Clipmarks | bloomoon's clips

Foreign Policy--A Marshall Plan for Africa

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 10:57:30 GMT

clipped by: bloomoon
clipper's remarks: Think about it, something has to change in how we work in Africa!

Think Again: A Marshall Plan for Africa

America brought Europe back to life a half-century ago. Why not give Africa the same chance?

The Marshall Plan was fundamentally different from the aid that Africa has received over the past four decades. The Marshall Plan made loans to European businesses, which repaid them to their local governments, which in turn used that revenue for commercial infrastructure -- ports, roads, railways -- to serve those same businesses. Aid to Africa has instead funded government and NGO development projects, without any involvement of the local business sector. The Marshall Plan worked. Aid to Africa has not. An African Marshall Plan is long, long overdue.

Aid groups will argue that such a plan, grounded in building up the local African economy, can never work. Here are the objections they'll make to an African Marshall Plan -- and why they're wrong.

Life in the West Bank

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 10:34:29 GMT

clipped by: bloomoon
clipper's remarks: I can't be in Jordan without facing the reality of what is happening one the other side of the Jordan/Israel border. If only CNN and their pals would pay attention!!!

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

An Account of Life on the West Bank

On August 3, my husband Mohammed Khatib, and my little brother Abdullah, were taken from their beds in our West Bank village of Bil'in at 3 AM by the Israeli military. My husband is a member of the Bil'in Popular Committee, which has been leading our village's nonviolent campaign against Israel's construction of a Wall and a settlement on our land. For nearly five years, every Friday we have been joined by supporters from Israel and around the world as we attempt to march to our land on the other side of the Wall. According to the terms of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the settlement amounts to a war crime, and in 2004 the International Court of Justice ruled the Wall illegal.

Despite this, the construction of the Wall and settlements continued, and we are treated as criminals in our quest for justice. On top of tens of arrests, hundreds of protesters from Bil'in have been injured and one has been killed by the Israeli military.

System of Lies... What happened to us?

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:43:55 GMT

clipped by: bloomoon
clipper's remarks: Yep, I'm a leftest loony. But I'm also an idealist, and I believe in American democracy at it's finest, where a free press challenges government assertions. This perversion of the press as marketing tool is depressing and disgusting. The fact that it is a long-term strategy for political dominance makes us little better than other totalitarian regimes...Russia/USSR comes to mind as does Orwell's 1984... How pathetic. Get the word out!

Clip Source: www.middle-east-online.com

Palin's 'Death Panel' and GOP Lying

During the early 1980s, Republicans were adopting a conscious approach to deception that was qualitatively different from what was common in politics. With the aid of a growing right-wing media, the GOP covered up ghastly crimes by its allies and enflamed public opinion against its adversaries, regardless of the facts, notes Robert Parry.

False Republican claims about President Barack Obama’s health-care initiative, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s demagogic charge about a “death panel,” are part of a pattern of systematic lying that has marked the GOP’s political tactics at least since Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s.

Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. His latest book, Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush , can be ordered at neckdeepbook.com.

Invest in new water technology

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 11:16:02 GMT

clipped by: bloomoon

Clip Source: cleantechnica.com

Climate Change = Watertech Boom

Necessity is the mother of invention, and real needs will grow with climate change.

The most fundamental of these is the need for fresh water.

Despite predicted long-term water stress across a wide swathe of agricultural states like California, we will have to find ways to grow the food we need. All kinds of novel adaptations must be made, from recycling water to learning to grow food in salt water and to reusing water that we do have.

A great deal of California’s energy budget goes to just moving water through the state. Innovation will be needed to reduce this waste of energy.

Discovering or inventing adaptations to the effects of climate change on growing food could make water tech the emerging green boom, especially here in drought-ridden California. The state is getting a third of $58 million in Federal water tech funding designed to stave of hydrological disaster.

VOA Censored in USA!

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 11:06:15 GMT

clipped by: bloomoon
clipper's remarks: I can see VOA propaganda being problematic--but shouldn't we be allowed to hear what they're telling others? This article is interesting (and pro-VOA) but also, we should have access to the media supported by our taxes.

Clip Source: www.foreignpolicy.com

Censoring the Voice of America

Why is it OK to broadcast terrorist propaganda but not taxpayer-funded media reports?

This muzzling of VOA comes at a time when the U.S. media is shrinking, eliminating foreign bureaus, and increasingly relying on stringers (of sometimes dubious quality) for its news. VOA and other U.S. public diplomacy organizations, meanwhile, are staffed with professional journalists and editors who are adept and experienced with covering goings-on about the world.

Peace Corps Lessons

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:36:34 GMT

clipped by: bloomoon
clipper's remarks: These speak to me...tho I'd add to number 10 "or know when not to"... My time in Morocco produced a few too many "don't get so close to me creep" moments so I'd suggest keeping in mind where SHE's coming from...

Clip Source: ivancampuzano.com

Top 10 lessons I learned as a Peace Corps Volunteer

1. To know your world, you have to see it- All too often we find ourselves constrained by what is immediately in front of our faces. The same breakfast cereal, the same job, the same routine television schedules, the same life. While there can be great comfort in routine, there is a whole big world out there, and unfortunately it is not just outside your window or through your T.V. screen. Earth is blessed with a multitude of peoples, cultures, landscapes, languages and things to see and do. Whether you take on a life changing commitment such as the Peace Corps, or just take an extended vacation, make sure you go someplace new and different. Open your mind and your eyes to the different facets of the world, and your life will be richly rewarded in direct proportion to how much you are trying to experience.

Fundamentals--Remember these!

