Deosaran Bisnath

Vegetarianism: An Ethical Diet for Peace and Plenty

2009-09-29T08:11:00.001-04:00

hinduism today april/may/june, 2009

Vegetarianism -
An Ethical Diet for Peace and Plenty

Good health, spirituality, sound ethics, balanced ecology and favorable
economics are among the reasons a plant-based diet beats meat-eating today

b y R . P. J a i n

This editorial is drawn from a talk given by the author during the
Gandhi Peace Panel lectures on October 2, 2008, at the Eastern
Connecticut State University, Willimantic, Connecticut, USA.

In india, the land of ahimsa, or nonviolence, people have
traditionally been vegetarian. Hailing from a family of staunch
vegetarians, I consider myself fortunate to be living in harmony
with the principles of nature. As a Jain follower, I strongly advocate
a vegetarian diet, which I find superior
not only from a moral stance, but also from
the health and culinary points of view.
Guests at our home, coming from both vegetarian
and nonvegetarian backgrounds, are
always overwhelmed with what they describe
as the unbelievable taste and richness
of our vegetarian cuisine.
Sadly, in recent times many Hindus, Jains
and Buddhists, especially of the younger
generation, are no longer so strict about our
precepts and have taken to nonvegetarian
food, mostly following the misconception
that meat-eating is healthy. Truth be told, a
vegetarian diet is actually much healthier
than one based on animal protein. It is argued
that there is a lot of protein in meat
and eggs, but we do not need so much concentrated
protein in our diet. There is plenty
of protein in nuts, seeds, pulses and dairy
products, which are also far easier to digest.
Vegetarianism supports mental and physical
health as well as spiritual cultivation. Fruits,
vegetables, pulses, nuts and milk products
provide a balanced diet which does not
make our system toxic. This is primarily because when an animal is
killed, it becomes dead matter. In the case of many vegetables, if we
eat part of the vegetable and re-plant another part, it can grow again;
it is still a living organism.
It is a healthy sign that more and more people in the US, UK, Europe
and other parts of the world are taking to a vegetarian diet in
modern times, chiefly due to health reasons. There is a growing acceptance
in the West that vegetarianism connotes a more positive
way of living than flesh eating. In India, the
pilgrimage destination of Haridwar still
enjoys the status of being a vegetarian city.
Even in Japan, known to be virtually 100
percent nonvegetarian, you can now find
vegetarian restaurants.
My friend Martin Gluckman, who runs
the Vedic Society and teaches organic and
ayurvedic cooking in South Africa, hails
Indian vegetarianism thusly: “India has the
world’s greatest cuisine and most variety
of dishes, boasting to its amazing cultural
and spiritual heritage. It has a time-tested
vegetarian cuisine offering a delight for all
senses and the heart. India can be proud to
have the world’s largest per-capita number
of vegetarians (I have read reports of more
than 40%). No other country can make such
a statement of humanity and nonviolence.
The vegetarian culture and lifestyle is India’s
Cornucopia: Ladies vend fresh vegetables
at a market in Pushkar, Rajasthan; (above)
a few of the many spices that make Indian
food so distinctive and delicious
april/may/june, 2 0 0 9 hindu i sm t oday 39
greatest achievement and gift to the world. Only in years to come
will the true value of this gift be known.”
It is important that we remain vegetarian not only for our health
and nutrition, but from the points of view of spirituality, compassion,
ethics, ecology and economics as well.
When we see the end product of meat in the supermarket or
leather in the shoe store, there is a long chain of violence that created
it. These products endorse and perpetuate violence in our society,
which contributes to the terrorism that is rampant across the world.
Eating habits reflect upon a human being’s thoughts, speech and
behavior. A nonvegetarian diet makes one prone to violence.
By moving away from food of violence we can move rapidly toward
world peace. Albert Einstein averred, “It is my view that the
vegetarian manner of living, by its purely physical effect on human
temperament, would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind.”
When a helpless animal is killed by a deliberate act of violence, it
dies in great dread. Its body is flush with hormones produced by fear.
These toxic substances enter the body of the person who eats the
flesh and adversely affect his or her body and mind. I have always
wondered, how can the carcass of an animal that died in mortal fear
give good health and refined, spiritual inclinations to its consumer?
Additionally, meat production is one of the most environmentally
damaging industries in terms of pollution and inefficient use of agricultural
land. According to a 2006 report from the United Nations
Food & Agriculture Organization, livestock production is responsible
for more greenhouse gasses than all the motor vehicles in the
world, plus it severely degrades land and water.
It is also necessary to remove the myth and argument that vegetarians
will not get enough food if nonvegetarians do not eat meat.
This is a fallacy. It has been conclusively proven that more people
can be sustained on vegetarian food than a diet based on meat. Livestock
occupy over 30 percent of our planet’s land surface, and 33
percent of global arable land is used to grow their feed, pointing to
why a meat-based diet requires seven times more land than a plantbased
diet. Thus, one of the easiest ways to help restore our environment
and feed more people is to stop raising and killing animals for
human consumption. We have no right to take the life of an animal
when we cannot give it.
Economically, a vegetarian diet is preferable to a nonvegetarian
diet. The same energy one can get from meat and eggs one can get
from pulses and cereals. It actually costs three or four times as much
money to produce an equivalent amount of calories from animal
sources as from vegetable sources.
Some people may worry that self-control and too much care
about nature would hamper development and bring about poverty.
We know too well, however, that the more we consume, the more
expensive things become, leading to the growth of the destitute
class. Reckless commercial development also results in economic
and social crises, bringing further suffering to the poor. Ahimsa, or
nonharm, does not deny economic development; it only exercises
self-control, limits our desires. Desires are endless. More and more
desires give rise to materialism and extraordinary greed, far beyond
basic human needs and sustainable consumption.
Greed results in the destruction of the very roots of our life. If we
want to prevent the world from becoming a barren desert and our
societies from growing into monstrous systems of injustice and
suffering, self-control and nonviolence appear as the only reasonable
answer—not only for Jains, but for people of any creed. For any
spiritual being, the destruction of life, be it in the air, the water or on
the ground, is a sin. But even if you do not subscribe to this principle,
you will agree that reckless destruction of life could eventually lead
to mankind’s own demise. Jainism is not the only Indian school
advocating nonviolence and self-control as central principles. Buddhism
and Hinduism equally preach them. Ππ
Sustenance: (top to bottom) Cows are
vegetarian. They represent the animal
kingdom to Hindus, deserving our care
and respect; Indian vegetarian cuisine
is abundant with tasty dishes, from this
simple, spicy okra curry to the thick,
hearty chick pea dal
al l photos shut t ers tock exc e p t as not ed
hindui sm today
R.P. Jain, left, is a director of Motilal
Banarsidass, a celebrated publisher of
spiritual and religious books in India.
E-mail: mlbd100@gmail.com.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aano bhadra krtavo yantu vishwatah
"Let noble thoughts come to me from all directions"
- RIG VEDA

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"Ozymandias," by Percy Bysshe Shelley

2009-08-22T08:15:00.000-04:00

An old favorite.

The poem "Ozymandias," by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1818):

WSJ.com August 22nd, 2009

I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who said—"Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal, these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away."

NAIPAUL: Writing the wrongs of racism, roughed up in South Africa

2009-07-19T09:53:00.004-04:00

Sir Vidia and Lady Naipaul were photographed by Khadija Bradlow in Soweto this morning, on a visit to the Hector Pieterson Memorial.

Said Bradlow of the moment, “Both were very visibly moved”.

Writing the wrongs of racism

Fred Khumalo Published:Jul 18, 2009

TAPPING INTO PULSE OF A COUNTRY: Fred Khumalo and author VS Naipaul talk about South Africa at The Grace in Rosebank, Johannesburg. Picture: SIMPHIWE NKWALI

"He wanted to know: why the obsession with race when Mandela set the tone for non-racial dispensation"

"We agreed that it doesn’t help to sweep it under the carpet. To heal, we need to talk about the problem"

=====

Nobel author roughed up
Published:Jul 18, 2009

Nobel literature laureate VS Naipaul and his wife were accosted in Johannesburg yesterday.

The altercation occurred near The Grace Hotel in Rosebank, northern Johannesburg. Naipaul’s wife, Nadira, said they were on their way to the Lion Park, northwest of the city, when a “smart” car forced their chauffeur-driven van off the road.

The couple were accompanied by a friend, Khadija Bradlow, who has been showing them around.

“I really thought we were being hijacked. I thought this is it, it’s happening. They all told us that Johannesburg is a very criminal city and now it’s happening to us,” said Nadira

“(My husband) is shaken but he’s okay. He just felt helpless.”

Bradlow said two men of Middle-Eastern or Indian descent, dressed in dark suits and wearing dark glasses, jumped out of the unmarked white car and started shouting at them, demanding their IDs and wanting to know if they were Zimbabwean.

Once satisfied that the party was not Zimbabwean, the men wanted to know if they had drugs on them.

Bradlow said they had not reported the incident to police as they were unable to take down the car’s registration plates.

Naipaul, who is in South Africa to do research on a novel, is due to leave this week

---------

Renowned author quizzes journo, moi, on state of the nation

It was one of those deliciously ironic moments: a newspaper journalist being interviewed by a Nobel laureate for literature.

VS Naipaul had quietly sneaked into South Africa, and set about interviewing a cross section of locals for his next book, an ambitious tome focusing on African religions and African spirituality.

While Sir Vidia, the appropriate address since his knighthood, has written numerous texts about the continent, both fiction and non-fiction, his search for new material has taken him to Nigeria, Uganda and Gabon.

Friends vehemently tried to dissuade him and his wife Nadira, herself a writer, from coming to South Africa (‘Are you mad? Do you have death wishes? That is the crime capital of the world.’).

Sir Vidia, who was once described by a critic as an eagle who sits high on his perch and watches everything below — and misses nothing, decided he wanted to come to South Africa for this book, which he says will be his last in a successful career spanning more than five decades.

They say water flows because of gravity; people flow because of symbols. And on the continent, attractive symbols lie in the south. South Africa epitomises the continent in all its complexity: a wounded history, multiculturalism, the restlessness and, most importantly, hope.

It was therefore inevitable that Sir Vidia would succumb to gravity and venture south.

He had read about the racial problems of our country’s past but what struck him upon his arrival was more than the residue of the past. He had not expected such a multiplicity of identities — which extend beyond black and white. There are cultural identities (I am Zulu before I am South African), religious identities (I am Muslim before I am South African), sexual identities (I am gay before I am South African) and many others.

And overshadowing all of these identities is the obsession with race.

Sir Vidia set about identifying his targets, people he would speak to in an attempt to unravel the cultural/religious story of post-apartheid South Africa. At some stage he spoke to a kwaito artist, who told him Nelson Mandela had betrayed black people. He compromised too much.

In addition to the controversial kwaito artist, Sir Vidia decided to interview a journalist. Ignoring protestations from the journalist that journos are not good interviewing material, the world-renowned author and thinker insisted on meeting the journalist at his own house — “because he can only make a judgment on the character he is interviewing once he has seen him (the character) in his own environment”, his aide explained.

It’s always touching and amazing to look at one’s country through other people’s eyes. They see what your eyes skip past or what you subconsciously choose to ignore. Issues such as the race question.

The interaction between Sir Vidia, his wife and the journalist spread over three nights, during which they spoke over tea, enjoyed dinner and went to the theatre to watch a play that draws upon our immediate past in order to better understand the present.

Sir Vidia wanted to know: why the obsession with race when Mandela had already set the tone for a non-racial dispensation?

When a South African speaks about a fellow countryman he is bound to say something like: “I am talking about that Indian guy with a big beard” and so on.

Sir Vidia could not help remarking on how race is used descriptively. The journalist responded that 15 years is too short for us to shake off the yoke of race.

We come from a past where a white person with only a Std 4 education was deemed superior to Dr Nthato Motlana or Dr AB Xuma with all their education and international exposure — by virtue of the colour of his skin. We come from a past where black people could not own houses in the cities and suburbs, even if they could afford them. That’s the racial crucible in which we were shaped.

Mandela and Tutu’s exhortation to the nation to embrace non-racialism after 1994 provided warm and positive symbolism that the nation needed at that time, a crutch it could use to hobble into a new country, in pursuit of a rather elusive non-racial consciousness.

At this point of the discussion, Nadira noted that some of her friends blamed the resurgence of race-consciousness on Thabo Mbeki.

However, she disagreed. She thought Mbeki was correct when he made his observation about South Africa being a country of two nations — one rich and white, and the other black and poor. He had to make the country pause to take stock before blindly singing an empty non-racial song, argued Nadira.

The journalist pointed out that Mbeki-bashing had become a national pastime. Nowadays everyone hates Mbeki and what he stood for, even in instances when he was correct.

Those who supported Mbeki during his tenure have become as scarce as hen’s teeth or, more appropriately, as scarce as the white people who propped up apartheid for more than four decades.

When Mbeki made his two-nations remark, he was only, like a journalist, reporting on what he was seeing on the ground. That there were a few black billionaires who had sprouted overnight, did not erase the reality of millions of poorly educated, unemployed and starving black people next to millions of whites with a good education, secure jobs and roofs over their heads.

The journalist continued: “Personally, I am an optimist and in the left wing and sometimes liberal circles that I move in, even though we are conscious of race, we choose not to obsess over it. When we comfort ourselves as South Africans, we always pat each other on the backs, and say: ‘Ah, thank God the past is over. We have moved on.’”

Moved on to what exactly, Sir Vidia wanted to know.

The journalist hesitated before responding that the country had jettisoned statutory racism — and was now in a limbo, caught between that terrible past and the uncertain future. The legacy of the past is too great to shake off that easily as the nation trudges, uncertainly, towards the utopia of non-racialism.

There is a danger though, intervened Sir Vidia, that the obsession with race might prove counter-productive in the long run. He referred to the experience of his native Trinidad. For a long time, that country hobbled along as a nation of Indo-Trinidadians and Afro-Trinidadians, and some other minorities. There was tension (subtle as it was at times) between the races.

Sir Vidia noted, sadly, that during the tenure of Eric Williams, a one-time black-power adherent who reigned as prime minister from 1956 until his death in 1981, the island was in the grip of a sad form of race-consciousness.

While it might have been an attempt at empowering the descendants of slaves, the race-consciousness tended to racialise everything and had debilitating results, he argued.

But over the years these tensions ebbed and the country embraced a state of nationhood, where individuals saw themselves as Trinidadians. Period. No ethnic prefixes.

How did the Trinidadians do it, the journalist wondered.

Time healed the wounds, Sir Vidia responded. But, he added, the people also spoke about the problem rather than sweeping it under the carpet.

On that note both Sir Vidia and the journalist, moi, agreed.

If South Africans don’t continue to speak openly about the problem, we will remain a “simple” people, said Sir Vidia. By “simple” people he meant those who lack intellectual rigour, who lack a moral backbone, who lack a vision of who they would like to be as a nation, a people who, when they lose an argument, resort to race.

Again, the journalist agreed.

Human Trafficking in Trinidad, Venezuela, and the Caribbean

2009-07-17T20:06:00.002-04:00

HUMAN TRAFFICKING - Trinidad and Venezuela

Trinidad and Tobago is a destination and transit country
for women and children trafficked for the purpose of
commercial sexual exploitation. In some instances,
women and girls from Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana,
Suriname, and the Dominican Republic have been
identified as trafficking victims in Trinidadian brothels
and casinos. Last year the government identified
five Colombian victims in the country; neighboring
governments in Venezuela, Guyana, and Suriname
identified additional victims. Foreign victims, including
women who voluntarily enter the country to engage in
prostitution, may subsequently be trafficked after being
deceived by unscrupulous recruiters about the true nature
and conditions of their employment. Additional reporting
suggests that men from China and Guyana may be
trafficked to Trinidad and Tobago for labor exploitation
in construction and other sectors. Trinidad and Tobago
also is a transit point to Caribbean destinations such as
Barbados and the Netherlands Antilles for traffickers and
their victims.
The Government of Trinidad and Tobago does not fully
comply with the minimum standards for the elimination
of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to
do so. During the reporting period, senior Trinidadian
officials publicly condemned human trafficking, noting
that the country is a destination point for trafficked
persons. The government worked closely with IOM and
other Caribbean governments to draft model antitrafficking
laws for the region, and to develop standards
for victim repatriation and care. The government also
increased anti-trafficking training for law enforcement,
and collaborated with IOM on additional awarenessraising
measures. However, vigorous government efforts
to investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes under
existing laws remained lacking, and adequate victim
services were extremely limited.
Recommendations for Trinidad and Tobago: Enact
legislation to prohibit all forms of human trafficking;
increase efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking
offenses, and to convict and sentence trafficking
offenders; increase victim services and protection
efforts, particularly for foreign victims; develop formal
procedures to identify trafficking victims among
vulnerable populations; continue to increase antitrafficking
training and efforts to raise public awareness.
Prosecution
The Government of Trinidad and Tobago demonstrated
some progress in anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts
over the last year. While Trinidad and Tobago has no
specific laws prohibiting human trafficking, trafficking
offenders could be prosecuted under trafficking-related
offenses such as kidnapping, rape, or procuring a person
for prostitution. Penalties for such crimes range from
15 years’ to life imprisonment, which are sufficiently
stringent and commensurate with penalties prescribed for
other serious crimes. Last year the government worked
closely with IOM and neighboring countries to draft
model anti-trafficking legislation for the Caribbean, and
engaged experts from the Canadian High Commission
to assist with writing an anti-trafficking law for Trinidad
and Tobago. During the reporting period, the government
achieved no prosecutions, convictions, or sentences
of trafficking offenders. In past years, Trinidadian law
enforcement have utilized proactive strategies such
as brothel raids to enforce anti-prostitution laws and
prosecute the owners of such establishments, though
formal procedures to identify trafficking victims during
such operations are not typically utilized. In partnership
with IOM, the government provided anti-trafficking
training to more than 1,500 law enforcement officers last
year, and published reference guides for immigration and
police personnel. No allegations of trafficking-related
corruption were reported.

Protection
The Trinidadian government made limited efforts to
assist trafficking victims during the reporting period,
relying on international organizations and NGOs to
provide care and services for identified victims. The
government encouraged crime victims, including
trafficking victims, to assist with the investigation and
prosecution of offenders, and provided interpreters for
non-English speaking complainants. Foreign victims
were not eligible to receive government-provided services
such as medical assistance, counseling, or legal assistance
with filing a complaint. Moreover, the government did
not employ formal procedures for identifying victims of
sex or labor trafficking among vulnerable populations,
such as prostituted women in brothels or foreign migrant
workers. The government did not provide foreign
trafficking victims with legal alternatives to removal to
countries where they may face hardship or retribution;
most foreign victims were detained and deported without
being identified as trafficking victims. However, the
government recently instituted a protocol where identified
foreign trafficking victims are maintained in NGO safe
houses until authorities in the victim’s home country
can be contacted to assist with travel documents and
repatriation. In January 2009, government immigration
officials met with Colombian counterparts to discuss
procedures for identifying and sheltering Colombian
trafficking victims found in Trinidad and Tobago, as well
as their safe return to Colombia; the workshop occurred
due to a 2007 brothel raid in which more than 70
Colombian nationals, some of whom were believed to be
trafficking victims, were detained and deported for being
in Trinidad and Tobago illegally.
Prevention
In collaboration with international and local NGOs, the
government increased its efforts to educate the public
about the dangers of trafficking. Senior government
officials condemned human trafficking publicly, and
emphasized the need to protect victims. During 2008, law
enforcement officers and an IOM expert on investigating
and prosecuting sexual offenses conducted several raids
of brothels where foreign women engage in prostitution,
thus addressing demand for commercial sex acts by
arresting and prosecuting “clients.” The ILO and the
government distributed informational brochures on
regional child labor and protection concerns such as
slavery, debt bondage, child drug trafficking, prostitution,
and trafficking children in the Caribbean. The
government also enacted laws to keep children in school,
and raised the working age from 14 to 16 as measures
to prevent child labor. No additional efforts to reduce
demand for adult forced labor were reported.

US: Venezuela and Human Trafficking - Department of State

The US Department of State released its ninth annual Trafficking in Persons Report that sheds light on the faces of modern-day slavery and on new facets of this global problem.

Country narrative for Venezuela

"Venezuela is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Venezuelan women and girls are trafficked within the country for commercial sexual exploitation, lured from poor interior regions to urban and tourist areas such as Caracas and Margarita Island.

Victims are often recruited through false job offers, and subsequently coerced into prostitution. Some Venezuelan children are forced to work as street beggars or as domestic servants.

Venezuelan women and girls are trafficked transnationally for commercial sexual exploitation to Mexico, in addition to Caribbean destinations such as Trinidad and Tobago, the Netherlands Antilles, and the Dominican Republic. A common trafficking route is for victims to transit Curacao en route to The Netherlands and other countries in Western Europe.

Men, women, and children from Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and Asian nations such as the People’s Republic of China are trafficked to and through Venezuela, and may be subjected to commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. A more recent trend appears to be increased human trafficking activity in Venezuela’s Orinoco River Basin area and border regions of Tachira State, where political violence and infiltration by armed rebel groups are common.

The Government of Venezuela does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Despite these overall significant efforts, the government did not show evidence of progress in convicting and sentencing trafficking offenders and providing adequate assistance to victims; therefore, Venezuela is placed on Tier 2 Watch List.

Recommendations for Venezuela: Amend existing laws to prohibit and adequately punish all forms of trafficking in persons, particularly the internal trafficking of men and boys; intensify efforts to investigate and prosecute trafficking offenses, and convict and punish trafficking offenders; investigate reports of trafficking complicity by public officials; provide greater assistance and services to trafficking victims; consider designating a coordinator to lead the government’s anti-trafficking efforts; and improve data collection for trafficking crimes.

Prosecution

The Government of Venezuela made limited anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts over the last year, though Venezuelan law prohibits most forms of human trafficking. In 2007, the government enacted the Organic Law on the Right of Women to a Violence-Free Life. Article 56 of this recently enacted law prohibits the trafficking of women and girls for the purposes of sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery, irregular adoption, or organ extraction, prescribing punishments of 15 to 20 years’ imprisonment. Articles 46 and 47 prohibit forced prostitution and sexual slavery, and carry penalties of 15 to 20 years’ imprisonment. These anti-trafficking provisions, however, do not address the internal trafficking of adult males or boys.

Article 16 of the Organic Law Against Organized Crime, enacted in 2005, prohibits trafficking across international borders for labor or sexual exploitation, and prescribes penalties of 10 to 18 years’ imprisonment. The above penalties are sufficiently stringent, and commensurate with those for other serious crimes, such as rape. Prosecutors also can use Venezuela’s Child Protection Act and various articles of the penal code to prosecute the internal trafficking of children, though many of these statutes carry extremely low penalties -- typically a maximum of three months in jail or fines. Despite existing legal tools for punishing many forms of human trafficking, the Venezuelan government did not report any convictions or sentences of trafficking offenders in 2008.

However, the government opened six investigations of transnational sex trafficking, one investigation of transnational labor trafficking, and one investigation of suspected internal trafficking. International organizations indicated that the government cooperated with INTERPOL on transnational trafficking cases, and increased screening for potential trafficking crimes at airports and borders. There were no confirmed reports of government complicity with human trafficking in 2008, though corruption among public officials, particularly related to the issuance of false identity documents, appeared to be widespread. Moreover, many Venezuelan law enforcement officials reportedly did not distinguish between human trafficking and alien smuggling offenses.

Protection

The government sustained limited efforts to assist trafficking victims during the reporting period. The government did not operate shelters accessible to or dedicated for trafficking victims, relying on NGOs and international organizations to provide the bulk of victim assistance.

The government operated a national 24-hour hotline through which it received trafficking complaints, and directed trafficking victims to NGOs for care. Government-provided psychological and medical examinations were available for trafficking victims, but additional victim services such as follow-up medical aid, legal assistance with filing a complaint, job training, and reintegration assistance remained lacking. The government reportedly increased, however, the availability of psychological services for trafficking victims during the past year.

Police reported that most trafficking victims were reluctant to testify in court against their traffickers because of long court delays and fear of reprisals. According to NGOs, the government did not have a formal mechanism for identifying trafficking victims among vulnerable populations, such as women in prostitution.

There were no reports of victims being jailed or penalized for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. The government reportedly had a policy of providing refugee status or other legal protections for foreign victims who faced retribution if returned to their country of origin. The government also assisted with the repatriation of 28 Chinese nationals who had been subjected to labor trafficking last year.

Prevention

The Venezuelan government increased its efforts to prevent human trafficking over the year by providing some funding to NGOs for education activities, conducting widespread public awareness campaigns about the dangers of human trafficking, and continuing anti-trafficking training for government officials. The government advertised its hotline number, aired public service announcements, and widely distributed materials against commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, and child sex tourism.

The government collaborated with NGOs and international organizations on other anti-trafficking efforts, but relations with these organizations were reportedly mixed. Moreover, high turnover of government personnel, particularly lack of an anti-trafficking coordinator, appears to have hampered the government’s anti-trafficking progress.

While many government officials acknowledge that human trafficking is a problem in the country, some tended to view the nation as principally a transit point, demonstrating less recognition of internal trafficking concerns, such as children trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. No specific activities to reduce demand for commercial sex acts or forced labor were reported."

---
Read the whole report here:
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/123365.pdf

==========

Human Trafficking Concerns in the Commonwealth Caribbean:
the 2009 U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons Report in focus
1. Background Human Trafficking
1. Human trafficking is the recruitment, transporting, providing or
obtaining a person for labour or services. This includes inter alia
bonded labour, forced labour (for example involuntary domestic
servitude), forced child labour, involving children in armed conflict,
and sex trafficking (including the sexual exploitation of children).
Trafficking of persons is defined in the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress
and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
(2000), supplementing the United Nations Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime (the so-called Palermo Protocol).
Article 3 of this Protocol defines ‘trafficking in persons’1.
2. Recent Concerns Regarding Human Trafficking in the Caribbean
1. The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) London office
monitors, reports and raises awareness regarding human rights issues
in Commonwealth member states within the Western hemisphere, this
includes the Caribbean. Thus, the inclusion of Caribbean
Commonwealth members in this year’s U.S. State Department
Trafficking in Persons Report (hereinafter TIP Report), is of particular
concern.
2. In previous years few Caribbean states and overseas territories
appeared in the TIP Reports. For example, human trafficking in St..
Vincent and the Grenadines has not previously been addressed. The
previous lack of information on trafficking of persons in these reports
reflects a wider lack of awareness and reporting on human rights issues
1 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
(2000) available at http://untreaty.un.org/English/TreatyEvent2003/Texts/treaty2E.pdf (accessed 19
June 2009)
in Caribbean members of the Commonwealth. However, this report
offers a window into troubling reports of human trafficking in places
like St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize and Guyana.
3. The Commonwealth Caribbean states mentioned in 2009’s TIP Report
are Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica and
Trinidad and Tobago. Especially troubling is the inclusion of Belize,
Guyana and St. Vincent and the Grenadines on the ‘special watch list’2.
According to the U.S. those countries on the ‘watch list’ do not comply
fully with minimum standards set by American law for cooperating in
efforts to reduce the increase of human trafficking. They have
effectively been placed on notice that they may face political and
economic sanctions unless their record improves... continued here:
http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/london/hr_in_caribbean/human_trafficking_in_the_caribbean_june_2009.pdf

NAIPAUL WRITING NEW BOOK

2009-07-15T17:10:00.003-04:00

NAIPAUL WRITING NEW BOOK

New agent? New Book? Doesn't look like a man about to retire but he keeping low, ducking and running while in South Africa. Could be a book about the Indian Diaspora in Africa.

Crabby Old Book Agents Fight Over Trinidadian Nobel Laureate
By Richard Lawson

Book agent fight! Book agent fight! Wily Andrew Wylie has stolen Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul away from his old partner and mentor, Gillon Aitken. The 76-year-old author was likely wooed astray with promises of more monies and better international representation.

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NAIPAUL DUCKING AND RUNNING IN SOUTH AFFRICA
from SA Times

Alert! Has anybody seen this man?

Yes, that’s Nobel Prize-winning author VS Naipaul - and the going rumour is that he’s in South Africa right now, doing research on a new book. On religion? Possibly on religion. We’ve heard that he’s doing a book on religion. But that’s pure speculation, reproduced here to give this post the semblance of substance.

Said book requires him to be in Johannesburg, among other southern African locales, and so even at this very moment his head might be bending over a text in the Johannesburg Library, for instance - or his footsteps might be echoing through the Hector Pieterson Memorial or the Apartheid Museum, or his hair might be flapping in the wind on the Gold Reef City Tower of Terror.

OK, perhaps not the last. But we have it on good authority from no fewer than three sources that the great author is most definitely in town, though it’s all hush-hush.

When VS Naipaul - who has a bit of a history with this continent - visits Africa, it’s big news, and BOOK SA is keen to bring you more on his trip. We’re thus shamelessly going to place a bounty on his head: anyone who can shed additional light on “Naipaul in South Africa 2009″ should write to naipaul@book.co.za with your tip; and anyone who can supply BOOK SA with a bona fide photograph of the author in Johannesburg that we can publish will receive a handsome sum (by SA Lit standards). Perhaps you should familiarise yourself with his many cunning guises - click here for a gallery of recent pics.

Can VS Naipaul be crowdsourced? Let’s find out. Welcome, Sir Vidia, to our beloved country!

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Freud in the slips: Cricket and the Art of Psychoanalysis

2009-07-08T16:43:00.000-04:00

Cricket and the Art of Psychoanalysis
Today’s idea: Test cricket and psychoanalysis are a lot alike — but out of tune with a world that demands quick results. That’s our loss, argues a former cricket captain and Britain’s leading psychoanalyst.

Psych-out.Psychology | Cricket “requires intelligence, astuteness and an ability to withstand long periods where nothing much happens, while keeping alert for the moment when action erupts—not unlike psychoanalysis itself,” writes Edward Marriott in the British magazine Prospect.

So, little surprise that his profile subject, Mike Brearley, former England cricket captain turned Britain’s top psychoanalyst, is unhappy that both test cricket and traditional psychotherapy are under threat from brasher, speedier rivals like Twenty20 cricket and cognitive behavioral therapy — the latter favored by the cost-conscious National Health Service.

“Cricket matches, like works of art and psychoanalytic sessions, are usually uneven,” Brearley reasons, yet all often yield rewards to those who are patient over the long haul. It’s an insight with relevance across the pond, to judge from this separate article on the intersections of baseball, cricket and psychology. [Prospect, The American]

http://ideas.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/cricket-and-the-art-of-psychoanalysis/?hp

July 2009 |
Freud in the slips
Both test cricket and psychoanalysis are out of tune with a world that demands quick results. That’s our loss, argues former England cricket captain Mike Brearley, now Britain’s leading psychoanalyst

Edward Marriott is a psychodynamic counsellor working in private practice and the NHS

http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=10860

Twenty-eight years ago, a cricket match entered sporting folklore. That year, 1981, was an Ashes year and Australia, like this year, was expected to prevail. England lost the first test, drew the second, and found their talismanic all-rounder Ian Botham crippled by the burden of captaincy. Only after Botham failed with the bat in the second test did England make the bold and, as it turned out, inspired move to recall as captain a man whose batting was less than Bothamesque, but whose leadership was already legendary.

Mike Brearley had passed the role to Botham after a string of successes including taking England to the 1979 Cricket World Cup final. What he achieved upon his return was the more remarkable for being unexpected. The third test, at Headingley, began badly. Australia declared on 401, with England managing only 174 in reply and being made to follow on. The rest is legend. Botham scored a fearless 149 not out, aided by Graham Dilley’s 56; before Bob Willis and Botham tore through Australia, bowling them out for 111, and victory.

Key to this astonishing comeback was Brearley’s reinvigoration of Botham, using a combination of carrot and stick. Before the match Brearley said that Botham would score a century and take 12 wickets; then, when Botham was bowling hesitantly, Brearley withdrew him from the attack and dubbed him the “sidestep queen” to goad him into action. Then, when Botham went in to bat, Brearley told him to “go for it, enjoy yourself.” England went on to win the series; and Brearley quietly resigned the captaincy and retired. He’d represented England in 39 tests, with 18 victories as captain, and only four defeats. Having had previous stints as a lecturer in philosophy, he set about training as a psychoanalyst, a profession he has followed for the last 24 years.

It is an interesting change of career, but perhaps not an altogether surprising one. Cricket, particularly in its five-day form, requires intelligence, astuteness and an ability to withstand long periods where nothing much happens while keeping alert for the moment when action erupts—not unlike psychoanalysis itself. Certainly, despite its genteel reputation, few games are as psychologically arduous. On-field aggression is rife: former Australian captain Steve Waugh once described his sledging techniques as “mental disintegration”; while South African batsman Daryll Cullinan was so distressed by Shane Warne’s intimidation that he took time out for therapy, only to be greeted on his return with the words “I’m going to send you straight back to the leather couch,” from his tormentor. Long foreign tours have also seen intense homesickness suffered by players like Steven Harmison, and contributed to Marcus Trescothick’s breakdown and resignation from the England side in 2006. Brearley, writing the introduction to Silence of the Heart, David Frith’s 2001 book about cricket suicides, says that “the uncertainty of cricket” forces “its participants to come to terms with symbolic deaths on a daily basis… [and] can be disillusioning and anxiety-creating.” And retirement can be uniquely stressful—in recent times at least one ex-England player, the wicket keeper David Bairstow, has taken his own life. Many ex-cricketers, Brearley wrote, don’t find work that fits their skills, ending up with jobs “which merely make use of a man’s name… Such a man loses his authenticity. And if he fails, the humiliation, which is felt by some to contrast dramatically with the excitement and success that went before, may be terrible.”

