News you WANT to read - Microfinance - what it is?

Most people have never heard of microfinance; maybe 1 in 100 might have a foggy notion of what it is. Yet it is the most powerful tool the world has seen to help end poverty and empower the indigenous businesses of the poor in any country.

I will provide a brief overview here and then list many urls for anyone who is interested in learning more and who has a desire to help poor people help themselves. The concept has never been more relevant than now during the financial meltdown of global economy.

In 1976 an man in Bangledesh named Muhammad_Yunus began lending small amounts of money to very poor rural women to help them start small businesses to support their families. There was and still is no loan contract, no penalties for defaulting on the loans (except the person could not borrow again) and the repayment rate is over 95%. In 2006, Yunus won a Nobel Peace Prize for the incredible success of his work.

In fact, now 30 years later, microfinance is everywhere it seems, even helping the poor of New York City. The concept has reached the time when it flowers into hope for millions of poor people the world over.

For anyone who has ever thought, 'I wish I could help, but charities are corrupt and I don't know how.' microfinance is a program well worth knowing about. The stories will touch your soul and give hope in a world that sadly needs it.

I hope you will enjoy the material I have provided here and spread the good word. Recently a man has had the brilliant idea to take Microfinance to the internet on a site called Kiva. It has been wildly successful.

Microfinance is not only a proven way to alleviate poverty but a way to find hope in an increasingly dismal world. And it follows the age old wisdom of helping by allowing people to help themselves without funds siphoned off by corrupt governments and dodgy charities.

Have a looksee. I think you will be as impressed as I have been. And if you are, please spread the word.

The real story of Kehinde Azeez.

Recent articles about Microfiance.

Good News in the Global Economy

Students start Olneyville microfinance bank

Liberia Gets First Microfinance Bank

'Lend to End Poverty' Campaign Calls On World Economic Forum to ...

A stimulus package for the world

News you WANT to read - Hope is free.

US intel nominee promises no unlawful surveillance

Agence France-Presse
January 22, 2009
Source
President Barack Obama's nominee to head US intelligence Thursday flatly rejected torture, promised to end special interrogation regimes and refuse the unlawful surveillance of Americans.

Retired admiral Dennis Blair indicated major changes are in store for US intelligence agencies, which have been embroiled in controversy over secret prisons, interrogation practics, and warrantless wiretapping of Americans.

"Torture is not moral, is not legal, is not effective," Blair said at his Senate confirmation hearing.

Blair told the Senate Intelligence Committee he would welcome independent monitoring of the intelligence community "to prevent abuses and protect privacy and civil liberties of Americans."

However, he refused to say waterboarding, a form of simulating drowning, is torture, because he did not want to put in legal jeopardy intelligence officers who engaged in practices authorized at the highest levels.

"I don't intend to reopen those cases of those officers," he said.

Senator Carl Levin said he was "troubled" by Blair's answer.

For the most part, however, Democratic lawmakers praised Blair's candor while some Republicans expressed skepticism about abandoning the more hardline approach of the previous administration.

Blair sketched out a heavy workload for the US intelligence community -- three ongoing wars, concerns about developments in North Korea, Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, and newer issues like global warming and energy security.

"President Obama has made it clear, made it clear to me, made it clear to the American people, that he expects independent analysis," he said.

"He wants the facts. He wants all points of view. And if confirmed, I will strive to meet his expectations."

The Senate hearing came as Obama signed a flurry of executive orders directing the closure of the US detention center at Guantanamo within a year, shutting secret CIA prisons, and placing restrictions on interrogations and the treatment of detainees.

Blair acknowledged that striking the right balance between protecting Americans and safeguarding US values and international reputation will be difficult.

The United States, he said, has not yet found "the correct way to treat this new type of campaign that we are engaged in."

"On the one hand, we have to fight it like a war and detain people and get information from them and protect our citizens.

"On the other hand, we have to maintain our stature as the country that is governed by our values and governed by ideals. We've gone back and forth in many different ways.

"These executive orders are going to give this administration a chance to look at those tough issues and come up with creative solutions for them," he said.

He said he supported uniform rules of interrogation for the military and intelligence services, but he said the rules themselves should be developed as part of a comprehensive policy review.

Official: UN may prosecute Bush administration,
regardless of US action

David Edwards
Thursday January 22, 2009
Source
The UN's special torture rapporteur called on the US Tuesday to pursue former president George W. Bush and defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld for torture and bad treatment of Guantanamo prisoners.

"Judicially speaking, the United States has a clear obligation" to bring proceedings against Bush and Rumsfeld, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak said, in remarks to be broadcast on Germany's ZDF television Tuesday evening.

He noted Washington had ratified the UN convention on torture which required "all means, particularly penal law" to be used to bring proceedings against those violating it.

"We have all these documents that are now publicly available that prove that these methods of interrogation were intentionally ordered by Rumsfeld," against detainees at the US prison facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Nowak said.

"But obviously the highest authorities in the United States were aware of this," added Nowak, who authored a UN investigation report on the Guantanamo prison.

Bush stepped down from power Tuesday, with Barack Obama becoming the 44th president of the United States.

