Another African nation takes a step backward in its pursuit of "Democracy"

At some this morning I receive the following e-mail from a friend who knows I am interested in African politics...

For those of you who do not know, Kenya had an election on Thursday. It will be in the media very soon. It has taken a turn for the worse. In fact, if I could have predicted a worse scenario, I would have been stumped to come up with a clusterfuck like what they have right now. Because you will have many media sources now barraging you, I just wanted to give you all a quick run down, since I've been glued to the media coverage, including watching Kenyan television live online (which is really cool - for the commercials) for the last few days. 

Basically, and it's tough to make this basic, the election began with two major contestants. The incumbent, Kibaki, was down by about a million votes two days ago, with the challenger, Raila Odinga, leading promisingly from throughout the country. The president only seemed to garner support from his home Central Province.  In the last 24 hours, the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK), has announced results that have put Kibaki suddenly in the lead by 200,000 votes. Despite riots and cries by the ECK's own officials that there was considerable rigging involved, including a 115% voter turnout (think about that) in one of the president's primary support areas, the ECK went ahead this morning and announced Kibaki the new president. His party was solidly defeated, with his VP and 20 of his 24 ministers having been defeated by the challengers, ODM, who took 100 parliamentary seats to the president's 20. [Last reliable report was ODM had 95 seats out of 210, but only 185 districts were reporting.] However, as soon as the election results were declared, only one station, the government station, was allowed to broadcast. They then immediately cut to an inauguration ceremony where Kibaki was immediately sworn back into power. A delay of maybe one hour between the results being announced and the president being sworn in. Despite all international election observers and and ECK itself admitting that there are serious problems with the vote counting and that there was serious fraud in regions supporting the president, Kibaki was officially sworn in.

What happens next? At least 10 different towns in Kenya erupt in flames and violence. Gikuyus (of the president's ethnic group) are being lynched around the country. Good friends of mine cannot go home because their neighborhoods are in flames. It gets worse - the government immediately ordered all live media broadcasts cut, forbid all reporting of politics (making political reporting therefore illegal in Kenya), and even phone interviews with Kenya. Hence, this email is revolutionary in a sense. I've been on the phone with Kenyans, who are living in an utter blackout, with no media broadcasts and gunfire and flames everywhere. And it's the middle of the night there. All opposition leaders, including Odinga and the other ODM leaders have reportedly been arrested. [Although now it looks like they may not have, although they have definitely been publicly threatened with arrest if they go through with their planned protest on Monday.] Nairobi is in fire. People are running out of food in their houses, stores have been looted, and nobody has money because banks are closed. My friends are mostly safe. Most are planning to flee to Tanzania as refugees if things get any worse.

[....]

...this is political violence, NOT TRIBAL. Although, unfortunately, people are apparently currently being butchered based on their ethnic background.

The U.S. State department has issued a statement congratulating the Kenyan people and Kibaki on the voter turnout and calling to stop to the unrest.

As the email, says current coverage has been spotty. The best I could find was on BBC.

Once again this is a sad day for the entire African Continent. Unfortunately this is not a rare occurrence throughout the continent. In my own country, Paul Biya, president since I've been alive, won stole another election. For those of us who see the potential of Africa and African people news like this is very confusing and frustrating. Leaders that brought the continent out of colonialism are now the same one that taking it back by decades because they do not want to leave power.

 

Technorati Tags: Kenya,Kibaki,Africa

2007 Goals Reviewed...

At the end of every year, I like to go back and look at the goals set for myself at the beginning of the year and see how I did. In 2007 I set 10 goals for myself and I think I can do pretty well.

1. Start a Grad degree program or Take the LSATs - I accomplished this goal.  I enrolled at UMUC's MBA program.  So far the program has been very interesting and I've learned a lot. 
2. Volunteer 100 hours - This goal is  a bit hard to quantify.  The girl and I volunteered at WAMU's spring fundraiser early in the year.  Since then I've done tons for pro-bono work for Future Leaders for America and new start up non-profit named "Be The Change" headed by the founder of City Year.
3. Read 6 books - I only partially accomplished this goal.  I read To Kill a Mocking Bird, Kite Runner, Between Worlds The Making of an American Life and currently finishing All the President's Men.  I also read multiple books for class, but those don't count towards this goal. Unfortunately, I did not read any books in French
4. Increase my Net worth by 25% - I don't know that my net worth increased by 25% since I did not do a good job  keeping track on my finances this year.  However, my school loans and car loan significantly decreased.
5. Visit 5 new places/Visit friends in other cities - I went to San Diego,CA, Woodstock, NY and Nashua, NH. I also went camping but I did sleep in the car.  Nothing exciting but a good break from the city.
6. Reconnect with my family abroad - Thanks to Skype, I made great progress on this goal.   That's being said, there is still a lot left to do.
7. Create 2 Commercials Websites/Freelance More - I did some freelancing this year.  However,  most of it related to the pro-bono work that I mentioned in goal # 2. 
8. Be better a friend - You win some, you lose some.  Made new friends and lost touch with some old friends, but overall I feel good about the friends that I've made and the one's I have been able to keep in touch with.
9. Not to buy a bigger TV - Yeap, we still own a 27" TV.  But at least it's HD.
10. Monthly update on my goals on [my blog] - I completely failed at this.  No more comments needed.

Overall I feel good about the way 2007 went down.  Things weren't always easy or pleasant, but I feel that I held my own and I've grown stronger and wiser for it.

Time to refocus

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.  I went up to New Hampshire to celebrate the holiday with the gf and her family.  Needless to say it was freezing.  Beside that, I had very pleasant experience.  It was def to refreshing to be out of the city and not check my email on a hourly basis even if I have a blackberry.  The holiday was full of cooking, eating and conversation.  The highlight of the trip was by far learning how to play chess.  Despite my abysmal record of 2 and 15, I still think I'm hot issh for learning how to play.

