Updates...

It's been a slow week or so. I've got nothing urgent for you just yet. I did a couple of days ago but I forgot what it was exactly. It will come back to me, another philosophical rant on absolutes. Prepare yourself, until then neat NPR link. National Poetry Month is with us.

Poetry Month: 'Totally Like Whatever'

Aid Updates

It's been a slow week, huh folks?

Bush making himself look dumb with a slew of poor appointment decisions. Is there not one qualified person in this country?

..but enough of that.

I'm going to hit on foreign aid and the horrid American policy thereof.

A lot of people think America is the most generous nation in the world, I'm sorry to inform them otherwise.

It would take a serious stretch of the term generosity to describe this policy.

As of 2004 less than one fifth of US foreign aid went to Africa, the poorest continent on the planet.

In general America gives about one third of its aid to the "poorest" and "least developed" countries according to NationMaster

The US often notes it is the world's biggest foreign aid donor. The question is where the is aid going. Only about half goes to development and humanitarian aid.

If we don't include Iraq and Afghanistan and instead look to normal US aid spending the biggest recipient nations are again not the poorest.

Israel
Egypt
Jordan

So only about half of the less than 1% of GNP our country spends on foreign aid goes to where it is most needed.
Source Link(PDF)

What, you might ask? Less than 1% of the budget on foreign aid?

Correct, less than half a penny out of every dollar.

The US is not the only country with an anemic foreign aid policy.

It is possible to save millions of lives and eradicate extreme poverty in our world, but with nonsense like this people will continue to die for no reason. Some African nations will continue to provide havens for terrorists.

Osama Bin Laden spent his fair share of time in Sudan you know.

The choice is clear if we want to end poverty we must force our government to act like it.

The Trouble with Doublespeak

Let's start things off with the obligatory news clip:

From the BBC:

Tens of thousands of protesters have marched through Baghdad denouncing the US occupation of Iraq, two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Demonstrators loyal to Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr rallied in the square where the ousted Iraqi leader's statue was toppled in 2003.
Link

I can't really blame the Iraqis who have been fed the line about occupation and the evil Americans from birth, but the BBC should know to be more clear.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the US is not occupying Iraq. Not all foreign military presence can be termed occupation. It is a very specific status with clearly defined obligations. The US ceased to occupy Iraq almost a year ago, when the Coalition Provisional Authority(CPA) ceased to exist and was replace by the Iraqi Interim Government(IIG).

Incidentally the IIG is about to be replaced by a second elected interim goverment. For clarity's sake I will list the definition of occupation which supposedly applies to this situation.

• Invasion, conquest, and control of a nation or territory by foreign armed forces.
• The military government exercising control over an occupied nation or territory.

Link

The CPA was, in its time, a military government which controlled Iraq. It was run from the Pentagon. It no longer exists. The Iraqi interim government has controlled Iraq's affairs since then, hence no occupation.

The problem comes because occupation is a loaded term, especially in the Middle East. It harkens back to true occupation of Palestinian territories by Israel. Israelis are bad, Israelis are occupiers. Americans are occupiers, Americans are bad.

That simple, the power of the pejorative.

I had a debate on a similarly misapplied term: Neoconservative or neocon. Unlike "occupation" neocon has ceased to become a truly descriptive term at all.

The dictionary definition highlights the absurdity of all this

neoconservativism

n : an approach to politics or theology that represents a return to a traditional point of view (in contrast to more liberal or radical schools of thought of the 1960s)
Link

Didn't we already have name for this? We call them conservatives.

Instead of signifying what it really means neocon is now the new media friendly slur against any Republican hawks. It is almost never used positively.

It is a perfect tool for propaganda just like "occupation." A word entirely composed of connotation.

The power of suggestion is a dangerous thing.

My point: Try to use terms that actually mean something, resist the buzzwords and the political discourse will be the better for it.

Home Alone (With Michael Jackson...)

No...

From the BBC:

A former chef employed by Michael Jackson in 1991 has told a court he once saw the pop star fondling child actor Macaulay Culkin.
Link

Struck dumb as I am? This'll fix that:

"I was shocked and almost dropped the French fries," the cook added, explaining he had gone to the actor's room at Neverland Ranch to deliver a late-night snack.

I honestly have no idea if this is true. If so, it is a horrible terrible, wrong.

If not the chef's testimony is, quite possibly, the funniest thing ever uttered by the clearly deranged beings that inhabit this planet.

