My Beauty Best Teacher

Nicholas Kristof's Africa, Andrea Bohnstedt writes in the Star

Kristof tells a story of ‘Africa’ firmly through the lense of a humanitarian NGO fundraiser – there is little notion of a continent turning itself around in this succession of people whose condition improves from wretchedness to bare survival thanks to Western-funded charities. He could have come to Kenya: there’s a good bit of wretchedness here, too, what with the famine in the Horn, and Kibera is a tried and tested (in fact, internationally famous) showcase for urban poverty. But Kristof and his travel mates could have also met up with Martin Oduor Otieno to hear a bit more about KCB’s regional expansion, with Airtel’s team to hear about their pan-African plans, with Vimal Shah to learn about a regional agricultural and agroprocessing firm. Maybe visited the NSE? Chatted to Stella Kilonzo about regional capital market integration, or asked Suzanne Kilolo Kedenge about digital investor relations management, or perhaps listened to Isis Nyong’o talk about mobile advertising? Kenya has some kickingly capable women and no, they don’t all excel at grinding millet. As it stands, the article is one neatly executed piece of pan-continental character assassination.

More here

According to the AP, President Barack Obama's new chief of staff William Daley respond to the proposal from congressional Republicans to cut $55 billion from the federal budget by going on CBS' 'Face the Nation' and asking the "Where's the beef?" He then elaborated that he is very curious to see exactly where those cuts will come from, implying that Republicans are playing the same sort of game that Obama plays often where he makes vague statements with no details to back them up. Both President of the United States Barack Obama (Democrat) and him apparently can't find the details for these cuts and so think that this is some sort of trick.

This is really sad, because I opened up internet explorer, went to google, searched 'details of gop plan', and the very first site that was listed was "A Roadmap for America's Future: The Budget Committee Republicans," which links to the GOP's detailed plans to cut $55 billion from the federal budget. That I was able to find the details to the plan so easily and yet the President of the United States and his chief of staff were not able to speaks to one of two things- one, they're all incompetent idiots who lack basic computer and research skills because they are all stuck in the pre-internet past, or two, they are disingenuous liars who are knowingly trying to scam and fool the American people because they know they are not decent or honest or truthful people so they can't find any refuge there.

Daley is thus either an incompetent idiot or a disingenuous liar- either way, the fact that he was chosen to be the main advisor to our President speaks to the kind of people that our President has chosen to surround himself with.

In case Obama or Daley ever do figure out how to use the internet and read by blog, I'll help them out by putting the apparently hard to find information on where 'the beef' is below:

