insurgency reports

i went further into the wikipedia article covering Blackwater today and discovered, via a few links, al Basrah's Iraqi Insurgency Reports page.

it's interesting to read the difference in the incidents reported in recent days on the site, as opposed to those posted in 2006.

in 2006, most of their proud targets seem to be US and allied soldiers and marines.
in 2008, the tone changes and the targets seem to be primarily civilians.

insurgency is NOT illegal according to international law. in fact i completely understand the sentiments of the insurgents who want to fight back for control over their own fates. i don't believe we have a right to impose a government that's not wanted.
---
(i don't know the full situation in Iraq, so i won't start a tangent there, but i know that Somalis have been upset since December 06 when the US backed an Ethiopian invasion to install a secular government in Mogadishu, deposing the Islamic Courts Union after only six months of their stable rule in southern Somalia--the first stable government in 15 years! frankly, people are pissed, and things have gotten worse since they lost their own form of non-secular government. and maybe there's a similar thought among the many politically-minded Iraqi citizens, wishing they had their autonomy back.)
---
as i was saying, i understand the rise and reasons of the insurgency. it is perfectly legal, again, according to international law, if not local or state law...

HOWEVER: the LEGALITY of an "insurgency" drastically changes when CIVILIANS become TARGETS. and THAT is when it MUST be called what it is: illegal, criminal, terroristic crimes against humanity.

as i've said before, and i say often: i support the insurgents, just as much as i support the troops. i hate the war, and i hate the indiscriminate violence of both sides, though it's more-so being perpetrated by the insurgents.

these reports on al Basrah's website are chilling to read. it is strange to read reports of death or murder, at any rate, but when written so coldly, and nearly proudly, it is just sickening.

i don't know what is to be done in Iraq, or in Afghanistan (especially since i hear far less from the general media about the latter), but i know that the goals of both sides of the blood bath in Iraq (at least) have lost sight of their original goals and loyalties and LIMITS.

i pray for peace, and i pray for justice, and unless i am physically there, i don't know what else to do.

PAX.

a journey renewed... again.

if anyone reading this has known me well for over a year you'll definitely recognize these sentiments, especially if i knew you at the end of my spring semester at Lakeland. and there may be a few of you who recognize these exact thoughts if i spoke with you about this in Africa.

i wrote this a week ago in an attempt to understand myself and get some things out on paper. it was unfinished, but maybe i'll like it better this way.

--

my mind is racing. the Jesus of Peace. the God of Justice--would they think this right?
a monster taking on the bigger monster.
theoretically, in being armed, i can kill.
i can take life. not yet, for i am thus far unarmed,
but in the future. three, four, maybe five years, and i'll have the capacity.
but can i pull the trigger?
what hat will i wear?
will i be undercover?
will i be a badge?
or don a suit?
what about combat boots, camo, and a bandana?
will i go guerilla to "seek justice"?
will i be seen as a terrorist, murderer, snake?

or will i even ever really take a life?
in defending the poor and oppressed, will the Prince of Peace fade to the background?
will his call be lost in gunfire?
will i ignore his will?

if no one is to perish, perhaps i can help, and simply aim low-- just high and hard enough to bring them down so they cannot rise again.

can i shatter your bones in your legs and kick your face into the mud and know that you'll walk away from your crime?

--

tell me what you all think, please. every time i think this way i find something that swings me back to the other extreme end of the pendulum and i loathe any hint of violence.

and then again i see violence succeed in releasing captives of cruelty.
and then i remember there's no such thing as redemptive violence.
and then i think to myself, "is rescuing violence the same as redemptive violence?"

war is not the answer. invasion is wrong. occupation is wrong. but what about insurrection? what about violent uprising within a country in order to gain liberation?

i am stuck. i could go for a coffee date or a phone call with anyone interested in talking about this stuff.

peace.
amani.
veritas.

unbreakable: three words brought to you by Bruce Willis

i recently watched the film 'Unbreakable' with my mom, sister, and brother, while dad was out of town. i'm talking about the one by M. Night Shyamalan starring Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson.

i was thinking about how Bruce Willis' character, David Dunn, actually does something about the horrible crimes he learns of, and fights back to rescue people and to bring justice.

if we know that something is going wrong, and we know we can keep someone from getting hurt... why don't we?

i could have gone deeper and written more, but i think those three words are all that need saying:

if we can help people, save people, rescue people,

WHY
DON'T
WE?

