IFC supports women in the poultry sector

Taken from WorldPoultry.net

The IFC Advisory Services for South Asia (the SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility - SEDF) and the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Bangladesh have signed an agreement to provide support for women farmers and entrepreneurs in the poultry sector.

This project includes training workshops to enhance technical and business management skills, as well as sessions providing guidelines to help women entrepreneurs improve their businesses. The initiative will increase productivity and generate income for women in the sector.

"There is a lot of interest from women to invest in the poultry sector, but they lack the necessary skills. I hope that by delivering both technical and business management training, this project will address this issue and encourage women to set up poultry-related enterprises," said the president of the Women Entrepreneurs Association, Nasreen A. Mintoo.

"Our aim is to help women entrepreneurs develop the necessary skills to scale up and remain competitive in a commercially viable, sustainable way," said Deepak Adhikary, deputy general manager and head of IFC-SEDF Bangladesh.

Random Thoughts: by Rev. John

I'm all for calling celebrities on hypocrisy when it comes to whatever the social issue du joir is, but am I the only one who heard Sheryl Crow say we should limit ourselves to "one square of toilet paper" and thought she was being sarcastic? Do people really think she means that seriously? Only use one square, "except for those instances where you need a second or third?" Two hundred and seventeen different people are running for President, each with their vision for America. My vision for America is one with a sense of humour, where we can put the politics aside once in a while just to simply say, "LOL!"

Matt Serra, or WORLD WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION Matt Serra, and Matt Hughes are going to be the two coaches on the upcoming season of "Ultimate Fighter: The Welterweights." We're all particularly looking forward to this because it's been decided that the Serra/Longo Competition team is going to be our "NY YANKEES" of MMA, and we all hate Matt Hughes and all the other Miletich guys.

I was at our local burger joint a few days ago, and there was this guy who was, as they say, "all up in the grill" of someone else. He wasn't wearing a shit, had a big gold chain, his ball cap turned sideways, and was trying oh so very hard to look tough. To prove how tough he is, he even punched his car. And I thought to myself, "Self, there's a guy who thinks he's cool." What's sad is that I'm sure there are people who think he is.

You're primitive and you're cynical to me. I chewed down on the bit and almost swallowed it. You sit all alone with your color TV. Your hair starts to glisten in spite of the fleas. We don't have to stay friends. Let's pretend to be enemies. Yeah, whatever makes you happy.

So to celebrate Earth Day last Sunday, MTV aired a very special episode of "Pimp My Ride," where they pimped a ride to make it more eco friendly. It was a nice thing to do, but I don't see how much of a difference it will make when they go right back to pimping rides to waste as much energy as they can possible squeeze into a Honda Civic. I find MTV saying we should "go green" to be particularly amusing. The two most basic things you can do to help the environment (and two things we should all be doing) is to cut back on excess and exercise self-restraint. If it wasn't for celebrating excess and people who show no self restraint whatsoever, MTV wouldn't have any programming.

First I quit cable news after the Imus lynching debacle was one media circus too many for me. Now I've decided to quit the Internet, after a pop stars stupid comment on toilet paper seemed to take precedence over a world leader dying and that pesky little war. I've decided I'm just going to watch the Sunday news show for an overview of what's going on in the world, and if there's anything I feel compelled to research further, I will. My favourite is ABC's This Week. George Stephanopoulos is a great interview, and despite who his past employer was, I find him to be fair in his questioning. Plus George Will is the man, and as long as this one tart whose name I can't think of isn't on, the roundtable is usually heavy on ideas and light on talking points. I'll go back to cable news once the joint press conferences debates start, just because those will be good for a few yucks

Do you know that feeling in the middle of the afternoon when you really want to take you pants off but can't until you get home, but you still have two hours to go and the day is really dragging, and all you can think of is, "Wow, I really wish I wasn't wearing pants right now?" I hate that.

Enough About You, Let’s Talk About BUCGAW

It felt good to be back in the saddle again. I was a little overcome with trepidation before the show as I thought having taken a week off the good Rev and I would not sound so good but I’ll be damned, the show was a lot of fun. I’ve opted to go balls out with a new commenting style – less Brit Hume more Mark Radulich. In other words, though I am loathe admitting it, the only way a talk show of this stripe works is if I give more opinion and what’s in my heart than I do straight news analysis. So that means less research and more animated discussion on topics I have a solid grounding in. Having done that, I think it worked pretty well.

Even though I don’t have the expendable time like I used to, Rev John and I will still talk about the show throughout the week, hashing out what it is we want to say. However, to me the funniest and best part of the show came from a segment we didn’t confer about until about 30 seconds before the show started. The BUCGAW Report was to pretty damn entertaining this week and definitely removed some of the tension that the previous political discussion brought on. If you haven’t heard it yet, it’s worth the price of admission alone to hear Rev John and I riffing on prison show movies staring a cast of a 100 chickens.

Life Gets in the Way

I have put off writing this entry for some time now but in reality, it's probably more than a year overdue. Since I started this blog, I have tried to conduct myself as something of an opinion writer in training and have treated this blog like it was a real job. I wrote like one would exercise not just because I liked the hobby of writing but also to make myself a better writer, again like someone trying to lose weight and get in shape. When one is single and without many dependents or responsibilities, one can easily delve into a hobby such as this without much thought as to what it's consequences might be because obviously, you are only dealing with yourself. However, once I decided to get married I now had another person and her needs to consider and one cannot be completely selfish and selfabsorbed if you want your marriage to work. Marriage takes a degree of sacrifice, and frankly so does just becoming an adult. This won't be the first time I've opted to put away a childish thing in order to focus on more pertinent issues in my life.

That being said, with a flailing interest in political opinion writing and a life that consumes more of my time away from the computer, it is with some regret and more hope for better things that I have decided to stop writing on a weekly basis. If my heart were still in this I might try to fit it in, in leiu of something else but frankly, until Iran or China actually attack the US or the '08 primaries start up, I can't get excited with what I'm seeing in the news today and that by itself is reason enough not to pursue weekly blogging to the exclusion of all else or the detriment of my life off of the computer. Not to mention the fact that my new job (as of 3/12) will not really permit me the luxury of cosying down with the computer for long enough that I can actually compose something of value.

I have just enough energy to continue with the radio show which you can still find here with my thoughts and occasionally, time permitting, I will still throw something up for giggles but that's about all I can muster.

Thanks for reading (all 12 of you a day).

Next on Progressive Conservatism Live...

MARCH 18TH - Mark will be busy cleaning and doing his housework. Rev. John will just be drunk all weekend. Sadly, there will be no Progressive Conservatism Live this Sunday.

However we will return next week (March 25th) with a look at Mitt Romney and...we have no idea what else. That's where you come in. What topics would you like us to kibitz aboot on the show?

And if you miss us that badly, you can click here for all our archived shows.


Find out what grinded Mark's gears this week:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ConfirmSubscribe&friendID=144579825

And hey look, Rev. John has a blog too:
http://blog.myspace.com/brodigan2016

go to blogtalkradio.com

Gingrich Vs Cuomo, Mark Vs People Who Hate the BIG, John VS Hypocrites, and Bengali Cows VS Chickens

It would have been nice if the Blog Talk Radio system had been working properly. I could finally see the buttons but one of them didn’t work and of course we got cut off again. Meh.

Outside of that, I thought the show went well. It seems like the hour just flies by now. I probably could have done an entire hour on just the economy and the BIG but obviously we had other stuff to get to.

I encourage those of you who write me about my column to call into the show and discuss your points further. I promise not to bite.

Lastly, though John’s already had a break, I need a weekend off. With the changing of jobs taking place and other personal matters I just need a moment to reconfigure my life and get things rolling again. So again, no show next week but when we come back, we should be refreshed and ready to rumble.

Monologue:

Why Our Emerging Robotic Nation Needs a Basic Income Guarantee

The Rise and Fall of a Basic Income Guarantee Bill in the United States Congress

US Economy Risks and Strategies 2007-2017 (V1.2)

Is this really the strong economy we are being lead to believe?

Gingrich Vs Cuomo

the "Lincoln at Cooper Union" dialogue series: Gingrich Vs Cuomo

The BUCGAW Report

Missing chicken mystery in Bengal solved

Narcissistic College Students

Narcissism and the End of Social Cohesion

Narcissism and the End of Social Cohesion

I was at a training recently and one of the younger social workers in the room was talking to me about the need for more certified male mentors. This came from a discussion about how when case managers gather services for families, almost all of them end up requiring some form of therapy as well as respite/mentor services. The obvious reason being that there is typically no father present or the one that is around is not functional in the home. The picture we were describing is a rather common one: boys of all races and ages growing up with no positive male role models and in turn never being taught nor having the opportunity to develop appropriate coping skills for boys.

