US paying for 9 year olds to carry machine guns....Does this outrage you???

Please read the article and watch the video and see that my blog title is not rhetoric.  This was the topic for our Junior World Affairs Council at my school this year.  We should not be complicit in financing conflicts where 9 year olds serve in military positions in the open and with common knowledge in the international community....Just my opinion...(see video the accompanies the story below)

NYTIMES: Children Carry Guns for a U.S. Ally, Somalia

""It is well known that Somalia’s radical Islamist insurgents are plucking children off soccer fields and turning them into fighters. But Awil is not a rebel. He is working for Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, a critical piece of the American counterterrorism strategy in the Horn of Africa.

According to Somali human rights groups and United Nations officials, the Somali government, which relies on assistance from the West to survive, is fielding hundreds of children or more on the front lines, some as young as 9.
Child soldiers are deployed across the globe, but according to the United Nations, the Somali government is among the “most persistent violators” of sending children into war, finding itself on a list with notorious rebel groups like the Lord’s Resistance Army.
Somali government officials concede that they have not done the proper vetting. Officials also revealed that the United States government was helping pay their soldiers, an arrangement American officials confirmed, raising the possibility that the wages for some of these child combatants may have come from American taxpayers.""

Click HERE for Video of Child Soldiers TODAY "working" in Somalia---VERY COMPELLING and SAD to watch...

A MUST READ! Vast areas of minerals (Gold, Iron, Copper, and Lithium) JUST discovered in Afghanistan...

A MUST READ article if you follow the war in Afghanistan!! There is a VERY interesting development in Afghanistan.  The discovery of previously unknown vast quantities of minerals  (notably Lithium, which is used in batteries for an array of electronics) has the potential to be a blessing or a curse.  The Congo has a severe problem of "Conflict Minerals" for electronics.  Unless stability and rule of law become the norm in Afghanistan then, well, watch out.  The competition for access to these areas of riches will become intense and nasty...Stay tuned for this one...They (the Afghans) now have something more than Poppies to fight for now...

NYTIMES: U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan

The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials. U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan.
The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.
An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and Blackberries.
While it could take many years to develop a mining industry, the potential is so great that officials and executives in the industry believe it could attract heavy investment even before mines are profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from generations of war.
“There is stunning potential here,” Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said in an interview on Saturday. “There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant.”

World Cup Crime--4 sentenced to 15 years for robbery 4 Days AFTER being arrested--The World is REALLY coming together...

Not sure how I feel about this. I am a law and order type person, but also believe in due process. Can due process take place in 4 days?  Maybe, in South Africa, anyway...

S Africa dispenses swift justice to lawbreakers

""South Africa offered reassurance over security at the football World Cup when two men were sentenced on Sunday to 15 years in jail only four days after robbing journalists at gunpoint.
The men were convicted of stealing goods worth R38,000 ($5,000, €4,100, £3,350) from three journalists – two from Portugal and one from Spain – at a hotel room in the town of Magaliesburg. They were arrested on Thursday, barely 24 hours after the incident, and brought before a dedicated World Cup court charged with delivering fast-track justice.
The men, together with an accomplice accused of receiving stolen goods, were placed on trial and then convicted and sentenced on Sunday.
“The manner in which the investigation was conducted and finalised sends a stern message that our warnings to criminals were not empty threats,” said Nathi Mthethwa, the police minister""

Do as I say, not as I do...BP gas station sign--gotta love irony...

I am assuming this is real and not photoshopped...Notice the BP logo for the gas station in the upper left portion of the photo...HT: The Big Questions

Radio Shack has its catalogs from 1939 to present online!! Click on your birth year and see what was the latest and greatest in technology at the time!!

This could be the GREATEST thing ever!! RadioShack has put it's catalogs from 1939 to present ONLINE.  Click on a year and thumb though the book!  These are the actual catalogs.  Amazing how they changed over the years.  It is GREAT fun to pick your year of birth and see how much has changed AND how much things have decreased in price, technology-wise---Time well spent...HT: EconLog
Go HERE for an inflation calculator to see how much something is in today's dollars...

What is the WORST thing about the World Cup?? The swarm of bees in the stadium!!

It is NOT about the Benjamins! In fact, $100 Bills may not be wanted at all!...

I hear from time to time students and adults say that a business HAS to take your money, no matter what.  Business CAN refuse cash or types of cash.  They don't have to take 5,000 pennies for payment for something AND they don't have to take $100.00 bills.  The Department of Treasury website says this:

""The pertinent portion of law that applies to your question is the Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," which states: "United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues."This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy.""

