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Disney Driven Week In Review 9-20-15
Maria H. (ndm#130) 0 Comments 000 leagues under the sea, 1992, 20, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, ABC, adventure, american experience, anika noni rose, anna, aperture, app, arendelle adventures, ariel winter, ariel's grotto, Asia, asian, at home, attractions, audio loop, b&w, baileywick, Belle, Ben Kingsley, bill murray, bionic island, birthday, black, black and white, black obi soba, blah, board book, bonus, bonus features, books, boring, bottle, boys, broker, cable, Christopher Walken, chronicles, classic tale, cleo, clip, clover, colorstrokes, comedy, compassion, converting, correspondence, countdown calendar, d-cot.com, dark swan, Darth Vader, dim sum, Disney, disney books, Disney channel, Disney Junior, Disney Photography, Disney Podcasts, Disney Springs, disney trivia, Disney XD, Disneyland, documentary, double trouble, draft, dull, Dumbo, DVD, eat, edit, editing, elite force, elsa, emma swan, Evil Queen, expecting, facts, family, family. moms, Fantasyland, FASTPASSES, fix, Florida, food, force, fp+, friendship, frozen, Giancarlo Esposito, ginnifer goodwin, girl meets world, grace, Halloween, hard cover, Harper's Mill, Haunted Mansion, hdr, help, History, home movie, honesty, how to, Idris Elba, invisible, iso5571, it's a laugh, itunes, Jasmine, jedi, julie nathanson, jungle book, junior, junior novel, karan brar, Kids, king arthur, kristoff, Lab Rats, lacrosse, lagoon, lana parilla, landing, lea salonga, lego star wars, life, lifestyle, lightroom, lightsaber, liv and maddie, live action, live365, Lou Mongello, loyalty, Lupita Nyong'o, Magic Kingdom, mail, memories, mighty med, ming-na wen, molly, Moms, monstober, morimoto, Movie, Mowgli, mr. gold, Mulan, ndk review, Neel Sethi, new, new orleans, October, olaf, Once Upon A Time, original movie, ouat, out of focus, parades, paris berelc, park and resort audio, park audio, patina, pawn, pawn shop, pbs, Photography, Photos, photoshop, pilsner, Pinocchio, planning, Podcasts, pregnancy, pregnant, premiere, preschool, princess, printable, process, productions, programs, queen miranda, rachel crow, raw bar, read, reading, Regina, reindeers are better than people, release, resort audio, restaurant, rowan blanchard, royal collection, Rumplestiltskin, sara ramirez, sashimi, Scarlett Johansson, season, series, sharing, sister, skill, skyway, sneak peek, Snow White, soba ale, sofia, sofia the first, sofia's first christmas, special, staitionary, steps, storefront, story, storybook, Streets of America, summer, Sushi, tbt, teens, Television, throwback thursday, Tiana, tim gunn, tips, toddlers, Tom Sawyer's Island, Touring Plans, trailer, travel tips, trip planning, trolls, true, TV, Tweens, Vacation, vacation. memories, village haus, vintage, Walt Disney, Walt Disney World, wayne brady, WDW, WDW Radio, wei ling, what to do, white, Wordless Wednesday, wucf, ww, yeah disney audios, Yoda
It's the Disney Driven Week In Review! We understand that life keeps you busy, so here is aRead more


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The issues farmers and all of America face today aren't about failures of government but rather a failure of politics. That's the message President Barack Obama delivered to a welcome crowd during a town hall meeting in Cannon Falls, Minn. today.
The event, which kicks off a three-day bus tour through Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, features stops that will focus on key rural issues. At this first stop, a warm up speaker – Tom Vilsack, secretary of agriculture – delivered the message Obama-inspired programs were creating jobs including the broadband initative aimed at connecting rural areas. Vilsack notes, that the investment there will impact 325,000 businesses.
"With broadband we can connect rural areas with the rest of the world," Vilsack says. "That includes farms, businesses, hospitals and schools."
During his talk, Obama touched on the broadband investment noting that his administration is trying to connect 98% of America so that every town will be linked. The initiative is impact a wide range of businesses.
As Obama started his talk he focused on the rise of biofuels as a way to boost the American economy. "The fact is that technology is improving," he says. "We're using refuse and other materials not used for food to create energy and we're backing that up with the purchasing power of the government."
In fact, the Department of Defense is testing biofuels for broader use, he notes.
Getting on track
During his opening remarks, Obama noted that a few actions could be taken now to get America on track including a renewal of the payroll tax credit – a controversial move not favored by Republicans. Obama notes Congress has the power to put that money into consumers' pockets to stimulate the economy now.
He notes a need to "start rebuilding America" adding that the housing bubble caused a lot of trouble and there are a lot of construction workers out there who could be at work on roads and bridges. "The Infrastructure Bank would involve private investors in the building of new bridges and roads," he adds.
Another point, is the idea of incentivizing businesses to hire veterans. "This is something that Congress can do now," he says.
As for trade deals. Obama walked through the free trade agreements sitting in Congress. "Trade deals have not always been good and at times we've not gotten a fair deal," he notes. "But we want to sell Chevy's and Fords in Korea as they sell their cars here," he notes. The FTAs are stalled due to provisions from the Obama administration that are still being worked out, however they would be job-stimulating agreements if passed.
"There is no shortage of ideas to put people to work now, but we need to put partisan games aside," Obama says.
