HEY RAFA! IF YOU READ THIS . . .

UPDATE #2:

Semi Final
Rafael Nadal lost to Ivan Ljubicic
6-3, 4-6, 6-7
Saturday, March 20, 2010

Unfortunately the final will be
Ivan Ljubicic
versus
Andy Roddick or Robin Soderling
Sunday, March 21, 2001

UPDATE:

Singles
Quarter Finals
Rafael Nadal defeated Tomas Berdych
6-4, 7-6(4)
Thursday, March 18, 2010
photos

Upcoming
Semi Final
Rafael Nadal versus Ivan Ljubicic
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Stadium 1
3:00 p.m. EST

followed by
Semi Final
Andy Roddick versus Robin Soderling
Not before 6:30 p. EST

Doubles
Semi Final
Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez
defeated
Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley
6-4, 6-4
Friday, March 19, 2010

Final
Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez
versus
yet to be determined:
Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic
of John Isner and Sam Querrey
Saturday, March 20,2010
Stadium 1
Not before 8:00 pm EST

Indian Wells - Rafa's day on St. Patrick's Day

Singles
Round 4
Rafael Nadal defeated John Isner (USA)
March 17, 2010
7-5, 3-6, 6-3

Upcoming
Quarter Finals
Rafael Nadal versus Tomas Berdych
Stadium 1
Thursday, March 18, 2010
10:30 p.m. USA EST at the earliest - could be a later start

Doubles
Quarter Finals
Rafa and Marc Lopez defeated Michael Llodra and Andy Ram
6-2, 6-4

Upcoming
Semi Final
Rafa and Marc versus Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley

Indian Wells Tennis Tournament website:

www.bnpparibasopen

Order of Play

Is It On TV?
TV Schedule
CSNNE.com is the website for Comcast SportsNet New England

Picture links:
www.gototennisblog.com
www.zimbio.com/pictures
www.tennisphotographs.com
www.facebook.com

For online viewing for free - Maybe

www.fromsport.com

www.atdhe.net


Not Free

www.tennistv.com

Fan Support Sites ~ Great sources of information

vamos brigade

Rafa's Babolat-sponsored forum

Pictures

Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates after winning a point against John Isner of the USA during the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 17, 2010 in Indian Wells, California. Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images North America)

My IMAC went back for repair for another week, and I am still struggling to type with a finger slammed in a door a couple weeks ago. This laptop seems to be dimming, so that is not a good thing. Hope it survives for a while.

The past day and a half has been no fun. But I am fine. My television lost its picture weeks ago, and I have only had sound for weeks now. So I bought a new TV yesterday. The days of buying these things....computers, TV, DVDs, DVRs, cameras are so complicated. Gone are the days, where you could plug in a TV and it would be all you had to do to set it up. No more....it took me hours to get no picture with my cables and cable box, plus a DVR. After hours of spending time to try to get it to work and then having to wake up and make calls to get help, go back to my cable company that refuses to answer questions on the phone ("it's a 'walk-in only' office), I had a picture and no sound. I finally paid someone to come and tell me that all I had to do was unplug the cable box and replug it in to reset it. Voila, sound with the picture!

...And I found the HDmi cable I bought and misplaced...having spent hours looking for it after I took it out of the package. It is embarrassing to admit, I couldn't find it because I had it already inserted in the back of the TV and cable box! I apparently did it in the middle of inserting and retrying so many cables that I forgot I did this. And it was difficult to see behind the TV inside a cabinet. Then I used the 5 cable alternative - which duplicates the use of the HDmi. And come to find out from the guy I paid, that the "5 cable cable" - the alternative to the HDmi - canceled out the HDmi I had inserted.

Go figure. The inferior cable cancels out the superior cable.

After waiting for two years for my cable company to get The Tennis Channel - being promised it was coming a year ago....it finally came this year. However, since TTC is only in high definition, I couldn't get it. Until, today. So, this is great.

Not so great in that to record with the new technology - I get worse quality than with the old set - with digital cable. Ah, advanced technology.

Well, Federer and Djokovic have, unfortunately for them, left Indian Wells in defeat. I hope Rafa can defend his Indian Wells title this year. That would be so good for him after the injuries.

HEY RAFA! IF YOU READ THIS . . .

