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Honduras talks start, police break up protest
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – Talks between representatives of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and the country's de facto leader began on Wednesday as top envoys insisted the ousted leftist be reinstated and police used tear gas on a protest.
Foreign ministers and diplomats including the head of the Organization of American States are overseeing the highest-level dialogue to take place in the coffee-growing nation since Zelaya was exiled at gunpoint three months ago.
Shortly before the meeting began, police fired volleys of tear gas to clear several hundred people marching past the U.S. Embassy in support of the logging magnate.
Police and soldiers armed with clubs and automatic weapons chased away demonstrators who shouted "Help us, OAS." Two people were injured, one by a rubber bullet and another by a gas canister, a local hospital said.
Zelaya and the OAS mission insist the president's return to power is a non-negotiable demand. De facto leader Roberto Micheletti previously ruled out that option but in recent days has not mentioned it, in a possible softening of his position.
"Those who thought it was possible to depose a president and normalize life in the country before starting an election campaign should realize that this has not been possible," OAS chief Jose Miguel Insulza said, flanked by the envoys.
A representative of Micheletti called for an end to the international isolation Honduras has suffered since the putsch and said sanctions had cost the poor country $400 million.
Honduras has a presidential election scheduled for November 29 but critics say curbs on media and public gatherings imposed by Micheletti mean the campaign will not be fair. The results may not be recognized without a prior agreement ending the crisis.
Zelaya said Micheletti only agreed to the talks to fend off international criticism and keep the de facto government going.
"They do not have the least intention of reverting the coup, they are just playing for time," he told the Telesur television channel from the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, where he has been holed up surrounded by troops since slipping back into Honduras two weeks ago.
ZELAYA ON CAMPING MATTRESS
Zelaya was toppled after drawing close to Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, whom powerful conservatives in Honduras say was advising Zelaya to extend his presidential term.
Micheletti took power after the June 28 putsch and wants his rival jailed. On Tuesday he said political amnesty was on the table but did not mention a return to office for Zelaya.
Peter Kent, Canada's junior foreign minister, said the OAS mission was pushing to have Zelaya live somewhere other than the embassy, where he sleeps on an inflatable camping mattress.
"We are realistic," Kent said. "This is not going to be achieved in a day or two days or perhaps even a week. But we believe there is room for progress."
The de facto government says the ouster of Zelaya, forced from his bed into exile by armed soldiers, is legal because he had violated the constitution.
Pro-Zelaya protests since his return to Honduras have led to clashes with security forces that caused dozens of injuries and the death of at least one protester.
Honduran rights group Cofadeh says 10 Zelaya supporters have been killed since June in violence linked to the coup.
Coups and military governments were common in Honduras for most of the 20th century. U.S. banana importer Sam Zemurray helped bring President Manuel Bonilla back to power in 1912 in return for favorable business conditions.
(Additional reporting by Gustavo Palencia, Miguel Angel Gutierrez and Ignacio Badal in Tegucigalpa and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Xavier Briand)
I pray for all Honduran people and for the just peace in Central America. fib
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The Road to Zelaya’s Return: Money, Guns and Social Movements in Honduras
Written by Benjamin Dangl
Monday, 21 September 2009
TALKING OF RACISM... fib
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The first town of freed African slaves in the Americas is not exactly where you would expect to find it — and it isn't exactly what you'd expect to find either. First, it's not in the United States. Yanga, on Mexico's Gulf Coast, is a sleepy pueblito founded by its namesake, Gaspar Yanga, an African slave who led a rebellion against his Spanish colonial masters in the late 16th century and fought off attempts to retake the settlement. The second thing that is immediately evident to vistors who reach the town's rustic central plaza: there are virtually no blacks among the few hundred residents milling around the center of town.
Mirroring Mexico's history itself, most of Yanga's Afro-Mexican population has been pushed to neighboring rural villages that are notable primarily for their deep poverty and the strikingly dark skin of their inhabitants. Mexico's independence from Spain and new focus on building a national identity on the idea of mestizaje, or mixed race, drove African Mexicans into invisibility as leaders chose not to count them or assess their needs. Now many blacks want to fight back by improving the shoddy education and social services available to them and are petitioning for the constitution to recognize Afro-Mexicans as a separate ethnic group worthy of special consideration. (See graphics of slavery and the Americas.)
