^Cavs just lost. Good game by Lebron and Paul, the last free throw by Paul was nerve wrecking, he almost didn't make it.

^I thought it was malaantii qashin aruurinta in LA.They posted their pics to prove that. I see some old pics there too

As chaos engulfs the African nation, many of its wealthiest and best-educated people are leaving - for places such as Minnesota. If they stayed, would their homeland be better off? Philly.com by Mark Bowden Inquirer Currents Columnist Sunday, May 18, 2008 At the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last week, I was emerging from a concourse when three electric carts driven by Somali airport workers whizzed past, startling me. Many Somalis have a distinctive look - very dark skin, slender frames and broad, roundish foreheads - and, to those who know a little about Somalia, it should not be surprising to encounter them at the Minneapolis airport. Immigrants from that ravaged country have settled by the tens of thousands in the Twin Cities and surrounding area with a hustling, entrepreneurial passion. This is particularly evident at the airport, where three-quarters of the cabdrivers today are Somalis, as are many of the hub's workers. Cultural difficulties have been few but instructive. Some cabbies have refused to transport passengers carrying alcohol purchased at duty-free shops; store clerks have declined to scan products containing pork; a group of imams demanded separate prayer spaces for Muslims. Seeing them everywhere started me thinking about their troubled homeland. One way of looking at Somalia is to see it as a sinking ship, where for years only the most fortunate - the wealthiest and best-educated - could get to lifeboats. The rest remain trapped in an increasingly desperate place, at the mercy of the world's goodwill. Here's hoping they can swim. The converging carts took me momentarily back to a dusty intersection in Mogadishu 11 years ago, when several vehicles full of armed Somalis converged around me. I was not just startled then, but frightened. I was in Mogadishu researching my book Black Hawk Down, and despite their alarming entrance, the armed crews quickly worked out an arrangement with my security detail. I did not understand the terms, any more than I can claim to understand all of Somalia today. But here's how I see it: Somalia's present, like its past, continues to be a story of confusion and failures. Just last week there was violence over food, when merchants began refusing to accept Somali shillings, the hopelessly inflated paper currency diluted by enterprising locals who simply print their own. Islamist insurgents continue to battle the fragile, Ethiopian-backed central government, which needs foreign troops to survive but which, arrayed behind Ethiopian bayonets, cannot hope to win the hearts and minds of its people. Further stirring this mess are occasional U.S. air strikes, such as the one that recently killed Aden Hashi Ayro, the suspected al-Qaeda leader there. The thriving Somali community in the Twin Cities is just one of many in a diaspora of millions, inhabiting refugee camps in Kenya and enclaves all over the world. There is a growing Somali presence in Sweden and the Netherlands. When we shot the 2001 film Black Hawk Down in Morocco and advertised for Somalis to work as extras, thousands showed up. It makes me wonder whether some of the misery in Somalia might be caused by this relative ease of foreign travel and immigration. I am not suggesting we throw up barriers to Somalis or anyone else. Global immigration patterns are a vital and natural consequence of an increasingly international market economy. But one downside might be the perpetuation of failure in states such as Somalia. In that country, there is a near absence of civic institutions and leadership. When I was there, I felt sorriest for the many decent people I met who were helplessly trapped between violent spheres of power. On one side are the capitalists, or warlords, most of them closely allied to clans or subclans. They are in business to enrich themselves and their own. They care little about society as a whole - indeed, those who do not belong to their group often are regarded as the enemy. The absence of laws, taxes and regulations benefits those fortunate enough to control a valuable commodity or resource, but very few others. As one of these wealthy operators told me: "Anarchy is good for business." These powerful cliques do as they wish. They amass money and power. They pillage, rape and murder. There is no one to stop them except rival factions, which is why, when I visited Mogadishu, the city was carved into sectors patrolled by armed gangs. On the other side are the Islamist radicals, who care about society as a whole, but only insofar as they can shape it to their own zealous ends. They impose their harsh interpretation of sharia, or Muslim law. For all but the truest believers, it is a terrible trade-off. Women, for instance, are frequently raped by the unchecked bands of warlord-led militia. Islamist social rules and courts briefly offered them some protection, but under sharia it was also true that a raped woman could be stoned to death for adultery if she could not produce four male witnesses to verify her version of events. Many women nevertheless adopted the veil and the other mandated strictures, and many ordinary Somalis embraced the Islamists - which shows how desperate they were for law and order. A man there told me he sent his children to the local Islamist school every day because there was no alternative: "I spend the afternoon un-teaching them the things I don't want them to learn." The Islamists were chased out of power by a U.S.-backed coalition of Ethiopian and secular Somali forces, but the movement continues to fight. The only hope is for the warlords to unite and get behind a secular, Western-style government, which was precisely the hope in 1993 that led to the battle I wrote about in Black Hawk Down. Another peace conference opened recently in Djibouti. Without substantial world support, any effort to create a popular local government is doomed. One of the things Somalia lacks is a capable, homegrown movement of educated, determined nationalists capable of fending off the religious radicals, disarming and controlling the warlords, and standing up for the interests of people who just want a stable, civil society. I wonder whether the drain of Somali talent, money, and ambition to other places in the world - so evident in Minneapolis-St. Paul - isn't one of the reasons no such movement exists. In the fairly recent past, those born in a Third World country lived and died there, and if they were unhappy with their government, be it colonial, ideological, or simply (as was most often the case) a sheer kleptocracy, they had no alternative but to accept the injustice or struggle to change it. No more. Emigration remains an insurmountable hurdle for most Somalis, but for many it offers a safer, easier option of escape from violent oppression and chaos. Who can blame them for taking it? Mark Bowden is a former staff writer at The Inquirer and is now national correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly. Contact him at mbowden@phillynews.co

