GINA COBB

Poor Nations Continue to Catch Up

By DemocracyRules
h/t Xinhua

Globally, the poorest economies are growing the fastest.  According to the UN, growth in developing countries was 7.3% In 2007, and is expected to be 5% in 2008 and 4.8% in 2009.

Nothing like a dose of capitalism to fix the planet.

The developed economies may grow slower this year, but it depends on the US housing market and other factors.  The worst "problem" for the U.S. housing market is that home ownership is now at an all-time high.  It's hard to sell any more houses.

For Obama, this is crisis.  With all these new black home-owners, it's getting harder and harder to cry poverty.

How About Outsourcing Anti-poverty Work?

By DemocracyRules
h/t Hot Air, Iranian.com, FoxNews

Hot Air reports today on the rapid progress in rebuilding that Minnesota bridge that collapsed a while ago.  Outsourcing the re-building contract will give Minnesotans a new, better bridge three months before the completion deadline.

Compare this to an article flagged by Gina, where the UN makes yet another mess of things when it comes to helping the poor.  (U.N.'s World Food Program Cried Poverty While Sitting on Cash Stockpile of More Than $1.22 Billion). 

Given enough time and money to work on world poverty, UN officials would become fabulously rich.  For them, the capitalism-driven rapid decline in world poverty must seem like a disaster.

Without the poor, Communists would have no one left to suck on.  As Michele Obama explained the other day, the Communist game is simple.  There is an economic pie.  Take almost all the pie away from the rich.  Then give a small slice to the poor.  Keep the rest for politicians, hospital public-relations people, rich racist church ministers, ex-terrorist university professors, tax-collectors, social workers, probation officers, global warming researchers, litigation lawyers, and the millions of others who hold middle and upper-middle class jobs "defending the poor".

Of course people with Communist-sponsored jobs will vote for Communists like Hillary and Obama.  Canada is rife with this game.  Because of the large Communist-funded middle-class voting block in Canada, it's almost impossible to get the Communists out of power.  When Communists vote, they fund themselves.

Of course, if you grab the pie away from the rich, they will relocate to a tax-haven country.  Then the pie will stop growing in size.  Every Communist country has suffered this.  Wealthy Swedes put money abroad.  Or they move away.  Taking all that money away from the rich hasn't fixed the core problems.  Sweden has a relatively small population, but it has about 18,000 homeless.  The problem isn't going away no matter how much they pay their social workers.

In spite of massive oil wealth and other riches, the average Canadian is worse off than the average American. Our tax rates are huge.

The Private Sector Can Fix It
Aid groups like USAid should request bids from the private sector to resolve poverty in chosen target areas.  By now the methods needed to eradicate poverty are well-known by social scientists.  The contractor would have milestones and performance criteria to measure effectiveness.  If the contractor doesn't meet poverty-reduction targets, cancel the contract.  In this way, give private contractors millions of dollars to reduce endemic poverty.  Of course they will have to spend most of that on real poverty reduction.  They get to keep the profit.

This makes much more sense to me than letting Communist front groups "redistribute wealth" into their own bank accounts.

I tell you if you saw what these charities, non-governmental organizations and the UN spend their money on, you would not believe it.  Fancy downtown offices, indoor waterfalls, limos, conferences in exotic destinations, expensive hotels, the whole bit.

Related:
Lies the Leftists Told me  – Part 1
Lies the Leftists Told me  – Part 2
Endemic Non-poverty Grips West in Dire Political Crisis
Pro Patria

Tibet and the Appropriate Uses of Force

Noteworthy from David Bueche at American Thinker:  Imagine a Free Tibet!

I don't know what the "Free Tibet" bumper sticker crowd must be thinking these days,  but I can assure you it most certainly doesn't involve the 101st Airborne, tanks, guns, or any of that other "culture of violence" stuff.

I guess it involves something along the lines of everyone focusing -- I mean really focusing -- their energy, and the ensuing global vibe snapping the Chinese out of their misguided ways.