Being in NH for the last couple of days, made me realized that I've spread myself to thin and I lost focus on what I want to do and what's important.  I enjoy being busy and having a lot to do and being constantly on the go.  However, I've come to the realization that it's not really leading me anywhere fast.  So I will take the remainder of the year to close up and a couple of outstanding projects on focus most, if not all, my energy on breaking in the public policy field while staying financially afloat and Class.  Web Dev has been great and I learned a lot from many people.  In reality, I will not be completely out of Web Dev for while.  Since entry level jobs in public policy don't pay much,  I will probably continue to do work on freelance basis.  That being said, short of starting my own company, I've lost the interest to do it full time for an extended period of time.  I enjoy  being a geek on  my own time much more than in an office.  It's time to commit more time and energy to  my other passion, politics.  Wish me luck.

My first time in a Synagogue

This past weekend I got a chance to a attend a Jewish service for the first time.  Although I have a number of Jewish friends and I've dated several Jewish girls (I can hear you saying it DK4), I've never attended to a Jewish service.  Over the weekend, the gff's grandfather celebrated his 83rd birthday and decided to have a second Barmitzvah.  I was invited along and decided to go.  For starters, Upstate NY is beautiful in the fall.  I could have spent all weekend walking around and taking pictures. If you haven't done  Upstate NY in the fall, I highly recommend it before it becomes beach front property.  The service itself was nothing like I've experienced.   It is hard to put into words what made it so different.  I've been to church where there is descent amount of singing and I've attended church in Latin so the Hebrew didn't really get to me even though it was a bit a difficult to read and sing along. I think the atmosphere is really what made an impact on me.   Everyone seemed genuinely happy and not just relieved and putting up a front, which is a feeling I often get when I attend church. The relative lack of curiosity about me and my background, though I stood out, was very refreshing.  Two parts of the service that stood out the most were when the gff's granfather mentioned me as part of the family in his remarks, tough I've yet to be receive a ring from a certain someone, and when he read a story he had written about the death of his mother when he was 14.  It was a very touching piece.  It brought a tear to my eye -- there goes all my manliness.  All in all, it was good a experience and I would do it all again. I'm not sure it's for everyone but I do encourage visiting a place of worship outside your religion. However I've been warned not all synagogue are as "liberal" as the one we attended.  Next stop: a Mosque.

And if you were wondering, I wore a yamaka too.

The .CM scam

It's always good when your country of origin makes it around the blogsphere for a scam the government agreed to be a part of.   I first saw the story on Michael Arrington's TechCrunch.

The .CM pages are served based on a wildcard. If the domain has not been registered, the user is redirected to agoga.com. Since the redirects are taking place via a wildcard, and domains are not actually being registered, there is little trademark holders can do to fight this (other than register the domain themselves).

It seems the big companies are the ones that are most affected/annoyed by this scam except for one: Yahoo.  It  seems that Yahoo was actually smart enough to buy yahoo.cm domain.  You can read more about the guy behind the scan CNN money article.  I think this is deplorable and it's really shows how easily government in developing countries can be taken advantage of.  Hopefully, the Cameroonian government will move away from this deal as soon as it can.

Technorati tags: Cameroon, Internet

More on Immigration

Unless you've been living under rock over the last week, you're probably aware of the new immigration bill that will be debated on senate floor over the coming weeks.  Although I feel that we are moving in the right direction when it comes to immigration reform, this bill is not enough.  I could sit here and list out everything that I think is wrong with the bill, but every media outlet has already covered that part since the announcement of the bill last week.  This bill is not enough because the bill fails to address why people come to the U.S. and why they stay.   Before Congress passes any sort of immigration reform, the president should ask congress to commission a nationwide study/survey on immigration, preferably by an organization with no political agenda but I would settle for a bi-partisan committee. Before the survey is conducted, its design (and including the questions) should be scrutinized by 10 randomly chosen research universities of top 100, of which no more than 5 should be private institutes and no more than 3 should be ivy league schools (No offense to ivy league school but they have the reputation of being too liberal).  This would be give more credibility and it will be withstand more criticism after the results have come out.   The survey should aim to provide answers to the following questions: 

1. What are the reasons why people come to the U.S.?  2. 
2. How do immigrants, both illegal and legal, get here?
3. How do immigrants gain employment?
4. What are illegal immigrants' wages compared to U.S. citizens?
5. What is the cost of an U.S. Citizen worker compared to a illegal immigrant worker?
6. What are industries that attract the most illegal immigrants?
7. What are the reason why these industries are attracting so more immigrants?
8. What is the percentage of illegal immigrants that use public services?
9. What is the percentage of illegal immigrants that pay taxes?
10. What is the percentage of illegal immigrants that would want to reside here permanently? (if they could travel more freely back to country of origin)

Based on the result of the survey, congress should then pass laws that would address the situation accordingly.  The laws should be passed and implemented gradually. For example, if the survey/study shows that a guest work program is necessary, we should pass a law to introduce one, get it up and running (well as well as anything in the fed gov can get up and running), before passing another law.  The gov is having problems enforcing the laws on the books as it is, passing new laws will not not make the immigration problem disappear.

This plan of mine seems a bit unrealistic and would take a while to implement, but we have to start thinking of immigration the same way we think of terrorism.  It's always going to be around all we can do is curtail it.  Short term and reactionary thinking is not the way to go.

Currently listening to: The Swell Season

I fumbled on today's album while listening to a review  of the movie once (IMDB, Trailer) on NPR.  The music in the background caught my fancy so I decided to Google the movie and find out if it had a soundtrack.  I found that it did, but it will not be released till Tuesday.  Clearly I didn't want to settle for that.  After a bit more digging, I discovered that the main characters of the movies, played by Glen Hansard of The frames and Marketa Irglova, had previously collaborated on an album titled The Swell Season.  As always, I used good ' ole Rhapsody to find the album and take a listen.  After all that digging around, the album did not disapoint.  It's pretty much the type of music I enjoy listening to at all times.  It's very Damien Rice-esque.  Great Lyrics, great accoustic guitar play accompanied with various instruments.  The voices on both artists compliment so well to create soothing and relaxing music that would leave you feeling very composed in the middle of a hurricane.  I enjoyed every track on the ablum but my favorites were Falling Slowly and This Low.  I would def recommened buying the entire CD.  It's worth mentioning also that The frames stuff is also good.