From NYTIMES: The Merchants That Don’t Take Cash

 

"Down with the Man!! oh, wait, I am the Man"---Billionaires take to the street to protest a tax increase...

Australian billionaires, yes, billionaires, took the the streets to protest a proposed new tax on the "super-rich"--ahhhh, no further comment...

Australian billionaires take to the streets for tax protest

""It was, by any measure, a most unusual rally. Many of the placard-waving protesters gathered in a Perth park wore suits and ties, and impassioned speeches were delivered from the back of a flat-bed truck by two billionaires, including Australia's richest woman.
Gina Rinehart's pearls glistened in the sunlight as she bellowed through a megaphone: "Axe the tax!" Ms Rinehart has a personal fortune of $4.8bn (£2.7bn). Andrew Forrest, in monogrammed worker's overalls, told the well-mannered crowd that Australia was "turning Communist". Mr Forrest is the country's fourth richest person, worth an estimated $4.2bn.  Both Mr Forrest and Ms Rinehart have amassed their wealth from digging up iron ore in the remote Pilbara region. Like other mining magnates, they have grown fabulously rich during a resources boom based largely on China's insatiable demand for the coal, iron, nickel and other minerals that lie in abundance beneath Australia's rust-red soil. Now Kevin Rudd's Labour government is planning to levy an extra tax on the mining industry, and the industry is furious. The issue has dominated the political agenda for weeks, and is even threatening to torpedo Mr Rudd's chance of being returned to power at an election due to be held before the end of this year....""

Is your favorite World Cup team from an economically repressive country? Find out within...

Too interesting to not post, at least for an economics teacher---here are the teams participating in the World Cup AND their Economic Freedom ranking as compiled by The Economic Freedom of the World Project. The counties ranking in the index for ALL countries in the world are in parenthesis and they are numbered in order of economic freedom relative to the teams participating in the World Cup (the USA is number 6 in the world rankings but 4th relative to the teams in the World Cup).  Are you rooting for a team that does not have a system for individuals to economically express themselves? Does it matter?  Just a thought...

HT: Divsion of Labour---Looking for a way to decide who you're rooting for in the World Cup? Or do you need a tie-breaker for games in which your home country isn't involved? Here are World Cup participants ranked by their scores in the Economic Freedom of the World Index. Index rankings in parentheses.


1. New Zealand (#3 in index, Hong Kong & Singapore are 1 & 2)
2. Switzerland (4)
3. Chile (5)
4. USA (6)
5. Australia (t-9)
6. UK (t-9)
7. Denmark (12)
8. Netherlands (t-20)
9. Slovakia (26)
t-10. Japan (t-28)
t-10. Honduras (t-28)
12. Germany (29)
13. South Korea (32)
14. France (33)
15. Spain (39)
16. Portugal (45)
17. Greece (52)
18. South Africa (t-57)
t-19. Italy (t-61)
t-19. Uruguay (t-61)
21. Slovenia (t-64)
22. Mexico (68)
23. Ghana (71)
24. Serbia (84)
25. Paraguay (91)
26. Nigeria (97)
27. Argentina (t-105)
28. Cote d'Ivoire (108)
29. Brazil (111)
30. Cameroon (123)
31. Algeria (131)
32. North Korea (Not Ranked)

Iraqi Authorities to Kill 1 Million Dogs! Iraqi Vets, are there REALLY this many stray dogs in Baghdad???

Are there REALLY over million stray dogs in Baghdad, a city of 7 million people? Iraqi Vets, can you confirm this? Thanks

Baghdad to cull a million stray dogs as rogue canine population soars

More than a million stray dogs roaming Baghdad are facing destruction. The initiative has so far led to 42,000 strays being killed in only two months. Teams of riflemen and vets are trying to thin out a rogue canine population that has reached at least 1,250,000...‘We could consider this the biggest campaign of dog execution ever,’ said Baghdad chief veterinarian, Mohammed al-Hilly. Mr al-Hilly claimed the huge amounts of litter that began heaping up in the capital as violence paralysed public services had helped to trigger the problem. The cull involves 20 specialist teams each consisting of two shooters and two vets, often backed up by police patrols. The dogs are either shot or poisoned and their bodies are then taken to refuse dumps.

HT: Drudge Report

US rice causes people in Haiti to starve---Is that an overstatement?

Predictable...Pay generous subsidies to US Rice growers which encourages over-production.--US buys the surplus (producer gets paid twice)---bag up the rice and send it as food aid to various parts of the world, EVEN if that country has rice producing capabilities---depress the local price of rice---local rice producers go out of business---now they need to get free rice to feed their families...(Repeat with Corn, Wheat, etc)...Rich countries don't REALLY want developing countries to be self-sufficient, do they?  Why not BUY local as much as possible?  Is it really that difficult to ask that question FIRST before making a big aid decision?  I understand the initial response, but consideration has to be taken in making sure local markets are not adversely affected by the good intentions (MARKETS MATTER!!).  It just makes rebuilding that much more difficult.  The US government is not the only culprit. Other donor countries that "subsidize and buy" are just as guilty.  Many NGO's do the same thing.  

