black…MYstory

Africa may hold the hope for a vaccine to combat HIV/AIDS and this hope may lie with the Ugandan people.

Researchers there are saying that they may have encountered some Ugandans who actually show a resistance to HIV.

Though the research is still in its early stages, here’s what they are seeing:

“They have special white blood cells that can only be produced when the virus attacks the body. However, even with the most sophisticated tests, HIV could not be found in these individuals, implying that the virus had tried to infect them but the immune system kicked it out.

…

At the AIDS Information Centre in Kampala, the UVRI scientists are studying 70 discordant couples to see if some of them are indeed resistant to HIV. These are couples that have had unprotected sex for more than a year, one partner has had HIV for long while the other has not become infected.”

Again, this is all too early to tell.  However, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that this research leads to a discovery of, at last, an HIV vaccine.

Popularity: 52% [?]

No, that’s not my hypothesis though, given the makeup of Wall Street, I have to say that this is a mostly-accurate description of the suspects.

Instead, these are the words of the Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, as he railed against the greed and incompetence of the West’s heads of finance for their incompetence and blinding greed.

More specifically, President Lula stated the following:

‘This was a crisis that was fostered and boosted by irrational behaviour of people that are white, blue-eyed, that before the crisis looked like they knew everything about economics,’ he declared.

‘Now they have demonstrated that they don’t know anything about economics.’

President Lula, head of Brazil’s main left-wing party, said that ‘no black man or woman, no indigenous person, no poor person’ had been in any way culpable for the global banking crisis.

‘I’m not acquainted with any black banker,’ he said. ‘The part of humanity that’s responsible should pay for the crisis.’

President Lula were part of a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is touring several countries in the run-up to this year’s G20 summit in London.

The Brazilian President indicated that, in this year’s G20, the tone may not be as polite because, in his words, ‘ it has to be a little bit spicy, a little bit of heat.’  In other words, he plans on making his issue with Western bankers known on the world stage.

Well, if President Lula’s words are any indication, it could be a hot time at this year’s G20.

Popularity: 57% [?]

Obama did his thing in Germany.

As part of a trip that included stops in the Middle East, Obama next made is way into Europe and spoke to the German people.  In a speech that drew an estimated 200,000 people, Obama articulated a vision in which America rejoins the world community as a true global citizen.

The McCain folks are already trying to spin this with criticism against Obama but,  the fact is that this trip, which was mostly based on McCain’s criticism of Obama’s foreign experience and his daring of Obama to visit Iraq, has shown Obama to appear in a much more presidential light than McCain, much to his opponent’s chagrin.

Perhaps, next time, McCain will keep the dares to himself.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Thanks to George Bush, I now have a better idea of how people with an STD feel.  Like an STD, Bush is irritating, embarrassing and his effects are going to last for years to come.

Case in point: the Bush economic policy.

When Bush attended his first G8 Summit as president, he was able to do so with the pride of knowing he was sitting on top the strongest economy in the world.

Now, seven years later, Bush will attend the conference with the knowledge (or, hopefully, someone will tell him by then) that the dollar has slumped some 41% against the euro.  With a miserable economic growth of only .5 percent this year, the U.S. is almost at the bottom of the list for growth among the G8 members.  Only Italy ranks lower.  This puts us even behind Canada in terms of economic growth.

However, the growth of Russia’s economy eclipsed ours drastically.  Theirs grew at a rate nearly 14 times our own, putting them at 6.8% for the year.  This is the same Russia that we use to remark about its economic collapse.

So, in his last G8 summit, this is Bush’s economic legacy.  It is a gift for which we will thank him for years to come.

Anybody got any penicillin?

Popularity: 19% [?]

It’s sad to say this but, on his 90th birthday, it literally took an act of Congress to remove Nelson Mandela’s name from the terror watch list.

Mandela’s name had been put on the list because of his activities against the apartheid regime in South Africa.

As a result, this has affected his ability to travel within the United States.

Stating the obvious, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said that having Mandela’s name still on this list was “embarrassing”.

Next, the bill goes to President for his signature.  Let’s hope he doesn’t veto it.

Popularity: 12% [?]

It appears that my new hopes for Zimbabwe, just a few hours old, have encountered a significant hurdle. The Mugabe government, apparently defeated in recent national elections, has begun a crackdown on members of the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

This involves police raids on gathering places of MDC members and the arrest of journalists.

