Friday, February 29, 2008

(02.29.08) Recommends:

You Talk Way Too Much.

Apropos of, ahem, Absolutely Nothing, we've been listening to this song all day today.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

(02.28.08) Recommends:

Looking Forward to the Weekend.

We don't want to jinx it or anything, but. We've been doing some research. We're scoured the internet. Poured over the newspaper. Flipped through all the channels on the teevee. We even consulted with the guy down at the corner store. The verdict is in. And it's unanimous: this weekend is shaping up to be the Best Weekend Thus Far For This Calendar Year. We all just have to get through today. And then we've got more potential highlights than reasonable people can shake sticks at. Behold:
  1. Miss Chan Marshall will be serenading us on Friday.
  2. The weather is supposed to be, um, another nearly perfect LA weekend. Weather.com sums it up succinctly with it's prediction of "abundant sunshine."
  3. Which means we're gonna be getting our exercise outside!
  4. We'll probably consume no less than three alcoholic drinks in a single sitting, because it is the weekend, and well, we can. Note: this does not mean the drink must come from a can. It might come from a bottle. Or a fancy glass. Or off the chest of an eager, nubile female. No, no. Another Note: we didn't just write that; it was the other editor; and it's completely false. And preposterous. We only love people for their minds. Sheesh.
  5. Last and probably funniest: New Will Ferrel Movie Weekend.
So there you go. There's no point in asking if you can top this list because we both know you can't. But you should try anyway. 'Cause this is the weekend when things are gonna happen.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

(02.27.08) Recommends:

Busting Our Your Favorite Driving CD and Going for a Drive.

Call us old timers, but this post is a nod to old school music listening ways.

One of the things that our iPod world makes us contemplate is the future of the Driving CD. Anyone born from about 1985 and earlier knows what we're talking about. The CD that you always have somewhere in the car because if a long road trip should suddenly break out, you'd need it because it's your favorite Driving CD. They are those rare albums where every song is good, every song flows perfectly into the next song, and together the album seems to perfectly soundtrack whatever landscape that happens to surround you.

Do people still have Driving CDs, or is it all iPod mixes, perfectly tailored to meet the expectations of the destination, the driving company, the climate controlled environment? God, we hope not.

Probably our favorite Driving CD is Son Volt's Trace. This record came out when we were Sophomores in high school, and my goodness, driving really meant something at that age, you know? We can definitely recall getting out and getting lost among the dusty backroads of Kansas, with the windows rolled down and that humid heat beating down on us, listening to this record over and over and over again. We didn't know where we were headed, but we were hopeful that the open road and this album held some of the answers.

And this week, we're there again. I mean, we're not back in Kansas. We've found ourselves sequestered in a certain California city that was heretofore unknown to us. But this town has a really stunning mountain range. So when we've had time, we've gotten out, like that Sophomore stuck inside of us, and have been driving in the shadow of that mountain range. Looking for answers, trying to clear our heads. And wouldn't you know it, but we had to bust out our favorite Driving CD again. And it can still make everything seem more meaningful.

These songs will never be as powerful to us as they are coming out of a CD player, out on the open road, but here are two of our favorite tracks from our favorite Driving CDs.



I Hate to say I Told You So...

But I told you so. Or to be more accurate, everyone who cares more about people than profit told you so.

From a post in 2005 about biofuels:
Not only inefficient, but "a humanitarian and environmental disaster", says George Monbiot, presenting a chilling vision, in which "most of the arable surface of the planet will be deployed to produce food for cars, not people." He reminds us that markets respond to profit, not hunger. Those who need food the most are exactly the ones with the least amount of money to buy it, and so the monied person's car will always win out. He reminds us that even today, those who buy meat products have more purchasing power, so grain is fed to animals instead of to starving kids.


In 2006, when I blogged about the Global Food Supply Near the Breaking Point, the problem was overproduction and low commodity prices driving smaller farmers out.
"Many Canadian and U.S. farmers are going out of business because crop prices are at their lowest in nearly 100 years," Qualman said in an interview. "Farmers are told overproduction is to blame for the low prices they've been forced to accept in recent years."

However, most North American agribusiness corporations posted record profits in 2004. With only five major companies controlling the global grain market, there is a massive imbalance of power, he said.


Now, here we are in 2008, and the UN's food aid programme is in serious trouble, due to the astronomical increase in the price of food.
What is the problem?

