i'm kinda happy with this site still functioning and im surprised to see my old blog there existing like nothing changed and it's been only a week since the latest post
not that i could say that i'm fond of nostalgy feeling (it makes me feel like my brain is gonna throw up) but still n.o.t.h.i.n.g._ch ang ed.her e/
4 years passed and there's nothing new, nothing ever changes in my life, i guess it will never have.
my english speaking skills haven't improved, though im gonna take ielts exam next year, and yet i'm hoping to get the best mark. it's always me doing so, living so, waiting the best things to come, thinking that i am, I AM THE BEST THING TO COME IN THIS WORLD and then i suddenly realize that it's, like
not true
it's hard, if not impossible not to expect myself succeeding in everything i do and not letting myself do mistakes and forgive myself for doine ones. that's the real inevitable truth, the one that will never fade in my life -- i should be the best of all, do best, try best, make best, best best best best best best be--
i do feel nothing and im sick
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SALVADOR O' BRIEN!!!
SAL TURNS 11 YEARS OLD!
ED IS A DEDICATED DAD!
HAPPINESS, PEACE, LIGHT IN HIS WALK!
GOD BLESS HIM!
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Raif Badawi.
- Flogging a dead horse, as the old idiom goes, is far removed from flogging a live Saudi blogger.
But the latest cruel punishment meted out by the rigidly conservative and authoritarian regime in Saudi Arabia has triggered widespread condemnation.
The strongest criticism came Thursday from the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, a former permanent representative of Jordan to the United Nations, who said: “Flogging is, in my view, at the very least, a form of cruel and inhuman punishment.
“Such punishment,” he said, “is prohibited under international human rights law, in particular the Convention against Torture, which Saudi Arabia has ratified.”
The Saudi decision makes a mockery of the international convention, as do other violations, including torture of terrorist suspects by U.S. intelligence agencies.
But the United Nations remains helpless and is unable to hold these countries accountable for violations or punish them for infractions because member states reign supreme in the world body – except when penalised by the Security Council.
The Saudi punishment was meted out to Raif Badawi, who was publicly flogged 50 times last Friday and is reportedly due to be flogged every Friday, the holy Sabbath for Muslims, until his sentence of 1,000 lashes has been fully carried out.
Sevag Kechichian, Amnesty International’s (AI) Saudi Arabia researcher on the case, told IPS, “Raif Badawi is a prisoner of conscience, and he was simply trying to uphold his right to freedom of expression and he is being punished for it in a horrifying manner.
“His flogging and 10-year sentence are testament to the extreme lengths to which the Saudi Arabian authorities will go in order to crush dissent.”
Instead of announcing a second round of brutal floggings, the Saudi Arabian authorities must heed the international outcry over his case and order his immediate and unconditional release, he added.
Amnesty also noted that Saudi Arabia had condemned last week’s attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris as ‘cowardly’.
“The next day, they flogged Raif Badawi for exercising his right to free expression. We need to expose this hypocrisy. We need to embarrass them into action, now.”
Adam Coogle, Middle East Researcher at Human Rights Watch, told IPS the statement by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) correctly labels the flogging punishment as torture and calls on Saudi Arabia to abolish the practice.
“We welcome OHCHR’s press statement but call on him [Zeid] and the United Nations to continue to monitor and publicly criticise Saudi Arabia when they impose harsh and draconian punishments on peaceful activists and dissidents,” he added.
In what was described as an “unusual diplomatic rebuke,” the United States last week lashed out at Saudi Arabia, one of its closest allies in the Middle East, and urged the government to rescind its sentencing and review the case.
The United States strongly opposes laws, including apostasy laws, that restrict the exercise of freedom of expression and religion, and urges all countries to uphold these rights in practice, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki, told reporters.
Javier El-Hage, general counsel of the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), told IPS the government of Saudi Arabia is making a mockery of that country’s obligations under the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
He said “the U.N. Committee against Torture should call on Saudi Arabia’s government to immediately cease flogging Mr. Badawi, as that type of punishment constitutes a clear violation of Saudi Arabia’s obligations under the Convention against Torture.”
According to Article 20 of this Convention, he said, the U.N. Committee Against Torture has the power to carry out “ex officio investigations if it receives reliable information that appears to contain well-founded indications that torture is being systematically practiced in the territory of a State Party.”
While they don’t have the coercive power to force Saudi Arabia to stop the flogging, as is the case with most international law obligations, the committee can certainly report on the topic, condemn Saudi Arabia and issue recommendations, he noted.
In a statement released Thursday, Zeid appealed to the King of Saudi Arabia to exercise his power to halt the public flogging by pardoning Badawi, and also to urgently review this type of extraordinarily harsh penalty.
Badawi, an online blogger and activist, was convicted for exercising his right to freedom of opinion and expression on a website he founded called Free Saudi Liberals. He was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, 1,000 lashes and a fine of one million riyals (266,000 dollars).
