Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Mardi Gras In New Orleans-2006:



February 28-2006:


The Mardi-Gras Celebrations In New Orleans-2006.

Six months after the Katrina hurricane disaster in New Orleans & Mississippi, the traditional Mardi-Gras local celebrations of music, partying, float parades, and tourists, continues in New Orleans. The Major claims that it is therapeutic for the city, and is also a statement to the world that this city is not dead. It still lives, and will recover a new life similar, or almost similar to the one lost during the hurricane.

People deal with pain and loss differently, every individual has to find his of her own way to accept and deal with the pain of loss. And the city of New Orleans deals with it's pain and loss, by doing what it does best. Celebrating Mardi-Gras is just another way to continue doing so, and to bring in much needed funds that this celebration accrues, from the tourists that visit here at this time.

Some of us may wonder where is the rationale for all this revelry, when thousands are still without homes, have been re-located to other states, and the possibility of getting those people back into the city again is very slim. Because there is not much infrastructural development done as yet, to warrant a return of it's citizenry. Whatever adverse feelings some may have, several residents, including the Mayor feels, that the show must go on, because the citizens expect it to continue, the tourists expect to celebrate with us as usual, and they bring in much needed revenue to the city.

Happy Mardi-Gras new Orleans, and I sincerely hope come next year-2007, New Orleans would have rekindled the light it once shone so brightly, prior to Hurricane Katrina.

Om Shanti.

Derryck S. Griffith.
Educator-Advocate & Blogger.
http://my.opera.com/BringBaka/
http://www.myspace.com/derryck_mimbari
http://Mimbari.neatvibe.com
http://SpeakUpOrShutUp.neatvibe.com

How Can We Curb HIV In Communities Of Color?



February 27-2006:



Why Is It So Difficult To Arrest The Spread Of HIV
Within The Black & Latino Communities?


When HIV was discovered within the pre-dominantly White Gay community, most people said it was God's penalty to them for their promiscuous lifestyle.

Today the White Gay community was able to bring the spread of HIV to almost a stand still within that community. While the Black & Latino Gay, and Heterosexual communities seem unable to do so. With the on-going HIV prevention education targeted to these communities, and extra funding sometimes, and a national priority to curb the spread of HIV and other STD's in communities of color.

This pandemic is still a number one priority, that advocates feel is still not fully addressed or understood.

What is responsible for this seemingly un-stoppable spread of HIV?

There are several factors that I can identify, which may be contributing to this problem.

* Black & Latinos Gay & heterosexuals, still harbor prejudice towards people who are infected with HIV generally.

* Testing is encouraged within these communities, but how many return for the results. And how many inform their spouses or sexual partners and mates, that they are HIV positive, when discovered.

* Testing regularly is absolutely necessary if you are sexually active. A one time negative result cannot guarantee that you are still HIV free.

* Large numbers of Blacks & Latinos are into the sex work business for several reasons. Some say to earn much needed income, others say the lack of employment, others say they make more money on a daily basis from sex work, than from a regular job, with minimum wages.

* Some youth and adolescence refuse to seek employment, but prefer to sell 'ROCKS' (drugs), in order to make the kind of money that will allow them to have the flashy clothes, and other 'Bling-Bling material vanities,' that enables them to keep in step with the fashion scene.

* Then we have the 'Sex Parties' all over the five boroughs of New York City. This scene is gaining momentum.

I understand that at most of these parties, condoms are visible, and the choice to use or not to use, is left up to consenting individuals. But in climates like this one, I believe that drug use prior to entrance to these parties, may contribute to the inability to practice some form of prevention, in whatever sexual activity you indulge.

* Incidentally, I understand that drug use, and alcohol is not allowed at these parties. But who can validate such claims?

Hypocrisy-Pretense & Complacency:

There is still a lot of hypocrisy, pretense, and complacency when it comes to drug use, alcohol, and other substance use within communities of color. Injection drug use seem to be the preference for many, so 'Heroin addiction' is on the rise. Herpes, and hepatitis are also on the rise within communities of color.

So we have a Trilateral STD problem to deal with generally. No amount of finances will curb or bring this pandemic to an end, so long as we continue to harbor the mentality of complacency, prejudice, discrimination, and self hate. Changing this mindset, and attitude, is up to each and every individual, regardless of whether infected with HIV or not.

The responsibility is upon the shoulders of every individual, to take positive action/s to stop selling ROCKS, Crystal meth, Heroin, and any substance that will harm us mentally, psychologically, economically, socially, and morally.

Om Shanti.
Derryck S. Griffith.
Educator-Advocate & Blogger.
http://my.opera.com/BringBaka/
http://www.myspace.com/derryck_mimbari
http://Mimbari.neatvibe.com
http://SpeakUpOrShutUp.neatvibe.com

Saturday, February 25, 2006

What It Means To Be Truly FREE:



February 25-2006:


What It Means To Be Truly FREE:


Today I was contemplating this concept, and I was finally able to comprehend the gravity of this perception. So here are my views on this concept.

