Police disperses Ethiopian protest rally in Pittsburgh
Obama cannot protect Ethiopian’s right to stage protest rally even in his own country. Watch the video below:
Author: Elias Kifle
Ethiopia’s tyrant and wife fight in Pittsburgh
Ethiopia’s Bonnie and Clyde embarrass themselves on the red carpet:
Next arrives
Ethiopian Presidentthe butcher of Addis Ababa Meles Zenawi, who clearly did something in the car to anger his wife because she glares at him, Mr. Obama, Mrs. Obama, and anyone unfortunate enough to cross her line of vision.
By Helene Cooper | New York Times
(Doug Mills/The New York Times President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama laughed while they waited for their guests to arrive.)
The Times’s Helene Cooper has an entertaining pool report on tonight’s dinner of world leaders at the Phipps Conservatory:
Well, there was no red carpet lining the walkway to the Phipps Conservatory for the leaders’ dinner tonight hosted by President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. But since the First Couple nonetheless spent almost two hours greeting each of their 60 or so guests as they arrived, one by one — or in the case of couples, two by two — and since your pooler’s dream job is actually to work for E Channel covering the Academy Awards Red Carpet, consider this your Red Carpet report.
At 6:15 p.m. Mr. and Mrs. Obama stepped out of the Phipps Conservatory, underneath an awning to greet their first guests. Mr. Obama in a dark blue suit, Mrs. Obama in a taupe, pink and green patterned cocktail dress with straps. Pink patent leather two-inch heels. Hair pulled back in a full, bouffant faux ponytail. Long pearl necklace, pearl earrings. No stockings.
Mr. Obama: “Where’d my First Lady go?”
Mrs. Obama: “Right here,” stepping beside him, as it started to drizzle.
Mr. Obama pokes fun at the pool, whispering something to Reggie Love and Mrs. Obama, then looking at pool and saying: “We’re talking about how you guys are all waiting to write something down.”
First to arrive is an Allegheny County official who’s name your pooler didn’t get. (There’ll be a lot of that to come).
Then the mayor of Pittsburgh, Luke Ravenstahl and his wife.
Mr. Obama: “Hey Luke, sorry about those Steelers, man.”
Mr. Ravenstahl: “So am I.”
There’s a pause for a while between arrivals, and the First Couple turns to the pool for entertainment.
Mrs. Obama: “You guys are so quiet. Somebody should sing.”
Mr. Obama: “We should have music. Where’s the music?”
Then, “I’m teasing, Emmett, don’t freak out,” looking back at, presumably, the first Music Supplier.
Then, to Mrs. Obama: “No, don’t stress these guys out.”
Long interval, then more arrivals, the director general of the WTO, Pascal Lamy, the chairman of the Financial Stability Board, Pennsylvania Congressman Mike Doyle.
Mr. Obama is teasing Mrs. Obama. “You’re standing on the wrong side of me.” She moves to his other side. He says, “I’m just teasing.” She stares straight ahead with a smile.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrives with his wife. They get a warm welcome from both Obamas, the warmest so far. There’s a lot of familiarity. Hugs, chats about daughters.
Next is Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, stag. He gets familiarity, but not so much warmth.
Robert Zoellick, World Bank president, in a royal blue suit.
Ooh, next is South African President Jacob Zuma! Which wife did he bring? The youngest of course, Nompumelelo Ntuli, who puts her arm around Mrs. Obama and holds her hand during the photo op. Mrs. Obama tells Mr. Zuma that she expects him to solve the global economic mess “by Friday.”
Next arrives Ethiopian President Meles Zenawi, who clearly did something in the car to anger his wife because she glares at him, Mr. Obama, Mrs. Obama, and anyone unfortunate enough to cross her line of vision.
The Obamas both look slightly taken aback by her. Wonder what happened in the car? The Ethiopian First Couple are quickly dispatched inside.
