A member of parliament attacks a “devalued government”

I’ve been asked to post this…

…and I have simply because I’m in awe of his rhetorical mastery of a ship analogy. It is masterful. And so he’s earned the “Person of the Day” moniker.

The Pope is in Africa criticizing condoms

The Pope is in Africa claiming that condoms increase the risk of contracting the HIV virus, and the world is reacting. Before a crowd of some 60,000 people in Cameroon, the Pope said abstinence combats the virus.

This news story explains how AIDS victims in Africa are sent to medical clinics in wheelbarrows, and mentions some facts that the Pope fails to acknowledge, mainly that women are victims of sexual violence and little education. In fact, the majority of Africans infected with the virus are women. A UN report finds that an alarming 40 percent of women surveyed in Zimbabwe and South Africa are HIV positive.

More facts from UNAIDS and the World Health Organization:

·         In 2007, an estimated 2.7 million people became newly infected with HIV. About 45% of them were young people from 15 to 24 years old, with young girls at greater risk of infection than boys.

·         Worldwide there are 7,400 new HIV infections every day

·         The male latex condom is the single, most efficient, available technology to reduce the sexual transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

·         Thailand’s efforts to de-stigmatize condoms and its targeted condom promotion for sex workers and their clients dramatically reduced HIV infections and helped reduce the spread of the epidemic.

The most terrifying part of this story is that the Pope’s comments will kill people. Many people around the world listen to this man, and unfortunately his words are going to increase the spread of HIV – it’s that simple. Angola for example is a country where more than half of its people are Catholic, couple that with an estimated 50,000 children who have been orphaned by AIDS, and you’ve got fire. Furthermore, Catholicism is growing in Africa at the world’s fastest rate!

But there are some Catholic priests and nuns in Africa that are advising worshippers to use condoms. They are praying Pope Benedict will soon see the light. Yet they’re not the only ones. It seems some Vatican insiders are calling Benedict a “disaster.”

Guess who’s defending the Pope? 

 

Mayor of Salemi, Sicily turns the recession upside down

The recession is being used to resuscitate the ailing town of Salemi, Sicily by an eccentric mayor of the “Beauty” political party, a party the mayor founded. Mayor Vittorio Sgarbi is selling off Salemi’s crumbling historic buildings for one euro to save the buildings from complete ruin. His town is also housing the rare video collection of Yongman Kim to draw tourism.

Salemi endured a horrific earthquake in 1968, and it hasn’t been the same since. Sgarbi formed “Project Earthquake” to pull the town up from rapid decline. Kim’s collection of 55,000 videos, built up over twenty years, is a part of the project.

After Kim’s video empire broke down in New York City, where he enjoyed success for numerous years, Sgarbi offered to house his video collection in an ancient 17th century former monastery.

The Sicilian town welcomed Kim’s videos by chanting his name, a stark contrast from the sound of Kim’s business downsizing in New York from the weight of the recession and the death of VHS tape.

It is a strange twist in a story of a small business that personifies the cultural and economic changes occurring. Can a dilapidated town in Sicily save a once fledgling New York business? And can an ailing business save a small town with high aspirations?

Here’s more about the 1 euro homes on sale if you’re interested in buying.

To my fans

To all my people,

I apologize for my thin and far between blog updates last week. I am in the midst of mid-term madness at school, and I traveled to Washington D.C to buy Obama and McCain fridge magnets from Regan airport. I’ll be back in the swing of things later this week. Watch this space….I’ll also be trying to go multi-media on this blog to show you how “hip” I’ve become…

Thanks!

I had 103 views yesterday! Thanks!