Though the conversation zigged and zagged from one topic to another, even to the extent that we were seriously discussing what has been the long term effects (if any) that the Million Man March had on getting black men to return to their families to raise the children they brought in to this world. That’s when someone at the table looked up from their lunch of chicken and rice and said rather profoundly, “You know, the men of this country may be pigs but the mothers out there aren’t much better and in some cases they are worse.”

This is absolutely true. Many drug-using mothers had abandoned an untold number of teenagers I treated when I worked in an inpatient drug rehabilitation facility when they were born or any number of years after. Others were not abandoned but they might have done better if they had been given up for adoption as their mothers continued to use drugs all throughout the child’s life and tended to bring in men who in more cases than I care to recount, molested them.

There are a multitude of reasons why young people use drugs, become unfit parents, take unnecessary risks and even commit serious crimes. These reasons range from socio-economic to psychological. However, if there is one common thread that links the awful behavior of a low – no income crack addicted mother to a drunken irresponsible high-income frat boy is the unfortunately common trait, narcissism.

“The terms "narcissism", "narcissistic" and "narcissist" are often used as pejoratives, denoting vanity, conceit, egotism or simple selfishness. Applied to a social group, it is sometimes used to denote elitism or an indifference to the plight of others,” according to Wikipedia.

You can follow the line of regression from the Post World War II era to where we are now by looking at a number of factors. After WWII we see in the US the rise of suburbs and a distinctly self-sufficient middle class. It’s never been uncommon for parents to want better for their children than they themselves one experienced but now not only can parents provide a better life for their children but also, one with less and less responsibility for others. In other words, where once families had to think about each other in order to survive, slowly but surely the roles of the younger family members in which they were the caretakers of older generation were replaced by the government (social security) as well other unintended consequences of modernity.

To put it in another way, from the end of WWII until now we’ve had the dubious convenience of not having to care for others because the government and lord knows what else would do it for us. As more money and opportunities unfolded for the happily progressing American family, so did the devil of selfishness grow, feeding on the steadily declining idea of community. No sooner were we as a country throwing overboard the social mores that had helped civilization grow out of the darkest corners of Africa, were we giving in to behavior dictated by the basest impulses in the human psyche. It didn’t happen overnight but this did happen. Sixty to seventy years ago, it was not typical for people to have children out of impulse and then not take care of them because their own needs were not being met. From a socio-anthropological point of view, we flipped as a people from one where the needs of others outweighed the needs of the one to the needs of the one are the only needs that exist (until one’s conscience kicks in).

There is no question that we’re more narcissistic as a society today than we ever have been. The real question is whether or not we’ve hit the point of no return. One has to wonder if the trend of the last 40 some odd years have gone past the point of being irreversible. Twenty years ago one could argue that so long as we walled up the poor areas of America and kept it’s malevolent influence away from the proverbial children, well then, frankly who’d care if the poor burned themselves into oblivion. However, 20 years since even then, when many thought we could sweep poverty and its subsequent generation of immoral behavior under the rug, we’ve seen the richest and most potentially successful amongst us give rise to the same, if not worse behavior run amok throughout the country.

You may have heard that, “A new comprehensive study suggests today's college students are more narcissistic and self-centered than their predecessors.

Five psychologists who conducted the study worry the trend could be harmful to personal relationships and American society. The study suggests narcissists "are more likely to have romantic relationships that are short-lived, at risk for infidelity" and lack emotional warmth. The study also suggests narcissists are also more likely "to exhibit game-playing, dishonesty, and over-controlling and violent behaviors."

The study examined the responses of more than 16,000 college students nationwide who completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory between 1982 and 2006. The researchers say NPI scores have risen steadily since 1982.” (Source)

So even the data suggests that the most affluent amongst us are just as selfish and ego-integrity deficient (look it up folks) as the people mostly associated with the worst in human nature. My question is that if the rich Caucasian prom queen has just as much of a chance of tossing her baby in the dumpster as a the resident inner city minority crack whore, then where is this trend leading us as a society? In other words, if all the kids of the generation which is to be the caretaker of those of us whom are say, 40 or older, only care about themselves and can’t generate any decent or long lasting relationships with anybody on the planet, then how are we supposed to proceed as a society?

The simple math is this: we’ve abandoned, both literally and figuratively, 2 – 3 generations of children who, out of survival instinct, have learned to only fend for themselves and are not capable of caring for others thus there will be no stewards of the future left to take care of the country when the rest of us are gone.

As I asked the young lady at the training rhetorically but with a worried heart, “How does one undo 40 years of teaching people it’s OK to be selfish?”

The answer to that question may hold the key to this country’s future.

This Sunday on Progressive Conservatism LIVE!

MARCH 11TH - Mark won't shut up about Newt Gingrich. Rev. John won't stut up about Randy Couture. What does that have to do with anything? Nothing at all. It's exactly what you've come to expect from the only BTR show that doesn't suck as bad as the others...Progressive Conservatism Live. And unless Newt wins the world title and Randy makes people think he might run for President just so he can collect a few sheckles on the lecture circuit, here's what you can look foward to:

We take a look at the Newt Gingrich/Mario Cuomo debate and what it (at least should) mean for America.

College kids are spoiled. That's news?

We give the U.S. Economy a swift kick in the nuts.

All this plus...you guessed it...the BUCGAW Report! It's all this Sunday at 12:30 PM EST. You can click here for all the necessary information.


Find out what grinded Mark's gears this week:
http://blog.myspace.com/punkrockconservative

And hey look, Rev. John has a blog too:
http://blog.myspace.com/brodigan2016

go to blogtalkradio.com

Having Fun with Global Warming, Welfare, Smokin’ Joe Biden, and Jesus

Confession time kids…I’ve been a bit depressed lately for a variety of personal, professional and other reasons. Some of this depression was caused by the show itself and some affected the show but I’ve taken my own advice and things are better now. One of the changes I’ve made is my attitude with regards to the show as per my own professionalism versus how much fun it is. Right now, I think I have to have more fun with it than I might it if were my job. The reality is that it’s not my job. It’s not John’s job either and that’s the issue for me at hand. As I’ve said in previous posts, I love doing the show but I can’t stress myself out week after week trying to make what amounts to a garage band sound like the John Williams Symphony Orchestra recording Star Wars. So in the spirit of my newfound outlook on the show, the answer is yes, I had fun doing the show today. I talked openly and honestly about subjects I know very well and just gave my opinions in a natural way. I don’t have control over who listens or what they think, just what I believe is good for me and the show in that order.

Overall, I think having fun and not taking it too seriously will be good for the show in general. I’ve heard the serious shows on BTR and I’m not overly impressed or entertained. Maybe that’s what others will say about my show but I’m the one who gets up early on Sundays to do it (with Rev. John) and if I’m not enjoying it but it sounds professional then what’s the point?

Personally, I thought all the segments sounded pretty good even though we had some more tech difficulties yet again. That’s the way the cookie crumbles I suppose. Till next time folks…

Intro/Monologue

Matt Drudge v. Al Gore

“Smokin’ Joe Biden” in 1,000 Words or Less

Joe Biden For President

The BUCGAW Report

Teenage suicides in Japan linked to bird flu vaccine

Welfare Reform and You

On Welfare and the Alternatives

Conspiracy or Quack: James Cameron Finds Jesus’ Tomb

Jesus tomb found, says film-maker

On Welfare and the Alternatives

Poor people in society are a fact of life. So long as there is scarcity in resources, the ability for the powerful to command armies, and the human element of competitiveness, there will be poor people. But the definition of poverty ranges across the world. For example, poverty in the Bronx, NY is practically middle class compared to say poverty in any number of African nations.

In America, if you cannot find work or are laid off from your job, the government will send you a check. It won’t be a lot, probably not a lot to live on but you won’t starve either. And speaking of starving, the government will also send you money to buy food, will house you if you are homeless, provide health insurance if you haven’t got any and will educate your children without asking you for a dollar.

None of the above are great solutions and anyone that has had experience with any of the above programs knows how woefully inadequate they are. The money the government sends you is not even close to enough to live on, the housing is usually substandard and in neighborhoods overwhelmed by crime, and the food/health programs are certified disasters, to say nothing of our public school systems in areas where there is also public housing.

Many conservatives will site some sort of moral failing as the reason why people are poor. These conservatives (many of whom are privileged) do not take into account systemic racism, misappropriations of government funds slated for development, industrial upheaval or just plain tragic bad luck. Many conservatives also seem to regard the welfare system as one in which people are paid to be slovenly or immoral and thus generations of this sort of behavior are encouraged thus expanding the welfare system.

They are not altogether wrong here but they are more wrong than right.

