Archive for the ‘[Fo]-Foreign’ Category
Mark Ronson feat. Q-Tip & MNDR – BANG BANG BANG
Pirelli Calendar 2010 – Behind the Scenes
Converse 1HUND(RED) #47 Chloe Hugo-Hamman
These kicks look real fresh to me. They have the old-school appear and unique look, while helping others around the world. Check it the description from Converse and buy yours today!
Peace.
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Screenprinted graphic on canvas upper. Signature top red eyelets and red footbed with woven label. 10% of the net wholesale price of these CONVERSE (PRODUCT) RED™ shoes will be paid to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Geneva, Switzerland).
Former Texas Rep. Charlie Wilson dies at 76
(Image Source: Associated Press)
By JAMIE STENGLE, Associated Press Writer
DALLAS – Charlie Wilson, the fun-loving Texas congressman whose backroom dealmaking funneled millions of dollars in weapons toAfghanistan, allowing the country’s underdog mujahedeen rebels to beat back the mighty Soviet Red Army, died Wednesday. He was 76.
Wilson died at Memorial Medical Center-Lufkin after having difficulty breathing after attending a meeting in the eastern Texas town where he lived, said hospital spokeswoman Yana Ogletree. Wilson was pronounced dead on arrival, and the preliminary cause of death was cardiopulmonary arrest, she said.
Wilson represented Texas’ 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House from 1973 to 1996 and was known in Washington as “Good Time Charlie” for his reputation as a hard-drinking womanizer. He once called former congresswoman Pat Schroeder “Babycakes,” and tried to take a beauty queen with him on a government trip to Afghanistan.
Wilson, a Democrat, was considered both a progressive and a defense hawk. While his efforts to arm the mujahedeen in the 1980s were a success — spurring a victory that helped speed the downfall of the Soviet Union — he was unable to keep the money flowing after the Soviets left. Afghanistan plunged into chaos, creating an opening eventually filled by the Taliban, which harbored al-Qaida terrorists.
After the Sept. 11 attacks — carried out by al-Qaida terrorists trained in Afghanistan — the U.S. ended up invading the country it had once helped liberate.
“People like me didn’t fulfill our responsibilities once the war was over,” Wilson said in a September 2001interview with The Associated Press. “We allowed this vacuum to occur in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which enraged a lot of people. That was as much my fault as it was a lot of others.”
His efforts to help the Afghan rebels — as well as his partying ways — were portrayed in the movie and book “Charlie Wilson’s War.” In an interview with The Associated Press after the book was published in 2003, he said he wasn’t worried about details of his wild side being portrayed.
“I would remind you that I was not married at the time. I’m in a different place than I was in at the time and I don’t apologize about that,” Wilson said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that when he was at the CIA he knew Wilson, whom Gates said “was working tirelessly on behalf of the Afghan resistance fighting the Soviets.”
“As the world now knows, his efforts and exploits helped repel an invader, liberate a people, and bring the Cold War to a close. After the Soviets left, Charlie kept fighting for the Afghan people and warned against abandoning that traumatized country to its fate — a warning we should have heeded then, and should remember today,” Gates said in a written statement.
Charles Nesbitt Wilson was born June 1, 1933, in Trinity. He attended Sam Houston State University in Huntsville before earning his bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1956.
Wilson served as a Naval lieutenant between 1956-60, then entered politics by volunteering for John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign. He served in the Texas House and then in the Texas Senate before being elected to the U.S. House in 1972.
“Charlie was perfect as a congressman, perfect as a state representative, perfect as a state senator. He was a perfect reflection of the people he represented. If there was anything wrong with Charlie, I never did know what it was,” said Charles Schnabel Jr., who served for seven years as Wilson’s chief of staff in Washington and worked with Wilson when he served in the Texas Senate.
As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Wilson helped secure money for weapons and worked with then-CIA agents Gust L. Avrakotos and Mike Vickers to get them to the mujahedeen. The Soviets spent a decade battling the rebels before pulling the Red Army from Afghanistan in 1989. Two years later, its economy in ruins, the Soviet Union fell apart.
