Horse Feathers, "Words Are Dead" (Lucky Madison, 2006).
Even though this album was only released on September 26, and even though I have only listened to the album twice all the way through, I am willing to say that it will end up on most critic's Best of 2006 lists. This album features banjos, mandolins, fiddles, etc. But it also has a certain indie rock feel to it. If you like Sufjan Stevens, Iron and Wine, M. Ward, or good music generally, you will instantly love this album.
Their myspace.
Their label.
|
|---|
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Friday, September 29, 2006
(09.29.06) Recommends:
Old 97s, "Hit By A Train: The Best of the Old 97s" (Elektra, 2006).
A Greatest Hits record is like a band on life support. And watching a band like the Old 97s on life support is strange, since anybody who saw the 97s live knows they are one of the great live acts of their generation. I hope this is the last 97s record ever. It would be a nice ending. The 97s are a young man's band, and the 97s are no longer young. They are older, and married, and have kids. Rhett Miller, the main force behind the band, is off trying to make a name for himself with increasingly interesting solo records. And anyway, you can't blow the roof off a shitty, smoke-filled bar, populated by college kids with stomachs full of Free State Oatmeal Stout, in Lawrence, KS at 2am on a Wednesday when you are old, and have a wife and a kid. But this album is the perfect ending to the 97's legacy. Live, Rhett Miller is a born rock star, playing the 200-person capacity Bottleneck in eastern Kansas as if it were a sold-out Madison Square Garden. But, first and foremost, this band is about the songs. While fans will quibble with the precise selections of songs for the album, the arrangement has a nice distribution from their first five albums. And what is particularly striking about the songs, of course, are the lyrics. I have no doubt that at some point in his career, Rhett Miller will write a novel, and he'll finally receive the writing credit he is due. [Rhett Miller actually made a contribution to Issue 12 of McSweeney's, the influential literary journal.] This band is truly one of the great mysteries to me. How they never became one of the most popular bands on the planet is completely beyond me. Fifty years from now disaffected suburban middle schoolers will be carving Rhett Miller lyrics into their school desks. Fifty years from now music critics will be listing "Too Far To Care" as one of the essential albums of the 90's and "Satellite Rides" as on of the essential albums of the 00's. Fifty years from now critics will list Rhett Miller as one of the essential song writers of his generation. For now, we should all go out and buy this record. Because just maybe, even though it's well past the time when the Old 97s could put on a show like they did in their prime, the band could exit the stage with a commercially successful album. I really hope it happens this time.
A Greatest Hits record is like a band on life support. And watching a band like the Old 97s on life support is strange, since anybody who saw the 97s live knows they are one of the great live acts of their generation. I hope this is the last 97s record ever. It would be a nice ending. The 97s are a young man's band, and the 97s are no longer young. They are older, and married, and have kids. Rhett Miller, the main force behind the band, is off trying to make a name for himself with increasingly interesting solo records. And anyway, you can't blow the roof off a shitty, smoke-filled bar, populated by college kids with stomachs full of Free State Oatmeal Stout, in Lawrence, KS at 2am on a Wednesday when you are old, and have a wife and a kid. But this album is the perfect ending to the 97's legacy. Live, Rhett Miller is a born rock star, playing the 200-person capacity Bottleneck in eastern Kansas as if it were a sold-out Madison Square Garden. But, first and foremost, this band is about the songs. While fans will quibble with the precise selections of songs for the album, the arrangement has a nice distribution from their first five albums. And what is particularly striking about the songs, of course, are the lyrics. I have no doubt that at some point in his career, Rhett Miller will write a novel, and he'll finally receive the writing credit he is due. [Rhett Miller actually made a contribution to Issue 12 of McSweeney's, the influential literary journal.] This band is truly one of the great mysteries to me. How they never became one of the most popular bands on the planet is completely beyond me. Fifty years from now disaffected suburban middle schoolers will be carving Rhett Miller lyrics into their school desks. Fifty years from now music critics will be listing "Too Far To Care" as one of the essential albums of the 90's and "Satellite Rides" as on of the essential albums of the 00's. Fifty years from now critics will list Rhett Miller as one of the essential song writers of his generation. For now, we should all go out and buy this record. Because just maybe, even though it's well past the time when the Old 97s could put on a show like they did in their prime, the band could exit the stage with a commercially successful album. I really hope it happens this time.
The Week in Review
Catch-up on major news events you missed in the past week-Plus the weekend’s top stories!
- Monday- September 25, 2006
- Tuesday- September 26, 2006
- Wednesday- September 27, 2006
- Thursday- September 28, 2006
- Friday- September 29, 2006
weekend top stories
In the news this weekend: Somalia's Islamists on Ethiopia's border, President of the European commission to meet with Meles,Speaker Hastert bottles up Korean human rights bill and more of the weekend's top stories!Somalia's Islamists take control of village on Ethiopian border
Somalia's Islamic fighters have seized control of a strategic village near the Ethiopian border, the group said on Saturday. Fighters loyal to the radical Union of Islamic Courts group routed pro-government militia from the village of Jawill, some 15 kilometres (10 miles) from the Ethiopian border. The only roads between Ethiopia and central Somalia pass through the village. "The militiamen who controlled this village had a good relationship with Ethiopia so we decided they were an obstacle to our control in the region,'' said Hassan Abdirahman, whose Islamic fighters carried out the operation.(More...)President of the European commission to meet with Meles
The president of the European commission, Mr. Jose Manual Barroso, next Monday will meet Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Mr. Barroso is expected to arrive in Addis Ababa to night.
The delegation led by Barroso comprises three EC's vice presidents and eight commissioners, including Mr. Louis Michel, development commissioner. Mr. Barroso will be visiting Ethiopia for the first time. The delegation, comprising 60 people, will pay a two-day working visit. The objective of their visit is primarily to deepen existing cooperation and partnership ties between the African Union and the EC.(More...)
Speaker Hastert bottles up Korean human rights bill
"The Korean-American community is mounting an intense grassroots lobbying campaign in support of a House resolution calling for Japan to formally acknowledge and accept responsibility for sexually enslaving women during World War II." An aide said "I do not think Hastert was too pleased with the resolution...".(More...)International News
-EU loan saved Darfur peacekeeping mission - AU-The Bob Woodward Effect:Newsweek
-Israel plans to complete pullout Sunday
-Russia Halts Troop Withdrawal From Georgia as Tensions Rise
-India police: Pakistan spy agency behind Mumbai bombings
-Branson unveils private spaceship model
-Borat haunts Kazakh president
September 29, 2006 - Access Point
Last night, I was up at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, for my weekly teaching stint (I teach a course called “Presbyterian Studies,” for Presbyterian ministerial candidates enrolled in that Reformed Church in America seminary). During the chapel service, the worship leader invited the assembled faculty and students to offer sentence prayers – brief, spoken intercessions.Silently, I listened to the concerns raised by others. They were exactly the sort of items you’d expect to hear, in a seminary chapel service. There were general intercessions – for peace in the world, justice for the oppressed, safety for soldiers in Iraq, insight in academic study. There were also some specific prayer requests: first names of people, along with brief explanations of their circumstances. Someone had just lost a spouse, someone else was unemployed, still another person was hospitalized.
Then, someone offered prayer for “people who have cancer.” Suddenly, the service got very, very personal for me. I’d been letting the words of the prayers wash over me, with a kind of detached interest. When I heard those words, I found myself in a different place. I wasn’t just praying. I was being prayed for.The man who voiced this concern surely wasn’t thinking of me, in particular. I’m an adjunct professor – a visiting firefighter, who teaches his class, then goes home. That makes me a virtual stranger to most of the seminary community. Of those who do know me, only a few are aware of my recent medical history. The man who offered this prayer for cancer patients probably started out with someone altogether different in mind, and kindly extended his concern to embrace others.
I was touched, all the same. I smiled to myself, realizing that the people to my left and right probably had no idea they were praying for me, as they joined their thoughts to those of the speaker.
We have a wireless access point in our house, allowing various computers to log onto the Internet. Anyone who turns on a laptop, within the limited range of that antenna, can make use of the connection. Because the device includes a built-in hardware firewall, I haven’t felt the need to enable its password-protection feature. I figure that anyone who should happen to power on a laptop in a car outside our house is welcome to ramp onto the information superhighway, toll-free. If whole cities, like Philadelphia, are equipping their business districts with free, wireless Internet access, then why shouldn’t I offer a similar gift to the universe?I was on the receiving end of a similar kind of generosity last night, in the seminary chapel. That sentence prayer was like a wireless access point. I found myself in range, so I connected.
Reflecting on the experience of prayer, Roberta Bondi likens it to family ties:
“We often have a kind of notion, as part of this highfalutin’, noble picture of ourselves as pray-ers, that when we pray we need to be completely attentive and we need to be fully engaged and we need to be concentrating and we need to be focused. But the fact is, if prayer is our end of a relationship with God, that's not the way we are with the people we love a large portion of the time. We simply are in their presence. We're going about our lives at the same time in each other's presence, aware and sustained by each other, but not much more than that… However we are, however we think we ought to be in prayer, the fact is we just need to show up and do the best we can do. It's like being in a family.”It just goes to show – when we are so bold as to offer up a prayer to God, we never know who may be in range.
Press freedom in Ethiopia non-existent: Kifle Mulat
Also in the news:political bigwigs in Addis, Egypt developing nuclear energy program, A message from the Coalition for H.R. 5680, Professor Alemayehu Takes Battle to Hastert’s Backyard and more of today's top stories!
indian ocean N° 1196 30/09/2006
-Professor Alemayehu Takes Battle to Hastert’s Backyard:Task Force H.R. 5680
-*A tribute to ethiopian athletes:Tewodros Abebe*
-Somali Islamists shut radio station
-Senate passes bill on terror detainee trials
-Al Qaeda No. 2: Bush a liar, 'spiller of Muslim blood'
-Pakistan accused of hundreds of terror abductions
-Georgia orders Russia 'spies' held
-Thai junta to anoint ex-army chief
-Thailand: The deal that angered the nation (Newsweek)
-White House gates shut to BORAT
(Picture by EMF) The government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is one of the leading jailers of journalists in the world. Over 20 journalists are in prison and close to a 100 have fled the country. In addition to journalists, over 100 opposition politicians, NGO activists, lawyers, and trade union leaders are currently in confinement. Among the detained journalists is, 26 year old Serkalem Fasil, who was pregnant when she was arrested and subsequently gave birth in prison.
indian ocean N° 1196 30/09/2006
While some Western embassies had been expecting Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to make substantial changes in the teams leading the various factions of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF in power in Addis Ababa), the outcome of the congresses of these parties was something of an anticlimax. Some minor changes were made at the top of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF, hard core of the EPRDF) and the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM) without changing the overall balance of power. The changes among the leaders of the Oromo People’s Democratic Organisation (OPDO) were purely cosmetic and the team leading the Southern Ethiopia People’s Democratic Movement (SEPDM) remained in control, in spite of an increase in the number of members of the executive of this organisation’s, which incidentally is quite marginal in the governing coalition.