Welfare for a very long time was not means tested and in many cases it did encourage a breakdown of the family unit. If you worked at all but still couldn’t pay your bills you were taken off the welfare roles so many people who could not find suitable work just stayed on welfare. In addition, women could receive more money per child they had and if there was no father present, thus creating a cycle of single-mother families, irresponsible parenting and general neglect of children in the poorest of areas.

During the NEWT years of the Clinton administration, Congress and the president sought to reform welfare so that it would be means-tested and time limited thus forcing the cycle of degeneration to come to an end. However, a new article on the AP is reporting that, “The welfare state is bigger than ever despite a decade of policies designed to wean poor people from public aid. The number of families receiving cash benefits from welfare has plummeted since the government imposed time limits on the payments a decade ago. But other programs for the poor, including Medicaid, food stamps and disability benefits, are bursting with new enrollees.

The result, according to an Associated Press analysis: Nearly one in six people rely on some form of public assistance, a larger share than at any time since the government started measuring two decades ago.

Critics of the welfare overhaul say the numbers offer fresh evidence that few former recipients have become self-sufficient, even though millions have moved from welfare to work. They say the vast majority have been forced into low-paying jobs without benefits and few opportunities to advance.”

The implication by those who sought to reform welfare by placing an emphasis on work is that all work is good work. Whether you’re a cashier at Wal-Mart or the CEO of SLM Corp., it is theoretically all-equal in the eyes of the lord. Those of us living on planet earth know that this is simply conservative elitist balderdash. Manual labor or retail work may be respectable in lieu of not working or being a drug dealer but the reality is that besides earning a crap paycheck you’ll have also earned the title, “working poor.”

Ask anyone living in the North East or California if they can buy property or big-ticket items, decided markers of not living in poverty, on a retailers or Wal-Mart salary and when they are done laughing you’ll get a hearty “no” for your troubles. The standard of living today in America is prohibitively so expensive that most of my friends who had decent jobs in their 20’s still could not afford to live outside of their parent’s homes. Those that could simply didn’t want to as they didn’t have to want to choose between relative comfort with little privacy and say, a cave next to Osama Bin Laden.

Now that’s just us middle class folks – what about those closer to the poverty line that the article addresses? Once again, forcing people to work menial jobs with little pay also causes unintended and expensive consequences. These people, usually single women of white, black and Hispanic race, have to pay for daycare for their children since they are no longer afforded the luxury of being able to stay home and raise them. Daycare, let me tell you, is not all it’s cracked up to be with regard to both practical and safety matters or the child’s psychological development.

The fact of the matter is that making people work doesn’t always solve the problem of self-sustainability. Meeting ones own needs as well as your families is more complex than just receiving a paycheck. Inherent in the NEWT-Clintonian welfare reform bill is the belief that being a mom, with all of its subsequent duties is not worthy work. I dare any man reading this right now to tell their wife or their mother that what they do to keep the house running isn’t worth spit. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

…

Now don’t you feel sheepish? Getting back to conservative thought on this, if you want to decrease the size of government while making people self-sufficient and in doing so leaving the family unit intact, there is a rather simple solution that has been batted around since the Nixon administration.

The Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) is a government ensured guarantee that no one's income will fall below the level necessary to meet their most basic needs for any reason. As Bertrand Russell put it in 1918, "A certain small income, sufficient for necessities, should be secured for all, whether they work or not, and that a larger income should be given to those who are willing to engage in some work which the community recognizes as useful. On this basis we may build further." Thus, with BIG no one is destitute but everyone has the positive incentive to work. BIG is an efficient, effective, and equitable solution to poverty that promotes individual freedom and leaves the beneficial aspects of a market economy in place.

The term BIG is more specific than terms like income maintenance or income support, which refer to any kind of program designed to aid those with lower incomes. The Basic Income Guarantee differs from existing income maintenance programs in the United States and Canada in that it is both universal and has no work requirement. It is therefore, very simple and easy to administer. It helps the working poor, single parents, and the homeless, without placing anyone under the supervision of a caseworker…The Basic Income gives every citizen a check for the full basic income every month, and taxes his or her earned income, so that nearly everyone both pays taxes and receives a basic income. Those with low incomes receive more in basic income than they pay in taxes and those with relatively high income pay more than they receive. The Negative Income Tax pays the full benefit only to those with no private income and phases out the benefit as people earn more private income, but private income is not taxed until the negative income tax is fully phased out. Thus, the Negative Income Tax avoids giving people checks and asking them to send checks back, but the Basic Income gives people the assurance that their check will be there every month if they have a sudden loss of income. Despite their differences both of these plans guarantee some basic minimum level of income and ensure that people who make more money privately will be financial better off than those who make less, and therefore both are forms of BIG.

I believe in dismantling the entire welfare system, Medicaid/care included and replacing it with the above BIG. This is the conservative solution without making judgments or convoluting it with man-managed bureaucracies as this would be the domain of the US Treasury department.

For more on the BIG check out this link.

We will be discussing this issue and more on Sunday at 12:30 PM EST on Progressive Conservatism LIVE!

This Sunday on PCLIVE!

MARCH 4TH - Mark is from Mars. Rev. John is from Uranus (huh huh...ur-anus). But all joking aside, they still get together once a week to hit you with the hottest program on the Internet. It's your pulse pounding, wrap our legs around your torso and "give it to you" sixty minutes of politics, pugilism, and poultry...Progressive Conservatism Live. And unless the President of Iran comes over to have tea with Mark and his wife, here's what those two citizen broadcasters run amuk plan on learning you on:

Presidential hopeful "Smokin'" Joe Biden in 1,000 words or less

The Welfare system...it stinks!

Why Conservatives need to shut up aboot Global Warming

All this plus...you guessed it...the BUCGAW Report! It's all this Sunday at 12:30 PM EST. You can click here for all the necessary information.


Find out what grinded Mark's gears this week:
http://blog.myspace.com/punkrockconservative

And hey look, Rev. John has a blog too:
http://blog.myspace.com/brodigan2016

go to blogtalkradio.com

Mike Huckabee in 1,000 Words or Less

Outside of maybe 5 – 6 candidates running in this election, many of them are what you might call “also-ran’s” or unserious candidates. However, nobody knew who Howard Dean was either until he but the fear of God into John Kerry and Dick Gephardt back in 2003. So it is in the spirit of the fact that you never know who might just run away with an American election, that I bring you the …in a 1,000 words or less series.

They say that governors make better presidential candidates than those from either house of Congress, namely the Senate. In nearly all of last century’s modern presidential elections, two have gone directly from the Senate to the Presidency. In most cases the President-elect was either the previous terms sitting Vice President or the former Governor of one the 50 states.

A relatively popular sitting governor with name recognition and a relatively popular sitting Vice President who was a former senator in his own right contested the 2000 election. In the 2008 election, four of the strongest candidates are either current senators or former senators and the only other likely candidate was the mayor of the biggest city in the country.

This set-up has left many conservatives wondering, “Where is a good, strong, socially conservative governor to be found that can win this election for us and stand up for what we believe in?” The first candidate that comes to mind is Mitt Romney, but not only is he a Mormon but he’s also more liberal than his GOP namesake might allude to.

That my friends is why we should talk about former Arkansas Governor and 5 time author, Mike Huckabee. For those of you that vote mostly on issues of social concern such as abortion and gay marriage, Mike Huckabee may just be the man you are looking for.

On the subject of abortion, in an interview with Tim Russert Gov. Huckabee was challenged on his life long pro-life stance and had this to say when asked whether or not he’d ban abortion, “I would seek always to promote the view that life is precious and should be protected. Would I be able to singularly do that? Of course not. But I think it has to be won on, on a battlefield of one heart at a time rather than pieces of legislation at a time.”

Gov. Huckabee seems to be saying here that he wouldn’t necessarily, nor could he in actually, outright ban abortion, but he would try to set a moral imperative for Americans to follow that all life is precious and must be preserved. In accordance with that philosophy, Gov. Huckabee stated that just birthing a child does rise to the level of preserving and caring for it, but rather the child’s environment should also support the best life possible as well.

From that same interview, “As a pro-life person, as a governor, look at my record. Yes, did we pass pro-life legislation? We did. But we also did things that improved the environmental quality and the conservation issues that would affect a child’s air and water. We also made sure that he had a better education, that access to affordable health care would be better. So I think that real pro-life people need to be concerned about affordable housing, we need to be concerned about safe neighborhoods, access to a college education. That, for me, is what pro-life has to mean.” (Source)

The problem with presidential politics is that more time is spent on “gotcha!” type journalism and tactics and not enough time is spent on looking at the candidate’s actual record while in office.