NPR Says:

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova never set out to make a record: The two musicians had toured Europe together on and off, but that was mostly to provide a break from Hansard's long-running main band, The Frames. Then Hansard and Irglova were approached to record a pair of songs for a Czech film -- and given four days in the studio, which they spent recording enough material for a full record, complete with the accompaniment of strings.

The result is 10 quietly brilliant songs, each built around piano, acoustic guitar, violin, cello and the two headliners' soft, sweet voices. Serious emotion bubbles beneath the melodies: The songs are optimistic in spots, but more often somber or desolate. Named for a work by one of Hansard's favorite Czech authors, The Swell Season is a lovely sleeper -- and a must for Frames fans as they await the 2007 release of the Irish band's The Cost.

[David Dye]

Technorati tags: music, Glen Hansard, Marketa Irgolove, Once, The swell seaon

Currently listening to...

I would like to apologize for the not doing an entry the past two Fridays. Commitments...well not this week. 

With the coming out of the Spiderman 3, I figured I should check out the album.  Say what you want about big production movies, but I like them because they come with video, soundtrack, happy meal toy and fashion items all at the same time. Now that's marketing... With the line up including the Snow Patrol, The Killers and Jet, I really expected more from the album.  These groups pulled up their weight and made a great half of the soundtrack but the rest of the bands definitely dropped the ball.  The black Mountain and The Flaming Lips sounded high and like they were preaching hippie love of the sixties. Not that there is anything wrong with that, just not what I'm looking for a in a superhero soundtrack.  The most out of place song on the album is The Twist by Chubby Checker... yes, it's the song you're thinking of.  My favorite son on the soundtrack has to be Signal Fire by Snow Patrol (youtube video. same as below).  I wouldn't recommend this CD. Just get the good tracks on Itunes or something. Complete let down compare to the soundtrack of the Spiderman 2.  

Rhapsody says:

Spider-Man 3 touches on the subject of duality. When a mysterious black suit brings out the evil side of our hero, he is caught between two opposing personas. Fitting then that the soundtrack features a similar duality. Sensitive-guy anthems like Snow Patrol's "Signal Fire" and introspective ballads like Simon Dawes' "Scared Of Myself" provide an emotional side to the soundtrack. This contrasts nicely with a harder-rocking selection of songs including "Pleased To Meet You," a meaty new tune by Wolfmother, and the Killers' muscular "Move Away."

[Eric Shea]

Currently listening too...

Swizz beats' latest single. It just matches my current mood. I've been listening to it all aftertoon.

Don Imus part 2...

Go grab some snacks this is a long one...

As I do most Sunday mornings, I woke up to  watch the Sunday morning political TV shows. Clearly the big topic on hand today was the Don Imus/Rutgers controversy. Everyone, from Russ Parr ( a Nationally Syndicated black DJ) to Gwen Ifill of PBS (including the sport reporters from ESPN) got a chance to share their two cents about the subject. What I heard today on the various shows left me speechless and frustrated.

Most of the discussions lacked sincerity and were full of hypocrisy. First of all most than half the people on these shows have been on the Don Imus' show multiple times over the course of his 20 years of tenure to promote books, organization, causes and etc... They have come to know Imus are have befriended him. Asking these people to then discuss this issue, is in essence asking them to participate in a public lynching of a "friend." If my friend messes up, although I may tell them in private they screwed up pretty bad, I will go to bat for them in the public arena. That's what friends do. To ask this journalists to do otherwise is asking a bit much of them, especially after the guy lost his job.

These discussions were too politically correct. First off, the token black analyst, be it Ifill, Donna Brazile (whom i have a great deal of respect for), Clarence Page or Colby King (very impressive resume) gets the first crack at the issue. Just because they are black doesn't mean they should get the first say on the issues. I think this actually frames the discussion as a black issue, which is not. This is a NATIONAL issue. As Imus showed us, blacks are not the only using these derogatory terms, they are not the only ones purchasing the CDs, and they are not the only giving a platform to hip hop artists. I also felt that discussions were not genuine from some of the participants as they should have been. David Brooks of the New York Times went out this way not to step on Ifill's toes while discussing this (see transcript starting the bottom of page 2). One can argue that Brooks did it out of courtesy to her since she had been personally "attacked" by Imus, which would be a refreshing change in today's world of personal attacks politics. However until we can have an honest conversation, one in which every side can express than views and opinions without fear of offending any other side, we are just going to sweep this issue under the rug and come back to it in a couple of months, best case scenario-- in a couple of years.

Two names that were in every one of these panels were Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Sharpton and Jackson are men whose accomplishments and work should be heralded in American history. These two men have fought valiantly for civil rights of black Americans and for that we should forever be grateful. However, the fight has changed and you can't teach old dogs new tricks. No longer are their tactics and goals in sync with the ones of the rest of the African American community. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that most of the blacks in the country no longer consider these men to be leadership figures. The mainstream media is one of the reasons why these men have stayed in the forefront of the news. The media has failed to introduce any new voices to racial debates. Your guess is as good as mine as of why this is the case. Moreover, the mainstream media has failed to accurately represent the diverse views and opinions within the black community itself when having these discussions. The other reason why these two have been able to continuing to "speak for" the blacks in the country is lack of new leaders to step up to plate and fight the hard fights. An example of this would be Harold Ford Jr., former Congressman of Tennessee. Ford ran for Senate with an endorsement from Imus (interview transcript), but when Imus was under fire Ford was no where to be found. If you're going to ask black Americans and the rest of the country to take you seriously as leader, you must be able to fight tough fights. Harold could have have help framed the debate on race,sex, and language in the country and propel himself in the national spot light as an alternative to Sharpton and Jackson. To be fair to Ford, just because you're running for office doesn't mean you want to be seen as spokesperson for the entire black community. Look at Condie Rice. Needless to say that Ford and I will no longer friends on Facebook.

Lastly, although he doesn't play nice with other reports sometimes, I want to leave you with this article and video from Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star (formerly of ESPN). I clearly don't agree with every word he says, but I agree with his main points.

What are your thoughts on the subject?  I'm really interested in hearing what my peers have to say on this issues. If you don't feel confortable leaving a comment, feel free to shoot me an email at policts  at makembe dot com.

Sorry for the Novel.