How to NOT vote pro-life:::

i read this on my friend Kristy's sister-in-law's blog...

http://theheidaway.blogspot.com/2008/05/now-this-just-makes-me-angrydoes-it-not.html

i work at Target, pushing carts. i see a lot of bumper stickers in a given day.

i see this one a lot, surprisingly:

"i vote pro-life". an american flag waves in the background.

this sticker reeks of two things i hate.
1. nationalism (as a Christian recognizing a global family, christian and non-christian, this is elementarily disgusting and elitist as a concept--especially when it provokes war)
2. the term pro-life (which in-and-of-itself should be concerned with ALL HUMAN LIFE. not so, with the republican party, whom i would imagine they are meaning to show support for, by donning this sticker)

"pro-life" should mean what it says, but since there's not one political party (i can find) that dodges nationalism and a pro-death stance... i think it's BS to vote for any single party ALL the TIME!

don't tell me you vote pro-life. we can't vote pro-life. i can't vote pro-life, but i can try to influence senators and representatives and candidates for all positions of power to lean away from killing american babies too, since at least the democrats are less happy about killing Iraqi babies, so far.

i hate double standards.

get angry. tell somebody else. try to change things and REALLY work for a pro-life stance. right now, obviously not enough people are.

and yes, i have every intention of tagging every single person in my friends list. hopefully i'll get a reaction, sisters and brothers.

instead of "voting pro-life", elect to live pro-life!

PAX.

Waterboarding & Torture: read and tell me you still like Bush

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080214/pl_afp/usbushcongressintelligenceveto

i hate this. absolutely HATE it.

it'd be great if we could have someone mature in office sometime soon.

i should shut up now before i say something really bad.

so much for bloody human rights is the grand ol' US of A.

i hate this.

along this track, why don't we just go back to the "good old days (ways)" of breaking the Geneva Conventions and committing war crimes...


execution of a Vietcong soldier; photo taken at exact second of cartridge explosion.

way to go Captain America... you endorsed this.

Mogadishu

"hello, my name is ________________, and i'm a US citizen living in ______________. i'm calling on behalf of a man named ________________ living in Mogadishu, in Somalia, seeking asylum here..."

i called the UNHCR DC Office.

this is how my voicemail started. obviously, for protection all around, things had to be changed here, in this publishing.

the man i mentioned above, a Somali journalist, has been threatened by both sides, for his work with foreign journalists.

one of the journalists he's worked with in the past several months works for a big newspaper based not far from my house. i'm working with both of them, as well as a woman in the 11th District Office in Ohio, working for Representative Stephanie Tubbs-Jones.

hopefully this action will all count for something.

not good enough. period.

i looked at Amnesty International's page today, and i'm presently sitting in front of a computer screen in Ngaramtoni, about 10 or 15 minutes west of Arusha, Tanzania.

i am reading a report on Mogadishu, Somalia. (which means if i'd hop two borders i'd be there!) it's dated July 22, 2007.

it's the latest report i can find from Amnesty.

i love Amnesty, i'm a member, and have been for almost a year or so. i've worked with them on Darfur, and i hope to continue my work again as soon as i get stateside in ten days.

i love them, but something's wrong if i can't get public access to a report on Somalia's situation that isn't nearly six months old. especially on Somalia, probably the country that would need a "status update" every three or four months. or weeks.

in the "What You Can Do" menu at the top of the page, i am instructed that i have these options:
"Act Locally"
"Take Action Online"
"Activist Toolkit"
"Member Center"
"Join US"
"Donate"
"Shop Amnesty"

that's not good enough. not for me. shouldn't be enough for anyone.
period.

in four years i should be there. i still don't know exactly what group will carry me into the Mogadishu airport, but i'm almost dead certain i'm going.

with all this fire burnin in me, all i can say is:

Lock. And. Load.

good to go home. (remix: dated Nov. 18)

it's probably not too healthy to be thinking about it so early, but i'm going to be really glad to go back to Indiana, and to visit Cleveland and Kentucky again.

to some degree, there's the hazard of this causing me to be so lax and irresponsible here, thinking so far ahead--2 and a half months. but on the other hand, isn't it also incredibly responsible to be planning ahead for the coming journey upon my arrival.

no sojourn under God's eyes ever reaches the finish line until the sojourner is looking into the eyes of God.

i can't ignore that my work was never finished when i left. and i can't ignore the fact that i will be picking up where i left off with a lot of my political and social activism.