And Rafa, if you are reading this: I hate your pants. Love you. Hate your pants. You know, that "famous a_ _ is no fun anymore to watch for. No fashion statement should deprive your fans this view. We watch you for more than your talented play on the court. Nike needs to fire who comes up with these new kits or outfits for the court. I certainly could do a better job designing for you. Now, all we have is nostalgia for the days of the past - when we loved your long pants, and sleeveless. That is the look of Rafa that we will always remember. We will gladly forget these brown diamond shorts. And in the International Tennis Hall of Fame one day here in Newport, I bet you, they choose the signature look of Rafa in the long pants, no sleeves attire to adorn the poster size Rafa one day.

Who knew NIKE could design something that obliterates your best feature? Well, I guess, maybe not your only "best" feature. But, certainly one that we have noticed enough that it is "famous" worldwide .

One day, you will look back at the pictures taken and I bet this will not be one your outfits that you say to yourself, "I really liked that outfit from 2010 with the brown diamond shorts." I think you are solid and have a great sense of who you are....and that is what we love about you. You couldn't wear this outfit in front of the world, if this wasn't true.

Vamos, Rafa! We are with you!

Just not your pants!

And sleeves, on court.

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I prefer watching this with the sound turned down...
you decide for yourself, though.
Uploaded by JazzMJFAN

Change of subject - from fun to the serious

_____________________

It shouldn't be humanity versus inhumanity of the human race, but it is.

November 2, 2005, I spent 6 hours at the Dachau concentration camp that had been restored and now is visited by people like me from other countries, but also by high school children from the area. I wrote of this day which includes the following: “A lesson that appears clear is that when you are living through times of unjust curbing of freedoms and inhumane treatment of groups of people other than your group, what willingly is ignored without protest can escalate into affecting your life. Injustice to others comes ‘home’.

The agendas by people in political power and governing positions were missed by the German citizens in 1933. Whether in financial or political unstable periods, understanding human behavior of the populace is worth serious contemplation by citizens. Especially because power-hungry politicians understand the populace’s anticipated behavior. Not being tuned into political actions, not doing anything when injustices are apparent, not speaking up against injustices are all human behaviors that are repeated again and again. And they are forms of complicity. Standing out by speaking up takes courage and integrity. They also take commitment to principles without compromise. It is a choice to do nothing, just as it is to choose to do something

In the treatment done by humans in each of humanity’s genocides, including the European immigrants to the indigenous people of North America, the Nazis, the extremists in Rwanda or what the Sudanese government is supporting in Darfur, history and present day history-in-the-making shows how off-track human behavior can go. It also shows that for these things to happen, others who are not actively participating in the torture, murder, but know it is happening, have to stand by and not speak up for it to materialize and continue year after year."

_______________________________

GENOCIDE WILL only STOP WITH US
Our leaders have taught us this

Click the post title for my Youtube video

My twitter:

@ilovemylife5

Facebook: Sandra Hammel
the "Sandra Hammel" currently with the Red, White and Blue Sudan Sham Election 2010 avatar

Tweet this button to read: @JimLangevin Call for a Intelligence Committee special hearing re: #Sudan policy review and demand pressures and consequences #SudanSham

"The Most Important Office is That of Private Citizen" Louis D. Brandeis

Obama on Darfur
before he became the leader of the USA

Ingredients of a Genocide

Contact links:

President Obama:
www.whitehouse.gov/contact
or for organizations at
www.whitehouse.gov/contact/organizations

Secretary of State Clinton:
contact-us.state.gov/cgi-bin/state.

State Department Facebook:
www.facebook.com/#!/EngageStateDept

Ambassador Susan Rice:
usun.state.gov/Issues/Contact2.

Vice President Biden:
www.whitehouse.gov/contact
or for organizations at
www.whitehouse.gov/contact/organizations

And at sudansham2010
do the tweets, but replace any reference to Senate Resolution 404 (it passed recently)
with something important like "Gration has got to go"
in words of your choosing.

* Action to take: US RI Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Call (401) 453-5294 or Email

Message:
I would like to thank Senator Whitehouse for his continued efforts for Darfur and Sudan. The Sudan Policy’s quarterly review just happened. Sudan has clearly violated benchmarks, and Obama’s policy promised consequences and pressures if and when this happens. Senator Whitehouse, as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, should hold a hearing about the Sudan Policy quarterly review. The Senate Intelligence Committee members should ask about the specific benchmarks, pressures, and incentives in the policy, holding our administration to their word.