Today—at the start of a new Ashes series, arguably the most intense of all cricketing encounters—both long-form psychotherapy and long-form cricket seem in decline. In a quick-fix world there appears to be less tolerance for approaches—whether sporting or psychotherapeutic—that take time. In May, Chris Gayle, the West Indies’ captain, said that he “wouldn’t be so sad” if test cricket died out. Gayle, like many big stars, has made a fortune from the Indian Premier League, and clearly prefers the shorter Twenty20 game. The meagre 4,000 tickets sold for the opening day of the second test against the West Indies on 14th May seemed to indicate that English crowds, too, shared some of his feelings.

Psychoanalysis faces a different, but related dilemma. With the government pouring money into short-term psychological treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), psychoanalytic therapies, of which psychoanalysis is the most intense and long term, are feeling threatened (see also Alexander Linklater on psychiatry, p76). This is why Brearley, who since qualifying as a psychoanalyst in 1985 has shunned the spotlight—notwithstanding his cricket writings for the Observer—has opened the door of his basement consulting room in north London on a warm spring day and agreed to open up for questioning.

As president of the British Psychoanalytical Society, the training ground for such luminaries as Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott and John Bowlby, Brearley is now Britain’s senior psychoanalyst. In person, he is thoughtful and serious, but also humorous and self-deprecating; and happy to discuss his two professional evolutions. He first encountered psychoanalysis at Cambridge, where he read classics and moral sciences and captained the cricket team. “I got interested theoretically. The professor of philosophy was John Wisdom, who wrote a book called Philosophy and Psycho-Analysis… He and one or two other people at Cambridge opened my eyes. That, and reading English literature, enlarged my sense of human emotions and what goes on under the surface, the complexity of human emotion.”

Brearley’s PhD, which he never finished—“I didn’t have to; I got a teaching job without it”—explored the meaning behind different types of behaviours. But his interest has never been just theoretical: at Cambridge, he also volunteered for the Samaritans. Speaking to people in distress, he “was interested to listen to them and they didn’t ring off readily. It was the first contact I had with people who were in emotional distress.”

His interest in personal behaviour and motivation was also arguably his greatest strength as a cricketer. As Rodney Hogg, the Australian fast bowler, put it: “He has a degree in people.” Botham, in the foreword to Phoenix from the Ashes, Brearley’s book about the 1981 series, had this to say: “There is something about Brears. He knows how I feel and what I’m thinking… I took stuff from him that I’d clip other guys round the ear for.” Ed Smith told me how he asked Brearley for advice during his 2002-06 stint as Middlesex captain, a post Brearley also held. Smith says Brearley’s approach was to “tell stories rather than give prescriptive advice. He is very good at explaining the complexity of situations. A lot of people in sport pretend things are very easy, and much management speak is built around this idea.

Mike was so much more subtle. He always understood contingency and risk.” Non cricketers, too, have found his ideas helpful. Film director Sam Mendes turned to Brearley’s book The Art of Captaincy (1985) for inspiration while directing American Beauty. Mendes described him as “a philosopher-sportsman whose tactical skill has not been equalled since.” Brearley, though, admits that it was not always this way. As a young man he was prone to arrogance, especially when, at 22, he was selected as a “young hopeful” to tour South Africa. But he wasn’t picked for the test matches and “left to get on with things in the nets. I was bored. But worse I was resistant to learning—though I would have heartily denied it at the time.” One day, practising in Durban, “a sallow man in a brown trilby hat” offered him tips on his batting, which Brearley ignored. The man turned out to be Walter Hammond, one of the game’s greatest batsmen, who Brearley later learned was dying of cancer. This, he says, was “my lowest point, or my most arrogant point; my attitude was like a young violinist refusing a tip from Maxim Vengerov.”

By 1981 this arrogance—and the envy and fear that Brearley says it can often mask—had presumably lessened, not least because Brearley, who had wanted to be a psychoanalyst since university, had by then been a psychoanalytic patient for three years—wrestling with “aggression, envy, jealousy, suspicion, and insecurity.” It’s hard to say to what extent these character traits remain today, although his understanding of his darker side must help him understand similar qualities in his players—just as in his patients. He began his own analysis, he says, not just because it was a requirement for his new career (all analysts must first undergo analysis themselves) but for personal development. “Psychoanalysis is an opportunity… to get to know yourself as thoroughly as you can. I always liked [psychoanalyst Wilfred] Bion’s phrase that his job as a psychoanalyst is to introduce the patient to that person with whom he’ll have most dealings in his life, namely himself… as if one has never met oneself at all.”

Psychoanalysis was born 113 years ago when Freud applied the term “psychical analysis” to his treatment of disturbed patients. It takes time, and an intense period of personal therapy (five times a week throughout training) to become a psychoanalyst, in contrast to CBT which does not require practitioners to undergo therapy before working with patients. CBT, now the NHS treatment of choice, was developed in the 1960s by American psychoanalyst, Aaron T Beck.

Depressed patients, Beck found, had spontaneous streams of negative thoughts about themselves, the world and the future. If patients could identify and evaluate these thoughts, he claimed it was quickly possible to think more realistically and feel better emotionally. Correctly prescribed, CBT can be effective, as Brearley acknowledges. “I met a man recently who told me that he’d great difficulty with speaking, and he went for CBT and was helped to understand something about his life, and he was given exercises and, over a few months his difficulty improved, and it hasn’t come back. Who is to contradict such a witness? What a good thing that this man’s life was changed by 12 sessions.”

Yet the two approaches, Brearley says, are quite different. Psychoanalysts, he says, are trying to “free the person over a large range of his mind, his emotional being, his activities, his behaviours, his feelings, his creativity, to expand his mind. Which is why the term ‘shrink’ is so objectionable.” Yet such treatment is expensive, and while some long-term psychoanalytic therapies are available on the NHS, they are prescribed only rarely, and are vulnerable to cost-cutting. Still, he thinks it has had a deep influence on NHS clinical thinking, and throughout society. “Psychoanalysis has always been a fringe activity in Britain. It never had that cachet that it had in the US from the 1940s to the 1970s. But as a source of research it’s always been extremely important, in terms of understanding the mind.… It’s also had a great influence on group therapy, on education, in certain fringe ways on the arts.”

Psychoanalysts try to access the unconscious by emphasising “transference,” or the way hidden feelings resurface in a therapeutic relationship. Brearley says that unlike CBT psychoanalysis “puts emphasis on negative transference,” or the negative feelings that the patient might experience towards the therapist (echoing similar emotions in other relationships). Without such a focus, he implies, there would have been no room, in cases such as his own, for addressing underlying difficulties such as envy and aggression. To be effective in this way the psychoanalyst must also be anonymous. Brearley, though, has always been something of a celebrity analyst, and admits that some patients “have found my being known as an ex-cricketer quite difficult.” But, he adds, “it can be worked with, taken up as material… grist to the mill.”

Yet his profession is pitted against the spirit of the age—against what Brearley sees as the pervasive pressure of the “short-termism” which also applies to cricket. His is a therapy which puts “emphasis on the intuitive, the unconscious, on what you can learn slowly and that takes a great deal of time to get to. It puts emphasis on the fact that you can’t control everything.” Brearley also questions theories of happiness from the likes of Richard Layard (a prominent advocate of CBT), saying: “There’s nothing wrong with happiness, but what constitutes happiness? How do you distinguish between the different sorts of happiness? The happiness you can get from a drug, or from a relationship, or from a great novel?” He adds that although “happiness can be enhanced by analysis,” the process is more likely to “enhance emotional liveliness and vigour” and that “obstacles to happiness can be lessened, if not overcome.”

Yes, but does psychoanalysis work? It is a much debated question. But in October 2008 the first large-scale research into the effectiveness of psychoanalytic therapy to appear in a major medical journal concluded that these kind of therapies were more effective than short-term or behavioural approaches for certain disorders. As its author Falk Leichsenring, of the University of Giessen in Germany, put it: “There is evidence that, for patients with chronic mental disorders or personality disorders, short-term psychotherapy is not sufficient.” Brearley says that while the NHS has “a right to know if someone is getting better or being helped” his profession must “be careful not to let our thinking become interfered with by that kind of instrumental thinking.” He is treading carefully: aware of the need to defend his profession from those who accuse it of being expensive and unverified, while pointing out that psychoanalysis, although not amenable to testing through controlled experiments, is backed-up by a number of “long-term studies and other methods suitable to a social science.”

It is here, in particular, that Brearley sees a telling parallel with cricket. Too many rules make batsmen less spontaneous, just as an analyst “has to be open to whatever comes; you must not have too many preconceptions about what’s to come or you’ll get into a mess. Wilfred Bion said you have to act without memory or desire. That means putting aside from one’s conscious mind most of the time the technical rules, just as in batting you have to be open to the ball that actually comes down to you… to say that you could lay down a set of rules about what makes a good batsman would either be vapid or it would be too narrow.” In short, rules and guidelines of the kind increasingly found in treatments like CBT need to be used sparingly in psychoanalysis, with its focus on the messier business of unearthing feelings buried in the unconscious.

As president of the British Psychoanalytical Society, Brearley has been trying to win over funding bodies to his gradual, unstructured approach. But it is hard: “How do you show that what you do is of value without distorting the description of what you do? To give a parallel example, I heard just before Easter that the judges of England were complaining against the department of justice for bringing in new regulations for sentencing. They said it removed their skill and discretion as judges if they had to state in advance exactly what criteria added up to what sentence. I think there’s something of that for psychoanalysts and psychoanalytical therapists.”

So what does he see as the future of psychoanalysis? His outlook is cautious. “Maybe the best that’s going to be offered [in the public sector] is the odd specialist place where intensive psychoanalytic psychotherapy can take place for a certain number of people, and where the research can go on, which will also filter down into other forms of therapy.” He still feels psychoanalysis has a role in “helping the helpers,” providing forums where health-service workers can reflect upon their frontline experiences. “And we have to try to encourage the NHS to recognise the value of psychoanalytic therapy, even in limited form, for such things as depression, anxiety, borderline and narcissistic disorders.” Isn’t this a rather defeatist conclusion? “Perhaps,” he concedes. “But in many areas of the NHS it is needed.”

Convincing the NHS to provide more psychoanalysis at a time of retrenchment may provide Brearley with his toughest test of captaincy. But being out at the front is his place. Such a role, he believes, means being “willing, and comfortable enough, to tell people what to do; to think, at least some of the time, that you are right, though it’s very dangerous if you only think you’re right, or always think you’re always right.” Crucial to this success in cricket, he thinks, was getting others “to think like captains… When I first played for Middlesex if you hadn’t been playing for the county for about 15 years or for England for about ten years people weren’t interested in your opinion.” Brearley says teams play better when everyone is thinking “what should we all be doing?”

In trying to lead his profession he takes further solace from another lesson learned from both his professions: endurance. “After you’ve been fielding for two days, and you haven’t scored any runs, dropped a couple of catches, and people are shouting at you and it’s very hot, it can feel very gruelling.” With psychoanalysis, too, sometimes you “have to stick at it.” The treatment aims to bring forward “all the aspects of personality of the patient.” And some of these personae may be hard for the analyst to deal with: “If someone is persistently hostile, negative, depressed and withdrawn, one can be the recipient of a good deal of denigration and scorn”; although here, again, captaining tempestuous sportsmen like Botham must have helped. A tolerance of boredom is also important, as Brearley wrote in one of his Observer columns: “Cricket matches, like works of art and psychoanalytic sessions, are usually uneven. Even in the closest and best contests there are passages of entrenchment, of defensive play, of phases where one side or both are keeping things ticking over.” Sometimes, just as on long days in the outfield, the psychoanalyst has to have “the ability to stay with not knowing.”

***

Brearley is only too happy to offer thoughts on the England captaincy and the future of test cricket. Often, he says, the best captains aren’t the best players; and indeed his batting average was just 22.88 over 66 test innings, with no centuries. “The Bothams, the Flintoffs and the Pietersens have not on the whole had happy times as captain. I was in favour of Botham… though I felt they should have waited a bit longer… But that was probably a mistake. The best player, the most extrovert individual is, of course, not necessarily the best captain.” Such captains, he says, include Nasser Hussain, Mike Atherton and Andrew Strauss, who “seems pretty good so far.” And his prediction for the Ashes series? “Two-two.”

Strauss, like Brearley, is passionate about test cricket, which needs prominent champions if it is to survive. Just as psychoanalysis informs other forms of psychotherapy, Brearley thinks test cricket has much to teach the shorter game. “Twenty20 is very exciting, and good things can happen in it, but it’s important to keep test cricket too. The skills derived from test cricket can underpin the Twenty20 skills. And a greater range of cricketing ability and personality is revealed through five-day cricket than it is through Twenty20. There are parallels to each of these points in the comparison between psychoanalysis and things like CBT.”

It’s a persuasive comparison, but not one that will guarantee test cricket’s survival. “Maybe it will turn out that test cricket has no long-term future,” he admits. “Certainly the ICC will have to be careful not to make it too routine. Pitches will have to be much better for the game than the recent ones in the West Indies and Chester-le-Street. But we have to persuade people that many valuable things take time. You can’t speed up the St Matthew Passion.” Brearley points to the critical drubbing that Joseph Conrad received for his novel Chance (1913), and Conrad’s own riposte, published as part of the introduction to the second edition, in which he wrote: “No doubt by selecting a certain method and taking great pains the whole story might have been written out on a cigarette paper. For that matter the whole history of mankind could be written thus if only approached with sufficient detachment. The history of men on this earth since the beginning of ages may be resumed in one phrase of infinite poignancy: They were born, they suffered, they died… But in the infinitely minute stories about men and women it is my lot on earth to narrate I am not capable of such detachment.” Psychoanalysis, Brearley says, “tells stories in similar depth, with repetitions from different points of view... These things take time, as does test cricket.”

http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=10860

Cricket and baseball are twin brothers, separated at birth.

2009-07-08T16:40:00.001-04:00

As American as…Cricket
By Roger Bate
Friday, July 3, 2009

http://www.american.com/archive/2009/july/as-american-as-cricket

Cricket and baseball are twin brothers, separated at birth.

I cannot remember the first time I heard an American say “cricket is so boring: it lasts for days and still ends in a draw.” Let’s just say it was not this decade or the one before that. I am not going to try and explain cricket—the rules are too complex for a short article. Or to persuade you that cricket is a great game—hundreds of millions of Indians, Pakistanis, South Africans, Zimbabweans, Sri Lankans, Australians, New Zealanders, Bangladeshis, West Indians, Kenyans, Dutch, Welsh, Scots, and English, like me, know it is.

It is fair to say if you do not like baseball, then you will not like cricket. But if you do, read on a little longer.

There are many similarities between baseball and cricket. They are duels of batter (batsman) and pitcher (bowler). They showcase highly individualized, skillful players striving for a collective goal. They are slow, staccato games with plenty of pauses for the audience (and indeed players) to consider what could happen next. Both can move from the seemingly pedestrian to vibrant excitement in less than a second.

A cricket bowler is allowed to target the batsman’s body and head—intimidation both physical and psychological is a big part of the game. They are sports with tremendous history and fabulous rivalries. While there is no love lost between Red Sox Nation and Yankees fans, India and Pakistan almost went to war over cricket (and who knows, they still might). Both sports boast legendary players who elevated the game to new heights. Born at roughly the same time as Babe Ruth, Australian great Don Bradman dominated cricket for nearly 20 years. When Bradman told Ruth that a batter did not have to run on contact in cricket the Babe barked “Just too easy!” Yet Babe Ruth eventually became fascinated by cricket.

Good sports can be enjoyed at many levels. The casual observer enjoys soaking up the atmosphere and beer; the serious fans obsess over the minutiae. Both sports are adored and enriched by lovers and users of data. When Bradman, by then Sir Donald, died in February 2001, the New York Times estimated that were he to have been as far ahead of the crowd in baseball stats as he was at cricket, his lifetime batting average would be an astonishing .392 (in cricket his average was 99.94, the next best is roughly 61).

The differences between the two games are in some respects more interesting. Baseball’s emphasis is on power. There is nothing more explosive in sport than the successful uncoiling of a great baseball swing. To get the ball even most of the way to the fence requires significant strength (to say nothing of timing). In cricket, consistent contact by the batsman (as he is known) and the use of skillful deflections in the 360 degree scoring area mean slighter characters can dominate as compared with baseball. Indeed, arguably the greatest batsman currently playing is a 5 feet 5 inches tall native of Bombay. Sachin Tendulkar has God-like status in India. He is even mentioned during the gameshow scenes in the Oscar-winning movie “Slumdog Millionaire.” Tendulkar would make a reasonably good baseball player. I would imagine him batting first in the lineup and playing in the infield. But he probably would not have the best stats on his own team, let alone the world. Someone like Ryan Howard of the Phillies might be able to play for a decent cricket team, but his immobility would make him a liability.

They are sports with tremendous history and fabulous rivalries (whilst the Red Sox may hate the Yankees, India and Pakistan almost went to war over cricket).The most important difference between the two sports has to do with pressure. Professional sport is often about being able to relax and perform at the moment expectation is greatest. In cricket, because the batsman does not have to run on contact, he can bat for hours if successful; yet he is just one miss away from ending his day’s work. The pressure is disproportionately on his shoulders. In baseball, the odds are that on every pitch the batter will miss. The pressure with each pitch, then, is disproportionately on the pitcher, where a walk is a worry, a run a disappointment, a grand slam a meltdown and often the end of his day’s work.

Cricket never really took off in the United States and there are numerous—and often competing—explanations. One contributing factor was the relative mobility of Americans throughout colonial times and the early days of the republic, which made maintaining cricket grounds uneconomic. Cricket requires a very flat surface (the pitch) and the bowlers (pitchers) generally bounce the ball off the pitch. If the surface is uneven it can make batting so problematic as to make the game impossible to play. An international match earlier this year involving England in Antigua, which was supposed to last five days, was abandoned after nine balls (pitches) because the condition of the ground was too poor.

Henry Chadwick, the Englishman who helped to organize and define baseball in its early days, instead cited the restlessness of the American character. In 1850 he said, “Americans do not care to dawdle—what they do, they want to do in a hurry. In baseball, all is lightning. Thus the reason for American antipathy to cricket can be readily understood.”1

Perhaps the relative coarseness of the young American republic played a role. “Cricket? It civilizes people and makes them gentlemen. I want everyone to play cricket,” said Robert Mugabe, the despotic leader of Zimbabwe. I rarely see eye to eye with Mad Bob, but he has a point. There is no doubt that cricket is a game of good manners.

The most important difference between the two sports is who is generally under pressure. Professional sport is often about being able to relax and perform at the moment expectation is greatest.For example, golf is the only other game I can think of where etiquette dictates calling a foul on oneself. “Walking”—calling oneself out in cricket—used to be commonplace at all levels of the game, and it still is on prep school playing fields. Even today some cricketers walk at the highest international levels, occasionally causing the loss of a contest as a result. Adam Gilchrist, the great Australian wicket keeper (catcher), deserves special mention in this regard. At the professional level, shows of dissent—and they can be as minor as shaking one’s head at the umpire’s decision—can cause the loss of some or all of your match fee.

But while cricket should be gentlemanly it is rarely genteel. I have herniated discs playing tennis, broken bones playing rugby, thrown up through exhaustion from rowing, but cricket is the only sport I have played where I have been carried from the field unconscious. A cricket bowler is allowed to target the batsman’s body and head—intimidation both physical and psychological is a big part of the game. It is a war of attrition; concentration and pressure are everything.

I have learned to love baseball since moving to America in 2001, and would have loved to have played as a child. I have Kevin Hassett to thank for alerting me to the maze of baseball statistics. I think American lovers of baseball would learn to love cricket, too. John Paul Getty was famously tutored by Mick Jagger and I intend to turn at least one American on to the sport. After all, it is not all cucumber sandwiches and tea, but a gritty, hard-fought duel, the best in sport.

Roger Bate is Legatum Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He played cricket for his English county until the age of 16 when he switched sports to (attempt to) become a tennis professional.

FURTHER READING: Bate regularly writes for The American on international health policy.Image by Darren Wamboldt/Bergman Group.

http://www.american.com/archive/2009/july/as-american-as-cricket

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1. This is quoted from Playing Hardball by E.T. Smith. Smith’s book provides great insight into a comparison of the two games, and I have drawn liberally from it in this article.

Callaloo Or Tossed Salad?: East Indians And The Cultural Politics Of Identity In Trinidad

2009-07-07T01:02:00.003-04:00

Munasinghe, Viranjini.
Redefining the Nation: The East Indian Struggle for Inclusion in Trinidad
Journal of Asian American Studies - Volume 4, Number 1, February 2001, pp. 1-34

The Johns Hopkins University Press

Redefining the Nation: The East Indian Struggle for Inclusion in Trinidad Viranjini Munasinghe

Introduction

There is, . . . an attitude gaining increasing acceptance in our society, that those of African descent are somehow more Trinidadian than everyone else. As foolish as this is, it is being accepted hook, line and sinker by many. There are those also, who argue . . . that other groups must "prove" their Trinidadianness by giving up their heritage, spending all their time listening to calypsos and "carnivalising" everything they do, even religiously significant events, and even to go to the extent of wholesale intermarriage, as though this were some cure. In articulating the predicament faced by Trinidadians of non-African descent in the Caribbean nation-state of Trinidad and Tobago, this anonymous writer unwittingly addresses a fundamental concern of our times -- namely, the contestation over the power to define the cultural coordinates of the symbolic space of the nation. In the age of the hyphenated "nation-state, " this tenuous if mythical congruence between nation and state is reproduced through hegemonic processes whereby a privileged race and class seek to establish a metonymic relation to the nation. Such a relation provides the ideological cornerstone for...

http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/journal_of_asian_american_studies/v004/ 4.1munasinghe.html

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Book: Callaloo Or Tossed Salad?: East Indians And The Cultural Politics Of Identity In Trinidad
Callaloo or Tossed Salad? is a historical and ethnographic case study of the politics of cultural struggle between two traditionally subordinate ancestral groups in Trinidad, those claiming African and Indian descent. Viranjini Munasinghe argues that East Indians in Trinidad seek to become a legitimate part of the nation by redefining what it means to be Trinidadian, not by changing what it means to be Indian. In her view, Indo-Trinidadians' recent and ongoing struggle for national and cultural identity builds from dissatisfaction with the place they were originally assigned within Trinidadian society.
The author examines how Indo-Trinidadian leaders in Trinidad have come to challenge the implicit claim that their ethnic identity is antithetical to their national identity. Their political and cultural strategy seeks to change the national image of Trinidad by introducing Indian elements alongside those of the dominant Afro-Caribbean (Creole) culture.

Munasinghe analyzes a number of broad theoretical issues: the moral, political, and cultural dimensions of identity; the relation between ethnicity and the nation; and the possible autonomy of New World nationalisms from European forms. She details how principles of exclusion continue to operate in nationalist projects that celebrate ancestral diversity and multiculturalism. Drawing on the insights of theorists who use creolization to understand the emergence of Afro-American cultures, Munasinghe argues that Indo-Trinidadians can be considered Creole because they, like Afro-Trinidadians, are creators and not just bearers of culture.

April 22, 2002

The Indian Community in Trinidad:
An Interview with Viranjini Munasinghe

Viranjini Munasinghe is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Asian American Studies at Cornell University. Her new book, Callaloo or Tossed Salad?: East Indians and the Cultural Politics of Identity in Trinidad
AsiaSource spoke with the scholar from her office at Cornell University. (Cornell University Press, 2001), is an historical and ethnographic study of an Indian community in the Caribbean, with an emphasis on the politics of cultural conflict between Trinidadians of Indian and African descent. By redefining the term "creole" to include the Indo-Trinidadian community, Professor Munasinghe portrays Indo-Trinidadians as active creators of a unique, hybrid culture.

Can you explain the title of your book? Why is food a good metaphor to discuss the debate between pluralism and homogenization in Trinidad?

The use of food as metaphor for the nation is not limited to Trinidad but characteristic of most nationalist discourses. Trinidadians often use the local West Indian dish "callaloo" as a metaphor for the nation. This stew, made from the leaves of the dasheen bush and flavored with okra and coconut milk, serves as a fitting image for their nation because it conveys both native origins (in the New World) and the containment of diverse elements within a single unit. However, many Indo-Trinidadian cultural and political activists I spoke with during my fieldwork in 1999 and 2000 took exception to this metaphor for the Trinidad nation. They argued that since the ingredients making up the "callaloo" are boiled down to an indistinguishable mush, the original ingredients lose their respective identities and blend into one homogeneous taste. They disapproved of this metaphor because it represented an extreme level of blending or "mixture." Instead they opted for the metaphor of the "tossed salad"--an image which also signified diversity but one where, unlike the callaloo, each diverse ingredient maintained its originally distinct and unique identity. Thus the food metaphors of the callaloo and the tossed salad for the nation of Trinidad and Tobago convey very different ideas of mixture -- callaloo depicting a process of mixture that produces homogeneity and tossed salad signifying the co-existence of diverse elements in pluralism. Indo-Trinidadians who are intent on preserving what they believe to be their unique and distinct "Indian" identity are against a "callaloo" nation because of the extent of biological and cultural mixing signified by this metaphor.

Can you discuss the historical circumstances of Indian immigration to Trinidad? When did this movement occur and what factors influenced it?

When the slaves were emancipated in the British Caribbean in 1838, the planters looked for alternative supplies of docile and servile labor that could replace the labor of the former slaves. Planters claimed that emancipation caused a labor shortage in many of the British Caribbean colonies such as Trinidad. However, I, along with a host of other scholars, argue that it was not that labor was in short supply but that former slaves were no longer willing to labor under the terms offered by planters. Therefore, planters had to look for a controllable (as opposed to "free") labor force to work in the sugar plantations.

Some colonies such as Trinidad were particularly well poised to realize huge profits with increased sugar cultivation because many of their resources were still unexploited. The planters and the British Government instituted what some academics such as Hugh Tinker have labeled "a new system of slavery," or indenture, to provide the planters with the desired labor. After brief experimentation with different groups, India, a British colony, became the major source of this alternative labor supply. India was a suitable source because India's population was vast, the majority accustomed to agricultural labor under tropical conditions, and because the country was under British control there was no need for negotiations with foreign authorities. Living conditions were also grim for many Indians in the nineteenth century due to famine, disease, overpopulation and the increasing encroachment of the East India Company. As a result, many Indians were destitute and looked to opportunities outside of India in order to improve their impoverished lives. Between 1845 and 1917 (when indenture was abolished due to pressure from Indian nationalists) approximately 143,939 Indians came to Trinidad.

How and when were differences between South Asian immigrants such as caste, sect, region, language, and religion collapsed into a singular “Indo-Trinidadian” identity? Did any of these differences survive?

While the common perception is that Indian immigrants constituted a homogenous group because the vast majority who settled in Trinidad came from the densely populated central plain of the Ganges in northeast India (the United Provinces, Oudh, Bihar and Orissa), they were in fact a very diverse group characterized by religious, caste, linguistic and regional differences. While it is hard to pinpoint a date for the attenuation of these distinctions, once in Trinidad this originally diverse population of Indians developed into a relatively homogeneous group with the emergence of a common language, Bhojpuri, the standardization of Hinduism, the attenuation of the caste system whereby only certain distinctions now carried valence, and changes in the family structure in which certain features of the joint-family structure still persisted, but in modified form. Religious divisions between Hindus and Muslims, caste distinctions between Brahmins and Chamars and to a lesser extent, regional differences between the few "Madrasis" (South Indians) and the rest of the Indo-Trinidadians whose ancestral origins lie in northern India, still persist today.

What role does India play in the Indo-Trinidadian imagination? How much contact is there between India and the Indo-Trinidadian community? Has there been travel and exchange in both directions?

India plays a large role in the Indo-Trinidadian imagination. While Indo-Trinidadians insist on their commitment and loyalty to the nation of Trinidad and Tobago, they also express pride in their Indian ancestry. They don't see these two identities as necessarily in contradiction.

Identification with India heightened in the 1930s when the independence movement in India added vigor to the Indo-Trinidadian consciousness. As early as the 1930s, young Indo-Trinidadian intellectuals began staging island-wide demonstrations in support of India's demand for freedom. Public meetings held in Indo-Trinidadian majority areas opened and closed with Indian patriotic songs and "Vande Matram," the Indian national anthem. Many of the Indo-Trinidadian organizations formed during this period, like the India Club, were intent on spreading knowledge about India and things Indian. Wealthy Indo-Trinidadians visited India and contributed generously to famine relief funds. Visits from a host of Indian missionaries and cultural leaders generated new interest, especially among the Indo-Trinidadian middle class, in the language and culture of their "mother country." The first Indian movie, "Bala Joban" was shown to enthralled audiences in Trinidad in 1935.

Contact with India continues today and India as imaginary homeland has much symbolic import for Indo-Trinidadians. Yet, most Indo-Trinidadians will emphatically insist on their Trinidadian identity. While the wider society tends to view Indo-Trinidadian identification with India as a statement of disloyalty to the nation of Trinidad, Indo-Trinidadians see it differently. They insist they can be Indian and Trinidadian at the same time. My book explores why Indian and Trinidadian identities have historically developed as mutually exclusive identities, and the strategies through which Indo-Trinidadian cultural activists attempt to redefine Trinidadian national identity to include Indian elements. The Indo-Trinidadian dilemma of being viewed as strangers or outsiders in their society of settlement because of their ancestral culture is quite typical of how immigrant Asians are viewed generally. Asians, as in the United States, are often viewed by other groups as unassimilables or as perpetual strangers because of the unusually heavy cultural baggage imputed to them.

Can you discuss the process of creolization? In your book you argue that Indo-Trinidadians themselves are a product of creolization rather than inheritors of a strict ancestral culture. Can you explain this?

Creolization is a concept primarily identified with the Caribbean to describe and analyze processes of cultural adaptation and change within deeply hierarchical systems (the plantation/slavery complex and the race/color hierarchy that accompanied it) whereby new cultural forms emerged in the New World. A combination of the Spanish words "criar" (to create, to imagine) and "colon" (a colonist, a founder, a settler), the term Creole in the British Caribbean refers to people and things that constitute a mix of elements originating in the Old World. Through this mix of Old World forms, cultures and people indigenous to the New World were created. The terms creole and creolization, however, emphasize primarily the synthesis of African and European Old World elements, thereby excluding Indians. Thus while those with African and European ancestry are labeled Creoles, Indo-Trinidadians are never considered to be Creole. The implications of this exclusion from creole status is significant for Indo-Trinidadians.

Creolization also implied indigenization whereby foreign elements could become native to the New World through creative mixings. Thus, all persons and things “Creole” signified native status in Trinidad, and by extension the New World. East Indians who were considered unmixables because they were thought to be so saturated with an ancient (albeit inferior) civilization, were as a consequence not accorded Creole or native status in Trinidad. Thus, Indo-Trinidadians have been symbolically positioned as outside of the nation of Trinidad before and since independence in 1962.

My book examines the material and ideological mechanisms through which Indo-Trinidadians were positioned outside the creolization process and thereby the Trinidad nation. By examining Indo-Trinidadian practices and behaviors, I argue that Indo-Trinidadians too can be considered creole because they are active creators of new cultural forms indigenous to the New World rather than being mere reproducers of ancestral cultural forms.

What historical factors contributed to the development of the Indo-Trinidadian community as distinct and isolated from the larger Trinidadian population?

Historically a host of factors functioned to situate East Indians as separate from the rest of Creole society. Soon after arrival in Trinidad, Indian indentured laborers were banished to the sugar estates concentrated in the flatland or rolling hills of the western side of the island, later known as the sugar belt, thereby subjecting them to spatial isolation. As indentured laborers they were legally differentiated from the rest of the population and were subject to a number of laws that restricted their mobility and hence their contact with the wider society. Occupationally too, they were confined to the cultivation and processing of cane. Thus the majority of East Indians were confined to the rural agricultural sector. Religious and cultural differences coupled with their inability to speak English, underscored their alienation from the rest of the population. Symbolically too, East Indians were represented as outsiders. Since the Indian presence was thought to be only temporary, very little effort was made by the colonial government to integrate East Indians into the rest of society. Even education functioned to separate East Indians. The Canadian Presbyterian Missions catered exclusively to East Indians and instruction was in Hindi.

How does colonial race theory inform contemporary politics on the island? To what extent is the tension between Trinidadians of Indian and African descent an inherited legacy of colonialism?

Colonial policies and racial theories continue to influence contemporary politics on the island. The division between the two major ethnic groups comprising Trinidad's population, the Afro-Trinidadian and the Indo-Trinidadian, which is marked and reproduced by race rhetoric and ethnic stereotypes with both groups jealously guarding what they believe to be their legitimate terrain, can be traced to colonial policy. East Indians were brought to Trinidad as "scab labor" to drive down the bargaining power of the Afro-Trinidadians. Thus, East Indians from the beginning occupied a structurally antagonistic position to Afro-Trinidadians.

