Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Katherine Stewart the American journalist and author who writes about controversies over religious freedom, separation of church and state and climate science has published an article in The Guardian titled ‘The dark side of home schooling: creating soldiers for the culture war’ in which she states “Several decades ago, political activists on the religious right began to put together an “ideology machine”. Home schooling was a big part of the plan. The idea was to breed and “train up” an army of culture warriors. We now are faced with the consequences of their actions, some of which are quite disturbing. According to the Department of Education, the home schooling student population doubled in between 1999 and 2007, to 1.5 million students, and there is reason to think the growth has continued. Though families opt to home school for many different reasons, a large part of the growth has come from Christian fundamentalist sects. Children in that first wave are now old enough to talk about their experiences. In many cases, what they have to say is quite alarming. …The fundamentalist home schooling world also advocates an extraordinarily authoritarian view of the parental role. Corporal punishment is frequently encouraged. …In America, we often take for granted that parents have an absolute right to decide how their children will be educated, but this leads us to overlook the fact that children have rights, too, and that we as a modern society are obligated to make sure that they get an education. Families should be allowed to pursue sensible homeschooling options, but current arrangements have allowed some families to replace education with fundamentalist indoctrination. As the appearance of HA reminds us, the damage done by this kind of false education falls not just on our society as a whole, but on the children who are pumped through the ideology machine. They are the traumatized veterans of our culture wars. We should listen to their stories, and support them as they find their way forward.”

Inspired by  Katherine Stewart, The Guardian ow.ly/lEdxF Image source Twitter ow.ly/lEdpq

Annalee Newitz the 43 year old American Journalist who reports on the cultural impact of science and technology has published an article in io9 titled ‘Ancient Maya discovery sheds new light on the origins of civilization’, in which she states “Over 3,000 years ago, in the warm, fertile lands that are now Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala, the great Maya civilization arose — its vast pyramid temples appearing to come out of nowhere. But new evidence suggests a fascinating origin for this ancient, advanced culture. Just as the Inca once dominated South America, the Maya dominated large parts of Central America and Mexico. …after seven years of careful excavation at the famous Maya cultural center of Ceibal in Guatemala, University of Arizona anthropologists … have settled one of the greatest debates in their field: where the Maya came from. …For almost half a century, anthropologists studying the origins of the Maya have been divided into two camps. Some believe that the Maya civilization developed in Guatemala and Belize, without any contact from other groups in the region. But others believed the Maya were an outgrowth of the advanced Olmec civilization on the Gulf Coast. …something a lot more complicated happened than either of the previous two scenarios would allow. The Olmec did not “create” the Maya culture, nor did it evolve by itself in Guatemala. Most likely, it was the product of a very rapid social transformation that was taking place all over the region — caused, in part, by cultural exchanges between different groups, including the Olmec and the peoples who eventually became the Maya. …They are the result of hybridization. The Maya came to dominate Mexico, Guatemala and Belize because they were able to incorporate the innovations of the Olmec along with the discoveries and beliefs of many peoples in the area whose lives we are just now beginning to learn about. The ancient Maya were, in other words, a multiculture.”

Inspired by Annalee Newitz, io9 ow.ly/l5zrB Image source Twitter ow.ly/l5zp7

Sarah Maslin Nir the American Journalist and staff reporter for The New York Times has published an article titled ‘Storm Effort Causes a Rift in a Shifting Occupy Movement’ in which she states “Not long ago, the Occupy Wall Street movement seemed poised to largely fade from the national conversation with few concrete accomplishments beyond introducing its hallmark phrase, “We are the 99 percent.” Then Hurricane Sandy struck. In its aftermath, Occupy Wall Street protesters rushed to apply their rabble-rousing hustle to cleaning out houses, clearing debris and raising more than $1.5 million for relief efforts. In some minds, Occupy members had become less a collection of disaffected class warriors than a group of efficient community volunteers. Occupy Sandy, as the effort came to be known, became one of the most widely praised groups working on the storm recovery. As Occupy members around the country plan the movement’s annual May Day protests, a central question has emerged: whether Occupy Sandy represents a betrayal of the Occupy movement, or its future. …So far Occupy Sandy has spent $670,000, according to information the group makes public online, disbursed for essentials like medical supplies ($5,000) and tools for mold remediation ($93,454). But as immediate needs for relief have died down, the group has begun programs reflective of a shift in tactics and a broad interpretation of “rebuilding,” like “Wildfire,” a series of political action classes in the Rockaways, which so far has received $10,600. That shift, toward what one storm volunteer called “indoctrination,” has caused some discomfort among donors and recipients alike. Some Occupiers say that they are simply seeking to stay true to the movement’s goals, which drove them to the storm-ravaged region in the first place. “No one was being tricked into donating to Occupy Sandy,” said Daniele Kohn, who is part of the team managing Occupy Sandy’s finances. “ ‘Occupy’ is part of the name.”

Inspired by Sarah Maslin Nir, New York Times ow.ly/l32bf Image source Facebook ow.ly/l32Ie

Jere Downs the American journalist and business writer has published an article in the Courier Journal titled ‘New York nonprofit buys and forgives more than $1 million in Louisville medical debt’. Downs states “A New York-based nonprofit says it has bought up more than $1 million in medical debts owed by more than 1,000 people in the Louisville area, as part of a protest of the credit industry. The Rolling Jubilee Fund, founded by Occupy Wall Street protesters, said it has forgiven the debts, which ranged from $25.50 to $8,790 — so they no longer have to be paid. “We believe that no one should have to go into debt for the basic things in our lives, like healthcare, housing and education,” said Thomas Gokey, the organization’s vice president. The goal of the project, which began last fall, is to “to buy and abolish personal debt,” said Gokey, who argues there is a double standard with debt — Wall Street banks that owe billions of dollars are bailed out, while “the same options are not available for the 99 percent.” The Rolling Jubilee said it used donations from people sympathetic to their cause to purchase the debt, which was owed to local doctors and then sold on the credit market after the doctors were unable to collect. The group said it bought the debt from a debt broker and a collection agency in the Louisville area. …Medical debt is the leading cause of personal bankruptcy, according to a study by Harvard University Law School. An estimated 17 percent of Kentucky residents have no medical insurance, including Medicaid, according to the Center for Business & Economic Research at the University of Kentucky. ……Health care costs are “such a disaster, a personal and individual disaster for so many Kentuckians and people in Indiana,” Adams said, adding the Rolling Jubilee Fund “is truly a wonderful thing.”

