Thilo Thielke writes in Der Spiegel about the consequences of development aid:
If you follow the reasoning of the United Nation's World Food Program, then Kenya is a unique region when it comes to hunger catastrophes. In this east African country, a popular vacation destination with 32 million inhabitants, UN workers hand out more food on an annual basis than they do in southern Sudan, which civil wars have ravaged for decades. But is Kenya really dying of hunger?...[continue reading]
More hereThere is little common ground between the realities faced by the population of Burkina Faso and international requirements and the shortfall in grain production and worsening of hunger in the past years can largely be attributed to this fact. It is not that farmers are unable to produce a sufficient quantity of food, it is that they find themselves in a political system that will not allow them to fulfill their potential. Not consulted in policy debates and uninvited to discussions, they feel excluded from the system when in reality they are key actors. What is more, farmers do not always understand how policy demands play out in these domains. Yet these are the people who suffer the effects of policy choices. In my view, the problem really lies here at the level of policy.
Lots of great winners announced in this year's 2011 Edublog Awards. Still wish more people voted but it does go up every year.
Thank you to those you nominated and voted for me. You put me in the top 5 tweeters! My friend Steven Anderson @web20classroom won.
Please take the time to broaden your RSS over the holidays and make room for some wonderful new voices! Anything that celebrates educational writing and sharing in positive ways should be shared!
Congratulations.
And just a word here. Although there are great winners, remember that if you are taking time to write and share that you ARE a winner already. There is an innate desire of most teachers to be thanked. Such little appreciation is meted out in teaching that it is almost a hunger. Every follower, every hit, every reader is a reward. Every comment is a gift. Every blog post has the potential to be a legacy. Share.
Way too few teachers are recognized for anything and even fewer voted on by teachers. Use this list to find some totally awesome voices but set as your goal to find those that haven't hit the radar yet. Converse and enjoy your area. Don't let "awards" get you down. Be the reward to those who use their precious time to follow you by being excellent, helpful, kind, and respectful. The greater and more excellent we are, the more people will begin to recognize our profession for what it is... The most noble of callings.
Congratulations to everyone.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
From Special Guest: James Ehrlich - Co-Founder of Cuts Hurt Kids
visit: http://twitter.com/cutshurtkids/
No Apology, No Diploma for some L.A. Students
The graduation ceremony Thursday, June 18 at Liechty Middle School in Los Angeles, CA featured as a speaker Monica Garcia, L.A. Unified board president.Dozens of students turned their backs in silent protest of Ms. Garcia who has supported laying off thousands of teachers district-wide as part of LA's United School District budget cutbacks. Liechty Middle School, near downtown L.A., was particularly hard hit with over 70% of teachers receiving pink slips. The school is new, having opened only 2 years ago.
Several teachers, including Julie Van Winkle, United Teachers L.A. rep. at Liechty have been involved in the Hungry For a Better Education campaign which included a 23 day water-only hunger-strike to protest budget cutbacks. (visit: http://www.lahungry4ed.com/ )
Parents outraged at this latest incident are demanding an apology and their childrens' diplomas. They have been refused meetings with Principal Jeanette Stevens, who insists on meeting individually . LA Opinion reports in yesterday's paper (June 23, p.3) that students are being forced to sign an apology letter in order to get their diplomas: http://i42.tinypic.com/2cnijbq.jpg
Posted by The Washington Teacher
In Feint & Margin Kate Nkansa writes:
I have come to a few of my own conclusions as to why we cannot even get the basics right on the African continent. We have no pride, accountability, sense of responsibility and ownership. This includes politicians, citizens and civil society in our continent. We are mediocre and accept mediocrity instead of demanding excellence. We have no benchmark to measure ourselves against. Let's stop blaming: slavery, apartheid and colonisation for our mediocrity. We have nobody but ourselves to blame. It is 2010 and many African countries are celebrating more than 40 years of independence. We have, however failed to achieve anything tangible in this time. Let us foster some pride and take responsibility for the poverty, hunger, corruption that prevails in our countries. Our continent’s success solely rests on every African’s shoulders. We as Africans need to create the standards we deem acceptable for Africa. Africans should hold politicians who plunder our resources for self-enrichment accountable. If someone tried to steal or take advantage of your family, you would be outraged. This is the same principle we need to cultivate as Africans. This continent has so much potential, we all need to start believing and actively striving for excellence starting from the way we treat each other as Africans, our work ethic and how we use state and public resources.More here
Edmund Sanders writes in the LA Times:
Some praise Ethiopia's government for its anti-poverty campaigns, which have reduced child mortality by 40%. New roads have fostered nationwide trade, helping stabilize agricultural markets. The government allocates about 17% of its budget to agricultural development, nearly three times as much as its neighbors.
