Art News and Exhibition Reviews : Ashok Art Gallery, The Tree Family, an Orissan traditional forms and conventional drawing by Gajendra Prasad Sahu.

Gajaendra Prasad Sahu's Solo show has innaugurated by Dr. Subash Ch Pani at IHC Senior Artists like Kashinath Jena shared his valuable thoughts with all young artists present at opening, This exhibition will continue at Ashok Art Gallery
An Exhibition of recent drawing and painting was organised at Open Palm Court Gallery by Ashok Art Gallery from 14th -16th feb 2009, gathered by many artists and art lovers, Gajendra Prasad's work gets heavily appriceations from both side.

Orissa has been a store house of ideas and images consistently transformed through the history. Artists of Orissa, while keeping the value of its tradition, have tried to keep pace with the need of time. Thus it is obvious to find a blend in the art forms of today. Several contemporary artists from Orissa are practising in coordination with the creativity and tradition, Gajendra Sahu is one of them.

Gajendra Sahu is essentially a graphic artist who is at present engaged in painting, thereby breaking the norms of the painter-printer convention. I still remember few drawings by him in the same pattern, and that reminds me of his association with these forms which are designated and stylistic. It is necessary to highlight the stylistic advantages that are visible in his painting for example the graded yet bold lines, the formal precision and the colour application which has a greater relevance to printing effect.

The compositions are interesting not because of their presence but for their appearance, with a contrast compartmental background seemingly synchronising the visual feast. The second factor it emphasises is the man-nature relationship. The relationship might just be as natural as normally seen in an Orissan environment. The nature is more decorative and conceivably symbolic. The situation has ceased to accommodate the viewer for interaction or is it initiating a rendezvous! The figures seem to reflect an amalgamation of the Orissan traditional forms and conventional drawing.

The subject treatment is much nearer to the mood of the artist. The human faces are nurtured in different condition; pale, melancholic sometimes or may be lost in the urban chaos, or searching a niche for their survival. Being within the nature, they are in a state of discomfort. This brings us to one larger understanding of within and without, containment and exploring, fullness and empty etc. These are subjective view points, entailing the third person to engage in evaluation. This is the state of Orissan art in Orissa, having enormous heritage and cultural potency to encourage any creative discipline, but looking forward to a strange acceptance, forgetting that purity has no language, but expression.


Dr. Pradosh Kumar Mishra
Associate Professor
Department of History of Art
Banaras Hindu University

The Ashok Art Gallery is internationally known for one of its most important holdings: more than 2000 major works by the world's most significant Artists.Over the past years, as Ashok Art Gallery has become a major centre for contemporary visual art, the Gallery has built a strong collection of contemporary work of different artists. Last year we became a sponsor of the STANDUP-SPEAKOUT Artshow, Organized by Art Of Living Foundation and United Nations.Organized an International Contenmporary Art Exhibition including artists from USA, The Nederlands, Pakistan and India.We have also participated at Art Expo India 2008 Mumbai and India Art Summit 2008 New Delhi.

Internet Governance Panel at ISA Convention tomorrow

I have organized a panel on "Control and Governance of the Internet: Beyond Realism vs. Internationalism" for the International Studies Association 50th Annual Convention that has started today in New York City. Short description:

The debate about “who controls the internet” has recently been narrowed down to one between Realists and Internationalists/Transnationalists. The former see nation-states or big powers as the main regulatory forces; the latter point to the impact of international regimes and transnational forums as well as to processes of policy diffusion. What is often ignored is the influence of non-obvious political variables, such as technology trends and market developments, as well as the complex relationships between international regimes and national idiosyncrasies. This panel aims at broadening the view on internet governance and putting the realists-internationalists debate into perspective by addressing these larger issues. The general focus is still on the “control” question: Who controls the internet, and how? What exactly is being controlled, and what is beyond the traditional grasp of politics?

The panelists and their papers are:

• Brenden Kuerbis, Syracuse University: "Securing critical Internet resources: Influence and control of Internet standards through delegation and social networks"
• John Mathiason, Syracuse University: "Thinking Globally at the IGF and Acting Locally: the national-global nexus"
• Konstantinos Komaitis, University of Strathclyde: "Internet Governance: Why Plato is still relevant"
• J. P. Singh, Georgetown University: "What is Being Controlled on the Internet? Security implications of multilateral approaches to negotiating Internet governance"
• Ryan Kiggins, University of Florida: "Wired World: U.S. Identity, Security, and Governance of the Internet"
• Ralf Bendrath, Delft University of Technology: "Global technology trends and national regulation: Explaining Variation in the Governance of Deep Packet Inspection"
• Discussant: Milton L. Mueller, Syracuse University and TU Delft.
  

Most of the papers are or will be available here.

Thanks to Derrick Cogburn and the Cotelco Lab at Syracuse University, we'll have remote participation options. The panel is taking place on Monday, 16 February 2009, 16:15-18:00 EST. If you want to join us, you find the link here about an hour before we start.

Touty & Absa Cora Group Palestine

Side A
Palestine
Day Fink
Mbëgel

Side B
Weet Gore
Bor Yi
Diasaka*

*—Wow, this is my favorite song

Mbalax from Senegal. Jamming layers of drums with haunting melodies and kora. Nice blurry cassette cover.

Valentine

Valentine's Day is here, and for the romantic sort (of which I consider myself) I can only say that It's proved time again to be the source of the greatest humiliation and bitterest of feelings in past relationships. Why is this? Great expectations and diminishing returns. I guess that's my problem.

The good news is, I'm single this year, and I don't need to set myself up for any Hallmark induced hysteria. Don't get me wrong. I believe in love, but do we really need to set aside a single day of the year to express it?

Nope. I think not.

