OMG... DPRK... WMD... LOL...

A Japanese scholar and expert on North Korea, Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor at Tokyo's Waseda University, has claimed recently that Kim actually died in 2003 and that the North has been using body doubles of Kim for public events. Waseda University celebrated the 125th anniversary of its founding by Shigenobu Okuma who was a scholar and government leader. Waseda is one of Japan's top private, co-educational institutions of higher learning.

http://www.waseda.jp/top/index-e.html

Here's another expert on North Korea - Dr. Robert Springs. His approach to engagement with the North is innovative and humane. http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2009/0406north_korea.shtml

"Why do Jewish men die before their wives? They want to. " - Henny Youngman

photo by Sancho

The Torah says, Love your neighbor as yourself.The Buddha says, There is no self.So, maybe we're off the hook. Find more funny jewish buddhist sayings here http://www.curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1160978

The Tao does not speak. The Tao does not blame. The Tao does not take sides. The Tao has no expectations. The Tao demands nothing of others.The Tao is not Jewish.

This is the Musmeah Yeshua Synagogue and cemetery which is the last remaining Jewish house of worship in Yangon and Burma's only synagogue. Let's fix this place up. Contact editor@judsonobserver.net for more information. Like you couldn't clean up a little ?

And see who's already working on it

.http://www.us-asean.org/myanmar.asp

Relax ! Don't do it ~~~ Frankie goes to Havana...

President Obama has taken steps to engage with Cuba by lifting restrictions on visits and money transfers by Cuban Americans. The Prez. also says he will start immigration talks again which were suspended in 2004. But the economic embargo still stands until there are democratic reforms. Also there need to be improvement on the Cuba's human rights record. But little brother Raul has been sacking moderate generals and ministers left and right. So, how is this going to effect US engagment and reform ? The Castro regime sucks; Raul is just continuing the same policies. So the U.S. should let the embargo stand. Anyway, ending the embargo would also entail congressional action which aint gonna happen unless... you could fix the deal with Delta Airlines and Verizon. Can you hear me now ?

Two interesting articles -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/28/AR2009052803766.html?hpid=moreheadlines

and

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/us/20cuba.html

Who put that pubic hair on my Coke ?! Dam...

Anita Hill Photographed by Mary Ellen Mark
Washington — President Obama will nominate a federal appeals judge, Sonia Sotomayor, to the U.S. Supreme Court - "Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague Judge Cedarbaum, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Justice O’Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases. I am not so sure Justice O’Connor is the author of that line since Professor Resnik attributes that line to Supreme Court Justice Coyle. I am also not so sure that I agree with the statement. First, as Professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life. find more here - http://www.discourse.net/archives/2009/05/more_on_sotomayor.html

Let us pray...

May 25, 2009 from the Chronicle of Higher Education
Scientist say that proposed new guidelines could stop stem-cell research which is already going on.
Many scientists and advocates of studies involving human embryonic stem cells thought that when President Obama signed an order on March for easing restrictions on the types of studies eligible for federal funds. But now there are proposed new ethical guidelines, which the National Institutes of Health released for comment last month, might have the opposite effect, The Washington Post reported. Maybe cause this guy will be the next NIH director.

I'm just bill... sitting on Capitol Hill ~~~

"Celebrating our 25th anniversary in 2008, the Center for Responsive Politics is the nation's premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy. Nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit, the organization aims to create a more educated voter, an involved citizenry and a more responsive government. In short, CRP's mission is to:
* Inform citizens about how money in politics affects their lives
* Empower voters and activists by providing unbiased information
* Advocate for a transparent and responsive government

Open Secrets - cool organization

http://www.opensecrets.org/about/index.php

remember School House Rock ?

Yewlayleeyoohoo~~~~~~~~

http://www.swedenabroad.com/Start____6989.aspx

Cool things at the Embassy of Sweden

Zombie Ants in your pants...

"May 14, 2009--In South America female phorid flies have developed a bizarre reproductive strategy: They hover over fire ants , then inject their eggs into the ants with a needle-like appendage. "by the National Geographic Society -

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/photogalleries/zombie-ants/index.html

Jupiter and Uranus in Aquarius... time for a change

"BANGKOK, May 20 (UPI) -- Some observers will be allowed into a closed courtroom to watch the trial of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, sources said Wednesday."

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/05/20/Myanmar-opens-Suu-Kyi-trial-to-observers/UPI-16301242833506/

Let me be the first to predict that ASSK will be freed by the Regime. We're all on the edge...

Oy, a Broch Obama...

From J Street -
"President Obama is getting ready to set his course for achieving real peace and security in the Middle East.But some are telling the President to go slow and take a hands-off approach to negotiations, rather than taking the immediate action needed to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Arab conflicts.This Administration's first year is crucial to promoting peace in the region - and the President needs to know that he has strong support in Congress if he chooses a path of leadership and real action. "
Next year in Brooklyn !!!http://www.jstreet.org/ really cool organization...