"The two races that are most discriminated against here are the blacks and the indigenous — but it is more accepted against blacks," says Hemeregildo Fernandez, a doctor in Yanga and one of the few blacks still living in town. His office is tucked on a narrow street that juts off the main square, where the rotund man with warm brown skin and salt-and-pepper hair receives a fluctuating stream of patients. The majority of the black Mexican population works in agriculture, fishing or construction, and while, like Fernandez, some have achieved notable positions in coastal towns, he says, "Most blacks have no economic power." (Read a story about the indigenous custom of bride-selling.)
Many of the country's mexicanos negros (black Mexicans), as they are called, know that their ancestors arrived in chains on boats that docked at ports in the sultry, steamy state of Veracruz. But they don't know much else. Indeed, Afro-Mexicans say that much of the history of los mexicanos negros is untaught or ignored by the rest of the country. Apart from Yanga, Afro-Mexicans claim Vicente Guerrero, who served briefly as President in the early 19th century and gave his name to the state of Guerrero, as one of their own, as well as revolutionary José María Morelos, who was executed by the Spaniards in 1815. (Read a story about an indigenous mother who might lose her child because she doesn't speak English.)
Black Mexican activists estimate the population of Afro-Mexicans at about 1 million, but there are no official figures. Earlier this year, they petitioned the National Institute of Statistics and Geography to include the Afro-Mexican population as a separate category in the next census, in 2010. Official statistics do not recognize blacks as a separate ethnic group (56 indigenous groups are officially accredited, the largest ones being the Nahuatl and the Maya, numbering more than 2 million each). As a result, Afro-Mexicans say they have been left out of institutional programs and are without a cultural identity. The group Mexico Negro A.C. is linking with similar Afro-descendant organizations in Latin America that have achieved success in securing better treatment. "We no longer want to be detained by security agents in our own country who say that in Mexico there are no blacks," says Rodolfo Prudente Dominguez, an activist with Mexico Negro.
The Afro-Mexicans face considerable hurdles. Prevailing stereotypes paint the group as happy to live the simple life apart from the rest of society, with no interest in education. The all-black shantytowns near Yanga lack schools, and eager young migrants who move to bigger cities for work complain of blatant discrimination. A report released late last year by Mexico's Congress said that roughly 200,000 black Mexicans who reside in the rural areas of Veracruz and Oaxaca and in tourist cities like Acapulco are out of the reach of social programs like employment support, health coverage, public education and food assistance.
Afro-Mexican culture expert Luz Maria Montiel acknowledges that blacks are particularly marginalized and excluded, to the point that it is impossible to find any mention of them in official records. Yet she argues that it is impractical for blacks to seek constitutional recognition. "It would be impossible to make a law for each of the populations that make up our multicultural nation," she says. Dominguez disagrees: "We are a totally different cultural group from indigenous groups and mestizos of our country, with a particular lifestyle and characteristics that do not respond to public policies that are designed for indigenous grouPS.
A must see. fib
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http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php?name=Web_Links&l_op=visit&lid=152
"Without the drug war, America's most decimated neighborhoods would have a chance to recover. Working people could sit on stoops, misguided youths wouldn't look up to criminals as role models, our overflowing prisons could hold real criminals, and -- most important to us -- more police officers wouldn't have to die."
http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php
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Now, digg this:
http://digg.com/d312kVB
One cop straight out of The Wire crunches the numbers with Esquire.com's political columnist to discover that America's prohibition of narcotics may be costing more lives than Mexico's — and nearly enough dollars for universal health care. So why not repeal our drug laws? Because cops are making money off them, too.
Two days after my tearful, transfixed position in front of my television watching the farewell rites to Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy I am able to see clearly to convey personal gratitude to the lion-sized, politician who dignified the U.S. senate.
That he gave so much throughout almost five decades is one thing but I will never forget how he pulled himself together, travelled to Denver, Colorado last year in order to support the nomination of Barack Obama despite his ailing condition.
How special was that? Who does that in this selfish universe? Only Sen. Ted.
Fact is, he never seemed ill.