Vickers, now assistant secretary of defense for special operations, said Wednesday that Wilson was a “great American patriot who played a pivotal role in a world-changing event — the defeat of the Red Army in Afghanistan, which led to the collapse of communism and the Soviet empire.”
Longtime friend Buddy Temple, who was with Wilson when he collapsed Wednesday, said that despite Wilson’s reputation as a playboy, he was serious about representing east Texas, including helping to create the Big Thicket National Preserve — almost 100,000 acres of swamps, bogs and forests.
“Charlie was a giant. We have lost a giant. There won’t be another like him,” Temple said at a hospital news conference announcing Wilson’s death.
Wilson left politics in 1996, after he no longer found it any fun. He lobbied for a number of years before returning to Texas. In 2007, he had a heart transplant after being diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a disease that causes an enlarged and weakened heart.
Schnabel said he had just been with Wilson a few weeks ago for the dedication of the Charlie Wilson chair for Pakistan studies at the University of Texas, Austin, a $1 million endowment. He said Wilson had been doing “very good” and said his former boss described himself as “a poster boy” for heart transplants.
Ogletree said Wilson is survived by his wife, Barbara, whom he married in 1999, and a sister.
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Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor and Suzanne Gamboa in Washington contributed to this report.
Threadless – Tee for Haiti: Many Hands Make the Load Lighter
Help support our brothers and sisters in Haiti. Thanks Threadless!!
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About this tee:
“Men anpil chay pa lou (translated: Many Hands Make the Load Lighter)” is the result of some very gracious efforts by our printers (Shirts Our Business) as well as two of our designers from the Dominican Republic.
We’re donating 100% of proceeds of the sale of the tee to the American Red Cross (up to $100,000). Help us support the Haitian relief effort, and send the news along to your friends and fams!
Pilfered Magazine – January 2010 – Guest Editor: Anthony Mandler
Wonderland Magazine – Dizzee Rascal Photoshoot
It’s Dizzee!
To bow or not to bow…
Image Source ( AFP.com)
It seems that many American conservatives are upset with President Obama bowing to the Japanese Emperor, Akihito, during Obama’s Asian tour. I wonder what has people so upset about this gesture of respect. Is it due to Akihito’s pedigree? Will we always suffer from the sins of our father?
Some of the pundits say that Obama, being the current leader and symbol of the US, should always be firm, strong, and never show any kind of weakness on the world stage. The commentators find the President’s actions to be grossly inappropriate, but my question is why? Can we not show respect and still present an air of confidence and strength?
Check out the article and share what you think. I’d like to hear both sides.
Peace.
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WASHINGTON (AFP) – News photos of President Barack Obama bowing to Japan’s emperor have incensed critics here, who said the US leader should stand tall when representing America overseas.
Obama on Monday was in China, having wrapped up the Japan leg of his Asia trip two days earlier. But Washington’s punditocracy was still weighing whether or not the US president had disgraced his country two days earlier by having taken a deep bow at the waist while meeting Japan’s Emperor Akihito.
Political talk shows have played and replayed the moment from the second day of Obama’s week-long Asia tour, which set the blogosphere on fire and chat show tongues wagging.
“I don’t know why President Obama thought that was appropriate. Maybe he thought it would play well in Japan. But it’s not appropriate for an American president to bow to a foreign one,” said conservative pundit William Kristol speaking on the Fox News Sunday program, adding that the gesture bespoke a United States that has become weak and overly-deferential under Obama.
Another conservative voice, Bill Bennett, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program: “It’s ugly. I don’t want to see it.”
“We don’t defer to emperors. We don’t defer to kings or emperors. The president of the United States — this coupled with so many apologies from the United States — is just another thing,” said Bennett.
Some conservative critics juxtaposed the image of Obama with one of former US vice president Dick Cheney, who greeted the emperor in 2007 with a firm handshake but no bow.
