Opposition: SAfrican troops must withdraw from CAR

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? South Africa's leading opposition party on Monday urged President Jacob Zuma to withdraw troops from Central African Republic, where 13 South African troops were killed in the recent rebellion.

There are suggestions that Zuma should be impeached for allegedly misleading parliament about the deployment of South African troops in Central African Republic.

Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille's announcement that her party will present a motion in parliament Tuesday to demand the withdrawal of South African troops, comes amid increasingly angry debate over why the soldiers were deployed to Central African Republic at all, and suggestions they were sent to protect mining interests of South Africa's governing African National Congress. The ANC denies it has any business in the country rich in diamonds, uranium and other resources.

The South African soldiers were killed in a March 24 battle in which rebels took the Central African Republic's capital, Bangui. President Francois Bozize fled to neighboring Cameroon and has asked for asylum in the West African state of Benin.

There are also calls for Zuma to report Central African rebel leader Michel Djotodia to the International Criminal Court at The Hague for using child soldiers. The South African National Defense Force Union, a trade union of soldiers, said Monday the South African government is legally bound ask the ICC to indict Djotodia and his Seleka rebels over child soldiers.

South African soldiers who fought in Central African Republic said they were appalled to find out they had killed some youngsters among the rebels.

"It was only after the firing had stopped that we saw we had killed kids," said one paratrooper, among the 27 wounded who were flown home for treatment, quoted by The Sunday Times of Johannesburg. "We did not come here for this ... to kill kids. It makes you sick. They were crying for help ... calling for (their) moms."

Zuma told parliament's defense committee that the South African soldiers were training CAR troops and would help with disarming and demobilization under a peace agreement that fell apart. But the trade union says the elite paratroopers and Special Forces deployed in Central African Republic are an unlikely choice to do military training.

Business Day newspaper asked in an editorial "Did President Jacob Zuma mislead Parliament about their deployment? And if he did, is that an impeachable offense?"

It noted that Bozize had come to South Africa and met Zuma just days before his overthrow, presumably to plead for further military assistance or report his days were numbered. "There are red lights flashing. ... For South Africans, the question is whether Mr. Zuma knew after Mr. Bozize's visit that the situation was critical. If he did, why did he not withdraw the troops or reinforce them?" the newspaper asked.

Zuma authorized the deployment of 400 soldiers but only 200 were sent in January. Since the battle ? defense officials say the 200 soldiers fought some 3,000 rebels, killing hundreds before a truce was reached ? Zuma said that instead of withdrawing troops he was considering sending reinforcements.

It appears a strange suggestion given that the bilateral agreement was signed with an ousted president and that rebel leader Djotodia, whom the South African soldiers fought, has declared himself president and said he intends to stay in power until elections scheduled in 2016.

Opposition leader Zille said "The conclusion is inescapable that the South African troops were deployed to defend the faltering and dictatorial Bozize regime." Bozize seized power in a coup in 2003 and was elected in dubious 2005 elections that excluded the man he had ousted.

Zille said the mission "was reportedly undertaken against expert military advice." And that its aim was "allegedly to protect the business interests of a politically connected elite, both in South Africa and the Central African Republic."

"If this is so, President Zuma's position both as president of the republic and commander in chief of the armed forces, becomes untenable," she told a news conference. "We believe that our troops should be withdrawn immediately. To this end, the DA will table an urgent parliamentary resolution ... to compel the president to bring our soldiers back home."

The Mail and Guardian newspaper reported extensively on the alleged business interests, saying South Africa's former defense minister signed a cooperation agreement with the CAR covering defense, minerals and energy in 2006. As a result, a company was set up with shareholders including an ANC veteran of the liberation war and the Chancellor House Trust that serves as a fundraiser for the ANC, it said. The company, a joint venture with the CAR government, was to serve as a national diamond exporter, buying diamonds from the country's small-scale miners, The Mail and Guardian reported.

A statement Monday from ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said, "The ANC rejects with contempt the damaging and malicious claim by The Mail and Guardian that South African soldiers were sent to the Central African Republic to protect ANC business interests." It added that "the ANC as an organization does not have business interests in CAR."

The ANC threatened to sue the newspaper.

Zuma is to attend a conference Wednesday in Chad with leaders from Central Africa to discuss the crisis in the Central African Republic.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/opposition-safrican-troops-must-withdraw-car-120508956.html

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Is ?Real? Sex Healthier Than Porn and Cybersex? | The Impact of ...