True freedom connotes the total ability to determine the Alfa and Omega of being. To be truly free is to be devoid of any external control, influence, or jurisdiction. This concept could be equated to time itself. Meaning that humans created the concept of time, therefore, time does not exist in the comic, because the universe is what it is. No beginning, and therefore no end.

The concept of the 'Alfa & Omega' (beginning and end), is only possible when their is something that created that concept. It is like the creation of humankind. There has to be some mind, or some intelligence that conceived this idea, to make it happen. This intelligence need not be matter. It could be invisible energy, existing in nothingness.

When humans began to organize themselves into communities, clans, groups, or tribes, their freedom ceased to exist. When humans roamed the earth, foraging for food, ate when they liked, or could, slept when they wanted, and mated when they felt like it. That was true freedom!

But when the situation came to fight for limited food, limited hunting grounds, and limited space to roam, then they had to contemplate the concept of self defense, and self preservation. When that necessity became evident, then FREEDOM no longer existed.

Freedom took on a different meaning since then. In order to be safe, one had to stick with the group or clan. In order to survive the winter, and other clans, one had to fight for the protection of self, and the tribe. In order to ensure enough food was available when there was a drought, one had to ration the amount of food per person or family, in order to survive as a group, until the season changed.

With modern society, freedom had another twist to it. One had to obey the rules/laws of that society, or suffer the consequences for breaking it. Prisons were built for those who broke the rules/laws. Guilt or innocence were determined primarily by those who made the rules, or established laws. And innocence or guilt, was also determined by those who chose to be the judge, and enforcer of those same laws or rules.

To ensure that your so called freedom was not compromised, you had to have someone represent you, (a lawyer), he or she had to have some understanding of those laws, and recognized as qualified to represent you in a court of law. And even there, there was no guarantee that you would be found innocent of the charges against you.

Institutions for the so-called mentally ill, was also established for those who seemingly did not have any intention to obey, or could not fathom their responsibility as citizens of that society. Either through violence, anarchy, or disregard for the society at large, or the laws of that society.

Individuals may be held in one of those institutions we call the 'asylum,' where he or she would be medicated, beaten, physically restrained, or just locked up, in order to protect the same society that created that situation.

In situations of imprisonment, one is physically no free. But in time, depending upon the length of stay there, he or she might eventually feel mentally and psychologically un-free.
When the individual feels mentally and psychologically imprisoned, then the physical aspect of his or her imprisonment seals the deal.

Thus one could surmise then, that he/she has totally lost freedom.

Therefore, it would be rational to contend, that in modern, civilized societies, no human is free. Because freedom implies the absence of all rules or provisions that restrict movement, thought, speech, sight, and sustenance!

Om Shanti.
Derryck S. Griffith.
Educator-Advocate & Blogger.
http://my.opera.com/BringBaka/
http://www.myspace.com/derryck_mimbari
http://Mimbari.neatvibe.com
http://SpeakUpOrShutUp.neatvibe.com

Friday, February 24, 2006

US House Might Legislate To Curb The Exportation Of Internet Technology To Dictatorships:




Politicians accuse Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Cisco of having greater interest in profits than in free expression.

Grant Gross, IDG News Service
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Members of the U.S. House of Representatives today ripped into four U.S. technology companies, calling them a "disgrace" for allowing the Chinese government to censor some Web content.


Representative Tom Lantos (D-California) and other members of the House International Relations Committee criticized Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Cisco Systems for making profits a higher priority than free expression in China. "Instead of using their power and creativity to bring openness and free speech to China, they have caved into Beijing's outrageous but predictable demands, simply for the sake of profits," said Lantos. "These captains of industry should have been developing new technologies to bypass the sickening censorship of government and repugnant barriers to the Internet. Instead, they enthusiastically volunteered for the Chinese censorship brigade."


Companies Respond:

Representatives of the four companies said that they object to the Chinese government's censorship efforts, but also that they believe their presence in the communist nation will help broaden political debate there. Lawmakers criticized Yahoo because subsidiary Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) provided e-mail account information to the Chinese government that led to jail sentences for a Chinese political activist and a journalist.

The U.S. lawmakers berated Google for offering a censored version of its search engine in China, and Microsoft for removing from MSN Spaces a blog written by a Chinese journalist. Committee members questioned whether Cisco is helping the Chinese government block access to some Web sites by selling it network management equipment.

"We believe information is power," said Michael Callahan, Yahoo's senior vice president and general counsel. "We also believe the Internet is a positive force in China. It has revolutionized information access, helps create open societies, and helps accelerate the gradual evolution toward a more outward-looking Chinese society." Callahan called the case of dissident Shi Tao "distressing" to Yahoo. He was sentenced last April to 10 years in prison. The company did not know who the Chinese government was targeting or what crime had been committed when Yahoo received a demand for information from Chinese law enforcement, he said.

"Let me state our view clearly and without equivocation: We condemn punishment of any activity internationally recognized as free expression, whether that punishment takes place in China or anywhere else in the world," Callahan said.