He notes that government isn't broken but politics is and points to the fact that government is the teacher, the policeman, the FEMA worker and others that get the work done. "Let's not confuse what government is," Obama notes. The President didn't leave all the comments on the other side of the aisle either, noting that some in his party say no government program can be changed. "That's ridiculous, every company looks at what it does every year looking for improvement," he adds.
Whether this is the official kickoff of Campaign 2012 for Obama is for the pundits to decide, for the folks of Cannon Falls, in the national spotlight for an hour today, the news was good and Obama inspired those on hand with his message.
Of course, where Congress is when the fall recess ends remains to be seen.

subset: commoncrawl


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"I first developed an interest in science and maths in about the eighth grade. When I got to high school I started to focus on physics and learning about forces and how everything interacts with each other, it was fascinating. It was then that I realised I really wanted to get into engineering.
In 2012 I graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University in Qatar. I knew that the Shell Graduate Programme was world-renowned, systematic and effective, so I was set on joining. And I did! I started as an Integrity Engineer in September 2012. I'm still in this role today."


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Snapshots from Wine Country in Spain
Snapshots from where wine comes from.
Spain is one of the biggest wine-producing countries, third to France and Italy. There are all sorts of native grape varieties but 80 percent of the wines produced here come from the same 20 grapes, many of which you've probably had in your glass before: Tempranillo, Albariño, Garnacha, and the cava grapes, Macabeo, Parellada, and Xarel-lo.
While on a wine-drinking and Spain-romping trip recently sponsored by Freixenet, we visited many of the major wine regions including Rioja and Ribera del Duero, primarily known for growing Tempranillo grapes, then it was off to Priorat in southwest Catalonia to try Garnacha and other powerful reds, and we finally ended up in Penedés near Barcelona for bubbly cava made at the Freixenet and Segura Viudas wineries.
Here are some snapshots from my trip: the wines, the grapes, the hillsides, the oak barrels, and the chorizo bites in between sips. Check out the slideshow!


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What is happening in eastern DR Congo is not a civil war, but continuation of a 16-year aggression by the country's two neighbours, financed and directed by the United States and Britain.
All the signs are written on the wall that after the split of Sudan, the United States of America is targeting the Democratic Republic of Congo to re-enact the same scenario: arming the Tutsi regime of Rwanda and Uganda to the teeth to occupy eastern Congo for some time, first of all to extract its strategic minerals which the Western economies in crisis desperately need, and then annex it to Rwanda and Uganda. This conspiracy against the Democratic Republic of Congo is now an open secret. The stakes are therefore both economic and geostrategic but they have been uncovered, including by the latest United Nations report which accused Ugandan and Rwandan officials of supporting M23, the so-called rebel group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and recommended to the United Nations that it sanctions Kampala and Kigali. Although there are doubts that such recommended sanctions will be implemented, nevertheless this represents a moral victory for the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo which could not have been won with a Mobutu-like president.
First of all, there is no rebellion in eastern Congo. After Laurent Kabila was assassinated, the whole international community imposed what was called the 'brassage' or integration of the army; all the rebel groups had unconditionally to be incorporated into the army. Then came the 2004 Gen Nkunda war backed by Rwanda and Uganda still, Kinshasa having had no respite to re-organize its army. That was an open infiltration for which Congo is paying a heavy price today. All the media that refer to Tutsi insurgents as rebels are wrong! Rwanda and Uganda, both staunch allies of the United States and Great Britain, continue to support Tutsi insurgents - led by General Bosco Ntaganda, a Tutsi warlord wanted by the International Criminal Court for recruiting child soldiers in 2006 and who was also placed under Security Council sanctions. For America which is waging a war against global terrorists, paying some lip service to punish Tutsi terrorists is a bluff! We are therefore not surprised that America worked with al-Qaeda members to overthrow Gaddafi (Gardham, Swami and Squires 2011).
On 26 October 2012, President Joseph Kabila of the DRC dispatched a special envoy to President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda to request him to authorise the closure of the Bunagana border post because Kinshasa had concerns that, 'M23 rebels' were taking advantage of the open border point at Bunagana to collect revenues from cargo vehicles and other goods. Museveni acquiesced but warned that the DRC must 'take responsibility for any negative impact on the humanitarian situation' as result of closing the border (...) in the end (Akugizibwe 2012). Museveni knew what he was talking about because immediately after the closure, the M23 attacked the Congolese army in Kibumba. Les Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC), as the Congolese army is known, responded and killed more than 150 Tutsi insurgents out of 900 and approximately wounded 300 to 450 (evacuated to Rwanda). Some of them were wearing Rwandan military uniforms; in fact six Rwandan high ranked officials were also killed. Congo lost two army officers.