Badawi’s case was just one of a succession of prosecutions of civil society activists, said the statement.
On Monday, an appeals court upheld the conviction of Badawi’s lawyer and brother-in-law Waleed Abu Al-Khair on charges that include offending the judiciary and founding an unlicensed organisation. Al-Khair’s sentence was extended from 10 to 15 years on appeal.
The U.N. Committee against Torture has repeatedly voiced concerns about states’ use of flogging and have called for its abolition.
Saudi Arabia’s report on its implementation of the Convention is up for review by the Committee against Torture next year.
Edited by Kitty Stapp
The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@aol.com
Brasília, Brazil. 3 October 2007. Nine non-governmental organisations, including Greenpeace, (1) today launched a proposal for a national agreement to end Amazon deforestation (2) at an event attended by the Brazilian Minister of Environment and State Governors. The proposal aims to achieve a broad commitment from sectors of the Brazilian government and civil society for measures to ensure urgent protection for the Amazon rainforest.
"As we launch this initiative, the forests in the Amazon are being slashed and burned. This has to end. We show that it can end if political will, financing and conservation efforts work in a co-ordinated manner," said Greenpeace Amazon Campaign Co-ordinator Paulo Adario.
"Protecting the world's remaining forests will significantly reduce climate change, maintain the livelihood of millions of people who depend on the forest and protect a huge amount of the world's biodiversity," he said.
The proposal, entitled the 'Agreement on Acknowledging the Value of the Forest and Ending Amazon Deforestation' shows that adopting a system of reduction targets (3) could end deforestation in the Amazon by 2015.
Minister of Environment Marina Silva and State Governors Eduardo Braga (Amazonas), Blairo Maggi (Mato Groso), Waldez Góes (Amapá), as well as other authorities, attended the launch event.
The proposal combines strong public policies with market strategies to promote reductions in Amazon deforestation and to finance the maintenance of existing forests and the 'environmental services' they provide. Estimates are that this would call for an investment of around R$ 1 billion per year (roughly Euro 390 million) from national and international sources.
NGOs believe that economic incentives should be directed at strengthening forest governance including monitoring, control and inspection, promotion of environmental licensing for rural properties, and the creation and implementation of protected areas and indigenous lands. Incentives are also needed to optimise agricultural use in areas which have already been deforested. Indigenous peoples, local communities, traditional populations and rural producers would be among those benefiting from financial compensation for forest conservation.
According to the NGOs, one of the main challenges is to guarantee public policies which incorporate the elimination of deforestation within a social, environmental and economic framework. It is necessary to go beyond 'command and control' measures by promoting the revision and re-orientation of financial incentives which historically have been channeled into destructive practices.
By 2006, approximately 17 per cent of the Amazon rainforest had been destroyed, equivalent to an area larger than France. High rates of deforestation are leading to an accelerated loss of biodiversity which is having a direct impact on the way of life of millions of forest-dependent people. Deforestation, which is predominantly occurring in the tropics, accounts for about one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions. Up to 75 per cent of Brazilian greenhouse gas emissions come from land conversion and deforestation mainly in the Amazon, which makes Brazil the fourth largest climate polluter in the world (4).
Destroying the Amazon forest could trigger prolonged droughts in a number of regions of Brazil and reduce the country's agricultural productivity, leading to serious economic and social impacts.
The NGOs involved in developing the agreement see the launch of their initiative as the beginning of a national debate focusing on consistent, long-term solutions to ending deforestation in the Amazon region.
Success, however, depends on this national initiative being coupled with international action. Greenpeace is calling for deforestation to be included in the post-2012 Kyoto climate regime which will be discussed at a conference in Bali, Indonesia, in December. This would be a critical step in providing the financing and capacity needed for governments of forest countries to participate seriously in global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Stabilising the world's climate depends on countries making deep cuts in their energy-related emissions and completely halting deforestation.
VVPR info: Greenpeace Brazil Paulo Adario, Amazon Campaign Co-ordinator: +55 92 8115-8928Tica Minami, Amazon Campaign media officer: +55 92 8114-4517Greenpeace International Roman Paul Czebiniak, Political Advisor on Climate Change & Forests: +31 6 4616 2009For video of recent deforestation and forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon: Footage preview at:http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/video-previewsFor broadcast quality MPEG2 versions of these clips, please contact video.production@int.greenpeace.org or +31 6 5350 4721 in Amsterdam (GMT +1)For photos of recent deforestation and forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon, please call Laura Lombardi on +31 6 29 00 11 62
Notes: (1) Instituto Socioambiental (www.socioambiental.org), Greenpeace Brazil (www.greenpeace.org.br), Instituto Centro de Vida (www.icv.org.br), Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (www.ipam.org.br), The Nature Conservancy (www.tnc.org.br), Conservation International-Brazil (www.conservation.org.br), Amigos da Terra-Amazônia Brasileira (www.amazonia.org.br), Imazon (www.imazon.org.br), and WWF Brasil (www.wwf.org.br).(2) The proposal, Agreement on Acknowledging the Value of the Forest and Ending Amazon Deforestation. Available via the website of Greenpeace Brazil: www.greenpeace.org/brasil/amazonia/ - English translation available at http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/amazon-deforestation-agreement(3) 7-Year Target Proposals Deforestation (ha) Reduced Deforest. Deforest. 05/06 1,400,000 1st year 1,050,000 350,000 2nd year 787,500 612,500 3rd year 551,250 848,750 4th year 330,750 1,069,250 5th year 165,375 1,234,6256th year 41,345 1,358,6557th year 1,400,000 Total 3,585,902 6,873,780(4) Ministry of Science and Technology, Brazilian First Inventory on Greenhouse Gases Emissions, 2004.
