HATUA ZA KUCHUKUA KULINDA VIINI-ASKARI

Imetoka kwa Dr. Weil.com

Your immune system is your interface with the environment, and a healthy immune system is the cornerstone of good health: it allows you to interact with germs and not get infections, with allergens and avoid allergic reactions, and with carcinogens and avoid getting cancer. Immune deficiency can be avoided with preventive measures: Maintain good oral hygiene (gum infections can use up a lot of the body's immune resources). Use antibiotics only when absolutely necessary and avoid immunosuppressive drugs unless there are no other alternatives left to consider. Cut back on sugar and stop eating polyunsaturated vegetable oils and artificially hardened fats - instead use extra-virgin olive oil and eat fresh fruits when craving something sweet. Don't forget moderate exercise - it helps keep every tissue in the body healthy and can raise levels of natural killer cells, a primary defense against cancer.

MAJADILIANO YA RASILIMALI ZA JAMHURI YA TANZANIA

The Bone of Contention still lies with the ever-expanding list of Union Matters in the First Schedule to The Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania, 1977.

It is now a very open secret tha the added matters after the originally agreed 11 Matters of the Union are ILLEGAL, and thus should be inoperative, as Shivji's book [(Issa G. Shivji, Pan Africanism or Pragmatism? : Lessons of the Tanganyika-Zanzibar Union, Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, 2008)] has amply revealed.

The legal fraternity and the general public who are empowered and take the trouble to follow current events in our country know fully well that the answer to all the UNION questions posed by both sides (Bara na Visiwani) lie on the PARTICIPATORY FORMULATION OF A NEW TANZANIAN CONSTITUTION.

The question is: Would the Chama cha Mapinduzi be courageous enough to emulate the Apartheid Regime of South Africa to legislate itself out of existence? That is, by allowing the participation of the Tanzanian public to contribute to the whole democratic process of writing a new Tanzanian Constitution?

BURIANI TAJUDEEN ABDUL-RAHEEM

BURIANI TAJUDEEN ABDUL-RAHEEM
>
> May 26, 2009 (MAKALA YAKE YA MWISHO)
>
> Govts discourage enterprise and penalise those fighting
> poverty
> Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem
>
>
> The irony of Africa being a very rich continent but
> Africans being some of the poorest peoples in the world is
> no longer lost to anyone. While we can argue about the
> historical, structural, attitudinal, personal and
> institutional causes of this state of affairs, the fact
> remains that majority of our peoples remain in need amidst
> plenty.
>
> Decades of aid, humanitarian intervention, prayers,
> activism, development plans, action plans, government
> declarations and so many other initiatives have not produced
> fundamental change for the poorest and weakest sections of
> our societies. Yet Africans remain one of the most
> optimistic peoples, perpetually believing that tomorrow will
> be better. It is always a miracle how majority of
> the poor, whether in our urban slums or impoverished rural
> areas, survive.
>
> Our cities' overburdened road infrastructures have
> spurned entrepreneurship in the form of shops on roads and
> legs meandering between armies of pedestrians and impatient
> vehicle drivers frustrated at the gridlock traffic.
> Similarly informal settlements have developed, several times
> the size of our capital cities with little or no
> infrastructures. Some of them like Kibera Slum in Nairobi
> are even becoming 'famous' globally for poverty
> tourism. Unfortunately, it is not the impoverished peoples
> in these settlements who are even the beneficiaries of their
> own poverty.
>
> The majority of Africans continue to survive not because of
> government but in spite of governments. They eke out a
> living to keep body and soul together, provide for their
> families, doing all kinds of dirty work with little pay or
> selling anything that is buyable; hawking all kinds of
> household wares,
> fruits, vegetables and myriad of consumer items.
>
> The concept of informal settlements in Africa is not just
> about where people live but extends to informal markets in
> all kinds of goods and services.
>
> As the son of a hardworking woman who was a 'petty
> trader', I confess to a bias in favour of these
> small entrepreneurs who do not depend on any connections
> with government officials, politicians and big business
> influence. You go to many neighbourhoods rich or poor
> and you will find these largely female entrepreneurs,
> selling food to those working on construction sites, cheap
> vegetables to other poor members of the society from their
> baskets, trays or single tables at the corners of roads and
> streets.
>
> So living in Kenya, a settler, apartheid type state in all
> but name, I find myself in solidarity with 'Mama
> Mboga'. These are women who sell vegetables from their
> trays, or traditional load carriers tied to their heads,
> carried
> on their backs.
>
> From Mama Mboga selling daily perishable vegetables, the
> ambition is to own a kiosk where you can have storage for
> more goods , stock more, put a fridge and freezer that
> can preserve perishable items. When Mama Mboga becomes a
> kiosk owner, it is a personal triumph of hope over
> adversity- a long journey from grinding poverty to
> bearable survival and foundations for permanent exit from
> poverty. The bigger the kiosk and the better stocked it is,
> the further away the owner is from poverty. Government
> policy is threatening the survival of the Mama Mbogas across
> this continent. In the name of ridding cities of illegal
> constructions, returning to the original city plans and
> 'beautifying' our cities, city councils and central
> governments are creating more poverty. Of what use is
> a 'beautiful city' inhabited by people who have lost
> their livelihoods? Would they appreciate the beauty?
>
> The Mama Mbogas are on
> the street and in kiosks because they cannot afford the
> malls and most of their clientele cannot afford the price in
> the malls.
>
> Our elite are embarrassed by the mass poverty that
> surrounds us but they are unwilling to provide leadership
> and appropriate policies to take our peoples to prosperity.
> Instead they engage in avoidance and denial mechanisms to
> pretend to visitors that 'everything is okay'.
>
> That's why they rid our capitals of beggars, hawkers,
> and other undesirables before any major
> 'international' conference, but out of sight is not
> out of mind for the Mama/Baba Mbogas in our midst. You can
> pull down their kiosks and destroy their tables but they
> will come back with new tables, under umbrellas and their
> clientele will know where to find them. By no means are
> there clients all wretched of the earth. I still call my
> favourite Mama Mboga, Mama Sarah, or her husband, Martin, to
> send me top up cards from wherever Nairobi City Council
> have forced them to.
>
>
> Dr Tajudeen, a respected Pan Africanist and Daily Monitor
> columnist, died in a car crash in Nairobi, Kenya on May 25, 2009. This column, written last week, was his last for
> Daily Monitor. May his soul rest in peace.

