For anyone desirous of a single volume for the study of Emancipation in Jamaican history, there is currently no better book. Thirteen 'heavyweight' intellectuals tackle the subject and yet there is no significant overlap. Indeed, every contribution enriches the reader.

Emancipation is the watershed experience of Jamaica as a slave society for centuries. Political independence is secondary because freedom is first for fulfilment of meaningfulness in life. What 1962 meant in essence was that the achieving of meaningful living became ours to decide and shape and achieve.

Rupert Lewis says this beautifully as he concludes his excellent exposition of Garvey's words immortalised lyrically by Marley: 'Emancipate yourself from mental slavery'. Lewis makes it clear that "issues of justice and economic opportunities for our people ...

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After the war with the Serbs, there was never a real confronting with the past," he said. "Nobody ever admitted that Croatia, as part of a defensive war, committed acts of ethnic cleansing. So the myth of the Croatians as collective victims is still alive. But now it's just left to people like Thompson to express that myth publicly."

Edward M. Gomez

Our concern is for the safety of the Serbs and other ethnic minorities in Kosovo....We'll strongly warn against any attempts at repressive measures, should Serbs in Kosovo decide not to comply with this unilateral proclamation of independence." Russia is worried "that Kosovo's move [may set] a dangerous precedent for separatist groups globally." (Press Association)

In fact, "the most immediate diplomatic aftershocks" following the news of Kosovo's independence declaration "came in the Caucasus, where two separatist regions of the former Soviet state of Georgia announced they too would be seeking independence. 'Both South Ossetia and Abkhazia have more political and legal justification to declare independence than Kosovo does,' said the South Ossetian president, Eduard Kokoity.

C H A N D I G A R H S T O R I E S

Two-wheeler riders tend to lose control over their vehicle when they pass these bumps. For car drivers it is another speed beaker on the road. No move has been made by the council to begin the repair of these roads.

Similarly, the department recently repaired a road cave in Phase XI. Here the sewerage pipes were changed following the cave in. The department filled the 10-foot wide road cave in with loose earth. The MC has to repair the road but residents are still waiting.

Jefferson Awards Nominations

The earth is their higher power and they wake up every day in fear that unless we all work together to change our dirty habits we're all going to suffer the consequences. I found a few of the responses quite frightening – even threatening. Things like “you should be fired" or “I will see to it that you never post your stupid comments ever again" came with an amount of foreboding. And therein lies the discovery of enlightenment. The man-made-global-warming-climate-change campaign is a campaign of fear. We're not becoming a lazy society – my friends, we're already there. We've grown accustomed to thinking less with our hearts and minds and more on computers and “experts". Through the years, we've allowed them to enlighten us with “a better way" than before. We've thrown common sense out the window because we've convinced ourselves reasonable judgment just doesn't work anymore.

Food, wine and music Three Grass Valley celebrations offer taste and ...

Friday evening kicks off festivities with the 3rd Annual Northern Sierra Winter Wine & Food Masquerade, a Mardi Gras food and wine pairing that combines the mystique of a masquerade with the talents of local winemakers and chefs and all set to music.

On Saturday, March 1, the festivities continue with the 7th Annual Foothills Celebration where the charm of historic downtown Grass Valley is combined with a stroll through the streets, while listening to live music and indulging in more scrumptious gourmet food and wine.

Finally, on March 2, Music In The Mountains presents the 1st Annual Foothills Celebration Sunday Brunch, a delicious midday meal accompanied by Paul Perry on piano with a string ensemble held at the new Gold Miners Inn- Holiday Inn Express. Grass Valley pulls together regional talent and parties in style.

The Audacity of Hopelessness

Nader has always been my favorite. But this time I'm voting for Obama. I'm impressed with his get-it-done "mean machine". I laughed when Hillary belated learned about Texas' nutty primary-caucus allocation of delegates. I knew about it weeks before she did, and I'm sure the Obama campaign had informed themselves about it long before. If each of them runs a presidency the way they run campaigns, it's obvious which one of them we're better off with.