POVERTY NEVER TAKES A HOLIDAY - FIGHT POVERTY AND HUNGER

“I know poverty because poverty was there before I was born and it has become part of life like the blood through my veins. Poverty is not going empty for a single day and getting something to eat the next day. Poverty is going empty with no hope for the future. Poverty is getting nobody to feel your pain and poverty is when your dreams go in vain because nobody is there to help you. Poverty is watching your mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters die in pain and in sorrow just because they couldn't get something to eat. Poverty is hearing your grandmothers and grandfathers cry out to death to come take them because they are tired of this world. Poverty is watching your own children and grandchildren die in your arms but there is nothing you can do. Poverty is watching your children and grandchildren share tears in their deepest sleep. Poverty is suffering from HIV/AIDS and dying a shameful death but nobody seems to care".  " Poverty is when you hide your face and wish nobody could see you just because you feel less than a human being. Poverty is when you dream of bread and fish you never see in the day light. Poverty is when people accuse you and prosecute you for no fault of yours but who is there to say some for you? Poverty is when the hopes of your fathers and grandfathers just vanish within a blink of an eye.  I know poverty and I know poverty just like I know my father's name. Poverty never sleeps. Poverty works all day and night. Poverty never takes a holiday"            (One Poor African)

ABOUT 20% OF AFRICA'S CHILDREN DIE BEFORE THE AGE OF FIVE  Go to any village in Africa, and you will find dozens of little children playing with one another in the dust. Looking over them in the shade will be the grandmothers or other elders, ready to intervene when things get out of hand. If a child is hurt in the squabbles that inevitably arise, they run to soothing arms of their grandmothers. But war, AIDS, famine have brought to Africa an entirely new concept, children with no family members, no blood relatives, no extended family members. No elders to care for them, they are lost and bereft in a cruel world, and no one seems to care. But Fr. Alphonse in Kabgayi, Rwanda and Fr. Piet in Uganda cared. They took in the children left alone by war, clothed them, fed them, housed them, cared for them. Without them the children would have had no one. facts:hunger in Africa They were the lucky ones, but there are thousands like them without any Fr. Alphonse or Fr Piet. "Twenty percent of Africa's children will die before the age of five" a recently released report stated. The statement was part of a series of reports that demonstrate the horrible conditions currently facing children throughout Africa. "Every day 30,000 children die from a combination of disease- infested water and malnutrition," the report continued. "Water-borne diseases are claiming one child every three seconds. These diseases are the major killers of small children in Africa."         facts:  poverty in Africa In addition to those lives being claimed for lack of clean water and malnutrition, diseases such as AIDS, malaria, pneumonia and typhoid fever are killing record numbers as well. Poverty in Africa : Facts - child poverty in Africa