His roar was as powerful as ever.
His gait as commanding as never before.
And without baring any claws he showed his colleagues -- cubs and seniors -- how and why they should follow his lead.
On the very same day, Sen. Ted was funeralized, I planned to celebrate the 51st birthday of music icon Michael Jackson. More than ever, I wanted to celebrate life. Brooklyn's Prospect Park held a huge outdoor birthday party at the Nethermead from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and although I had convinced myself not to watch television, I could not resist a quick peek.
Needless to say, the dignity of the Kennedy clan held me hostage. From the youngest offspring, Teddy III to the eldest Sargent Shriver -- they all displayed enviable strength and pride in family.
I did manage to attend the MJ party. And in celebrating the life of the king of pop also hailed the lifelong contribution of the king of the jungle AKA the US senate.
Since the election of the first Black president, I have virtually shunned debates on health care. The non-sensical arguments give me no reason to join the discussion. Talking with friends overseas, I have become apathetic. None of them understand why America does not want universal health care. I have stopped trying to explain the ignorance and racism that has clouded Republicans and Democrats who are fighting the proposal.
But that Sen. Ted died knowing there was a fight is such a dishonor to his legacy. Some Republicans are even saying had he lived he would have changed his mind. How ingracious of these manipulators to concede.
My apathy is shameful and perhaps disloyal to the president but I am exhausted by the stubborn, selfish, rantings and most recently the comment from an insult to all women who said "we need a great white hope."
What we need is introspective. Especially now that Sen. Ted, an advocate for the American majority is no longer able to lead the way. Ted, the lion sleeps tonight.
President Arias had proposed certain points of resolutions to be discussed. In the end, however, it will be the two Honduran delegations to give the final proposal of agreement. Arias said he feels that after yesterday's talks the parties became more flexible. In particular Arias hopes that the agreement will contain the clause that Zelaya would regain power as president but will form a cabinet of reconciliation and unity that would offer security to all Honduran people (“un Gabinete de unidad y reconciliación que le da seguridad al pueblo hondureño”).
The two Honduran parties arived yestarday at 10 a.m. And from the airport directly proceded to the house of Arias.
“The delegation of Manuel Zelaya has in it: Arístides Mejía, the ex-minister of Defense; Milton Jiménez, designated for the Vice-presidency and the ex-chancellor, as well as Enrique Flores Lanza, secretary of the Presidency.
The delegation of mister Roberto Micheletti constitutes of Carlos López, chancellor of the Republic; Arturo Corrales, the president of the Party of Unity and Change (Partido Innovación y Unidad - PINU); Mauricio Villeda, a candidate for the Vice-presidency of the Partido Liberal, and Vilma Cecilia Morales, the ex-president of the Supreme Court of Justice.”
Translation from La Prensa edition Costa Rica by fib
Pic from El Tiempo, Honduran edition:
(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
A supporter of Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya, from the Garifuna Indian community, burns incense in a bucket near soldiers during a road blockade protest in Tegucigalpa, Thursday, July 16, 2009. The incense is believed to expel bad spirits.
Americas, Americas! How socker you are... Forgive me, Friends, but I will be screamin' for the Blue guys to win this Saturday. Many of their most famous players are Garifuna "my people", Black Indians of the Central American Coast. And that is not a surprise to me - who knows that their 25% Carib-Arawak genes have socker in their blood. Or, something very close to socker. Very entartaining and not at all bloody ball games WERE played on the little Antilles when the Spaniards arrived, where Garifuna come from. And yes, it was the South American Indians who invented rubber. How on earth can you play ball without RUBBER. The civilized Maya also had to get it all from somwhere, n'est pas? fib
ps. Do Obama girls play socker?
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Canada looks to beat Honduras, advance to second straight Gold Cup semifinal
By THE CANADIAN PRESS – 16 hours ago
PHILADELPHIA — Canada can advance to its second straight CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinal on Saturday, and help erase the sting of another disappointing World Cup qualifying campaign in the process.
Canada faces Honduras this weekend in quarter-final action at the soccer championship for North and Central America and the Caribbean.