Many sex addiction therapists base their thinking on the idea that real or ?relational? sex, sex with a real person as opposed to porn, cybersex or masturbation is healthier in some way.? They tend to believe that a preference for non-relational sex is not entirely healthy and that it is often the basis of sexual addiction.

Other clinicians and many people generally feel that it is wrong to place relational sex on a pedestal.? Some think non-relational sex is just as valid a form of sexual expression and feel that the other side is just being moralistic and narrow-minded.? I will look at some of the arguments on either side.

The argument for fantasy sex

• All sex is about domination fantasies anyway

Experts have argued that all sexual arousal relates in some way to fantasy and that all sexual fantasy has ultimately got something to do with domination and submission.? It doesn?t matter whether you are dominant or submissive, so the argument goes, your arousal relates ultimately to a fantasy involving unequal power.

This argument suggests that there is not so much to choose between the real person and the virtual one if the fantasy content that arouses us sexually is basically the same.

• All sex can be used for damaging purposes

The pro relational sex folks might argue that relational sex is somehow more humane and less prone to exploitive or criminal behavior.? But the other side would argue that sex with a partner can be just as exploitive and potentially harmful in certain circumstances and that solitary sex such as masturbation to porn or fantasy can be seen as safe and humane.

• The preference for relational sex is a religious leftover

This argument assumes that if you are not an anything-goes ?liberal? then you are a conservative throw-back.? It ignores the fact that there are increasingly arguments coming from the gender justice, humanist and neo-feminist camps that view pornographic fantasies as corrosive on grounds other than traditional ones.? The ?liberals? argue that there is nothing wrong with heightening arousal through imagery and fantasies that add an air of mystery or the forbidden and that sexual experimentation is normal and healthy.

The argument for relational sex

• Deception, secrecy and shame
  

We don?t blatantly look at pornography in public or engage in cybersex in front of friends and relatives and so there must be something inherently shameful about it.? Although the secrecy may add to the arousal, it can also be construed as promoting a secret life and a splitting off of sexuality from relationships.

Having a secret life is an integral part of sex addiction and so the pro relational sex people might see that what started out as a harmless promoter of fantasy arousal can become a compartmentalized way of life.

• Cybersex leads to losing track of reality

People who engage in cybersex can present themselves as other than who they really are.? This is based on the problematic belief that no one would want them as they really are.? But this can lead deeper into fantasy life and away from reality.

Sex addicts who engage in behaviors like online relationships, phone sex and even massage parlors and prostitutes can and do become very fantasy ridden about the person they have the make-believe relationship with.? They can become semi-delusional about what is really going on in the ?relationship.?

• Relational sex is more gender equal

A recent article reported that sex in an onging relationship provided more equal satisfaction to both partners in terms of such things as orgasm and equal amounts of giving and receiving of oral sex when compared to having sex with someone you were not dating or just met.

Another line of argument says that sex outside of a real relationship with another person is sexual objectification.? And a host of ill effects of sexual objectification? are talked about; everything from eating disorders to an increase in cosmetic surgery among teens.? See any of the excellent work by professor Robert Jensen like ?Pornography is What the End of the World Looks Like.?

There is no question that there are major changes going on in the realm of real and virtual relating as well as changes in the way relationships are established and conducted.? My own feeling is that we are in a period of great turmoil and confusion about where it will all end up.? This in turn breeds overblown fear and polarized attitudes.? But real connecting with another person is a huge part of what makes us human, and I for one believe it?s here to stay.?? Find Dr. Hatch on Facebook at Sex Addictions Counseling or Twitter @SAResource

Linda Hatch is a psychologist and certified sex addiction therapist specializing in the treatment of sex addicts and the partners and families of sex addicts. Linda also blogs on her own website at Sexaddictionscounseling.com

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APA Reference
Hatch, L. (2013). Is ?Real? Sex Healthier Than Porn and Cybersex?. Psych Central. Retrieved on April 1, 2013, from http://blogs.psychcentral.com/sex-addiction/2013/04/is-real-sex-healthier-than-porn-and-cybersex/

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Source: http://blogs.psychcentral.com/sex-addiction/2013/04/is-real-sex-healthier-than-porn-and-cybersex/

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Shain Gandee: Remembering 'Buckwild' Star's 'Passion For Life'

In a January interview, Gandee told MTV News his life was 'pretty fun,' and he wanted it to stay that way.
By James Montgomery

Shain Gandee
Photo: MTV News

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704734/shain-gandee-buckwild-who-was-dead-died-21.jhtml

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My final mortgage refinancing (hopefully) | a windycitygal's Weblog

Recently it seems there has been an uptick in posts about mortgages in the personal finance blogosphere. While Grumpy rumblings has been posting a mortgage update on a regular basis, and 101 Centavos recently had some fun equating the thirty-year mortgage and fish oil, there are two posts I?ve read in the past month that were stand outs:

Retire by 40?s Should you pay off your mortgage if you could;

Afford Anything?s Pay down your mortgage or invest in cash?