Exit Sebhat Nega. The only new member of the nine man executive council (EC) of the TPLF, chaired by Meles Zenawi, is the Minister of Health Tewodros Adhanom Gebreyesus. He is the first leader of this party not to be the outcome of the guerrilla war waged against the previous Ethiopian regime. A graduate in biology from Asmara University (1986), and then with higher degrees in immunology from the University of London (1992) and community health from the University of Nottingham (2000), he was deputy minister of health before becoming the minister in October 2005 after the elections last year. His promotion was coupled with the demotion of Sebhat Nega, who had for a long time been the Prime Minister’s grey eminence. He left the TPLF EC and is now in 36th place among the 45 members of the central committee (CC), of which his sister Kidusan Nega is also a member. For the remainder, the TPLF executive team has not changed very much. But some people have left the CC (Tesema Gebre Hiwot, Alem Gebre Wahid, Tekle Berhan Araya and Aklilu Damberkai) and the Prime Minister’s wife Azeb Mesfin has joined. Although hated by Seyoum Mesfin (TPLF deputy chairman), Roma Gebre Sellasie (wife of Ambassador Tewolde Gebru, also a member of the TPLF CC), Adhana Haile and Berhane Kidane Mariam (publisher of the TPLF house newspaper) kept their seat on the party’s CC.
Bereket Simeon hands over power. The advisor to the Prime Minister, Bereket Simeon, who is sick, has handed over his seat of deputy chairman of the ANDM to the Minister Tefera Walwa but remains a member of its EC. This team is chaired by Addisu Legesse and includes the leaders of the Amhara Regional State - Ayalew Gobeze and Yoseph Reta - the Minister of Information, Birhan Hailu, the director of the Bahr Dr Management Institute, Ambachew Mekonnen, the representative of the Ethic and Anti-Corruption Commission at Bahr Dar, Demeke Mekonnen and some less well-known people like Yohannes Buayalew. Some heavyweight former dignitaries, including some ex-ministers who have become ambassadors (Kebede Tadesse, Tadesse Kassa, Genet Zewde, Dawit Yohannes and Hilawe Yosef) are still members of the ANDM CC.
Change in continuity. Long in internal crisis, the OPDO is still headed by the duo Abadula Gemeda/Girma Biru. The disgraced and the rehabilitated former leader Kuma Demeksa, is also a member of the OPDO CE, as are Jarso and Juneidi Saddo and the Ministers Aster Mammo Negewo and Muktar Kedir. Among the newly promoted figure the former administrator of the Western Wollega region, Zelalem Jamaneh and the former head of the bureau of agriculture and rural development of Oromia Regional State, Driba Kuma. On the other hand, the name of Ali Abdo and a few other former Oromo dignitaries are no longer on the official list of OPDO executive. The Minister Sufian Ahmed has had to be content with a seat on the CC, as have two former members of the OPDO EC, Mohamed Hassen and Alemayehu Atomsa. The SEPDM is still chaired by Hailemariam Desalegn with Shigute as his number two and a handful of government personalities in his CE, such as the Speaker of Parliament Teshome Toga, Kassu Illala, the Ministers Berhanu Adelo and Siraj Fegessa and also the head of the bureau for industry and urban development of the regional administration of south Ethiopia, Mekuria Haile.
Press freedom in Ethiopia debated in London
Exiled President of the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association (EFJA), Ato Kifle Mulat, now living in Uganda, appeared with his hands bound in chains to give accounts of the struggle of journalists, lawyers and other human rights activists as well as his personal struggle in the face of restrictions by the Ethiopian government.
Mulat is reportedly one of the foremost personalities in African journalism. He has been editor-in-chief of many African and bi-lingual newspapers in Ethiopia and internationally. He has been incarcerated on several occasions by the Ethiopian government for his work of press freedom, and was awarded the "Human Rights Journalism Under Threat" award by Amnesty International (AI) UK in May 2004 amongst other accolades.(More...)
Egypt developing nuclear energy program
CAIRO, Egypt - Determined to lead the Arab world into the nuclear club, Egypt is working on a nuclear energy program intended to reduce the country's dependency on oil. The program, announced last week by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, is expected to cost as much as $2 billion and will take more than a decade before the plants produce electricity. While other Arab nations also are looking into nuclear research and development, Egypt already has two low-level reactors, a half century of research and the remains of a comprehensive plan that was scrapped after the nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986.
Egypt is looking for alternative power sources because of the rising cost of oil and its increasing energy needs. The government estimates that oil reserves in Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, will be depleted within 20 years unless new oil fields are discovered.(More...)
Today's Top Stories
-CONGRATULATIONS! ORGANIZERS, PARTICIPANTS IN THE H.R. 5680 RALLY ON THE HILL:Coalition for H.R. 5680-Professor Alemayehu Takes Battle to Hastert’s Backyard:Task Force H.R. 5680
-*A tribute to ethiopian athletes:Tewodros Abebe*
-Somali Islamists shut radio station
-Senate passes bill on terror detainee trials
-Al Qaeda No. 2: Bush a liar, 'spiller of Muslim blood'
-Pakistan accused of hundreds of terror abductions
-Georgia orders Russia 'spies' held
-Thai junta to anoint ex-army chief
-Thailand: The deal that angered the nation (Newsweek)
-White House gates shut to BORAT
Thursday, September 28, 2006
(09.28.06) Recommends:
Alden Penner, various live recordings.
So, yesterday I mentioned the rise and fall and rise again of 2 of the 3 Unicorns, which may lead one to reasonably question whatever became of the third member. The music of that member, Alden Penner, certaintly warrants its own recommendation. When my mind is working in cliches, it thinks that if the Unicorns were Uncle Tupelo, Nicholas Thorburn (aka Nick "Neil" Diamond aka the one who went on to form Islands) would play the role of superstar rockstar Jeff Tweedy, and Alden Penner would be the quiet genius, true-to-his-craft artist, Jay Farrar. As with the UT splitup, where people who report on such matters allege that Tweedy and Farrar wanted to go different directions, the path that Penner has taken is different, but worth listening to, especially because it drives home the point that there was some serious talent when the Unicorns were together. His music is much sparser now. It's a mixture of Appalachian porch music, and Irish pub music. Recent shows have featured just him on guitar and another person on fiddle.
Or, maybe this Tweedy/Farrar theory is contrived from endless listens to some of his live stuff available on The Secret Unicorns forum. The bootleg section has a nice selection of live Penner tracks (click on his picture to get to his tracks). My personal favorite, and the reason for this entry, is Untitled 3, from the CKUT 90.3 FM Radio Sessions. It is a nice song to listen to as you are falling asleep. So hurry up and download the track quickly, because the bootleg section of the website is only open for a few days each month, today being on of those days.
So, yesterday I mentioned the rise and fall and rise again of 2 of the 3 Unicorns, which may lead one to reasonably question whatever became of the third member. The music of that member, Alden Penner, certaintly warrants its own recommendation. When my mind is working in cliches, it thinks that if the Unicorns were Uncle Tupelo, Nicholas Thorburn (aka Nick "Neil" Diamond aka the one who went on to form Islands) would play the role of superstar rockstar Jeff Tweedy, and Alden Penner would be the quiet genius, true-to-his-craft artist, Jay Farrar. As with the UT splitup, where people who report on such matters allege that Tweedy and Farrar wanted to go different directions, the path that Penner has taken is different, but worth listening to, especially because it drives home the point that there was some serious talent when the Unicorns were together. His music is much sparser now. It's a mixture of Appalachian porch music, and Irish pub music. Recent shows have featured just him on guitar and another person on fiddle.
Or, maybe this Tweedy/Farrar theory is contrived from endless listens to some of his live stuff available on The Secret Unicorns forum. The bootleg section has a nice selection of live Penner tracks (click on his picture to get to his tracks). My personal favorite, and the reason for this entry, is Untitled 3, from the CKUT 90.3 FM Radio Sessions. It is a nice song to listen to as you are falling asleep. So hurry up and download the track quickly, because the bootleg section of the website is only open for a few days each month, today being on of those days.
Super Spy-o-Matic
It's fun to spy on friends and family! Be a true patriot and root out their shocking secrets!
psssst... It is wise, the Spy-O-Matic. It knows I prefer Middle Eastern "hummus" to all-American Lipton onion dip. Now I'm in trouble!! It told me "RedJenny hates freedom so much, RedJenny doesn't even own a semi-automatic assault weapon". I have been found out!!
psssst... It is wise, the Spy-O-Matic. It knows I prefer Middle Eastern "hummus" to all-American Lipton onion dip. Now I'm in trouble!! It told me "RedJenny hates freedom so much, RedJenny doesn't even own a semi-automatic assault weapon". I have been found out!!
Barefoot Runner
Also in the news: Government looters Attack ONC Regional Office, children forced to work in Ethiopia,Fears for Safety of Detained Ethiopian and more of today's top stories!
The legendary Ethiopian runner Abebe Bikila celebrates after a win at the Rome Olympics. Not only did Abebe win the race running barefoot, but he also set a new world record at 2:16:2. He was the first African to ever win an Olympics medal. Asked later why he ran barefoot, Bikila replied, I wanted the world to know that my country, Ethiopia, has always won with determination and heroism"(Without the advantages of western advances) .
Government looters Attack ONC Regional Office
(EthioTribune)
Barefoot Runner, by Paul Rambali
The story of Abebe Bikila is a modern fairy tale. He was the first African to win an Olympic gold medal, and his underdog status was unmissable: Bikila won the marathon at the 1960 Rome Olympics in bare feet. He was the son of peasants and unused to footwear, but his upbringing on Ethiopia's high plateau gave him an enormous advantage.
Runners raised at altitude can run further and faster because they need less oxygen and are less vulnerable to dehydration.Bikila complemented this unusual physical capacity with rare competitive spirit. Even confinement to a wheelchair following a car crash did not finish his athletic career; he soon switched to the Paralympics.
Bikila's first gold medal was political capital for his emperor. Haile Selassie I, King of Kings and the Elect of God, was then an autocrat with power of life and death over his subjects. Selassie wished Ethiopia - and Africa as a whole - to assume equal status with the developed world , but by the 1960s the gap between the emperor's medieval governance and Ethiopia's need to modernise was becoming unbridgeable.(More...)
Hundreds of thousands of children forced to work in Ethiopia
The United Nations children's agency UNICEF estimates there are hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian youngsters, many as young as five years old currently involved in child labour.
Ethiopia is one of the world's poorest countries and many children are forced into employment or even sold in order to help their families financially. Working children often end up missing out on both their education and their childhood.(More...)
Amnesty International Fears for Safety of Detained Ethiopian Teachers
(VOA)
A global human rights organization says it fears for the safety of two teachers who were arrested in Ethiopia after their union criticized the government. Amnesty International says Wasihun Melese and Anteneh Getnet are being held without charge and are at risk of torture, ill-treatment or "disappearance." The pair was arrested September 23 in the capital, Addis Ababa.(More...)
-Ten government journalists defect: EMF
-S Africa is losing its way - Tutu
-Lawmakers scold HP as top lawyer resigns
-Al-Qaeda tape: More than 4,000 foreign militants killed in Iraq
-Iran will not suspend uranium enrichment for a 'single day'
-Russia Recalls Ambassador From Georgia
-Law student thief caught in getaway cab
-Confucians say, women now welcome
-Here comes the bride ... and her new baby
Government looters Attack ONC Regional Office
(EthioTribune)
Agents of the incumbent regime in Ethiopia have on the 26th of September broken in to the Oromo National Congress office in Jimma Arjo, East Wallaga Zone and confiscated properties of the organisation.They then went to the homes of the political organisation' s district leaders and threatened them saying :
" you people are still haunted by the gohsts of the OLF ! ".