Inspired by Jere Downs, Courier Journal ow.ly/kuIxy Image source Twitter ow.ly/kuIx8

Marni Halasa the British lawyer, journalist, and performance artist for Occupy Wall Street in New York City and member of Occupy’s Alternative Banking Group, a direct action and seminar group that distributes information to the public, has published an article on Huffington Post titled ‘Show Time! Tripping the Light Fantastic as a Performance Artist for Occupy Wall Street’. Halasa states “My conservative Arab father always told me I had no shame. Little did he know that my insatiable desire to exhibit and entertain as a performance artist would come in handy for Occupy Wall Street. I help the movement spread its message of the 99 percent in a somewhat unique and flamboyant way. Whether I am dressed as Marie-Antoinette, protesting against workers’ low wages in front of a Walmart in New Jersey; a police officer during an anti-police brutality march in Union Square; or a dominatrix covered in fake money in front of the Federal Reserve, I am compelled to be a living breathing costumed illustration of my own political beliefs. And mind you — all of this is done on skates. So why do I risk arrest, brave the sometimes hostile elements and lose sleep over hours of preparation? An obsessive desire for creative self-expression is the obvious reason. The other is that it is my chance to belong to an amazingly purposeful politicized community. When Occupy began, I connected with a group of people who could discuss the complexities and dynamics of wealth, power and social mobility in our society. From them I learned how bankers from HSBC laundered money for the drug cartels and avoided criminal prosecution, why the Dodd-Frank reforms do not go far enough to insure our country’s financial stability, and the reasons behind the lack of mobility for the low income. Although these people were for the most part strangers, they charmed me with their warmth, intellect, and uncanny ability to make complex information understandable. They were also keen to make a positive impact. I quickly decided I had to join the Occupy movement…”

Inspired by Marni Halasa, Huffington Post ow.ly/kuGR4 Image source Twitter ow.ly/kuGMQ

Meghan Murphy the Canadian a freelance writer, journalist and founding editor of Feminist Current, has published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘Creating gender equity: Lessons from Iceland’ highlighting the sexually liberal country has not only criminalised the purchase of sex, but has also banned strip clubs. Murphy states “…Since the economic crash in 2008, the country has turned itself around in more ways than one. Iceland ranked first place in the 2012 Global Gender Gap report, moving up from number 4 in 2008. Based on factors like economic participation and opportunity (so, looking at things like wage equality and the number of women in the labour force and in positions of power), educational attainment (based on factors such as female literacy and the number of women enrolled in higher education), health and survival (which looks at life expectancy and mortality rates), and political empowerment (which takes into account the number of women holding political office as well as the number of female heads of state); this report ranks countries throughout the world. The US, on the other hand, ranked 22nd, having moved down a few notches from 17th place in 2011. …Unlike the US, Iceland dealt with the crash by prosecuting those responsible, holding banks accountable, minimising, and in some cases forgiving individual household debts completely, cutting government spending and raising taxes. They also came to the rather radical conclusion that a male-dominated economy and business culture were part of what led to the crash in the first place. In response, Iceland developed a legislation that ensured companies’ boards were composed of 40 percent women and incorporated what they called “feminine values” into the “mainly male spheres of private equity, wealth management and corporate advice”. Throughout all this, the new government made maintaining Iceland’s extensive welfare system a priority, protecting the middle and working classes above the rich. The country learned the consequences of right-wing privatisation policies and responded accordingly.”

Inspired by Meghan Murphy, Aljazeera ow.ly/k4aRR Image source feministcurrent ow.ly/k4bOA

Roberto Savio the Italian Economist , journalist and international communications consultant, founder of the IPS News Service has published an article on the service titled ‘Switzerland Sets Example for Income Equality’. Savio states “For those who think that Occupy Wall Street, the Indignados in Spain, the World Social Forum and the numerous manifestations of protest worldwide are expressions without concrete outcomes, the result of the Swiss referendum on Mar. 3 on capping the salaries and bonuses of banks executives should make them think twice. Like it or not, two-thirds of the Swiss, who are not exactly a revolutionary people, have given the shareholders of financial institutions the right to decide salaries and bonuses of their executives. Another referendum — on limiting the salaries and bonuses of company executives from all sectors to a figure that does not exceed 15 times that of the average salary of their employees — is due shortly. At the same time the European Commission and the European Parliament have reached an agreement on capping bank executives’ bonuses at an amount equal to their annual salary. If the shareholders decide, it can be twice their annual salary, but no more. …people are getting fed up, as the Swiss referendum has clearly shown. Everywhere discontent is seeping into the polls, with protest parties flourishing everywhere. We are in transition to a different system. This can be done through peaceful and cooperative means, or by a continuation of this growing social injustice. History has many lessons on this issue, and it is useless to recall them. We all read them at school, even the 100 billionaires. So, as the Swiss referendum shows, it is not awareness that is lacking: it is political will.”

