blogging comes of age?

"Blogger News
Blogging from Boston
July 2004 marks a milestone for blogging: Bloggers have credentials and are covering the Democratic Convention in Boston. How's the food? What's happening behind the scenes? What are people saying off-camera? How can you tune in to this historic unedited flow of information? Read all about it: Blogging from Boston. "

hey sondjata , man , how come we weren't invited to the convention ?

president obama?

a longtime internet pal, was really was impressed by the democratic convention speech given the other night by democratic senate candidate barack obama . she commented that he might possibly one day be the first black president .

mr obama , the bi-racial son of a kenyan student and a white american mother, identifies himself as african-american and through hard work and ability seems to have gone far .

i also thought it was very nice speech , but after the florida 2000 election shenanigans , the political cynic in me was led to remark that "if he does well in the senate who knows where he'll be in 8 years or so ? "

i went on to say:

but yah know , i wish these speakers at the convention would kiss less kerry arse and say instead "the democratic party stands for abc ...the democratic party stands for xyz... this is what's at stake ...this is why we must win in november"

stick more to platforms , principles and agendas and objectives than this baby kissing contest ,this handshake and photo-op show that US politics has become .

i'd respect a party that said "look america here's what we're going to do at home ...here's what we're going to do abroad ...here is what you can expect from us for your vote , campaign funds and, tax dollars ...AND IF OUR CANDIDATE DOESN'T DELIVER ,THEN YOU ARE OBLIGATED TO HOLD HIS AND OUR FEET TO THE FIRE "

bottomline, blackfolk don't think much of john kerry or the rest of the capitol hill prepschool club ...its just that most of us so greatly deplore bush and what his administration has done that even kerry looks like a better alternative .

i've listened to these speakers since day one of the convention and the only one that i heard who was kinda straight forward in his or her remarks , was jimmy carter.

he took off the white gloves and punk-slapped bush around ...a little bit anyway...but a lot more than the rest of these "leaders" have done .

we should stop trying to make politics into such a "we love everybody ,love fest, family hour" and remind us that politics is actually little more than war without bloodshed for determining who gets what from fighting for "our" side .

i'd respect more someone who would say "these guys in the white house are corrupt, they are criminal , they are incompetent, they sold the country down the river and we're going to kick their asses out of the halls of government and into the halls of justice ...and make this a government of the common people for the common good!"

in politics ,as in warfare , as in sports , as in life, as in any contest , there comes a time when you must "go for the jugular" ...else ,why bother suit up for the "game" ?


"...And if you nobles would just LEAD our people to freedom , they would follow you ...and so would i ." --William Wallace--Braveheart

...but we all know that what a politician says and what a politician does is usually effectively edited by political expediency rather than by what is right or wrong...or even by what they have specifically promised...

despite all the talk about change , kerry and edwards make no (skull and) bones about continuing and 'winning' the petro-war in iraq that has killed more than ten thousand iraqi civilians over trumped up bogus claims about weapons of mass destruction , misrepresentations about a nonexistent osama bin laden/saddam hussein tagteam , and repeated outright baldface lies about the threat of imminent iraqi mushroom clouds over america...

in braveheart , william wallace turned his back and walked away from the scottish nobles in disgust.

"because you won't stand together", he warned them , "the english will be back."

And because we blacks won't hold them to the promises they make to us that help get them elected , the democrats will sweep us blacks under the carpet once again --after of course they've finished using us...but expect them back in 2008 letting blacks , hispanics and women make rousing ,feel-good speeches at the convention , and telling us once again that we are "all one nation" ...

retraction ? yes...but elmo and ernie are still one up on 'dubya' ...

ok , so a conservative vulcan delightedly informed me that the "lovenstein institute" report that bush and his daddy are arch-cretins is a hoax . the website he referred to says this report is an old urban myth that caused the "doonesbury cartoon" and english and australian newspapers to later print retractions when they ran the story back in 2001... take a look for yourself at the website where i found the info lovenstein.org ... i had read at pacifica.org and at diplomats and military commanders for change about "the diplomats and military commanders for change" petition on the lovenstein opening page so i believed the rest of the lovenstein web pages to be reliable...but then again who knows what is true in these days of deliberate disinformation

" Elmo , if I win ...do you want to be secretary of defense ,or secretary of state ?" 