^Nagadaa with technicalities, but lets play by your game for sec,how does "real" Qardho look like.

Ibti---It means what Geeljire said. And yesterday, what I said could be comparably translated to "agtaada qori lagama jabsan karo"

LooooooooooL@Yaa maxaad...it is Xaa ku hadashe Ibti and actually that was Urdu not Somali. Thanks. I'm old enough to adopt a cat P.S. Kuma ceen last time.

^Huwaa kiyaa?

Serenity...You sound like blondie irritated by broken heal

^Tell them, Southerner is as Somali as you can get. Those on the periphery can chill out P.S. I like American Southern accent and their reaction to Yanks. I went to Savannah and Atl while back, very funny pple specially blacks with southern accents

^Befriend southerner...sweet people :cool:

I usually don't judge them You don't say Bishaaro

CL-Wax Waalan...LooooooooooooL Ninkii inatareega koray xuu dhahay mahaan ku fadhiyo eedin kaaga taagan

^LooooooooL@replica...she ain't from Chinatown KK. She's all da way from Qardo. I feel short changed, no return policy though

Geeze Jb..Is that the best you could come up with

your teeth and a heavy Southerner accent How about being little decorous first,maybe then people could learn to empathize and feel your pains.

I support my government and i support any government for Somaliland Here is one thing you wrote Jb, and then you go on to say this calling the traditional leaders of SSC vampires while accusing of Qabyaalad. that is what made me different from those vampires you support on Qabiil bases And to top of it, you potray SSC people as one tribe against one tribe while measuring on the basis of statehood. You can't interject Qabiil everywhere cuz it farthers ur argument and then you support government that uses Qabiil divisions as the basis to gauge SSC people's choice in this matter. Like any good democratic government hold referendum and see where it takes. Afterall, this is standards which you judge by yourself. You can't have both ways Who are they going to fight bal tell me ?? ,, against Canbaarshe, against Xaabsade, against Fu'aad addan cadde ?/ ,, aren't they all their people ?? , don't they have sub-clans who will then fight aginst other sub-clans P.S. an oppurtunist like Xaabsade represents no one.

Originally posted by J.a.c.a.y.l.b.a.r.o: I support my government and i support any government for Somaliland ,, that is what made me survive ,, that is what made me different from those vampires you support on Qabiil bases name them what you want ,,,,,,,,, Peace and stability is my first name and no one is allowed to break it say it politician, businessman, garaad, suldaan, arday, etc. Good to know that some of them are back to their sense and calling for peaceful negotiations after all. You support an institution entirely born out the SNM which soley based on one Somali Qabiil. Atleast be honest yourself.Till a proper Somali government rises,everybody can mind their own business. I support peaceful coexistence! P.S. LooooooooL@chosen their path..I guess you tell lie to yourself long enough, even you start believeing it. Let's hold referendum and we can put that to rest.