MABADILIKO YA DUNIA YANAVYOELEKEA KUTOKOMEZA UHAI

Climate Change Killing 300,000 Per Year
CNN
posted: 17 HOURS 35 MINUTES AGO
LONDON (May 29) -- The first comprehensive report into the human cost of climate change warns the world is in the throes of a "silent crisis" that is killing 300,000 people each year.
More than 300 million people are already seriously affected by the gradual warming of the earth and that number is set to double by 2030, the report from the Global Humanitarian Forum warns.Skip over this content
The Effects of Global Warming

David Longstreath, AP23 photos




A new report examines the human cost of climate change, which it said causes more than 300,000 deaths per year. The report, released Friday, shows the impact of climate change on population displacement, malnutrition and diseases, such as malaria. "Climate change is not something waiting to happen," said former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.


Speaking to CNN's Becky Anderson in London on Friday, Annan said the migration of people from newly uninhabitable areas presents a security issue that needs to be addressed by the United Nations Security Council.
"This is one of the reasons why I've described climate change as all encompassing," he told CNN. "This threat to our health, this threat to food production, this threat to security. It raises political tensions, it will have people on the move -- and they are on the move -- and many more which will bring tensions."
The report, titled "Human Impact Report: Climate Change -- The Anatomy of a Silent Crisis" comes just six months before the United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen to forge a post-Kyoto climate agreement for 2012 and beyond. Skip over this content
Embedded video from CNN Video
Annan called on Member States to reach a "global, effective, fair and binding" outcome on climate change, as the report warned that the talks could "well be the last chance for avoiding global catastrophe."
He told CNN: "The U.S. administration has joined the mainstream about fighting climate change and that is a big step, and I hope that will also put a new momentum into the negotiations."
The report's startling numbers are based on calculations by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that the Earth's atmosphere warmed by 0.74 degrees Celsius (1.33 degrees Fahrenheit) from 1906 to 2005, with much of that increase coming in recent decades. The panel predicts that by 2100 temperatures will have increased a minimum of two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels regardless of what's agreed in Copenhagen.
"No matter what," the report concludes, "the suffering documented in this report is only the beginning." A rise of two degrees, it says, "would be catastrophic."
Of the 300,000 lives being lost each year due to climate change, the report finds nine out of 10 are related to "gradual environmental degradation," and that deaths caused by climate-related malnutrition, diarrhea and malaria outnumber direct fatalities from weather-related disasters.
The vast majority of deaths -- 99 percent -- are in developing countries which are estimated to have contributed less than one percent of the world's total carbon emissions.Skip over this content
Frightening Forecast for Earth


