Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Stories behind the stories

StrategyPage writes about the problem of Islamic terrorism in that religion.

and eventually normal Muslims get so disgusted they throw the SOB's out. Much of the terror is spread via radical Islamic mosques via Saudi, but often the press swallows the anti American propaganda of the west and pretends it is Bush's fault, but the article gives a historical perspective on the matter.

and if you know history, the real story is about the King of Saudi Arabia ignoring Obama's latest meeting....if Iran gets the bomb, they will buy one from Pakistan, and voila another Sunni Shiite war....which is why the war in Yemen (and in Syria) are important.

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Killing babies who don't meet the standards of life and we shouldn't spend money treating them is now getting more press.

yes and soon expect an onslaught about not treating grandmom  or encouraging her to kill herself to save taxpayer money.

Since the constitution doesn't allow government death panels to decide if you live or die, if Europe is an example, killing grandmom, even if she is senile and incompetent, will be pushed as "voluntary", or even rogue killing by eager doctors with or without the permission of the family.

The usual joke is "women and minorities most affected" but here that is alas true, which is why minorities in the US usually refuse to sign living wills.

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"Researchers" warn that the world population is getting too large for the food supply and we will all starve.

This is a redux of the Ehrlich's "population bomb" theory, and the "green revolution" stopped their predictions. Today, GM food will continue to increase the food supply if the "greens" don't stop it (as they have done here in the Philippines in favor of "organic" food).

The Green revolution never hit Africa, partly due to the poor soil but partly because "developmental workers" including the churches never pushed advanced farming techniques. Too many church and NGO workers only tried to improve indigenous farming techniques without changing the way food was grown, ignoring that most of the productive men had emigrated to work in mines etc. to try to improve their family's opportunities. Alas, too many "greens" want to see  traditional life as ecofriendly...just ignore those red headed big bellied babies in the corner.... (remember this if the Pope releases a global warming encyclical: many of the "greens" in the church used to be liberation theology commies...who see the church as an institution for political change, not as an institution for salvation, which is why so many here are turning Protestant to worship God).

Luckily, China is ignoring the greens (yes, they have a pollution problem, but what do you want: massive famines or smog?). And China is busy teaching Africa to grow food.
China's engagement with African agriculture, like China's engagement with the rest of Africa, represents perhaps Africa's biggest opportunity in history. China has done more to alleviate poverty in Africa than anything ever attempted by western colonialism or the initiatives of traditional partners. 

this article discusses how all the western green and anti colonial critics are frothing at the mouth against Chinese imperialism, but does note how they are modifying rice, peanuts etc to improve crops and feed the locals. And ignore that part about "non rice eating" nations: West Africans do eat rice, and East/South Africans eat Maize, which was introduced by the Portuguese and quickly spread via trade to become the staple crop in non Portuguese areas a couple hundred years ago.

A recent report commissioned by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) highlights China's successful use of genetically modified rice to feed its population, and indicates that Africa has much to learn from China's domestic agricultural investment. Thus, China's push to introduce rice in non-rice-consuming African nations could be understood as part of a larger strategy to introduce durable, productive and nutritious staples into the Africa diet, and not as evidence of suspicious motives as discussed above. 
and if they get rid of the tsetse fly, Africa could have a lot more land to farm...link
which is why I wince when Lolo would watch all those nice films about African animals...who thrive mostly because of the tse tse fly. The implication is that too many people are destroying these animal's habitat, but where they see open land as good, I see a potential Kansas to feed the world...

USWar College lecture on this can be watched HERE.

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the disease of the month that you didn't read about: Drug resistant Typhoid.

the "greens" will (correctly) blame the use of antibiotics in factory farms/henhouses, but a lot of the resistance is from treatment with counterfeit/substandard drugs, another story that doesn't get into the headlines.

luckily there are vaccines to stop the disease, but we didn't give them out routinely in Africa because typhoid is a water borne disease from fecal contamination, and the strategy was to dig wells and get a clean water supply instead...

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heh. GetReligionBlog note that the MSM in the US just discovered that Catholics still have confession.

related item: many 22 week infants can survive outside the womb...

 Those born at 23 weeks are even more likely to live with half doing so without significant problems. This is good news for families but as even the New York Times tacitly admitted in its story about the report, it is bad news for those on the left who have been fighting efforts in state legislatures to ban late term abortions.

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yes, I know: I have posted about these topics before, but when the US headlines are full of stories about the Kardashians and their ex deciding to become a woman, or asking Presidential candidates if their American mom cooked them Cuban food, then maybe it is because I feel the real stories are being ignored.





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