in which you get to see a blurry picture of me

i've been a bit slack on the blogging lately, because i'm feeling these days that i'm doing a full second job once i get home from my paid employment.  it seems that every organisation i'm involved with needs a lot of attention, which means that something has to be pushed to the background, and blogging is the easiest to let slide.  no-one is depending on it after all.

given that i've run out of energy to write anything meaningful, here are a couple of links via facebook: this piece from aljazeera outlining some pretty hostile conditions for muslims in myanamar/ burma:

The attack was a rare incident; the reactions suggest however that heightened levels of resentment towards the presence of Muslims in Myanmar society exist on a much wider scale. This animosity is shared by senior figures in the government - current representative to the UN, Ye Myint Aung, once described the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Arakan state who are singled out for particularly savage treatment, as "ugly as ogres", while since 1982 the government has denied them citizenship, claiming they are "illegal Bengali immigrants". Persecution of the group has been so protracted and debased that Medicins San Frontieres describes them as being among the world minority groups "most in danger of extinction".

and there's this piece about the hostile conditions in europe, looking towards the greek elections on 17 june:

There are two main stories about the Greek crisis in the media: the German-European story (the Greeks are irresponsible, lazy, free-spending, tax-dodging etc, and have to be brought under control and taught financial discipline) and the Greek story (our national sovereignty is threatened by the neoliberal technocracy imposed by Brussels). When it became impossible to ignore the plight of the Greek people, a third story emerged: the Greeks are now presented as humanitarian victims in need of help, as if a war or natural catastrophe had hit the country. While all three stories are false, the third is arguably the most disgusting. The Greeks are not passive victims: they are at war with the European economic establishment, and what they need is solidarity in their struggle, because it is our struggle too.

since that's all so sad and depressing, i'll share a nice moment i had this morning when passing on a donation from the waikato muslim association to community radio hamilton, as a contribution to the 89FM project:

it's a bit fuzzy, but there's me with manager phil grey, handing over the money.  the fundraising is going well, and we've secured about $90,000 of the approximately $110,000 we need.  the launch date when we switch over to FM is early august & will be a big change for the station.