William K. Wolfrum's picture

    William K. Wolfrum’s Morning: Get the Hunger

    Hunger

    1,000,000,000 human beings were hungry around the globe in 2010.

    News/Politics

    Hunger: A billion people are hungry. You can't understand that. It's too enormous. Stop, think. Again - A billion people are hungry. Get it, yet?  

    Gay Issues: Carl Paladino is running for Governor of New York. But only for the straight people.  

    Chilean Miners: Closer to freedom.

    Promise Keepers: Some in Israel think taking oaths is a good idea, as well.

    Trolls Down Under: Beandog Trolls take on Conservatives on Twitter.

    Gay Marriage: American's Approve.

    Social Security: A cost-of-living update for Social Security recipients would be far too sensible. No extra money for you!

    Taliban: Let the negotiations with the devil begin.

    Blogs

    Nicole Belle: Joe Klein gets a wake-up call.

    Atrios: It's the Infrastructure, Stupid!

    Pandagon: Time for an Office break.

    Blue Gal: The latest "Professional Left" podcast.

    That's Why: Please Put Your Fire On Hold While We Check Your Account.

    Jed Lewison: Christine O'Donnell is many things. Just not a witch.

    --WKW

    Crossposted at William K. Wolfrum Chronicles

    Comments

    This Social Security news is absolutely unforgivable.  If the COLA adjustment formula actually implies that people living on fixed incomes are not having a tougher time this year than last, then he formula needs to be adjusted to reflect reality.  A $250 one time payment, which we tried last year, is nice but inadequate.


    The hunger stats are also sad and sick.  Juan Cole reported:

     

    UN FAO: 22 countries with 160 mn. people face protracted food crisis.

    ‘ Twenty-two countries are facing enormous challenges like repeated food crises and an extremely high prevalence of hunger due to a combination of natural disasters, conflict, and weak institutions. These countries are in what is termed a protracted crisis, FAO said in its “State of Food Insecurity in the World 2010” hunger report, jointly published today with the World Food Programme (WFP).

    Chronic hunger and food insecurity are the most common characteristics of a protracted crisis. On average, the proportion of people who are undernourished in countries facing these complex problems is almost three times as high as in other developing countries. ‘

    Note that Iraq and Afghanistan are among these tragic cases; I fear American rule hasn’t spared them that fate, if indeed it did not exacerbate their food woes.

    (1996–2010)

    Afghanistan
    Angola
    Burundi
    Central African Republic
    Chad
    Congo
    Côte d’Ivoire
    Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
    Democratic Republic of the Congo
    Eritrea
    Ethiopia
    Guinea
    Haiti
    Iraq
    Kenya
    Liberia
    Sierra Leone
    Somalia
    Sudan
    Tajikistan
    Uganda
    Zimbabwe

    (my bold)

    Loyalty oaths.  Juan Cole has a long piece on Ethnic Nationalism:

    http://www.juancole.com/2010/10/israel-declares-for-ethnic-nationalism.html

     


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