Planters were also instrumental in creating particular kinds of discourses about the character of the "Indian" and the "Negro" in order to make their case for the need for indentured labor. Caricatures of the luxury-loving, lazy, immoral Negro and of the docile, hardworking and cunning Indian abound in planter discourses of the period soon after emancipation. Many of these derogatory racial stereotypes continue to this day as the two groups use these same caricatures to undermine one another. Unfortunately, as is the case with ethnic/racial stereotypes, these negative racial traits are thought to signify natural characteristics of the respective groups and the specific colonial history that led to the creation of such discourse is forgotten or remains unacknowledged. A major concern in this book is to historically situate and understand the development of race relations between Afro-Trinidadians and Indo-Trinidadians and to examine the continuities and disjunctures between the colonial and postcolonial periods.

Interview conducted by Michelle Caswell, AsiaSource.
http://www.asiasource.org/society/callaloo.cfm

There's an art to writing on Facebook or Twitter -- really

2009-06-23T00:06:00.000-04:00

There's an art to writing on Facebook or Twitter -- really

By Maria Puente, USA TODAY

Not so long ago, people used to keep diaries to record their quotidian doings — privately, of course. Now people keep Facebook and Twitter accounts, updating their status daily, hourly, even minute-by-minute, and almost nothing is private.

Worse, the modern status update is not always compelling reading.

Feeding the cat

Watching TV

Eating a tuna sandwich

To be fair, even great diarists of the past had bad days: Samuel Pepys, the Englishman whose journals clarified a big chunk of the 17th century for historians, sometimes had nothing more imaginative to say than: And so to bed.

Surely we could do better 350 years later?

"We all have to go to status-update charm school," jokes Hal Niedzviecki, author of The Peep Diaries: How We're Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors, who joined a slew of online social networks to investigate how they are changing the definition of privacy. "Just one in every million status updates is worth reading, maybe one in every 5 million if you're looking for poetics."

Never mind poetics. Coherence would be nice.

There's no doubt that social-media networks are fantastic communication machines. They allow people to feel connected to a virtual community, make new friends and keep old ones, learn things they didn't know. They encourage people to write more (that can't be bad) and write well and concisely (which is hard, trust us). They are a new form of entertainment (and marketing) that can occupy people for hours in any given day.

"Great blogging is great writing, and it turns out great Twittering is great writing — it's the haiku form of blogging," says Debbie Weil, a consultant on social media and author of The Corporate Blogging Book.

But the art of the status update is not much of an art form for millions of people on Facebook, where users can post details of what they're doing for all their friends to see, or on Twitter, where people post tweets about what they're doing that potentially every user can see.

Mundane to clever

Funny, clever and sassy updates and tweets stand out because they are the exception. Boring, vapid or just TMI — too much information — updates often dominate in cyberspace.

Sheri Peterson, 47, a social worker in Santa Rosa, Calf., is new to Facebook and sometimes can't believe the humdrum nature of what she's reading.

"Some friends — college-educated adults — consistently give lousy updates, such as Got up; went to store; came home; watched TV," she says. "Nothing about what kind of store or even what they bought. Was it specialty cheese or incontinence supplies? Nothing about what show they're watching, which could create conversation: 'You like watching Galloping Gourmet reruns? So do I!' "

Although most of these social-media sites have been around now for at least a few years, it appears many users haven't quite grasped the idea. For some reason, they think their friends and family, plus total strangers, care that they're, say, Thinking big thoughts. Yet they don't actually explain those big thoughts and, in the case of Twitter, do it effectively in just 140 characters or less.

"No one cares if you're On the way to the airport, Checking bags or Arrived in Kansas," says Avery Roth, 23, a public relations coordinator in Dallas. "People who update their status hourly need to cool it. It's also a little vain."

The most inane updates, says Karyn Cronin, 32, an administrative assistant in St. Paul, say things like Just got back from the grocery store with all the kids, and boy are we exhausted. "That's just lame," says Cronin, who tries to make her friends laugh by using famous movie lines for her status updates: Karyn can't handle the truth, or Karyn feels a disturbance in the Force.

Slowly, style and etiquette rules for status updates are evolving, as people get more practice and as skillful updaters become more recognized. There's already a Facebook app called Status King, which allows users to nominate and vote on funny and clever status updates, and buy a T-shirt emblazoned with a favorite. (A recent example: Suzanne is thinking: Change is inevitable ... except from a vending machine.)

Jeffrey Harmon, 26, of Provo, Utah, and his siblings launched Status King in January and already thousands of updates are posted. (Sample favorite: Jared is wondering where he's going and why he's in a hand basket.)

"People spend hours and hours thinking up status updates to win a free T-shirt," Harmon says. He says status updates can be useful for telling friends and family where you are —Jeff is at Disneyland — without having to make dozens of phone calls. But because so many people have Twitter and Facebook accounts, information overload can build up and spill over to recipients who don't know Jeff or care that he is at Disneyland.

"The Internet is going through a maturing stage right now," Harmon says. "The only things you should post on Facebook are the things you'd tell your friends in real life. But a lot of people treat it as a personal journal, and they vent. They don't realize they are sharing with all my friends."

When Stephen Stewart, 48, an energy company executive in Sugar Land, Texas, joined Facebook a few months ago, he was shocked when some friends shared private matters in updates.

"One was griping about her bosses — I had to shoot her a private message: 'What are you doing? Delete that comment,' " he says.

Making a connection

So what makes a good status update? "Personality," says Adam Ostrow, editor in chief of Mashable.com, an online publication that covers social networking. "Personality is really what drives people to (follow) you, especially on Twitter."

How to improve your updates? "Follow others who are funny, clear and concise and mimic them, or Twitter a bunch and figure out what people respond to," says Sarah Milstein, co-author of The Twitter Book.

Think before you tweet, Ostrow advises. "If this (tweet) were the last thing you ever published, would it be something to be proud of?"

Here's an example of how to improve an update, courtesy of Alison Bailin Batz, 28, a public relations executive in Phoenix and Twitter aficionado: A friend tweets that she just ate some tasty frozen yogurt — and that's it. Why such a useless post? Turns out she was excited because her local frozen yogurt shop was giving away free scoops that day.

"THAT is what (she) should have posted — information that I can use, in this case, free food," Batz says. "We're in the 'whee!' stage of social networking. The trend for 2010 is that everyone is going to cut back, filter, decide whether we really need to follow 1,000 people if they're not interesting. Next year, only the best tweeters survive."

Of course, there is disagreement about what's the best. Milstein argues that even the most banal updates serve a purpose.

"An individual post may not be interesting, but over the course of weeks you build a meaningful picture of somebody, you get a sense of the rhythms of someone's life," she says. Still, "people have to choose to read your updates (on Twitter), and if you're boring, they won't follow you. It's a medium that rewards interestingness."

Interestingness must be in short supply. Anne Trubek, a writer and associate professor of composition and rhetoric at Oberlin College who is studying status updates as a developing 21st-century literary form, sorted them into four categories for her column in the online magazine GOOD: The prosaic (Jill is baking bread); the informative (Jack loves this article from GOOD, followed by the link); the clever and funny (Johnny thinks Obama should be sworn in a few more times, just to be EXTRA safe); and the poetic or nonsensical (If Jim were a cloud, he would rain Earl Grey tea).

Trubek likes them all, especially for the brevity that forces people to think and write in new ways.

"In the past 10 years, with e-mail and now Facebook and IMing and texting and Twitter, people feel more connected to writing as a form of expression, and that is wonderful and refreshing," she says.

Indeed, Niedzviecki says, maybe it's just elitism to expect soaring poetry in a status update, when most ordinary people are just looking for a connection they can relate to.

"Most people are not going to have the time or opportunity to find clever links and have interesting things to say 24 hours a day — that's what the celebrities and gurus we follow do, it's their 24-hour job to be entertaining," he says. "For the rest of us, it's, hey, I just ordered takeout.

"And that's fine. There's a charm to that."

Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2009-06-09-status-writing-online_N.htm

Vegetarianism: Plants are also having life, so killing plants should also be a sin? How can animals do "sadhana"?

2009-06-11T14:12:00.002-04:00

Questions and Answers on the Importance of Vegetarianism
By Sugunendra Theertha Swami

The following questions were put before Sri Sugunendra Theertha Swamji of Udupi Puthige Matha (of the Madhva Sampradaya) by devotees during his visit to Detroit.

Question One:

Plants are also having life, so killing plants should also be a sin. Thus in what way is vegetarian food better than non-vegetarian food, in terms of killing or committing "sin"?

Answer by Sugunendra Theertha Swamiji:

This is a very good question. It is true that plants also have "life" and killing plants is also sin. So the best way to observe total non-violence is to follow "Shiloncha Vraththi". That is to take only those fruits which have naturally fallen from the trees or plants. In this way we are doing harm to no one. But everyone can not follow that vow. We have to take food in order to survive and sustain this body. It is a necessity of survival. But we need to take that path which is less sinful and does less harm to other jivas (living entities).

Now there are two reasons to say that vegetarian food is having insignificant sin. Many of the plants like rice, wheat, etc., are having life only for one crop time. Once their yield is over, they die naturally, even if we don't cut them. So by cutting those plants (which have already died) we are doing less sin or no sin at all. In many other plants, like mango, coconut, etc., by plucking the fruit, we are not killing the plants, and so we are doing very minimal sin or no sin at all. So vegetarian food is less sinful. More over, it is inevitable for our survival, but non-vegetarian food is a luxury to us and we can survive even if we avoid that. It is more sinful since we need to kill animals all of the time.

Next we need to know why certain acts are sinful. Each and every life (whether plant, animal, or human) has come to this world to do "sadhana" (spiritual practices), so that they may get a better birth next life and finally get "moksha" (liberation). Whenever such "sadhana" opportunities are cut short, it becomes a sin. For plants there is not much "sadhana" available to them. They can not do any kind of physical or mental activities in terms of "sadhana". So by cutting them, we are not doing much harm to their "sadhana" or reducing their opportunity for "sadhana" (spiritual practice). So it is not so sinful. But animals can do a good amount of "sadhana" by means of physical and mental activities. By killing them, we are cutting short their opportunities to do "sadhana" towards their liberation (moksha). Thus it is much more sinful.

To support this aspect further I will give an example. "Suicide" is considered as the greatest sin, even though no one else is troubled other than the one individual, because God has given us this wonderful body and mind to do "sadhana" by which we work towards moksha. By rejecting this offer or by cutting short this "sadhana", we are insulting God and betraying him. Thus suicide is considered highly sinful. There is another example in the scriptures I would like to cite. Suppose there is a very, very old man, incapable of doing any physical and mental activities. Then according to the scriptures he can enter into fire to end his life. That is not considered a sin because he cannot do any more "sadhana" by himself or through others. So in general, any act which is cutting short our, or others', "sadhana" is considered as a sin. Thus from this angle, vegetarians are committing less sins than those who eat meat.

Question Two:

We were thinking that only human beings have thinking ability, and thus only they can do "sadhana" (spiritual practices), but that other animals could not. Is this concept false? How can animals do "sadhana"?

Answer by Sugunendra Theertha Swamiji:

This is not true. All animals can also do "sadhana" (spiritual practices). Otherwise there is a fundamental problem in the universal system. If animals cannot do "sadhana", they can not get better lives, which lead to the human life. If they can not get a human life, then they can not get moksha (liberation) at all at any time. This is not true, thus it is proven that animals also do "sadhana" and get better lives.

They do "sadhana" by their mental activities. We can see a lot of differences in the behaviors of various animals. In the same category of, say cat, dog or cow, we can see a lot of difference between two animals. For example some are soft, some are sensitive, some are more active, etc. This is due to their mental "sadhana". Also in children, who are not having developed thinking power, we can see many differences. We have seen a child, in Bombay, around 2 years old. He loves Krishna like anything. While sleeping, he tightly hugs a Krishna idol. He does not drink milk without offering to Krishna. He always wants to listen to Krishna's stories. He always wants to see the puja of Krishna. It is really amazing to witness. This is all due to previous "samskara" (purification). Like this, animals also will have their own previous samskara and "sadhana".

Question Three:

Is it true that in olden days, the sages used to eat meat? There is an incident of Agasthya Muni eating meat in the "Vathapi - Ilvala" story.

Answer by Sugunendra Theertha Swamiji:

Yes, we can see some mention about such things in very old stories. We need to understand clearly why and under what circumstances they used to consume meat. Firstly, they used to take meat, but not as their regular food. The animal would be offered to 'yajna', the sacred fire, and then the sages, having very high yogic power, would consume the meat as a prasada of the yajna. Due to this auspicious activity (of yajna), the animal would go to the heavens. In the story of Agusthya Muni, when he said ' vathapi jirno bhava', he was digested immediately. Such was the power of the sages in those days.

But today meat is not approved for religious people such as brahmanas. First we need to understand why we consume food. It is to have good health. Health means not only the physical health, but the mental health also plays a very important role. That's why in Sanskrit it is known as "swasthya", which means mental peace, purity and health. Meat or non-vegetarian food improves the body, but not the mind. So for those people who need to have physical strength, like soldiers, meat is not prohibited. Soldiers do not need to have as much thinking power. They have to fight like machines. But for spiritual people such as brahmanas, mental power is the more important. We need to have peace and purity of mind, stability and concentration of mind. For such people meat is prohibited. Since ages our ancestors were eating vegetarian food, and so brahmanas are generally considered as soft, kind hearted, stable and intelligent people. If we start consuming meat, slowly we will loose all these good qualities. We will not see these negative changes overnight. It takes time but we will see the changes clearly in the later generations.

Question Four:

There are many noble laureates who are meat eaters. How can we explain that?

Answer by Sugunendra Theertha Swamiji:

Getting a noble prize is not at all a yardstick to measure the peace and purity, stability and concentration of someone's mind. It is known that the suicide rate is high in scientists as well. Actually scientists are more disturbed in their mind. Due to this, they get activated and get involved deeply in something and come out with some new concepts or ideas. For their success, the basic reason is not the peaceful mind, but their disturbed mind. Generally brahmanas who are suppose to have the mental capacity to understand "brahman" (God), need to have a very good concentration power for performing "japa" (mantra chanting) and "tapa" (austerities). They are supposed to be people who are not mentally disturbed. In olden days even if they consumed meat, they used to keep up their mental stability and peace of mind due to their yogic power or "tapas" (severe austerity). But now in the present age of kali-yuga, our mental powers and concentration powers are getting reduced. We are loosing our purity and peace of mind due to various reasons. As such, the sattvic atmosphere and sattvic qualities are reducing because we are not doing enough japa, tapa, etc. So if we start consuming meat we will loose all our good mental qualities very quickly. In kaliyuga, meat is strictly prohibited for brahmanas. It is also sinful for all people, as mentioned in the previous answers.

Question Five:

Is it not a sin to kill silkworms for silk cloth, or to kill deers for making deer skin meditation mats?

Answer by Sugunendra Theertha Swamiji:

The short answer is that it is a sin if we do it for trading purposes. For a detailed answer, first we need to understand what is sin. It is not a substance associated with a particular activity. The same activity can result in either sin or no sin depending upon the purpose, intention and circumstance. For example, killing in general is a sin, but killing a demon or murderer is not a sin. Similarly, in olden days kings used to go for hunting. It was not considered a sin because they used to kill only those wild animals which were troublesome to the sages and the nearby villagers. Similarly if we kill animals to avoid being killed, it is not a sin. As said earlier, every creature in this world is here for doing "sadhana". In this world the priority is for those who are doing greater "sadhana". To accomplish that, if others have to sacrifice their "sadhana", there is no harm in that. For example, assume that there are two students in a house. One is preparing for second grade and the other is preparing for a college medical exam. Though both are preparing for their exams, we consider that the medical exam is more important and give preference to him. If needed, we may ask the other student to sacrifice his preparation, because he will not lose much. Similarly, in this world, the living entity who is doing a higher level of sadhana, gets preference. So for the benefit of the higher sadhana, others performing lesser sadhana may be sacrificed without any sin. If we are preparing silk for God's pooja, then it is not a sin. But if we are preparing silk for decorating ourselves, then it is a sin. So we need to understand what is the purpose of the action, and what is going to be achieved finally.

http://www.indiadivine.org/articles/992/1/Questions-and-Answers-on-the-Importance-of-Vegetarianism/Page1.html

Data Center Overload

2009-06-11T12:45:00.001-04:00

IMPRESSIVE. AMAZING. A BIT DISTURBING.
Deosaran

Magazine Preview
Data Center Overload

By TOM VANDERBILT
Published: June 8, 2009

It began with an Xbox game.

On a recent rainy evening in Brooklyn, I was at a friend’s house playing (a bit sheepishly, given my incipient middle age) Call of Duty: World at War. Scrolling through the game’s menus, I noticed a screen for Xbox Live, which allows you to play against remote users via broadband. The number of Call of Duty players online at that moment? More than 66,000.

Walking home, I ruminated on the number. Sixty-six thousand is the population of a small city — Muncie, Ind., for one. Who and where was this invisible metropolis? What infrastructure was needed to create this city of ether?

We have an almost inimical incuriosity when it comes to infrastructure. It tends to feature in our thoughts only when it’s not working. The Google search results that are returned in 0.15 seconds were once a stirring novelty but soon became just another assumption in our lives, like the air we breathe. Yet whose day would proceed smoothly without the computing infrastructure that increasingly makes it possible to navigate the world and our relationships within it?

Much of the daily material of our lives is now dematerialized and outsourced to a far-flung, unseen network. The stack of letters becomes the e-mail database on the computer, which gives way to Hotmail or Gmail. The clipping sent to a friend becomes the attached PDF file, which becomes a set of shared bookmarks, hosted offsite. The photos in a box are replaced by JPEGs on a hard drive, then a hosted sharing service like Snapfish. The tilting CD tower gives way to the MP3-laden hard drive which itself yields to a service like Pandora, music that is always “there,” waiting to be heard.

But where is “there,” and what does it look like?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/magazine/14search-t.html?_r=1&ref=technology

Atman and Brahman are identical. Their essence is pure Consciousness.

2009-06-06T16:44:00.001-04:00

Liberation cannot be achieved except through perceiving the identity of the individual spirit with the Universal Spirit. Atman and Brahman are identical. Their essence is pure Consciousness.

- Sankara

I will always be for a caste-free Hindu society

2009-06-06T12:35:00.003-04:00

Couldn't have said it better. HINDUISM DOES NOT INCLUDE CASTE. CASTE IS NOT PART OF HINDUISM.

"....I have always been, and most likely I will always be for the rest of my life, against disrespect, discrimination, and marginalization of any human being or group on the basis of their birth or skin color, no matter in which religious, legal, or national framework. Though (by sheer luck) I have personally never been a victim of any kind of discrimination or deprecation on the basis of my family roots, quotes from learned authors, anthropologists, religious leaders, intellectuals, sincere cultural patriots, internet propaganda and others simply will not persuade me to the opposite position.
I will always be for a caste-free Hindu society, for a color-blind society, and for a humanity that regards all of us as children of the same God and descendants of the same apes."

With best regards,
V. V. Raman
June 6, 2009

Traces of cocaine found in Red Bull

2009-06-02T09:13:00.003-04:00

DON'T DRINK RED BULL!
unless you want a Coke high. And,,if
you continue to drink BULL, soon you could be
addicted to BULL and COKE. Keep your children away from BULL.

Traces of cocaine found in Red Bull in Hong Kong

Hong Kong officials have found traces of cocaine in cans of Red Bull, a few days after Taiwanese authorities confiscated close to 18,000 cases of the popular energy drink.

Officials at the Centre for Food Safety said a laboratory analysis found tiny amounts of the illegal drug in samples of "Red Bull Cola," "Red Bull Sugar-free" and "Red Bull Energy Drink", a spokesman said.

The drink has now been taken off the shelves of major supermarkets, the spokesman said in a statement issued late Monday. He added that the amount of cocaine found in the drinks posed little health danger.

Red Bull moved quickly to deny the findings and said independent tests on the same batch of drinks had found no traces of cocaine.

The Centre for Food Safety found traces of cocaine between 0.1 and 0.3 micrograms of the illegal drug per litre, the statement said.

Hong Kong's commissioner for narcotics, Sally Wong, said the government was now taking legal advice on any possible liability for importers and retailers.

"Cocaine is a dangerous drug... The possession and dealing in the drug is a criminal offence," she said in the statement.

Red Bull's Asia Pacific marketing director, Daniel Beatty, said the firm strongly disputed the findings.

"It would have been absolutely impossible for the Hong Kong or any other authorities to have found traces of cocaine in Red Bull Energy Drink," he said in a statement.

"We expect the Hong Kong authorities to recognize their error soon," he said, adding the firm's representatives were already meeting with Taiwanese authorities to point out the error.

Taiwan officials said Saturday they had confiscated nearly 18,000 cases of Red Bull imported from Austria after finding it contained traces of the drug.

Taiwanese authorities ordered the drinks to be removed from shelves pending further investigation.

Red Bull, whose advertising slogan is "Red Bull gives you wings," was founded by Austrian toothpaste salesman Dietrich Mateschitz in the 1980s.

It has since become one of the dominant players in the global energy drinks market.

============

China's food safety watchdog says it's inspecting the products and materials of locally-made energy drink Red Bull.

Last week, authorities in Taiwan confiscated thousands of cases of Red Bull imported from Austria after slight traces of cocaine were detected. Six German states also banned sales on Friday after similar test results.

German authorities say the level of cocaine is "too low to pose a health risk". Red Bull's Beijing branch says its products are safe as it doesn't sell any imported ones on the Mainland

==========
Germany Bans Red Bull After Cocaine TestBERLIN (AP) ―
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Red Bull Cola.
AP

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numSlides of totalImages Related StoriesStudy: Alcohol, Energy Drinks Make Dangerous Mix (11/9/2007)
States Wage Battle On New Alcoholic Energy Drinks (8/22/2007)
Six German states have told retailers to stop selling Red Bull Cola energy drinks after a test found a trace amount of cocaine.

The bans started Friday after a sample test conducted by authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia state found 0.4 micrograms per liter in the drink.

According to a Time.com report on the German authorities' analysis, the amount of micrograms of cocaine per can of the drink does not pose a serious health threat. One would reportedly have to drink 12,000 liters of Red Bull Cola for negative affects to be felt, according to the Time.com report. However, German authorities are still concerned.

Five other states in Germany also banned it from shops amid concerns over possible narcotics law violations.

Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment said Monday that the cocaine level was too low to pose a health risk. It planned to produce a more detailed report Wednesday.

Red Bull said its cola is "harmless and marketable in both the U.S. and Europe." It said similar coca leaf extracts are used worldwide as flavoring, and a test it commissioned itself found no cocaine traces.

The company lists the ingredients of Red Bull Cola on its Web site, noting:

Red Bull Cola is a special composition of ingredients, all from 100% natural sources. In addition, it contains flavors derived from both the Kola nut and Coca leaf, ingredients in the original colas.

A Healthy Lifestyle Triggers Genetic Changes

2009-05-15T22:35:00.001-04:00

A Healthy Lifestyle Triggers Genetic Changes

Based on a small study, US researchers say that comprehensive lifestyle changes, including a better diet and more exercise, can quickly cause dramatic changes at the genetic level.

As reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers tracked 30 men with low-risk prostate cancer who had decided against conventional medical treatment such as surgery and radiation or hormone therapy. Their decision allowed researchers to study biopsies in cancer patients before and after lifestyle changes. The men underwent three months of major lifestyle changes, including eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and soy products, moderate exercise such as walking for half an hour a day, and an hour of daily stress management methods such as meditation.

As expected, they lost weight, lowered their blood pressure and saw other health improvements. But the “before” and “after” prostate biopsies were startling. That three-month period saw changes in activity in about 500 genes–including 48 that were turned on and 453 genes that were turned off. The activity of disease- preventing genes increased, while a number of disease-promoting genes, including those involved in prostate cancer and breast cancer, shut down.

The research was led by Dr. Dean Ornish, head of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, and a well-known author advocating lifestyle changes to improve health. “It’s an exciting finding because so often people say, ‘Oh, it’s all in my genes, what can I do?’ Well, it turns out you may be able to do a lot,” Ornish, who is also affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco, said in a telephone interview. “‘In just three months, I can change hundreds of my genes simply by changing what I eat and how I live?’ That’s pretty exciting.”

Derek Walcott Withdraws from Poetry Professor Election

2009-05-12T19:00:00.005-04:00

What's it with these Caribbean Nobel Prize Laureates? Vidya and his
misogynist abusive behavior; Derek accused of sexual harassment,a
few years ago, but now coming back to haunt him, as he misses out on
a highly-regarded position. A pity, but...
I am sure Vidya is pained about Derek's loss. Yeah, right.

Derek Walcott Withdraws from Poetry Professor Election

This month dozens of academics at Oxford University received anonymous packages. Each contained photocopied pages from a book describing decades-old allegations of sexual harassment against Derek Walcott, the Nobel Prize-winning poet.

It is still unclear who sent the material, but on Tuesday it had what was probably its intended effect. Mr. Walcott, a candidate to become the next Oxford professor of poetry in an election on Saturday, withdrew from the race.

“I am disappointed that such low tactics have been used in this election, and I do not want to get into a race for a post where it causes embarrassment to those who have chosen to support me for the role or to myself,” Mr. Walcott, 79, told The Evening Standard.

He added: “While I was happy to be put forward for the post, if it has degenerated into a low and degrading attempt at character assassination, I do not want to be part of it.”

Mr. Walcott’s withdrawal leaves two other poets — Ruth Padel, a Briton, and Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, an Indian — still in the race for the professorship. Ms. Padel, 63, is the better known of the two and seems almost certain to win.

Born in St. Lucia, in the West Indies, Mr. Walcott is the author of essays, plays and poems, including the work “Omeros,” and is one of the world’s most celebrated poets. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992.

The charges of sexual harassment date back nearly 30 years and were detailed in the book “The Lecherous Professor: Sexual Harassment on Campus,” by Billie Wright Dziech and Linda Weiner — excerpts of which were sent in the anonymous packages. They describe how, in 1982, Mr. Walcott was accused of saying a number of provocative things to a woman who was a student in his poetry workshop at Harvard, including “Would you make love to me if I asked you?”

When she rebuffed him, the student said, he gave her a C grade.

Concluding in 1982 that the complaint had merit, Harvard reprimanded Mr. Walcott and changed the student’s grade from C to “Pass.”

In another incident Nicole Niemi, a student at Boston University, sued Mr. Walcott for sexual harassment in 1996. She accused him of “offensive sexual contact,” claiming that he told her that unless she had sex with him, he would prevent a play of hers from being produced.... READ MORE...

DEA- EAI Energy outlook

2009-05-12T16:36:00.001-04:00

U.S. Department of Energy
Energy Information Administration

Short-Term Energy Outlook

May 12, 2009 Release

To see details of this forecast update, go to the following World Wide Web site on the Internet:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/contents.html

Highlights

Energy prices rose in early May following reports suggesting that the U.S. economy may have reached a turning point in the current recession, at least in some sectors. Near-term prices in this Outlook, however, remain somewhat below market prices as of its release date given that prospects for a global economic turnaround remain highly uncertain. EIA’s forecast is based on a macroeconomic outlook that assumes the U.S. and global economies begin to stabilize in the coming months and show signs of recovery late in 2009 and into 2010.

The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is expected to remain relatively flat for the remainder of 2009, averaging about $55 per barrel over the second half of 2009. Assuming a modest economic improvement next year, WTI prices are expected to average about $58 in 2010.

During this summer driving season (April through September), regular gasoline retail prices are projected to average $2.21 per gallon, down about $1.60 from last summer. The annual average regular-grade gasoline retail price in 2009 is expected to be $2.12 per gallon, increasing to an average of $2.30 in 2010. The annual average diesel fuel retail prices are expected to be $2.26 and $2.48 per gallon, respectively, in 2009 and 2010.

The Henry Hub natural gas spot price is projected to average $4.06 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) in 2009, down from an average of $9.13 per Mcf in 2008. Then, buoyed by modest economic growth next year, the price is expected to increase to an average of about $5.21 per Mcf in 2010. The projected steep decline in industrial output this year is expected to reduce industrial natural gas consumption by 8 percent, resulting in a 1.9-percent decrease in total annual consumption of natural gas. Natural gas consumption in the electric power sector, however, is projected to increase by 2.1 percent since lower natural gas prices are expected to back out some coal consumption in this sector. (See this month’s supplemental report, The Implications of Lower Natural Gas Prices in the Electric Power Sector).

FIDEL CASTRO BLASTS OAS: It’s pure rubbish, dedicated to counterrevolutionary gossiping....

2009-05-11T12:34:00.003-04:00

Always good for a laugh, but Fidel's Fulminations reveal the state of mind of
an aging, outdated revolutionary who stood still while time passed. How sad! Fidel deserves better but... there seems little hope for rapprochement between the U.S. and Cuba being ruled by the Castros. Here is the latest from Commandante Castro:

On the Internet we obtained a copy of the agreement against Cuba. It’s pure rubbish. It is dedicated to counterrevolutionary gossiping. It is long, in the style of those State Department documents, the political paradigm and head of the OAS. How right Roa was when he called it the Yankee Ministry of Colonies!

"...We could ask that shameless institution: if we were expelled from the OAS for proclaiming our convictions and we are not members of that institution, what right do they have to pass judgment on us? Would the OAS do likewise with the Peoples’ Republic of China, Vietnam or other countries who, like Cuba, have proclaimed their allegiance to Marxist-Leninist principles?.... The efforts made by the Pentagon to monopolize information and the Internet networks are obvious. Our own country is blocked from access to those sources. It would be better that the ICHR accounts to the world the resources that its bureaucracy is spending on stupidities, instead of analyzing these realities and informing Latin American countries about the very serious dangers threatening the freedom of expression of all the peoples of the world..."

That from a country with no press freedom, no democracy, and no freedom of individual rights... Come on, Fidel, the game is up, Free the people of Cuba, hold elections, allow freedom of the people, free speech...

Technology trumps caste and class - "cellphones could transform Indian democracy"

2009-05-10T17:29:00.004-04:00

In India, the rise of the poor and disadvantaged is stunning, as is the
dismantling of caste and class. Access to technology and the influx of women and so-called "lower castes" have boosted the Indian economy. There is no going back, India is moving forward, even as she faces hostile neighbors in the world's most unstable region.

"....Of course, in so vast a country, India’s nearly 400 million cellphone users still account for only a third of the population. But the technology has seeped down the social strata, into slums and small towns and villages, becoming that rare Indian possession to traverse the walls of caste and region and class; a majority of subscribers are now outside the major cities and wealthiest states. And while the average bill, of less than $5 per month, represents 7 percent of the average Indian’s income, enough Indians apparently consider the sacrifice worth it: if present trends continue, in five years every Indian will have a cellphone..."

A great article, very perceptive, touching on key cultural and social aspects, by ANAND GIRIDHARADAS in the New York Times:
"...The cellphone appeals, too, because it plays into the Indian need to place people. Cellular differences today perform the role that forehead markings and strings around torsos and metal bracelets once did: announcing who outranks whom.......Imagine the future: a young woman sits on her sofa. With a few taps, she checks that her tax return has been cleared. With a few more, she learns that her local legislator is a criminal, and she switches to the other candidate. She wires a campaign contribution by text. And then she notices on television a debate on her favorite topic, and listens to the arguments and taps hurriedly into her phone words that will soon scroll across the screen.....But the most intriguing notion is that cellphones could transform Indian democracy....It is not Athens, but it would be a start: in the world’s largest democracy, government not by passive consent, but by something like a conversation...."

To the uninitiated, PARAMARIBO is full of surprises. Surveying

2009-05-10T13:16:00.002-04:00

Great article in the New York Times on Paramaribo, and Suriname.

TO the uninitiated, Paramaribo is full of surprises. Surveying the buildings surrounding Independence Square, for example, one could be forgiven for mistaking the scene for a quad at a Northeast college, especially while taking in the red-brick Finance Ministry of Suriname, complete with its Doric columns, hipped roof, dormers and clock tower.

Or take the Neve Shalom Synagogue, which, completed in 1839, looks more like a cross between an antebellum plantation house and a small town bank than a place of worship. Surinamers are fond of boasting of its harmonious proximity to the Central Mosque, whose minarets climb in stark contrast to the earthly synagogue.

These buildings might appear to be out of place in this drowsy tropical South American capital, with its cultural ties to the West Indies. The key to the puzzle, may lie in the country’s colonial experience, which only ended some 35 years ago.

Suriname seems to be largely unknown among Americans these days. When I told some friends that I was going there earlier this year, a few said ... READ MORE...

On this special day, and every day..... HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY TO ALL MOTHERS & MOTHERS-TO-BE

2009-05-09T12:53:00.002-04:00

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness. Honore de Balzac

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY TO

ALL MOTHERS

and MOTHERS-TO-BE

On Mothers Day, pay your most humble tribute to Mother.
On Mothers Day, Thank your Mother.
On Mothers Day, Apologise to your Mother.
Celebrate Mothers Day, with your Dear Mother.

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.
She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. Rajneesh

May the blessing of the Divine
Be an especially bright benediction
Upon mothers everywhere
On your blessed day -
On Mother's Day!

Whatever else is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world a mother's love is not. James Joyce

Deosaran Bisnath,
President, GOPIO Trinidad and Tobago
Editor, International Jahajee Journal.
Moderator, Caribbean Hindus Network

http://deosaranbisnath.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/iTrinidad
http://hinducouncilofthecaribbean.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/Chaguanas
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=634751846

M is for the miracle of Being.
O is for its origin in love.
T is for the tenderness of seeing.
H is for a home no wind can move.
E is for the ecstasy of living.
R is for the recklessness of giving.