A furious Kagame immediately deployed several battalions of fighters, well-equipped with night-vision equipment allowing them to fight at night, including goggles as well as 120 mm mortars (some say American made) who captured Goma and dislodged the Congolese army after a stiff resistance, pursued them up to Sake 30km from Goma. The Congolese army pushed them back and inflicted heavy losses on them but the Rwandans re-captured the town later. The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in Congo, known by its French acronym as MONUSCO, even filmed three Rwandan tanks being driven from a Rwandan military base across the border to the headquarters of Congo's M23 rebel militia . The Congolese army is now concentrated in Minova and preparing a counter-offensive after General Olenga, the new army chief of staff, was appointed following the suspension by President Joseph Kabila of General Gabriel Amisi, the chief of land forces over, UN accusations he ran a huge arms smuggling network supplying Congolese rebels and other groups. A report by the UN Group of Experts on the DRC accuses Amisi of overseeing a network that provides arms and ammunitions to poachers and armed groups, including some with links to the M23.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is a member of the Southern Africa Development Community and since it has been ascertained that Congo has once been attacked by Rwanda (a SADC delegation visited Goma recently), we do not think SADC will remain indifferent to Congo being re-invaded, with hundred of people killed, maimed, women raped, children forcefully enrolled in the rebel armies and abused. According to a reliable sources, SADC countries might already have deployed troops in eastern Congo.
According the plan made by regional leaders (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Congo) a joint force would be deployed at Goma airport comprising of a company of neutral African troops, a company of the Congolese army (FARDC) and a company of the M23. The leaders told M23 to withdraw from current positions to not less than 20 km (12 miles) from Goma town within two days, but did not say what the consequences would be if the rebels did not comply. Elsewhere, rebels would simply be disarmed, strangely not in Congo where international law and war crimes do not apply.
But the Congolese are determined to avert any balkanisation of their country. With the support of its allies, Tutsi insurgents will face a stronger fire power. Rwanda will not be able to intervene because the border will now well monitored.
In fact, China Great Wall Industry Corp will launch Democratic Republic of Congo's first satellite, which will also be developed by China, before the end of 2015, according to a contract signed recently. The contract for CongoSat 1, a communications satellite to be developed and manufactured by the China Academy of Space Technology for the National Network of Satellite Telecommunications of the African country, was inked in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.
The signing was on the sidelines of the Ninth China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, also known as the Zhuhai Airshow. The contract shows the CongoSat 1 design will be based on the DFH 4 satellite platform, capable of covering the Democratic Republic of the Congo and all the central and southern parts of the African continent through the advanced transponders installed on the satellite. China will build ground control and training facilities and will train satellite-control personnel for the client. China Telecom, one of the country's biggest telecommunications companies, will also play an active role in the project by upgrading the operation system and providing management services to the network. The deal marks the second time that China has exported a satellite to African nations, following the NigComSat 1, another communications satellite that was launched for Nigeria in May 2007 by Great Wall.
At the same time, the UN is said to have contacted Britain and France asking them to supply drones that can be very useful in monitoring Congo's borders with Rwanda and Uganda. This could be another Trojan horse!
Despite the Goma airport still being controlled by MONUSCO, the latter could not hide its complicity with Tutsi insurgents. MONUSCO did not engage M23 in battle in Goma, according to a South African soldier who did not give his name. 'We [MONUSCO"> have had no trouble with M23, to be honest,' he said.
That tells it all and justifies current protests throughout Congo against MONUSCO's presence.
Washington, embarrassed by the leaked UN Panel report which showed clearly that its Rwandan and Ugandan lackeys are arming Congo rebels and providing troops and whose final publication it was trying to block, is attempting to cover up the real culprits, Museveni and Kagame, who act as mercenaries for American and European interests in Africa and whose regimes are armed to the teeth, generously supported by foreign aid, and allowed free rein to plunder their Congolese neighbors. Just a day after the UN Panel report was leaked, Rwanda was accepted as 'non-permanent member of the UN security Council' . Which world do we live in?
Uganda for its part pitched a kind of puppet tantrum, threatening to pull its troops out of so-called peace-keeping duties in Somalia, as Glen Ford reported. Museveni's government is angry, because yet another United Nations report has been leaked, showing that Ugandan and Rwandan military officers are directly in charge of the so-called rebels that are wreaking havoc in Congo. This is not a Congolese civil war, but a continuation of a 16-year aggression by its two neighbours, financed and directed by the United States and Britain.
Uganda's threat to pull out of Somalia has proven to be empty. After all, what is a samurai without a lord and master? Uganda's value to the United States lies in its willingness to kill other Africans on orders from Washington. A Uganda withdrawal from Somalia would amount to going on strike against its employer, the United States – a very dangerous thing to do. Besides, who else is going to employ the Ugandan and Rwandan mercenaries?
By the time the Uganda delegation got to New York, there was no more mention of leaving Somalia, much less a Ugandan disengagement from the US Special Forces units that President Obama sent into the Great Lakes region, last year. Uganda had temporarily forgotten its place as a servant in the neocolonial scheme of things. But, in truth, the Ugandans and Rwandans need not worry about the US cracking down on their genocidal activities in Congo, because that, too, serves America's purpose: to control Africa by drowning it in chaos and blood (Ford 2012).
In fact, Stephen Rapp, the head of the US war crimes office has warned Rwanda's leaders, including President Paul Kagame, that they could face prosecution at the International Criminal Court for arming groups responsible for atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, adding that they may be open to charges of 'aiding and abetting' crimes against humanity in a neighbouring country – actions similar to those for which the former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, was jailed for 50 years by an international court in May 2012 (McGreal 2012).
Three days later, the US Embassy in Kigali issued a statement in which it said that the media reports suggesting that senior Rwandan officials faced possible prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged support to DRC's M23 rebels were inaccurate.