• LEGISLATIVE BRANCH...............................$1,283,000,000. (23%)
• Notes: The Government Printing Office is abolished.
• JUDICIAL BRANCH......................................$2,434,000,000. (32%)
• AGRICULTURE............................................$42,542,000,000. (30%)
• The Agriculture Research Service, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Resources Conservation Service, and Foreign Agricultural Service are abolished. The Forest Service gets a $1.2 billion haircut.
• COMMERCE...................................................$5,322,000,000. (54%)
• National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is cut by $857,000,000.
• DEFENSE.......................................................$47,500,000,000. (6.5%)
• EDUCATION..................................................$78,000,000,000 (83%)
• Only the Pell grant program survives.
• ENERGY............................................................$44,200,000,000 (100%)
• The Defense Department takes over all of Energy's remaining functions (nuclear waste, for example) and about $18 billion of its budget.
• HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES..............$26,510,000,000. (26%)
• Notes: FDA is cut by $230,000,000; Indian Health Service is cut by $650 million; CDC is cut by $1.17 billion; NIH by $5.8 billion.
• HOMELAND SECURITY.................................$23,765,000,000. (43%)
• Notes: Coast Guard is shifted to Defense. TSA's funds are cut by $900 million.
• HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT....$53,100,000,000. (100%)
• Notes: Completely eliminated. Veterans' housing programs are transferred to the VA
• INTERIOR........................................................$10,934,000,000. (78%)
• Bureau of Reclamation and Bureau of Indian Affairs are abolished.
• JUSTICE.............................................................$9,057,000,000. (28%)
• Note: Office of Justice Programs is abolished.
• LABOR....................................................$2,803,000,000. (2%)
• OSHA, MSHA, and the The Employment and Training Administration are spared all cuts (no cuts to unemployment benefits)
• STATE...................................................................$20,321,000,000. (71%)
• Note: Massive foreign aid cuts. All international commissions and organizations are defunded.
• TRANSPORTATION............................................$42,810,000,000. (49%)
• Notes: Amtrak is completely de-funded.
• VETERANS’ AFFAIRS..........................................No cuts
• CORPS OF ENGINEERS......................................$1,854,000,000. (27%)
• EPA..............................................................$3,238,000,000. (29%)
• GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION.....$1,936,000,000. (85%)
• INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS...$24,300,000,000 (100%)
• NASA.........................................................................$4,500,000,000 (25%)
• NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION...............$4,723,000,000. (62%)
• OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT.......$9,070,000,000.
• SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION.........No cuts
• FCC...........................................................$2,150,000,000. (22%)
• ABOLISH...............................................................$2,050,000,000. (100%)
• (1) Affordable Housing Program.
• (2) Commission on Fine Arts.
• (3) Consumer Product Safety Commission.
• (4) Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
• (5) National Endowment for the Arts.
• (6) National Endowment for the Humanities.
• (7) State Justice Institute.
• MISC
• Collect delinquent taxes from Federal Employees........$3,000,000,000.
• Freeze Federal Government employee pay...................$2,000,000,000.
• Reduce Federal Government travel..............................$7,500,000,000.
• Repeal Davis-Bacon..................................................... $6,000,000,000.
• Prohibit union project labor agreements......................$2,000,000,000.
• TARP repeal.................................................................$4,481,000,000.
• Sell Federal Buildings..................................................$19,000,000,000.
• Reduce Federal vehicle budget..........................................$600,000,000.

UPDATE: Comment from theblogprof's story on this subject, which I echo:

Note the one cut close to the end: "Collect delinquent taxes from Federal Employees." $3 BILLION??? Good grief. How are they still federal employees at all?

In Memory Bank:

...Africa’s new leaders thought they were generating modern economies, with ambitions for public expenditure to match, but in reality they were erecting fragile states whose economic base was the same backward agriculture as before. As Frantz Fanon predicted, this weakness inexorably led them to exchange the democratic legitimacy of the independence struggle for dependence on foreign powers. These ruling elites first relied on revenues from agricultural exports, then on loans contracted under dubious circumstances, finally on the financial monopoly that came from being licensed to supervise their country’s relations with global capitalism. But this bonanza was switched off in the 1980s, when foreign capital felt that it could dispense with the mediation of local state powers and concentrated on collecting debts from them. Many governments were made bankrupt and some simply collapsed into civil war.

More here

Badara Jobe,Ashoka Fellow and founder of Njawara Agricultural Training Centre

...has developed an approach that cultivates and strengthens farmers’ abilities to produce successful crop yields despite climate changes.His core insight is that fluctuations in an already short rainy season introduce a new and complicating set of variables for farmers. Even a missed day of rain or slight decreases in rainfall intensity over a few days can jeopardize certain crops in ways that were not previously understood. What is needed is not simply agricultural diversification, but hedging strategies that involve cultivation in precisely calibrated but small areas for a range of different crops tied to particular seed varieties

Another year for the books! For this blog, 2010 saw a large jump in readership, and for that, I thank all of you for reading my blog posts, for passing my posts on to your friends to read, and for linking to those posts on your blogs or on your social networks. It is my hope that my messages about freedom, liberty, protection of property rights, and love of life, and the battles to improve and strengthen these things, have inspired and motivated you, and maybe taught you a little something too. There were a lot of great posts in 2010- based on reader feedback (emails and comments and discussions), here are the top ten:

