Wordless Wednesday: Gold Diggers

Obama's Weekly Address: America is Open for Business

President Obama tells the American people about a series of steps he's taken without the help of Congress to grow the economy and create jobs -- including a new strategy aimed at boosting tourism introduced this week. In next week's State of the Union Address, the President will outline his blueprint for creating an economy built to last.





Did you catch the Apollo Theater debut of President Obama?

Obama's Weekly Address: Creating an Economy Built to Last

President Obama is on an international trip that finds him in Indonesia today. Of course, most of the GOP candidates for president couldn't find Indonesia if you gave them a world map. Fortunately, the President didn't talk about GOP ignorance ... rather he spoke about his administration's work opening up markets to support thousands of American jobs and keep us on track to double American exports by 2014.





What say u?

Obama Promises to Bring His Own Beer (BYOB) to Ireland

President Obama will bring his own beer to a pub he's visiting today in the Irish town of Moneygall, "where it is believed his great-great-great grandfather grew up." Because of security concerns, Obama will not drink any beverage provided to him by the pub, but rather a White House home brew, brought along by the Secret Service, IrishCentral reports.

He may not drink the local beer ... but, I gotta believe he is going to chow down on the local fish 'n' chips!

OURStory: Moors of North Africa

Oenomaus

I recently watched television series called Spartacus: Blood and Sand and Spartacus: Gods of the Arena. I enjoyed the show immensely ... especially the enslaved Moor known as Oenomaus who eventually became the Doctore of the gladiators. The story of the Moors is rarely told on television or in the movies.

The world news is filled with stories of conflicts in the so-called Middle East. Sometimes folks here in America don't realize that these stories are taking place in northern Africa ... ancestral home of the Moors.

When the Romans entered West Africa in 46 B.C., they saw Africans and called them Maures, from the Greek adjective Mauros, meaning dark or black. It is from Mauros and the Latin term Marues that the word Moor is derived. Since the inhabitants of North Africa were Black, the Romans and later the Europeans called them Moors. It is no coincidence that the land inhabited by the Moors was called Mauritania and Morocco, meaning "Land of the Blacks."

In the beginning of the seventh century, the Arab prophet, Muhammad, began to preach the word of Islam. Consumed with religious fervor, the Arabs sought to spread Islam and conquer the world. By 708, the Arabs had overrun North Africa. Consequently, Moors in large numbers accepted Arabic as the national language and converted to their conqueror's religion, Islam. Interestingly, hundreds of years later, Africans who had been enslaved by Europeans would again convert to their conqueror's religion, Christianity.

After the fall of the Roman Empire (fifth century), Spain was held by a barbaric white tribe, the Visigoths. Though they were Christians, their brand of Christianity was cruel and unjust. For this reason, Spain's Jews, serfs, and slaves looked favorably upon the arrival of a new civilization in which they would be able to live free of persecution.

Tarik, a great African chief, was given the rank of general in the Arab army and sent to raid Spain. On April 30, 711, Tarik landed on the Spanish Coast with 7,000 troops. His troops consisted of 300 Arabs and 6,700 native Africans (Moors). An ancient source, Ibn Husayn (ca. 950, recorded that these troops were "Sudanese", an Arabic word for Black people.

The Moors were unstoppable, and Visigothic Spain ceased to be. The few resisting Visigoths fled to the caves of the Cantabrian Mountains. Later in the century, the cave dwellers would venture out of the Cantabrian Mountains and reclaim parts of northern Spain.

The Moors of Africa were the real conquerors. When the Arabs arrived, the hardest part of the job had been done. Instead of treating the Moors fairly, the Arab chiefs assigned themselves the most fertile regions. The dissatisfied Moors were not long in coming to blows with the Arabs. (The History of Spain by Louis Bertrand and Sir Charles Petrie - published by Eyre & Spottiswood, London, 1945, page 36). Ultimately, the Moors acquired two-thirds of the peninsula, which they named Al-Andulus.