as far as i can tell, Lafayette isn't exactly Chicago or Seattle or New York, or even Cleveland. but that certainly doesn't draw it up short of people who care about justice--at home, and globally.

there are great men and women i am looking forward to working with, in various ministries. i also have hopes to travel back to my roots in Europe and spend six months there. i may have to spend up to a year working at Barnes & Noble in Lafayette before i get such a chance. but i feel that that is where God is leading me. i don't know really any of the details, or exactly where i'll go. but i genuinely feel that it must be God calling me into it. it seems so illogical otherwise. it doesn't fit with any of my previous plans and thoughts concerning Africa. always wanted to go back and visit Amsterdam for a bit, but nothing quite like this.

frankly, as much as i've try to "know God (and make God known"- as is YWAM's motto) here in Arusha, it's been really difficult, since i've had to deal with so much legalism and religiosity, inside and outside of my DTS. thus it's been too hard for me to really meet God and get to know him as my Father as he's been able to barely reveal to me, amidst all the stifling structure.

in other news, i've been really struggling with the leadership here. not all, but several by name, and sometimes sadly the whole entity of YWAM Arusha seems to be to blame-- for those of you reading this entry after Nov. 18, 2007, you'll have missed a very explosive section containing angry journal entries from last week. due to my father's wisdom and frankly a sense that i needed to remove it (just like Hayley Williams' second thoughts on some of her lyrics in the amazing song, "Misery Business"; just read about that in an old issue of Relevant magazine) my anger was justified as far as i can tell, it's taught me a lot about myself and the way i see things, and for now, i'm getting past the feelings of anger that i can do little or nothing about. i'm definitely learning what it means to stick to what i know, and who i am, as i'm under fire. the entries were removed because they contained names i hadn't bothered changing, and to someone on the outside, it could seem as though i hated them. i definitely do not. my anger has passed, but the lesson remains, and again i'm working at seeking the best out of this DTS. after the following dashes, the remixed version is complete. PAX--

again: your will be done, Father.

-archer

the real heroes

for what it's worth, i must tell you that great numbers of people doing small things with great love... they have just saved thousands of lives in India.

i get newsletters from many organizations asking for me to help with certain issues all around the world, largely affecting the sick and the poor. they are your burden just as much as they are mine. and they are my burden just as much as they are their own. no one gets off the hook.

in the case which the organization called CARE has been tracking and fighting for, in India, i just learned today that Novartis (a huge pharmaceutical company which has been pushing to make ILLEGAL, a score of generic brands of life-saving Anti-Retroviral drugs--ARVs--in India) has DROPPED its case!

i was first made aware of this struggle in the Indian courts sometime last fall, and from time to time, i've had new news. frankly i think all i ever did for this case was a generic letter online with maybe a couple personal tweaks, and my "signature". it's a lot when a lot of people are doing it. but i'm certainly no hero. the point is, many many people actually hand-wrote letters to the Indian government and none of it was the usual, tailored story that most of us with computers have the convenience of dealing with. i read a couple excerpts from these letters in the email newsletter i just got.

here's the excerpts that were among the many words shared with the Indian government that have, at least for a while, secured the affordable ARVs for India's poorest brothers and sisters... these two women are among the heroes of this battle!

"I hope you know what AIDS has done and is still doing in Africa . . I have three blood sisters who depend on ARV's for life. I may not be infected with AIDS but I am affected because I am nursing beloved ones who are infected and keeping orphans of those who are gone." -- Hannah , Zambia

"As a woman and mother of two children of my own, I ask you please drop this case against the Indian government. If I were sick and needed lifesaving drugs, I can't possibly imagine what it would be like to be denied those drugs. Please don't deny other women the chance to live." --Michelle, LA

i say again... only small things, with great love.
PAX.

z3r0

my bank account used to be relatively full. like, good enough for me. single, male 19-yr-old book lover who's not materialistic.

but today, in a couple blinks of an eye... credit card, phone, car insurance, and fender bender costs have nearly killed it.

i was a wreck about it earlier today.

the day after i find out YWAM accepts me to the September DTS, i lose whatever financial advantage i had.

the move is killing our family's finances, too. so, they're not really going to be able to support me entirely. i've got pretty close to $2,500 to $3,000 i've gotta raise. right now, look's like by sundown i'm gonna have less than $500 i can actually call my own. in one day i lose about $1,200.

my wastefulness is my sin. these are the wages of my sin. sort of. nice play on words, huh?

as much as i'm dumbfounded by my stupidity and sin, i am at peace with the likelihood that somehow God's still gonna carry me over to Africa. to YWAM. to Tanzania. to my brothers and sisters who will teach me how to be the man of God i will spend the rest of my life trying to be.