Obama: Didn't Waive the Jones Act, Made Gulf Spill Worse:
Occasionally I break a major story, like this one, which I was on well in advance of the MSM:

In reply to the emails from snarky liberals who ask 'just what do I expect Obama to do about the Gulf oil spill', the reply is 'get the hell out of the way'... Let loose the power of free markets and civil society and restrict government to limited and defined roles, and the world will be a better place. In this particular case, just 'what can Obama do'? Here is one of dozens of examples that are specific and have few drawbacks but Obama isn't doing- Obama can temporarily waive the Jones Act....

McSweeney's Account of His Little Daughter's Randian Objectivism
I'm told by some that the original account may have been a satire, but what makes the satire so interesting is how it could easily be the truth, as I have documented dozens of related experiences on my blog:

...Sometimes I think I'm going a little too far with the raising of my kids, talking to them like that and reading them the Bible weekly and stuff, but then over at Pundit & Pundette I read a similar account from Timothy McSweeney...

Obama Nicknames
Every President has a nickname- Reagan was the Gipper, Bush was W, Clinton was Slick Willy- so here are some of the top Obama nicknames I have seen...

On The Texas Board of Education Decision
This is one that I recently talked about on a radio interview (yes, you can contact me about doing radio if you want a good conservative teacher on your panel)...

Manhattan Community Board 1 Approved Ground Zero Victory Mosque: Details Here!
Another major story that I was on the ground floor on and provided some original research to:

One of the main reasons used by liberals and Democrats in defense of this project is that "the project was approved in a non-political and non-religious and purely objective way." I reject this premise, as man is by nature a political animal, and this particular project was is a political and religious statement and anything but objective. This boards approval of the mosque was not an objective decision based on separation of church and state- no, this was a political statement by a group of radical liberals....

President Obama Defends Slavery?
The Republican Party fought to free the slaves. The GOP passed the Civil Rights Act. Conservatives fight for liberty, freedom, property protection, and protection of life. So it does not surprise me when Obama defends slavery:

President Barack Obama said something pretty darn surprising in a speech recently. He said "(?) have been the labor force of our farmers and agricultural producers for generations. So even if it was possible, a program of mass (?) would disrupt our economy and communities in ways that most Americans would find intolerable."... So, do you think that President Obama was arguing in favor of slavery or in favor of illegal immigration?

Oppose Race to the Top: Reasons Why Conservatives Should Oppose RTTT

Recently, Michigan Senate Majority leader Mike Bishop asked me for my opinion on the President's Race to the Top program. I told him that I didn't support it, and he looked at me in a way that said "I thought you were a conservative" and "I thought you wanted to help education." At the time, I struggled to explain why I didn't like the program- I didn't really know all the details to it, but suspected that I was indeed correct in opposing it from what little I knew. He thought I was just a tool of the teachers unions, who also oppose RTTT, but I knew that for some reason I didn't like this initiative by Obama, and it wasn't just paranoid anti-Obama sentiment.... Today, via theblogprof, via Right Wing News, I came across the an article called "Ten Rules for Anti-Government Republican Radicals in D.C. ." As an anti-government conservative radical, the kind that our founding fathers were, the kind of people that built our nation and made our country a great success, I find these rules to be useful in helping me begin to articulate why I oppose Race to the Top....

A Personal Story: Teaching Global Studies Last Year:

Last summer I decided to earn an extra few bucks by teaching a summer school class called Global Studies. Global Studies class is supposed to be a survey of the countries of the world, and touch on their geography, history, economic systems, and current political issues... I met with the teacher who taught in full time during the year who showed me the way the class was supposed to be taught....