Love is a wonderful thing, it's "a walk down Main Street," but it's also troublesome and dangerous business. Valentines Day can make matters worse. What do you do when you find out that your true love is a liar? Here's a couple of songs that speak to this problem. Paul Westerberg sings about the age-old dilemma of trying to hit a moving target with Cupid's arrow. It's bittersweet, like a shitty chocolate heart. Bobby Bare Jr. takes a more proactive stance and murders the object of his affection. There's some supplementary listening material here too.

Tell someone you love them today. No, tell someone you love them everyday.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Download:

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"Valentine" (demo) mp3
by The Replacements, 1987.
available on Pleased to Meet Me

"Valentine" mp3
by Bobby Bare Jr., 2004.
available on From the End of Your Leash

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"Love Is Lies" mp3
by The Buzzcocks, 1978.
available on Love Bites

"Love Hurts" (alternate) mp3
by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, 1973.
available on The Complete Reprise Sessions

"Your Love is Like Las Vegas" mp3
by The Thrills, 2003.
available on So Much for the City

"Love Comes in Spurts" (alternate) mp3
by Richard Hell and the Voidiods, 1977.
available on Blank Generation

"L.O.V.E. (Love)" mp3
by Orange Juice, 1982.
available on You Can't Hide Your Love Forever


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"Did Somebody Make A Fool Out of You" mp3
by Beth Orton, 2006.
available on Comfort of Strangers (Bonus Disc)

"O Foolish Heart" mp3
by Tom Verlaine, 1984.
available on Cover

"Nobody's Fool" mp3
by Dan Penn, 1973.
available on Nobody's Fool
out of print

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"All You Need Is Love" mp3
by Echo and the Bunnymen, 1984.
available on Crystal Days: 1979-1999

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Forex (Foreign Exchange Market)

The currency is also known as FX or it is also referred to as the FOREX. All three have the same meaning, that the trade negotiations between the various companies, banks, companies and governments located in different countries. The financial market is one that is always changing leaving transactions must be completed through brokers and banks. Many scams are emerging in the FOREX business, as foreign companies and people are creating online to take advantage of people who do not realize that foreign trade must take place by means of d a broker or a company with direct participation in foreign fairs.

Cash, shares, currency is traded through the exchange markets. The FOREX market will be present, and when one currency is traded for another. Think about a trip in May to move to a foreign country. When will you be able to trade your money for the value of the money in that country? It is Forex trading and it is not available in all banks, and it is not available in all financial centers. FOREX is a specialized trading circumstance.

Small businesses and individuals often ask for large sums of money are the victims of fraud in learning forex trading and foreign markets. As FOREX is seen as the way to a Buck or two people do not question their participation in this event, but if you do not have money to invest through a broker in the FOREX market, you can easily eventually lose everything you have invested in the operation.

Scams to watch for the emergence of
A FOREX scam is one in which the trade, but will prove to be a fraud, you have no chance of getting your money once you have invested. If you invest money with a company stating they are involved in the trade of currency you want to read closely to see whether they are authorized to do business in your country. Many companies are not allowed in the FOREX market, as they have defrauded investors.

In the past five years, with the help of the Internet, exchange currency and awareness of currency trading has become trendy. Banks are the main source of foreign exchange for the negotiations, where a trained and licensed broker transactions and requirements you will put out. Commissions are paid on the transaction, which is usual.

Another form of fraud in the FOREX market is a program that will help you to action, to learn about foreign markets and in practice, so you can prepare for the future and career. Would you like a program or software that really make a difference. Consult your broker or your bank for more information on trade in currency, foreign currency markets and how you can prevent the victim while investing in these markets.

True Love / I Smell Trouble

Consider this is a prelude to Valentines Day, or a Friday the 13th post depending on how you feel about it. Little Johnny Taylor on this two sider explores the dichotomy between love, and bad luck and troubles, with the intricacies of canine sensory from a juke-joint mystic.

Download:





"True Love" mp3
by Little Johnny Taylor, 1964.
available on Galaxy Years



"I Smell Trouble" mp3
by Little Johnny Taylor, 1964.
available on Galaxy Years

My 45's

by Will Rigby

My vinyl-to-digital conversion arrangement never worked very well and is at the moment completely nonexistent. However, back in the good old days of 2005 I transferred a handful of 45s to digital.



"Are You Glad To Be In America?" mp3
James Blood Ulmer
Rough Trade (1980)

This is one of the most ferocious and wonderful pieces of music ever committed to tape/vinyl, and is very hard/expensive to find. It pulls off the feat of being joyous, melancholy, avant garde, and danceable all at the same time. I have been unable to find an mp3 of it elsewhere, so this post is a public service. A must-hear for everyone. Amazing singing, guitar, two drummers, arrangement.

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"Talkin' 'bout My Friends" mp3
A. C. Reed (1966)
Nike Records

Reed was a sax player with artists like Earl Hooker and Albert Collins. He appears as a member of Buddy Guy's band in the film Festival Express. I don't know much about him, but this record (that I don't even remember buying) is one of my favorites. Some of the most down-home singing I've ever heard.

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"Tandoori Chicken" mp3
Ronnie Spector
Apple (1971)

Produced by Phil Spector, written by George Harrison and Phil Spector (a chore that couldn't have taken more than a few minutes), and an illustrious member of Phil's tradition of non-LP B-sides (of "Try Some Buy Some"). Sounds like it didn't take very long to record.

*****************



"Uptown Top Ranking" (mono)
Althia and Donna
Sire (1978)

This was a #1 UK hit by a teenage duo from Jamaica. There are other versions of this, one with other instruments added to this version, and a completely different (apparently re-)recording that sounds more 80s. This is the original, mono single version.

*****************



"The Mumbler Strikes Again" mp3
Clark Terry
Mainstream (1966)

Legendary jazz trumpeter Terry made a few of these mumbling tracks, but this is the only one I've heard. Very scratchy—the full 45 experience.

*****************

My Funny Valentine Devils Food and Starbucks DoubleShot Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

IN MEMORY OF:

February 11, 1983: Mary Lee, child of N.