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. Abraham Lincoln
----------------------------------------

For all that you have given me,
I can return but love. For you
Bound up the wounds I did not see
And gave me hopes and passions new.
I can return but love for you,
Whose unmoved faith my heart did move,
And gave me hopes and passions new,
And loved me till I turned to love.

Whose unmoved faith did my heart move?
The mother of my heart, not blood,
Who loved me till I turned to love.
And I became the soul I would.

The mother of my heart, not blood,
Bound up the wounds I did not see.
And I became the soul I would
For all that you have given me.

http://www.poemsforfree.com/

God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.
Jewish proverb
------------------------------------

Tribute To Mother
On Mothers Day, pay your most humble tribute to Mother!

Mothers are everything for us when we are small...our lives revolve around her. For everything that we need we call mother. To protect us from all perceivable dangers we want her around us. To take us out we hold her arms. To kiss away our wounds we run to her. And for a warm hug and love we look for her. She is the focal point of our lives, the greatest human being in the world or should we say divinity on earth. On the special occasion of Mothers Day pay tribute to your mother - the greatest blessing of God on you.

On Mothers Day Thank your Mother
There is simply no way we can ever really thank mother for all she has done for us. She is the one who will be awake all night when we are sick. Praying to God to make us well and be ever ready to bear the pain that we may be experiencing. She is the one to wake up early in the morning to make the nicest tiffin and endure all our tantrums. Mothers are the ones who would forever complain that we are not eating enough or not eating right. They would cook all sorts of things so that we be strong and healthy. Mothers infact, worry more for our examinations than we must. They would take pains to complete our school projects leaving all other works behind while we play around with friends or just while away time watching movies.

On Mothers Day Apologise to your Mother
Mothers are the one on whom we put all the blame for our failures. We would not hesitate once to point her single faux pas though she would not miss even a slightest opportunity to praise us. Isn't it tough to imagine how she must have borne our temper tantrums when we were teenagers. And how hard we must have made her life by behaving so rude and difficult. And yet she was so astonishingly cool. It it easy for the kids to be so demanding from parents, specially mothers as we take her affection and care so much for granted. Most often to the extent of selfishness. Mothers Day is the right time to apologise for all the troubles that we gave to our moms, without even realising at most times how troublesome we must have been to her.

Celebrate Mothers Day with your Dear Mother
Mothers Day is the perfect day to celebrate the joys of having a mother. It is the time to make amends for not being able to spend quality time with her. So turn your wrongs right by making all efforts to give a perfect Mothers Day to your mother. Think about her likes and dislikes about gifts and idea on celebration and act accordingly. Strive to make Mothers Day absolutely hassle free for your mother and take the responsibilities on yourself for a day. Pamper her a little on this special day of hers just as she pampers you all the year round. Give her a warm hug and a big kiss as you wish her a Happy Mothers Day!

http://www.mothersdaycelebration.com/tribute-to-mother.html

Never marry a man who hates his mother, because he'll end up hating you.
Jill Bennett

------------------------------------
Mother's Day Proclamation
This powerful Proclamation was made by Julia Ward Howe in the advocacy for the need of official celebration of Mother's Day in Boston, United States of America in 1870. Miss Howe was the first person n US to recognize the need for Mother's Day holiday. She was successful in raising awareness amongst the masses and pushing her plead to the upper echelons of power.

Mothers' Day Proclamation
Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be of water or of tears! Say firmly: "We will not have questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us reeking of carnage for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy, and patience. We women of one country will be too tender to those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own. It says "Disarm! Disarm!" The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.

As men have forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after his time the sacred impress not of Caesar, but of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

====================
The Mother in Hindu Mythology

From The Path of the Mother

"You are Creation; you are creator; you are the breath of life in all nature. . . .Devi, Devi, Devi." -----Ammachi

Once upon a time, a long time ago, while the gods were resting in the heavens, evil influences infested the world. The demonic forces, led by a powerful and unrighteous king, had become widespread and uncontrollable. A messenger was sent to alert the gods who were lost in deep sleep, but it took centuries to awaken them. By the time they opened their eyes, darkness pervaded the land. Wickedness prevailed. Once roused from their heavenly slumber, the gods with their mighty weapons were unable to vanquish the evildoers. The gods' weakness in the midst of the abominable and fierce turmoil allowed these vile powers to rage on. There was only one way to bring the world back into balance: Ask the Mother of the Universe to intervene.

The gods, fuming with anger, raced through the sky in their chariots to Devi's home on top of the mountain in the Himalayas. They summoned the goddess through her power which lay within them. Great lights came forth out of their bodies like glittering rainbows, infusing the entire world with a brilliant luster. Like a luminescent vessel of fragrant gold at the end of the colorful rays, the different lights concentrated, combined into one as the body of the Great Mother. Wonderstruck upon beholding her as she sat in blinding radiance on her jewel-studded throne, they bowed down before her and sang hymns of praise. As a symbol of their urgent request, they entrusted their ornaments and weapons to her and prayed for her to wield them for the benefit of all mankind.
READ MORE....

==================================

To my wife on Mother's Day,
Our habitude and light:
May you be as happy as
You make us with your love.
Winds may blow the world away,
Intent on reaching night.
For us there'll always be a home,
Everywhere you move.

--------------------------------------

To my sister on Mother's Day:
Often I remember how we were
More focused on ourselves when we were young.
Years and children sweep in like a tide,
Separating us from distant shores.
In truth, we're even closer than before,
Sustaining our childhood inside,
The memories to which we both belong
Enriched by what love teaches us to bear,
Resonant with what we rarely say.

---------------------------------

Happy Mother's Day from Far Away

Happy Mother's Day from far away!
As love has wings, it flies across the sea,
Passing seraphim alight with glee,
Placed in nooks on clouds along its way.
Years cannot such innocence betray,
Morning's holy light perpetually
On fire within the heart, a pillar we
Then follow through the desert night and day.
Here, then, is my love, and as it lands,
Exchange it for a pigeon of your own,
Returning through the heavens what I once,
'Ere you were born, delivered to your door.
So are we eternal, though the sands
Demand of us that piece that is on loan,
As love renews, renews the ancient dance,
Yet dancing though the wide world be no more.

Rabindranath Tagore

2009-05-05T21:24:00.004-04:00

"The inner-seeking spirituality of India infused all of Tagore's writing. He wrote in many genres of the deep religious milieu of Hinduism. The values and core beliefs of the Hindu scriptures permeated his work. Rabindranath Tagore's philosophical and spiritual thoughts transcend all limits of language, culture, and nationality. In his writings, the poet and mystic takes us on a spiritual quest and gives us a glimpse of the infinite in the midst of the finite, unity at the heart of all diversity, and the Divine in all beings and things of the universe."
Swami Adiswarananda of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York, in his preface to 'Tagore: The Mystic Poets'

Tagore's 'Gitanjali' (Song Offerings') that contains his own English prose translations of Bengali poetry was published in 1913 with an introduction by the Irish poet W. B. Yeats. This book won Tagore the Nobel Prize for Literature that year.

-------------
FROM GITANJALI

Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!
He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the pathmaker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust. Put of thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil!

Deliverance? Where is this deliverance to be found? Our master himself has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of creation; he is bound with us all for ever.

Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense! What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained? Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow.

***

When the creation was new and all the stars shone in their first splendour, the gods held their assembly in the sky and sang 'Oh, the picture of perfection! the joy unalloyed!'

But one cried of a sudden - 'It seems that somewhere there is a break in the chain of light and one of the stars has been lost.'

The golden string of their harp snapped, their song stopped, and they cried in dismay - 'Yes, that lost star was the best, she was the glory of all heavens!'

From that day the search is unceasing for her, and the cry goes on from one to the other that in her the world has lost its one joy!

Only in the deepest silence of night the stars smile and whisper among themselves - 'Vain is this seeking! unbroken perfection is over all!'

***

In one salutation to thee, my God, let all my senses spread out and touch this world at thy feet.

Like a rain-cloud of July hung low with its burden of unshed showers let all my mind bend down at thy door in one salutation to thee.

Let all my songs gather together their diverse strains into a single current and flow to a sea of silence in one salutation to thee.

Like a flock of homesick cranes flying night and day back to their mountain nests let all my life take its voyage to its eternal home in one salutation to thee.

------------

They said, `We shall help you in the worship of your God and humbly accept only our own share in his grace'; and then they took their seat in a corner and they sat quiet and meek.

But in the darkness of night I find they break into my sacred shrine, strong and turbulent, and snatch with unholy greed the offerings from God's altar.

***

I know thee as my God and stand apart---I do not know thee as my own and come closer. I know thee as my father and bow before thy feet---I do not grasp thy hand as my friend's.

I stand not where thou comest down and ownest thyself as mine, there to clasp thee to my heart and take thee as my comrade.

Thou art the Brother amongst my brothers, but I heed them not, I divide not my earnings with them, thus sharing my all with thee.

In pleasure and in pain I stand not by the side of men, and thus stand by thee. I shrink to give up my life, and thus do not plunge into the great waters of life.

***

What divine drink wouldst thou have, my God, from this overflowing cup of my life?

My poet, is it thy delight to see thy creation through my eyes and to stand at the portals of my ears silently to listen to thine own eternal harmony?

Thy world is weaving words in my mind and thy joy is adding music to them. Thou givest thyself to me in love and then feelest thine own entire sweetness in me.

--------------------------------

Remnants of CASTE still exist in Japanese society

2009-05-05T18:41:00.003-04:00

Remnants of CASTE still exist in Japanese society. Of course, as in most other societies, CLASS also exist. A harmless addition of maps by Google Earth resulted
in questions and accusations:

Castes have long since been abolished, and the old buraku villages have largely faded away or been swallowed by Japan's sprawling metropolises. Today, rights groups say the descendants of burakumin make up about 3 million of the country's 127 million people.

But they still face prejudice, based almost entirely on where they live or their ancestors lived. Moving is little help, because employers or parents of potential spouses can hire agencies to check for buraku ancestry through Japan's elaborate family records, which can span back over a hundred years. READ MORE...

LOVE IS THE PANACEA

2009-05-05T18:35:00.001-04:00

LOVE IS THE PANACEA

He who has no love cannot know God - for God is love.
Love is the greatest force in this world.
Love is immortal.
Love is God.
Where love is there God is.
Therefore become an embodiment of love.
Love is God.
Love is light.
Light is wisdom.
Wisdom is divine life it is oneness, unity.
READ MORE....

First American to die from swine flu virus

2009-05-05T18:28:00.002-04:00

The first American has died after contracting the swine flu virus, Texas health officials said Tuesday. Officials did not identify the 33-year-old Texas woman but added that she suffered from an unnamed pre-existing medical condition.

“I don’t want people to panic. Her death was a combination of a pre-existing health condition and the flu. The flu just made things worse.”
Leonel Lopez, the Cameron County Department of Health and Human Services epidemiologist

Blogs: GUYANA; HINDU COUNCIL OF THE CARIBBEAN; Jahajee Desi

2009-05-05T15:28:00.002-04:00

A few of our other Blogs

HINDU COUNCIL OF THE CARIBBEAN

GUYANA

Jahajee Desi

SWINE FLU - CDC sees 'encouraging signs'

2009-05-04T21:49:00.002-04:00

CDC Acting Director Richard Besser says the CDC is seeing “encouraging signs” in the outbreak.
The number of confirmed cases of A/H1N1 flu in the U.S. has risen to 286 in 36 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a posting on its Web site Monday. The figures released by the CDC have steadily increased each day. On Sunday the CDC reported 226 cases in 30 states.
The World Health Organization said Monday it has so far registered 1,025 confirmed cases of swine flu, including 26 deaths. In a conference call, Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general for Health Security and Environment, said there was concern that the influenza virus H1N1 is heading south and that it could hit the southern hemisphere, which is heading into winter. Fukuda said that to raise the pandemic alert phase to level 6, the virus would need to “be established in different parts of the world.” WHO’s pandemic alert phase is currently at level 5.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says New York City has 73 confirmed and six probable cases of swine flu. That’s 10 more confirmed cases than the city reported on Sunday.
Where things stand - Deaths: 26 confirmed in Mexico and one confirmed in U.S., a toddler from Mexico who died in Texas. Confirmed sickened world-wide: 1,276; 727 in Mexico; 300 in U.S.; 140 in Canada; 44 in Spain; 27 in Britain; eight in Germany; six in New Zealand; four in Israel, Italy and France; two in El Salvador; one each in Austria, Costa Rica, Colombia, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Korea and Switzerland.

Federal health officials are considering revising guidelines on school closures as evidence mounts that the current H1N1 influenza outbreak is acting like the seasonal flu. More than 400 schools have closed as a result of the outbreak

WHO Chief Prepares for Pandemic ; Encouraging signs

2009-05-03T19:10:00.004-04:00

Even though it appears as if Mexico has passed the worst, or so they say, there are still serious concerns about the dangers posed by the global Swine flu outbreak. WHO is suggesting they will raise the alert level to 6, which is tantamount to declaring the swine flu a pandemic.

Dr. Anne Schuchat, the interim Deputy Director for Science and Public Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a news conference that the virus was “circulating all over” the United States.
“The virus has arrived, I would say, in most of the country now,” she added.

Around the world, 19 countries have now been affected, including Colombia, which earlier in the day reported the first confirmed case of swine flu in South America. About 800 people have been infected, predominantly in North America. Spain has 44 confirmed cases, more than any other European country, with Britain, Italy and Germany reporting new cases.

“These viruses mutate, these viruses change, these viruses can further reassort with other genetic material, with other viruses,” said Dr. Michael Ryan, W.H.O.’s global alert and response director. “So it would be imprudent at this point to take too much reassurance.”

Health professionals were studying a new development in Canada, where a swine herd on a family-run farm in Alberta Province apparently contracted the virus from a worker who had visited Mexico. The man-to-pig transmission appeared to be a first for this strain. Both the man and the swine have recovered; the herd remains quarantined. Mexican foreign minister, Patricia Espinosa:
“Mexican citizens showing no signs at all of being ill have been isolated under unacceptable conditions. These are discriminatory measures, without foundation.”

The World Health Organization's chief laid the groundwork Sunday for her agency potentially to declare a new strain of A/H1N1 swine flu a pandemic, saying such a move doesn't necessarily mean the disease is highly lethal or that it will sweep the entire globe.

"There is a lot of misunderstanding in terms of fear and death," Margaret Chan, the United Nations public health agency's director-general, said in an interview. "It doesn't mean death in big numbers is going to happen."

A week and a half after learning that a new strain of swine flu was causing outbreaks in Mexico and infections in the U.S., the WHO chief is now faced with the distinct possibility that she will have to formally declare the disease a pandemic, once it begins spreading in a sustained way in other parts of the world beyond the Americas. WHO protocols will compel that to happen, she said, even though thus far the strain isn't producing the deadly sort of scourge most people associate with the word "pandemic" and in fact looks to have exacted a lighter death toll in Mexico than authorities there originally believed.

As the disease has spread quickly over the past 11 days, the agency has raised its global pandemic alert level twice, to phase 5 -- signaling outbreaks in more than one country in one of the agency's geographical regions -- from phase 3. Its highest level is a phase 6, meaning community outbreaks are occurring in at least three countries in at least two of the WHO's regions. The disease is spreading within communities in the U.S. and Mexico, and case counts are mounting in Canada. Public health officials have said sustained transmission hasn't been seen elsewhere yet, but is likely to emerge in countries that already have multiple case counts.

Justice Hosein: "Can't we rely on the word of our head of state?"

2009-05-03T00:04:00.004-04:00

JUSTICE HOSEIN FELT CLEARLY MISLED BY HEAD OF STATE.

This is very troubling, if as reported, Justice Hosein wrote in his letter to the President of T&T, he was surprised and embarrassed: "...to my total surprise and embarrassment..another person was sworn in as deputy Chairman...I felt clearly misled...I write with great urgency as promised to complain about the gratuitous hurt and insult occasioned to me in the course of today's swearing in ceremony," the letter began...."

These very strong words from Justice Hosein deserve a response from President Richards. Justice Hosein asks, and so would many citizens of T&T, what "intervened" between Thursday and Friday. Justice Hosein said Richards gave no reason for the change.

CLICK TO SEE FULL TEXT OF JUSTICE HOSEIN'S LETTER

REPORT IN SUNDAY EXPRESS:

Justice Zainoon Hosein yesterday said it was most "unpalatable" to have to resign from the Integrity Commission following the decision of the President George Maxwell Richards to renege on his promise to appoint him as Deputy Commissioner of the Integrity Commission.

"If this kind of thing could emanate from the Head of State, whose word are we to rely upon. Can't we rely on the word of our head of state?" asked a still dumbfounded Hosein.

Hosein said Richards told him up to Thursday, the day before the swearing in ceremony, that his position as Deputy Chairman had been "confirmed." But at the ceremony on Friday Jeffrey McFarlane, NIB Executive Director, was invited to take the oath as deputy chairman.

Hosein said he did not know what "intervened" between Thursday and Friday. He said Richards gave no reason for the change. Hosein said he declined the President's request to take up duties and serve as a Commissioner until the end of the month when Richards, who goes on vacation from today, would return. "I didn't feel that I could have done that because it would appear that I had fully accepted the position," Hosein, the holder of a Chaconia medal said yesterday.

The former Justice of Appeal said he felt he (Hosein) dealt with the issue in a very dignified way," he said, adding that he did not want to "march off and create a scene" at the swearing in ceremony when he heard McFarlane being sworn in as deputy chairman.

Hosein submitted his letter of resignation hours after taking the oath. I n his letter of resignation to Richards:

"I write with great urgency as promised to complain about the gratuitous hurt and insult occasioned to me in the course of today's swearing in ceremony," the letter began.

"As you are aware your Excellency called me on the morning of Tuesday April 28, and inquired whether I was prepared to serve on the Integrity Commission in the capacity of Deputy Chairman."

Hosein said he enquired who were the chairman and who the other members were and what were the terms and conditions of such office. The letter noted that Richards provided that information and also indicated the salary of the deputy Chairman.

Hosein noted that he (Hosein) then told Richards that he was willing to serve. Richards mentioned the date and time of the swearing in ceremony.

Hosein said when he heard nothing further, he called Richards on Thursday and Richards informed him that his secretary had tried unsuccessfully to contact him. But Richards assured him then that the position was confirmed and that he (Hosein) should attend Friday's swearing in ceremony.

"I attended with my wife and to my total surprise and embarrassment..another person was sworn in as deputy Chairman". "I felt clearly misled and was then minded to get up and leave. However in order to avoid embarrassment to your Excellency as Head of State in the presence of the media and invited guests, I reluctantly took the oath of office for the position as member and immediately thereafter sought and had a private audience with Your Excellency. I pointed out that as a former Justice of Appeal, and having regard to our discussions on Tuesday April 28, I was not prepared to serve merely as a member. With respect had your Excellency indicated to me when I spoke to your on Thursday that my position as deputy chairman was not confirmed or was no longer available, I would have thereupon declined acceptance as a member", the letter stated.

No Signs of Sustained Global Spread of Swine Flu

2009-05-02T10:45:00.003-04:00

No Signs of Sustained Global Spread of Swine Flu

Good news - it appears as if Mexico has seen the worse, with signs that the infection rate is slowing and fewer deaths. In Mexico, health authorities expressed cautious optimism about what they called a “stabilizing” situation. For the second day in a row, Mexico City, with most of the confirmed cases, did not record any deaths attributable to the virus.
The World Health Organization announced an increase in the number of confirmed cases of swine flu on Saturday, but said there was no evidence of sustained spread in communities outside North America, which would fit the definition of a pandemic.

However, as the New York Times reports, there is still a great risk of a global pandemic:
“At the present time, I would still propose that a pandemic is imminent because we are seeing transmission to other countries,” Dr. Michael J. Ryan, the director of the World Health Organization global alert and response team, said in a teleconference from Geneva. “We have to expect that Phase 6 will be reached. We have to hope that it is not.”

The Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission have begun advising consumers to watch out for Internet scams selling useless drugs and ineffective masks to treat or prevent swine flu.

On Saturday the W.H.O reported that there were 658 confirmed cases of the illness, officially known as Influenza A(H1N1) , in 16 countries. Dr. Ryan said that the health organization was sending 2.4 million doses of antiviral drugs to 72 countries, including many poor countries that do not have supplies of their own.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Saturday that there were 160 cases confirmed by laboratory tests in 21 states. (The agency posts the case count once a day; states sometimes report new cases later the same day, but they are not added to the official total until the next day.) Thirteen people have been hospitalized.

--------------

Recession and Flu Show Borderless World
The Flow of Capital and Travelers Across International Borders Has Accelerated in Recent Years, Presenting New Challenges.

First, it was toxic financial assets. Now, it is a new kind of flu virus. For many nations, the lesson learned may be the same: In today's interconnected world, borders offer only a false sense of security against modern varieties of contagion.
Last fall some governments, particularly in the less-developed world, thought their economies were decoupled from that of the U.S., and that they therefore might escape the effects of the U.S. financial meltdown. For the most part, they were wrong.

Now authorities around the world are facing the question of whether to restrict travel or close borders to try to isolate themselves from the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu. Given the ubiquity of modern air travel, and the course of the outbreak, hard restrictions just won't work, say experts in the U.S.

-----------

New Delhi: Two NRIs in hospital with suspected swine flu

Two young NRIs, who came from London and Texas, were admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi with suspected H1N1 flu symptoms and have been kept under observation in the isolation ward.

While the 35-year-old London-based NRI was brought to hospital directly from the Indira Gandhi International Airport this morning, the 25-year-old who came from Texas got himself admitted to the RML last evening.

"Both of them are under observation in isolation ward. We have done all tests and samples have been sent to National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD)," N K Chaturvedi, Medical Superintendent of RML, told reporters.

The London-based NRI, who hails from Delhi, developed flu symptoms during his flight to the national capital from London and was referred to the hospital after a screening at the airport, he said.

Pandemic influenza prevention and mitigation in low resource communities; Swine flu vaccine would not be ready until Spetember at earliest

2009-05-02T08:07:00.005-04:00

WHO UPDATE Influenza A(H1N1) - update 9

2 May 2009 -- The situation continues to evolve. As of 06:00 GMT, 2 May 2009, 15 countries have officially reported 615 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection.

Mexico has reported 397 confirmed human cases of infection, including 16 deaths. The 241 rise in cases from Mexico compared to 23:30GMT of 1 May reflects ongoing testing of previously collected specimens. The United States Government has reported 141 laboratory confirmed human cases, including one death.

The following countries have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths - Austria (1), Canada (34), China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (1), Denmark (1), France (1), Germany (4), Israel (2), Netherlands (1), New Zealand (4), Republic of Korea (1), Spain (13), Switzerland (1) and the United Kingdom (13).

Further information on the situation will be available on the WHO website on a regular basis.

WHO advises no restriction of regular travel or closure of borders. It is considered prudent for people who are ill to delay international travel and for people developing symptoms following international travel to seek medical attention, in line with guidance from national authorities. There is also no risk of infection from this virus from consumption of well-cooked pork and pork products. Individuals are advised to wash hands thoroughly with soap and water on a regular basis and should seek medical attention if they develop any symptoms of influenza-like illness.

There is also no risk of infection from this virus from consumption of well-cooked pork and pork products. Individuals are advised to wash hands thoroughly with soap and water on a regular basis and should seek medical attention if they develop any symptoms of influenza-like illness.
------------

Pandemic influenza prevention and mitigation in low
resource communities
This summary guidance is derived from the WHO document Pandemic influenza preparedness and
mitigation in refugee and displaced populations: WHO guidelines for humanitarian agencies, Second
edition, 2008
Key principles
1. Public health measures taken by individuals and communities, such as social distancing,
respiratory etiquette, hand hygiene, and household ventilation, are at present the most
feasible measures available to reduce or delay disease (morbidity) caused by pandemic
influenza.
2. In the case of mild illness, patients should be provided with supportive care at home by a
designated caregiver and only referred to health care facilities if they deteriorate or
develop danger signs. Separation of sick from well individuals, with rigorous respiratory
etiquette and hygiene measures should be practised.
3. In health-care settings, a system of triage, patient separation, prioritization of use of
antiviral medicines and personal protective equipment (PPE) according to risk of
exposure, and patient management should be in place to focus efforts on the most
effective interventions to reduce mortality and any further morbidity.
------

MORE INFO AT CDC WEBSITE
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/

============

A Spotty Response to the Flu Threat

The sudden emergence of a new swine flu virus has posed the first real test of new preparations to control novel influenza strains that might spread rapidly around the world and, if sufficiently virulent, kill millions of people. The global response has been mixed — sluggish at the start but increasingly sure-footed as the new strain has spread from Mexico to the United States and other nations. We are fortunate that the initial illnesses in most countries have been mild, no worse than the standard seasonal flu that we endure every year without panic.
----------

The Symptoms of Swine Flu

“The symptoms are quite similar between regular flu and swine flu. Influenza ordinarily is a respiratory illness with fever, headache, sore throat, nasal stuffiness and cough. And body aches are real common. You go to bed and feel terrible. The difference may be that some of the people who have had swine flu have diarrhea or vomiting. That’s unusual except in children. Adults usually don’t have diarrhea with flu. It may well be that that could be a marker, but it’s not clear yet.’’

--------

The swine flu virus is a wily foe whose central weapon against humans is its ability to rapidly change its form. But the virus also benefits from the slow pace at which people technologically adapt to it.
Scientists must decide the components that go into each year's flu vaccine about six months before the virus shows up -- more than enough time for the virus to change in ways that the vaccine cannot defend against. Technical and cost challenges, moreover, limit public health officials' ability to drastically change the previous year's vaccine, even if they know the coming flu season will bring different strains.

Dodging a global flu pandemic, in other words, is a little like being told you can make one change in a ship's course to avoid hitting an iceberg, only the iceberg is six months away.

The swine flu outbreak has brought all of the challenges into focus -- and left public health officials unsure if they should change the composition of next year's vaccine to guard specifically against swine flu.

The formula was decided on about a month ago, six months ahead of the start of the fall flu season in September, and officials now have limited ability to redesign the vaccine. If it turns out that swine flu is a passing storm, it would be unwise to change the vaccine. If swine flu turns out to be a major pandemic, leaving the vaccine as is could have grave consequences.

The trouble is, it may take several weeks to discern whether swine flu is a real problem. Officials have yet to conduct detailed epidemiological research to find out how many people have become sick and how deadly the strain is.

As a precaution, the government is preparing a vaccine aimed exclusively at swine flu -- meaning that people this fall might need to supplement their regular flu shot with a swine flu shot. But Anne Schuchat, acting deputy director for science and public health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the swine flu vaccine would not be ready until September at the earliest.
MORE HERE

-------------

TRINIDAD suspected Swine Flu patient quarantined; Mexican tanker quarantined in TRINIDAD

2009-05-01T22:39:00.004-04:00

TRINIDAD suspected Swine Flu patient quarantined

AN entire ward at the Port of Spain General Hospital has been evacuated to house the Florida businessman suspected to be carrying influenza A (H1N1), also called swine flu, according to a source at the hospital.

Colin Mouttet, 38, who arrived in Trinidad at an undisclosed date after passing through Mexico, is currently being investigated and monitored for the deadly flu by officials at the hospital.

However, Mouttet, who lives in Miami Beach and operates Phoenix Investments/Business Development there, "must have been passing through" here, since, according to one of his local relatives, they did not know that he was even in Trinidad.

When the Express contacted the Chief Medical Officer at the Ministry of Health, Dr Anton Cumberbatch, about the patient yesterday, all he could say at the time was that "he was doing well". However, he was unable to say when Mouttet would be going home, because he did not have a full report at the time.

Meanwhile, local patients attempting to get tested for the virus at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope, yesterday complained about the lack of attention given to them by hospital officials.
Continued here

Mexican tanker quarantined in TRINIDAD
A Methanol tanker from Mexico was last night quarantined by health inspectors at Point Lisas, as local health officials intensified their campaign to keep the deadly H1N1 virus at bay.

According to a release from officials at the Port of Point Lisas, the decision was taken after a crew member was found ill on board after the ship docked at 4.40 p.m.

Details were sketchy last night, but the Express understands health officials will run tests today on the sick crew member, who was placed in isolation yesterday.

Meanwhile, Chief Medical Officer, Dr Anton Cumberbatch, said in a statement issued yesterday that it is not true that the supply of Tamiflu in the country was inadequate and will not be sufficient for the protection of health workers

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161472426

TRINIDAD DOES NOT HAVE CHEMICAL TO TEST FOR SWINE FLU; Comparison with deadly 1918 flu; Flu stirs heated U.S. immigration debate

2009-05-01T16:07:00.005-04:00

TRINIDAD DOES NOT HAVE CHEMICAL TO TEST FOR SWINE FLU

With reports of the “imminent threat” of swine flu pandemic, World Health Organisation (WHO) officials at Trinidad’s Caribbean Epidemiological Centre (CAREC) announced they do not have a crucial chemical needed to determine the presence of swine flu.

This follows the first shipment of two samples sent from Cayman (on 28 April) after being collected from two local women who complained of feeling ill upon their return from Mexico -- where the swine flu outbreak appears to have originated.

James Dobbins, WHO consultant to the vaccine programme at CAREC, said he could not determine if suspected influenza specimens sent to Port of Spain were actually swine flu because the organisation lacked a particular “primer” to test the samples.

Mr Dobbins explained the chemical was needed to differentiate swine flu from less serious seasonal influenza.

The US-based Centers for Disease Control had sequenced the virus in question, but Mr Dobbins said it could take until Tuesday before the information arrived in Trinidad.

In the meantime, samples that were not seasonal flu had to be shipped to Atlanta for analysis.

MORE HERE

================

The Associated Press rounds up the latest flu figures. Deaths: 15 confirmed in Mexico and one confirmed in U.S., a toddler from Mexico who died in Texas. Confirmed sickened world-wide: 589: 343 in Mexico; 155 in U.S.; 51 in Canada; 13 in Spain; 10 in Britain; four each in Germany and New Zealand; two each in Israel and France; one each in Switzerland, Austria, China, Denmark and the Netherlands. Mexico is no longer releasing “suspected” numbers; the number of suspected cases was 2,498 before the tally was halted.

============

Swine Flu and Travel: Q&A on Infectious Diseases in Airline Cabins

Basically an airline is an enclosed space. So when you think about the risk of infection spreading in an enclosed space — any enclosed space, be it a mall, a train, an aircraft — it basically boils down to a few factors. How infectious is it? That is, how easily does it spread person to person? How close and how long are you near the person who is ill? And how well ventilated is the confined space?

So on an aircraft, how close to a sick person do you have to be to boost the chances of catching an infectious disease?

We know from previous investigations of infectious disease outbreaks on aircraft that your likelihood of infection seems increased with close contact or being seated within two rows of an ill person. This comes from probes into tuberculosis outbreaks on aircraft during the 1990s. Public health agencies investigated a number of tuberculosis scares on aircraft and through their investigations they found that the risk was greatest in people who were seated within two aisles of the person who is infectious.

--------------------

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist says the state has its first two confirmed cases of swine flu. Federal officials say 19 states have at least one confirmed case of swine flu.

A flight from Munich, Germany, to Washington has been diverted to Boston because a passenger complained of “flu-like symptoms.”

The current flu virus is bringing up discussions of the deadly 1918 flu, but aside from having the same designation — type A, H1N1 — comparisons between the two can be very inaccurate. This year’s virus is only a distant relative, which makes comparisons about virulence and immunity difficult.

GlaxoSmithKline said Friday it has increased production levels of its antiviral drug Relenza in response to the outbreak of the potential pandemic flu strain.

----------

A new strain of flu has stirred a heated debate in the United States about immigration, an emotional topic that is never far from the surface in this country of migrants.

"People always want to find a culprit, and it's easy to target people who can't really defend themselves," said Carlos Garcia, a Hispanic activist in Phoenix.

In recent days, at least three U.S. congressmen called for travel across the Mexico border to be stopped or restricted to prevent the spread of the virus -- a measure the government has said would be ineffective.

Syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin blamed the spread of "contagious diseases" on "uncontrolled immigration" in a blog, and other conservative talk show hosts made similar claims.

In Boston, WTKK-FM radio suspended talk show host Jay Severin on Thursday. News reports said Severin slammed Mexican migrants on air in recent days, calling them "criminal aliens," "primitives," "leeches," and "exporters of women with mustaches and VD."

In response to the sharpened tone, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists urged the media to be "fair and prudent" when covering the flu and resist scapegoating Mexican immigrants.

"Immigrants, of course, have long been favorite and convenient scapegoats for some for everything from high taxes to infectious diseases," it said in a statement issued on Wednesday. "Facts haven't much mattered."
Continued here

--------------

Can You Catch Swine Flu From Money? Virus continues to spread....

2009-05-01T11:22:00.004-04:00

INFORMATION ON SWINE FLU HERE:

CDC SITE
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/

WHO SITE
http://www.who.int/en/

WSJ site
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/04/24/swine-flu-in-the-us-and-mexico/

NY TIMES Site
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/influenza/swine_influenza/index.html?8qa&scp=1-spot&sq=&st=nyt

Here are a few basics about the swine flu outbreak. See above sites for more details.

What is swine flu?