One of the individuals thus threatened has said his life is in a dangerous situation although the party is legally organised and operating accourding to the laws of the land . It is to be remembered that the TPLF agents have recently stopped a car and confiscated the annual Oromo students' graduation bulletin as part of the crack down on the freedom of expression of students.
Barefoot Runner, by Paul Rambali
The story of Abebe Bikila is a modern fairy tale. He was the first African to win an Olympic gold medal, and his underdog status was unmissable: Bikila won the marathon at the 1960 Rome Olympics in bare feet. He was the son of peasants and unused to footwear, but his upbringing on Ethiopia's high plateau gave him an enormous advantage. Runners raised at altitude can run further and faster because they need less oxygen and are less vulnerable to dehydration.Bikila complemented this unusual physical capacity with rare competitive spirit. Even confinement to a wheelchair following a car crash did not finish his athletic career; he soon switched to the Paralympics.
Bikila's first gold medal was political capital for his emperor. Haile Selassie I, King of Kings and the Elect of God, was then an autocrat with power of life and death over his subjects. Selassie wished Ethiopia - and Africa as a whole - to assume equal status with the developed world , but by the 1960s the gap between the emperor's medieval governance and Ethiopia's need to modernise was becoming unbridgeable.(More...)Hundreds of thousands of children forced to work in Ethiopia
The United Nations children's agency UNICEF estimates there are hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian youngsters, many as young as five years old currently involved in child labour.Ethiopia is one of the world's poorest countries and many children are forced into employment or even sold in order to help their families financially. Working children often end up missing out on both their education and their childhood.(More...)
Amnesty International Fears for Safety of Detained Ethiopian Teachers
(VOA)
A global human rights organization says it fears for the safety of two teachers who were arrested in Ethiopia after their union criticized the government. Amnesty International says Wasihun Melese and Anteneh Getnet are being held without charge and are at risk of torture, ill-treatment or "disappearance." The pair was arrested September 23 in the capital, Addis Ababa.(More...)
Today's Top Stories
-Reward For Murder of Businessman-Ten government journalists defect: EMF
-S Africa is losing its way - Tutu
-Lawmakers scold HP as top lawyer resigns
-Al-Qaeda tape: More than 4,000 foreign militants killed in Iraq
-Iran will not suspend uranium enrichment for a 'single day'
-Russia Recalls Ambassador From Georgia
-Law student thief caught in getaway cab
-Confucians say, women now welcome
-Here comes the bride ... and her new baby
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
(09.27.06) Recommends:
The Lovely Feathers, "Hind, Hind Legs" (Equator, 2006).
Today, three recommendations for the price of one. A musical tripartite, if you will. Many (most?) good stories begin in Canada and feature mythical creatures. This recommendation-cum-story will be no exception.
Chapter 1: Unicorns Are Forever.
In late 2003, the Montreal-based band The Unicorns released the album Who Will Cut Our Hair When Were Gone? This album is hard to describe, so Ill settle on this: it is clearly one of the greatest pop/rock records released since the time of Mozart. Was Mozart a purveyor of pop/rock records? The answer, found in two seconds on Google or wikipedia is, undoubtedly, yes. WWCOHWWG? is strange and quirky and beautifully crafted and just fucking brilliant pop music. It features -- again, undoubtedly, here -- the greatest rock flute solo of all time. For years I have struggled with this question: Did the Unicorns, as a result of their finely-honed musical chops, intentionally create this album? Or did they merely stumble upon brilliance? Listen, and decide for yourself.
Chapter 2: Unicorns Aren't Forever, After All.
So, by 2005 the Unicorns were so 2004. As in, i.e., they broke up. But, as Unicorns arent completely real in the first place, so it was with the breakup: roughly 2/3rds of the original members went forth to form the Montreal-based band Islands. Islands released the infinitely listenable Return to the Sea in the first half of 2006. This album was released by Equator Records, a new-to-me record label out of -- you guessed it -- Montreal.
Chapter 3. Islands Might Not Be Forever, Either, But Luckily Equator Has Other Bands On Its Roster.
So, by the second half of 2006, the drummer of Islands has quit, but the band marches on, carrying with it still roughly 1/3rd of the original members of the Unicorns. There was a long stretch in 2006 when my car stereo was exclusively playing Return to Sea. As such, I kept the CD case on the front passenger seat, which caused me to notice the Equator Records logo on the back of the CD. Knowing that unicorns are not so much real, and Unicorns are no longer, and Islands are definitely real, but may or may not be longer [due to (a) departure of drummer and (b) global warming], I was curious whether Equator Records was real, and if so, whether it was still in business. Friends! Equator is Alive, and this album Hind, Hind Legs is great. (As an aside, Equator may or may not be run by former, current, or future members of Islands nee Unicorns). Its more of that Canada freak-out music. A little more Wolf Parade than Unicorns [I would recommend Wolf Parades full-length proper debut here as well, but, much like the Shop At Home Network, four recommendations for the price of one would quite literally bring upon me financial ruin.], but more Unicorns than Frog Eyes. All and all, it's a good album by a band that's getting out there and creating interesting things. And is there really anything more we can ask from a band?
Note: To the first person who can correctly name the Kansas City venue at which the Unicorns performed in the Spring of 2004, goes a copy of "Do They Know Its Hallowe'en," the UNICEF-commissioned (& fund raising) Halloween theme song penned by some of the Unicorns/Islands boys and additionally featuring the following individuals, bands, or individual members thereof: Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Devendra Banhart, Beck, Buck 65, Dessert, Elvira (Mistress of the Dark, late of Manhattan, KS), Les Savy Fav, Rilo Kiley, Sloan, Smoosh, David Cross, Feist, Sex Pistols, Peaches, Postal Service, Sonic Youth, Sum 41, Yeah Yeah Yeahs. There are even more contributors, but if I type more, your head will probably explode from too much awesomeness.
Today, three recommendations for the price of one. A musical tripartite, if you will. Many (most?) good stories begin in Canada and feature mythical creatures. This recommendation-cum-story will be no exception.
Chapter 1: Unicorns Are Forever.
In late 2003, the Montreal-based band The Unicorns released the album Who Will Cut Our Hair When Were Gone? This album is hard to describe, so Ill settle on this: it is clearly one of the greatest pop/rock records released since the time of Mozart. Was Mozart a purveyor of pop/rock records? The answer, found in two seconds on Google or wikipedia is, undoubtedly, yes. WWCOHWWG? is strange and quirky and beautifully crafted and just fucking brilliant pop music. It features -- again, undoubtedly, here -- the greatest rock flute solo of all time. For years I have struggled with this question: Did the Unicorns, as a result of their finely-honed musical chops, intentionally create this album? Or did they merely stumble upon brilliance? Listen, and decide for yourself.
Chapter 2: Unicorns Aren't Forever, After All.
So, by 2005 the Unicorns were so 2004. As in, i.e., they broke up. But, as Unicorns arent completely real in the first place, so it was with the breakup: roughly 2/3rds of the original members went forth to form the Montreal-based band Islands. Islands released the infinitely listenable Return to the Sea in the first half of 2006. This album was released by Equator Records, a new-to-me record label out of -- you guessed it -- Montreal.
Chapter 3. Islands Might Not Be Forever, Either, But Luckily Equator Has Other Bands On Its Roster.
So, by the second half of 2006, the drummer of Islands has quit, but the band marches on, carrying with it still roughly 1/3rd of the original members of the Unicorns. There was a long stretch in 2006 when my car stereo was exclusively playing Return to Sea. As such, I kept the CD case on the front passenger seat, which caused me to notice the Equator Records logo on the back of the CD. Knowing that unicorns are not so much real, and Unicorns are no longer, and Islands are definitely real, but may or may not be longer [due to (a) departure of drummer and (b) global warming], I was curious whether Equator Records was real, and if so, whether it was still in business. Friends! Equator is Alive, and this album Hind, Hind Legs is great. (As an aside, Equator may or may not be run by former, current, or future members of Islands nee Unicorns). Its more of that Canada freak-out music. A little more Wolf Parade than Unicorns [I would recommend Wolf Parades full-length proper debut here as well, but, much like the Shop At Home Network, four recommendations for the price of one would quite literally bring upon me financial ruin.], but more Unicorns than Frog Eyes. All and all, it's a good album by a band that's getting out there and creating interesting things. And is there really anything more we can ask from a band?
Note: To the first person who can correctly name the Kansas City venue at which the Unicorns performed in the Spring of 2004, goes a copy of "Do They Know Its Hallowe'en," the UNICEF-commissioned (& fund raising) Halloween theme song penned by some of the Unicorns/Islands boys and additionally featuring the following individuals, bands, or individual members thereof: Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Devendra Banhart, Beck, Buck 65, Dessert, Elvira (Mistress of the Dark, late of Manhattan, KS), Les Savy Fav, Rilo Kiley, Sloan, Smoosh, David Cross, Feist, Sex Pistols, Peaches, Postal Service, Sonic Youth, Sum 41, Yeah Yeah Yeahs. There are even more contributors, but if I type more, your head will probably explode from too much awesomeness.
Five Things Feminism Has Done for Me
As I mentioned yesterday, the Status of Women Canada was one of the programs that got slashed by our lovely government. Also yesterday I was participating in a conversation at the end of this piece on feminism. Seems people have something against feminists. I don't quite get it, except maybe these people have absorbed the stereotype of male-bashing ball-busting "feminazis", which incidentally I think doesn't really exist (maybe on the fringe somewhere, but I've certainly never met anyone like this. The feminists I know actually like men, they just don't like mysogyny).
The Progressive Bloggers have a project going called "5 Things Feminism Has Done for Me". So here's my list:
Feminism has:
Feminism has done an incredible job so far, but we still have a long way to go. Around the world the struggles we have faced in the past continue to be fought, and our rights here are under assault, as the funding cut to SWC shows.
Solidarity is our only hope. A very small minority (mostly white upper class Christian men - please note this does not mean I hate white people, rich people, Christians or men) have it all, and the rest have to make do with the scraps. I say: don't fight each other for the scraps, fight the structures that keep us ALL down.
Oh, and tag, you're it.
More on women's issues.
related posts
The Progressive Bloggers have a project going called "5 Things Feminism Has Done for Me". So here's my list:
Feminism has:
- Improved my access to better paying jobs. Women have always worked, but now we get paid better than we used to. We are not yet at wage parity with men, but we have come a long way. Now I can at least support myself without relying on a man. I even have my very own bank account.
- Given me legal rights to my own body, including abortion rights and recourse in case of domestic violence. Domestic violence is still a big problem, but at least legally a man has no right to the "rule of thumb" anymore.
- Allowed me to own property (not that I do, but I could if I had the money and the desire), sign my own contracts, vote, join the army, drive, run for public office... in other words, allowed me to be considered a human being on par with the male human beings.
- Enabled me to get an edu-ma-cation. I believe the men in my life are also happy that I'm educated, informed and politically aware. It gives us more to talk about at the dinner table.
- Finally, along with other social justice movements, feminism has participated in making the world a more tolerant and just place for everyone. By challenging existing oppressive structures, we open society up to further change.
Feminism has done an incredible job so far, but we still have a long way to go. Around the world the struggles we have faced in the past continue to be fought, and our rights here are under assault, as the funding cut to SWC shows.
Solidarity is our only hope. A very small minority (mostly white upper class Christian men - please note this does not mean I hate white people, rich people, Christians or men) have it all, and the rest have to make do with the scraps. I say: don't fight each other for the scraps, fight the structures that keep us ALL down.
Oh, and tag, you're it.