But Ethiopia's state-dominated economy is also blamed for the persistent food shortages. The government controls all major industries, and there is no private ownership of land..."They talk about free market, but you don't see it," said economist Befekadu Degefe, a government critic. "They see the private sector as a threat, as competition, so they try to eliminate it."...[continue reading]
Through the beauty of wikipedia I recently went on a journey from reading about the movie Top Gun to Val Kilmer to Tombstone to List of Historical Drama's to spotting a movie called Ironclad. It is one of these movies which we in the states might not be able to see but quite honestly is likely better than most of the garbage that will be in the theaters here.
Ironclad is an upcoming historical drama and action film that is soon to be released in the UK. It is about a ragtag group of Knights Templar who hold out for months against the hard-fought siege of Rochester Castle by King John in the thirteenth Century. Set in the time of signing of the Magna Carta treaty, the group struggles against the King to defend the freedom of their country. Judging from the trailer, it looks like it is going to be a bloody good time! The cast includes includes Paul Giamatti, James Purefoy, Brian Cox, Mackenzie Crook, Jason Flemying, Derek Jacobi and Kate Mara.
Here is the trailer:
The overseas market was also treated to a great movie on Solomon Kane, which I wrote about earlier:
Solomon Kane is a fictional character created by the pulp-era writer Robert E. Howard. A late 16th / early 17th century Puritan, Solomon Kane is a sombre-looking man who wanders the world with no apparent goal other than to vanquish evil in all its forms. His adventures, published mostly in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, often take him from Europe to the jungles of Africa and back.
In the world of Solomon Kane there is Evil. People do evil things (thieves steal and murderers kill), there are evil empires (decadent and peopled by barbarous people), and there are evil spirits present (ghosts and such). Solomon Kane has but one purpose in life, and that is to fight evil, going wherever God's will draws him. A hunger drives him forward, an urge to right all wrongs, to protect those weaker, and to avenge all crimes against right and justice. Wayward and restless, he roams from place to place consistent in one respect only- that he will be true to his ideals of justice and right. Such is Solomon Kane.
Although Solomon Kane is not my favorite Howard character (my favorite is El Borak), I enjoy the stories, and find myself, as I always do when I read Howard, transported back to some sort of primordial time, some sort of time-before-time, perhaps a time period in my childhood when dreams and reality where closer together, or maybe Howard just awakens some sort of ancient stirring in my soul. All I know is that it is very fun reading, and if you haven't picked up a Solomon Kane book yet, you should.
Thus I was very excited to stumble on this trailer, for the Solomon Kane movie. It came out in Europe back in February of 2010, but has not yet made it to the States yet, and there is no DVD available yet for it, but hopefully there will be soon, because it looks like a sweet movie.
The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane for the book!
More hereOn 11 February in Equatorial Guinea, a writer by the name of Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel embarked on a hunger strike to claim justice and democracy for his people, too. The despotic ruler of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, has been in power since seizing it from his uncle Francisco Macías, another dictator who took power after the country gained independence from Spain. Massively rich in crude oil, the wealth of the nation lies in the hands of a minority elite while most Guineans suffer the indignities of hardship, repression and an appalling record on human rights – not to mention one of the lowest levels of development in Africa. Oil companies do business with the likes of Obiang and family, who are well served by the income generated from the country's rich natural resources. To quote Human Rights Watch, the "dictatorship under President Obiang has used an oil boom to entrench and enrich itself further at the expense of the country's people''.
The Economist reports on the challenges faced by publishers:
Nigeria was once the centre of literary publishing in west Africa—not just for local companies but international houses as well. But when military rule and economic decline saw much of the middle class flee in the 1980s, the publishers left too. Today, there is no distribution network and scant demand for fiction...Cassava Republic, a publisher founded in 2006, operates with a low profit margin for now, in the hope that it can cultivate a loyal base of readers that will one day meet costs. The founder, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, says she wants her customers' “intellectual hunger to be as pressing as their stomachs”.