Obama's New NASA Policy- Yet More Broken Promises and Lies
American Exceptionalism is being killed by Obama, in ways big and small. Once America was a great nation that put men on the moon- an exceptional nation capable of spaceflight and exploring new worlds. Once it was... after Obama and the Democrats I wonder:

Out of all of the broken promises of President Obama, this one is probably not the biggest to a lot of people. Out of all of the phony and lying rhetoric about hope and change, this latest policy announcement that kills hope and changes things for the worst is probably not the most backstabbing that he has uttered. But that does not mean that Obama's plans to destroy NASA's budget and redirect its mission away from exploration is not big or important to me....

The NEA Should Support Republicans: The GOP is Better for Education
A rising tide floats all boats, teachers included...

Lastly, I'd like to thank the bloggers from Pundit & Pundette, theblogprof, Vox Popoli, Right Michigan, Doug Ross, and all of the many others who have become regular readers and have taken what I have written over the past year and passed it on to their readers. Great work everyone!

In The Atlantic excerpts from the Steve Daniels book Making Do:

Images by Steve Daniels

Leonard is one of millions of entrepreneurs who rely on informal mechanisms in Kenya, where the informal sector comprises a full three quarters of the non-agricultural economy and produces over 90 percent of new jobs annually. Under severe material constraints, they are forced to improvise solutions to everyday problems that, from time to time, result in game-changing innovations that better address local needs. Informal artisans who engage in the production of goods are known as jua kali (Swahili for "hot sun") and have established entire ecosystems of production, from scrap sourcing to repair. The most advanced jua kali like Leonard have designed and built capital goods, such as lathes, that propel indigenous production forward. The jua kali have been largely ignored by formal institutions, regarded as a second-rate economy. Yet their drive for innovation, understanding of indigenous networks, and ability to work under extreme constraints make them ideal agents of industrialization.

More here

Lauren Streib in the Daily Beast reports on the work of Productive Agricultural Linkages and Marketing Systems (PALMS), they:

Teach women farmers to use basic machinery, like tractors, and crop production will increase. But the effects of the implementation of such technology are revolutionary. The women helped through PALMS have access to knowledge, capital, and technology that allows them to assert power within their families, their communities, and improve the economy of the entire country...[continue reading]

Watch Letticia Brenyah of PALMS describe their work and its impact:

This campaign season is wild! As you can see by my past posts, I've been very busy, and even have hopes of turning my "Democrats Two America's" theme into a campaign advertisement. Here are the kinds of campaign advertisements that have been inspiring me- follow the link for some great fun!

Chuck Norris endorses Mike Huckabee:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDUQW8LUMs8

Nancy Pelosi, Wicked Witch of the West:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7jJI1cfEgc

Alabama Agricultural Commissioner Commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU7fhIO7DG0

Carly Fiorina, Demon Sheep: Mutton on the Lamb:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZxk_9GTHrs

Tim James “We Speak English”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEPh_KlTyII

A Beer With Steve Novik
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2UesvrH-cs

Christopher Knight for School Board TV Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLi5B0Iefsk

Senate Candidate Freilich on a Cow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I9h2d8hw6g

"YUM! YUM!" - Jim Bender, Republican Candidate for US Senate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUvd2fDsBos

Whenever I come across a great campaign commercial, I always enjoy passing it on (see my posts Alabama Agricultural Commissioner Commercial or Campaign Ads Getting Better). Via theblogprof, here is a very funny campaign ad from John Dennis, the Republican who is running for Congress against Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Do I think that John Dennis has a realistic shot of taking out Pelosi? In any other year, I'd say no, that Pelosi is going to do everything 'legal' possible in terms of fundraising and advertising and uses of political favors and pressure to win. But this isn't a usual election year, so perhaps the guy has a shot. You have to give him credit for pulling out all the stops and swinging for the fences- I hope voters reward a guy that is obviously hard working and creative like this.
UPDATE: If the above video is broken, try this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJWu6El-QLw

Aboyeji E Iyinoluwa writes in Project Diaspora:

...when one looks closely at the CAP, the objectives are very Euro-centric - and rightly so. The entire point of the subsidies are to enable Europe be self sufficient in the production of its food. For food import loving Africans, this might seem like a strange idea, but in a world of genetic modification, bio terrorism and Monsanto, food is becoming a national security issue and there are several good reason for keeping its production domestic. In fact, a lot of the developed countries we aspire to (including the United States) have subsidies in the spirit and style of the CAP. In a perfect world, much of Africa’s chronic food shortage problems could be solved by adopting a CAP style arrangement for Agricultural production. There is no sense is trying to open a European market for African agricultural products when even with huge volumes of food imports, we can barely satiate the starving people on our own continent.

More here

This is Africa reports on the drivers behind Brazilian-African agriculture cooperation:

“We have domesticated tropical agriculture. So we can now really partner with African countries… research and development is no panacea, but is very important for development, and Embrapa has a lot of knowledge on tropical agriculture. There are many similarities between Brazil and Africa in terms of ecosystems and challenges,” he adds(Pedro Arraes, the president of Embrapa).Embrapa is today considered to be a global leader in tropical agricultural research, and Brazil has developed technologies and machinery specifically suited to a tropical climate. All of this, Mr Arraes and Mr Tarragô argue, makes Brazil an ideal partner for Africa.

More here

In SciDev:

"When the new African Agricultural Revolution is eventually implemented, it is likely to be built on Africa's own indigenous technology and knowledge requirements and the nutrition and food security needs of its people," says an UNCTAD report...It recommends strengthening the 'innovation systems' — a wide range of interconnecting issues, from providing financial incentives and ensuring technology transfer to promoting education — for agriculture in each country in Africa. "This means enhancing links between knowledge research institutes to make sure any innovation they come up with is diffused to the farmer,"

More here

President Barack Obama said something pretty darn surprising in a speech recently. He said "(?) have been the labor force of our farmers and agricultural producers for generations. So even if it was possible, a program of mass (?) would disrupt our economy and communities in ways that most Americans would find intolerable."

I wonder- what sort of people was he describing that are the labor force of our farmers and agricultural producers, a sort of people who are underpaid, treated poorly, and often times not given their full rights? These people might work very hard to produce cotton or something. Now let's suppose that we wanted to do something about these people, something to fix the situation, something that would make things lawful and right, but to do so would disrupt our economy and communities in a way that many, perhaps in the South, would find intolerable. I wonder- what would you do?

So, do you think that President Obama was arguing in favor of slavery or in favor of illegal immigration? Go ahead- replace the first question mark with 'slaves' or 'migrant workers - mostly here illegally' and replace the second question mark with 'emancipation' or 'mass deportations'- and you'll see that the argument is very similar.

People used to argue that slaves were important because of their work producing agricultural products and to get rid of slavery would be disruptive. Today people argue that migrant workers (mostly illegal immigrants) are important because of their work producing agricultural products and to change the situation would be disruptive.

Something needs to be done with those people who came to our country illegally, who disobeyed and disregarded the laws of our nation, and who snuck into our country under the cover of darkness and deceit. I don't know what, but I do know that simply saying 'okay, you're all citizens now' is not the right approach and is an approach that demands no courage and is an approach that will invite further lawbreaking and illegal immigration. I know that 'disruption to the economy' is important, but deporting illegal immigrants who broke the law will be no more disruptive to our economy than the healthcare bill that was recently passed or the cap and tax bill that Obama wants passed, so Obama is disingenuous and selective using this argument. And illegal immigrants haven't been in in the labor force for generations- if they have any kids, they're citizens, so they are no longer illegal immigrants and demand minimum wage and full rights and so likely won't be 'migrant workers'- so making an argument that they have been here for generations is a bad argument too.

You go ahead and read Obama's speech if you want, and you tell me- is he Abraham Lincoln or Stephen Douglas, or some local nobody that couldn't match wits with either?