SCREAM Bloody Murder

Christiane Amanpour by far is one of my favorite reporters. I've watched her pretty much from her first assignments when she was reporting on the famines of Africa.

Here is the making of the Documentary that played on CNN - Scream Bloody Murder

Big thanks goes to An Unforgivable Hell on Earth for the heads up on this Documentary.

You have been given a voice, use it. Go out and SCREAM! about something you care about.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Scream Bloody Murder, Documentary, Politics, Humanitarian, Society

Smile You're on Photo-Radar

Over the past several years Arizona has implemented stationary photo-radar (speed cameras) along the Freeways in and around the Phoenix metro area. Recently the state began a new wave of fixed cameras and one stretch of road, the loop 101, has been particularly notorious for speeders (many clocked at more than 100 mph) and quickly became the states target for the new influx of cameras.

The state began putting the new cameras in operation in September and valley drivers have wasted no time in helping DPS test the system. A recent news report states that Arizona drivers have activated the cameras 166,176 times since September.

Not every one of the 166,176 activations has resulted in a ticket but there have been over 40,400 that did. Not a bad revenue stream as the tickets would add up to $6.6 million if all the violators pay up.

Nearly 60 cameras are in currently in use, of those, 40 are mounted on vehicles and 20 are at fixed locations along Valley freeways with an additional 12 stationary cameras by the end of the year in the metro area.

The old fashioned speed trap has gone by the wayside, oh how some of the drivers long for the days of black and white police cars hiding in the bushes at the edge of town... at least then, they may have stood a chance.

Remember to smile, the cameras take a picture of you and your license plate, and wave to the camera.


You have been given a voice, use it. Go out and SCREAM! about something you care about.

Society

Political Rape: "It was against my will..."

"It was against my will and he did not use any protection"

"I was taken hostage by Zanu-PF youths who are being led by a major and war veteran, one of them said I had to renounce my allegiance to opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)."

Barack Obama was freely elected in the United States. We griped about voter oppression, we watched with our cell phones ready for polling booth irregularities, we never worried about what opposition to the ruling party would mean to us physically - it's not part of what or who we are. While we worry that elections are held on the up-and-up. That all play by the rules. That elections are truly free - we do not worry that the political party we affiliate with will get us raped or beaten or... killed.

"I had to give in to his demands as he said I could be beaten. It was against my will and he did not use any protection." Before the first round of the election in March, Maidei, like many other young people fed up with Zimbabwe's economic crisis, was not afraid to make her support for the opposition known.

We drive, take a cab and walk to our polling places. We cast our ballots and we return to our homes, safe, secure and we never think twice about the freedom we have just exercised. The freedom that so many in this country have given their lives for and so many in other countries continue to fight to obtain.

A local Zanu-PF official explained that the pungwes, used during the war of independence, were still necessary as "political re-orientation" exercises to warn people "against the opposition which is backed by the West".

Asked about the allegations that men were raping women and girls forcibly at the meetings, he replied matter-of-factly: "We have to share in comradeship as we have the same aim to get rid of the opposition here." His reply glossed over the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV/Aids which has wreaked havoc in Zimbabwe.

Life expectancy is down to 37 years from a life span of 60 years back in 1990. This is largely due to the HIV/Aids pandemic.

You have been given a voice, use it. Go out and SCREAM! about something you care about.

Politics, Humanitarian, Society

Bloggers Unite for World Aids Day: Statistics are like bikinis

Today Bloggers Unite for World AIDS Day and so I join my voice along with thousands of others to bring to the surface the topic of HIV/AIDS.

Screaming at the TV tries to cast a light and have a voice for those who can not and for those who suffer in Africa. It is for the people of Africa that suffer from HIV/AIDS that I will dedicate my post:

Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital. ~Aaron Levenstein

Bear with me here I tend to like to look at bikini's and here's what I found when I started looking into what Africa is wearing:

• 22 million people in Africa were living with HIV at the end of 2007 that is more people than the entire populations of:
  
  
  • Arizona (6.5m)
  • Nevada (2.5m)
  • Utah (2.5m)
  • New Mexico (1.9m)
  • Colorado (4.7m)
  • Wyoming (.5m)
  • Idaho (1.5m)
  • and Montana (.9m) combined.

Think about that for a moment. Conceiveably the mid section of the Western United States infected with HIV/AIDS.

• An additional 1.9 million (est.) were infected with HIV during that year.
• 1.5 million people lost their lives due to AIDS, in Africa, in 2007.

Think about those two statistics. 1.9 million, the entire population of New Mexico infected annually. Not eye opening? What about the 1.5 million people who die annually?, everyone in Idaho - dead.

It's sad, but it's just the adults who get HIV/AIDS, right? People who are sharing drugs or engaging in unsafe sex or unprotected sex? Right? It's people who are undereducated and just don't get the message, right? It's their own fault.

No, it's not. In fact the children are one of the greatest at risk groups in Africa:

• Nearly 2 million children in sub-Saharan Africa were living with HIV at the end of 2007.
• Representing more than 85% of all children living with HIV worldwide.
• The vast majority of these children will have become infected with HIV during pregnancy or through breastfeeding when they are babies

In many parts of Africa, as elsewhere in the world, the AIDS epidemic is aggravated by social and economic inequalities between men and women. Females commonly face discrimination in terms of access to education, employment, credit, health care, land and inheritance. These factors can all put women in a position where they are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection. In sub-Saharan Africa, around 59% of those living with HIV are female.

AIDS is erasing decades of progress made in extending life expectancy. Millions of adults are dying from AIDS while they are still young.

One last Statistical Fact to look at under the Bikini of Africa:

• Life expectancy in Sub-Saharan Africa is 47
• Life expectancy in the United States is 77.8 years.

Think about it, just think. Then use the voice you have been given, go out and SCREAM! about something you care about, scream for those who need your voice.

statistics, Aaron Levenstein, Africa, HIV, AIDS, Invfected, Unsafe Sex, Unprotected Sex, Children, Pregnancy, Breastfeeding, Discrimination, Education, sub-Saharan Africa, Life Expectancy, Team SCREAM!