More on women's issues.
related posts
How long can a government govern with out the consent of its constituents?
Also in the news:Urgent Press release from Ethiopian Americans for H.R. 5680, EC President to Visit Ethiopia, Ethiopian meddling counterproductive, Fears for two Ethiopian teachers and more of today's top stories
Riot erupted as Ethiopians celebrated the Orthodox Christian day honoring Queen Elena’s ‘finding of the true cross’ in Addis Ababa September 26,2006. picture by WILL CONNORS. (more on this below)
Urgent: Press release from Ethiopian Americans for H.R. 5680
Several thousand Ethiopian-Americans, Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia are expected to rally on Capitol Hill to show their support for a bill called “The Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 5680). In an unusual act, the Speaker of the U.S. House, Dennis Hastert has intervened to prevent the bill from going to the House floor for a final vote. A separate rally is also scheduled in Batavia, IL, a city in Speaker Hastert’s Congressional district.(More...)
How long can a government govern with out the consent of its constituents?
(ETP- Sintayehu Tefera) The annual Ethiopian religious holiday Meskel was celebrated in Addis Ababa yesterday. Prior to the celebrations thousands of federal and city police, on foot as well as on horseback, surrounded “Meskel adebabay” where the ceremony was to take place. Participants, including journalists covering the event, were required to show photo ID in order to get in. Despite the heavy security, protests broke out towards the end of the ceremony when the announcer acknowledged the President and Patriarch (head of the Ethiopian Orthodox church) who were in attendance. Protestors denounced EPRDF (the ruling party) and the patriarch, who is seen by many in Addis as a government sympathizer.
The attending faithful of the Ethiopian Orthodox church, accused the patriarch of corruption and fraudulence. Ethio-Zagol (blogger from Addis) reported; Abune Paulos (the Patriarch) had to leave the procession in a hurry without making his traditional speech. The crowd was heard screaming "leba, leba," (thief, thief) while the patriarch hurriedly made his exit. Witnesses reported seeing tracks full of youth demonstrators being taken away by the federal police. Journalists who tried to find out where the detainees were being taken were ordered to leave the ceremony.
Last years celebrations were also marred with huge protests and inhumane violence courtesy of the Ethiopian federal police. Mass gatherings of any kind in Addis have become an increasing headache for the EPRDF government since they almost certainly end up serving as a platform for the public to express their discontent. EPRDF in its current form has irrecoverably lost the publics confidence, which begs the question; How long can a government govern with out the consent of its constituents?
-Read ethio-zagol's account: Police clashes with scores of protestors
EC President to Visit Ethiopia, AU Headquarter
Addis Ababa - European Commission (EC) President Jose Manuel Barroso is due here Saturday at the head of a high- powered delegation for a three-day working visit to the African Union (AU) Commission, EC Representative in Ethiopia, Tim Clarke, announced Tuesday. The EC mission to the AU, which will include no less than 10 European Commissioners and three vice presidents, is primarily intended to deepen existing cooperation and partnership between the two continental bodies. (More...)
Fears for two Ethiopian teachers
(BBC)
A human rights organisation has expressed fears for two teachers arrested in Ethiopia last month. According to Amnesty International, the two men are being held incommunicado without charge. Wasihun Melese and Anteneh Getnet are members of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association - the oldest trade union representing some 500,000 teachers. The ETA has criticised the government in the past and says the authorities have targeted it since last year's election.(More...)
Ethiopian meddling in Somalia counterproductive
International relations and security network (ISN)
During the past year, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has come into international disrepute for fixing elections, cracking down on his opposition and violating human rights. As a result, Western donors, among them the US, have withdrawn much of their economic aid to the country. As such, Zenawi may speculate that these policies would be reversed if his country helped prevent the spread of radical Islam in the Horn of Africa.
Clearly, the international community would be wrong to rely on Ethiopia to counter the Islamist threat in Somalia. Instead, it should enable the deployment of African Union peacekeepers and support the ongoing peace talks between the UIC and the Somali interim government. (More...)
-ACTING UN ENVOY TO ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA DELIVERS ANNAN'S LATEST REPORT TO THE COUNCIL
-Bush to referee dinner between sniping allies
-Schwarzenegger widens lead in Calif. governor race
-Israel frees detained Palestinian deputy PM
-Zero-gravity surgery 'a success'
-First Ever Brain "Atlas" Completed
-Thai generals ban go-go dancers
-Single-parent job plan fuels divorce frenzy
Riot erupted as Ethiopians celebrated the Orthodox Christian day honoring Queen Elena’s ‘finding of the true cross’ in Addis Ababa September 26,2006. picture by WILL CONNORS. (more on this below)
Urgent: Press release from Ethiopian Americans for H.R. 5680
Several thousand Ethiopian-Americans, Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia are expected to rally on Capitol Hill to show their support for a bill called “The Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 5680). In an unusual act, the Speaker of the U.S. House, Dennis Hastert has intervened to prevent the bill from going to the House floor for a final vote. A separate rally is also scheduled in Batavia, IL, a city in Speaker Hastert’s Congressional district.(More...)
(ETP- Sintayehu Tefera) The annual Ethiopian religious holiday Meskel was celebrated in Addis Ababa yesterday. Prior to the celebrations thousands of federal and city police, on foot as well as on horseback, surrounded “Meskel adebabay” where the ceremony was to take place. Participants, including journalists covering the event, were required to show photo ID in order to get in. Despite the heavy security, protests broke out towards the end of the ceremony when the announcer acknowledged the President and Patriarch (head of the Ethiopian Orthodox church) who were in attendance. Protestors denounced EPRDF (the ruling party) and the patriarch, who is seen by many in Addis as a government sympathizer.
The attending faithful of the Ethiopian Orthodox church, accused the patriarch of corruption and fraudulence. Ethio-Zagol (blogger from Addis) reported; Abune Paulos (the Patriarch) had to leave the procession in a hurry without making his traditional speech. The crowd was heard screaming "leba, leba," (thief, thief) while the patriarch hurriedly made his exit. Witnesses reported seeing tracks full of youth demonstrators being taken away by the federal police. Journalists who tried to find out where the detainees were being taken were ordered to leave the ceremony.
Last years celebrations were also marred with huge protests and inhumane violence courtesy of the Ethiopian federal police. Mass gatherings of any kind in Addis have become an increasing headache for the EPRDF government since they almost certainly end up serving as a platform for the public to express their discontent. EPRDF in its current form has irrecoverably lost the publics confidence, which begs the question; How long can a government govern with out the consent of its constituents?
-Read ethio-zagol's account: Police clashes with scores of protestors
EC President to Visit Ethiopia, AU Headquarter
Addis Ababa - European Commission (EC) President Jose Manuel Barroso is due here Saturday at the head of a high- powered delegation for a three-day working visit to the African Union (AU) Commission, EC Representative in Ethiopia, Tim Clarke, announced Tuesday. The EC mission to the AU, which will include no less than 10 European Commissioners and three vice presidents, is primarily intended to deepen existing cooperation and partnership between the two continental bodies. (More...) Fears for two Ethiopian teachers
(BBC)
A human rights organisation has expressed fears for two teachers arrested in Ethiopia last month. According to Amnesty International, the two men are being held incommunicado without charge. Wasihun Melese and Anteneh Getnet are members of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association - the oldest trade union representing some 500,000 teachers. The ETA has criticised the government in the past and says the authorities have targeted it since last year's election.(More...)
Ethiopian meddling in Somalia counterproductive
International relations and security network (ISN)
During the past year, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has come into international disrepute for fixing elections, cracking down on his opposition and violating human rights. As a result, Western donors, among them the US, have withdrawn much of their economic aid to the country. As such, Zenawi may speculate that these policies would be reversed if his country helped prevent the spread of radical Islam in the Horn of Africa.
Clearly, the international community would be wrong to rely on Ethiopia to counter the Islamist threat in Somalia. Instead, it should enable the deployment of African Union peacekeepers and support the ongoing peace talks between the UIC and the Somali interim government. (More...)
Today's Top Stories
-Modified version of EACA’s Congressional toolkit-ACTING UN ENVOY TO ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA DELIVERS ANNAN'S LATEST REPORT TO THE COUNCIL
-Bush to referee dinner between sniping allies
-Schwarzenegger widens lead in Calif. governor race
-Israel frees detained Palestinian deputy PM
-Zero-gravity surgery 'a success'
-First Ever Brain "Atlas" Completed
-Thai generals ban go-go dancers
-Single-parent job plan fuels divorce frenzy
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
(09.26.06) Recommends:
Rogue Wave, "Descended Like Voltures" (Sub Pop, 2005).
This album is not new, though good it most certainly is. It's an atmospheric, pop-rock, indie-folk-punk type of record. I've been listening to it a lot lately because the band is holding a benefit concert Saturday, September 30, at the Independent in San Francisco (the band is from the city as well), and the show is the real thing that I am recommending (though, once you start listening to this record, you will constantly come back to it over the months and years). It turns out the drummer needs a kidney transplant. So, they've gotten some friends together and are playing a benefit to raise money for medical expenses.
Guests include:
*Ben Gibbard, from Death Cab For Cutie
*John Vanderslice
*Ryan Miller, from Guster
*Matthew Caws, from Nada Surf
*MC of the event San Francisco resident Daniel Handler, dba NY Times best selling author Lemony Snicket
*"Other Special Guests"
As to who the OSGs could be, I would just like to throw out there that on the afternoon of the benefit, just down the 101 from the Independent, Shoreline Amphitheater will be hosting Download Fest 2006, featuring, among others, Rogue Wave, label-mates The Shins, TV on the Radio, Beck, Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Let the internet speculation begin.
If you are not in the Bay Area, but would like to make a donation, go here.
This album is not new, though good it most certainly is. It's an atmospheric, pop-rock, indie-folk-punk type of record. I've been listening to it a lot lately because the band is holding a benefit concert Saturday, September 30, at the Independent in San Francisco (the band is from the city as well), and the show is the real thing that I am recommending (though, once you start listening to this record, you will constantly come back to it over the months and years). It turns out the drummer needs a kidney transplant. So, they've gotten some friends together and are playing a benefit to raise money for medical expenses.
Guests include:
*Ben Gibbard, from Death Cab For Cutie
*John Vanderslice
*Ryan Miller, from Guster
*Matthew Caws, from Nada Surf
*MC of the event San Francisco resident Daniel Handler, dba NY Times best selling author Lemony Snicket
*"Other Special Guests"
As to who the OSGs could be, I would just like to throw out there that on the afternoon of the benefit, just down the 101 from the Independent, Shoreline Amphitheater will be hosting Download Fest 2006, featuring, among others, Rogue Wave, label-mates The Shins, TV on the Radio, Beck, Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Let the internet speculation begin.
If you are not in the Bay Area, but would like to make a donation, go here.
Federal Cuts Undermine the Progress of Women and All Canadians
Despite the $13.2 Billion surplus, the federal government just went on a slash-and-burn rampage, cutting funding for all kinds of things. The choice of programs that bore the brunt is very telling. Many are progressive programs that help some of the most vulnerable among us, and those who run, and those who benefit from these programs were given no opportunity to defend them.
Somehow there's enough money to increase defense spending, such as $30 million for an "acoustic weapon locator system", but not enough to help Aboriginal youth and pregant women stop smoking ($10 Million)? It isn't surprising at all, really, simply confirms the Conservative Party's values.
The news today tended to blanket the cuts without giving enough details, which I think is one of the reasons opinion tends to favour the cuts. People feel debt repayment is more important than "special interest" funding.