God is awesome. and never short of cash. amen.

i'm done with coffee

i love coffee. the flavor, the aroma.... it's all so delicious. i drink it black and i have for like two and a half years. my favorite liquid in the world... aside from unadulterated H2O!!!! ;P

however, after finding out through various sources, what little these coffee farmers survive on... i'm done with any NON-Fair Trade coffees.

it took me about a week and a half, but i weened myself off of the wonderful drink i've been physically and psychologically addicted to for several years.

the first addiction i've really been able to kick. i'm workin on the others. but i'm glad to be free of the bondage of that injustice in my own life. Starbucks usually has Fair Trade coffee people... ask for it next time! please! that's my brother's salary you'll be boosting by buying fair trade!

maybe tonight he'll actually be able to afford a simple dinner for his 7-member family.

PAX.

my dad, spiderman, don cheadle, derek webb, evon christian, krissi bernd, the fraser women, punjabican, Jesus...

all my mentors (yes, spiderman currently counts as a temporary mentor :) ) are urging me to do what is right, to fight the good fight and above all-- to do it non-violently.

i am listening to them. i am completely understanding them.

i am relating to them:

"you know the tree by the fruit
just between me and you
i never do what i want
i do what i'm taught
and i've been learning a lot
about the violence i'm capable of"
-Derek Webb, "I Don't Want to Fight"

"Lately things have been going my way. But I have this bad feeling. This darkness I've discovered has a power far greater than anything I could have imagined. It's... intoxicating."
-Spiderman, "Spiderman 3" trailer

and i thought i was learning from them. but somehow i keep seeing violence as some actual frickin plausible mode of change.

"if you beat them at their own game, then you've already lost."
-Evon Christian

i have this concept of doing a lot of good in Africa in a short period of time, and a feeling that i'm gonna die young, lookin down the barrel of a gun i'll think i'd buried long before.

"even if you think there's all this glory in dying for a cause, think about what you'll do to everyone else."
-Stacey Littlefield, my father, my accountability, and my only superhero

i've been wrestling with the possibility of taking up arms in a defensive militia in Africa, with a group of comrades hell-bent of defending the innocent by becoming guilty in their stead. that's what sucks.

"every hero has a dark side." (Asher's translation: "every [human] has a dark side.")
-Spiderman 3 game advert.

i've become aware of my own violence and dangerous capabilities again.

i'm in agreement with no one, especially not God. especially not myself.

so maybe i will die early. maybe i'll be gone in 10 years like my premonition. maybe i'll never get married, maybe i'll live life on the run, but i pray i never have to f*****g take the life of one of my brothers! it is not my right. i am not a killer.

"so i'm walking away from this
before i hurt someone
'cause i'm facing enemies
on both sides of the gun"

and whether you believe he is who he said he was, you've gotta understand the gist of what he said, at least in this one case:

"...let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!"
-Jesus, John 8.7

pax, brothers and sisters.

and for Pete's sake help me out here! besides,
"it takes a village to raise a child".... no idea who said it, but it's true!

"Crippling"

i just spent the past hour and a half working out the kinks in the lyrics of a song i wrote. and now i think i'm done with the first draft.

inspired by the rawness of Derek Webb's newest album. in case you never knew my hardest battle, it's in words finally.
i can really relate to some of Derek's songs... especially the one called "I Don't Want to Fight"

but here's mine...



V1:
I'm not a good Christian
I'm not a good person
Ain't no good about me
I'm just the bad guy
With the good intentions
The sinner who won't stop trying

Chorus:
19 years down and I haven't frickin' grown
Haven't stayed on top
More than a minute
But i can't stop trying
Or i won't stop sliding

V2:
I'm not really worth it
I'm not going for it
Ain't no success for me
I'm just the bad guy
With the good intentions
The sinner who won't stop trying

.Chorus.

V3:
I'm not the one to judge you
I'm sure as Hell gonna stop you
Ain't no point in lying
I'm just the bad guy
With the good intentions
The sinner who won't stop trying

.Chorus.

Bridge:
I'm just crippling
The Body of Christ
Learning to shoot
Just to stop the shooter
I know that I'm wrong
But i want the lesser of two evils.