ABOUT 15 MILLION HIV/AIDS ORPHANS IN AFRICA- HELP NOW! POVERTY IN AFRICA: FACTS - HUNGER AND HIV/AIDS IN AFRICA "As a consequence of the AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa," one report stated, "it is estimated that more than 18 million people have died to date, of which over 3 million were children. Additionally, more than 25 million adults are currently infected which will result in the continued increase in the number of orphaned children.   To date, more than 15 million children have already been orphaned as a result of the epidemic. Another 1 million children are currently infected with the disease."Help fight child poverty in Africa. Help Fight diseases in Africa ! "As a consequence of the AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa," one report stated, "it is estimated that more than 18 million people have died to date, of which over 3 million were children.   Additionally, more than 25 million adults are currently infected which will result in the continued increase in the number of orphaned children. To date, more than 15 million children have already been orphaned as a result of the epidemic. Another 1 million children are currently infected with the disease." Help fight child poverty in Africa. Help save Africa   RURAL POVERTY IN AFRICA:  FOOD AND AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA Three fourths of poor people in Western and Middle Africa — an estimated 90 million people — live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. One in five lives in a country affected by warfare.   poverty in Africa In conflict-torn countries such as Angola, Burundi, Mozambique, Liberia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Congo, Sierra Leon, and Uganda, the capacity of rural people to make a livelihood has been dramatically curtailed by warfare, and per capita food production has plummeted. poverty never takes a holiday. help fight poverty in Africa   STARVATION IN AFRICA: FACTS - POOR FARMING PRACTICES Land degradation, a consequence of extensive agriculture, deforestation and overgrazing, has reached alarming levels and further threatens livelihoods. The poorest people live in isolated zones, deprived of the social safety nets and poverty reduction programs available in semi-urban and urban areas.  West Africa and East Africa for example.     HIV/AIDS IN AFRICA: HIV/AIDS CASES IN WESTERN & MIDDLE AFRICA The incidence of HIV/AIDS in Western and Middle Africa is generally lower than that of Eastern and Southern Africa, but the epidemic could spread dramatically  if it is not combated vigorously. Poverty never takes a holiday. Help now! Help fight poverty in Africa.                               WHY IS AFRICA STILL POOR? "Africa was poor, Africa is poor and Africa will continue to be poor if we the Africans are not ready to change Africa. Africa will remain poor if Africans are not ready to make Africa rich. There is poverty in Africa and there is hunger everywhere on the continent of Africa. HIV/AIDs continues to kill Africans in record numbers. Africa is poor and there is no doubt Africa is poor. The question is not why Africa is poor but may be how we can make Africa rich. What we can do as individuals or groups to help change Africa.   There is poverty in Africa but Africa has almost all it takes to be the richest continent on earth. The major problem facing Africa today is corruption and poor leadership.  There are greedy people in Africa including our leaders who don't care about their poor mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. Some people are too greedy and that is why Africa remains poor. People are killing their own brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers just to make money. People didn't care about yesterday and people don't even care about tomorrow. All they care about is money and money and that is why Africa remains poor.   All African leaders I know are corrupt in one way or the other. They come as saints and leave as devils.. An African president of a country is a president for a few selected people. An African president is a president for only the educated and a president for only those in the higher class. An African president sees no poverty. An African president sees no hunger. An African president sees no HIV. An African president knows no orphan.   An African president shows no mercy. An African presidents sees only money and money and nothing but money.. Not just the African president but the African prime minister, the African governor, the African Doctor,  the African Judge, the African lawyer, the African King, and even the African Pastor. And that is why Africa is still poor and that is why Africa continues to wallow in poverty..."                                                                            One poor African

Obama Says He’ll Push for Clean Energy Bill

 

By HELENE COOPER

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PITTSBURGH — President Obama said Wednesday that it was time for the United States “to aggressively accelerate” its transition from oil to alternative sources of energy and vowed to push for quick action on climate change legislation despite almost unanimous opposition from Republicans and continued skepticism from some Democrats.

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Seeking to harness the deepening anger over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to the advantage of his legislative agenda, Mr. Obama promised to find the lagging votes in the Senate to get the climate change and energy bill passed this year. Last year, the House passed a version of the bill, which tries to address global warming by putting a price on greenhouse gas pollution and provides incentives for alternative clean energy sources.
“If we refuse to take into account the full cost of our fossil fuel addiction — if we don’t factor in the environmental costs and national security costs and true economic costs — we will have missed our best chance to seize a clean energy future,” Mr. Obama said. “The votes may not be there right now, but I intend to find them in the coming months.”
Mr. Obama’s remarks were made to a group of about 300 local business owners and economic officials at Carnegie Mellon University. He used them to reiterate his call to roll back Bush administration tax breaks for oil companies and to make a broader case for his administration’s accomplishments heading into an election season.
He defended what he cast as his vision of active but restrained government against a conservative limited-government philosophy that he said had proved a failure under President George W. Bush, and he criticized Republicans in Congress as obstructionists.
“From our efforts to rescue the economy to health insurance reform to financial reform, most have sat on the sidelines and shouted from the bleachers,” the president said. “They said no to tax cuts for small businesses, no to tax credits for college tuition, no to investments in clean energy. They said no to protecting patients from insurance companies and consumers from big banks.”
Republicans shot back quickly. Even before Mr. Obama had begun his speech, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the Republican whip, issued a statement saying “the president gives a good speech, but good speeches can’t improve failing policies.”
“Out-of-control Washington spending,” Mr. Cantor said, “has created a massive debt, private-sector businesspeople — small and large — are preparing for additional tax increases, and the government keeps on growing.”
Many clean-energy advocates have argued that Mr. Obama should try to take advantage of the national anger over the gulf oil spill to challenge Republicans on the climate change bill, saying that his best chance to get such a bill passed is now.
Apparently eager to seize an opportunity to take the offensive after weeks of playing defense on the oil spill, Mr. Obama suggested that he was happy to engage in a major battle for the legislation in the coming months.
He described the “inherent risks to drilling four miles beneath the surface of the earth,” to fuel the country’s dependence on oil. “We consume more than 20 percent of the world’s oil, but have less than 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves,” he said. “Without a major change in our energy policy, our dependence on oil means that we will continue to send billions of dollars of our hard-earned wealth to other countries every month, including countries in dangerous and unstable regions.”
The White House has been trying to stop the environmental disaster in the gulf, now in its seventh week, from consuming the second year of his presidency.
A day after disclosing that the federal government is conducting criminal and civil investigations of BP and other companies in connection with the spill, Mr. Obama did not directly criticize BP or the oil industry generally. Instead, he framed his agenda in positive terms, saying that the “time has come, once and for all, for this nation to fully embrace a clean energy future” and that the transition would succeed only “if the private sector is fully invested in this future.”