Al-Andulus was obliged to pay tribute to the Arab Caliph (King) of Damascus. As Al-Andulus acquired its own identity, its bond with the Caliph began to weaken. In 756, Al-Andulus proclaimed itself an independent state. Thus, its only links to the Arabs would be the Islamic faith and the Arabic language.

The Moorish architectural remains in Cordoba, Seville, and Granada prove conclusively that these cities were more prosperous and artistically more brilliant than any Christian cities in Europe at the time. The Moors of Al-Andulus held the torch of leaning and civilization when the rest of Europe was plunged in barbaric ignorance.

If Moorish Spain had been an accomplishment of the Arabs it would have been called Arab or Arabic Spain. Instead it bears the name of its creators, the Moors, i.e., Moorish Spain.

Moorish culture was Black in origin, bright in Achievement, and powerful in its influence on the rest of Europe.

Sometimes it is important to take a moment for OURstory ... we cannot forever be mis-educated by HIS-story all the time! What can you share with us about the Moors of North Africa?

We All Shall Be Free! (Jasiri X)

LYRICS by Jasiri X

Revolution's not an act it's an actual fact
an idea that burns until it turns blacker than black
the truth bearer new era like the back of ya hat
the true terror who'll scare ya without packing a gat
through the barrier one carrier then it spreads like malaria
bury us with no fear of oppression every tear is a weapon
When God hears it a blessin

Every tyrant is destined to die that's connected to violent aggression
if arrested remain silent when questioned the wisest lesson
Freedom's the highest expression of life in the present
that's why worldwide the riots are spreading
A righteous message like God set the fires from heaven
Uprising we done crying the young riding
when people get the power dictators go run hiding
we just trying to live like human beings
when we protest in peace police shoot up the scene
look at your computer screen you can see it right through the stream
Let our forming be a warning to every brutal regime

It's a simple math equation it's scientific OK
you put the power in the hands of the people its liberation
and even if you take it away its multiplication
repression breeds resistance and this is our situation
I'm an expert on exploitation mater of ghetto misery
a miracle of modern enslavement given our history
the fire through the wire bullets bombs and the liars
the snitches he counterinsurgency mad vicious
they kill us the freedom fighters but can't kill the revolution
they put crack in our community laughing like it's amusing
but I don't see nothing funny the crackers that's on the money
they only wanna keep us mis-educated like Sonny

They see how we never give up and wonder just how we do it
f#ck a roach we're the scarabs the beetle up out the ruins
you can hear it in our music is resilience part of our experience
you can call it the freedom experiment
you hear it but do you feel it
either join with it or fear it
but I want it in my lifetime period.

USA Ranks #17 in the World for 'Reading' ... and Black Folks Are Doing Worse

Soulclap to the Black Star Project for sharing this information with us.   It is a scary situation when the rest of the world is reading better than us ... especially those of us of African descent here in America. 

The bottom line is that we need to get busy reading again!

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international assessment that measures the performance of 15-year-olds in reading literacy, mathematics literacy, and science literacy. Coordinated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization of 34 member countries, PISA was first implemented in 2000 and is conducted every 3 years. PISA 2009 was the fourth cycle of the assessment.

Each PISA data collection effort assesses one of the three subject areas in depth (considered the major subject area), although all three are assessed in each cycle (the other two subjects are considered minor subject areas for that assessment year). Assessing all three areas allows participating countries to have an ongoing source of achievement data in every subject area while rotating one area as the main focus over the years. In the fourth cycle of PISA, reading was the subject area assessed in depth, as it was in 2000.

Sixty countries and 5 other education systems (located in non-national places like Shanghai-China) participated as partners in PISA 2009. This report focuses on the performance of U.S. students in the major subject area of reading literacy as assessed in PISA 2009. 

Let's get to it ... I invite 'villagers' to take a look at the international ranks shown below for 'combined reading literacy'.

