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Kony Video May Lead to Deeper Questions

Although Kony 2012 film largely deals with past events, it could prompt wider debate about justice.
I happened to be in Kitgum, one of the seven districts that make up the Acholi sub-region, in the same week that the Kony 2012 video was released.
This region, located in the far north of Uganda, on the border with South Sudan, was the area worst affected by the two-decade-long insurgency by the Lord's Resistance Army, LRA. Over a long period, LRA forces based in South Sudan used Kitgum district as an entry point to launch devastating attacks on the civilian population in Uganda.
But that was more than five years ago. Even so, the Ugandan government has broadly welcomed the film.
The reason I was in Kitgum was to report on a discussion on the future of the Amnesty Act, a piece of legislation passed by the Ugandan parliament 12 years ago to pardon people who had engaged in war or armed rebellion. Most of the beneficiaries of the law are former LRA rebels.
So it seemed fitting that Kitgum was where I first saw Kony 2012, a sleek video by the American charity Invisible Children which aims to make LRA leader Joseph Kony so notorious that governments will take action to apprehend him.
The film went viral and quickly attracted global attention; at the time of writing, more than 100 million people have finally viewed the 30-minute documentary.
As a charity, Invisible Children has built dormitories for schoolchildren, fixed water supplies in schools and sponsored disadvantaged children to go to university. But all that is dwarfed by the controversy surrounding Kony 2012.
Critics of the film point to a major disconnect between the message framed in the video and the current realities on the ground in northern Uganda.
For instance, camps for internally displaced persons, IDPs, in northern Uganda have been officially closed, and the government has said the region has moved into a "recovery and development phase". The film, meanwhile, seems to suggest there is an ongoing humanitarian crisis.
At the peak of displacement in northern Uganda, there were 251 IDP camps spread across 11 districts. So wretched was life in the camps that on a visit to northern Uganda in 2003, Jan Egeland, the United Nations under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, described the conflict in northern Uganda as "the biggest forgotten, neglected humanitarian emergency in the world today".
At about that time, there were calls by some local leaders in northern Uganda for the government to declare a state of emergency in the region as a way of attracting from the international community. The government dismissed the suggestion outright. In doing so, it was in a sense rejecting international attention at the very time northern Uganda needed it most.
It is only now, more than a decade later, the government welcomed the spotlight that Kony 2012 has placed on the north. It is quite a turnaround.
In 2003, with about 1.8 million people displaced in the IDP camps, any international focus on the humanitarian situation in the north would have exposed the inability and failure of the Ugandan state to protect its citizens, at a time when the government wanted to create the impression that it was in full control.
Another reason is that as well as the LRA, the Ugandan army stands accused of gross human rights violations in the north. Opening the region to international scrutiny at a time when the authorities were not even fully in control of the camps they had set up - some massacres took place in these IDP facilities - would not have been to the government's advantage.
These days, the government's magic wand for northern Uganda is the Peace, Recovery, Development Programme, PRDP, a multimillion US dollar initiative funded by external donors and the state itself. PRDP was launched in October 2007, with implementation beginning in July 2008. Roads, health centres, police outposts and schools have been built under the initiative. Clearly, these are positive post-conflict achievements.
Why, then, would the government of Uganda be happy about a video that appears to suggest the north is still in the grip of a humanitarian crisis?
The answer is that unlike in 2003, the government now feels it is now totally in control of affairs in northern Uganda and can therefore allow and even welcome greater international attention. External interest will work in the government's favour as it looks for more funding for post-conflict recovery efforts both in this region and in other poor parts of Uganda.
The video continues to receive criticism from bloggers and journalists in Uganda. On March 13, an attempt to screen the video in Lira, in the Lango sub-region - another area affected by the LRA conflict - had to be stopped when things threatened to turn violent.
The reasons for such hostility could be because the video was not primarily meant for a Ugandan audience.
Irrespective of the video's weak points, it could yet lead to deeper questions being asked about what exactly happened in northern Uganda during the conflict, and who was responsible.
Outside interest may have come far too late, given that the crisis is over and reconstruction is moving ahead. But the victims of war are still crying out for justice. They might be the ultimate beneficiaries of Kony 2012.

 According to former European MP, journalist, and author Richard Cottrell, the Lord Resistance Army is backed by the CIA and Mossad.