"A president must president his country. I, that is, we, as a country, president, and commit ourself to presidenting in and out of this great country in the world. I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but of predecessors as well"

 

...but the truth still comes to light ...I.Q of "91"...hahaha!

LOVENSTEIN INSTITUTE


Presidential IQ Report


WASHINGTON --In a report published Monday, the Lovenstein Institute of Scranton, Pennsylvania detailed its findings of a four month study of the intelligence quotient of President George W. Bush. Since 1973, the Lovenstein Institute has published its research to the education community on each new president, which includes the famous "IQ" report among others.

According to statements in the report, there have been twelve presidents over the past 50 years, from F. D. Roosevelt to G. W. Bush who were all rated based on scholarly achievements, writings that they alone produced without aid of staff, their ability to speak with clarity, and several other psychological factors which were then scored in the Swanson/Crain system of intelligence ranking. The study determined the following IQs of each president as accurate to within five percentage points:

147 Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)
132 Harry Truman (D)
122 Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)
174 John F. Kennedy (D)
126 Lyndon B. Johnson (D)
155 Richard M. Nixon (R)
121 Gerald Ford (R)
175 James E. Carter (D)
105 Ronald Reagan (R)
98 George H. W. Bush (R)
182 William J. Clinton (D)
91 George W. Bush (R)

this is getting annoying

perhaps considering the technical difficulties we continue to experience here ,it may be time to move on...

cliffnotes ...bush's 9-11 actions and behaviors :very puzzling & very unpresidential

*"cliffnotes" (the comments in orange ) are an analysis by the blogger (...that be me ) based on information from the excellent article

"An Interesting Day:
President Bush's Movements and Actions on 9/11"


By Allan Wood and Paul Thompson
May 9, 2003

...our thanks go out to these researchers for bringing to light this eye-opening information and puncturing the spin-bubbles of a media and government that clearly failed us the public ...then and since .






my friend whom i teasingly call "ms pearl " , a bright ,but unfortunately strictly a linear thinker , is always nagging me about going in circles ,and pardon the pun-- 'beating around the bush'. From the sheer frustration of trying to follow what i'm getting at , will often impatiently demand ," dammit-- 'd' --will you get to the freakin point !"

so for her , or anyone else who 'thinks' like her ( hahaha ...poor things) , some key points to carefully consider:


1. the CIA Director seemed to believe that the first WTC plane crash was an attack as soon as he was notified of it's occurance

2. he then made phone calls on an undoubtedly secure cell line carried by an aide who probably goes everywhere the director goes ---for exactly this type of emergency purpose

3. ...but apparently NONE of the calls made by CIA director went to george w. bush , who could have been reached either through the advanced telecommunications system installed in the presidential limo , or through the mobile command post the secret service sets up EVERYWHERE the president goes--

4 . the director of CIA believes that he has just received information that the nation is under attack , but FAILS to inform the commander in chief of the nation's armed forces--- a gross dereliction of duty

...CIA Director George Tenet was told of the crash a few minutes after it happened. A messenger gave him the news as he was eating breakfast with former Senator David Boren in a Washington restaurant three blocks from the White House. Boren says Tenet was told that the World Trade Center had been attacked by an airplane: "I was struck by the fact that [the messenger] used the word attacked." An aide then handed a cell phone to Tenet, and Tenet made some calls, showing that at least some at the highest levels of the Bush administration were talking about an attack at this time. Tenet then said to Boren, "You know, this has bin Laden's fingerprints all over it." [ABC, 9/14/02] ....

bloghost revenge :revised

jeeze me blog is all scrambled up ...was it was something i said ?

*...ok ,since then i pulled the first version of the "cliffnotes" post and things have almost returned to normal . i think i'll try again and chunk "cliffnotes" up into more "bitesized" pieces ...

then perhaps i'll sort through to see which post made the print all go large...tho i do kinda like the effect...

here i am on the job giving these kids a speech about my education policy at 9:29 am-- 40 minutes AFTER the first plane smacked into the wtc...time flies when you're having so much fun ...lucky the hi-jackers didn't read the papers and see that i was scheduled days in advance to be here ...they coulda smacked a plane into this school  too , since no fighter planes were scrambled here in time to protect us---making me and these kids sitting ducks... 