Legislation Threatened:

Representative Christopher Smith (R-New Jersey) said he plans to introduce legislation spelling out what actions U.S. companies must take when doing business in "repressive" countries. More than 80 dissidents and journalists have been arrested in China for posting information critical of the government on the Internet, he said. "These are not victimless crimes," said Smith, chairman of the House committee's Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations subcommittee. "We need to stand with the oppressed, not the oppressors."

Smith criticized Cisco, saying the company owns an estimated 60 percent of the Chinese market for networking gear. "Yet, Cisco has also done little creative thinking to try to minimize the likelihood that its products will be used repressively, such as limiting eavesdropping abilities to specific computer addresses," he said. Cisco can't control how governments use its network security equipment to block Web sites, said Mark Chandler, Cisco's senior vice president and general counsel. If China develops its own networking equipment, that will "exacerbate rather than solve the problems," he said.

END.

CONCLUSION:

I hope some form of legislation is enacted here in The USA, preventing Internet Providers from exporting technology to any foreign government, whose reputation is considered oppressive to it's people. And who is known to censor public information via the internet, the local media, television, the press, and any form of expression of Free Speech.

And a provision for harsh financial penalties if caught and found guilty!

Derryck S. Griffith.
Educator-Advocate & Blogger.
http://my.opera.com/BringBaka/
http://www.myspace.com/derryck_mimbari
http://Mimbari.neatvibe.com

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Scores Die Amid Shrine Fury:




Scores die amid Iraqi shrine fury!


More than 100 people have been killed in Iraq in apparent revenge attacks after the bombing of a key Shia shrine.

Scores of bullet-riddled bodies have been found in Baghdad, while in the bloodiest attack 47 factory workers were killed near the capital. President Jalal Talabani called an emergency summit of Iraq's political leaders to discuss the violence. Sunni Arab politicians boycotted the meeting and pulled out of coalition talks in protest at reprisal attacks.

"We are suspending our participation in negotiations on the government with the Shia Alliance," said Tareq al-Hashimi, a top official from the Iraqi Accord Front, Iraq's main Sunni Arab alliance. The Iraqi government has announced a daytime curfew in Baghdad and the surrounding provinces for most of Friday - in a bid to help maintain order around the period of prayers.

Dozens of Sunni mosques have been targeted and several burnt to the ground since bombers blew up the golden dome of the revered al-Askari shrine in Samarra on Wednesday morning, reports say. In a rare public rebuke, the main Sunni religious authority - the Association of Muslim Scholars - accused Iraq's top Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, of fomenting the violence.

I think Iraq is falling apart and there is nothing we can do about it Fred Mondini, Seattle. Ayatollah Sistani has urged Shias not to attack Sunni mosques, but a spokesman for the cleric said anger might be hard to contain. "You wouldn't expect an abrupt or sudden calm, because there are some people whose reaction you can't control," London-based Fadel Bahar al-Eloum told the BBC.

In other developments:

US President George W Bush calls the bombing of the shrine an "evil act" and appeals for an end to reprisal attacks. Tens of thousands of Lebanese Shia Muslims rally in Beirut in protest at the shrine attack. An angry crowd prevents Iraqi Housing Minister Jassem Mohammed's convoy from reaching the bombed shrine in Samarra. The Iraqi government cancels all police and army leave and extends the curfew in Baghdad.

'No-one safe:'

As violence showed no sign of abating, Iraq's leaders have increasingly warned of the dangers of a civil war. After meeting Shias, Kurds and leaders of a smaller Sunni group, President Talabani said in a televised broadcast if all-out war came "no-one would be safe", Reuters news agency reported. The attack on the al-Askari shrine - which will be seen as a direct assault on the identity and rights of an entire community - takes the danger of a civil conflict to a new level, the BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen says.

A civil war would destroy the chances of the elected Shia-led government which is still being formed following December's election, and could lead to the break-up of the country, he says.

Mounting toll:

In the heaviest single loss of life, the 47 factory workers were killed after being dragged out of their vehicles in Nahrawan, on the outskirts of Baghdad. The victims, aged between 20 and 50, had been travelling home from work in a convoy of buses when they were ambushed and shot dead.
it is not clear whether the murders are linked to the attack on the shrine or whether they are part of the general insurgency. Elsewhere, the bodies of a prominent al-Arabiya TV reporter and two of her crew, who had gone to cover the attack on the shrine, were discovered on Thursday morning.

Correspondent Atwar Bahjat's body was among the three found about 15km (10 miles) north of Samarra. At least 12 people died in a bomb attack on an Iraqi army patrol in the town of Baquba, while one person died in a gun attack on a Sunni mosque in the city. In other attacks, four US soldiers were killed near Hawijah, while three died near Balad, when their vehicles were hit by roadside bombs, the US army said on Thursday.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/4742188.stm

Published: 2006/02/23 20:58:49 GMT.