'Ambassador (Stephen) Rapp was not calling for any specific prosecution in this case,' Susan Falatko, the Public Affairs Officer, at the American Embassy in Kigali told The New Times, saying the official was misquoted by the newspaper. 'He sought to underscore the importance of holding to account those responsible for crimes against humanity, noting as a general principle that neighbouring countries have been held responsible in the past for cross-border support to armed groups,' she added. A senior ICC official is said to have said that the Hague-based court was not investigating any Rwandan leader
The Obama administration even pompously announced that it was withholding a paltry $200,000 in fiscal year 2012 foreign military financing funds that were intended to support a Rwandan academy for non-commissioned officers, adding that these funds will be reallocated for programming in another country.
Another glaring contradiction which does not bother America's conscience (if it has any) is that American trained and paid Rwandan and Ugandan soldiers have been deployed as 'peacekeepers' in Darfur and Somalia while at the same time they are making the blood of millions of Congolese flow into the ground, while billions of dollars in minerals are extracted from the earth and delivered to their corporate customers – with Rwandan and Ugandan middlemen pocketing their cut. America is also trying to sweep under the carpet the genocide that Rwanda and Uganda have committed in Congo since 1996. As we know, Rwanda and Uganda invaded the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1996, ostensibly to hunt down Hutu fighters among millions of refugees from ethnic violence in Rwanda. But the invasion became an occupation that has killed six million Congolese – the world's greatest holocaust since World War Two. The genocide has been very profitable for Uganda and Rwanda, who have plundered eastern Congo's mineral resources for sale to multinational corporations, most of them based in the United States and Europe.
According to a report published in his blog, Jason Stearns of the International Crisis Group, who also has been a member of the UN Panel of Experts, US ambassador to the US Susan Rice delayed the publication of UN Group of Experts' interim report, insisting that Rwanda be given a chance to see the report first and respond. While these UN investigations are supposed to give the accused the opportunity to respond and explain –– the Group says it was refused meetings by the Rwandan government, which Kigali denies –– they rarely allow them to see the entire report before publication. In any case, the Group finally did brief a Rwandan delegation in New York in June in New York (unsurprisingly, the Rwandan rejected the report as flawed) and the report was released.
Stearns says that Rice emerged as a skeptic within a State Department that had largely accepted Rwanda's role in backing the M23. Both Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson and Special Envoy Barry Walkley have told Kigali explicitly to stop supporting M23. According to sources within the Obama administration, Rice has weighed in during these conversations, even when they do not directly relate to the United Nations.
According to an international NGO that follows Security Council politics closely, 'Rice isn't convinced that support is ongoing––maybe [there was some"> in the past, but not now.' Others point to her skepticism at the UN Group of Experts reports and their methodology.
Her latest controversial step was to block the explicit naming of Rwanda and Uganda in this week's UN Security Council resolution, condemning the M23 occupation of Goma. As in previous statements, the body demanded that 'any and all outside support to the M23 cease immediately.' Other Council members had wanted to name Rwanda explicitly, but Rice demurred, arguing that this would not be constructive in a process in which Rwanda must be part of the solution. Rice's supporters say that this was simply the official US position, and she was following orders from Washington .
Susan Rice, a key player in Obama's administration (now tipped to become the next US Secretary of State) was then Bill Clinton's Under-Secretary of State for African Affairs who could not hide her government's satisfaction with Rwanda's and Uganda's felony in Congo. Had her then boss Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright not said that 'Rwanda is to the US what the pupil is to the eye'?
As the Ugandan and Rwandan armies occupied Eastern Congo and engaged in open warfare with the new DRC government, Rice continued to support their efforts and offered US diplomatic and barely-cloaked military support. Her arrogance was unbounded. She was sent on a mission in 1999 to visit Kinshasa to discuss the US position on the war with Kabila. On her way to Kinshasa she stopped first at Kigali to meet Kagame and then in Entebbe to meet Museveni. She then cabled Laurent Kabila that she was ready to be received in the DRC. Kabila went to N'Djili Airport to meet Susan Rice in person. Kabila, to everyone's amusement, greeted Rice as she descended from the plane saying, 'I greet you Madame Rice, as the ambassador from Uganda'; for that was in effect what she was. Rice spent her time lecturing Kabila about how awkward it made US foreign policy when Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe troops assisted the DRC in repelling the Ugandan and Rwandan invasion of the DRC and the rape and plunder they were causing in the Kivus and Kasai. Rice was happy to see the war against the DRC as US African policy had always shunned Angola and Zimbabwe because they were not allied inflexibly to the US in their Cold War struggle with Russia and China.
This predilection for Uganda and Rwanda and contempt and hostility toward Zimbabwe continues to this day. The fact that both Uganda and Rwanda still occupy parts of the DRC and pillage its resources and massacre its citizens - through M23 - does not seem to bother her as US ambassador to the UN, let alone if she becomes Secretary of State. These two nations now are part of the US proxy army in Africa and receive her full support at the United Nations.
The US is firmly behind Kagame and Museveni. In fact, Rwanda has now become the 'CIA listening post' in the region from a station built on top of Mount Karisimbi. That is why a new international airport is soon to be built in the Bugesera area of Rwanda, in order to decongest the current Kanombe international airport near the capital, Kigali, which will soon become a military airport; as Colette Braeckman of the Belgian daily Le Soir revealed on 20 February 2008.
Uganda for its part runs the Singo Training School, in Kakola, 75 miles north of Kampala. It is a training camp operated by the Ugandan military, but the instruction is overseen by the Military Professional Resources Incorporated (MPRI), a subsidiary of L-3 Communications, based in the District. It is one of four State Department contractors that are training African troops for Somalia (and Congo). US contractors are hired by the State Department and American military trainers are playing a supporting role, offering specialized instruction in combat medicine and bomb detection, among other subjects.
