Vote Obama!

I can't listen anymore. It's seems like a numbing cacophony of stats from both sides that imply the other side is lying or telling half truths.

But I still woke up this morning and sent of my vote, which I trust might sway the results in the swing state of Vermont.

I didn't need convincing -- I have found the Romney/Fox News/Republican/Ayn Rand view of the world narrow, self-centered, short-term and historically unfounded. I got my problems with Obama and politicians and the way the world is moving, but I see the clear differences.

It makes my stomach twist up with nervousness that garbage like Obama's America: 2016 was advertising on the NYT Five Thirty Eight blog last week, just as the polls are to close. Some really helpful comparisons on a "Who's Who" on Obama's founding fathers!? This film panders to the very worst stereotypes and distortions. While there are many moral equivalency arguments to have about left and right wing "art", this is out of bounds for dishonesty and divisiveness. (Obama's thoughts on the film.) That the film is advertising on Five Thirty Eight and soliciting more tax-deductible donations!!! to spew shit before the election points right at the heart of what's wrong with money in politics. Thank goodness we have had Stephen Colbert mocking and educating us on the role of Super PACs.

Cutting through the loads of lies and counter lies and lies about lies, The New Yorker is comprehensive in its analysis to justify why Obama should get another four years. Read all the reasons, since they all matter, but don't miss the conclusion:

The reëlection of Barack Obama is a matter of great urgency. Not only are we in broad agreement with his policy directions; we also see in him what is absent in Mitt Romney—a first-rate political temperament and a deep sense of fairness and integrity. A two-term Obama Administration will leave an enduringly positive imprint on political life. It will bolster the ideal of good governance and a social vision that tempers individualism with a concern for community. Every Presidential election involves a contest over the idea of America. Obama’s America—one that progresses, however falteringly, toward social justice, tolerance, and equality—represents the future that this country deserves.

Or the New York Times or the Salt Lake Tribune... Yes, you knew how these publications would "vote", but the rationale and reasons -- dare we risk saying we value such talents in writing? -- hold together and make sense and are consistent with what we see happening in the world. And they show the contrast in this election, as well as why voting is a matter of great urgency.

I Have A New Crush

Wow, I have not heard of her before, but this Molly Webb lady has got all the right ideas in why smart cities will help save the world.

I did a quick image search on her there are a lot of pictures of her. Is that stalking?

I Had A Farm In Africa

Social change, for sure, but to what end? I just watched When China Met Africa, a short film with no commentary. Just images and exchanges. Very intense images.

A historic gathering of over fifty African heads of state in Beijing reverberates in Zambia where the lives of three characters unfold.

Mr Liu is one of thousands of Chinese entrepreneurs who have settled across the continent in search of new opportunities. He has just bought his fourth farm and business is booming.

In northern Zambia, Mr Li, a project manager for a multinational Chinese company, is upgrading the country's longest road. Pressure to complete the job on time intensifies when funds from the Zambian government start running out. Meanwhile, Zambia's trade minister is en route to China to secure millions of dollars of investment.

Through the intimate portrayal of these three characters, the expanding footprint of a rising global power is laid bare - pointing to a radically different future not just for Africa but also for the world.

Available until July 22, 2010.

Randomizing Hits The New Yorker

"The Poverty Lab" in the May 17 New Yorker brings aid effectiveness further to the public discussion. It is a profile of Ester Duflo, who is one of the co-founders of the Poverty Action Lab.

TED presentation on social experiments too. Largely an intro into randomized trials.

I don't think the article's selected metaphor from Angus Deaton is really substantial. It recalls his powerpoint presentation with two people jumping out of an airplane, one with a parachute and one without - Do we need to test the idea that parachutes are useful to people who jump out of planes?

Over simplistic. I like Duflo's response to Deaton's criticism of randomized trials tendency to generalize.

"We are not just evaluating a program and attaching some larger thoughts at the end, but finding ways to use evaluation to explore theories."