The author of the blog aangirfan writes: "In Uganda, Joseph Kony is the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, 'which is a US and Mossad-backed guerilla force.'" He quotes Richard Cottrell, a former European MP, journalist, and author of the book, "Gladio: NATO’s Dagger At The Heart of Europe," who wrote in an article in October 2011 called, "African ping pong: US plays both sides in Uganda":

"The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rampaging around Uganda is nothing more than a US and Mossad-backed guerilla force.

Its task is to destabilize wide areas of Africa rich in minerals like Uganda, ex-French and Belgian Congo, and Sudan.

Joseph Kony, the self-appointed leader of the LRA, ex-choir boy, brilliantly flexible break dancer, the new US terrorist poster boy, has been on the CIA’s books for years."

Based on this analysis, the CIA is probably also involved in the million-dollar propaganda campaign to draw American people's attention towards Uganda, and Joseph Kony in particular, in order to secure public opinion in support of a U.S. and UN intervention in the country.

Another excerpt from Richard Cottrell's article: 

"What is going on in Central Africa is a fine old game of ping pong, the new scramble for Africa, in which western intelligence (American CIA, British MI6, Belgian intelligence, Israeli Mossad) are playing both sides of the table.

The aim is to destabilize the entire region so effectively that most of it can be effectively controlled under the disguise of the usual humanitarian mission. The vast mineral reserves (copper, diamonds, gold, uranium, and oil, for starters) can then he handed on a plate to western exploiters.

This is a direct continuation of the CIA/MI6/Belgian/Mossad promotion of the Katanga breakaway state back in the 1960′s. The western powers encouraged their local stooge Moise Tschombe to pull out of the freshly independent ex-Belgian Congo.

The prime minister of the Congolese Republic, Patrice Lumumba, was murdered in 1961 with the complicity of US and Belgian Special Forces."

One of the CIA agents who was involved in the illegal assassination of the Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba was Frank Carlucci, who was the Secretary of Defense in the Reagan administration in the late 1980s. After leaving office, he became the chairman of the infamous Carlyle Group from 1992 to 2003, a company that is linked to the Bush and Bin Laden families, as well as other nasty people.

These people are not only raping and murdering Africa, but they're raping and murdering America and pretty much the whole planet. They don't have human empathy, they are motivated by greed and want to take total control over the populations and resources of Earth.

The satanic international banksters who control the CIA, MI6, and other Western intelligence agencies are raping, killing, and looting in Afghanistan, Uganda, Iraq, Libya, America, etc. etc. etc.

The Kony 2012 campaign is a well-funded propaganda facade to lure good-hearted Americans into backing another illegal U.S./UN intervention in a part of the world that has been raped by cynical conquerors since the dawn of time.

This campaign is not about saving the children of Uganda from a heartless and brutal monster, but about stripping the resources of Uganda and giving them to the biggest heartless and brutal monsters on the planet, who own the CIA, MI6, Mossad, and the entire Western intelligence-security machine.

The author of the blog aangirfan writes:

"Kony's job is to provide the USA with the perfect excuse to invade Uganda on the pretext of inciting another humanitarian mission.

Yoweri Museveni, the dictator of Uganda, is also a CIA asset.

The CIA and its friends are supporting both sides."

If you care about humanity, and the people and children of Uganda, then you must denounce the cynical Kony 2012 campaign, and inform your friends and family members that the real killers who are massacring children across the planet are in the CIA, U.S. Military, Mossad, MI6, NATO, and UN.

Posted by Saman Mohammadi at

Record Mega Millions jackpot grows overnight, up to $640M

May the Mega Millions odds be ever in my favor.
That's certainly the attitude thousands of hopeful ticket-holders are sporting as the Mega Millions jackpot surged to $640 million Friday afternoon.
But what are the odds of winning the largest jackpot in U.S. history?
One in roughly 176 million, the Los Angeles Times observes.
In other words, there's a substantially better chance of scoring a hole in one during a round of golf (1 in 13,000) or getting struck by lightening (1 in 576,000) than picking all six winning numbers, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Or to look at it another way, there's a better chance of becoming a professional athlete (1 in 24,000) or even an astronaut (1 in 12 million), WETM News reports.
And if you want to get gruesome, there's even a better chance of being crushed to death by a vending machine (1 in 112 million), according to the Daily Beast.
But is there a special formula to picking the winning numbers?
Not really, Live Science reports. During every drawing, each number still has the same chance of being chosen:

  With much of the nation gripped by Mega Millions fever, hopefuls snapped up $100 million worth of tickets ahead of tonight's Mega Millions drawing, pushing the jackpot to $640 million from $540 million on Thursday.