"I will lay me down to bleed a while and then rise to fight again."Warrior's Creed
![Repos // Rest [Explored]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3599/3585829697_f882b0c7f2.jpg)
Lay Me Down 
series which largely focuses on the emotional backlash of war. I hate to say that I've been through war, but sometimes that is how it feels.
Solomon Kane is a fictional character created by the pulp-era writer Robert E. Howard. A late 16th / early 17th century Puritan, Solomon Kane is a sombre-looking man who wanders the world with no apparent goal other than to vanquish evil in all its forms. His adventures, published mostly in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, often take him from Europe to the jungles of Africa and back.
In the world of Solomon Kane there is Evil. People do evil things (thieves steal and murderers kill), there are evil empires (decadent and peopled by barbarous people), and there are evil spirits present (ghosts and such). Solomon Kane has but one purpose in life, and that is to fight evil, going wherever God's will draws him. A hunger drives him forward, an urge to right all wrongs, to protect those weaker, and to avenge all crimes against right and justice. Wayward and restless, he roams from place to place consistent in one respect only- that he will be true to his ideals of justice and right. Such is Solomon Kane.
Although Solomon Kane is not my favorite Howard character (my favorite is El Borak), I enjoy the stories, and find myself, as I always do when I read Howard, transported back to some sort of primordial time, some sort of time-before-time, perhaps a time period in my childhood when dreams and reality where closer together, or maybe Howard just awakens some sort of ancient stirring in my soul. All I know is that it is very fun reading, and if you haven't picked up a Solomon Kane book yet, you should.
Thus I was very excited to stumble on this trailer, for the Solomon Kane movie. It came out in Europe back in February of 2010, but has not yet made it to the States yet, and there is no DVD available yet for it, but hopefully there will be soon, because it looks like a sweet movie.
As theblogprof points out, at the end of pretty much every single episode of Scooby Doo, the bad ghost/ghoul/monster that was trying to scare everyone away from the truth is unmasked as a fraud for all to see, only to say "I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those darned kids." From the beginning, this was my theory on the whole global warming issue, and it looks like those darned bloggers and Freedom of Information acts have unmasked the ghost of global warming and revealed it for the fraud that it is.
The 'Global Warming Issue' was built on several bad premises. First is that the globe is warming. Contrary to Al Gore telling me it is, the data is not conclusive that the Earth is warming at all- we had a warm 1990's, but the data is not clear that this decade was all that warm. In order to persuade people that the Earth indeed is warming, data has been doctored, cherry-picked, and massaged to produce some sort of result that does show that the Earth is warming. But since Earth is emerging from a recent Little Ice Age, I would not be terribly shocked if eventually trends would indeed show that we are warming up.
The next part of the Issue is that this warming trend will continue in one direction, and will also accelerate and we'll get warmer and warmer and then turn into Venus. It is a nice theory, and to back it up, they've relied on computer modeling that can't even predict tomorrows weather accurately, and the computer models themselves have used doctored data and illogical calculations to produce this run-away-global-warming model. It is at this point that I become an unbeliever, since I don't see any possibility of run-away global warming, rather I see a billions of year trend of warming and cooling and the Earth being mightier than us puny humans.
The next part of the Issue is that this global warming is man-made. As evidence of this, 'scientists' break out their theories and show some stuff working in some labs. But just because I have a theory that I can pull a coin out of your ear and do it once doesn't mean that everyone everywhere has coins falling out of their ears. In reality, humans impact on the environment, especially the global temperatures, is very limited. A volcano going off does more to impact the globe than you driving your SUV, and thus the ultimate cause of any warming is natural, not man-made. That's not to say that you shouldn't be mindful of your environment, but the proper approach is the exact opposite of what Global Warming Believers want, and the proper approach is increased private property rights and less tragedies of the commons.