I?m not even close to being able to think about getting rid of my mortgage, so it?s heartening to read about how they can fit into a solid investment strategy. I did, however, recently refinance my mortgage from a 30-year fixed rate to a 15-year fixed rate. I?m planning on this being the last refinance I will ever have to do on this house.

When I moved into this house back in the summer of 2001, I was married and the mortgage was secured in both of our names. My ex-husband and I had very good money habits and stellar credit, but the mortgage rates in 2001 were not as low as they are now. We paid $100 extra on the mortgage each month, refinanced a few years later when the rates had dropped, and continued our practice of paying a bit extra to principal on a regular basis. Then we filed for divorce in 2008.

I wanted to keep the house and my ex-husband was amenable to that, so I had to secure my own mortgage. My credit history and rating was fantastic, and I had a stable and well-paying job, so qualifying for a mortgage wasn?t going to be an issue. However, I wanted to do some work in the house and the divorce settlement was going to leave me cash poor, so I needed to secure a ?cash-out? refinancing. I worked with a good mortgage broker, but the rates for a 30-year cash-out refinance?weren?t as low as a standard 30-year mortgage and I ended up paying 5.5% interest when I closed in February 2009.

In December 2009, I worked with the same mortgage broker to refinance to a new 30-year mortgage at 4.875%. At this point I had extra income from taking on roommates and had saved enough to create an emergency fund, so I felt it was time to start paying extra towards principal every month. Through December 2010, I used the old approach of adding an extra $100 to the monthly payment. (Actually, because I wanted to round-up my monthly payment to a whole number, my principal curtailment was the odd figure of $108.69 every month.) Then in January 2011, I decided to challenge myself more by rounding up the monthly mortgage payment even more, resulting in principal curtailment of just over $300 a month.

Why such a big jump in my repayments? My age. I don?t want to be paying a mortgage in my retirement years, and since I?m in my mid-40s now, I needed to pay the mortgage down faster. I ran through some options in a mortgage repayment calculator and settled on the $300 figure to get the mortgage paid off by the time I was 67, my Social Security retirement age. It was also a stretch goal for my budget and I wanted to see how it worked out. What I found was that it wasn?t as much of a stretch as I thought it would be, and I was able to continue comfortably paying quite a bit extra while still saving money for vacations and a car.

Mortgage rates continued to drop, and in October 2011, I decided to try refinancing yet again. I got in touch with my mortgage broker, completed all the paperwork, and paid my appraisal fee. This time I was going for a 20-year mortgage, so I could continue to meet my goal of paying off the mortgage by 67. Unfortunately while I had all the qualifications of a good lending prospect, the local real estate market was not in my favor. The appraisal on my house came back much lower than expected, and I was faced with the prospect of either paying PMI having to come up with a large chunk of cash?so I could refinance without PMI.

I decided to simply sit tight on my 4.875% mortgage and continue to pay extra in principal curtailment. It would not have been a good financial decision to take on PMI, nor to liquidate most of my cash savings just to secure a rate that was not quite a full percentage point lower than my current rate.

Truthfully, I was devastated by the appraisal of my house. I know that home appraisals for purposes of refinancing don?t mean as much as a resale appraisal. It?s just a number of paper until you actually try to sell the house, after all. However for me, it did mean more. I had taken on the house as my main asset when I was divorced in early 2009, trading all of my cash on hand for it. So for me, the house was my divorce settlement in its?entirety. Seeing that a bank appraiser thought that in November 2011 it was worth $85,000 less than in December 2008 meant that I had lost over $40,000 in the settlement. Even more crushing, the appraised value was $20,000 less than we had paid for the house in the summer of 2001. It was as if 10 years of diligent property improvements and extra principal payments meant less than nothing.

I waited until the fall of 2012 before contacting the mortgage broker yet again about refinancing. In the meantime, I continued to pay extra on the mortgage, although in early 2012 my strategy of rounding up to the nearest thousand was coming out to only $275 extra. (The difference was due to more being added to escrow for taxes.) The mortgage broker wasn?t responding to my emails, though, and I didn?t push it. The real estate market in Chicago has been lagging other areas of the country, and I was in no hurry to be told yet again that my house wasn?t worth as much as I had paid for it.

