command to the U.N. mission in Chad and Central African Republic (MINURCAT) at a ceremony in Chad's eastern city of Abeche on Sunday morning after Eufor's year-long mandate expired at midnight.
The handover, which sees around 5,000 U.N.-commanded troops replace an EU force of close to 3,500, takes place at a time of heightened tension after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant this month against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
Soon afterwards, four peacekeepers from the joint African Union-U.N. force in Darfur were injured in an attack by unidentified gunmen, and four aid workers including three foreigners were held hostage for much of last week by captors who North Darfur's governor said were protesting at the warrant.
"This transfer of authority comes at a delicate moment when tensions in the region are crystallizing," said Alain Le Roy, U.N. head of peacekeeping.
Bashir's government expelled 13 aid organizations last week, hamstringing U.N. aid and raising fears that tens of thousands of refugees could abandon camps where they have been looked after and cross to Chad, where 250,000 Darfuris live in camps.
At the same time, fears are growing of a resurgence of Chad's interlinked eastern rebellion, which after causing the besieging of the capital N'Djamena for two days a year ago had been largely quiet until rebel groups announced a new broad alliance in January.
Sudan and Chad, both oil producers, frequently accuse each other of backing rebel groups based around the border area.
FEARS
Rumors abound of movements of rebels and arms in the border area, said Roland Marchal, senior research fellow and Chad-Sudan expert at France's CERI international research institute.
"It is not impossible that in the coming days or weeks there will be an offensive by ... Chadian rebels based in Darfur, near el-Geneina, back into their country, to Chad," he told Reuters.
El-Geneina is the capital of West Darfur and an aid hub in Darfur region, where 4.7 million people receive aid.
So far Sudan has expelled mostly non-governmental organizations (NGOs) active in North Darfur, from where refugees are less likely to cross to Chad, but further expulsions or insecurity could trigger a mass movement of refugees to Chad.
"It's really speculative to even guess how many might come at this point," one aid worker in Chad said.
"We are looking at what may happen -- we're looking at 50,000 to 100,000 -- but I don't think it will happen for a couple of months unless insecurity increases."
The protection force in Chad, meant to secure humanitarian operations and camps in eastern Chad and patrol part of Central African Republic to the south, acknowledges the danger.
"If the Sudanese regime continues to expel humanitarian workers and NGOs, clearly there will be less aid for refugees ... and they may move on again into Chad. That's a possibility we could expect," MINURCAT spokesman Penangnini Toure said.
Under Sunday's transfer, many troops from European countries such as France and Ireland will simply exchange their national berets for blue U.N. headgear, but others are leaving, to be replaced by troops from elsewhere, including Ghana and Togo.
But the uncertainty of changing command can be a risky time for peacekeeping operations. A U.N. force taking over from West African peacekeepers in Sierra Leone in 2000 was caught off guard when rebels took several hundred peacekeepers hostage.
(Additional reporting by Emma Batha in London and Alistair Thomson in Dakar; writing by Alistair Thomson)

Reply:

What can I say that I already haven't???? Each day my heart sinks more for these poor people.

Sinn Fein, IRA dissidents vie for Catholic support

2009-03-15T14:32:00.000-07:00

LURGAN, Northern Ireland – Graffiti on the Catholic side of town condemn Sinn Fein politicians as British stooges. Alongside black-stenciled images of masked gunmen, slogans proclaim allegiance to IRA dissidents who fatally shot a policeman a few miles away.
On Saturday, teenage boys here blocked roads and threw bricks and Molotov cocktails at police who arrested a local man wanted for the killing of two off-duty British soldiers.
Sinn Fein has persuaded most of Northern Ireland's Irish Catholics to accept peace through compromise. But the Irish nationalist party still struggles for the loyalty of job-hungry, lawless Catholic neighborhoods like Kilwilkie, on the wrong side of the tracks in this mostly Protestant town.
If Sinn Fein cannot win over such pockets of bitterness and alienation, the dissidents could grow in numbers and strength — and eventually mount far deadlier attacks than this month's shootings of soldiers and a policeman. Analysts say power-sharing — the central achievement of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace deal — could not survive a sustained campaign of paramilitary bloodshed.
Sinn Fein pleasantly surprised its Protestant partners in government this month by calling on its backers to help police track down and imprison the gunmen. But the move means Sinn Fein has finally put itself on a collision course with dangerous die-hards in its own working-class base — people who still inspire a potent mixture of fear and reverence.
"You wouldn't want to be seen by certain neighbors calling the police, let's leave it at that," said Marie, a Catholic mother of four pushing her two youngest children in a stroller uphill from Kilwilkie, past the railway line, to the Protestant center of Lurgan.
Like several other residents interviewed before and after Saturday's riots, Marie would talk only if her last name and other details of her identity were concealed.
"The fear is back," she said. "When the `troubles' were on, you were always afraid of what the other side might do to you up in town. Now you're much more afraid to speak your mind for fear of what your own people might do to you back home."
The fear in Kilwilkie centers on supporters of Colin Duffy, whom police and locals alike regard as the IRA godfather figure of the neighborhood. He was repeatedly charged with IRA murders and other crimes in the 1990s — including for shooting two policemen through the back of the head in what was the IRA's last fatal attack — but was never successfully prosecuted.
Duffy publicly broke away from Sinn Fein last year and joined a new group fronted by IRA veterans called Eirigi, "Rise up" in Gaelic. The group said it wasn't promoting dissident violence but understood why people might want to keep attacking security forces in a state that remains firmly British territory.
Police arrested Duffy on Saturday on suspicion of involvement in the first deadly dissident attack March 7, when a splinter group called the Real IRA opened fire on off-duty soldiers collecting pizzas from two delivery men. Two soldiers were killed and four others, including both civilians, were badly wounded.
Duffy's mostly teenage acolytes covered their faces with masks, scarves and hoods — and bombarded police for hours. Because of their heavy protective equipment, officers reported only one minor injury. Sinn Fein, which often deploys officials to calm crowds and prevent riots in Belfast, was nowhere to be seen.
The area's Sinn Fein representative in the Northern Ireland Assembly, John O'Dowd, lives in the neighboring town of Craigavon. It was there that the Continuity IRA shot to death a policeman March 9 as his unit responded to an emergency call near the hard-line Catholic Drumbeg housing project.
O'Dowd called that killing "murder," a word that Sinn Fein never used when describing the IRA's killings of nearly 300 police from 1970 to 1997.
He said he has been trying to talk sense to dissident leaders in the area for more than a year, but they rejected his overtures.
"There is no point in building a power-sharing agreement, a new society and a new policing service just for people to take shots at them and kill people who are part of that new creation," said O'Dowd, 41, who unlike the previous generation of Sinn Fein leaders never spent time in prison for IRA convictions.
O'Dowd conceded that Sinn Fein's call for its supporters to tell police about the dissidents in their midst "is placing myself and others in my party in great personal difficulty. But we're prepared for that."
He said some of the dissident leaders "were never with us. Some may have been in the past, and they went away. And I'm glad they went away."
Just as police officers are having to increase their personal security precautions across Northern Ireland, so are Sinn Fein activists. They have learned from the fratricidal history of Irish republicanism — when splits lead to bloody feuds — that it could just be a matter of time before the Real IRA, Continuity IRA or another band of alienated militants turns its guns on republican peaceniks.
Some analysts even openly wonder whether Martin McGuinness — the former IRA commander who is Sinn Fein's top official in the power-sharing government — might face a dissident assassin's bomb or bullet someday. McGuinness infuriated the dissidents last week, before leaving on his current United States trip, by calling them "traitors to the island of Ireland."
Belfast commentator and author Malachi O'Doherty said McGuinness was taking the same blunt-spoken road as Michael Collins, the key figure in the old IRA's 1919-21 war of independence against Britain. When Collins signed a treaty that accepted the partition of Ireland and created a new southern state still symbolically tied to Britain, he was assassinated by the anti-treaty IRA faction within the year.
"I am not concerned about my safety and my security," McGuinness said during a public appearance Sunday in New York City. "I am not going to be intimidated."

Aid groups in Darfur weigh future after kidnapping

2009-03-14T17:07:00.000-07:00

KHARTOUM, Sudan – Three foreign aid workers abducted in Sudan's lawless Darfur region were released unharmed on Saturday, three days after their capture at gunpoint led international aid groups to question how they can continue to work in the area.
Sudanese television showed the Doctors Without Borders workers — a Canadian nurse, an Italian doctor and a French project coordinator — stepping off a military helicopter at El Fasher airport in North Darfur with the local governor.
"I would like to say to everybody we are safe, we are here, we are in good health," said Raphael Meunier, the French coordinator, speaking on Sudanese television. "We will be more talkative a bit later on, now our first thoughts are for our families."
The governor, Osman Kebir, said Wednesday's kidnapping was carried out by a group seeking to retaliate for the International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued against President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes in Darfur.
Kebir said no ransom was paid to the group, which he said called itself the Eagles of al-Bashir.
"They said they released them for the country's sake and they kidnapped them for the sake of the country," he added.
Sudan's government threw 13 international aid agencies out of the country after the March 4 warrant, accusing them of being the court's spies. The government says it had nothing to do with the abduction and condemned it.
The Netherlands-based court accuses al-Bashir of orchestrating atrocities against civilians in Darfur, where his Arab-led government has been battling ethnic African rebels since 2003. Up to 300,000 people have been killed and 2.7 million have been driven from their homes.
Sudan denies the charges and says the figures are exaggerated.
The government warned that issuing the warrant could lead to spontaneous revenge attacks by enraged Sudanese, though it pledged to defend aid workers and diplomats in the country.
The freed aid workers were from the Belgian branch of Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medicins Sans Frontieres. The branch was not among the agencies Sudan ordered out of the country, though two other MSF operations were.
The director of the group's Belgian section said the workers' release was a relief, but he called the kidnapping a "gross violation."
"Our independent medical work must be respected if we are to continue working in conflict areas to save the lives of those who suffer most," Christopher Stokes said.
Erwin Van't Land, also of MSF in Brussels, said Wednesday's kidnapping was a "major last blow" to the Darfur aid community. "It is a very serious issue," he said, anticipating that "every aid agency is reviewing whether they can continue to work."
The group has pulled out its remaining 35 international workers, leaving behind only two staff to help with negotiations to release the hostages.
Sudanese officials said Saturday they will increase protection for aid groups operating in Darfur. Aid groups generally resist such armed protection, viewing it as a violation of their impartiality.
An officer with the U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission said they have advised aid groups to centralize their operations in secure cities. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
Other groups remaining in Darfur have voiced concern following the latest events — none have said they are pulling out, though there is concern individual employees could opt to leave.
"It is becoming more complicated, more uncertain, more volatile, and, for the people, more difficult to work," said Gerog Nothelle, the Africa director for the Germany-based aid group Malteser International, which operates in north Darfur.
Aid groups already had to struggle with difficult working conditions. Banditry, break-ins and carjackings against aid organizations and security harassment have long been common in Darfur, usually blamed on the many armed groups fighting in the region.
By expelling so many aid workers_ 40 percent of those working in Darfur, according to the U.N. — and accusing them of being spies, experts say the Sudanese government has created a negative environment for the aid groups in hopes they will eventually be forced out.
"It is a signal that the field is open for confrontation," which encouraged the kidnapping, said Fouad Hikmat, a Sudan expert with the International Crisis Group. "You create a push factor" to drive away the remaining groups.
Senior Foreign Ministry official Ali Youssef, however, has dismissed such speculation, maintaining that "the government is determined to follow a responsible pattern of behavior."
Security considerations would mean scaling back in the remote areas of Darfur where nearly half of the 4.7 million people receiving aid reside. The aid group expulsion has already left a number of refugee camps without a single aid group to provide services.
"We are now in the business of surviving," said one aid worker speaking from Darfur. "It is hard to get much work done in this environment."
Already, some refugee camp residents are reporting deteriorating water services and the spread of infectious diseases. U.N. officials say the capacity of existing aid groups is not enough to fill the gap created by the departing groups. The government argues it can fill the gaps.
Meanwhile aid agencies across the border in Chad are bracing for an influx of hundreds of thousands of new refugees fleeing the breakdown of aid services in Darfur or possible outbreak of violence, said David Cibonga, a U.N. relief official in Chad.

Women in Congo speak out about rape despite taboo

2009-03-14T16:53:00.000-07:00

DOSHU, Congo – Zamuda Sikujuwa shuffles to a bench in the sunshine, pushes apart her thighs with a grimace of pain and pumps her fist up and down in a lewd-looking gesture to show how the militiamen shoved an automatic rifle inside her.
The brutish act tore apart her insides after seven of the men had taken turns raping her. She lost consciousness and wishes now that her life also had ended on that day.
The rebels from the Tutsi tribe had come demanding U.S. dollars. But when her husband could not even produce local currency, they put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. When her two children started crying, the rebels killed them too. Then they attacked Sikujuwa and left her for dead.
The 53-year-old still has difficulty walking after two operations. Yet she wants to tell the world her story, even though repeating it brings back the nightmares.
"It's hard, hard, hard," she says. "I'm alone in this world. My body is partly mended but I don't know if my heart will ever heal. ... I want this violence to stop. I don't want other women to have to suffer what I am suffering."
Rape has been used as a brutal weapon of war in Congo, where conflicts based on tribal lines have spawned dozens of armed groups amid back-to-back civil wars that drew in several African nations. More than 5 million people have died since 1994. Women have become even more vulnerable since a rebel advance at the end of last year drove a quarter-million people from their homes and fighting this year left another 100,000 others homeless, according to aid workers.
Now some of the women are fighting back the only way they know how — by talking about what happened.
___
A campaign spearheaded by the U.N. Children's Fund is working with local groups to break traditional taboos around talking about the violence. They're using radio stations broadcasting in local languages, and more activists are getting to remote areas.
"Many more victims are coming forward. We receive a lot of SMS text messages and cell phone calls from women who have been raped and need help," says campaign leader Esther Ntoto.
Five months ago, U.N. officials began bringing together women to tell their stories to rooms full of local officials, community leaders, even children. One sign of success is that more men than women have volunteered for training to encourage victims to come forward and their communities to confront the issues.
Video footage of the campaign Women Breaking the Silence shows officials startled by the atrocities recounted. A provincial minister interrupted to ask reporters not to film a woman's face. But she took the microphone to declare: "I am not ashamed to show my face and publish my identity. The shame lies with those who broke me open and with the authorities who failed to protect me.
"If you don't hear me, see me, you will not understand why it is so important that we fight this together."
That woman, Honorata Kizende, described how her life as a school teacher and the mother of seven children ended when she was kidnapped in 2001. She was held as a sex slave for 18 months and passed around from one Hutu fighter to another until she escaped. She is now a counselor and trains others to help survivors of sexual violence.
One of the difficulties is the "huge problem of impunity," said Mireille Kahatwa Amani, a lawyer working at an office at HEAL Africa Hospital opened a year ago by the Chicago-based American Bar Association.
"It's difficult to prosecute perpetrators because they can buy off the police or a judge. There's no guarantee of justice," she says.
Still, with funding from the U.S. State Department, lawyers have interviewed more than 250 victims and pursued more than 100 cases. In 11 months, they have received 30 judgments with only two acquittals. Those found guilty have been punished with sentences of five to 20 years in jail, Kahatwa says.
Her big success this year was against a man who has been condemned to 20 years in jail for raping a 6-year-old neighbor and infecting her with the AIDS virus. Kahatwa says the judgment came just a month after the complaint was filed, a record.
___
Kasongo Manyema takes small, careful steps, fearful of unwrapping the cloth tied like a baby's diaper to catch the blood, urine and feces that has been dribbling from her body for 2 1/2 years.
She was 19 then, when men in military uniform attacked her as she weeded her family's cassava field.
A U.N. helicopter has brought her to HEAL Africa Hospital in Goma, where reconstructive surgery could help her incontinence and the stench that follows her and thousands of other Congolese women suffering from fistulas.
Fistulas usually result from giving birth in poor conditions. In Congo, they are caused by violent rapes that tear apart the flesh separating the bladder and rectum from the vagina.
Dr. Christophe Kinoma, one of only two surgeons who perform the reconstructive operations in east Congo, says there's a 50-50 chance that surgery can mend Manyema and others like her.
"Yesterday I did five fistula operations and we have more than 100 women waiting here and who knows how many out in the bush who never ever get to a hospital."
Kinoma says it has become the norm for armed men to use guns, knives and bayonets to rupture their victims' bodies. Sometimes they shoot bullets up women's vaginas. Victims often are rejected by their families, contract HIV, and are left to live in pain and shame.
In December, he operated on an 11-month-old baby raped by a 22-year-old neighbor. During one week in February, it was a 12-year-old girl who had been savagely raped by five soldiers. They stuffed a maize cob inside her.
Also treated last week was a 4-year-old whose mother sent her across the road to get something from a neighbor. She was kidnapped by soldiers and gang-raped.
"An American doctor who was here just burst into tears and collapsed. She couldn't believe what the soldiers had done to this child, just torn her body apart," he says.
Kinoma says he may be able to mend the physical damage, "but the psychological trauma never goes away for some." The hospital offers counseling but has no psychologists.
"The 11-month-old I operated on, every time she sees a man, including me, she starts screaming," he says.
The 4-year-old was infected with HIV, and they await results from a test on the 12-year-old. "If three, four, five soldiers rape you, you are almost assured of contracting AIDS," Kinoma says.
___
The trauma that haunts these children and women also affects those who help them.
Hortense Tshomba, who has been counseling victims for three years, says she hopes to give them the courage to return to their homes. Many are rejected by husbands and fathers who say the attacks have left them "unclean."
"We try to counsel them as couples. For girls rejected by their parents, we try to intervene. Some families accept them back; others don't."
When counseling does not help, HEAL Africa offers lessons in sewing and handicrafts to teach them to survive financially. She says rejected women who don't get help often are forced from communities and become beggars.
"Sometimes I have nightmares," Tshomba says. "When I leave after hearing all these horror stories, really it's like my brain is on fire. I have to listen to some jazz to ease my soul."
But there are successes like 13-year-old Harriet, who came to HEAL Africa four years ago. Harriet's parents were killed by the rebels who attacked her and then burned down their home in Rutshuru, north of Goma. She nows lives with a woman who counseled her at the hospital.
On this day, Harriet is so delighted she cannot stop grinning, a wide beam that's infectious in its joy. Her fingernails are black with dirt, but she is wearing lip gloss and eyeliner.
"Today, I got my results and I am top of my class," she announces, flaunting a report that shows she averaged 88.5 percent in math, French and English exams.
"When I came to HEAL Africa, I had never been to school. I was 9 years old. Now I'm beating students who have been to school all their lives," she says. "My teacher says I'm very intelligent, that I should go to school in the United States."
As for the future: "I think I want to be a doctor, so that I can help people the way these doctors helped me."
___
On the Net:
HEAL Africa: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_re_af/storytext/af_congo_stop_the_rape/31301335/SIG=10rp2f377/*http://www.healafrica.org
American Bar Association: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_re_af/storytext/af_congo_stop_the_rape/31301335/SIG=10nnn7oi5/*http://www.abanet.org

REPLY:

This reminds me off the three blind men trying to figure out the elephant. At one time no one understood fully the inner workings of the regime - how they operated; how the party controlled the county; how the police, rebels, hate crimes worked; that torture, rape, extermination and much more were going on and to the degree of that; the depth of misery and death.... We had the tail, the ears, the feet of the monster but no idea of it's overall shape. Now more and more things are coming to light. More are willling to speak up and out. We are still left not knowing what to do....