In the three decades to 2005, world food prices fell by about three-quarters in inflation-adjusted terms, according to the Economist food prices index. Since then they have risen by 75%, with much of that coming in the past year. Wheat prices have doubled, while maize, soya and oilseeds are at record highs.

Why are food prices rising?

The booming world economy has driven up prices for all commodities. Changes in diets have also played a big part. Meat consumption in many countries has soared, pushing up demand for the grain needed by cattle. Demand for biofuels has also risen strongly. This year, for example, one third of the US maize crop will go to make biofuels*. Moreover, the gradual reform and liberalisation of agricultural subsidy programmes in the US and Europe have reduced the butter and grain mountains of yesteryear by eliminating overproduction.

*Note, because of the high cost of food, the "US, the biggest single food aid contributor, will radically cut the amount it gives away."

Again, I recognize that there are many problems with the food aid system, because it does nothing to help the economic structural problems that are to blame for hunger and malnutrition (food aid can in some cases even harm local food producers, say by undercutting them) but this is certainly not the answer.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

(02.26.08) Recommends:

PWRFL POWER.

Just the other day we were wondering -- luckily we weren't wondering this aloud, as is sometimes our wont -- what would happen if Satomi Matsuzaki, the lead singer of Deerhoof, and Sufjan Stevens, of, um, Sufjan Stevens made some kind of musical robot out of their combined presences. Luckily we didn't have to wait too long for an answer, because today the good people at Catbird Records emailed us the answer. The robot's name is PWRFL POWER and he sounds like this. Note: He's not actually a robot. But we're very excited by the results nonetheless.


PWRFL POWER -- Alma Song -- mp3
.

PWRFL POWER @ CBR
.
PWRFL POWER @ Myspace.

Monday, February 25, 2008

One person, one body, one count

Who has fought hardest to prevent violence against women, if not feminists? And it is advocates for women, like the beleaguered Status of Women Canada, who have been working to alert the public to the prevalence of violence against pregnant women.

From the SWC publication, Assessing Violence Against Women: A Statistical Profile:
Women are particularly vulnerable when they are pregnant and when they take steps to leave their violent partners. With regard to pregnancy, the Violence Against Women Survey found that 21% of abused women were assaulted during their pregnancy, and in 40% of these cases, this episode was the beginning of the abuse.
[...]
The public also has relatively low awareness levels of prenatal violence with 20% [of a survey taken in New Brunswick] undecided on whether physical abuse of a woman often starts during pregnancy and 44% who disagree that violence often starts at this time.

Without the constant hard work of feminists and organizations like the SWC, domestic violence - including violence against pregnant women - would likely drop off the public radar. Who researches reports, creates policy recommendations, organizes programs for abused women, and builds women's shelters? I'll give you a hint: it isn't the anti-abortion movement.

So for them to claim that opposing the Unborn Victims of Crime Bill (Bill C-484) is somehow demonstrating a lack of care for these women is pretty ridiculous. One could note that being so keen to abolish the SWC displays a callous disregard for all the women, including the pregnant sort, that it works so hard to help.

A woman who has chosen to give birth, who wants and welcomes her baby, has invested the fetus with her hopes and dreams. Indeed she comes to think of the fetus as a baby before it is born. Nobody denies this. It doesn't follow that the fetus should be enshrined in law as an unborn child, and a human being with the same status as the mother. Harm to the fetus that she has come to care for is a tragedy, particularly when it is caused by violence to her own body. If we want to protect pregnant women, then let's enact effective policy and write meaningful laws to protect pregnant women, not disingenuous laws for fetal rights.

Other comments on here, here, here, and here, and especially here - among many others today

(02.25.08) Recommends:

The Bureau of Communication.

We came across this page via the Daily Candy email, and it cracks us up. The premise is combining the powers of the internet and Mad Libs to convey all those unspoken thoughts that go through our heads all day. So if you're not sure how to reveal your attraction or repulsion to somebody; your regret or appreciation over things; to communicate, to celebrate, to observe; BoC might be just the thing for you. Just go to the site. Pick out a pre-created form. Fill it out. Email it off. "Let that which is unsaid be said." Attempts at humor are strongly discouraged.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

(02.24.08) Recommends:

"Sometime Around Midnight" by the Airborne Toxic Event.

