This morning I went out to forage for fallen leaves so I could beef up ye olde backyard compost pile -- I've been neglecting it because work's been busy and I've been staying in NoVA more than my 6 hour quota most days. A quick walk down G street provided more evidence for this conclusion: fall is here, and it's early! Sure, it will get hot this week, but September is always hot. Let's focus on the fallen leaves (still green): they're everywhere! It didn't take me but 15 mins to fill up on crunchy carbon to pair with 7 housemates' worth of food waste, but it shouldn't be that way.
And of course I *may* just be looking for evidence of suspicious weather that just smacks of climate change, but that only causes me grumpiness. At least on the end that worries about mass species extinction, famine, and disease. The part of me that likes a well-rounded compost pile is doing quite well.
31.8.08
14.8.08
Money and the line in the sand
Last night after cooking up a community meal for my housemates, I found myself enjoying a lively wine-stoked discussion on something I never would have thought I'd be interested in a year ago: international finance. Several of my housemates have a very sophisticated understanding of the details of debt relief because their volunteer organization, Jubilee, strives to promote it as a way to help countries with troubled economies to free themselves of the legacies of colonialism and corruption. Yes, that points to Africa. But recently, another housemate took on a project on sub-prime housing loans where she had to build her own understanding of how financing works in the US from the ground up because she doesn't have any background knowledge on the topic. Among a diverse set of obliquely related ideas that included Swiss citizenship required for Red Cross disaster relief abroad and the vacuum filled by drug lords in South America, I'm left with the following impressions. I'm not sure how to reconcile these ideas, so any comments would be quite welcome.
Loan vultures who buy up the debts of struggling countries and then use their deep pockets to sue those countries - thereby decimating the ability of the government to provide for basic needs like health care and agriculture (seed programs good - but sterile corn bad) - are, to me, pure evil. I can't imagine anyone who does that by day being able to go home and sleep at night.
The idea that countries with able, well-functioning economies should expect any kind of interest on loans they give to countries with corrupt leaders and crude infrastructure -- indeed, that they should expect to be paid back at all -- seems ludicrous. It also pairs perfectly with the way sub-prime borrowers are treated in the US. The process seems to go like this: I'll lend you money, knowing that you need it because you live paycheck to paycheck, but I also know absolutely that you will not be able to pay me back later because you'll still need money then too. And I'll call my charity act a payday loan, charging up to 400% interest. Yes, 400 - that's not a typo. And I'll do this because otherwise, who would provide money to these people in need? And why should I help if I don't get something for it? Another example of pure evil.
If I do go with this idea that "loans are bad" what are the options for helping someone? Paul Theroux's "Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown" is riddled with charity program failures. According to him, struggling people -- Africans, in the book -- didn't need money, because they'd burned through buckets of it. What they needed was for Africans to make a change, because only then would it stick. So what can a person with a good conscience do in a situation where the "other" is destitute and pathetic? The one resource many of us (casual donors included), are always tight-fisted with is time - is there a way to give it that will not be just another arrogant charade, like that of the colonial missionaries who wanted to civilize the "sauvages" and make them repent?
One tenet of Design for the Other 90% is that priveleged engineers should provide their tools and designs to those in need, be it food storage, an irrigation system, or simple preventative health care, only at cost so that the users will more fully value it. This idea seems similar to the operation of a nonprofit, with the same problem too: charges for service should cover costs to product the product (materials and construction in the case of tools, transportation and office costs in the case of, say, a campaign organizer), but how much extra is built into the charge to cover salaries? Where is the line between a martyr and a vulture, and how do you walk it?
My conclusion at present: they are all lines in the sand, but they fall in an absolute range. I can't subscribe to a relative system of morals, if only because of instinct. I have to wonder how the lens of various faiths might alter any of these conclusions - and the line one can draw.
Loan vultures who buy up the debts of struggling countries and then use their deep pockets to sue those countries - thereby decimating the ability of the government to provide for basic needs like health care and agriculture (seed programs good - but sterile corn bad) - are, to me, pure evil. I can't imagine anyone who does that by day being able to go home and sleep at night.
The idea that countries with able, well-functioning economies should expect any kind of interest on loans they give to countries with corrupt leaders and crude infrastructure -- indeed, that they should expect to be paid back at all -- seems ludicrous. It also pairs perfectly with the way sub-prime borrowers are treated in the US. The process seems to go like this: I'll lend you money, knowing that you need it because you live paycheck to paycheck, but I also know absolutely that you will not be able to pay me back later because you'll still need money then too. And I'll call my charity act a payday loan, charging up to 400% interest. Yes, 400 - that's not a typo. And I'll do this because otherwise, who would provide money to these people in need? And why should I help if I don't get something for it? Another example of pure evil.