Obedience school for cats

( engraving by Gustave Dore)
Was it really almost two years ago that the Saffron Revolution occured ? Just as there are the two camps arguing over sanctions vs. no sanctions, engagement vs. isolation, carrots vs. radishes, and non-violence or partriotism; was the Saffron Revolution inspired by politics or poverty ? Why is it that the Burma-Myanmar discussion is always so black-and-white ? I think it is attractive to keep the topic black-and-white for many scholars because they can flex their brains. For business people, it's about supply and demand - the Benjamins. For policy gurus, it's about publishing and getting to the West Wing. But the issue for the Myanmar people is not black-and-white, nor is it grey; it is rather quite colorful. The Myanmar people, I say "Myanmar people" and not "Burmese" in order to include all the ethnicities, are free to do what they want to do to be free. Certainly, first, the effort will require physical strength and sustainance. In "8-8-88", protestors were successful due to the genoristy of those with the resources to feed protestors. This time around in 2007 there was mass protest in Yangon, but no resources to sustain the movement. Secondly, the Myanmar people must decide are they devoted to non-violence or freedom. Is it more important to restrain oneself from forceful assault and either perish or be imprisoned; or is it more important to defend oneself in order to further pursue ways to be free? Is it patriotic to be non-violent ? What is the value of death and detention vs. active operations to acquire desired freedoms ?

Miyamoto Musashi says, "It is difficult to realize the true Way... Know the smallest things and the biggest things, the shallowest things and the deepest things." Each citizen of Myanmar should find his own Way. Be it by sword, or pen, or art, or trade, each citizen should act with insight. Another skillful sword weilder once said, "Good people, you who are reaping, if you do not tell the King that all this corn belongs to the Marquis of Carabas, you shall be chopped as small as herbs for the pot." ( Meow... and Puss after that never chased after mice... but only for his own diversion ).
by Wilberforce

http://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33479.pdf

Saving the Children long before Nargis...

“I think everybody in the country is feeling the tension … we certainly believe that we were here for the right reasons before, there are enormous numbers of children that are living in very dire situation in this country and that hasn’t changed, and I think that we have a responsibility to be here.
- Andrew Kirkwood, Save the Children, commenting on the recent situation in Myanmar.

read more http://www.savethechildren.net/alliance/media/newsdesk/2007-10-25.html

check out the cool cap...

http://shop.savethechildren.org/savechild/product.asp?s_id=0&prod_name=Cap+%2D+%22Dana+Kids%22&pf_id=PAAAAAOIJMEDJOFD&dept_id=3062

TGC - GCT - GAP -

From the Scientist.com by Elie Dolgin

Nearly four decades after biochemist Phoebus Levene first postulated his "tetranucleotide hypothesis" in 1910, most scientists still believed that DNA was made up of equal numbers of the four nucleotide bases in a repeating tetrameric structure, with each subunit containing all four bases.
Then in 1947, John Masson Gulland, together with Dennis Oswald Jordan and their colleagues at University College, Nottingham, perfected a method of extracting DNA from calf thymus glands.

Then see what happend...

http://www.the-scientist.com/templates/trackable/display/article1.jsp?type=article&o_url=article/display/55648&id=55648

Who cares if he's gay or straight...

Brussels Sprout Would Tintin appeal to American taste? by Michael Taube the Weekly Standard

On January 10, 1929, Belgium's Le Petit Vingtième, a weekly children's newspaper supplement to Le Vingtième Siècle, introduced the world to a new cartoon hero, Tintin.
Tintin was created by the supplement's talented editor in chief, Georges Prosper Remi, better known by his pen name, Hergé. His protagonist was depicted as an intrepid young reporter with a love for adventure, mystery, and intrigue. Tintin's constant companion was his faithful dog, Snowy, and he was later joined by a memorable cast of characters: the crusty sea dog Captain Archibald Haddock, brilliant eccentric Professor Cuthbert Calculus, and the mirror-image (albeit unrelated) detectives Thomson and Thompson.
Tintin turns 80 this year--and still doesn't look a day over 17.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/016/489dpvft.asp

"Turn on your heart light" - Neil Diamond

Creating the Astro-Comb to Locate Earth-Like Planets
A new way of reading light will sharpen the view of planets around other stars
WASHINGTON, May 7 -- Thanks to the ability of astronomers to detect the presence of extrasolar planets orbiting distant stars, scientists today are able to examine hundreds of solar systems. Now researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. have created an “astro-comb” to help astronomers detect lighter planets, more like Earth, around distant stars. The Harvard group will present their findings at the 2009 Conference on Lasers and Electro Optics/International Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/IQEC), which takes place May 31 to June 5 at the Baltimore Convention Center.

http://www.osa.org/

Cool stuff going on here with light... any bright ideas ?