UPDATE:  Knojo Nnamdi had a show today about the future of the NAACP.  Take a listen.  It's about time this discussion reaches the public.

Currently listening too...

A Friend of a friend that somewhat follows the blog suggested that I check out the Plain White Ts' Here There Delilah.  I liked the song so I checked out the rest of the album, All that we needed.   I was less than impressed but decided to give them another chance.  So I listened to their most recent album title Every Second Counts. This one was not much better.  But I like the tracks Making a Memory  and Write You A song.  The single Hate (I Really don't Like You) came off of this album. Although I liked Hey There Delilah, I did not much like the rest of their stuff. Their music is like Similar to Fall Out Boy, The All-American Rejects and My Chemical Romance (I only know about the last group because of one my ex). I guess that makes sense since Rhapsody lists them all under Punk-pop, which I'm not a big fan off but Enjoy the video. 

My take the Don Imus controversy

That's some nappy-headed hos there, I'm going to tell you that

[Don Imus -- Video]

Don Imus has since apologized for that comment.  He's gone on the Al Sharpton radio show to, as he put it, "face the music".   But tons of people are still calling for his resignation.  What Imus was wrong, very wrong.  But that aside there are few thing that I like to point out.

• There is great hypocrisy that exist in the Black community and other minorities communities.  Chris rock has said much worse and has received standing ovations.   Carlos Mencia, of the comedy central, is so offensive that I can't give him more than five minutes of my time. The much beloved Tupac Shukar and Eminem have both referred to C. Dolores Tucker, a well known civil right activist, as "Bytch", "Slut" and "mutterfucker",  when she took a stance against using the same type of sexist rhetoric that Don Imus used to refer to the Rutgers basketball team.  The NAACP then try to award him with an image award.  Can you imagine the uproar, if any country music singer was to refer to MLK as anything but national hero and receive an award from the CMA ?  Call it edgy, call it cool, call it artistic, call it whatever you want, but the fact of the matter is that when this type of rhetoric comes from people we like, most of us don't have a problem turning our head the other way.   This can't be case.  If we allow people who are part of the community to use these offensive terms, we have to be ready to allow other people to also use them.  We can not appropriate words that have a clearly negative connotation in history, reintroduce in the pop culture vernacular and then complain when people of different race  use these same words.  No one has ever been offended by "Black is Beautiful" (Not referring to Guinness).  If we want people to stop using negative words, we have to show by example and not just complain when some we don't like uses it.  There are some (book) in the African American community that criticize the type speech no matter who it comes from and should be commended for that and also try to educate the community about why they shouldn't be used outside academia.
• For all uproar, very few people really care about the issue.  Calling for Imus' firing is the correct thing to do for at the moment.  This nation has very deep rooted racial problems that no one is ready to deal with and as longs as the right hands are greased and you're not to public about it, it's Ok.  Remember Trent Lott?

  When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years, either

  [Wikipedia - Trent Lott Entry]

  He resigned over that comment. But guess where he is now? Oh yeah. He is the Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate.  Clearly the people really upset about his comments made sure to keep the lid on him.  Remember George Allen and the macaca controversy? Well he is now a Regan Scholar at the Young America's Foundation.  Again what happened to all those people who were so outraged by his comments?

• This shows the failure of the NAACP as organization.  It shows how this organization has failed to evolve as racial issues in this country take on a different facade.  It's has not attempted any education campaign about the new issues facing the different races and to how to best deal with them.   This is not the first time this happens, nor will it be the last.  They could partner up with other minorities organizations, come with a curriculum, and lobby the Congressional Black caucus to have a law passed that mandates TV/Radio host must pass this class and be re-certify every so often.  Of course that means that they have to update the curriculum and I really have no faith that they can do that.  I think ESPN does more during black history month than the NAACP does all year. 
• For the bad things he said, Imus did all say the Tennessee team was "cute".  The Tennessee team is composed of 8 black females.  Was that comment racist or sexist?

If you've been following this story, what's your take?

Currently Listening too...

 I can't remember the last time Timbaland released an album.  So when I saw that he was dropping a new album titled "Shock value" this week, I was all about it.  Since the last album he dropped, he's made beats for Justin Timberlake, Bubba Sparxxx, Nelly Furtado, and countless others.  Listening to this album, the beats lived up to the hype.  They showchase Timbaland's genius for creating beats and bringing together different style, cultures and make work well  to together. However, lyrically, this was not his strongest outing. For the most part, he sings the chorus and seems to be guest artist on most of the tracks.  I guess no one ever loved him for his lyrics.  For those of you who can't get enough of Timberlake , you can find him on most of tracks.   I can seem a one or two club bangers on the album but not much more.  I was quite disappointed. I would not by the album but my favorite tracks are:

1. Oh Timbaland
2. Bombay
3. Apologize
4. Give to me.

Rhapsody says:

By 2007, Timbaland got dance-flavored pop down to a science: giant, jittery bass lines; loose, snaking melodies; a guest roster that included some of the biggest names in music. Tim's sexy surrogate Justin Timberlake pops up on a few tracks (the best of which is "Give It To Me," where Nelly Furtado stops by for a threesome), but the real shock will come later when the legendary hip-hop producer teams up with Fall Out Boy ("One and Only"), the Hives ("Throw It on Me") and Elton John (the surprisingly decent "2 Man Show").

[ Sam Chennault ]

If you've listned to the album, what did you think of it?

Currently Listening too...

If you don't already know this I'm a big fan of Grey's (Yea you read that right) and the music played during the episodes. While browsing on Rhapsody's playlist central, I found the playlist for season 1 and season 2.  I don't know who took the time out of their very busy day to compile the list but I appreciate it.  I like them both, but season 2 playist has become my default Non Damien rice music. So I figured I would share.  Other Playlists I have include O.C. Season 1 & 2, Entourage Season 1 & 2, Songs produced by the Neptunes and one named "Dublin City Transit" which is basically alot of European song writers and band.

If you have a favorite playlist, please share. Always looking for new music.

Press the play button to list to 25 songs. I think you skip around but i'm not sure.