----------------------------------

CONCLUSION:

It is ironic that Moslems the world over demonstrated, burned Embassies, and other foreign offices, when the cartoons of the alleged prophet Mohammed was printed.

Now they are killing each other because a certain sect of Moslems, the (Sunni's) in Iraq, have allegedly bombed the Shia's most sacred shrine.

This all seems so trifling and devoid of reason, when you look at the two scenarios. One was caricatures of the prophet Mohammed, and the other a Sacred Shrine of the Shia sect of Islam.

This all looks like the Law Of Moses:

"An Eye For An Eye-And A tooth For A tooth."

Om Shanti.
Derryck. S. Griffith.
Educator-Advocate & Blogger.
http://my.opera.com/BringBaka/
http://www.myspace.com/derryck_mimbari
http://Mimbari.neatvibe.com
http://SpeakUpOrShutUp.neatvibe.com
http://boards.biography.com/profile.jspa?userID=500000003
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=6214633&uid=3062903

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Is Peace & Stability In Iraq Possible?


February 21-2006:


Peace & Stability In Iraq Is dependent Upon National Unity & Collaboration Of All Iraqis:

Foreword:

We entered Iraq to liberate the Iraqi nation from a tyrant, butcher, and one time occupier of his neighbor 'Kuwait We were told that this dictator Sadaam Husein had WMD's (Weapons Of Mass Destruction), or the potential to acquire them, and was poised to use them on his neighbors, Kuwait and possibly Iran.

These allegations overtime, with the occupation and thorough searches underground, in bunkers, tunnels, castles, and bungalows, came up empty. Plus the commission that was formed to investigate these allegations of WMD's in Iraq, and the reason for the USA & it's allies to invade that country, also found many flaws, un-substantive, and erroneous evidence, to validate these claims.

Today in Iraq, there is the on-going insurgency from native Iraqi peoples, foreign Arab Jihadists, Syrian Jihadists, and disgruntled former Iraqi military personnel, who were relieved of their uniformed military command and employment, government officials, and thousands more who were suspects of Sadaam's former security forces.

These people have families to provide for, homes to heat, children to educate, but have no jobs to go to. No employment, and no prospects. Therefore, in order to provide for self and family, most of these displaced and hated remnants of the former Bathist regime, will do whatever it takes to provide for their families.

Most will offer themselves, (and have been doing so), to the Arab Jihadists who are willing to pay large sums of money to anyone, who is willing to take on Jihad against foreign invaders and occupiers in Iraq.

That is basically the bottom line in the rise or fall of the insurgency in Iraq. With the foreign Jihadist elements willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of American & all other military forces from Iraq, they are prepared to target the Iraqi Police, the military, and any agency, or officials that work for, or seem to be in collusion with foreigners in Iraq. This continuous terror will never end, until full employment can be provided to most un-employed Iraqi's.

Essential services like water, sewerage, electricity, medical facilities, Policing, and total national internal security becomes relatively normal again. But these services are dependent upon security, and safety for the workers who manage/run them.

And a political climate with nationalistic feelings, that we are all in this together, regardless of whether we are Sunni, Shia, Christian, or some other ethnic or religious group.

Until that consciousness and resolve to work together as one nation, one people, with one destiny, is achieved, then all bets are off for the time being!

Om Shanti.
Derryck S. Griffith.
Educator-Advocate & Blogger.
http://my.opera.com/BringBaka/
http://www.myspace.com/derryck_mimbari
http://Mimbari.neatvibe.com
http://boards.biography.com/profile.jspa?userID=500000003

Monday, February 20, 2006

Historian Sentenced To Three Years For Free Speech!



February 20-2006:


Man Sentenced To Three Years In Austria For Denying The Holocaust:


Today in Austria a British historian was sentenced to three years in jail for saying in 1983, that the Jewish Holocaust never happened. He was sentenced under a statute law in Austria, that penalizes anyone who makes such claims.

This kind of penalty to my mind mimics those laws and actions one would expect only in totalitarian countries like North Korea, China, and even Cuba. If this is the prevailing attitude in a country that was used to house several Gas Chambers, and Internment camps for Jews, under Hitler's Nazi regime and it's genocidal actions upon Jews.

Then it is imperative to be more aware of the freedom to doubt any established views/claim. Even though it may be internationally accepted as fact. After all, Hitler's Nazi Party used the same methods to silence the German people into submission, with death, concentration, imprisonment, and expulsion, for those that opposed Adolph Hitler's Nazi policies.

What is at stake here to my mind, is the threat of political, and legal sanctions, for those who chose to assert their Right to Free Speech!

Om Shanti.
Derryck S. Griffith.
Educator-Advocate & Blogger.
http://my.opera.com/BringBaka/
http://boards.biography.com/profile.jspa?userID=500000003

Saturday, February 18, 2006

New Code Of Conduct For Internet Providers Who Operate In Totalitarian States:

February 18, 2006.