N.Ireland riots after police arrest 3 over killings

2009-03-14T14:28:00.000-07:00

LURGAN, Northern Ireland – Irish nationalist gangs hurled gas bombs at police Saturday after three alleged IRA dissidents were arrested on suspicion of killing two British soldiers in an attack designed to trigger wider violence in Northern Ireland.
Police operating in armored cars and flame-retardant suits said none of their officers was injured during the rising mob violence in the Irish Catholic end of Lurgan, a religiously divided town southwest of Belfast. Rioters also blocked the main Belfast-to-Dublin railway line that runs alongside the hardline Kilwilkie neighborhood of the town.
The unrest followed Saturday's arrest of Colin Duffy, 41, the best-known Irish republican in Lurgan. Police arrested two other suspected Irish Republican Army dissidents aged 32 and 21 in the overwhelmingly Catholic village of Bellaghy — all on suspicion of shooting to death two soldiers last weekend.
Police advised motorists to stay away from the Catholic north side of Lurgan to avoid having their cars seized and burned as road barricades. An Associated Press reporter driving through the area at dusk Saturday night had to make a rapid escape to avoid youths — some wearing masks or with scarf-covered faces — hurling rocks and bricks in an apparent attempt to stop his vehicle.
Police long considered Duffy the IRA godfather of Lurgan and twice charged him with murders in the town in the run-up to the IRA's 1997 cease-fire — which breakaway factions are now trying to destroy.
Duffy was convicted of killing a former soldier in Lurgan in 1993, but was freed on appeal three years later after the key witness against him was identified as a member of an outlawed Protestant gang.
He was back behind bars within a year after police identified him as the gunman who committed the IRA's last two killings before its cease-fire: two Protestant policemen shot point-blank through the backs of their heads while on foot patrol in Lurgan in June 1997.
The prosecutors' case against Duffy collapsed after their key witness suffered a nervous breakdown and withdrew her testimony. Two years later, Protestant extremists assassinated Duffy's lawyer, Rosemary Nelson, with an under-car booby trap bomb in a case still being investigated today because of allegations that police were involved.
Saturday's arrest of Duffy appeared likely to pose a political challenge for Sinn Fein, the IRA-linked party that is the leading Irish nationalist voice in Northern Ireland's power-sharing administration — and is trying to convince Protestants of its newfound support for British law and order.
The leading Sinn Fein member of the coalition, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, earlier this week denounced IRA dissidents as "traitors" and pledged to support the police's hunt for the gunmen. But previously, Sinn Fein has defended Duffy as an innocent man and a victim of British conspiracies.
Sinn Fein declined to comment on the arrests. McGuinness was traveling Saturday in the United States and could not be reached for comment.
Saturday's arrests came a week after the Real IRA splinter group fired more than 60 bullets at several unarmed, off-duty soldiers outside an army base as they collected pizzas, the first of two deadly gun attacks against British security forces.
Two soldiers, aged 21 and 23, died and four other people were seriously wounded, including both pizza delivery men — whom the Real IRA described as legitimate targets because they were "collaborating" with the enemy. Police said the attack involved two masked men armed with assault rifles and a getaway driver.
The IRA dissidents next struck Monday when Constable Stephen Carroll, 48, was shot fatally through the back of the head as he sat in his police car in Craigavon, the town beside Lurgan. A different splinter group, the Continuity IRA, admitted responsibility for that killing.
Police arrested two people — a 17-year-old boy and a 37-year-old man — on Tuesday, and a third man in his mid-20s on Friday, on suspicion of involvement in killing the policeman. All were still being interrogated Saturday.
The dissidents insist they have no intention of stopping attacks on British security forces and the civilians who work with them — the policy that the IRA pursued during its own 1970-97 attempt to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom. Most IRA members agreed to renounce violence and disarm in 2005.

Reply:

Who isn't fighting right now? I can't think of any countries (well the French but hey you know) that aren't at war, fighting, thinking about fighting, threats of war ect. I have to ask is part of this tied into the economy? I think so....but some things have been going on for years and years. It's as if each one is in a way saying "hey look they aren't putting up with this why should we?"So many questions have answers and so many don't. Two biggest issues.... money and power. What's new!!!!

Why Do People Listen to Rush Limbaugh?

2009-03-14T02:10:00.000-07:00

Why Do People Listen to Rush Limbaugh?

AlterNet readers (and many others) had a lot to say about a recent article explaining the popularity of Rush Limbaugh.

Despite the fact that he is batshit crazy, Rush Limbaugh continues to reign supreme over the GOP. The conservative talk show host has styled himself as the voice of the Republican Party, even as he spews hate-filled rhetoric and brazenly reiterates his hope that the President fails in his attempt to rescue one of the worst financial crises in history.
His posturing is met with only quiet muttering by more moderate conservatives. Meanwhile, politicians who vocally challenge Limbaugh end up slimily backpedaling within one news cycle.
Why does Limbaugh inspire a strong enough following among many conservatives to warrant public respect by GOP heavyweights, who, undoubtedly, also privately think he’s batshit crazy?
In a recent article on AlterNet, Deepak Chopra suggests that Limbaugh’s popularity has little to do with what he’s actually saying. Instead, what keeps people tuning in is Limbaugh’s style -- that particular brand of loudly blared bile perfected by conservative talk show hosts in their decade of dominance over the airwaves.
According to Chopra, shock jocks like Limbaugh:
... exist purely as steam vents. The common citizen gets to be pissed off by the millions, unrelentingly, without cease or solution, and in return, he is praised. To be outraged is to be morally superior."
Your anger strips away tolerance, sympathy, and regard for "the other." Hence the almost imperial bearing of Limbaugh, the bland certainty that because he never stops being angry, he never stops being right.
AlterNet readers had a chance to vent in response to the article.
Kcdrew writes that we shouldn’t underestimate the danger Limbaugh represents by viewing him as a distraction, or a catharsis for bitter voters:
No, you can't merely be "entertained" by Rush "Porkulus" Limbaugh. You could, if he weren't any harm to people but he is and that's the problem. What he does to those same illegal immigrants, women, gays and all the rest of us he doesn't like is real damage.
If it were only a joke, it would only be funny and entertainment. He does damage.
And that's not funny.
peacefullaim1 also argues that Limbaugh is no joke:
While I admire and respect Dr. Chopra, I'm with you, kcdrew, on this one. Limbaugh brings out the worst in his listeners. There is something unhealthy to the point of sinister is the way he matter-of-factly states the most absurd and hateful things. He, quite literally, makes me sick...
John Annis agrees:
You're absolutely correct, and people would do well to consider that by according him ANY status, including that of Court Jester, they are giving him credibility.
Vile reptiles like Limbaugh have split the American public, perhaps irretrievably, and you will have to live with the consequences for years to come. It's not a prospect I could countenance and I am surprised at the idea that this creature should be given any more breathing space.
In many European countries a lot of what he says would be considered inflammatory and inciting, and he would be dealt with appropriately. After all, who needs this kind of filth? Don't we have enough hatred around without paying some hate-monger $400 million over the next few years just to spread more?
If you treat him like a clown but still listen to him you are part of the problem. Why don't you just park him in the nearest psychiatric facility and move on.
But bizeeb is spooked by the seeming call for censorship in John Annis’ comment:
"In many European countries a lot of what he says would be considered inflammatory and inciting, and he would be dealt with appropriately."
Censorship is never the answer. I hate defending people like Limbaugh but if you think he shouldn't have the freedom to express himself than you are in the wrong, not him.

Reply:

Trust me theres about 4 pages posted with people all basicly stating the same thing. Rush is a big bag of hot air.

Is the Economic Mess Going to Kill 100,000 Non-Profits?

2009-03-14T01:44:00.000-07:00

Is the Economic Mess Going to Kill 100,000 Non-Profits?

The intensifying economic crisis is crushing the budgets of vital non-profits across the country, and the consequences are devastating.

In the days between Christmas and New Year's Eve, Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, sat at his desk in Lower Manhattan and reached out to people who had lavished generous donations on his organization during the long, benighted tenure of George W. Bush. It was a heady moment: the era of Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales was winding to a close, and Barack Obama was about to assume office, having vowed to rescind some of his predecessor's more egregious assaults on civil liberties.But Romero wasn't phoning his supporters to share the joy -- he was calling to plead for cash after a season (actually, several seasons) of thwarted solicitations.

Throughout the spring and summer, would-be donors had explained, over and over again, that they were too busy writing checks to the Obama campaign. By the time Obama mounted the stage to deliver his acceptance speech in Chicago on election night, many had become preoccupied with something else: the implosion of the economy.

As Romero worked the phone from his office on the nineteenth floor of the downtown high-rise, around the corner from the New York Stock Exchange, he could feel the aftershocks of the collapse.

"I'll come back, but I lost it all," one longtime donor told Romero.

"I love you guys, but it's gone -- all gone," said another.

The most expensive presidential campaign in history and the cataclysmic financial meltdown of the past few months combined to produce a "perfect storm," Romero told me recently. The storm blew a $19 million hole in the ACLU's budget, resulting in a hiring freeze and the cancellation of various projects, followed by the announcement, in January, that 10 percent of the national staff was being let go. Employees with decades of experience were told to clear out their offices; no department was left unscathed.

Founded in 1920, the ACLU boasts a membership of 530,000 and assets of more than $200 million. However dire the economic downturn gets, Romero, who has weathered his share of controversy at the ACLU but also presided over a period of impressive achievements and growth, can rest assured his organization will be around in a couple of years. It's an assumption a growing number of his peers in the nonprofit world can't make.

At a forum in New York City in November, Paul Light, a professor of public service at New York University, predicted that "at a minimum" more than 100,000 nonprofit organizations would be wiped out in the next two years. Light asked the audience members whether any of them had tuned in to the recent hearing in Washington on the impending nonprofit upheaval. The room fell silent. Light then admitted he'd missed the deliberations as well, because, alas, there hadn't been any. "We should demand a hearing immediately on the state of the nonprofit sector -- immediately," he declared.Not everyone believes the fallout will be quite so cataclysmic -- historically, the nonprofit sector has proved surprisingly resilient, even growing during some recent recessions -- but the scale and scope of the current downturn is clearly different. And its reverberations will likely extend far beyond the world of high-profile advocacy organizations like the ACLU.

From the arts to education, soup kitchens to housing organizations, nonprofits perform an array of functions that shape the texture of daily life in communities across the country, often by helping people whose situations were precarious even before the economy crashed. Now, with foundations watching their endowments shrivel, many individual donors maxed out and states across the country staring at massive budget deficits, nonprofits are scaling back their services at the very moment when the need for them is escalating.

The Greater Hartford Legal Aid agency occupies the third floor of a boxy glass-and-concrete building a few blocks down from the University of Connecticut School of Law. Its executive director, Elam Lantz Jr., doesn't like to talk about the ripple effects that the financial crisis has had on his agency. "I would not use the word 'ripple' -- it's more like a tsunami," Lantz, a mild-mannered man with a clipped gray beard and wire-frame glasses, tells me. "It's more dire than it's ever been -- this is a sharp plummet, not a decline."The main cause of the sharp plummet is a seemingly unrelated development -- the decline in interest rates to near zero -- that has taken a disastrous toll on legal aid organizations, which, in Connecticut and many other states, receive a substantial share of their funding from the interest on temporary trusts that lawyers hold for clients while carrying out transactions such as real estate deals. This might seem like an odd way to finance such an essential social good, and it is, but the evisceration during the Reagan era of the Legal Services Corporation, the federal agency created in the 1970s to fund legal aid programs and a longstanding target of Republicans, forced states to find creative alternatives. Back when interest rates were 3 to 4 percent, the creativity seemed to be paying off. Now that they've nose-dived, agencies from Ohio to Oregon are scrambling to survive. In Connecticut, the interest on lawyer trusts generated $21 million in 2007; the figure will plunge to under $4 million this year.

At Greater Hartford Legal Aid, six attorneys have been let go and more cuts may soon follow. "I have to raise $500,000 somehow," says Lantz glumly, "and then spend some of our operating reserves. That will take us to 2010, and we're just going to have to take it one year at a time."All this means an already overburdened legal aid system will be that much less likely to help people like Evelyn Colon. A single mother with two young daughters, last year Colon dialed the 800 number in Connecticut that refers low-income residents to attorneys who might be willing to represent them. Colon had just received an eviction notice, even though she'd kept up with her rent, after her landlord's property went into foreclosure. Her case fell to Stephanie D'Ambrose, an attorney at Greater Hartford Legal Aid. D'Ambrose discovered that the author of the eviction notice, Fannie Mae, which weeks earlier had been bailed out by the government, was obligated to treat renters more leniently under the terms of the conservatorship it had entered. After the Hartford Courant ran a story about the case, calls began pouring in from lawyers across the country representing people in similar situations. The mounting legal challenges eventually prompted Fannie Mae to announce a moratorium on all post-foreclosure evictions. At the time, there were 10,000 such cases pending nationwide.

D'Ambrose, a former Peace Corps volunteer whose desk is cluttered with manila folders and thank-you cards from various clients she's served, beams with pride when talking about the case. But she hasn't had much time to savor her success: she is among the lawyers at Greater Hartford Legal Aid who were recently laid off, and she is searching for work while trying to stomach leaving an agency swamped with need. "We already turn away a lot of people; now we'll turn away that many more," she says.Unlike D'Ambrose, Sudha Acharya, executive director of the South Asian Council for Social Services, hasn't had to thumb through any help-wanted ads lately. She's just taken a 50 percent pay cut that, along with a 15 percent cut imposed on her staff, has enabled her agency to keep its doors open, for now.

Located on the ground floor of a brick building on a noisy commercial drag in Flushing, Queens, SACSS is the sort of agency most at risk of not making it through the downturn: a shoestring operation that could disappear tomorrow with few people noticing, save for the hundreds of South Asian immigrants who rely on it for job training courses and healthcare workshops that help clients navigate a byzantine system even many native New Yorkers find impenetrable. (Among people in the state without health benefits, fully half are eligible but either don't know they are or can't figure out how to apply.)Acharya says her organization stays afloat on a mix of foundation support, corporate donations, individual contributions and community funds but is seeing money from all sources dry up. The agency recently had to scrap an English-language class it had been offering in the Bronx; it has kept other services intact despite receiving no money for them. I ask her who else in her circles is feeling strained. "Everybody," she says with a sigh. One of the groups with which Acharya's agency partners is the Community Service Society (CSS) of New York, a 160-year-old advocacy and direct service organization for low-income residents. Its president, David Jones, describes the forces that are making the work of charitable groups like his seem like an increasingly Sisyphean task: on the one hand, cash-strapped cities and states slashing programs; on the other, private foundations reducing outlays by as much or more.

Jones's colleague Frank Kortright works with a network of nonprofits that help tenants in New York City avoid eviction. The network has been fielding more and more calls lately from high-income residents it rarely heard from in the past. Yet CSS recently had its city funding sliced in half. Jones says similar cuts are "in the offing" from foundations. He sits on the board of one that "just voted for a 60 percent cut in their amounts."Some of the losses that soup kitchens, homeless shelters and job training centers are experiencing may soon be offset as money from the stimulus bill trickles down from Washington to agencies that contract with state and local government, says Lester Salamon, director of the Center for Civil Society Studies at Johns Hopkins University. But the relief won't spread to everyone: cultural institutions such as museums and orchestras rely mainly on charitable donations and the sale of tickets and subscriptions. Many are canceling exhibits and shows. The situation is similarly dire for advocacy organizations that don't take government money and are now competing for a limited -- in some cases, nonexistent -- pool of funds.

A few months ago, Madeline deLone, director of the Innocence Project, which has pioneered the use of DNA technology to overturn wrongful convictions, was sitting in a meeting when her communications director burst through the door. It was mid-December, and the details of Bernard Madoff's spectacular $50 billion Ponzi scheme were just coming to light. On the phone was a reporter who wanted the Innocence Project's reaction to the revelation that among Madoff's victims was the JEHT Foundation, a leading funder of criminal justice reform. The news was a surprise to deLone, who rushed to her computer, clicked on an e-mail that had landed in her in-box that morning and learned that nearly half the Innocence Project's foundation support -- 12 percent of its overall budget -- was gone. With it went the possibility that some prisoners serving time for crimes they did not commit would ever get the chance to prove it. "What we do is DNA testing, and many states don't have evidence-retention statutes," says deLone, "so the longer it takes for us to get to cases, the less likely the evidence will be there. Clearly, there will be cases where the biological evidence we could have tested will be destroyed between today and the time we can get to the case."Elisa Massimino, executive director of Human Rights First, learned about the collapse of JEHT a few days after receiving a multiyear, $2.4 million grant from the foundation. "It was an earthquake," she tells me.

Days later came the equally jolting news that the Picower Foundation, with an endowment of $1 billion, was also shutting down, likewise courtesy of Madoff. It had just pledged $250,000 to Human Rights First to fund a program for indigent refugees seeking asylum. "We're not disappearing, but we've got to find a way to do more with less," says Massimino. "Every organization I've talked to is going through this."Thanks to the transformation of the political landscape, the work of many liberal advocacy groups has lately become easier. As the ACLU's Romero puts it, "Ashcroft never met with me; [Attorney General Michael] Mukasey never met with me." Now, he says, "the lines are hugely open...it's night and day."

On the other hand, to the extent that their voices are muted because of a lack of resources, advocates of progressive change risk missing an opportunity that might not come around again. This is the concern of Gara LaMarche, head of The Atlantic Philanthropies, one of the largest, most socially progressive foundations in the country. LaMarche cites healthcare as an example. "If healthcare reform is going to pass, it will probably be this year," he says. "Healthcare is not something you can say, 'OK, it's a bad year; we'll put it off until 2010 or 2011' -- it's now or never." On this and a host of other issues, the early months of the Obama administration are likely to be critical, which is why, despite losses suffered by his foundation's endowment, LaMarche plans to increase giving in the short term and to lend support to advocacy organizations reeling from the collapse of other foundations.

As part of this effort, The Atlantic Philanthropies and the Open Society Institute agreed in December to match donations made by members of MoveOn.org to four groups -- Human Rights Watch, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Brennan Center for Justice and the Advancement Project -- that had lost money through investment funds Madoff controlled.The initiative, which raised $1.2 million, could inspire similar collaborations, though it just as easily may not. The Atlantic Philanthropies is a "spend down" foundation whose mandate is to give away all its assets by 2018. The Open Society Institute is the philanthropic arm of billionaire financier George Soros. Neither operates off an asset base designed to last in perpetuity, as is the case with many foundations that have seen their endowments shrink by 20 to 30 percent over the past few months.

Some of these foundations are calling for the creation of a revolving-loans fund, backed by the government, that would provide urgently needed capital to social service and cultural institutions they can't support. Among the speakers at a recent Congressional briefing where this idea was aired was Diana Aviv, president of the Independent Sector, a coalition of foundations and charities, and Ford Bell, president of the American Association of Museums.

At a time when taxpayer dollars have been showered on banks, such a fund seems like the least the government could do for a sector whose leaders did not push for reckless deregulation or pay themselves exorbitant bonuses in recent years. But others argue that the responsibility for supporting endangered nonprofits should fall to foundations, which still command billions of dollars in assets and are accorded nonprofit status in part because it is assumed that self-preservation is not their primary goal. "Large institutions have choices," says Rick Cohen, former head of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. "Do they husband their resources for their own purposes, or do they say, 'At this time we are called on to do more'? As social institutions, aren't they obligated to step up to the plate?"

Pablo Eisenberg, a professor at Georgetown University and columnist for The Chronicle of Philanthropy, echoes this view, pointing to Bill Gates. "In his recent letter, Gates said he's going to increase his giving to 7 percent of net returns," says Eisenberg, "yet the foundation world opposes mandating that everyone must give at least 6 percent because they have to exist in perpetuity. Says who? The frontline defense of nonprofits should be foundations that support nonprofits."Some prominent foundations are heeding these calls. The MacArthur Foundation has disbursed $68 million in emergency grants to mitigate the subprime mortgage crisis in Chicago, boosted funding for the arts and front-loaded donations to human rights organizations even as its endowment has been depleted, a response Jonathan Fanton, its president, declines to depict as outsize in its generosity. "In 2003 we had about $3.8 billion in assets," Fanton tells me. "We got up to nearly $7 billion, and now we're at $5.2 billion. So the endowment is off maybe 20 percent, but if you see a starting point of 3.8 and you're now at 5.2, you don't feel so poor.""We're giving back some of the extraordinary gains we earned," he continues, "and I think it's important for some institutions to hold steady and say, 'You can count on us; we're not going to reduce our investment in human rights, affordable housing, all the rest.' Maybe if other foundations did the same, it would begin to ease the fear and panic."Some fallout in the nonprofit sector may be inevitable. And there may even be some benefit in forcing grant recipients to think hard about how to use their resources, a question that was easy to put off when the inflated stock market caused the level of giving to swell.