Playlist   Click on the play button below to listen to this playlist
	Grey's Anatomy Season 2
	Track  Artist  I Want Candy  Bow Wow Wow  Step Away From The Cliff  Blue-eyed Son  Looking At The World From The Bottom Of A Well  Mike Doughty  Everyday Is a Holiday (With You)  Esthero  Feel So Free  Ivy  The City (Soundtrack)  Joe Purdy  Suddenly I See  KT Tunstall  Just A Ride  Jem  Beautiful (Single)  Goldfrapp  What Can I Say  Brandi Carlile  Sleep  Get Set Go  Ruby Blue  Roisin Murphy  Fools In Love  Inara George  Song Beneath The Song  Maria Taylor  Catch My Disease  Ben Lee  I Fought The Angels  The Delgados  Infinity  Merrick  When I Come Home  Blue-eyed Son  I Hear The Bells  Mike Doughty  Not Tonight  Tegan and Sara  Don't Forget Me  Way Out West  Blood and Peanut Butter  Bc Camplight  The City Limits  Umbrellas  Today Has Been Okay  Emiliana Torrini  Chewing Gum (Vocal mix)  Annie  Since You've Been Around  Rosie Thomas  Other Side Of The World  KT Tunstall  No Sleep Tonight  The Faders  Bang Bang To The Rock'N'Roll  Gabin  I Melt With You  Nouvelle Vague  New Song (From Me To You)  Dressy Bessy  Serenade  Emiliana Torrini  Too Hard  Mark McAdam  Not going anywhere  Keren Ann  Sad Eyes  Josh Rouse  Lotion  Greenskeepers  Crying Shame  Get Set Go  You And Me  Lifehouse  High (Album Version)  James Blunt  Tears And Rain (Album Version)  James Blunt  Sunnyroad  Emiliana Torrini  War On Sound (Edit)  Moonbabies  Hide Another Mistake  The 88  Ride  Cary Brothers  Break Your Mama's Back  Slow Runner  Monster Hospital (MSTRKRFT Remix)  Metric  I Got Some Moves  Sam Winch  Someone To Love  Kate Earl  Scratch  Kendall Payne  Just In Case  Leeroy Stagger  Miniature Disasters  KT Tunstall  In The Sun  Joseph Arthur  Stay Where You Are  Ambulance Ltd.  World Spins Madly On  The Weepies  Back In The Wild  Greenskeepers  Breathe (2 AM)  Anna Nalick

New JibJab Video

What We Call the News | Send To Friends | Funny Animations at JibJab

[via TechCrunch]

Not as funny as the other ones but still pretty good.

Currently listening to...

John Mayer - comfortable

This probably ranks as my Top 10 favorites songs of all time. Can't get sick it.  I have to credit my friend Don for introducing me to John Mayer's music back in college. I do prefer listening to his acoustic stuff instead stuff produced in the studio.

The 5 (or more) Percent.

He believes that some percentage of whites—perhaps 5 percent or so, intent on being seen as less biased than they may be—will claim to support a nonwhite candidate when they actually do not.

[ Ronald Walters - Newsweek ]

For those of you who don't follow politics, many studies (as well as election results) have shown that black candidates poll 5 percent (some say the figure is higher. so I’m using the least conservative figure) higher than they receive votes. Many, like the professor quoted above, say that it because some white voters say that they plan to vote for black candidates when they intentions of doing so. Over the last year or so I’ve be fascinated by this. Not because the black politicians are not receiving the votes, but by why people, no matter their race, feel the need to conceal their real feelings about a certain candidate because of his/her skin color. I really want to know when this got started. Have the candidates been closing the gap outside predominately black areas? Some suggest they have. What are current campaigns doing to address this issue? Let’s face if they are not aware of it, they shouldn’t be running a campaign. More importantly have we become a society so obsessed to politically correctness that some voters are afraid of telling how to actually feel about a certain candidate? If that is the case we are doing so at our own detriment.

Let’s use Obama as an example (this is not an endorsement). If polls do not reveal that is he in fact trailing his white counterparts then his campaign does not have a chance to go an education campaign to address the concerns (assuming they are valid) of those people that comprise the 5 percent. As a result, he loses the election. Not only do we fail to make history, but would also fail, once again, to address deep-rooted racial issues in this country on a national scale using various news outlets and different mediums and without involving the evermore powerless NAACP (another organization I’m not a fan right now) and their stomp speech.

As I look to enter the political arena someday this is something I will continue to monitor.

My dilema with the Red Cross...

Ever since I've turned 18, I've not been a fan of the red cross.  As a matter of fact it's that top of list of organizations(not corporations) that I dislike.  Why do dislike the red cross?  They won't let me know give blood because I'm from Cameroon.

HIV, AIDS
You should not give blood if you have AIDS or have ever had a positive HIV test, or if you have done something that puts you at risk for becoming infected with HIV.

You are at risk for getting infected if you:

• have ever used needles to take drugs, steroids, or anything not prescribed by your doctor
• are a male who has had sexual contact with another male, even once, since 1977
• have ever taken money, drugs or other payment for sex since 1977
• have had sexual contact in the past 12 months with anyone described above
• received clotting factor concentrates for a bleeding disorder such as hemophilia
• were born in, or lived in, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea,Gabon, Niger, or Nigeria, since 1977.
• since 1977, received a blood transfusion or medical treatment with a blood product in any of these countries, or
• had sex with anyone who, since 1977, was born in or lived in any of these countries. Learn more about HIV Group O, and the specific African countries where it is found.

[Red Cross - Blood Donations Eligibility Guidelines]

I would understand the guidelines if it allowed for exceptions but as far as know they don't (I've been on this is a blood drive organized back in college).  So in situation like the one today where local bloods banks are experiencing a shortage in blood and have to delay surgeries, I can not give blood even tho I'm perfectly healthy have about decade worth of AMERICAN medical records to back up my claims.  Fine I will keep my blood,  suckas!  The two things really irk are these overreaching guidelines are:

• In case of a emergency where a family member may be involved, the hospitals may refuse to accept my blood because I don't meet to the guidelines above.  How messed up is that? 
• If I want to donate blood, I could easily lie on the form and there is no way for them to double check the information I've provided.  I have to lie to do something good? How backwards is that?

This really pisses me off.  Although I would not call for a boycott of the Red Cross, I think there should should a way by which I can ask for a exemption or lobby the organization to change its guidelines.