here i am fearlessly leading and protecting the nation and these kids by reading the book "a pet goat" ...while the world trade towers burn 

here i am moments later , after hearing the news of the second tower being hit... bravely facing the threat...the threat that my trousers might have just been soiled...  

hi , here i am again ...stunned into inaction at the news that both twin towers had been hit by planes 

here i am being told that the second wtc tower was hit by an aircraft and that america was under attack 

hi , i 'm dick cheney's uncle junior bush...When I'm not under house arrest on my own airplane  , aimlessly wandering the nation's skies while dick cheney runs the show , you'll find me hitting all the spots in the greatest city on earth , washington dc...Well , as soon as dick cheney decides it ok for me to return. Hi, this is president Uncle Junior bush ...you know, the guy who fiddled while the towers burned --here i am waving as i board airforce 1  that morning  , knowing that america was under attack
 

uncle junior soprano   
 
"When I'm not under house arrest in New Jersey, you'll find me hitting all the spots in the greatest city on earth, New York City. Hi, ...this is Tony Soprano's Uncle Junior. "
 

president uncle junior bush ?

A long time ago , there was an episode on the tv show the "Sopranos"  where tony and the boys decide to name tony's elderly uncle junior as "mob boss" in order to not only placate uncle junior , but to take heat off of themselves .  The scam was that Tony , the real boss , could quietly run things from behind the scenes , remaining  more out of  the  spotlight of the 'public' eye thus avoiding the scrutiny that the  man  formally recognized as "boss "would normally have to endure ...The idea was that uncle junior would think that he , to borrow an expression from the jamaicans  , "run tings" , while in actuality he was meant to be  little more than a decoy...a figurehead to divert attention away from the guys behind the curtains who were really pulling the strings...After reading  the second installment  of the "bush on 9-11" article below , is the  title "president uncle junior bush " , that far from reality ?

: 0 ) Free Martha Stewart ! Free Martha Stewart ! Free Martha Stewart !

feb 29, 2005: in an interview today following her release from prison , the woman once known as martha stewart threateningly pointed her finger , cursed and angrily admonished members of the news media for , "continuing to refer to me by my slave name" --some months after she had it officially changed .

Outside the facility she greeted her enthusiastic supporters and family with a raised fist salute --thrust repeatedly into the air and defiant shouts of "power to the people".

she then was whisked away by bodyguards to an awaiting limo in order to attend a black tie $1000 a plate dinner in her honor at the Waldorf followed by a book signing at Trump Plaza for her newly published volume, "Sista Aminata Goldilocka: political prisoner of the american class wars" .

Ms Goldilocka later is scheduled to attend a private soiree held by friends and supporters at an undisclosed location in the Hamptons

martha stewart /"aminata goldilocka"-after 5 months in prison--maybe she shouldn't have attempted to liken her situation to nelson mandela's-- "good people go to prison too--look at nelson mandela"--- martha stewart/ nelson mandela ??? i just don't see the connection  

martha stewart -before her "lengthy" 5 months in prison  

The "redickaliss" files

hmm...look at all the pretty colors...seems some blogger/blogspot changes have been made by the gracious hostserver... or whatever they call it...In the meantime , while the dust settles ,a little lightheartedness gleaned from our cybertreks across the web--except for the first 2 comments , none of these are verbatim quotes -but instead , the gist of the speakers remarks:



Author: dsekou
Friday, July 16, 2004 - 11:51 pm

"Walmart employs more people in America now than the auto industry does" ---npr news



yeah but somehow i suspect the jobs don't pay the same ...sad statement on what america has become--"how far the mighty have fallen".


"Author: Passion Shampayne Wilberts aka 'lil Sade'- Monday, July 05, 2004 - 07:50 pm


Yall need stop this mess .This redickaliss"



"The difference between John Edwards and Dick Cheney is Dick Cheney could be President"--George W. Bush

*Umm , mr bush , judging from the way he kept you out of washington dc and also largely out of the decision making loop on 9-11-01 ...looks like Cheney ALREADY IS President ...


"As far as the NAACP is concerned , George Bush has no problem with the organization itself...It's the leadership of the organization that president bush has problems with"--presidential spokesperson

*ut oh ...sounds like another "regime change" may be in the works ...kwesi mfume and julian bond may soon be cellmates with saddam ...or' kidnapped ' into exile ala aristide...