            International Ranking - Country/Other Education System - Comparative Score

1.       Shanghai - China 556

2.       Korea, Republic of 539

3.       Finland 536

4.       Hong Kong - China 533

5.       Singapore 526

6.       Canada 524

7.       New Zealand 521

8.       Japan 520

9.       Australia 515

10.   Netherlands 508

11.   Belgium 506

12.   Norway 503

13.   Estonia 501

14.   Switzerland 501

15.   Poland 500

16.   Iceland 500

17.   United States 500

18.   Liechtenstein 499

19.   Sweden 497

20.   Germany 497

21.   Ireland 496

22.   France 496

23.   Denmark 495

24.   Taiwan - China 495

25.   United Kingdom 494

26.   Hungary 494

27.   Portugal 489

28.   Macao-China 487

29.   Italy 486

30.   Latvia 484

31.   Slovenia 483

32.   Greece 483

33.   Spain 481

34.   Czech Republic 478

35.   Slovak Republic 477

36.   Croatia 476

37.   Israel 474

38.   Luxembourg 472

39.   Austria 470

40.   Lithuania 468

41.   Turkey 464

42.   Dubai-UAE 459

43.   Russian Federation 459

44.   Chile 449

45.   Serbia, Republic of 442

46.   Bulgaria 429

47.   Uruguay 426

48.   Mexico 425

49.   Romania 424

50.   Thailand 421

51.   Trinidad and Tobago 416

52.   Colombia 413

53.   Brazil 412

54.   Montenegro, Republic of 408

55.   Jordan 405

56.   Tunisia 404

57.   Indonesia 402

58.   Argentina 398

59.   Kazakhstan 390

60.   Albania 385

61.   Qatar 372

62.   Panama 371

63.   Peru 370

64.   Azerbaijan 362

65.   Kyrgyz Republic 314

 Where various U.S. racial populations would rank among the world's best readers:

• U.S. average 500 - Rank 17 out of 65 reporting countries
• Asian, non-Hispanic 541 - Rank 2 out of 65 reporting countries
• White, non-Hispanic 525 - Rank 6 out of 65 reporting countries
• Hispanic 466 - Rank 41 out of 65 reporting countries
• Black, non-Hispanic 441 - Rank 46 out of 65 reporting countries

Please click here to see full report.

Wordless Wednesday: Barack Obama Does the Heavy Lifting for Nuclear Disarmament

How many of these world leaders can you name?

Haiti Earthquake: Will America Care Next Week?

Haiti has been struggling for hundreds of years to overcome colonial domination, dictatorial leadership, poverty and the impact of hunger.

Things just got worse this week with the massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake. The lack of infrastructure, disaster preparedness and acute poverty makes a bad situation even worse. Homes, schools, churches have been destroyed. Villagers all over America wait, pray and hope for the safety of the people of Haiti. That nation's long struggle against poverty is now exacerbated, its needs now magnified, and the vulnerability of the Haitian people more greatly exposed.

Haiti is the poorest, least developed country in the Western Hemisphere, and the majority of Haitians live in poverty. The sheer scale of poverty in the country means that the government has limited capacity to meet even the simplest needs of its people, let alone address a disaster of this magnitude. In addition to creating a very real and immediate humanitarian tragedy, this earthquake and the struggle to navigate its aftermath will be an enormous setback to the hard-won gains that Haiti has achieved in recent years in securing a more stable environment and fighting poverty.

I suspect that America and the other nations of the world will respond well in the coming days and weeks. It is relatively simple to send in bottled water and to rush to find people ... living and dead ... in the tumbled buildings.

I don't have personal contact with many people of Haitian descent in person or otherwise. However, Haitian history tells us the Haitian people are resilient and determined to better their lives. I am confident that with the help of strong partners around the world, Haiti will rise from its rubble and Haitians will live their motto: L’union fait la force (Unity is strength).




I wonder if the collective goodwill on a national and international basis continues after the initial compassion being displayed right now?

Consider this an open thread about the earthquake in Haiti. Please share your prayers, thoughts or observations.

Fight AIDS: The Lazarus Effect

I had a client earlier this year who hosted a symposium on the impact of HIV/AIDS on women. One of the outgrowths of that effort was creation of a HIV/AIDS Awareness groupsite that is still up and running. Most of the time the statistics and the information that we share is negative. AIDS is killing folks at a rapid rate all over the world.