Once more for posterity

"I was shocked and almost dropped the French fries,"

I got nothing folks...

The Ball is (officially) Rolling!

Well after a couple of months Iraq finally has a new, democratically-elected, government.

The Iraq Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari was appointed today. The old PM Iyad Allawi has officially resigned but will continue handling affairs until Jaafari names his cabinet.

Jaafari has also promised not to push Sharia as the only basis for Iraqi law and to respect gender and religious freedoms.

Aid Joke

I posted a comment in the "Afghan Warrior" blog I was pretty pleased with. To be clear, I am most pleased with my communication skills when I think I've made a decent joke, Here's the bit, a play on an earlier comment:

I feel a jolt of realism coming on, I think I'll give a more realistic analogy of how foreign aid often goes:

A young woman was driving on a Kabul road when here car had a flat. She pulls over to the side of the road, exits her car and waves for help.

A week later an American looks up and sees a clearly distressed young lady gnawing on her vehicle. He pulls over, considers getting out of the car and opts instead to yell from a slightly cracked window.

"There's a spare on the back, go ahead and take it"

The young woman overcome with happiness eagerly grabs the tire. A thought occurs to her.

"Pardon me sir, but I don't have a jack, I see one in your backseat, may I borrow it?"

The American thinks this over for a moment and responds.

"I'm sorry, but I really can't offer you any more aid until I see better results with the tire I gave you."

The stunned woman protests at which point the American tosses a granola bar from his dash.

"Here that ought to hold you over until you change that tire."

Whereupon he swiftly pulls off.



So, should I quit my day job or what?

Summer Break

In most of the world last week was one serious snore fest. I mean come now, we got treated to
"up-to-the-minute" coverage of some lady who skipped out on her wedding. I would much rather see the public pelting of all the news editors who thought coverage of this "event" was a good idea.

Let the last network to stop covering said nonsense receive the first rotten egg.

For me it was finals week, hence a bit hectic and busy. It contributed to the long post gap around here but it is no more!

I am officially out for the summer and hopefully that means more blogging goodness. I plan to try out that Audioblogger...thingy..... soon on my brand new neat cell phone (it's got a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, I love doodads.)

Just a heads up that all is not quite on the front, at least not for long.

Iraq Updates and Some Irrelevancy

First of all, I was wrong again (must be like the third time this year, I'm really slowing down).

Ghazi Al-Yawer will not be Iraq's Assembly speaker he turned down the job offer. Instead we have Hajim Al-Hassani Al-Yawer's party member and frequent critic of US forces (sorry puppet government theorists...)

Next meeting is Wed. when hopefully they will finally form a government at get the ball rolling on a consitution. I suppose it's best they get all the wrangling over now rather than then...

Moving right along, I picked up this quiz link at another blog ("The Wertz Generation" another AD'er and generally an interesting blogger/debater).

I like net quizzes, it kills time I could spend working or some other such nonsense, enjoy.

Advanced Global Personality Test Results Extraversion 40% Stability 66% Orderliness 40% Empathy 70% Interdependence 56% Intellectual 76% Mystical 36% Artistic 30% Religious 70% Hedonism 10% Materialism 50% Narcissism 36% Adventurousness 70% Work ethic 23% Self absorbed 50% Conflict seeking 83% Need to dominate 30% Romantic 30% Avoidant 70% Anti-authority 70% Wealth 16% Dependency 56% Change averse 43% Cautiousness 56% Individuality 43% Sexuality 50% Peter pan complex 36% Physical security 50% Food indulgent 50% Histrionic 43% Paranoia 43% Vanity 36% Hypersensitivity 30% Female cliche 23%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Take it Easy

So comes the end of another beauty of a week. I love Fridays, I go to my single class in the morning and the rest of the day is in my hands. And so four hours later and happily filled with Taco Bell here I sit.

The weather is wonderful as far as I'm concerned (pauses to look at the dark clouds threatening rain outside his window) I don't mind rain as long as things warm up around here. I move we shorten winter to three weeks surrounding Christmas and call the rest a wash.

Need to get to work on engineering projects in the upcoming week, look into a summer job, have my classes line up for fall. Spring cleaning for the professional student.

Today, however, I'll watch the storm and research Poverty Reduction. Note the new link to the Millennium Campaign.

Oh and I can't leave without pointing out the nifty script I found that let's you host New York Times headlines on your site. The Washington Post has a similar service. Yet another reason to start your day with a visit to the Hot Seat. Next might come a little audio fun.

Who loves ya, baby?