"Under the Castro regime Cuba has replaced Southeast Asia as the prostitution / pedophile /sex-trade-vacation capital of the world"---george bush

*of course , 40 years of economic embargo from a hostile US and new financial tightening of the screws by the bush administration ; resulting in diminished ability to acquire hard currency , import goods and food supplies has nothing to do with a rise in prostitution in Cuba



"Is greed really a crime ? The humiliation of a public trial and conviction is punishment enough for someone like martha stewart...To add a five month jail sentence , along with an additional five months house arrest on top of that , frankly has many outraged americans wondering WHY she is being sent to prison "---news commentator/talking knucklehead

*not me...I'm just outraged that she only got five months...she pulled an illegal insider trading deal ...she was given an advantage that other investors weren't privy to...IS anybody outraged when small investors lose their retirement nesteggs while the big boys/girls use insider info that allows them to save their ass-ets and still preserve their family wealth when stock prices unexpectedly drop,or is anyone upset when big investors with secret intel , make an even bigger killing when stock prices take an upward jump?

martha used an unfair advantage over all other honest investors...investors who accepted the same risk that she did when they sunk their cash into that stock, and then she lied to government investagators about it , and finally got caught up in her lies. i'm outraged with these slap on the wrist punishments for white collar criminals while at the same time , new prisons can't be built fast enough , mandatory minimums can't be handed out swiftly enough , for blacks and latino defendants .

One source says white collar criminals at wallstreet firms knowingly launder somewhere in the range of 100 to 500 billion dollars in drug money a year --but nobody's bothering to build any new prisons to hold them . The judge actually asked martha stewart , in which of her many houses would she like to spend her five months of house arrest? ...As ms passion shampayne wilberts aka ' li'l sade' would say , "Yall need stop this mess . This ridickaliss"

Two articles : Bush's actions on 9-11 -- very puzzling and very unpresidential & Oil-garchy coup attempts in Venezuela -- Beware of Jimmy Carter !

recently on one of my many and random searches throughout cyberspace , i stumbled across two very interesting articles about two very unique individuals--both with something more in common than holding the office of President of the United States .

George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter ,right-wing republican centralist and liberal-wing democratic party centralist respectively , would appear to many americans to be at opposing ends of the political spectrum .

Carter , a Nobel peace prize winner who is viewed globally as a human rights proponent even came out this past march against Bush's Iraq Agression --criticizing it as an unnecessary war based upon "lies and misinterpretations" .

But perhaps all things "liberal" aren't always as "kindhearted" as they seem. Malcolm warned us that republicans are like the wolf, and democrats are like the fox . One shows its teeth and we know it to be a snarl , while when the other shows its teeth , we mistake it for a smile---Both are members of the canine family , which of course means as animals go , they are closely related. Blacks faithfully put one group in the white house and they faithfully put blacks into... well you know the rest ...or at least you should .

Since both articles are a bit lengthy for this blogging medium , i decided it could be useful study over the next few days to break both articles into more bite-sized chunks in order to serialize them for comparison purposes ... allowing one to check out the "M.O." of what is in reality ---two sides of the same coin...



An Interesting Day:
President Bush's Movements and Actions on 9/11


By Allan Wood and Paul Thompson
May 9, 2003

"It was an interesting day." - President Bush, recalling 9/11 [White House, 1/5/02]




At approximately 8:48 a.m. on the morning of September 11, 2001, the first pictures of the burning World Trade Center were broadcast on live television. The news anchors, reporters, and viewers had little idea what had happened in lower Manhattan, but there were some people who did know. By that time, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the National Military Command Center, the Pentagon, the White House, the Secret Service, and Canada's Strategic Command all knew that three commercial airplanes had been hijacked. They knew that one plane had been flown deliberately into the World Trade Center's North Tower; a second plane was wildly off course and also heading toward Manhattan; and a third plane had abruptly turned around over Ohio and was flying back toward Washington, DC.

So why, at 9:03 a.m. - fifteen minutes after it was clear the United States was under terrorist attack - did President Bush sit down with a classroom of second-graders and begin a 20-minute pre-planned photo op? No one knows the answer to that question. In fact, no one has even asked Bush about it.