Inspired by Roberto Savio, IPS News Service ow.ly/jBfFB Image source Gc-Council ow.ly/jBfEv

Anne Marie Waters the British journalist activist for secularism, public ownership, civil liberties, and the power of the people to hold the state to account has published an article at the National Secular Society titled ‘Sharia Law and Free Speech’ in which she states “…There exists in Britain a network of sharia family ‘courts’. They are the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal and the Islamic Sharia Council. The former operates under the powers of the Arbitration Act, and the latter is a registered charity. They both operate a system of family law which is expanding and has created a parallel legal system on family matters for Muslims. It is taking us to an increasingly divided and fractured society where application of the law is subjective and based on personal belief. The men who run these bodies are real charmers – they believe men should be able to rape and beat their wives. They believe a woman’s word is worth only half of a man’s, and they believe children are the property of their fathers… Some women are beginning to speak out against these ‘courts’ and the stories they tell are more and more disturbing. Women are being seriously abused here and we have to say so – while we’re still allowed. …Talking about the sharia system in Britain is not an easy thing to do, but the brilliant Atheist, Secularist and Humanist (ASH) societies keep marching on regardless. …For the record, I have nothing against Islam per se. I would never ever object to or try to prevent Muslims practicing their religion. But when any practice is an abuse of human rights, it must be opposed by those of us who believe in human rights. I’m not against sharia family law because it’s got anything to do with Islam, I’m against it because it abuses human beings, especially women…. and I insist upon my right to say so.”

Inspired by Anne Marie Waters, National Secular Society ow.ly/jBd4h Image source Twitter ow.ly/jBd3S

Claudia Ciobanu the Bucharest journalist writing on the issues of transition within Romania and Bulgaria, has published an article on the IPS News Service titled ‘Poland Cornered Over Its Secret Prisons’ in which she states “A Polish official investigation into the existence of a secret CIA prison on its territory is being stalled, according to official sources, while pressure on the country to tell the truth mounts. … [a] report to the recent Globalising Torture study of Open Society Foundations, claim Poland hosted a secret CIA prison used in the extraordinary rendition programme from the end of 2002. Under this programme, the U.S. detained and interrogated terrorism suspects in Europe. …Poland seems to be this new location. …officials from governments and intelligence services of various countries, including Poland and the U.S., interviewed by UN and EU bodies, NGOs and journalists, point to the fact that the Polish site was key to the CIA scheme. Those sources continue to speak under the condition of anonymity because both Poland and the U.S. refuse to officially reveal details about how rendition functioned. In Poland, a prosecutors’ investigation started in 2008 has recently taken a dubious turn. Until a year ago, the investigation was conducted by the Warsaw prosecutors’ office, under two successive prosecutors. …After this news came out, the case was moved to Krakow. Mikolaj Pietrzak, the Polish lawyer [stated] “It is extremely irregular that a case be shifted to three different prosecutors, and the fact that in the last year nothing has gone forward apparently is a very sad statement about the investigation.” … Pietrzak, who has at one point seen the full file of the Polish investigation, claims: “This case is going to be very difficult to overturn, because there is a lot of evidence, and you simply cannot pretend that what is there in the prosecutors’ file doesn’t exist.”

Inspired by Claudia Ciobanu, IPS News Service ow.ly/j4E5X Image source Human Wrongs Watch ow.ly/j4DmR

Anatole Kaletsky the British journalist and economist named Newspaper Commentator of the Year in the BBC’s What the Papers Say awards, and has twice received the British Press Award for Specialist Writer of the Year, has published an article on Reuters titled ‘The age of austerity is ending’ stating “Whisper it softly, but the age of government austerity is ending. It may seem an odd week to say this, what with the U.S. government preparing for indiscriminate budget cuts, a new fiscal crisis apparently brewing in Europe after the Italian election and David Cameron promising to “go further and faster in reducing the deficit” after the downgrade of Britain’s credit. But politics is sometimes a looking-glass world, in which things are the opposite of what they seem. …in Italy, Britain and the rest of Europe, this week’s events should help convince politicians and voters that efforts to reduce government borrowing, whether through public spending cuts or through tax hikes, are both politically suicidal and economically counterproductive. In Italy, and therefore the entire euro zone, this shift is now almost certain. After the clear majority voted for politicians explicitly campaigning against austerity and what they presented as German economic bullying, further budget cuts or labor reforms in Italy are now off the agenda, if only because they would be literally impossible to implement. If Angela Merkel demands further budget cuts, tax hikes or labor reforms as a condition for supporting Italy’s membership of the euro, a majority of voters have given an unequivocal clear answer: Basta, enough is enough. Most Italians would rather leave the euro than accept any further austerity – and if Italy left the euro, total breakup of the single currency would follow with an inevitability that might not apply if the country exiting were Greece, Portugal or even Spain. …Things may not look that way just yet, but the age of fiscal austerity should soon be over.”

Inspired by Anatole Kaletsky, Reuters ow.ly/iuA5T Image source Twitter ow.ly/iuz0F

Eric S. Perlstein the 43 year old American historian, journalist and was a Senior Fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future where he wrote for their blog about the failures of conservative governance, The Big Con. Perlstein has published an article in The Nation Magazine titled ‘Hell Isle’ where he states “Check out what the loopy Ayn Randroids are up to now. In long-suffering Detroit, a libertarian real estate developer wants to buy a civic crown jewel, Belle Isle, the 982-acre park designed by Frederick Law Olmstead …and turn it into an independent nation, selling citizenships at $300,000 … says would-be founder Rodney Lockwood “to provide an economic and social laboratory for a society which effectively addresses some of the most important problems of American, and the western world.” The Plan is …“Belle Isle is sold by the City of Detroit to a group of investors for $1 billion. The island is then developed into a city-state of 35,000 people, with its own laws, customs and currency, under United States supervision as a Commonwealth.” Relations with neighboring, impoverished Detroit will be naught but copacetic, and not exploitative at all: “Plants will be built across the Detroit River…. with the engineering and management functions on Belle Isle. Companies from all over the world will locate on Belle Isle, bringing in massive amounts of capital and GDP.” (Because, you know, tax-dodging international financiers of the sort a scheme like this attracts are just desperate to open and operate factories.) Government will be limited to ten percent or less of GDP, “by constitutional dictate. The social safety net is operated charities, which are highly encouraged and supported by the government.” Although, on Belle Isle, “the word ‘Government’ is discouraged and replaced with the word ‘Service’ in the name of buildings.”