The surprising Canadians were undefeated in group play, winning Group A with a 2-0-1 record for seven points. Canada defeated Jamaica and El Salvador by scores of 1-0, then tied Costa Rica 2-2.
To advance further, however, Canada will need to defeat a team that has provided no shortage of trouble to them recently.
Canada lost to Honduras twice during its failed attempt to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, including a 2-1 home defeat at Montreal's Saputo Stadium. Canada finished 0-4-2 overall in the third round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, a result that led to the dismissal of manager Dale Mitchell.
Canada's interim manager, Stephen Hart, said at a press conference Tuesday that his squad will need a balanced attack to defeat its recent nemesis. He also praised the quality of the Honduran team.
"I've seen the team play in this tournament," Hart said. "They are blessed with good players technically who understand what was being asked (by) their coach, and physically as well. They will prove to be very difficult."
Canada has had success at the Gold Cup before, winning the tournament in 2000 and advancing to the semifinals in 2002 and 2007. But they have never been able to translate these results into greater success on the international level.
Canada has only qualified for the World Cup once, in 1986, where it failed to score in losing three games.
Hart is hoping success in this tournament, along with the ability to develop talent through Canadian teams in Major League Soccer, will usher in a more successful era for Canada's men's national team.
"It's no secret we have very limited success in the sport at the international level and we're trying to grow with the help of MLS," Hart said.
"Any success that the team has, gives some sort of silver lining to the fans who desperately want the program to grow."
The United States meets Panama in Saturday's other semifinal. The defending champion Americans defeated Panama in the quarter-finals of the 2005 Gold Cup en route to their fourth title.
"Our preparation is the same and we have great respect for Panama," U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. "Many of their players are the same. We will take the same approach as we do with the national team in preparation for Saturday's game."
In the other quarter-finals, Mexico meets Haiti and Guadeloupe meets Costa Rica on Sunday in Dallas.
The semifinals will be held July 23 in Chicago, with the championship game set for Sunday, July 26 at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
With files from The Associated Press
Copyright © 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
I am simply glad that an indogenious tribe's name was used to name a species. I bet though the Muras had their own name for the animal - their language is now apparently extinct. I once read a Carib-English dictinary, and half of the text were zoological and botanical items. (I used to do such things before the Obama era.)
The Muras of Brasil, like the Caribs (Caripuna) of the Caribbean Islands and their Carin'a cousins in Venezuela were very powerful tribes and the fiersest fighters for their freedom. They were not much liked by the invaders, being the bad Indians, and accused of all forms of savagery.
So, we found the Mura monkey. Pity the language is lost.
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New monkey discovered in Brazilian Amazon
Tue Jul 7, 2009 2:50pm EDT
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Researchers have discovered a new sub-species of monkey in a remote part of the Amazon rain forest, a U.S.-based wildlife conservation group said on Tuesday.
The newly found monkey was first spotted by scientists in 2007 in the Brazilian state of Amazonas and is related to the saddleback tamarin monkeys, known for their distinctively marked backs, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said.
The small monkey, which is mostly gray and brown and weighs 213 grams (0.47 pound), has been named the Mura's saddleback tamarin after the Mura Indian tribe of the Purus and Madeira river basins where the new sub-species was found.
It is 240 millimeters (9.4 inches) tall with a 320 millimeter (12.6 inch) tail.
"This newly described monkey shows that even today there are major wildlife discoveries to be made," Fabio Rohe, the lead author of a study confirming the new discovery, said in a statement released by the WCS.
The study found that the monkey is threatened by development projects in the region, including a major highway through the forest that is being paved and which could fuel deforestation.
"This discovery should serve as a wake-up call that there is still so much to learn from the world's wild places, yet humans continue to threaten these areas with destruction," Rohe said.
(Reporting by Stuart Grudgings; Editing by Philip Barbara)
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Governor says he's open to debate on legal pot
Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
(05-06) 04:00 PDT Sacramento - --
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday that the time is right to debate legalizing marijuana for recreational use in California.
The governor's comments were made as support grows nationwide for relaxing pot laws and only days after a poll found that for the first time a majority of California voters back legal marijuana. Also, a San Francisco legislator has proposed regulating and taxing marijuana to bring the state as much as $1.3 billion a year in extra revenue.