For example, on the subject of education, an issue sure to pour sugar in the gas tank of any candidacy when you consider the abysmal state of our public education system, “As governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee has a proven and consistent track record as ardent advocate of the right for home school options. He led efforts in Arkansas resulting in enactment of some of the most friendly home school laws in the nation and appointed the first ever home schooling parent to a position on the State Board of Education. Mike's comments regarding education policy, and his actions, are clear. According to Mike Huckabee, "I believe the most effective way to improve education is through creating competition within the system and then providing parents the right to choose the educational format they feel best suited to their own thoughts for their children. I believe this is a choice ultimately best left to parents and not to government."

Under Mike's leadership, Arkansans saw an expansion of charter schools and watched as he pushed for and achieved tough education standards through measuring performance and significant accountability. He fought for and eventually signed into law language providing the state with authority to close completely failing public schools, a measure now implemented on several occasions. In those instances, this drastic step was undertaken in order to ensure students are not wasting their time and taxpayers are not wasting their money.”

On the subject of healthcare, in 2000, Huckabee led a campaign to funnel 100% of the state's tobacco settlement revenues into the state's health care system, rather than into the general fund. This resulted in the creation of a health insurance program for those who could not afford private health insurance but do not qualify for Medicaid. Huckabee has also been about the need to reform Medicaid.

While I happen to be a rather devout believer in evolution, there are those that cannot accept science, no matter what, and are perfectly fine allowing faith, and nothing more, to be the guiding principle of their life. Here again, Huckabee may be the choice for those that just cannot accept evolution nor those who support it.

According to the National Center for Science Education, Gov. Huckabee stated that, “I think schools also ought to be fair to all views. Because, frankly, Darwinism is not an established scientific fact. It is a theory of evolution, that’s why it’s called the theory of evolution. And I think that what I’d be concerned with is that it should be taught as one of the views that’s held by people. But it’s not the only view that’s held. And any time you teach one thing as that it’s the only thing, then I think that has a real problem to it…I think that the state ought to give students exposure to all points of view. And I would hope that that would be all points of view and not only evolution. I think that they also should be given exposure to the theories not only of evolution but to the basis of those who believe in creationism…I think it’s something kids ought to be exposed to. I do not necessarily buy into the traditional Darwinian theory, personally. But that does not mean that I’m afraid that somebody might find out what it is…”

Surely this will present problems for him in bluer, more evolution friendly states but one cannot deny that his view us unpopular with the red crowd below the Mason Dixon line.

Mike Huckabee will strike a chord with Southern Values voters as well as those concerned about healthcare. He will also most likely play on the fact that he ran a state and made some serious improvements as opposed to his competitors in the Senate. He may be the spoiler candidate in Red State primaries such as Iowa and South Carolina. That is Mike Huckabee; healthcare reformer, education advocate, pro-lifer, creationist – in 1,000 words or less.

7 Continents in 7 Minutes: Weapons Proliferation

7 Continents in 7 Minutes:

I’ve just finished Bill Gertz’s 2004 work on weapons proliferation titled, “Treachery,” and one of the items that stood out most to me was not so much how we’re screwed by friends and foes alike across the world; but rather, that Algeria, oddly enough, had their own nuclear weapons program. That’s Algeria folks…in Africa…not Iran or N Korea or even Syria…Algeria…and what kills me about that is the fact that part of reason Algeria sought nuclear weapons was because they felt threatened by Libya. Does anybody else see the pattern here?

And with that here are your not-yet-ready-for-primetime-countries:

Asia

‘Pak agrees to give Saudis nuclear bomb’

PAKISTAN HAS agreed to provide Saudi Arabia nuclear weapons and missiles last month, according to an Israeli intelligence website debka.com.

The website stated that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Saudi King Abdullah concluded an agreement with “seven secret clauses” on January 21, during his visit to Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan agreed to provide an atomic deterrent in the event of “a nuclear emergency”. The transfer of control would also occur in case Iran threatened the Persian Gulf Emirates, Egypt or Jordan.

According to intelligence sources, the agreement is impossible to confirm, however, it is a logical extension of a long-standing Saudi-Pakistan nuclear understanding. The goal: ensure a nuclear Iran does not dominate the Gulf.

Retired senior Indian officials believe the Saudis have financed Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme through shipments of cheap petrol since the 90s. In return, Pakistan was to provide a nuclear weapon on request. (More)

The arms race in the Middle East is on…but I think that was already readily apparent. The Saudi’s have a legitimate fear that Iran may become the bully on the block when, and I do mean when, it obtains nuclear weapons. That’s essentially been the whole problem since the end of the Cold War; that once the Soviet Union dissolved the rest of the world would be free of nasty entanglements like loyalty to a superpower, so that they could go about the business of developing weapons on their own and being able to defend themselves. Other than manufacturing, resource trading and lending, the only way to be a player in this world and challenge the United States is to have your cache of weapons of mass destruction. Despite warnings and good ideas written about by journalists like Bill Gertz, I do not believe that the US will ever be in a real position ever again to serious stop the proliferation of WMD’s. Much like the drug war, there will be some minor victories but in the grand scheme of things, the bulk of the illicit trading will not be stopped.


Africa

US offers arms to Chad, despite tensions

The United States and Chad have reached a military cooperation accord, which provides for the sale of some weapons and related equipment to the Chadian armed forces.

According to the Associated Press, the agreement is pending on the signature of a bilateral accord to exempt US citizens from being tried at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

According to the agreement – which the US has signed with more than 100 countries on pain of being cut off from receiving military aid – the government of Chad commits not to hand over potential US military staff or citizens involved in genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity who may be pursued by the ICC.

Chad – said the same source – had refused to sign this accord before.

However, N’Djamena softening on this issue coincides with an agreement with Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR) which was signed yesterday in Cannes in the context of the Franco-African summit to try to limit tensions in Darfur.

Meanwhile, even as the US has promised military aid to Chad, Matthew Conway, an official from UNHCR, quoted by BBC, said that in Chad there is the risk of a “new Rwanda”, recalling the 1994 genocide which caused at least half a million dead.

They say that proliferation of weapons only begets more proliferations of weapons. Thus it is so that in an area dirty with automatic weapons and child soldiers, the answer to solving this tragedy is not to IMPORT MORE WEAPONS. I’m a pro-American and as patriotic as the next man but you have to be intellectually honest here and say that this is reason we can’t get a handle on any kind of weapons proliferation. Sure nuclear bombs are much worse than machine guns but at the end of the day, it’s still very hyprocritical of this country to condemn others (including Israel) for selling illegal arms when we don’t seem to have an issue doing it ourselves. It smells less of peace efforts and more of fear of competition.

South America

Venezuela Wants Sub Fleet for Conflict with U.S.

Venezuela is spending $3 billion to build nine submarines, a fleet of undersea craft that would be the largest in the region -- and ready to be used against the U.S. in event of a conflict between the two countries.

The submarines will be the "diesel-electric variety," according to a communique issued by Vice Adm. Armband Laguna, quoted this month by Brazil's leading newspaper, O Estado de Sao Paulo.

They will weigh-in at approximately 1,750 metric tons apiece.

The navy is considering bids from Germany, France, and Russia, which is said to be the odds-on favorite, according to the Washington Times.

Venezuela, the Times wrote, could use a fleet of submarines to protect its interests in its exclusive economic zone, which in Caracas' view includes a large portion of the Caribbean Sea.

Protecting an area that large would require far more subs than the two over-30-years-old German U-Boats that the Venezuelan military now employs.

Moreover, the addition of the nine subs would give Venezuela the largest submarine fleet in Latin America, surpassing those of Peru, Brazil and Chile -- with six, five and four submarines, respectively.

Venezuela says it is beefing up its military capabilities -- including plans to develop an enlarged submarine fleet -- in preparation for what it called any "asymmetrical conflict" with the U.S.

The new submarine fleet is a small part of an arms buildup that the Times reports includes small arms, jet fighters and potentially air-defense missiles.

The buildup is being carried out in compliance with all international and regional nonproliferation treaties, Venezuela's ambassador to Washington, Bernardo Alvarez told the Times in a telephone interview.

Alvarez said that his government was contemplating the need to defend itself against the world's lone superpower, a nation with vastly greater military resources.

"We have simply been trying to upgrade our military equipment and maintain our defense while preserving balance in the hemisphere," Mr. Alvarez added. He also insisted that Venezuela's Latin American neighbors need not worry about the buildup.

According to the Times, Venezuela is reported to have already spent $3.4 billion on Russian arms, including assault rifles and fighter jets, and is said to be negotiating to buy a $290 million Russian air-defense system.