Even the CBC, tells little about WHAT was cut, summing up into 4 categories:
The complete list can be found here, and includes adult literacy, youth employment, public diplomacy, and several Canada Heritage programs.
A couple of good examples are the Court Challenges program (“This Program has provided Canadian women with their only access to the use of their constitutional equality rights,” said Shelagh Day. “Equality rights have no meaning in Canada if women, and other Canadians who face discrimination, cannot use them.”) and the Status of Women Canada, whose budget is already one of the smallest of any department at the federal level, and has now been halved. This isn't "trimming the fat". Likewise should an obese person cut off an arm in order to improve her/his BMI? Good op-ed here.
More on women's issues, politics
Somehow there's enough money to increase defense spending, such as $30 million for an "acoustic weapon locator system", but not enough to help Aboriginal youth and pregant women stop smoking ($10 Million)? It isn't surprising at all, really, simply confirms the Conservative Party's values.
The news today tended to blanket the cuts without giving enough details, which I think is one of the reasons opinion tends to favour the cuts. People feel debt repayment is more important than "special interest" funding.
Even the CBC, tells little about WHAT was cut, summing up into 4 categories:
- Programs that are not delivering value for money.
- Programs that didn't spend all the money allocated.
- Work that could be done more efficiently outside the government.
- Programs that don't meet the needs of Canadians.
The complete list can be found here, and includes adult literacy, youth employment, public diplomacy, and several Canada Heritage programs.
A couple of good examples are the Court Challenges program (“This Program has provided Canadian women with their only access to the use of their constitutional equality rights,” said Shelagh Day. “Equality rights have no meaning in Canada if women, and other Canadians who face discrimination, cannot use them.”) and the Status of Women Canada, whose budget is already one of the smallest of any department at the federal level, and has now been halved. This isn't "trimming the fat". Likewise should an obese person cut off an arm in order to improve her/his BMI? Good op-ed here.
More on women's issues, politics
Amnesty International Urgent Action Appeal regarding the arrest of members of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association (ETA)
Also in the news: Mass arrests as meskel festival approaches,Ethiopian-Americans for HR5680 Peaceful Rally, Congressional toolkit by EACA, Global Competitiveness index and more of today’s top stories.
Mass arrests as meskel festival approaches
(More...)
- In a related story: Thousands of Soldiers swarm the Meskel square as revolutionary spirit engulfs Addis (EZ)
Peaceful Rally
Ethiopian-Americans for HR5680 will hold a Peaceful Rally in front of Capitol Hill on Thursday, September 28, 2006. ALL ETHIOPIANS, ETHIOPIAN-AMERICANS, AND FRIENDS OF ETHIOPIA ARE INVITED TO FULFILL THEIR CIVIC DUTY OF SUPPORTING H.R. 5680 BY ATTENDING THIS PEACEFUL RALLY.THE RALLY IS SUPPORTED BY DIVERSE CONCERNED INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS, AND IS INDEPENDENT OF ANY AND ALL POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS.See flyer.
Congressional Toolkit
The ETHIOPIAN AMERICAN CIVIC ADVOCACY (EACA) believes that it is time for Ethiopians and Ethiopian Americans to galvanize and enter the American political process in the most direct way possible: Sit face to face with congressional representatives or their staff and get them to commit to Ethiopia’s cause. With many Ethiopian Americans new to this type of activism, EACA has put together a toolkit on how to make meetings with a member of congress a success.
- Congressional Toolkit
Amnesty International Urgent Action Appeal September 26, 2006
Regarding the arrest of members of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association (ETA)
Wasihun Melese and Anteneh Getnet, both members of the teachers' trade union, the Ethiopian Teachers' Association (ETA), were arrested in the capital, Addis Ababa, on 23 September. They are being held incommunicado without charge and are at risk of torture, ill-treatment, or "disappearance".
Wasihun Melese was arrested at his home by police, who took him to the police Central Investigation Bureau (known as Maekelawi), where he is still detained. He is a teacher at Addis Ketema High School in Addis Ababa and a prominent activist in the Addis Ababa branch of the ETA. He is an elected member of the ETA's National Executive Committee. (More...)
Global Competitiveness index
Ethiopia has fallen four places from last year (to 122 out of 127 countries) and continues to fall in a number of important areas in the Global Competitiveness index released today.
New Film Depicts Coup Attempt Against Military Regime
In early October 2006, Abugida, a two hour-long Amharic movie, directed and produced by renowned Ethiopian actor Mulualem Tadesse, will be released at Alem Cinema.
Abugida is based on events that took place in Ethiopia during and after the May 1989 coup attempt, when high ranking generals and senior officers plotted to overthrow Mengistu Hailemariam.
-Europe vows to give AU $70m
-Rice disputes Clinton on terror claims
-Romania and Bulgaria to join EU
-Blair's emotional farewell
-Earth may be at warmest point in 1 million years
-Three-year-old buys pink convertible on Internet
-Alleged Hitler landscapes sell for $220,000
Picture from last year’s festivities. Learn more about Meskel holiday
Mass arrests as meskel festival approaches
(More...)- In a related story: Thousands of Soldiers swarm the Meskel square as revolutionary spirit engulfs Addis (EZ)
Peaceful Rally
Ethiopian-Americans for HR5680 will hold a Peaceful Rally in front of Capitol Hill on Thursday, September 28, 2006. ALL ETHIOPIANS, ETHIOPIAN-AMERICANS, AND FRIENDS OF ETHIOPIA ARE INVITED TO FULFILL THEIR CIVIC DUTY OF SUPPORTING H.R. 5680 BY ATTENDING THIS PEACEFUL RALLY.THE RALLY IS SUPPORTED BY DIVERSE CONCERNED INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS, AND IS INDEPENDENT OF ANY AND ALL POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS.See flyer.
Congressional Toolkit
The ETHIOPIAN AMERICAN CIVIC ADVOCACY (EACA) believes that it is time for Ethiopians and Ethiopian Americans to galvanize and enter the American political process in the most direct way possible: Sit face to face with congressional representatives or their staff and get them to commit to Ethiopia’s cause. With many Ethiopian Americans new to this type of activism, EACA has put together a toolkit on how to make meetings with a member of congress a success.
- Congressional Toolkit
Amnesty International Urgent Action Appeal September 26, 2006
Regarding the arrest of members of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association (ETA)
Wasihun Melese and Anteneh Getnet, both members of the teachers' trade union, the Ethiopian Teachers' Association (ETA), were arrested in the capital, Addis Ababa, on 23 September. They are being held incommunicado without charge and are at risk of torture, ill-treatment, or "disappearance".
Wasihun Melese was arrested at his home by police, who took him to the police Central Investigation Bureau (known as Maekelawi), where he is still detained. He is a teacher at Addis Ketema High School in Addis Ababa and a prominent activist in the Addis Ababa branch of the ETA. He is an elected member of the ETA's National Executive Committee. (More...)
Global Competitiveness index
Ethiopia has fallen four places from last year (to 122 out of 127 countries) and continues to fall in a number of important areas in the Global Competitiveness index released today.
New Film Depicts Coup Attempt Against Military Regime
In early October 2006, Abugida, a two hour-long Amharic movie, directed and produced by renowned Ethiopian actor Mulualem Tadesse, will be released at Alem Cinema.
Abugida is based on events that took place in Ethiopia during and after the May 1989 coup attempt, when high ranking generals and senior officers plotted to overthrow Mengistu Hailemariam.The coup d'etat, which was immediately thwarted, resulted in officers involved in the plot being killed, others facing the same fate following the verdict reached at a special military tribunal and many more thrown in jail. One of the key pieces of evidence that surfaced following the coup attempt hinted that some of the officers involved in the plotting were actually being promoted. Instantly, the government, out of fear that those involved in the plot may further continue with their actions, launched a massive manhunt. (More...)
- Watch video of General Fenta Belay after he was arrested by government loyalists, May 1989
Today's Top Stories
-Mr. Obang O. Metho speech-Europe vows to give AU $70m
-Rice disputes Clinton on terror claims
-Romania and Bulgaria to join EU
-Blair's emotional farewell
-Earth may be at warmest point in 1 million years
-Three-year-old buys pink convertible on Internet
-Alleged Hitler landscapes sell for $220,000
Monday, September 25, 2006
(09.25.06) Recommends:
+/-, the song "Steal the Blueprints" from "Let's Build a Fire" (Absolutely Kosher, forthcoming Oct, 24 2006).
I first heard this song on the most recent Absolutely Kosher podcast (the podcast of an interesting Berkeley-based label, which I will also recommend in this space, and can be heard here: http://absolutelykosher.blogspot.com/). The song can be heard via the podcast, or via the music video on the +/- website, http://plusmin.us/videos/video5.html. I'm just now being exposed to the band's body of work, so I don't know how this song compares with their older work, but I've been listening to this song on repeat a lot lately.
I first heard this song on the most recent Absolutely Kosher podcast (the podcast of an interesting Berkeley-based label, which I will also recommend in this space, and can be heard here: http://absolutelykosher.blogspot.com/). The song can be heard via the podcast, or via the music video on the +/- website, http://plusmin.us/videos/video5.html. I'm just now being exposed to the band's body of work, so I don't know how this song compares with their older work, but I've been listening to this song on repeat a lot lately.
September 25, 2006 - Need to Know
The other day, Claire told me of a woman she knows, whose husband has cancer. Over the past year or so, the two of them have compared notes, sharing how their respective spouses have been doing.Evidently, this man and I have different styles of coping with the disease. Claire describes my style as “researching it to death.” Her friend’s husband is different, a bit less direct. “Tell me what I need to know,” he typically says to his doctor. “The rest I don’t want to hear about.”
I’ve been thinking about Claire’s “researching it to death” description, ever since. It’s true. I’ll admit it: I have responded to the news of my diagnosis and treatment by trying to unearth as much information as I possibly could. Sometimes, to the point of obsession.
It’s not that I distrust the doctors. I’m not trying to second-guess anyone. At each decision-point in the treatment process, I’ve followed the doctors’ recommendations exactly. On the one occasion when there was a difference of opinion (between Dr. Lerner and Dr. Portlock over the advisability of post-chemo radiation treatments), I stepped back and let the two of them duke it out. Dr. Portlock – an internationally-known lymphoma specialist in a research hospital – had seniority, so her opinion prevailed. It never occurred to me to try to put my finger on the scale, to try to influence the outcome.I may have learned some medical jargon along the way, but I’m under no illusion that I’ve achieved the slightest ability to weigh the pros and cons of treatment decisions myself. “Do not try this at home” is a rule that works for me.
Nor do I have much patience with alternative therapies – rumors about the latest vitamin craze, that sort of thing. Yes, cancer is a complex and mysterious disease, but there are also vast amounts of human and material resources being devoted to research. Should I value some whispered product endorsement from some non-medical person, over the results of cancer trials from places like Memorial Sloan-Kettering and the University of Pennsylvania Hospitals? I don’t think so!
But still, I’ll continue to read, to web-surf, to attend conferences, so I may find out all I can about this fast-changing field.
I have a need to know, you see.
Get Ethiopian troops out of Somalia
Also in the news: EPRDF’s rule coming to an end by attrition (article), Somali Islamists take main port city, ruling party of Sudan invited to EPRDF’s meeting and more of today’s top stories.