The drawing could provide a lucky ticket holder with a lump-sum, pretax payoff of $462 million. After taxes, the payout is a still-whopping $324 million.

From Vermont to Louisiana and New York to California, the jackpot has been the wistful talk of TV, social media sites, office water coolers and dreamy high rollers for the past week, electrifying ticket sales with a frenzy likely to amp up even further this afternoon and into the evening.

"We're holding our heads in disbelief,'' says Virginia lottery director Paula Otto, who may deploy some sales officials to assist retailers with today's ticket buying onslaught.

The pot has grown nearly $300 million since Tuesday's Mega Millions drawing failed to draw a top prize winner for the 18th consecutive time since late January.

"It's uncharted territory," says Buddy Roogow, director of the Washington D.C., lottery, which issued a commemorative "I Played The World's Largest Jackpot" ticket this week. A typical Mega Millions drawing sells 250,000 tickets in the nation's capital. "Friday, the real frenzy sets in," says Roogow, who expects ticket sales of 1 million.

Social media users were buzzing about the jackpot on Facebook and Twitter, mostly about what they would do with the money, but also about the tiny possibility of winning the top prize.

The odds? About 1 in 176 million.

"I'm reading an article about what to do after you hit the mega millions jackpot. Next article, how to housebreak your unicorn," says @scottbhuff on Twitter. Some posters link to a someecards.com poster that shows a man consoling a woman, and include this phrase: "Plenty of people don't win the lottery the first few thousand times they play."

The line to buy tickets at Bluebird Liquor in Hawthorne, Calif., stretched a half block down Hawthorne Boulevard and around a side street for another half block. Some, such as Zulodius Morgan, waited in line for three hours to purchase tickets at the store, which has a reputation for being lucky for lottery players. Morgan, who has won close to $400 from past tickets, was in line at 8:30 a.m.

Hawthorne resident Vianca Zaragoza bought tickets Wednesday with family members and was back purchasing 65 for a 10-person office pool at a local clothing company. She had already been waiting two hours. "It's a hot store, I guess," said Zaragoza, 24.

"Business is great," says Bluebird owner James Kim, working furiously behind the counter with four employees.

Near Midtown Manhattan, Crater Newsstand had sold about 1,600 lottery tickets by midday. Mohammed Manna, who manned the store register, expected even more business in the days ahead. Before Tuesday's drawing, the store sold more than 4,000 tickets.

Manhattan lottery ticket buyers tapped into various rituals and quirky procedures in hopes of building their luck. Some of the folks buying tickets at the newsstands down 1st Avenue in New York City used numbers that were printed on Chinese food fortune cookies. Others used birth dates, while some went to different retailers on the same block.

Idaho, one of 42 states to offer Mega Millions tickets, typically sells 200,000 to 250,000 tickets. "We're at 800,000 right now and expect to sell over 1 million by Friday night," says state lottery director Jeff Anderson.

Lorraine Malkmus, manager of the Maverick Country store in Meridian, Idaho, is adding additional clerks until Friday to handle demand.

"We've been jammed since Tuesday," Malkmus says. "We're selling over 2,000 tickets a day, 400 to 500 is normal. People who've never played before are coming in for tickets. People are picking up $50 worth of tickets for office pools. The Frito-Lay delivery guy bought $50 worth."

Customers at Merola's Market in Burlington, Vt., were lined up at the lottery counter eight to nine deep for much of Thursday. "It's been very, very busy," clerk Eric Foy says. "They all want their shot at ($540) million."

In Southern California's Coachella Valley, consumers are spending up to 10 times more than usual on Mega Millions tickets, says David Woosley, field consultant for several 7-Eleven stores.

"It's been outrageous," Woosley says. "Every customer coming in is buying at least eight tickets. I'm seeing people buying $50 to $100 worth rather than the $2 to $3 they usually spend."

In Minnesota, some outlets pre-printed Mega Millions tickets to speed sales. Jason Schutz of St. Cloud bought 11 tickets at a SpeedStop. "My 401(k) is worth so little. My only chance to retire is Mega Millions," he says.

David Walsh, a clerk at the Montford Convenience store in Asheville, N.C., says business is better than normal. He expects a Friday onslaught. "It's pay day," he says.

