EAT MY PRESS

Coltan is a metallic ore, short for Colombite-tantalite, which once refined becomes a heat resistant capacitator found in cell phones, computers, video games (specifically the Sony Play Station 2 console), DVDs, and many of the electronic devices used in developed countries. Congo holds roughly 80% of the world’s coltan reserves, not surprisingly making the thoroughly shattered country prime fodder for multinationals and neighboring countries with porous borders, like Uganda and Rwanda. And fodder is has become. Bukavu, what was once one of the most beautifully and mineral-rich regions in this giant country, now hardly resembles its former self after the environmentally-tactless plundering of its coltan reserves since the early 1990s. It’s currently estimated that workers in the coltan mines in South Kivu, some 13 years old with hardly any clothes on, no mask, no gloves, no real digging equipment to speak of aside from a chisel and stone block, make less than $.20 a day if they make anything at all. For a short video of this situation on the ground, click here. Although British politician and former member of Parliament, Oona King, summed it up pretty well herself when she said:

“Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms…”

Since coltan is now finding itself in blood diamonds-like territory and classification, respective political movement is beginning underfoot to better police the mining and export of the mineral. Very recently, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced the Conflict Coltan and Cassiterite Act, which would call for a certification process for minerals imported from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The full text of the bill is here. This proposal ultimately calls for the prohibition of the importation of certain products that contain or are derived from columbite-tantalite or cassiterite mined or extracted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It also seeks to identify all parties involved who have committed serious violations of human rights, committed violations of international humanitarian law, and committed crimes under international law.

So it’s telling that the US government has, as of last month, not only tagged the $6 billion a year industry as detrimental to the Congo and fuel for its civil war, but also claimed it a flagrant violation of human rights. Let’s hope international divestments and pioneering human rights political action continue. An excellent first step would be the UN researching and then reporting their findings on which electronic companies currently purchase coltan from the Congo so that boycotts for the socially conscious could begin. But in the meantime, just one more great reason to quit playing video games.

The former President of South Africa and anti-apartheid leader turns 90 years old today. But few people know that Mandela is a gifted artist as well. Below is a drawing from his collection of hands with an accompanying quote completed during his 27 year imprisonment on Robbin island.

Even today, on his 90th birthday, he calls for the world’s rich to help the world’s poor. Happy Birthday, Nelson Mandela.

“These sketches are not so much about my life as they are about my own country. I drew hands because they are powerful instruments, hands can hurt or heal, punish or uplift. They can also be bound, but a quest for righteousness can never be repressed. In time, we broke loose the shackles of injustice, we joined hands across social divides and national boundaries, between continents and over oceans and now we look to the future, knowing that even if age makes us wiser guides, it is the youth that remind us of love, of trust and the value of life.”

This just says it all.

Below is an excerpt of the International Criminal Court’s latest report on Sudan which finally claims that Omar Al-Bashir is guilty with crimes of genocide against his own people. You can read the entire report here. Ultimately, this report requests a warrant for the arrest of Al-Bashir. But since Sudan has vowed to ignore it as it is a country that conveniently does not officially recognize the International Criminal Court as a legal legislative body, it remains to be seen if an actual physical arrest can be made. It also remains to be seen what type of fallout the ICC’s report will have and if it will interrupt the current peace process there. Ironically, with news of Al-Bashir being found guilty of genocide, all non-essential UN staff have been removed from the country for fear of a backlash. I’m curious as to what this means, practically, on the ground.

Prosecutor’s Application for Warrant of Arrest under Article 58
Against Omar Hassan Ahmad AL BASHIR

I. The Application
Upon investigation of crimes allegedly committed in the territory of Darfur, the Sudan, on or after 1 July 2002, the Prosecution has concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Omar Hassan Ahmad AL BASHIR (hereafter referred to as “AL BASHIR”) bears criminal responsibility for the crime of genocide under Article 6 (a) of the Rome Statute, killing members of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups (also referred to as “target groups”), (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of those groups, and (c) deliberately inflicting on those groups conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction in part; for crimes against humanity under Article 7 (1) of the Statute, committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against the civilian population of Darfur with knowledge of the attack, the acts of (a) murder, (b) extermination, (d) forcible transfer of the population, (f) torture, and (g) rapes; and for war crimes under Article 8 (2)(e)(i) of the Statute, for intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such, and (v) pillaging a town or place.

I’ve often wondered what Jesse Jackson actually does for a living. I know that long ago he used to be a civil rights leader and a Baptist minister, but what’s payrolled him enough to live off of that and failed presidential runs since the 1980s? Did he and Al Sharpton start a successful bitchy-old-man company that specializes in arriving on controversial scenes with a bag full of whiny victim one-liners that I didn’t know about? Or is Al just acting as the bread winner for the duo off of old cocaine money? Because I’m pretty sure their resumes have a gap about the size of Jackson’s child support balance and Sharpton’s unpaid taxes (roughly $1m in 2008).