Haile Gebrselassie from Ethiopia celebrates with an Ethiopian flag after he won the Men's competition of the 33rd Berlin Marathon in Berlin in Germany, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2006 in a time of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 56 seconds. Around 40,000 runners from more than 100 countries took part in the event. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Somali Islamists take main Somali port city
Forces belonging to the Islamic Courts Union have captured the southern Somali port city of Kismayo after the regional commander ruling the region fled. "Kismayo has fallen and not a single bullet was fired," an Islamist source in the capital Mogadishu told Reuters on Monday. The Islamic militia moved into the city after Colonel Abdikadir Adan Shire, also known as Barre Hiraale, the leader of the Juba Valley Alliance, a clan-based militia that controlled the area, fled on Sunday, officials and witnesses in Kismayo said.(More...)
In a related story: Somalia`s Increasingly Beleaguered Government Has Accepted an Offer of CIA Assistance to Investigate a Pair of Political Car Bombings
Deputy chairman of the Sudanese ruling National Congress Party for Political and Organizational Affairs Nafei Ali Nafei participates in the celebrations of the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the ruling party in Ethiopia, on convocation of the party’s 6th conference Sunday. Member of the Secretariat of External Relations at the NCP and member of the delegation Ambassador Osman al-Sayed said in a statement to State-run SUNA that Nafei would address the EPRDF conference.(More...)BRAD PITT ON his Ethiopian baby’s HAIR
In discussing his Ethiopian daughter Zahara in the October issue of Esquire magazine, actor Brad Pitt reportedly offers white parents advice on how to care for the hair of a black child, based on his experiences with "Z." "For white people who might be having a little trouble with black-person hair, Carol's Daughter is a fantastic hair product," he says, according to the product’s Web site. (See image here-We got it for Z. Now her hair has this beautiful luster. And it smells nice, too." Zahara, adopted by Angelina Jolie and Pitt on July 6, 2005, was born Tena Adam in Ethiopia on January 8, 2005. The celebrity couple picked her up at a Wide Horizons For Children orphanage in Addis Ababa.
-Measured bites don't choke:editorial
-Aristocrat's murder trial stokes tensions in Kenya
-Pope meets Muslim envoys
-The Rise of Jihadistan:NewsWeek
-Clinton defends bin Laden efforts, rips host
-BA plane diverted as baby makes early arrival
Haile Gebrselassie from Ethiopia celebrates with an Ethiopian flag after he won the Men's competition of the 33rd Berlin Marathon in Berlin in Germany, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2006 in a time of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 56 seconds. Around 40,000 runners from more than 100 countries took part in the event. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) Somali Islamists take main Somali port city
Forces belonging to the Islamic Courts Union have captured the southern Somali port city of Kismayo after the regional commander ruling the region fled. "Kismayo has fallen and not a single bullet was fired," an Islamist source in the capital Mogadishu told Reuters on Monday. The Islamic militia moved into the city after Colonel Abdikadir Adan Shire, also known as Barre Hiraale, the leader of the Juba Valley Alliance, a clan-based militia that controlled the area, fled on Sunday, officials and witnesses in Kismayo said.(More...)In a related story: Somalia`s Increasingly Beleaguered Government Has Accepted an Offer of CIA Assistance to Investigate a Pair of Political Car Bombings
EPRDF’s rule coming to an end by attrition
(By Zerihun Tesfaye)
With the unleashing of terror in the urban centers and the rural communities of Ethiopia after the debacle of the May 2005 elections, what little legitimacy Meles & his clique might have claimed over the years were totally lost. Events unfolding in the past year have made this abundantly clear. The semi state of emergency Meles declared the day after the elections can only be seen as an admission of the loss of this legitimacy and, at the same time, as a declaration that from that time onwards, his rule is going to rest on the security apparatus and the military.
How difficult must it be then, when the institution on which he and the clique pinned their hopes for their future rule starts being eroded under their watchful eyes in such a short time. Such is indeed the case when you have two Generals (a decorated war veteran!) Colonels, other officers and soldiers defect en masse; and to make it worse, declare their intention of joining opponents of the regime and declaring their intent to fight for its overthrow.(More...)
Get Ethiopian troops out of Somalia
(The Christian science monitor)
Ethiopia's actions seem to be in the best interest of the United States, as a militant Islamic regime in Somalia would be a major complication in the war on terror. However, Ethiopia is neither suited to promoting peace in Somalia nor interested in pacifying the troubled land. In truth, no country stands to gain more than Ethiopia from a war against the Islamic militias in Somalia. Ethiopian troops in Somalia are regarded as hated foreign interlopers whose sole purpose is to prop up an unpopular and powerless regime. Ethiopian soldiers on Somali soil strengthen the Islamic Courts by allowing them to claim the mantle of nationalist defenders, which garners them popular support and undermines the country's transitional government. Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is not only aware that his actions have increased the possibility of conflict, but is counting on the outbreak of war to win him aid.(More...)
Deputy chairman of the Sudanese ruling National Congress Party for Political and Organizational Affairs Nafei Ali Nafei participates in the celebrations of the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the ruling party in Ethiopia, on convocation of the party’s 6th conference Sunday. Member of the Secretariat of External Relations at the NCP and member of the delegation Ambassador Osman al-Sayed said in a statement to State-run SUNA that Nafei would address the EPRDF conference.(More...)BRAD PITT ON his Ethiopian baby’s HAIR
In discussing his Ethiopian daughter Zahara in the October issue of Esquire magazine, actor Brad Pitt reportedly offers white parents advice on how to care for the hair of a black child, based on his experiences with "Z." "For white people who might be having a little trouble with black-person hair, Carol's Daughter is a fantastic hair product," he says, according to the product’s Web site. (See image here-We got it for Z. Now her hair has this beautiful luster. And it smells nice, too." Zahara, adopted by Angelina Jolie and Pitt on July 6, 2005, was born Tena Adam in Ethiopia on January 8, 2005. The celebrity couple picked her up at a Wide Horizons For Children orphanage in Addis Ababa. Today's Top Stories
-Ethiopian officer defects to Germany:First report by ER-Measured bites don't choke:editorial
-Aristocrat's murder trial stokes tensions in Kenya
-Pope meets Muslim envoys
-The Rise of Jihadistan:NewsWeek
-Clinton defends bin Laden efforts, rips host
-BA plane diverted as baby makes early arrival
Sunday, September 24, 2006
(09.24.06) Recommends:
Antarctica Takes It!, "The Penguin League" (Self-released, 2006).
In keeping with the "kids-in-college-making-fun-music" theme, today I recommend Antarctica Takes It! You can buy the album for a mere six bucks via the mailing address on their myspace page. There, you can also listen to three of the songs for free (http://www.myspace.com/antarcticatakesit). The songs are upbeat, folky, poppy. If the band claimed to be from Montreal or Brooklyn, I'm sure you'd have listened to them by now. Instead, they're in Santa Cruz, Calif. home of one the the most wonderful college campuses I have ever seen. The young are the future of our country. So, go forth and listen to ATI! today.
In keeping with the "kids-in-college-making-fun-music" theme, today I recommend Antarctica Takes It! You can buy the album for a mere six bucks via the mailing address on their myspace page. There, you can also listen to three of the songs for free (http://www.myspace.com/antarcticatakesit). The songs are upbeat, folky, poppy. If the band claimed to be from Montreal or Brooklyn, I'm sure you'd have listened to them by now. Instead, they're in Santa Cruz, Calif. home of one the the most wonderful college campuses I have ever seen. The young are the future of our country. So, go forth and listen to ATI! today.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
(09.23.06) Recommends:
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, the song "Anne Elephant" from the album "Broom" (Self-released, 2006).
I'm sure you've heard the old adage, "sometimes you have to travel 1,800 miles to appreciate what was right in front of your face the whole time." This happened to me this summer, when I received an email that a band, named after the former first president of Russia (look, I'm not a freaking scholar of Eastern Europe...I don't know what his title was, and frankly I don't care. All I know is that Ronald Reagan single-handedly tore down the Great Wall of China, and saved the world from Communism, and in the process helped spread White Castle hamburgers all over the Free World, so get off my back already.), was playing at one of my favorite venues in the City and County of San Francisco -- The Independent. The band, which I will refer to in shorthand as SSLYBY, is from Springfield, Mo. I wasn't sure what to think about the band until they broke out this song. Then I rejoiced. I might have even dried a stray tear as I recalled the land from which I came. In my defense, the band members look like they couldn't be older than 21, so it's not like I really ignored them while I was living so close to them. I'm pretty sure they were in middle school while I was still around. Regardless. Go to their myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/someonestillmusic) and fire up the song "Anne Elephant". Rumor has it a real live record label is going to re-release this album. If this is true, do the Ozark Mountain Music Scene a favor, and support this band.
I'm sure you've heard the old adage, "sometimes you have to travel 1,800 miles to appreciate what was right in front of your face the whole time." This happened to me this summer, when I received an email that a band, named after the former first president of Russia (look, I'm not a freaking scholar of Eastern Europe...I don't know what his title was, and frankly I don't care. All I know is that Ronald Reagan single-handedly tore down the Great Wall of China, and saved the world from Communism, and in the process helped spread White Castle hamburgers all over the Free World, so get off my back already.), was playing at one of my favorite venues in the City and County of San Francisco -- The Independent. The band, which I will refer to in shorthand as SSLYBY, is from Springfield, Mo. I wasn't sure what to think about the band until they broke out this song. Then I rejoiced. I might have even dried a stray tear as I recalled the land from which I came. In my defense, the band members look like they couldn't be older than 21, so it's not like I really ignored them while I was living so close to them. I'm pretty sure they were in middle school while I was still around. Regardless. Go to their myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/someonestillmusic) and fire up the song "Anne Elephant". Rumor has it a real live record label is going to re-release this album. If this is true, do the Ozark Mountain Music Scene a favor, and support this band.
Friday, September 22, 2006
(09.22.06) Recommends:
Irving, "Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers" (Eenie Meenie Records, 2006).
The title track sounds like it came from Liverpool in 1963. It's from LA in 2006. It's like cosmic rock. Psychedelic pop. Of Montreal and Beechwood Sparks. Hooks and harmonies and whirling background noises. The band is a "collective" which, wikipedia tells me, means all the members write the songs and share lead singing duties.
Also recommended: "The Curious Thing About Leather" from their 2003 EP "I Hope You're Feeling Better Now" (currently available for listening on the band's myspace page: myspace.com/irving) I almost fear recommending this song, because once you hear it you'll have to listen to it on repeat for four straight weeks. Down with productivity! Up with Irving!
The title track sounds like it came from Liverpool in 1963. It's from LA in 2006. It's like cosmic rock. Psychedelic pop. Of Montreal and Beechwood Sparks. Hooks and harmonies and whirling background noises. The band is a "collective" which, wikipedia tells me, means all the members write the songs and share lead singing duties.
Also recommended: "The Curious Thing About Leather" from their 2003 EP "I Hope You're Feeling Better Now" (currently available for listening on the band's myspace page: myspace.com/irving) I almost fear recommending this song, because once you hear it you'll have to listen to it on repeat for four straight weeks. Down with productivity! Up with Irving!
The Week in Review
Catch-up on major news events you missed in the past week-Plus the weekend’s top stories!
