Originally posted by Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar: Hokey, I am here. Budka soo ma rabtiin, hokey, budka waa diyaarsanyahay. Kala yaaca waa diideen, qofkee dhibto hala arko. War qofkaan yaa dadka ka qabta!

Originally posted by kyz: GOD HAQODIN HADAAD QODAANA HADHEEREEN KU DHICIDOONTAA MA OGIDEEH So true. It seems to me that ever since Al Shabab's foreign trainers have been targeted with air-strikes, we are seeing more incidents of this sort--where the Somali terrorists are muddling up the bomb-making procedures, which for the most blows up in their own face, before actually reaching its intended targets which are the innocent civilians of Somalia. Allah is just, and may he bless us with more incidents like this were the terrorists alone die.

The Evening is Tranquil, and Dawn is a Thousand Miles Away by Charles Wright The mares go down for their evening feed into the meadow grass. Two pine trees sway the invisible wind— some sway, some don't sway. The heart of the world lies open, leached and ticking with sunlight For just a minute or so. The mares have their heads on the ground, the trees have their heads on the blue sky. Two ravens circle and twist. On the borders of heaven, the river flows clear a bit longer.

the finger by Charles Bukowski the drivers of automobiles have very little recourse or originality. when upset with another driver they often give him the FINGER. I have seen two adult men florid of face driving along giving each other the FINGER. well, we all know what this means, it's no secret. still, this gesture is so overused it has lost most of its impact. some of the men who give the FINGER are captains of industry, city councilmen, insurance adjusters, accountants and/or the just plain unemployed. no matter. it is their favorite response. people will never admit that they drive badly. the FINGER is their reply. I see grown men FINGERING each other throughout the day. it gives me pause. when I consider the state of our cities, the state of our states, the state of our country, I begin to understand. the FINGER is a mind- set. we are the FINGERERS. we give it to each other. we give it coming and going. we don't know how else to respond. what a hell of a way to not live.

For You by Kim Addonizio For you I undress down to the sheaths of my nerves. I remove my jewelry and set it on the nightstand, I unhook my ribs, spread my lungs flat on a chair. I dissolve like a remedy in water, in wine. I spill without staining, and leave without stirring the air. I do it for love. For love, I disappear. ***************************************** Forms of Love by Kim Addonizio I love you but I'm married. I love you but I wish you had more hair. I love you more. I love you more like a friend. I love your friends more than you. I love how when we go into a mall and classical muzak is playing, you can always name the composer. I love you, but one or both of us is/are fictional. I love you but "I" am an unstable signifier. I love you saying, "I understand the semiotics of that" when I said, "I had a little personal business to take care of." I love you as long as you love me back. I love you in spite of the restraining order. I love you from the coma you put me in. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone, except for this one guy. I love you when you're not getting drunk and ******. I love how you get me. I love your pain, it's so competitive. I love how emotionally unavailable you are. I love you like I'm a strange backyard and you're running from the cops, looking for a place to stash your gun. I love your hair. I love you but I'm just not that into you. I love you secretly. I love how you make me feel like I'm a monastery in the desert. I love how you defined grace as the little turn the blood in the syringe takes when you're shooting heroin, after you pull back the plunger slightly to make sure you hit the vein. I love your mother, she's the opposite of mine. I love you and feel a powerful spiritual connection to you, even though we've never met. I love your tacos! I love your stick deodorant! I love it when you tie me up with ropes using the knots you learned in Boy Scouts, and when you do the stoned Dennis Hopper rap from Apocalypse Now! I love your extravagant double takes! I love your mother, even though I'm nearly her age! I love everything about you except your hair. If it weren't for that I know I could really, really love you.

Half-Rack at the Rendezvouz by William Notter She had a truck, red hair, and freckled knees and took me all the way to Memphis after work for barbecue. We moaned and grunted over plates of ribs and sweet iced tea, even in a room of strangers, gnawing the hickory char, the slow smoked meat peeling off the bones, and finally the bones. We slurped grease and dry-rub spice from our fingers, then finished with blackberry cobbler that stained her lips and tongue. All the trees were throwing fireworks of blossom, the air was thick with pollen and the brand-new smell of leaves. We drove back roads in the watermelon dusk, then tangled around each other, delirious as honeybees working wisteria. I could blame it all on cinnamon hair, or the sap rising, the overflow of spring, but it was those ribs that started everything.