Inspired by Rick Perlstein, The Nation ow.ly/i0TiP Image source Facebook ow.ly/i0TXs

Martin Khor the 61 year old Malaysian journalist and economist, is the Executive Director of the South Centre (an intergovernmental organisation of developing countries based in Switzerland), has published an article on the IPS News Service titled ‘Debt Crises, a Damocles Sword’. Khor states “The issue of foreign debt has made a major comeback due to the crisis in Europe, in which many countries had to seek big bailouts to keep them from defaulting on their loan payments. Before this, debt crises have been associated with African and Latin American countries. …European countries, notably Germany, insisted that private creditors share the burden of resolving the Greek crisis. They had to take a “haircut” of about half, meaning that they would be repaid only half the amount they were owed. It is increasingly clear that bailouts – where new loans are given to indebted countries to enable them to keep paying their old loans in full – are not enough and may be counterproductive, when the countries are facing a problem of insolvency and not just a temporary lack of liquidity. The restructuring of some of Greece’s debt that was owed to private creditors is an example of what needs to be done. However, the ad hoc restructuring undertaken in the Greek case is not enough. A more systematic framework needs to be made available to countries on the verge of debt default, with principles agreed to internationally. In the absence of this, unilateral debt restructuring will probably be messy, as when a country is forced by desperate circumstances to declare a default and propose its own debt restructuring, which may or may not succeed in getting its creditors to agree to the terms. …Though the debt crisis now has Europe as its epicentre, many developing countries may soon also be facing the same predicament.”

Inspired by Martin Khor, IPS News ow.ly/hLSP6 Image source iisd ow.ly/hLSOn

Timur Vermes the 45 year old German journalist and author is the subject of an article by Nathalie Versieux published on Worldcrunch titled ‘Why A New Book About Hitler Returning Has Become A German Bestseller’. Versieux states “He’s back. Adolf Hitler is back, in a book by Timur Vermes – a comedy in which Hitler returns to Berlin in the summer of 2011. The book, which has reached the top of the German bestseller list, is causing much controversy in a country that would rather forget it has been 80 years since Hitler rose to power… Timur Verme’s novel created much controversy in Germany. …“We don’t have too much Hitler,” says Vermes. “We have too many Hitler stereotypes, which are always the same – the monster that enables us to reassure ourselves. I too, for a long time accepted this vision of Hitler. But this vision is not enough. Hitler continues to have a real fascination. If so many people helped him commit his crimes, it is because they liked him. People don’t elect a nut job. They elect someone whom they are attracted to and that they admire.” …Vermes concludes: “Often, we tell ourselves that if a new Hitler came along, it would be easy to stop him. I tried to show the opposite – that even today, Hitler might be successful. Just in a different way.” Vermes’ book shows how, in 21st century Germany, a demagogue would have a chance – the ways to conquer the masses have changed, they have modernized. But the intention stays the same. One German book critic summed it up this way: “Vermes holds a mirror to German society which, despite the laughter. shows an unflattering image.”

Inspired by Nathalie Versieux, Worldcrunch ow.ly/hLQuY Image source myspass ow.ly/hLQiL

Sanjay Suri the Indian born London-based journalist, editor in chief of IPS News Service, and writer of the book Brideless in Wembley an account of the immigration experiences of Indians in Britain, has published an article on IPS titled ‘Star Rises a Little’ Suri states “Any comparison of energy output from renewables to conventional energy sources must necessarily fail at the start. Renewables are new, they are a beginning, and it’s still too early to weigh such figures and to discount renewables. But despite significant advances in Abu Dhabi and Morocco, and promising commitments by the Saudis, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region was reminded it is still doing less than many others. “The total installed capacity (in the MENA region) is less than 1 gigawatt (GW), excluding hydro,” Tareq Emtairah, executive director of the Regional Centre for Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency in Egypt, told a meeting. …billed “MENA, A Rising Star in Renewable Energy Investment”. “Between 2002 and 2011 less than six billion dollars was invested,” he said. “Italy alone did that much in 2011.” In the larger pattern, he said, “of 22 Arab countries, 16 have indicative targets. But we do not see stability in commitment to renewable energy.” Emtairah said the pricing and tariff structure was not conducive to deployment of renewable energy. …subsidies for conventional electricity in MENA countries were already costing 50 billion dollars annually. …that brings up the comparative issue again. Why compare to conventional energy sources? Compare to the zero, some say, where renewables were not long back. “Ten years ago, Masdar (the Abu Dhabi company leading investment in renewable energy) did not exist,” said Yousif Al Ali, director of the Shams solar project in Abu Dhabi, the biggest in the region. “…I am optimistic and excited. I believe we will be a rising star. We have put the foundation to be a rising star.”

Inspired by Sanjay Suri, IPS News ow.ly/hnL3e Image source PenguinBooksIndia ow.ly/hnLfs

Vanessa Dougnac the French journalist based in New Delhi having worked for two years with Hikari Films on the story India’s Red Tide about the country’s Maoist insurgency, has published an article on Worldcrunch titled ‘China’s “String Of Pearls” Strategy To Secure The Ports Of South Asia’. Dougnac states “…Nowadays in Bangladesh, it’s hard to miss all the Chinese constructions. In October, there was yet another Chinese delegation signing deals and offering subsidized loans for a water treatment facility, a private power plant and an international airport in the fishing port of Cox’s Bazar. But mostly, China is building a spectacular deep-sea harbor in the island of Sonadia for an estimated cost of $5 billion. There is also a tunnel under the Chittagong River, a China-Bangladesh highway via Burma (Myanmar), and the project of a new industrial park. …the Chinese focus on the strategic sector of transportation can be seen in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. All of these countries surround… India. In a region where it has always been very influential, the Indian government was quick to suspect the Chinese expansion of hiding an “encirclement” strategy. The two Asian giants are locked in a struggle for regional domination. …The “small” nations of the Indian subcontinent have always been wary of their Indian big brother, whose domination they resent. …Chinese investments are visibly geared toward improving maritime transport infrastructures. …Being present in every port has a purpose: it’s the famous “string of pearls” strategy, which consists in China getting exemption from port of call taxes and securing trading routes for Middle Eastern oil while asserting its commercial influence. For now, China’s involvement in Bangladesh is undeniably a positive thing, as it is a symbol of dynamic development.”

