The Status Quo Fights Back

We've all seen the pictures of starving African children left to the mercy of corrupt African dictators. We know the billions (if not trillions) of dollars in aid that the West has sent to Africa has, on the whole, shown a disturbing lack of results and real change for the vast majority of that continent's residents. A Zambian economist, Dambisa Moyo, has been speaking out on the inefficiencies of aid to Africa and is pushing for a change in mindset and operation of these programs. She's been successful in gaining attention to this matter but, unfortunately, this is what happens when the status quo is challenged:


Anti-aid campaigner under fire despite striking chord in Africa
By William Wallis, Financial Times
Published: May 23 2009 03:00 Last updated: May 23 2009 03:00

A swell of opposition is building in the aid world to a new protagonist who has thrown down a strident challenge to the rock stars and liberal economists who have long dominated debate over foreign assistance to developing countries.
Galled by the ease with which Dambisa Moyo, the Zambian economist and former investment banker, has suddenly risen to prominence this year, activists are circulating detailed critiques of her ideas and mass mailing African non-government organisations to mobilise support against her.
Yet it is proving hard to suppress the hyperactive graduate of Oxford and Harvard, who pops up weekly in a new capital to promote her book Dead Aid - the title itself an affront to rock star Bob Geldof's Live Aid campaigns.
The former Goldman Sachs strategist has become something of a phenomenon. In April, she hit the New York Times bestseller list; this month she was named on Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people, and has been appointed to the board of brewer SAB Miller.
Within days of reading about her, Paul Kagame, Rwanda's president, flew Ms Moyo out to address his government. This month, Col Muammar Gadaffi, the Libyan leader, invited her to Tripoli.
Broadly, Ms Moyo argues that official development assistance has fostered dependency and perpetuated poor governance. She proposes a blend of commercial debt, microfinance, fairer trade and investment in its place.
Her ideas are not especially new. But the publicity she has attracted poses challenges to an industry accustomed to having the most vocal campaigners on its side. Activists fear that in Ms Moyo, developed countries seeking an excuse to slash aid budgets, have found one at a time that Africa is especially in need. They dismiss her book as simplistic - even dangerous. Some critics claim her ideas are gaining prominence because of the novelty of a passionate, young African woman taking on the aid establishment. Mr Geldof's aid advocacy organisation, One, has been mobilising opposition to her messages. Academic Jeffrey Sachs is among those who have denounced her ideas.
"It is ludicrous because we have leaders like President Kagame supporting the anti-aid campaign . . . despite clear successes of aid in promoting Rwanda's growth," he told the Financial Times. Even so, Ms Moyo has struck a chord in Africa.

Great Memorial Day Event!

On the day before Memorial Day, we should all take the opportunity to think about the fallen veterans who have given the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our great country. As a veteran myself, I feel honored to have served my country in time of war.

I wish, however, that some of our nation's leaders would take more time to honor our veterans or at least pretend to care about their sacrifices.

As third in line to Presidency, one would think that Speaker Pelosi would be in her district marching in a parade or honoring veterans in some way. Sorry to disappoint those veterans in San Francisco, but Pelosi is spending her Memorial Day in, wait for it...China.

That's right. Communist China gets the benefit of Pelosi's presence this Memorial Day weekend. She's not alone though: Massachusetts Senator John "Reporting for duty" Kerry is there as well. What are they doing in China you might ask? They're there to discuss clean energy. Wow.

China is one of the most densely populated and over-polluted countries in the world, their human rights record is dismal and THAT'S where two of our most powerful elected officials spend their Memorial Day weekend?

Then again, if those two are out of the country, they can't do much harm to us...or can they?