Schwarzenegger was cautious when answering a reporter's question Tuesday about whether the state should regulate and tax the substance, saying it is not time to go that far.
But, he said: "I think it's time for debate. I think all of those ideas of creating extra revenues - I'm always for an open debate on it."
The governor said California should look to the experiences of other nations around the world in relaxing laws on marijuana.
Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, has introduced a bill to regulate marijuana like alcohol, with people over 21 years old allowed to grow, buy, sell and possess cannabis - all of which are barred by federal law.
California voters in 1996 legalized marijuana for medical use with permission from a physician.
Ammiano said he was pleased the governor is "open-minded" on the issue and added that he was sure the two could "hash it out."
Under Ammiano's proposal, the state would impose a $50-an-ounce levy on sales of marijuana, which would boost state revenues by about $1.3 billion a year, according to an analysis by the State Board of Equalization. Betty Yee of San Francisco, who chairs the Board of Equalization, supports the measure.
"This has never just been about money," said Ammiano, who has long supported reforming marijuana laws. "It's also about the failure of the war on drugs and implementing a more enlightened policy. I've always anticipated that there could be a perfect storm of political will and public support, and obviously the federal policies are leaning more toward states' rights."
An ABC News/Washington Post poll last week found that 46 percent of Americans favored legalization of small amounts of pot for personal use, double the number who supported that a decade ago. A Field Poll also released last week found that 56 percent of California voters supported legalizing and taxing marijuana.
In March, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the federal government would take a softer stance on medical marijuana dispensaries, with drug enforcement agents targeting only those who violate state and federal law. California is one of 13 states that allow marijuana use with a doctor's recommendation.
Many law enforcement organizations oppose changes in marijuana laws. The California Police Chiefs Association, in a report last month, concluded that marijuana dispensaries constitute "a clear violation of federal and state law; they invite more crime; and they compromise the health and welfare of law-abiding citizens."
But the head of that association said he, too, is open to a debate on legalizing pot.
"We keep walking around the 5,000-pound elephant in the room, which is should marijuana be legal?" said Bernard Melekian, president of the association and chief of police in Pasadena.
The Board of Equalization analysis predicts that legalization would drop the street value of marijuana by 50 percent and increase consumption by 40 percent.
Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates legalization, said the governor's comments about marijuana are part of a "tectonic shift" in attitudes toward the issue.
"I think, frankly, the public is going to drag the politicians into doing what is right," he said.
Chronicle staff writer Matthew Yi contributed to this report. E-mail Wyatt Buchanan at wbuchanan@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/06/MNO617F929.DTL
This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Corporate media forced to charged dwindling readership for news content as establishment propaganda organs wither and die while alternative media soars
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Thursday, May 7, 2009
Billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch gave a strange response when asked about plans for mainstream news websites to charge for content, declaring, “The current days of the internet will soon be over.”
He was making reference to the fact that corporate media websites cannot continue to survive under their current failing business model.
The establishment media is dying and advertising revenue has plummeted as people turn to blogs and the alternative media for their news in an environment of corporate lies and spin.
This has forced sectors of the corporate media to charge the dwindling number of loyal readers they have left for news content, a practice which is set to become widespread according to Murdoch. This will only send more people over to the alternative media as the old organs of de facto state-controlled propaganda wither and die.
“Asked whether he envisaged fees at his British papers such as the Times, the Sunday Times, the Sun and the News of the World, (Murdoch) replied: “We’re absolutely looking at that,” reports the Guardian. “Taking questions on a conference call with reporters and analysts, he said that moves could begin “within the next 12 months‚” adding: “The current days of the internet will soon be over.”
Murdoch’s newspapers and TV networks, which include Fox News and the Asian Star Network, have seen profits plummet from $216m to just $7m year-on-year. MySpace.com is also floundering despite a recent move to replace the company’s entire management staff.
It was all but over for the Boston Globe this week, following a threat to close the 137-year-old publication after net losses of $85 million this year alone. Only a last minute cost-cutting agreement on behalf of its owner, The New York Times Company, and The Boston Newspaper Guild, saved the newspaper.