Bush's actions on September 11 have been the subject of lively debate, mostly on the internet. Details reported that day and in the week after the attacks - both the media reports and accounts given by Bush himself - have changed radically over the past 18 months. Culling hundreds of reports from newspapers, magazines, and the internet has only made finding the "truth" of what happened and when it happened more confusing. In the changed political climate after 9/11, few have dared raise challenging questions about Bush's actions. A journalist who said Bush was "flying around the country like a scared child, seeking refuge in his mother's bed after having a nightmare" and another who said Bush "skedaddled" were fired. [Washington Post, 9/29/01 (B)] We should have a concise record of where President Bush was throughout the day the US was attacked, but we do not.
What follows is an attempt to give the most complete account of Bush's actions - from Florida to Louisiana to Nebraska to Washington, DC.

Preparations
Bush's appearance at the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, on September 11, 2001 had been in the planning stages since August [Booker web site], but was only publicly announced on the morning of September 7. [White House, 9/7/01] Later that same day, 9/11 hijackers Mohamed Atta and Marwan Alshehhi traveled to Sarasota and enjoyed drinks and dinner at a Holiday Inn only two miles down the sandy beach from where Bush was scheduled to stay during his Sarasota visit. [Longboat Observer, 11/21/01, Washington Post, 1/27/02]


to be continued...


The Venezuelan recall referendum ... beware Jimmy Carter!


by James Petras:
July 2004


On August 15, 2004, Venezuelan voters will decide on a referendum, which has the utmost world historic and strategic significance. What is at stake is nothing less than the future of the energy world, the relations between the US and Latin America (particularly Cuba), and the political and socio-economic fate of millions of Venezuela's urban and rural poor.

If Chavez is defeated and if the Right takes power, it will privatize the state petroleum and gas company, selling it to US multinationals, withdraw from OPEC, raise its production and exports to the US, thus lowering Venezuelan revenues by half or more.

Internally, the popular health programs in the urban "ranchos" will end along with the literary campaign and public housing for the poor. The agrarian reform will be reversed and about 500,000 land reform recipients (100,000 families) will be turned off the land.

This will be accomplished through extensive and intensive state bloodletting, jailing and extrajudicial assassination, and intense repression of pro-Chavez neighborhoods, trade unions and social movements.

The apparently "democratic" referendum will have profoundly authoritarian, colonial and socially regressive results if the opposition wins.

Regionally, an anti-Chavez outcome will tighten the grip of US and Europe on Latin America's oil resources; the denationalization of the petroleum industry in the post-Chavez period will follow in the footsteps of Lula's privatization of Petrobras in Brazil, Gutierrez' privatization in Ecuador and the continuity of private foreign ownership in Argentina, Bolivia and Peru.

Control of Venezuela's oil will heighten US control over world oil, decrease its dependence on the Mid East, especially with high intensity conflict in Iraq now, Saudi Arabia and Iran in the future.

Equally important the US will eliminate the strongest opponent of ALCA -- the free trade treaty -- and pave the way for direct US control over the rules and regulations for trade and investment in the hemisphere.

Strategically, the US takeover of Venezuelan oil will have grave consequences on the Cuban economy as Washington will abruptly end exports and its client regime will likely break relations.

Direct colonial control over Iraq and Venezuela, two of the top suppliers of oil will increase US global power over its competitors, while serving as an "object lesson" to potential opposition regimes.

The "referendum" in Venezuela emerges as a major clash between the US and OPEC, US imperialism and Latin American nationalists, neo-liberalism and social nationalism, between US-backed authoritarian ruling elites and endogenous socially conscious urban workers, unemployed, small business people, landless rural workers and small peasants.
These historical confrontations find their specific focus in the referendum.

The events leading up to the referendum speak eloquently of the crass US intervention, the violent tactics of the elites, the rule or ruin strategy of the opposition, the unbridled totalitarian propaganda of the privately owned mass media. The opposition has backed a violent military coup (which was defeated); it organized a bosses' lockout that almost destroyed the economy (which ended in defeat); it organized a contingent of over 130 Colombian military and paramilitary forces with the aid of active Venezuelan officers to sow violence -- that was aborted by Venezuelan intelligence.

Equally ominous, in the campaign to secure signatures for the referendum, fraudulent identity cards were massively produced and distributed, tens of thousands of deceased, incapacitated and coerced had their signatures forged and thousands of signatures were written by a single hand.

Opposition corruption and fraud was rife but the official international observers urged the Chavez government to accept them and proceed to the referendum. More ominously among the key voices that made their presence felt were the ubiquitous Jimmy Carter and Jose Miguel Vivanco of Human Rights Watch.