“I’ll bet if you look at pictures of world leaders over 20 years meeting the emperor in Japan, they don’t bow,” Kristol said.
Some said the gesture was particularly grating coming after Obama’s bow to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah at a G20 meeting in April.
The US president’s Asia trip comes just over a year after he won election to the White House, and is designed to shore up US power in a region increasingly dominated by rising giant China.
But back home, Obama’s bow in Japan seems to have grabbed much of the attention being paid to the trip.
The gesture appears to have touched a particularly raw nerve among Obama critics who said the president has hastened America’s decline as a world superpower by being too apologetic and too deferential in his dealings with other world leaders.
While most of the commentary about the bow in Japan was decidedly negative, some political observers, like longtime Democratic activist Donna Brazile, came to the president’s defense.
“I think it’s a gesture of kindness,” she told CNN, adding that the bow appeared intended to show “goodwill between two nations that respect each other.”
Meanwhile, an unnamed, senior Obama administration official told the Politico.com news site that the president had simply been observing protocol.
“I think that those who try to politicize those things are just way, way, way off base,” the official told Politico.
“I don’t think anybody who was in Japan — who saw his speech and the reaction to it, certainly those who witnessed his bilateral meetings there — would say anything other than that he enhanced both the position and the status of the US, relative to Japan,” Politico wrote.
“It was a good, positive visit at an important time, because there’s a lot going on in Japan.”
My Son Works?!?!
(Image Source: Associated Press)
This is a great story of an African becoming king. Enjoy!
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KASESE, Uganda – For years, Charles Wesley Mumbere worked as a nurse’s aide in Maryland and Pennsylvania, caring for the elderly and sick. No one there suspected that he had inherited a royal title in his African homeland when he was just 13.
On Monday, after years of political upheaval and financial struggle, Mumbere, 56, was finally crowned king of his people to the sound of drumbeats and thousands of cheering supporters wearing cloth printed with his portraits.
At a public rally later in the day, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni officially recognized the 300,000-strong Rwenzururu Kingdom. Museveni restored the traditional kingdoms his predecessor banned in 1967, but has been adamant that kings restrict themselves to cultural duties and keep out of politics.
“It is a great moment to know that finally the central government has understood the demands of the Bakonzo people who have been seeking very hard for recognition of their identity,” Mumbere told The Associated Press in the whitewashed single-story building that serves as a palace.
The Rwenzururu parliament sits nearby, in a much larger structure made of reeds. It was here the traditional private rituals were held Sunday night and Monday morning to crown Mumbere king.
Thousands walked several miles (kilometers) to see Mumbere, dressed in flowing green robes and a colorful hat, be officially recognized.
Old men clutching canes shuffled up the hill beside women in colorful Ugandan dresses called “gomesi.” Among them was Masereka Tadai, 43, proudly overseeing practice for a march that retired scouts and girl guides would perform before the king.
“Everyone is very happy because the president has accepted to come here and officially recognize the Rwenzururu Kingdom,” Tadai said over a nearby drumbeat.
The new King of Uganda‘s Mountains of the Moon has undergone many transformations — from teenage leader of a rebel force to impoverished student to a nursing home assistant working two jobs in the U.S., where he lived for nearly 25 years.
Mumbere’s royal roots only became public in Pennsylvania this July, when he granted an interview to The Patriot-News of Harrisburg as he was preparing to return to Uganda.
He inherited the title when his father, Isaya Mukirania Kibanzanga, died while leading a secessionist group in the Rwenzori Mountains, otherwise known as the Mountains of the Moon. The rebels were protesting the oppression of their Bakonzo ethnic group by their then-rulers, the Toro Kingdom.
The Bakonzo demanded to be recognized as a separate entity and named Kibanzanga, a former primary school teacher, as their king in 1963.
“It was very difficult growing up in the bush,” remembered Mumbere, who was 9 years old when his father took the family into the mountains. Although he received military training, Mumbere did not fight.