It’s flu that occurs in pigs. In rare cases, humans contract swine flu from close contact with pigs. The strain circulating now is cause for concern because it can pass directly from person to person. Like routine human flu, cases of swine flu can range from mild to severe. Many officials have now started to call it H1N1 flu; here’s a post explaining what that name means.

What is a pandemic, and are we having one now?

A pandemic occurs when a new disease spreads from person to person, in a sustained way, in more than one part of the world. The WHO’s pandemic alert level is currently at Phase 5, which means that a swine flu H1N1 pandemic is imminent, but isn’t yet occurring. That’s because there isn’t yet evidence of sustained transmission outside the Americas. A pandemic isn’t an indication of how severe a disease is. It is possible to have a relatively mild pandemic, characterized by a disease that causes mostly mild illness and results in relatively few deaths.

Is the disease the same in Mexico and the U.S.?

The virus appears to be the same. But the disease has seemed to be more severe in Mexico, where it has been linked to many deaths, than in the U.S., where most cases have been mild. It’s unclear why. One possibility is that many mild cases went unreported in Mexico. Or perhaps there are differences between the types of patients in the two countries, or differences in treatment.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms are similar to those of regular flu: fever, along with problems such as cough, sore throat, body aches, headaches, chills and fatigue. Some cases have also included reports of vomiting or diarrhea.

What should I do if I feel sick?

People with ordinary flu symptoms do not need to seek emergency care, New York City officials said. But people with certain warning signs in addition to basic symptoms should seek urgent attention. In children, those signs include difficulty breathing; bluish skin color; flu symptoms that begin to improve, then return with fever and worse cough; and fever with a rash. In adults, warning signs include difficulty breathing, pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen, sudden dizziness, confusion, and severe or persistent vomiting.

Can the swine flu be treated with drugs?

Two drugs, sold under the brand names Tamiflu and Relenza, may reduce the severity and the duration of the disease. But most of the patients who contracted swine flu in the U.S. have recovered without taking the drugs. Both drugs have also been approved to reduce the risk of contracting the seasonal flu. But, unlike a vaccine, they do not provide long-lasting protection. So their preventive use is typically limited to certain, narrow situations. The drugs, which are included in the federal government’s pandemic stockpile, are only available with a doctor’s prescription.

Does this year’s flu vaccine protect against the swine flu?

The CDC says the seasonal flu vaccine is “unlikely to provide protection” against the swine flu. The agency has created a “seed vaccine” specifically tailored to this swine flu. The seed vaccine could be used to manufacture a targeted vaccine if officials deem it necessary to do so. But manufacturing a new vaccine would take months.

Are there ways to reduce the spread of disease?

Cover your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze. Wash your hands often. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Avoid close contact with infected people. People who have mild symptoms should stay home from school or work until 48 hours after the symptoms have passed, to avoid spreading disease, New York health officials said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From WHO Press Briefing: “there is very little chance that seasonal vaccines … would be effective against this particular virus. Tests are ongoing to see whether a seasonal vaccine plus a booster known as an adjuvant might be effective. It takes four to six months to have the first doses available after the virus is identified. It’s a long journey, even if you know by heart all the steps. Preparation to make a vaccine against the strain should proceed.
The best estimate is that it would take two to three weeks after being vaccinated to develop immunity. It may also be necessary for people to get two shots to develop immunity. For seasonal flu, one shot is enough. “It is certainly too early to say one or two shots.” That question will be answered in clinical trials.

“We don’t have a satisfactory explanation of why the symptoms and the gravity in Mexico seems to be so much greater than in the rest of the world.”

“We still see community level transmission confirmed in only two countries.” That’s why the pandemic alert level is still at Phase 5 and has not been raised to Phase 6.

“It may be that in the coming months we will see” both vaccines that combine seasonal strains and the new H1N1 strain, as well as vaccines that protect only against H1N1.

Serum Institute of India has started the process to be able produce seasonal influenza vaccines, and WHO will be discussing with them whether they are ready to do so.

See here for more

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The number of confirmed cases of H1N1 flu in the U.S. has risen to 141 in 19 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. That is up from 109 cases in 11 states on Thursday.

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Can You Catch Swine Flu From Money?

To reduce the risk of catching swine flu, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends frequent hand washing and using tissues when you sneeze. But there's another way to protect yourself —even if it's not so good for the economy: Stop spending money.

It doesn't get talked about much, but the fact is paper currency—the dollars, fives, tens and twenties most people routinely touch every day—can spread a virus from one person to another. So if you have contact with money that an infected individual has also handled, there's a possibility of catching the flu.

How likely is that? Despite the pervasiveness of cash in society, its role in transmitting illness has been the subject of surprisingly little study. But some recent research suggests that flu bugs can show some staying power when they land on one of the countless banknotes that change hands every day.

Generally speaking, scientists interviewed by SmartMoney estimate the lifetime of a plain flu virus deposited on money at an hour or so. But mix in some human nasal mucus, and the potential for the virus to hang on long enough to find a victim increases, according to one of the few scientific studies done on flu transmission through cash. MORE HERE

Swine Flu: Mexico blames WHO; Virus Keeps Spreading, but Alert Stays at Phase 5

2009-05-01T10:15:00.004-04:00

The Roman Catholic Church in New Zealand instructed priests Friday not to place communion wafers in worshippers’ mouths because of transmission risks, The Associated Press reported, and indigenous Maori were urged to stop using an ancient greeting that brings people nose-to-nose.

Fighting the Flu With One Hand Tied

The World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are responsible for containing swine flu -- a critical job that could affect tens of thousands of people in the United States and perhaps millions worldwide. But the public health agencies that are suddenly so much in the public eye lack key powers and resources. In fact, successive U.S. administrations have marginalized both, essentially rendering them less effective in times such as these.

A Denmark official says the country has confirmed its first case of the H1N1 flu.
reports.

The government of Hong Kong has confirmed the first case of H1N1 flu in the territory. Officials say the patient is a visitor from Mexico arriving from Shanghai.

The World Health Organization said the new flu strain continued to spread, particularly in Mexico and the U.S., but the WHO refrained from declaring a global pandemic even as more European countries confirmed cases. Amid a growing debate around the globe about travel restrictions, the agency raised the number of confirmed cases of the A/H1N1 virus to 257 from 148.

Virus Keeps Spreading, but Alert Stays at Phase 5
WHO Says No Reason at This Time to Go to Pandemic Level; Some 300 Schools Closed in 11 States Due to Confirmed or Feared Cases

The World Health Organization said a new flu strain continued to spread, particularly in Mexico and the U.S., but refrained from declaring a global pandemic even as more European countries confirmed cases.

Amid a growing debate around the globe about travel restrictions, the United Nations public-health agency raised the number of confirmed cases of the A/H1N1 virus to 257 from 148.

Mexico's epidemiology boss faults WHO

Mexico's chief epidemiologist accused the World Health Organization of being slow to respond to the country's warning about a health crisis that turned into a global swine flu scare and called for an investigation.

Dr. Miguel Angel Lezana told The Associated Press late Thursday his center alerted the Pan American Health Organization on April 16 about alarming occurrences of flu and atypical pneumonia in Mexico. But no action was taken until eight days later when the World Health Organization said it was "very, very concerned" the outbreak could grow into a pandemic.

"It seems it should have been more immediate," Lezana, director of the National Epidemiology Center, told AP in a telephone interview

MEXICO CITY -- "I've got some bad news."

The voice on the conference call last week was Frank Plummer, a Canadian scientist who had just spent 24 hours analyzing virus samples from 51 seriously ill people in Mexico.
The news: Seventeen people carried a completely new type of flu virus, one which had its origin in pigs. Flu from swine, which can be fatal, has rarely made the jump to humans -- much less appeared in so many people at once. Within minutes, Mexico's health minister grabbed a red-telephone hotline to President Felipe Calderón. "Mr. President, I need to see you urgently. It's a matter of national security."

A picture is now emerging of how U.S. and Mexican officials, with a key assist from a Canadian government lab, first realized they faced a new type of disease and began racing to isolate its earliest origins. Until recently, Mexico was widely assumed to be ground zero. Now, however, some California doctors are questioning that.
The four earliest confirmed cases are divided evenly between California and Mexico. In fact, it appears two children in California got sick in late March, several days before the first two known Mexico cases in early April.

Since then, the virus, which has been called "swine flu" but is scientifically known as A/H1N1, has turned up in cities from New York to Los Angeles, and spread rapidly to countries as far as New Zealand and Israel. On Thursday, some 300 U.S. schools were closed as part of an effort to contain the disease. And the White House said a U.S.-government security guard caught the bug earlier this month while in Mexico to prepare for President Barack Obama's trip there.

Reports of Possible SWINE FLU case in Trinidad - still unconfirmed; Possible cases in BARBADOS, BELIZE

2009-04-30T21:35:00.006-04:00

The first suspected case in Japan of the rapidly spreading new strain of influenza A virus has been detected, Kyodo News reported Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe as saying Friday. The patient is a 17-year-old male high school student in Yokohama, who stayed in British Columbia, Canada, on a school excursion from April 10 to 25.

The Associated Press provides an overview. Deaths: 168 in Mexico, 12 confirmed as swine flu and rest suspected. One confirmed in U.S., a 23-month-old boy from Mexico who died in Texas. Sickened: 2,955 suspected and 99 confirmed in Mexico. Confirmed elsewhere: 131 in U.S.; 34 in Canada; 13 in Spain; eight in Britain; three in Germany and in New Zealand; two in Israel; one each in Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands. In U.S., CDC confirms 109 cases and state officials confirm 22 more.

Thursday April 30th, 2009 9:27pm

There are several reports - including one from a radio talk show -
there is a possible case of SWINE FLU at the Port Of Spain General
Hospital, Trinidad.

THIS HAS NOT BEEN CONFIRMED. IT COULD BE A CASE OF FLU, BUT NOT SWINE FLU.

HOWEVER, THERE IS NO CONFIRMATION OF ANY SWINE FLU CASE IN TRINIDAD.

There are online reports that samples from Barbados and Belize
has been sent to Trinidad, to Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC), for testing for SWINE FLU.

"In Barbados, Minister of Health Donville Inniss also confirmed that at least two local samples had been sent off to the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) in Trinidad and Tobago to be tested for the virus after an increased number of people with flu-like symptoms began seeking medical attention.

And over in the Bahamas, 10 students and teachers who arrived at the beginning of this week are under quarantine.

The decision to put off public events in Belize, which shares a border with Mexico, was taken after a Ministry of Health meeting.

Belize Deputy Director of Health Services at the Ministry of Health Dr Jorge Polanco, who spoke to Love News, said the ministry was informed about two suspected cases yesterday and samples have been sent to the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre in Trinidad.

"Once we get the results we will know if they had swine flu because the reason they were suspect is the fact that they had the influenza symptoms. In addition to that they visited the area Chetumal (capital of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo). The other cases are only rumors because the Ministry has not gotten any official documentation on them as yet," he said yesterday evening."

Questions are being asked:
Do we have the proper testing and diagnosis equipment for SWINE FLU?
Are procedures put in a place to treat and quarantine possible SWINE FLU patients?
And, is there enough Tamiflu and Relenza to treat a possible Swine Flu outbreak in T&T, and the Caribbean? If no, what is being done about it?

It is interesting to note that a White House security aide suffered from flu during President Obama's recent visit to Mexico, after which Obama came to Trinidad for the Fifth Summit of The Americas. Did he contract Swine Flu? Did anyone else in Obama's entourage contract the disease in Mexico, and did they visit Trinidad after?

Was anyone from the Mexican delegation to the Summit sick? with Swine flu?

See below for White House exposure to Swine Flu.

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BELIZE: MINISTRY OF HEALTH CANCELS ALL MAJOR PUBLIC EVENTS DUE TO SUSPECTED SWINE FLU CASES

The Ministry of health has sent four blood samples to CAREC in Trinidad today from suspected cases of swine flu. One case from San Pedro Ambergris Caye, two cases from Belize City and one from Orange Walk. The Ministry says it is working closely with the Pan American Health Organization and will keep the public updated as to the development of events in regards to the outbreak in Mexico and USA. Furthermore the Ministry of Health has postponed all major public gatherings until further notice. The Ministry says with the underlying principle of preventing any potential transmission of swine flu in Belize the Director of Health Services in accordance with section 83 of the Public Health Act has issued the directive. This follows the World Health Organization raising the level of alert to Phase 5. This means that the virus has caused sustained community level outbreaks in two or more countries in one World Health Organization region. The events that have been cancelled include the Annual General Meeting of the Holy Redeemer Credit Union, the Morgan Heritage Musical Concert, the University of Belize Fundraising Event – Spring Fling 2009, the National Agriculture and Trade Show, the Cashew Fest and the Hermanos Ponce Circus. Organizers and the public are being asked to adhere to this notice.

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Administration aide's family likely has swine flu

WASHINGTON (AP) — A security aide helping with arrangements during President Barack Obama's recent trip to Mexico became sick with flu-like symptoms and three members of his family later contracted probable swine flu, the White House said Thursday.

The disclosure from press secretary Robert Gibbs comes days after the White House played down risks to the U.S. delegation on the two-day trip that started April 16. Gibbs remained steadfast that the president was never at risk of contracting the flu, which has quickly spread across the globe.

The employee, who was not named by the White House, is an aide to Energy Secretary Steven Chu and helped plan security for part of the administration's Mexico trip.

"This individual never flew on Air Force One," Gibbs said. "He was asked specifically if he ever came within 6 feet of the president, and the answer to that was no."

The aide arrived in Mexico on April 13, Gibbs said, and became ill on April 16. He developed a fever on April 17, the day Obama left Mexico for the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. The person in question flew back commercially to Dulles on a United flight on April 18; Gibbs had no details yet on whether people on that flight have been notified.

"Obviously we'll do everything in our power to ensure that what can be done to alert them will be done," he said.

Ten other people who were on the presidential trip to Mexico saw the White House doctor afterward for symptoms of illness. All were tested and found not to have swine flu, Gibbs said.

The Obama administration appeared to have found out about the security official's case only by happenstance.

In the course of conversations about preparations for a possible pandemic, a White House doctor asked the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Dr. Richard Besser, to notify the administration of any Washington-area cases. Besser said that, in fact, there were some probable cases in Maryland and that they involved an employee of the Energy Department.

The man, who is from Anne Arundel County, Md., near Baltimore, visited his brother on April 19 and his nephew became ill. In the next two days, the aide's wife and son also became ill, Gibbs said.

Gibbs said the three members of the aide's family are being tested to see if they had the same strain of swine flu that is threatening to become a pandemic. More than 100 cases have been confirmed within the United States.

Gibbs said the aide is listed as a suspected case of the virus. He returned to work on Thursday.

"The original patient tested negative likely because so much time had elapsed since the onset of his own symptoms that they would not show up in the test," Gibbs said.

"All four individuals experienced only mild symptoms, and all four have recovered," he said.

The aide worked on Chu's security detail and went ahead to prepare for the trip. He attended a dinner with Obama on April 16 but Gibbs said the aide never was close enough to Obama to put the president at risk.

Obama has had no symptoms of the virus and doctors see no need to conduct any tests on his health, Gibbs said.

He also said the energy secretary hasn't experienced any symptoms.

Asked about others involved in the U.S. delegation to Mexico City, Gibbs said no one else has gotten sick.

The White House declined to release the aide's identity, citing privacy concerns.

The White House said three family members of an Energy Department official who recently traveled to Mexico are being tested for the H1N1 flu strain. The official, who was in Mexico in advance of Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s security detail, felt ill on April 16 and developed a fever the following day. He was at President Barack Obama’s working dinner with Mexican President Felipe Calderon on April 16, but told doctors that he never came within six feet of Obama, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Gibbs said all four had mild symptoms and have now recovered. He said the official is back at work Thursday.

European Union health ministers Thursday agreed to cooperate closely to stem the spread of swine flu, but stopped short of banning travel to Mexico. “We are on top of this … so there is no need to panic,” the European Commission’s top health official, Androulla Vassiliou, told a news conference following an emergency meeting of the bloc’s health ministers.

Mexican health officials trying to find the source of swine flu are focusing on a town near a large pig farm where one of the first cases was detected in mid April.

The Associated Press reports: The World Health Organization says it will would stop using the term “swine flu”‘ to avoid confusion over the danger posed by pigs. WHO spokesman Dick Thompson says the name change comes after the agriculture industry and the U.N. food agency expressed concerns that the term “swine flu’” was misleading consumers and needlessly causing countries to order the slaughter of pigs. He told reporters in Geneva “we’re going to stick with the technical scientific name H1N1 influenza A.”

Key developments on swine flu outbreaks, April 30, 2009

2009-04-30T16:24:00.000-04:00

Developments on swine flu worldwide

Key developments on swine flu outbreaks, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, and government officials:
-Deaths: 168 in Mexico, 12 confirmed as swine flu and rest suspected. One confirmed in U.S., a 23-month-old boy from Mexico who died in Texas.

-Sickened: 2,955 suspected and 99 confirmed in Mexico. Confirmed elsewhere: 131 in U.S.; 19 in Canada; 13 in Spain; eight in Britain; three in Germany and in New Zealand; two in Israel; one each in Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands.

-In U.S., CDC confirms 109 cases and state officials confirm 22 more. CDC confirms: 50 in New York; 26 in Texas; 14 in California; 10 in South Carolina; two each in Kansas and Massachusetts; and one each in Indiana, Ohio, Arizona, Michigan and Nevada. State officials confirm five in New Jersey; four in Delaware; three in Maine; three additional cases in Arizona; two additional cases in California; two in Colorado; one additional case in Michigan; and one each in Georgia and Minnesota.

-Several hundred schools close nationwide, with at least 200 in Texas and 62 in Alabama, plus scattered closings in New York, California, South Carolina, Connecticut, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Arizona, Ohio, Utah, Washington state, Michigan and Maine.

-The World Health Organization increases its tally of confirmed swine flu cases around the world to 257 from 148.

-The World Health Organization says it will stop using the term "swine flu" to avoid confusion over the danger posed by pigs. It will instead refer to the virus by its scientific name, "H1N1 influenza A."

-The Obama administration comes out against closing the U.S.-Mexico border. Vice President Joe Biden says it would be "a monumental undertaking" with limited benefit.

-Public health emergency declared in the United States and roughly 12 million doses of Tamiflu from federal stockpile to be delivered to states.

-Texas Gov. Rick Perry issues disaster declaration, and state suspends all high school sports competitions until May 11. Texas school closings affect 130,000 children.

-Two leading U.S. makers of respiratory masks ramp up production to meet heavy demand from pharmacies.

The pandemic threat

2009-04-30T15:22:00.003-04:00

The pandemic threat

It’s deadly serious; so even if the current threat fades, the world needs to be better armed

IS said that no battle-plan survives contact with the enemy. This was certainly true of the plan drawn up over the past few years to combat an influenza pandemic. The generals of global health assumed that the enemy would be avian flu, probably passed from hens to humans, and that it would strike first in southern China or South-East Asia. In fact, the flu started in an unknown pig, and the attack came in Mexico, not Asia.

The hens, though, deserve some credit. The world has not had a pandemic (a global epidemic) of influenza since 1968. Four decades are long enough to forget that something is dangerous, and people might have done so had they not spent the past ten years considering the possibility that a form of bird flu which emerged in Hong Kong in 1997 might be one mutation away from going worldwide.

The new epidemic (see article) was raised on April 29th to just one notch below the level of a certified pandemic by the World Health Organisation. In an effort to halt the spread of the disease, Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderón, has announced that non-essential services should close down between May 1st and 5th, and people should stay at home. Part of the reason for worry is that, unlike ordinary flu, which mostly carries off the old, the victims of this disease are mostly young and otherwise healthy. Continued here
http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=13576183

Potential economic repercussions of the swine flu

2009-04-30T10:17:00.003-04:00

Dr. Richard F. Daines, the New York State health commissioner, announced on Thursday the existence of five new probable cases of swine flu outside of New York City.

Economists and others weigh in on the potential economic repercussions of the swine flu.

If the current strain were to cause a pandemic, it has the potential to slow the pace of the economic recovery that CBO expects to take hold later this year. The consequences of past episodes provide a basis for assessing the potential seriousness of a pandemic, particularly in light of the current economic downturn. On the basis of an analysis of past pandemics, CBO devised two scenarios to illustrate the possible economic effects of an influenza pandemic. In a “mild-pandemic” scenario… about 100,000 would die [and] the pandemic would reduce real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product (GDP) by about 1% relative to what would have happened without the pandemic. In a “more severe” scenario … two million people would die in the United States; in CBO’s estimation, real GDP would be about 4.25% lower over the subsequent year than it would have been had the outbreak not taken place. –Douglas Elmendorf, Congressional Budget Office
The bad news regarding this outbreak is that it could not have happened at a worse time, in terms of its impact on growth. The good news is that having learned from the SARS epidemic in 2003, and subsequent fears over the possible outbreak of an avian flu epidemic, the healthcare systems of many countries — especially in the developed world – are better prepared now than even a few years ago… There are two ways in which a swine flu epidemic would have an impact on economic activity and growth. The first is the direct effects on the supply-side of the economy. This includes the physical and psychological effects of the flu-related deaths and illnesses on the labor force, working hours, and productivity. The demand-side effects include the change in the behavior of consumers and businesses in reaction to the pandemic. –Nariman Behravesh, IHS Global Insight
It seems that very few Americans are choosing to stay confined at this point. Therefore, it is hard to envision a large demand side effect on the U.S. economy other than the potential disruption of foreign tourism. However, potential supply side disruptions spring readily to mind. That is, some Mexican-based companies are important in the U.S. supply chain. As of this writing the Mexican government has not mandated the closure of Mexican businesses. However, if enough Mexican workers choose to remain confined, then output in Mexican factories could grind to a halt, which could then adversely affect U.S. businesses that use Mexico as a supply source. –Jay H. Bryson, Wachovia Economics Group

Damage from the SARS outbreak in 2003 was greatest to economies that rely heavily on travel and tourism. Travel and tourism in the U.S., both by U.S. citizens and foreigners, amount to about 2% of GDP, or $200 billion. An additional 5% decline in travel from levels already reduced by the recession would reduce second quarter U.S. GDP growth by about 0.3% at an annual rate. On balance, the economic impact of the current swine flu outbreak is likely to be relatively small and transitory. However, downside risks remain until more information is available on the size and speed of the outbreak. –Ed Freidman, Moody’s Economy.com
A key takeaway from SARS is that if decisive containment measures are quickly implemented, the outbreak can be localised. Fear and panic subsided quickly once the disease was under control, and the affected economies rebounded rapidly. The short-lived economic impact of SARS was mainly on the demand side, particularly local consumption and tourism in the afflicted economies (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore). –Barclays Capital
While we are wary that a pandemic could change the face of the world in the way the World Bank suggest, we are skeptical that it will. Legal eagles at the WHO and WSCDC, however, operate on the principle of trying to minimize the maximum risk. They would rather prepare the world for a pandemic that is not coming than to say anything and be surprised if it does happen. Since millions of lives are at stake, no one wants to be asleep at the switch if the worst does happen. Odds of that are quite low… On any given day, anything can happen. Financial market upset in the face of what most likely is going to turn into a non-even seems over done and thus prone to correction. –Carl B. Weinberg, High Frequency Economics
The current epidemic is only going to marginally add to the current economic slowdown. Of course, this will depend on how the epidemic pans out and how bad it gets, and this we will probably know during the next several weeks. But if things do not get out of control, the situation could start to improve by the summer months… A big concern is, however, the effects that this epidemic will have over the U.S. side of the border. The importance of Mexican consumers crossing the U.S. Texas border to do their retail shopping activity in the U.S. has been well documented over the years. Thus, this sector will be severely affected by the partial closing of the borders that is occurring today. If this situation escalates, the border cities of Laredo, El Paso, McAllen, and Brownsville will feel the full impact of the crisis. –Eugenio J. Aleman, Wells Fargo
World governments should be careful not to play politics with the Mexican swine flu outbreak. The health consequences should of course be rigorously addressed — but without adding economic consequences, which is what several countries appear poised to do. Mexico itself is already feeling the economic ill effects of shut-down restaurants, empty soccer stadiums, and cancelled trips from abroad. But health scares have a way of mutating into virulent trade disputes that can infect other countries quickly. –Dan Griswold, Cato Institute
The main economic damage has typically come from panic measures to control a potential pandemic rather than direct impact of the disease itself. In the current outbreak, aside from some quite reasonable precautions in Mexico City itself, the wider fall-out has been limited. Even the World Health Organisation, which has declared a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern”, is not recommending any travel or trade restrictions in response to swine flu. –Julian Jessop, Capital Economics

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/04/30/tracking-the-swine-flu-outbreak-thursday/

The World Health Organization’s pandemic alert level stands at phase 5 after being raised from phase 4 on Wednesday. The escalating alert levels reflect the speed with which the virus is spreading, not its lethality, officials and scientists said. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that 51 people in New York have been confirmed with swine flu. The total number of cases in the U.S. grew Wednesday to 91 people in 10 states. Mexico says its death toll may be as high as 159 people

Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's top flu official, said the agency could soon declare a pandemic, which is designated as level 6. "We think we are in the process of moving there," he said. "The spread of this is clearly related to travel. It is possible we will move to seeing established transmission in other countries relatively quickly."

The escalating alert levels reflect the speed with which the virus is spreading, not its lethality, officials and scientists said.

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education said 104 schools, with about 56,000 students, had been closed in eight states by noon Wednesday. Seventy-four of the schools were shuttered because of confirmed or suspected cases of swine flu. The remainder were closed as a precaution. About 44,000 of the affected students were in Texas, he said.

Disease and Terror

The swine-flu outbreak caught health officials completely by surprise—just as a bioterror attack would.

A complacent America, growing ever less concerned about the threat of pandemic bird flu, was startled last week by the sudden appearance of a major epidemic of swine flu in neighboring Mexico. Cases were soon reported from New York, California, Texas and Ohio, as well as France, New Zealand, Canada and Britain. So far, the apprehension and confusion about what to expect resembles the early days of the anthrax attacks of 2001, when a fine powder of weaponized anthrax bacteria showed up in the U.S. mail. Then, as now, health authorities were taken completely by surprise, and the public panicked out of all proportion to the actual threat.

The similarities between the flu and biological terrorism are not coincidental. In recent years the world has changed in ways that have made the threats of natural and man-made epidemics more and more alike. As we deal with the increasing prospects of a bioterrorist attack, we are also struggling with the challenge of emerging diseases: AIDS, pandemic strains of influenza and the "mad-cow disease" that terrified Britain only a decade ago. The way these threats unfold—and the responses they call for—are becoming ever more similar.

The central driver is the increasingly interconnected world we live in. Even the most remote areas of the planet can now be reached in less than 48 hours. Diseases now plaguing those in refugee camps, heavily populated and growing slums or the most remote tropical rainforests can, without warning, show up in far-flung towns and cities. A devastating hemorrhagic-disease epidemic in Africa or South America could rapidly become the hemorrhagic epidemic of Boston or Bordeaux. Even good clinicians rarely have the knowledge to diagnose and treat exotic tropical diseases. Until a month ago, our attention was focused on Asia—the source of the last two influenza pandemics, in 1957 and 1968—as the likely source for the next one. And yet it appeared in Mexico while we weren't looking.

WHO raises pandemic alert level from phase 4 to 5; 3 New Swine Flu Cases in New York

2009-04-29T16:04:00.004-04:00

FROM WALL ST JOURNAL HEALTH BLOG....

WHO is raising the pandemic alert level from phase 4 to phase 5.

“New diseases, by definition are poorly understood.” Influenza viruses are notorious for unpredictable behavior.

“All countries should immediately now activate their pandemic preparedness plans,” remain on alert for pneumonia and influenza-like illness.

“The biggest question right now is this: How severe will the pandemic be? … It is possible that the full clinical spectrum of this disease goes from mild illness to severe disease.” But more data is needed to answer the question more precisely. “We know influenza may cause mild disease in affluent societies, but more severe disease with higher mortality in developing countries.”

Regarding global availability of drugs that work to treat the swine flu: “I cannot give you a specific answer as to how much is available.” WHO has roughly 3.5 million doses of Tamiflu that were donated by Roche. “Clearly that’s not enough.”

“We need to maintain a level of calmness so we continue to manage this in a rational manner.”

Level five of the pandemic alert requires human-to-human transmission in a sustainable manner that is causing community-level spread in more than one country. We are seeing that in Mexico and the U.S. When we see two countries in one WHO region demonstrating that, we are moving into phase five.

Keiji Fukuda of the WHO is speaking. Going from phase 3 to phase 4 meant sustained human-to-human transmission. Five means we are early in the process of spreading from country to country. Phase six can mean we’re later in that process of spreading to other countries.

MORE AT WSJ HEALTH BLOG

The latest overview from the Associated Press: Deaths: 159 in Mexico, seven confirmed as swine flu and rest suspected. One confirmed in U.S., a 23-month-old boy from Mexico who died in Texas. Sickened: 2,498 suspected and 19 confirmed in Mexico. Confirmed elsewhere: at least 93 in U.S.; 16 in Canada; 14 in New Zealand; five in Britain; three in Germany; 10 in Spain; two in Israel; and one in Austria.
U.S. cases confirmed by CDC and state officials: 51 in New York, 14 in California, 16 in Texas, three in Maine; two in Kansas, two in Massachusetts, and one each in Indiana, Ohio, Arizona and Nevada. CDC also said Michigan had two, but state officials said
only one was confirmed.

3 New Swine Flu Cases in New York
Gov. David A. Paterson announced on Wednesday that public health authorities had identified three new “probable, positive identifications” of the swine flu virus in Orange, Suffolk and Cortland Counties, in addition to the cases identified last week in New York City. (Later in the day, city health officials increased the count of confirmed cases to 49 and addressed other concerns at a separate news conference).
The three new cases were in addition to the 51 cases of swine flu in New York State that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have confirmed. The Orange and Cortland cases have a link to Mexico, where the current outbreak began.

Six 'Probable' Cases of Swine Flu in Md., Governor Says
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said the state will maintain close contact with local health departments and is working to build a stockpile of anti-viral medication, after reports that six people, including two children in Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties have "probable" cases of swine flu.

WHO moving closer to PHASE 5; Global economy could be rocked by swine flu; Mexico City’s mayor: swine flu outbreak seems to be stabilizing

2009-04-29T11:02:00.005-04:00

Texas Gov. Rick Perry issued a disaster proclamation covering the entire state as the number of confirmed cases of swine flu, closed schools and serious infections here increased on Wednesday. Texas Health Commissioner Dr. David L. Lakey said there were 16 confirmed cases in Texas, including a 23-month old child in critical condition. Another hospitalized patient – a pregnant woman — also was in critical condition, with a swine flu diagnosis considered a “high likelihood,” Mr. Lakey said, cautioning that pregnant women may be more susceptible to complications from the infection.

The World Health Organization said Wednesday that a deadly new strain of swine flu is moving closer toward becoming a pandemic, as it continues to spread to new corners of the globe and as the U.S. reported its first death from the disease. “As the outbreak evolves, we are moving closer to Phase 5,” said Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s acting assistant director for health security and environment. But he added, “I don’t think we are quite there yet.”

The United Nations public health agency raised its global pandemic alert level on Monday to “phase 4″ from “phase 3,” recognizing that the A/H1N1 virus is spreading from person to person and urging countries to prepare for a pandemic. Moving it up one notch, to “phase 5,” would indicate that the virus is causing multiple outbreaks, or widespread human infection.

Four more states — Arizona, Nevada, Massachusetts and Michigan – have confirmed swine-flu cases, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says. She says the number of confirmed U.S. cases has reached 91.

The delicate state of the global economy could be rocked by an outbreak of swine flu, which has killed over 100 people in Mexico and infected many others in the United States, Canada, Spain and New Zealand.
Underscoring the serious nature of an outbreak is a study conducted by the World Bank in 2008, which estimated a major swine flu pandemic could cost $3 trillion and cause worldwide gross domestic product (GDP) to plummet almost 5%.

"A nasty chill will run through the market...as people think back to the SARS virus," Justin Urquhart Stewart, investment director at Seven Investment Management, told Reuters.

"The threat of the pandemic will add further weakness to global trade - we saw with SARS tangible percentage points knocked off the index and that was in a buoyant time. Put that in a weaker time and it is likely to be more unpleasant," he said.

Mexico City’s mayor says the swine flu outbreak seems to be stabilizing, with one more death since he spoke last. If the death toll keeps tapering off, he says he will consider easing the citywide shutdown. Mayor Marcelo Ebrard says that if the tendency continues, he will consult world health authorities before lowering the city’s maximum alert level and easing up on the closure of public events and places. Mexico says swine flu is now suspected in 159 deaths, and nearly 2,500 illnesses. It’s not clear if the latest death is included in the overall numbers.

Egypt says it is planning to slaughter all of the country’s 300,000 pigs in the country as a precautionary measure. The nation’s Health Ministry has said there are no cases of swine flu in the country, however neighboring Israel has reported two.

First U.S. Death From Swine Flu Is Reported; Swine Flu Vaccine May Be Months Away

2009-04-29T08:38:00.001-04:00

April 30, 2009
First U.S. Death From Swine Flu Is Reported
American authorities confirmed the first death outside of Mexico from swine flu on Wednesday, as the number of confirmed cases of the disease continued to rise in Europe.

President Obama, in a morning news conference, called on local authorities to be vigilant in reporting new suspected cases, and called on schools to consider closing temporarily if a confirmed case was reported among its students.