Nonprofit agencies love to portray themselves as mission-driven operations staffed by underpaid idealists who never think about themselves, but the field also has its share of organizations that lack a clear mission and sometimes seem more concerned with burnishing their image than advancing social change or meeting their clients' needs. If such groups are forced to rethink their priorities or close their doors, it might not be a bad thing. "Has there been a nonprofit bubble along the lines of the market bubble?" asks Gara LaMarche. "Probably, and it's beginning to burst. Are there too many small groups? Are the bigger groups as creative and intelligent with their resources as they could be? Do turf issues tend to get in the way of joint ventures?

These conversations may be driven by crisis, but out of it could come some more effective ways of doing things."There is another question people tend to put off when too much money is swishing around -- namely, how much even a wealthy society like the United States can realistically expect of the nonprofit sector. Few politicians in recent years issued warnings about the danger of relying too much on private charities to help the poor -- these charities were, after all, the widely heralded alternative to the welfare system, whose defects came to represent the evils of big government. But today, the number of Americans receiving cash assistance through what remains of the welfare system has fallen to a forty-year low despite spiraling unemployment, a disparity that prompted Ron Haskins, a former Republican Congressional aide who helped craft the welfare reform law, to tell the New York Times that even he has become "concerned." The Times story appeared the day I met with David Jones of the Community Service Society, who shared this concern but was not surprised. "Responsibility for the poor was a government function in the Great Depression and Roosevelt's time," said Jones. "Now more and more people who lose their jobs turn to charity because we've off-loaded the responsibility to not-for-profits and made it so difficult and cumbersome for people to receive benefits."A few days after I saw Jones, I spoke to Doris Koo, president of Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit that provides development capital and expertise to help build affordable low-income housing. Until the Reagan era, this, too, had been a responsibility of government.

As funding for public housing dwindled, an alternative system of tax credits was established that offered investors incentives to float capital to nonprofit developers constructing housing for the poor. A $9 billion industry quietly arose that has poured the concrete, hung the drywall and placed hundreds of thousands of tenants in decentralized low-income housing units, hardly enough to meet the overall demand but a significant achievement that many view as an improvement over the large, crime-infested projects that used to be the only option for the poor.Last year, however, the flow of capital suddenly dried up, turning a $9 billion industry into a $4 billion one and leaving nonprofit developers with half-finished projects that are in limbo. "What we've got are these diligent community-based organizations in New Orleans, Harlem and the Bronx that are in a twilight zone situation," said Koo. "They have a debt obligation, and they've acquired land that can produce no income because they can't finish the project -- there's zero capital.""So groups are panicking," she went on. "Some are coming to us to ask for extensions on loans, some are selling anything they can to raise capital to finish their projects -- many of which are shovel-ready -- and some have gone under." The story illustrates how much community-based nonprofits can achieve, but also how vulnerable they can be to the vagaries of the market.

What might save some of those shovel-ready projects? As it happens, $2.25 billion will soon begin flowing to states through something called the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which draws its funding from a much-vilified source that many bankers and investors have lately come to view in a more positive light: the federal government.

The Nation. Posted March 13, 2009.

Reply:

A fear many have had is becoming more and more real as the days go by. Advocates plead causes they feel so important every day. Who makes the choice what comes 1st? Is it who ever is the most noisy or the one that really needs it? Only time will tell in the long run. This is heart breaking to read and see the effects everyday. All we can do is stick together and try to find other ways to help.

Aid group pulls out after Darfur workers kidnapped

2009-03-12T12:32:00.000-07:00

Aid group pulls out after Darfur workers kidnapped

KHARTOUM, Sudan – Armed men stormed an aid agency compound in Darfur and kidnapped three Westerners, heightening fears that foreigners will be targeted in the backlash over the international arrest warrant for Sudan's president.
The three workers for Doctors Without Borders were kidnapped late Wednesday in a government-controlled area in northern Darfur, close to a stronghold of government-allied Arab militiamen known as janjaweed, officials said Thursday.
The Sudanese government condemned the attack and denied any involvement. But officials quickly blamed the arrest warrant issued last week by the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court accusing President Omar al-Bashir of war crimes in Darfur.
"Anything that goes wrong (since the warrant) onwards I personally attribute to the ICC decision," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Youssef said.
Ali Sadiq, another Foreign Ministry official, told Al-Jazeera television that his ministry had warned that the warrant "encourages lawlessness and armed groups to target aid groups and their workers."
Al-Bashir's government has been warning since even before the warrant was issued March 4 that the case could lead to revenge attacks by Sudanese, though it said it would try to protect aid workers, peacekeepers and other foreigners.
Sudan has vehemently denounced the warrant as a "colonialist" attempt to destabilize the country. After it was announced, Khartoum retaliated by expelling the 13 biggest aid groups working in Darfur, accusing them of helping the court.
The expulsion has sparked fears of a humanitarian crisis in the region, where the government and rebels have been fighting for six years and several million people rely on international agencies for food, shelter and water.
The Dutch and French branches of Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF, were among the expelled aid groups. But the abducted staffers belonged to its Belgian branch, which was allowed to remain along with the Spanish and Swiss branches and dozens of other smaller aid groups.
MSF said Thursday that because of safety concerns all its branches would move their personnel out of Darfur to Khartoum — except for a small number working for the abducted staffers' release.
"Evacuation will mean an interruption to many of MSF's essential medical services in Darfur. MSF is extremely worried both for our abducted colleagues and for the populations that MSF teams had been providing medical aid to," the group said in a statement.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum authorized the departure of nonessential staff, saying the security situation was "uncertain."
Several Islamic fundamentalist groups and a militia in Darfur have made public threats to attack ICC supporters in Sudan. The threat was dismissed by Sudanese officials as an expression of "political support" for al-Bashir.
In the Wednesday evening attack, gunmen entered the compound where the MSF-Belgium staffers lived and worked in the rural town of Saraf Umra, 230 kilometers (125 miles) west of the regional capital El Fasher, said Susan Sandars, an MSF spokeswoman in Nairobi, Kenya. The clinic provides vaccinations, treatment for malnutrition and prenatal care.
The gunmen seized a Canadian nurse, an Italian doctor and a French coordinator, along with two Sudanese guards who were released several hours later, Sandars said. It was not clear if violence was used in the abduction.
Banditry, break-ins and carjackings against aid organizations have long been common in Darfur, usually blamed on the many armed groups operating in the region. Worsening lawlessness in the past year forced many aid workers to travel only by helicopter to avoid high-risk roads.
Sudanese aid workers have been killed in such attacks. Others have been held by attackers, with most quickly freed after being stripped of their vehicles, equipment or cash.
The latest attack was different. "Deliberately going to some place with the intention of taking people away" has not been seen before, said Kemal Saiki, communication director for the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur.
The attackers likely faced little or no resistance since security around such compounds is often not strong, Saiki said.
The three captives were allowed by the kidnappers to call MSF colleagues to assure them they are in good health, said Hassabo Abdel-Rahman of Sudan's government humanitarian affairs office. The captives said that "they are eating and drinking and are OK," he told reporters.
The two released Sudanese guards were questioned by police but could not identify their abductors, Abdel-Rahman said.
"It's an isolated and immoral act," the spokesman said.
A Darfur rebel group, Sudan Liberation Movement-Unity, accused the government of being behind the kidnapping, saying authorities were trying to create "a security vacuum" in Darfur.
Four peacekeepers were wounded in an ambush in western Darfur only days before the abduction. The attackers were never identified.
The ICC warrant accuses al-Bashir of orchestrating atrocities against civilians in Darfur, where his Arab-led government has been battling ethnic African rebels since 2003. Up to 300,000 people have been killed, and 2.7 million have been driven from their homes.

Reply:

Some of these terrorist groups will cut off their noses to spite their faces. Doctors Without Borders is one of the finest relief organizations that has ever existed. These brave people risk their lives daily to bring medical care to the most poverty ridden and war torn areas of the world. Theres no stopping these terrorist coachroaches presently, so lets at least send some cash to DWB as a vote of support and solidarity with them and their gallant efforts.

Iraqi who threw shoes at Bush jailed for 3 years

2009-03-12T12:02:00.000-07:00

Iraqi who threw shoes at Bush jailed for 3 years

BAGHDAD – The Iraqi journalist who threw shoes at then-President George W. Bush was convicted Thursday of assaulting a foreign leader and sentenced to three years in prison, lawyers said. He defiantly shouted "long live Iraq" when the sentence was read.
Muntadhar al-Zeidi's bold act in December electrified many across the Middle East who consider him a hero for expressing his anger at a president who is widely disliked for his decision to invade Iraq in 2003.
The 30-year-old journalist pleaded not guilty to the assault charge Thursday, telling the three-judge panel that "what I did was a natural response to the occupation."
Reporters and family members were then ordered out of the courtroom for the verdict, which was relayed to them by defense attorneys and a court official.
Some of al-Zeidi's relatives collapsed after the ruling was issued and had to be helped out of the courthouse. Others were forcibly removed by guards after shouting "down with Bush" and "long live Iraq."
"This judiciary is not just," al-Zeidi's brother, Dargham, said tearfully after Thursday verdict was announced.
Court spokesman Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar said al-Zeidi received the minimum sentence for the assault charge but could appeal the conviction. He could have received up to 15 years in prison for hurling his shoes at Bush during a Dec. 14 news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Defense lawyers said the judge showed leniency because of al-Zeidi's age and clean record. But they had hoped for an even lighter sentence, arguing the journalist's actions constituted an insult rather than an assault.
"The sentence was unexpectedly harsh," said Yehya al-Eitabi, one of some two dozen defense lawyers who attended Thursday's hearing. He said they would appeal the verdict.
His assessment was shared by some in Baghdad.
"Al-Zeidi should have been honored and not sent to prison," said Salam Omar, who owns a cell phone shop in eastern Baghdad.
The journalist has been in Iraqi custody since the shoe incident. Bush quickly ducked to avoid being hit and was not injured. Al-Zeidi was quickly wrestled to the ground by guards and dragged away.
During Thursday's proceedings, al-Zeidi, wearing a beige suit over a brown shirt and brown leather shoes, walked swiftly to the wooden dock where defendants are kept and greeted the panel of three judges with a nod and a wave.
Presiding Judge Abdul-Amir al-Rubaie asked al-Zeidi to enter a plea.
"I am innocent," he replied.
The proceedings took place under heavy guard with scores of armed policemen inside the courtroom and the Iraqi soldiers who escorted al-Zeidi waiting outside.
The trial began on Feb. 19 but was adjourned until Thursday as the judges weighed a defense argument that the current charge is not applicable because Bush was not in Baghdad on an official visit, having arrived unannounced and without an invitation.
Al-Rubaie read a response from the prime minister's office insisting it was an official visit.
Chief defense attorney Dhia al-Saadi then demanded that the charge be dismissed, saying his client's action "was an expression of freedom and does not constitute a crime."
He echoed al-Zeidi's testimony at the previous hearing, saying his client had been provoked by anger over Bush's claims of success in a war that has devastated his country.
"It was an act of throwing a shoe and not a rocket. It was meant as an insult to the occupation," the lawyer said.
The judge then turned to the defendant and asked whether he had anything to add.
"I have great faith in the Iraqi judiciary. It is a judiciary that is both just and has integrity," al-Zeidi responded.
Many people in the region — angry over the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq — have embraced al-Zeidi. They have staged large street rallies calling for his release, and one Iraqi man erected a sofa-sized sculpture of a shoe in his honor that the Iraqi government later ordered removed.
When al-Zeidi threw his shoes at Bush, he shouted in Arabic: "This is your farewell kiss, you dog! This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."
Al-Maliki was deeply embarrassed by the action against an American president who had stood by him when some Arab leaders were quietly urging the U.S. to oust him.

Reply:

Although the man was wrong to throw the shoe.( He could of caused a much BIGGER problem.) I can understand WHY the shoe was thrown over 100.000 people died in Iraq....(GEORGE BUSH'S personal War)Three years is far too much for him to go to jail! It was just a shoe! It's not like he whipped out a big gun. He shouldn't be going to jail for a shoe.. Bush had it coming.. I know a lot of Americans who would love to throw their shoes at him.

The punishment is unjust and sets a bad example of what democracy is suppose to represent. The Iraq people will see this for what it is and lose faith in their court system. Former President Bush should get involved and ask for this sentence to be pardoned. Where is the justice here? This journalist, who was expressing his opinion sentenced to jail and his intended target , who deserves life in prison for his crimes, living the high life in Texas. Bush deserves a lot more punishment than just being hit by a thrown shoe.

2009-03-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

What Exactly Does Michael Kleinman Think We Should Do About Darfur?
by Kevin Jon Heller
Two genocide bloggers at Change.org, Michelle F. and Michael Bear Kleinman, have been engaged for the past couple of weeks in an impassioned debate over the ICC’s arrest warrant for Bashir. (See here and here, for the most recent installments.) Michelle, though certainly not unaware of its dangers, supports the warrant. Kleinman opposes it, blaming the ICC — like many ICC critics — for Bashir’s decision to expel humanitarian aid agencies from Darfur.
The debate ratcheted up a few notches in the past few days, following Kleiman’s particularly nasty attack on Nicholas Kristof for having the temerity to suggest, in an editorial in the New York Times last Wednesday, that Obama should pressure the Chinese to stop selling weapons to the Sudanese government and might even consider destroying a Sudanese military aircraft on the ground the next time the government violates the UN ban on offensive military flights (read: bombings) over Darfur. Kleinman’s post, entitled “Ground Control to Nicholas Kristof” accused Kristof of writing like Jack Handey (of Saturday Night Live fame, soon of the US Senate) and claimed that he “just doesn’t get it.”
Michelle finally had enough of Kleinman’s constant criticism (which included an equally nasty attack on the anti-genocide group ENOUGH). So she issued the following challenge:
Ok, then, what would you have us do? Nothing? You either shoot down or disregard every option presented without coming up with an alternative of your own — and you assume that no one is fleshing out the list of hypothetical consequences for any particular action, but that’s all it is: An assumption. And speaking from the perspective of someone who works on the issues everyday, I can tell you, with authority, that it’s a baseless one.
Kleinman’s response is illuminating. Would he have us do nothing? Actually, yes:
I think the US, the UK and France should work with the Arab League, the AU and China to broker a deal - the Security Council suspends the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Bashir, and Sudan allows the expelled aid agencies to resume work.
That’s it. That is Kleinman’s “solution.”
In the short term, of course, deferring the warrant would be better for a significant number of Darfuris. No one, not even the most fervent defender of the ICC, denies that there are immediate costs — very real, very human costs — to the arrest warrant. But what about in the long-term? As one of the contributors to Alex de Waal’s blog Making Sense of Darfur pointed out yesterday, the massive amount of humanitarian aid poured into Darfur over the past three decades may have alleviated suffering, but it has done nothing to eliminate that suffering’s root causes:
The first impulse of the media and international community has been to focus on the urgent need for aid to continue. But I think many people should consider why aid needs to continue so desperately, despite years of work and billions of dollars invested. How can it be that after 28 years of being there (as one organisation proudly states), 2.2 million people are dependent on international aid agencies for basic needs? For me, this is the real tragedy.
We know, of course, what has caused the suffering of millions of Darfuris for the past 20 years: Bashir’s murderous government. Bashir has never seriously negotiated peace — not even when he knew that an arrest warrant was a very real possibility. Michelle again:
Bashir had over SEVEN MONTHS to show the international community that he was committed to peace, but as he went on an international media charm campaign to push for a suspension of the ICC investigation, he was busy escalating violence in Darfur — from attacking IDP camps to violating his own ceasefire two days after it was announced. This is not a man known for sticking to his word. Even more, the conflict was escalating and the humanitarian situation was deteriorating even before the ICC drama began in July, with no apparent opening for any kind of way out, messy or otherwise.
This recent history explains why Kleinman’s response to Michelle’s question was a non-answer: she was asking him to explain his long-term solution for Darfur, not his short-term solution. And his response was… silence.
That is an unacceptable position for someone who so savagely criticizes anyone who dares support the arrest warrant. Does Kleinman really believe that this time — unlike all the others — Bashir will pursue peace and help the Darfuris if the international community leaves him alone? If so, he should say so openly. But if not — if he doesn’t believe that doing nothing is enough — I think it behooves him to (1) tell us what actions the international community should take instead of pursuing Bashir’s arrest, and (2) explain to us why those actions will be more likely to influence Bashir’s behavior.
I would be very curious to see Kleinman’s answers, especially to the second question. Suggesting that the international community do nothing seems hopelessly naive to me — equivalent to Charlie Brown’s unwavering belief that one day Lucy will stop pulling the football away, to borrow a metaphor from Becky Tinsley, the director of Waging Peace, a human-rights group — but at least it has the virtue of consistency. The same cannot be said, however, of any more aggressive solution. If the international community gives in to Bashir’s blackmail over the arrest warrant because of (understandable) humanitarian concerns, why would Bashir ever take seriously any other threat? All he would have to do is threaten to expel the humanitarian aid agencies again for the chorus to start anew: “keeping the aid flowing is more important than neutralizing or eliminating the regime that makes the aid necessary.” Bashir remains in power, the aid keeps flowing, and nothing ever gets better — it just doesn’t get any worse. Maybe that is enough for Kleinman. It’s not enough for me.
In his attack on Kristof, Kleinman wrote that “what’s delusional — if not dishonest — is the refusal to admit that perhaps [the arrest warrant] wouldn’t work.” I would suggest that what is equally delusional, if not equally dishonest, is for Kleinman to refuse to admit that doing nothing won’t work, either.

Relpy to both Michelle and Michale's blogs.