- Monday- September 18, 2006
- Tuesday- September 19, 2006
- Wednesday- September 20, 2006
- Thursday- September 21, 2006
- *Friday- September 22, 2006*
weekend top stories
In the news this weekend: Significant number of judges resigning says reporter, ION on defection of Ethiopian diplomats and officers, kidnapped ICRC workers released, Osama bin Laden dead?, Ethiopian’s face great danger on ships to Yemen, Ethiopian Human Rights Lawyer Refused Entry and more of the weekend's top stories!Federal Courts of Ethiopia burdened as more judges resign
Courts are increasingly being burdened by shortage of judges as the number of those resigning is on the rise. Reliable sources told The Reporter that a significant number of judges have already handed in their resignation to the judicial administration commission and are expected to resign this year. Last year more than ten judges resigned. The same sources said that most of the resigning judges were from the first instance court.(More..)
Red Cross hostages released without harm in Ethiopia
A rebel group released two international Red Cross workers Saturday, five days after abducting them in a remote part of eastern Ethiopia. The United Western Somali Liberation Front said it mistook the men for oil workers exploring in the Ogaden region, which is largely inhabited by ethnic Somalis. Somalia lost control of the region to Ethiopia in 1977, but the rebels say it belongs to them. "The abductors contacted us today and released the men unharmed and without conditions," said Patrick Megevand, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ethiopia.(More...)
Meles' former chief of protocol defects
Indian Ocean Newsletter N° 1195 23/09/2006
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi ’s former head of protocol, who had accompanied him on several international State visits, has defected. According to Diplomatic sources, Addis Abadi Tesfaye , who had become Consular Attaché of the Ethiopian embassy in Ottawa (Canada) has recently left his post and asked for political asylum in the United States. He is not the only person to have done so. Daniel Ikubesillasie , third secretary and financial attaché of the Ethiopian embassy in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) did likewise.
Also featured in this week's issue of the Indian Ocean Newsletter
-Army officers defect
-A former Marxist at the bank
-French Consul looking for volunteers
Click here to read all three articles
Ethiopian Human Rights Lawyer Refused Entry Into Britain
Prominent Ethiopian human rights lawyer Derbew Temesgen Meshesha, who is supposed be addressing a seminar on ‘Public Order, State Security and Press Freedom in Ethiopia’ at the Royal African Society next week and the Frontline (journalists) Club, has been refused an entry visa by the British Embassy in Addis Ababa. This is despite expectations from Foreign and Commonwealth officials in London who were hoping he could brief them on the current situation in the Horn of Africa. Meshesha was also set to address a meeting at the Frontline Club on the situation in the Horn of Africa.(More...)
Ethiopians beaten to death on ships to Yemen - U.N.
Dozens of African migrants crossing the Gulf of Aden to Yemen died this month, many after smugglers beat them and threw them overboard, sometimes just for requesting water, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday. Some 2,143 people from Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan made it to shore in Yemen, Redmond said. Survivors said some of their fellow passengers were beaten to death with wooden and steel clubs, and others died when the rickety vessels capsized. "Upon departure, the smugglers confiscated water and food, including dates," Redmond said, citing witness reports from a recent sailing from Somalia to Yemen. "Survivors said people on the boats were beaten and thrown overboard by smugglers just for requesting water." (More...)
-They're Allowed to Take Notes:CarpediemET
-Haile Gerima on Ethiopia’s Current Film Productions
-US Embassy and City Sign Agreement to Preserve Hager Fikir Theatre
-'Osama dead', unconfirmed report says
-Nation of Islam leader Farrakhan ill
-Palestinian rappers live to the beat of conflict
Yamamoto for good governance
Also in the news: announcement from Holland support group (EHRCO), rebel group claims abduction, 'Betrayal of Democracy'in Ottawa, Leave no Stone unturned, khat outlawed and more of today’s top stories!
-Outline of Conference Themes
I will promote transparency in Ethiopia's political process: Yamamoto
If confirmed by the full Senate, Yamamoto said he would work with Ethiopians to promote "an open and transparent electoral process, inclusion of all parts of society in the democratic process, engagement of all opposition parties to ensure full and dynamic participation in political decision-making, tolerance of dissent, an independent judiciary with transparent and accountable judicial processes, the consistent protection of human rights, and a free and responsible press."
An obstacle to progress, he told the Senate panel, was the ongoing trial of more than 100 opposition leaders and their supporters, civil society leaders, and journalists, which "continues to generate concerns about the future of Ethiopia’s democratic development."(More...)
Islamists in Somalia Outlaw Khat Sale and Purchase Or Use During the Holy Month of Ramadan
Sheik Ahmed Abdulahi Hussein Fanah, the Islamic Courts leader for social affairs and regional relations has introduced a new law banning selling and using "Khad", a narcotic plant commonly used in Somalia.
"During the holy month of fasting Ramadan, we have proscribed the sale, purchase and use of Khad and anyone seen selling or purchasing it, will be punished in accordance with the Shari'eh of law", said Sheik Fanah.
Asked if Khad business could be back at night, Fanah stopped short over answering the question, alleging that it was not time to differentiate between day and night. Sheik Fanah stated the warning statement during an interview by Shabelle Radio in Mogadishu Normally during the holy month of Ramadan (the only month Muslims fast during the year) Muslims fast from pre-dawn to sunset by abstaining eating, drinking and all evil deeds, including gossiping and insulting. Banning Khad is the first time ever since former late president Siyad Barre government.(More...)
-Somali rebel group in Ethiopia claims abduction of Relief workers
-Leave no Stone unturned for the release of Kidnapped ICRC Workers
-'Betrayal of Democracy' in Ottawa
-Somali Islamists stage execution
-Dying as Darfur awaits peacekeepers
-Bush 'taken aback' about reported threat to Pakistan
-Hezbollah Chief Leads Huge Rally
-Purges under way in Thailand
-Pope Benedict XVI to meet Muslim ambassadors
-At least 15 die in German magnetic train crash
-Burglars get severed heads shock
-Gambians vote with their marbles
-Court says $32,000 is too much to fondle bosom
The Ethiopian Human Right Council Support Group Holland
The Ethiopian Human Rights Council (Addis Abeba): most of its members are currently languishing in government prisons in Ethiopia –(archive picture)October 10, 2006 marks the 15th anniversary of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO), the first and prominent human rights organization in Ethiopia. Over the past 15 years, EHRCO has struggled to promote respect for human rights and the rule of law under enormous political and administrative pressure and resource constraints.
As a non-profit foundation established in 1996 to assist EHRCO in its arduous endeavors, the Ethiopian Human Rights Council Support Committee in Holland (EHRCO-SCH) has, among other things, organized a number of conferences and workshops over the years. The last conference was held between the 17th and 18th of June 2005. The conference was planned amid widespread, though guarded, optimism among Ethiopians and others about the prospects for a peaceful electoral process and the beginning of a genuine transition towards a democratic political system that is governed by democratic principles and respectful of citizen’s rights.(More...)
The Ethiopian Human Rights Council (Addis Abeba): most of its members are currently languishing in government prisons in Ethiopia –(archive picture)October 10, 2006 marks the 15th anniversary of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO), the first and prominent human rights organization in Ethiopia. Over the past 15 years, EHRCO has struggled to promote respect for human rights and the rule of law under enormous political and administrative pressure and resource constraints.As a non-profit foundation established in 1996 to assist EHRCO in its arduous endeavors, the Ethiopian Human Rights Council Support Committee in Holland (EHRCO-SCH) has, among other things, organized a number of conferences and workshops over the years. The last conference was held between the 17th and 18th of June 2005. The conference was planned amid widespread, though guarded, optimism among Ethiopians and others about the prospects for a peaceful electoral process and the beginning of a genuine transition towards a democratic political system that is governed by democratic principles and respectful of citizen’s rights.(More...)
-Outline of Conference Themes
I will promote transparency in Ethiopia's political process: Yamamoto
If confirmed by the full Senate, Yamamoto said he would work with Ethiopians to promote "an open and transparent electoral process, inclusion of all parts of society in the democratic process, engagement of all opposition parties to ensure full and dynamic participation in political decision-making, tolerance of dissent, an independent judiciary with transparent and accountable judicial processes, the consistent protection of human rights, and a free and responsible press."An obstacle to progress, he told the Senate panel, was the ongoing trial of more than 100 opposition leaders and their supporters, civil society leaders, and journalists, which "continues to generate concerns about the future of Ethiopia’s democratic development."(More...)
Islamists in Somalia Outlaw Khat Sale and Purchase Or Use During the Holy Month of Ramadan
Sheik Ahmed Abdulahi Hussein Fanah, the Islamic Courts leader for social affairs and regional relations has introduced a new law banning selling and using "Khad", a narcotic plant commonly used in Somalia."During the holy month of fasting Ramadan, we have proscribed the sale, purchase and use of Khad and anyone seen selling or purchasing it, will be punished in accordance with the Shari'eh of law", said Sheik Fanah.
Asked if Khad business could be back at night, Fanah stopped short over answering the question, alleging that it was not time to differentiate between day and night. Sheik Fanah stated the warning statement during an interview by Shabelle Radio in Mogadishu Normally during the holy month of Ramadan (the only month Muslims fast during the year) Muslims fast from pre-dawn to sunset by abstaining eating, drinking and all evil deeds, including gossiping and insulting. Banning Khad is the first time ever since former late president Siyad Barre government.(More...)
Today's Top Stories
-CD Calendar lands forty in jail:EZ-Somali rebel group in Ethiopia claims abduction of Relief workers
-Leave no Stone unturned for the release of Kidnapped ICRC Workers
-'Betrayal of Democracy' in Ottawa
-Somali Islamists stage execution
-Dying as Darfur awaits peacekeepers
-Bush 'taken aback' about reported threat to Pakistan
-Hezbollah Chief Leads Huge Rally
-Purges under way in Thailand
-Pope Benedict XVI to meet Muslim ambassadors
-At least 15 die in German magnetic train crash
-Burglars get severed heads shock
-Gambians vote with their marbles
-Court says $32,000 is too much to fondle bosom
Thursday, September 21, 2006
(09.21.06) Recommends:
The Long Winters, the song "Clouds" from the album "Putting the Days to Bed" (Barsuk, 2006).
Okay, so here's the thing about The Long Winters: I can never recommend an entire album, because there's always a hand full of songs that make me kind of cringe, or make me kind of bored. And that might prevent them from achieving huge widespread success. And that's a tragedy because they are, by far, one of the best live bands on the planet. Live, the songs that otherwise make me cringe, make me instead smile and dance, at least in my awkward white man dance style. John Roderick follows the voices in his head, and the world is a better -- better! -- place for it. The last time I saw them they opened for The Fiery Furnaces in a tiny basement bar in the City and County of San Francisco. And god bless The Fiery Furnaces, but there was nothing they could have done to prevent from being completely overshadowed by the show put on by The Long Winters. So, maybe you'll check out the new album or maybe you won't. No faulting either choice, really. But if this band is playing in your hometown, or within a reasonable distance of your hometown, and you pass up the show, you are making a terrible mistake. For those in the Bay Area, they play at Café Du Nord on October 13 (Barsuk label mates What Made Milwaukee Famous open the show).
Okay, so here's the thing about The Long Winters: I can never recommend an entire album, because there's always a hand full of songs that make me kind of cringe, or make me kind of bored. And that might prevent them from achieving huge widespread success. And that's a tragedy because they are, by far, one of the best live bands on the planet. Live, the songs that otherwise make me cringe, make me instead smile and dance, at least in my awkward white man dance style. John Roderick follows the voices in his head, and the world is a better -- better! -- place for it. The last time I saw them they opened for The Fiery Furnaces in a tiny basement bar in the City and County of San Francisco. And god bless The Fiery Furnaces, but there was nothing they could have done to prevent from being completely overshadowed by the show put on by The Long Winters. So, maybe you'll check out the new album or maybe you won't. No faulting either choice, really. But if this band is playing in your hometown, or within a reasonable distance of your hometown, and you pass up the show, you are making a terrible mistake. For those in the Bay Area, they play at Café Du Nord on October 13 (Barsuk label mates What Made Milwaukee Famous open the show).