Lost WWII battlefield found -– war dead included

An Australian trekker said he has discovered the site of a significant World War II battle in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, complete with the remains of Japanese soldiers right where they fell almost 70 years ago.
Former army Capt. Brian Freeman, an expert on the Kokoda Trail – a 60-mile trek through rugged mountainous country and rainforest of the island – said Monday he was led to the Eora Creek battle site where he found the remains of the soldiers.
The site about half a mile from the village of Eora Creek was believed to be the location of the last major battle that was pivotal in Australia’s campaign against the Japanese in Papau New Guinea.
Although the site was known to local villages, jungles reclaimed it after the battle of Eora Creek. Although locals hunted on the plateau surrounding the site, they avoided the 600-square-meter battle ground because of a belief that spirits of the dead were still present in the "lost battlefield."
What this means is that the site has apparently remained untouched since 1942.
“On our inaugural trek, we were hoping to find the remnants of a make-shift Japanese hospital and, potentially, relics of guns and ammunition. I never anticipated that we would find war dead,” Freeman said in a statement.
Freeman trekked to the site for the first time on April 23.
“It was as if time has stood still. We found ammunition running out in a line from the rifle that was dropped as the Japanese advanced to the rear,” Freeman said.
Freeman said extensive research on battle maps and diaries led them to believe that the Japanese had a medical facility in the area during the Japanese advance and its location had remained a mystery until now.
The team found kidney-shaped medical dishes at the site, pointing to evidence that the find was indeed the site of a Japanese hospital.
The presence of large rectangular pits, referred to as rifle pits, also indicated that the location was also a significant Japanese defensive position.
“However, it was the discovery of a Japanese soldier sitting up against a tree, only centimeters from the surface still in his helmet, with his boots nearby that began to tell the human story,” Freeman said.
The battle of Eora Creek is said to be the single most costly clash of the Kokoda campaign, although different sources cite different casualty figures.
Freeman's group says 79 Australians died and 145 were wounded, while the Australian War Memorial website says 99 were killed and 192 wounded.
Freeman said they are working with respective governments to repatriate the fallen solders and preserve the site in its “current pristine condition." Until then, no groups will be permitted to trek the site.

HDR-CX camrecorder by Sony Sony has announced the release of three new models of camcorders that are smaller, lighter and smarter compared to the former stars of Sony. In the picture you can see the HDR-CX model, Sony’s first flash-based HD camcorder. Sony proclaims this model as “the smallest and lightest AVCHD HD camcorder” available now on the market. It can record up to 30 minutes of high quality 1080i video on its 4 GB Pro Duo Memory Stick. You can buy it for 1200$, which is a definite competitor price for Panasonic and their line of HDC cameras. The other models Sony released are SR5 and SR7. Both cameras provide with a 2.7 inch LCD screen on which you can admire the videos you are taking. You can also look at a thing from a closer angle from now on, thanks to their 10x optical zoom. The SR5 has memory of 40 GB and can shoot up to five hours of 1080i HD AVCHD video. In this chapter, the SR7 gives it a lesson with its 60 GB of internal memory and the ability of shooting up to 14 hours of 1080i video. You can buy the SR5 model for 1100$ and the SR& for 1400$.