The report warns climate change threatens all eight of the Millennium Development Goals -- a set of goals agreed on by leading nations in 2000 that aim to reduce extreme poverty by 2015. The goals include eradicating hunger, reducing child mortality, and halting the spread of diseases including HIV/AIDS and malaria.
Around 45 million of the 900 million people estimated to be chronically hungry are suffering due to climate change, the report says. Within 20 years that number is expected to double. At the same time food production is expected to fall, driving food prices up 20 percent.
The countries considered to be most vulnerable are those in the semi-arid dry land belt that runs from the Sahara/Sahel to the Middle East and Central Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Latin America and parts of the U.S., small island states and the Arctic region.Skip over this content
FEED
More from CNN
Pakistani forces secure key Swat Valley city
Gates: Nuclear-armed N. Korea not acceptable
Flight 93 memorial faces emotional fight
Thailand tourist's lung tissue 'gone,' family says
Ex-official arrested trying to leave Iraq
More Stories
Australia is singled out as the developed country most vulnerable to the direct impacts of climate change. Over the past 15 years, the combination of rising temperature and lower rainfall has produced the worst drought in the country's recorded history.
While developed countries -- including Australia -- have committed funds to counter the impact of climate change, the Global Humanitarian Forum says developing nations need a dramatic injection of funds -- up to 100 times more than is currently available to help them adapt to the changes.
The total economic cost of climate change each year is thought to be $125 billion, although the Forum warns that figure may be too conservative and doesn't take into account the impacts on "health, water supply and other shocks."
While commissioned by the Global Humanitarian Forum, the report was reviewed by a panel of experts, including Rajendra Pachauri of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Jeffrey Sachs of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Barbara Stocking of Oxfam. Skip over this content
High Water Risk in the U.S.



© 2009 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
2009-05-29 15:16:37

MAPISHI BORA YANAYOHIFADHI VIRUTUBISHI

Kutoka kwa Dr.Weil.com

4 Healthy Ways to Cook
Tip of the Day 5/30/2009

To get the most out of your meals, it's not just the ingredients you choose, but the way you prepare them that matters. Use the following tips to maximize the nutritional benefits of foods, and to help minimize the potential harm from improper cooking methods. Use a steamer. Steaming can retain nutrients better than other methods, such as boiling. Use marinades. Marinating meats (particularly chicken) may reduce the formation of heterocyclic amines (HCAs), which evidence shows may be carcinogenic. Garlic, rosemary, ginger and turmeric are all healthful spices to include in marinades. Use a slow cooker. What you put in - fresh vegetables, lean proteins - is a big part of what makes a healthful meal, but the lower temperatures slow cookers use may help preserve nutrients that are otherwise lost when food is cooked rapidly at high heat. When grilling, pre-cook meats on the stove or in the oven, and finish them off on the grill. Less time on the grill means fewer carcinogens in your meats.

HUKO NDIKO TUTARAJIE KWAMBA VITA KALI ZAIDI ITAPIGANWA

From the New York Times. May 28, 2009.

Pentagon Plans New Arm to Wage Cyberspace

• 
  
  • PermaKutoka New York TimesBy DAVID E. SANGER and THOM SHANKERPublished: May 28, 2009

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon plans to create a new military command for cyberspace, administration officials said Thursday, stepping up preparations by the armed forces to conduct both offensive and defensive computer warfare.

The military command would complement a civilian effort to be announced by President Obama on Friday that would overhaul the way the United States safeguards its computer networks.

Mr. Obama, officials said, will announce the creation of a White House office — reporting to both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council — that will coordinate a multibillion-dollar effort to restrict access to government computers and protect systems that run the stock exchanges, clear global banking transactions and manage the air traffic control system.

White House officials say Mr. Obama has not yet been formally presented with the Pentagon plan. They said he would not discuss it Friday when he announced the creation of a White House office responsible for coordinating private-sector and government defenses against the thousands of cyberattacks mounted against the United States — largely by hackers but sometimes by foreign governments — every day.