The Times noted that a Pentagon report estimated that Venezuela had spent about $4.3 billion on arms since 2005 alone, more than countries such as Iran, Pakistan and even China.(More)

The story is bigger than it may appear and it is certainly bigger than Chavez’ Venezuela. After decades of fighting against the Soviets to keep them out of our sphere of influence, we have begun to lose all that was gained by the break-up of the former Soviet Union. According to this article, “Moscow has been gradually restoring itself as a major regional presence throughout the western hemisphere. It is now on the verge of fully reviving its stake in the region’s political and commercial agendas, buying and selling a broad range of commodities and services ranging from frozen fish to military ordnance. The January visit of the chairman of the Russian Audit Chamber and President Vladimir Putin’s personal representative, Sergey Stepashin, to Nicaragua for the inauguration of President Daniel Ortega, is but the latest in a number of possibly important developments that have seen Russia returning to this hemisphere with masterly enthusiasm.”

If your pappy told you that the Cuban Missile Crisis was bad, well, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

North America

Cuba for Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

The only way to achieve effective disarmament in the world is by eliminating all weapons of mass destruction with international cooperation, said Cuban ambassador to the United Nations Juan Antonio Fernandez as he addressed the UN Conference on Disarmament.

The Cuban diplomat considered it crucial to hold the Conference on Disarmament, which will run until next March 10, though he warned that its objectives will not be pursued without authentic political will and he referred to "some countries whose unyielding positions have hindered the attainment of such objectives in the past," Granma daily reported.

Cuba?s position in respect to nuclear weapons is in tune with the conclusions reached by the latest Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, held last September 2006 in Havana, and which were signed by 118 heads of state and government.

Fernandez recalled that during the Non-Aligned Summit, the heads of state and government referred to the UN Conference on Disarmament as "the only bargaining table for the disarmament issue and they called for the setting of an initial deadline for the total elimination of nuclear weapons."

The Cuban diplomat said that there are 33,000 nuclear weapons in the world, out of which 12,000 are ready to be used and that there is not an instrument to stop the production of this kind of weapons, however.

Good for Cuba! I mean really, it’s nice of them to lecture the world on nuclear proliferation while having one of the worst human rights records in the world. Not to mention their complicity and alliance with Iran and North Korea, the two biggest threats to a nuclear weapon free world going at this time. Hello Cuba, this is kettle calling, you’re black.

Europe

Czech leader in favor of U.S. missile defense system

In a statement reflecting the growing distrust between Moscow and the West, a top Russian general on Monday warned that Poland and the Czech Republic risk being targeted by Russian missiles if they agree to host U.S. missile defense bases.

The stark threat, by missile forces chief Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, was one of the most bellicose comments yet by Russian officials on the issue, which 10 days ago led President Vladimir Putin to warn of a "new Cold War" in a speech in Munich that shocked Western governments.

"If the governments of Poland and the Czech Republic take such a step ... the Strategic Missile Forces will be capable of targeting these facilities if a relevant decision is made," Solovtsov told reporters in Moscow, asserting the U.S. plan could upset strategic balance of power in the region.

Solovtsov spoke as Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek and his Polish counterpart, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, both in Warsaw, suggested they were ready to move forward with a plan by Washington to put 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar site in the Czech Republic.

Topolanek said both countries will probably agree to the basic U.S. proposal, though they must still work out the details. "I think it is in our joint interest to negotiate this initiative and to build ... the missile defense," he said.

U.S. officials say that the 10 proposed interceptors - which they say are designed to stop a launch from the Middle East - are not aimed at Russia. Moscow, with its huge and sophisticated nuclear arsenal, could easily overwhelm such a small system simply by launching more than 10 missiles.

Putin has said he does not trust U.S. claims that the missile defense system was intended to counter threats from Iran. He has warned that Russia could take retaliatory action. (More)

Putin says he doesn’t trust the US? Putin?! This is the guy that has nearly single handedly rolled back democracy in Russia to Stalin era levels. Hello Putin, this is kettle, you’re Cuba.

Australia/Oceania

Lethal force counters the use of arms

THE Tonga Defence Services TDS has issued a public warning that they will use "lethal force (force causing death)" to apprehend anyone who uses weapons such as axes, knives and firearms to threaten the safety of the public.

A statement from the TDS on Friday, February 9 expressed their concern over the use of weapons in crimes in the Nuku'alofa area early this month.

In one incident on February 8 a group of men got into an argument at Fanga then a man left and returned with friends armed with bush knives to attack the others. Members of the TDS did not apprehend the leader of the armed group until February 9 after a chase along Hala Taufa'ahau.

In a second incident on the same day, at 10 pm, a man used a pistol to threaten some people in a home in Ma'ufanga. The police arrested the offender and a .22 pistol was later located by a Navy Patrol after searching for it in the area.

The TDS expressed its concern over what appeared to be an escalation of criminal activities, 84 days after the declaration of Emergency Powers on November 17, 2006, and it was informing the public that incidents involving weapons including axes and knives) is taken very seriously by the TDS.

"In such incidents that involve weapons, the TDS will search and track all people allegedly involved to be taken into custody. Searches for these people will not stop until those who were involved have been arrested.

"The seriousness of these incidents is that when weapons are involved, the use of lethal force (force causing death) will be used by members of the TDS to neutralize any threat to the safety of the public. In any such events, it is advisable not to resist arrest when carrying any sort of weapons or to offer violence to members of the TDS during these incidents," they stated

I wonder if Tonga has the same machete problem that many countries in Central Africa do? I like stories like this as they provide context for those of you that think our current police forces are too fascist and trigger-happy. Be thankful you don’t live in Tonga.

Antarctica

Huge lakes and rivers found under Antarctic ice

An amazing discovery has been made in the Antarctic. Researchers have found that under the compressed snow and ice lies a sort of water world -- a series of fast-moving lakes and rivers.

Glacial lakes have been found before in Antarctica, but what Dr. Helen Fricker of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California found is a system of fast-flowing rivers and reservoirs underneath the ice.

Scripps says it seems the rivers transport the majority of the water from the deep interior of the ice sheet out to the ice shelves, and ultimately to the ocean.

"It's a new process that we didn't know about before. So it just shows that there's more we need to know about Antarctica," Fricker explained to Canada AM.

Global warming didn't create the rivers and lakes; they lie more than half a kilometre under the surface -- too deep to be affected by temperature changes on the surface.

But understanding how they behave is important to understanding how climate change could affect the Antarctic, Fricker said.

"The importance of the discovery is that in a warming climate, we need to be able to predict what the ice sheets are going to do.

"The Antarctic ice sheet has 90 per cent of the world's fresh water and has potential to raise sea level by about 60 meters if it all melted. So if we can model it very accurately, we will know what's going to happen in the next 10, 100, 1,000 years time, and we can get some ideas of what the sea level rises will be."

To detect the subglacial lakes, Fricker and her colleagues used data from NASA's ICESat, which sends laser pulses from space to the Antarctic surface and back, providing images much the way sonar uses sound pulses.

Fricker's team of glaciologists detected dips in the surface of the glacier that moved as the hidden lakes drained and filled.

"We can actually see the surface going down in response to the water moving away and in other places we can see the surface going up in response to the water arriving," Scripps said.

"This is a whole process that we've identified that we didn't actually know, and it's not in any computer models of the ice sheet right now. "

Fricker is now hoping to take a team to the region to map out their findings.

"Hopefully this season we will be able to get down there and put GPS on the lakes and monitor them on a daily basis," she said.

…what? Was I supposed to find an article on Antarctica and WMD’s? Let’s be realistic here.

This SUNDAY on Progressive Conservatism LIVE!

FEBRUARY 25TH - Mark is your political therapist and a pundit par excellence. Rev. John is...well, Rev. John is only there for yucks and because he has Mark blackmailed with photos involving circus clowns. Yet when they come together every Sunday afternoon, it's pure magic. The show that has all the little bloggers jealous...the hottest program on Blog Talk Radio today...the not ready for prime time political power hour we like to call Progressive Conservatism Live. And unless they get called to a parking garage by their anonymous source known only as "Donkey Punch," here's what they'll be droppin' their knowledge on:

Gov. Mike Huckabee in 1,000 words or less

Britney Spears vs. Nancy Pelosi in a Hair vs. Hair match (and guess who made the most headlines last weekend)

A look at UFC 67: The Uprising

That's right! It's politics, pugilism, and of course poultry...because you can never forget the BUCGAW Report! It's all this Sunday at 12:30 PM EST. You can click here for all the necessary information.


Find out what grinded Mark's gears this week:
http://blog.myspace.com/punkrockconservative

And hey look, Rev. John has a blog too:
http://blog.myspace.com/brodigan2016

go to blogtalkradio.com

7 Continents in 7 Minutes: Valentine's Day

It’s Valentine's Day everyone and what better way to celebrate a holiday filled with love than to read really obscure news from the not-yet-ready-for-primetime-countries. Enjoy!