One of the things that we've really loved about our time in Los Angeles is all the great local bands we've stumbled upon one way or another. We've seen and blogged about locals the Deadly Syndrome, Western States Motel, Robert Francis, Emily Jane White and lots of others. We think Airborne Toxic Event gets top honors for Weirdest Discovery. And we've been listening to this ATE single tons lately. One of the reasons we really love this track (and perhaps it's subconsciously one of the reasons we love this band) is that we're pretty sure this is what Neil Diamond would have sounded like had he decided all those years ago to front an indie-rock band. And we're not being ironic or snarky here -- we really love Neil Diamond.

So seriously. We're pretty sure this band is gonna break big this calendar year. And we're pretty sure they owe a big debt to Neil Diamond. If you doubt this theory, check out this tune, close your eyes, and picture Neil Diamond.

All you know about Neil Diamond and indie-rock might change upon this experiment.

Paradigms? They're about to be shifted.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

(02.23.08) Recommends:

Six Degrees of Comedy.

1. Paul F. Tompkins performed down the street from us last night at UCB.

2. Paul F. Tompkins regularly performs in Comedy Death Ray at UCB.

3. A Comedy Death Ray album has been released.

4. Ian Edwards contributes a track on the album.

5. Part of his contribution is a bit on shark attacks.

6. And it's among the funniest things we've ever heard.

Here's the bit, in a slightly different form, that we found on youtube. [Starts at 1:44]

Torture in 60s South Shows Error of Waterboarding

Tom Gardner:
When I read about the increasing acceptance of waterboarding as a form of torture, I vividly recall how in 1968 members of the Memphis Police Department believed I could tell them information about civil rights insurgents arriving to create havoc. Forty years later I still hide my serrated scars.

I was 14 years old and forgot I was a black boy living in racist America and heading for the devil's den of discrimination.
[...]
Who were these people I supposedly knew who were ready to disrupt the city's infrastructure? My wild eyes could only register pain as the large men kicked, punched and beat me with nightsticks because I was unable to speak coherently between my sobs of sorrow and moans for my mother.
[...]
Like relentless Stalinists, the policemen gave me a few hard, calculated kicks with steel-toed boots in my back and ribs for making them exhausted from their beating. I promised them the names of protesters, when they were coming, and what they were driving. I could hardly speak from my busted lips, chipped teeth and broken jaw, but I forced words from my mouth that sounded like what they wanted as long as they stopped their feverish beating to decipher what my cracking voice was revealing.

But I didn’t know anyone, and I certainly didn’t know about a conspiracy to take over Memphis...

Torture, not only cruel and immoral, but ineffective for intelligence gathering. The rest of the article at Common Dreams. And find out about the history of waterboarding at the torture museum: barbarism then and now.

Friday, February 22, 2008

(02.22.08) Recommends:

The Track "Lights Out for Darker Skies" by British Sea Power (Rough Trade, 2008).

So Pitchfork apparently really hated BSP's new album, Do You Like Rock Music?, but we're really digging this song. I guess Pitchfork, and probably lots of other people, are upset that BSP hasn't put out an album it finds to be as awesome as their first, The Decline of British Sea Power. We really fucking love that album. But we're fine with BSP putting out whatever they want. Certainly people shouldn't be required to like everything by a band that puts out a killer debut. But we're also pretty certain that you're trying too hard at life if you can't get behind an anthem like Lights Out.

City Planet - Housekeeping the Bookmarks part 1

I have a whole pile of fantastic links in my bookmarks that have been hanging out and going stale just waiting for some attention. I think it is time to share them. So, here is the first in a new series.

This 2006 article, City Planet, is about urbanization, squatting and slums.

"Pavement dwellers" living in open-air homes in Byculla, a Mumbai neighborhood

City infrastructure and housing in the developing world cannot keep up with the rapid pace of urbanization. The result: vast informal settlements and neighbourhoods. The article tells of the bad and the good, the crowded, dirty, and yet incredibly vibrant communities:
Let no one romanticize the conditions of slums. New squatter cities usually look like human cesspools and often smell like them. There is usually no infrastructure at all for sanitation, for water, for electricity, or for transportation. Everyone lives in dilapidated shacks jammed together wall to wall, with every room full of people. A typical squatter city, which may stretch for miles, has grown without a plan or government, in an area generally deemed uninhabitable: a swamp, a floodplain, a steep hillside, a municipal dump; clustered in the path of a highway project, squashed up against a railroad line.