This is why You Tube is being forced to pursue lucrative partnerships with giant production studios and broadcasters, at the expense of user generated content which has been relegated to a sub-section of its website, taking the “You” out of You Tube altogether. Content that may be deemed harmful to You Tube’s corporate agenda and its multi-million dollar partnership deals, like The Alex Jones Channel, is being systematically erased from You Tube’s website under the pretext of flimsy copyright infringement claims.
The jig is up for the corporate media. If they continue to allow free access to their content they will go out of business because there’s not enough advertising revenue coming in, whereas if they charge for content they will lose a huge chunk of their audience and their influence in shaping the news agenda will wane completely.
This is the price the corporate media has paid for lying, spinning and obfuscating on behalf of the virulently corrupt power elite and expecting the population to eat it up without question.
The corporate media monopoly has terminal cancer and they are losing their power, which is why they are aggressively supporting moves to phase out the old Internet altogether and replace it with “Internet 2,” a highly regulated and controlled electronic Berlin wall, where alternative voices will be silenced and giant corporate propaganda organs will dominate once again.
This what Murdoch is really getting at when he assures us that, “The Internet will soon be over” and it’s down to us to stop that agenda from being realized.
So much for the "black race"! fib
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Back to Article
David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor
Friday, May 1, 2009
(04-30) 19:58 PDT
-- American scientists working with colleagues in six African nations and Europe have been boldly tracing the genetic roots of all humanity for the past 10 years, and their first results have just started coming in.
The effort - the most ambitious of its kind ever undertaken - is an attempt to learn in detail how remarkably diverse humans are; how our varied genes make some of us susceptible to deadly diseases and some immune; and just where in Africa our human ancestors first moved out of the continent more than 50,000 years ago to populate the world.
The researchers examined the genes and historical linguistics among thousands of remote African tribal peoples, carrying on a long and once-controversial study begun more than 50 years ago by Stanford geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza and continuing today in partnership with Stanford mathematician Marcus Feldman.
Geneticist Sarah A. Tishkoff of the University of Pennsylvania is leading the latest project with support from African researchers in Cameroon, Mali, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria and Sudan. The first results were reported Thursday in the online journal Science Express.
Over the past decade, the researchers analyzed the genes and languages of more than 3,000 people in 121 population groups across the most isolated regions of Africa, plus 60 in Europe, and four groups of African Americans in various states across the United States. All of the participants volunteered blood samples for gene analysis, the scientists said.
Tishkoff's team also combined clues from the most ancient languages of Africa with their knowledge of the 2,000 languages now spoken on that continent. The scientists also examined the genomes of all the individuals they studied, and from all of that drew a picture of historic migration patterns among the many African population groups, linking them to the origins of African Americans in greater detail than ever before.
One of Tishkoff's colleagues, Dr. Muntaser Ibrahim, a molecular biologist at the University of Khartoum's Institute of Endemic Disease in Sudan, said in a phone interview from Khartoum that the project has revealed "spectacular insights into the history of African populations and indeed the origins of all mankind."
Because such projects in the past required drawing blood samples from so many thousands of African hunter-gatherers in isolated tribes, some scientists had branded them as unethical. But Ibrahim said that won't be an issue this time.
"These remote people are unique genetically, and they have been very, very cooperative because they too would like to know about their past," he said. "The notion that these remote people are not interested in genetics is not at all true."
Christopher Ehret, a noted specialist in African historical linguistics at UCLA and a member of Tishkoff's team, said his analysis of tribal languages revealed striking patterns of migration across Africa.
"When people move, they borrow words from the people where they settle," he said. Those new words inserted into older languages, he said, can tell us when the newcomers arrived.
For example, Ehret said, the "click" language still spoken among people as varied as the San of South Africa, the Pygmy tribes of Central and West Africa and the Hadze people far to the east may well be the original spoken language of all humans - and the genes of those distant click speakers indicate they share a common ancestry, the scientists noted.
Scott M. Williams of Vanderbilt University, who searched for disease-causing genes among the most remote African populations, said he found genetic evidence of ancient susceptibility to disorders as varied as hypertension, prostate cancer and the lactose intolerance that is common today both among African Americans and other American ethnic groups.