Perfect Woman by William Wordsworth She was a phantom of delight When first she gleam'd upon my sight; A lovely apparition, sent To be a moment's ornament; Her eyes as star of twilight fair; Like twilight's, too, her dusky hair; But all things else about her drawn From May-time and the cheerful dawn; A dancing shape, an image gay, To haunt, to startle, and waylay. I saw her upon nearer view, A Spirit, yet a Woman too! Her household motions light and free, And steps of virgin liberty; A countenance in which did meet Sweet records, promises as sweet; A creature not too bright or good For human nature's daily food; For transient sorrows, simple wiles, Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles. And now I see with eye serene The very pulse of the machine; A being breathing thoughtful breath, A traveller between life and death; The reason firm, the temperate will, Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill; A perfect Woman, nobly plann'd To warm, to comfort, and command; And yet a Spirit still, and bright With something of angelic light.

The Dreariest Journey by Percy Bysshe Shelley I never was attached to that great sect, Whose doctrine is, that each one should select Out of the crowd a mistress or a friend, And all the rest, though fair and wise, commend To cold oblivion, though it is the code Of modern morals, and the beaten road Which those poor slaves with weary footsteps tread, By the broad highway of the world, and so With one chained friend, perhaps a jealous foe, The dreariest and the longest journey go.

The Return of Odysseus by George Bilgere When Odysseus finally does get home he is understandably upset about the suitors, who have been mooching off his wife for twenty years, drinking his wine, eating his mutton, etc. In a similar situation today he would seek legal counsel. But those were different times. With the help of his son Telemachus he slaughters roughly one hundred and ten suitors and quite a number of young ladies, although in view of their behavior I use the term loosely. Rivers of blood course across the palace floor. I too have come home in a bad mood. Yesterday, for instance, after the department meeting, when I ended up losing my choice parking spot behind the library to the new provost. I slammed the door. I threw down my book bag in this particular way I have perfected over the years that lets my wife understand the contempt I have for my enemies, which is prodigious. And then with great skill she built a gin and tonic that would have pleased the very gods, and with epic patience she listened as I told her of my wrath, and of what I intended to do to so-and-so, and also to what's-his-name. And then there was another gin and tonic and presently my wrath abated and was forgotten, and peace came to reign once more in the great halls and courtyards of my house.

Originally posted by Lychee: It’s not every day that you read something that’s of such elevated worth. And only a man of articulate speech can write such a superb piece, I loved it. It covered a range of areas, and I too have high hopes for our beautiful land. First and foremost Ilaahay ba mahada iska leh, secondly Ilaahay ha uu naxaristo dadki wadankeena Somaliland uu soo halgamay and those who will continue to do their utmost for our country. And lastly, Ilaahay cadowga iyo sharkooda iyo sharkaste ba, ha naga alaaliyo... Ameen. Long live Somaliland. Oh, the irony is unbearable! Colonel Sabarey, I think this one fell for it. Ha ha ha ha

Originally posted by Thierry Henry: I don’t know why Mr Somalia constantly refers to the South as anarchists. Islamic Courts was anything but anarchists. They pacified the South and brought peace and stability. I am neither from the Secessionist North or South Somalia. Try again We don't care where you are from, Thiery. All that matters in here is that all your pissing and moaning against the former President of Somalia has been formally debunked and the impulses of your resentment has been easily neutralized without breaking a sweat. You've just admitted that you are neither from the secessionist north nor the anarchist south, yet you say the so-called 'Islamic' courts were not anarchists? Typical nacnac behavior, I say -- when in doubt just talk out of your rear, eh?

Originally posted by Amistad: Mr Somalia, Please dont be confused between Piracy, Protecting Ones Shores and Theft. I am not. These fellas, however disorganized or get-rich-quick minded they maybe, are indirectly doing the Somali people a huge favor by preventing the pillaging and poisoning of large swaths of Somali waters by illegal fishing companies and mafia organized toxic waste dumping. This is why I give credit where credit is due. Therein lies a very legal debate of who is right, and who is wrong. I tend to side with the Somali Coast Guard... seize wrongful poaching ships, release their crew, and hold the ships Ransom. That is Legal, sound and does not normally injure crews. I agree. Somalis do not go into Spanish, Thailand and Indian waters, so what are Spanish, Thai and Indian fishermen doing in Somali waters? Somalis don't dump toxic materials off the shorelines of Sicily and Sardinia, so why are Italians dumping toxic waste of Somalia's coastline. Isaac Newton said, "To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction", and we Somalis are simply reacting to circumstances beyond our control.