Great points made Michelle. I agree!!!! We can't sit by and shoot down every idea. We can't wait for someone who is known for lies to stick to his word. We can't not stop making suggestions on what to do. We can NOT give up. Also, I agree that this should have been done a LONG time ago. It makes me sad that people want to just give up and walk away. These people need us more now then ever. Things may look endless right now but we will see things change if we stick together and fight together. I for one will not give up.
Posted by Andrea Mckeeby on 03/06/2009 @ 07:45PM PST

Michelle,

Thanks for this -- will post a response later today, in more detail, but you're right; simply carping from the sidelines isn't particularly constructive. So, my suggestion, bow to Bashir's demands and suspend the prosecution. And yes, I do understand the consequences, but right now I think resuming aid is far more important. Michael

Posted by Michael Bear Kleinman on 03/08/2009 @ 12:38PM PST

Michael, So your suggestion is to "bow to Bashir's demands and suspend the prosecution"? How might I ask will this do any good at all? He's very well known for not keeping his word over and over. What's to say he will if they do "bow to his wishes"? Very unlikely that he would allow Aid Workers back and then where are we???? Worse then ever. So I have to ask is it a matter of either don't do anything at all or do what he wants and hope he keeps his word? Now I have to point to Michelle's blog " If we give Bashir what he wants --- a suspension of the ICC indictment --- what makes you so sure that he will suddenly become more cooperative? Bashir had over SEVEN MONTHS to show the international community that he was committed to peace, but as he went on an international media charm campaign to push for a suspension of the ICC investigation, he was busy escalating violence in Darfur --- from attacking IDP camps to violating his own ceasefire two days after it was announced. This is not a man known for sticking to his word. Even more, the conflict was escalating and the humanitarian situation was deteriorating even before the ICC drama began in July, with no apparent opening for any kind of way out, messy or otherwise".To think he would do otherwise is naive. If we don't remove him now things are going to get far worse (if possible). I personally don't see any other way.
Posted by Andrea Mckeeby on 03/08/2009 @ 07:15PM PST

Andrea and others,Excellent points - I think we're in a situation of weighing and deciding between the least-bad option. For my full response to Michelle, see:http://humanitarianrelief.change.org/blog/view/ahem_-_ground_control_to_michael_kleinmanBest,Michael
Posted by Michael Bear Kleinman on 03/09/2009 @ 09:16AM PST

My latest reply to Michael Post:

As you put it "consequences":
1. But doesn't this mean Bashir wins?
If you want to see it that way, yes.(Hasn't he already and has been for years? He's like a spoiled child. What do you do with a child that is having a temper tantrum? Give them what they want? I don't think so.)
2. But doesn't this undermine - perhaps fatally undermine - the ICC, and make it that much harder to deter genocidaires in the future?
Perhaps. Certainly a possibility.(Not only possible but a guaranty. Let one do this you will let all. Whole new can of worms. Undermining the ICC is the same as saying ok never mind we didn't want you to look into this. The ICC is here for a reason.)3. Why do you think that Bashir would even honor such an agreement? After all, he is a war criminal - not a group noted for keeping their word.
Tough one. A risk I'm willing to take.(So your willing to take a risk that means no Aid, no support, no hopes? We all know what Bashir is and that he's never kept his word. Why would you think he would now? How can you justify willing to take a risk?
"You can't have your cake and eat it, too. "(Is this not what your saying we should give Bashir?) Peace and justice don't always move hand-in-hand.Sometimes you have to make a choice as to which is most important, at least in terms of deciding what to do next.Try looking at this from the other side. What outcome do you want. Work your way back the the problem and see what ideas might just be possible. Sometime when we look at things as overwhelming, scary or feel hopeless its best to step back and look outside of the "box". For me giving into the mad mans fits and actions of (yes I will say it ) Genocide!!!! There is not a chance I'd believe he'd ever allow Aid back in even if we said pretty please with a cherry on-top. While everyone sits around thinking of what to do things grow worse each hour there. We need to act now and not tiptoe around his feelings.
Posted by Andrea Mckeeby on 03/09/2009 @ 08:01PM PST

Rush Limbaugh: Icon of Anti-Morality

2009-03-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

When Michael Steele, the hapless chairman of the Republican Party, lost his bearings and called Rush Limbaugh's style ugly and incendiary, everyone knew it was the truth. But it was a perfect example of an inconvenient truth. The right wing has long used ugly, incendiary speech the way baseball players use steroids: to artificially pump themselves up. Limbaugh has taken to saying that he wants Obama's policies to fail because they spell the end of an America based on personal freedom. This isn't just a grotesque exaggeration; it disguises the very thing the right wing has been doing when it curtailed civil liberties in the name of national security.
Yet I know people who listen to Limbaugh every morning. They don't believe a word he says. They deplore his rhetorical sins. They detect the whiff of hypocrisy. Basically, they tune in out of sheer incredulity. Limbaugh has been plowing the field of moral outrage for decades, but unlike Billy Sunday and the other hot-headed radio preachers who cashed in on social resentment in the Great Depression, Limbaugh threw out God. With no religious tradition to anchor himself, he can swing wider. Anything Limbaugh judges against is condemned, not by scripture, but simply by him being pissed off. Whatever Limbaugh hates -- however petty, personal, and arbitrary his animus -- is ipso facto wrong.This represents a huge social shift in American values. Before the Eighties there were a handful of right-wing outlets on the air; now there are well over a thousand. They exist purely as steam vents. The common citizen gets to be pissed off by the millions, unrelentingly, without cease or solution, and in return, he is praised. To be outraged is to be morally superior.The Limbaugh effect fueled the anti-morality of the Bush years. Under ordinary morality, the wretched plight of illegal immigrants, for example, must be considered along with the fact that they are breaking the law. Being poor, illiterate, and desperate, their human condition makes them more sympathetic than ruthless lawbreakers would be. But under anti-morality, if you hate immigrants because they are foreigners who don't look American enough, the argument is over. Your anger strips away tolerance, sympathy, and regard for "the other." Hence the almost imperial bearing of Limbaugh, the bland certainty that because he never stops being angry, he never stops being right. The same goes for a wide range of "others" who mightily tick off Limbaugh's listeners: Muslims, feminists, people of color, gays, and environmentalists. There's no need to understand them or try and accommodate their views. Just put them through the wringer of Limbaugh's perpetual judgment and, poof, there's no problem anymore. Of course, the whole scheme is delusional. Problems aren't solved by remaining perpetually ticked off. Accords can't be reached when you demonize the other side.By any sane account, Rush Limbaugh is dead weight when it comes to finding a solution to anything. Like Sarah Palin, his spiritual bride, he lurks in the shadow of the human psyche, expressing the dark anger, resentment, jealousy, and vindictiveness that society can never escape. And yet, the next time you tune into Limbaugh's censorious circus of insensitive scurrility, give him a kind thought. As far back as Mark Twain, the American character has been ornery. We secretly love rascals, bank robbers, tricksters, swindlers, hell raisers, and outlaws. And when we feel so inclined, we laugh at them. Rush Limbaugh may represent a toxic form of entertainment -- and the bile he spews bears no resemblance to true morality -- but the fact that America makes room for him is something to be proud of. I don't pray that he goes away. I pray that we can keep laughing, even if our grin is crooked, at the pranks of the eternal shadow who is our companion for life, whether we want him or not.

Reply:

Limbaugh doesn't actually care one bit about his listeners or America in general; as long as he keeps making millions of dollars and has an audience hanging on his every word. That's all he cares about. To think otherwise is delusional. Rush is no patriot, has no compassion. The fact that other members state there mind about him then recant on what they have said because they are afraid of him/his people makes a loud enough statement. To wish the President to fail is to wish America to fail in one way or another. Right now we don't have time to play the I'm right cause I'm with this party game. There is to much going on and we need to stick together if we are going to make it.

Sudan's president warns foreigners in Darfur

2009-03-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

Sudan's president warns foreigners in Darfur.

EL FASHER, Sudan – Sudan's president threatened to kick out more aid groups and expel diplomats and peacekeepers on Sunday during his first trip to Darfur after an international court issued an arrest warrant against him for war crimes there.
Sudan has already expelled 13 of the largest aid groups operating in Darfur as part of its defiant response to the International Criminal Court's decision last week to indict him. Sudan has accused them of cooperating with the Netherlands-based ICC.
The statements came as the Sudanese army announced it was moving toward putting its army on full alert by mobilizing three-quarters of its troops, according to the Sudan Media Center, a news agency with close links to the government.
The army renewed its allegiance to President Omar al-Bashir and said it was ready to confront any possible threat, according the report, quoting a statement from the army's chief of staff, Gen. Mohammed Nasreddin.
Al-Bashir was greeted by thousands of cheering supporters, including some on horse and camel back, in the North Darfur capital of El Fasher. Brandishing a sword, he told the throngs that others could be ordered to leave if they got involved with the ICC case. The rally was attended by a number of Arab diplomats, including Egyptian, Jordanian and Lebanese. Western envoys did not accompany the president on the trip.
"Those who respect themselves, we will respect them. Don't interfere in something that doesn't concern you," al-Bashir said. "Don't do anything that would harm the country's security and stability."
"Whoever deviates, we will not let them stay, whether a voluntary organization, an envoy, a diplomatic mission or a security force," he added.
A Chinese company signed a contract to build a road in the area during the ceremony, reflecting Sudan's continuing close ties with China despite the crisis.
The Netherlands-based ICC accuses al-Bashir of leading a counterinsurgency against Darfur rebels that involved rapes, killings and other atrocities against civilians. Up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million driven from their homes in the conflict since 2003, according to the U.N.
The rally in El Fasher took place far away from the teeming refugee camps where tens of thousands of refugees live after fleeing their homes because of attacks by the government-backed Arab militias.
Al-Bashir rejects the charges and refuses to deal with the ICC. Arab and African nations are pressing the U.N. Security Council to defer any prosecution for at least a year, hoping to defuse the crisis.
The crowd waved aloft pictures of al-Bashir as well as posters ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo with an X drawn over his face.
"Tell them all, the ICC prosecutor, the members of the court and every one who supports this court that they are under my shoe," he said. In the Muslim world, stepping on somebody or striking them with shoes is considered an insult.
Hundreds lined the streets of El Fasher as al-Bashir paraded through the town waving from the back of an open pickup truck. The governor of northern Darfur, Mohammed Kebir, told the crowd at the ceremony that this showed that the president was not afraid to visit a region where he is supposedly had committed war crimes.
Al-Bashir accused aid groups of stealing funds allocated to Darfur, saying only a fraction of the donated money actually makes it to the people.
"We tell them this is not going to continue," he said to the cheering crowd. "We are ready to fill the gap ... we will spend it from our pocket."
The United Nations and humanitarian workers say the order punches a giant hole in the safety net that has kept many Darfur civilians alive during six years of war in the vast, arid region of western Sudan.
Without the groups, 1.1 million people will be without food, 1.5 million without health care, and more than one million without drinking water — and outbreaks of infectious disease are a greater danger, the U.N. says.

Reply:

The number of starving people and refugees, forced to flee for their lives, just continues. This is becoming a matter of genocide, and as such, the world must stand up for the dispossessed with more than words. The UN should send troops to help these people, and forget about the wishes of a President who would starve and kill elements of the people he is supposed to govern fairly. Those that would make the country safe for all its people must stand together against this tyrant and his murdering minions. D**n him in hades forever!

Pledges of peace after fatal N.Ireland attack

2009-03-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

Pledges of peace after fatal N.Ireland attack. (AP)

ANTRIM, Northern Ireland – Leaders of Northern Ireland's Catholic-Protestant government pledged to keep the peace Sunday after Irish Republican Army dissidents fatally shot two off-duty British soldiers meeting pizza delivery men at a barracks entrance.
The two senior figures in the 22-month-old coalition postponed a U.S. trip and pledged to intensify their cooperation in response to the first deadly attack on British security forces in 12 years.
Police said the gunmen opened fire from a car outside the base, then shot at least some victims at close range as they lay on the ground. Four soldiers were hit, two fatally. Also shot were the two delivery men, a local teenager who was seriously wounded and a 32-year-old Polish immigrant who remained in critical condition Sunday night.
The Sunday Tribune newspaper said it received a claim of responsibility in a phone call from a man claiming to represent the Real IRA splinter group. The paper said the caller, who used a code word to verify he was a spokesman for the outlawed gang, defended the shooting and described the Domino's Pizza workers as "collaborators of British rule in Ireland."
The Real IRA was responsible for the deadliest terror attack in Northern Ireland history: a 1998 car-bombing of the town of Omagh that killed 29 people, mostly women and children.
The senior Catholic in the power-sharing coalition, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, said dissidents were trying to rekindle sectarian bloodshed and force Britain to resume sterner security policies.
The IRA killed nearly 1,800 people from 1970 to 1997 in a failed effort to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom and into the Republic of Ireland. The IRA disarmed and renounced violence in 2005, but splinter groups using a wide range of labels have tried to continue the campaign.
Both Catholics and Protestants vowed that the attack would not weaken power-sharing, the central accomplishment of the U.S.-brokered Good Friday peace accord in 1998.
McGuinness, a former IRA commander, said he and Protestant leaders were determined to ensure that sanity and political progress prevail against "absolutely futile" dissident violence.
First Minister Peter Robinson, the Protestant leader of the coalition, urged Protestant extremists not to retaliate against the Catholic community. Two outlawed Protestant groups, the Ulster Defense Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force, claim to have renounced violence but have refused to disarm — because they reserve the right to seek revenge for dissident IRA acts.
"Can I urge all of those who may be angry within the (pro-British) unionist community — this is a matter to be left entirely with the police and the authorities," Robinson said.
Robinson and McGuinness still expect to visit President Barack Obama at the White House on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, when Northern Ireland leaders traditionally seek American political and economic support. But they canceled meetings scheduled to start Monday with several U.S. businesses operating in Northern Ireland.
In Washington, a spokesman said President Barack Obama "condemns in the strongest terms the attacks yesterday in Northern Ireland."
"The United States supports the unified government in Northern Ireland and the historic steps it has taken toward a future of peace and prosperity for all in Northern Ireland," said Mike Hammer, the spokesman for the White House's National Security Council. "Those who perpetrated these cowardly acts do not represent the will of the people of Northern Ireland, who have chosen a path of peace and reconciliation."
Police commander Hugh Orde — who had warned of an imminent dissident attack — said he was certain he could keep British troops off the streets, a key peacemaking achievement in force since 2007. More than 4,000 troops are based here but train exclusively for overseas deployments and are rarely seen in uniform in public.
Scores of Corps of Royal Engineers soldiers were hours from deploying to Afghanistan when they ordered pizzas from a Domino's Pizza outlet, a normal Saturday night practice.
Two suspected IRA dissidents opened fire with assault rifles as four soldiers, already wearing their desert camouflage fatigues, collected pizzas from the two Domino's workers outside the entrance of the Massereene army barracks, in the town of Antrim west of Belfast.
Police Chief Superintendent Derek Williamson, who is leading the hunt for the killers, said all six were believed to have been wounded during the initial volley of bullets — then the gunmen got out of their vehicle and shot some again up close.
Police said the attackers must have noticed that unarmed soldiers were in the habit of walking to the base gates to collect fast-food orders. Orde said the soldiers and pizza men had no idea they were targets because Northern Ireland has become "a far more normal and safe place to live."
Williamson identified the two fatal victims as Royal Engineers in their early 20s but declined to reveal their names. The rest of their unit departed Sunday for Afghanistan after giving statements to police.
Police later found the attackers' getaway vehicle in the nearby town of Randalstown. No arrests were reported.
The dissidents have ratcheted up their violence since November 2007, when they shot two policemen in the face with shotgun blasts. Both survived. Several more police officers have been wounded in more than a dozen rocket, bomb and gun attacks since — but until Saturday, efforts to attack army installations had fizzled or been intercepted by police.
The Real IRA claim of responsibility appeared consistent with the splinter group's recent threats to target civilians who conduct business with British security forces. For decades the IRA similarly reserved the right to kill anyone who worked or provided supplies for the police and soldiers.
Catholic and Protestant congregations in Antrim walked at midday from their churches to the scene of the killing, where police forensic specialists in white masks and boiler suits were still searching nearby ground for bullet fragments and casings.
Ministers from the Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist churches took turns praying for the dead and wounded, for the IRA dissidents to give up, and for their often-bickering leaders to stay on a path to reconciliation.
"We don't want those years of the past. They were horrible years for everyone," a Catholic priest, the Rev. Tony Devlin, told the crowd of several hundred. "In our churches today many people were crying because of the experiences they remembered from the past. They do not want it to come back again."

REPLY:

The differnce between a freedom fighter and a terrorist is decided by the majority of the people involved. The current governmental condition in Northern Ireland was decided by popular majority vote and the will of the people has been peacefully demonstrated for over ten years. This attack is therefor obviously a murderous/lone operation act because the majority of the people want peaceful debate and governance not violence. The will of the majority is the difference between a murderer and a patriot. They proved themselves to be murderers and not soldiers when they purposefully included the pizza drivers as targets.

This is tragic for more reasons that I want to type. Why would anyone want to return to the days of tanks, bombs, guns and death. Is all that peace and prosperity in Ireland getting dull so things are getting livened up a bit? Hopefully calmer heads will prevail and this will not start a chain reaction.

This is a hard one to deal with. My family is Irish and English plus I live in California (1st Generation on my mums side). My family is very far North and has a lot of Welsh and Irish influence. We/I've seen 1st hand whats been happening for years. I hate to see them going at it again. In fact I can't stand all thats going on between so many countries. I'd love to see this world become supportive of each other and try to at least get along but I know better. Guess I just needed to get that off my chest.

2009-03-06T14:05:00.000-08:00

GENEVA – The U.N. human rights office will examine whether Sudan's decision to expel aid groups constitutes a breach of basic human rights and possibly a war crime, a spokesman said Friday.
Rupert Colville said the Sudanese decision to expel relief workers from 13 of the largest aid groups constitutes a "grievous dereliction" of duty, putting the lives of thousands at risk.
The World Food Program says some 1.1 million of the 2-3 million people it feeds each month are dependent on deliveries from the groups that have been expelled.
Sudan ordered the organizations out after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur conflict. It has accused the groups such as CARE and Save the Children of cooperating with the court and giving false testimony. The groups deny the accusations.
"To knowingly and deliberately deprive such a huge group of civilians of means to survive is a deplorable act," said Colville, who speaks for U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay. "Humanitarian assistance has nothing to do with the ICC proceedings. To punish civilians because of a decision by the ICC is a grievous dereliction of the government's duty to protect its own people."
"This decision by the government could threaten the lives of thousands of civilians," living in camps in Darfur and elsewhere, he added.
A senior foreign ministry official in Khartoum, Mutrif Siddique, said the Sudanese humanitarian affairs ministry, which is responsible for the work of aid agencies, is aware the expulsion of these organizations will have an impact on people in Sudan.
"This ministry and authorities have made arrangements to avoid a food shortage or a medical crisis," he said. "There will be a partial effect and they (authorities) will work to avoid any shortage.'
Siddique claimed that major U.N. aid agencies were not affected by this expulsion decision and stressed that "hundreds of Sudanese NGO workers remain and work in Darfur."
The World Food Program questioned whether the remaining aid groups would be able to fill the gap.
"We simply don't have the capacity to carry out the life saving work of the NGOs," said the agency's spokeswoman in Geneva, Emilia Casella.
Under the Geneva Conventions it is illegal to intentionally starve people to death by blocking their access to food. The rule applies to international conflicts, but efforts have been made to incorporate it in customary international humanitarian law, which would carry weight in courts.
Other U.N. agencies also expressed concern about the consequences of losing their aid partners. The World Health Organization said it would tear a hole in the body's disease monitoring efforts that could lead to outbreaks of infectious diseases going unchecked.
"If they are not helping us do this very vital work, we may see the emergence of infectious diseases," said WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib.
There is currently an outbreak of meningitis in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, she said. One of the groups, Medecins Sans Frontieres-Holland, was carrying out meningitis vaccinations in the area before it was expelled.
On Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sudan's decision will cause "irrevocable damage" to humanitarian operations in Darfur and called on the government to urgently reconsider its decision.
At least 2.7 million people in the large, arid region of western Sudan have been driven from their homes in the war between Darfur rebels and the government since 2003. Ban said 4.7 million people in Darfur are receiving aid.
Sudan's foreign ministry official indicated that Khartoum might try to stem mounting tensions over the expulsion order by seeking a compromise with the aid groups.
Asked if there is a chance Sudan will reconsider the expulsion, Siddique said that "there is no such thinking" but that "alternatives remain open."
On the question of whether the expulsion could constitute a war crime, his answer was defensive.
"Their campaign against us continues," he said, without elaborating who "they" are but apparently referring to the ICC and anyone accusing Sudan of wrongdoing in Darfur.
"They are ignoring that the Sudanese government has diverted some of its oil revenues to provide for Darfur," Siddique said.
The U.N. has identified the NGOs expelled as Oxfam GB, CARE International, MSF-Holland, MSF-France, Mercy Corps, Save the Children Fund-UK, Save the Children Fund-US, the Norwegian Refugee Council, the International Rescue Committee, Action Contre La Faim, Solidarites, CHF International and PADCO.
Sudan's expulsion order removes 40 percent of the aid workers in Darfur, roughly 6,500 national and international staff, said Catherine Bragg, the U.N.'s deputy emergency relief coordinator. She said at U.N. headquarters that 76 NGOs had been operating in Darfur along with all major U.N. agencies.
The U.N. humanitarian coordination office says the global body will have a hard time making up for the loss of its aid partners.
Christophe Fournier, president of Medecins Sans Frontieres' umbrella group, MSF International, said there was "absolutely no way" the remaining aid workers would be able to meet the needs of the population in Darfur.

REPLY:

The only thing the U.N. is good for is whining when it comes to Darfur. They've said Bashir was behind the genocide back in '01 and where is he now? Thumbing his nose and sneering at all of us from his presidential stronghold. This is maddening and sick. What does it take for them or anyone to see the over all picture is GENOCIDE!!!!