If I do go with this idea that "loans are bad" what are the options for helping someone? Paul Theroux's "Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown" is riddled with charity program failures. According to him, struggling people -- Africans, in the book -- didn't need money, because they'd burned through buckets of it. What they needed was for Africans to make a change, because only then would it stick. So what can a person with a good conscience do in a situation where the "other" is destitute and pathetic? The one resource many of us (casual donors included), are always tight-fisted with is time - is there a way to give it that will not be just another arrogant charade, like that of the colonial missionaries who wanted to civilize the "sauvages" and make them repent?
One tenet of Design for the Other 90% is that priveleged engineers should provide their tools and designs to those in need, be it food storage, an irrigation system, or simple preventative health care, only at cost so that the users will more fully value it. This idea seems similar to the operation of a nonprofit, with the same problem too: charges for service should cover costs to product the product (materials and construction in the case of tools, transportation and office costs in the case of, say, a campaign organizer), but how much extra is built into the charge to cover salaries? Where is the line between a martyr and a vulture, and how do you walk it?
My conclusion at present: they are all lines in the sand, but they fall in an absolute range. I can't subscribe to a relative system of morals, if only because of instinct. I have to wonder how the lens of various faiths might alter any of these conclusions - and the line one can draw.
7.8.08
This isn't a film blog, is it?
I'm lucky to have seen two great films this week.
The first, a showing of The Judge and The General, thanks to the Institute for Policy Studies and their obsessed Latin American issues staff. It was at The Avalon, not far from the Friendship Heights metro. Patricio Guzman, who is the famous documentalist of Chile (especially on the topic of the dictator Pinochet), was a coproducer. After the film, the judge himself sat in front of the audience to provide some lengthy answers to some heavy questions. I was mostly basking in the glow, but what the story is compelling: a priveleged judge awakens to the horrors inflicted on the people of Chile by Pinochet, and becomes the very first in Chile to indict him for the murder of los desaparecidos (the disappeared ones).
Tonight it was Into the Wild, which I watched with my parents while home for some birthdays. Great, great cinematography (half of that was thanks to nature for being so abundant) for a really beautiful, and ultimately tragic, story of a troubled guy who sets out to live on shoestrings, on a circuitous journey into Alaskan wilderness, in order to cope with his childhood and "society" that plagues him. Instead, he ends up finding out what true happiness is.. while leaving behind a trail of acquaintances he touched. This one hit a little close to home for me and probably my parents too. Africa is a wilderness to us here in the states, and I certainly don't appreciate how harsh I can be on my parents with my decisions.. but I know I won't truly be alone where I am going. This film will stay with me for a good long while.
The first, a showing of The Judge and The General, thanks to the Institute for Policy Studies and their obsessed Latin American issues staff. It was at The Avalon, not far from the Friendship Heights metro. Patricio Guzman, who is the famous documentalist of Chile (especially on the topic of the dictator Pinochet), was a coproducer. After the film, the judge himself sat in front of the audience to provide some lengthy answers to some heavy questions. I was mostly basking in the glow, but what the story is compelling: a priveleged judge awakens to the horrors inflicted on the people of Chile by Pinochet, and becomes the very first in Chile to indict him for the murder of los desaparecidos (the disappeared ones).
Tonight it was Into the Wild, which I watched with my parents while home for some birthdays. Great, great cinematography (half of that was thanks to nature for being so abundant) for a really beautiful, and ultimately tragic, story of a troubled guy who sets out to live on shoestrings, on a circuitous journey into Alaskan wilderness, in order to cope with his childhood and "society" that plagues him. Instead, he ends up finding out what true happiness is.. while leaving behind a trail of acquaintances he touched. This one hit a little close to home for me and probably my parents too. Africa is a wilderness to us here in the states, and I certainly don't appreciate how harsh I can be on my parents with my decisions.. but I know I won't truly be alone where I am going. This film will stay with me for a good long while.
History for the Unimaginitive
When I told her I wanted to brush up on my American history, my Mom gave me a picture book.
However, it's about as juvenile as Animal Farm. We Americans looks to be really cool - great historical images, poignant quotes from all sorts of people, and written in a style a twelve year old could pay attention to.
I may be posting some quotes in the future, we'll see.
However, it's about as juvenile as Animal Farm. We Americans looks to be really cool - great historical images, poignant quotes from all sorts of people, and written in a style a twelve year old could pay attention to.
I may be posting some quotes in the future, we'll see.
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