Inspired by Vanessa Dougnac, Worldcrunch ow.ly/hhQ9f Image source vanessadougnac ow.ly/hhPBC

Boris Manenti the French journalist with Le Nouvel Observateur has published an article in the monthly magazine ‘Obsession’ on how big data collections could lead to big brother. In the article he states “Big Data is the massive volume of digital data that is so large to process that it needs additional management tools and database processing applications. It is much more than a concept; it’s a whole new technology that promises to “revolutionize our everyday lives.” The term “Big Data” originated from a simple observation. Every day around the world, 2.5 exabytes of data are generated. This data comes from everywhere: social networks, photos and videos posted on the Internet, GPS coordinates from smart phones, weather statistics from every corner of the earth, banking transactions, and so on. This massive amount of information only reveals its full potential after being processed, analyzed and cross-referenced.  …The implications of Big Data are numerous – in theory at least. For the moment, the analysis of massive amounts of data mostly concerns companies who use it as a way to analyze their clients’ consumer habits. …The problem is the public’s acceptance. Big Data cannot be allowed to turn into “Big Brother.” “The users’ trust is crucial,” says Chuck Hollis. “To get the best medical treatment, we give our doctor as much information as we can, because we trust him. Big Data needs to convince its users it can be trusted in the same way.” He adds: “Every new technology creates new fears. Fire, electricity, the Internet, Big Data. With good there is always bad, we just need to keep that in check.”

Inspired by Boris Manenti, Nouvel Observateur ow.ly/gXF3Z Image source Twitter ow.ly/gXF2K

Chrystia Freeland the 44 year old Canadian-american writer, journalist and editor of Thomson Reuters Digital has published an article titled ‘Finding economists’ common ground’. Freeland states in the article “This is a tough time for experts. Empowered by the Internet and embittered by the sour economy, many people doubt the wisdom of expert elites. Journalism sometimes casts further doubt by seeking polarized positions that can draw an attention-grabbing debate, or by taking refuge in he-said-she-said accounts to avoid the harder job of figuring out who’s right. Now one tribe of specialists – economists – is striking back. Concerned that the great unwashed have come to see all economic proposals as being equally valid, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business has led an effort to figure out what economists agree on, where they diverge and how certain they are about their views. To do that, the Booth school called on reputable economists to join its panel of experts. Each week, the panelists are asked whether they agree or disagree with a particular economic idea. … they did pick up a clear difference between men and women. “Women,” they wrote, “tend to be more cautious in taking a stance.” For women making their way in the 21st-century world of work, that reticence is mostly a handicap – a willingness to admit to uncertainty is one reason women are paid less and can find it difficult to break through the glass ceiling. For the benefit of the community as a whole, though, more female economists may be needed. The quest for objective economic knowledge is surely a good thing, as is the Booth effort to map where economists agree and where they diverge. But, given how profoundly and unexpectedly the world economy collapsed in 2008, maybe a little more womanly humility about that conventional wisdom would be a good thing, too.”

Inspired by Chrystia Freeland, Reuters ow.ly/gT6KV Image source WEF ow.ly/gT7ka

Audrey Garric the French journalist for Le Monde has published an article titled ‘Climate weapons really exist?’ in which she states “Could the rising tide of … natural disasters be explained by man’s voluntary action? Could these cataclysms be triggered deliberately by the army, for political reasons? For years, these conspiracy theories, relayed generously on the Internet, suggest that the climate could be manipulated as part of strategic or tactical wars. …In the U.S., from the 1950s, official reports or statements recognize the military usefulness of climate change techniques. “Intervention in atmospheric and climatic matters . . . will unfold on a scale difficult to imagine at present . . . this will merge each nation’s affairs with those of every other, more thoroughly than the threat of a nuclear or any other war would have done,” said American mathematician John von Neumann at the height of the Cold War in 1955. Between 1967 and 1972 during the Vietnam War, Operation Popeye used cloud “seeding” techniques by injecting silver iodine. The idea was to trigger rain and extend monsoon season in order to slow down the movement of enemy troops through the Ho-Chi-Minh trail. As the U.S. and Russia were holding a scientific race to be the first to control the climate, the UN decided to create a legal framework. In 1977, the Enmod Convention, ratified by the UN General Assembly banned the military or any other hostile use of environmental modification techniques. It targets “any technique for changing – through the deliberate manipulation of natural processes – the dynamics, composition or structure of the Earth, including its biota, lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere, or of outer space.””

Inspired by Audrey Garric, Le Monde ow.ly/gKAOs Image source Facebook ow.ly/gKACe

Benoit Georges the French journalist and head of Innovations and Skills department with Les Echos has published an article on Worldcrunch titled ‘Do Smart Phones Make Us Dumber? Asking The Internet’s Intelligence Questions’. Georges states “Italian linguist Raffaele Simone and French philosopher Jean-Michel Besnier deliver very different views on the matter. According to Simone, modern men and women are “caught in the Web,” absorbed in the “media sphere”, which he describes as an “environment in which online electronic media play a fundamental role,” and create, “from nothing, trends, needs and new pressures.” …Written knowledge allows thoughts to be structured and more complex than oral communications. It is based on a specific form of intelligence Simone called “sequential” – meaning the way we assimilate new information, one after the other. The Web and videos, on the other hand, favor a “simultaneous” form of intelligence – we are capable of taking in different types of information at the same time but without “being able to put them in order as a logical succession, with hierarchy.” …Jean-Michel Besnier’s … asks a simple question: “How does the cultured species that we are, born from the Age of Enlightenment and having witnessed totalitarianism, let itself become a slave to its machines?” The situations in which we delegate our responsibility to objects or programs are multiplying: Search engines algorithms decide which websites best match our needs; the so called “service” robots that are supposed to take better care than us of the elderly or autistic children; the GPS navigators without which we are completely lost… Besnier believes this dehumanization existed long before computers. According to him, the industrial revolution – that transformed men into operators of machines that were more powerful than them – was already part of this movement.”

