Last week marked the arrival of a Washington icon: the blooming of the cherry blossoms. We knew these trees lined the tidal basin near the national mall, but I've been surprised to see the white and pink blossoms all over the city and surrounds. Even our apartment complex is loaded with them.Of course, these trees are not indigenous to the area. Your Lucky Sevens question for April: Where did these trees come from, and when and how did they get here?
As mentioned in last month's Lucky Sevens, the District of Columbia does not have voting representation in Congress. Of course, the debate here is that DC is not a state. Some (normally Republicans) argue that since the Constitution specifies that states will be represented in Congress, DC is excluded. They also occasionally argue that DC's population does not warrant a vote. Others, (mostly Democrats) argue that all Americans should have representation in Congress. Given that DC votes overwhelmingly Democrat (93-7 in the last presidental election), one cannot help but feel that the real conflict here is over the balance of power and a vote.On Thursday, the Senate passed a bill to settle this, giving DC a vote in the House of Representatives, as well as an additional vote to Utah, which should normally bring a Republican vote to counter DC's likely Democratic one. The bill now moves to the House, where it is expected to pass easily.
Of course, all 50 states currently have representation in Congress. Your Lucky Sevens question for March: Name the states that have a smaller population than the District of Columbia.
Perhaps this will finally lead to an end of the embargo. With the UN again calling for it's end, Obama in the White House, and a leading Republican on board, maybe it is time. There is a lot going on in our country right now: I look forward to the embargo's end being part of that change.
You have probably heard about the bushfires in Australia this month, and have probably seen the above picture of the thirsty koala. Bushfires are always a problem in drought-stricken Australia, but this year has been even worse. To date, 209 people have been confirmed dead, to say nothing of the environmental damage.All of this has prompted the Australian Government to declare February 22 a National Day of Mourning. A service will be held in Melbourne at 10:00am (6:00pm Eastern here) and will be available to watch online at the Brisbane Times website.
This is the flag of Washington DC. A few years ago, however, there was talk of changing it slightly. Your Lucky Sevens question for February: What change was almost made to the DC flag?
One of Australia's most controversial, and in my opinion, greatest, TV shows has come to America. The Chaser's War on Everything will premiere on G4 tonight at 9pm Eastern. If you want to see Australia's brand of satirical humour, check it out. It is largely about Australian current events, so some of the references may be lost on you. If so, feel free to post a comment here and I'll be happy to get you up to speed.Heather and I saw these guys around town every once in a while getting ready for a bit, although I don't think we ever saw them actually in the middle of something. It was always fun to watch and look for familiar locations in the city that they pranked. One that comes to mind is when they attempted to "move" furniture using the city buses. Guess you had to be there.
The picture above, as well as the two videos below, are from their fine work during the APEC meeting in late 2007. The Osama bin Laden stunt got them arrested--Heather and I saw a big crowd, including cameras, around the police station near our flat, but didn't find out until the next day that it was for the Chasers. Given the ultra-tight restrictions that we witnessed, including snipers in helicopters hovering over the city, Heather and I found this segment particularly amusing. It's fair to say that this was the Chasers' finest moment.
Chaser's APEC security measures
Chasers infiltrate APEC security
"The Guantánamo Bay prison is filled with the worst of the worst -- terrorists and killers bent on murdering Americans and other friends of freedom around the world. If it is closed, where will they go, will they be brought to the United States and how will they be secured?"
Rep. Boehner is either a remarkably uninformed member of Congress or he is knowlingly lying through his teeth. Of the 775 prisoners who have been held at Guantánamo over the past 7+ years, 420 have been released without charge. Of the roughly 270 currently held, "50 to 70" have been cleared for release, but cannot be returned to their home country for fear of punishment (Reynolds). Clearly, Gitmo is not "filled with the worst of the worst" and it would be refreshing if Republican leaders would stop parroting Rumsfeld's tired lie.
In spite of this, Boehner does raise an important point: where do the freed prisoners go? I feel Obama's executive order is lacking in this area. The United States continues to deny any innocent detainees settlement in the United States. How can we expect our allies around the world to help with this process if we do not take some of them as well? What is wrong with taking seventeen Uighurs, a nomadic people from Western China, who ended up in Guantánamo because they were sold for bounty by Pakistanis (Mariner)? They have been cleared for release for nearly five years but remain in Gitmo because they cannot be safely returned to China and no one else, including the U.S., will take them in. The case of the Uighurs, and many others like them, is an injustice and a human rights violation.
Also, Obama's order does not end the military commissions that conduct the trials of the charged detainees in a manner that denies them due process, but instead calls for a study into the feasibility of moving the trials to the federal system. In seven years of operation, only three people have been convicted by the military commissions at Guantánamo: David Hicks, an Australian who joined the Taliban; Salim Hamdan, Bin Laden's driver; and Ali al-Bahlul, who made a video. All in all, these are three very low-ranking, low risk terrorists. On the other hand, you have the infamous Zacarias Moussaoui, one of the designers of 9/11, and Richard Reid, the "shoe-bomber". Both were convicted in Federal courts, not Guantánamo (Sullivan).
I was glad to see that Obama quickly followed through on his campaign promise to close Guantánamo, but his order was incomplete. Obama's declaration of last week was a good first step, but there is still further to go if the United States is going to take its place once again as a champion of human rights and justice in the world.
What began as a dream is now official: I am a Master of Development Studies with merit. It may bear a stronger resemblance to a business letter than a diploma, but I'll take it. Behind this mere piece of paper is a year and a half of my life, and hopefully my future, in the form of the following:There were too many choices and only eight slots, but I'm satisfied with my selections. If nothing else, I have a foundation for further study. It was a challenging course of study, both academically and intellectually. Many of my world view assumptions were challenged, many altered, others reinforced, but all were strengthened with information, logic and reasoning.
Perhaps the most important thing I learned is that I have a lot more to learn.
I've shared 24 ornaments here this month, and if you add a couple hundred more, you come up with this. The picture is full resolution, so if you click it, you'll get a nice big image to look around at some of our other ornaments. Merry Christmas.
This ornament is a recreation of The Kiss by Gustav Klimt, one of Heather's favorite paintings.
It is commonly believed that the pickle ornament is an old German tradition. The story goes that the pickle is hidden in the tree and the first child to find it gets an extra present or good luck for a year. A few years ago, Heather and I mentioned to our German friend Klaus that we had a pickle ornament and were surprised when he asked why. Come to find out, he had never heard of this alleged German tradition. That led to a little research, which seems to point to another traditional holiday custom: the marketing ploy. Anyway, we still hang ours every year.
This ornament, of course, reminds us of our trip to Paris, the greatest city in the world.
Our home in Sydney was near Chinatown, so we saw these Maneki Neko cat figures in store fronts quite often. According to the Wikipedia page, our ornament's raised left paw indicates it will bring in customers, as opposed to money, brought in by a raised right paw. Others would say the raised left paw indicates our home is a drinking establishment. Whatever.
Here we have another Southern Hemisphere ornament, this time Santa with a sand--as opposed to snow--man.
This ornament is one of the few we have that is not made of glass. The decorations on the ornaments are bindis, the decorations worn by Indian women on their foreheads.
