SodaHead - Places & Travel Blogs

slight change of plans,and a shock in time

2008-08-27T19:48:36Z

+1 raves

its feb i travel,and i will be leaving 30 days sooner than planned. i am going to be putting 1446 in three days,for you math heads,thats two 8 hour days and one four hour,53 min into denver.i cant stress enough,i am slightly caught off guard in my thinking. i didnt realize something was true,and forgot.oh well, back to the drawing board.

SodaHead: The Gathering II

2008-08-27T19:28:57Z

Trooping_the_Colour

+3 raves

Following on from SodaHead: The Gathering, The states have been chosen: Nevada and New York. The cities have been chosen: Las Vegas and New York. The times of year are Summer 2009 for New York and Winter 2009 for Las Vegas Now, ladies and gentlemen I need names and numbers. If you would be so kind as to write below your name and which venue you will be hoping to attend. Please only write your name if you feel you can commit to it because I'll be using these numbers to decide on venues for dining or entertainment details. Please feel free to continue to make comments or statements in the other blog.

SodaHead: The Gathering.

2008-08-26T15:47:07Z

Trooping_the_Colour

+9 raves

A little while ago, I posed a question on this site pretaining to a SodaHead group meeting and where it should take place.We looked at having two. One on each side of the United States in an effort to try and keep travelling costs down for everyone involved(except us in Europe it would seem). :)Anyway, I asked people to nominate their ideal choices for a venue and after taking everyone's requests in to consideration, I've settled on two locations.These won't be on the same day, or possibly even the same time of year (I'm going to try and get to both), but at any rate, the West Coast gathering shall take place in Las Vegas, Nevada. (don't stay at the Luxor- it's rubbish.)The East Coast gathering shall take place somewhere in Connecticut. (I've never been so this should be fun!)I've chosen these two venues because on the West Coast, there's no where really better to party... and remember: What happens in Vegas... appears on your credit card bill. On the East Coast there were so many options for Rhode Island, New York, Massachusetts... even Maine, so I thought one in the middle of it all would be best.The awkward part for me now is I haven't got the first clue about the New England states... so any assistance would be appreciated.I hope these choices meet with everyone's approval and we can start organising something for next year."The British are coming, the British are coming... " :) I have just had my wrist slapped!! West Coast is still Vegas, But now the East Coast venue is NYC.

Ohio

2008-08-25T22:53:33Z

I love DJ Danger

+1 raves

Hey every body I just want you to know that I am going to Kenton Ohio. This Wednesday morning so I wont be on and I wont be able to get back to your comments and I think I am getting back Sunday. So peace out playas lol

I'm back!!!!

2008-08-25T17:39:33Z

TwilightPrincess(Arison-san)

+10 raves

It was a very fun week. I went swimming most of the week, except for one or two days. I went for a few bike rides. My uncle and my cousins were there with us, but they didn't come until Tuesday, and they left a day before we did. Sorry Scarlett, but I couldn't find a pinecone. =( There weren't any evergreen trees in our campground, or ones that I could find, anyway. =( I took some pictures, but I don't know how well they're going to turn out, considering I used my cell phone camera. It'll take me a while to post them, so please, be patient. =) I'm not sure what else to say, other than it kind of feels good to be back at my computer. =P I had lots of fun, but it's nice to be at home. It's going to take me a while to get through all my shared blogs/questions. =P