Currently listening to...

I found out about predo the lion while reading this entry from the plugg.  They seem to have something similar to what I've been doing the past couple of Fridays, where each of the contributors picks the song of the week.  I listened to all the  recommendations but  Options, by Pedro the lion, caught my attention more than the rest because of its' lyrics that were posted on the entry.

I can never divorce you
Without a good reason
And though I may never have to
It’s good to have options

But for now I need you…

I don't know why but the those lyrics speak volume to me and made me want to listen to the rest of the album.  I rhapsodied (that's a new word) them and listend the rest of the album, Control,  and I couldn't get myself to stop listening (maybe because I was at work and I was busy).    The all knowing from Rhapsody categorize them under on the indie rock. If  I had to describe their sounds I would say more emo than anything else.   

Rhapsody says:

Pedro the Lion are the brainchild of David Bazan, who proves himself to be a thought-provoking, ambitious songwriter. He even makes a "concept" album about the machinations of a scheming, self-righteous politician and his drunkard of a brother sound like an intimate confession of personal tragedies and foibles. His voice is full of a tangible world-weariness, and his metaphorical lyrics jump out with real power. The band's music is spartan, as Bazan arranges many songs for only his voice and guitar: other tracks find him playing bass, drums and simple keyboard lines. This minimal setting allows for the dynamic shifts to have greater impact as he alternates between folkie, melodic tunes and up-tempo rockers rife with lovely, intertwining harmonies between the guitar, bass and vocals. Other numbers are slow and melancholic, sometimes recalling the austere work of Bedhead. Bazan's music doesn't always hand the listener answers on a silver platter, but for those willing to invest a little time, this is rich and rewarding Indie Rock.

- Will Lerner

On a parting note, If you like indie music, The Judge and I remcommend that you check out Daytrotter. They have alot of content about indie music as well as MP3s that you can download free of charge. And their albumg reviews are much better than mine with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. On the off chance that you also like to attend concerts and you have itunes, you should download iConcertCal, it will create a personalized calendar of upcoming concerts in your arear based on your music library. I love when geeks come up with usefull stuff.

Currently listening to...

There's nothing in hip-hop that has the impact of Biggie's voice. Instantly familiar yet always awe-inspiring, his deep baritone is the sonic equivalent of a mean mug, seemingly sneering at his enemies and critics. But there is also a sensuality there. While it's hard to believe a 300-pound, cross-eyed ex-crack dealer from Brooklyn could be a sex symbol, "Big Poppa" and "One More Chance" are among hip-hop's smoothest hustles, layering silk-sheet tenderness on top of swaggering braggadocio. This comp was released on the 10th anniversary of his death, and he'll be forever missed.

[Sam Chennault]

I couldn't have said it any better. I do question some of the choices on the album but I think they did a good a job finding the right balance between the hardcore hip hop listener and the mainstream/party hip hop.

300

The day has finally come. Too bad no imax showings around here. Another movie I will be checking out is namesake (IMDB).

African leaders continually do the continent a disservice

Nigerian ruling party presidential candidate heads to Germany for medical treatment

LAGOS, Nigeria: With just weeks to go before Nigeria's presidential vote, the governing party candidate arrived in Germany on Wednesday for medical treatment and was in stable condition, his spokesman said.

[ International Herald Tribune ]

To most of you, this headlines doesn't mean much. Who cares if a Nigerian presidential candidate went to Europe to get some medical treatment? Well to me and  a couple of others out there it means much more. It means that this guy who is about to be elected president of one of the most oil rich country in the world doesn't trust his own country's health care system to get a simple check up (On a radio interview yesterday with the BBC, he confirmed that it was his annual check up). Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be for the American health care system if Obama, Kennedy, Guliani, or McCain were to fly to another country to get a simple check up?  It's really pathetic that with all the oil profits over the last few years, the country can not build one hospital deemed good enough by its political leaders to get a simple check up.  What is the average Nigerian who can't afford to fly to Europe going to do?   And why would a  Nigerian doctor practicing abroad go back to practice in his/her birth country when it's quite obvious that the members of the elite class have no faith in the practitioners and the system.  To be fair to this guy, he is not the only African leader to do this.  It's a pretty prominent practice amongst African  leaders.  The point I'm trying to make here is that this is deplorable.  At some point, African leaders will have to stop fleeing to Europe for all their needs/wants and will have to invest in their respective country and show some faith to in their fellow country men's skills and abilities. If they do not do this, the brain drainage in Africa will continue and the continent will never realize its potential. 

What to keep and what to shred...

One of my goals this year is to become more financially responsible and therefore increase my net worth.  Part of becoming financially responsible means keep track of papers and such, especially for those days the computers are feeling sick.  I'm always debating whether or not  to keep certain pieces of paper.  In this article, the author recommends that the following be kept:

Your will, living will and durable power of attorney.

Life insurance policies, including policies with your employer.

Insurance, and any death benefits that are due you as a veteran of the armed services.

Retirement plan documents from your pension, profit sharing, 401(k), and IRAs, along with annual statements.

Records of nondeductible contributions made to your employer-sponsored retirement savings plan or IRA.

Separation and divorce documents.

Real estate deeds, titles and property surveys.

Military records.

Tax returns and supporting data for at least the last seven years after the original return is filed.

For investments, keep buy/sell trade confirmations to show when each security was bought and sold, the price you paid and commission charged.

Dividend reinvesting statements (for seven years after you file your tax return showing a gain or loss( Receipts for major purchases like jewelry, furniture, etc.

Receipts for items under warranty until the warranty expires.

Pay stubs – until the end of the year when you compare the year end totals with the amounts shown on the W2 form you get from your employer.

While I agree with most of the list, I think one should also keep school transcripts, medical records and other major contracts (i.e. Student load terms, car loans terms). Other than I say have fun with your shredder. I know I enjoy playing with mine.   In another article on the same site, another article has suggestion of items that you want might want to keep in safe.  Those include:

Copy of your will

Copy of insurance policies

Titles to your house and cars

Detailed list of bank and brokerage accounts, CDs and credit cards

Marriage license / Divorce decree

Expensive, rarely-worn jewelry

Birth certificates

Family heirlooms

Stock and bond certificates

I've thought many times about getting a safe, especially one with multiple bolts like the one in the movies, but I've not been able to justify the expense to myself. But not I have all sorts of reasons.