Moreover the Uganda government has since 2003 splashed an annual retainer of $300,000 on the Washington DC-based Whitaker Group, which is owned by the US former Assistant Trade Representative for Africa, Rosa Whitaker, for lobbying in the US. Dr. Jendayi E. Frazer, former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (a successor to Susan Rice in that post) is now working as a lobbyist on behalf of the Ugandan government as part of the Whitaker Group (TWG) as a strategic advisor. The Washington D.C.-based firm has a long-standing relationship with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and is currently under a million dollar a year contract with the Ugandan government.
After Obama came to power, his administration's policy on the 'Congo question' did not change. In fact, one of Obama's advisers was embarrassingly caught red-handed while attempting to smuggle minerals from Eastern Congo and his jet was impounded. Kase Lawal, 57, is a Nigerian-born American who propelled CAMAC International Corporation's rise to a $2.4 billion private company — said to be the second-largest African-American-owned business in the US - was appointed to a trade advisory post by the Obama administration, and has held similar positions in Republican administrations. He lost $30 million after financing a botched deal to buy 1,000 pounds (475 kg) of smuggled gold from the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a report by United Nations investigators.
The transaction ultimately profited General Bosco Ntangada. The investigation was mandated by the UN Security Council to probe links between mineral trading and illegal armed groups in eastern DRC (Fitzgerald 2012).
Washington's double game playing in the Great Lakes Region came to light in 2008,
following the breakdown of peace talks between the Ugandan government and the the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA),which the United States, after the September 11 attacks declared a terrorist group and Joseph Kony its leader a terrorist. In late 2008, the National Security Council authorised AFRICOM to support a military operation (one of the first publicly-acknowledged AFRICOM operations) against the LRA, which was believed to be in the Congo at the time. AFRICOM provided training and US$1 million in financial support for 'Operation Lightning Thunder' - a joint endeavour of the Ugandan, Congolese and South Sudan forces in Congolese territory launched in December 2008 to 'eliminate the threat posed by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)' and never the threat posed by Rwandans and Ugandans in eastern Congo as if some terrorists are better then the others. According to the United Nations, the offensive 'never consulted with partners on the ground on the requirements of civilian protection. Stretching over a three-month period, it failed in its mission and the LRA scattered and retaliated against the Congolese population; over 1,000 people were killed and up to 200,000 displaced.
This battle against the LRA has to be seen as a continuation of the battles in Eastern Congo. In October 2011, US President Obama authorised the deployment of approximately 100 combat-equipped U.S. troops to central Africa. They will help regional forces 'remove from the battlefield' Joseph Kony and senior LRA leaders. 'Although the U.S. forces are combat-equipped, they will only be providing information, advice, and assistance to partner nation forces, and they will not themselves engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defense', Obama said in a letter to Congress.
Britain has been blocking European sanctions against Rwanda -- in fact shamelessly went back on its word. The former British Secretary for International Development Andrew Mitchell told MPs that he had decided to resume Britain's £16m aid package to Rwanda after two out of three conditions set by the UK - a ceasefire in the Kivus region and an end to practical support from Rwanda to militias - were met. The Congolese people, in fact the whole world, aren't aware of such a ceasefire as the unfolding situation on the ground shows.
Feeling isolated and under pressure after all major European countries suspended their aid support to Kagame, Prime Minister David Cameron finally acknowledged that 'the international community could not ignore evidence of Rwandan involvement with the M23' and called on Kagame to 'show the government of Rwanda had no links to the M23.'
When Joseph Kabila made a deal with Paul Kagame in 2009 to allow the Rwandan army to enter Congo and hunt Hutu militia, he did not know that on the Rwandan side scheming British were being associated to 'the project'. It is for that matter that the Chief of General Staff (CGS) of the British Army, Gen. Sir Richard Dannatt travelled to Kigali specifically to be briefed by his Rwandan counterpart James Kabarebe about the operation on 'how their two armies could work together'. He also met President Kagame. Rwanda boasts the Gabiro School of Infantry where a commander's course, the first of its kind, is jointly conducted by Rwandan, British and American instructors (under Africom, the Africa Military Command).
It was only later that the people of Congo realized that the Tutsi continued to use the war against Hutu 'genocidists' as a pretext for occupying mining concessions and systematically exploiting them. In fact the 4,000 thousand Rwandan troops did not really leave as such and have turned into what they call M23 today.
The discovery of oil has sharpened the appetites: the British company SOCO (which has offices in Kigali) began oil exploration in Virunga National Park in North Kivu. As for the oil field discovered in Lake Albert, operations should be shared between Uganda (which will develop a refinery) and Congo. But for the ground extending into Rutshuru, Rwanda via its M23 allies could claim to take its share of the loot.
During his tenure, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was very much Rwanda and Uganda's partner in crime in Congo. James Astill, writing in the British daily, The Guardian, on 10 April 2003, said it all: 'While Rwanda and Uganda remain in Congo, peace will be impossible. Yet both continue to receive more than half their budgets in Western aid, and only an occasional chiding for their role in the slaughter. How do they get away with it?'
