Bill Clinton

No monument stands over Babi Yar.
A steep cliff only, like the rudest headstone.
I am afraid.
Today, I am as old
As the entire Jewish race itself.

I see myself an ancient Israelite.
I wander o’er the roads of ancient Egypt
And here, upon the cross, I perish, tortured
And even now, I bear the marks of nails.

It seems to me that Dreyfus is myself.
The Philistines betrayed me – and now judge.
I’m in a cage. Surrounded and trapped,
I’m persecuted, spat on, slandered, and
The dainty dollies in their Brussels frills
Squeal, as they stab umbrellas at my face.

I see myself a boy in Belostok
Blood spills, and runs upon the floors,
The chiefs of bar and pub rage unimpeded
And reek of vodka and of onion, half and half.

I’m thrown back by a boot, I have no strength left,
In vain I beg the rabble of pogrom,
To jeers of “Kill the Jews, and save our Russia!”
My mother’s being beaten by a clerk.

O, Russia of my heart, I know that you
Are international, by inner nature.
But often those whose hands are steeped in filth
Abused your purest name, in name of hatred.

I know the kindness of my native land.
How vile, that without the slightest quiver
The antisemites have proclaimed themselves
The “Union of the Russian People!”

It seems to me that I am Anna Frank,
Transparent, as the thinnest branch in April,
And I’m in love, and have no need of phrases,
But only that we gaze into each other’s eyes.
How little one can see, or even sense!
Leaves are forbidden, so is sky,
But much is still allowed – very gently
In darkened rooms each other to embrace.

-”They come!”

-”No, fear not – those are sounds
Of spring itself. She’s coming soon.
Quickly, your lips!”

-”They break the door!”

-”No, river ice is breaking…”

Wild grasses rustle over Babi Yar,
The trees look sternly, as if passing judgement.
Here, silently, all screams, and, hat in hand,
I feel my hair changing shade to gray.

And I myself, like one long soundless scream
Above the thousands of thousands interred,
I’m every old man executed here,
As I am every child murdered here.

No fiber of my body will forget this.
May “Internationale” thunder and ring
When, for all time, is buried and forgotten
The last of antisemites on this earth.

There is no Jewish blood that’s blood of mine,
But, hated with a passion that’s corrosive
Am I by antisemites like a Jew.
And that is why I call myself a Russian!

By Yevgeni Yevtushenko
Translated by Benjamin Okopnik, 10/96

Collaboration software products such as Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange/Outlook
Home office programs
By deploying the types of technology-enabled solutions discussed above, businesses and governments are able to implement a broad range of scheduling and work location options for employees. Popular programs that take people off the roads and reduce commuting and related auto maintenance costs include:

Telecommuting from home one or more days per week

Full-time home-based employees who share temporary offices at the corporate site when required for meetings, eliminating the need for a permanently assigned corporate workspace

Working from remote or decentralized office facilities that are closer to the employees’ homes to reduce commute times and distances
The Canadian Teleworker Association (CTA) estimates that organizations can save, on average, one office per three teleworkers, at an average real estate cost of $2,000 per teleworker per year. As discussed in the power management cost reduction examples above, these numbers only become compelling when viewed in the context of their cumulative effect. From the larger perspective, real estate savings can rapidly add up. Sun Microsystems, for example, has recently estimated that their telecommuting programs have reduced their requirement for office space by about 6,000 office seats. Based on the CTA numbers, this would represent a real estate expense offset of $12 million annually.
By aggressively pursuing telecommuting, home office and other employee-focused programs, Sun estimates an overall cost reduction of approximately $63 million annually. Sun also reports through their website that employees are saving an average of 108 hours of commuting time per person annually and that these programs have cut employee gas and car repair costs significantly.
www.cgi.com  Emerging Trends in Green IT

The demise on local papers and journalists who covered local council meetings is also another great loss and a allows these petty little people even more power without accountability. This is definitely a book I will buy as soon as it is published.
Seems winter has returned and I have had to order yet more oil. We want to move the tank this Spring to make way for an extension, so I requested 300 only litres please but was told they cannot deliver less than 500 litres because Trading Standards, (not H&S sic), set that amount as the minimum. Can someone please explain that one to me?

The details of some MPs’ expenses claims – duck houses, moats, bathplugs and chandeliers – are now well known, but we would all still be in the dark were it not for the persistence of one campaigning journalist. Heather Brooke took on the Establishment in her battle to get access to MPs’ expenses but was met with secrecy, bureaucracy and obstruction from government officials. In her new book, The Silent State, Heather Brooke examines the extent to which the government collects information on us while refusing to make civic information available to the public. She talks about why public information, gathered at public expense, belongs to the people.

I saw Caryl Churchill’s A Number an original work published in 2002 in London in association with The Royal Court Theatre. In fact I saw it twice but then I would, family and all that.

A Number was written during a time when cloning was frequently in the news. Dolly the sheep was cloned not too long before, human embryos were being created in the U.S. and at Advanced Cell Technology, they cloned a kitten.

These events sparked moral controversy among people around the world raising the question of how far human cloning should be taken.

The play debuted at The Royal Court Theatre in London on 23 September 2002. The production was directed by Stephen Daldry and designed by Ian MacNeil and starred Sir Michael Gambon and Daniel Craig. The play won the 2002 Evening Standard Award for Best Play.