Water, a rare commodity for the Palestinians

2008-08-23T18:31:51Z

PLANETEATER

+2 raves

Human rights groups accuse Israel of using its occupation of the Palestinian territories to control the supply of water from underground aquifers. By Emma Sabry “The next war in the Middle East will be fought over water, not politics,” Boutros Boutros Ghali said in the 1990s. This warning, by the former UN Secretary General, reflected the strategic and political importance of water in the Middle East. In the occupied Palestinian territories, water has become a rare commodity. This year, much lower than average rainfall has led to drought conditions, BBC reported. The problem is just starting to have an impact in Israel, but in the West Bank, the Palestinians are struggling to gain access to clean water. With more than two million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank not connected to a running water supply, there are concerns that the current drought may lead to an even more unfair distribution of this precious resource. “Humiliating” Outside Bethlehem, Rabab Zorab lives with her husband and one-year-old daughter. The Zorab family hasn’t had running water for more than two weeks. Rabab bitterly says that it’s humiliating having to wash at the homes of family members, or to go days without clean clothes because they have no water. Abir Suqar, who lives in the same apartment block, says that she has no sufficient water to do her daily chores. The young mother of two says “there's no water to have a bath or shower.” According to the BBC, Palestinians in some areas of the occupied West Bank only have one-third of the minimum daily amount of water recommended by the World Health Organisation. Official figures indicate that per capita water consumption in the West Bank is three times less than in Israel, even though the Israelis and Palestinians theoretically share the same water supplies. "Discriminatory policies" The water crisis is directly related to Israel’s control of Palestinian lands and lives. Agriculture is an important industry in Israel, which has developed some of the world's most efficient irrigation systems. But the cultivation of non-native crops - like bananas, which consume large amounts of water - is contributing to the water problem. Human rights groups accuse Israel of using its occupation of the Palestinian territories to control the supply of water from underground aquifers. In July, Israeli human rights group B'Tselem released a report warning that the West Bank is facing grave water shortages largely because Israel's "discriminatory" policies. "The chronic water shortage results in large part from Israel's discriminatory policy in distributing the joint water resources in the West Bank and the limits it places on the Palestinian Authority's ability to drill new wells… It will have serious repercussions on the economy and health," B'Tselem said. Israeli officials claim that the large Palestinian population is the main reason behind the water shortage. Israel also claims that it’s supplying the Palestinians with more than their agreed share of water, under interim agreements. But the Palestinians dispute this claim, insisting that Jewish settlers enjoy the benefits of regular access to running water. Like water, the Israeli settlements, considered illegal under international law, are seen as one of the biggest obstacles to peace. Due to Israel’s occupation, the Head of the Palestinian Water Authority, Shaddad Attili, says he is disempowered to do anything about the chronic shortage of water. “I am the minister for "virtual" water," says Mr Attili. On a map of the West Bank he shows that the Mountain Aquifer lies largely under Palestinian territory, but says his department is prevented by Israel from sinking wells to extract water. "All I do is crisis management. I can't even put two ends of a pipe together without Israel's permission", he says.