Court issues war crimes warrant for Sudan's Bashir

2009-03-04T13:17:00.000-08:00

Court issues war crimes warrant for Sudan's Bashir

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. He is the first sitting head of state the court has ordered arrested.
Al-Bashir's government denounced the warrant as part of a Western conspiracy aimed at destabilizing the vast oil-rich nation south of Egypt. The U.N. said Sudan had ordered the expulsion of six to 10 humanitarian groups from Darfur including Oxfam, Solidarities and Mercy Corps, and seized assets.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the move a "serious setback to lifesaving operations in Darfur."
Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo had accused Sudanese troops and the janjaweed Arab militia they support of murdering civilians and preying on them in refugee camps. He said the militia also waged a campaign of rape to drive women into the desert, where they die of starvation.
But the three-judge panel in The Hague said there was insufficient evidence to support charges of genocide in a war in which up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have fled their homes.
"He is suspected of being criminally responsible ... for intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians, and pillaging their property," court spokeswoman Laurence Blairon said. If al-Bashir is brought to trial and prosecuted, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Blairon rejected accusations that the warrant was part of a political plot and said the decision was made purely on legal grounds.
But African and Arab nations fear the warrant will destabilize the whole region, bring even more conflict in Darfur and threaten the fragile peace deal that ended decades of civil war between northern and southern Sudan. China, which buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil, supports the African and Arab positions.
Some African nations reportedly threatened to pull out of the court in retaliation for a warrant. Thirty African countries are among the court's 108 member states.
In a show of defiance Tuesday in anticipation of the decision, al-Bashir told supporters at a rally, "We are telling them to immerse it in water and drink it," a common Arabic insult meant to show extreme disrespect.
Hundreds of Sudanese waving pictures of the president and denouncing the court quickly turned out in a rally at the Cabinet building in Khartoum. Security was increased around many embassies, and some diplomats and aid workers stayed home amid fears of retaliation against Westerners.
The U.N., which has a joint peacekeeping mission in Darfur with the African Union, will continue to deal with al-Bashir, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said at U.N. headquarters in New York.
"President al-Bashir is the head of state of Sudan, and United Nations officials will continue to deal with president al-Bashir when they need to do so," Montas said.
Al-Bashir denies the war crimes accusations and refuses to deal with the court. Sudan does not recognize its jurisdiction and refuses to arrest suspects and there is currently no international mechanism to arrest al-Bashir. The main tool the court has is diplomatic pressure for countries to hand over suspects.
U.N. peacekeepers and other international agencies operating in Sudan have no mandate to implement the warrant, and Sudanese officials have warned them not to go outside their mandates.
The United States is not a member of the international court, but Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told The Associated Press, that "the United States supports the ICC action to hold accountable those who are responsible for the heinous crimes in Darfur."
"Those who committed atrocities in Sudan, including genocide, should be brought to justice," she said.
The EU welcomed the court's decision to issue an arrest warrant for al-Bashir and urged Khartoum to cooperate "fully and provide any necessary assistance to the Court."
Ocampo suggested al-Bashir could be arrested if he flies out of Sudan.
"As soon as Mr. al-Bashir travels in international airspace, his plane could be intercepted and he could be arrested. That is what I expect," the prosecutor said.
"Like Slobodan Milosevic or Charles Taylor, Omar al-Bashir's destiny is to face justice," Moreno Ocampo said referring to the former presidents of Yugoslavia and Liberia who were indicted while in office and ended up on trial in The Hague.
Asked why judges, in a 2-1 split decision, did not issue the warrant for genocide, Blairon explained that genocide requires a clear intent to destroy in part or as a whole a specific group.
"In this particular case, the pretrial chamber has not been able to find there were reasonable grounds to establish a genocidal intent," she said.
She said prosecutors could ask again for genocide charges to be added to the warrant if they can produce new evidence. Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo said he would study the ruling before deciding whether to keep pursuing genocide charges.
The war in Sudan's western Darfur region began in 2003, when rebel ethnic African groups, complaining of discrimination and neglect, took up arms against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. In 2005, the U.N. Security Council asked Moreno Ocampo to investigate crimes in Darfur.
"With this arrest warrant, the International Criminal Court has made Omar al-Bashir a wanted man," said Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch. "Not even presidents are guaranteed a free pass for horrific crimes. By ruling there is a case for President al-Bashir to answer for the horrors of Darfur, the warrant breaks through Khartoum's repeated denials of his responsibility."
The Rome statute that set up the International Criminal Court allows the Security Council to vote to defer or suspend for a year the investigation or prosecution of a case. It also gives the council authority to renew such a resolution.
The 52-member countries of the African Union and 26 states of the Arab League make up about a third of U.N. member states and they have said they would call for such a suspension.
But the council is sharply divided on suspending the case and is unlikely to take any action.

I'll say it again but in more detail:

Somewhat it gives me hope that things will be changing but only time will tell. I'm glad that the ICC and the U.N. has taken steps to establish what they deem to be going on even if it's war crimes and crimes against humanity ( better known as Genocide but deemed to hard to prove ) but it's one thing to talk the talk and another to walk the walk. With other countries turning their backs on what is happening in Darfur we have to make sure we hold the US,UN and ICC accountable for what it has promised and not allow them just to give him a slap on the hand. I truly hope that this is a start to the end of the nightmare these poor people have been living.

Truth be told there has never been a leader that has still been in power that has had these charges brought against him. With a mass of support from peoples this is a matter that will most likely see more terror before he's taken down and even when/if we do detain him the people that stood behind him are still going to rage war and terror. It maybe a start to an end but its far from over. My hope is that we haven't hit a hornets nest with a stone. The backlash could be far worse. "Al-Bashir denies the war crimes accusations and refuses to deal with the court. Sudan does not recognize its jurisdiction and refuses to arrest suspects and there is currently no international mechanism to arrest al-Bashir. The main tool the court has is diplomatic pressure for countries to hand over suspects".

It is a double edge sword here. These people (Darfur) need to see peace and an end to what has happened that never should have been. The fact it took so long to finally do something has made this much worse seeing as how his power got much stronger and his following larger. They are already starting to show that they won't give up power easily. Only time will tell what will happen next. I am glad however that Darfur is being heard now!!!!

Reply to a Blog on Genocide in Darfur

2009-03-03T16:13:00.000-08:00

In many of the News articles and books I've read its been an on going debate about "Genocide in Darfur". What I've come to find in many cases is they will use phrases like "crimes against humanity" and "mass atrocity crimes". Reason being that The Convention definition states that certain acts be committed with intent to destroy, in whole or part, a national, ethical, racial, or religious group, and its extremely hard to establish the element of specific intent to destroy non-Arabs in Darfur. One thing they all agree on is that "mass atrocities and/or crimes against humanity" are happening in Darfur as well as many others. Somewhat it gives me hope that things will be changing but only time will tell. I'm glad that the US has taken steps to establish what they deem to be going on(Genocide) but it's one thing to talk the talk and another to walk the walk. With other countries turning their backs on what is happening in Darfur we have to make sure we hold the US accountable for what it has promised and not allow them to sit back.

Why should Americans care about human suffering in Africa? Why should you or I care?

2009-03-03T16:09:00.000-08:00

Why should Americans care about human suffering in Africa? Why should you or I care?

I could give you a speech about how hard it is and how much we need to do but I'm just going to give you 3 good reasons why.

1) Preventing, suppressing and punishing genocide is moral. As a Nation and as individuals we cannot just sit by as innocent people are being killed, disfigured and forced out of their homes by acts of violence.

2)We made a promise to "Save Darfur"! It's not just a slogan or a cute button it's our commitment that we made . Even if other countries have decided to turn their backs or look away from the violence that's happening in places such as Dafur it doesn't allow us to walk away from what we said we would do.

3) Getting rid of genocide will make Americans and others safer. This is about creating a safer world for all the children and adults. Hate breeds hate. United together in the struggle for truth, justice and basic human rights we can win. We have done it before!

The voices are getting louder and stronger calling for action. These voices come from different sexes, races, religions, children, adults and many more. For us and for our future, to right the wrong we will not give up.

Despite what you hear/see on the news there are signs of progress. Even with all the heart break and tragedy there is good news coming from Africa each day. There has been movement away from dictatorship, towards democracy in some countries. Peace agreements have been made in countries that just a few years ago had been ripped apart. Liberia, Angloa, Rwanda and Burundi are just a few to be named that have made this movement.

The decisions we need to make to protect those who are suffering are clear, the sooner done more lives will be saved.

Pakistan says Taliban beaten back in border region

2009-03-01T15:52:00.000-08:00

Pakistan says Taliban beaten back in border region (AP)
KHAR, Pakistan – Pakistan has beaten the Taliban in a major stronghold close to the Afghan border, is close to victory in another and expects to pacify most of the remaining tribal areas before the end of the year, commanders said Saturday.
The upbeat assessment of conditions in the arid, mountainous regions of Bajur and Mohmand follows international criticism of Pakistan for accepting a cease-fire with militants behind a bloody campaign in Swat Valley, just next to the tribal regions.
Many analysts also fear that growing political turmoil between the government and opposition could distract attention from the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban just as Washington wants more concerted action.
The United States and independent analysts have praised the offensive in Bajur, saying it has helped stem the passage of militants from Pakistan into Afghanistan, where violence against American and NATO troops is running at its highest level since the U.S. invasion in 2001.
Pakistan's tribal regions are believed to be a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders. Foreign governments fear extremists there could be plotting attacks on the West.
Maj. Gen. Tariq Khan, commander of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, said the insurgency had been "dismantled" in Bajur after six months of battles between well-armed militants and soldiers backed by tanks and helicopter gunships.
He said 1,600 militants had been killed and 150 civilians had died. Both figures were impossible to verify independently.
"Their resistance has broken down. We control the roads," he told reporters flown to the northwestern region by helicopter. "They have lost."
Col. Saif Ullah, commander in the neighboring region of Mohmand, said troops had repelled insurgents from most of the territory and it would soon be cleared.
"There are no more no-go areas. The militants are running away," he said.
The army took reporters to witness a ceremony marking the victory over the militants conducted by tribal elders and military commanders close to a Bajur town that was the site of a major battle last week. Rows of shops selling household goods and furniture were destroyed, and tanks were parked amid the debris. Residents — most of whom fled before the battle — had not returned to the town in a valley leading to Afghanistan.
American commanders say the Afghan province of Kunar which borders Bajur is still one of the most treacherous areas for their soldiers. The U.S. has earmarked it for some of the thousands of reinforcements being deployed to Afghanistan this year.
Khan said the defeated insurgents were mostly Afghans and Pakistanis, with some Uzbeks and a few Arabs caught in the early days of the offensive.
He said the army had failed to capture any insurgent leaders and that they had most likely fled into Afghanistan. Asked why, he said it was the job of special forces or intelligence agencies — not the army — to capture individual suspects.
Khan said the army had done its job of restoring government rule to the region, predicting military operations in the five of the seven tribal areas under his command "would be over by the end of the year."
He did not discuss conditions in the North and South Wazirstan regions which are not under his command. Both areas are considered major al-Qaida and Taliban strongholds and are frequently hit by missiles fired by unmanned U.S. aircraft.
The display of Pakistan's military gains in the area came as it faces criticism for failing to dislodge militants from the nearby Swat region, where troops and insurgents are observing a cease-fire while the commander of the Taliban considers a proposed peace deal. The United States and NATO worry a deal could turn the scenic region into a militant haven.
Political developments in the desperately poor country of 170 million people have also concerned the West.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court banned opposition leader Nawaz Sharif from elected office, triggering violent protests by his supporters. Sharif says he will join demonstrations later this month by lawyers who helped bring down former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
Aside from fears the confrontation will undermine the anti-terror fight, it is also raising worries about possible military intervention, a frequent result of political turmoil between civilian leaders in Pakistan.

REPLY:

I find it repulsive the media tells the Americans anyone who fights for there country over there without submitting to the American forces, is an insurgent or talliban ............Fact is most of them are common people who are trying to fight back an invading Devil.If thats how The world really defines a talliban or insurgent then count me in, because if the US gets invaded I will fight back also. No ones is just going to put me in there little metal boxes willingly.

Its about time Pakistani Officials finally realized the Tribal Areas were part of the Country. They've been busy enriching themselves, they've forgotten the the welfare of the people living outside the big cities.

Refugees and displacement

2009-02-28T14:28:00.000-08:00

Refugees and displacement

MILLIONS UPROOTED BY FEAR AND VIOLENCERefugees are often in the headlines yet the reality of their lives is frequently misunderstood.
Tens of millions of people have been uprooted from their homes because of violence or persecution.
But not all these people are refugees. Villagers in Sudan's violent Darfur region who have fled to camps within Darfur are strictly speaking known as internally displaced people because they haven't left Sudan. Darfuris in camps in neighbouring Chad are refugees because they've crossed an international border.
The definition of a refugee is someone who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality..." (1951 Refugee Convention)
Although the convention doesn't specifically deal with people fleeing war, or conflict-related conditions such as famine, the United Nations considers them refugees.
ARE NUMBERS RISING OR FALLING?Contrary to many media reports, the global refugee population has fallen dramatically since the early 1990s when it hit a peak - over 17.8 million - partly due to the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.
However, this is not quite the good news it seems. The mass exodus from the Iraq war saw figures begin to creep up again in 2006 and 2007.
And with more and more internal conflicts replacing interstate wars, the number of internally displaced has risen significantly in recent years.
By the end of 2007, there were around 11.4 million refugees, according to the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR - the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
Roughly 26 million others were displaced within their own countries because of violence or persecution, according to a U.N.-backed report by the Norwegian Refugee Council. And UNHCR says another 25 million were uprooted because of disasters like quakes and floods.
Aid workers call these internally displaced people "IDPs" for short, sometimes distinguishing between conflict IDPs and disaster IDPs.
The media often employs the term refugee incorrectly to describe economic migrants or illegal immigrants.
Economic migrants leave a country voluntarily to seek a better life. If they returned home they would continue to receive the protection of their government. Refugees would not.
REFUGEES AND IDPS - WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?Refugees and IDPs have often fled for the same reasons, but there are crucial differences in how the two groups are treated.
Once they cross an international boundary refugees will normally receive food, shelter and a place of safety. They are protected by international laws and conventions.
The U.N. refugee agency and other humanitarian organisations work within this legal framework to help refugees restart their lives or eventually return home.
By contrast, IDPs have little, if any, of the protection and help that refugees get. The domestic government, which may view them as enemies of the state, retains control of their fate. They may also fall prey to rebels and militias operating inside or outside the camp.
There are no specific legal instruments relating to IDPs and no U.N. body dedicated to their needs. Donors may also be unwilling to offer help if it means intervening in internal conflicts.
There's widespread debate on who should be responsible for IDPs. UNHCR is not specifically mandated to cover their needs, but as they face many of the same problems as refugees, the agency oversees their protection and shelter in some places.
REFUGEE CRISESIn a crisis most refugees do not head to the West - they head over the nearest border. For many years Pakistan has hosted the largest number of refugees, taking in millions of people who have fled violence in Afghanistan.
However, large numbers have returned since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Refugee experts say it is likely that Afghanistan will soon be overtaken by Iraq as the source of the greatest number of refugees.
Rough U.N. estimates at the end of 2007 suggested at least 4.4 million Iraqis had been forced to flee their homes. Around 2 million of these had fled to Syria or Jordan, whose schools, hospitals and public services are becoming seriously overstretched.
Developing countries host far more refugees than Western countries do. For example, Chad, one of the world's poorest countries, is home to hundreds of thousands of refugees from conflicts in Darfur and Central African Republic. The influx is putting pressure on scarce water and food resources.
People who apply for refugee status normally need to establish individually that their fear of persecution is well-founded.
However, individual screening may be impossible during mass exoduses sparked by crises like Darfur or Kosovo. In such circumstances, it may be appropriate to give everyone in the group refugee status in the absence of evidence to the contrary.
IDP CRISESThree conflicts in Sudan - the recently ended civil war in the south, fighting in Darfur in the west and unrest in eastern Sudan - have resulted in massive internal displacement of over 5.3 million, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.
That's nearly twice as many people as the number living in the U.S. city of Chicago. Or the combined populations of Paris and Madrid.
Conflicts in Colombia, Somalia and Sri Lanka have also created massive internal displacement. For figures have a look at the IDMC's table.
There can be large discrepancies in figures for displacement. The Colombian government estimates almost 2 million have been displaced while some human rights groups put the figure at nearly 4 million.
Governments may give lower numbers for political reasons while pressure groups may bump them up.
DANGERSArriving at a camp for refugees or IDPs does not ensure safety. Violence may come from militias and rebels operating inside or outside the camps.
After the 1994 Rwandan genocide large numbers of Hutus fled into Democratic Republic of Congo. It took a while for aid organisations to realise that Hutu militia leaders blamed for the massacres of Rwandan Tutsis virtually controlled the camps.
Another example is the camps in West Timor for refugees who fled the violence sparked by East Timor's independence vote in 2000. These camps were teeming with pro-Jakarta militia. Attacks and intimidation got so bad that UNHCR was forced to suspend its work. The militia also stopped refugees who wanted to return home to East Timor from leaving the camps.
Militias are not the only problem. Camps may also come under attack from troops targeting rebels they think are sheltering inside. This has happened in Darfur.
Refugees may also end up in a country that is itself far from safe. In a horrifying case in 2004, armed men attacked a camp for Congolese refugees in Burundi, setting huts ablaze and killing around 160 people, mostly women and children.
Cross border attacks are another danger. Agencies often try to make sure camps aren't too close to borders, but refugees may want to be near the border so that they can go home as soon as it seems safe.
WOMENWomen face particular dangers when forced to flee their homes. They are at risk from sexual and physical violence both inside and outside camps.
Often separated from their husbands, they may be forced to take on the responsibility of providing for their families on top of their traditional roles.
Without agricultural land, they may have to leave camps to forage for food. In Darfur they have often been raped while on long trips to look for firewood.
And they may be forced to resort to prostitution to support their children. This is happening with Iraqi women who have fled to Syria. Some may have been tricked into the sex trade but many say they have no other means of supporting their family.
Many Iraqi refugee households are headed by women, their menfolk having been killed or stayed behind. Often women refugees will have used up all their savings just trying to get out of the country. They have no source of income and their bodies may be the only thing left they have to sell.
In Iraq itself there are reports of militants demanding sex in return for delivering clean water to camps.
Women may not even be safe within their families. There is strong evidence that domestic violence rises with displacement. Depression, unemployment and other stresses can lead men to take out their anger and frustration on women.
CHILDRENDisplaced children also face many dangers, especially if they have become separated from their families.
They risk abduction and recruitment by rebels or government forces, enslavement and sexual exploitation.
Displaced children also miss out on education. Experts estimate that about 45 percent of Colombia's displaced are school-age children and that most never return to the classroom.
Malnutrition levels are often high among displaced children and healthcare limited or lacking altogether.
HEALTHPoor nutrition, sanitary conditions, dirty water and lack of access to health services mean refugees and IDPs are prey to a host of diseases, most of them preventable.
Common ones include diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, tuberculosis, malaria, cholera, measles and meningitis. Overcrowding in camps contributes to the spread of illness.
Many people displaced by a conflict or disaster also suffer trauma-related problems. Children may be particularly affected.
It is often forgotten that people fleeing war may have been tortured, raped or witnessed atrocities. Humanitarian agencies are increasingly recognising the importance of providing psycho-social help but support remains limited.
GOING HOMEMost refugees eventually hope to return home. But not everyone starts packing their belongings the minute a peace deal is signed.
Mass repatriations can create more problems than they solve if the home country doesn't have the capacity to absorb them.
Pakistan is keen to repatriate all remaining Afghan refugees as soon as it can, but Afghanistan lacks shelter, jobs, infrastructure and security.
If people return only to discover they have no house or job, analysts say they may join the Taliban out of resentment or be forced to join in order to survive. Others will simply return to Pakistan.
UNHCR has asked the international community to invest in infrastructure, shelter and livelihoods for returnees to prevent this happening.
Going home is rarely as straightforward as it sounds.
Returning refugees may find other people have taken over their land and/or home while they've been away. Ownership records may have been destroyed or never have existed.
And there may be nowhere to grow crops - after years of conflict the land may be overgrown or littered with landmines. Most Liberians returning home in 2005 after the end of the country's 14-year civil conflict arrived after the onset of the rainy season when it was too late to plant crops.
Public healthcare, schools, roads, water supplies and sanitation may all have fallen into disrepair or be non-existent.
Returns can also rekindle ethnic animosities and land disputes. And just because there's a peace deal doesn't mean the bloodshed is over. Look at Congo and East Timor.
Some people may not want to go home. Some residents in the camps in Pakistan have been there more than 25 years. The camps have clinics, schools and jobs; many of the villages they'd be returning to in Afghanistan have nothing.
Refugees may have no land or shelter to go back to and no means of immediately supporting themselves. Many of the younger people in the camps were actually born there - they've never set foot in Afghanistan.
RESETTLEMENTIn some cases refugees can't go home because they would face continued persecution. In such cases UNHCR tries to resettle them in the asylum country where they are living or in a third country.
Sixteen countries have established annual resettlement quotas whereby they take a certain number of refugees each year. Countries without quotas may consider individual cases, often because of family or cultural links.
Refugee experts say the U.S.-led global "war on terror" and tightened immigration procedures have hampered resettlement programmes.
THE FUTUREDespite massive repatriation operations in West Africa, South Sudan and Afghanistan, the number of refugees is rising as many conflicts deteriorate.
But the number of people fleeing violence could soon be dwarfed by those displaced because of global warming and environmental changes.
Rising sea levels, deforestation and desertification are just some of the reasons that will force people to move.
A predicted rise in natural disasters such as floods, droughts and landslides is also likely to increase displacement.
Mass migration will raise the chances of conflict over shrinking land and resources like fresh water.
British relief and development organisation Christian Aid forecasts there will be 250 million people permanently displaced by climate change by 2050.

