Giving me something to talk about.
Holy goodness! I have not had anything to recommend since like the middle of October. And it's not for want of awesome things taking place in the world. It's because I've been completely out of the loop. No joke: this week alone I have spent the better part of two entire days thinking about this legal theory called "right of publicity", which is a "creature of state law", and I've been seeing how it intersects with, and is possibly preempted by, federal copyright law.
Why have I been dwelling on this issue lately? The answer to that would be long, and most definitely not be interesting to any of you, my dear readers. So. Proposition: send me an email, and tell me something that you have experienced lately that has inspired you. Seriously. I know people read this site (yes, yes, I know things people). And I'd love to hear what people are experiencing as I am hiding out. And that way, I can have something to write about.
Also: I recently made a Best of 2006 CD that I would be happy to send to anybody who is interested. Again, just drop me an email.
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Saturday, December 2, 2006
Friday, December 1, 2006
December 1, 2006 - O Lord, You Have Scanned Me
Yesterday I went for my six-month CT scan. Today, late in the afternoon, a voice-mail message arrives from someone in Dr. Lerner's office, notifying me that the doctor has received the radiologist's report. The report indicates, with typical medical understatement, that what's left of the mass in my abdomen is "stable."This is good news. It means the tumor hasn't grown, since my last scan three months ago. The shrunken mass that remains is undoubtedly only harmless scar tissue.
Yesterday, as I lay on my back, half in and half out of the donut-hole of the CT-scanner, I was struck by how utterly remarkable this technology is. In the space of a couple of minutes, causing no pain or discomfort other than the prick of the needle that injects contrast fluid into my arm, the CT scanner peers into my insides. It "sees" parts of me that I, myself, have never seen. It reveals my inmost self (anatomically speaking).
Yet, there are deep mysteries even the CT scanner cannot discern – mysteries sung of by the ancient poet who wrote Psalm 139:
"O Lord, you have searched me and known me....
"O Lord, you have scanned me."
"For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance."
For this Hebrew sage, human gestation is a mystery. For who can discern the dark, mysterious processes that unfold within a mother's womb, as the human frame is slowly "knit together" over the course of many months? Only God can see into this shadowy place, the psalmist insists.Today, physicians casually assume a Godlike vantage-point, as they peer into the wombs of expectant mothers with their ultrasound machines. In a similar way, using a different sort of machine, the radiologist has measured the dimensions of the scar tissue in my abdomen. Yet still there are parts of our inmost selves that stubbornly deflect the scientist's inquisitive eye:
"In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
I try to count them – they are more than the sand;
I come to the end – I am still with you."
The doctors can videotape the beating heart of a fetus in utero, and they can scope out the size of a cancerous tumor – incomprehensible wonders, all, to the Hebrew mind – but still they cannot number "all the days that were formed for me," or for anyone else.There are mysteries, yet, to this human life of ours. Day by day, in sickness or in health, each of us lives into such mysteries.
Interview with members of THE CITIZENS’CHARTER GROUP
*Dr. Paulos Milkias on the Somali issue below*
Also in the news: Senator Russ Feingold in Ethiopia, Why we oppose Ethiopia’s EPRDF (ETP editorial), Siye Abrha's sham trial to end soonInternational: Feds Warn Of Possible Cyber Attack, Huge Beirut rally demands change, Former Spy's Wife Positive for Radiation, Nigerian President to be a student and more of today's top stories
Qaliti qalkidan Urgent Petition - Sign it!
At least 10,000 signatures needed before the Christmas holiday break
Dr. Paulos Milkias on the Somali issue
Dr. Paulos Milkias is a professor of Political Science at Marianopolis College/Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. 
Interview with members of THE CITIZENS’CHARTER GROUP
Professor Berhanu Abegaz and Ato Abate Kassa, members of THE CITIZENS’CHARTER GROUP responsible for co-authoring Citizens’ Charter for a Democratic Ethiopia, sat down with the VOA’s Amharic service this week to answer questions concerning the charter. The CITIZENS’CHARTER GROUP is not affiliated with any political party and is comprised of Ethiopians from a variety of ethnic backgrounds
Read: Citizens’ Charter for a Democratic Ethiopia
Senator Russ Feingold in Ethiopia
Senator Russ Feingold, incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sub-committee on Africa was in Ethiopia this week. In his meetings with Prime Minister Meles, the senator stressed the importance of solving the Somalia issue peacefully. Later today, he released the following statement from Addis Ababa commemorating world AIDS day.
"This year, on World AIDS Day, we are reminded of the rapidly rising rate of HIV/AIDS and its devastating impact on communities around the world. The global AIDS epidemic has claimed the lives of more than 25 million people, and 40 million people are currently living with HIV. Despite recent advances in HIV/AIDS treatment, more resources must be devoted to addressing the disproportionate impact of AIDS, particularly in the developing world.
Africa has been particularly plagued by devastating HIV/AIDS infection rates. During my travels this week in Kenya and Ethiopia, I heard immense appreciation for the President’s successful PEPFAR program. It has become clear that we can only defeat the epidemic by aggressively pursuing a combination of efforts, including broader access to good and affordable health care, prevention education, and increasing the number of health care workers in impoverished nations. We must work together to address this global epidemic in order to prevent future cases of HIV/AIDS and improve the quality of life and lifespan for those people living with HIV/AIDS."
Why we oppose Ethiopia’s EPRDF - direct response from a Pro-democracy website
Response to an article published on the Sudan tribune by Samuel Teshome, entitled ‘Happy to see opposition websites blocked in Ethiopia
ETP Editorial
Although the Ethiopian Government and its sympathizers consider our site (ETP) - and others like it - enemies, in truth, most of us - for a long time - have been dying to write something good pertaining to the Ethiopian administration. However, the EPRDF led government, so far, has not given us cause to do so. Economic growth, democracy, freedom of speech, are things we one day hope to attribute directly to the government; that is when they become noticeably apparent in Ethiopia. The difference between pro-democracy websites like ETP and others is that we are not willing to garnish the truth with false statistics and exaggerations to make the government look good, when it absolutely deserves no such treatment.
Since the EPRDF’s take over fifteen years ago, few high-rise building have been built in Addis, and several pubs, clubs and luxury hotels have sprung up. Some would have us believe that this equates to economic growth. Nevertheless, in reality, our country is still an example of extreme poverty, we are still beggars unable to support our food needs, and on top of that (Beinqirt La’y Joro Degif) the massive emphasis on ethnicity is leading our country towards an insurmountable abyss. (More...)
UN's Top Somalia Envoy Hopeful Peace Talks Will Resume
The United Nation's envoy to Somalia says Thursday's deadly suicide car bombings near the town of Baidoa, where the country's besieged interim government is based and the only town it controls, have not dampened hopes for the resumption of stalled peace talks between the government and Somali Islamists. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu reports from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi.(More...)
Siye Abrha's sham trial to end soon
The prosecutor in former defense Minister Siye Abrha's corruption trial presented his closing argument yesterday. Observers say that the trial which is at its fifth year is an absolute sham. The defense will present his closing argument next Wednesday. Meles Zenawi put Siye in prison and charged him with corruption after the latter led an internal protest against the prime minister in March 2001. The protestors accused Meles of being soft on Eritrea.(More...)
Today's Tops Stories
-Nigerian President to be a student-Feds Warn Of Possible Cyber Attack
-Reyes to lead House intelligence committee
-Huge Beirut rally demands change
-Former Spy's Wife Positive for Radiation
-World AIDS Day: The Fight Turns 25
-Sen. Obama, singer Ludacris meet for a chat
-Shops destroy Santas giving "Hitler salute"
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