October 17, 2009 at 9:25 pm ·
Robert Niles at the online journalism Review has a good article arguing that freedom of the press should not be exclusive to approved journalists.
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/people/robert/200910/1787/
He writes:
There ought to be no special class of citizen called a “journalist.” Anyone who does journalism, even if for just a moment in their lives, ought to enjoy the protections of the First Amendment when they choose to speak or to publish. Otherwise, we are ceding to unelected corporate employers the power to determine who gets First Amendment rights, or not.
Posted by Christine Palma |
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Filed under: Journalism, Legal, Publishing
October 14, 2009 at 12:12 am ·
Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez gave Obama this book as a gift in April 2009. It chronicles five centuries of Latin America’s exploitation by the United States of America.
In the 20th century section of the book, Eduardo Galeano mentions something interesting in passing. Robert McNamara, the World Bank president who was chairman of Ford and then Secretary for Defense, has called the population explosion the greatest obstacle to progress in Latin America; the World Bank, he says, will give priority in its loans to countries that implement birth control plans.
The definition of a Mathusian Crisis from Wikipedia:
Malthusian catastrophe (also called a Malthusian check, crisis, disaster, or nightmare) was originally foreseen to be a forced return to subsistence-level conditions once population growth had outpaced agricultural production. Later formulations consider economic growth limits as well. The term is also commonly used in discussions of oil depletion.
Based on the work of political economist Thomas Malthus (1766–1834), theories of Malthusian catastrophe are very similar to thesubsistence theory of wages. The main difference is that the Malthusian theories predict over several generations or centuries, whereas the subsistence theory of wages predicts over years and decades.
An August 2007 science review in The New York Times raised the claim that the Industrial Revolution had enabled the modern world to break out of the Malthusian Trap,[1] while a front page Wall Street Journal article in March 2008 pointed out various limited resources which may soon limit human population growth because of a widespread belief in the importance of prosperity for every individual and the rising consumption trends of large developing nations such as China and India.[2]
Paul R. Ehrlich in his book “The Population Bomb” predicted worldwide famines. Ehrlich wrote that India “couldn’t possibly feed two hundred million more people by 1980.” This was disproved just six years later:
However, the introduction of high-yield grains and improved techniques resulted in India becoming self-sustaining in cereal production by 1974…
From LifeSiteNews.com
ROME, October 13, 2009
The head of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) told a gathering of African bishops in Rome on Monday that the theories of Thomas Malthus, equating increased population with food shortages, are incorrect. In response to a question from the floor at the African Synod, Dr. Jacques Diouf said that “food security” is possible in Africa now without the reduction of population, if there is the political will to achieve it.
…
Infrastructural development, improved living conditions for farmers, irrigation, the increased use of fertilizers, building and maintenance of rural roads, availability of high-yield seed and seed quality control and certification, will bring Africa into the “Green Revolution” that has taken place in Mexico since the 1950s and Asia and India since the 1970s, said Diouf.
…
Diouf’s address painted a picture of hope for Africa, based on her increasing population. Citing demographic trends in his prepared address, he said that in the next 50 years, Africa will have a population of 2 billion “and will represent the largest market in the world.” Africa, he pointed out, has 80 per cent of the world’s deposits of platinum and manganese, 57 per cent of the world’s diamonds, 34 per cent of gold, 23 of bauxite and 18 per cent of uranium. This wealth of natural resources and human resources means that “Africa cannot be ignored in the economic development of the planet,” he said.
If Latin America, like Africa, is rich in natural and human resources that the people of those nations have not been able to tap into for themselves disproportionate to first world “partner” countries and if the Malthusian Catastrophe is a myth that has been disproved, what does this make of the World Bank’s ongoing demands for population control? Is it a racist policy?
Posted by Christine Palma |
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Filed under: Book Reviews
October 8, 2009 at 5:13 pm ·
I took a drawing class at a local community college this past Summer to help structure my day and get me out of the house and around more people. I have such a weird sleep schedule, such poor sleep hygiene and ongoing insomnia. It’s as though I work a graveyard shift.
This was one of the drawings I liked.
Posted by Christine Palma |
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Filed under: Drawings
October 5, 2009 at 7:13 pm ·
Another quick and easy drawing.
When our teacher was not busy helping students and took some time to draw along with the class, it was immediately humbling, because he is that good. I need to surround myself with more sources of inspiration.
Posted by Christine Palma |
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Filed under: Drawings
October 5, 2009 at 7:12 pm ·
We had lots of practice drawing bedsheets wrapped around mannequins, wrapped with rope, lit with strong dramatic lighting.
Posted by Christine Palma |
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Filed under: Drawings
October 5, 2009 at 4:42 pm ·
It’s late afternoon and my first visit to the West Hollywood Book Fair. I park at the Pacific Design Center and walk over. I catch Jordan Elgrably of the Levantine Center in conversation with Reza Aslan and Tamim Ansary on Art, Politics and the Arab Muslim World. The kernel of the hour long talk was that art and music are building bridges to the “Muslim world” that politicians, humanitarian relief, etc have failed to do. There was mention of many rock/electronic bands I didn’t recognize.
Other highlights of the fair include seeing Bob Barker of the Price is Right.
Posted by Christine Palma |
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Filed under: Events, Politics