The biggest donors to both Rwanda and Uganda are Britain and America. Britain contributes over £30 million a year to Rwanda's budget. Clare Short, then British minister for international development, flew in and out of Uganda, Rwanda and the Great Lakes Region several times a year. So, she must have known what was going on.
In his Guardian article, Astill wrote that when he returned from a reporting trip to Congo in the middle of 2002 and put his findings to British and American diplomats, 'virtually all - off the record, of course - corroborated them'.
'I put them to Clare Short, and she refused to comment,' said Astill who went on to quote Richard Dowden, the former Africa editor of the British weekly, The Economist, as saying that when he asked Glare Short why, in 2002, Rwanda 'needed to occupy [Kisangani"> a diamond-rich town 700 miles into Congo to protect its border', Ms Short hit the roof.
Tony Blair now acts as personal adviser to Mr Kagame, while one of his charities, the Africa Governance Initiative (AGI), employs about 10 people inside the Rwandan government, helping it to run more effectively (Mendick 2011). However, Tony Blair who claims success in reconciling the Catholics and the Protestants, hitherto enemies in Northern Ireland, is backing away from encouraging Kagame to initiate a inter-rwandan dialogue susceptible to reconcile Hutu and Tutsi so that they can share power, live in peace. The Ugandan government must also dialogue with people from the North and their Lord Resistance Army (LRA) movement. This is the only way that will bring peace to eastern Congo.
As Jacqueline Umurungi writes, some of Kagame's greatest admirers are Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Starbucks magnate Howard Schultz. American evangelist Rick Warren considers him something of an inspiration and even Bill Gates has invested in what has been called Africa's success story. Yes, Western liberals, reactionary evangelicals, and capitalist carpetbaggers alike tout Paul Kagame as the herald of a new, self-reliant African prosperity. Britain annually subsidizes 50 per cent of Rwanda's national budget (Umurungi 2012). Now you understand why the war in mineral-rich eastern Congo never ends and why, mockingly according to the BCC, 'there is no end to the tears in the DRC.'
This is what Obama must tell his American electorate in case he promised them a big chunk of Congo: The Democratic Republic of Congo's territorial integrity is non-negotiable.
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* Antoine Roger Lokongo is a journalist and Beijing University PhD candidate from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Antoine Roger Lokongo, "The Suffering of Congo", New African Magazine, September 2000.
AFP, "Fighting in DR Congo as rebels reject pull out calls",
http://www.afp.com/en/news/topstories/fighting-dr-congo-rebels-reject-pull-out-calls, November 23, 2012.
BBC, "DR Congo: US sanctions M23 rebel leader Sultani Makenga", BBC News, Africa, November 14 , 2012.
BBC, "Rwandan aid: Greening to reflect 'very carefully' before continuing UK support", BBC News, UK, November 13 , 2012.
BBC, "UK cannot 'ignore evidence' of Rwandan involvement with Congolese militia", BBC News, UK, November 23 , 2012.
Celestin Lutete, "Le M23 est en deuil : plus de 150 rebelles tués dans les combats ce jeudi 15 novembre", Digitalcongo.net, http://www.digitalcongo.net/article/87953, Novembre 16, 2012a.
Celestin Lutete, "Guerre dans l'Est de la Rdc : l'ONU prête à l'utilisation des drones de surveillance", Digitalcongo.net, http://www.digitalcongo.net/article/88116, Novembre 24, 2012b.
Craig Whitlock, "U.S. trains African soldiers for Somalia mission", The Washington Post, May 14, 2012.
Chris McGreal, "Rwanda's Paul Kagame warned he may be charged with aiding war crimes", The Guardian, July 25, 2012.
Colette Braeckman, "Les rebelles aux portes de Goma, bloqués par l'ONU", Le Soir, Novembre 18, 2012a.
Colette Braeckman, "Cinq questions après la chute de Goma", Le Soir, Novembre 21, 2012b.
Denis Fitzgerald, "Congo News: How gold smuggling profits warlords not Congo. [Obama's advisor involved">!", Global Post, February 7, 2012.
Duncan Ghardam, Praveen Swami and Nick Squires, "Libya rebel commander admits his fighters have al-Qaeda links", The Telegraph, March 25, 2011.
Edison Akugizibwe, "Inside Story: How Kabila Forced Uganda To Close Bunagana Border Post", Chimpreports.com,
Edward Musoni, "British military chief hails DRC operation", The New Times, February 11, 2009.
Elias Biryabarema, Yara Bayoumy and Paul Simao, "Exclusive: Rwanda, Uganda arming Congo rebels, providing troops - U.N. panel", Reuters, Oct 17, 2012.
Freya Petersen, "US to cut military aid to Rwanda over support of Congo rebels", Global Post, July 22, 2012.
Gary K. Busch, "A Preventable Disaster",
Ocnus.Net, Nov 9, 2012a.
Gary K. Busch, "International dimensions of the conflict in Eastern Congo", Pambazuka.org, http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/82718, June 6, 2012b.
Gary K. Busch, "The difficult decisions for Joseph Kabila",
Glen Ford, "A Profitable Genocide: Rwanda and Uganda Annex Eastern Congo", Black Agenda Report, October 23, 2012a.
Glen Ford, "America and the Politics of Genocide in Africa", Black Agenda Report, November 23, 2012b.