Thankfully, Angela Merkel of Germany, arriving stag, comes down the non-red carpet next, exuding warmth, familiarity, and chattiness. She’s wearing a pantsuit.
It’s 7:07, the Obamas have been greeting for almost an hour.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon gets cordiality.
Australian head Kevin Rudd gets familiarity and warmth, and brings with him his wife, who brings with her the first cleavage of the evening, in a black suit with low low-cut top. Five-inch stilettos. “Kevin, you finally brought your better half,” says Mr. Obama.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is next, with his wife, Ermine, wearing the first hijab of the evening.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Mrs. Brown get hugs, kisses, more hugs, more kisses, handholding, you name it. Mrs. Brown holds Mr. Obama’s hand during the photo op. She’s the first woman to bring a handbag, a really cute black patent leather number with gold chain strap.
Prince Saud al Faisal of Saudi Arabia arrives stag.
President of Korea gets a mention because his wife is fabulous in a long dress that comes dangerously close to formal when everyone else is in cocktail attire.
Mr. Obama greets the Korean interpreter, then says to Mrs. Obama: “he’s the best-dressed interpreter.”
It’s 7:15 and here comes a fashion plate walking down the non-red carpet. It’s Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, resplendent in lavender silk suit with matching shoes and hair.
The Indonesian leader is next. Mr. Obama says “Selamat Malam.” Hah! Didn’t know your pooler could speak Indonesian, huh? The Indonesian First Lady is in a long silk tunic with a floor-length under skirt.
7:20 — Carla Bruni!!!!
Carla Bruni Sarkozy and Nicholas Sarkozy arrive. Sarko is wearing a suit. Carla Bruni is in a stunning black silk sheath dress, stops just below the knee. She’s holding a green wool scarf, and is wearing Christian Louboutins black evening shoes.
Mr. Obama kisses her four times. “I’m not going to get a chance to see you much.”
Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Sarkozy chat warmly. A lot of touching there too.
Hu Jintao comes stag.
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell appears not to know that these days people kiss on both cheeks, not one, withdrawing from Mrs. Obama as she is leaning in to kiss his other cheek, so he has to come back in as she’s pulling back. Sigh.
Then he tells Mrs. Obama that Mr. Obama “inspired me when he made fun of me over cheesesteaks so I decided to lose weight.”
Mr. Obama says, “He just lost like 20 pounds.”
Russian President Dimitri Medvedev is next, with his wife, who is in an ultra bright peach cocktail suit with frills around the collar with matching earrings and taupe pumps.
Mr. Obama says to Mr. Medvedev: “Dimitri, come, we don’t have enough pictures together.”
Mrs. Obama tells Mr. Medvedev to “figure it out tonight.”
Then it’s Brazilian President Lula da Silva, with his wife, and, finally, at 7:50 p.m., Japan’s new Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, and his wife, Miyuki, back from Venus. She is in an elegant black suit with a bubble skirt and carries a burgundy shawl.
Mr. Obama hugs her.
“I’m sorry we were late,” she says.
Savage Egypt police shoot another Ethiopian refugee
Egyptian border guards shot and wounded a refugee from Ethiopia as he tried to cross illegally into Israel, police said Saturday.
The 20-year-old was trying to cross the border with a group of other migrants from several African countries when [the blood thirsty] border guards ordered them to stop. When the group failed to do so, police said, a border guard shot the Ethiopian man in the foot.
The man was taken to hospital in al-Arish, on Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip.
The rest of the Ethiopian’s party escaped into the Sinai desert, police said, adding that the wounded man had told them that he and the others in his group had paid $1,000 each to smugglers in exchange for help crossing the border into Israel.
Residents of towns near Egypt’s border with Israel, which stretches along 250 kilometers of desert, said they had noticed tighter security and heavier police presence along the border in recent days.
The shootings on the border have repeatedly drawn condemnation from international human rights groups.