“This is obviously a serious situation, serious enough to take the utmost precautions,” Mr. Obama said.

In France, the health minister took the extraordinary step of calling for a suspension of all flights from the European Union to Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak, even as the health secretary there said that the death toll appeared to be stabilizing.

Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday in an interview with CNN that the first American death of the disease was a 23-month-old child in Texas. He gave no other details about the child. The death was confirmed by President Obama, who spoke at a morning news conference.

With fears about the outbreak of swine flu around the world deepening on Wednesday, French Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said the request to suspend all flights from the European Union to Mexico would be made at a meeting of European Union health ministers, due to be held in Luxembourg on Thursday.

Cuba and Argentina, meanwhile, banned flights to Mexico, where swine flu is suspected of sickening well over 2,000 people . The C.D.C. has advised Americans only to “avoid all nonessential travel to Mexico.”

Swine Flu Vaccine May Be Months Away, Experts Say

Federal officials said it would take until January, or late November at the earliest, to make enough vaccine to protect all Americans from a possible epidemic of swine flu.
And beyond the United States and a few other countries that also make vaccines, some experts said it could take years to produce enough swine flu vaccine to satisfy global demand.

Although production is much faster than would have been possible even a few years ago, it still may not be in time to avert death and illness if the virus starts spreading widely and becomes more virulent, some experts said.

In this country, the biggest problem is that despite years of effort, the country is still relying on half-century-old technology to make the flu vaccines.

Federal authorities have spent years and more than a billion dollars trying to shift vaccine production to a faster, more reliable method — one that involves growing the vaccine viruses in vats of cells rather than in hen’s eggs, the old technology. And there are numerous small companies developing totally new approaches that might allow for the production of huge volumes of vaccines in a matter of weeks.

But the cell-based production is not quite ready, and some of the newer techniques are not proven enough to satisfy many experts.

“Those are all great technologies, but it isn’t going to happen in time,” said Dr. Greg Poland, head of the vaccine research program at the Mayo Clinic.

Federal officials have not yet made a decision on whether the swine flu is enough of a threat to warrant vaccine production. But they are taking the initial steps.

SWINE FLU STATS

2009-04-28T20:42:00.001-04:00

8 pm Tuesday April 28, 2009: SWINE FLU STATS:
Deaths: 152, all in Mexico, 20 confirmed as swine flu and rest suspected.
Sickened: 26 confirmed in Mexico, with up to 6,000 people showing symptoms
68 confirmed in U.S.
13 confirmed in Canada
2 confirmed in Scotland
14 confirmed in New Zealand
2 confirmed in Spain
2 confirmed in Israel
Confirmed U.S. cases, by state: 45 in New York, 13 in California, six in Texas, two in Kansas and one each in Indiana and Ohio, according to CDC and states.

Capitalism and the flu: Planetary catastrophe of industrialized and ecologically unhinged livestock production.

2009-04-28T20:07:00.002-04:00

Capitalism and the flu: Planetary catastrophe of industrialized and ecologically unhinged livestock production.

"ANYONE WHO has ever driven through Tar Heel, N.C., or Milford, Utah--where Smithfield Foods subsidiaries each annually produce more than 1 million pigs as well as hundreds of lagoons full of toxic shit--will intuitively understand how profoundly agribusiness has meddled with the laws of nature.

Last year, a distinguished commission convened by the Pew Research Center issued a landmark report on "industrial farm animal production" underscoring the acute danger that "the continual cycling of viruses...in large herds or flocks [will] increase opportunities for the generation of novel virus through mutation or recombinant events that could result in more efficient human-to-human transmission."

The commission also warned that promiscuous antibiotic use in hog factories (a cheaper alternative to sewer systems or humane environments) was causing the rise of resistant Staph infections, while sewage spills were producing nightmare E. coli outbreaks and Pfisteria blooms (the doomsday protozoan that has killed more than 1 billion fish in the Carolina estuaries and sickened dozens of fishermen).

But what matters more (especially given the continued threat of H5N1) is the larger configuration: the WHO's failed pandemic strategy, the further decline of world public health, the stranglehold of Big Pharma over lifeline medicines, and the planetary catastrophe of industrialized and ecologically unhinged livestock production... FULL ARTICLE HERE...

Prepare for Worsening situation - Americans snapping up hand sanitizer, face masks, antiviral medications; More SWINE FLU cases in Queens, Manhattan

2009-04-28T16:06:00.004-04:00

DON'T CALL IT "SWINE" FLU
Agricultural groups, worried that the swine flu outbreak is scaring consumers away from eating pork, are successfully prodding the federal government to refer to the virus by its scientific name: H1N1. The Agriculture Department, which used the term “swine influenza” as recently as Monday, clung to the anonymous term “H1N1 flu” in a statement Tuesday touting the safeness of U.S. pork

YES, there are still people who believe in these foolish theories, even Government Ministers:

Indonesia's Health Minister, is seeking to calm the nation worst afflicted by the
H5N1 bird flu virus, by suggesting that the H1N1 swine flu virus may be more of a problem for people of Spanish origin than Indonesians.

Siti Fadilah Supari speaking:
"We hope that H1N1 is not compatible with Indonesians," she said. "H1N1 may be more compatible with their race, while H5N1 is more compatible with Indonesians," she wondered aloud.

...............

Health officials on Tuesday said they expect the swine flu outbreak to widen in the U.S. beyond the 64 confirmed cases. “I really think we need to be prepared for the worsening of the situation,” said Rear Admiral Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at a Senate subcommittee hearing.

Amy Merrick reports on pharmacy sales after the outbreak: Walgreen and Rite Aid said customers worried about swine flu are snapping up hand sanitizer, face masks and antiviral medications — in some cases causing a scramble to replenish supplies.

Suzanne Sataline reports on New York: Twelve students are being tested for swine flu at PS 177 in Queens. Six students tested at Ascension parochial school in Manhattan. At least 45 students have been confirmed with swine flu at St. Francis in Queens, and there are likely more cases there but the city isn’t testing all the school’s students. Two people in other New York City boroughs have been hospitalized with suspected swine flu.

2 L.A. Deaths Might Be Swine Flu-Related

2009-04-28T15:57:00.001-04:00

2 L.A. Deaths Might Be Swine Flu-Related
LOS ANGELES -- With the arrival of swine flu in Los Angeles County regarded as inevitable, coroner's officials Tuesday investigated two deaths that may have be related to the outbreak.

The first man, a 33-year-old Long Beach resident, reportedly exhibited flu-like symptoms before he died Monday afternoon at Bellflower Medical Center, coroner's spokesman Ed Winter said.

The second case, that of 45-year-old La Mirada resident who died April 22 at Coast Plaza Doctor's Hospital in Norwalk, was referred to the coroner's office on Monday by the county Health Department. The attending doctor listed the cause of death as community-acquired pneumonia -- a red flag for health officials on the lookout for possible swine flu cases, Winter said.... FULL STORY HERE

CDC update: no symptoms identified that distinguish swine flu from seasonal flu

2009-04-28T15:22:00.001-04:00

Richard Besser, the CDC’s acting director, gave today’s daily media update on swine flu. Here’s what he’s said:

Cases have been confirmed in New York, Ohio, Kansas, Texas and California. “As we continue to look for cases, as this flu virus infects individuals, we will see a broader spectrum of disease.” Five patients have been hospitalized: three in California, two in Texas.

CDC pandemic alert rising to phase 4 “has very little meaning” for what’s happening in the U.S.

New treatment guidelines have been posted. We’ll get a link to that after the call s over. Guidance will continue to change, as officials learn more.

One more time: Wash your hands. Cover your cough. Don’t go to work or school if you’re sick.

“As this moves forward, I fully expect that we will see deaths from this infection.” He pointed out earlier that 36,000 people a year die from garden-variety seasonal flu.

It’s still unclear why cases in Mexico have been more severe than those in the U.S. Here are some of the questions officials are asking to try to find an answer. Has there been a change in the virus? Is there some difference in the kind of people who are getting sick in Mexico versus the U.S.? Do differences in the environment make a difference? Was there a difference in how people were treated in Mexico vs. U.S. — how long did it take for people to seek treatment, and what kind of treatment did they get?

“This appears to be acting like a normal flu virus, which has a fairly high rate of transmission in families.”

Can you add a swine flu strain to the regular seasonal vaccine for next year? Maybe, but seasonal flu vaccine production is already moving forward without including swine flu. Another possibility would be to produce a monovalent vaccine that would protect only against swine flu.

There are no symptoms they’ve identified that distinguish swine flu from seasonal flu. If this outbreak had occurred in January or February it would have been very difficult to detect, because there was so much regular, seasonal flu at that time.

Containment — keeping the disease to one location — is not feasible. The disease is too widespread.

The earliest confirmed cases in the U.S. was March 28; latest was April 24.

CDC has not yet sent the “seed stock” for a swine flu vaccine out to vaccine manufacturers.

CALIFORNIA Gov. Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency over swine flu; Costa Rica has confirmed Central America’s first swine flu case.

2009-04-28T14:05:00.001-04:00

Costa Rica has confirmed Central America’s first swine flu case.
Calif. Gov. Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency over swine flu, CNBC reports.

Two cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Alberta, Canada, the province said in a notice on its Web site. Both were mild cases, the province said. The latest cases bring the number of confirmed cases in Canada to eight.

FDA Authorizes Emergency Use of Influenza Medicines, Diagnostic Test in Response to Swine Flu Outbreak in Humans

2009-04-28T13:08:00.000-04:00

FDA Authorizes Emergency Use of Influenza Medicines, Diagnostic Test in Response to Swine Flu Outbreak in Humans

ROCKVILLE, Md., April 28, 2009--

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in response to requests from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has issued Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) to make available to public health and medical personnel important diagnostic and therapeutic tools to identify and respond to the swine flu virus under certain circumstances. The agency issued these EUAs for the use of certain Relenza and Tamiflu antiviral products, and for the rRT-PCR Swine Flu Panel diagnostic test.

The EUA authority allows the FDA, based on the evaluation of available data, to authorize the use of unapproved or uncleared medical products or unapproved or uncleared uses of approved or cleared medical products following a determination and declaration of emergency, provided certain criteria are met. The authorization will end when the declaration of emergency is terminated or the authorization revoked by the agency.

Currently, Relenza is approved to treat acute uncomplicated illnesses due to influenza in adults and children 7 years and older who have been symptomatic for less than two days, and for the prevention of influenza in adults and children 5 years and older. Tamiflu is approved for the treatment and prevention of influenza in patients 1 year and older.

The EUAs allow for Tamiflu also to be used to treat and prevent influenza in children under 1 year, and to provide alternate dosing recommendations for children older than 1 year. In addition, under the EUAs, both medications may be distributed to large segments of the population without complying with the label requirements otherwise applicable to dispensed drugs, and accompanied by written information pertaining to the emergency use. They may also be distributed by a broader range of health care workers, including some public health officials and volunteers, in accordance with applicable state and local laws and/or public health emergency responses.

For more information:
FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization of Medical Products Guidance, go to
www.fda.gov/oc/guidance/emergencyuse.html

U.S. scientists hope to have a key ingredient for a swine flu vaccine ready in early May, but

2009-04-28T12:35:00.002-04:00

U.S. scientists hope to have a key ingredient for a swine flu vaccine ready in early May, but say the novel virus grows slowly in eggs — the chief way flu vaccines are made. Even if all goes well, it still will take months before any shots are available for the necessary safety testing in volunteers. The researchers must engineer a strain that could trigger the immune system without causing illness. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, flu vaccine chief Dr. Ruben Donis says that work is about a third completed.

WHO Media Call on SWINE FLUE:

The move from Phase 3 to Phase 4 of the pandemic alert level was based on the fact that the virus could spread from person to person. A move to Phase 5 will not come until there is evidence that the virus has become established, with sustained human-to-human transmission in several countries.

Officials still do not know why cases in Mexico have been severe, while cases elsewhere have been mild.

“We do not recommend border closures and we do not recommend restrictions on travel.” WHO does recommend that people who are sick should consider postponing travel. And travelers who feel ill should seek medical attention. Travel advisories or limitations would not substantially slow the spread of the disease.

Differences in severity don’t appear related to differences in the virus itself. “We see no difference in the viruses infecting sick people and less-sick people.”

“Right now it’s not possible to know where this virus originated.” Most of the viruses they see are similar to each other, which suggests that this is a newly emerged virus, rather than one that’s been around for a while and has many different variants.

What are the lessons from other recent outbreaks of new diseases? Emerging diseases are a constant threat — as HIV, SARS and avian influenza outbreaks all showed. There are widespread repercussions, which can include not only the diseases themselves, but also the fears diseases can provoke, and the responses to those fears.

Pandemics can range from being relatively mild to being extremely severe. “It’s probably a little bit too early to make a pronouncement about what kind of pandemic we might see.” This one may not become a full-blown pandemic. It could wind up being mild. But the 1918 pandemic started out relatively mild, then became very severe. “We have to be mindful and very respectful of the fact that influenza tends to move in ways that we cannot predict very easily.”

The Naming of Swine Flu, a Curious Matter

2009-04-28T12:18:00.001-04:00

April 29, 2009
The Naming of Swine Flu, a Curious Matter

HONG KONG — What to call the new strain of flu raising alarms around the world has taken on political, economic and diplomatic overtones.
Pork producers question whether the term “swine flu” is appropriate, given that pigs so far do not seem to be falling ill. Government officials in Thailand, one of the world’s largest meat exporters, have started referring to the disease as “Mexican flu.” An Israeli deputy health minister — an ultra-Orthodox Jew — said his country would do the same, to keep Jews from having to say the word “swine.” However, his call seemed to have been largely ignored.

The World Organization for Animal Health, which handles veterinary issues around the world, issued a statement late Monday suggesting that the new disease should be labeled “North American influenza,” in keeping with a long medical tradition of naming influenza pandemics for the regions where they were first identified. This has included the Spanish flu of 1918 to 1919, the Asian flu of 1957 to 1958 and the Hong Kong flu of 1967 to 1968.

The debate is likely to continue as scientists and health authorities try to trace the disease. While all signs now point to Mexico as the epicenter, the genetic material in the virus there was a swine influenza virus of Eurasian origin. And influenza viruses tend to emerge from Asia.
MORE HERE

“The poorer and the developing countries are the ones that get the hardest.”

2009-04-28T11:21:00.000-04:00

The WHO’s Keiji Fukuda is talking to reporters about the current swine flu situation. Here’s what he’s saying.

There have been 79 laboratory confirmed infections. Forty from U.S., 26 from Mexico, six from Canada, two from Spain, two from the U.K. and three from New Zealand. The WHO is reporting seven laboratory-confirmed deaths, all in Mexico. That’s a lower figure for deaths than others have reported.

It’s unclear whether this will turn into a pandemic. But countries should prepare for that possibility.

WHO is looking at needs of developing countries in case of a pandemic. “The poorer and the developing countries are the ones that get the hardest.”

Re. case counts: “There are a lot of numbers floating out there.” In some instances, officials are talking about laboratory-confirmed cases, in others they are talking about suspected cases.

FDA approves Tamiflu and Relenza for swine flu; epidemic crossed new borders

2009-04-28T09:08:00.001-04:00

The epidemic crossed new borders, with the first cases confirmed Tuesday in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific regions. There were 92 confirmed cases world-wide on Tuesday, including 11 in New Zealand, one in Israel, six in Canada and two in Scotland. The number of U.S. cases rose to 50, the result of further testing at a New York City school, although none was fatal.

FDA approves emergency rules for antiviral drugs
The threat of swine flu has prompted the FDA to approve emergency rules for certain antiviral drugs.

Under the new rules, doctors will be able to use the drugs for a wider range of the population in case mass treatment is needed to deal with swine flu.

The agency originally approved the use of the antiviral drug Tamiflu for the prevention and treatment of influenza in adults and children age 1 and older. Another antiviral drug, Relenza, was originally approved to treat people 7 and older and to help prevent flu in those 5 and older.

Now, the FDA is allowing Tamiflu to be used to treat and prevent flu in children under 1 and to provide doses other than originally approved in children over 1. And both Tamiflu and Relenza may be distributed to larger segments of the population without complying with the approved label requirements.

Is It Safe to Fly During the Swine Flu Outbreak?

2009-04-28T07:58:00.001-04:00

Is It Safe to Fly During the Swine Flu Outbreak?
The novel infectious agent implicated in the current swine flu outbreak — comprised of genetic material from pigs, birds and humans — has shown the world once again the role air travel plays in rapidly spreading infectious outbreaks. The reported swine flu cases outside of Mexico likely came from infected tourists traveling home from Mexico on commercial aircraft or their close contacts. As Nobel Laureate Joshua Lederberg once wrote: “The microbe that felled one child in a distant continent yesterday can reach yours today and seed a global pandemic tomorrow.”
Question

Are there ways to protect oneself against the spread of swine flu when flying?
Answer

Because the passenger cabin airflow is compartmentalized into several sections, risk of on-board transmission of infection is mainly restricted to individuals with either close personal contact with an infected and contagious passenger or seated within two rows of a contagious passenger. Unfortunately, we don’t always have the opportunity to select who we are going to be seated next to, so exposure is pure chance.

Here are some measures you can take to help protect yourself during air travel during this outbreak: CLICK HERE FOR MORE....

Questions: The Swine Flu Outbreak

2009-04-28T07:54:00.004-04:00

How dangerous is the sudden outbreak of swine flu? What makes this virus different from previous flu viruses? Pam Belluck, a science reporter at The Times, is answering readers’ questions about swine flu and its implications for health.

I had a swine flu shot in 1976 while I was five months pregnant because President Gerald Ford decided that was a good thing (seven pigs in New Jersey had the swine flu). Would this 1976 swine flu shot immunize me and my 32-year-old son from the swine flu now?
— Marilyn Osborne
Birmingham, Ala.
Answer

Dr. Scott P. Layne, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health, said that the vaccine is “probably too far removed to be of much help.” He added, “There may be some mild lingering benefit, but I wouldn’t count on it. It’s certainly not going to prevent against infection.”
Question

What is the mode of human-to-human transmission of the swine flu virus? How long does the virus live outside the human host — i.e., on objects (like door handles) and in the air (for instance, on dust particles)?
— Andy Beckerman
Bennington, Vt.
Answer

The swine flu virus is transmitted the same way other flu viruses are spread, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The most common method of transmission is airborne — being in fairly closeproximity to an infected person who is coughing or sneezing. It is also ... CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Assessing the Danger of New Flu

2009-04-28T07:50:00.000-04:00

Assessing the Danger of New Flu

HONG KONG — Sorting through the “marquee flus” of recent years — SARS, avian flu and now swine flu — is complicated.

The three come from different viruses and carry different kinds of danger, depending on ease of transmission and virulence. As a benchmark, the deadliest influenza pandemic in the past century, the Spanish influenza of 1918 to 1919, had an estimated mortality rate of around 2.5 percent but killed tens of millions of people because it spread so widely.

The new swine flu cases are caused by an influenza strain called H1N1, which appears to be easily passed from person to person. Mexican health authorities have confirmed 149 deaths from that flu and are investigating the illnesses of 1,600 people, and the United States, Canada, Spain and other countries have confirmed or are investigating cases.

But doctors have little information yet on the mortality rate, as there is no reliable data on the total number of people infected. Reports from the United States suggest that some cases may be mild and therefore may go undetected — allowing the disease to spread further. Flu experts are trying to determine if this year’s flu shots, which contain H1N1 strain, offer any protection.

WHO raises its pandemic alert level on swine flu

2009-04-27T17:09:00.000-04:00

WHO raises its pandemic alert level on swine flu
MEXICO CITY — The World Health Organization raised its global alert level today, signaling the swine flu virus was spreading from human to human in community outbreaks, but it stopped short of declaring a full-blown pandemic.

The WHO announcement in Geneva followed a decision by the top EU health official urging Europeans to postpone nonessential travel to parts of the United States and Mexico because of the virus.

Mexico health department spokesman Carlos Olmos confirmed the move by the WHO to raise the alert level from Phase 3 to Phase 4.

Putting an alert at Phases 4 or 5 signals that the swine flu virus is becoming increasingly adept at spreading among humans. That move could lead governments to set trade, travel and other restrictions aimed at limiting the disease’s spread.

The WHO’s Phase 6 is the pandemic phase, characterized by outbreaks in at least two regions of the world.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the United States is preparing as if the swine flu outbreak already is a full pandemic... CLICK HERE FOR MORE...

Asia activates pandemic protection -- DO YOU REALLY HAVE TO EAT PORK NOW?

2009-04-27T16:52:00.003-04:00

“We are very comfortable that our pork is safe,” Smithfield president and chief executive Larry Pope said in an interview. “This is not a swine issue. This is a human-to-human issue.”
DO YOU REALLY HAVE TO EAT PORK NOW? or for that matter, anytime? Why eat Pork, or any meat? Be healthy, be a vegetarian. Trust me, your life will change for the better. And, yeah, it is a SWINE issue!

Asia activates pandemic protection
Governments across the Asia-Pacific region have been activating pandemic protection programmes to fend off the potential spread of swine flu.The virus is already suspected of having reached New Zealand, where 10 schoolchildren who had recently returned from a holiday in Mexico have been isolated while samples are being tested for the disease, and Australia, where five people are undergoing similar tests.

Asia has raw memories of the devastating economic and social effects of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, and the more recent depredations of so-called bird flu, both of which – like swine flu – are believed to have jumped the species barrier to infect and occasionally kill humans.

Airports around Asia on Monday ramped up the use of scanners designed to detect elevated temperatures in arriving passengers. Indonesia banned all pork imports, with China implementing more limited curbs. The Philippines increased quarantine inspections of imported swine, while there were fresh runs on anti-flu medication such as Tamiflu and Relenza.

---------------

CONCACAF is canceling the rest of its U-17 championship soccer matches in Tijuana, Mexico, because of swine flu concerns

WHO moves up meeting - may raise Pandemic-alert level

2009-04-27T14:30:00.002-04:00

The World Health Organization moved up a planned meeting to decide whether to hike the the global pandemic-alert level to Phase 4 or 5, up from the current Phase 3. The meeting had originally been scheduled for Tuesday but is instead taking place today. So what are these phases, anyway? See here:

Current WHO phase of pandemic alert
Current phase of alert in the WHO global influenza preparedness plan
Pandemic preparedness

In the 2009 revision of the phase descriptions, WHO has retained the use of a six-phased approach for easy incorporation of new recommendations and approaches into existing national preparedness and response plans. The grouping and description of pandemic phases have been revised to make them easier to understand, more precise, and based upon observable phenomena. Phases 1–3 correlate with preparedness, including capacity development and response planning activities, while Phases 4–6 clearly signal the need for response and mitigation efforts. Furthermore, periods after the first pandemic wave are elaborated to facilitate post pandemic recovery activities.

The current WHO phase of pandemic alert is 3.

In nature, influenza viruses circulate continuously among animals, especially birds. Even though such viruses might theoretically develop into pandemic viruses, in Phase 1 no viruses circulating among animals have been reported to cause infections in humans.

In Phase 2 an animal influenza virus circulating among domesticated or wild animals is known to have caused infection in humans, and is therefore considered a potential pandemic threat.

In Phase 3, an animal or human-animal influenza reassortant virus has caused sporadic cases or small clusters of disease in people, but has not resulted in human-to-human transmission sufficient to sustain community-level outbreaks. Limited human-to-human transmission may occur under some circumstances, for example, when there is close contact between an infected person and an unprotected caregiver. However, limited transmission under such restricted circumstances does not indicate that the virus has gained the level of transmissibility among humans necessary to cause a pandemic.

Phase 4 is characterized by verified human-to-human transmission of an animal or human-animal influenza reassortant virus able to cause “community-level outbreaks.” The ability to cause sustained disease outbreaks in a community marks a significant upwards shift in the risk for a pandemic. Any country that suspects or has verified such an event should urgently consult with WHO so that the situation can be jointly assessed and a decision made by the affected country if implementation of a rapid pandemic containment operation is warranted. Phase 4 indicates a significant increase in risk of a pandemic but does not necessarily mean that a pandemic is a forgone conclusion.

Phase 5 is characterized by human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region (Figure 4). While most countries will not be affected at this stage, the declaration of Phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short.

Phase 6, the pandemic phase, is characterized by community level outbreaks in at least one other country in a different WHO region in addition to the criteria defined in Phase 5. Designation of this phase will indicate that a global pandemic is under way.

During the post-peak period, pandemic disease levels in most countries with adequate surveillance will have dropped below peak observed levels. The post-peak period signifies that pandemic activity appears to be decreasing; however, it is uncertain if additional waves will occur and countries will need to be prepared for a second wave.

Previous pandemics have been characterized by waves of activity spread over months. Once the level of disease activity drops, a critical communications task will be to balance this information with the possibility of another wave. Pandemic waves can be separated by months and an immediate “at-ease” signal may be premature.

In the post-pandemic period, influenza disease activity will have returned to levels normally seen for seasonal influenza. It is expected that the pandemic virus will behave as a seasonal influenza A virus. At this stage, it is important to maintain surveillance and update pandemic preparedness and response plans accordingly. An intensive phase of recovery and evaluation may be required.

Basics about the swine flu outbreak

2009-04-27T14:09:00.000-04:00

Here are a few basics about the swine flu outbreak. We’ll continue to update this post to keep up with new developments.

What is swine flu?

It’s flu that occurs in pigs. In rare cases, humans contract swine flu from close contact with pigs. The strain circulating now is cause for concern because it can pass directly from person to person. Like routine human flu, cases of swine flu can range from mild to severe.

Is the disease the same in Mexico and the U.S.?

The virus appears to be the same. But the disease has caused at least 20 deaths in Mexico, while it has appeared more mild in the 20 confirmed U.S. cases, with no deaths and most patients recovering without needing to be hospitalized. It’s unclear why confirmed cases have been more severe in Mexico than in the U.S. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official warned on Sunday that as cases continue to emerge in the U.S., some may prove fatal.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms are similar to those of regular flu: fever, along with problems such as cough, sore throat, body aches, headaches, chills and fatigue. Some cases have also included reports of vomiting or diarrhea.

What should I do if I feel sick?

People with ordinary flu symptoms do not need to seek emergency care, New York City officials said. But people with certain warning signs in addition to basic symptoms should seek urgent attention. In children, those signs include difficulty breathing; bluish skin color; flu symptoms that begin to improve, then return with fever and worse cough; and fever with a rash. In adults, warning signs include difficulty breathing, pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen, sudden dizziness, confusion, and severe or persistent vomiting.

Can the swine flu be treated with drugs?

Two drugs, sold under the brand names Tamiflu and Relenza, may reduce the severity and the duration of the disease. But most of the patients who contracted swine flu in the U.S. have recovered without taking the drugs. Both drugs have also been approved to reduce the risk of contracting the seasonal flu. But, unlike a vaccine, they do not provide long-lasting protection. So their preventive use is typically for short-term situations, such as for people who are at high risk of complications from the flu and who have a family member who has the flu. The drugs, which are included in the federal government’s pandemic stockpile, are only available with a doctor’s prescription.

Does this year’s flu vaccine protect against the swine flu?

The CDC says the seasonal flu vaccine is “unlikely to provide protection” against the swine flu. The agency has created a “seed vaccine” specifically tailored to this swine flu. That could be used to manufacture a targeted vaccine if officials deem it necessary to do so. But manufacturing a new vaccine would take months.

Are there ways to reduce the spread of disease?

Cover your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze. Wash your hands often. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Avoid close contact with infected people. People who have mild symptoms should stay home from school or work until 48 hours after the symptoms have passed, to avoid spreading disease, New York health officials said.

Where can I get more information?

For more information, see the CDC’s swine flu page and the initial report on cases in the U.S.
SEE previous posts below for LINKS to CDC site

We don’t think any of the existing vaccines are effective” against swine flu...

2009-04-27T13:54:00.003-04:00

C-SPAN has now posted video of the entire C.D.C. briefing by Acting Director Dr. Richard Besser, which just ended a few minutes ago, on its Web site.

NY TIMES SWINE FLU BLOG UPDATE

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said more than 100 students at a parochial school in Queens contracted an illness that was probably swine flu, but the students were either recovering or stable and the outbreak appeared to be contained.

FROM CDC SWINE FLUE PAGE:
Laboratory testing has found the swine influenza A (H1N1) virus susceptible to the prescription antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir. This is a rapidly evolving situation and CDC will provide updated guidance and new information as it becomes available.

Udates at CDC Swine FLU page

“We don’t think any of the existing vaccines are effective” against swine flu, Besser says. Officials are discussing various vaccine-related possibilities, which could include manufacturing a new vaccine or including a swine flu strain in next year’s seasonal vaccine.

1:20 “We would not recommend that people wear masks in the workplace as a precautionary measure,” Besser says. The evidence of value of masks outside of health care settings “is not very strong.”

He added: “I would rather people really focus on hand washing, not giving that little kiss of greeting when you’re meeting right now.” (He later clarified this comment to say the kiss-of-greeting recommendation applies specifically to people who are feeling sick or may have come in close contact with the disease. “We’re not recommending an end to affection.”)

If WHO raises pandemic alert level one notch, it “would not change anything” about what is being done within the U.S., Besser says.

CDC is sending test kits to some states, so state labs can detect swine flu. Currently, samples must be sent to CDC for confirmation.

Of the 40 confirmed cases in U.S., there has been one hospitalization.

Besser says it is “quite premature” for other countries to put travel restrictions on people coming to the United States.

USEFUL SWINE FLU BLOGS:

WSJ Tracking Swine Flu

WHO may raise its pandemic alert level

2009-04-27T11:36:00.000-04:00

The World Health Organization says there are now 40 confirmed cases of swine flu in the U.S. and that it is “very concerned” about the disease’s spread. WHO says none of the cases in the U.S. have been fatal. The U.N. agency says it could decide in a matter of hours
whether to raise its pandemic alert level as a result of the increasing number of confirmed swine flu cases in Mexico and elsewhere. WHO spokesman Paul Garwood said an emergency meeting is being led Monday by agency chief Dr. Margaret Chan.

EU countries revive pandemic plans

2009-04-27T11:35:00.000-04:00

The first confirmed case of swine flu in the European Union, in Spain, prompted EU countries to revive pandemic plans drawn up in 2005 and 2006 at the height of the avian flu crisis. On Monday, EU governments briefed doctors and hospitals, set up telephone hotlines and required travelers from the U.S. and Mexico to fill out health forms, all measures designed several years ago for avian flu.

Fears of a global swine flu pandemic grew with new infections in the United States and Canada on Sunday,

2009-04-26T22:37:00.000-04:00

Fears of a global swine flu pandemic grew with new infections in the United States and Canada on Sunday, and millions of Mexicans stayed indoors to avoid a virus that has already killed up to 81 people.
While the deaths have been limited to Mexico, the flu is spreading with 20 cases in the United States and six in Canada, and possible cases as far afield as Europe, Israel and New Zealand.

Offering a glimmer of hope in Mexico, President Felipe Calderon said most of the roughly 1,300 people in the country suspected of having the flu have been given a clean bill of health and sent home.

Nervousness about the outbreak knocked the dollar to its lowest level in a month against the yen, however, as traders in Asia fled into alternative currencies like the yen and the Swiss franc. The Mexican peso also weakened and oil prices fell as the weekend news sunk in.

The United States declared a public health emergency and a top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, said she feared there would be deaths in the United States as the new strain of flu spreads.

In Mexico, the health minister was due to give an update on the situation on Monday morning.

The Mexican capital, one of the world's biggest cities, slowed to a snail's pace as millions of residents stayed at home, fearing infection. Many who ventured out wore masks and some companies asked employees to work from home on Monday.

"This is the first time I've left the house in two days. I had to get some air," said Juan Casiano, a 39-year-old office worker, walking briskly through a city park. Continued...

Some facts about swine flu

2009-04-26T22:31:00.001-04:00

WHO chief Margaret Chan says the global body is taking the outbreak very seriously, though comparisons with the 1918 epidemic are premature.

Here are some facts about swine flu:

Q. What is swine flu?

A. Swine flu is a highly contagious acute respiratory disease normally found in pigs. It spreads through tiny particles in the air or by direct contact. According to WHO it tends to infect large numbers of a given pig population, killing between 1 and 4 percent of those affected. Not every animal infected displays symptoms.

Q. Where do outbreaks occur?

A. Swine flu is considered endemic in the United States, and outbreaks in pigs have also been reported elsewhere in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and parts of eastern Asia.

Q. How do humans contract the virus?

A. People usually become infected through contact with pigs, though some cases of LIMITED human-to-human transmission have been reported.

Q. Is it safe to eat pork products?

A. WHO says properly handled and prepared pork products are safe to eat. The swine flu virus dies when cooked at temperatures of 160 F/70C or higher.

Q. How high is the risk of a pandemic?

A. Since the swine flu outbreaks in Mexico and U.S. Were identified, the risk of a pandemic has increased. Health officials worry the swine flu might develop into a form easily spread among humans. To do this, it could combine with a human flu virus or mutate on its own into a transmissible form. Experts worry that the more the virus circulates, the more likely a pandemic strain will emerge. But there is no way to predict when a pandemic strain will develop.

Q. Does a vaccine exist?

A. Pigs in North America are routinely vaccinated for swine flu, but no vaccine exists for humans. In any case, the flu virus evolves quickly, meaning that vaccines are soon obsolete. Health officials say there is no suggestion that the vaccine prepared for seasonal flu will protect against swine flu.