Asked about chances to bring legal action against Bush and Rumsfeld, Nowak said: "In principle yes. I think the evidence is on the table."

At issue, however, is whether "American law will recognise these forms of torture."

A bipartisan Senate report released last month found Rumsfeld and other top administration officials responsible for abuse of Guantanamo detainees in US custody.

It said Rumsfeld authorized harsh interrogation techniques on December 2, 2002 at the Guantanamo prison, although he ruled them out a month later.

The coercive measures were based on a document signed by Bush in February, 2002.

French, German and US rights groups have previously said they wanted to bring legal action against Rumsfeld.

Go to source for video from MSNBC's Countdown, broadcast Jan. 21, 2009.

Obama Revokes Bush
Executive Order on Presidential Archives
Forces release of Bush Records!

By Hal Turner
January 21, 2009
Source
"Hal Turner Show" -- Washington, DC -- Barack Obama today revoked President George W. Bush's Executive Order which makes presidential records secret for up to 12 years after leaving office!

This would be the first logical step for his Administration to take if they were/are considering going after Bush for criminal prosecution over. . . . . the fraud he perpetrated against the nation by lying to take us to war in Iraq.

The very last section of Obama's Executive Order issued today (Here) states "Sec. 6. Revocation. Executive Order 13233 of November 1, 2001, is revoked." This puts up for public consumption, most of the records from the Bush administration and I suspect those records will provide the legal basis for criminal prosecution of Bush and Cheney.

George W. may want to jump on a plane and head to his family's 100,000 acre refuge in Paraguay so he can be safe from extradition!

Personally, I would LOVE to see Bush criminally prosecuted and, if found guilty, hung by his neck just like Saddam Hussein.
Executive Order 13233
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Executive Order 13233 limited access to the records of former United States Presidents. It was drafted by then White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and issued by President George W. Bush on November 1, 2001. Section 13 of Order 13233 revoked Executive Order 12667 of January 18, 1989. The Order was partially struck down in October 2007, and President Barack Obama completely revoked it by executive order on January 21, 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13233

Related here

News you WANT to read - Davids and Goliaths

Bolivia to take Israel to The Hague

Press TV
Fri, 16 Jan 2009
Source
Bolivia is seeking to take Tel Aviv to International Criminal Court over the brutal atrocities the Israeli forces have committed in Gaza. The Andean state says it is intended to make regional allies take a unified stance against "the Israeli political and military leaders responsible for the offensive on the Gaza Strip" and make it to stand trial at the international body in the Hague, said Sacha Llorenti, whose portfolio covers civil society.

Moves to begin the legal process will begin "probably next week," Bolivia's deputy justice and human rights minister Wilfredo Chavez told journalists during the visit to Geneva, AFP reported on Friday. Bolivia followed in the steps of its ally Venezuela and severed diplomatic ties with Israel over its massacre of the Gazans and snubbing the international calls for an 'immediate' and 'durable' truce, said the Latin American governments.

The Bolivian president Evo Morales told a group of diplomats in the administrative capital of La Paz that he will request the International Criminal Court (ICC) to file genocide charges against Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The ICC is competent to adjudicate war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide
committed after 2002. Israel and its closest ally, the United States, are not among the 108 signatories of the Rome Statute creating the Hague-based court in 2000 to investigate and prosecute war crimes.

After 21 days of non-stop bombardment and aggression, the Israeli invasion of Gaza has left 1,133 Palestinians killed and more than 5,200 wounded.

More GOOD news!!!

Click the Kiva icon in the right column, and you will see the proof that through internet cooperation, we can change the lives of many many people. By including this organisation on your website, you can help too.

Or click here.

News you WANT to read - Data Sharing on Hold

I have often felt like David against Goliath in trying to stay the tide of civil rights violations through governmental digital sharing. All efforts have seemed like a handful of sand thrown into a typhoon.

For the first time, an EU agency has stood up for the civil right of privacy for EU citizens: someone has said NO to the bureaucrats. The USA National Security Agency has no right whatsoever to the private electronically held details of EU citizens (e.g. medical records, credit card purchases, political affiliation, your electric bill, tax status etc.) UNLESS A CRIME HAS BEEN COMMITTED. And there is proper oversight and applications for such information on those residing in the EU.

Pre-emptive data sharing violates the right to privacy and endangers individuals by making personal information available to the USA government and other authorities WITHOUT accountability. Pre-emptive has become the watch word of our century...wars, surveillance, arrests...it's not a pretty start to the new millenium.

This means, if they make a mistake, tough titty. There is no supervision of this unprecedented access to EU citizen details by a foreign power, the USA. And no recourse. Why more Europeans are not concerned with this is a mystery to me. For those who just don't give a dam, we will all lose our freedoms for the benefit of blissful ignorance. I am delighted by this decision to stay the data-sharing of EU citizens with the USA National Security Agency.

I am not a criminal or a 'terrorist'; and I do not have to prove it! Do you?