Picture: (Tamil refugees search for their belongings after fire broke out in a Tamil refugee camp in Vavuniya, northeast Sri Lanka, February 28, 2009. The fire broke out in one of the camps).

Sudanese local officials meet refugees in Uganda; urge them to return home

2009-02-28T14:26:00.000-08:00

Sudanese local officials meet refugees in Uganda; urge them to return home

Source: UNHCR
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
ADJUMANI, Uganda, January 28 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency has been helping local officials in South Sudan reach out to refugees in north-western Uganda who are considering returning home after years of enforced exile. And it seems to be working, with many of the refugees asking to go back.
Earlier this month, Emilio Igga Alimas, the commissioner of Magwi County in South Sudan's Eastern Equatoria state, visited the Adjumani and Moyo settlements and discussed the situation back home with several hundred refugees. He was accompanied by three village chiefs on the so-called "come-and-tell" visits, which were organized by UNHCR and the government of Uganda.
Alimas discussed the security situation and stressed how important it was for the future of South Sudan that people return home before elections due to be held in July under a January 2005 peace agreement, which ended the 21-year south-north war and allowed organized repatriation to begin. He also noted that UNHCR will downsize its assisted return programme from neighbouring countries during the course of this year.
The visit helped persuade people like Justine to return, but in some cases Alimas and the village chiefs were preaching to the converted. In Moyo, refugee representative Francis Igga told the visitors: "We have already made up our minds. Be ready to welcome us."
Justine, who works as a community health worker in Adjumani, fled South Sudan in 1989. She has endured her fair share of tragedy over the past 20 years – her father and first husband died. But she has been longing to return home ever since the fragile peace was signed between the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement.
But until now, she was not sure that the time and conditions in South Sudan were right. The "come-and-tell visit" has helped her make up her mind. She told UNHCR that she would go home with her mother, six children and second husband because, "The time is right." She said that if they went now, they could build a house and sow crops before the rainy season began in April. They could also prepare the kids for school in April.
The refugees who met Commissioner Alimas and his delegation were mainly concerned about vital reintegration issues such as land, security, food and employment. The Magwi official assured them that peace had returned to South Sudan and that the government was taking action to address their other concerns.
"We need you to [help] rebuild our country," Alimas said, adding: "UNHCR is ready to assist you." But Kazuhiro Kaneko, head of the UNHCR office in the Sudanese border town of Nimule, warned the refugees that they would face some tough challenges back home. "It is your determination that starts a new life," he said.
Similar visits have also taken place recently at camps in Kenya and Ethiopia, and more are planned. "They are an excellent means of putting the South Sudan authorities in touch with their citizens," said Geoff Wordley, deputy head of UNHCR operations in South Sudan.
Eastern Equatoria was one of the hardest hit states during the long civil war, but it is now one of the highest return areas in the south. This year, UNHCR plans to expand projects aimed at easing and improving reintegration of the returnees in South Sudan, where infrastructure and services were devastated by the years of conflict and neglect. The agency has implemented almost 700 reintegration projects since 2005.
Some 300,000 refugees have returned to South Sudan since 2005, with about 140,000 of them helped back by UNHCR. Almost half of the latter were repatriated from Uganda. This year, the refugee agency plans to assist 54,000 voluntary returns. There are currently 22,000 Sudanese refugees in Adjumani and 12,000 in Moyo.

PEACE ELUSIVE AS SECURITY WORSENS

2009-02-28T14:17:00.000-08:00

The United Nations has described Sudan's western Darfur region as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
Over 2.9 million uprooted
World's biggest relief operation
2006 peace deal failed to improve security
The conflict flared in 2003 when rebels in Darfur took up arms, accusing the government of neglecting the region.
Since then, civilians have come under attack from government troops, nomadic militia and rebel groups. The United Nations says as many as 300,000 people may have died. Khartoum puts the figure at 10,000.
The violence has also forced some 2.9 million people - mostly farmers and villagers from non-Arab groups - to flee their homes.
Khartoum denies accusations it has used Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, to crush the revolt.
But the International Criminal Court's prosecutor has charged Sudan's president with masterminding a campaign of genocide in Darfur.
The government and one rebel faction signed a peace deal in May 2006, but two others refused, and many new rebel groups have since formed. Relief agencies say the violence makes it difficult to deliver aid in parts of Darfur.
A combined United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force began deploying in 2008, taking over from a small, overstretched AU force. The deployment follows protracted wrangling between the international community and Khartoum.
The conflict has also spilled over Sudan's borders into Chad and Central African Republic.

KEY FACTS:

(Unless otherwise stated, data is for October 2008, taken from the Darfur Humanitarian Profile series issued by the United Nations)
Total no. of people affected by conflict in Darfur:
4.7 million
No. of internally displaced people in Darfur:
2.7 million
No. of Darfur refugees in Chad:
240,000 (UNHCR, December 2007)
Residential population affected by conflict:
2 million
No. of people receiving food aid:
3.4 million
Percentage of affected population accessible according to U.N. security standards:
65 percent
No. of humanitarians on the ground (national and international):
16,370
No. of humanitarian agencies supporting Darfur population:
85 NGOs (including Red Cross/Red Crescent); 16 U.N. agencies
Malnutrition (acute):
16.1 percent (2007) (U.N. report, Jan 2008)
Mortality:
0.29 per 10,000 people per day (2007) (U.N. report, Nov 2007)

HSUS Issues Interim Policy on Individual Evaluation of Rescued Dogs

2009-02-25T01:15:00.000-08:00

HSUS Issues Interim Policy on Individual Evaluation of Rescued Dogs

Best Friends Animal Society announced today that "the Humane Society of the United States on February 23 issued an interim policy recommending all dogs be evaluated as individuals, and is calling a meeting of leading animal welfare organizations concerning dogs victimized by dog fighting."
Some of you may have noticed a recent update to the second of the North Carolina pit bull posts on this blog in which I noted that a group of welfare organizations, including Best Friends, which had fought to stop the killing, were publicly asking HSUS to rethink its policy regarding pit bulls rescued from fighting operations (that is, its 20-year-old policy that all dogs bred for fighting, even those not ever trained to fight, should be killed). Best Friends' post on the matter, titled "Coalition Challenges Outdated Policy" began,
Dear readers, we know that this story is difficult. Best Friends feels as you do that animal welfare organizations are more effective when we get along and work together. In this case we felt it was important to draw public attention to HSUS's policy on dogs from fighting busts because its clout and its relationships with law enforcement informs and justifies state and local animal control policies.
It then went into a recap of what happened in North Carolina and into the problems with the well-known national organization's current policy and actions in NC. I won't summarize that call-to-change now, but you can read it yourself here if you'd like to make sure you're up to speed.
Back to the more recent post, Best Friends explains what has happened since the emotional outrage over all this boiled over last week:
-Continue reading after the jump-
Wayne Pacelle [HSUS CEO]. . . suggested the meeting of major stakeholders in Las Vegas to work through the associated issues. This meeting is in response to concerns expressed by Best Friends Animal Society in December 2008 regarding HSUS policies related to animals confiscated in dog-fighting busts. . . .
The new interim policy announced by the HSUS, pending the outcome of the meeting, recommends that local law enforcement and animal control evaluate such dogs as individuals rather than as a category before any decision is made regarding their future.
“We expect government, corporations, and individuals to constantly re-evaluate how they deal with animal issues,” Pacelle said. “Likewise, we regularly review our own policies and procedures here at HSUS, and we think it is important to talk with professional colleagues in the movement to examine issues related to the disposition of fighting dogs. . . ."
Julie Castle, director of Community Programs and Services for Best Friends said, “There had been more than enough airing of feelings and outrage that the dogs were not evaluated prior to being summarily euthanized. It was time to hit the reset button on this in order to move things forward in a constructive way. Mr. Pacelle was open and receptive to what we had to say and we are looking forward to our meetings in April.”
There have been no stated apologies or regrets as far as I know, but the planned meeting and the interim policy are a very good step and--I'll be honest--more than I expected. Beyond the plea from the group of animal welfare orgs, a number of concerned people have been, on an individual basis, contacting HSUS and participating in various online petitions and such, asking for a change, in the hopes of preventing another Wilkes County-like tragedy in the future. If you're one of those people who voiced your concerns and spoke for these dogs, you contributed to this first step being taken. Thank you. Your voice does matter. When leading (or prominent) groups or activists in a movement are taking actions or moving in directions that you feel are more hurtful than helpful for the animals we're all trying to protect and save, it is your right to speak up, with your voice and your dollars both.
This is only an interim policy, and we don't know what's going to happen next. And it's no secret that I've been a periodic critic of the nation's best-known welfare group, on fronts beyond this dog-fighting issue, but I believe that organizations as well as people can change course, and there is a possibility for change here, on this issue. There is a real chance that the next time there's a bust, this tragedy won't be repeated, and at least some of the dogs will be saved. Let's hope so.

One step in the right direction is much better then none. If we keep our voices and stance they will listen.

Officials: US troops to leave Iraq by August 2010 (AP)

2009-02-24T13:46:00.000-08:00

Officials: US troops to leave Iraq by August 2010 (AP)

WASHINGTON – The United States plans to withdraw most of its troops from Iraq by August 2010, 19 months after President Barack Obama's inauguration, according to administration officials. The withdrawal plan would fulfill one of Obama's central campaign pledges, albeit a little more slowly than he promised. He said he would withdraw troops within 16 months, roughly one brigade a month from the time of his inauguration.
The officials said they expect Obama to make the announcement this week. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not been made public.
The U.S. military will leave behind a residual force, between 30,000 and 50,000 troops, to continue advising and training Iraqi security forces, the two officials said. Also staying beyond the 19 months will be intelligence and surveillance specialists and their equipment, including unmanned aircraft, they said.
A further withdrawal will take place before December 2011, the period by which the U.S. agreed with Iraq to remove all American troops.
A senior White House official said Tuesday that Obama is at least a day away from making a final decision. He further said an announcement on Wednesday was unlikely, but he said that Obama could discuss Iraq during a trip to North Carolina on Friday.
About 142,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq, roughly 14 brigades, about 11,000 above the total in Iraq when President George W. Bush announced in January 2007 that he would "surge" the force to put down the insurgency. He sent an additional 21,000 combat troops to Baghdad and Anbar province.
Although the number of combat brigades has dropped from 20 to 14, the U.S. has increased the number of logistical and other support troops. A brigade is usually about 3,000 to 5,000 troops.
Obama's campaign promise to withdraw troops in 16 months was based on a military estimate on what would be an orderly pace of removing troops, given the logistical difficulties of removing so many people and tons of equipment, a U.S. military official said.
The 19-month strategy is a compromise between commanders and advisers who are worried that security gains could backslide in Iraq and those who think the bulk of U.S. combat work is long since done.
The White House considered at least two other options to withdraw combat forces — one that followed Obama's 16-month timeline and one that stretched withdrawal over 23 months, the AP reported earlier this month.
Some U.S. commanders have spoken more optimistically in recent months about prospects for reducing the force. Maj. Gen. Michael Oates, who commands U.S. forces in central and southern Iraq, told reporters earlier this month that he believed the gains in stability in that area were now irreversible.
According to officials, Obama had requested a range of options from his top military advisers, including one that would have withdrawn troops in 16 months. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had recently forwarded withdrawal alternatives to the White House for Obama's consideration.
In addition to the U.S. troops to be withdrawn, there is a sizable cadre of contractors who provide services to them who would pack their bags as well. There were 148,050 defense contractor personnel working in Iraq as of December, 39,262 of them U.S. citizens.
There are more than 200 U.S. military installations in Iraq. According to Army officials interviewed by the Government Accountability Office, it can take up to two months to shut down small outposts that hold up to 300 troops. Larger entrenched facilities, like Balad Air Base, could take up to 18 months to close, according to the GAO.
As of Monday, at least 4,250 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. More than 31,000 have been injured.
Congress has approved more than $657 billion so far for the Iraq war, according to a report last year from the Congressional Research Service.

REPLY:

In part I'm happy that they will be comeing home (we shouldn't have been there in the 1st place but what's done is done). As far as leaving these troops 30,000 or so behind is insane. Either they will be slaughtered or when they start to become so they will just send back our troops to a far even worse war. Seeing as how the technololgy is growing (albeit slow) there Obama is setting up a WWIII. If it doesn't start before then. At this point its a lose, lose situation either way. Yes, Bush had this plan and Obama is taking cedit but he's pushed out the date. Makes me wonder why? Does he hope that they will become a peaceful nation by then or that some how we will become BBF with them?

ADDED NOTE:

I feel for the people of this country that has been torn apart by war. I don't think I could ever know how it would feel to live everyday in fear. Not just fear for myself but for my family, friends and home. How they have managed to hold on is beyond something I can understand. Everyday they wake to this and every night they fall asleep wondering if they will see tomorrow. Seems that everyday brings bad news to these people. My heart goes out to them.

The deaths of 146 Pitt Bulls, Incl. 79 Puppies, 19 of them born after the rescue PART 2

2009-02-20T17:06:00.000-08:00

So heres the letter I was sent from HSUS. after I wrote to them.

Thank you for contacting us regarding a county judge’s decision in North Carolina to euthanize fighting dogs seized from the property of notorious dogfighting kingpin Ed Faron. We understand your concern about the judge’s order to euthanize the dogs, and it is always a tragic outcome when healthy animals meet such a fate. But the blame lies with Mr. Faron, and not with county officials or The Humane Society of the United States. While we may not endorse every action of the county, we are grateful to them for working with The HSUS to bust a man who is responsible for an enormous amount of cruelty to dogs, and to bring him to justice.

No organization has done more to attack and harm the dogfighting industry than The HSUS. We’ve probably invested more in combating dogfighting than all other humane groups combined, and to great effect. We are principally responsible for the strong state and federal laws that make the practice a felony and ban possession and sale of fighting animals, and we have trained thousands of law enforcement personnel on investigating and raiding fighting operations. What’s more, it is our training, investigations, and rewards programs that are resulting in the arrest of countless dogfighters and the seizure of thousands of fighting dogs (which are, according to the dogfighters, an asset they lose upon seizure).

We are involved in dogfighting busts on almost a weekly basis, and the handling of Mr. Faron’s dogs raises the same questions that confound us constantly. With approximately 600,000 pit bulls killed in shelters each year, why should fighting dogs, which obviously require more resources to manage and which pose an obvious threat to other animals, get placed in favor of other equally deserving pit bulls and other breeds slated for euthanasia? In a local jurisdiction that has perhaps hundreds of other pit bulls waiting for loving homes, why not save them in favor of fighting dogs that will cost far more to handle on a per dog basis? How do we solve the larger pit bull problem in the nation, since we have an epidemic of dogfighters and others breeding them for aggression and for uses other than as companions?

We conducted a long-term investigation that led to the arrest of Mr. Faron and the seizure of his fighting dogs. He is considered one of the “Godfathers” of dogfighting, and it was our goal to put him out of business, just as it is our goal to target other industry leaders, in order to prevent thousands of dogs for use in fighting pits. Had it not been for our investigation, most of his dogs would have suffered immensely in a fighting pit in the weeks and months ahead. And who knows how many other dogs he would have bred to face this same fate.

It is now an HSUS policy to recommend an evaluation of all fighting dogs. In this case, The HSUS offered to pay for an additional professional evaluator to assess the dogs, even though we were skeptical that these dogs could be safely rehabilitated. The county did not take us up on that offer. Without an affirmative professional evaluation to indicate that the dogs could be safely placed in a new setting, we could not recommend adoption of these dogs who had been bred for generations for their instinct to kill.

While separate evaluations were not done, it is safe to say Faron’s dogs have been bred to produce animals with an unstoppable desire to fight, even in the face of extreme pain and fear. Professional dogfighters typically “cull” the dogs that don’t exhibit gameness or aggression, and only keep and breed the ones that exhibit the desired traits. For proof of that, we can refer to Faron himself, from his book about dogfighting:
“His face had only just healed from that fight with the Wreckers’ dog and he got his nose chewed half off again, that night.”

“The gamest dog I ever saw in my life was King David. At ten minutes, his right leg was broken. At twenty-three minutes, his left leg was broken. At thirty-seven he scratched on stumps, and at forty-eight minutes when he scratched he scratched down one wall and down the other ….until he got to Beau again.””
“ I mean, he broke muzzles, crushed skulls- we saw him bite dogs in the chest and their chest would literally collapse. That was Beau…”

Game-bred dogs pose a risk to other dogs not just because of training, but more importantly because of breeding for aggressive characteristics. Even no-kill shelters typically recommend euthanasia of obviously dangerous dogs.

These fighting dogs do not compare with the dogs from amateur “street fighters,” who typically take any, random pit bull and try and force them to fight. If pit bulls have not been bred for generations to have a “fight crazy” instinct, even if they have been exposed to dogfighting, they have a chance of being rehabilitated. This is why a substantial number of Michael Vick’s dogs were candidates for rehabilitation, after the court ordered Vick to pay $1 million as a set-aside to provide care and retraining for the dogs.

Once game-bred dogs are confiscated from a fighting situation, there are very few good options. There are no sanctuaries that exist for the thousands of game-bred dogs confiscated each year, and as a nation, there are hundreds of thousands of pit bulls awaiting adoptions in shelters every year. The resources that would be required to confine or rehabilitate fighting dogs could save many more dogs in shelters every year. So, in that sense, it is not a zero-sum game when it comes to euthanasia; it is a negative-sum game, and an inordinate focus on these few pit bulls would result in more euthanasia of other dogs. And if you impose upon rural counties – where most fighting busts occur – the burden of long-term holding of fighting pit bulls, then they may decline to intervene in criminal fighting cases, allowing the dogfighters to continue to operate.
There are tough choices to be made, and the only morally clear act is to attack the dogfighters where they live. We are the only national organization that has an entire unit devoted to this work on a national scale. That’s what we’ll continue to do.
###

MY REPLY:

Please I don't need your lies and sorry excuses. Don't you think I'd do my homework before writing to you? Here are some thing's for you to read. MANY of them HSUS stated that they animals were beyond saving. This truly is the lowest of the low. I once had respect for HSUS this is no longer true. If you had sent a letter saying that you had made a mistake and will take better care in new cases I could have said "ok yes I'm still upset but at least they learned and are willing not to write off an animal or 200 just because it takes to much of their time and money".

The deaths of 146 Pitt Bulls, Incl. 79 Puppies, 19 of them born after the rescue "Humane Society, others back the court's decision." Yes, that's right. The same group that garnered attention (and quite possibly donations) for rescuing the dogs officially recommended that all 146, 60 of them puppies, be killed--no individual assessments, no consideration of the likelihood that many of them could be rehabilitated. Just cheap, fast death. For all of them. It's the same recommendation that both the Humane Society of the United States". Was a intro from Animal Law. Did you know that 19 of these were puppies that were born AFTER you so called saved them? Or did you even care?

Best Friends tried to save the dogs. They even offered to pay for the assessments and the spaying and neutering of the adoptable dogs and to work with other rescue groups on the placement of the dogs. And with Best Friends and other rescue organizations having helped as many adult, longtime fighting dogs as they have, why couldn't we have given them a chance to at least perform individual assessments, especially where the puppies were concerned? Why did you let them????