While people who are given the seasonal flu vaccine will probably be not protected against swine flu, it may prevent them from getting the seasonal flu. If they are then infected with swine flu, that reduces the possibility of the two flus mixing in that person to create a potential pandemic strain.

Q. What other treatment is there?

A. The swine flu virus detected in Mexico and the United States appears to respond to treatment with oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza). In terms of prevention, maintaining good hygiene, for example regular hand-washing and staying a safe distance from those infected, may help.

In addition to the outbreak of the swine flu in Mexico, several cases have been reported in the US, including 8 NYC prep school students who are believed to have contracted an undetermined strain.

Swine flu: The basics

2009-04-26T22:26:00.001-04:00

Swine flu: The basics
How do people get it? What are symptoms? And more details.
April 27, 2009

What is swine flu?

Swine flu is a general term for flu viruses adapted to pigs. Swine flu can infect humans, most often from a pig to someone handling pigs. It can pass from human to human via coughing, sneezing or touching infected people or surfaces then touching the mouth or nose. It is not contracted by eating well-cooked pork.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms are similar to regular flu: fever, fatigue, sore throat, cough, poor appetite, body aches and chills. Some people also have nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

How dangerous is this swine flu?

In Mexico, health officials have confirmed that 20 deaths were linked with swine flu; dozens more are suspected. But all known cases in the U.S. have been mild. Experts don't know how deadly swine flu is because they don't know how many people have been infected. The World Health Organization says that the overall mortality rate is 1% to 4%.

How can flu be prevented?

Cover your mouth when you cough and sneeze. Use tissues and throw them in the trash immediately. Wash your hands often with soap and water. Use alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Avoid sick people. If you are sick, stay home. People who know they have been exposed can get a prescription for the antiviral drugs oseltamivir (Tamiflu) or zanamivir (Relenza).

For more information:

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/pdf/brochure.pdf

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/general_info.htm

Science Races to Parse New Virus - Bug, a Genetic Hybrid, Contains Elements Foreign to Humans, Posing Pandemic Risk

2009-04-26T19:52:00.001-04:00

Science Races to Parse New Virus
Bug, a Genetic Hybrid, Contains Elements Foreign to Humans, Posing Pandemic Risk
Avian flu and SARS rudely awoke the world to the possibility of a new pandemic. Could a seemingly more mundane bug now put the world to the test?

The swine flu virus that may have killed more than 80 people in Mexico and appears to have sickened hundreds more is still a mystery contagion. But this much is known: The virus is unusually made up of genetic material from avian, pig and human viruses; it can transmit from person to person; and in many people, it only triggers mild symptoms seen in garden-variety influenza.

The current virus is mainly sickening the young and the healthy, yet such bugs are notorious for their ability to evolve. "We are too early in our investigations to be able to address the lethality of the virus," said Keiji Fukuda, interim assistant director-general at the World Health Organization, said Sunday. "Properties of flu viruses can change -- they can go from mild to being more severe and can move from being more severe to less."
MORE HERE

VACATION INDIA, JANUARY 2010

2009-04-26T19:48:00.002-04:00

GOPIO Trinidad & Tobago invites you to be a part of Vacation India in
January 2010. As you may recall from the online updates, we had a
fabulous time during the last trip in September/October 2007. We aim to
have even more fun on the upcoming January 2010 Vacation India -
reserve a place now! For more info: send mail to gopiott@gmail.com or deobisnath@yahoo.com

Call for global action; Scientists are baffled and deeply worried by outbreak of swine flu

2009-04-26T19:29:00.003-04:00

A couple wearing masks kiss in Mexico City as a swine flu outbreak sweeps through the city.

Swine flu: call for global action as Mexico outbreak spreads
Governments worldwide on high alert for virus which has so far claimed 86 lives and confined hundreds to hospital

Monday, 27 April 2009

Governments around the world were put on high alert yesterday for a possible swine flu pandemic as the death toll from the virus at its epicentre in Mexico continued to rise and possible cases were reported as far afield as Israel, New Zealand and Scotland.

The World Health Organisation followed up its weekend declaration of an international public health emergency over the outbreak by calling for worldwide surveillance of the spread of the virus, which has rapidly claimed 86 lives, confined hundreds to hospital and brought one of the world's largest cities to a near standstill.

---

Scientists are baffled and deeply worried by the latest outbreak of swine flu for two reasons: It appears to combine bird, swine and human viruses in a way that hasn't been seen before, and it is spreading from person to person.

Although swine flu has been known to sporadically infect people, it has usually occurred in rare cases in which the virus jumps from swine to humans who are directly exposed to the animals, such as pig farmers.

Canada became the third country to confirm human cases of swine flu Sunday as global health officials considered whether to raise the global pandemic alert level.

Nations from New Zealand to Spain also reported suspected cases, and some warned citizens against travel to North America while others planned quarantines, tightened rules on pork imports and tested airline passengers for fevers.

The six Canadian cases in Nova Scotia and British Columbia all had links to people who had traveled to Mexico, and all are the same swine flu strain.

The six people have recovered, said Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer.

But "these are probably not the last cases we'll see in Canada," he said.

The news follows the World Health Organization's decision Saturday to declare the outbreak first detected in Mexico and the United States a "public health emergency of international concern."

A senior World Health Organization official said the agency's emergency committee will meet for a second time Tuesday to examine the spread of the virus before deciding whether to increase the alert for a possible pandemic, or global epidemic.

SWINE FLU: U.S. Declares Public Health Emergency

2009-04-26T14:33:00.003-04:00

Trinidad & Tobago has finally realized the dangers posed by the Global SWINE FLU outbreak, with news reports that the Minister of Health are monitoring the situation. Good to hear that, especially on a Sunday. People should wear nose and mouth masks - the Flu will get here so better to be prepared.

See here for guidelines to prevent and treat SWINE FLU.

U.S. declares Public Health Emergency
American health officials on Sunday declared a publichealth emergency over increasing cases of swine flu, saying that they had confirmed 20 cases of the disease in the United States and expected to see more as investigators fan out to track down the path of the outbreak.

FROM CDC website:
Laboratory testing has found the swine influenza A (H1N1) virus susceptible to the prescription antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir and has issued interim guidance for the use of these drugs to treat and prevent infection with swine influenza viruses. CDC also has prepared interim guidance on how to care for people who are sick and interim guidance on the use of face masks in a community setting where spread of this swine flu virus has been detected. This is a rapidly evolving situation and CDC will provide new information as it becomes available.
There are everyday actions people can take to stay healthy.

Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.
Try to avoid close contact with sick people.

Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people.
If you get sick, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

Interesting article in the Newy York Times about the Global Pandemic Threat:
This swine flu outbreak may be a good test of protocols that were created in recent years given the ongoing threat from avian flu. A Washington Post story on delayed word in the United States of the severity of Mexican flu cases and nature of the strain indicates that all may not be going smoothly.

And the pandemic threat remains a “when,” not an “if,” many international health experts say. As a recent Food and Agriculture Organization paper put it, global mobility and trade, expanding and intensifying livestock production and the ongoing disruption of ecosystems have created “a global commons of disease risk” spanning not only human populations but also our interface with the animal kingdom, both domesticated and wild.

Human Swine Influenza Investigation - Updates from CDC

2009-04-26T10:26:00.002-04:00

More updates from the CDC page as Swine Flu spreads rapidly, beyond Mexico

Human Swine Influenza Investigation
April 25, 2009 19:30 EDT

Human cases of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus infection have been identified in the U.S. in San Diego County and Imperial County, California as well as in San Antonio, Texas. Internationally, human cases of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus infection have been identified in Mexico.

U.S. Human Cases of Swine Flu Infection
State # of laboratory
confirmed cases
California 7 cases
Texas 2 cases
Kansas 2 cases
TOTAL COUNT 11 cases
International Human Cases of Swine Flu Infection
See: World Health Organization
As of April 25th, 2009 7:30 p.m. EDT

Investigations are ongoing to determine the source of the infection and whether additional people have been infected with similar swine influenza viruses.

CDC is working very closely with state and local officials in California, Texas, as well as with health officials in Mexico, Canada and the World Health Organization. On April 24th, CDC deployed 7 epidemiologists to San Diego County, California and Imperial County, California and 1 senior medical officer to Texas to provide guidance and technical support for the ongoing epidemiologic field investigations. CDC has also deployed to Mexico 1 medical officer and 1 senior expert who are part of a global team that is responding to the outbreak of respiratory illnesses in Mexico.

Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people. There are many things you can to do preventing getting and spreading influenza:

There are everyday actions people can take to stay healthy.

Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.
Try to avoid close contact with sick people.

Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people.
If you get sick, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

SWINE FLU spreading rapidly, WHO sounds global alarn

2009-04-25T22:07:00.003-04:00

This is a major outbreak of FLU, specifically SWINE FLU, that started
on Mexico a few weeks ago. There could be cases in Trinidad - from Mexicans who were here for the Summit, visitors to Trinidad, or Trinidadians returning from abroad. NY has reported 6 cases, all in Queens where there is a substantial Caribbean population, with immigrants traveling to and from Trinidad and the Caribbean.

See here for information on SWINE FLUE:
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm

SWINE FLU can be prevented and there are medications for treating the disease.

WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan urged all countries to boost their surveillance for any unusual outbreaks of influenza-like illness and severe pneumonia.

"It has pandemic potential because it is infecting people," Chan said in Geneva. "However, we cannot say on the basis of currently available laboratory, epidemiological and clinical evidence whether or not it will indeed cause a pandemic."

NEW YORK — Two cases of the human swine influenza have been confirmed in Kansas and one more in California, bringing the U.S. total to 11. At least eight students at a New York City high school probably have swine flu also, but health officials said Saturday they don't know whether they have the same strain of the virus that has killed people in Mexico.

As many as 81 deaths suspected in swine flu outbreak

MEXICO CITY (AP) - The number of deaths that could be linked to the swine flu outbreak in Mexico is rising.

Officials say as many as 81 people may have been killed by the novel strain. More than 1,300 have likely been sickened by the virus since April 13.

In response to the outbreak, Mexico's president has assumed new powers to isolate people infected and inspect homes, incoming travelers and baggage. Mexican soldiers and health workers are patrolling airports and bus stations in an attempt to corral those who may have the virus.

Epidemiologists, however, say Mexico's actions may come too late and detaining the ill may not be enough to contain the outbreak. There are at least 11 confirmed cases in the U.S. and more are suspected in New York.

The World Health Organization says the outbreak has "pandemic potential," but says it's still too early to tell how far it will spread.

The World Health Organization declared the outbreaks a "public health event of international concern" and said they could cause a pandemic -- a global epidemic of serious disease.

The last flu pandemic was in 1968 when "Hong Kong" flu killed about 1 million people globally.

A new pandemic would deal a major blow to a world economy already knocked into its worst recession in decades by the crisis in financial markets.

Same old, Same old from Fidel Castro

2009-04-25T15:23:00.001-04:00

Same old, Same old from Fidel Castro

After President Obama's eased travel restrictions and money transfer to Cuba, President Raul Castro responded with an unambiguous pledge: "We could be wrong, we admit it. We're human beings, we're willing to sit down to talk as it should be done, willing to discuss everything, human rights, freedom of press, political prisoners, everything, everything, everything they want to talk about, but as equals, without the smallest shadow cast on our sovereignty, and without the slightest violation of the Cuban people's right to self-determination.

President Castro's promise was hailed by many in the Caribbean, Latin America, and the United States as an indication that Cuba was serious about meeting and discussing Cuba/American relations with the United States, with the Caribbean leaders being potential intermediaries.

Now, we hear from Fidel Castro that the world, including President Obama, 'misinterpreted' Raul Castro's remarks. What's to misinterpret? There can be no doubt that Raul Castro said that Cuba was prepared to discuss 'everything.' But no one should be surprised at the swift turnaround by Fidel Castro.

A few days ago, Andres Oppenheimer, a Miami Herald columnist summed it up succinctly:
"I'm skeptical that Cuba is sincere in its claims to want better ties with Washington . The Cuban dictatorship needs a confrontation with the United States to justify its absolute hold on power and its total suppression of political, labor and civil rights. Over the past 50 years, every time Washington has moved to improve bilateral ties, Fidel Castro has done something to sabotage it. "

Fidel has already gotten concessions from the United States which translates to more Cuban American dollars heading Havana's way, including the 20% in "fees" skimmed off the top by the Cuban Government. Fidel has no qualms in admitting Cuba uses the revenue from fees on exchanging dollars to provide free health care, education and subsidized food to all of its population. This is a startling confession from Fidel: the much-vaunted Cuban health and education system was developed and is maintained with money emanating from the Great Satan.

Fidel preaches to us that "we are living in a new era. Changes are unavoidable. Leaders just pass through; peoples prevail." Yes, except the Castros, Maximum Leaders, who have prevailed for almost five decades. Why bother with democracy, freedom of the press, and allowing Cubans to travel abroad and gain access to goods and services from the outside world?

So much for the new beginning, the new direction, the new way forward, and the optimism after President Obama's initiative and Raul Castro's encouraging response. Fidel prefers to keep Cuba and Cubans in the world of the 1960s.

Deosaran Bisnath, April 23rd, 2009

VACATION INDIA, JANUARY 2010

2009-04-25T15:21:00.001-04:00

The President of GOPIO Trinidad & Tobago, Mr. Deosaran Bisnath, invites
you to be a part of Vacation India in January 2010.
As you may recall from the online updates, we had a fabulous time during
the last trip in September/October 2007. We aim to have even more fun on the
upcoming January 2010 Vacation India - reserve a place now!
For more info: send mail to gopiott@gmail.com or deobisnath@yahoo.com

JOIN US ON TWITTER !http://twitter.com/iTrinidad

http://twitter.com/Chaguanas

Deosaran Bisnath
http://deosaranbisnath.blogspot.com

Obama amongst the Lilliputians

2009-04-25T15:15:00.002-04:00

Another take on the 5th Summit of the Americas.... Obama handling the "caciques and panjandrums"

Yankee-bashing at the OAS.

Reading of the manner in which Barack Obama has been harangued by a motley assortment of caciques and panjandrums at the summit meeting of the Organization of American States, I am put in mind of Gulliver in Lilliput.....

As Gulliver was, so too is Barack Obama in Lilliput.........

Let's be blunt: The Organization of American States adds nothing of value to the conduct of international relations. If we were to erase it entirely from the global dance-card, we would not miss it for a moment. It is a political wind-farm, a hemispheric council of blather. For proof, sample these words, from its own Web site: "The Organization of American States (OAS) brings together the nations of the Western Hemisphere to strengthen cooperation on democratic values, defend common interests and debate the major issues facing the region and the world.".......

Hmm. I get it. It "brings together." It "strengthens cooperation." It "defends common interests." And most crucially--most pricelessly--it "debates"!........

We know we're in La-La Land when the president of the United States gets lectures on justice from a thuggish ex-Sandinista who presides over one of the most corrupt governments in the hemisphere. But look not for logic here. Think only of Gulliver, as he perceived a "human Creature not six inches high." And think, too, of the Lilliputian Ortega, making himself tall by standing atop a behemoth.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/19/obama-ortega-chavez-cuba-opinions-columnists-oas.html

Contextualizing the Roots of Chutney Music

2009-04-25T00:07:00.000-04:00

Contextualizing the Roots of Chutney Music

by

Dr. Ashford Maharaj

Finance Professor, Berkeley College, White Plains, NY

The birth of Chutney as an art form must be broadened to include a greater contextual comprehension of a more encompassing antecedent that has allowed chutney to become popular Trinidad and Caribbean art form. Writers of this newest Caribbean genre of music and lyrical content usually starts with the Ramdeo Chaitoe break-away melody followed by the Drupati’s dancehall music utilizing a blending of the dholak and dhantall percussion instruments backed by the ever popular harmonium, at the all-night wedding farewell celebration. But in retrospect, these two Surinamese artists may have created an avalanche for the acceptance for Indo-Caribbean genre of music into the dancehalls and mainstream Caribbean cultural milieu and had set the tone of music that would challenge the hegemonic creolized music art form represented by rhythms of calypso. But a deeper understanding and a wider focus are necessary to add to the Chutney narrative which for so long has missed some essential ingredients for a more profound and complete understanding of the seeds of Chutney music and the accompanying lyrical contents.

Just as calypso was a form of picong singing among the freed African salves in the Caribbean and in particular Trinidad so to were ballad singing and “picong throwing” ex-tempo songs being found on the sugar estates where the contracted sugar-cane labourers would throw picong to each other on paydays in the rumshops and at wedding farewells in villages across the land. And since the modern day roots of Chutney was traced to the very popular and turning point of this genre of music with the much celebrated and nostalgic rendition of “Nani and Nana” by the late Sundar Popo such a cultural milestone did not just appear in isolation. By widening this Chutney narrative and broadening the geographical and historical contexts we would find a more accommodating cradle for the birth of the modern day Chutney more aptly known as Chutney Soca.

In the geographical context, it was within a two-mile radius where the forerunners to, and including Sundar Popo’s home village, would be found the setting and the true cradle of the Chutney music art form. For it was within the two small villages of Lengua and Lower Barrackpore where, in addition to Sundar Popo, we would find the boyhood villages of two great musical heroes, Ras Shorty I and Henri Tulum Dindial both of whom should be considered as pioneers in Chutney and Soca or by juxtaposition, Chutney-Soca, the modern day genre of indigenous Indo-Caribbean diasporic art form.

Ras Shorty I, who would later become known as the father of Soca music, was schooled, like Sundar Popo’s mother, at same Lengua Presbyterian School, the institution that was also responsible for yours truly early childhood’s education. Garfield Blackman (Ras Shorty I) career as a singer focused on cross over music in that many of his early calypsos and later Soca renditions featured music with Indian percussion instruments. In fact, a few of his Soca compositions were accompanied by Indian orchestras such as Acme’s Dal-E-Nadan among other popular bands. And by way of Opposition politics, Ras Shorty was the first calypsonian to sing pro-Opposition and anti-PNM lyrics so much so that he was, a matter vengeance, charged by a Port-of-Spain senior police officer for profanity when he did include Dr. Eric William’s name in Dimanche Gras Night’s calypso rendition at the Queens Park Savannah in 1972. In fact, Garfield Blackman, in his early singing career felt that at the rate of advancement in the Chutney art form and the popularity of Mastana Bahar in the 1970s meant that there should soon be Indian Calypso tents of which he would like to be the first to be enlisted under his already patented sobriquet of the Mighty Jagroop Bridgelal. Incidentally, Sudar Popo’s grandparents, his Nani and his Nana) lived no more that 300 yards away from Ras Shorty I’s boyhood home in Lengua.

The second great forerunner to modern day Chutney is the late great, Henry Tulum Dindial, who was perhaps the first Indian classical singer to ever sing a complete Indian song in English to the beats of the Dholak and Dhantall and the ever popular North India ’s musical instrument, the harmonium. Tulum’s earliest Indian composition in complete English was titled “At Freeman’s Bay in South Trinidad .” This Indian song in English, which was quite popular even among Afro-Trinidadians perhaps because of the social commentary completely in English, depicted the crime-solving, trial, and conviction of Dr. Dalip Singh for the murder of his German-born wife, Inge on whose deceased body, he himself was the postmortem surgeon. But this was not Tulum’s only early accomplishments for it was in 1962 when he would go on to be crowned Indian Independence singing King with his rendition “Aaur Independence , Aaur Colonialism” and beating out dozens of other popular competitors. That Indian Independence song was patriotic and riveting enmeshed with an entertaining blend of both Trinidadian parlance and Hindustani words to celebrate the Independence of Trinidad & Tobago. Incidentally, Tulum was also credited for being the only Trinidadian who could play the harmonium with his toes. Widen this Lengua-Upper Barrackpore mecca of Chutney and Soca one-half of a mile more and one would find another early Chutney singing sensation out of Penal and who is that other Trinidad Chutney icon Drupatie Ramgonie.

And so, whereas previous writers, whose knowledge about Chutney’s origin are relatively limited, the purpose of this short essay may add to that body of existing knowledge on the origin and development of this new and growing distinctively Indo-Caribbean art form of Chutney. Thus, at this point, I would want to postulate further for the fact that the development of modern day Chutney Soca is the choosing of an art form existential of being Afro-Caribbean or more narrowly an integration under the banner of an Afro-Trinidadian cultural identity, Chutney Soca may be a cultural hybrid or the creative synthesis of being Indo-Caribbean or more distinctly being East Indian in Trinidad the Afro-Trinidadian way. Essentially, modern day Chutney is redefining the Indo-Caribbean diasporic music by mounting a strong challenge, re the hegemonic Afro-based Caribbean music, with an indigenous Indo-Caribbean flavor shrouded in and exclusively encoded indigenousness and within a creolized rhythmic context and lyrical content.

SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS: Goodwill but not deal: ALBA Bloc boycotts Final Declaration; Obama cool meets Chavez mania; Summit declaration has just 1 sign

2009-04-19T17:37:00.005-04:00

Chaguanas, Trinidad.
Sunday April 19, 2009
http://deosaranbisnath.blogspot.com

SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS: Goodwill but not deal: ALBA Bloc boycotts Final Declaration; Obama cool meets Chavez mania; Summit declaration has just 1 signatory - PM Manning; Uniting the Americas; Leaders declare Americas summit a success thanks to Obama; Manifestations of disorganization; The Emerging Obama Doctrine; Obama lauds offer by Cuba; End of Cuba embargo 'way down the road': US; Lush, Mountainous Trindad (?); Summit ends without second group photo; Obama suggests Cuba release political prisoners; Obama: Summit 'productive'; Obama Closes Summit with Broad New Agenda; Obama's Latin America debut hailed a success

Dear Readers:

The good news: "This is nice. This is a nice view, huh? Oh, it’s beautiful,"
Obama said, just before the Press Conference for the White House and American media, at the Hilton, overlooking the scenic Gulf of Paria, Northern Range, Port of Spain.....

President Barack Obama speaks during his final news conference at the 5th Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Sunday, April 19, 2009.

FULL TRANSCRIPT OF OBAMA PRESS CONFERENCE HERE:
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003098429

More Good News: Leaders declare Americas summit a success thanks to Obama. Leaders emerged from a retreat at the Summit of the Americas on Sunday unable to sign a wordy final declaration because of reservations by Venezuela and others who wanted stronger language on Cuba and the world financial crisis.
Still, they reached a consensus on adopting a shorter final statement, and more importantly nobody left slamming the door as happened at the last summit in 2005. There were no confrontations between the Americans and some of their rivals. Instead, there were handshakes and Obama's photo-friendly smile.

More Good news: The overriding sense among the 34 heads of state and delegations was of success. A Colombian minister told The Times of his relief that Cuba had not, after all, overshadowed the event.

More Good News: One foreign journalist described Trinidad as "lush and mountainous." Thanks.
Another one referred to us as a "warm locale." We will take that as good news also.

Though Hannah from the London Times called us a sleepy backwater (ouch!), with low-rise candy-coloured buildings! But, she said we have "verdant hills."
"Belying its reputation for gun crime and gang violence, Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad, is little more than a sleepy backwater, boasting low-rise candy-coloured buildings nestled between verdant hills and the Caribbean."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6108249.ece

And, scraping the barrel here, Hillary Clinton just loved the Cultural presentation. I hate to spoil the show, but McFarlane and some experienced local journalists fell for Hillary Clinton's "praise" of the Cultural presentation at the Opening ceremony. People, it was given in the context of Clinton dodging the U.S. reporters question on Ortega's tirade; she was trying to avoid potentially undiplomatic responses to Ortega's droning boring stale 51-minute speech that exasperated PM Manning and threw the whole schedule off. But, let's not quibble, let's still call it good news.

Extremely distressing and disappointing: I felt bad for PM Manning who was abandoned by these Latam Leaders at the end of the Summit. Not even a group photo, as Chavez and company ducked and ran. This is what happened:
Not even a boycott of the summit’s final declaration by members of the Alba bloc (Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our Americas — Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Honduras and Dominica) in protest at Cuba’s absence from the summit could take the gloss off Mr Obama’s regional debut.
Do we really want these people as friends? Disrespecting us, making a mockery of the final Summit Declaration, having our Prime Minister sign the Declaration ALONE, Ortega throwing off the opening ceremony schedule by taking far longer than allocated? I hope never to see the unmannerly and insensitive ALBA leaders in Trinidad.
What a let down! PM Manning had to come out there and sign "on behalf of the other leaders." And, this on International TV. Maybe they should have stayed home while we run the Summit without them, then PM Manning signing it and FEDEXing to all these leaders. Savings: over TT $1 billion. Let us consider doing this for CHOGM and save another $TT billion.

Summit declaration has just 1 signatory - PM Manning
The final declaration of the Summit of Americas, which Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and his leftist bloc refused to sign, turned out to have just one signatory.
It was Prime Minister Patrick Manning, host of the 34-nation summit.
He said during Sunday's closing ceremony that "there was not unanimity, but there was consensus" on the declaration.
Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa was one of those whose disapproval prevented agreement on a final declaration from the 34 heads of state present.
“The final document doesn't talk about Cuba,” he observed. “Nor does it propose a comprehensive solution for the immigration problem, so it’s a light document typical of protocol.”
Well, as Soogrim used to say, they 'eat, drink, be merry, and they gone about their business," not even signing the token declaration.

Manifestations of disorganization at the summit

A distressing report by by FRANK BAJAK (AP):
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — The parting group photo of the Fifth Summit of Americas never happened. Why exactly was a mystery, but the collapse followed organizational shortcomings that even the Caribbean host nation acknowledged.
At the Diplomatic Centre where the 34 leaders held their final retreat, several came out Sunday and took their place on name cards taped to the building's front steps.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez had apparently put some thought into the photo. She wore a bright pink dress.
But after about half the leaders had gathered, President Barack Obama was seen shaking the hand of the summit's host, Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad and Tobago.
Obama was clearly heading out; he had a news conference scheduled at a nearby hotel. Bolivian President Evo Morales had apparently already left. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez was nowhere to be seen.
A member of the host country delegation, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the embarrassing nature of the situation, expressed alarm.
"For some reason they came out bit by bit, piece by piece. One by one. But the photo never happened," the official said.
Manifestations of disorganization at the summit included the host country's failure to provide transcripts of speeches, canceled news conferences and a temporary ban Saturday of news media pools — in which small groups of journalists attend events and later share their material with colleagues.

GET A LIFE, SENATOR ENSIGN!
"I think it was irresponsible for the president to be seen kind of laughing and joking with Hugo Chavez," said Sen. John Ensign, a Nevada Republican. "This is a person along the lines with Fidel Castro and the types of dictatorship that he has down there in Venezuela and the anti-Americanism that he has been spreading around the world is not somebody the president of the United States should be seen as having, you know, kind of friendly relations with."
Obama brushes that aside:
"One of the benefits of my campaign and how I've been trying to operate as president is I don't worry about the politics — I try to figure out what's right in terms of American interests, and on this one I think I'm right."

The Emerging "Obama Doctrine"
He said that first, he remains intent on telling the world that the United States is a powerful and wealthy nation that realizes it is just one country among many. Obama said he believes that other countries have "good ideas" and interests that cannot be ignored.
While historic analogies are never perfect, Obama's stark efforts to change the U.S. image abroad are reminiscent of the stunning realignments sought by former Soviet leader Michael Gorbachev.....
But Obama is outpacing even Gorbachev. After just three months in power..MORE BELOW

THE WINNER: BARACK OBAMA
"This is the Obama summit," one Brazilian diplomat said....Obama's "listen and learn" approach won over more than a few of the hemisphere's most powerful figures....He's a cool man," Prime Minister said before the closing ceremony. "He's an intellectual ... he wants to have a fresh start."
http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersComService_2_MOLT/idUSTRE53I29O20090419?sp=true

"The fifth Summit of the Americas, which ended yesterday in Trinidad, was Barack Obama's first opportunity to re-engage with the region. He went further, using his near rock-star status to redefine the relationship between the Americas. As we have come to expect of him, Mr Obama managed both to engage with his audience and to say all the right things..." MORE HERE:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/editorial/display.var.2502974.0.Uniting_the_Americas.php

Thanks to all who sent articles and contributed to this issue of the Summit of the Americas online newsletter.

Deosaran Bisnath, http://deosaranbisnath.blogspot.com/Member, Caribbean American Friendship Organization (CAFO)
Editor, International Jahajee Journal http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JahajeeDesi2005/
President, GOPIO Trinidad & Tobago http://gopiott.blogspot.com

Current and Previous issues at:
http://deosaranbisnath.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summit declaration has just 1 signatory
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — The final declaration of the Summit of Americas, which Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and his leftist bloc refused to sign, turned out to have just one signatory.
It was Prime Minister Patrick Manning, host of the 34-nation summit.
He said during Sunday's closing ceremony that "there was not unanimity, but there was consensus" on the declaration.
Chavez and allies including Nicaragua and Bolivia refused to sign chiefly because they want Cuba reinstated in the Organization of American States, which suspended it in 1962.
The declaration sets hemispheric goals including promoting human development and environmental sustainability. It is not in any way binding.
Manning said the leaders authorized him to sign it on their behalf, so he did.

Goodwill but not deal at Americas summit

The Americas summit has closed without agreement on a final declaration – but that will not overshadow the positive feeling radiating from two days of charm from the US President in Port of Spain Trinidad.
And Barack Obama told a post summit press conference that dialogue was in the interests of the United States:
“Here in this hemisphere I think as a consequence of a summit like this it becomes much easier for our friends, countries like Mexico or Columbia that are stallwart partners with us on issues like drug trafficking, it becomes much easier for them to work with us because their neighbours and their populations see us a force for good.”
Obama was criticised by some South American leaders for not announcing an immediate end to the US embargo on Cuba, but Obama defended a gradual approach.
“The fact that you had Raoul Castro say he is willing to have his government discuss with ours not just issues of lifting the embargo but issues of human rights, political prisoners, that’s a sign of progress.”
Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa was one of those whose disapproval prevented agreement on a final declaration from the 34 heads of state present.
“The final document doesnt talk about Cuba,” he observed. “Nor does it propose a comprehensive solution for the immigration problem, so it’s a light document typical of protocol.”
Many of his South American counterparts welcomed the arrival of a new era of dialogue, while calling for the promises of cooperation to be translated into concrete measures.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was so upbeat that he suggested the next summit be held in Havana.
http://www.euronews.net/2009/04/19/goodwill-but-not-deal-at-americas-summit/

Uniting the Americas
Lambasting Uncle Sam has been a national sport throughout most of Central and South America for as long as anyone can remember. Bush-bashing was especially popular. Venezuela's fiery left-wing President Hugo Chavez spoke for many Latin Americans when he described him as the devil, and his last visit was greeted with mass demonstrations.
The fifth Summit of the Americas, which ended yesterday in Trinidad, was Barack Obama's first opportunity to re-engage with the region. He went further, using his near rock-star status to redefine the relationship between the Americas. As we have come to expect of him, Mr Obama managed both to engage with his audience and to say all the right things. He confronted the long-standing resentment of US dominance in the region by saying he rejected two centuries of US "heavy-handedness" towards Latin America and sought an "equal partnership" based on "mutual respect".
The US President got more out of the meeting than he had hoped for. Mr Chavez may have pointedly presented him with a book entitled The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent, but in the event the leaders resisted the temptation to blame all their ills on the behemoth next door. And by yesterday the Venezuelan leader was talking about restoring his ambassador to Washington.
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Mr Obama was even able to share a joke with Daniel Ortega, whom Ronald Reagan had spent years trying to drive from power. The Nicaraguan President may have denounced US capitalism and imperialism but he conceded that the new man in the White House could hardly be held accountable for the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, as he had been barely three months old at the time.
Speechifying is the easy bit. As Mr Chavez observed, the test of the US administration is whether Obama's positivity trickles down to US embassies and institutions. Latin American economies are seeing a collapse in exports and oil prices in a global recession most of them blame on the US. It threatens to reverse all the progress made on reducing poverty in recent years. (Every 1% drop in GDP would send an estimated 15 million Latin Americans back into poverty.) The region needs credit and though the G20 summit pumped extra billions into the International Monetary Fund to lend to basically sound economies, more help is needed. That is why the US must act early on its promise to support a regional development bank to provide funds for "shovel-ready" and environmental projects. It is in its own interests to do so. A thriving Latin America imports US goods, while a paralysed one exports regional instability and generates illegal immigrants.
Of course, the notable absentee from the table was Cuba. Mr Obama's olive-branch offer to Raul Castro may have blunted Latin American criticism on that score but ultimately he must recognise that the 47-year-old US trade embargo has failed and engagement is a better way to advance political reform.
This was a useful grip-and-grin session but actions speak louder than words.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/editorial/display.var.2502974.0.Uniting_the_Americas.php

Obama cool meets Chavez mania at Americas summit
Sun Apr 19, 2009 4:18pm EDT
By Patrick Markey
PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) - If President Barack Obama needed a reminder that times have changed in the Americas, his fellow presidents gave him one when Air Force One touched down in Trinidad and Tobago for a regional summit.
Four years ago when his predecessor George W. Bush flew into Argentina for the last Summit of the Americas he was greeted by rock-tossing protesters and an alternative summit led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, raging against "the evil empire."
This time, the U.S. president was met by smiles, the cheery clang of Caribbean steel drums and prime ministers and presidents seeking out his autograph. Chavez even told the young U.S. leader, twice: "I want to be your friend."
"This is the Obama summit," one Brazilian diplomat said.
An observation blimp circled over the conference center in Port of Spain, where a cruise ship housed journalists and white-jacketed police guarded perimeters as Obama and other leaders brainstormed on the economy, energy and security.
Obama had to parry demands to lift the U.S. embargo on Cuba and got a history lesson about U.S. imperialism from Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. But the positive vibes surrounding the young U.S. leader were hard to ignore.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe was one of several leaders who obtained a prized Obama signature. He showed off a scribbled message from Obama: "To President Uribe, with admiration."
"Barack Obama signed this little letter for me ... I'm going to send this to get framed," he joked with reporters outside the summit conference hall.
At one official photo, Obama chatted easily with leftists like Chavez, who have made America-bashing the heart of their political personalities.
Even an "alternative" summit was friendly.
In Argentina, Chavez rallied thousands of protesters to rage against Bush and free trade.
But in Trinidad, a small group of demonstrators taking part in a "drummit summit" played drums, displayed Cuban flags, and hoisted posters carrying images of both Chavez and Obama.
Chavez was greeted as always by mobs of reporters. A scuffle involving journalists crushing to reach the Venezuelan leader prompted summit hosts to briefly restrict media coverage of some events on Saturday.
But Obama's "listen and learn" approach won over more than a few of the hemisphere's most powerful figures. Chavez presented him with a book by a Uruguayan leftist. It shot to No. 2 on Amazon.com's best-seller list on Sunday.
"He's a cool man," St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said before the closing ceremony. "He's an intellectual ... he wants to have a fresh start."
(Additional reporting by Pascal Fletcher, Guido Nejamkis and Damian Wroclavsky in Port of Spain; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Eric Beech)
http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersComService_2_MOLT/idUSTRE53I29O20090419?sp=true

Summit ends without second group photo

By FRANK BAJAK –
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — The parting group photo of the Fifth Summit of Americas never happened.
Why exactly was a mystery, but the collapse followed organizational shortcomings that even the Caribbean host nation acknowledged.
At the Diplomatic Centre where the 34 leaders held their final retreat, several came out Sunday and took their place on name cards taped to the building's front steps.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez had apparently put some thought into the photo. She wore a bright pink dress.
But after about half the leaders had gathered, President Barack Obama was seen shaking the hand of the summit's host, Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad and Tobago.
Obama was clearly heading out; he had a news conference scheduled at a nearby hotel. Bolivian President Evo Morales had apparently already left. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez was nowhere to be seen.
A member of the host country delegation, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the embarrassing nature of the situation, expressed alarm.
"For some reason they came out bit by bit, piece by piece. One by one. But the photo never happened," the official said.
It was the final piece of a summit plagued by disorganization.
Manifestations of disorganization at the summit included the host country's failure to provide transcripts of speeches, canceled news conferences and a temporary ban Saturday of news media pools — in which small groups of journalists attend events and later share their material with colleagues.
In closing remarks Sunday, Manning acknowledged the difficulties.
"It is not easy to put together a conference of this nature," he said. "I am sure that our arrangements have not been perfect."
As for a group photo, one was indeed taken Saturday.
All 34 leaders were in it.
As Obama prepared to leave the summit, he mentioned the Saturday melee that trapped world leaders in hallways, put government officials in screaming matches with security, and shoved reporters around. A smiling Obama called on Bloomberg's Juliana Goldman, "who, by the way, I saw getting jostled a lot during the photo sprays. Cameramen, I just want you to know."

