Bird enthusiasts are in awe of this bird found in Kincolith, BC. The black vulture is creating quite a stir in Kincolith due to the fact that its usual residency is in Mexico and the southernmost states.

Although it’s not unheard of, it’s quite amazing having a species of bird make its way so far north. The situation brings on a question of “Why so far from home?” We may not know for sure the fate of this bird in this area of our planet, but knowing it’s survived up to this point, the bird may just have a fighting chance at life in this harsh climate we live in here in the northwest.

It seems the bird has settled in quite comfortably scrounging for food along the shores of Kincolith, and perching on its favorite power pole near the village wharf. All the while attracting the locals and birdwatchers alike to go and take a gander and a picture or two.

The Black Vulture, also known as Coragyps Atratus, is a large soaring bird with a dark grey wrinkled and featherless head. Grotesque but none-the-less beautiful in flight this bird has no syrinx(bird vocal organ) and usually grunts and makes low hissing sounds. This bird of prey usually feeds on dead carcasses and scrounges for food just like any other vulture would.

Carlo Giovanella and Roger Foxall, bird enthusiasts from the lower mainland, have made their way to Kincolith just to see the Black Vulture. In its own habitat, the vulture does not usually generate the attention it’s receiving from the folks in BC. The bird, being so far away from home has bird enthusiast clamoring for shots and information surrounding this very interesting story of a bird so far from home.

Unprecedented accounts of a mass suicide threat of young girls in nations including Nisgaa, Tsimshian, Haida, and Gitxsan territories leaves all communities and surrounding areas in shock and prayer. Although the number has yet to be confirmed, a note was found that stated a pact was made to commit suicide on a grand level at 12a.m January 12th. This note started a wildfire of online comments on facebook, bebo and other online communities and left families praying for the youth of the communities. This brings to attention the “cry for help” our young generation are sending out to the world in which we live. Years of physical, mental, alcohol and drug abuse are contributing factors leading up to this harsh concept of mass suicide. This online event has thousands of concerned parents, grandparents, sisters, brothers, family and friends joining together and leaving comments of love, appreciation, prayers and support to those who need it. Each nation remains on alert and are in the process of accounting for all the young ladies of the towns affected with this highly-volatile situation. If you, or anyone you know suffers with thoughts of suicide, please call 1-800-SUICIDE for help.

07:00 at 51st Avenue and Cactus in Phoenix, Arizona, a blue car driven by a 19 year old teenage mother, traveling roughly 65 mph, runs a red light and t-bones Nutt and coworker Jason Wilkonen. They were on their way to work going approximately 45 mph.

Damon became ejected from the work-truck and rolled down the street 10 times before stopping. He sustained 2 lacerations to the head, a broken arm, lacerated tendon, and nerve damage. The driver, Wilkonen, suffered minor injuries. Neither was wearing a seatbelt.

5 teenagers, a 15 year old, 2 sixteen year olds, one 17, and a 19 year old diver died from the collision. All of the children but one died at the scene.
According to Nutt, “the young girl that I saw in the middle of the street, that I went to go and help, she, her poor little body was broken in about a million places and she actually lived until noon that day.”

Recalling the moments after the accident Nutt said, “the paramedics showed up and the cops showed up and they started shaking us down because they thought we just killed these 5 kids. They’re asking me for I.D. and I’m like bleeding out, half of my face is gone from road rash and my arm is hanging there by a thread. These cops are still shaking us down and everything.”
Paramedics neglected to treat Nutt for 10-15 minutes after they arrived at the scene. He received surgery later that day which saved his arm after surgeons reconstructing it using 2 titanium plates and 14 titanium screws.

3 years after the incident and a long road of intensive therapy, Damon is a student at Yavapai Community College in Prescott, AZ. He is majoring in Anthropology.

According to Nutt, he earns excellent grades not for himself, but does it “for those kids who can’t have a future now.” He says that “it’s kind of strange that the worst thing that ever happened to me is probably the best thing at the same time.”