Exp. contact date: 2007-10-10 00:00:00
Nell’epoca dove tante cose sembrano andate perse, e dove molti valori sembrano pian piano scomparsi, si trova spazio e l’ispirazione di far nascere una nuova canzone, con la quale si vuole comunicare i tanti disagi che il mondo attuale si appresta a vivere, le tante problematiche che spesso attanagliano l’essere umano, sempre preso da se stesso, e molto spesso distratto da tutte le cose che il mondo e la vita offrono. E' cosi che nasce “Crisi Esistenziale” il nuovo brano che dà il via al nuovo album di Savio De Martino, cantautore dalle mille risorse artistiche, un brano scritto dallo stesso Cantautore, sia per la parte letteraria, che per la parte musicale, un brano voluto, un testo ricercato, una canzone necessaria, una sorta di protesta, un modo di gridare e poter dire, BASTA !!! Questo stesso brano è stato anche proposto alla candidatura per le nuove proposte di Sanremo Giovani 2015, proprio perche’ i giovani possano valorizzare la propria vita e il futuro, trovando stimoli nuovi, trovando aiuto in chi ha potere, costruirsi un domani fatto di sogni da poter realizzare, Savio De Martino ancora una volta riesce a regalare nuove emozioni, il suo essere cosi poliedrico, rende questo artista, seppur giovane, capace di mettersi sempre in gioco e in discussione con vari generi musicali. Le sue tendenze variano dal Pop al Jazz, dal Blues alla buona Musica Leggera, in tanti anni di gavetta e di carriera è sempre riuscito a dire la sua, regalando al pubblico che lo segue con affetto e stima, tante emozioni e soprattutto tanta energia positiva. Lui innamorato della vita, innamorato della musica, e speranzoso che le cose e il mondo puo’ cambiare, una crisi cosi mondiale, dovrebbe far riflettere molte persone, e sensibilizzare chi ha il potere di essere a capo di tutto, ecco perché nasce questo nuovo brano per il 2015, dal titolo "Crisi Esistenziale". Genesi di Crisi Esistenziale di Savio De Martino Testo, Musica e Produzione sono di Savio De Martino attraverso la S.D.M. Production, la distribuzione avviene grazie alla Zeus Record S.R.L., gli arrangiamenti sono di Giuseppe Balsamo e Savio De Martino, le riprese video di “Pino Baylon Video” e la registazione e mixaggio sono stati effettuati presso lo studio SG SOUND MUSIC ITALY di Savio De Martino. Il video è già disponibile su YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KtiM12NA5I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aP15exGvXU
Chilly Gonzales,the man that i admire.The way he uses another persona to portrait an evil,wicked Musical Genius is impeccable.
@radiohead -Licencing request denied by warner-chappell, but still hopeful to ask 4 "GiveUptheGhost" in my short film. Any chance?
Since my short film and initial purpose for creating this art is based on the song, I am still hopeful that Radiohead might want to work with me on this venture. Also, I dont know why my request was denied, just sinply that it was. Perhaps being a small time film maker makes the request unappealing to the band? I wish I knew the reason for denial. Any hope of still making this happen, Radiohead?
Words fail me.
In 2011 I had blogged here about Charlie Hebdo.
Today, Charlie's hands were cut off.
Fuck you, we can still laugh.
Love, stronger than hatred.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw6LL1hry3g
Bak Sis:Watching James plays Measurements feels great.This is probably the lastest live performance of this song on Youtube and i can say he's becoming much more confident about playing this song live.With this confidence he had the song in total control.
Before i watched this,i had the feeling that he had to deal with this song so carefully like he was holding a glass orb with his fingertips and trying not to make it fall to the ground.But you can now see his courage to bring small little twists to the song.For example,14:55 ,a slight tap on the synthesizer.It's a gesture showing that he's having fun.There are so much more difference in this one compare to his previous live performances and all these things are telling us that James is ready to go on another adventure in his music career.