But the squatter cities are vibrant. Each narrow street is one long bustling market of food stalls, bars, cafes, hair salons, churches, schools, health clubs, and mini-shops of tools, trinkets, clothes, electronic gadgets, and pirated videos and music. What you see up close is not a despondent populace crushed by poverty but a lot of people busy getting out of poverty as fast as they can.

What about the economic impact?
Gradually a consensus is emerging about the economic value of rural-to-urban migration. This migration, "on the whole, acts to alleviate poverty in both the urban and rural sectors," wrote geography professor Ronald Skeldon in 1997. He explained that the urban "informal sector, with its capacity to create an almost infinite variety and number of activities" and its "considerable potential for self-organization... can create a dynamic economy and society."
[...]
Cities have been the wealth engine for civilization since its beginning. Thus the bottom line in the U.N. report: "Cities are so much more successful in promoting new forms of income generation, and it is so much cheaper to provide services in urban areas, that some experts have actually suggested that the only realistic poverty reduction strategy is to get as many people as possible to move to the city."

Of course, cities, slums and informal developments aren't uniformly good.
It's easy to gloss over the enormous variety among the thousands of emerging cities with different cultures, nations, metropolitan areas, and neighborhoods. From that variety is emerging an understanding of best and worst governmental practices - best, for example, in Turkey, which offers a standard method for new squatter cities to form; worst, for example, in Kenya, which actively prevents squatters from improving their homes. Every country provides a different example.


View from a balcony in Rocinha, Brazil, a dense and relatively prosperous squatter community of 150,000 people, built on steep hills above Rio de Janeiro

These different governmental approaches are detailed for four major squatter cities in Robert Neuwirth's Shadow Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World, heavily referenced in this article. Aside from security (i.e. NOT living in fear of the government bulldozing your community), what helps these communities thrive?
Social cohesiveness is the crucial factor differentiating "slums of hope" from "slums of despair." This is where CBOs (community-based organizations) and the NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) that support local empowerment play such an important part. Typical CBOs include, according to the 2003 U.N. report, "community theater and leisure groups; sports groups; residents associations or societies; savings and credit groups; child care groups; minority support groups; clubs; advocacy groups; and more... CBOs as interest associations have filled an institutional vacuum, providing basic services such as communal kitchens, milk for children, income-earning schemes and cooperatives."

Women play a crucial role, as it is they who form and participate in many of the communal self-help organizations. Urbanization also brings decreasing birthrates and increased opportunities for women.
Already, as a result of the headlong urbanization, birthrates have plummeted in the developing world from 6 children per woman in the 1970s to 2.9 now. Twenty "less developed" countries, including China, Chile, Thailand, and Iran, have already dropped below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman.

And what about the young and fertile couples in developing countries? If current demographic trends continue, 2 billion of them will live in the cities, choosing to have fewer children. It's not because they're poor. They were poor in the countryside. In town they see opportunity to come up in the world. Having fewer children, who are better educated, is part of that equation.
[...]
"In the village, all there is for a woman is to obey her husband and family elders, pound grain, and sing. If she moves to town, she can get a job, start a business, and get education for her children." I heard this remark, made by a global community activist, in 2000 at a Fortune magazine conference in Aspen, Colo. It was enough to explode my Gandhi-esque romantic notions about the superiority of village life.

Cities are important. A dense city, like New York, is the most environmentally reponsible way to organize large numbers of people. Depending on their organization, cities have shown other benefits too. They represent our future, and our past.
Cities are remarkable organisms. They are the most long-lived of all human organizations. The oldest surviving corporations (Stora Enso in Sweden and the Sumitomo Group in Japan) are about 700 and 400 years old, respectively. The oldest universities (in Bologna and Paris) have lasted a thousand years. The oldest living religions (Hinduism and Judaism) date back about 3,500 years. But the town of Jericho has been continuously occupied for 10,500 years. Its neighbor Jerusalem has been an important city for 5,000 years, though it was conquered or destroyed 36 times and it suffered 11 conversions from one religion to another. Many cities die or decline to irrelevance, but some thrive for millennia.

If you're interested, read the full article here.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

(02.20.08) Recommends:

The Mountain Goats.

Sometimes we sit around wondering how our culture will be remembered by future generations. Of today's cultural outputs, what music will survive, what books will be taught in high school English classes, what thinkers will influence the way the next generation understands the world.