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

IN MEMORY OF:

February 11, 1983: Mary Lee, child of N.

To learn more about these memorials to our children or family members lost to abortion, or to post one of your own (anonymously if you choose), please read this.

The Silly Business Model Innovation Cow Exercise

A couple of posts back I wrote about a simple, fun, but silly exercise to think out of the box when it comes to business model innovation: the silly cow exercise. I asked people to submit their own sketches of business models using a cow..

The echo was very weak (no creativity out there, or fear of sketching?). Hence, in addition to the set of sketches I got from Fréderic Sidler, I photographed some of the sketches coming out of a workshop I did last week in Belfast. The silly cow exercise is a always a success, probably because it looks at business model innovation from a very light angle. It even works with very senior and serious business people. My favorite business model came from a participant in Belfast. However, she didn't have the courage to present her sketch during the workshop: "The Condom Tester"...

Here some of the sketches. You can find the full set on Flickr. I will certainly add more over time...

Outil: Backlink factory

En attendant les widgets dont je vous ai parlé ici, voici un outil qui va sûrement vous intéresser car il vous dévoilera exactement ce que Wikio a dans le ventre. Les Wikio Labs continuent tranquillement leur chemin, dans la perspective d'ouverture que Pierre Chappaz et moi-même avons souhaité initier (et déjà mise en application ici).

Voici donc la Backlink factory, qui vous permettra de savoir si un blog est connu de Wikio ou pas, et surtout quels sont les liens entrants et sortants pour telle ou telle source. Vous pourrez ainsi savoir qui vous a le plus cité récemment, qui vous avez le plus cité, et même connaître les liens entrants ou sortants article par article.

Je vous laisse naviguer de blog en blog : je suis sûr que vous allez faire d'intéressantes découvertes.

Je suis sûr aussi que vous allez découvrir des bugs, des sources qui manquent (signalez-les à info@wikio.fr !). Bien entendu, nombre d'entre vous vont s'en servir pour vérifier l'egomètre mensuel... Attention, cependant :

1. Le nombre de liens ne donne pas exactement le classement (c'est largement expliqué ici, ici et ici).

2. Il a été dit et redit que Wikio ne prend en compte que les liens qui apparaissent dans les flux RSS. C'est dommage, certes, mais c'est pour l'instant la règle du jeu. Personne ne sait faire autrement, même pas Google ou Technorati, qui crawlent la totalité des pages et récupèrent un bruit considérable (widgets, etc. -- voir ici).

Donc, soyez gentils, avant de signaler des backlinks qui manquent, regardez si la source les publie vraiment dans son flux RSS ;-) Mais pour le reste, n'hésitez pas à commenter ci-dessous (ou à m'envoyer un petit mail) si vous voyez des dysfonctionnements (soyez indulgents, c'est une version beta !), ou si vous voyez des pistes de développement et d'améliorations futures.

Comme nous le voyez, j'ai toujours la tête dans les nuages... et les pieds dans les outils ! Un grand merci à Thomas et à toute l'équipe de R&D qui m'a supporté --aux deux sens du terme-- sur ce projet.

Egypt arrests blogger, Gaza activist, Philip Rizk

Sorry this is a little late in coming...been consumed with my travel to San Juan and preparations for the conference I'm speaking at (and on top of that did not have internet access until today)...I have just learned that my good friend and fellow blogger, journalist, and activist Philip Rizk, has been arrested by Egyptian secret police-thugs.

I cannot even imagine Philip in the hands of these torturers, he is one of the most low-strung, peaceful people I have met (especially given that he lived in Gaza for some time, which can tend to make people a nervous wreck!)

I first met Philip, who is a dual German-Egyptian citizen, in Gaza City's Dira hotel through a mutual friend who told me he had just moved to town working on aid projects with Canon Andrew White, special envoy to the Middle East for the Archbishop of Canterbury. I remember clearly- a then 18 month old Yousuf was wreaking havoc in the restaurant-tugging at the tablecloth when we were unsuccessful in distracting him with the indoor playground.

In any case, Philip began a blog after that titled "Tabula Gaza" to which I have a link below.

He was arrested a few days ago during a rally north of Cairo held as part of a series of rallies organized by the Egyptian Popular Committee in Solidarity with The Palestinian People in commemoration of the breaching of the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt one year ago on January 23rd, 2008 and in a bid to End the Siege on Gaza.



Here it is worth noting of course that Philip is not alone in his arrest. Every day dozens of Egyptian activists are arrest, taken to undisclosed locations, and tortured by the Egyptian secret police. As recent as last week, more than 50 members of the Muslim Brotherhood organization were also detained after a recent Gaza rally, and more than 500 in the past month.

All hail Mubarak...this is what the United States means when it says it wants to work with "moderate leaders" in the Middle East. Democracy at work people.

For more on Philip's case (and others in Egyptian penitentiary) check Egypt and Beyond blog (notable is the "Mafia with a License" piece by Sarah Carr), Ben White's blog, and for a detailed account of the kidnapping, see Inanities blog.

Abortion After Rape: Yes or No?

This Prolifeblogs combox discussion brought up the subject of abortion in cases of rape, when a brave woman spoke up:

We are so under represented in the media because it is corrupt and a brainwashing thing when put in the places it is...but we might have to fight back with brutal honesty to show up the lies.

I was raped, suppressed it and a growing belly for 7 months, had a baby girl, and placed her for adoption. If you hear anyone use the stupid line again, "well what if you were raped, then why should you have to carry to term a baby?" Pleas refer them to me! I'm sick of them persuading people on stuff they don't even bother asking a real woman that has been through it about! Pro-lifers are tough in general, Pro-choice people are wimps (sorry, but it is true. I bet if we did a survey they would be the ones that cried as a kid if they didn;'t get picked something)

...Why do they assume automatically women can't handle it? Two wrongs dont make a right. I am so mad at the abortion industry, I cant explain it. Its just that they would made it so easy for me to walk in the door and kill my daughter that first day I found out I was pregnant (without telling my parents or anyone first) luckily I didn't thanks to God taking over. My opinion on everything changed full over after just a few days of letting the fact that this is a little life, sink in. But they made it so easy for me to kill my daughter, and since she means the world to me today, this grudge isn't going to ever go away until they are destroyed (the companies like planned parenthood...not the people destroyed)

She isn't the first victim of rape, nor in the minority of them, feeling this way.

