Ritu recently posted the following random factoid: September 11 this year will mark the 100th anniversary of Gandhi’s launch of Satyagraha in South Africa. As the commenters note, unfortunately bad actions get remembered more than good ones. It’s strange that that particular date ended up being big days for two strongly religious people, especially the difference between their mothods and attitudes towards violence.
Tag: politics
Show Me The Benefits
Adam’s posted something (and something else) that fits well with the observations of John Ralston Saul regarding the relationship between free trade and wealth: it’s not just Canadians that are worse off, it’s everyone. CNN reported: Between 1995 and 2005, productivity — a measure of the quantity and quality of what workers produce per hour — grew 33.4 percent. But hourly wages rose only 11 percent, with almost all of that increase coming during the late 1990s, according to EPI. Looking back even farther, the disparity is greater. Since 1979, productivity rose 67 percent, while wages rose only 8.9 percent. …
MissIzzy on Traditional Values and Economic Status of Nations
MissIzzy always has something interesting to say, and this time, what caught my attention was her thoughts in a post titled Traditionally bad is the Contemporary Good.A sampling: Countries that suffer from the yoke of traditional values and survival ethics are the worse off (Nigeria, Parkistan, Ghana) Countries that are extremely secular-rational but are on the extreme end of the survival/self-expression dimension, on the survival side (the bit characterized by low levels of subject well being, report relatively poor health etc.) make somewhat about twice as much in GNP per capita (and are some of the most progressive nations in …
War Museum Controversy
About a year ago, whilst traveling in Canada, I happened on a news report about a display at the Canadian War Museum being altered because some soldiers were embarrassed at the statistics about STD rates among Canadian soldiers serving during the Korean War. I clipped the article, intending to blog it, but then misplaced it and only found it again just now.
Kofi Annan on the World Cup
This piece, titled At the UN, how we envy the World Cup, came to me via the mailing list I’m about to go into withdrawal from, as I’ve unsubbed until after Clarion West is over. You may wonder what a secretary general of the United Nations is doing writing about football. But in fact, the World Cup makes us at the United Nations green with envy. As the pinnacle of the only truly global game, played in every country by every race and religion, it is one of the few phenomena as universal as the United Nations. You could even …
FDA Approves Cervical Cancer Vaccine — Couzin 2006 (608): 1 — ScienceNOW
FDA says okay, but depending on the ruling of the ruling made by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, this may not become a part of the Public Health Strategy in some states. And I think we know which ones would rather not, since they’ll consider this another encouragement of promiscuity.
Rhythm method criticised as a killer of embryos
A link from this mailing list I’m sort of on, in one of the few threads I’ve been reading: a scientist criticises the rhythm method as a killer of embryos. Essentially, he’s saying that the incidence of intercourse at the fringes of the fertile period causes conception of far more embryos that can’t survive, and therefore that many more embryos are conceived and then die by this very calculated means than by other forms of contraception. Interestingly, he reports that Roman Catholics have statistically higher rates of miscarriage, at least according to one study — but of course, this is …
Condoleezza Rice at Boston College? I quit – The Boston Globe
I, for one, applaud Steve Almond.
Foreign Dispatches: A Lesson in Skillful Diplomacy
Koizumi’s response to Noh, for those wondering, is a little embarrassing… for Noh.
It’s Only $300 Billion
A member of a mailing list I’m on passed on this article, It’s Only $300 Billion, which asks the question why it’s possible for America to fund a war in Iraq, but not to fund the Kyoto Protocol. I’ve thought of that before too, but you see, the mere suggestion is heresy. The War in Iraq is all about profit and control of oil freedom and democracy, while the Kyoto Protocol is all about ensuring a livable planet for generations to come, achieved the only way it’s going to be possible, with the wealthy leading the way since they can …