Inspired by Benoit Georges, Worldcrunch ow.ly/gH0mm Image source Twitter ow.ly/gH0kW

Ashfaq Yusufzai the Pakistani journalist for IPS News has published an article titled ‘Remittances Soothe the Scourge of Militancy’ in which he states “A majority of the 5.5 million people living in FATA have been … affected by the decade-old militancy, which began in earnest in 2001 when U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban government in Kabul, forcing the militants to cross over to Pakistan and establish sanctuaries along the 2,400-kilometre-long border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. FATA soon became infested with Taliban cells. As Pakistan emerged as a frontline state in the U.S.’ ‘war on terror’, armed forces poured into FATA in a full-scale military offensive in 2005 designed to root out the Taliban. The army offensive, coupled with the militants’ resistance, made it impossible for civilians to carry on with everyday life. Now, for the first time in years, people … are finally starting to see improvements in their lives, as remittances from a younger generation of migrants who fled the region in search of employment abroad streams into FATA, easing the financial burden of unrelenting militancy. …Abu Zar, an official at the FATA Secretariat, told IPS that the militarisation of the region has brought misery to many residents but has also fuelled a wave of migration to Gulf states like the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman, which is now helping people get back on their feet. “Currently, more than 400,000 FATA residents are living and working in foreign countries”, up from less than 100,000 prior to 2005, …The younger generation has been going abroad in droves because of the prolonged insurgency”, in order to escape a sharp decline in trade, business opportunities and income in FATA, he added.”

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Esther Dyson the 61 year old American former journalist and Wall Street technology analyst, now entrepreneur who concentrates her investments on emerging digital technologies, and is Chairwoman of EDventure Holdings focusing on issues related to medical technology, aviation, and space travel. Dyson has published an article on Project Syndicate titled ‘The rise of the attention economy’ claiming people in the attention economy spend their personal time attracting others’ attention. Dyson states “…companies go online to earn money. Google is perhaps the purest example of a company that transforms purchase intentions into income; most other “internet” companies offer something of independent value on the other side of those searches. But many individuals, most of the time, go online without any interest in buying something. They are there to find out about the world, catch up with friends, play games, listen to music, chat, or just hang out – and, increasingly, to get the attention of other people. Thanks to highly productive surplus economies, they can spend a lot more time being economically inactive. …This attention economy is not the intention economy beloved of vendors, who grab consumers’ attention in order to sell them something. Rather, attention here has its own intrinsic, non-monetisable value. The attention economy is one in which people spend their personal time attracting others’ attention, whether by designing creative avatars, posting pithy comments, or accumulating “likes” for their cat photos. Just as we are driven to spread our physical DNA, so apparently do we have an urge to spread our virtual identities, so that we cannot be erased. Instead of physical descendants, we are offering our own virtual selves to posterity.”

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Farmers need to grow Climate Smart (January 5 2013)Busani Bafana the Zimbabwean Journalist and founding member / coordinator of the Network on Environment & Agriculture Reporting, a media network in Zimbabwe that seeks to promote coverage of agriculture and science issues by journalists, has published an article on the Inter Press Service titled ‘Farmers Need to Grow Climate Smart’. Bafana states “Farmers cannot wait much longer for negotiators to reach an agreement on including a work programme on agriculture in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. And until one is approved, “it will continue to be difficult for farmers to produce the food needed, and at the same time reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” [states] Anette Friis from the Danish Food and Agriculture Council and spokesperson for Farming First, a global coalition calling on world leaders to increase agricultural output in a sustainable and socially responsible manner. “Countries failed to get an agreement on agriculture at this year’s (Conference of the Parties) COP18 in Doha, which means that discussions will not move to the next level and a work programme on agriculture is not foreseen for the near future.” “Progress has been excruciatingly slow,” [states] Bruce Campbell programme director [CCAFS] Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security . “One sentence in Durban in the final agreement. Then a few non-committal sentences at SBSTA in June. This mirrors the UNFCCC negotiations generally. What can one say, but that we are on target for a four-degree warmer world, which is likely to reduce growing seasons over much of sub-Saharan Africa by more than 20 percent.” According to CCAFS, agriculture and land use change, mostly from deforestation, contribute an estimated one-third of total greenhouse gas emissions. However, an improvement to crop yields since 1960 has already reduced agricultural emissions by 34 percent. Arguing that farmers around the world are experiencing the impacts of climate change daily, Farming First says the agriculture sector could play an important role in both climate change adaptation and mitigation. …Climate-smart agriculture includes conservation agriculture, crop rotation, agro-forestry, better weather forecasting and integrated crop-livestock management. It is aimed at environmentally-friendly increases in food production, which thereby reduce the emissions produced from agriculture.”

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Nick Cohen the British journalist, author and political commentator has published an article in The Guardian titled ‘Secular Britain is ruled by religious bureaucrats’ asking why is the church still such a force in our society when most of us disregard its clerics’ teachings? Cohen states “The number of people who say they have no religion jumped from 15% in the 2001 census to 25% in 2011. If the remaining 75% were believers, this leap in free-thinking would be significant but not sensational. But those who say they are religious are not faithful to their creeds, or not in any sense that the believers of the past would have recognised. Church attendance is in constant decline. Every year that passes sees congregations become smaller and greyer. As striking as the fall in religious observance is the public’s near total disregard for the teachings of the clerics and prelates, who could once claim to be society’s moral guides. …When millions of people tell the census takers they are “Christians”, therefore, they are muttering the title of a childhood story they only half remember. What is more, their spiritual “leaders” know it. …I can see no way of proving that allowing free debate proves happiness. It may well be that people are happier when their illusions and taboos remain intact. But if you prevent challenges to their beliefs, you are not treating them as adults; you are patting them on the head and saying that they cannot handle robust debates – infantilising them, in short. What applies to individuals applies to countries. Facing up to the truth about religious decline, and adapting our institutions accordingly, will doubtless cause pain to some. But it will allow Britain to become an honest and grown-up country that meets the first requirement of maturity by seeing itself as it is.”