So when I got a call out of the blue just over a month ago from an employee of my current lender, Chase, asking if I wanted to meet to discuss a refinance I jumped at the opportunity. I set up an appointment at the local branch for the next week and brought along everything I would need to apply for a refinance, just in case. We ran some numbers for a 30-year mortgage. My goodness how low the payments looked. I told the bank rep how much I had been paying every month, including the extra principal payments. So we ran some numbers for a 15-year mortgage, and those payments looked very good, too.

I told the Chase rep about my experience in the fall of 2011 with the appraisal on my house, and how I thought my diligent principal?curtailment would have helped. Even if the appraisal came back the same, I had paid enough principal down that I would be back to the magic 20% equity mark. (Worst case: I would be close enough that a couple thousand dollars from savings would bring me there.) I was offered a 3.125% rate on a 15-year mortgage, so I thought it worth the appraisal fee and on we went.

The appraisal was done a week later, and I was very happy to find that this time the house was valued at much more than 20% equity. In fact, it was appraised only $15,000 less than the appraisal done in December 2008, and I was at the 60% equity mark. I was also able to have the escrow waived. Now I can deal with the taxes on my own, so if there is an issue with the property tax bill I can deal with it more effectively. (The frustrations around my property taxes in 2011 were a missed blogging opportunity that I may still write about at some point.)

I know there could be rates lower than 3.125% out there for a 15-year mortgage, but I?m very happy with this rate. Chase also has a 1% cash back program if you have a checking account with them that is linked to the mortgage for automatic payments. With this program, 1% of the principal and interest payment is refunded after a year. The refunded amount can be applied directly to the mortgage principal or deposited in the Chase checking account. I did not have a Chase checking account at the time I applied for refinancing, but I opened one the same day I closed on my new mortgage. With interest rates on savings accounts being so low, I?m happy to get a little over $180 a year in the cash back program.

The close of my new mortgage was completed in a matter of minutes. Really. I got to the branch at 9 AM and walked away from the desk at 9:10 AM with a shiny new mortgage. My first payment is due May 1, 2013, and my last will be due when I?m 60.

It?s this last fact that gives me the most pleasure. In only four years I?ve gone from being cash poor with a mortgage I?d be paying into my 70s, to being on a sound financial footing with a mortgage payoff date several years before my effective retirement date. Way to go, Linda!

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Source: http://awindycitygal.wordpress.com/2013/03/31/my-final-mortgage-refinancing-hopefully/

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How America lost its four great generals (Powerlineblog)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295964921?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Madonna touches down in Malawi

BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) ? Local residents say that U.S. pop diva Madonna has arrived in Malawi for an unannounced visit.

An aviation department worker said Madonna's jet landed at the Kamuzu International Airport in the country's capital, Lilongwe, early Monday. It was not clear if she came with her children. The aviation worker spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not have permission to speak to the press.

The singer has previously stayed at the exclusive Kumbali Lodge in Lilongwe, and an employee there says all other guests were checked out. The employee spoke on condition of anonymity because he didn't have permission to speak to the press on the matter.

Madonna adopted two children from Malawi. She promised the court she would bring her adopted children twice "every two or three years."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/madonna-touches-down-malawi-165344737.html

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From Dallas to Damascus: The Texas 'straight shooter' who could replace Syria's Assad

Ozan Kose / AFP - Getty Images

Ghassan Hitto, speaking to reporters after his March 18 election as Syria's interim prime minister.

By Ayman Mohyeldin and Alastair Jamieson, NBC News

He is a ?straight shooter? from Texas who worked as a telecoms executive until November. But Ghassan Hitto now finds himself the presumptive caretaker-leader of Syria as world powers plot the end of Bashar Assad?s crumbling regime.

The American citizen, born in Syria, is the new prime minister of the opposition?s interim government ? the apparatus that the international community hopes will seal the end of Assad?s rule.

Friends describe Hitto, 50, as ?sincere? and ?practical,? but the charismatic technocrat will need all the charm he can muster to unify Syria?s fragmented opposition.

His rapid rise has prompted questions about how the deadly conflict should end and has cast a light on infighting, fueled by regional countries purportedly supporting certain opposition figures.

The Free Syrian Army, one of the key rebel groups fighting Assad?s forces on the ground inside Syria, responded to Hitto?s appointment in Istanbul on March 18 by refusing to recognize his authority.