TO:
Chairman Smith,
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights, and International Operations
The Committee on International Relations
2170 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515


Dear Representative Smith, Representative Leach, members of the Committee on International Relations, Subcommittees on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations and Asia and the Pacific,

We at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) strongly agree with your Committee's concern that while United States Internet companies have the power to act as a force for good, they are increasingly becoming unwitting conduits for repression in authoritarian countries. EFF is the leading, and oldest organization working to promote freedom online and we understand the technical and policy issues well. We host one of the most linked-to websites on the Internet and remain one of the premier sources for information about Internet law and policy in the world.

Because of this, we understand how, without careful planning, internet routers can be turned into powerful wiretapping tools; web email servers can become a honeypot of stored communications plundered by state police to identify dissidents; and blogging services and search engines can turn from aids to free speech to easily-censorable memory holes. While we believe strongly in the opportunities created by the Internet and promoted by companies like Yahoo, Google, Microsoft and Cisco, we also recognize the risks created when they decide to do business in repressive countries such as China.

In considering how these companies might construct their services to best serve global human rights, we believe that simple guidelines, consciously followed, could significantly limit the damage caused by corporate engagement with these regimes. Both the U.S. government and American Internet corporations have a opportunity, and a duty, to defend human rights. While the best course of action of companies concerned about possible involvement in human rights violations and censorship is to avoid repressive regimes altogether, we understand that some companies will not choose that course.

For those that do not, we believe that working together, either under a voluntary code of conduct or statutory or regulatory requirements, these companies can turn their involvement in oppressive systems from an inevitable human rights liability to a neutral or maybe even positive act of engagement.

In order to aid you in your efforts, we make the following suggestions of topics that you should include in your upcoming discussions with these companies.

Limit Data Collection and Data Retention

The most dangerous information that Internet companies can have about their users is personally identifiable information. For those living under repressive governments, their Internet service’s ability to identify them as the person who made the search query about “democracy,” or sent the email reporting about human rights violations can literally make the difference between life and death.

With the stakes so high in countries like China, no Internet company should gather more information than they absolutely need about their customers and no Internet company should keep that information any longer than is absolutely necessary to provide the requested service.

Neither China nor any other major repressive country that we are aware of currently requires Internet companies to gather or keep identifying information in most circumstances. In order for companies to avoid becoming agents that enable ongoing human rights violations, they must change their current policies to avoid collecting personally identifiable data in the first instance and avoid keeping any data they collect any longer than absolutely necessary.

Increase Transparency and Bear Witness

To the extent possible, Internet companies should document government censorship efforts. Google and Microsoft have taken first steps in this direction, but whenever and wherever possible, Internet companies should note when websites have been removed or search items filtered away, and explain under what power the government forced them to act to remove content or hand over data. The companies should have a clear procedure for engaging with law enforcement, and regularly publish or report to Congress statistics, and case studies of how such procedures have worked in practice. Those companies should also document and publicize exactly what deal has been struck with the repressive governments. If they cannot publish the information within the country, they should do so without.

Even if companies are forbidden to reveal such crucial information even outside the country, they should still keep track. Bearing witness to human rights violations may be upsetting, but if honestly performed, can help in the inevitable truth and reconciliation process that should follow a people's return to freedom.

Doing business in developing countries with poor human rights records can be an act of optimism, built on a hope that by engaging and expanding the horizons of such a state, the values of human rights will eventually permeate the society.

When and if such a transformation occurs, it is imperative for lasting peace that that country's people can discover the truth about their past. Internet companies who choose to do business in repressive companies should ensure that when the truth can come out, it does.

Don't Do Direct Business with Forces of State Oppression

Companies should be prohibited from providing intentional ongoing support and assistance to those who abuse human rights in foreign countries. While many products such as filtering software, Internet monitoring programs and programs to unlock protected data can have multiple uses, American companies should not be actively and knowingly providing services that facilitate censorship or repression.

Offer Opportunistic Encryption with Internet Services

Internet companies like Google have easy technological shifts they can make to protect their users in repressive countries. One of the greatest gifts for evading surveillance and censorship online is built into every web browser: strong, near unbreakable encryption of web traffic. This encryption is generally reserved for high-security communications, such as banking and webmail applications. Many of the companies speaking today offer the majority of their services unencrypted: but it would be possible to offer the same facilities using optional Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption turned on. A search engine that allowed you to visit it as https://www.google.cn/ as well as http://www.google.cn/ would make little difference to the end-user. But repressive governments would be unable monitor or record what searches were being entered and what results were being provided.

Support Technologies that Innovate Around Censorship and Surveillance

Censorship of foreign sites by oppressive regimes is a limitation of free trade and free expression. The Internet benefits from technology that lets communication pass unhindered from one end to end. And citizens everywhere deserve the right to privacy. Free governments benefit from sponsoring anti-censorship and anonymizing software, such as those supported by the United States' International Broadcasting Bureau. But companies, too, stand to gain from investing in development that might lead to an opening of previously closed societies. If U.S. companies find that oppressive governments block or impede their Internet services, they should not simply give in to the threat. By working together on ways to surmount Internet control they will not only be providing wanted new products to 1.3 billion new customers, they will help open trade and communications between all countries, and all citizens.