The global exploitation of Africa’s land and people

2008-08-22T04:06:16Z

PLANETEATER

+2 raves

The Institute for Policy Studies is a progressive think tank and research institute based in Washington, D.C. since 1963. Receiving no corporate sponsorship or government funding, the IPS retains its independence in order to speak out effectively on a wide range of issues. They are supported primarily by private donors. Emira Woods has been with the Institute for Policy Studies for four years and currently serves as the director of Foreign Policy in Focus with the mission to raise the visibility of issues connected to the African world. With roots in Liberia, Ms. Woods travels to Africa several times a year. Emira Woods Photo: Ashahed M. Muhammad She sat down with The Final Call’s Assistant Editor Ashahed M. Muhammad for a wide ranging discussion on the African Diaspora and the mad scramble for Africa’s human and natural resources. The Final Call (FC): There is talk about Africa’s heightened strategic importance globally, and the concept of globalization. Clearly, Africa and Black people have always been the centerpiece of globalization before there even was the term. Emira Woods (EW): Definitely. We know that Africa has been at the centerpiece of the global economy for five hundred years since the days of slavery. From the time that we as African people were pushed into slavery to sustain the economies of the West until today, you have had the African economies, the resources that come from the continent whether it is steel or iron ore that creates the steel that comes from Africa, or it is rubber that you could not have the tires on the cars without the rubber that comes from Africa. These vital resources for the global economy come from the African continent. What has happened, just as in the days of slavery and in the days of colonialism, Africa is looked to as a place to extract the resource and not really to develop the people. I think that there has been a sustained effort to under develop Africa, really for five hundred years. So you have corporations whether it’s the big oil companies now, that are celebrating historic high profits and yet the communities on which the oil lies, will have no schools, poor housing, inefficient or non-existing health care and no roads to speak of. I mean complete degradation of these communities, in spite of the fact, that oil has been flowing from some of these communities in Nigeria for example, since 1956, yet the communities remain without any of the basic necessities of human survival. This is the problem, especially multi-national corporations going after their greed, going after resources and not seeing the people. And just as it was wrong in the days of slavery, it is as wrong today, to have this type of exploitation of a continent. FC: Give us an example of some of the exploitation. You mentioned rubber and iron ore. EW: In the case of rubber, Firestone since 1926 has been engaged in Liberia taking the rubber from Liberia. The rubber grows on trees, it’s kind of like maple trees and the rubber is the sap of the tree that runs down from the tree. Firestone has created exploitive situations where they are using child labor, in their largest rubber operation in the world in Liberia. They are not paying proper taxes and fees to the government and they have created these agreements that don’t benefit the people or the government. Firestone in 1926 made an agreement for six cents an acre for all the rubber they wanted. For centuries they have continued to dominate the pricing structure of these key commodities that come out of Africa, so that the government and the communities on which the resources lie are not benefiting whatsoever. They are exploiting the resource, exploiting the labor, destroying the environment, dumping toxic waste into water ways and its people are paying the price. FC: Now, the six cents an acre, that has changed but Liberia is still being exploited and Firestone still pays a small fee compared to the profits generated right? EM: Yes. The six cents an acre remained until 2005 in the case of rubber and then in 2005 it was shifted to 50 cents an acre and now, just this year a new concession agreement has been signed for $2 an acre. This is still not a lot but it is an increase from what it was in 2005. FC: And they are still reaping huge profits. And the iron ore you mentioned in Liberia that has a special relevance, tell us a little bit about that. EW: The iron ore, the steel that you need to make beautiful buildings right here in Chicago, the steel that you need to build the cities of the U.S. and the U.K and the rest of the countries around the world, that iron ore to make the steel comes from Africa. In the case of the iron ore, again there was historic abuse of African countries, in which you have a price per ton that was exploitive—five cents per ton back in the 1920’s and that amount remained constant again until about 2005 in the case of Liberia. It went up slightly but not dramatically. What you see is a systematic abuse of the people, destruction of the environment, abuse of labor. Because of the color of our skin, it was almost as if the people were invisible. It goes back to what Ralph Ellison said (in his book) Invisible Man but now it’s “Invisible People.” We were invisible as people in the days of slavery where they used us to build their economies. It is almost as if multi-national corporations want us to remain invisible today. FC: Invariably when we talk about Africa and the Diaspora—Black people here in the United States—the question is asked about our role. As a model, you can see what Jewish Americans do for Israel. They maintain cultural and economic ties creating an effective lobby here in the United States for their interests. In your view, what are some real ways that we can go about building that type of power? EW: We have to seize our power, as voters, especially in an election year. You have people talking about change left and right. We have to tell them what change means for us—for the African Diaspora. What change means in terms of our economic survival, what change means in terms of our political independence as a people. We have to push that agenda so clearly in terms of our voting power. There is a lot we can do also in terms of our consumer power. How we spend our dollars. We can make choices that can determine. Does Firestone hear from its consumers that they cannot continue to exploit child labor or they will stop buying their tires? FC: Many African ambassadors I have spoken with make it seem like it is just so simple for Blacks here to do business in Africa—almost too easy. Apparently there are still barriers such as propaganda and the corruption of some African nations which is a reality. EW: But the corruption is in the corporations as well and often times the pressure is put on the African leaders, but they don’t talk about the other end of the deal. FC: Of course that is a critical factor. I want to know what can be done on this end to get people to see that if you are able, why not invest in business in Africa? If you are investing time and resources building a reality here in America that really doesn’t include us why not invest in Africa if we have accepted the fact that we are a part of that reality? EW: I think it is relatively easy. I think more people need to start traveling to the continent, I think more people need to start learning about what’s going on in the continent especially now in the Internet age. I think the first step is getting connected and being a part of a commitment that we make as we advance into this 21st century as a people. That linkage that we see ourselves connected on both sides, both within the continent and within the Diasporas that we see when something like Katrina happens, there’s a need for everybody to speak out. When something happens especially to African descendants and Latin America there is a need for everybody to speak out, wherever you are in the Diaspora and when something happens on the African continent, everyone has to step up. We need to build and reinforce that throughout our world. FC: Thank you.

Chronology of Confederate States Secessions

2008-08-18T09:02:49Z

Dixiebred77

+1 raves

Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union - December 24, 1860 Secession of Mississippi - January 9, 1861 Secession of Florida - January 10, 1861 Secession of Alabama - January 11, 1861 Secession of Georgia - January 19, 1861 Secession of Louisiana - January 26, 1861 Secession of Texas - February 1, 1861 Formation of the Provisional Government of the C.S.A. - February 8, 1861 Ratification of C.S.A. Arizona Territory - March 23, 1861 Lincoln's Declaration of War Against the C.S.A. - April 15, 1861 Secession of Virginia - April 17, 1861 Secession Attempt of Maryland - April 26, 1861 Secession of Arkansas - May 6, 1861 Secession of Tennessee - May 7, 1861 Secession of North Carolina - May 21, 1861 Confederation of Chickasaw, Creek, Seminole and Choctaw Nations - July 1, 1861 Secession of the Cherokee Nation - August 21, 1861 Secession of Missouri - October 31, 1861 Secession of Kentucky - November 20, 1861 Quantrill's Military Attempt for the Conquest of Kansas - August 21, 1863 Southern Cherokee Nation Refused Surrender, signed Cease Fire Treaty - June 23, 1865