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:46:39 GMT

clipped by: bloomoon

Clip Source: rubenharris.posterous.com

Fundamentals

Before you speak, listen.
Before you write, think.
Before you spend, earn.
Before you invest, investigate.
Before you criticize, wait.
Before you pray, forgive.
Before you quit, try.
Before you retire, save.

Before you die, give.

- William A. Ward

Do it over--Fix Graduate Education

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:32:46 GMT

clipped by: bloomoon
clipper's remarks: I like many of the suggestions in this article (tho can only clip 1000 characters, so it's worth reading the whole thing) and am proud that my program, Community, Agriculture, Recreation, and Resource Studies at Michigan State University, is already doing interdisciplinary, problem/theme-focused research and teaching.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

End the University as We Know It

By MARK C. TAYLOR

GRADUATE education is the Detroit of higher learning. Most graduate programs in American universities produce a product for which there is no market (candidates for teaching positions that do not exist) and develop skills for which there is diminishing demand (research in subfields within subfields and publication in journals read by no one other than a few like-minded colleagues), all at a rapidly rising cost (sometimes well over $100,000 in student loans).

The dirty secret of higher education is that without underpaid graduate students to help in laboratories and with teaching, universities couldn’t conduct research or even instruct their growing undergraduate populations. That’s one of the main reasons we still encourage people to enroll in doctoral programs. It is simply cheaper to provide graduate students with modest stipends and adjuncts with as little as $5,000 a course — with no benefits — than it is to hire full-time professors

Hamas 2.0

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:42:37 GMT

clipped by: bloomoon
clipper's remarks: Forgot how great is Foreign Affairs.

Clip Source: www.foreignaffairs.com

Summary --

The January war in Gaza overshadowed the fact that Hamas is in the midst of an unprecedented ideological transformation -- and it's time for the West to pay attention.

MICHAEL BRÖNING is Director of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung office in East Jerusalem, a German political foundation affiliated with the Social Democratic Party. He is a regular contributor to German newspapers and magazines, including Die Zeit and Der Spiegel.

For decades, Western decision-makers have viewed Hamas as a terrorist organization that seeks to destroy the state of Israel and thus will never accept a territorial compromise based on a two-state solution.

Death of Macho

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:18:29 GMT

clipped by: bloomoon
clipper's remarks: I recently re-discovered Foreign Policy magazine online. Lots of good articles and ideas, som worth passing on. This is one. I love the article, but think it's missing one thing: as traditional "male" careers (think finance, construction) disappear, men will start doing the growing "female" careers (nursing, education, government). Patriarchy is incredibly adaptable!

Clip Source: www.foreignpolicy.com

The Death of Macho

Manly men have been running the world forever. But the Great Recession is changing all that, and it will alter the course of history.

The era of male dominance is coming to an end.

For years, the world has been witnessing a quiet but monumental shift of power from men to women. Today, the Great Recession has turned what was an evolutionary shift into a revolutionary one. The consequence will be not only a mortal blow to the macho men’s club called finance capitalism that got the world into the current economic catastrophe; it will be a collective crisis for millions and millions of working men around the globe.

BY REIHAN SALAM

JUNE 22, 2009

Fuel from sun and CO?!!

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:46:28 GMT

clipped by: bloomoon
clipper's remarks: Looks like "biomimic" fuel is a seriously innovative invention.

Clip Source: cleantechnica.com

Cambridge-based Joule Biotechnologies has come out of the dark today to announce a radical technology designed to mimic photosynthesis using bio-engineered micro-organisms to make ethanol fuel from carbon dioxide and sunlight.

Because of the abundance of these raw materials, Joule Biotechnologies should be able to make ethanol economically, sustainably and at stable prices.

Prices would be competitive with fossil fuels at $50 a barrel.

Fuel-efficient transit

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:45:32 GMT

clipped by: bloomoon
clipper's remarks: C'mon ya'll let's get on the bus!

Clip Source: www.ecogeek.org

I was just on the blog of my neighbor Lewis (yes, he actually lives next door to me and is an has a bike advocacy blog...small world, I know) and came across the above graph. While, certainly, the Toyota Prius has some far more advanced technology than your average transit bus, the bus is the far more environmentally friendly option.

As the above graph shows, even a half-full bus uses less than half of the fuel per passanger as a plane. My environmental innovation for the day would be to posh up the bus system a bit, increase fares by a fraction, and make busses actually comfortable for long-distance travel while still having them be one of the greenest ways to travel.

Solar Blimp!

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:39:16 GMT

clipped by: bloomoon
clipper's remarks: I soooo wanna take a ride! Who remembers the Hindenburg anyway?

Clip Source: cleantechnica.com

Solar Blimp to Fly from NYC to Paris, Rests on Land or Water

Perhaps the only thing cooler than being powered by lightweight photovoltaic cells, this airship is also designed to rest on land or water.

Cool Conference

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:18:41 GMT

clipped by: bloomoon
clipper's remarks: I would love to go to this conference, it's NAME alone is inspiring!

Clip Source: ubi-learn.com

The Ubiquitous Learning Conference investigates the uses of technologies in learning, including devices with sophisticated computing and networking capacities which are now pervasively part of our everyday lives’ from laptops to mobile phones, games, digital music players, personal digital assistants and cameras. The Conference explores the possibilities of new forms of learning using these devices not only in the classroom, but in a wider range of places and times than was conventionally the case for education. Ubiquitous Learning is made possible in part by the affordances of the new, digital media. What’s new about it? What’s not-so-new? What are the main challenges of access to these new learning opportunities? These are the key themes and scope and concerns of the Conference and its companion Journal.

Wind Power in the US

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:35:46 GMT

clipped by: bloomoon
clipper's remarks: This very cool map (which I don't think will work once on the blog) displays how wind power has grown in the US in the last decade. Click on it to see it in action!

Clip Source: cleantechnica.com