In replying to help readers know what we've long known from doing our own digging (instead of relying on the mainstream media), we had linked to this original post by friend and fellow blogger Rachael written in 2005, along with our blog's discussion about this very topic that ensued. In it we discuss this phenomenon of how women feel after being raped, some choosing abortion, some feeling duped into choosing it, others not choosing it.

In that AfterAbortion combox, we heard from "Susan G" about her rape experience, and from Julie who wrote that

"my mother was a rape victim at the age of thirteen. Twenty years later, when she sought an abortion for an unwanted pregnancy, she screamed throughout the procedure and had to be held down by nurses. She didn't have to say she was reliving her rape; she looked it during the retelling."

Those who support abortion in the case of rape never probably ever gave that a thought.

But some surveys have found that many women do relive their rape experience during an abortion.

Imagine most of our society telling women they should HAVE to relive that experience by getting an abortion? Imagine the pressure??

Unless one has been raped, I don't think any of us can ever imagine what it's like to think about how similarly vulnerable the abortion experience is to that, even if it is supposedly a conscious choice. It's still physically vulnerable. The only way I survived my abortion was to deaden myself for over 20 years, starting with the exact moment I was up on that table spreading my legs for the male abortionist when I really, truly, didn't want to be there but believed I had no other choice, and I really, truly, didn't even think it was happening to me.

So, after redigging through all my prior research and all those horrific memories, images and feelings, I also decided to post this firsthand account which, I was surprised to realize, I'd never posted before. It is from a day in the life of one sidewalk "compassionate counselor," namely me, almost six years ago.]

APRIL 5, 2003, 7-10 am: Four or five turn-aways, plus one mom changed her mind today! God is good. There were not the usual 20-plus moms coming in either. And the "counselor's" car must have broken down since she arrived in a cab.

The white male, mid-40ish escort from Westport walked slowly over to the chain-link fence by the alleyway today. The one I was standing behind. My tape player with the embryonic heartbeat tape was turned off for a few minutes. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him approach, wary that he might try to grab the boombox or me, remembering how Carmen got punched in the eye a month ago by an abortion clinic client who she thought was coming to talk with her.

Instead, he softly said to me, "You’re Ann, right?" I was stunned. I had told him my name over a month ago, as he was leaving one day. Then, he hadn’t acknowledged me, or told me his name. Abortion clinic escorts are taught to ignore us. BUT HE REMEMBERED MY NAME. I said yes, walking over to him, still separated by the fence. He then asked, “What do you think about abortion in cases of rape or incest?”

I said, “What’s your name?” He told me his first name. For this post, though, I'll call him "Carl." I then replied, with pain on my face as though I was talking with a good friend, “Carl, knowing the risks women are exposed to from abortion, between increased risk of breast cancer and infertility, I wouldn’t want to subject them to that, especially after the horror of a rape.”

He answered, “My sister was raped, and she had an abortion, and she thinks it’s the best thing she could do. How can you or anyone think she should have to have a child from such a horrible thing?”

This was not a hostile conversation. He was actually, quietly, engaging me, asking me my honest opinion.

I looked into his eyes and saw the searching, the pain, the anger at the rapist. The love for his sister. I almost cried, but I answered, “Honestly, Carl? Having an abortion is really, only victimizing a woman TWICE. I have endometriosis because of my abortion. I’m at much greater risk for breast cancer. She’s now at risk too. And the rape was a violent act, but so is the abortion. Surely, you can see that, from these pictures the others are holding? And as horrible and painful as rape is, abortion for women who’ve been raped is really only victimizing females TWICE, with a second violent act.”

We were still just talking, honestly, pleadingly. No anger whatsoever. It was amazing. It was as if he was searching for some understanding, some clue as to why we really are there. Carl said, “But she is fine with it! And after all, it is her choice. It is up to her, we can’t tell her what to do.” I replied, “She may be telling you she’s fine with it, but she could be in total denial like I was for decades. And to say it’s none of anyone’s business...really, Carl, that just ignores that there is a human life in there. Do you believe that there is a life in there? Do you believe that God made you and me?”

He said, “You play that heartbeat sound and make a big deal out of it, at 6 or 7 weeks, but that doesn’t mean there is a heartbeat on the morning after!” I asked him, “Carl, are you Christian? Do you believe in Jesus Christ?” He answered, “I was raised that way, but…I don’t really…”

I said, “So you don’t really follow a faith like that anymore, OK, fair enough... But the scientific fact is that that baby has the same number of genes and chromosomes at conception as you and me...even if it doesn’t have a heartbeat for 21 days, it’s still a human life in there. I can show you scientist after scientist who has proved life begins at conception, that it’s a one-celled human organism --”

He cut me off before I could say that, at conception, even a human’s potential hair and eye color, height and weight are determined. He said, “To be human, it has to have a consciousness!” I answered, “No, Carl, it doesn’t" but he dismissed what I began to say, walking away, exasperated.

I called to him calmly, “Carl, come on, talk with me please. Don’t walk away. This is what I believe because of the scientific facts and also because I’m coming from a faith in Jesus Christ, and a belief that God creates all life.”

He came back, upset, saying, “Why should she have to be punished by having a baby from a rapist? Are you saying God wanted that to happen to her, to be raped?”