See the following for stories of dogs (and roosters) who have been and are being rehabilitated.
Meet the Rescued Michael Vick Pit Bull Dogs Now (narrated slideshow from Bad Rap; begins with image below)
Vick's Dogs: The Good News Out of the Bad Newz Kennels (Sports Illustrated)
The Vicktory Dogs (Best Friends)
Pit Bulls--The Real Story (Best Friends)
mid-winter blues: all the good news, on (quickly!) rehabilitated fighting roosters, and heartbreak, 39-8=31, on the rescue of those roosters (Invisible Voices)

That "in some cases" part? Because the moment the organization removed those dogs from the dogfighting operation, it did so knowing it would advocate for their deaths. The positions of HSUS and others is that dogs who have been forced into fighting are beyond rehabilitation and that attempted rehabilitation is a misappropriation of resources when there are so many other animals in need. But it has been shown that many of these dogs can be rehabilitated, so why don't they deserve a chance as much as other dogs do? Why don't we want to fight harder to give happy lives to those who can be rehabilitated and adopted, to try to make up for the hell humans put them through, instead of deciding arbitrarily that all of them should die?
And let's remember that in the case of the Vick dogs, not nearly all of them even had to go to Best Friends for that more serious rehabilitation--25 of them, after careful assessment, went straight into loving, experienced foster homes.

Until HSUS says sorry to the people, sorry to the Best Friends, sorry to those willing and wanting to give these animals a home, sorry for writing off puppies born after "the rescue" and sorry for giving up on lives that could have been saved. They have lost the support and respect of many (and not just 200 people).

Andrea M.

NY Post's Racist Ape Cartoon Is No Small Matter

2009-02-20T17:00:00.000-08:00

NY Post's Racist Ape Cartoon Is No Small Matter

Persistent simian stereotypes tagged to blacks have deep associations with support for racist violence argues a psychology professor.

Persistent simian stereotypes tagged to blacks are not mere small and unimportant post-racial leftovers of the bad old days, argues a UCLA psychology professor.

I cannot imagine that 10 minutes passed from the time it first appeared online to the time my phone rang early this morning. The New York Post had published a (now controversial) cartoon depicting two police officers that had shot a monkey — one of them quipping, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."
The cartoon — you see it here — was clearly referencing the recent odd-ball news item, that a woman from Stamford, Conn., had been mauled by her pet chimpanzee and that the animal had to be "put down," as it were, to preserve public safety. But the political commentary seemed an odd juxtaposition to the visual. Could the cartoon have been suggesting that Barack Obama, principal champion of the bill and our first black president, was somehow chimp-like?
Though much of the reaction to the cartoon has been outrage at the implication that our 44th president is remotely simian, there have been other messages in the blogosphere as well. A few pleaded with us to see reason in this post-Obama era. They begged us to understand that the cartoonist clearly meant to impugn congress, Wall Street executives and academic economists and that there was no racial subtext to the piece. Others saw the cartoon as racist but declined to become outraged. Saw the injustice in the image, but saw it as a minor injustice, not one worth worrying too much about. After all, having a black president means that America is post-racial and does not need to worry about petty things like harmless pictures in a paper.
The messages in my inbox mirrored the commentaries I saw online. A few (though not many) defending the cartoon. Many more exasperated with indifference. All of them insisted this was a little thing.
The best science available suggests otherwise.
For the better part of the past seven years, my colleagues and I have conducted research on the psychological phenomenon of dehumanization. Specifically, we have examined cognitive associations between African Americans and non-human apes. And the association leads to bad things. When we began the research, we were skeptical of whether or not participants even knew that people of African descent were caricatured as ape-like — as less than human — throughout the better part of the past 400 years. And, in fact, many were not. However, even those who were unaware of this historical association demonstrated a cognitive association between blacks and apes. That is, when they thought of apes, they thought of blacks and vice versa — when they thought of blacks, they thought of apes.

But the fact of this cognitive association was not the most disturbing part of the research. Rather, it was the fact that the association between blacks and apes could lead to violence.
In one study, participants who were made to think about apes were more likely to support police violence against black (but not white) criminal suspects. The association actually caused them to endorse anti-black violence. Most disturbing of all, however, was a study of media coverage and the death penalty. Looking at a sample of death-eligible cases in Philadelphia from 1979 to 1999, the more that media coverage used ape-like metaphors to describe a murder trial (i.e. "urban jungle," "aping the suspects behavior," etc.) the more likely black suspects, but not white suspects were to be put to death.
Not surprisingly, black suspects were much more likely to be described in ape-like terms. And they were more frequently executed by the state.
Similar psychological mechanisms of discrimination are at work in the bloated incarceration rates of young black men, the trenchant educational achievement gap between blacks and whites, and the racial bias evidenced in law enforcement officer's use of force. Though some are demonstrating leadership towards equality, we find that many of our nation's oldest racial shames have persisted into a period when a black person can reasonably aspire to the highest office in the land.
I mention these depressing findings because it is tempting to ignore them in the wake of President Obama's inauguration — to downplay the significance of "isolated events" of bigotry and "harmless words or pictures." But precisely because the dream of post-raciality is seductive for so many, it is all the more important that we not forget that cartoons like the one in today's New York Post are never isolated-and consequently, never harmless.
Today's Post cartoon is not far removed from the "Curious George" Obama sock puppet, a "Curious George" Obama T-shirt, a Japanese advertisement depicting Obama as a monkey, and countless other Obama/monkey comparisons that cropped up throughout the year-long Democratic primary and presidential campaigns. Psychological science has long known that words and pictures, far from harmless, can be the very instruments of dehumanization necessary for collective violence-regardless of how innocently they are intended.
As we live through this historic presidency, there will doubtless be more of these moments of impolitic insensitivity. Some will be more egregious than others. But, as a scientist, my sincerest hope for us all is that we not be biased by the desire to see our struggle towards racial equality as over. The evidence is too clear that the little things are still a big deal.

HSUS SUPPORTS KILLING 146 Pitt Bulls, Incl. 79 Puppies, 19 born after rescue.

2009-02-20T13:04:00.000-08:00

My Reply:

Brutal wars in Africa's biggest county (Shall we take a look)

2009-02-19T23:38:00.000-08:00

Brutal wars in Africa's biggest country (Shall we take a look)
Sudan, the largest country in Africa, has been at war for nearly 50 years. The three main conflicts:

A brutal 21-year civil war between the north and the south that ended in 2005. In 2005, Sudan's government and rebels from the south officially ended Africa's longest-running war. The 21-year civil conflict killed 2 million people and forced more than 4 million from their homes, according to U.N. estimates.
Under peace deal, oil revenues to be shared
Refugees started returning in late 2005
Former foes clash over oil-rich Abyei region
The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Darfur in the west where at least 300,000 have died and 2.9 million been displaced by fighting since 2003 The United Nations has described Sudan's western Darfur region as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
Over 2.9 million uprooted
World's biggest relief operation
2006 peace deal failed to improve security Tensions in eastern Sudan where insurgents have threatened to challenge the government for a share of the country's power and natural-resources. Sudan has had war in the south and west, and a decade-long low level revolt in the east has threatened to flare into full-scale conflict. But the mid-October 2006 signing of an agreement between eastern Sudanese rebels and Khartoum has given hope that peace could stabilise one of Sudan's most important areas economically
One of poorest regions in Sudan Home to Sudan's largest gold mine and major oil pipeline Drought forced many to abandon nomadic lifestyle

An obvious question is: Why is Sudan plagued by internal conflict, and how are these three conflicts related, if at all? There is no easy answer, but a few explanations do shed light on the problem.
First, colonisers drew the boundaries of present-day Sudan without heed to the different religious and ethnic groups that already inhabited the territory, which was under joint Anglo-Egyptian control until 1956. This set the stage for showdowns between the north, populated predominantly by Arab Muslims, and the south, populated largely by animists and Christians of African origin.
The British lit the tinderbox when they left by leaving an elite group of northerners in charge.
Second, over the years those in power in Khartoum have marginalised southerners, Darfuris and several other groups in various pockets of the country, including provinces in eastern Sudan. In addition, the Islamist policies of the government in the 1990s added to the alienation of the southerners.
Third, rebels in all corners of the country share similar grievances over Khartoum's failure to provide even the most basic of services, and widespread abject poverty has fueled calls to share the wealth.
The discovery of oil in southern Sudan in 1978 only raised the stakes. Sudan rakes in up to $1 billion year in oil exports but there is little in the way of social services to show for it. In 2005, it looked as though Sudan had finally moved to put its house in order. The government and the main rebel group in the south, the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), signed a peace deal that ended the north-south civil war.
A new power-sharing government was sworn in. But the peace deal looks shaky.
The conflict in Darfur and the possibility of new violence in the east, where rebels have the same grievances as those elsewhere in the country, threaten to derail the entire process.
Former SPLM rebels are now in the central government as ministers, so the fates of the south and of other troubled areas are increasingly linked. And as SPLM soldiers have supported the rebels in the east, the south could yet play a role in further conflict with Khartoum.

Added information:

KEY FACTS
Total population (2007)
37.8 million (U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division 2006)
Life expectancy at birth (2005)
57.4 years (UNDP - Human Development Report 2007/2008)
Total adult literacy rate (2004)
60.9 percent (UNDP 2006)
Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births (2006)
61 (UNICEF - State of the World's Children 2008)
Under-5 mortality rate per 1,000 live births (2006)
89 (UNICEF - State of the World's Children 2008)
Internally displaced people (2008)
6 million (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 2008)
Percentage of people undernourished (2002-04 average)
26 (U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) 2006)
GNI per capita, Atlas method (2005)
$640 (World Bank Data Profile Tables 2007)
Public expenditure on health as a percent of GDP (2004)
1.5 (UNDP 2007/2008)

Andrea M.

A "firewall" between anti-Semitism and criticism of Israel?

2009-02-19T23:30:00.000-08:00

A "firewall" between anti-Semitism and criticism of Israel?

The Merriam-Webster On-line Dictionary says that anti-Semitism means "hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group." This definition is useful because it reminds us that Jews are more than simply adherents of a particular religion; i.e., they are also an ethno-cultural group, a tribe, a people.
But is there a "firewall" between anti-Semitism and criticism of Israel? Like other countries, Israel has features that invite criticism, but crafting a fair critique is troublesome because it requires something approximating respect for natural justice, application of generally applicable norms, reference to the general practice of states, and giving reasons to support particular judgments. Thus, criticizing Israel is not necessarily anti-Semitic. But it is untrue to say that there is a logical distinction that prevents a persistent pattern of bitter criticism of Israel from being anti-Semitic. To the contrary, the methodologies applied in more than a half-century of modern human-rights law make it clear that a persistent pattern of targeting Israel with discriminatory criticism is anti-Semitic.

MODERN HUMAN-RIGHTS by definition “as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction”. Astute enough to examine not only a pattern of impugned behavior but also the likely effects of that pattern. Consider the following: (1) Jews have been an historically victimized people for more than 2,000 years, also African-Americans and the aboriginal peoples of Canada have been historically victimized. (2) Now containing half the world's Jewish population, Israel is the historic and current homeland of the Jewish people, just as Greece is the home of the Greek people. When these two points are considered in terms of modern human-rights methodologies , http://www.pdhre.org/materials/methodologies.html the conclusion is that a persistent pattern of discriminatory criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic because it is likely to harm Jews.

An imaginary watertight compartment separating Israel from the Jewish people is as improbable as trying to uncouple the notion of China from the Han Chinese people or Turkey from the Turkish people. This is an important point because the hallmark of the modern anti-Semite is precisely reliance on the unpersuasive claim that there is a clear line that prevents a persistent pattern of anti-Israel criticism from being anti-Semitic. To the contrary, statistical evidence links critics of Israel to anti-Semites. Public opinion polls tend to show a correlation between respondents who strongly oppose Israel and those with marked negative feelings toward Jews and Judaism. Furthermore, police records from Europe and elsewhere reveal spikes in anti-Semitic incidents coincident with major military actions involving Israel - e.g., in Lebanon in 2006 and in Gaza this year - and anti-Israel terrorist groups also target local Jews in foreign countries, as in the 1994 attack on the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. Thus, those who explain or justify anti-Semitism by pointing to alleged misdeeds by Israel are simultaneously acknowledging the link between the State of Israel and the Jewish People.
RELATED
Zionism and the global anti-Semitic frenzy
Modern anti-Semitism, then, means being comfortable persistently targeting Jews and/or Israel and persistently applying to Jews and/or Israel a more exigent standard than applied to other peoples and countries. Friends of Israel may also be said to "target" the Jewish State, in the sense that they, too, are disposed to pay more attention to Israel than to other countries. However, they are unlikely to seek to tar Israel by persistently expecting more from it than from other countries; to the contrary, friends are likely to defend Israel by applying a less demanding standard.
Definition and example: Anti-Semites (also known as Judeophobia), on the other hand, focus on Israel with the aim of portraying it in a negative light. Their underlying motivation is sinister, in that they do seek to tar Israel to fabricate justifications for extreme measures likely to harm Jews, whether in Israel or abroad.
Antisemitism may be manifested in many ways, ranging from individual expressions of hatred and discrimination against individual Jews to organized violent attacks by mobs or even state police or military attacks on entire Jewish communities. Extreme instances of persecution include the First Crusade of 1096, the expulsion from England in 1290, the Spanish Inquisition, the expulsion from Spain in 1492, the expulsion from Portugal in 1497, various pogroms, and the most infamous, the Holocaust under Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany.
Antisemitism has also been publicly evident amongst anarchist Jews from the 19th century. Bernard Lazare, a French Jew born in southern France in the mid-19th century, was prominent amongst turn of the century anarchists in holding that the Jew tends to be unsociable and exclusive in outlook. This perceived behaviour was anathema to Jewish anarchists of the time. Jewish anarchists despised Jewishness and described their position as antisemitisme as in the following quote from Lazare's 1896 book on the topic:
"...the general causes of antisemitism have always resided in Israel itself, and not in those who antagonized it . . . the Jews were themselves, in part, at least, the cause of their own ills . . . Which virtues or which vices have earned for the Jew this universal enmity? Why was he ill-treated and hated alike and in turn by the Alexandrians and the Romans, by the Persians and the Arabs, by the Turks and the Christian nations? Because, everywhere up to our own days the Jew was an unsociable being. Why was he unsociable? Because he was exclusive, and his exclusiveness was both political and religious, or rather he held fast to his political and religious cult, to his law".
Because of many explicit pejorative references to Jews and Judaism, the texts of both the Christian gospels and the Muslim Koran have directly played a role in spawning civilizations with exceptional attitudes toward Jews and Judaism. In the Western and Islamic worlds, many individuals find it natural to harbor distinctive (often negative) views about Jews and Judaism. However, there is often a lack of awareness that the prevailing cultural software has been so significantly infected by the virus of anti-Semitism. For this reason, many individuals remain comfortable persistently targeting Jews and/or Israel and persistently applying to Jews and/or Israel a more exigent standard than applied to other peoples and countries.

Attacking Jews in pogroms or sending Jews to die in concentration camps are obviously anti-Semitic acts. But many individuals in the Western and Islamic Worlds have a blind spot that prevents them from recognizing anti-Semitism in other toxic manifestations. Here it helps to recall the Holocaust. That horrendous crime traced its immediate origins to 1933, when German leader Adolf Hitler began a program of well-organized discrimination that singled out Jews via legal and bureaucratic expedients. In the same way, modern anti-Semites contrive strategies to support persistent patterns of bitter discrimination against Israel, e.g., in organs of the United Nations. The strategy is to demonize Israel by judging it according to a more exigent standard than applied to other countries. The ultimate goal is to justify the destruction of Israel and the killing of the Jews there.
THE AD HOMINEM argument of being Jewish or having Jewish parents (even concentration camp survivors) is no logical defense to a charge of anti-Semitism. Today, many Jews fail to understand that the meaning of anti-Semitism includes any persistent pattern of discrimination against Jews and/or Israel. Many falsely imagine that, because they themselves are Jewish, they have a special license to freely engage in these patterns. However, the harm done by such Jews is as real as that done by the anti-Semitism of non-Jews. In fact, anti-Israel discrimination by Jews can do even more damage, because Jews can gain greater credibility by trumpeting their own Jewish credentials.

Human-rights methodologies offer nothing to suggest that either "the Right" or "the Left" has a dispensation legitimating these discriminatory patterns. This means that most anti-Semitism cannot be justified with reference to an alleged greater good to be derived from Nazism, fascism, socialism, communism, environmentalism, anti-colonialism, the Non-Aligned movement or any other cause or ideology. Nonetheless, many enemies of Israel remain astonishingly confident in their mistaken belief that their preferred doctrine entitles them to indulge in such discrimination, while immunizing them from a charge of anti-Semitism. This is a pitiful and hollow illusion.
-Andrea Mckeeby

California budget talks deadlocked

2009-02-18T13:09:00.000-08:00

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – California lawmakers remained deadlocked Wednesday over a plan to increase taxes to tackle the state's budget deficit as Republicans ousted their legislative leader for his support of tax hikes.
As Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger sent layoff notices to 20,000 state workers and officials prepared to halt hundreds of construction projects, legislators voted against more than 14 billion dollars in new taxes.
The taxes are part of a package, along with nearly 16 billion dollars in spending cuts, that Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders say is needed to fill a budget deficit expected to reach 42 billion dollars by 2010.
"If we do not pass this budget today, the California dream will turn into the California nightmare," state Senator Alan Lowenthal said of a budget stalemate that already has led to a ratings downgrade for state bonds and could force the cash-strapped state to soon stop paying its bills.
California is the only state that requires a two-thirds legislative majority to both pass a budget and pass any tax increase.
Though Democrats control both chambers of the state Legislature, they need three Republicans to join them to reach that two-thirds vote.
So far, despite the pleas of Republican Governor Schwarzenegger, only one Republican in the Senate has agreed to vote for the package.
That lone Republican, Dave Cogdill, spent three months helping to negotiate the budget package.
But late Tuesday night, his Republican colleagues ousted him from the post of Minority Leader and replaced him with a staunch anti-tax senator.
"It's a shame it ended this way," Cogdill said. "This budget needs to get out, and we need to put people to work again in this state."
Other Republicans continued to insist they will stand by their pledge against raising taxes, and called again for more spending cuts.
"I think it's time that we need to stop treating the taxpayers of this state of California as a personal ATM," said state Senator Tony Strickland. "Funds are overdrawn."
Legislators brought sleeping bags and pillows to the Senate chamber on Tuesday night. They have been meeting virtually non-stop since Saturday in an effort to pass a budget. One senator, a dentist, passed out toothbrushes to colleagues.
Earlier this month, the Standard & Poor's agency cut the rating on California bonds to the lowest credit grade of any of the 50 US states.
California, which with 36.5 million residents is home to one of every eight Americans, will receive a large chunk of the 787-billion-dollar federal stimulus package signed into law Tuesday by President Barack Obama.
But that still won't be enough to bridge the state's budget deficit, which is increasing at a rate of 500 dollars a second.
The tax increases proposed by Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders would increase the state sales tax from 7.25 percent to 8.25 percent, add 12 cents per gallon to gasoline taxes and impose new taxes on activities ranging from a round of golf to car repair.

Hold on Cali we are in for one hell of a ride....

Hope the IOU's we will be getting as out tax return's helps (yeah right).

How the economic stimulus plan could affect you

2009-02-15T13:47:00.000-08:00

How the economic stimulus plan could affect you.

