Overview of the US Development Strategy

Gertee Traveler goes traveling

inside fireplace made from metal scraps and foil

An email from Old Dog sent me to this article just posted at newswithviews: U N SEEKS CONTROL OF PLANETS DRINKING WATER by Jim Kouri, http://www.newswithviews.com/NWV-News/news220.htm. This article refers to the latest "rights" resolution adopted by the U.N.; it's recognized we all have the right to clean drinking water and sanitation.

General Assembly Adopts Resolution Recognizing Access to Clean Water, Sanitation as Human Right, by Recorded Vote of 122 in Favour, None against, 41 Abstentions http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2010/ga10967.doc.htm

I haven't followed much of what happened at the big UN Summit last week so I poked around a few UN sites and their U.S. affiliate sites for updates.

UNMC NORTH AMERICA RESPONSE
http://www.endpoverty2015.org/en/end-hunger/news/overview-us-development-strategy/22/sep/10

President Obama’s speech fulfills the commitment he made at the United Nations a year ago to “support the Millennium Development Goals, and approach next year’s summit with a global plan to make them a reality. And we will set our sights on the eradication of extreme poverty in our time.” The policy outlined by the President has four pillars which will serve as the lynchpins for the Obama Administration’s improved, intensified and coherent approach to foreign assistance.

The President’s announcement of a new US Global Development Policy has four principles that will guide US foreign assistance in not only in addressing US commitments to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, but also bringing coherency and leadership into managing the breadth and depth of the US foreign assistance apparatus. The four pillars of the new US Global Development Policy are:

1. The US recognizes that aid alone is not development. Available tools must be harnessed – including diplomacy, trade and investment policies – to help countries move from poverty to prosperity; (Some Americans think that "innovative finance mechanisms" means Global Taxes: http://www.usasurvival.org/ck09.14.10.html)
   
2. The US will strive to offer people a way out of poverty by working with governments to improve societies in the long term;
3. In order to bring countries out of poverty, the US will emphasize broad-based economic growth; and,
4. The US will insist on mutual accountability for themselves as well as partners, better matching investments with the priorities of partner countries

The President’s speech is a call-to-action. It recognizes the power of partnerships with not only multilaterals such as the United Nations, but also recognizes the powerful catalytic role that the private sector, foundations and civil society does and can play in “realizing the future that none of us can achieve alone.”

President Obama calls upon his fellow leaders to lead and succeed noting that “no country wants to be dependent on another. No proud leader in this room wants to ask for aid.” He outlined broad governance ideals to help leaders unleash the power of the entrepreneurs, to engage women in the economic prosperity of their respective countries by opening schools and providing opportunities for them to attain economic well being and health.

It is clear this is not a “We lead, you follow.” policy. It is a clear departure from the past policies, a unambiguous articulation of doing business in a better and smarter way. Although we await the details to fill out the brief outline in his speech, the tidbits in the speech offer a sign that the US will no longer continue to do business as usual in its foreign assistance portfolio.

Here's a recent speech by Frederick Tipson (Director UNDP Washington) talking about the global Stand Up and root for sustainable development campaign:

Let us root for the team at the Peace Corps just three blocks to the west, and the team of the Foreign Service and the Civil Service over at the Department of State.

Let us root for the new team at the Agency for International Development (USAID) down the hill in the Reagan Building, and the Millennium Campaign Corp. (MCC) just two blocks to the East.
For the congressional staffers on Capitol Hill, and for the many think tankers, scholars, university students, church groups, and non-governmental organizations, and for the consultants, contractors, and corporations, who work within a few miles of this square to make a difference to those living in poverty and the conditions that keep them there.

And, yes, I would ask also that you root for the teams of the United Nations, such as mine, the UN Development Programme, and for the teams at UNICEF, at the World Food Programme, the UN Population Fund, and many others. And for those at the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the International Monetary Fund -- all within a short walk from here.

http://www.us.undp.org/TipsonSpeech.shtml

This sure is the decade of action and innovation:

http://www.america.gov/st/energy-english/2010/September/20100921123517lcnirellep0.3127405.html?CP.rss=true

Barack Obama's Spirit of Communitarianism

Found an old review of Amitai Etzioni's 1992 book The Spirit of Community: Rights, Responsibilities and the Communitarian Agenda. It should sound very familiar to Obama's growing flock. I bet few Obama supporters have ever read Obama's guru. Most Americans have still never heard of Etzioni.

I've read so many posts on how exciting it is to hear him speak. Our people are beyond duped. Nobody I know has the faintest idea what he is talking about when he speaks of change and a renewed sense of responsibiliy. Maybe I'm the biggest fool of all though. I gave up my personal security and livlihood to research and write about communitarian politics, philosophy and law, and all the while my neighbors and family were embracing the communitarian utopian propaganda. My efforts were obviously a huge waste of time and I am starting to agree with the people who called me crazy for doing it.

Amitai Etzioni is the source for Obama's (and Clinton's) message of "hope." But who cares, right? I mean really. If America is falling for the biggest lie in history, who am I to spoil the hellish suprise they have waiting for them? I should consider the hurt feelings of the collective masses if the truth gets out. People want to feel good about their country and this election. They don't want it spoiled with factual information that exposes their chosen candidates to be liars. That's too much of a bummer. No, our people want to feel superior and think they're making a choice for something good. They believe they're chasing the bad guys out of the White House. They want to be entertained with great performances by the greatest liars in history, and truth is of no consequence to those being "spiritually" uplifted by lovely sounding, almost soulful speeches.