I'm pleased to see a good news message for once. Did you know that AIDS medicine is giving people the opportunity of a future where once there was no hope?

Treatment costs around 40 cents a day.

The results are nothing short of miraculous.

Someone on death's door can be brought back to life. In as little as 90 days.

This transformation is called the Lazarus Effect.




I encourage all villagers to send President Obama a holiday card asking him to give a gift to the world and support the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Global Fund has already saved 4.9 million lives in just 6 years and if we can convince President Obama to take action, we can make sure that millions more of the world's poorest people survive these deadly, but treatable diseases and are able to live healthy, productive lives.

We can make a difference!

VIDEO: Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize for 2009

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.





Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

The President shared his thoughts on this prestigious award earlier today:



I am very proud of my President today. How 'bout you?

Military Coup in Honduras

I wonder what Americans would have done if George W. Bush tried to stay in the White House beyond the 8-year term limits established by the Constitution? The folks down in Honduras didn't have any patience with their president when he tried to extend his stay in the palace.

Military troops arrested President Manuel Zelaya before a proposed referendum on presidential term limits. President Zelaya wanted to seek a second term next year. By law, the Honduran leader, elected in 2005, is limited to one term in office.

Honduran lawmakers appointed a provisional president Sunday following the arrest and deportation of Zelaya. Roberto Micheletti, the head of the Honduran Congress, was installed as the country's new leader hours after soldiers detained Zelaya, placed him on a plane and flew him to Costa Rica.

The apparent coup prompted criticism by Human Rights Watch, which called Zelaya's ousting a "breach of democracy in Honduras" and called for the Organization of American States to act quickly to push for the re-establishment of democracy in Honduras.

"The OAS has a key role to play now. It must rapidly find a multilateral solution to this breach of democracy in Honduras," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for the international rights group. "To allow this coup to stand would be a huge step back from the progress that the region has made toward democracy in recent decades."

America is not recognizing the new leadership.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement saying the action taken against Zelaya "violates the precepts of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and thus should be condemned by all."

"We call on all parties in Honduras to respect the constitutional order and the rule of law, to reaffirm their democratic vocation, and to commit themselves to resolve political disputes peacefully and through dialogue," Clinton said. "Honduras must embrace the very principles of democracy we reaffirmed at the OAS meeting it hosted less than one month ago."

Iran elections ... Honduras coup ... the world is a very difficult and dangerous place. What are your thoughts about this international development?

Amazing African Photos

The Electronic Village provides a cyberspace experience of village elders sitting at the baobob tree exchanging information and wisdom with others that live and visit our village. However, the White African blog shared these amazing photos of the real deal and I wanted all Villagers to have a chance to check 'em out!

Gordon Brown Invites African Union to G20 Summit

A number of villagers were part of the 51,000 ONE members that signed an online petition to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, letting him know that people around the world think it is important that the world's poorest countries have a say in reshaping the global financial system.

He listened.

The British Government extended an invitation to African Union leaders to send a representative to the G20 Summit.

This is really good news at a challenging time. While an invitation to a meeting doesn't have the immediate impact of funding development programs or cancelling debt, it is a vital step. The whole world is suffering because of the economic crisis, but the world's poorest people are the hardest hit. As the new international finance rules and structures start to take shape, it is critical that their voices are heard.

(Th)ink by Keith Knight: Bush & Iraqi Shoes

(Th)ink is an editorial cartoon written and drawn by cartoonist Keith Knight (the K Chronicles).

World AIDS Day: Statistics & Solutions

Yobachi asked Black bloggers to support the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. We asked our villagers last year to support efforts to end AIDS.

This year I tried to look at AIDS from a personal point of view. It dawned on me that I don't have personal knowledge of anyone with HIV or AIDS. I suppose that the stigma from this disease is such that people still don't bring it up in polite company. However, I wonder if my experience is atypical?