Asia

Valentine's Day becoming popular among youngsters

Valentine's Day or the 'Feast of Love' is celebrated all over the world including Kuwait. But it is not that visible in Kuwait and other Islamic countries due to its denouncement by many religious shaikhs. These shaikhs are against this celebration as they consider it a feast of non-Muslims, so Muslims should not imitate or join them in celebrations. Nevertheless Valentine's Day is celebrated in Kuwait by thousands of people, especially the younger generation. Many stores and shops are busy preparing for this celebration as well. The situation here though is much more tolerant than in other countries, like Saudi Arabia for instance.

In the KSA every year fatwas are issued by various religious shaikhs denouncing the Valentine's Day celebrations. They even ban the sale of red flowers and any gift items bearing hearts or symbolizing love. Several stores in and around Kuwait promote different sales promotions and offers for this occasion to cater to all tastes. Each age category necessitates special gift items in accordance to the age of the lovers. Teenagers seek cheaper gifts, suiting their budget, where mostly the choice is either a teddy bear or a red rose. Older people who can afford to buy more expensive gifts, such as jewellery or watches indulge in doing just that. Married couples buy useful household gifts, such as electronics that can be used at home.

Valentine's Day is considered a 'high season' where sales are concerned, for most gift shops, with red roses being the most widely sold gifts locally as well as internationally. "There are many occasions taking place yearlong, but Valentines Day is the best selling day in terms of sales for us. We prepare ourselves by stocking huge supplies of roses for this special day, especially the red roses. We even organize special wrapping designs adorned with hearts and mini teddy bears, as these are the most in demand," Rosy, a saleslady at a flower shop in Salmiya told the Kuwait Times. (More)

Princess Leia once said to Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin that the more they tighten their grips (on start systems) the more star systems will slip through their fingers. I think that neatly sums up the situation throughout the Middle East where Islamic religious figures seek to place a monopoly on religion and as such inspiring others to either abandon religion altogether or seek other spiritual guidance. This is why in “secular” communist China, there’s a large and growing Christian fellowship despite dictates from the central government that it should not be.

Also, this is not the first time I’ve seen people of other faiths and nationalities being attracted to events and holidays that are directly associated with other faiths, especially Christianity. People intrinsically want to be happy and many of the Christian holidays have been mostly boiled down to their most fun parts i.e. gift giving, decorating, cards, etc. It makes sense that the Kuwaiti people would want to celebrate Valentines Day as everyone likes to receive flowers and candy now and again.

Africa

Liberia: Debt Cancellation Overdue

Today Wednesday, Feb. 7th leading advocates for impoverished country debt cancellation will call on U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to "Have a Heart and Cancel Liberia's Debt." Advocates will deliver more than 10,000 Valentines with this message to Paulson, one week ahead of the Liberia Partners Forum, an international donors' conference in Washington. Advocates have also today released a report card assessing progress by the donor community in aiding Liberia's new president in her first year.

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, Africa's first female head of state, is working to overcome the devastation caused by two decades of dictatorship and a civil war. Much of Liberia's debts were incurred by the undemocratic regimes of dictators Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor between 1980 and 2003.

After one year in office, President Johnson-Sirleaf continues to face numerous challenges with 85% of the country's population unemployed and more than 75% of Liberians persisting on less than $1 per day. The country's massive debt burden severely restricts Liberia's capacity to combat poverty: the debt totals more than $3.5 billion. Liberia's annual budget is less than one fortieth of that amount, and interest continues to accumulate.

President George W. Bush recently named debt relief as our "best hope for lifting lives and eliminating poverty" in his State of the Union address. Debt relief campaigners are urging his administration to immediately and completely cancel Liberia's debt, rather than forcing the country to be tied up for years in the strings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank's debt relief program, which requires the country to pay off $1.5 billion in arrears, or interest and penalties accrued under the past brutal and undemocratic regimes of Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor, prior to obtaining partial debt relief or full cancellation.

The Institute for Policy Studies, Jubilee USA Network, Friends of the Earth, Africa Action, Center for Democratic Empowerment (Liberia), and International Labor Rights Fund among others have collected these Valentines as part of an effort to draw attention to Liberia's debt crisis. These groups have today jointly released a report card assessing the impact of the donor community, especially the U.S., in the areas of development aid, debt cancellation, investment in workers' rights, environmental sustainability, and HIV prevention and care.

It’s all in the marketing. Sure this could have been handled with some dignity and mutual understanding but that would have resulted (and apparently has resulted) in Liberia, as well as other hopelessly debt ridden countries, never having its debt cancelled and thus be doomed to endless poverty and possible overrun by nefarious operators in illicit trade. On a personal note, I feel Johnson-Sirleaf and am empathetic to her plight as I know all too well how being in massive debt can affect your life.

On a more serious note, this would be one of those times where if “White” America and “White” Europe would like to show how far they’ve come in establishing positive attitudes toward the Africans, this would qualify as proof in the pudding that they are serious in letting Africa build itself up to joining us in the 21st Century.

Not everybody celebrates Valentines Day, wait to read the next story…

South America

In Bolivian Andes, brawling still has a place

For hundreds of years, the Indians of Bolivia's high plains have trekked to this town in early February. They dance, drink chicha, the fermented beverage made here from rye, and then fight one another until blood stains the dirt alleyways.

The ritual, called Tinku, a word that means "encounter" in both Aymara and Quechua, was once widespread throughout the Andean world, predating the arrival of the conquistadors. Anthropologists say it now tenuously exists just in this isolated pocket of Bolivia, seven hours southeast of La Paz by bus on a washboard dirt road.

To the chagrin of Roman Catholic priests who would like to see Tinku fade into the past, political officials here want it to survive.

"Tinku is a sublime, beautiful act," said Wilson Aráoz, the mayor of Sacaca and a leading official in the Popular Indigenous Movement, a party that is part of the coalition supporting Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president.

Emboldened by Morales's efforts to strengthen Bolivia's indigenous cultures, Aráoz's party is one of several political organizations pushing to preserve endangered traditions like Tinku.

"There's a predisposition in all of us to do Tinku," Aráoz said in an interview. "I believe that denying that impulse is harmful."

No one disputes that Tinku can be harmful, at least physically. The fighting, though ritualized through music and dance, is far from organized, less like boxing and more like street brawling.

Not everyone takes part. Men of roughly equal size and age square off against each other on the streets surrounding the plaza, though sometimes women also enter the fray. Some of the men wear leather helmets and gloves. But the fighting can also be bare- knuckle.

In one fight at a dirt intersection, two men in their 50s punched and kicked each other for about 10 minutes, their faces bloodied as a crowd cheered them on. By the time exhaustion overwhelmed them, both were still conscious, though in a trancelike state.

Bystanders sometimes step in to break up contests that become too lopsided. Aside from bruised faces and limbs, deaths sometimes occur.

No one died at the Tinku here this year, but blood certainly flowed. (More)

I know plenty of men (and some women) who give a choice between celebrating Valentine’s Day the traditional way or celebrating Tinku, would most likely prefer Tinku. Given the recent upswing in popularity for MMA, I’m surprised that the good people of Bolivia haven’t tried to export this custom here. Actually, when you include the ritualistic dance and music, it reminds me a lot of moshing before Pearl Jam, MTV and meatheads with backwards white college hats completely ruined it for me…but I’m not bitter about that ::::sheds a single tear::::

Now I realize that this is supposed to lean toward the more obscure countries and Canada, though a bit weird, is not obscure. However, if you had seen the next story you too would have broken that rule just so you could share this with the world…

North America

Valentines going to the dogs and cats

The American Pet Product Manufacturers Association estimates more than nine million animal owners will buy something special for their four-legged friends this Valentine’s Day. Even more striking, however, is the fact the greeting card industry expects people’s pets to return the favor.

Bringing bizarre new meaning to “puppy love,” leading card companies are selling Valentines written from the perspective of adoring pets. A card “written” by a dog for its owner, for instance, says ‘Meow’ on the front, with the inside text reading: “Thought I’d say ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’ in a foreign language.”

Another, this one coming from a cat, declares: “I’m never too busy to show you how much I love you!”

Because animals have as much use for money as toilet paper, it’s expected that owners will purchase the cards on their pets’ behalf.

“We know that our pets obviously love us and we take care of them, so the idea is that they’re going to want to recognize us on Valentine’s Day,” says Jennifer Kinnon, brand-marketing manager for Hallmark Canada.

Card offerings of this sort started appearing in Hallmark stores in 2001 as a response to the evolving relationship between people and their pets. A positive reaction to Mother’s Day and Christmas cards inspired them to offer a Valentine’s Day card in 2003, and then a complete series of “from the dog” and “from the cat” cards in 2007.

Similar efforts are being made at American Greetings, parent company of Canada’s Carlton Cards, where 20 different “from the pet” cards are being sold this Valentine’s season.