There are people out there though who Believe- they hate God and attack anyone who believes in him, but they worship at the alter of the Green God and believe in man-made run-away global warming in spite of the lack of evidence, the faulty data, and the bad premises. They then advance to the next stage, which is that this man-made global warming is very very bad and a bigger threat to everyone's life than war, poverty, hunger, or any other really bad issue. If the globe warms than bad stuff will occur- you name it, global warming believers believe that it will happen. In reality what might happen is a better growing environment for many crops and expanding food supply, warmer weather demanding less energy to heat homes and businesses, and a generally spring-like feel to the world. Global warming actually might be good for everyone, if you can get over the fact that polar bears might have to migrate farther north (oh, the horror!).
Yes, the global warming myth is increasingly being proved to be just that- a myth. And those who fight the most to keep this myth in place are in reality those who are benefiting from the myth- Al Gore has made millions on peddling this myth, makers of wind turbines and solar panels have made millions more, and most government bureaucrats and corruption agents are out there peddling the myth while making money off of it. So be one of those darned kids, and expose the myth, and laugh at anyone who tries to sell it to you, because in the end, like at the end of most Scooby Doo cartoons, the whole thing is only worth one big laugh.
Bill Moyers of Wide Angle interviewed George Ayittey for his reaction to 'Border Jumpers' A documentary that asks the question? "...How does prosperous Botswana secure its borders and accommodate the influx of tens of thousands fleeing hunger, unemployment, and political repression in neighboring Zimbabwe..." On Zimbabwe his response was "... it is a repeat of the same African script where we moved out the white colonialists. And then we have black new colonialists. And country after country, they run their countries down an economic slump. Ghana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia. All these countries are following the same script. And that is what is very disappointing about Zimbabwe..." Pointing to the success of Botswana he says "...The reason why Botswana has done very well is because it's the only black African country which went back to its roots and built upon its own indigenous institutions...Back to its roots in the sense that if you go to an African village and there's a chief and there is, let's say, a political crisis for example, the chief will call a village meeting. Put the issue before the people. It's called a kgotla. Now put the issue before the people. The people will debate until they come to a consensus. In Botswana, cabinet ministers are required to attend weekly kgotla meetings..."
In light of the seemingly endless litany of famine across Sub-Saharan Africa: Ethiopia, Niger, Sudan, Zimbabwe etc. we shall revisit Amartya Kumar Sen's views on the subject "...no substantial famine has ever occurred in any independent and democratic country with a relatively free press. We cannot find exceptions to this rule, no matter where we look: the recent famines of Ethiopia, Somalia, or other dictatorial regimes; famines in the Soviet Union in the 1930s; China's 1958-61 famine with the failure of the Great Leap Forward; or earlier still, the famines in Ireland or India under alien rule... Famines are often associated with what look like natural disasters, and commentators often settle for the simplicity of explaining famines by pointing to these events: the floods in China during the failed Great Leap Forward, the droughts in Ethiopia, or crop failures in North Korea. Nevertheless, many countries with similar natural problems, or even worse ones, manage perfectly well, because a responsive government intervenes to help alleviate hunger. Since the primary victims of a famine are the indigent, deaths can be prevented by recreating incomes (for example, through employment programs), which makes food accessible to potential famine victims. Even the poorest democratic countries that have faced terrible droughts or floods or other natural disasters (such as India in 1973, or Zimbabwe and Botswana in the early 1980s) have been able to feed their people without experiencing a famine... Famines are easy to prevent if there is a serious effort to do so, and a democratic government, facing elections and criticisms from opposition parties and independent newspapers, cannot help but make such an effort...",Journal of Democracy.
Douglas Southgate and Caroline Boin write
When food does not cross borders, hunger does. Politicians and experts meet in Rome this week at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization to address “How to Feed the World in 2050,” building up to World Food Day on Friday. But famine looms right now in Kenya, Ethiopia and their neighbours, as many governments continue to reject the UNFAO's recipe for success: free trade in food.More here
More here...With inspiration from the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt and the power of social media, more people than ever before in Nigeria are aware of and angered by the corruption in the system. Never before in the country's history have ordinary citizens been inspired to discuss budget items line by line. The questions are mounting. For example, how can N1bn ($6.25m) be allocated to the president and vice-president's catering budget, in a country stalked by hunger?
REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye
The target of the protests is a system constructed to oppress the poor and protect wealthy criminals. Every day since 2 January, the day after the fuel price increases, protesters have been assembling across several Nigerian states, marching and sharing their messages. And in many cases, enduring police harassment.
