Hey Melonites,
You might realize that The Melon is looking a little f-ed up in a couple places (namely the Contributors section). that’s because I was playing around in the back-end and got a bit overzealous thus f-ing shit up. Our web guru, Micah, is on the job so everything should be up and running shortly. Sorry for my insolence.
~Electric Elliot
Joe Le Sac recently published a comment on the state of anarchy in Somalia and how piracy is being painted in the international press. He writes:
Somalia is making headlines for all the wrong reasons. While international eyes scorn the recent hijackings of over 40 shipping vessels off Somalia’s coast and berate the perceived “lawlessness” of the pirates who hold them for millions of dollars ransom, Somalis themselves seem more concerned about the destruction of human life caused by corporations and blood money from Western governments.
Very little attention is given to the fact that Somalia is, by the UN’s own admission, the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa. Rather, the focus on piracy seems to avoid contextualization. Al Jazeera’s The Listening Post analyzes the sensationalist coverage of piracy across the international media.
The AP reports that the commander of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, U.S. Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, is showing reseveration on the recent idea of attacking the pirates by land. Since Somalia has no effective government, there is no international consensus on what to do with the pirates if they are detained. The government they do have seems to near collapse.
The New York Times reported last week that:
Somalia’s transitional government looks as if it is about to flatline. The Ethiopians who have been keeping it alive for two years say they are leaving the country, essentially pulling the plug.
To make matters worse, BBC reports that about 15,000 Somali soldiers and police have deserted. Furthermore:
Mr Kumalo, the South African ambassador, also said most of the Somali government’s security budget – supposedly 70% of its total budget – disappeared through corruption.
If you haven’t noticed yet, it’s raining outside. I donned my fleece jacket and headed to the Puyallup Farmer’s Market. I thought traffic was going to be a real bitch since it is also the last weekend of the Fair; I was pleasantly surprised to see that I easily found a parking spot but disappointed that the rain kept some of the art and craft vendors away. I spent my agreed-upon budget of $25 on peaches and a half flat of raspberries and blackberries so I could make a peach and blackberry/raspberry cobbler for breakfast. I also bought this big huge weird looking but perfect-for-a-soup-bowl squash. I’m going to make potato squash soup with leeks in a chicken broth base for dinner. My boyfriend is always nagging me to eat more meat since I seem to be perpetually exhausted.
If we felt we needed to torture people, we’d do it ourselves.
but seriously… this is a good discussion about President Bush’s legacy of torture.
“Who will pay for the illegal abuse of detainees at Guantanamo? If violations of the Geneva Conventions — and specifically of Common Article 3, against torture, cruelty and “outrages upon personal dignity” — are “‘war crimes,’ punishable as federal offenses,” as Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the Hamdan case two years ago, who will prosecute them?
Will Americans and the US government initiate an examination of the record — and of our national conscience? Or are we waiting for a prompt from abroad — waiting, in effect, for Donald Rumsfeld or Antonio Gonzalez to get their version of the Pinochet “tap on the shoulder,” as they’re strolling on a sidewalk in London, Berlin or Mexico City?”
http://www.radioopensource.org/philippe-sands-torture-team/
Today at 7pm in Schneebeck concert hall of the University of Puget Sound, scholars Tzvi Adelman and Muhammad Abu Samra will examine the Israel/Palestine conflict.
Find out more info here: http://www.ups.edu/x29604.xml
Tickets are free but currently sold out. However, there will likely be seats available or room to stand in the back.
If any Melonites or UPSers are planning on attending this presentation, I’d be very interested to hear about it.
Civil libertarian Chuck Samuelson, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, talks about the history and causes of Republican and Democrat convention “federalization”. The UPTAKE is an independent media laboratory, and one of the places where myself and others had used for creating our own content.
Click “more” to see the video.
New York Post photographer Jason Nicholas snapped a photo of me just before his own camera was blown apart by a police riot weapon and then was himself arrested and taken into police custody on Labor Day 2008.
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