What a horrible realization that this is what author/journalist William Shirer witnessed in Nazi Germany while Hitler rose to power. Hitler was a powerful orator, just like Obama, and the German people were mesmerized the same way Americans are today with Obama. Change.. yeah.. there's a word we can all trust to mean the same thing to everyone.

Let's simplemindedly embrace our new anti-Christ figureheads and forget our outdated notions of individual and national freedom. We must all give up our individuality and join the collective in walking off the cliff. We are already dead. We don't need to think about anything that upsets us, ever again. Obama speaks pure communitarian, but so what? He's uplifting, and that's what matters most. Who wants to know that the communitarian manifesto is our nation's deathtoll?

Who wants to know how intertwined the platforms have become? Who wants to know anything about what Obama or Hillary or even Bush and his cabal stand for? I'm convinced that even when our people do figure out environmental, Christian, conservative and progressive saviors are agents for the global communitarians, they still won't care. Americans live under a grand illusion that somehow the communitarian's war on terror will only affect other people. We are a more evolved Nazi nation, so be sure to call DHS on anyone you think has the wrong values.

Kirkus Review of Etzioni's Spirit of Community-- A primer on how to move from the ``me generation'' (castigated by Etzioni in An Immodest Agenda, 1982) to the ``we generation.'' The text doubles as a manifesto for the Communitarian movement, which Etzioni helped found in 1991 and which he heavily promotes here as an antidote to many of the ills of the permissive 70's and 80's. Etzioni (Sociology/George Washington University) defines ``communitarianism'' as an ``environmental movement dedicated to the betterment of our moral, social and political environment.'' We can, he says, reverse the breakdown of the family, rising crime rates, deteriorating schools, and political corruption by restoring those communities (family, neighborhood, professional, etc.) that uphold strong moral values--even if these values clash with the individual rights extolled by civil libertarians. Etzioni does a lot of fancy footwork to avoid charges of authoritarianism, insisting that we can ``shore up'' our values and institutions without becoming a church-dominated or right-wing society. Among his targets are ``no fault'' divorce, since it allegedly sanctions divorce and leads to one-parent families; the insatiable pursuit of careers that conflict with parenting and community service; and special-interest groups that get in the way of effective government. Throughout, Etzioni lards his argument with show- stopping rubrics (such as ``McDonald's is Not Our Kind of Place,'' which means that teens working in fast-food restaurants are trained to become robots and senseless consumers). A lively polemic that highlights some important issues for the 90's and that seems more or less in step with the beliefs of the man at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Community-Rights-Responsibilities-Communitarian/dp/0517592770

Is there one nation on earth that isn't falling for this charade?

Here's an interesting spin on Obama's African religion from a Christian perspective that includes a reference to a book called Kawaida Theory: An African Communitarian Philosophy by Maulana Karenga in 2003:: http://www.therant.us/guest/jonsson/2008/02022008.htm

And then there's an opinion article going around by By Zbigniew Brzezinski from Sunday, March 25, 2007 in The Washington Post warning America about the Trilateral Commission's plan (as if he himself did not help to create the clash of ideologies) ... very tricky plays being made now:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301613.html

Went searching for Brxenzski and Etzioni and ended up at Alex Jones and the John Birchers. I don't trust either of them, but they do their homework as well as anyone out there. They led to another piece to the communitarian puzzle. Take the time to read this site... then convince yourself that only the Democrats or only the Republicans are stealing our freedom.

Trans Atlantic Policy Network:
http://www.tpnonline.org/

Now, here's Obama's website and his Bill to Fight Global Poverty. What an amazing coincidence. It's co-sponsored by a member of the Trans Atlantic Policy Network:

U.S. Senators Barack Obama (D-IL), Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) have introduced the Global Poverty Act (S.2433), which requires the President to develop and implement a comprehensive policy to cut extreme global poverty in half by 2015 through aid, trade, debt relief, and coordination with the international community, businesses and NGOs.

“Poverty, hunger, and disease will be among the most serious challenges confronting the world in the 21st century,” Senator Hagel said. “This legislation provides the President of the United States the framework and resources to help implement a comprehensive policy to reduce global poverty. It is the human condition that has always driven the great events of history. This is a responsibility of all citizens of the world.”

"America needs to do more to help the 1.1 billion men, women and children throughout the world living on less than $1 a day by helping promote sustainable economic growth and development," said Senator Cantwell. "We need to do more to save lives in the poorest countries. The U.S. needs to implement a real plan to combat poverty on a global scale while also addressing the national security risks extreme poverty creates."

http://obama.senate.gov/press/071211-obama_hagel_can/

Think Obama's followers have any idea what a "comprehensive policy to reduce global poverty" entails? Oh no, I forgot, they don't want to know anything, they just want to feel good.

All these years I've studied and read how philosophers and academics believe common born people are incapable of self-government, and I was always so offended by that sentiment. But now I think I agree. Our people can't be trusted to make cognitive choices, and they get angry when you ask them to. The best they can come up with is, "well at least I vote." Okay.