Nutt plans on mailing recently earned scholastic honors awards to the deceased teenager’s parents in order to demonstrate that he isn’t “some type of screw up” and won’t waste the life he has been given a second chance at.

Retired, Damon is currently living off of workers compensation earned from his employer at the time of the incident, L&M Kitchen and Bath Designs. He is also gaining government aid such as disability. Nutt suffers from Horners syndrome and has nerve damage which he relates to, “being hit in the funny bone with a baseball bat”, a condition which he will be subjected to for the rest of his life.

According to Nutt, while waiting in the hospital, he was escorted out of the operating room by police due to 3 undisclosed individuals who were snorting speed or cocaine off a piece of glass, “about 10 feet away from the operating table.” When offered some of the drugs, Nutt declined.

Two days National Convention on RTI and NREGA concludes

The two days convention on the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005,
and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), being held
under the aegis of National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) and
National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI), concluded
at Gandhi Bhawan, Lucknow on 10 September 2009. The convention was
attended by about 400 people, from UP to Kerala, who projected their
problems and solutions.

The first session was chaired by
former Justice Mr Kamleshwar Nath, Mr SN Shukla (retd IAS), Mr IC
Dwivedi, Mr Rakesh Mittal (retd IAS) and Mr SC Verma. Various problems
encountered at the level of implementation of the RTI were highlighted
in the presence of social activists Ms Aruna Roy and Mr Nikhil De. On
the whole, it came out that the mind set of not giving the information
is the biggest problem. It is clear that unless the information
providers like Public Information Officers (PIOs), First Appeal
Authorities and information commissioners’ work with the proper
mind-set, the people will not get the relief they want.

In the second session, the focus was on NREGA. The rural development commissioner Mr Manoj Kumar Singh, listened to the views of the labourers, social and political activists. Some of the major problems projected were: non-preparation of job cards, non-acceptance of applications for work, not getting 100 days work, non–abolition of contract system, taking out wages for fictitious work days, charging money forcibly after it is withdrawn from the bank account, improper social audit, persecution and assaulting the workers (or social activists for instance). Ms Aruna Roy suggested that every month a two day open session, at the state level, should be arranged between the workers, the concerned minister and officers for listening to the complaints and suggestions from the workers, and act upon these too. Mr Manoj Kumar Singh, rural development commissioner, welcomed the
suggestion for providing 70-80 days of work to every labour family.

Debt-ridden farmers in Bundelkhand sell their wives to survive. Mayawati government orders an enquiry. But victims allege administration is trying to silence them.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati is feeling the heat of the drought in Bundelkhand.

Twenty-four hours after CNN IBN and IBN 7 reported how debt-ridden farmers of Bundelkhand are selling their women for money, often on stamp paper, the Mayawati government ordered an enquiry and sought an early report.

Meanwhile, instead of punishing the culprits, the police reportedly are trying to silence those who had dared to speak out on camera.

Kalicharan, the farmer Network 18 had contacted while exposing the racket, is being allegedly harrassed by the administration. “I was summoned to the police station and questioned. I told them I had spoken to the media because no one was listening to us. But they threatened me and said I was lying. My wife was also called to the police station,” said Kalicharan. Kalicharan’s 10-year-old daughter Vineeta was also dragged to the police station.

Distress sale: Grabs from the television report showing wives of Bundelkhand farmers who were put on sale
Political game

Meanwhile, the expose has snowballed into a major political crisis, with the state Opposition parties holding the Mayawati government responsible for the situation. The Congress has set up a tree-member probe team and the Samajwadi Party is planning a day-long protest against the chief minister.

Rita Bahuguna Joshi, UP Congress president, announced to send a team to the affected region to investigate the reports. “It is a painful situation. I am a sending a team of Congress workers to help these women,” said Joshi.