“Attempted border crossings are not a capital offense,” said Joe Stork, associate Mideast director at the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch, after border guards killed four migrants on the border on September 9.
The London-based watchdog Amnesty International says nearly 40 migrants have been killed trying to cross into Israel from Egypt since 2008. Israeli groups say thousands more have succeeded in crossing illegally.
Kenenisa Bekele vs. Usain Bolt: Who wins?
By Jimson Lee
(SpeedEndurance.com) — Why on earth would Kenenisa Bekele and Usain Bolt race each other at 600 meters is beyond me. If anything, it would help promote Bekele as he is not a household name as compared to Bolt, despite his amazing accomplishments. If you don’t believe me, just go to your office and ask around if they know who “Usain Bolt” is. Then ask about Kenenisa Bekele..
To me, Kenenisa Bekele is the modern day Miruts Yifter “the Shifter”. (Google his name if you do not recognize it)
But let’s look at the facts.
Bekele is known to finish the last lap in 52 or 53 seconds in a 5K or 10K race. Bekele even recorded a 200 m segment during the last lap in 24 seconds, so a sub 50 400m PB is possible once he got his legs going.
One thing is certain… Kenenisa Bekele’s PB for 1500m is 3:32.35 (2007), and Usain Bolt’s PB is 19.19 for 200m (2009) and 45.28 (2007) as a 20 year old when main focus was the 200 that year.
I believe these 2 great runners can run as low as 1:16 (don’t worry, the WR is 1:12)
Of course, these are just my theoretical numbers on how they could split:
Kenenisa Bekele: 52 + 24 = 76 (1:16)
Usain Bolt: 24 + 25 + 26 = 75 (1:15)
I once ran a 600m indoor PB of 1:21.91 with splits of 25, 26, 30 when my PB was 23 and 50 indoors for the 200/400 respectively.
According to the study High-speed running performance: a new approach to assessment and prediction by Matthew Bundle, Reed Hoyt, and Peter Weyand, 80 seconds is the approximately the intersection where sprinters and distance runners meet based on a model to predict your performance based on speed reserve.
You can download the PDF file here.
What is Heck is Speed Reserve?
I touched on the topic of speed reserve in 2 articles (speed reserve Part 1 and speed reserve Part 2)
Speed Reserve, or Anaerobic Speed Reserve (ASR), is simply the difference between your maximum speed and your maximum aerobic speed.
The concept is simple:
The faster your top end speed, the faster your sub-max speed (or aerobic speed).
In the study, they were trying to find a correlation between your maximum speed and your maximum aerobic speed.
The basis of the study was to come up with a theoretical framework in predicting performance based on speed reserve using 2 simple tests of 3 second (maximum speed) and up to 240 second run (maximum aerobic speed). In summary, without reading the entire article and falling asleep, or requiring a Masters degree in Statistics, the authors came up with a mathematical model to predict your performance based on speed reserve.
To test their theory, they used known PRs from Michael Johnson and Sebastian Coe. What is interesting is another “what if” scenario: that is, “what if” Johnson ran an 800 meters? If you followed the T&FN forums in the past, there was so much “fantasy league” message boards postings about Jeremy Wariner moving up to the 800 meters, and possibly smashing the 1:40 minute barrier (the magical 100 second barrier for the 800 meters)
The example below shows the lines intersecting at around 80 seconds, with Coe having the slight edge in the 800 meters (at around 100 seconds).
Now, Usain Bolt is no MJ, and Kenenisa Bekele is certainly no Sebastian Coe (in terms of middle distance), but the PB times are relatively “close” given the statistical nature of the plotted results.
And again, all this is just plain theory. Once they lace their spikes and toe the line, only then we will be certain who will win unless one gets injured (** cough cough Michael Johnson cough cough **).
In theory, Bolt (or the sprinter) would have a very slight edge. 650 meters would be a fairer distance.
As far as the winner goes, well, both are going to be winners in their wallets. Bekele will benefit with the extra publicity. And this event will take us one step closer for Track and Field becoming an entertainment rather than a sport.