Pillete Pillete, the new concept of Bluetooth headset is so tiny, it’s almost invisible to the untrained eye when you are wearing it. So you don’t have to worry anymore about looking like Robocop when walking down the street with it, but you have to consider the possibility of people starting to think you’ve lost your marbles and you’re talking to yourself. The downside is the fact that people have different sized ears and the device might be too small and slip out or to big and not fit. People who often use earphones will tell you I’m right. But once they’ll figure out a way to make the Pillete adjustable, this design will be the future of all headsets.

Mexican authorities recover 55 bodies from mine shaft

By the CNN Wire Staff

June 8, 2010 -- Updated 0017 GMT (0817 HKT)

Bodies were first discovered in the mine shaft near the city of Taxco, Mexico, a week ago.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• 55 bodies found inside mine shaft believed to be mass grave
• Three bodies were mummified
• Remains were first found a week ago
• Investigators are searching other ventilation shafts

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• Mexico

(CNN) -- Mexican authorities found 55 bodies inside a mine ventilation shaft that was used as a mass grave in the city of Taxco, officials said Monday.

Bodies were first discovered in the mine shaft a week ago, and Monday's announcement concluded the weeklong recovery effort.

Of the 55 bodies, three were mummified, and two were skeletal remains, the Guerrero state attorney general's office said.

Only four of the bodies have been identified. Among them is David Bravo Mota, who was an area prison warden, officials said.

State Attorney General Albertico Guinto Sierra said he was asking families with missing loved ones to come to his office to begin a process of genetic testing to help identify the remaining bodies.

Meanwhile, authorities said they would explore the mine's 10 other ventilation shafts to see whether any more bodies were discarded there.

Some of the bodies were found with their hands bound or blindfolded, authorities said, creating speculation that the mass grave was related to the work of a drug cartel. But a spokeswoman at the attorney general's office said the suspects and motive were under investigation.

Also Monday, authorities in the southern Mexican state of Quintana Roo found inside a cavern six bodies that had signs of torture and mutilation.

The bodies of four men and two women were found just outside of the resort city of Cancun, the Quintana Roo state attorney general's office said.

Three of the bodies were marked with the letter Z, and had holes in their chest over their hearts. An autopsy would confirm whether or not the hearts were removed, the agency said.

One of the six was identified as Isaias Valenzuela Ruiz, who was the head of security at Playa del Carmen and had been reported as missing five days ago.

It’s just a formality now, but with just one last uncanvassed certificate of canvass left, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay has virtually won the vice presidential race in the May 2010 elections.

Congressional Canvass tally, June 7, 2010

On Monday night, the Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers, finished all 277 certficates of canvass (CoC), except for those from the province of Lanao del Sur.

In that running tally, Binay led rival Mar Roxas by 611,955 votes.
The remaining uncanvassed CoC from Lanao del Sur, delayed by the special elections in the province held just last week, accounted for only over 365,000 votes.

Since the Lanao del Sur votes are less than the difference in the votes of the two bets, it is thus mathematically impossible to reverse the result of the vice-presidential polls.
The vice-presidential race became the more toughly contested battle as Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III pulled away from his rivals early on in the presidential race.

As of Monday night’s tally, Aquino led his nearest rival, former President Joseph Estrada, by over 5 million votes.
On Monday, the Committee finished canvassing the previously overlooked CoC's of Eastern Samar, and deferred CoC's of Davao City, Bacolod City and the Mountain Province.

The committee decided to delay the proclamation of the new president and vice president to June 9 to allow the canvassing of the CoC's from Lanao del Sur on Tuesday and to provide ample time for the plenary to review the Joint Committee report on the canvass.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and House Speaker Prospero Nograles assured their colleagues that they will not allow the proclamation to drag on until dawn of Tuesday, as did when it proclaimed President Arroyo in 2004.