However that history is ultimately written, as things stand now one thing is abundantly clear. John Darnielle is one of the most important songwriters we have. If you've ever talked to us about this in Real Life we're merely repeating ourselves, but we'll put it out there on the blog now: the closest we can ever imagine ourselves feeling like heroin addict is listening to The Mountain Goats. We mean this as a compliment, of course. The characters in John Darnielle songs have reached this level of pure, unadulterated misery; it makes us twitchy just listening to the narratives. But here's the thing. It's not like mindless nihilism. The characters embody what we imagine Janis Joplin means when she sings freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose. They are at rock bottom, but they have a defiance toward the world that is both scary and awesomely impressive. And it's a defiance we damn well better understand if we want to try to make any sense out of the world.

Or, at least this is how we hear things. Sometimes we wonder if our lives would have turned out differently had we only listened to "upbeat" "happy" music. Frankly, we feel sorry for those who don't listen to the Mountain Goats.

They released a new album earlier this month. We're busting out of our britches with excitement to see them when they come through town for two shows next month. So for now we'll leave you with an old favorite and a new favorite.

Old Favorite:



New Favorite:

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

(02.19.08) Recommends:

More Thoughts While On the Exercise Bike at the Gym.

One. Do drive-by shootings occur more frequently in Los Angeles than the national average, and if so, is it because the shooters just can't find any parking?

Two. Does stalking occur less frequently in Los Angeles than the national average, and if so, is it because the stalker has to wait in so much traffic that eventually the stalker gives up on ever making it to the stalkee's place of residence and instead, e.g., detours to a bar to drink away the road rage?

Three. Are you really wearing that spandex outfit? Really?

If you have answers to any of these questions, please send them along.

Monday, February 18, 2008

(02.18.08) Recommends:

Mx Missiles by Andrew Bird.

If you've read this blog for any amount of time you know we're not really subtle about our love of Andrew Bird. If you want to see past musings, type his name up there in the search bar on the upper left hand corner of the blog. We're pretty sure by the time this blog is done we'll have used this space to individually recommended every song he'll ever put out. And our latest obsession is Mx Missiles. We recently hung out with a friend who's equally obsessed with Bird and Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production of Eggs soundtracked parts of the eveing. Mx Missiles has lingered in our ears since.

Have a listen.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

(02.17.08) Recommends:

Not Making Going to the Gym Harder on Others Than It Already Has To Be.

Okay, look. We will be the first to admit that despite the fact that we live in Southern California, and the day-time temperature has unlikely dropped below 72 degrees since we've been here, our extremities remain a pasty shade of white, an ashy shade of gray. We realize we're kind of hairy. We realize that once we get going, we really sweat quite profusely. And our faces turn a shade similar to strawberry jam.

In addition to our own considerable shortcomings, we live in a section of a city with notoriously heavy amounts of traffic and notoriously scare amounts of parking spots. There are no take-a-quick-drive-to-the-__________ (fill in the blank)'s here.

Taken together, it takes something resembling a leap of faith to get us to even show up to the gym.

There are a lot of poor saps out there like us. But we show up. We're trying.

Therefore, An Important Note: If you are going to use the gym equipment immediately adjacent to, or anywhere within the peripheral vision of, a person, please do us all a favor and do not behave in the manner of an insane person. Good Lord: life is already difficult enough, people.

In these days of multiculturalism and multilangualism, we do not want to risk "behavior in the manner of an insane person" getting lost in translation.

So.

An Example.

If somebody is using an exercise bike, and it is obvious -- perhaps from observing (but you should note your Insane Behavior Monitor going beep! beep! beep! when observing from too close a distance or too long a time) the aforementioned amounts of sweat or facial shade of strawberry jam -- that said person is in the middle of an intense workout, and is probably putting out maximum effort and still just basically holding on for dear life, you should not do the following.

You should not get on the exercise bike next to this person, and immediately start pedaling at what has to be 150 RPM while punching the air like you are training for a goddam boxing match, then leave after five minutes. This, this is Insane Behavior.

One. It is easy to get the machine up to 150 RPM the second you get on the bike. It is also easy to maintain 150 RPM for five minutes. Nobody is impressed with your speed. However, the person next to you probably thinks you're a douche bag.