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Ines Benitez the Spanish Journalist has published an article in the Inter Press Service News titled ‘Salvaging Waste Food for the Hungry in Spain’ Benitez states “A recurring question in crisis-stricken Spain is how to ensure that surplus agricultural products reach those most in need. One response is citizen initiatives to protest the waste of food and to advocate efficient management along the full length of the food chain. …But those responsible for most of the waste in industrialised countries are consumers, who throw out perfectly good food on their plates or get rid of food that has gone bad in their larders through sheer neglect or for lack of a little basic planning before shopping. A European Parliament (EP) report in late 2011 said that Spain wasted 7.7 million tons of food in good condition every year, an average of 163 kgs per person. This squandering is at odds with the fact that over 21 percent of Spain’s 47 million people are living in poverty, according to the Economically Active Population Survey by the National Statistics Institute (INE). The same EP report indicates that 42 percent of the 89 million tons of food wasted in the European Union comes from households, 39 percent from industry, five percent from the distribution system and 14 percent from other sources. …A study in May 2011 commissioned by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and carried out by the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology (SIK) warned that 1.3 billion tons a year of food are spoiled or go to waste worldwide.”

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Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan, known professionally as Piers Morgan, the 47 year old British journalist and television host working in the United States is the subject of a petition to the Obama Administration to deport him back to Great Britain for Attacking 2nd Amendment. In the wake of the December 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting Morgan criticised American gun laws when interviewing Larry Pratt on his gun control views, calling him a “stupid man” and “a dangerous man espousing dangerous nonsense” after Pratt argued that the best way to combat crime in the USA was to have more guns. The petition at this time has gathered 88,485 signatures, exceeding the 25,000 threshold which requires a response from the White House. Tommy Christopher in a Mediate article titled ‘Anti-Piers Morgan Petitioners Are A National Embarrassment’ states “This is why we can’t have nice things. A little over a year ago, the White House announced an innovative way for Americans to engage with their government by creating online petitions that the White House would have to respond to if enough signatures (25,000) were gathered. One consequence of the “We the People” program, however, is that a relatively small number of Americans now have the ability to shame the entire nation before the world, as is the case with the gun-loving morons… While obvious, it should be noted that Piers Morgan is “attacking” and “targeting” with speech, an activity that, if memory serves, is addressed somewhere in that Amendment-thingy. It might even be somewhere near that 2nd Amendment, I’ll have to check. That First Amendment also protects the right of these 82,000 people to be idiots in public, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us have to be happy about it. What these petitioners have done is tell the world that when Americans don’t like your ideas, they try to get the government to silence you. It’s true that these people represent a mere fraction of a fraction of our population, but the petition amplifies their voices well beyond what they could ever have hoped for.”

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Charlotte Silver the American journalist based in the Palestinian West Bank has published an article on Aljazeera titled ‘Will Monsanto destroy Mexico’s corn?’ discussing the introduction of GE corn to Mexico would sound the death knell for the country’s precious ecology. Silver states “When GE corn was introduced in the mid-90s, Mexico was inhospitable to the new-fangled crop. The country’s National Biosecurity Commission established a (non-legally binding) moratorium on genetically engineered corn in 1998 as a means to safeguard what is considered to be the planet’s cradle of maize cultivation. Corn has been carefully tended in Mexico for eight millennia and environmental conservationists report that thousands of peasant varieties are still grown throughout the country. With an estimated 75 per cent of the planet’s biodiversity vanished as of 1995, Mexico’s heterogeneous corn fields are a rare vestige of the age prior to the “Green Revolution” era that is responsible for the artificially and unhealthily homogenous industrial agriculture that is prevalent now. Introducing GE corn to Mexico would sound the death knell for this precious ecology as it is widely agreed that GE crops cannot co-exist with conventionally bred seeds. Despite institutional protections against GE corn, neoliberal policies have already enabled certain strains of GE corn to intermingle with Mexican maize… Thousands of tonnes of corn that began inundating Mexico from, primarily, the US (mostly for non-human consumption) after the signing of NAFTA in 1994 ensured that the promiscuous plant’s pollen blew onto the pristine fields of small farms. As of today, it is estimated that at least one per cent of Mexico’s corn has traces of GE. But perhaps of more immediate threat to the magnificent biodiversity of Mexico’s maize is the country’s politicians’ willingness to succumb to the pressure of big biotech companies. …As long as politicians do not stand up for the health of their citizens or their land, biotech companies will reap profits in the grim wake of human and ecological destruction.“

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Mary Louisa Toynbee, known as Polly Toynbee the 65 year old British journalist, writer and President of the British Humanist Association has published an article in The Guardian titled ‘Atheists are better for politics than believers’. Toynbee states “’If you’re not religious, for God’s sake say so,” we implored, and many did. Over a quarter of the population registered as non-believers: more might have done were the census question unambiguous about whether it meant cultural background or personal belief. …Some religions argue they have a God-given right not to be caused offence, to give legal weight to fatwas against those who offend their prophets. But in the rough and tumble of free speech, no one can be protected against feeling offended. …the charge that without God, unbelievers have no moral compass. Hitler and Stalin were atheists, that’s where it leads. We can ripost with religious atrocities, Godly genocides or the Inquisition, but that’s futile. Wise atheists make no moral claims, seeing good and bad randomly spread among humanity regardless of faith. Humans do have a hardwired moral sense, every child born with an instinct for justice that makes us by nature social animals, not needing revelations from ancient texts. The idea that morality can only be frightened into us artificially, by divine edict, is degrading. …there is enough wonder in the magical realms of human imagination, thought, dream, memory and fantasy where most people reside for much of their waking lives. There is no emotional or spiritual deficiency in rejecting creeds that stunt and infantalise the imagination. Liberated by knowing the here and now is all there is, humanists are optimists, certain that our destiny rests in our own hands. That’s why most humanists are natural social democrats, not conservatives.”