Young Nigerians are waking up and realising that we are where we are today because previous governments – maintainers of the corrupt system – were hardly ever seriously challenged, or rigorously questioned.
Now, having woken up, we will not be going back to sleep.
Ampofo Ofori comments on the lack of self-reliance amongst Ghanaians (read Sub-Saharan African's here) he asks the question "...What are we doing on our own to improve the conditions in our country and eradicate poverty, disease, hunger and hopelessness from this great country?..."Questioning the leadership he states "...The question is, do our leaders have to sit down doing no brain search to find ways to get us out of spoon feeding by others, and feed ourselves? Can’t our leaders sit down and plan the success of our future from our own back yard?..."
From Reuters, via Sweetness & Light, Food-stamp tally nears 40 million, sets record:
In November of 2008 we voted for change... and the change was increasing numbers of people who have been forced to humiliate themselves and accept the forced charity of other taxpayers just to eat. Read that article again- every single month that Democrat President Obama is in office more and more people need foodstamps- the records started when he was elected, and every month that he is in office, more and more and more and more people are forced to go into a government office and admit that on their own they just can't make it and that they want to take charity from others who are forced to provide it.Nearly 40 million Americans received food stamps — the latest in an ever-higher string of record enrollment that dates from December 2008 and the U.S. recession, according to a government update. Food stamps are the primary federal anti-hunger program, helping poor people buy food. Enrollment is highest during times of economic distress. The jobless rate was 9.9 percent, the government said on Friday.
The Agriculture Department said 39.68 million people, or 1 in 8 Americans, were enrolled for food stamps during February, an increase of 260,000 from January. USDA updated its figures on Wednesday.
Enrollment has set a record each month since reaching 31.78 million in December 2008. USDA estimates enrollment will average 40.5 million people this fiscal year, which ends Sept 30, at a cost of up to $59 billion. For fiscal 2011, average enrollment is forecast for 43.3 million people.
What do you do if you are a liberal Democrat in 2010 and are likely not going to get re-elected? Sit an election out, get Obama to appoint you to some government job, suck down benefits and pay, and re-evaluate in 2012. Oh, and sit on all that cash that was donated for you for your re-election bid.
Via Political Wire, Swing State Project has compiled a list of cash-on-hand figures for all members of congress who are not running for re-election or have resigned this cycle. While retirees regularly donate the bulk of their left-over cash to their party's House and Senate campaign arms, this cycles retiring Democrats are "sitting on an enormous $33 million stockpile," despite the fact that their colleagues are facing an incredibly tough election environment.
$33 million dollars would go far in putting out new advertisements trying to convince voters that Democrats are moderates who believe in transparency and tight budgets; after all, moronic voters all around our good nation were duped into supporting Obama has cycle. But these Democrats don't believe in the socialist cause- nope, they are only in it for themselves, displaying their true power hunger by sitting on these stockpiles of campaign cash rather than spending them this election cycle.
For example, Rahm Emanuel resigned from Congress to be the guy who whispers advice into the President's ear, and shoved $1,179,094 in the bank for when he wants to run for Congress again once his boss gets kicked out in 2012. Evan Bayh just stepped aside from his Senate seat, but I don't think we have heard the last of this liberal Democrat- he is sitting on $12,987,399 in the bank. That's 12 million, folks- that'll usually buy you a nice Senate seat in an environment that isn't filled with Tea Parties.
Two articles in the African Executive emphasize the importance of small holders, firstly James Shikwati states:
Our foot soldiers (read- smallholder farmers) have endured myriad onslaughts that have left them numb. First was the attack from 'exotic' crop varieties such as maize, wheat, pawpaws, citrus fruit, and 'sukuma', among others, which reorganized their dietary habits. The demand for indigenous foods dropped and forced them to attempt production of 'exotic' crops. The modern day farmer's definition of hunger may be lack of maize, rice and perhaps wheat....[continue reading]While William Arap Ruto (Kenya's Agriculture minister) asserts that:
There is need for commercialization of production at this level. This process involves transformation from production for household subsistence to production for the market. Essentially, it implies monetization of the rural economy...[continue reading]