Hayes Brown, "Rwanda Gains U.N. Security Council Seat Amid Controversy", thinkprogress.org,
Jacqueline Umurungi, "The Untold Stories: Again Rwanda is on the front line in the Congo Conflict. Who is fooling who?" Inyenyeri News.org,
James Astill, "Counting the dead: Rwanda and Uganda are occupying Congo for largely bogus reasons - yet Britain continues to back them", The Guardian, April 10, 2003.
James Munyaneza, "US Embassy says Ambassador Rapp was misquoted on Rwanda", The New Times, July 28, 2012.
James Karuhanga, "Kayonga says Rwandan Defence Force's duty is to serve world, humanity", The New Times, May 24, 2009.
Jason Stearns, "Susan Rice and the M23 crisis", congosiasa.blogspot.be,
Jonny Hogg and Elias Biryabarema, "African presidents urge Congo rebels to abandon war", Reuters, November 25, 2012.
Melanie Gouby and Rukmini Callimachi, "Congo Violence: Rebels Attack Provincial Capital of Goma", huffingtonpost.com,
Pete Jones and David Smith, "Goma falls to Congo rebels", The Guardian, November 20, 2012.
Robert Mendick, "Tony Blair, trips to Africa and an intriguing friendship", The Telegraph, November 12, 2011.
Thomas Hubert, "Havoc as Congolese flee the 'Terminator'". BBC News Africa, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17994753, May 11, 2012.
Zhao Lei, "China to launch second African satellite", China Daily, November 18, 2012.


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Tag Archives: wheelchairs
Mobility and Medicare
Medicare has many rules and stipulations when it comes to paying for any type of mobility equipment. This includes a cane, walker, wheelchair, power scooter, power wheelchairs, and transport chairs. Some of the equipment can be purchased and others … Continue reading
Posted in DME Equipment, Medicare Tagged cushions, face to face, Medicare, power wheelchairs, transport chairs, walkers, wheelchairs Leave a comment


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Waze: Outsmarting Traffic
I hardly post about technology on here and usually if I do it comes in pink. Well for awhile now I have been noticing how great the GPS app that I use on my iphone is becoming. Everytime I use Waze I notice another new feature that I just love .
When Waze first started hardly anybody knew what it was or even used it. I think I was the first one of my friends to really use the app and slowly started to tell people how great I thought it was then. Well if you used Waze in the past or are brand new to it, I highly recommend it.
There are many components to Waze that you will not get with a regular GPS or with even Google Maps.
The first feature is syncing it to Facebook. Why is this important? Well when you add an event to your facebook, the address will get stored in Waze, so when it is time to drive to your event you will see the address and you won't have to manually put it in. I find that super helpful, especially if it helps eliminates a step.
The second reason I love Waze is the police reporting feature. This works two ways. The first being, if you're driving down the street it will notify you of police presence. SUPER HELPFUL –The second part of that is you are able to 1. say if the police is still there and 2. you are able to add in your own police whereabouts into Waze. I just recently started using the second part of that, it's great and helps out fellow "Wazers" on the road.
The last reason Waze stands out for me is the ability to type in ANYTHING into the search field and 95% of the time it comes back with what you are looking for. This could be the name of a bar or restaurant, banks, gas stations, or simply a genre. It really works like a charm. Especially if you do not know what city or have the exact address you are looking for. I used this app when I rented a car in Denver a few years ago–it was a lifesaver.
I quite literally use this app ALL the time. It's the truth and this is in no way a paid advertisement. I just REALLY like Waze and I hope you do too!


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The Wyoming Industrial Siting Council has approved a plan for a new ammonia plant about four miles outside Rock Springs. Simplot currently operates a phosphorous fertilizer plant on the site, and ammonia is one of the raw materials they need for production. With the cost of shipping it long distances by rail, Simplot decided to start producing their own.
Luke Esch is the administrator for the Industrial Siting Division. He says the plant's application approval process was rigorous. "There was a great deal of discussion on how Simplot planned to address any potential risks of fires and explosions," he says. "And Simplot presented several witnesses that discussed the measures they have in place to prevent the risk of these things happening."
More than 19 agencies including the Department of Environmental Quality and Wyoming Game and Fish were consulted in the application process. Esch says construction will create over 300 jobs, and 21 jobs will be created long term.


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West Coast USA escorted toursFirst-class escorted tours with
USA escorted tours with Globus
From its bustling and exciting cities to its natural wonders and small towns, Globus takes you on thrilling vacations to California, the home of movie stars, wine vineyards, theme parks, sunny beaches, and so much more. Explore the vibrant cities—San Francisco and Los Angeles—and take in the magnificent scenery in California's national parks—Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks. Drive the spectacular 17-Mile Drive in Monterey, and witness the beauty of Lake Tahoe. But that's not all…Globus takes it one step further and includes unique activities so you not only see California, you experience it. Enjoy a special dinner at the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. Tour the wine caves of one of Sonoma's wineries and taste the acclaimed sparkling wine. These are just a few of the fun experiences you'll have on a Globus tour through California!


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I Have A Few More Things To Say About SUPER/
Yesterday around this time I participated in a podcast with Rex Sikes. It's about a one hour interview almost entirely about SUPER. You can hear all the secret details about every and any aspect? How did it we put it together? How did we keep it together? How did it fit together? It was a fun talk. And it available for free right here: http://bit.ly/dybBsU.


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She measures approx: 22" (55cm) from top of hair to tippy toe.
