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September 30, 2008
Is China Treating Africans Like Slaves?
Hitchens writes:
I can give you no better explanation in miniature of the wicked thing that I believe is now happening in Africa.Out of desperation, much of the continent is selling itself into a new era of corruption and virtual slavery as China seeks to buy up all the metals, minerals and oil she can lay her hands on: copper for electric and telephone cables, cobalt for mobile phones and jet engines - the basic raw materials of modern life.
Read full article here: How China has created a new slave empire in Africa
Source
Toronto stocks drop 7 percent as U.S. rejects bailout
As the U.S. House voted to reject the Wall Street rescue plan, concerns mounted that the fallout from the crisis in the United States was spreading rapidly around the globe and that the world economy was headed for a sharp downturn.
The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 840.93 points, or 6.93 percent, to 11,285.07, its biggest percentage drop since October 2000, when markets were roiled by the bursting of the tech bubble. On a points basis, it was the biggest decline ever. continue reading
September 29, 2008
Janet Jackson Concert
Bailout bill fails; Dow plunges
The next steps were not immediately clear but supporters were scrambling to put it up for another vote.
What was supposed to be a 15-minute vote stretched past the half-hour mark as leadership scrambled for support.
Investors who had been counting on the rescue plan sent the Dow Jones industrial average down as much as 700 points while watching the measure come up short of the necessary support, before rebounding slightly. The key stock reading was down more than 500 points.
The measure needs 218 votes for passage, but it came up 13 votes short of that target, as the final vote was 228 to 205 against. About 60% of Democrats voted for the measure, but less than a third of Republicans backed it.
President Bush is "very disappointed" by the House vote, his spokesman Tony Fratto said.
A four-hour debate included impassioned pleas for and against the measure from Democrats and Republicans alike. Even some of those arguing the legislation must be approved were quick to point out problems with it.
But in the end, the vote began with both Democratic and Republican leadership telling their members the only way to protect the economy from a spreading credit crunch was to vote for the difficult to swallow measure.
"Our time has run out," said Rep. Spencer Bachus, the ranking Republican on the House Financial Services Committee. "We're going make a decision. There are no other choices, no other alternatives." source
September 28, 2008
Quote of The Day
September 27, 2008
September 26, 2008
September 25, 2008
In Egypt, a 3,000-year-old find
Egypt's antiquities council says that archaeologists have unearthed a 3,000-year-old red granite head believed to portray the 19th Dynasty Pharaoh Ramses II.
The Supreme Council of Antiquities says the discovery was made recently at Tell Basta, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Cairo.
The council's statement Thursday says the 30-inch-high head belonged to a colossal statue of Ramses II that once stood in the area. Its nose is broken and the beard that was once attached to the king's chin is missing.
The site at Tell Basta was dedicated to the cat-goddess Bastet and was an important center from the Old Kingdom until the end of the Roman Period. Archaeologists are still digging at the location for the rest of the statue. sourceRussell Hornsby Wedding Photos
September 24, 2008
Enter-to-win a trip to see Mary J. Blige in Las Vegas / $500 gift basket!
Click here to enter
September 23, 2008
Quote of The Day
Win an iPod Touch from Style.com
Enter for a chance to win
an iPod touch from Style.com.
This Fashion Week, enter to win an iPod touch a day from Style.com. Fashion Week in New York, London, Milan, and Paris is running from 9/5 to 10/5 this year. Every day during that time period enter to win an 8GB iPod touch with the Style.com application already installed. The new Style.com app for iPhone and iPod touch allows you to browse the newest runway shows, read all of our blogs and watch video right in the palm of your hand. Enter up to once a day this show season for a chance to win.
Fashion Cares Volunteer Recruitment Process
Thank you all for your patience in waiting for information about volunteering for Fashion Cares 2008.
This email contains important information about the volunteer recruitment process and the placement of volunteers.
About Fashion Cares 2008 - the event
Date: Sunday November 1, 2008
Location: MetroToronto Convention Centre
Theme: Fashion Cares presents Fashion sCares
This year we’re putting the fashion back in Fashion Cares with a spectacle that will blow you away: imagine Halloween meets Haute Couture meets Paris is Burning and you’ve got an idea of where we’re going. It’s very exciting!
There have been many positive changes made to the event this year. These changes have come about in an effort to bring Fashion Cares back to its roots ... an intimate community event.. To that end there have been two major changes that have been implemented that have an impact on volunteers.
Firstly. the decision has been made to discontinue the Boutique. Secondly, the event has been downsized, by reducing the number of Gala and General Admission tickets. In so doing, the volunteer requirements for Fashion Cares has reduced significantly.
Volunteer Recruitment Process
In trying to develop a volunteer recruitment process that was fair and equitable to all volunteers - long term and new - it has been decided that all volunteers must register through the website....www.fashioncares.com. - and complete the volunteer application form. Volunteer placement will be on a first come, first served basis.