From The Times
April 19, 2009
Barack Obama's Latin America debut hailed a success
Hannah Strange in Port of Spain
It had threatened to be an encounter fraught with tension but the Summit of the Americas was finally hailed as the beginning of a new era of relations between Washington and a Latin America alienated by his predecessor.
Even Venezuela’s fiery socialist President, Hugo Chávez, said that he felt "great optimism" for relations with the new occupant of the White House. Just a day earlier he had vowed to go to the summit with his full "artillery" at the ready.
Not even a boycott of the summit’s final declaration by members of the Alba bloc (Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our Americas — Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Honduras and Dominica) in protest at Cuba’s absence from the summit could take the gloss off Mr Obama’s regional debut.
Latin American leaders were impressed with Mr Obama’s efforts to reach out to a region long neglected by George W. Bush and antagonised by decades of interventionism. The US President’s offer, in his opening speech on Friday night, of a "new beginning" in relations with Cuba, was viewed as a crucial first step towards healing divisions. In a closing press conference Mr Obama reassured leaders by saying that "there are no senior or junior partners in the Americas".
Cuba had looked set to dominate the summit, with Mr Obama’s counterparts demanding the removal of the 47-year embargo on the island and complaining that moves last week to lift travel and other restrictions did not go far enough. Offers of talks by both Washington and Havana and the promise of a resolution to revoke Cuba’s near half-century exclusion from the Organisation of American States appeased leaders and set the stage for a thawing of relations.
Mr Chávez, who famously nicknamed President Bush "Satan", told Mr Obama "I want to be your friend" during the pair’s first encounter on Friday. Mr Chávez heralded "the true start of a new history . . . in which the mechanisms of domination are over".
He later announced that the two governments had discussed the reinstatement of each others’ ambassadors. The American Ambassador to Caracas was thrown out last year over an alleged US plot against his close ally, President Morales of Bolivia, and the US reciprocated.
Even in his overtures to Mr Obama the voluble Venezuelan could not resist a dig at US foreign policy, presenting him with a book on the history of US exploitation of the region — The Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent by Eduardo Galeano.
And during one of Saturday’s plenary sessions he congratulated his US counterpart for not taking off his simultaneous translation headset, a reference to the last - and disastrous - Summit of the Americas in Argentina where Mr Bush riled Latin American leaders by removing his headset halfway through a presidential meeting.
Behind the scenes there were signs of residual rancour between the two delegations as the respective security details scuffled on two occasions, according to sources present. One stand-off, shortly before the official photograph on Saturday, came when there was not sufficient space for both security details to accompany their leaders into the room. "It was pretty ugly. There was pushing and shoving", a source at the summit secretariat said. Trinidadian security broke up the confrontation, which also involved security from other delegations.
Not all leaders were convinced by Mr Obama’s performance. President Morales of Bolivia described himself as unimpressed, saying: "We have had 100 days and I have seen little change", while President Correa of Ecuador attacked the continued "arrogance" of US policy towards Cuba and the wider region.
The overriding sense among the 34 heads of state and delegations was of success. A Colombian minister told The Times of his relief that Cuba had not, after all, overshadowed the event.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6128184.ece

Obama Closes Summit with Broad New Agenda
By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 19, 2009 4:50 PM
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, April 19 -- President Obama concluded a summit of the hemisphere's leaders Sunday by articulating a broad new agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean, having gained momentum in his bid to repair relations with some of the region's shrillest critics of the United States.
In a news conference at the end of the fifth Summit of the Americas, Obama outlined what he is learning about the world and how he intends to engage it based on his experiences here and earlier this month in Europe and Turkey. He expressed support for a more central U.S. place in global alliances, including a firm endorsement of the United Nations, and said "we do our best to promote our ideals and our values by our example."
But Obama, whose reception as the first black U.S. president was at times celebratory in a region where race and poverty are intertwined, indicated that the U.S. role in the hemisphere remains paramount given the size of its economy.
Latin America's left has long criticized that view as economic imperialism, a sentiment that found voice in speeches here by Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega and Argentina's Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
Obama implicitly ackowledged that criticism in Sunday's news conference, venturing so far as to say he felt the U.S. could learn a lesson from Cuba, which for decades has sent doctors to other countries throughout Latin America to care for the poor. The policy has won Cuban leaders Fidel and Raul Castro deep good will in the region.
"It's a reminder for us in the United States that if our only interaction with many of these countries is drug interdiction, if our only interaction is military, then we may not be developing the connections that can, over time, increase our influence," he said on a wind-swept terrace with the green hills of this seaside capital as backdrop.
Regarding relations with Cuba, an issue many leaders here urged Obama to improve by lifting the economic embargo, the president said "the policy that we've had in place for 50 years hasn't worked the way we want it to. The Cuban people are not free."
Obama noted progress in Raul Castro's recent statement that his country was willing to discuss human rights issues with the U.S. Cuba, Obama said, should free political prisoners, reduces its tax on remittances to the island and grant new freedoms to its citizens as a next step in thawing U.S.-Cuba relations.
During the summit, Obama presented a broader U.S. agenda for Latin America than the Bush and Clinton administrations, which focused primarily on trade and counter-narcotics programs.
Leading a delegation that included at least four cabinet secretaries and National Security Adviser James Jones, Obama pledged to work closely with Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada on climate change, public security threats, and bottom-up approaches to economic relations, development aid and lending.
Although Obama heard criticism over heavy-handed U.S. economic policy and political interventions of the past, the anti-American tone did not reach the pitch it did in previous summits. Obama spoke only briefly in a series of closed-door meetings, saying he wanted to listen to the hemisphere's other 33 democratically elected leaders gathered here. Much of this city's downtown was sealed off for the gathering, but there were no protests of note beyond the cordon.
Nicaragua's Ortega, a longtime U.S. critic, called Obama "president of an empire" but said he found him open to doing things differently than his predecessors. "I want to believe that he's inclined, that he's got the will," Ortega said.
Asked Sunday what he had learned here, Obama said, "Even the most vociferous critics of the United States also want to make sure that the United States' economy is working and growing again, because there is extraordinary dependence on the United States for exports, for remittances. And so in that sense people are rooting for America's success."
Despite a pair of handshakes and photo opportunities with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Obama criticized his economic and foreign policies and what he described as "inflammatory" anti-U.S. rhetoric.
But he dismissed criticism from some conservatives in the United States that he was coddling Chavez, who said here he would like to work with the Obama administration on restoring each other's ambassadors after a seven-month absence.
"Venezuela is a country whose defense budget is probably 1/600th of the United States'. They own Citgo," the retail arm of Venezuela's national oil company, Obama said. "It's unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr. Chavez that we are endangering the strategic interests of the United States."
But Obama failed to win over Bolivia's leader Evo Morales, who said here that the U.S. government continues to meddle in his country and called on Obama to publicly repudiate a recently uncovered assassination plot against him. Morales expelled the U.S. ambassador to La Paz and the Drug Enforcement Administration last year for allegedly working with his political opposition.
Obama said he is "absolutely opposed and condemn any efforts at violent overthrows of democratically elected governments."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/19/AR2009041901730.html

The Emerging Obama Doctrine

Watching Obama's press conference at the Summit of the Americas discussing economics, narco-terrorism, and guns, the President showcased a new direction in American regional partnerships. The line that captured the essence of Obama's new approach: "other countries see that we are not dug in to policies created before I was born."
Though the president declined to define the Obama Doctrine, 4 themes emerged:
1. We the USA are a super power but not a singular power. There are not junior partners and senior partners on the world stage - other countries have good ideas too. We should listen to them.
2. The USA leads best by example. We have our democracy, freedom of religion and the press, a civil society where we pursue our dreams without interference from government. We show strength when we practice what we preach, confessing that sometimes we stray from our values.
3. We must put aside old debates. As Obama said, it is easier for our friends like Mexico and Columbia to work with us because their neighbors see us as a force for good... when "other countries see that we are not dug in to policies created before I was born." For example, the Cuban policy we had in place has not worked. The Cuban government could release political prisoners and reduce charges on remittances to family members as signals that they are pursuing change.
4. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. And a handshake is just a handshake. And a gift book is just a gift book. Let's look at progress on economics, narcoterrorism, and guns to determine whether we are moving in the right direction.
This emerging Obama Doctrine is the change we voted for and the change he is beginning to deliver.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christine-pelosi/the-emerging-obama-doctri_b_188743.html

Analysis: Obama gores foreign policy ox

By STEVEN R. HURST – 11 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has gone abroad and gored an ox — the deeply held belief that the United States does not make mistakes in dealings with either friends or foes.
And in the process, he's taking a huge gamble both at home and abroad, for a payoff that could be a long time coming, if ever.
By way of explanation, senior adviser David Axelrod describes the president's tactics this way:
"You plant, you cultivate, you harvest. Over time, the seeds that were planted here are going to be very, very valuable."
While historic analogies are never perfect, Obama's stark efforts to change the U.S. image abroad are reminiscent of the stunning realignments sought by former Soviet leader Michael Gorbachev. During his short — by Soviet standards — tenure, he scrambled incessantly to shed the ideological entanglements that were leading the communist empire toward ruin.
But Obama is outpacing even Gorbachev. After just three months in power, the new American leader has, among many other things:
_ Admitted to Europeans that America deserves at least part of the blame for the world's financial crisis because it did not regulate high-flying and greedy Wall Street gamblers.
_ Told the Russians he wants to reset relations that fell to Cold War-style levels under his predecessor, George W. Bush.
_ Asked NATO for more help in the fight in Afghanistan, and, not getting much, did not castigate alliance partners.
_ Lifted some restrictions on Cuban Americans' travel to their communist homeland and eased rules on sending wages back to families there.
_ Shook hands with, more than once, and accepted a book from Hugo Chavez, the virulently anti-American leader of oil-rich Venezuela.
_ Said America's appetite for illegal drugs and its lax control of the flow of guns and cash to Mexico were partly to blame for the drug-lord-inspired violence that is rattling the southern U.S. neighbor.
At a news conference ending the three-day Summit of the Americas on Sunday, Obama was asked to explain what a reporter called this emerging "Obama Doctrine."
He said that first, he remains intent on telling the world that the United States is a powerful and wealthy nation that realizes it is just one country among many. Obama said he believes that other countries have "good ideas" and interests that cannot be ignored.
Second, while the United States best represents itself by living up to its universal values and ideas, Obama said it must also respect the variety of cultures and perspectives that guide both American foes and friends.
"I firmly believe that if we're willing to break free from the arguments and ideologies of an earlier era and continue to act, as we have at this summit, with a sense of mutual responsibility and mutual respect and mutual interest, then each of our nations can come out of this challenging period stronger and more prosperous, and we can advance opportunity, equality, and security across the Americas," the president said.
Critics, especially those deeply attached to the foreign policy course of the past 50-plus years, see a president whose lofty ideals expose the country to a dangerous probing of U.S. weakness, of an unseemly readiness to admit past mistakes, of a willingness to talk with unpleasant opponents.
"I think it was irresponsible for the president to be seen kind of laughing and joking with Hugo Chavez," said Sen. John Ensign, a Nevada Republican. "This is a person along the lines with Fidel Castro and the types of dictatorship that he has down there in Venezuela and the anti-Americanism that he has been spreading around the world is not somebody the president of the United States should be seen as having, you know, kind of friendly relations with."
At his news conference Obama said he didn't think he did much damage to U.S. security or interests by shaking the hand of Chavez, whose country has a defense budget about one-six hundredth the size of the United States, and depends upon it's oil reserves for solvency.
But beyond specific attacks on his new foreign policy are the deeper philosophical challenges emerging from the still powerful, if diminished, conservative political structure in the United States. Such opponents can play havoc with Obama's attempts to change domestic policy and will work to weaken his 60-plus percent approval among Americans.
Obama brushes that aside:
"One of the benefits of my campaign and how I've been trying to operate as president is I don't worry about the politics — I try to figure out what's right in terms of American interests, and on this one I think I'm right."
So thought Gorbachev. But being right is not always politically healthy.
Steven R. Hurst reports from the White House for the AP and has covered foreign affairs for 30 years.

Posted on Sun, Apr. 19, 2009
President Obama lauds offer by Cuba to discuss thorny issues

By FRANCES ROBLES AND NANCY SAN MARTIN
frobles@MiamiHerald.com
Cuban leader Raúl Castro's recent offer to discuss all issues -- including the fate of political prisoners -- is ''a sign of progress'' that could lead to more deliberate strides toward normalization, President Barack Obama said Sunday.
''We are going to explore and see and if we can make some further steps,'' Obama told reporters shortly before his departure from the Fifth Summit of the Americas.
Among the things Obama said would be viewed by his administration as good faith acts by Havana: freeing political prisoners, reducing fees on Cuba-bound remittances from the United States, freedom of the press and freedom of religion.
While Obama said Washington's long-standing policy of isolation has failed, he said Cuba must do more before his administration could consider taking further actions beyond the recent lifting of Cuban American travel and remittances to the island.
Obama's message was clear: Castro's first step should be to reduce the fees the government charges on the money Cuban-Americans send back home.
''It turns out the Cuban government charges a lot off the top,'' he said. ``That would be an example of cooperation.''
He defended his support of the U.S. embargo, despite having opposed it five years ago while a state senator.
''The Cuban people are not free,'' he said. ```The steps that we took were constructive in sending a signal; we would like to see a transformation. But I am persuaded that it is important to send a signal that issues of political prisoners, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, democracy that those continue to be important. That they are not something simply to be brushed aside.''
Obama said that ''completely ignoring Cuba is not going to change policy'' and that engagement might help propel democratic changes in the regions only communist-ruled nation.
``I am hopeful that, over time, the overwhelming trend in the hemisphere will occur in Cuba, as well.''
Obama is facing criticism for his friendly photo taken with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. He stood behind his decision to be courteous.
The U.S. used to turn its back on hostile countries -- and ''Americans didn't buy it,'' Obama said.
``As a consequence of me shaking hands or having polite conversation ... are we endangering the strategic interests of the United States?''

Monday, April 20, 2009
End of Cuba embargo 'way down the road': US
Summit of Americas ends with hope of burying hatred
Afp, Washington/ Port Of Spain
The United States cautioned yesterday that any lifting of its embargo on Cuba was "way down the road" despite hopes raised at a Summit of the Americas by President Barack Obama, who opened the door to talks with the communist island.
"That's way down the road, and it's going to depend on what Cuba did, Cuba does going forward," Obama's economic advisor Larry Summers said in an interview on US television.
Unprecedented overtures by Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro in recent days have fuelled a surge in optimism that the two countries, whose enmity was forged in the early days of the Cold War half a century ago, could launch what Obama called "a new beginning."
Both leaders said they were willing to discuss topics that Havana had previously refused to address with Washington, including human rights and political prisoners.
At stake is the 47-year-old economic embargo Washington imposed on Cuba in the early years of Fidel Castro's revolution. Virtually all of Latin America is united is demanding the embargo be lifted.
Obama, who Sunday met with Central American leaders at the summit in Trinidad and Tobago, has highlighted his recent decision to lift curbs on Cuban-Americans' contacts with Cuba.
But he said any further US moves were contingent on concrete signs of policy change by Raul Castro.
"Actions are always going to speak louder than words," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, accompanying Obama, said Saturday.
Latin American leaders, though, have also been pressing the United States to give more concessions.
Obama's "intentions have to be translated into concrete policy," Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said Saturday.
"We still haven't seen any changes towards Cuba," Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa said, though he added he now viewed Obama's administration "with a lot of sympathy."
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in an interview published by the Spanish newspaper ABC, said Obama's decision to lift restrictions against Havana was "a first step in the right direction."
He added, though, that it was "important not to wait for a gesture from Cuba for other steps to be taken."
Cuba's exclusion from regional bodies such as the Organization of American States -- from which it was kicked out in 1962 under US pressure -- "remains an anomaly," Lula also said.
Nevertheless, it appeared Obama's charm offensive paid off at the summit, especially with Cuba's strongest ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Chavez, who vociferously criticized the administration of Obama's predecessor George W. Bush, said late Saturday it was "possible" that Washington and Caracas could return their respective ambassadors to their posts.
The countries ordered out each other's ambassadors last September, as bilateral relations plunged to a new low.
Acting State Department spokesman Robert Wood said "this is a positive development that will help advance US interests, and the State Department will now work to further this shared goal."
Chavez also took every opportunity at the summit to be photographed shaking Obama's hand, and gave the US leader a gift of a book -- though one that argued that Latin America had been the victim of exploitation by the world's big powers since colonial times.
Obama, an author of two bestsellers himself, later told reporters he thought Chavez was offering a tome he had written, and said "I was going to give him one of mine."

April 19, 2009
Reporter’s Notebook

Lush, Mountainous Trindad
Warming Relationships in a Warm Locale
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago — President Obama, seeking to warm up relations with Latin America as he meets many of the region’s leaders for the first time, spent Saturday here playing down his celebrity and casting himself as the new kid on the block.
“I have much to learn,” Mr. Obama declared.
It was the first full day of the Summit of the Americas on this lush and mountainous Caribbean island. With 33 other Western Hemisphere leaders and thousands of delegates and a raucous press corps squeezed into a Hyatt Regency hotel, Mr. Obama found it tough to keep a low profile.
Everybody seemed to want a piece of him.
The president was mobbed during the opening plenary session by delegates elbowing their way toward him for photographs — among them Ruben Blades, the Panamanian singer and actor, who accompanied Panama’s foreign minister to the session.
Later, as the leaders gathered for their official “family photograph,” Prime Minister Stephenson King of St. Lucia produced a copy of Mr. Obama’s memoir, “Dreams From My Father,” and asked the president for his autograph. Mr. Obama asked someone the date — he wanted to record it with his signature — and obliged.
Climate change, security and the global economic crisis, which especially threatens some of the impoverished nations represented here, were high on the official agenda. The discussion was so lively, said Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, that at one point Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad and Tobago lamented that all of the leaders had overrun their allotted time.
All, that is, except the newest one: Mr. Obama.

Leaders declare Americas summit a success thanks to Obama
Published Sunday April 19th, 2009

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - The hemispheric summit that leaders feared would implode over Washington's chilly relations with Cuba and Venezuela was declared a success Sunday, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other key players tipping their hats to American President Barack Obama.

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning laughs as Prime Minister Stephen Harper (left) jokes about a cell phone ringing during the closing news conference at the 5th Summit of the America's in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Sunday April 19, 2009.
Leaders emerged from a retreat at the Summit of the Americas on Sunday unable to sign a wordy final declaration because of reservations by Venezuela and others who wanted stronger language on Cuba and the world financial crisis.
Still, they reached a consensus on adopting a shorter final statement, and more importantly nobody left slamming the door as happened at the last summit in 2005.
There were no confrontations between the Americans and some of their rivals. Instead, there were handshakes and Obama's photo-friendly smile. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez said he'd like to send an ambassador back to Washington.
The chemistry was key, as host Prime Minister Patrick Manning noted.
"We all came here I think believing that we would have quite a battle among the radically different perspectives that exist on certain subjects...that did not materialize, in fact we saw the opposite," Harper said a closing news conference. "We saw the replacement of confrontation by dialogue, a very good dialogue."
Harper joined several others in saluting Obama for his landmark speech Friday evening, in which he brought a message of partnership with the hemisphere based on mutual respect and dignity. Obama also acknowledged certain failures in American foreign policy, including its enforcement based drug policy.
Obama repeated his call for a new American policy in the hemisphere at a news conference Sunday. He noted how many countries are supportive of Cuba precisely because of its humanitarian efforts - it sends thousands of doctors to developing countries.
"That's why it's so important that in our interactions, not just here in the hemisphere but around the world, that we recognize that our military power is just one arm of our power, and we have to use our diplomatic and development aid in more intelligent ways so people can see more concrete improvements in the lives of their peoples as a consequence of U.S. foreign policy," Obama told reporters.
He said there had been promising signs in relations between his country and Cuba and Venezuela, but that the real test would come from the actions that followed after the summit.
The issue of Cuba's inclusion in the inter-American family and future summits was pushed off to the general assembly later this spring of the Organization of American States (OAS). The prime minister did not comment on how Canada would vote at the meeting.
Harper took an alternate tack at the summit, waving the banner of free trade as often as possible.
One of his final acts of the summit was to sweeten the pot for countries Canada is negotiating with, earmarking an extra $18 million in aid over five years to help them "maximize the benefits of increased trade and investment."
His call for open markets found some allies.
The president of Dominican Republic said he was keen to advance negotiations with Canada for a free trade deal.
"We see trade as part of development, it's not just trade per se - it's trade related to development," Leonel Fernandez told a group of Canadian reporters.
"Of course, with the financial and economic global crisis, that's the...main problem, the main concern, but this doesn't mean that free trade for some countries is not in their best interest."
Harper also adopted strikingly different language than Obama.
Where Obama urged countries in his stirring speech Friday against focusing on ideological labels such as capitalist or socialist, Harper spoke of "antagonists," "cold war socialism" and "rogue nations" when referring to countries such as Venezuela and Cuba, declaring himself an "anti-Communist conservative" in an interview with right-wing American TV channel Fox News at the summit.
His spokesman continually referred to Latin America as Canada's "backyard" in a briefing to kick off the meeting.
Some Canadian observers said Harper seemed to misread the tone of the summit, where many countries - and not just the "rogue nations" such as Venezuela and Bolivia - have been feeling a strong domestic backlash against trade liberalization.
Opposition to a Free Trade Area of the Americas was the principal reason the last summit fell apart.
Carlo Dade, executive director of the Canadian Foundation for the Americas, gave Harper points for announcing a $4 billion financial guarantee for the Inter-American Bank (IDB), a move that he said took leadership in the hemisphere.
The financial crisis was by far the main preoccupation of countries represented at the summit.
But Dade said focusing on trade was an ill-advised strategy at a moment when many are resentful of trade - part of the reason figures such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Bolivia's Evo Morales have emerged.
"There's a lot of blame going on for the financial crisis on trade liberalization," said Dade, who has been attending summit-related events. "Some countries have suffered in trade agreements with the United States and the European Union. They're not like Canadian agreements...but (the government) hasn't done the work to differentiate Canada from this."
The damage that organized drug crime has inflicted on the region would have been a good topic to raise, Dade added.
Canada is seeing this reticence clearly in its dealings with Caribbean leaders. The 15 members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have been dragging their heels on a free-trade deal with Canada because they would like the deal to include funding that would adjust for any economic losses to their people as a consequence of a pact - this despite the fact Canada is the largest donor to the Caribbean region.
Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, said he and other rights organizations were disappointed that Harper did not couple his rhetoric on trade with a vision for social justice and better protection for human rights.
"It certainly does seem that's he's been a bit of a solitary voice around this vision of free trade being the answer to all of the woes in the Americas," Neve said.
"It seems pretty clear that a lot of the other leaders have either moved on from there, or while still interested feel there are other more pressing priorities that really need attention here."
Harper headed to Jamaica Sunday evening for an official visit, where he is expected to address a joint session of Parliament.
http://www.canadaeast.com/front/article/640075

Obama suggests Cuba release political prisoners

By BEN FELLER – 9 minutes ago
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — Defending his brand of world politics, President Barack Obama said Sunday that he "strengthens our hand" by reaching out to enemies of the United States and making sure that the nation is a leader, not a lecturer, of democracy.
Obama's foreign doctrine emerged across his four-day trip to Latin America, his first extended venture to a region of the world where resentment of U.S. power still lingers. He got a smile, handshakes and even a gift from incendiary leftist leader Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and embraced overtures of new relations from isolated Cuban President Raul Castro.
"The whole notion was that if we showed courtesy or opened up dialogue with governments that had previously been hostile to us, that that somehow would be a sign of weakness," Obama said, recalling his race for the White House and challenging his critics today.
"The American people didn't buy it," Obama said. "And there's a good reason the American people didn't buy it — because it doesn't make sense."
Still, Obama made sure to inject some go-it-slow caution and clear expectations for U.S. foes as he capped his trip to twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago with a steamy outdoor news conference.
On Cuba, he said Castro should release political prisoners, embrace democratic freedoms and cut fees on the money that Cuban-Americans send back to their families. Obama has lifted some restrictions on Cuba, and Castro responded with a broad, conciliatory overture.
"The fact that you had Raul Castro say he's willing to have his government discuss with ours not just issues of lifting the embargo, but issues of human rights, political prisoners, that's a sign of progress," Obama said. "And so we're going to explore and see if we can make some further steps."
He did not, though, offer any sign of lifting the crushing U.S. trade embargo on Cuba, as many Latin American and U.S. leaders want. Obama acknowledged that the U.S. policy in Cuba for the last 50 years "hasn't worked" but said change will be gradual.
In Washington, both Democrats and Republicans said Sunday that they wanted to see actions, not just rhetoric, from Cuba.
"Release the prisoners and we'll talk to you. ... Put up or shut up," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
"I think we're taking the right steps, and I think the ball is now clearly in Cuba's court," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. "They need to respond and say what they're willing to do."
As for Venezuela, Obama's friendly encounters with Chavez at the summit drew intense publicity — partly, Obama said, because Chavez is good at getting in front of TV cameras. Chavez's anti-American rhetoric has, in the past, led Obama to call him a demagogue.
Before he even got back to Washington, Obama was facing condemnation from some Republicans about how he dealt with Chavez. The president brushed that aside, noting that Venezuela has a defense budget about one-six hundredth the size of the United States' and owns the oil company Citgo.
"It's unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr. Chavez that we are endangering the strategic interests of the United States," Obama said. "I don't think anybody can find any evidence that that would do so."
Venezuela and the United States expelled each other's ambassadors last September. But during the summit, Chavez approached Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and said he was restoring his nation's ambassador in Washington, voicing hopes for a new era in relations.
"We ratify our willingness to begin what has started: cementing new relations," Chavez said Sunday in remarks broadcast on state television. "We have the very strong willingness to work together."
Obama's dealings with Chavez spoke to his broader message: dismissing arguments of the past, and respecting other democratic governments even if he opposes their economic and foreign policy.
"If we are practicing what we preach, and if we occasionally confess to having strayed from our values and our ideals, that strengthens our hand," Obama said. "That allows us to speak with greater moral force and clarity around these issues."
He said of his doctrine for engagement: "We're not simply going to lecture you, but we're rather going to show through how we operate the benefits of these values and ideals."
The president said he found it interesting that many of the leaders talked about how Cuban doctors have dispersed throughout the region, and their countries depend on them.
"It's a reminder for us in the United States that if our only interaction with many of these countries is drug interdiction, if our only interaction is military, then we may not be developing the connections that can, over time, increase our influence," Obama said.
Central American leaders who met with Obama said they pressed him on immigration reform. They also said that Obama promised to consider providing better notice before the United States deports dangerous criminals back to their nations.
Even Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega, a critic of U.S. policy, said he found Obama receptive to dealing with the issues raised. Ortega said Obama "is the president of an empire" that has rules the president cannot change. Nevertheless, Ortega said, "I want to believe that he's inclined, that he's got the will."
Both Graham and McCaskill spoke on "Fox News Sunday."

Obama: Summit of the Americas 'productive'

* Story Highlights
* Obama cites potential thaw in U.S. relations with Venezuela, Cuba
* Obama: Cuba's apparent willingness to discuss human rights "a sign of progress"
* Cuba was topic at weekend summit, though not represented there
* Obama: Using diplomacy, development aid in "more intelligent ways" important

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (CNN) -- President Obama said Sunday the 34-nation Summit of the Americas was a "very productive" meeting that proved hemispheric progress is possible if countries set aside "stale debates and old ideologies."
Speaking to reporters at the conclusion of the summit, Obama cited a potential thaw in relations between the United States and longtime adversaries Cuba and Venezuela, but said the ultimate test "is not simply words, but deeds."
Leaders did not "see eye to eye" on some important issues, but the meeting proved it is possible to "disagree respectfully," the president said.
Obama highlighted the importance of using American diplomacy and development aid in "more intelligent ways."
He reached out to the Cuban government before the summit by lifting all restrictions on U.S. citizens wishing to visit or send remittances to relatives in Cuba.
Cuba was not represented at the summit, but Obama noted that the leaders of other countries highlighted Cuba's program that sends "thousands of doctors" throughout the hemisphere. A number of countries depend heavily on Cuba's medical assistance program.
"It's a reminder ... that if our only interaction with many of these countries is drug interdiction -- if our only interaction is military -- then we may not be developing the connections that can over time increase our influence and have a beneficial effect," he said.
Obama called Cuban President Raul Castro's recent indication of a willingness to discuss human rights issues "a sign of progress." But he said the Cuban government could send a much clearer, more positive signal by releasing political prisoners or reducing fees charged on remittances that Americans send to relatives in the country.
Change in Cuba will not come quickly, but it is good for other countries to see that "we are not dug in into policies that were formulated before I was born," Obama said.
U.S. policy on Cuba has remained largely unchanged since 1962, when the U.S. government imposed a trade embargo.

Turning to Venezuela, Obama conceded Washington has vast differences with that country's president on economic and foreign policy issues. But he said the strategic interests of the United States would not be endangered by having a "more constructive relationship" with the oil-rich nation.
Asked what an "Obama doctrine" would be, he declined to give a specific answer, but he outlined broad principles such as the importance of listening to other countries. The United States, Obama said, remains the most powerful nation in the world but cannot solve problems such as climate change, drugs and terrorism on its own.
"If you start with that approach, you are inclined to listen, and not just talk," he said.
Obama, who was set to return to Washington on Sunday, added that the United States is at its best when it stands "for universal ideals [such as] freedom of speech and religion."
"If we confess to having strayed from [our] values, it strengthens our hand [and] allows us to speak with greater moral force and clarity," he said.
The president was criticized over the weekend by several leading Republicans and former CIA director Michael Hayden for releasing four Bush-era memos outlining terror interrogation methods used against suspected al Qaeda operatives. Read about Hayden's criticism

When he released the documents Thursday Obama said the United States needs to "right its course in concert with our core values."

Some of the leaders attending the 5th Summit of the Americas stand for a group photo in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Sunday April 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)