Furthermore, the government has not released the results of the elections and has not allowed foreign press to cover these elections.

Therefore, with no foreign press to report the news and the press in Zimbabwe effectively stifled, one can only imagine what the announce “results” of the elections might be.

My heart is still with Zimbabwe today but, it is much sadder than just a few hours ago.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Perhaps, just perhaps, things may change in Zimbabwe. There are rumblings that, after a defeat of his party in Parliament and his own loss in a presidential election, Zimbabwe’s current president, Robert Mugabe, may be close to admitting defeat.

Mugabe has been in power since 1980, the year in which Zimbabwe won its independence. However, over the years, those hopes for a free and prosperous Zimbabwe seem to have gone downhill as Mugabe has seemed to rule with an iron fist and let his economy slip wildly out of control.

28 years is a long time to be ruler of anything and, at some point, one could be corrupted by power, simply cease to be effective or both.

Today, I am sending positive thoughts out to the people of Zimbabwe. Here’s hoping that your new day is coming.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Just a quick word to say that, tonight, my thoughts are with the people of Kenya.

As you are aware, a disputed election has plunged the country into turmoil and violence. The death toll stands at some 500 people and another 250,000 have been displaced.

While we are caught up in issues of a war, worsening economy and politics at home, I hope that we can still take a brief moment to pray for Kenya.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Question: What do these two statements have in common?

On Iraq:
“Knowing these realities, America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof — the smoking gun — that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.” (George W. Bush, Oct 7, 2002)

On Iran:
“I’ve told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.” (George W. Bush, Oct 17, 2007)

Answer: After yesterday, we know that these are, at best, trumped-up charges and, at worst, flat-out lies meant to get us into military conflict with countries that pose(d) no immediate threat to us.

As you are likely aware, the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) came out yesterday and had some very telling things to say that stand in stark contrast to Bush Administration’s allegations on Iran.

The NIE is the compilation of the combined views of the nation’s 16 intelligence agencies regarding the security issues affecting the U.S. and, like I stated, its findings on Iran were very telling.

According to the NIE, Iran actually halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and, furthermore, states that due to significant technical issues, Iran probably is another 3-8 years away from having enough enriched uranium for a bomb.

However, the most interesting part of the report coming out is its back story. It is believed that the administration, particularly the office of Vice-president Dick Cheney, held up the release of this report for over a year, try to twist arms of intelligence analysts to get them to change the report to match the administration’s rhetoric.

So, in other words, as in Iraq, they went around the world citing Iran as an immediate threat when they clearly knew otherwise.

Of course, the chickenhawk spin-doctors are at work and trying to wipe egg off their faces on this and Republican candidates, no doubt, are going to have to get new material for their stump speeches, as this country has no desire to repeat the Iraq debacle.

We’ll have to see how this all shakes out but, one this is clear. We are certainly being lied to by this administration on Iran.

Popularity: 28% [?]

Over the weekend, I heard all types of the news on the unrest in Pakistan. Despite what our government wants to tell us, Pakistan is ruled by dictatorship. If not, how else can a general (and supposed president) suspend a nation’s constitution, black out all media and even fire a supreme court (the same court that was to decide if his election to president was even legal) when it doesn’t side with him?

But, if you look, the story isn’t as much about what a government is doing as it is about what the people are doing in response to it.

This is the lesson of Pakistan.

Today, I see that even lawyers are taking it to the streets in protest of having their rights trampled. Thousands of attorney are squaring off with police as they say “no” to having their constitutional rights taken from them at the word of one person. This follows protests by other Pakistanis from all walks of life, all saying “no” to be ruled by a dictator.

In this country, as we see more and more of our rights taken away, we heap scorn on the people who say “no”. We live in such a fear of another attack, that we allow people to tap our phones and read our mail to “protect” us. We allow people to take away our First and Fourth Amendment rights because we have be scared into compliance, not realizing that once these powers are taken, they are not easily returned back to the people. Some of us laugh at the possibility of ever ending up like these nations we see on TV but, we need to remember that this things don’t always start with a military coup. Sometimes, it’s the gradual erosion of one’s way of life that puts you on the same path.

What we should take from Pakistan is that freedom and self-determination are the best defenses against tyranny and terror. It is the absence of the prior that make the growth of the latter possible.

Popularity: 19% [?]