Originally posted by Jacaylbaro: quote:Originally posted by Mr. Somalia: no such thing as piracy going on. Only a bunch of hardworking coastguards protecting the sea resources of their homeland from illegal fishing vessels and toxic waste dumpers. Protecting by hijacking ships, getting ransom then releasing them ?? ,,, come on u can do better lad, try again. ^ That is just outright malarkey... It seems, not only has the khat impaired your faculties of comprehension, but it has also grossly affected you reasoning abilities as well. Calling what our revered coastguard does on the seas of Somalia, "hijacking" is a bit crass, if I may say so. It's like saying when I get pulled over by a traffic cop for some illegal act, that he(police officer) has "hijacked" me and when he issues me a fine, with your reasoning I must call this "a ransom". How preposterous! I don't know JB, why you insist on being deliberately obtuse about this reality, but the coastguards of Somalia are doing a very good job arresting illegal trespassers on our waters. Now I don't understand why you are against this...but could it by any chance have anything to do with the fact that many ladies of ill-repute who used to service the marfashes of Hargaysa have now moved and have opted to pursue greener pastures in Puntland, with the presence of ALL those newly minted Pira..I mean coastguard millionaires?

Originally posted by Colonel Ali Sabarey: quote:The secessionists abhor him simply because he was very instrumental in neutralizing their silly ambitions for political recognition when he first created Puntland and singlehandedly showed the whole world that the relative stability that Marfashland used to boast about was nothing unique to them alone This is true. I don't hate Yey with the passion I used to hate him anymore. Wadaadada ayuu necbaa, wadaadaduna wax la naco way yihiin ilaa kuwa Isli Nairobi hada fatwada ka soo saaara. Wuu naga aragti dheeraa. Laakin, qaladaad waa weyn oo siyaasadeed wuu sameeyay, wuxuuna qayb la xaadle ka qaatay burburkii iyo dagaalkii Sokeeyee ee Somalia. Wayse dhici kartaa in vision xun uuna la rabin Soomalia laakin wadada loo marayaa ka xumaatay. Si buu wadani u yahay xitaa isagoo ah ka Itoobiya sooo hogaamiyey. Ha ha ha -- Where is that silly boy Thiery? See, even my illustrious friend of the ONLF has nullified your silly allegations that the people of western Somalia, a great majority of which for your information are AY's kinsmen, collectively dislike the great legend when you said the following... Originally posted by Thierry Henry: [QB] It doesn’t change what I said but rather emphasis the dislike towards this man by all Somalis except his kin. From Somalilanders, Western Somalis , and South Somalia the dislike towards the man is mutual towards him. My caanoboore friend's remarks here are proof enough and suggest that although he may have disagreed with some of AY's policies in the past, he and his people do not keep any grudges nor hate of the great man, aint that so A&T? This is why, I have said all along, that the only people who hold grudges and cast evil intentions towards Mudane Cabdullahi Yuusuf are the secessionists of the north and the anarchists of the south-- and I believe I have already explained why both hold such mediocre and emasculated animus towards the old man.

^Sxb, no such thing as piracy going on. Only a bunch of hardworking coastguards protecting the sea resources of their homeland from illegal fishing vessels and toxic waste dumpers. Now come again, or must I illuminate it for you even further, considering the fact that khat has irreversibly impaired your faculties of comprehension.

^ Oh, don't apologize to JB-- the man initiates a million pointless threads every single day. If you doubt me, check out his post count! Amistad, all this brouhaha about fighting piracy off the coastline of Somalia is a western scheme to establish a permanent military armada afloat in that part of the world. We all know that AFRICOM has been in search of a place to set up shop in africa, and because of all the post-colonial implications that it can possible have, this excuse of theirs of fighting piracy in Somalia is just that-- an excuse: An excuse to give a home to AFRICOM. And the funny thing is the rest of the world is not buying it, especially China and other Asian countries, who have decided they too have the same right to use the same excuse of fighting piracy to send troops to that strategic zone of the horn of Africa. Asia, Europe and America don't give a damn about piracy in Somalia. All they want is to use it as a cover to justify their strong military presence in that part of the world. But the good news for Somalis is...how long can all these countries sustain such a competition with their huge budget deficits and turmoil in their respective home economies?

