The Ghosts in the story

So a gay got hacked to death by Islamicists in Bangladesh.

But are you aware that one was promoting a gay magazine in that country, using US taxpayer money?

USAID, an American government agency for poverty prevention, identified one victim as Xulhaz Mannan. Mannan worked at the organization but also served as editor of the country's first LGBT magazine. "Today, USAID lost one of our own," the statement said.

translation: Either he was "double dipping", or the US gov't was behind a pornographic magazine in a conservative Muslim country.

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Saudi discusses reform plans for "social change" and runs against the danger of their religious conservatives.

Very vague article.

Uhm, what about the OFW there? No, not mentioned. There has been a push to get rid of OFW and hire locals, but like the US, the OFW are doing the work locals don't want to do, i.e. "dirty jobs" not clean office work where you drink tea  all day and get good pay.

and that part about the "religious police": remember, no churches in that country, even though the Vatican estimates one million Catholics in that country (again OFW's).

nor mentioned that they might ban cinemas etc but that DVDs, cellphones and satellite dishes have been around for quite awhile, and I suspect that if these things can be found in rural Africa and Asia, that they are all over the place in Saudi too.

Again, how can you keep the kids down on the farm after they've see Paree MTV?

Globalism

Thomas Barnett has a talk on international stuff including globalization in five parts.

on his site or you can watch it on youtube in five parts. This is part 2, about the flow of people:



which explains why there are 40 thousand Pinoys in Israel (and a million in Saudi).

his TED Talk is HERE.
he is a good teacher so it's worth checking.

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what will be the result of sex selection abortions in Asia? Freakonomics's latest podcast discusses LINK

well, some will probably find brides here in the Philippines.
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And what's wrong with this quote?

Lee suggested reaching back into the past to seek lessons from ancient man.

“Our ancestors lived for thousands of years in harmony with nature. There are surely profound wisdoms in their ways of life that we can learn from,” he said.

Ah yes those wonderful days when life was "nasty, brutish and short". From wikipedia:

Between 108 BC and 1911 AD, there were no fewer than 1,828 major famines in China, or one nearly every year in one province or another.

(I removed a nasty criticism of his talk that I had posted here earlier: because he wasn't talking to the rising middle class who struggle and often have to work overseas to try to get improvements in their life, but to the rich families, and believe me, the excess spending on junk in the upper crust malls etc. is enough to make one agree that a simpler life for some is needed)...

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People aren't the only ones emigrating to the US without proper papers:

The Lego Man has just washed up in Florida.



Image Credit: Sarasota Sheriff's Office. from LATIMES

heh. He even has a website.
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Headlines below the fold

What if the MSM ignored "RAGEBOY" and reported reality, like Alqaeda's torture rooms, or noticed the real lesson of Lincoln?

On the other hand, the Vikings can beat rageboy at his own game...with humor.

What if the European Union was about people, not elite bureaucrats, making decisions? link?

On the other hand, Ireland and Denmark might actually insist to let their people vote on it.

What if A Mighty Heart actually was about a Jewish reporter murdered by evil men?

On the other hand, at least one Hollywood Diva has apologized for not realizing some people dislike fashion that applauds murderers.

What if there were no people on earth?

Why did the Taliban's "spring offensive" in Afghanistan turn out to be a dud?

And the good headline of the day: Americans give record $295B to charity
This is private and business donations to charities and trusts...83% is from individual gifts or bequests, and 93 billion went to church related charites.
Not included in the figure: Funds sent home by immigrants that support their families overseas. I couldn't find total amounts for the US , but this report says that $23 billion was sent to Latin American and Caribbean countries...

It's the children, stupid

Why is it that every fad and "crisis" that has been hyped over the last 50 years, the solution is ....to get rid of kids?

The sexual revolution...get rid of the kids
The feminist revolution...get rid of the kids.
The population explosion...get rid of the kids.
Now: Global warming...get rid of the kids.

Am I missing something here?

Gates of Vienna has the ten commandments of Political correctness here: and number four?
4. The Earth would be better off without human beings.
Humankind is a scourge, an affliction, upon the face of the planet. We must reduce our ecological “footprint”, preferably to zero. The human population must be drastically reduced.
Exception: we Greens will remain, in order to decide who has to die.

Ah yes, shiva...
And why do I get the idea that these low carbon impact greens would gross out if they saw how people with low carbon impact really live?

Ah, Dahling...I just love country life

Headsup from Fausta's blog, commenting on the NYTimes article about a year without toilet paper...
My essay on why those who have to live the simple life prefer the city, and the pros and cons of globalization is HERE

Oil addiction. Excuse me, but what do you mean?

Oil addiction... the phrase to make ordinary people feel guilty.

But the dirty little secret is that even with all the changes he recommends, the need for cheap energy will soar, not because the US public is "addicted to oil" but because people in China and Thailand and the Philippines prefer the comforts of modern life to the good old days of working 12 hours a day bent over in the rice fields.

full essay crossposted at bloggernew

Is Small Still Beautiful?

As Bishop Cruz points out, the Philippine government backs globalization, but the result has been importing cheap Chinese good (which underprice and end up destroying local industries) but we pay for this by exporting our people. Indeed, most of my stepson's wealth is from my husband's fifty years of work in the USA as a doctor.

I support globalization, but it is not good for families when the only way they can survive is to break up family ties. It would be much better to find good paying jobs here.

Yet what is the alternative? Despite the NPA and a lot of aging PC nuns and priests preaching liberation theology, socialism has failed.

A third way, more popular in "hippie" days but whose roots are deep in the Catholic idea of subsidarity, is EE Shumacher's Small is Beautiful.

Many of these ideas are similar to those expounded by GK Chesterton, a writer most famous for his "Father Brown" mystery stories.

Joseph Pearce, who has written biographies on Chesterton (and Tolkien) has a new book updating these ideas to the modern world.

Thanks for headsup from HeavenandEarth Blog.

The Five W's of journalism

The five Ws of journalism are: Who, What, When, Where and Why.

So let's take the NYTimes story on an Intelligence report. okay, fellows, who, why, what, when where and why? Fellahs? Yooo hooo..THIS gives a few more details, but still no context, such as how negative one sided reports of atrocities and failure to cover good news in Iraq help the jihadi's ....here is formerspook's assessment.
Full bitch essay HERE
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Then there is oil: Most of Europe's oil comes from Iran and the Middle East.LINK Today's BBC reports that there is a pipeline from the Baltic and Barent's sea and it's almost done..now they can get it from Russia...China and India are getting a pipeline from Iran...and the Alberta oil rush for oil that goes to the USA..And here is an old BBC report on oil in Africa.

We hear lots of rhetoric about "blood for oil", well, , and I'm sure that there is an article that pulls all this together, but where is it?How does all this fit into the global economy, the WOT, etc? What where why when and who?
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Finally, I read that the new Mel Gibson film was previewed, not at Sundance or at Canne, but in...Oklahoma...and Texas..
OKLAHOMA? WTF? What,why when where who?

Well, there is a method to his madness...before "The Passion..." he screened Christian audiences, and out went the word of mouth...it was a grass roots hit.

Well, Gibson's new film is about Native Americans, so he screened it for...Native american audiences.

And then there is another group that saw and reviewed the preview: an Austin Texas website called Ain'tItCoolNews...
and Harry gives it a thumbs up, as do two of three other reviewers. He is probably more influential with the slasher/horror/scifi types than is Roger Ebert....if you have a bloody action film and want to let fans know about it, you call Harry...and if he likes it, the result is: Kaching.

Remember, you read it here first.