Thank you for your attention to this important topic. We look forward to continuing to work with you. Please feel free to contact us to discuss these or other ideas further.

Sincerely,

---------------------------------
Adam Smith (D-WA 9th)
CC: Maria Cantwell (D-WA)

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

The Immigrant & Family Expectations!



Febryary 15-2006:



The Immigrant & Family Expectations:


Ever since the arrival of The Mayflower pilgrims, immigrants to The American shores have had family ties that haunted them throughout their lives. Some came from extended families in Asia, China, & Latin America. Where family responsibility rested primarily with the male offspring, who very often occupied the role of elder brother and provider.

Most of these men of different ages are expected to remember and contribute financially, to relatives back in their homelands. This is a cultural expectation and responsibility for most of these men. Who by and large have been educated, and re-oriented to the culture here in America, financially secure, and respected within their adopted communities, or groups.

But the cultural responsibility to support family left behind is never over, until all related kin are either comfortably provided for, or allowed to emigrate to America, and experience whatever benefits they could have for self improvement. Even some marriages are arranged by relatives back home, who may or may not identify one's potential mate or spouse.

And that custom is very often the tie that binds the successful male, and to show family and friends how successful he is here in America.

Failing to accommodate these cultural expectations for many men, can be disastrous mentally, socially, and spiritually. Because of the filial ties or connection, such cultures maintain among themselves. It is not a rare thing to hear an immigrant complaining of the dire need to earn more money to send back home to mother, or relatives.

This demand upon his earnings and expected responsibilities, cause many men to drink, use drugs, and get involved in criminal activities, so that they could accumulate enough money to support relatives back home.

Then there is the ethnic or racial expectations that must be considered too.

Some immigrant men/women may meet and fall in love with someone of a different ethnic or racial group. He/she could never contemplate marriage, because it would conflict with cultural expectations, that he/she must honor. Such as marrying within his/her own clan, group, or race. And those who are brave enough to defy tradition, risk castigation from family, friends, relatives, and fellow countrymen back home.

So regardless of whether you are male or female, as a foreigner in a foreign land, you are expected to represent those who are less fortunate than yourself back home. And everything you do, achieve, say, (positively or negatively), impact your fellow countrymen/women here, and in your homeland.

Om Shanti.
Derryck S. Griffith.
Guyanese.
New York City.
http://360.yahoo.com/derryck_mimbari
http://my.opera.com/BringBaka/
http://boards.biography.com/profile.jspa?userID=500000003

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Have A Happy-Joyful-Peaceful & Pleasant Valentine:




Hello!

Today Valentine is celebrated by people all over the world. You may or may not be celebrating this day particularly, but whatever you do.

Do so with reverence, respect for self, peacefully, joyfully, and with temperance.

Have a Happy-Pleasant & Joyful Valentine!

Om Shanti.
Derryck.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Can Google Be Trusted With Internet Security?



February 09, 2006



Consumers Should Not Use New Google Desktop!


San Francisco - Google today announced a new "feature" of its Google Desktop software that greatly increases the risk to consumer privacy. If a consumer chooses to use it, the new "Search Across Computers" feature will store copies of the user's Word documents, PDFs, spreadsheets and other text-based documents on Google's own servers, to enable searching from any one of the user's computers. EFF urges consumers not to use this feature, because it will make their personal data more vulnerable to subpoenas from the government and possibly private litigants, while providing a convenient one-stop-shop for hackers who've obtained a user's Google password.

"Coming on the heels of serious consumer concern about government snooping into Google's search logs, it's shocking that Google expects its users to now trust it with the contents of their personal computers," said EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. "If you use the Search Across Computers feature and don't configure Google Desktop very carefully-and most people won't-Google will have copies of your tax returns, love letters, business records, financial and medical files, and whatever other text-based documents the Desktop software can index.

The government could then demand these personal files with only a subpoena rather than the search warrant it would need to seize the same things from your home or business, and in many cases you wouldn't even be notified in time to challenge it. Other litigants-your spouse, your business partners or rivals, whoever-could also try to cut out the middleman (you) and subpoena Google for your files."

The privacy problem arises because the Electronic Communication Privacy Act of 1986, or ECPA, gives only limited privacy protection to emails and other files that are stored with online service providers-much less privacy than the legal protections for the same information when it's on your computer at home.

And even that lower level of legal protection could disappear if Google uses your data for marketing purposes. Google says it is not yet scanning the files it copies from your hard drive in order to serve targeted advertising, but it hasn't ruled out the possibility, and Google's current privacy policy appears to allow it.

"This Google product highlights a key privacy problem in the digital age," said Cindy Cohn, EFF's Legal Director. "Many Internet innovations involve storing personal files on a service provider's computer, but under outdated laws, consumers who want to use these new technologies have to surrender their privacy rights.