According to estimates from the UNAIDS 2008 Report on the global AIDS epidemic, around 30.8 million adults and 2 million children were living with HIV at the end of 2007. During 2007, some 2.7 million people became infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS.

Have you ever wondered how people get HIV or AIDS? It turns out that 11% of HIV infections are among babies who acquire the virus from their mothers; 10% result from injecting drug use; 5-10% are due to sex between men; and 5-10% occur in healthcare settings. Sex between men and women accounts for the remaining proportion – around two thirds of new infections.

Around half of the people who acquire HIV become infected before they turn 25 and typically die of the life-threatening illnesses called AIDS before their 35th birthday.

The area in Africa south of the Sahara desert, known as sub-Saharan Africa, is by far the worst-affected in the world by the AIDS epidemic. The region has just over 10% of the world's population, but is home to 67% of all people living with HIV. An estimated 1.9 million adults and children became infected with HIV during 2007. This brought the total number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the region to 22 million by the end of the year. HIV prevalence varies considerably across this region - ranging from less than 1% in Madagascar to over 25% in Swaziland.

AIDS is one of the top 10 leading causes of death on our earth. Here are some suggestions for dealing with the impact of HIV in America and around the world:

1. People need to challenge the myths and misconceptions about human sexuality that translate into dangerous sexual practices.


2. Work and legislation is needed to reduce prejudice felt by HIV+ people around the world and the discrimination that prevents people from "coming out" as being HIV positive.


3. HIV prevention initiatives need to be increased, people across the world need to be made aware of the dangers, the risks, and the ways they can protect themselves.


4. Condom promotion and supply needs to be increased, and the appropriate sexual health education needs to be provided to young people before they reach an age where they become sexually active.


5. Medication and support needs to be provided to people who are already HIV+, so that they can live longer and more productive lives, support their families, and avoid transmitting the virus onwards.


6. Support and care needs to be provided for those children who have already been orphaned by AIDS, so that they can grow up safely, without experiencing poverty, exploitation, and themselves falling prey to HIV.

What are your thoughts on the HIV/AIDS epidemic? Any personal experiences that influence how you look at the six alternative solutions?

Declaration of Black European Women's Network

One of my colleagues in The AfroSpear is Adrianne George. She writes a powerful blog, Black Women in Europe, that is currently #48 on the list of Top Black Bloggers. She won the 2007 Black Weblog Award as 'Best International Blog'. Adrianne is a powerful sista.

She gathered with nubian sisters from 16 European Union states and Switzerland in Vienna on Sept 27-29 to create the Black European Womens Network (BEWNET). These sisters seek recognition of crucial role played by Black Women economically, politically, culturally and socially in the European context. They are determined to implement and mainstream Black Women´s Empowerment in Europe as a core policy issue.

Check out the five recommendations issued by BEWNET to the European Union leaders.

Villagers, take a moment to share your village voice about the five recommendations, BEWNET, Adrianne or Black women in general.

Wordless Wednesday: Burma

President Bush told the United Nations that most of us here in America were concerned about the conflict between the people and the government of Burma. Of course, none of the folks that I know were talking about Burma at all. We focused on Jena Six, Genarlow Wilson, Megan Williams and such. However, thousands took to the street today in Myanmar (Burma) . Bush may have been right for first time in his presidency...

President Bush, Why Are We in Iraq?

President Bush, didn't you tell us already that we won this war? 'Mission accomplished', you said on that battleship. Why are we still in this dayum war if the mission was accomplished? Did you lie to us again?

Villagers, did you see that our commander-in-chief feels that 'we are kicking ass' in Iraq. Does anyone else think that our commander-in-chief is unable to give an honest assessment of this war on terror?

I have not used this blog to talk about the war in Iraq very much. I don't have any immediate relatives in the military. As such, my engagement in this war is at a different level than many others. However, I must say that the commander-in-chief has truly phuqed this war up in my view. He lied to us when he and his team, including Colin and Condi, told us that mushroom clouds would flow if US troops didn't invade Iraq. Of course, there were no WMDs. Just another bald-faced lie from our commander-in-chief.