^ Gabbal, thank you for your wise remarks. You have shown that, it is possibly for a person to have strongly held opinions against some of AY's political positions and policies in the past, and yet retain the decency not to resort to effeminate habaar and death wishing on his person, like those that started this thread; and that it is very moronic and retarded to keep such unhealthy grudges in the first place.

Originally posted by Amistad: His name is Jay Bahadur, six figure deal to have the book on the shelf this year. Nice guy, did some serious time in Puntland and visiting pirates....his book tells the pirate side and story. I think it will be very fair and balanced from the conversations I have had with him. From reading Jay Bahadur's previous articles, I think his forthcoming book will do justice by shedding light on the true causes and consequences of piracy in the Horn of Africa. 'I'm not a pirate, I'm the saviour of the sea' Who are the pirate bands menacing commercial and tourist shipping off Somalia? Our writer meets one of the leaders by Jay Bahadur Asking my first question through my interpreter, I hesitate to use the word “pirate”. Somali pirates are aware enough of themselves in the international media that the word has become part of their vernacular but its closest Somali translation is burcad badeed, which means “ocean robber”, a political statement I am anxious to avoid. Boyah likes to refer to him and his comades as badaadinta badah, “saviours of the sea”, a term that is most often translated in the English-speaking media as “coastguard”. Boyah jokes that he is the “Chief of the Coastguard”, a title he evokes with pride. To him, his actions have been about protecting his sea; his hijackings, a legitimate form of taxation levied in abstentia on behalf of a defunct government that he represents in spirit, if not in law. His story is typical of many who have turned to piracy since the onset of the civil war. Fourteen years ago, he was still working as a lobster diver in Eyl - “one of the best”, he says. Since then, according to Boyah, these reefs off Eyl have been devastated by foreign fishing fleets - mostly Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean - using steel-pronged dragnets. He says that there are no longer lobsters to be found locally, a claim partially corroborated by a 2005 UN Development Project report into the depletion of local stocks. From 1995 to 1997, Boyah and others captured three foreign fishing vessels, keeping the catch and ransoming the crew. He boasts that he received an $800,000 bounty for one ship. When the foreign fishing fleets entered into protection contracts with local warlords, making armed guards and anti-aircraft guns fixtures on ships, Boyah and his men went after commercial shipping vessels instead. Boyah says that there are about 500 pirates operating in the area, over whom he serves as “chairman”. Eyl's pirate groups function as a loose confederation, and Boyah is a key organiser, recruiter, financier and mission commander, rather than a traditional crime boss, but he claims that all applicants for the position of Pirate (Eyl Division) must come to him. Boyah's sole criteria for a recruit are that he has to own a gun, and that he must “[be] a hero, and accept death” - qualities that grace the CVs of many local youth. Turnover in Boyah's core group is low; when I ask if his men ever use their new-found wealth to leave Somalia, he laughs: “The only way they leave is when they die.” He adds that a member of his band departed last night, dying in his sleep of undisclosed reasons. When it comes to targets, Boyah's standards are not very exacting. He says that his men go after any ship that wanders into their sights. He separates his prey into “commercial” and “tourist” ships. The commercial ships, identifiable by the cranes on their decks, are slower and easier to capture. Boyah has gone after too many of these to remember. He claims to employ different tactics for different ships, but the basic strategy is that several skiffs will approach from all sides, swarming like a waterborne wolfpack. If brandishing their weapons fails to frighten the ship's crew into stopping, they fire into the air. If that doesn't do it, and if the target ship is incapable of outperforming the 85 to 150 horsepower engines on their skiffs, they pull alongside their target, toss hooked rope ladders on to the decks and board the ship. Resistance is rare. Boyah guesses that 20 to 30 per cent of attempted hijackings succeed. Speedy prey, technical problems, and foreign naval or domestic coastguard intervention account for the high rate of failure. Captured ships are steered to Eyl, where guards and interpreters are brought to look after the hostages during the ransom negotiation. Once secured, the money - often routed through banks in London and Dubai and parachuted directly on to the deck of the ship - is split: half goes to the hijackers, a third to the investors who fronted cash for the ships and weapons, and 20 per cent to everyone else, from the guards to the translators (occasionally high school students on a summer break). Some money is also given as charity to the local poor; such largesse, Boyah tells me, has turned his merry band into Robin Hood figures. When I ask where his men have obtained their training, he pithily responds that it comes “from famine”. This isn't the whole truth. Beginning in 1999, the government of Puntland launched a series of ill-fated attempts to establish an (official) regional Coastguard, efforts that each time ended with the dissolution of the contracting company and the dismissal of its employees. The new generation of Somali pirates - better trained, more efficiently organised and possessing superior equipment - can be traced in part to these failed experiments. When pressed, Boyah confirms that some of his men are former coastguard recruits, and he reveals another detail of the interwoven dynamic between pirates, coastguards and fishermen. He claims that the Puntland Coastguard of the late 1990s and early 2000s worked as a private militia for the protection of commercial trawlers