[Sound familiar? Our new President also just said that not long ago, and he got it from the abortion industry's successful miseducation of the American people]

I gazed at him, trying to reach him with compassion, saying, “No, Carl, God didn’t want or plan for her to be raped. He loves her, and all of us, and yet even God doesn’t stop us from using our free will as that rapist did when he hurt your sister. But God did have a plan for that baby once it was conceived, even despite how it happened. It pains God that the guy did what he did, but God loves all life, and there are many women -- there’s one woman right here, today -- who were raped who actually feel, even subconsciously, that keeping the baby is their way to make something good come out of something so bad, they feel as though keeping the baby proves they are better than the rapist. They can conquer the horror by doing something good.”

At this, he looked at me incredulously and began to dismiss what I said. I asked him, “Don’t you believe that allowing the baby to live is a better thing than what the rapist did to her? Isn’t it a better thing to let the baby live?”

“Carl, we are not unfeeling people. My heart breaks for your sister, and especially because she is probably in denial that there really was a baby inside her. It’s the only way she can go on thinking she’s fine, to deny that. If she admitted it, it would get to her.”

He asked me, “What do you think about the morning after pill, then?” I said, “Carl, if the woman is pregnant, that is really making an abortion happen too.” He was astounded, throwing up his hands, saying that we were hopeless, starting to walk away. I replied, “Carl, we believe in a God who made us all and also the medical descriptions of the morning after pill show that it can end a pregnancy if conception has taken place. That is where WE are coming from, on this point. The morning after pill has the ability to end a pregnancy if there is one inside the woman, and it IS a life inside her.”

Still, he turned and listened, then asked, “Do you think the Pill is OK, then?” I looked so sadly at him, and said, “No, Carl, because that can cause an abortion too, if the woman is pregnant.” He was dumbfounded, really walking away then. I still called to him, “Come on, Carl, don’t walk away. I listened to you. You asked me what I thought, let me finish telling you. If you believe that God created all of us and all this earth, then you must also believe that He created sex and all the other things we do, like eating. He created sex for two reasons, Carl: to show one other person that we truly love, bond with and give ourselves as a gift in love to that person, and to procreate. If we block one or the other of those purposes, we are playing God, we are blocking God’s purposes for Creation. We believe that is wrong to do, especially when it causes an unknown but real abortion. That is why we are against the Pill and the Morning After Pill.”

I brought over the lady whose 11-year-old daughter, born from a rapist’s act, is the light of her life, and although Carl would not look or come over again, he had to have listened to her. She pulled out a picture of her beautiful daughter, telling him how proud and joyful she is to have her. How she does NOT remind her of her horrible rape so long ago. How she only reminds her of how good God is, and will be to all those who trust Him.

He refused to come back or look at us, but I continued talking to him, quietly, through the fence. “Carl, I’m a single mom, and I’m not in a relationship right now, but if I was, I have decided not to have sex unless and until I marry again because I believe in the reasons for which God gave us sex in the first place. My point in telling you this is that I am not telling anyone to resist something that I don’t resist myself.”

And I added, “You never know what your sister could really be feeling. She could have bottled it up so tightly. After all, how could she admit to you that she regrets her abortion? YOU come here and help OTHERS have them! She probably thinks you’d dismiss her feelings or even be angry with her. You never know. She’s damned if she does admit it and damned if she doesn’t. If she tells anyone, some pro-life people -- even some of the ones who are here today, the ones with bullhorns -- will condemn her. And the pro-choice people will call her crazy for feeling regret! They’ll say she’s unstable and it’s all in her head! She CAN’T WIN, Carl. Both sides make it impossible for her to seek healing from her regret and pain. That’s why so many women don’t talk about their regret, Carl. NO ONE makes it easy.”

I asked him, “Would you read some things if I brought you them, next time?” He dismissed it, saying it would only be pro-life-slanted sources. I said, “No, it will be personal stories from women just like your sister.” He didn’t answer. Then I told him I will be praying for him and for his sister, because I know he feels such pain for her.

That’s why he’s there. He thinks he’s helping others just like her, to get rid of their pain and their shame.

RESOURCES:

1. Hope After Rape; Life After Rape: "The Face of the 'Rape Exception'"
   
   
2. Two women have come to the forefront to help women who have become pregnant through rape or incest, children conceived through sexual assault, and women who have had abortions as a result of these crimes (members throughout the U.S.):
   
   a) Kay Zibolsky, LIFE AFTER ASSAULT LEAGUE, 1336 West Lindberg St., Appleton, WI 54914. Phone: 920-739-4489.
   
   Kay is the author of the book, "The Sorrow of Sexual Assault and the Joy of Healing".
   
   b) Julie Makimaa is a so-called "product of rape" who has done much to bust the myth about abortion being the best choice for rape victims.
   
   She

   "compiled, Victims and Victors: Speaking Out About Their Pregnancies, Abortions, and Children Resulting from Sexual Assault. The book uses the combined experiences of 264 women and children and provides a definitive response to the argument for abortion in assault pregnancies.
   
   "She has testified before a number of state legislatures, lobbied Congress and appeared on numerous radio and television talk shows, including Donahue, Geraldo and Sally Jesse Raphael. Her story has appeared in many national newspapers and magazines, including the Los Angeles Times and Washington Times and Glamour."

   (She once founded the group called Fortress International, but I think that is no longer active.)
   
   
3. Surveys about women who have been raped:

   "In 1981, Dr. Sandra Mahkorn conducted the first major research of pregnant rape victims. She found that 75 to 85 percent chose against abortion."

4. For those skeptics who don't like prolife sources, then go here: Mahkorn, "Pregnancy and Sexual Assault," The Psychological Aspects of Abortion, eds. Mall & Watts, (Washington, D.C., University Publications of America, 1979) 55-69.
   
   
5. Feminists for Life
   
   
6. Christina Dunigan also has summarized some of these facts well in this article.
   
   
7. Since then, apparently, so has at least one other:

   "Professor Stephen Krason points out that "psychological studies have shown that, when given the proper support, most pregnant rape victims progressively change their attitudes about their unborn child from something repulsive to someone who is innocent and uniquely worthwhile."