Data chief attacks
transatlantic police plan

"Unprecedented" data sharing
not so caring

By Mark Ballard
Friday, 14 November 2008
Source
EUROPE'S DATA chief has told Washington and Brussels to put the brakes on a plan to share police and other government data across the Atlantic. The "unprecedented" US/EU plans are being thrown together so hastily that they risk giving police and government agencies carte blanche to share whatever and as much data as they liked, in disregard of human rights, and even drawing on private sector databases, said Peter Hustinx, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), in an official report yesterday. "The EDPS calls for more transparency", he said in the report, and "any haste in the elaboration of the principles should be avoided as it would only lead to unsatisfactory solutions".

The proposals, laid out in June by the High Level Contact Group on information sharing and privacy, fall short of the minimum standard of data protection already established in European human rights law. Hustinx called for "more clarity and concrete provisions" because the scope of the plan was vague, it left no room for oversight, did not ensure that data given to US authorities would be treated with adequate care, and gave insufficient recourse for European's to challenge US abuses of their data in a court of law.

This was particularly problematic because police and government data sharing plans were developing too fast: "The request of enforcement authorities of third countries for personal information is constantly widening, and... also extends from traditional government databases to other types of files, in particular files of data collected by the private sector," he said. At least the authorities were discussing data protection, said Hustinx, but they should give it greater credence: "[It] could legitimise massive data transfers in a field - law enforcement - where the impact on individuals is particularly serious, and where strict and reliable safeguards and guarantees are all the more needed".

He called on the High Level Contact Group (HLCG) to carefully define the scope - the limits - of its data sharing plans so that police and government agencies do not use it for data transfers in breach of people's human rights. He wanted any agreement to specify precisely who would be able to share data, what data they would share and for what purposes. The authorities must also come clean about the wider context of the proposals, known as the "global transatlantic security area", which is a US initiative to create a common electronic border system with allies such as the EU, Australia and Canada that could be used for security, immigration control, public health and other unspecified functions.

The fact that the plans were so loosely defined made it possible for them to grow through function creep: "Is it also meant to allow for the exchange of data for other public interests such as possibly public health risks?" asked Hustinx. Hustinx, the official responsible for ensuring that public authorities' data systems do not abuse human rights, said transatlantic data sharing should only be allowed between countries when it is "absolutely necessary for a specific purpose" decided "on a case by case basis". "The EDPS recommends to restrict the purpose to precisely identified data processing, and to justify the policy choices leading to such definition of purpose," he said, adding a plea for a loophole that would allow the "transfer of personal data between private and public parties" to be closed.

The plans would give US police and government authorities such wide remit to access EU data that Hustinx even had to ask whether they would have access to " other databases such as tax databases".

Would spooks get access too, he asked. Were they seeking free access? And, he warned, US demands under the agreement would lead to copy cat demands between EU member states, as it had for airline passenger data. US access to details of the world's financial transactions, held by the EU-based Swift, would be legitimised by the agreement and that might prompt EU authorities to seek such routine access themselves.

To make matters worse, EU law wasn't even prepared for such proposals. " Halt," he said, "and prepare the ground first". He proposed the HLCG wait until the EU Lisbon Treaty came into force, though that is not even certain. But he feared that the plan would be slipped in under a coming law that provided weak protections for data transfers to third countries (data protection in the third pillar legal framework, to be introduced imminently).

Preparing the ground first would give people basic protections from abuse by the state - protections that had not been provided in the proposals. The agreement should be binding on authorities, rather than casual as similar such agreements have been. In particular, the US should be held to account by EU standards of civil rights. Basically, the HLCG had proposed an all-encompassing data protection regime that would provide inadequate protection but would be applied to all transatlantic data transfers, said Hustinx.

The group should rather implement some protections as a minimum standard, and then, taking each instance of official data sharing on a case by case basis, design specific protections for each. The authorities should be held to account for their data sharing, he said. The current proposals would not enforce that as they stood.

News you WANT to read - Mules and naked skiers

There are times I just can't take the bad news anymore. And so I must punctuate the tragedy with some comedy or fuzzy warm hope. Welcome to my punctuation.

Mule Credited With Saving Woman From Fire

January 6, 2009
Source
McMINNVILLE, Tenn. — Jolene Solomon is beginning the new year with her life, her mule named Lou and little else. The Southern Standard in McMinnville reported Solomon had just finished eating supper on New Year's Day when Lou's braying and acting up got her attention.

Solomon, 63, who lived alone, stepped outside, she saw her house was on fire. She called 911 and as she waited for firefighters, her home and everything in it burned to the ground.

She said her father bought Lou years ago to help her and her late sister, Blue, around the farm. It took Lou months to get over the loss of her sister.

Solomon said she has 'lost it all', but credits Lou with saving her life.

Jolene is staying with family members and plans to rebuild her home. The home was built by her grandfather and she had lived there all her life.

Vail Chairlift Accident Leaves
Man Dangling Pantless












Source
If you think people laugh at your skiing skills then think again. A man was a put into a precarious and undoubtedly embarrassing position while skiing with his child at Vail mountain last Friday.

According to reports: the chairlift's fold-down seat was not in the correct lowered-down position - causing the man to partially fall through the resulting gap as he attempted to board the lift.

He was prevented from plummeting to the ground below by his right ski, which became jammed in the ascending lift.

More pictures