in possession of official “fishing licences”, alienating local fishermen. Sometimes the situation escalated into confrontation and Boyah recounts that in 2001 his men seized several fishing vessels “licensed” by President Abdullahi Yusuf and protected by his coastguard force. Almost a decade before the rise in pirate hijackings hit the Gulf of Aden, the conditions for the coming storm were already recognisable. Boyah's moral compass, like his body, seems to be split between sea and shore. “We're not murderers,” he says, “we've never killed anyone.” He warns me, half-jokingly, not to run into him in a boat, but assures me that he is quite harmless on land. He insists that he is not a criminal but that he knows what he is doing is wrong. Boyah hasn't been on a mission for more than two months, for which he has a two-pronged explanation: “I got sick and became rich.” He has called for an end to hijackings albeit from a position of luxury that most do not enjoy. I ask him whether his ceasefire was motivated by the recent deployment to the region of a Nato task force. “No,” he says, “it has nothing to do with that. It's a moral issue. We realised that we didn't have public support.” That support, according to Boyah, took a plunge last summer when a delegation of clan and religious leaders visited Eyl and declared that dealing with pirates is haram - religiously forbidden. Nato deliberations regarding possible missile strikes on Eyl, though, do not worry Boyah: “Only civilians live there, it would be illegal for them to attack. If they do...that's OK. We believe in God. Force alone cannot stop us,” he says vehemently, “we don't care about death.” Throughout our interview, Boyah has looked uninterested but when I ask him to recount his most exhilarating raid, he brightens up, launching into the story of the Golden Nori. In October 2007, he captured the Japanese chemical tanker about eight nautical miles off the northern Somali coast, only to be surrounded by the US Navy. Boyah recalls seven naval vessels encircling him. He recites by rote the identification numbers marking the sides of four of the vessels: 41, 56, 76, and 78 (the last being the destroyer USS Porter). Fortunately for them, the Golden Nori was carrying volatile chemicals, including the extremely flammable compound benzene. The stand-off dragged on for months and he claims that they “almost abandoned the ship so we wouldn't start eating the crew”. Eventually, Boyah ordered the ship into the harbour at Bosasso, Puntland's big port and most populous city. In case the Nori's explosive cargo proved an insufficient deterrent, Boyah added the defensive screen provided by the presence of the city's civilian population. His perseverance paid off. After extensive negotiations, a ransom of $1.5million was secured for the ship and its crew. The US military guaranteed Boyah and his team safe passage off the hijacked ship and Puntland's security forces could only watch as US gunships escorted the pirate skiffs to land and allowed them to disembark. Why did he and his men trust the Americans? “Because that was the agreement,” Boyah says. But I already know the real answer. Like many Western nations, the Americans wouldn't have known what to do with Boyah and his men if they had captured them. According to international law - to the extent that international law has any meaning in an utterly failed state - the Americans were not even supposed to be in Somali territorial waters. The Golden Nori hijacking took place before the international community had become aware of the piracy problem, when foreign navies tended to give them a slap on the wrist. More recently, concerned states have begun to use the international legal instruments available - particularly a UN Security Council Resolution allowing entry into Somali waters - more rigorously. Foreign warships are increasingly excluding, detaining and rendering suspected pirates to neighbouring countries to face justice. In April 2008, Boyah's gang seized a French luxury yacht on route from the Seychelles to the Mediterranean - what he refers to as a “tourist” ship. Boyah calls it the “Libant,” a clumsy fusion of its French name, Le Ponant. After delivering a ransom and freeing the hostages, French helicopters tracked the pirates to the village of Jariban. On the orders of President Sarkozy, French commandos laun ched “Operation Thalathine”: Special Forces snipers disabled the pirates' getaway vehicle and captured six men, later flying them to Paris to face trial. Such a determined pursuit was once a rarity but that incident, along with US use of navy SEAL snipers to kill pirates holding Captain Richard Phillips hostage this week, illustrates that the international community is now taking piracy more seriously. But a military solution alone is incapable of completely eradicating piracy off the Somali coast-certainly not one which is economically or politically feasible. Boyah's men have been captured or killed with increasing frequency (his brother is sitting in a local prison), yet imprisoning them is almost useless: for each pirate captured, there are dozens of young men desperate to replace them. If there is a solution to the problem, it lies in economic principles: the cost-benefit analysis for these men must be shifted from piracy to more legitimate pursuits. Naval battle fleets can do their part to boost the “cost” side, but without the “benefit” of meaningful occupations on land, there will be no permanent resolution. Boyah may have accumulated a small fortune, but how long his current state of affluence will last is unclear - he announces with pride how he has given his money away to his friends, to the poor and how he didn't build a house or a hotel like many of his more parsimonious co-workers. When asked about his future plans, Boyah is evasive. “That is up to the international community,” he says, “they need to solve the problem of illegal fishing, the root of our troubles. We are waiting for action.” Jay Bahadur is working on a book The Pirates of Puntland , with news agency Garowe Online (garoweonline.com). E-mail: piratesofpuntland@gmail.com Source:

^ lol...

I don't understand the significance of this, JB--but I do like this photo on that link. Isn't the sea just beautiful?

Originally posted by Thierry Henry: [QB] ... since I am very young and wasn’t born in Somalia. All I am doing is stating the facts in which his kin cannot seem to accept. Thiery, since you say you are still "very young"(?), I want you to allow me to contemporize for you what I have been saying by asking you to imagine AY was rappin a classic 2PAC song to you... [THIS IS AY SPEAKING TO YOU in 2PAC verse] Only God can judge me, is that right? Only God can judge me now Only God baby, nobody else, nobody else All you other motherfcukers get out my business Perhaps I was blind to the facts, stabbed in the back I couldn't trust my own homies(USC & SNM) just a bunch a dirty rats Will I, succeed, paranoid from all their hate Look to my future cause my past, is all behind me Is it a crime, to fight, for what is mine? Everybody's dyin tell me what's the use of tryin I've been Trapped since birth, cautious, cause I'm cursed And fantasies of my family, in a hearse And they say it's the white man I should fear But, it's my own kind(Somalis) doin all the killin here I can't lie, ain't no love for the other side Jealousy inside, make em wish I died Oh my Lord, tell me what I'm livin for Everybody's droppin got me knockin on heaven's door And all my memories, of seein brothers bleed And everybody grieves, but still nobody sees Recollect your thoughts don't get caught up in the mix Cause the media and SOL is full of dirty tricks(thats you, Thiery) Only God can judge me

Originally posted by General Duke: It is good to see the old man, the founder of the state , living well in Yemen. Duke: This is what makes Cabdullahi Yuusuf's achievement singularly so spectacular and great -- because he singlehandedly saved Somalia from the abyss when he created Puntland and thus laid a strong foundation for genuine patriotic Somalis to build on and hasten the eventual reconstitution of the old Somali republic and the return of its former glory. This is why, a large segment of the Somali population are grateful to him and adore him very much, no matter the inconsequential squeals of his nay-saying political detractors. When he erected the government of The Puntland State of Somalia, he crossed over into a land beyond reproach. No blemish can ever tarnish his legacy as one of Somalia's most adept political geniuses-- no matter how many haters would say otherwise. I wish the great man, good health in this life and Allah's bountiful mercy in the next. Insha Allah! Mudane President, I salute you!