V4:
So close your eyes, darling
I don't want you to see this
ain't no hope for me
But you got freedom
I'm just the bad guy
With the good intentions
The sinner who won't stop trying
When my words dry up
And i'm killing just to stop the dying



please comment if you read this. i hope you can tell i need feedback.

that hallway of 82 and a half...

i'm standing in a hallway right now, lined with 82 and a half open doors.

yeah that half-door's quite the confusing one.

until i am on the north american continent again in late january 2008, i will not know which one is best. hopefully 81 and a half doors will close. or maybe 82, and then that half-door will grow open or something.

being torn kinda sucks a lot.
Africa will shape me and define me. create me and build me. support me and direct me.
until then i will see only open doors. even the violent ones. i hope those ones close so the peaceful ones can be more appealling. but i can roll with whatever. i shall take all because i have made peace with all. all but that half-door.

still workin' on that one.

the mountains are trembling and time is crescendoing earth's very existence, God's very presence. it's all here. now i just must wait. the entire puzzle is waiting for that one large piece. i am waiting for that one large piece. then can i know whether or not i will someday marry a beautiful queen. until then i struggle to daily make peace with the likelihood that i will go solo on this earth.

if i do marry, she better be fighting by my side. and i better be fighting by her side.

when i recognize you next to me, surging into the jungle mist, across the hazy savannah, and the searing Sahara... then will i take a knee to your soft hand and reach for your finger. if i may.

if i am extinguished before that moment, know that i wanted to reach that point. know that i wanted to get there. but that my number was up too early. i'm at peace with that. ready to go.

"how are you not afraid to go over there?"
"because i know i'm going to die there."

..."good nuff fo me"...

pax to the beloved of heavenly Adonai

i am often asked why.

why Africa?
why not just stay here?
there are plenty of people to help here.

Yes there are. but i feel there is little i can do here. i simply do not have the drive to live here anymore.

besides, there is something crucial that i share with most of Africa, I am sure. actually with most of the developing world, probably.

i can't stand the west.

simply put, i am sick of the way i live. it is too much of what i feel i do not need, especially since i know of many of my brothers and sisters who are surviving (or not surviving) on barely scraps, barely a dollar's worth each day.

i feel the only extra things i can justify are my computer and my phone, because they are essential in furthering my work and research for the rest of my life.

i feel i don't even need my bed. maybe a pillow and a blanket, and i am desparate to sell the rest. i will be getting rid of many many of my books, some that i will never ever get to. my life has become far too busy. all the fiction i ever wanted to read i will likely not have time for. so many of these books will be sent off to tons of different people to enjoy, and to possibly hold onto in case i have any intention of ever reading them when i come back from this first trip!

if anyone visits my room anytime soon, and you decide you want something of non-neccesity or non-sentimental-value, then feel free to ask for it. i'm trying to live simpler.

seriously, ask for stuff. you might just get it!

love and peace or else, brothers and sisters!

my [controversial] stance on violence

it is strange & sad that in war, a Bullet is the only thing to connect two people in some situations. a Bullet is the most cowardly and uneducated, unprepared and uncreative way to hurt an opponent.

especially since that opponent has NOT--and will NOT--always be your opponent.

it is the cowardly way to prevent a potential friendship just because of momentary disagreement. non-passive, non-violent words and actions that do not take or end life are the best, indeed the ONLY way to really improve the world or even hope to truly win an argument.

people are always changing their minds, every day of every year. to choose to use a Bullet is to ASSUME that that person you are putting a Bullet into is NEVER going to agree with you, and you'll NEVER agree with them.

and we all know what happens when you assume...

the most informative hour of my life!

earlier today, right around 11.00, my friend Grace skipped class to join myself and her friend Matt (a co-chair of student gov't), on an excursion to Starbucks.

i had intended to have fair trade coffee, but they did not have any brewing at the moment. ergo i had a simple, bold, "komodo dragon" coffee. a tall decaf drink that by NO means seemed devoid of caffeine! :) it's finally wearing off!

i don't have time to focus on writing much here, but i have made some decisions based on all the philosophy and economic and "evil pharmaceuticals" stuff that we talked about.

