Archive for October, 2006
« Previous EntriesOn First Impressions
Tuesday, October 31st, 2006First impressions are not
necessarily reliable.
Writing about my first impression upon returning to Maputo after several years absence, I posted that things don’t look as if they’ve changed. Well, writing about first impressions can be a mistake.
In fact, much has changed. I listened to United Methodist Bishop Machado of Mozambique brief an episcopal delegation [...]
European Human Rights Centre
Tuesday, October 31st, 2006The European Human Rights
Centre offers a variety of voices from around the world.
I received a nice note from Daniel at the European Human Rights Centre requesting a link to Perspectives. The Centre is a non-profit organization focussing attention on human rights and its website aggregates content from a variety of people around the world.
I’ll [...]
Fighting Poor Planning and Malaria
Saturday, October 28th, 2006Poor planning is hurting the
fight against malaria.
Poor planning, lack of infrastructure and general disorganization are hampering efforts to fight malaria according to an article by Celia W. Dugger in today’s New York Times.
This quote summarizes the most salient point however: It is no secret that mosquitoes carry the parasite that causes malaria. More mystifying [...]
Communication to Build Community
Saturday, October 28th, 2006I was asked to post my
remarks to the United Methodist Association of Communicators about the role of
communications in community organizing today. The remarks are posted at the link
below.
I spoke last week to the United Methodist Association of Communicators, a professional group who work on communications within The United Methodist Church globally. I was asked [...]
Thy Kingdom Come
Thursday, October 26th, 2006NPR’s Linda Wertheimer
interviews Randall Balmer, author of Thy Kingdom Come. He contends the religious
right is distorting Christian faith in blind allegiance to the politics of the
right.
“I don’t find much that I recognize as Christian” (in the religious right)–Dr. Randall Balmer
Politics have highjacked evangelical Christianity, according to Dr. Randall Balmer, professor of religious history at Columbia [...]
Affordable Computers for the Developing World
Thursday, October 26th, 2006Low cost, full service
computers for users in the developing world hold the potential for connecting
the most distant villagers to the worldwide web.
While in Nairobi colleagues and I met with Aaron Sundsmor, Nairobi-based Director of Programs for First Voice International.
We talked into the evening about the potential for using community radio, cell phone networks and [...]
Social Isolation in the USA
Thursday, October 26th, 2006The General Social
Survey which tracks core discussion groups and the social networks through which
we relate indicates we’re more isolated than ever.
The number of people saying there is no one with whom they discuss important matters has nearly tripled.–General Social Survey
The bowling alone syndrome may be growing according to the General Social Survey. The survey [...]
Social Change: Religion, Television and Automobilies, and a few more
Friday, October 20th, 2006“The paradigm is
shifting” is an overused phrase, but “The paradigm is
shifting.”
The principal sin of neoconservatives is overbearing arro-gance. It is not so much that they have ever been wrong. It is that nobody has ever convinced them that they have been wrong. –David Keene American ConservativeUnion(In NY Times Multimedia see link to Graphic [...]
The Killing of Christian Leaders Continues in the Philippines
Tuesday, October 17th, 2006Extrajudicial killing continues
in the Philippines.
Another church person in the Philippines has been shot dead by masked men on motorcycles. This is a common tactic that has taken the lives of human rights workers and church persons for the past several months and there seems to be no end to the death and suffering.
This note [...]
No News is No News–The Daily Show and the Nightly News
Sunday, October 15th, 2006Research by Dr. Julia Fox at
IndianaUniversity
reveals that in 22 minutes of news coverage during two weeks
duringthe 2004
political conventions only one and a half minutes were devoted
to“substantive
political news.”
Research by Dr. Julia Fox at Indiana University reveals that in 22 minutes of nightly news on television during the two weeks of the 2004 political conventions, a mere [...]
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