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?The situation there is so dire, I?m afraid for him,? said Mustafa Carroll,?who worked alongside Hitto in Texas as a volunteer at Muslim advocacy groups. ?It?s a big responsibility and it?s very complicated.?

?He?s a straight shooter, very sincere, very well-regarded and a very active community person,? said Carroll, who is director of the Houston chapter of the Council for American-Islamic Relations.

Seen as Muslim Brotherhood's pick
Hitto, a father of four, lived in the U.S. for three decades, most recently on the outskirts of Dallas working as director of operations for telecoms supplier Inovar, where co-worker?Arshad Syed remembers him as "honest" and "personable."

He left Syria in the early 1980s and received an MBA at Indiana Wesleyan University on top of a degree in computer science and mathematics from Purdue University in Indianapolis.

Strongly active in community groups, he was a member of the board of directors at the private Islamic school Bright Horizons Academy, in Garland, Texas, where his wife Suzanne still teaches English.

In November, he made the decision to get involved in the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces -- the international grouping that seeks to end Syria?s civil war on the condition that Assad is removed from power.

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A look back at the conflict that has overtaken the country.

?Like a lot of people living away, he just wanted to help his homeland,? said Carroll.

Hitto?s wife did not return calls, but the academy issued a statement describing him as ?a practical man with great management experience.?

It said: ?He was always open minded and open to debate. He conducted himself with the highest honesty and integrity. His talent for bringing people together for the common good will be missed in our community.?

Hitto, a respected technocrat but an inexperienced politician, won the overwhelming number of votes from those who cast a ballot -- other possible candidates that included a former Syrian regime official -- but some members of the Coalition boycotted the vote in protest at the process.

Not everyone was convinced the opposition needed an interim government, seeing it as yet another organization that could compete for control of a post-Assad Syria.

Official spokesman Walid al-Bunni walked out of the vote in protest and Moaz al-Khatib, president of the Coalition, resigned and had to be persuaded back on board just in time for the Arab Summit in Doha, which began Tuesday.

?Hitto?s whole role has been undermined from the start,? said Christopher Phillips, associate fellow of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at U.K. think tank, Chatham House.

?He?s very much the Muslim Brotherhood?s man, and is seen as such. There was a lot of pressure to get an interim opposition leader in place ahead of the Doha talks, but the way in which it was done, and the choice of very much the man that Qatar and Turkey wanted, has infuriated and alienated just about every key player in the process.?

Represents 'the some of the some'
Salman Shaik, director of the Brookings Center in Doha, said many Syrians "still regard the appointment of Hitto with suspicion." Even if Assad is toppled from power, Hitto is by no means certain of the authority he needs to implement free and fair elections.

?The huge elephant in the room is that there is no guarantee that, if and when the Assad regime falls, that any of the groups fighting in Syria will gather around this official opposition,? said Phillips. ?There are huge uncertainties in all of this.?

Abdulrahman al-Rashed, commentator and general manager of the Al Arabiya news channel, wrote: ?I am confident that Mr. Hitto is a respectable person and that he cares about Syria. But during this difficult time, we want a person who represents everyone and not only some Syrians. Some members of the Syrian coalition decided to choose Hitto but the coalition itself only represents some Syrians. Therefore, Hitto represents the some of the some!?

Yasser Tabarra, the Chicago-based legal adviser to the Coalition, says the interim government will focus on managing the 60 to 70 percent of the country that is liberated and controlled by opposition rebels.

The government would coordinate local management efforts, including establishing law and order, and delivering basic goods and services, Tabarra said.

Two key stumbling blocks remain: whether the Coalition should enter into any form of negotiations with the regime while Assad is still in power, and whether Hitto, an ethnic Kurd viewed as the Muslim Brotherhood's favored candidate, can unite the ideological differences between its liberal and Islamist members.

In his task, Hitto at least has the backing of the U.S.

?This is an individual who, out of concern for the Syrian people, left a very successful life in Texas to go and work on humanitarian relief for the people of his home country,? said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland after Hitto?s election.

?We?re very hopeful that his election will foster unity and cohesion among the opposition.?

NBC News' Becky Bratu contributed to this report.

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Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653387/s/2a2a8a9d/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C30A0C1750A0A980A0Efrom0Edallas0Eto0Edamascus0Ethe0Etexas0Estraight0Eshooter0Ewho0Ecould0Ereplace0Esyrias0Eassad0Dlite/story01.htm

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