We get into this thing and run through the Iraqi army; capture Saddam in a ditch; and have him executed. The Iraqis are cheering. Statues are tumbling. That is when we should have left the country. That would have been 'mission accomplished'. That would have been a proud legacy for W and his cronies.

But, our commander-in-chief couldn't leave well enough alone. Instead he allowed Cheney, Halliburton and other corporate interests to blind him to the obvious. Now, our country is in the middle of a civil war with no winning end game. Bush told us on national television in January,

"So I've committed more than 20,000 additional American troops to Iraq. The vast majority of them -- five brigades -- will be deployed to Baghdad. These troops will work alongside Iraqi units and be embedded in their formations. Our troops will have a well-defined mission: to help Iraqis clear and secure neighborhoods, to help them protect the local population, and to help ensure that the Iraqi forces left behind are capable of providing the security that Baghdad needs."

Almost 4,000 Americans have been killed. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed. The 2006 elections in November 2006 clearly called for the end of Bush's war. Bush told us in January that he wanted this surge. In June, Bush said he wanted everyone to be patient until a military report could be issued in September 2007. Now we are told that we need to wait until next summer.

Today, we had the top U.S. general in Iraq, David Petraeus, sharing his plans for withdrawal of 30,000 troops by next summer, drawing praise from the White House but a chilly reception from anti-war Democrats. Gen. David Petraeus said a 2,000-member Marine unit would return home this month without replacement in the first sizable cut since a 2003 U.S-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein and unleashed sectarian violence.

Villagers, I am still trying to figure out why we insist on staying in Iraq. We have over 169,000 troops in that country right now. Why? Five years from now the country will be run by our enemy ... not the current democratically-elected government. Everyone seems to agree that the current Iraq prime minister is not strong enough to survive as anything more than Bush's puppet ... propped up by 169k American troops. Can any villager tell me why we are still in this unnecessary war?

Why??

Anyhow, villagers, I can tell you what victory in Iraq looks like. It is photos with children walking down the street going to school. It is photos with businesses selling groceries, gasoline and other basic necessities of life. It is photos without bombed out cars on every block and children running around with rifles.

Victory in this war on terror is even simpler. I will know we are winning the war on terror when Osama bin Laden is doing a perp-walk into a jail cell.

Our commander-in-chief is simply an embarrassment. I can hardly wait until Obama or Clinton or Edwards can get into the White House to bring honor back to our nation.

Villagers, how about you? What are your thoughts on the General Padreus report given today? What is your thoughts on our commander-in-chief?

King is Ours; Not 'Made in China'!

Villagers, some things simply don't make any sense. Having a monument shipped to Washington DC from China with a sticker that says, "Made in China" makes no sense. Don't we have any talented African American artists that can have opportunity to shine with this unique project?

I have just signed an online petition: "King is Ours!" and I'm asking you to do the same.

The planned monument to our beloved Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has been awarded to an artist from a country with a reprehensible history of civil rights violations against its people. The granite to be used for King's sculpture will be harvested using slave labor--Chinese workers are not even provided masks to protect their lungs from the silica dust. They die in droves because the Chinese government considers them just as important as the students who protested in Tienamen Square. The world watched the tanks roll over them. No human rights, No civil rights, and yet the honor of sculpting Dr. Martin Luther King?
Villagers, some things simply don't make any sense.

We cannot sit back and watch an artist famous for his statues of the murderer Mao Tse Dung, and tool of a government that labeled King a "reactionary running dog," sculpt the King Monument. Would we allow an artist famous for his statues of Hitler to sculpt Ann Frank? Combine these facts with another: There is not ONE national monument to a leader of any country anywhere on this planet with the name of an African American artist on its base.

Villagers, some things don't make any sense. Perhaps it is time for us to demand the right to interpret and present our own historic proclamation in this first ever national monument to an African American man or woman. Please take a moment to read about this important issue, and join me in signing the petition. It takes just 30 seconds, but can truly make a difference.

Villagers, some things don't make any sense. What say u?