Back

Tuesday, October 10th, 2006
Sorry for the absence from posting. I have been very busy at work and took on some additional responsibilities on our condo board and with the family clan. I have also had some technical issues with podcast equipment but I think that is resolved and will be back up with a new format on Wednesday.

I am also going to shift from teaching to talking in the blog. I noticed that I was lecturing again so I am going to begin offering my opinion on current events, issues and what I am pondering.

News

After praising Google for their initiative in setting up a for-profit philanthropic organization to seed solution focused projects and research, I wonder if they may have slipped a cog today with the $1.65 Billion acquisition of YouTube. I have found some vids on YouTube entertaining but the whole consumer generated information portal is only so much fluff. I may be missing the boat but I can’t imagine how they calculated a ROI on this deal.

Make Poverty History http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/

I will be wearing my white wristband for the next couple of weeks because it is a statement of support. One year after G8 approval to eliminate $72 Billion and increase aid by $50 Billion to the 18 most impoverished nations, did we see any improvement in the lives of citizens of these countries. BBC quotes one family “What happened, in real terms, is that the leaders of G8 helped out their friends in the international banks. I didn’t benefit. My friends and family in Ghana didn’t benefit.” Did the $ just end up in the World Bank and IMF accounts? The biggest ever anti-poverty movement came together under the banner of Make Poverty History in 2005 but what were the results? Did the rhetoric from G8 and others translate into action or was this too big a bite to take and we need to start with managable campaigns? If we actually focused on improving the lives and lifting some Ghanans out of poverty, would we have seen results?

Philanthropy Today reports “A federal law that requires public-housing tenants to volunteer at least 96 hours a year” in US. Under the law, able-bodied residents of public housing ages 18 to 62 who aren’t working or studying full-time must volunteer at least two hours a week or face eviction. The biggest problem identified in the article seems to be that there isn’t any resources to manage and enforce the law not that the residents object. You have read my opinion of voluntary v mandatory so I think the criteria is workable and with very little new resources much could be accomplished by volunteers and community could be improved by the act of volunteering.