"War, War, Rumours of War"
War: Afghanistan
Canadians are at war in Afghanistan (or are we?). Whatever Harper calls it, we are killing and dying to protect a corrupt government filled with fundamentalist warlords against Taliban extremists. Oh good for us, killing bad people to protect other bad people; at least we think we are killing bad people. The Taliban can't be identified by membership cards, skin tone, T-Shirt colour, or any other convenient identity markers, so apparently soldiers are rounding up Afghan men in communities and reporting them as Taliban captured or killed. Well, I guess it's good for our troops. You know, dying is a real character builder.
War: Iraq
What is there to say? Imperialism by any other name is still... Imperialism.
Rumours of War: Iran
Yesterday on Democracy Now, an interesting analysis of Bush's speech at the UN General Assembly and a prediction of how a war on Iran might be played out. Phyllis Bennis tells of reports "in the last couple of days in Time magazine and elsewhere, indicating that there have in fact been orders preparing to deploy U.S. Navy warships towards Iran" with the goal of a naval blockade. She says most Americans don't know this is considered an act of war, so when Iran responds to the blockade (as is their right under Article 51 of the UN Charter), "the Bush administration would very likely call that an unprovoked attack on peaceful U.S. ships and would respond militarily, claiming to be responding in self-defense."
Why can't we be more like our cousins?
More on War
Canadians are at war in Afghanistan (or are we?). Whatever Harper calls it, we are killing and dying to protect a corrupt government filled with fundamentalist warlords against Taliban extremists. Oh good for us, killing bad people to protect other bad people; at least we think we are killing bad people. The Taliban can't be identified by membership cards, skin tone, T-Shirt colour, or any other convenient identity markers, so apparently soldiers are rounding up Afghan men in communities and reporting them as Taliban captured or killed. Well, I guess it's good for our troops. You know, dying is a real character builder.
War: Iraq
What is there to say? Imperialism by any other name is still... Imperialism.
Rumours of War: Iran
Yesterday on Democracy Now, an interesting analysis of Bush's speech at the UN General Assembly and a prediction of how a war on Iran might be played out. Phyllis Bennis tells of reports "in the last couple of days in Time magazine and elsewhere, indicating that there have in fact been orders preparing to deploy U.S. Navy warships towards Iran" with the goal of a naval blockade. She says most Americans don't know this is considered an act of war, so when Iran responds to the blockade (as is their right under Article 51 of the UN Charter), "the Bush administration would very likely call that an unprovoked attack on peaceful U.S. ships and would respond militarily, claiming to be responding in self-defense."
Until the philosophy which hold one race
Superior and another inferior
Is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned
Everywhere is war, me say war
That until there are no longer first class
And second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes
Me say war
That until the basic human rights are equally
Guaranteed to all, without regard to race
Dis a war
That until that day
The dream of lasting peace, world citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion
To be persued, but never attained
Now everywhere is war, war
- Bob Marley
Why can't we be more like our cousins?
More on War
ONLF Statement On Abduction Of I.C.R.C Staff In Ogaden
Also in the news: more on Lucy's baby, raising our profile on Capitol Hill, Vancouver Book launching Ceremony, Contact made with kidnapped victim and more of today's top stories!
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) strongly condemns what appears to be the deliberate abduction of two humanitarian aid workers employed by the ICRC in Ogaden.
The abduction or harming of aid workers in Ogaden is unacceptable under any circumstances and represents a clear attempt to divert attention from and undermine the legitimate struggle of the people of Ogaden for self-determination. The continued detention of these aid workers serves no other purpose than to discourage international humanitarian assistance to our people. As such, the perpetrators of this act shall be considered by us to be clear enemies of the people of Ogaden and the ONLF.
The ONLF calls upon the captors to immediately release the two ICRC employees unconditionally and unharmed. We further call upon the ICRC to not be discouraged but rather to step up operations in Ogaden where hundreds of civilians have recently been arbitrarily detained by the Ethiopian government in Jijiga and other towns in Ogaden. These civilian detainees are in desperate need of ICRC intervention and assistance.
We wish to assure the families of the detainees that this act, carried out by a few, in no way represents the wishes of the people of Ogaden.
Ogaden National Liberation Front (O.N.L.F)
onlfpress@onlf.org
Lucy's baby
(by Andrew Heavens)
How often do you get to name a new cultural icon? The icon is the one on the left. It is the fossilised skull of a three-year-old girl who died about 3.3 million years ago in what is now Dikika in Ethiopia's Afar region. That makes her the oldest toddler ever discovered. She was unveiled yesterday in a lecture theatre in the basement of the National Museum in Addis Ababa by proud paleontologist Zeresenay Alemseged (the one on the right) who led the team that found most of her skeleton about five years ago. At the end of his presentation, he turned to the audience of journalists and academics and politicians and asked 'So what shall we name her'. It seemed to be a genuine request. He hadn't decided and wanted us to make the historic decision there and then. He had a few pointers.(More...)
-More pictures of Lucy’s baby by Journalist Andrew Heavens
-NPR:Ancient Fossil Child Discovered in Ethiopia
Contact made with Irish man held in Ethiopia
The father of the Irish aid worker abducted in Ethiopia has said he understands direct contact was made with his son by Red Cross officials overnight.
Donal Ó Súilleabháin, 41, from Co Sligo, was travelling with six other colleagues when they were abducted by an armed group in the southern town of Godé at about 10am on Monday. Five of the seven aid workers were subsequently released, but Mr Ó Súilleabháin and an Ethiopian colleague are still being held.(More...)
Ethiopian-American group tries to raise profile on Capitol Hill
In the spare moments before the lunch rush and then later before the dinner crowd arrives, Mesfin Mekonen, manager of the Reliable Source restaurant, works a second, unpaid job: lobbyist. Mekonen, who moved to the United States from Ethiopia in 1972 at age 20, is the Washington representative for the Ethiopian-American Council, which is trying to add the Ethiopian diaspora to the list of prominent ethnic lobbying groups.
The Council started in the late 1990s out of frustration at recurrent famine problems in Ethiopia. Determined to convince Congress to provide aid but not sure how the process worked, Mekonen began by appealing to the sympathies of office receptionists, asking them in fluent though accented English to let him talk to a person who best could help.(More...)
I'd rather die than go back
A FAILED asylum seeker found hanged left a note saying: "I can't go back. I'd rather die." Engineer Abiy Abebe was found dead in Liverpool just hours after his application was rejected. Liverpool coroner Andre Rebello told an inquest into the 35-year-old's death it was "more likely than not" he had killed himself.
Today his family spoke of their horror at his death on July 5.(More...)
-From Kerchele to the USA: EMF
-Sudan welcomes Darfur extension
-Analysis: Chavez: Bush is the 'devil'
-Iraqi forces take over from Italians in south
-Israel kills 5 in Gaza; Hamas welcomes Quartet move
-Does torture really work? Newsweek
-German police shadowed man before CIA seized him: witness
-How to Avoid War: Newsweek
-'Space flight' for Nigerian girl
-Grad. business students in U.S & Canada more likely to cheat
-Man bites panda after panda bites man
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) strongly condemns what appears to be the deliberate abduction of two humanitarian aid workers employed by the ICRC in Ogaden.The abduction or harming of aid workers in Ogaden is unacceptable under any circumstances and represents a clear attempt to divert attention from and undermine the legitimate struggle of the people of Ogaden for self-determination. The continued detention of these aid workers serves no other purpose than to discourage international humanitarian assistance to our people. As such, the perpetrators of this act shall be considered by us to be clear enemies of the people of Ogaden and the ONLF.
The ONLF calls upon the captors to immediately release the two ICRC employees unconditionally and unharmed. We further call upon the ICRC to not be discouraged but rather to step up operations in Ogaden where hundreds of civilians have recently been arbitrarily detained by the Ethiopian government in Jijiga and other towns in Ogaden. These civilian detainees are in desperate need of ICRC intervention and assistance.
We wish to assure the families of the detainees that this act, carried out by a few, in no way represents the wishes of the people of Ogaden.
Ogaden National Liberation Front (O.N.L.F)
onlfpress@onlf.org
Lucy's baby
(by Andrew Heavens)
How often do you get to name a new cultural icon? The icon is the one on the left. It is the fossilised skull of a three-year-old girl who died about 3.3 million years ago in what is now Dikika in Ethiopia's Afar region. That makes her the oldest toddler ever discovered. She was unveiled yesterday in a lecture theatre in the basement of the National Museum in Addis Ababa by proud paleontologist Zeresenay Alemseged (the one on the right) who led the team that found most of her skeleton about five years ago. At the end of his presentation, he turned to the audience of journalists and academics and politicians and asked 'So what shall we name her'. It seemed to be a genuine request. He hadn't decided and wanted us to make the historic decision there and then. He had a few pointers.(More...)-More pictures of Lucy’s baby by Journalist Andrew Heavens
-NPR:Ancient Fossil Child Discovered in Ethiopia
Contact made with Irish man held in Ethiopia
The father of the Irish aid worker abducted in Ethiopia has said he understands direct contact was made with his son by Red Cross officials overnight.Donal Ó Súilleabháin, 41, from Co Sligo, was travelling with six other colleagues when they were abducted by an armed group in the southern town of Godé at about 10am on Monday. Five of the seven aid workers were subsequently released, but Mr Ó Súilleabháin and an Ethiopian colleague are still being held.(More...)
Ethiopian-American group tries to raise profile on Capitol Hill
In the spare moments before the lunch rush and then later before the dinner crowd arrives, Mesfin Mekonen, manager of the Reliable Source restaurant, works a second, unpaid job: lobbyist. Mekonen, who moved to the United States from Ethiopia in 1972 at age 20, is the Washington representative for the Ethiopian-American Council, which is trying to add the Ethiopian diaspora to the list of prominent ethnic lobbying groups.
The Council started in the late 1990s out of frustration at recurrent famine problems in Ethiopia. Determined to convince Congress to provide aid but not sure how the process worked, Mekonen began by appealing to the sympathies of office receptionists, asking them in fluent though accented English to let him talk to a person who best could help.(More...)I'd rather die than go back
A FAILED asylum seeker found hanged left a note saying: "I can't go back. I'd rather die." Engineer Abiy Abebe was found dead in Liverpool just hours after his application was rejected. Liverpool coroner Andre Rebello told an inquest into the 35-year-old's death it was "more likely than not" he had killed himself.Today his family spoke of their horror at his death on July 5.(More...)
Today's Tops Stories
-Dr. Berhanu’s Book launching Ceremony in Vancouver-From Kerchele to the USA: EMF
-Sudan welcomes Darfur extension
-Analysis: Chavez: Bush is the 'devil'
-Iraqi forces take over from Italians in south
-Israel kills 5 in Gaza; Hamas welcomes Quartet move
-Does torture really work? Newsweek
-German police shadowed man before CIA seized him: witness
-How to Avoid War: Newsweek
-'Space flight' for Nigerian girl
-Grad. business students in U.S & Canada more likely to cheat
-Man bites panda after panda bites man
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