If you want peace, work for justice

إذا كنت تريد السلام ، أعمل من أجل العدالة

SITTING PRESIDENT OF SUDAN ISSUED A WARRANT FOR ARREST

Court Issues Warrant for Arrest of Sudan President

Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/world/africa/05court.html?_r=1&hp

By MARLISE SIMONS

Published: March 4, 2009

PARIS — The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan for war crimes and crimes against humanity, ignoring diplomatic requests to delay the warrant to allow time for more peace negotiations in the conflict-riddled Darfur region of his country.

It is the first time the court, which opened in 2002, has sought the arrest of a sitting head of state, though other international war crimes courts have issued warrants for Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia and Charles Taylor of Liberia while they were sitting presidents.

The registrar for the court, Silvana Arbia, said that Mr. Bashir was accused of being personally responsible for “directing attacks against the civilian population” of Darfur and “murdering, raping, and forcibly displacing millions of civilians.”

The crimes took place, Ms. Arbia said, during a five-year campaign against rebel organizations in Darfur which opposed the government in Khartoum that began in 2003. The campaign, the court said was the result of a plan agreed at the highest level of the government in Khartoum that lasted until July 14, 2008, which is the date of the arrest warrant.

The warrant charges Mr. Bashir with five counts of crimes against humanity — murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture, and rape, and two counts of war crimes — intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, and pillaging. The warrant does not accuse Mr. Bashir of genocide, but Ms. Arbia said the court consider that charge if additional information from the prosecutors becomes available.

The arrest warrant is likely to complicate the international debate over how to solve the crisis in Darfur. It came despite concerns voiced by United Nations diplomats, the African Union, the Arab League, and some humanitarian organizations that it could provoke renewed violence in the country and put at risk the peace process in southern Sudan.

The government in Khartoum has vowed to defy the arrest warrant, making it unlikely that Mr. Bashir will be brought to the court any time soon. But analysts said the warrant will weaken Mr. Bashir’s position internationally, making it possible that he could fall from power more rapidly than he would otherwise.

In announcing the indictment, the court’s chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, said more than 30 witnesses will testify that Mr. Bashir controlled a genocidal campaign aimed at wiping out three ethnic African tribes in Darfur, the Western region of the vast nation south of Egypt.

The question now is who will execute the warrant. Sudan is legally obliged to arrest him, but such a move is not expected any time soon. The Hague court has no police force or military of its own, and the 24,000 or so United Nations peacekeepers stationed in Sudan have no mandate to detain war crimes suspects.

If Mr. Bashir travels to any of the 108 nations that are members of the court, he risks arrest, because court members will be obliged to detain him. The 80 or so countries that are not court members, including China, Russia and the United States, have no such obligation. But lawyers say those nations can arrest Mr. Bashir because several treaties state that heads of state enjoy no immunity if they are charged with genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes.

Even if Mr. Bashir remains free, analysts who favored his arrest say the warrant is likely to have a worldwide effect.

“This means he will be a fugitive, a man on a wanted poster held to be most responsible for the atrocities of Darfur,” said Richard Dicker, a director of Human Rights Watch.

Other analysts and activists argued that the warrant could undermine his political position at home. Nick Grono, deputy president of the International Crisis Group, wrote recently that “although Mr. Bashir and his security apparatus are still entrenched in power, the indictment is likely to weaken their hold. It may even cause the army and intelligence agencies, the ultimate wielders of power, to contemplate a future without Bashir.”

Many observers fear, however, that weakening Mr. Bashir could result in more violence in the region, at least in the near term.

“I am sure there will be some crowd movements, there will be some violence here and there,” said Alain Le Roy, the United Nations undersecretary general for peacekeeping operations.

Some figures in the government have threatened bloodshed in response to an indictment. Salah Gosh, the head of Sudanese intelligence, was quoted in Sudanese press reports as calling for the “amputation of the hands and the slitting of the throats of any person who dares badmouth al-Bashir or support the International Criminal Court’s allegations against him.”

Another worry, Mr. Le Roy said, was that any of the groups involved in the conflict, including the governments of Sudan and Chad as well as the rebels, might take advantage of any uproar surrounding the court’s decision to foment violence. And the delays in deploying United Nations peacekeeping troops to Darfur, with only about 64 percent of the force there, will likely worsen because of possible new tension in the region.

Mr. Le Roy also said, however, Sudan had reassured the United Nations officials that the government would respect its commitment to protect United Nations peacekeeping missions and other agencies. There were no immediate plans to scale back patrols or otherwise retreat from the prescribed mission he said.

All credit of this article:

Neil MacFarquhar and Sharon Otterman contributed reporting from New York.

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For more information:

http://www.enoughproject.org/