The ancient migration patterns that the scientists followed indicated to them that the very first true humans must have emerged on the evolutionary scene nearly 200,000 years ago somewhere in southern Africa, near where Namibia is now, Tishkoff said.
And while most of today's African American ancestors originated from West Africa during the infamous slave trade, Ehret and Tishkoff found strong evidence that many of those West African people came from groups that had migrated from the continent's eastern areas.
Stanford's Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman spent decades on what they called their Human Genome Diversity Project, and it continues today at Stanford's Morrison Institute.
The two Stanford leaders "paved the way for scientists like myself," said Tishkoff.
"They were the first to characterize global patterns of genetic variation and to show correlations between genetic and linguistic evolution," she said. "This is just the beginning of even more detailed studies of genetic variation in African and African American populations."
In a telephone interview from Italy on Thursday, Feldman said the new report "reinforces in a strong way the tremendous diversity and variability of population groups in Africa."
And the Tishkoff team's finding of such varied historical migration patterns in West Africa surely means any attempt by African Americans to learn the true origin of their earliest ancestors in Africa will be difficult, Feldman said."
E-mail David Perlman at dperlman@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/01/MN2317BI4Q.DTL
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Premiering April 27, 2009 on PBS - watch online now
Film Description
The Cherokee would call it Nu-No-Du-Na-Tlo-Hi-Lu, “The Trail Where They Cried.” On May 26, 1838, federal troops forced thousands of Cherokee from their homes in the Southeastern United States, driving them toward Indian Territory in Eastern Oklahoma. More than 4,000 died of disease and starvation along the way.
For years the Cherokee had resisted removal from their land in every way they knew. Convinced that white America rejected Native Americans because they were “savages,” Cherokee leaders established a republic with a European-style legislature and legal system. Many Cherokee became Christian and adopted westernized education for their children. Their visionary principal chief, John Ross, would even take the Cherokee case to the Supreme Court, where he won a crucial recognition of tribal sovereignty that still resonates.
Though in the end the Cherokee embrace of “civilization” and their landmark legal victory proved no match for white land hunger and military power, the Cherokee people were able, with characteristic ingenuity, to build a new life in Oklahoma, far from the land that had sustained them for generations.
Rightist businessman Ricardo Martinelli has been declared the winner in Panama's presidential election.
With about half of the votes counted he had 60% of the vote, compared to 37% for his rival, the ruling party's Balbina Herrera.
Correspondents say Mr Martinelli, of the Democratic Change party, appealed to poor voters by promising to tackle corruption and crime.
He will now oversee a multi-billion dollar expansion of the Panama Canal.
Presidents in Panama are elected for a single, five-year term. Incumbent Martin Torrijos of the ruling Revolutionary Democratic Party is standing down.
Economic tasks
"The tribunal considers you the undisputed winner of this presidential contest," the head of the electoral tribunal told Mr Martinelli in a telephone call broadcast live on television and radio.
Correspondents say he will face a series of economic challenges as the global economic downturn hits the crucial trade link of the Panama Canal.
Panama receives a little under one-third of its tax revenues from the canal, but amid the global economic crisis traffic through the canal has slowed significantly.
Mr Martinelli will oversee the $5bn (£3.3bn) expansion of the canal to increase its capacity, making it big enough for supertankers and the largest container ships.
Five years ago when he stood for president he only gained around 5% of the vote.
But the BBC's Will Grant, reporting from the region, says this time around he appeared more in touch with the concerns of poor Panamanians by promising to clamp down on political corruption and get tough on violent crime.
He has been critical of Mr Torrijos and Ms Herrera, whom he accuses of failing to tackle poverty while lining their pockets in the process.
In 2006 President Torrijos won a referendum on his proposal to widen the Panama canal, and economic growth during his administration has averaged around 8.5%.
But Mr Martinelli spent heavily on marketing, an estimated $35m, and with his wife he crossed the country giving grants and other financial incentives to students.
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Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/8031425.stm Published: 2009/05/04 00:34:40 GMT © BBC MMIX
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In this Monday, Feb. 9, 2009, photo combo, Panama's Presidential candidates Ricardo Martinelli, right, is shown on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, Balbina Herrera, center, is shown on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, and Guillermo Endara is shown on Monday, Feb. 2, 2009. A poll shows businessman Ricardo Martinelli with a strong lead ahead of the May 3 presidential election in Panama. Only 28 percent say they support ruling party candidate Balbina Herrera. Former President Guillermo Endara is in third place with 4 percent.