   That leads to this footnote: "Krason, 284. For an overview of the research, see Sandra Kathleen Mahkorn, "Pregnancy and Sexual Assault," in David Mall and Walter F. Watts, M.D., The Psychological Aspects of Abortion (Washington, D.C.: University Publications of America, 1979), 67-68."
   
   
8. That PDF file quotes Dr. Stephen Krason's published book: "Dr. Stephen Krason writes:

   "A number of studies have shown that pregnancy resulting from rape is very uncommon. One, looking at 2190 victims, reported pregnancy in only 0.6 percent."

   (Abortion: Politics, Morality, and the Constitution, book published in 1984 [Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1984], 283.)
   
   
9. One woman's story

We could go on and on.

Abortion After Rape: Yes or No?

This Prolifeblogs combox discussion brought up the subject of abortion in cases of rape, when a brave woman spoke up:

We are so under represented in the media because it is corrupt and a brainwashing thing when put in the places it is...but we might have to fight back with brutal honesty to show up the lies.

I was raped, suppressed it and a growing belly for 7 months, had a baby girl, and placed her for adoption. If you hear anyone use the stupid line again, "well what if you were raped, then why should you have to carry to term a baby?" Pleas refer them to me! I'm sick of them persuading people on stuff they don't even bother asking a real woman that has been through it about! Pro-lifers are tough in general, Pro-choice people are wimps (sorry, but it is true. I bet if we did a survey they would be the ones that cried as a kid if they didn;'t get picked something)

...Why do they assume automatically women can't handle it? Two wrongs dont make a right. I am so mad at the abortion industry, I cant explain it. Its just that they would made it so easy for me to walk in the door and kill my daughter that first day I found out I was pregnant (without telling my parents or anyone first) luckily I didn't thanks to God taking over. My opinion on everything changed full over after just a few days of letting the fact that this is a little life, sink in. But they made it so easy for me to kill my daughter, and since she means the world to me today, this grudge isn't going to ever go away until they are destroyed (the companies like planned parenthood...not the people destroyed)

She isn't the first victim of rape, nor in the minority of them, feeling this way.

In replying to help readers know what we've long known from doing our own digging (instead of relying on the mainstream media), we had linked to this original post by friend and fellow blogger Rachael written in 2005, along with our blog's discussion about this very topic that ensued. In it we discuss this phenomenon of how women feel after being raped, some choosing abortion, some feeling duped into choosing it, others not choosing it.

In that AfterAbortion combox, we heard from "Susan G" about her rape experience, and from Julie who wrote that

"my mother was a rape victim at the age of thirteen. Twenty years later, when she sought an abortion for an unwanted pregnancy, she screamed throughout the procedure and had to be held down by nurses. She didn't have to say she was reliving her rape; she looked it during the retelling."

Those who support abortion in the case of rape never probably ever gave that a thought.

But some surveys have found that many women do relive their rape experience during an abortion.

Imagine most of our society telling women they should HAVE to relive that experience by getting an abortion? Imagine the pressure??

Unless one has been raped, I don't think any of us can ever imagine what it's like to think about how similarly vulnerable the abortion experience is to that, even if it is supposedly a conscious choice. It's still physically vulnerable. The only way I survived my abortion was to deaden myself for over 20 years, starting with the exact moment I was up on that table spreading my legs for the male abortionist when I really, truly, didn't want to be there but believed I had no other choice, and I really, truly, didn't even think it was happening to me.

So, after redigging through all my prior research and all those horrific memories, images and feelings, I also decided to post this firsthand account which, I was surprised to realize, I'd never posted before. It is from a day in the life of one sidewalk "compassionate counselor," namely me, almost six years ago.]

APRIL 5, 2003, 7-10 am: Four or five turn-aways, plus one mom changed her mind today! God is good. There were not the usual 20-plus moms coming in either. And the "counselor's" car must have broken down since she arrived in a cab.

The white male, mid-40ish escort from Westport walked slowly over to the chain-link fence by the alleyway today. The one I was standing behind. My tape player with the embryonic heartbeat tape was turned off for a few minutes. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him approach, wary that he might try to grab the boombox or me, remembering how Carmen got punched in the eye a month ago by an abortion clinic client who she thought was coming to talk with her.

Instead, he softly said to me, "You’re Ann, right?" I was stunned. I had told him my name over a month ago, as he was leaving one day. Then, he hadn’t acknowledged me, or told me his name. Abortion clinic escorts are taught to ignore us. BUT HE REMEMBERED MY NAME. I said yes, walking over to him, still separated by the fence. He then asked, “What do you think about abortion in cases of rape or incest?”

I said, “What’s your name?” He told me his first name. For this post, though, I'll call him "Carl." I then replied, with pain on my face as though I was talking with a good friend, “Carl, knowing the risks women are exposed to from abortion, between increased risk of breast cancer and infertility, I wouldn’t want to subject them to that, especially after the horror of a rape.”

He answered, “My sister was raped, and she had an abortion, and she thinks it’s the best thing she could do. How can you or anyone think she should have to have a child from such a horrible thing?”

This was not a hostile conversation. He was actually, quietly, engaging me, asking me my honest opinion.

I looked into his eyes and saw the searching, the pain, the anger at the rapist. The love for his sister. I almost cried, but I answered, “Honestly, Carl? Having an abortion is really, only victimizing a woman TWICE. I have endometriosis because of my abortion. I’m at much greater risk for breast cancer. She’s now at risk too. And the rape was a violent act, but so is the abortion. Surely, you can see that, from these pictures the others are holding? And as horrible and painful as rape is, abortion for women who’ve been raped is really only victimizing females TWICE, with a second violent act.”