Currently listening to...

Judge says:

This week's installment of "Currently Listening to..." is a recommendation from another friend whose cd collection I would gladly trade for mine.  The Bees (U.S.) 2006 release "High Society" is rated as Power Pop by Rhapsody, a rating that makes absolutely no sense to me.  I really can't tell power pop apart from most adult alternative.  I guess it's pop music that rocks a little bit.  Maybe more drums?  The first two songs sound more like the Eagles than anything else and the third is reminiscent of some Beach Boys songs.  Their best song, Imaginary Girl, I suspect is secretly a Beatles song.  Fun fact: The Bees is also a band in England and so The Bees ( U.S.) is their official band name.  You can visit them at www.beesmusic.com.  I'd probably spend the money on this album.

Can't decide what to do...Leave it to wheel

It has happened to all of us. You want to go out for drinks but you and your friends can't decided where to go.  You want to go get food but can't decided if you're craving Chipotle or  Sushi.  Well, a computer geek has come up with a way to help you make the decision. The wheel of food.  Enter your Zip code and enter the activity i.e. bars, food, lunch and spin. Then go where the wheels says.  Sometimes the wheel will tell you to "Skip Lunch", I say just spin again.

[via Lifehacker]

Currently Listening to...

While watching Grey's yesterday, I was surprised by how little music the was in the episode.  However, as always, Damien Rice made the cut. At this point I believe he has a contract signed with them.  He most likely has the most appearances by any artist on the show so far.  But of course I'm making up that stat.  I digress.  Although I appreciate Damien Rice as much as the next fan, the song that caught my attention last night was The Lake by Aqualung a.k.a Matt Hales.  I went on the a search this morning but could not find the song through legal means.  I soon discovered that the reason I couldn't find it was because the album, titled Memory Man, with that song is yet to be released.  Apparently it's not coming out till March 13.  I decided to listen to some  his stuff that was already out and legally available.  I was pleasantly surprised by his latest full album titled Strange & Beautiful.  I think most people have heard the first track on the album but the rest is also pretty solid.  My favorite tack on the album was Track #4, titled Better than Sunshine.  Rhapsody lists Aqualung under Brit Rock although I believe he should be listed on under singer/songwriter.  Coldplay is listed as one his contemporaries so you know it's has to be good.  Check it out and let me know you what you think.

Currently Listening to...

The judge had another good review of some stuff he has been listening to but I wanted to share this song. It was my athem while driving through California this summer.  I'm not a big fan of anything Garden State but I would buy the soundtrack just to listen to this track over and over and over again. For the longest time, I only knew this song as track #7 on the garden state soundtrack and track #3 on the Califiornia CD #4.  The song is actually titled Fair  and it's by Remy Zero.  Accrding to their website the band has been put to rest though.  (click here if you don't see the embeded video)

Al Franken for US Senate..Why not Jon Stewart for President

Apparently comedian Al Franken decided to run for the U.S. senate for the state of Minnesota(MN).  I don't know much about him nor where he stands on the issues, nor will I care until I think he is a real contender. Then again MN did elect Jesse Ventura as their Governor.  But the real question that I have about Al Franken running is "Why isn't Jon Stewart doing the same?"  The guy is probably as well known as any of the presidential candidates in '08.  And with the race as wide open as many say it is, why not?  A lot of people get our age get their "political news" from his "Daily Show" .  I believe he would actually get the 18 - 25 years olds to go to the polls. So I say Jon Stewart for president in '08.  However he should wait to enter the race till after everyone experiences Obama fatigue.

Does this remind anyone else of the movie Man of the year?

Currently Listening to...

The Judge says:

I've known about Bloc Party for a little while now, you've probably heard their song "This Modern Love" off their second EP Silent Alarm.  Their new album, A Weekend in the City, came out this week.  Rhapsody sent me an alert and since I have their earlier album, I was interested to hear the new one.  For the uninitiated, Bloc Party plays upbeat, alternative rock that borders on a punk sound.  The punk part might just be because they have British accents and that sounds punk to me.  Maybe it's just Brit Rock?  Put it this way, it's meant to be played loud. 

ANYWAY, the new album is actually quite good with one problem: Rhapsody won't let me listen to all of the songs.  "The Prayer" is climbing the charts, according to their website, (which probably means it's climbing the charts in England).  It could be a good song but I would have no idea since Rhapsody refuses to play it for me.  Otherwise, my favorite song is "I Still Remember".  If you're not going to be in a hyper-major city in the US or Europe (no visit to DC planned) you're going to have to wait to see them live; their tour schedule is mostly European stops.  I'd buy this cd, especially so I could hear the whole thing.  Stupid Rhapsody.

If you want something mellow for Valentine's Day, check out The Weepies "Say I Am You".  It sounds like a cross between Simon and Garfunkel and Joni Mitchell.  It's a quiet, mellow cd that sounds a little depressing but actually has some hopeful, romantic songs on it.  It's one of my favorite cds, I don't care if that makes me a wuss.

I say:

I listened to the tracks available on Rhapsody and it's definitely worth listening to. To me some of tracks sounded more like house music played over punk with a bit a Keane thrown in. But like the judge said maybe all Brits just sound alike when they sing.  The sounds reminded my of postal service more than anything else. I do agree that the tracks are definitely meant to be played loudly.  With bloc party, I faced the same issue that I faced with Postal service; That is I don't really know where on play list they would go if I was to listen to them on the regular. They kinda get lost between the depressing/mellow stuff and the hot party bangers beats as my friend JK would put it.  I would not buy the entire CD but a few tracks off of Rhapsody or Itunes wouldn't be a bad deal. And if you're looking for something for Valentines day, I say go with the Barbershop Quartet. Classy and Cheesy all in one.

Web 2.0 Explained....

