Sunday, December 25, 2011

A Happy Jewish Hipster Merry Christmas to You

Here's the original post, which has the links to the explanations, but it's just an excuse to post this video again.  Happy holidays to one and all.



But if you want something more traditional, here's the Opera Company of Philadelphia at Macy's (the old Wanamaker's building) in Center City Philadelphia surprising shoppers with Handel.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

NDI International Election Delegation for Egyptian National Assembly Elections

Just back from a week in Egypt with National Democratic Institute.  Here's the NDI statement following the second round of the elections.  And here's my mention in the state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram, apparently based on a statement issued by the governor of Aswan after our meeting on Tuesday evening ahead of the elections.  The translation:

NDI President [should be: Vice Chair] Checks on Election Progress in Aswan

On Wednesday, [the] former President [should be: Hattie Babbitt, Vice Chair] of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and [former] Congressman Sam Coppersmith, met with Aswan Governor Mostafa El-Sayed to discuss the progress of the electoral process. The accompanying delegation expressed their appreciation to the efforts made by the Egyptian government to wrap up the democratic transition process through the parliamentary and presidential elections.

A delegation member stated that Egypt’s parliamentary elections are being followed up across all of the 27 governorates, explaining that NDI has begun working in Egypt in 2005, as part of its human rights efforts. The institute has followed elections in about 76 countries worldwide.
 
It is worth noting that civil society observers as well as international observers were present in a number of stations in the governorate of Aswan.
_30_

Here's Aswan Team 1 taking a break from witnessing the election along the banks of the Nile:




Fascinating week.  I hope I get to go back.

Thursday, December 08, 2011

Phoenix's Least Convincing Business Combination

Thomas Road east of 32nd Street.