But he is expected to sign a classified order in coming weeks that will create the military cybercommand, officials said. It is a recognition that the United States already has a growing number of computer weapons in its arsenal and must prepare strategies for their use — as a deterrent or alongside conventional weapons — in a wide variety of possible future conflicts.

The White House office will be run by a “cyberczar,” but because the position will not have direct access to the president, some experts said it was not high-level enough to end a series of bureaucratic wars that have broken out as billions of dollars have suddenly been allocated to protect against the computer threats.

The main dispute has been over whether the Pentagon or the National Security Agency should take the lead in preparing for and fighting cyberbattles. Under one proposal still being debated, parts of the N.S.A. would be integrated into the military command so they could operate jointly.

Officials said that in addition to the unclassified strategy paper to be released by Mr. Obama on Friday, a classified set of presidential directives is expected to lay out the military’s new responsibilities and how it coordinates its mission with that of the N.S.A., where most of the expertise on digital warfare resides today.

The decision to create a cybercommand is a major step beyond the actions taken by the Bush administration, which authorized several computer-based attacks but never resolved the question of how the government would prepare for a new era of warfare fought over digital networks.

It is still unclear whether the military’s new command or the N.S.A. — or both — will actually conduct this new kind of offensive cyberoperations.

The White House has never said whether Mr. Obama embraces the idea that the United States should use cyberweapons, and the public announcement on Friday is expected to focus solely on defensive steps and the government’s acknowledgment that it needs to be better organized to face the threat from foes attacking military, government and commercial online systems.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has pushed for the Pentagon to become better organized to address the security threat.

Initially at least, the new command would focus on organizing the various components and capabilities now scattered across the four armed services.

Officials declined to describe potential offensive operations, but said they now viewed cyberspace as comparable to more traditional battlefields.

“We are not comfortable discussing the question of offensive cyberoperations, but we consider cyberspace a war-fighting domain,“ said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman. “We need to be able to operate within that domain just like on any battlefield, which includes protecting our freedom of movement and preserving our capability to perform in that environment.”

Although Pentagon civilian officials and military officers said the new command was expected to initially be a subordinate headquarters under the military’s Strategic Command, which controls nuclear operations as well as cyberdefenses, it could eventually become an independent command.

“No decision has been made,” said Lt. Col. Eric Butterbaugh, a Pentagon spokesman. “Just as the White House has completed its 60-day review of cyberspace policy, likewise, we are looking at how the department can best organize itself to fill our role in implementing the administration’s cyberpolicy.”

The creation of the cyberczar’s office inside the White House appears to be part of a significant expansion of the role of the national security apparatus there. A separate group overseeing domestic security, created by President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11 attacks, now resides within the National Security Council. A senior White House official responsible for countering the proliferation of nuclear and unconventional weapons has been given broader authority. Now, cybersecurity will also rank as one of the key threats that Mr. Obama is seeking to coordinate from the White House.

The strategy review Mr. Obama will discuss on Friday was completed weeks ago, but delayed because of continuing arguments over the authority of the White House office, and the budgets for the entire effort.

It was kept separate from the military debate over whether the Pentagon or the N.S.A. is best equipped to engage in offensive operations. Part of that debate hinges on the question of how much control should be given to American spy agencies, since they are prohibited from acting on American soil.

“It’s the domestic spying problem writ large,” one senior intelligence official said recently. “These attacks start in other countries, but they know no borders. So how do you fight them if you can’t act both inside and outside the United States?”

John Markoff contributed reporting from San Francisco.

SEV EN CANCER PREVENTION TIPS

from Dr. Weil.COM

Yesterday's Daily Tip focused on cancer and supplements; today we look at nutrition and its relationship to cancer. A healthy diet can help the body in its efforts to heal itself, and in some cases, particular foods can lessen the risks of serious illness. To help reduce your risk of some types of cancer, try the following: Avoid polyunsaturated vegetable oils, margarine, vegetable shortening, all partially hydrogenated oils, and all foods that might contain trans-fatty acids (such as deep-fried foods). Increase omega-3 fatty acids by eating more cold water oily fish, freshly ground flaxseeds, and walnuts. Reduce consumption of animal foods and try to replace them with vegetable proteins such as whole soy products. Use hormone-free, organically produced products whenever possible. Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Eat shiitake, enokitake, maitake, and oyster mushrooms frequently. Drink green tea daily.