An examination of how the economic stimulus plan will affect Americans.
___
Taxes:
The recovery package has tax breaks for families that send a child to college, purchase a new car, buy a first home or make the ones they own more energy efficient.
Millions of workers can expect to see about $13 extra in their weekly paychecks, starting around June, from a new $400 tax credit to be doled out through the rest of the year. Couples would get up to $800. In 2010, the credit would be about $7.70 a week, if it is spread over the entire year.
The $1,000 child tax credit would be extended to more low-income families that don't make enough money to pay income taxes, and poor families with three or more children will get an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit.
Middle-income and wealthy taxpayers will be spared from paying the Alternative Minimum Tax, which was designed 40 years ago to make sure wealthy taxpayers pay at least some tax, but was never indexed for inflation. Congress fixes it each year, usually in the fall.
First-time homebuyers who purchase their homes before Dec. 1 would be eligible for an $8,000 tax credit, and people who buy new cars before the end of the year can write off the sales taxes.
Homeowners who add energy-efficient windows, furnaces and air conditioners can get a tax credit to cover 30 percent of the costs, up to a total of $1,500. College students — or their parents — are eligible for tax credits of up to $2,500 to help pay tuition and related expenses in 2009 and 2010.
Those receiving unemployment benefits this year wouldn't pay any federal income taxes on the first $2,400 they receive.
___
Health insurance:
Many workers who lose their health insurance when they lose their jobs will find it cheaper to keep that coverage while they look for work.
Right now, most people working for medium and large employers can continue their coverage for 18 months under the COBRA program when they lose their job. It's expensive, often over $1,000 a month, because they pay the share of premiums once covered by their employer as well as their own share from the old group plan.
Under the stimulus package, the government will pick up 65 percent of the total cost of that premium for the first nine months.
Lawmakers initially proposed to help workers from small companies, too, who don't generally qualify for COBRA coverage. But that fell through. The idea was to have Washington pay to extend Medicaid to them.
COBRA applies to group plans at companies employing at least 20 people. The subsidies will be offered to those who lost their jobs from Sept. 1 to the end of this year.
Those who were put out of work after September but didn't elect to have COBRA coverage at the time will have 60 days to sign up.
The plan offers $87 billion to help states administer Medicaid. That could slow or reverse some of the steps states have taken to cut the program.
___
Infrastructure:
Highways repaved for the first time in decades. Century-old waterlines dug up and replaced with new pipes. Aging bridges, stressed under the weight of today's SUVs, reinforced with fresh steel and concrete.
But the $90 billion is a mere down payment on what's needed to repair and improve the country's physical backbone. And not all economists agree it's an effective way to add jobs in the long term, or stimulate the economy.
___
Energy:
Homeowners looking to save energy, makers of solar panels and wind turbines and companies hoping to bring the electric grid into the computer age all stand to reap major benefits.
The package contains more than $42 billion in energy-related investments from tax credits to homeowners to loan guarantees for renewable energy projects and direct government grants for makers of wind turbines and next-generation batteries.
There's a 30 percent tax credit of up to $1,500 for the purchase of a highly efficient residential air conditioners, heat pumps or furnaces. The credit also can be used by homeowners to replace leaky windows or put more insulation into the attic. About $300 million would go for rebates to get people to buy efficient appliances.
The package includes $20 billion aimed at "green" jobs to make wind turbines, solar panels and improve energy efficiency in schools and federal buildings. It includes $6 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy projects as well as tax breaks or direct grants covering 30 percent of wind and solar energy investments. Another $5 billion is marked to help low-income homeowners make energy improvements.
About $11 billion goes to modernize and expand the nation's electric power grid and $2 billion to spur research into batteries for future electric cars.
___
Schools:
A main goal of education spending in the stimulus bill is to help keep teachers on the job.
Nearly 600,000 jobs in elementary and secondary schools could be eliminated by state budget cuts over the next three years, according to a study released this past week by the University of Washington. Fewer teachers means higher class sizes, something that districts are scrambling to prevent.
The stimulus sets up a $54 billion fund to help prevent or restore state budget cuts, of which $39 billion must go toward kindergarten through 12th grade and higher education. In addition, about $8 billion of the fund could be used for other priorities, including modernization and renovation of schools and colleges, though how much is unclear, because Congress decided not to specify a dollar figure.
The Education Department will distribute the money as quickly as it can over the next couple of years.
And it adds $25 billion extra to No Child Left Behind and special education programs, which help pay teacher salaries, among other things.
This money may go out much more slowly; states have five years to spend the dollars, and they have a history of spending them slowly. In fact, states don't spend all the money; they return nearly $100 million to the federal treasury every year.
The stimulus bill also includes more than $4 billion for the Head Start and Early Head Start early education programs and for child care programs.
___
National debt:
One thing about the president's $790 billion stimulus package is certain: It will jack up the federal debt.
Whether or not it succeeds in producing jobs and taming the recession, tomorrow's taxpayers will end up footing the bill.
Forecasters expect the 2009 deficit — for the budget year that began last Oct 1 — to hit $1.6 trillion including new stimulus and bank-bailout spending. That's about three times last year's shortfall.
The torrents of red ink are being fed by rising federal spending and falling tax revenues from hard-hit businesses and individuals.
The national debt — the sum of all annual budget deficits — stands at $10.7 trillion. Or about $36,000 for every man, woman and child in the U.S.
Interest payments alone on the national debt will near $500 billion this year. It's already the fourth-largest federal expenditure, after Medicare-Medicaid, Social Security and defense.
This will affect us all directly for years, as well as our children and possibly grandchildren, in higher taxes and probably reduced government services. It will also force continued government borrowing, increasingly from China, Japan, Britain, Saudi Arabia and other foreign creditors.
___
Environment:
The package includes $9.2 billion for environmental projects at the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. The money would be used to shutter abandoned mines on public lands, to help local governments protect drinking water supplies, and to erect energy-efficient visitor centers at wildlife refuges and national parks.
The Interior Department estimates that its portion of the work would generate about 100,000 jobs over the next two years.
Yet the plan will only make a dent in the backlog of cleanups facing the EPA and the long list of chores at the country's national parks, refuges and other public lands. It would be more like a down payment.
When it comes to national parks, the plan sets aside $735 million for road repairs and maintenance. But that's a fraction of the $9 billion worth of work waiting for funding.
At EPA, the payout is $7.2 billion. The bulk of the money will help local communities and states repair and improve drinking water systems and fund projects that protect bays, rivers and other waterways used as sources of drinking water.
The rest of EPA's cut — $800 million — will be used to clean up leaky gasoline storage tanks and the nation's hazardous waste sites.
___
Police:
The stimulus bill includes plenty of green for those wearing blue.
The compromise bill doles out more than $3.7 billion for police programs, much of which is set aside for hiring new officers.
The law allocates $2 billion for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant, a program that has funded drug task forces and things such as prisoner rehabilitation and after-school programs.
An additional $1 billion is set aside to hire local police under the Community Oriented Policing Services program. The program, known as COPS grants, paid the salaries of many local police officers and was a "modest contributor" to the decline in crime in the 1990s, according to a 2005 government oversight report.
Both programs had all been eliminated during the Bush administration.
The bill also includes $225 million for general criminal justice grants for things such as youth mentoring programs, $225 million for Indian tribe law enforcement, $125 million for police in rural areas, $100 million for victims of crimes, $50 million to fight Internet crimes against children and $40 million in grants for law enforcement along the Mexican border.
___
Higher Education:
The maximum Pell Grant, which helps the lowest-income students attend college, would increase from $4,731 currently to $5,350 starting July 1 and $5,550 in 2010-2011. That would cover three-quarters of the average cost of a four-year college. An extra 800,000 students, or about 7 million, would now get Pell funding.
The stimulus also increases the tuition tax credit to $2,500 and makes it 40 percent refundable, so families who don't earn enough to pay income tax could still get up to $1,000 in extra tuition help.
Computer expenses will now be an allowable expense for 529 college savings plans.
The final package cut $6 billion the House wanted to spend to kick-start building projects on college campuses. But parts of the $54 billion state stabilization fund — with $39 billion set aside for education — can be used for modernizing facilities.
There's also an estimated $15 billion for scientific research, much of which will go to universities. Funding for the National Institutes of Health includes $1.5 billion set aside for university research facilities.
Altogether, the package spends an estimated $32 billion on higher education.
___
The Poor:
More than 37 million Americans live in poverty, and the vast majority of them are in line for extra help under the giant stimulus package. Millions more could be kept from slipping into poverty by the economic lifeline.
People who get food stamps — 30 million and growing — will get more. People drawing unemployment checks — nearly 5 million and growing — would get an extra $25, and keep those checks coming longer. People who get Supplemental Security Income — 7 million poor Americans who are elderly, blind or disabled — would get one-time extra payments of $250.
Many low-income Americans also are likely to benefit from a trifecta of tax credits: expansions to the existing Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, and a new refundable tax credit for workers. Taken together, the three credits are expected to keep more than 2 million Americans from falling into poverty, including more than 800,000 children, according to the private Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
The package also includes a $3 billion emergency fund to provide temporary assistance to needy families. In addition, cash-strapped states will get an infusion of $87 billion for Medicaid, the government health program for poor people, and that should help them avoid cutting off benefits to the needy.

SCARED YET????

Study: 'Astonishing richness' in polar sea species

2009-02-15T12:43:00.000-08:00

Study: 'Astonishing richness' in polar sea species

Don't always belive what you read in a title.... go down a few paragraphs and you'll see what I'm speaking about.

BANGKOK, Thailand – The polar oceans are not biological deserts after all.
A marine census released Monday documented 7,500 species in the Antarctic and 5,500 in the Arctic, including several hundred that researchers believe could be new to science.
"The textbooks have said there is less diversity at the poles than the tropics, but we found astonishing richness of marine life in the Antarctic and Arctic oceans," said Victoria Wadley, a researcher from the Australian Antarctic Division who took part in the Antarctic survey. "We are rewriting the textbooks."
In one of the biggest surprises, researchers said they discovered dozens of species common to both polar seas — separated by nearly 7,000 miles (11,000 kilometers). Now they have to figure out how they separated.
"We probably know more about deep space than we do about the deep polar oceans in our own backyard," said Gilly Llewellyn, leader of the oceans program for the environmental group WWF-Australia. She did not take part in the survey. "This critical research is helping reveal the amazing biodiversity of the polar regions."
Most of the new discoveries were simpler life forms known as invertebrates, or animals without backbones.
Researchers found scores of sea spider species that were as big as a human hand, and tiny, shrimp-like crustaceans in the Arctic basin that live at a depth of 9,850 feet (3,000 meters).
The survey is one of several projects of the Census of Marine Life, an international effort to catalog all life in the oceans. The 10-year census, scheduled for final publication in 2010, is supported by governments, divisions of the United Nations and private conservation organizations.
The survey — which included over 500 polar researchers from 25 countries — took place during International Polar Year which ran in 2007-2008.
Researchers endured up to 48-foot (16-meter) waves on their trip to the Antarctic, while their colleagues in the Arctic worked under the watchful eye of a security guard hired to protect them from polar bears.
New technology also helped make the expeditions more efficient and productive than in the past. Researchers used cell-phone-like tracking devices to record the Arctic migration of narwhals, a whale with a long twisted tooth, and remotely operated submersibles to reach several miles (kilometers) down into the oceans to study delicate marine animals that are impossible to collect.
As many as 235 species were found in both polar seas, including five whale species, six sea birds and nearly 100 species of crustaceans.
"We think of the Arctic and Antarctic as similar habitats but they are separated by great distances," said University of Alaska Fairbanks plankton ecologist Russ Hopcroft, who took part in the Arctic survey.
"So finding species at both ends of the Earth — some of which don't have a known connection in between — raises a whole bunch of evolutionary questions," he said.
Hopcroft and other polar researchers will now try to determine how long these species have been separated and whether they have drifted apart genetically.
David Barnes, of the British Antarctic Survey, said there a number of possibilities to explain how similar species live so far apart.
Some may have traveled along the deep-sea currents that link the poles or may have thrived during the height of the last ice age about 20,000 years ago when the polar environment was expanded and the two habitats were closer.
Hopcroft and Barnes cautioned that more work needs to be done to confirm whether the 235 species are indeed the same or differ genetically.
"Painstaking work by geneticists investigating both nuclear and mitochondrial genes will only be able to confirm this," Barnes said in an e-mail interview. "It may be they separated sometime ago but similar selective pressures have meant they have not changed much."
___
On the Net:
Census of Marine Life: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_sc/storytext/as_antarctica_bountiful_sea/30978118/SIG=10l0ma3sq/*http://www.coml.org
Arctic Ocean Diversity: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_sc/storytext/as_antarctica_bountiful_sea/30978118/SIG=10onmubt3/*http://www.arcodiv.org.
Census of Antarctic Marine Life: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_sc/storytext/as_antarctica_bountiful_sea/30978118/SIG=10kvoqbuo/*http://www.caml.aq

Contaminated ship arrives in UK for dismantling (AP)

2009-02-08T10:01:00.000-08:00

Contaminated ship arrives in UK for dismantling (AP)

LONDON – A decommissioned French aircraft carrier containing asbestos traveled from France to Britain on Sunday, where it will be stripped for recycling despite an environmental controversy.
The ship docked near Hartlepool, in northeast England. The Clemenceau was originally set to be dismantled in India, but revelations that it was loaded with asbestos sparked protests by environmental groups there.
Asbestosis is a disorder that scars the lungs and can be fatal. It occurs after exposure to asbestos, which has been used in manufacturing and construction and has microscopic bundles of fibers that may become airborne and inhaled.
Environmentalists in Britain were unable to stop the French ship from being brought to the country.
The recycling company doing the work estimates 200 jobs will be created, but environmentalists say that is not worth the potential risks.
The aircraft carrier was launched in 1957. It sailed over 1 million nautical miles before being withdrawn from active service in 1997.
When the Clemenceau was built, asbestos was not widely known to be a health hazard.

Reply:

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Sad that it's had to come to these things to keep a little of the economy moving and jobs being created. My heart goes out to my fellow Brits. in their time of need even if I'm in the Us.

Madagascar soldiers shoot protesters, some dead (AP)

2009-02-07T14:28:00.000-08:00

Madagascar soldiers shoot protesters, some dead (AP)

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar – Soldiers opened fire on anti-government protesters Saturday near the presidential palace in Madagascar's capital, and radio stations reported some 30 people were killed in a dramatic escalation of a confrontation between the established order and a young politician determined to shake up this Indian Ocean island.
An AP reporter witnessed the shootings in Antananarivo and saw protesters falling, but it was unclear whether they were wounded or dead.
The president, Marc Ravalomanana, appeared on state television afterward to say the loss of life was "difficult," and to place the blame on his rival, Andry Rajoelina. He did not say how many had been killed or wounded. There has been no official confirmation of the deaths, which were reported by both state-run and independent radio.
"Last week (Rajoelina) claimed he had taken power. Today, he directed a huge crowd to take the palace," the president said, calling on his citizens help him restore order and to cooperate with the forces trying to establish peace and security.
The protest was one in a series called by Rajoelina, whose campaign sparked deadly violence last month. Unrest has been a hallmark of politics in Madagascar, an Indian Ocean island off Africa's southeast coast.
Rajoelina, whose background is in advertising and broadcasting, has shown a genius for articulating grievances in this largely poor country. But questions about whether he is offering real solutions have emerged since the violence in late January, and the crowds he has been drawing since then have shrunk. Ravalomanana has indicated he sees the 34-year-old Rajoelina as a front man for more established figures in a country known for infighting among a small political elite.
"(The army should) defend the people and stop these soldiers who are firing on people," Rajoelina declared Saturday on his radio Viva.
Madagascar, an island nation of 20 million people off Africa's southeast coast, is known for its rare wildlife and eco-tourism. It is also one of Africa's poorest nations with more than half the population living on less than $1 per day.
The stakes here have risen since oil was discovered three years ago.
Western and African leaders have pressed Rajoelina, the former mayor of Antananarivo, and Ravalomanana, who won re-election in 2006 in elections generally deemed fair, to resolve their differences.
Saturday's protest started at a central square where Rajoelina regularly addresses supporters. Thousands of demonstrators then headed toward the presidential palace.
Rajoelina had declared that presidential palace belonged to the city, but left the square before the march set off. He was ousted as mayor Tuesday by an official appointed by the police minister.
As mayor, Rajoelina had used rallies and broadcast stations he owns to urge Ravalomanana to resign — and offered himself as an alternative. He has accused the president of misspending public money and threatening the nation's young democracy.
The president temporarily shut down the mayor's TV station in late January, sparking mass protests that turned into riots and looting sprees that left dozens of people dead.
Power struggles are not new to Madagascar. Ravalomanana clashed with former President Didier Ratsiraka when both claimed the presidency after a disputed December 2001 election. After low-level fighting split the country between two governments, two capitals and two presidents, Ratsiraka fled to France in June 2002.
Ravalomanana won re-election in 2006, though two opposition candidates tried to challenge the validity of the vote.
The country was once socialist, but since the mid-1990s it has followed policies of privatization and economic liberalization.
Ravalomanana, 59, a former mayor of Antananarivo, became president in 2002.
Rajoelina is a former professional DJ and an entrepreneur who heads two communications firms. He defeated Ravalomanana's party in municipal elections in December 2007. People call him TGV — the name for both his party and France's high speed trains — for his hard-charging personality. But he would not be eligible to run for presidency in the next scheduled elections in 2011, because he will not yet be 40, as is required.

REPLY'S BY OTHERS:

-sounds like it is here in the united states.

-I swear , I have not heard a thing about this country in ages. I am really surprised. Must be a slow day in the world. The last time I saw anything about Madagascar it was that cartoon.

MY REPLY:

-Is that all you have to say..... sounds like the U.S? Remind's me of a cartoon and must be a slow day to report this? This is 30 people that were not armed, protesting for what they belive in and were killed in cold blood. If this happened in the US they wouldn't have been killed. Put in prison, hit etc. yes that's something that might have happened. Sorry the news isn't up to your expectations of killing people in the 100-1000's area. These people were standing up for what they belive in. My dearest wishes to their family and friends.

Oh and here's some facts for you.....-Last week (Rajoelina) claimed he had taken power. Today, he directed a huge crowd to take the palace," the president said, calling on his citizens help him restore order and to cooperate with the forces trying to establish peace and security.-"(The army should) defend the people and stop these soldiers who are firing on people," Rajoelina declared Saturday on his radio Viva.Sound like something the US would do? Not that I'm saying the US doesn't have a fair share of blood on it's hands.

Don't Worry, Palin; We're Still Paying Attention to You

2009-02-05T23:57:00.000-08:00

Don't Worry, Palin; We're Still Paying Attention to You

Just not the kind of attention you'd like.

A new Web site from Defenders of Wildlife, EyeOnPalin.org, vows to keep "exposing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's anti-conservation agenda." See the video:

Palin, unsurprisingly, has a few things to say about the campaign. And equally unsurprising is the fact that despite responding, she has managed to say nothing of substance, nothing to counter the obvious truth that her wolf-killing efforts are anything but despicable.
See her indignant response to Defenders of Wildlife here.
And then see Defenders of Wildlife's counter to it:
As we've seen before, what you often get in response from Governor Palin when she is challenged is not a rational defense of what she’s doing, but rather name calling and a very transparent attempt at spin control. But then again, since there is no defense for her aerial wolf slaughter program, it may be that she feels there really isn’t much else she can do.
Governor Palin speaks of "science" supporting her aerial killing program, but in spite of numerous requests, they have never produced anything even resembling reasonable scientific justification. . . . Literally hundreds of wildlife scientists have repeatedly condemned her program and she has not once provided any evidence to refute their charges that what she is doing is unscientific.

Change.Org

Dollar falls ahead of rate meetings in Europe (AP)

2009-02-03T13:44:00.000-08:00

Dollar falls ahead of rate meetings in Europe (AP)

NEW YORK – The dollar slid against major currencies in late trading Tuesday ahead of several interest rate decisions this week in Europe, and as markets got upbeat news on U.S. housing but saw mixed earnings results.
The 16-nation euro rose to $1.3007 in late New York trading from $1.2827 late Monday. The British pound rose to $1.4421 from $1.4269, while the dollar slipped to 89.26 Japanese yen from 89.60 yen.
The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday buyers stepped in to snap up properties at steep discounts in December, especially in the South and Midwest. Its seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for preowned homes rose 6.3 percent to 87.7 in the final month of the year from an upwardly revised November reading of 82.5.
The drugmakers Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. topped earnings estimates, while the homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc. reported a loss for its latest quarter that was narrower than analysts anticipated. Meanwhile, cell phone maker Motorola Inc. said it lost $3.6 billion and PNC Financial Services Group Inc., one of the nation's largest banks, said it swung to a loss.
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet has indicated the bank will likely hold rates steady at 2 percent at Thursday's meeting, while the Bank of England is expected to chop rates by as much as 1 percentage point.
Lower interest rates often drive investors from a currency as they move funds where they earn better returns.
In other trading, the dollar dropped to 1.1446 Swiss francs from 1.1630, and fell to 1.2347 Canadian dollars from 1.2449.

REPLY:
It has been and will be bouncing up and mostly down like a yo-yo. Why would they even bother with this story? Couldn't find anything else to fill the empty spot on the page?

2009-02-02T21:46:00.002-08:00