If Google wants consumers to trust it to store copies of personal computer files, emails, search histories and chat logs, and still 'not be evil,' it should stand with EFF and demand that Congress update the privacy laws to better reflect life in the wired world."

For more on Google's data collection:
http://news.com.com/FAQ+When+Google+is+not+your+friend/2100-1025_3

Contact:

Kevin Bankston
Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
bankston@eff.org

-------------------------------------------



AOL, Yahoo, and Goodmail: Taxing Your Email for Fun and Profit!


Remember the famous email rumor that made the rounds in the 1990s: "Congress is trying to tax your Internet connection, write in now!"

Well what wasn't true in the 1990s is apparently coming true in 2006, only the beneficiaries won't be Uncle Sam -- they will be Yahoo, AOL, and a company ironically called Goodmail. Yahoo and AOL have announced that they will guarantee access to your email inbox for email senders who pay $.0025 per message. They will override their own spam filters and webbug-strippers, and deliver the mail directly with a "certified" notice. In the process, it is likely that they will treat more of your email as spam, and email you're expecting won't be delivered.

This isn't really an anti-spam measure as much as a "pay to speak" measure. In fact, it probably won't diminish spam or phishing at all. Yahoo and AOL are ransoming your email boxes so that they can shake down ordinary people and organizations, whether individuals mailing their local bowling league or political groups communicating with their national memberships.

Email being basically free isn't a bug. It's a feature that has driven the digital revolution, allowing groups to scale up from a dozen friends to a hundred people who love knitting to half-a-million concerned citizens without a major bankroll. Spam is a real problem demanding real solutions, but taxing the Internet isn't one of them.

EFF urges AOL and Yahoo subscribers and those who communicate with them to tell them that taxing email is not the right way to go.

For more on the threat Goodmail poses:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004398.php

---------------------------------------------

Friday, February 10, 2006

The Israeli Government Refuses To Deal With HAMAS:




http://www.nytimes.com/

February 7, 2006:

By STEVEN ERLANGER


Israel to Cooperate With Palestinian Authority for Now will continue to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority and its interim government so long as Hamas is not represented there, the acting prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said Monday. He said Israel would maintain diplomatic relations with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, known as Abu Mazen, whose position was not directly affected by the sweeping victory of Hamas in the legislative elections late last month.

"I have no interest in harming Palestinian Authority chairman Abu Mazen, as long as he doesn't cooperate with Hamas and as long as the Palestinian government isn't led by Hamas," Mr. Olmert told an Israeli-European economic conference in Tel Aviv. "As long as it doesn't contain a Hamas government, we will speak and cooperate" with the Palestinian Authority "with the intention of strengthening those who acknowledge the right of Israel to live without terror and within safe borders," Mr. Olmert said.
As Palestinian president, Mr. Abbas oversees the security services as commander in chief.

But when Yasar Arafat was alive, the United States pressed for the creation of a new post of prime minister and a cabinet, both approved by the legislature. Under that arrangement, the prime minister is chairman of the Palestinian security council, and the interior minister is in charge of the various security forces. The election of Hamas, which will control the prime minister's post and the government, has made those arrangements awkward for the United States and for Mr. Abbas, who says he intends to try to regain full control over the Palestinian security forces and their budget. Israel and the West were taken aback by the victory of Hamas, a group they consider a terrorist organization, and are now looking to Mr. Abbas as if he, whom they criticized for weakness when his Fatah faction controlled the government, has somehow become stronger after Fatah's defeat by Hamas.

Mr. Olmert spoke one day after his government decided to transfer some $54 million in tax and customs revenues, collected by Israel but owed to the Palestinians, to the Palestinian Authority. But he warned that the money would not be given to a government containing Hamas figures.
Israel was under considerable pressure from the United States to release the money so the Palestinians could pay 140,000 employees, including some 58,000 members of the security services. But the payment was sharply criticized by the Likud Party as a gift to Hamas.

The United States is trying to put off the day that Hamas takes control until after the Israeli elections on March 28, so that financing can continue to flow to pay salaries. James D. Wolfensohn, the representative of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations - known as the quartet - will visit the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf region to raise up to $300 million for the Palestinian Authority. Even with the tax and customs receipts, the authority still has a monthly deficit of $50 million to $60 million. Saudi Arabia has pledged $100 million, and some states, like Qatar, have pledged a few million more to get the authority through January and February.

The World Bank trust fund withheld a payment of $60 million in December when the Palestinian Authority broke its commitment to be more fiscally responsible. The money is mostly from the European Union, and there is pressure from Washington to pay the money anyway. The World Bank would prefer to give the money back to individual donor countries for them to pay the Palestinians, rather than undermine its demands for structural reform.

The Palestinians, meanwhile, are dealing with the embarrassing fallout of a major corruption scandal among Fatah leaders of the Palestinian Authority.
Mr. Abbas ordered the investigation kept quiet until the Palestinian elections were over, but the Palestinian attorney general, Ahmed alMeghani, disclosed a corruption scandal on Sunday that could involve the stealing of billions of dollars by high-ranking Palestinian officials.