Two. You are not, in fact, training for a goddam boxing match, are you? Answer: no, you are not. So enough with the punching, Billy Blanks.

Three. All of your commotion is very distracting to the poor person who we have already established is just trying to get through his or her daily workout, which in theory is supposed to offer respite from the traffic and the lack of parking and the commotion of the city and the headaches of work and the disappointments of life and the price of gasandrentandglobalwarmingandthenever-endingelectionseasonandetcetcetc and your routine, well, just stop it already, dude!

Friday, February 15, 2008

(02.15.08) Recommends:

Don't Think Twice, It's Alright.



Okay so no one can dispute that Bob Dylan is a legend or that this song is legendary. To this end enough has been said and written about both to fill up entire internets. But please indulge us as we toss another one into the tube.

Not a month goes by without us giving this song a listen. It always speaks to us. It manages to move us and comfort us, to make us feel happy or sad, but mostly it reminds us that it's necessary and proper to set aside four minutes out of this hectic life to be contemplative.

And it's worth nothing that this song has been around for literally our entire lives.

Which means:
  • We've known it longer than we've known family members, friends, loved ones
  • We've known it longer than we've known the Bible, been allowed in a voting booth, held a job.
  • We've known it longer than we've known some of humankind's most vexing elements: love, intoxication, indifference. etc.
People, things, movements, these are all fleeting; they come and go. But somehow, this song has been here forever. And it remains.

We sought refuge in it's words when we were confused 12-year olds [a child I am told]. We seek guidance from it now, standing -- confused again, we must admit -- at the dawn of 30 [a child I am told].

The song has literally become part of us. It's seen our past and knows our present and will be part of the toolkit that we bring to bear on the issues that we will face in the future. We find strength in it's longevity and we're hard pressed to come up with many other things in our lives that can make such a claim.

We love this timeless quality of music. And we think it's important to reflect on this quality when we get too caught up in thinking about how digital technology will affect music, and how the law will deal with digital technology, and how a generation of post-Napster people will view the law.

In the end, we turn to music because it's been there for us before, it's what we've always known. We've had rough patches in the past and the music is proof both of those old wounds and of the fact that we soldiered on, and things turned out okay.

Oh, things turned out way better than okay.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Ethiopia - bizarre news of the day

The EPRDF (Ethiopian Govt.) has assembled a team of people with a task to edit and change wikipedia entries regarding Ethiopia. The first target was Amnesty International. The EPRDF introduced an entry about Amnesty international's involvement in helping the "extremist" private media in Ethiopia in Wikipedia.(...More from EZ)

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Ethiopia - A Moment With...Haile Gerima

What struggles do independent filmmakers face in bringing projects to fruition? Filmmaker Haile Gerima talks about these issues and his film 'Sankofa,' a widely acclaimed movie about slavery. He also describes the influence of his Ethiopian heritage on his work.

Ethiopians die in Somali port blast

An explosion killed at least 20 people and wounded a hundred more in a northern Somali port where immigrants often try to cross to Yemen.

Ethiopia - HR2003 revisited

An American law professor, teaching at the Ethiopian Ministry of Education’s Mekelle University in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, had her contract terminated last week by university officials.

The administration claims “incompetence” was the reason for her termination. But Professor Abigail Salisbury claims that her public voicing of alternative views on the U.S. House of Representative’s Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007 (HR2003) got her fired.

After failing to convince the university’s academic commission that her contract should not be terminated, Professor Salisbury is planning to depart Ethiopia. The firing quickly followed an article she published in “The Jurist,” the online University of Pittsburgh law review journal, in which she described candidly her participation in a Mekelle University Law Faculty forum on HR 2003.

Taking one stance, Professor Salisbury writes, “Listening to the Ethiopians talk about the bill’s various points during the discussion forum, I… wonder[ed] if America hadn’t done something foolish…by asserting its right to determine the domestic affairs of a foreign nation.” She also points out that the factual findings section of HR2003 must be updated to reflect current human rights progress in Ethiopia.

But based on the passionate testimonies of her own international human rights law students at Mekelle, conveyed to her within mid-term essays she assigned, Salisbury reached an alternative conclusion – that HR2003 should be seen as an attempt by American foreign policy makers not to threaten Ethiopian sovereignty, but to improve the lives of poor Ethiopians who are truly suffering under a government with a firm grip on freedom of speech.