In downtown Wilmington, Del., Sam Patel, owner of the Convenient Store, says sales have been brisk, but Friday is "going to be a madhouse."

Customer George Daniels bought 10 tickets Wednesday and 10 more Thursday. If he wins, he plans to give much of it away to family and charities. "Then I'd just take life easy," Daniels says. "Everybody wants to see if they can make their dreams come true."

Greg del Rio, a supervisor at Hotel du Pont, bought 38 tickets for a workers' pool. If they win? "We'll have no more employees," he says. "Nothing will get clean."

At the Freedom Valu Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., store clerks Amber Wallenstein and Sandy Fenstermaker expect "crazy madness" Friday.

Wallenstein says many customers are forking out $5 to $10 for multiple ticket purchases. Many lottery newcomers are buying. One asked if the store sold "Mega Balls" tickets. "You would when it's up to $500 million," Wallenstein says. "You'd want to try, right?"

At Mike's convenience store in West Ocean City, Md., Lorrie Flather, snapped up six tickets. Flather, 74, won $600 and $1,300 in previous lotteries.

"They say the third time is the charm, so I'm bound to win, you know," she says.

Like other proprietors, store owner Mike Dent is bracing for long lines Friday night. He's already sold some customers $100 to $500 worth of tickets.

If Dent wins? "$540 million? I'm not coming back," he says.

Ray Springer, an unemployed Navy veteran, purchased a Mega Millions ticket and state game tickets at a southwest Atlanta Shell Food Mart.

"I normally don't play Mega Millions because those jackpots are normally not won in Georgia," he says. If he wins Friday's drawing? "I'd probably pass out," says Springer, 48.

Many ticket buyers let computers pick numbers. Others, such as retiree William Dillard, have their own system. "I play my kids' birthdays, mine, my brother's plus my mother's and father's," he says.

Hopefuls have been streaming into the Esplanade Mini Mart just outside New Orleans' French Quarter since Wednesday.

"Sales are booming," store manager David Gonzalez says. "It definitely brings people in. Everybody loves the lottery."

New Orleans resident Lisa Freeman had never bought a Mega Millions ticket before. At 7:30 a.m. Thursday, she received a text message from her twin sister in Jackson, Miss., with a list of numbers they should play. Lisa bought 12 tickets.

"It's something people here can really look forward to," Freeman says.

The Brother's Food Mart in the Lower 9th Ward also had a steady stream of Mega Millions customers, many first-time buyers, manager Ali Sylla says. When a local TV crew filmed a segment in their store Wednesday, even more came in, he says.

One of his customers was Patrice Gordon, a first-time Mega Millions buyer, who bought three tickets each for herself and her friend, Dionne Knight.

"I just bought the winning ticket and gave it to her," Gordon, 43, says, jutting her thumb at Knight. "But it's all good. She'll take care of me."

Knight, 43, says the Mega Millions jackpot has been the topic of non-stop talk at the bar she owns, The New Place. Just the prospect of the mammoth payout has been good for the city, she says, which in recent years has weathered devastating floods, oil spills and, more recently, a series of sanctions on their beloved NFL team, the New Orleans Saints.

"It's well-needed here," Knight says. "It'll be great for the city if someone here won."

Insurer Progressive is parlaying Mega Millions fever into a marketing event, says Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Charney. Progressive's TV ad icon, "The Messenger" (actor John Jenkinson) will be giving away nearly 2,000 lottery tickets on Decatur and Canal streets beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Schrader's Country Store owner and manager Kyle Schrader, 28, says ticket sales at his Fort Collins, Colo., store were strong Wednesday and getting better on Thursday. "We've been crazy busy," says owner Kyle Schrader. "Half a billion dollars? It's bringing people out of the woodwork."

"I dream of never waking up to an alarm clock again," says Jared Hersh, a packaging coordinator for New Belgium Brewing Co. Hersh, 37, bought $8 worth of tickets. "I totally dig my job, but when's that drawing? You may never see me again."

Typically, a store earns five to six cents from each ticket sold, plus a commission for selling a winning ticket. Demand for Mega Millions tickets has also boosted overall retail sales at many convenience stores. "It's an amazing opportunity to introduce yourself to new customers," says Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores. "For a lot of stores, this is their debutante ball.

