Darfur settlement possible by year end

The Sudanese government and southern rebel officials signed an agreement on Friday to end the 21-year civil war in southern Sudan by December 31.

The move followed a special session of the UN Security Council in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, in which Annan called upon the council to issue "the strongest warning" to all parties fighting in Sudan, saying that ending the war in the south would also help stop the violence in Darfur.
...
With a bit of luck, and with the spirit that has been generated ... we might even be able and conclude with Darfur at the same time we will conclude in south Sudan. It's not impossible," Obasanjo said.

The conflict in southern Sudan had started in 1983 and had claimed the lives of more than 2 million people, mainly due to hunger and disease.

Violence had also erupted in Darfur in February 2003 and the UN estimates that about 1.6 have fled their homes and 70,000 people have died since March due to violence in the region. The Sudanese government disputes the figure, saying that only 7,000 died.

Darfur rebels accuse the Sudanese government of backing the Janjaweed rebels, blamed for the human rights abuses in Darfur. Khartoum denies the accusations and calls the Janjaweed “outlaws”

  ¶
- david | 1:29 PM 0 comments

  Mystery Pollster: The UCal Berkeley Report Mystery Pollster brings us a vetted report of something potentially enormous, statistical correlations between electronic voting machines and a higher percentage of people voting for Bush...

“Observer,” a commenter on my last post, made that point and also did a nice summary of the report's findings:

They are using multivariate linear regressions to explain voting patterns in Florida, and are finding a very statistically significant correlation between the presence of electronic voting and a higher percentage for Bush.

The paper has undergone some peer review prior to publication. It mentions two concerns that were raised about the methodology, and shows that when those concerns were addressed the findings did not change substantially.

  ¶
- david | 10:20 PM 0 comments

  The Argument against GMO

Deborah Koons Garcia, Jerry Garcia’s last wife, has done good with what she calls her “Jerry money”, and produced...

...The Future of Food,a spot-on, sharp, and (thank you, Lord) completely watchable, documentary that knocks down every argument any Monsanto-loving, GM-hyping, Bush-supporting, $!#@! could come up with.

(via Treehugger)  ¶
- david | 9:39 PM 0 comments

  It Can't Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis The book Prof. Solomon was talking about, with the ignorant Southern businessman and his pathological political strategist. Eerie.  ¶
- david | 11:55 PM 0 comments