Skin doll made from fleece fabric with a decorative bit of felt for the eyes, and filled with polyester fiber and fabric pieces of fleece for the body ,so it remains soft and gentle and environmentally friendly. Doll face embroidered by the hand.
If you are interested in these dolls please visit and like our page at:


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Beaver Printed Hoodie - Adult
Get Beaver Hoodies for your Colony! Completely customise your Hoodies with a choice of colours and several images to choose from. These are perfect to identify Lodges when not in uniform, and allows for easy identification of the Colony when out and about.
Please select the details as appropriate, and enter the Group Name as necessary. We will send a proof to you for approval, before proceeding with the print.
Minimum order 6 per design - can be spread over various sizes/garments/colours.
The above examples are interpretations of what could be done, and does not imply that clothing bearing these logos/wording have already been produced, or that permission has been given by the copyright/trademark owners of these logos for their use. Each item of clothing is printed to order, and no stock is held of items bearing the logos shown above. By placing an order the buyer holds responsibility of permission to print the logos shown.


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Connecting Point: Production Internship
WGBY's local program Connecting Point seeks motivated, individuals to participate in non-paid internships. Interns will spend a majority of their time assisting with the production of this daily current affairs program. Internship is open to students and individuals thinking about a career in broadcast television.
- Fall internships run from September through December
- Spring internships run from January through May
- Summer internships run from June through August
Duties include but are not limited to, the operation of studio cameras, electronic graphics, floor directing, lighting and set construction as well as assisting with electronic field productions. Interns must have good availability during most week days and have reliable transportation and be able to commit to 15–20 hours per week.
The intern position is non-paid. This internship is structured to allow the motivated and committed individual to get the most that this program has to offer: a positive attitude and a willingness to learn are essential. A background in television is helpful but not necessary.
WGBY is an equal opportunity employer.
Send resume and cover letter to:
Intern Coordinator
44 Hampden St.
Springfield, MA 01103
Or email a cover letter and resume to email@example.com.


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Dave Grohl keeps a comic beat in SXSW speech
The Foo Fighters frontman makes it plain that "the musician comes first."
AUSTIN — If Dave Grohl gets tired of making music — or making films about making music (Sound City) — he could take his standup routine on the road.
The passionate and funny Foo Fighters frontman has displayed impeccable timing in his career, filling the slot of drummer in the pre-Nevermind Nirvana, before starting his own band after the death of Kurt Cobain. With a cup of coffee in hand and wearing drugstore reading glasses, Grohl, 44, hit all the right beats, too, delivering one-liners and spinning tales as the keynote speaker Thursday at South By Southwest music festival.
He told the 2,000 or so listeners at the Austin Convention Center that he was given the honor of keynoting because he is living proof that, in the equation that is the modern music industry, "the musician comes first," he says. "Am I the best drummer in the world? Certainly not. Am I the best singer/songwriter? Not even in this (expletive) room. But I have been left alone to find my voice."
Grohl's mother told him he was born to be a performer; his birth was witnessed by a crowd of young doctors seeing childbirth for the first time. "As I was born, the room burst into applause," he said. "My first moments in this world, hanging upside down covered in blood screaming as I'm being spanked by a complete stranger. Perhaps the most appropriate preparation for becoming a working musician."
As a boy, he became inspired by Edgar Winter Group's instrumental song Frankenstein, which the youngster heard on a K-tel compilation album he bought at a drugstore. "This record changed my life," he said. "I heard … the sound of people playing music with other people. It made me want to play music with other people, too."
He recalled surrounding himself on his bed with pillows, beating them like drums until there was "literally sweat running down the Rush posters on my bedroom wall."
Soon after, when he got musical instruments, he learned how to use the tools at his disposal to create multitrack recordings. Grohl grabbed a guitar and put a tape into a cassette recorder on the table next to his podium. He played a few notes, took out the tape, put it in a second cassette player and as that played back, he beat on the guitar body to create percussion. "I was multitracking songs in my (bedroom)," he said, to a round of applause.
That learning experience was repeated later in his life after Cobain died and "I was lost (and) numb," Grohl said. After an extended time when "I turned off the radio and put my drums away," he got the urge to make music again.
Over six days, Grohl played all the instruments to create a demo tape that he labeled "Foo Fighters" instead of "one strung-out coffee junkie scrambling from one instrument to the next."
He distributed a hundred or so to friends. When record companies called, he was advised to start his own label. "That's right, you are staring at the president of a record company," he said, and laughed.
Like Nirvana, Grohl has never been "told what to play." Thanks to technology, more musicians have the ability to control their own creative process and their creations. "Left to your own devices you can find your own voice," he said. "Cherish it. Respect it. Nurture it. Challenge it. Stretch it."
There's room for all manner of musical voices, he says.
"Gangnam Style is one of my favorite (expletive) songs of the last decade," he said. "Is it better than the latest Atoms For Peace album (from Radiohead singer Thom Yorke)? Hmm. If only we had a celebrity panel of judges to determine that for us.
"Who's to say what is a good voice and what's not a good voice? The Voice? Imagine Bob Dylan standing there singing Blowin' in the Wind in front of Christina Aguilera. 'I think it's a little nasally and sharp.' "
In closing, he told of bringing home The Beatles' albums on vinyl and giving them to his two daughters, ages 3 and 6. "As a proud father, I pray they are left to their own devices and they realize the musician comes first and they become someone's Beatles. … But then again, what do I know?"