I’m dealing with a lot in the ‘real’ world. There’s a lot to discuss. I have a list of six or seven posts that I’ve been intending to put up. But no time, no time.
Y’all take over the shop for a couple of days. Send in posts and links on the global-affairs issues that concern you. I’ll get back ‘soon as I can.
12 thoughts on “Open thread for courteous discussion”
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No problem, we can cruise in auto pilot for a few days. The striking news I have been struggling to absorb are the vicious represion in Egypt against the demonstrators supporting the two judges, and the Sao Paulo organized crime coordinated attack on police personnel. Scary events when the individual weighs the risk reward of participating in bettering their lives and social structures.
Different topic: On Friday, May 12, President Bush said that the major problem in Iraq is “the militia”. I saw the video clip twice: He very clearly said “militia”, rather than “militias”. I wonder if he doesn’t realize that there are a number of militias, with clashing allegiances?
The only place that seems to have picked up the story (without noting the singlular/plural distinction) was the Daily Times in Pakstan: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C05%5C14%5Cstory_14-5-2006_pg4_5
Well folks, I got a bit bent out of shape reading Julian Ku over at Opinio Juris singing the praises of ‘private giving,’ in light of the comparatively paltry amount the U.S. devotes to foreign aid. See: http://www.opiniojuris.org/posts/1147523481.shtml
He insinuates that this private aid somehow makes up for our collective failure to financially commit to the the United Nations’ Millenium Development Goals:
‘But could private giving really supplant official government aid programs? Probably not. Although the improvement in worldwide information transfers has made it easier for private donors to choose how to allocate their money, no doubt there are worthy projects out there not getting funding. Still, I think it is fair to “count” private giving in some sense. It may not be U.S. government policy, but it is probably accomplishing as much if not more than most U.S. government development policies.’
That the ‘majority of this $71 billion comes in the form of individual remittances from immigrants in the U.S. (legal or illegal) sending money home to their families,’ suggests to me the fact that ‘improvement in worldwide information transfers has made it easier for private donors to choose how to allocate their money,’ is really beside the point, as immigrants aren’t agonizing over choices as to how to allocate their money: they’ve already decided it will go to their families!
The fact that he would even entertain the question about the possibility of ‘private giving’ supplanting official government aid suggests to me he understands very little about the various political and economic strategies used to fight poverty around the world (for a normative proposal as to how one might assess such strategies according to principles of freedom, see Amartya Sen’s invaluable book, Development as Freedom (1999)).
Anyway, I invite readers of this blog to read my comments to Julian’s post and chime in with your own thoughts. I hastily put together my response before work this morning so it’s not as logical and structured were I to write a paper on the topic, but that’s one of the simultaneous virtues and vices of blogging! For those in the academic world (I’m only tenuously tied to it myself) or simply wanting to investigate this subject in more detail, I’ve assembled a short list of titles: ‘The Ethics, Economics & Politics of Global Justice: An Introductory Bibliography,’ which I will mail anyone on request.
Best wishes, (and Happy Mother’s Day to all moms out there),
Patrick
MEAN WHILE lETS READ THE STORY OF A TERRORIST IN US
Warren Jeffs: A wanted man
For 22 years, he was Alta Academy’s principal. For the past four years, FLDS faithful have called him a prophet. Today, he is on the FBI’s most wanted list. What went wrong?
Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.aldeilis.net/jus/politics/ilfolder/claimsbefore1917.pdf
palestine before 1917 from Henry Cattan’s “the palestine question”.
2006-05-12 Tombstones
2006-05-11 Zinoviev’s fake logic
Patrick, the libertarians are always touting “private giving” for things that they either (1) don’t support, (2) don’t care about, or (3) think they can buy for themselves. They rarely support private funding of the military or police, because those institutions exist for the protection of their private wealth (which they support and care about very much), and they know perfectly well that public funding through taxation is a much more cost effective way of achieving large-scale objectives than private giving. As always, the real issue is how people perceive their own self-interest. We liberals don’t go around advocating public programs because we love others more than we love ourselves. We do it because we believe our own welfare to be dependent on the welfare of others, and we’re honest enough to admit that we are not going to make enough voluntary private contributions to get the job done.
John W,
I suspect the singular militia may have been Bush’s confusion with latin words where an A at the end denotes plural. What else can we say about that without getting into minutia…
Oh yeah! Like George W. Bush is familiar with Latin. The man can barely handle English!
Davis,
You are right that some neutral words ending with “um” in singular get an “a” ending in the plural form. However many many feminine latin words ends with “a” in their singular form and with “ae” in the plural form, as is the case for the word “militia” which becomes “militiae” in the plural form.
For more on this word, look there
As to imagine what was going on in W’s mind.. well, I’ll let it to the adventurers..
I know Shirin, you’d rather elect Mr. Sambi instead:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4772499.stm
“He’s a man of integrity, not a liar like other politicians.”
“The Comorans want change and he’s the one to do it,” said Djoauharia Said, a trader, as she danced to Mr Sambi’s campaign song in the capital, Moroni, on Monday.
Mr Sambi’s opponents have said he is an Islamic extremist but he has denied this, saying the overwhelmingly Muslim Comoros are not ready to become an Islamic republic.
He has promised he would not outlaw the famous Comoran lavish wedding ceremonies or force women to cover their hair.
Davis Wrote,
He has promised he would not outlaw the famous Comoran lavish wedding ceremonies or force women to cover their hair.
You forgot that there were French mercenary did many problems and bloody acts there…
Oooh Davis so concerned about covering the women hair and women rights, Davies did you know there in your home country, gung taking women and used them as slavery in sex industry?
Yah, GWB promised to liberate Iraqis and bring for them better life…..
Read this who fishing in muddy water…
Yah, hand by hand with ……
Yes “Ayatollah” Moammar Gadhafi sponsor terrorism around the world finally surrendered to GWB by through billions the Muslim nation money to be so friendly and friendly
هولندا: النائبة الصومالية الأصل تستقيل وترحل إلى أميركا
Welcome home our friend (liar)
http://www.asharqalawsat.com/details.asp?section=3&article=363618&issue=10032
Somali-born member of the Dutch parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali said Tuesday she will resign and leave the country after the Immigration Ministry said she was improperly granted citizenship.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C05%5C17%5Cstory_17-5-2006_pg4_5