. . . . To all those out there with the "Free Tibet!" stickers, here are a few facts that will help the world make sense:

1. There will always be bad people. 
2. Bad people don't care about hurting good people.  Appeals to shame, empathy and guilt don't work on them.  That's why they're bad people.
3. Bad people respond to force.  They don't like it and will change their behavior to avoid it.
4. Good people need to use force to stop the bad people from hurting other good people.
5. It's not the same when a good person uses force to stop a bad person as when the bad person uses it to harm a good person.   
6. Not letting good people use force against bad people encourages more bad behavior.
7. Good people using force against bad people should be encouraged.  This will make the world a better place.

To all the pacifists out there who think guns are the problem, all the moral lightweights harping about the "cycle of violence",  please remember:

Guns liberated Auschwitz and violence ended slavery.  The world you "imagine" is not here on Earth but in the next life, and you're really gumming things up for the rest of us by confusing the two.

'Global Dashboard' Coming Soon

By DemocracyRules

This is my effort to help people keep up with the key news stories.  The military might call it a 'world sit rep' (situation report). It's a World Dashboard that provides a daily snapshot of the planet's political situation.  Click on the picture to see more detail.

We sit in the driver's seat as the 'car' makes it's drive for global democracy.   I chose measures of democracy for the dashboard because 'The News' focuses mainly on places where human rights or democracy are under threat.  When human rights or democracy are in crisis, then social unrest and war is more likely.  The dashboard lays out the world's key hot spots, because they critically influence the progress of democracy.

I have some of the gages working already.  The Middle East and China are the sources of the main threats to human rights and democracy right now so they are the center gages.  These gages are like speedometers, because they measure our rates of progress in establishing and maintaining democracy.  If the needles are in the red zone we are losing ground.  If they are in the green zone we are gaining ground.

On the Middle East gage, the 'unstable' and 'war imminent' lights are illuminated because the area is very unstable, and Assad, the Syrian President, has just begun to talk openly about his plans and readiness for war with Israel. 

The gages EU, UN, and UK stand for European Union, United Nations, and United Kingdom.  They measure the amount of 'boost' or support that these organizations are providing to global democracy.  The UN registers zero because they contribute some positive things like UNICEF, but they also harbor the UN Human Rights Council, which damages democracy.  The net democracy 'boost' from the UN is zero.

This exercise is very useful (to me at least), because it helps summarize a lot of data.  It also helps see the problems in new ways.

More gages and switches to come.  Then I will provide more detailed comments.

Islamophobia and the Muslims

By DemocracyRules

Khaleej Times (khaleejtimes.com) is one of my favorite Middle East news sources.  They are a bunch of vicious antisemitic hate-mongers, but as Muslim News sources go, they’re pretty good.  Now they have published an editorial about the recent meeting of the Organization of Islamic Conference countries (OIC).  It was an interesting meeting, mostly because it helps underscore the point that yes, Muslim leaders really are that stupid. 

Obama could never be a Muslim leader, he’s not dumb enough.

The OIC chose Dakar, Senegal as their meeting place to commemorate the place of the mud brick in Islamic history.  The average Senegalese is now raking in $5 per day.  There is also cause for celebration as Senegal slowly begins to emerge from the 8th century.  Unfortunately, they are now moving into the 7th century.  Dakar could have a flourishing white slave trade if only some more whites would go there.  Raiding Europe to get white slaves has become passé in recent centuries.

The main thing the OIC agreed upon is that they hate Israel for taking the land back that was theirs in the first place.  Very enlightened, I’m glad the Islamic leaders went to Dakar and hashed that out.   It was very rude of the Jews to claim Israel before Islam was invented.  Those greedy Hebrews grabbed the Holy Land before anyone else even knew the place was Holy.

The OIC is also terribly worried about Islamophobia.  “Perpetrators of terrorism and violence have been generally accepted as the face of modern Islam, though nothing could be farther from the truth,” Khaleej solemnly opines.  Truly, Islamic leaders seem to have no idea where “Islamophobia” is coming from.  Perhaps from Mars. The solution seems to be to hate Islamophobes, a novel idea, to their way of thinking.  Hate and ignorance has worked wonders for them so far. 