Confederate Holidays & Special Events

2008-08-18T08:56:00Z

Dixiebred77

+1 raves

Here are some important dates for all you Proud Confederates & Southerners out there. Since we are an Occupied Nation, we're not allowed to officially celebrate our Nat'l Hollidays, but we still have our Pride... and it's killin' em! Deo Vindice! January 8, 1821 General James Longstreet was born. January 9, 1861 Mississippi secedes from the Union. January 10, 1861 Florida secedes from the Union. January 11, 1861 Alabama secedes from the Union. January 19, 1807 General Robert E. Lee was born in Stratford, Virginia. January (3rd Monday), is Confederate Heroes Day. January 21, 1824 General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson was born in West Virginia. January 26, 1861 Louisiana secedes from the Union. January 28, 1825 General George Pickett was born. February 1, 1861 Texas secedes from the Union. February 22, 1862 President Jefferson Davis Inaugurated President of the CSA. March 4th, is Flag Day for the Confederate States of America. March 16, 1861 the Arizona Territory secedes from the Union. April Confederate History Month - Texas. April 9, 1865 Lee surrenders at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. April 12, 1861 The War Between the States begins. April 26 Confederate Memorial Day for Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi. May 6, 1861 Arkansas secedes from the Union. May 10, 1863 General Thomas J. Jackson died and is buried in Lexington, Virginia. May 10 Confederate Memorial Day in North and South Carolina. May 20, 1861 North Carolina secedes from the Union. May 23, 1861 Virginia secedes from the Union. May 30 Confederate Memorial Day in Virginia. June 3, 1808 President Jefferson Davis was born in Fairview, Kentucky. June 3, Confederate Memorial Day for Kentucky, Louisiana and Tennessee. June 8, 1861 Tennessee secedes from the Union. July 13, 1821 General Nathan Bedford Forrest was born. August 21, 1821 General William Barksdale was born. September 10, 1836 General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Wheeler was born. October 12, 1870 General Robert E. Lee died. He is buried in Lexington Virginia. November 3, 1813 General Jubal A. Early was born. November 9, 1825 General A. P. Hill was born. November 28, 1861 Missouri formally admitted to the Confederacy. December 6, 1889 President Jefferson Davis died. President Davis is buried in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1893 he was interred in Richmond, Virginia. December 6, 1833 Colonel John S. Mosby was born. December 20, 1860 South Carolina secedes from the Union.

UNIFIL: Israel violating resolution 1701

2008-08-16T02:24:32Z

PLANETEATER

+1 raves

Maj-Gen. Claudio Graziano The head of UN forces in Lebanon accuses Israelis of unilaterally violating a UN resolution that ended the 33-day war against the Lebanese. Head of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Major-General Claudio Graziano criticized continued overflight of Israeli aircraft in Lebanon's airspace, and the refusal to provide a map of the zones riddled with Israeli mines and cluster bombs, a Press TV correspondent reported from Beirut. Graziano said Israel is turning a blind eye to the UN Security Council Resolution 1701 -which demands Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in parallel with the deployment of UNIFIL and Lebanese soldiers throughout the South- and refuses to pull out its troops from the Lebanese part of southern al-Ghajar village. Speaking in the UN headquarters in New York, Graziano warned Tel Aviv of handing over any Israeli pilot whose plane crashes in Lebanese territory to Beirut authorities. He, however, reclined to comment on whether Lebanon had the right to down Israeli war planes in its airspace. The UN peacekeeping chief in Lebanon said Hezbollah recognizes the resolution 1701 and stressed that the UN has enjoyed excellent cooperation with Hezbollah and with the local Lebanese. Graziano asserted that apart from UN troops, Lebanese soldiers and hunters no one was armed south of the Litani River. The Italian general said that the UN mission had been successful in carrying out its mandate in maintaining the ceasefire that went into effect in 2006, stressing that the mission's presence was vital in ensuring stability in the area. He denied plans for changes in UNIFIL's mandate which he said was due to be renewed by the end of August.