Absolutely!
Get "Let's go!" and try: Guatemala, Honduras, or Nicaragua. You CAN afford the Central American Caribbean coast. And since people there are too poor to travel, even to Mexico, you will escape H1N1 at the same time. The sea is hot hot, and so is punta. You don't have to be a lawyer to be able to do that. And sell that I-phone before - they have internet cafes there, if you must use. Chances are you will not want to. Better for your health. fib
Saturday, May. 02, 2009
Pink-Slip Trips: Get Laid Off, Go on Vacation
By Matt Villano
When Megan Maciejowski was laid off from her job at an investment bank at the end of 2008, she cleaned out her desk, retreated to her Venice Beach, Calif., apartment and started sprucing up her resume. Then the 33-year-old set aside some of her severance package and arranged to spend February in artsy San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Her goals for the trip were simple: to take an immersive Spanish class, do some painting, experience a new culture and generally relax. Says the self-described Blackberry addict: "I needed to get away to disconnect, recharge and regroup for the next step." The price tag, including airfare and all meals: $1,200. (Read more about travel and the swine flu dilemma.)
Despite the grim employment outlook, Maciejowski isn't the only white-collar worker to respond to lay-offs by planning a vacation; across the country recently unemployed white-collar workers are taking similar pink-slip trips to places near and far. Some are like Maciejowski, hoping travel will help her clear her head and plan her next career move. Others are simply trying to escape the harsh realities of job hunting. "After weeks upon weeks of searching job boards for that next great gig, it is nice to just take off and forget about everything for a few days," says Erik Moser, 26, who in March went on a weeklong ski trip in Colorado after getting laid off in January from his public-relations job in Chicago. (See how to negotiate a better severance package.)
Not surprisingly, the already battered travel industry is eager to capitalize on the trend. Carroll Rheem, director of research at PhoCusWright, a consulting firm in Sherman, Conn., that follows the travel sector, says pink-slip trips are particularly common among those who receive sizable severance packages — i.e., the lawyers and Wall Street types who are confident they'll find another job soon enough. “If they have the time and they have the money, people are stepping back after a lay-off and thinking, 'Hey, why not?" she says.
But knowing that most of out-of-work travellers will be particularly price-sensitive, some companies have crafted special offers for the newly unemployed. Intrepid Travel, an Australian tour operator with U.S. headquarters in Boulder, Colo., recently launched a promotion dubbed "Laid Off Take Off," through which customers who provide letters stating that their jobs have been terminated within the last calendar year get 15% off trips to a variety of destinations.
Tiffany Richards, the company's president, says that roughly 30 of the firm's 1,200 bookings since January have taken advantage of this promotion. She adds that the discount brings the price of a 15-day trip to Morocco to $722.50 from $850, not including airfare. "For people who are in between jobs and maybe a little nervous about money, this kind of savings could be the difference between staying home and getting to see the world," she says.
But no matter where you go, it's hard to forget about the uncertainty waiting for you back home. Maciejowski says she thought about her impending job search from time to time in Mexico, and Moser spent his ski trip checking his e-mail repeatedly for job leads and missives from recruiters.
He says that on one "particularly stressful" afternoon, he had to piece together a resume and cover letter on a cousin's iPhone. "I didn't bring any of my files with me, but when this recruiter got in touch, I dropped everything and used this tiny device to recreate what he wanted," he notes. "Needless to say, I didn't get that job, and didn't hear back from that (recruiter) ever again."
See TIME's photos of grocery auctions
Justice Department Moves to Equalize Cocaine Sentencing For All Races
Friday, May 01, 2009
The federal government may finally be moving towards eliminating the unequal sentencing in U.S. drug laws that punish users of crack more than cocaine. Key government and judicial officials testified at a congressional hearing on Wednesday that the disparity in federal mandatory sentencing for crack users has unfairly targeted African Americans since the 1980s, when the so-called “crack laws” were first installed.