US's NATO policy on Burma - "No Action, Talk Only"

Aung San Suu Kyi should be released immediately: US
4 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States said Thursday that pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi should be released immediately after Myanmar's military junta brought new charges against her.
"I am ready to say something more than just that ... we're troubled," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters when asked if he would go further than a statement he released earlier in the day.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jlXTP-B1KhNe4MAZvCXBlCi4j4xw
May 14, 2009
Burma Should Release Aung San Suu Kyi, Allow Greater Political Freedom, Say Berman and Ros-Lehtinen
Washington, DC – The chairman and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee today called on the military government of Burma to release human rights leader and democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was brought before a Burmese court on short notice and sent to prison.
“Aung San Suu Kyi has devoted her life to the peaceful struggle for democracy and freedom for the Burmese people,” said Chairman Howard L. Berman and Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. “The military junta should immediately release her, allow greater political freedoms in the country, and respect the human rights of all of Burma ’s citizens.”

I'll huff and I'll puff... and I'll... I'll...

Visit Washington, DC and dine at Cafe Milano

You like a nice loud fine dining experience ? Enjoy great food and celeb watching. Come on down and spend this week's allowance of your grand daddy's trust fund at the DC place to see and be seen. http://www.cafemilano.net/index.htm

Marc and J-Lo at Cafe Milano in January 2009.

Ye\ Taw ?

RANGOON — Police tightened security around Burma's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday after an American man was arrested for allegedly swimming across a lake and sneaking into her lakeside home. The Myanma Ahlin newspaper reported that authorities fished the man out of Rangoon's Inya Lake early Wednesday while he was returning from the visit to Suu Kyi's home. The report identified the man as John William Yeattaw but ...

Rambo is looking old... ( "Ye - ttaw" actually means brave warrior in Burmese)... you just can't beat that Regime... even Rambo went home in the end... )
( Yettaw is 53 years old... 5+3=8... the number of finite infinity... ala '88... )

http://burmanewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2009/05/us-man-arrested-for-entering-suu-kyi.html

"Don't give us carrots, we're not donkeys..."

U.S. Seeks New Tack on BurmaCarrot-and-Stick Approach May Replace Sanctions Diplomacy
By Tim JohnstonWashington Post Foreign ServiceSunday, April 12, 2009;
BANGKOK -- When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced recently that the United States was reviewing its policy of sanctions against Burma's government, it marked the final recognition of a global failure to modify the behavior of one of the world's most repressive regimes.
"Clearly, the path we have taken in imposing sanctions hasn't influenced the Burmese junta," Clinton said during a visit to Asia in February. "Reaching out and trying to engage them hasn't worked, either."

Hee Haw... Hee Haaaw....

Who's Lovin' you, baby? - Kojak

This dude is smart... check out his work...

Amory Lovins - Global Energy Seminar Series, US State Dept on May 4th, 2009

Scientist Amory Lovins added two more awards to his collection, TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people designation and National Design Awards' "Design Mind" honor. The 2009 TIME 100 included Lovins with the likes of Edward Kennedy, Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel, and Barack Obama. A short write-up by Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, credited Lovins for his foresight on energy strategy.

http://www.rmi.org/images/PDFs/Energy/E77-01_TheRoadNotTaken.pdf

From $3M to $50M... thank you, Nargis (?)

One Year After Cyclone Nargis: Aid to Burma Still Crucial - by Refugees International

Wed, 04/29/2009 - 16:50

Washington, D.C. - One year after Cyclone Nargis struck the Burmese delta on May 2, a sustained effort is still needed to ensure that aid operations continue to assist the Burmese people, Refugees International said today. Nearly 80 humanitarian agencies responded effectively to the disaster by restructuring their programs to meet the most pressing needs and successfully training thousands of new Burmese staff in humanitarian operations. As a result, the United Nations says that one million people received food aid, nearly 200,000 households got agricultural support and half a million children received help in education.

http://www.refugeesinternational.org/press-room/press-release/one-year-after-cyclone-nargis-aid-burma-still-crucial

"I'm just the cook... " - Casey Ryback

Myanmar ignores US request to see detained citizen
The Associated PressFriday, May 8, 2009 8:37 AM
YANGON, Myanmar -- The U.S. Embassy said Friday that the Myanmar government has ignored its repeated requests for access to an American arrested for allegedly swimming to the lakeside home of detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and sneaking inside.
The man's motives remained unclear, and the embassy said so far the only information the military-ruled government has offered is the man's name _ John William Yettaw _ and his passport number. ..

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/12/AR2009051200952.html

"What a tangled web we weave" - Walter Scott

U.S. Diplomat, Burmese Official Meet
White House Is Reviewing Policy Toward Nation

By Glenn KesslerWashington Post Staff Writer Thursday, March 26, 2009

A senior U.S. diplomat met with the Burmese foreign minister in the ruling junta's jungle capital yesterday, possibly signaling a softening in the tense relations between the two countries.
The Obama administration is conducting a high-profile review of its policy toward Burma, including whether unilateral sanctions have been effective, and the State Department issued a statement late yesterday saying the visit by Stephen Blake, director of the office for mainland Southeast Asia, "does not reflect a change in policy or approach to Burma."
read all - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/25/AR2009032503116.html