“I had been very careful in wording my assignment. I asked the students to select a human rights issue in Ethiopia…and find another country dealing with that same situation. They were required to then compare the actions of the two nations,” Salisbury writes. According to her, a number of students wrote that they would never give their real opinions to an Ethiopian professor, for fear of “being turned in to the government and punished.”

According to Professor Salisbury, the terms of her contract make it clear that in the case of premature termination, she should receive three months’ pay. Claiming they have an alternative interpretation, University officials have decided not to honor this clause. But Salisbury is more disappointed by the failure of the university’s professors and officials to honor freedom of speech. “The dean [of Mekelle Law School] told me never to be afraid to write anything,” the young American law professor recalled for SSI.

HR2003 was passed in October 2007 by the US House of Representatives and is now being debated by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It proposes to withdraw “nonessential” assistance from Ethiopia until the federal government meets human rights obligations outlined in the Act.

Watch the War Child trailer, the story of Emmanuel Jal, a Child Soldier turned Hip Hop Artist

Much attention at the 58th Berlin Festival has been on 'War Child', a documentary by first-time director Christian Karim Chrobog. It relates the stunning story of singer Emmanuel Jal who, in the space of a decade, made a remarkable transition from child soldier in Sudan to international hip-hop musician.

Jal, now 28, was seven when his mother was killed. Soldiers raped his sister, and he was hauled off for military training by Sudanese Liberation Army forces in the late 1980s, and given an AK47 taller than himself.

Trapped in the midst of a civil war, he survived front-line action before escaping after five "lost" years with 300 other boys. They endured a three-month trek before reaching safety.
[...]
Today, Jal is famous throughout Africa as a rapper, and for his work with the UN, Amnesty International and Oxfam in campaigning against employment of child soldiers and the illegal trade of arms. His first song Gua, which means "power" in Arabic, streaked to the top of the charts in Kenya. <IPS>

Here's the War Child Trailer:

Jal is fantastically talented. If you're a fan of hip-hop or African music, definitely listen to some of his tracks, try on his YouTube channel (I love this). A couple of songs are also streaming at Warchildmovie.com. Warning: the music starts automatically (and loudly).

Monday, February 11, 2008

Speaking of Starvation, How's that Biofuel Industry?

From an article by George Monbiot from a few months ago:
It doesn't get madder than this. Swaziland is in the grip of a famine and receiving emergency food aid. Forty per cent of its people are facing acute food shortages. So what has the government decided to export? Biofuel made from one of its staple crops, cassava. The government has allocated several thousand hectares of farmland to ethanol production in the county of Lavumisa, which happens to be the place worst hit by drought.

Monbiot says the biofuel trade
should be frozen until second-generation fuels - made from wood or straw or waste - become commercially available. Otherwise the superior purchasing power of drivers in the rich world means that they will snatch food from people’s mouths. Run your car on virgin biofuel and other people will starve.

He goes on to analyze the relative inefficiency of current generation biofuels (corn ethanol for instance), and reminds us:

If there is one blindingly obvious fact about biofuel it’s that it is not a smallholder crop. It is an internationally-traded commodity which travels well and can be stored indefinitely, with no premium for local or organic produce. Already the Indian government is planning 14m hectares of jatropha plantations. In August the first riots took place among the peasant farmers being driven off the land to make way for them.

If the governments promoting biofuels do not reverse their policies, the humanitarian impact will be greater than that of the Iraq war. Millions will be displaced, hundreds of millions more could go hungry. This crime against humanity is a complex one, but that neither lessens nor excuses it.

People are starving, but hey, at least the big rich greenwashing countries can look all environmentally friendly without anyone having to, say, drive less. 'Cause that would be a real tragedy.

Friday, February 8, 2008

(02.08.08) Recommends:

An Urban Conversation in Los Feliz.

Several weeks ago we went to brunch with a Fellow Blogger at Alcove Cafe & Bakery in Los Feliz. Today's LA Times has a lovely article about a chess table located in the cafe that has turned into a repository for notes left by patrons. If you've ever found yourself mesmerized by Found Magazine, Post Secrets, or craigslist Missed Connections, you'll love this article.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

(02.07.08) Recommends:

Headlines that make you go "hmmmm?"

There was a story on ESPN.com today about Pedro Martinez being filmed at a cockfight in the Dominican Republic. The headline was "Pedro Emphasizes He Was At Cockfight As Spectator." Hmmmm, was he concerned that people thought he actually got into the ring to fight a rooster?