1. i am going to look into a Rosetta Stone program for either some African language or French, i believe! intensive fluency is the goal!
2. i am going to invest in a strong and intense course for learning EMT training within five months, shortly after my return to the states. ergo i will likely be unable to hold a job, unless i work weekends only. the program i've heard of is 8-hour days & 5-day weeks!
3. i am going to seek out more information on WHO makes WHAT drugs. i need to know who goes where, does what... who's got western (especially US) moneys, and who i can ask for money from for the beginnings of a strong Non-Profit, as well as partnerships with other organizations.

finding news of Africa from within the African continent has been a huge task this morning! it was ALL i was doing (aside from cataloguing sources and blogs to read, and such) when Grace found me! ok, i lied, i had just began to listen to Rob Bell's sermon: "Calling All Peacemakers" Part 1, from early december. i downloaded them weeks ago and i'm finally getting into them. so far i am really enjoying it! i can't wait for the next 2 parts! I heard part 2 got a lot of flak. i think he spoke about the idiocy of the Iraq war. i have really liked Rob Bell to begin with, but he never fails me, it seems! he's also really big on saving the world thru love, prayer, and activism. hopefully i'll be able to guide my own relevant love based on revelations like his and that of others, as well as reading the Psalms and the gospels (over and over again!).

I am disturbed by the likelihood of humanity killing itself off thru diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis. I do not know much about Malaria, but i hope to learn something about it's effects... especially considering these are the three targets of the United Nations Global Fund!! Tuberculosis is ALREADY DRUG-RESISTANT!!!! it is incurable and TREATMENT is the only option. these drug-resistant strains exist in New York City and Russia already. TB may very well be the next great Plague.

until the next plague, we must learn to do things naturally and be careful with the drugs we manufacture and administer. approval of severely toxic and poisonous drugs is NOT PERMISSABLE!!!! it's simply not wise, and we MUST learn our way around these drugs. disease scares (such as SARS, Avian Flu, and West Nile Virus) are nothing but scams while we forget about the realistically globally-threatening diseases!

we have secured our own doom in our desire for immaculate cleanliness. we fight bacteria- ALL bacteria. ergo we kill the healthy bacteria that strengthens and maintains our immune systems. so we weaken ourselves and downwardly spiral into ABSOLUTE DEPENDENCY on man-made drugs full of life-limiting toxins.

i've got to look into AZT and Nevirapine. both are used to treat AIDS patients. apparently both are able to cause death.
the Treatment Information Group's leader (don't look to me for technical terminology and names and details here, just the gist of the story) has recently-3 weeks ago-accused the leader of the Treatment Action Campaign of GENOCIDE based on the fact that he has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of poor, black South Africans thru administering these two ARV's!

I e-mailed Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in the fall with the intent of working with them this summer. yeah, this is hitting kinda close to home! what the devil is going on here?!

i've got a lot more to investigate.

love and peace or else, sisters and brothers!

3 or 6 months?

i don't know how long the internship is going to be with Back2Back Ministries... i've still got like a month until i can contact Jason and Emilee about the details. as of tomorrow they go down to Monterey to get a month's worht of leadership and team training. they've been to Jos, Nigeria three times before.

i wonder what else to do in Nigeria (Jos, especially), since i know that Blood:Water Mission and SIM (Serving In Missions) are working within that country. i NEED to find some organization that i can work with in order to establish contacts with hospitals that i may be able to work with. otherwise my visa may expire too quickly. and i am finding now how truly difficult it will be for me to cr0s5 b0rd3r5. i will NEED a green card at some point in the next five years, easily, i'm pretty sure.

it all feels like such a long time from now. however, my friends on the crew, my allies, my brothers and sisters, my counselors and counselees (this is NOT a one man operation), they all are such a help in learning to deal with everything!

I wish i could become Justin Quayle (from The Constant Gardener), take on a fak3 nam3 and travel more fr33ly across the continent in an attempt to get under the skin of the c0rp0rat10n5. there must be some way to work th3 5y5t3m and un3arth important details. i do believe earnestly in 3ND1NG* the western neo-colonization of Africa. i believe that the drugs for diseases such as HIV/AIDS are too 3xp3n51ve for Africans. somewhere in the 5y5t3m there must be c0rrupt10n. i intend to root it out, while at the same time seeking to better the lives of individuals. it will likely be the work of my entire life merely to save the life of one of my brothers or sisters. one way or another.

dang, my posts stray too far off topic too quickly.

i am extremely annoyed at the c0rp0rat10ns for jipping the Africans in DIRE NEED of the drugs... why must everything be so intimate with the d0llar b1ll.
As Evon constantly points out: "It is impossible to attach a d0llar sign to someone's life!"

love and peace or else.

living for the freedom of the Promised Land.
-archer.

*somehow i'd forgotten that word earlier today when i wrote this! sorry for the confusion!