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Will Hutton the 62 year old columnist for the Observer and former stockbroker and investment analyst has published an article in The Guardian titled ‘Why I, as a journalist and ex-editor, believe it is time to regulate the press’ claiming the Leveson report is a much-needed opportunity for newspapers to abandon the excesses of the past. Hutton states “Leveson’s report… is being portrayed across great swaths of the British print media as the greatest threat to freedom of speech in modern times. The abuses Leveson was set to up to rectify – industrial-scale phone-hacking and the emergence of News International as a de facto state within a state, along with the more widespread culture and ethics that produced them – are deemed to be yesterday’s problems. What is left is the prospect of state regulation of Britain’s proud free press. …To strengthen press freedoms, he may propose stronger public interest protections for newspapers that want to publish what the powerful try to muzzle. The case against is that the proposals are unworkable, slow and legalistic and address practices that are now supposedly defunct and which they would not have prevented. Above all, the charge runs, they represent state limitation of freedom of speech. Such criticisms are bunk, tired and born of special pleading. The whole exercise smacks of doctors, the Lloyds insurance market, trade union barons, the police and various other special interest groups over the years trying to protect self-regulation that had palpably failed. The brutal truth is that British newspapers have become far too careless about the boundaries between news and comment, too ready to use innuendo to prove a point, too fast to phone-hack/pay for information to stand up hunches that have little or no public interest defence but which serve the political and cultural interests of proprietors.”

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Kostas Vaxevanis the 46 year old Greek journalist and founder editor of the magazine Hot Doc, has been acquitted of charges relating to his publishing of the ‘Lagrade List’ of possible tax cheats. In an Aljazeera article titled ‘Crusading Greek journalist acquitted’, John Psaropoulos states “The late night acquittal … was met with an eruption of applause in courtroom number one, building two, of the Athens judicial compound. “The court has found you innocent,” was all the judge had time to say. Vaxevanis had faced a year in prison and a 30,000 euro ($38,500) fine for allegedly breaching Greek privacy law. His offence was to publish the names of what purports to be the infamous Lagarde List, a spreadsheet of more than 2,000 influential Greeks with Swiss bank accounts who might warrant investigation as tax evaders. It is named after the former French finance minister, now IMF chief, who handed it to her Greek counterpart, Yiorgos Papakonstantinou, in 2010. “A junior court judge had the courage to go against the prosecutor’s office which created all the fuss in the first place, to listen to society, to see the results of all this activity surrounding the revelation of the list and of course to see the truth.” Vaxevanis told Al Jazeera after the verdict was announced. …Vaxevanis offered an explanation as to why authorities have been so loath to prosecute the list. “Greece is being governed by a closed group of interests… comprising businesspeople, politicians and a few journalists,” he said. “The Lagarde List is a document that proves what everyone suspects – that a powerful elite… enjoys the privilege that no one dares move against them.”

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Stephen Leahy the Canadian Journalist and lead international science and environment correspondent at IPS News, has published an article titled ‘Ocean Acidification Leaves Mollusks Naked and Confused’ on the effects of carbon dioxide absorbed by the oceans. “When dissolved in seawater, carbonic acid is formed and calcium carbonate, vital for the formation of the skeletons and shells of many marine organisms, becomes scarcer.” Leahy states “Climate change will ruin Chilean sea snails’ ability to sniff out and avoid their archenemy, a predatory crab  … as the oceans become more and more acidic, some fish become hyperactive and confused, and move towards their predators instead of trying to escape. …nearly 600 scientists from around the world presented their research at the Third International Symposium on the Ocean in a High-CO2 World: Ocean Acidification in Monterey, California. Researchers discovered only 10 years ago that burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas has made the oceans about 30 percent more acidic since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. One third of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from using fossil fuels has been absorbed by the oceans. When CO2 dissolves in seawater, carbonic acid is formed. This phenomenon, known as ocean acidification, reduces the availability of calcium carbonate, which interferes with the formation of the skeletons and shells of many marine organisms. The combination of greater acidity and a lower concentration of calcium carbonate in the water also has consequences for the physiological functions of numerous living beings. This is basic, undisputed ocean chemistry.”

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James R. Lobe the 63 year old American journalist and the Washington Bureau Chief for the Inter Press Service, best known for his criticism of U.S. foreign policy and American militarism, has published an article on the IPS News titled ‘US: Pushback Against Growing Islamophobia’. Lobe states “Faced with a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment and a well-funded campaign to promote Islamophobia, a coalition of faith and religious freedom groups said it will circulate a new pamphlet on frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Islam and U.S. Muslims to elected officials across the United States. The initiative, which coincides with the appearance in subway stations in New York City and Washington of pro-Israel ads equating the Jewish state with “civilised man” and “Jihad” with “savages”, is designed to rebut the notion that Muslims pose a threat to U.S. values and way of life. “Nothing gives weight to bigotry more than ignorance,” said Rev. Welton Gaddy, a Baptist minister who is president of the Interfaith Alliance, a grassroots organisation of leaders representing 75 faith traditions. “The FAQ enables people to be spared of an agenda-driven fear and to be done with a negative movement born of misinformation…” Gaddy was joined by Charles Haynes, director of the Religious Freedom Project of the Freedom Forum’s First Amendment Center which co-sponsored the new 13-page pamphlet, entitled “What is the Truth About American Muslims?” “In my view,” Haynes said in reference to the so-called “Stop Islamisation of America” (SIOA) movement that, among other things, has sponsored the subway ads, “this campaign to spread hate and fear is the most significant threat to religious freedom in America today”.”

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