^Spare me the dramatics. Don't see any difference between the thugs you support and the people you parade everyday from the rest of Somalia.If you care about people, you wouldn't have supported those who disrupted and risked peace in Northern Somalia. You have no qualms about seeing people perish as long as they are not part of your little cult and here you have audacity to tell me that men who want to live peacefully in their lands are being warmongers. Have some common sense and stop throwing fits like little girl. I know you would go any length to support your phantom government but do it some measure of decency that's if you are capable of doing that. Jimco Wanaagsan.

^There was "made in Qardo" label

John Edwards Endorses Obama... GOP Prospects "Worst Since Watergate" The level of distress was evident in remarks by senior party officials throughout the day. "This was a real wake-up call for us," Robert M. Duncan, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in an interview. "We can't let the Democrats take our issues. We can't let them pretend to be conservatives and co-opt the middle and win these elections. We have to get the attention of our incumbents and candidates and make sure they understand this." Representative Tom Davis, Republican of Virginia and former leader of his party's Congressional campaign committee, issued a dire warning that the Republican Party had been severely damaged, in no small part because of its identification with President Bush. Mr. Davis said that, unless Republican candidates changed course, they could lose 20 seats in the House and 6 in the Senate. "They are canaries in the coal mine, warning of far greater losses in the fall, if steps are not taken to remedy the current climate," Mr. Davis said in a memorandum. "The political atmosphere facing House Republicans this November is the worst since Watergate and is far more toxic than it was in 2006." web page

Geeljire..Qofna lama jirin though I prefer Obama and Dems when it comes to the domestic and as for foreign affairs, I was only referring to my narrow interests, but you are right their outlike is the same. Naxar...They lost the special election.Things aren't going their way and the Clintons are being told to fall behind the party since the end is near for them. Plus their campaign is 20 million in red. I don't know how much money she loan her campaign. She is no Romney for sure

^When it comes to Somalia, yes they are, but as for domestic issues, they are diffirent.

GOP getting desperate hoping Americans would fall for the samething once more

Reactions The tradition has always been that when a U.S. President is overseas, partisan politics stops at the water's edge. President Bush has now taken that principle and turned it on its head: for this White House, partisan politics now begins at the water's edge, no matter the seriousness and gravity of the occasion. Does the president have no shame? Rahm Emanuel "Yes, there have been appeasers in the past, and the president is exactly right, and one of them is Neville Chamberlain ,'' Mr. McCain told reporters on his campaign bus after a speech in Columbus, Ohio. "I believe that it's not an accident that our hostages came home from Iran when President Reagan was president of the United States. He didn't sit down in a negotiation with the religious extremists in Iran, he made it very clear that those hostages were coming home.'' Asked if he thought that former President Jimmy Carter, who struggled with the hostage crisis, was an appeaser, Mr. McCain replied: " I don't know if he was an appeaser or not, but he terribly mishandled the Iranian hostage crisis.'' John Mccain web page

Obama attacks Bush over Iran barb Barack Obama has accused George W Bush of attacking him after the US president compared those in favour of talking to terrorists to Nazi appeasers. The White House has denied that the remarks - from a speech to the Israeli parliament - were aimed at Mr Obama. Mr Obama, who is the frontrunner to become the Democrats' presidential nominee, has argued in favour of negotiating with the Iranian regime. But he has ruled out talking to militant organisations like Hamas. 'False comfort' "Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals," said Mr Bush in his speech. "We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is - the false comfort of appeasement." "It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack. George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists." But White House spokeswoman Dana Perino rejected Mr Obama's interpretation of the president's remarks, saying "there are many who have suggested these types of negotiations with people that the president... thinks that we should not talk to". "I understand when you're running for office you sometimes think the world revolves around you," she added. "That is not always true. And it is not true in this case." The BBC's James Coomarasamy in Washington says the row indicates that Republicans have identified Senator Obama's Middle East policy and his perceived weakness amongst Jewish voters as a key point of attack, should he, as many expect, be Republican John McCain's opponent in the November election. Mr Obama raised eyebrows last year when he first stated his support for direct negotiations without preconditions with the controversial Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. His position has been criticised, not only by John McCain, but also by Mr Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination, Hillary bbc.com