We were still just talking, honestly, pleadingly. No anger whatsoever. It was amazing. It was as if he was searching for some understanding, some clue as to why we really are there. Carl said, “But she is fine with it! And after all, it is her choice. It is up to her, we can’t tell her what to do.” I replied, “She may be telling you she’s fine with it, but she could be in total denial like I was for decades. And to say it’s none of anyone’s business...really, Carl, that just ignores that there is a human life in there. Do you believe that there is a life in there? Do you believe that God made you and me?”

He said, “You play that heartbeat sound and make a big deal out of it, at 6 or 7 weeks, but that doesn’t mean there is a heartbeat on the morning after!” I asked him, “Carl, are you Christian? Do you believe in Jesus Christ?” He answered, “I was raised that way, but…I don’t really…”

I said, “So you don’t really follow a faith like that anymore, OK, fair enough... But the scientific fact is that that baby has the same number of genes and chromosomes at conception as you and me...even if it doesn’t have a heartbeat for 21 days, it’s still a human life in there. I can show you scientist after scientist who has proved life begins at conception, that it’s a one-celled human organism --”

He cut me off before I could say that, at conception, even a human’s potential hair and eye color, height and weight are determined. He said, “To be human, it has to have a consciousness!” I answered, “No, Carl, it doesn’t" but he dismissed what I began to say, walking away, exasperated.

I called to him calmly, “Carl, come on, talk with me please. Don’t walk away. This is what I believe because of the scientific facts and also because I’m coming from a faith in Jesus Christ, and a belief that God creates all life.”

He came back, upset, saying, “Why should she have to be punished by having a baby from a rapist? Are you saying God wanted that to happen to her, to be raped?”

[Sound familiar? Our new President also just said that not long ago, and he got it from the abortion industry's successful miseducation of the American people]

I gazed at him, trying to reach him with compassion, saying, “No, Carl, God didn’t want or plan for her to be raped. He loves her, and all of us, and yet even God doesn’t stop us from using our free will as that rapist did when he hurt your sister. But God did have a plan for that baby once it was conceived, even despite how it happened. It pains God that the guy did what he did, but God loves all life, and there are many women -- there’s one woman right here, today -- who were raped who actually feel, even subconsciously, that keeping the baby is their way to make something good come out of something so bad, they feel as though keeping the baby proves they are better than the rapist. They can conquer the horror by doing something good.”

At this, he looked at me incredulously and began to dismiss what I said. I asked him, “Don’t you believe that allowing the baby to live is a better thing than what the rapist did to her? Isn’t it a better thing to let the baby live?”

“Carl, we are not unfeeling people. My heart breaks for your sister, and especially because she is probably in denial that there really was a baby inside her. It’s the only way she can go on thinking she’s fine, to deny that. If she admitted it, it would get to her.”

He asked me, “What do you think about the morning after pill, then?” I said, “Carl, if the woman is pregnant, that is really making an abortion happen too.” He was astounded, throwing up his hands, saying that we were hopeless, starting to walk away. I replied, “Carl, we believe in a God who made us all and also the medical descriptions of the morning after pill show that it can end a pregnancy if conception has taken place. That is where WE are coming from, on this point. The morning after pill has the ability to end a pregnancy if there is one inside the woman, and it IS a life inside her.”

Still, he turned and listened, then asked, “Do you think the Pill is OK, then?” I looked so sadly at him, and said, “No, Carl, because that can cause an abortion too, if the woman is pregnant.” He was dumbfounded, really walking away then. I still called to him, “Come on, Carl, don’t walk away. I listened to you. You asked me what I thought, let me finish telling you. If you believe that God created all of us and all this earth, then you must also believe that He created sex and all the other things we do, like eating. He created sex for two reasons, Carl: to show one other person that we truly love, bond with and give ourselves as a gift in love to that person, and to procreate. If we block one or the other of those purposes, we are playing God, we are blocking God’s purposes for Creation. We believe that is wrong to do, especially when it causes an unknown but real abortion. That is why we are against the Pill and the Morning After Pill.”

I brought over the lady whose 11-year-old daughter, born from a rapist’s act, is the light of her life, and although Carl would not look or come over again, he had to have listened to her. She pulled out a picture of her beautiful daughter, telling him how proud and joyful she is to have her. How she does NOT remind her of her horrible rape so long ago. How she only reminds her of how good God is, and will be to all those who trust Him.

He refused to come back or look at us, but I continued talking to him, quietly, through the fence. “Carl, I’m a single mom, and I’m not in a relationship right now, but if I was, I have decided not to have sex unless and until I marry again because I believe in the reasons for which God gave us sex in the first place. My point in telling you this is that I am not telling anyone to resist something that I don’t resist myself.”

And I added, “You never know what your sister could really be feeling. She could have bottled it up so tightly. After all, how could she admit to you that she regrets her abortion? YOU come here and help OTHERS have them! She probably thinks you’d dismiss her feelings or even be angry with her. You never know. She’s damned if she does admit it and damned if she doesn’t. If she tells anyone, some pro-life people -- even some of the ones who are here today, the ones with bullhorns -- will condemn her. And the pro-choice people will call her crazy for feeling regret! They’ll say she’s unstable and it’s all in her head! She CAN’T WIN, Carl. Both sides make it impossible for her to seek healing from her regret and pain. That’s why so many women don’t talk about their regret, Carl. NO ONE makes it easy.”

I asked him, “Would you read some things if I brought you them, next time?” He dismissed it, saying it would only be pro-life-slanted sources. I said, “No, it will be personal stories from women just like your sister.” He didn’t answer. Then I told him I will be praying for him and for his sister, because I know he feels such pain for her.

That’s why he’s there. He thinks he’s helping others just like her, to get rid of their pain and their shame.

RESOURCES:

1. Hope After Rape; Life After Rape: "The Face of the 'Rape Exception'"
   
   
2. Two women have come to the forefront to help women who have become pregnant through rape or incest, children conceived through sexual assault, and women who have had abortions as a result of these crimes (members throughout the U.S.):
   
   a) Kay Zibolsky, LIFE AFTER ASSAULT LEAGUE, 1336 West Lindberg St., Appleton, WI 54914. Phone: 920-739-4489.
   