The BJP is also not far behind in attacking the UP government. “Both the BSP-led state government and the Congress at Centre are responsible for this. The Centre has been talking of creating a separate authority for Bundelkhand while some factions want a state. Nobody is helping is helping these farmers,” said Hriday Narayan Dixit, the spokesperson for UP BJP.

The debt-ridden farmers are selling their women to money lenders at rates varying between Rs 4,000 and 12,000. The prettier the face, higher the amount the woman fetches.

Interestingly, the deals are being finalised on legal stamp paper under the garb of `marriage.’ The stamp paper heading says `Vivaha Anubandh (Marriage Contract)’.

And once the new husband has had enough of the woman, she is sold to another man.

“My husband sold me to another man for Rs 8,000 only. My buyer took me to the court at Lalitpur (a district in Bundelkhand region) to make our wedding look legal. During the trip I got a chance to escape,” said Savita, who fled from the court premises.

However, not all of these women are as lucky or want to escape. Some turn to prostitution. According to the police, many of these wife-turned- prostitutes have been rescued in the last two years.
Helpless and illiterate
Kunti, a 23-year-old farmer wife, is another victim. She is being sold by her husband to a money lender, Hariprasad, who is in his forties. The stamp paper of their `marriage’ agreement (a copy of which is with the CNN-IBN) makes it obvious that Kunti is illiterate and doesn’t know what fate has in store for her.

“These marriages are a compromise. On a stamp paper worth Rs 10 it is written that the new husband is adult and doesn’t have a wife. So, they have mutually decided to get married. But in most cases, the woman can’t even read what is written in the agreement. Often, one woman is sold many times over. There are lakhs of such cases in this region,” said Kalicharan, a lawyer.

Social activists allege that the police and the administration favour the more powerful money lenders. And most farmers are in their grip.

Commissioner, Jhansi, TP Pathak, denied any such case. “The region is reeling under drought and farmers have been hit hard. But they are fighting the situation with self-respect. I can’t believe this. If I hear of any such case, action will be taken,” said Pathak.

Just last spring, Anita Garibaldi, the great-granddaughter of the “Hero of Two Worlds,” visited Caldwell College to talk about her family’s legacy. Anita’s great-grandfather Giuseppe Garibaldi was instrumental in militarily unifying Italy in the 1860s. He embodied the liberal nationalist ideals of the nineteenth century, and has been described as “Hercules, Robin Hood, and George Washington, all rolled up into one.”

Anita’s visit to the college concluded a series of three lectures dubbed “FOCUS ON SICILY.” Beginning in January with a meticulous overview of ancient Sicilian history by native archaeologist Gaetano Salemi, the Focus continued in February with a presentation by Dr. Sally Jo Weber of Sicily’s influence on opera. The idea to focus on the most conquered island in the Mediterranean was significant for Anita, considering her forebear’s famous excursion into Sicily with his Thousand Red Shirts.

“There are two kinds of people the selfish ones who never sacrifice anything for the common good, and the true patriots who freely sacrifice what is most dear to them for the benefit of others. The latter are always misunderstood, insulted and dragged through the dirt, while the former rule the world.” These were the words uttered by General Garibaldi over a century ago.

It was with this in mind that I asked Ms. Garibaldi what kind of reception was waiting for him when he came ashore the Sicilian port city of Marsala. She responded, “Contrary to what one thinks, Garibaldi never did something just like that He waited many months before deciding to go to Sicily because he wanted to know that something was being prepared there, and there would be people ready to join them when they got there. I mean this was very important, you see, because there were very few people goinga thousand. But I think, you see, looking at the trip of Sicily, it’s very difficult to understand what really made this unless you think about the things that went on before and the preparation.”

In her opinion, the most visible legacy in Sicily from the Red Shirts is “this necessity to be free” because after all “the Sicilians want to be free.” Anita declared that the Sicilians have always been a very proud people. This is why she feels that “if they were left free, they would be much, much better off than being too tied down. In fact, it’s one of the very few areas in Italy where there’s a reasonable amount of independence.”