Ethiopia - IT IS ALL ABOUT US AND OUR FUTURE

Many years ago, I remember listening a story on Deutche Weille (German Radio). The story was about a German who once visited Ethiopia. He traveled to two neighboring villages which were not in good terms.When he arrived in the first village he received a warm welcome. Elders showed him an excellent Ethiopian hospitality.(More...)

Monday, February 4, 2008

(02.04.08) Recommends:

Robert Francis.

Another young gun in the LA indie-music scene. We saw him a while back at Tangier in Los Feliz. He put on a set of indie-country rock and we enjoyed it. He has a Monday -- hey today's Monday! -- residency at Silver Lake Lounge this month. Go check him out. Also, go to his myspace and give Little Girl a listen. We really like that track.

Robert Francis -- Little Girl -- streaming audio.
...New Obama Video

ETHIOPIA - National Bank bought Fake Gold

Five senior executives from the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) and three chemists from the Ethiopian Geological Survey were arrested last week for their alleged involvement in a gold fraud scandal.(VIDEO and more)

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Heaven and Hell: A Parable

A rabbi was talking with God about Heaven and Hell.

"Come," said God. "Walk with me, and I will show you Hell."

And together they walked into a room of cold, rough stone. In the center of the room, atop a low fire, sat a huge pot of quietly simmering stew. The stew smelled delicious, and made the rabbi's mouth water. A group of people sat in a circle around the pot, and each of them held a curiously long-handled spoon. The spoons were long enough to reach the pot; but the handles were so ungainly that every time someone dipped the bowl of their spoon into the pot and tried to maneuver the bowl to their mouth, the stew would spill. The rabbi could hear the grumblings of their bellies. They were cold, hungry, and miserable.

"And now," God said, "I will show you Heaven."

Together they walked into another room, almost identical to the first. A second pot of stew simmered in the center; another ring of people sat around it; each person was outfitted with one of the frustratingly long spoons. But this time, the people sat with the spoons across their laps or laid on the stone beside them. They talked, quietly and cheerfully with one another. They were warm, well-fed, and happy.

"Lord, I don't understand," said the rabbi. "How was the first room Hell; and this, Heaven?"

God smiled. "It's simple," he said. "You see, they have learned to feed each other."

(Temple Sinai Congregation of Toronto)
Charles K. 8/21/06 <source>

I had read this in Craig and Mark Keilbugers Me to We as a Japanese parable, featuring super long chopsticks (similar to this or this version). I thought it was a nice story, especially after this.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

(02.02.08) Recommends:

Pre-Invasion Jitters.

Back in October, we blogged a few times about David Dondero (here and here and here). Since that time we've found ourselves caught up in primary/caucus hysteria. (We've even blogged about a change we'd like to see in that process.) And all this political talk hearkens us back to those Dondero days. So last night, while we were catching up on the state of our political state we put on a live Dondero album -- released in January 2004 -- in the background. And up came Pre-Invasion Jitters. And man, oh man. There must be at least a half dozen ohnohedidn't! moments in these lyrics.

While we've been paying closer attention to politics these last few weeks than we have in a while, we're still pretty certain neither Democratic candidate would have the (gender-neutral) balls to bring a guy like Dondero up on the stage. So we feel it's our duty to continue to shine our light upon him. People complain that the young and the hip don't care about politics. Dondero cares. Anybody care to listen?

David Dondero -- Pre-Invasion Jitters -- mp3.

Friday, February 1, 2008

(02.01.08) Recommends:

Buying Low: Minor Leaguer Takes Stock of Himself.

A while back we linked to a Michael Lewis article on creating a stock exchange on which professional athletes are bought and sold. Today the New York times brings the story of Randy Newsom, a minor leaguer, who set up a website where people could purchase shares of his future major league income. The article says that through Thursday, Newsom had sold about 1,800 shares of himself at $20 apiece, bringing in $36,000. The article goes on to say a player like Newsome typically makes $8,000 for a five-month season. Newsom has temporarily shut down the market, as the SEC says the shares are securities, and their unregistered offering violates federal securities law, and MLB is concerned it violates league policies. It may also violate MLBPA (the player's union) policies. However, Newsome says "this idea is not going away." So the story, once hypothetical, seems to be developing in reality now. It'll be an interesting story to follow.