As a programmer and someone to likes to keep up with the hottest and new things on the web. I have been inundated with the number of web 2.0 apps that have been springing up over the last few years.  Yet when I asked my other geek friends what exactly is web 2.0;  None of them were really able to explain to me in concrete terms.  And What makes and app 2.0 instead of 1.0 or 1.5 for that matter? (There isn't a web 1.5 just in case you were wondering). Using Ajax, User generated content? tagging? using OpenID? Organizing an insane about of data to look pretty or ugly?  Allowing object to be embedded? Loading faster? simpler UI?  The weird names?  Making the Web 2.0 directory? The label "Web 2.0" seemed to be arbitrary to me and I did not readily accept as some of my other geek friends did.  This morning, when I walked to my desk and began to read my rss feeds using google reader, I found a blog entry by Scott Hanselman I figured I should share.

Who types that fast?  Although, It did not answer all my questions and I'm still  rather skeptic of the label "Web 2.0",  the video did a good job explaining some of the concept behind the label "Web 2.0".

Currently Listening to...

Last week's big musical excitement for fans of the indie/OC/Scrubs/Grey's scene was the release of the new Shins album, "Wincing the Night Away".  Unfortunately, I've seen quite a few glowing reviews of it.  This reviews combined with the general catchiness of the first single, Phantom Limb, lead me to believe that you will not be able to avoid this song for approximately the next two months.  Thankfully, I tend to stay out of the Gap and don't listen to the radio (I don't have a car).  For longtime Shins fans, back to "Oh, Inverted World" and "Chutes Too Narrow", this cd completes their gradual transition to a more mainstream sound.  Honestly, their first LP sounded a lot like it was recorded in someone's basement.  Their newest offering still provides clever lyrics and quality songs but has superior sound quality.  If you aren't familiar with a lot of their music, I would recommend sampling the entire cd, via Rhapsody or some other music player, before buying the entire album.  I would purchase the cd.

Rocco Deluca (UK) has been in the national spotlight lately, going on tour with Mat Kearney ("Nothing Left to Lose") as part of the VH1 "You Oughta Know" tour.  In my opinion, you ought to know that the album is a mixed bag, with VH1-type romantic songs mixed in with more standard blues-rock fare.  Either on their own are good but present such a striking contrast with one another that the overall cd suffers.  I would not purchase this cd.

Lastly, I've recently become a big fan of Ray LaMontagne's album "Till the Sun Turns Black".  It was recently a featured selection on BMG, which hopefully means that BMG is actually picking good music for the featured selections and I won't accidentally get stuck with any more Switchfoot albums.  It's listed by Rhapsody as "adult alternative" which I guess means that it's not electric.  It's a very stripped down, bare sound.  It's a pretty mellow, semi-depressing cd, which one would probably expect with a title like "Til the Sun Turns Black".  If you're looking for something that rocks, look further.  His show at the 9:30 club in DC was a seated show.  It's much better for drinking red wine with a date than beers with your buddies.  My sister and I agree that he can probably sleep with any woman he wants on the strength of his voice alone.  I would pay for this cd, but not the $21 you have to pay when you forget to send in the reply card to BMG.

[ Props. to the Judge]

Currently Listening to Damien Rice

I started liking Damien Rice after watching the Closer, starring Clive Owen, Julia Roberts, Jude Law and Natalie Portman. He makes frequent appearances on Grey's Anatomy episodes soundtracks. I seriously believe he is one of the most depressed people on the planet but his music makes it all worth it. I pretty sure I listen to at list one his tracks every day. My Favorite used to be Blower's Daughter but I like some tracks on this album much better but I haven't decided if a favorite one yet. Take a Listen (UK).

My thoughts on the State of Union Address

Tuesday, unlike most people, I spent some five hours watching the state of the Union by President Bush, the democratic response by Senator Webb of the commonwealth of Virginia, and countless hours of the Analysis on CNN, Fox, and NBC.  After watching all everyone else and their mom share their thoughts on speech, I thought  I would go ahead and share some of my own.

I felt that the speech was very well written.  Of all Bush's televised speeches, I think this one was the best.  The words were chosen carefully,  and the paragraphs constructed is such a way to simultaneous praise (sometimes forcefully) from both democrats and President.  The words were less decisive, less forceful and less macho.  Although the wording of the speech was fantastic, the delivery was less than memorable.  At a time where the president needed to inspire to nation to rally behind him, he barely managed to keep members of house and senate awake for the 50 minutes.  He sound flat, tired, disconnected, and irresolute. 

The content of the speech was not of made of up anything great either.  Social security, Health Care, Energy dependence, immigration and etc...These are all great issues and things that we as a country should be working on.  But I don't see it coming from this president.  After claiming last year that "America is addicted to oil", he then spent the next 11 months doing nothing about it.  He made a attempt to do something about social security, but failed to sell that plan to the American public.  Although I agree with most of his plan with immigration, he was unable to strike deals with member of his own party.  So Basically I don't believe he will do anything.  Not because he doesn't want to, but because most of the time will be spend defending his policy abroad.  I think he will try to get to ball rolling on some of these, because like every president he is conscious of his legacy.  And although 9.11.01 and the Iraq war will largely define his presidency I don't believe he wants to be it. 

I was impressed that the president mentioned Africa, Darfur in particular and fighting the AIDS epidemic that is affecting the entire continent.  I hope he can back those words with some actions and not tie the donation dollars to religious organizations and or Abstinence programs.  As impressed as I was that the president mention Africa, I was shocked beyond belief that he failed to mention the gulf states that were devastated by Katrina and are still recovering.  If nothing else, i believe that the he should have taken ownership of everything that went wrong with FEMA and pledge continued support from the Federal government.

Overall, well written speech, average delivery, but too big of a wish list that will barely be touched.

When I heard that senator Webb tore up the speech written for him by the Democratic Party to write his own, I was shocked.  I certainly thought he was going to make a fool of himself on TV.  I had not been impressed by any of the speeches he had given during his campaign against Allen.  But I was pleasantly surprised by his speech.  His speech was short, passionate, personal, and straight to the point. Office title aside,  He commanded more attention and respect than the president.  He refuted what the president while at the same leaving room for negotiations and laying out the issues the democrats are ready to get ball rolling on.  I look forward to see what he does in the senate this year.  He is def getting drafted on my fantasy congress team.

View video of both speeches