That was until Rev. Jesse Jackson went on Fox News the other day to announce he wanted to cut Barack Obama’s nuts off. I know. It appears that all that time he spent hollering about Jews and how sick he was of the Holocaust taught him some irreproachable class. After all, nothing says civil rights like taking a knife to a fellow African-American’s genitals.

I hope there’s serious fallout for Jesse Jackson over this because I, for one, am sick of he and Al Sharpton taking a stand on race issues from their self-imposed platforms.

If there were a “Wrestling Politicians” circuit, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton could just go ahead and name their tag team LOUIS FARRAKHAN and call it a day.

What’s slower and more insidious than Joe Lieberman’s political career? Actually, what’s slower and more insidious than Joe Lieberman?

After being kidnapped and held prisoner by Colombia’s rebel FARC for the past 6 years, Ingrid Betancourt is alive and has been rescued by Colombian officials in a secret coup.

This new video, Ingrid’s first press conference, is very, very moving.

In 2007, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research reported that Al Gore, Nobel-prize winning global warming guru, lived in a house that “burned through 213,210 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, enough to power 232 average American households for a month.” Once Mr. Green was alerted to this fact, his mansion promptly underwent a green renovation. So now, one year later, Al Gore’s new bright green house actually uses 10% more energy. I know, I know. Public figures rarely live up to what they fight for in real life, but using more energy per month than the average American home goes through in one year is excessive by any standard. And with news now breaking that he flies all over the world in private jets (sometimes even solo) to deliver speeches on global warming and that little story about him plagiarizing scenes from the film “The Day After Tomorrow” for use in his own documentary, I think his pot’s officially calling.

Did you know that farmers now rent honey bees to pollinate their crops because bees are no longer returning to the hive? According to a recent study, bee pollination is responsible for roughly $15 billion annually in crop value. But according to the Agriculture Department’s Agricultural Research Service, that number is quickly declining as beekeepers have reported a 30%-90% decline in hives since 2006, culminating in what’s now being termed “Colony Collapse Disorder.” Obviously, no one knows exactly how many bees have died but what’s puzzling here is that no one knows what’s caused them to die either.

According to the World Bank, global food prices have risen 83% in the past three years. So if bee life is rapidly dwindling as is being reported, then so is the opportunity for our nation’s farmers to continue to grow nutritional food it needs to sustain its inhabitants. Therefore, disapperaring honey bees is its own factor in rising food costs and that, grouped with the fact that honey bees are responsible for 1/3 of the foods we eat, is part of the world food crisis that can no longer be ignored.

We’re no longer living in “Ulee’s Gold“, people. Times are changing.

It wasn’t a bad idea back in 2003 for the Bush Administration to set up a television station called Alhurra (”The Free One”) with the goal of countering global anti-American sentiment during the 2003 US invasion of Iraq (besides the false premises of the war and the television station merely being introduced as a mask of sincerity and truth). But it was the worst idea possible to select the former government auditor Brian Contiff, an American who speaks no Arabic and has no journalistic or broadcasting experience whatsoever, to be its President. Did I mention that all broadcasts sent over the airwaves for the last 4 years were in Arabic and never once translated into English by anyone at the company? And that the content of those broadcasts were exactly in line with what airs on a regular day at Al-Jazeera? And that the junior staff is mainly Arabs working a television company headquartered in Springfield, Virginia? Think “Catch Me If You Can” foreign policy style.

Real suspicion of Alhurra only arose this past year after it provided coverage of the Holocaust Deniers Conference in Tehran. Apparently a few members of Congress threatened to deny funding to the station that reported that Jews still hadn’t provided the world with any scientific evidence of the Holocaust’s existence. Threatened to pull funding? Wow, because that would be huge and way too heavy-handed for a television station simply reporting that millions and millions of people, who happened to be Jewish, were executed en masse for no real reason. In the end, Congress just fired the reporter. Whatever happened to guilt by association?

However, Alhurra is now undergoing a joint investigation by ProPublica and CBS’ 60 Minutes. Among their findings thus far is this profound jewel:

“There is no adult supervision there by people who know what is on the actual broadcasts,” said William Rugh, who served as U.S. Ambassador in Yemen and the United Arab Emirates. “You need bilingual managers who understand both languages and cultures and understand journalism.”

Now, if you could see my face after reading that snippet, I’m pretty sure it looks like I was just mugged by a band of midgets. Not only did this “Voice of America” idea become a voice of anti-Americanism from our own backyard, but we - American taxpayers - have paid $500 million for the effort.

Shameful.