MPUTHUMI NTABENI ON THE AFRICAN APPROACH TO AIDS:

"On hearing this Jesus said: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I need mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners" -- Matthew 9:20

Most people thought the Kenyan Professor, Wangari Maathai, would recant, or at least suppress, her previous statement that AIDS was "... formulated in a lab by a mad White scientist in the West as a tool of genocide to wipe out Black peopleí" when she became the first Black woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

She did not. Instead she re-emphasised her suspicions.

When Presidents of respectable countries like South Africa (Thabo Mbeki) and biological professors who studied in respectable institutions in the US become recusants and cast controversies over generally accepted views about the HIV virus, it is time for each and every African to clarify our own stance.

It is sad for a person on the street, who is directly exposed and affected by the devastating consequences of AIDS when all-too-often the debate about it involves a petty contest of egos or less relevant preoccupations about its origins.

Even sadder when practical solutions are often hijacked by racial, political, religious or cultural agendas.

The AIDS debate among its active workers has degenerated into "condom only" or "abstinence/fidelity only" approaches that fuel mistrust and prejudices among those who should be working together to combat the pandemic. A person who is looking for real solutions about AIDS must look at what is happening at ground level and make up her/his own mind. It is daily becoming clear that an effective and meaningful approach will come from experiences gained on ground level. ..." READ MORE


From BRAD BALFOUR WITH SARAH MICHELLE GELLER ON HER NEW FILM: "Ever since she was discovered by an agent at age four, New York-born and -bred Sarah Michelle Gellar has been in the spotlight. From doing commercials, as the ground-breaking star of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" to film star ("Cruel Intentions"/"I know What You Did Last Summer") she has stayed in the American public eyes.

Now, in rapid fired sentences, Gellar answers questions from G21 about her latest film, the dread-laden "The Grudge" -- a horror film based on its Japanese predecessor. As a horror film vet, Gellar applied her skills deftly, both drawing audiences in and creeping them out.

G21: What made you want to be in "The Grudge"?

SARAH MICHELLE GELLER: I had a fascination with it. I had left the TV show and it was the first time in my life where my own decisions could be based on what I want to do -- rather than have to be planned during my hiatus. [Also because it offered] the opportunity to travel to Japan and live there -- not just visit for a press junket where I only end up seeing the Park Hyatt.

It was cool to be part of something that was a first because this is a first time that a Japanese remake was directed by the Japanese director of the original with an all Japanese crew. Also, by American standards, it was probably one of the cheapest films made this year but by Japanese standards, it was one of the most expensive films ever filmed at Toho Studios where Godzilla movies are made. So all those firsts combined made it a unique opportunity. ... " READ MORE


DC STULTZ ON THE LACK OF HUMOR IN THE SITUATION: " As I write this, the American presidential elections are entering their last week of campaigning. Electrons are flowing this way and that, all in the hopes that they might, just might, sway a voter or two and get them out to vote for either Bush or Kerry.

I remember wearing an "I like Ike" button as a kid in junior high school and I have been following the elections ever since. In all those years, I have never seen an election that was so contested, so important and so nasty as this one.

(Yes, that button dates me. I am indeed older than dirt. Even my formal electronics schooling involved vacuum tubes and the circuit design calculations were made using a K&E sliderule.)

The internet has come of age for this election. By coming of age, I mean it's apparently old enough to drink, get drunk, and make an ass of itself. ... " READ MORE