So what possibility is there of an autonomous southern Italian nation? Would it be a desirable goal? “I think in the European context, it’s very important that Italy keeps united,” argues Garibaldi. She continues that it might not be such a bad idea for a certain level of decentralization since “each little town has got its own traditions, its own cooking, [and] its own culture.”

In reality, her great-grandfather actually supported a “League of Democracies,” or confederation of Republics. This fact, combined with Garibaldi’s reputation as “the most loved figure of all in the world” could be a very important selling point for potential Presidential candidates in 2008. From Anita’s perspective, America could benefit a lot from Italy’s friendship just as Italy benefited from a friendship with Great Britain in the past. She reasons that, “it’s not something, you know, to underestimate because there were very few democracies then, even fewer than now. And he already thought that this way of governing, although it wasn’t perfect obviously, was the best way to ensure human rights and the respect of laws… it’s not an easy system to export. It needsa consciousness of people, you know, the responsibility of each person towards the common good which you don’t find in most countries even now. We are a minority, aren’t we in fact.” Anita Garibaldi currently resides in Rome, and is actively involved in trying to shape Italy’s future.

What genius thought Las Vegas Nevada would be the perfect spot to serve as “America’s Nuclear Dumping Ground?” What public servant would authorize shipments of glowing toxic waste hauled by rail directly through the heart of this city without public notice or private warning? Clearly, that person had to be a loser angry that a past wager didn’t payoff. Yucca Mountain looks like a bad bet too. It doesn’t matter who authorized the original idea and or for what reasons. What matters is what politician or politicians will now publicly admit Yucca Mountain borders on insanity. This looks like a homegrown terror plot right out of the Osama Bin Laden playbook. Who would place all our nuclear waste eggs in one basket and place them on a faultline? What politician will find the political courage to stop Yucca Mountain because it’s a “Yucky” idea?

Sen. John McCain apparently lacks the political courage to tell the truth and prevent Las Vegas from becoming the butt of all toxic waste jokes. McCain has taken political advantage of the public angst associated with $4.00 gas and he has pledged to build fourty plus new nuclear plants. That’s assanine! If we don’t develop a better plan to handle the waste, then we are creating a greater security threat while kicking the can down the road. Everyone in America knows Sen. McCain is old and his focus may not be on real long-term solutions? With no where to put the waste, more nukes is a serious risk. We already fear terrorists getting their hands on this waste to create more WMD. Would a serious politician suggest creating more with no real storage solution? McCain’s approach isn’t serious and it makes me angry!

Sen. Barack Obama has pledged not to allow the Yucca Mountain project to be completed. He has also found the wisdom to challenge the gas tax holiday gimmicks and oppose bad solutions to the energy angst. As a citizen of Nevada, I want to do my fair share to fix the energy problems; but betting gas prices will continue to increase is a safe bet during an endless war. The speculation game is rigged and anything offered short of fixing the speculation problem is a waste of time. Drilling for more oil only gives us more over-priced oil and more angst. The problem with nuclear waste is “NIMBY” or “Not In My Back Yard.” Nevada wants to lead the way in energy alternatives like solar and wind, but is clearly against becoming “America’s Nuke Dump.” In fact, Las Vegas has already had a mock trial run where a runaway train sped through this city. Yucca Mountain is a “Yucky” idea and it looks like one candidate doesn’t get it. If Obama refuses to change positions; I’m almost certain Obama will capture the vote in Nevada and be our next president.

In short, Las Vegas is a city driven by growth and tourism. Yucca Mountain is simply bad for business because it grows the threat of a nuclear accident here and this is not a tourist attraction most would like to see. Yucca Mountain is a personal subject that I don’t need to think about. It’s so close, it’s got to be personal. The 2008 election could simply come down to a personal choice on energy policy. One “We can” accept, the other we cannot because it’s too risky. If this were happening in your back yard, what would be good for your future growth and tourism?