   Kay is the author of the book, "The Sorrow of Sexual Assault and the Joy of Healing".
   
   b) Julie Makimaa is a so-called "product of rape" who has done much to bust the myth about abortion being the best choice for rape victims.
   
   She

   "compiled, Victims and Victors: Speaking Out About Their Pregnancies, Abortions, and Children Resulting from Sexual Assault. The book uses the combined experiences of 264 women and children and provides a definitive response to the argument for abortion in assault pregnancies.
   
   "She has testified before a number of state legislatures, lobbied Congress and appeared on numerous radio and television talk shows, including Donahue, Geraldo and Sally Jesse Raphael. Her story has appeared in many national newspapers and magazines, including the Los Angeles Times and Washington Times and Glamour."

   (She once founded the group called Fortress International, but I think that is no longer active.)
   
   
3. Surveys about women who have been raped:

   "In 1981, Dr. Sandra Mahkorn conducted the first major research of pregnant rape victims. She found that 75 to 85 percent chose against abortion."

4. For those skeptics who don't like prolife sources, then go here: Mahkorn, "Pregnancy and Sexual Assault," The Psychological Aspects of Abortion, eds. Mall & Watts, (Washington, D.C., University Publications of America, 1979) 55-69.
   
   
5. Feminists for Life
   
   
6. Christina Dunigan also has summarized some of these facts well in this article.
   
   
7. Since then, apparently, so has at least one other:

   "Professor Stephen Krason points out that "psychological studies have shown that, when given the proper support, most pregnant rape victims progressively change their attitudes about their unborn child from something repulsive to someone who is innocent and uniquely worthwhile."

   That leads to this footnote: "Krason, 284. For an overview of the research, see Sandra Kathleen Mahkorn, "Pregnancy and Sexual Assault," in David Mall and Walter F. Watts, M.D., The Psychological Aspects of Abortion (Washington, D.C.: University Publications of America, 1979), 67-68."
   
   
8. That PDF file quotes Dr. Stephen Krason's published book: "Dr. Stephen Krason writes:

   "A number of studies have shown that pregnancy resulting from rape is very uncommon. One, looking at 2190 victims, reported pregnancy in only 0.6 percent."

   (Abortion: Politics, Morality, and the Constitution, book published in 1984 [Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1984], 283.)
   
   
9. One woman's story

We could go on and on.

Dems Still Being Blackmailed By GOP

"It looks like the Senate may end up passing a stimulus bill that’s smaller (spending-wise), larger (tax-cut-wise), and far less likely to work than the bill
passed in the House.

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of Senate Democrats letting Republicans blackmail them with the mere threat of a filibuster. Here’s a thought: Instead of caving in to GOP demands, how about telling them to go filibuster themselves? ..."

Continued here, including my double limerick on the
topic.

dawn gives me a shadow i know to be taller

Well, folks. Sorry there's no new drawing this week (I've got one on the go) but I wanted to re post these and to share something with you, too. Yesterday I found out that I have been selected to exhibit at the Bologna Children's Book Fair. Anyone who's involved in children's books will know that Bologna is THE event of the calender. I am so excited, I still can't believe it. I keep checking the website to see if that really is my name. This has been a dream of mine for at least a decade. These are two of the drawings that I submitted.

Also, I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who visits my blog. I wouldn't have realised this dream if it hadn't been for all the support and encouragement you give me on a daily basis.

Just one more thing, my email has been acting really screwy recently. For anyone who has tried to contact me and hasn't received a reply 'sorry'. I try to get back to everyone within a week, so if I haven't done it's my stupid email account not getting messages through to me. Either, leave a comment here or send me a Flickr mail and I will try and get back to you via my new account.

Disrupting the Music Industry: Trent Raznor

Many of you have seen my presentation "business models matter", which shows how the music industry has been slow to react to a changing industry landscape.

Here a video explanation by Mike Masnick from Techdirt of how an artist, Trent Raznor, is re-inventing business models for the music industry. Most interestingly: he shows how FREE can be the basis for earning substantial revenues...

What can other industries learn from this? I have a pretty clear idea: Business Model Innovation is possible!

TIME: NWO, Global Bank

"Just wait a couple of months, though. Politicians from Beijing to Berlin to Brasília see the current crisis as the product of a messed-up global financial infrastructure dominated by the U.S., and they will soon be pushing for big changes--whether Americans like them or not...

In the view of many outside the U.S. (and some within), the only way to limit such excesses is through a bigger, more powerful IMF that can act as a central bank to the world--and knock heads when needed. " http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1877388-1,00.html

Art Exhibition New Delhi, India : Gajendra Prasad Sahu

Ashok Art Gallery Presents

The Tree & Family
An Exhibition of recent Paintings and Drawings,
a Solo Show of renound Artist Gajendra Prasad Sahu
from 14th to 16th Feb, 2009
at Open Palm Court Gallery, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road,New Delhi, India

Dr Subash Pani, Secretary, Planning Commission, Govt. of India, New Delhi has kindly consented to Innaugurate the Exhibition.
Sri Injeti. Srinivas, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Govt. of India, New Delhi will be the Chief Guest.

You all are cordially invited
Exibition will open on 14th Feb 6 PM and it will be on view till 16th Feb
10 AM to 8PM Daily.

The Ashok Art Gallery is internationally known for one of its most important holdings: more than 2000 major works by the world's most significant Artists.Over the past years, as Ashok Art Gallery has become a major centre for contemporary visual art, the Gallery has built a strong collection of contemporary work of different artists. Last year we became a sponsor of the STANDUP-SPEAKOUT Artshow, Organized by Art Of Living Foundation and United Nations.Organized an International Contenmporary Art Exhibition including artists from USA, The Nederlands, Pakistan and India.We have also participated at Art Expo India 2008 Mumbai and India Art Summit 2008 New Delhi.