To me, the problem begins with the label “Islamophobia”.  Perhaps a more accurate label would be “Common sense to fear people who want to blow you up -ia”, or “Not liking religions which encourage killing us -ia”.  Of course, Islamists strutting around world capitals carrying signs saying “Behead All Those Who Oppose Islam” could not have anything to do with  “Islamophobia”.  The problem, Khaleej Times explains, is that the West is not tolerant enough.  As far as I can tell, the bathrooms at the OIC conference did not feature toilet paper with Koranic verses printed on them.  They use squat toilets and hoses anyway.

There are a wealth of scholars and experts who could inform these OIC Muslim leaders what the problems is.  My choice would be an Iranian feminist like Asieh, who opposes stonings and honor killings.  Or perhaps Parvin Ardalan, the Iranian feminist who just won the Swedish Olaf Palme Prize, to promote peace and disarmament and combat racism and xenophobia.  She was unable to accept the prize in person because she was ahem, ‘otherwise detained’.

In the speech delivered in Sweden by her sister, Parvan Ardalan says, “I dedicate this award to all the women of my country, to my mother, to the mothers of prisoners of conscience, and to all the other mothers of my land, who while enduring, have taught us how to resist discrimination, so that we too can pass on these teachings to our children and to future generations.” 

OIC: read the speech, it wouldn't kill ya.

Two Years Agp Today on GINA COBB: Unintentionally Funny News Item (Iran)

Originally published on March 14, 2006:  Unintentionally Funny News Item (Iran)

Hillary to Pay Fine in Cattle?

From Gateway Pundit:  More Bad News... Hillary Faces Cattle Fine in Kenya

It Gives a New Meaning to "Family Tree"

A woman in Papua New Guinea who was accused of sorcery and hung from a tree gave birth to her baby while struggling to free herself.

Fortunately, mother, daughter, and father are all O.K.

Has Obama Ever Heard of Killing the Golden Goose?

Don't miss Phyllis Schlafly's latest column about a very bad bill introduced by Barack Obama, the Global Poverty Act (S. 2433):  Congress Contemplates Giving Cash to Foreigners.  An excerpt from Schlafly's column is below.  But first, my reaction. 

Eliminating global poverty is a noble goal, but the way to do that is not to hand cash to social planners and dictators around the world who have run their nations' economies into the ground.  America's strength is in its living free markets, not in some lifeless pile of money. 

For people who don't understand the source of wealth, it seems very logical to correct poverty by taking money from one group or nation and handing it to another.  The problem is that if you do that often enough you run both nations into the ground.  You squelch incentives in the "donor" nation and in the "recipient" nation as well.  Besides, poverty is a moving target.  You will never eliminate poverty because there will always be some who have more and some who have less.

American taxpayers are already providing free health care, schools, cash and social services to every immigrant who finds his way across a border, legally or illegally.  The strain on America's taxpayers, schools, hospitals and prisons is already great. 

Now Americans are supposed to support all 6.6 billion people on earth?  The United States is reasonably wealthy, but not that wealthy.  You can only pluck so many feathers from the golden goose before it dies.

Recognition of Kosovo: Craziness?

Melanie Phillips on recognition of Kosovo as an independent state:  Is this crazy, or is this crazy?

The decision by Britain, America and certain other European countries to recognise Kosovo as an independent state is mind-blowingly stupid and suicidal and of a piece with their obvious determination to capitulate in the war for civilisation.

New Doomsday Seed Vault in Arctic

Scientists are building a "doomsday vault" for seeds in the Arctic, to re-grow food in case of a global catastrophe.

U.S. Embassy in Belgrade Set on Fire

The U.S. Embassy in Belgrade has been set afire, amid protests that drew about 150,000 Serbs after Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia.

My thoughts on Kosovo independence are admittedly sketchy because -- well,  I don't spend a lot of time thinking about Serbia.