The volunteer application form currently appearing on the website is a word document. You have several options in how you want to complete it
1) complete the application online then send by selecting from the menu - File - Send to - Mail Recipient as Attachment
2) print the form, and fax to me at 416.340.7558 to Attention: Jim Billing
3) print the form, scan and email to me at jbilling@actoronto.com as an attachment
If you experience any difficulty in completing the Volunteer Application Form please contact me at 416.340.8484
Submitting an application does not guarantee that you secured a volunteer position. All successful candidates will receive a confirmation email with details regarding their volunteer assignment.
Thank you
Jim Billing
development volunteer coordinator
399 Church Street, 4th floor
Toronto ON M5B 2J6
phone: 416.340.8484 ext 255
fax: 416.340.7558
www.actoronto.org
Fashion Cares 2008 - Saturday, November 1, 2008
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
www.fashioncares.com
" Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive" ... Dalai Lama
September 22, 2008
'Tutti Frutti' drummer Earl Palmer dead at 84
Earl Palmer, the session drummer whose pioneering backbeats were recorded on such classics as Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" and The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," has died. He was 84.
Palmer died Friday at his Los Angeles home after fighting a lengthy illness, his spokesman Kevin Sasaki said.
Born in New Orleans in 1924 and later moving to Los Angeles, Palmer worked extensively in both cities, recording with some of the music world's all-time greats on thousands of tracks.
His beats form the backdrop on Ike and Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High," Fats Domino's "The Fat Man" and "I Hear You Knockin"' by Smiley Lewis.
From his Los Angeles home, Palmer drummed for music producer Phil Spector and Motown, and his session credits include artists as diverse as the Monkees, Neil Young and Frank Sinatra.
"He was groundbreaking," said Ed Vodika, the pianist in the Earl Palmer Trio. Palmer "shaped American music for the '50s, '60s and '70s." Continue reading
Quote of The Day
Ivan Van Sertima, " They Came Before Columbus
September 21, 2008
Imagine a Women in Love with Herself: Written by Patricia Lynn Reilly
"Imagine a woman who believes it is right and good that she is a woman. A woman who honors her experience and tells her stories. Who refuses to carry the sins of others within her body and life.
Imagine a woman who has acknowledged the past's influence on the present. A woman who has walked through her past and healed her way into the present.
Imagine a woman in love with her own body. A woman who believes her body is enough just as it is. Who celebrates her bodies rhythms and cycles as an exquisite resource.
Imagine a woman who embraces her sexuality as her own. A woman who delights in pleasuring herself. Who experiences her erotic sensations without shame or guilt.
Imagine a woman who honors the body of the Goddess in her changing body. A woman who celebrates the accumulation of her years and wisdom. Who refuses to use her precious life energy disguising the changes in her body and life.
Imagine a woman who has access to the full range of human emotion. A woman who expresses her feelings clearly and directly. Who allows them to pass through her as gracefully as breath.
Imagine a woman who tells the truth. A woman who trusts her experience of the world and expresses it. Who refuses to defer to the thoughts, perceptions and responses of others.
Imagine a woman who follows her creative impulses. A woman who produces original creations. Who refuses to color inside someone else's lines.
Imagine a woman who names her own gods. A woman who imagines the the Divine in her own image and likeness. Who designs a personal spirituality to inform her daily life.
Imagine a woman who refuses to surrender to gods gurus and higher powers. A woman who has descended into her own inner life. Who asserts her will in harmony with it's impulses and instincts.
Imagine a woman who is interested in her own life. A woman who emabraces her life as a teacher, healer and challenge. Who is Grateful for the ordinary moments of beauty and grace.
Imagine a woman who authors her own life. A woman who trusts her inner sense of what is right for her. Who refuses to twist her life out of shape to meet the expectations of others.
Imagine a woman who participates in her own life. A woman who meets each challenge with creativity. Who takes action on her own behalf with clarity and strength.
Imagine a woman who has crafted a fully formed solitude. A woman who is available to herself. Who choses friends and lovers with the capicity to respect her solitude.
Imagine a woman who refuses to diminish her life so that others will feel better. A woman who brings the fullness of her years, experience and wisdom into each relationship. Who expects others to be challenged and blessed by her presence in their lives.
Imagine a woman who assumes equality in her relationships. A woman who no longer believes she is inferior to men and in need of their salvation. Who has taken her rightful place beside them in the human community.
Imagine a woman who refuses to use her precious life energy managing crisis and conflict. A woman whose relationships deepen in satisfaction and contentment without depleting her. Who chooses Friends and Lovers with the necessary skills to navigate through the challenges of life.
Imagine a woman who values the woman in her life. Who sits in circles of women. Who is reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets.
Imagine a woman who has relinquished the desire for intellectual safety and approval. A woman who makes a powerful statement with every word she speaks and every action she takes. Who asserts to herself the right to reorder her own world.
Imagine a woman who has grown in knowledge and love of herself. A woman who has vowed faithfulness to her own life and capacities. Who remains loyal to herself...Regardless."
IMAGINE YOURSELF AS THIS WOMAN. Written by Patricia Lynn Reilly