The Unknown History of James Carter

The two faces of imperial power include the iron fist military intervention and the "soft sell" of electoral frauds, intimidating diplomacy and democratic blackmail. Jimmy Carter is "the quiet American" of Graham Greene fame, who legitimates voter fraud, blesses corrupt elections, certifies murderous rulers, encourages elections, in which the opposition is funded by the US state and semi-public foundations, and the incumbent progressive regime suffers repeated violent disruption of the economy.

also to be continued...

malcolm , betty and children at home ---personal touch 

kamuzu academy malawi 

mama teaching--children learning--personal touch 

breakfast at kitchen table--ready for school--personal touch  

a 'personal touch' ?

a good friend of mine whom i finally persuaded to visit and take a glance at the 'chronicles', suggested that while it was an effective idea to use brightly colored pictures and emotional images , in order to get a valid point across , also mentioned that she sensed that something was missing . After thinking a moment she said she noticed ,that what might make the blog better would be , adding a 'personal touch' .

Now i'm not actually sure what a 'personal touch' actually means , and since she had to rush off to attend to some things at home ( from the sound of her voice, translate possibly as : "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz") i'm still in doubt as to what she might have meant .

Well in general , i trust a woman's instincts , and because she usually shows good taste as well as something of an artistic flair , i gave her thoughts some thought . Since i firmly believe in the axiom that "imagination rules the world " ...i'm going to imagine that telling a personal anecdote , here and there , could be included underneath that potentially wide-ranging catch-all umbrella/banner of adding 'personal touches' that subtly reach in and open minds and effectively energize imaginations to greatly flow in similar directions.

Recently in the news we witness not only the 'Cosby-stir' created by remarks given at celebrity public appearances, that too many of our parents aren't parenting and half our kids are dropping out instead of learning , but in addition to that, the cold hard stats revealing that non-functional illiteracy among us, since the days of emancipation from jim crow segregation , is at all time highs .

Coupled with that bad news also , are reports that in america ,for all demographic groups , excepting for maybe far-east asians , east indians and other newly arrived immigrants , the old fashioned practice of regular thought-provoking reading for personal enlightment and enjoyment is nationwide in serious , serious decline.

Even though more people and households than ever are wired to the net, this does not indicate a literacy solution , as a significant part of that stat-increase is pissed away in light perusal scan-reads and web versions of "tv channel-surfing" along with numerous other frivolous pursuits , rather than serious in depth reading... A problem we all now face, is how to counteract the societal trend to slide back into ignorance and the mass culture that promotes it . Do we really want to become Al and Peggy Bundy?

A long time ago , back in the stone ages when i was coming up , before the 'modern era' ...i still can remember times before we have computers ...Can clearly remember when we have no internet ,no global positioning satellites, no cd or dvd players...Back in the times when there are no barcodes to be swiped in supermarket checkouts and gasoline is much less than a dollar ...i vividly can relive my parents both enthusiastically reading in front of us daily .

While their kids eat their breakfast, Pop and Mom always make a point of sitting with the 'young-uns' at the kitchen table and dutifully reading the newspaper . Mom and Pop each take turns mentioning to the other , or to us kids ,interesting , eye-catching things that they read .

They together , discuss daily world events and are sure of including ,how the events that are unfolding , relate to 'us' and touch our own people's lives .

We are a reading family and every night while dinner is being prepared , we older kids are always expected to do homework while the younger kids enviously watch .

We determinedly struggle to successfully master our learning tasks and solidly build our future foundations in the warm , supportive atmosphere of the family kitchen table in concert with savory dinner aromas and pleasant sounds from the stovetop , of Mom's and Pop's tasty cooking .

They , on the daily, read in front of us kids, newspapers , books and magazines . They steadily reinforce the practice until it infects their offspring to the point where the habit once established, deeply sinks inward to never leave.