Tons of subsidized U.S. rice hurt Haitian farms

POND-SONDE, Haiti – Haiti’s rice farmers are dismayed. It’s nearly harvest time in this fertile valley where the bulk of Haiti’s food is grown, and they’re competing once again with cheap U.S. imported rice.
Just down the road, vendors are undercutting them, selling the far less expensive grain. Subsidized U.S. rice has flooded Haiti for decades. Now, after the Jan. 12 quake, 15,000 metric tons of donated U.S. rice have arrived.  “I can’t make any money off my rice with all the foreign rice there is now,” said Renan Reynold, a 37-year-old farmer who makes an average of about $600 a year. “If I can’t make any money, I can’t feed my family.”Read rest of story.

HT: (MV=PQ: A Resource for Economic Educators)

BP Oil Spill makes my worst nightmare come true---MORE Ethanol on the way...

The list of tragedies from the oil spill seems endless, but we must add one more---ETHANOL...
The Ethanol Trap:  The oil blowout will mean more subsidies for the corn-fuel industry. That's bad news for consumers.(Slate.com)

""The most disgusting aspect of the blowout in the Gulf of Mexico isn't the video images of oil-soaked birds or the incessant blather from pundits about what BP or the Obama administration should be doing to stem the flow of oil. Instead, it's the ugly spectacle of the corn-ethanol scammers doing all they can to capitalize on the disaster so that they can justify an expansion of the longest-running robbery of taxpayers in U.S. history...Listen to Matt Hartwig, communications director for the Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol industry lobby group: "The Gulf of Mexico disaster serves as a stark and unfortunate reminder of the need for domestically-produced renewable biofuels." Or look at an advertisement that was recently placed in a Washington, D.C., Metro station: "No beaches have been closed due to ETHANOL spills. … America's CLEAN fuel." That gem was paid for by Growth Energy, another ethanol industry lobby group. The blowout of BP's Macondo well has given the corn-ethanol industry yet another opportunity to push its fuel adulterant on the American consumer. And unfortunately, the Obama administration appears ready and willing to foist yet more of the corrosive, environmentally destructive, low-heat-energy fuel on motorists.""

My main concern is the havoc that an expanded ethanol mandate will have on the food chain and other food crops that will be displaced because of increased use of subsidies for '"Food For Fuel".  The Earth Policy Institute says:

""The 107 million tons of grain that went to U.S. ethanol distilleries in 2009 was enough to feed 330 million people for one year at average world consumption levels. More than a quarter of the total U.S. grain crop was turned into ethanol to fuel cars last year. With 200 ethanol distilleries in the country set up to transform food into fuel, the amount of grain processed has tripled since 2004.""

HT: Carpe Diem

JibJab's Year in Review---2009...

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Do you think everyone was focused on Pres. Obama or the young man behind him for this graduation speech?

Want to be a World Cup Soccer Player?---You can't be if you were not born in the right month...

Is your chance of being on the US World Cup team determined by which month OR what part of the year you were born in?  This is a premise discussed in some research but popularized in a terrific book by Malcolm Gladwell called "Outliers".  Here are the months and number of players born in that month (data HERE). I eliminated the players who were explicitly NOT born in the US and make an assumption (maybe incorrect) that they did not play their youth soccer in the US and I assume that the players born in the US played their youth soccer in the US (again, I could be wrong).  There are a total of 23 players on the team but two are listed as foreign born so I don't count them in the total (21) when calculating percentages.  May not equal 100% due to rounding. 

January     0    (0%)                       July              1  (4.7%)
February  2    (9.5%)                    August          1 (4.7%)
March      4    (19%)                     September    1  (4.7%)
April        2    (9.5%)                    October         1  (4.7%)
May         5    (23.8%)                 November      2  (9.5%)
June         1    (4.7%)                   December       1  (4.7%)

Players born in March, April and May comprise 53% (approx) of the team.  Players born in the FIRST 6 month of the year comprise 66.5% of the team...In Spain 9 out of the 23 players (all were born in Spain) were born in January, February and March (39.1%) and 14 out of the 23 were born in the first 6 months of the year (60.8%)...Correlation or Co-incidence?  Statistically, you should give up soccer now if you were born in the second half of the year and play something else that is advantageous to your birth month...What do you think?