The Greeting Card Association doesn’t track sales of Valentines written from a pet’s point of view. But Barbara Miller, a spokeswoman for the national trade organization, says they’ve noted a general increase in their popularity over the last five years.

A particularly memorable card from 2005 depicted a cat declaring: “Today, I thought about clawing you to pieces and feasting on the remains… But I didn’t. If that’s not love, what is?” (More)

I too have often thought of clawing up my loved ones and feasting on their remains…but enough about my life, the point here is that this is one of those “Pet Rock” phenomenon’s where its inherent silliness is superceded by the mere fact that as Westerners with disposable income and way too much time on our hands, we can indulge in fantasies like our pets know and/or care about human tokens of appreciation.

Why just the other day my wife and I threw both of our dogs a birthday party, complete with a 20 dollar birthday cake made for dogs (an oversized biscuit with icing on it that said, “Happy Birthday”). Do you think the dogs had any clue what was going? Of course not, all they knew is that instead of the usual dog food and table scraps they got for dinner, my wife made the fresh hamburgers for dinner and they got a snack that for once didn’t have some sort of doggy medicine in it. This nonsense was about us not them…and I think that sums up Valentines Day pretty well doesn’t it?

Europe

Church Opposes Valentines Day!

The Catholic Church decided to fight the consumer and hedonist philosophy of Valentine’s Day.

The “Glas Koncila”, a bulletin issued by the Church in Croatia, issued an article entitled “How to Enter a Church Marriage” in a bid to contest the consumerism of Valentine’s Day, Jutarnji list writes.

The Church is adamant in its convictions that young people should refrain from sexual relations before marriage.

“A person who is not capable of controlling their urges cannot be viewed as a mature person or is not capable of making life decisions”, Glas Koncila writes.

The Glas Koncila editor-in-chief, Ivan Miklenic, believes that young people in relationships often ‘use’ each other for sexual pleasure, which he holds is dual selfishness.

“People who cannot control their selfishness are not good candidates for wedlock”, Miklenic asserted.

It’s only a matter of time before Mirko Cro Cop is recruited to start kicking unmarried couples having sex, square in the mush. Remember what I said about the Islamists being too dictatorial with their religion thus driving their adherents away? Place that argument here.

And on a side note, I didn’t think I was going to find a good enough story in Europe but once again, I can always depend on the right combination of Google search queries to come up with comic gold.

Australia

No Valentines Day romance for many women

Valentine's Day is a time of romance, a chance for couples to smell the roses, for suitors to declare their undying love - and to say it with a gift.

That's what the marketers would like us to believe.

But according to a survey conducted by New Woman magazine, the majority of Australian women don't feel very romantic about Valentine's Day.

The survey of 2,000 women found that one in three dread it, while two-thirds admit to having spent February 14 alone without a romantic moment.

It also found that 41 per cent of those surveyed had pretended to forget Valentine's Day because their partner did not remember it.

Another half of the respondents thought it was tacky to be proposed to on the day, while two-thirds thought an anonymous gift or card was only suitable when you were in primary school.

NSW women were the biggest Valentine's Day cynics, with 33 per cent ignoring the day.

They were followed by Victorians (25 per cent), Queenslanders (17 per cent), South Australians (15 per cent) and West Australians (10 per cent).

Despite the ambivalence about the occasion, Valentine's Day can still be used to promote a message - and in the case of the Northern Territory, it's safe sex.

The NT government has pointed out that Valentine's Day is also National Condom Day and is encouraging Territory couples to remember that particular item at the height of their passion.

Not-for-profit health organization Marie Stopes International has gone further by encouraging men to have a vasectomy.

The procedure is safe, effective, and permanent, Marie Stopes Australian chief executive Suzanne Dvorak says, and something their partners will truly appreciate.

"A vasectomy is perhaps not as romantic as chocolate and roses, but not having to worry about contraception is a present many woman would appreciate," Ms Dvorak said.

Even more off-the-wall is a campaign to highlight the poor working conditions of Victorian cleaners.

The Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union is calling on workers to kiss a cleaner this Valentine's Day.

"Your cleaners need some love. Each night these forgotten workers slave away, unseen and unheard, keeping our offices clean and tidy," the union's state secretary Brian Daley said.

I think you can attribute a lot of this to misplaced romanticism and immaturity on the part of many ladies. The truth of the matter is that guys only participate in V-Day because it makes their significant other happy. The problem is that females seem to think that we’d have a reason to care about that holiday otherwise. Men will show appreciation when the muse strikes them and in many cases it will depend mostly on the behavior of said female. I think many of us resent the charade that February 14th presents and it comes out in a variety of passive-aggressive ways. By the same token, because women get disappointed that men don’t think exactly the way they do and feel the exact same way they do, the holiday for them has become a disappointment as well. Now some are shallow enough to take the gifts and be done with it but most women I believe want their men to share emotionally in the holiday as do and disappointment time after time that men just aren’t wired that way has resulted in the above statistics.

All I know is that radio show host after radio show host told me that a Vermont Teddy Bear would make my wife’s heart melt and as I found out yesterday, she’s not a big fan of stuffed animals, even the much ballyhooed VTB. Valentine’s Day…PHOOEY!

Antarctica



Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!

This Sunday on PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATISM LIVE!

FEBRUARY 18TH - TUNE IN FOR A VERY SPECIAL PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATISM LIVE!

While Rev. John is on assignment, Mark is giving the listeners what they really want...an entire hour of MARK! And hot dog, does he have a show lined up for you.

First, Mark will welcome as his special guest critically acclaimed author of "The Rise of Christianity," and sociology scholar Rodney Stark. He will be here to discuss his two new books, "The Victory of Reason," and "Cities of God," as well as discussing how his scholarship fits into the debate between secularism and traditionalism in today's society.

Then he is also happy to welcome to the show 411Mania.com/Politics editor Jason Easley. They'll be talking about developments in the zone as well as the latest happenings in the news today.

It's all this Sunday at 12:30 PM EST. You can click here for all the necessary information.


Find out what grinded Mark's gears this week:
http://blog.myspace.com/punkrockconservative

And hey look, Rev. John has a blog too:
http://blog.myspace.com/brodigan2016

go to blogtalkradio.com

Musings on Iran, Giuliani and Rev John Takes Down Ethanol

I really love doing this show as it provides many of my laughs for the week but whoo nelly, when I don't sleep enough, boy is it much harder to do correctly. My speech becomes a bit more muddled than normal due to being a bit foggy. Overall though the show went really well today and things are moving pretty smoothly.

The last bit with John and I came across better than I thought it would. We accidentally satired liberals are always telling people what they can't do instead of providing adequate solutions to said problems. And Pete's call was fantastic.

Next week's interview with Rodney Stark should be really good and will also present a different side of the show...a more serious and professional side I would say.

Monologue – Iran

Rumors of War

Official: Lawmakers See Iran Explosives

The Presidential Aspirations of Rudy Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani May Got What You Need

Bucgaw Report

Where’s the Feed

Return to the Valley of the Prostitot

Return to the Valley of the Prostitot

Girls Gone Bad

John VS Ethanol

House of Representatives passes biofuels bill

Tortilla price hike sparks protest

Rudy Giuliani May Got What You Need

The story right now being bandied about by the mainstream media and the talk radio world is that the GOP has no front-runner for the 2008 Presidential election or that the front-runners are not exactly inspiring anyone. The three most prominent names right now are obviously John McCain, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani.

The reason these three contenders fail to ignite the imagination of their base is not because they aren’t competent leaders or even forces to be reckoned with in terms of security but rather that they fail to meet the social conservative litmus test of Republican base. They are not anti-gay marriage, anti-abortion or anti-gun control enough for many social conservative voters to trust and therefore many just aren’t excited enough to stand behind these while either Clinton or Obama make their way to the White House.

As I’ve said before, social voting in the age of world wide Islamic terrorism befuddles me. I suppose President Brownback could try and outlaw abortion but a world free of legally murdered babies doesn’t stop Mohammed from blowing himself up outside of your local Starbucks. President Huckabee could save the institution of marriage for the next thousand years by sending all homosexuals to France forever but that has nothing to do with Iran or North Korea and the likely possibility that they will facilitate one of many terrorist groups getting their hands on a nuclear device. Stopping stem-cell research doesn’t drop the bomb from being dropped on Israel or us for that matter so I fail to see how social vote should supercede security and foreign policy votes.