Mr. Meghani said he had arrested 25 people and issued warrants for others, some of whom who have fled the territories since Hamas won on Jan. 25. The disclosures are awkward, given the Palestinian Authority's current need for money. Hamas leaders gathered Monday in Cairo for talks with the Egyptians on a new Palestinian government. Hamas leaders have made contradictory statements about whether they would deal with Israel, and whether they would seek money from Iran, which opposes any peace treaty with Israel and already helps to finance Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another radical faction.

Separately, the Israeli organization Peace Now said Monday that the number of Israeli settlers living in occupied territory in the West Bank - not including East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed - increased in 2005 by about 7,000 to 250,000 settlers, even after the pullout of some 9,000 Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank last summer.

The settler population is increasing at 5.5 percent a year, Peace Now said, compared with a 1.8 percent for the overall Israeli population. No new West Bank settlement outposts were established in 2005, but 52 illegal outposts were established since March 2001, when Ariel Sharon became prime minister. Before his stroke, he promised Washington to get rid of them, though the Israeli government says that only 24 outposts constructed since March 2001 remain.

An additional 200,000 Israelis live in East Jerusalem, which much of the world regards as occupied but which Israel considers an integral part of its capital. Also on Monday, Israeli forces fired rockets at a car in northern Gaza, killing two Palestinians who it said were members of Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades.

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html
The New York Times Company
http://www.nytco.com/


CONCLUSION:

Regardless of whether the Israeli government wants to talk to Hamas or not, does not make any difference to the reality that HAMAS is the legitimate government of Palestine. And if Israel truly wants to continue the peace process, they should extend a hand of welcome to Hamas in 'good faith,' and hope that this gesture will indicate to Hamas that yesterday's mistakes and failed efforts belong to the past.

Now is the time for a new start in the direction of peace and co-operation, that hopefully will lead to the creation of a Palestinian sovereign state, existing alongside Israel in peace!

Derryck S. Griffith
Educator-Advocate & Blogger.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

What Is FREE Speech?




What Is Free Speech Really:

Free speech to my understanding, is the ability for the individual/s in society to voice his or her opinions, via the established media, the Internet, or face to face, or in a social setting. The right of free speech is as natural as mating or procreation. And to control or prevent this natural right to communicate with fellow humans, is evil, controlling, and inhibits normal human interaction.

But on the other hand, free speech must also be mindful of content, target audience, and the effect that the substance of that communique will have on the body politic, or social setting. Free speech must be mindful of divulging information entrusted to the receiver in confidence, or classified. Failing to observe confidential information that was intended for the receiver's eyes or ears only, connotes dis-respect, and blackmail.

That is why in every culture there is an established code of conduct with regard to individual privacy. Failing to observe certain parameters in social interaction, and social discourses, creates a situation of distrust, fear, mischief, and contempt.

It was Sir. Winston Churchill who said prior to the Normandy Invasion these words. "Loose lips-sink ships." This was in regard to the secrecy of the forthcoming invasion of Normandy, and the lethal consequences that can result, should the Germans get wind of these plans.

Therefore, free speech has personal responsibility that goes with it. Disregarding circumstance, custom, discretion, and personal privacy, can have dire consequences when we allow free rein , or wanton dis-regard for it's consequences.

Om Shanti.
Derryck S. Griffith.
Educator & Advocate.
http://profiles.yahoo.com/derryck-mimbari
http://my.opera.com/BringBaka/
http://faceparty.com/derryck_mimbari,

Friday, February 03, 2006

Freedom Of Speech Is Not Freedom To Insult:




Freedom Of Speech Is Not freedom To Insult:

The recent publication of the prophet Mohammed in a newspaper in Denmark, and repeated in France, was a direct insult to Moslems internationally. This caricature the prophet Mohammed was (among other things), portrayed wearing a sash with a lighted fuse in it. Which could be interpreted by viewers as indicative of a suicide bomber.

These malicious and insulting acts at portraying the messenger of Islam, only conveys contempt for that religion, and it's followers. Some western governments declared that under democracy, people have the right to free speech, via the media or press. But in the Moslem world, it is viewed as an insult to their religious personage, and an insult to Islam .

Thousands took to the streets of several Islamic/Moslem oriented countries, in protest to this outrage. Some shouted for Jihad, while others shouted death to the UK, death to the West, and death to the infidels of Islam. Others asked whether the West would have accepted such an insult to Christianity or Jesus!

Whatever the motive, this act was contemptuous, hateful, tactless, and bigoted. What on earth was this person thinking when he/she decided to publish these caricatures, in a climate of severe religious sensitivities, especially in light of the current wars in Iraq & Afghanistan.

I sincerely hope that reason, restraint, and rational thinking will prevail.

Om Shanti.
Derryck S. Griffith.
Educator & Advocate.

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