U.S. Reportedly Strikes Spy Satellite

Reports are still preliminary, but it appears that the U.S. Navy has stricken the spy satellite it intended to hit this week:

HONOLULU (AP) - A U.S. Navy cruiser blasted a disabled spy satellite with a pinpoint missile strike that achieved the main mission of exploding a tank of toxic fuel 130 miles above the Pacific Ocean, defense officials said.

Destroying the satellite's onboard tank of about 1,000 pounds of hydrazine fuel was the primary goal, and a senior defense official close to the mission said Thursday that it appears the tank was destroyed, and the strike with a specially designed missile was a complete success.

More details here.

The Day The US Won In Vietnam

By DemocracyRules

The U.S. won the war 35 years ago, in Jan 1973.

I'm talking about Operations Linebacker I and Linebacker II, which were amazing demonstrations of US air power.  The U.S. defeated the best Soviet-built fighters over North Vietnam.  They eventually were able to virtually bomb at will, using B-52's.  Rail lines, bridges, harbors, oil storage facilities, and many more targets were hit. 

Of course the North had massive support and re-supply from the Soviets and China.  North Vietnam was obviously in no position to build, own, or fly Mig 21's, or the Soviet SAM-2 anti-aircraft missile with amazing range and killing power.  But even with all the help that North Vietnam got, the U.S. was able to bomb stuff faster than the Communists could re-supply it.

The Linebacker operations crippled key elements of the North Vietnam war machine, and their access to war materiel was reduced by more than half.  The momentum in their drive to invade South Vietnam was slowed by Linebacker I, then effectively stopped by Linebacker II. 

With the Linebacker operations, by Christmas 1972, Nixon had succeeded in forcing Vietnam to the bargaining table, and from there, he and Kissinger were able to negotiate a meaningful peace agreement.

He could have totally defeated the North if the Democrats had not gained strong influence over the legislative branch in January 1973.  Nevertheless, the peace agreement was enough, and Nixon promised that if the U.S. had to return to Vietnam, they would  destroy the North's capacity to make war.  The peace treaty was signed in Paris on Jan 27 1973.

Nixon would not be able to keep that promise, because the Dems' controlled the legislative branch, which controlled the funding for war.  In 1975, the North broke the peace treaty and re-invaded South Vietnam.  The Dems denied funding for the defense of South Vietnam, and without American air support, the cause was lost for the South.

So that's how the Democrat Party lost the war in Vietnam.

So What Is It With Russia?

By DemocracyRules

In many neighborhoods, in many countries, there is a drunken guy who throws beer bottles, bullies his neighbors, starts fights for no reason, and who no one likes. 

Is this the international image Russia wants?   That is how bad it is getting.  After communism collapsed, Russia's leaders decided to be little tsars, dictatorial, unsympathetic to their own people, expansionist, and international hegemonist pains in the ass.  Giving nuclear tech to North Korea and Iran, selling arms to Syria and Venezuela, and other rotten countries, it's as if Russia's leaders have a, 'what nasty thing can I do today' list, and every day they add more stuff.

Russia is bigger than Canada, loaded with resources and opportunities, and I can't imagine what it would do with more land. Russians could be as rich as sultans with what they already have.  Do Russia's leaders just think it's fun to veto things at the UN, block sensible international proposals, interfere with democracies, and bully other countries?   Do they think they can re-establish world dominance by being rotten, while they impoverish their own population with their incompetence?  Can't Russia try just being nice for once? 

Russia's economy is growing, but they are drowning in corruption and other countries are growing faster. Russia will soon to be poorer per person than China.  Russia's leaders need to stop hungering for world influence, and work harder to improve their own country.

By the way, yes, the photo has been photo-shopped, I, er moved one of Putin's fingers.

Venezuela Accuses Exxon of "Terrorism"

By DemocracyRules

Exxon is being mean by trying to ensure that they get reimbursed for assets that Venezuela seized.  They got US courts to freeze $12 billion in Venezuela's assets. 

Poor little Chavez, such a victim he is.