Let me explain it this way; You have what’s called Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs, which is a theory in psychology that Abraham Maslow proposed in 1943 that states as humans meet 'basic needs', they seek to satisfy successively 'higher needs' that occupy a set hierarchy. Maslow wrote that "the study of crippled, stunted, immature, and unhealthy specimens can yield only a cripple psychology and a cripple philosophy." In other words, if your most basic needs weren’t met, then your emotional, spiritual and psychological growth would be stunted or crippled.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is typically represented as a pyramid with the more primitive needs at the bottom and consisting of five levels: the four lower levels are grouped together as deficiency needs associated with physiological needs, while the top level is termed growth needs associated with psychological needs. While deficiency needs must be met, growth needs are continually shaping behavior. The basic concept is that the higher needs in this hierarchy only come into focus once all the needs that are lower down in the pyramid are mainly or entirely satisfied. Growth forces create upward movement in the hierarchy, whereas regressive forces push prepotent needs further down the hierarchy.

As you can see from the pyramid shown above, the first two levels of need are physical survival needs such as water, food, sleep, warmth and exercise and safety and security needs. The other more ethereal needs don’t come into play until those two levels have been met.

Now let’s look at the candidate most likely to be beat Hillary Clinton should the Democrats opt to give her a run at the White House, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Aside from the fact that he’s the most like GOP candidate to actually win NY since probably the Reagan administration, Giuliani’s record stacks up pretty well against the first two levels Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

As Mayor of the largest city and arguably the most important city in America, Giuliani had to manage the city public works efficiently and make the city livable for its residents. According to his campaign website, “Rudy Giuliani cut more taxes than any Mayor in New York City history, reducing or eliminating 23 city taxes, saving individuals and businesses a cumulative $8 billion, while reducing New Yorkers’ tax burden by nearly 20%. By the end of Giuliani’s term in office, New Yorkers enjoyed their lowest tax burden in three decades, along with the creation of approximately 425,000 new private sector jobs… When Rudy Giuliani took office, 59% of New Yorkers said they would leave the city the next day if they could, according to a CNN/Time poll. Drawing upon the “Broken Windows” theory of policing, the City cracked down on quality of life crimes such as aggressive panhandling, graffiti, and drug dealing, transforming places like Times Square into safe destinations for theatergoers and sightseers. The City launched an aggressive initiative against drunk drivers, and implemented a ban on sex shops within 500 feet of residential neighborhoods, churches, and schools. In addition, Mayor Giuliani acquired 2,038 acres of new parkland – the most in more than 50 years.”

The former mayor also has a solid record on protecting children and increasing security in a city that once rivaled other big cities in rapes and murders. “Under Rudy Giuliani’s leadership as Mayor of the nation’s largest city, murders were cut from 1,946 in 1993 to 649 in 2001, while overall crime – including rapes, assaults, burglary and auto-thefts – fell by an average of 57%. According to the FBI, New York was transformed from the crime capital of the country into the Safest Large City in America, while becoming the global model for excellence in law enforcement. Rudy Giuliani believes that “Public safety is a fundamental civil right…when you reduce crime, you restore people’s freedom.”

Acting on his belief that “One of the most important responsibilities of government is to protect children from harm,” Mayor Giuliani worked to create the city’s first independent child welfare agency, reducing the foster care population by promoting a record number of adoptions, and doubling child support collections by cracking down on deadbeat dads, and implementing a program called HealthStat, which identified unenrolled children eligible for health insurance.”

Giuliani obviously will be strong on domestic law and order issues as well as quality of life issue but the big question will be whether or not he has the gumption to fight Islamic terrorism worldwide. If his speeches are to believed and his actions concerning an anti-Semitic Saudi and a very large check are any indication then I believe Giuliani will be the kind of terror warrior many of us thought Bush would become.

The world has become too small to be so caught up in social policy voting. No matter who you vote in, either very liberal or very conservative, the fact of the matter is that abortion will never be prohibited in our lifetime but the likelihood of Iran or China starting a nuclear war is and the smart people of this country should be thinking about what kind of leader they want to be in charge when that does happen. When your most basic needs are being threatened and your livelihood is under attack from foreign invaders, who do you think is going to protect you and fight the enemy, Giuliani or Hillary Clinton? At the end of the day, social votes aside, Giuliani has got what every American needs – the ability to lead and manage this nation while fighting the enemy abroad.

Return to the Valley of the Prostitot

Newsweek has not only stolen my term for girls who emulate their favorite starlets by dressing sleazy, “prostitots,” but has also proved what I have said all along; It if weren’t for the fairer sex, gossip and human interest stories would be extinct.

The central thesis of the above Newsweek column is that the current crop of mainstream celebrity harlots has captured the attention of many a young girl and in turn said girls are wanting to dress like them, thus creating a nation of adolescent girls who should know nothing of sex looking like dime store hookers. And that my friend is the definition of a prostitot.

When BritneyLindseyParisNicole et al. muck about with drugs, alcohol, horny men and no knickers, it sends a message to those without the capacity for reason just yet that said behavior is fine. The very fact that the above beast suffers no known consequences affirms the fact that if Sally Littlefreckles decides to tramp it up in the local school yard with various and a sundry testosterone filled feral animals known as young boys, she too will believe in her heart of heart that neither she will suffer the sling and arrows of non-virtuous behavior. As many a mother who has stuffed her newborn infant in a trashcan on prom night will tell you, the consequences can be grave indeed.

This does go back to the age-old question of whether or not celebrities have an obligation to act in accordance with the expectations of their consumers and thus not hussy it up on Main Street USA on an ongoing basis. Charles Barkley used to say that he is not a role model, he’s just a basketball player. The fact is that he’s wrong. He is a role model whether he likes it or not by virtue of the fact that he wants as many people as possible, kids included, to buy tickets to his basketball games and purchase whatever swag he’s shilling for.

Let me explain it this way; if you opt to make films or albums for children then you are obliged to set a good example for those whom you are actively influencing on a daily basis, much to the chagrin of their parents. You see, as an entertainer, you are not in a passive role. You are aggressively seeking to change the thoughts and beliefs of consumers, specifically children whom are not equipped as adults are to make certain kinds of decisions, so that they will think and believe that your product is good and therefore worth plunking down their parents money for. That interaction makes BritneyLindseyParisNicole et al. obligated to not abuse said power and make the best impression possible. If that is too much to ask, then stop peddling your wares to minors and go do porn like the irresponsible brats you are.

I think the reason why this topic gets to me so much is that it is actually a microcosm of a much broader problem. BritneyLindseyParisNicole et al. are selfish and self-absorbed tarts that don’t give a lick about the consumers and are only concerned with finding the happiness, structure and consistency that eluded them in their childhood. This is a known quantity. However, they are not the mothers and fathers of the worlds children. They may have their own child and God help that little one but at the end of the day, each child’s parent is responsible for his/her discipline. The problem is that many of today’s parents actually very much resemble said beast in every painful detail save the millions of riches these bitches have pilfered from families far and wide. I’m asking the above floosies to model appropriate behavior for the kids of today and in many cases not even their parents can do that.

This is where the Newsweek article falls a bit short. It spends roughly 6 pages saying that celebrity tarts have a huge influence on the culture of today’s youth but that can be effectively counteracted with consistent and involved parenting. That’s fantastic for those that actually pay attention to their children aren’t threatened by them but what about the ones that don’t pay attention to them and are threatened by their existence. Many children are brought into this world unwanted, raised unwatched and live uncared about. That’s the reality of our surroundings. Newsweek is right when they say that children learn from their parents first but to paraphrase the great Bill Cosby, “yes but what if that parent is an asshole?”

As a social worker and a mandated reporter, I’ve been mortified by how little appropriate modeling goes on in the homes of this country. Many adults apparently believe that they don’t have an obligation to grow up when they have kids themselves and continue to behave in a manner unfitting possessed drunk. Many parents continue to use drugs despite having kids in the home; many continue to serial date and expose their children to dangerous and mean-spirited people (many of whom will molest said children when given the opportunity); many will curse and act a fool while never wanting to take responsibility for their own actions and then will wonder why their offspring will fail life at any time they experience even the slightest bump in the road.

So we have a quandary here in today’s cultural landscape. Obviously any person who has a child has to model appropriate behavior and any entertainer whose bread and butter is the same must also act accordingly. However, many don’t no matter what people like me say and the cycle of neglect and abuse just continues to perpetuate itself.

This is essentially the problem with cultural liberalism in a nutshell. When you’ve decided that there are to be no judgments on behavior, it leaves the door wide open for nuts of all stripes to run wild in the streets as there are no consequences, save the natural ones that occur too late. And because this is the information age, any such behavior is recorded and broadcasted for all the world to see because since their can be no judgments, there can also be no value in anything like say privacy.

Newsweek paints a nice picture of the landscape with data showing teen pregnancy, sex and drugs is down and many parents are paying enough attention to their girls so that the beast cannot cause too much harm. However, Newsweek doesn’t work where I work and doesn’t meet the people I meet on a daily basis. The picture is deceiving and the prostitots are multiplying.