By explore theories, I understand this to mean "challenge assumptions", which is really useful, albeit not as prone to silver bullet solutions and sexy campaigns that make rock stars out of economists and vice versa.

"If it's not social, then it's bad business."

Global X, blogging on Social Edge has some good videos. Whenever I am feeling like nothing really matters, this is a good place to go.

I like that quote - the title of this post - from this inverview with Laila Iskandar, especially since she is running a "for-profit/non-profit hybrid organization".

CID is a recognized pioneer in approaches which integrate private, public and civil society interests to create new and sustainable opportunities for growth. We take a holistic approach to business development and are committed to helping build healthy organizations that contribute to Egypt's development.

Let's MicroFranchise it!

"Power From the People"

Just had a conversation with my wife about the potential for connecting energy producers, so as I troll through my backlog of nextbillion.net, I was excited to see this post on the potential to have kinetic energy production in the less developed world. Maybe she'd already read this. Ah, the trials of keeping up with the blogoshpere...a topic for another post.

Merry Green Shopping!

A NYT story dear to my confused and complex heart - A World Consumed by Guilt - it's complicated this holiday season...

So what can an unreformed consumer do in the face of green fashion that doesn’t always fit?

“Perfect doesn’t exist and we’re probably never going to get there,” said Leslie Hoffman, the executive director of Earth Pledge, a nonprofit group that promotes sustainable development and technologies. “We all make compromises every day. Making them with your eyes open instead of arbitrarily is the best piece of advice I could give.”

Attention for the "Bottom Billion"

The Bottom Billion is worth a read. In fairness, I should read the End of Poverty since I already read and have been positively provoked by The White Man's Burden (which I don't feel places me on the right, as Collier suggests, anymore than I would call Sachs a defender of the left, but that is another story for other posts).

Summaries and reviews of Collier are plentiful, here and here and here so I won't bother with that.

I think it contributes some clarity to "conditionality" in the international development discussions and the term "governance conditionality" - that which is based on broadly agreed international norms - is an area I think might gain traction in a new information-obsessed world.

The greatest contribution is his analysis of laws and charters. Clearly, no international court is in the near future, but he cites the progress - note that I stop short of calling them "successes" - of initiatives like the Kimberly Process and Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. I would add that voluntary initiatives such as the Equator Principles, which I use a lot in my work, are re-focusing the debate on role and responsibilities in international development. There is less turning a blind eye to the indirect impacts of our actions.

I was less offended than I expected to be about his arguments for military intervention. He certainly doesn't defend the blunders of Iraq and rather tries to re-think Somalia and Rwanda and how they might have followed a scenario more like what he considers to be successful interventions like Sierra Leone.

Life Along the Pipeline

This is a good article. I appreciate the balance and love the photos. (Disclaimer: Rena Effendi is a pal of mine. But she still takes really amazing photos. I learn a lot from her images.)

Economist: Love it and hate it

I love it because it pushes me to think. I hate it, sometimes, because it is overly simplistic and condescending. Why can't it push one to think without its tone?

Good Food? the leader this week encourages us to get off our socially responsible high horses and consider the unexpected externalities of additional land used in growing organic crops, trade imbalances from fixed fair trade prices and the overall impact of "food miles," not just how close a product was produced. Thank you, we should investigate Rainforest Alliance's efforts to look beyond the guarantee of price.

But...(I am in a bad mood) read the full special report and you realize that the claim of New Zealand lamb, apples and onions being produced with less energy than the same British goods even after the flight to the UK was conducted by...Lincoln University in New Zealand. Wonder how many UK universities cooperated on that research?

And this article on organic cotton might make one think that digging into the issue of organic cotton is only for trend-conscious Prius-owners. OK, economists out there, organic cotton may be hard to certify and difficult to produce, but take a trip to Uzbekistan before you encourage us all to forget about regulating and improving the way global cotton demand is met.

"Ethics, after all, are all the rage."

Stop pissing on everything, you condescending economist jerks.