Christina Hendricks Covers Easy Living May 2012

 NEWS Christina Hendricks
With her hit TV show "Mad Men" having just gotten its long-awaited fifth season underway, Christina Hendricks added on to the AMC series' promotions by landing the cover of the May 2012 issue of Easy Living magazine.

The 36-year-old actress looked her usual enchanting self while clad in a Donna Karan dress with Van Cleef & Arpels and Bulgari jewels for the Ruven Afanador shot spread.
Meanwhile, highlights from Miss Hendricks' interview are as follows. For more, be sure to pay a visit to Easy Living! On growing up in a small town in the Rocky Mountains: "There were very few stores, so I always shopped vintage. I'd turn a crazy scarf into a turban and wear it with a leotard and baggy shorts." On first dyeing her hair at age 10: "I was obsessed with 'Anne of Green Gables,' so wanted red hair. Mom said, 'I'll throw a rinse on it.'" On her tips for curvy women: "I have to be careful about my proportions and keep it simple. What works for me is structure and something that shows off my waist." On the lack of good swimwear for ladies with bigger bosoms: "It's really hard to find a bathing suit if you have breasts. You either get smooshed down or there's no support at all. I want to start my own line, with good bra support. My husband and I have sketched out designs."Photo Credit: Ruven Afanador for Easy Living

No words are needed

Kristen Stewart

Kristen Stewart, Breaking Dawn

Snow White and the Huntsman, Kristen Stewart

Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1, Kristen Stewart Wedding

Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner

Kristen Stewart, Ashley Greene, Breaking Dawn Part 1

Jennifer Lawrence Looks Glamorous at the Madrid Premiere of The Hunger Games

Jennifer Lawrence looked glamorous and trendy in a Victoria Beckham dress at the Madrid premiere of The Hunger Games.
Her makeup consisted of dramatic smoky eyes, a barely there nude lip, and a light blush highlighting her cheekbones, as seen in the Celebrita Buzz. The actress wore her naturally blonde hair in an artfully messy updo, with little hair styling product, and sweeping bangs that accentuate her lovely eyes. Her overall skin tone had a subtle sun-kissed glow.
The glamorous dress was a short metallic form fitting one with cap sleeves, and it did not reveal cleavage. Lawrence's dress is from the new AW12 collection of the 'Victoria ' line by Victoria Beckham. She paired her dress with towering black Brian Atwood Dasha high heels boots, which showcased her bronzed legs perfectly. The overall designer look was cute and trendy while still being fashionable.
Jennifer Lawrence stopped on the red carpet to sign autographs and greet and meet her fans. The young starlet seems to be handling fame very well. Her beauty and fashion choices are simple but glamorous.
Jennifer Lawrence was previously nominated for an Oscar in 2010 for her role in A Winter's Bone. However, The Hunger Games movie has propelled the 21-year-old to greater heights of stardom as the determined heroine Katniss Everdeen.

Christina may just make me reach for Sky

Great to see Mad Men back. Christina Hendricks is the ideal woman and Don Draper the ideal man.
I'm sure the latter is correct as he looks nothing like me. And he's decisive. And he's brave (in a speaking-at-meetings sort of way).
The bad news? The new series is on Sky, the evil television station. Normally, I watch programmes on DVD box sets. But a friend was keen to watch the new series live, as it were, and even wanted us to dress for the part.
However, neither of us has Sky. Even if you've got Virgin, you can't watch it because they couldn't afford the fees Sky Atlantic demanded. So, we're prevented from watching.
And that's the essence of Sky. It's not about providing but about restricting. They stop us watching the football. They've created a gated community for viewers.
Previously, Mad Men was on the BBC and, therefore, available to the toiling masses. This was appropriate as the BBC's easy superiority in quality over every crass commercial channel is a clear triumph of state socialism over capitalism.
Alas, it's the latter we're stuck with. How apt, then, that the new series features the civil rights movement. Back then it was the right to vote. Now it's the right to view.

 Celebrita Image

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twilight and Hunger Games Stars Invading Kids' Choice Awards

Twilight and Hunger Games fans, unite!
Stars from both of the blockbuster franchises are gearing up for this Saturday's celeb-studded 2012 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in L.A.
So who will be in the house for the annual slime-fest? Read on to find out...

 Hunger Games' star Jennifer Lawrence visits the 'House at the End of the Street' in new trailer

Abbie Mac - FRONT UK - Issue 167 - 2012

   

Sabine, Alice & Courtnie - FRONT UK - Issue 167 - 2012