“Our country has been independent (from the British) for 40-something years but in Rwenzururu you may not find running water, there are no hospitals,” Mumbere said.
Shortly after Kibanzanga died, his son led the fighters down from the mountains to hand in their weapons. Mumbere went to the United States in 1984 on a Uganda government scholarship, attending a business school until Uganda’s leadership changed and the stipend was stopped. He gained political asylum in 1987, trained as a nurse’s aide and took a job in a suburban Washington nursing home to pay his bills, said The Patriot-News of Harrisburg in a July 2009 story.
In 1999, he moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s capital, where he worked for at least two health care facilities.
He was “very loyal, a very hard worker, a very private person,” said Johnna Marx, executive director of the Golden Living Center-Blue Ridge Mountain on the outskirts of Harrisburg.
Mumbere said he chose to train as a nurse’s aide because the work, “was more reliable. Other jobs you can be laid off easily.”
Living in the U.S., however, was “a very difficult experience,” he said. “Sometimes you have two jobs. You go to college in the morning, between 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Then you go prepare to go to work at 3 p.m. and then return at 11 p.m.”
He is now a green card holder, and his son and daughter live in Harrisburg. But he never forgot the people he left behind. When the Ugandan government decided to reinstate the traditional kingdoms, Mumbere lobbied the Rwenzururu Kingdom to be among them.
After 10 years of negotiation, President Museveni announced in August the government would recognize the Rwenzururu Kingdom as Uganda’s seventh kingdom. Government recognition does not grant any executive power but allows the monarchs to determine cultural and social issues affecting their people.
Pitching A Tent For Gadhafi
(Image Source: Cleaveland.com)
Imagine for a moment that the guy above came to your house and pitched a big ass tent in your backyard. Would you invite him inside for pancakes, too?
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NEW YORK (CNN) — The town of Bedford, New York, is not happy with a tent set up as part of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s visit to the United States for the United Nations General Assembly, a town attorney said Tuesday.
The tent is on property that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is renting in New York, WABC reported.
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“I discussed this matter with town officials, and the town building inspector believes that this would constitute a violation of several town zoning and land use laws,” Bedford town attorney Joel Sachs said. “I directed the town building inspector to immediately go to the property and issue a stop work order, which would the individuals to cease erecting the tent.”
Sachs said if he had to he would take the issue to a higher court to get the tent taken down.
New York state Sen. Vincent Liebell confirmed to CNN affiliate WABC that Gadhafi had rented the property.
“He’s not going to have many fans in Bedford or Westchester County, certainly not me,” the senator said. “There’s not going to be any welcome mat for him in Bedford.”
The property is owned by the Trump Organization, which said in a statement: “We have business partners and associates all over the world. The property was leased on a short-term basis to Middle Eastern partners, who may or may not have a relationship to Mr. Gadhafi. We are looking into the matter.”
County Executive Andy Spano said earlier Tuesday he had heard unconfirmed reports that Gadhafi may be staying there.
“There is no legal way to prevent this, as he is a head of state, despite the fact that he has a long history as a terrorist,” Spano said in a statement. “However, from my point of view, he is not welcome in Westchester.”
State Department officials said there are no limitations on Gadhafi’s visa that would prevent him from traveling to the area. They said their understanding was that Gadhafi was not staying at the tent, but was visiting and having meetings there. He is staying in New York, the officials said. The U.N. General Assembly begins Wednesday.
Under the Foreign Mission Act, the United States does have the right to restrict travel by diplomats to within a certain distance of U.N. headquarters, but the officials said Westchester County is within that radius.
Gadhafi travels with a trademark Bedouin tent.
Last month, Gadhafi stirred up anger when he permitted a large welcome for Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988. Al Megrahi was released by Scottish authorities on compassionate medical grounds, and the celebration of his homecoming infuriated some families of the Pan Am 103 victims.
CNN’s Ekin Middleton, Elise Labott and Jen Haley contributed to this report.
(Article Source : CNN.com)