Ethiopian owned furniture business featured on Fox
BY MELANIE ALNWICK | FOX 5
ELKRIDGE, MARYLAND – It costs hundreds of dollars to stay just one night in a hotel room in the DC area. But you can bring home designer hotel furnishings at bargain prices, if you know where to shop.
Upholstered sofas, executive desks, big gilded mirrors and fancy light fixtures, even office chairs as low as five dollars.
Watch video:
“With the economy the way it is, a lot of people are cutting down on their expenses,” says Medie Ephrem of Solo Furniture Liquidators in Elkridge, Maryland. “People are discovering this place… they’re looking for a bargain.”
Solo Furniture is owned by Solomon Ephrem, a native of Ethiopia.
When hotels redecorate, liquidators like Solo buy the old furnishings and sell them to the public.
Ephrem says a lot of their pieces come from four and five star properties.
“Our inventory changes sometimes every week, sometimes every month… You just never know what we’re going to have.”
TV’s ($25) and armoires (up to $250) are plentiful as big chains change over to plasma screens.
Jean Hassan of Overstock Outlet in Suitland, Maryland says her regular customers are usually seniors on fixed incomes. That’s changed lately.
“We have college kids, they’re students. Young people just starting out and trying to budget a bit.”
Hassan says she tries to pull room sets together to make customers’ dollars stretch. She also has a soft spot for families just trying to get by.
“You have a family of say, eight, and they’re coming in and saying ‘well, we’re on a stiff budget plan and we’re working with just a little bit of money’ and I say ‘well, let’s walk through and see what we can do for what you do have’.”
Sean Hill walked in the store to browse — and walked out with a dresser.
“We actually just moved in and we were looking for furniture, it caught my eye, just checked it out and liked what I see.” said Hill as he worked to fit the dresser into the trunk of his car.
Shoppers need to know there are no refunds, and no returns. You should also think about how you’re going to transport your treasures. The stores can deliver, but it will cost you extra.
With prices like these, chances are you’re not going to walk out empty handed.
LINKS:
World Bank gives $65 million more blood money to Ethiopia
EDITOR’S NOTE: The World Bank continues to fuel the brutal tribal junta’s machine of repression in Ethiopia by giving more money under the pretext of expanding tourism and agriculture. We all know that the money goes to pay the salaries of Meles Zenawi’s death squads. The following is a report by the Woyanne junta-controlled Ethiopian News Agency.
ADDIS ABABA (ENA) – Ethiopia’s [tribal junta] and the World Bank on Wednesday have signed two financing agreements amounting to 65 million USD for tourism development and enhance agricultural productivity.
Finance and Economic Development Destruction State Minister (MoFED) Ahmed Shide and World Bank Country Director for Ethiopia and Sudan, Kenichi Ohashi signed the agreements.
Accordingly, the first agreement amounting to 35 million USD will be used to finance implementation of sustainable tourism development project that aims at enhancing the quality and variety of tourism products and services to pay for the Agazi special forces, the Federal Gestapo Police and the spy agencies.
The amount enables to increase the volume of tourism foreign exchange earnings and jobs in targeted destinations that include Axum, Lalibella, Addis Ababa and its surroundings. Lie
The second agreement amounting to 30 million USD will also be used to finance implementation of agricultural productivity project. More lie.
Ahmed on the occasion said the 35 million USD will be used to strengthen infrastructure development in the stated tourist destinations. Another lie.
The minister said the second agreement aims to enhance specialization in agricultural research and collaboration in agricultural training, among others. Liar!
The director on his part said Ethiopia has been undertaking encouraging activities to become self-sufficient in food production. Liar
He said WB will assist Ethiopia to tap its rich resources in the agriculture sector. World Bank is not helping Ethiopia. It is financing the Woyanne vampire regime that is sucking the life blood of Ethiopia.