Today i cannot sit and eat breakfast without something to read . i can find myself reading entire cereal boxes simply out of habit, if the newspaper is temporarily not available . Daily feeding your mind , reading like this, becomes an important part of you... Guess that Mom and Pop clearly understand that you are what you eat...

sudanese child malnourished and crying 

is it genocide ? ...a "rose" by any other name would still stink as badly

Killing goes on as Sudan lies to world and defies UN

GETHIN CHAMBERLAIN
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT--The Scotsman


Key points
• Helicopter attacks continue as Sudanese government denies involvement
• Fresh attacks comes as international community pressurises Khartoum
• Human rights struggle to cope as armed men kidnap aid workersKey quote
"Despite a cease-fire signed in April between the Sudanese government and two rebel groups, fighting in Sudan’s Darfur region continues to displace civilians who say they are innocent victims" - UN spokeswoman

Story in full --SUDANESE government forces and Arab militia have launched a fresh wave of murderous attacks on black African villagers in Darfur in defiance of demands from the United Nations and the United States for an end to the fighting.

Fleeing refugees have described how villages in south eastern Darfur were bombed by Antonov aircraft and helicopter gunships before Janjaweed militia men in pick-up trucks and riding horses and camels swarmed into the villages, killing men, women and children, raping women, stealing property and animals, and setting houses alight.

Survivors say that the attacks took place last week, while Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, and Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, were visiting the country to demand an end to the genocide which aid workers have warned could result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.

The UN High Commission for Refugees said more than 100 desperate people had fled the latest killings and braved heavy fighting to make it to a refugee camp at Kalma, near Nyala, the capital of South Darfur.

At least 40,000 people are living in the camp and aid agencies say they are struggling to provide food, water and medical care to the displaced people, who include many severely malnourished babies.

A UN spokeswoman said that the latest attacks on villages came as the Sudanese government and Janjaweed militia launched a fresh offensive against two rebel groups in breach of a cease-fire agreement signed in April. Rebel groups have warned that they will retaliate if the Khartoum regime continues to break the cease-fire.

She said: "Despite a cease-fire signed in April between the Sudanese government and two rebel groups, fighting in Sudan’s Darfur region continues to displace civilians who say they are innocent victims."

The UNHCR also released details of an attack on aid workers inside nearby Chad, where tens of thousands of refugees have fled.

On Sunday a group from Norwegian Church Aid, which is based in Iriba about 50km from the Chad-Sudan border, were kidnapped by armed men as they drove from the nearby Touloum camp to Iridimi camp a short distance from the town. They were later released and their vehicle stolen. The identity of the attackers is not known.

Yesterday John Bercow, the shadow international development secretary who has recently returned from an all-party trip to Khartoum and Darfur, called on the British government to consider backing military action to halt the genocide.

"Only when you apply pressure to the regime will you get results," he said. "It is a mistake to rule out military action.

"The government of Sudan are not gentlemen who abide by the Queensberry Rules. You have to bring pressure to bear on them."

He said he had written to Hilary Benn, the International Development Secretary, to ask what had become of the Prime Minister’s pledges to consider a no-fly zone in the region.

Tony Blair yesterday reiterated his claim that Britain was doing all it could to end the crisis.

"We’re doing our level best in Africa," he said. "It’s a very serious situation. The situation in Sudan is still very, very serious."

At a meeting of the African Union yesterday Kofi Annan warned African leaders that the humanitarian crisis in Darfur may lead to "a catastrophe that could destabilise the region" if they did not take action.

"The ruined villages, the camps overflowing with sick and hungry women and children and the fear in the eyes of the people should be a clear warning to all of us," he said.

In response, the African Union said it would send 300 troops to protect refugees in Sudan and Chad and to protect military observers monitoring the supposed cease-fire in Darfur.

The deployment was reluctantly accepted by the Sudanese government.

• READERS of The Scotsman have now donated £49,000 to the UNICEF Children of Sudan Emergency appeal - nearly five times the amount anticipated when the newspaper joined forces with the charity.

UNICEF says it is optimistic that the total will break through the £50,000 barrier before the end of the week.

Denise McNiven, fundraising manager for the charity in Scotland, said: "This will make an enormous difference to the children that are surviving in such difficult conditions."

UNICEF is using the money to supply water, repair and install hand pumps, distribute blankets, shelter, jerry cans, cooking pots, bowls and many other basic relief items.

if it's not genocide ...then what is it?  

they answered your questions 

you saw the camps 

you were there , powell... 

you talked to the refugees kofi 

sudanese refugees line up for drinking water  

loading refugees onto truck in birak near chad  

refugees at camp zam zam near el-fashir 

sudanese refugees at camp zam zam