Comments on: Clinton, Obama mining Africa for PR gold

By: Orwell's Ghost

Orwell's Ghost — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 03:41:03 +0000

The following may have some relevance to the discussion here.

A news release from the British Medical Journal reports that snobbery over aid projects is preventing charitable groups from working together in developing countries according to a doctor in this week's (Sept. 2, 2006) British Medical Journal.

Daniel Magnus, a senior house officer at Southmead Hospital in Bristol describes the Kenyan Orphan Project - a small group started by him and two friends that sends doctors, nurses and medical students to Kenya to help with health, education, and social welfare programmes. . .

"We have observed in that time a persistent and insidious phenomenon which is essentially aid snobbery," he writes.

The problem is that aid and development work is big business, and in the arguments and snobbery and wrangling over who is more sensitive to the local culture or having the least negative effects on the local economy, all cooperation and collaboration is lost, he says.

"As we have seen worldwide, organisations end up repeating and overlapping their aid and development initiatives to the tune of millions of dollars."

The BMJ article by Daniel Magnus, "The sour taste of aid snobbery," can be read for free on page three of the PDF available at this

http://press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/september/pv503.pdf

By: noreen martin

noreen martin — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 00:53:43 +0000

Dan, great observation about all of us wasting away out here. I’m not on the meds and am quite robust. Lets show the world that we HIV/AIDS/NON-PROGRESSORS are doing extremely well. Anyone that would be interested in appearing in an HIV Rethinkers Calendar, please contact me.

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 23:46:53 +0000

including a picture from Rwanda of John Gumiriza, restored to health and standing by a photo taken of him in skeletal condition in 2005, "before he started taking antiretroviral drugs, which have been provided to him and others at reduced cost."
Persuasive evidence indeed, for most readers, right before their eyes, for the blessings of ARVs aimed at the dire threat of HIV, unless it occurs to them that perhaps adequate food was included in the package.

That's some great propaganda, and it's just the sort of thing that keeps us from questioning. Who can argue with the "obvious"? But are we getting the whole picture? Probably not.

Now, why is it that Africans seem so peculiarly prone to wasting from "HIV"? Is this a common symptom of "HIV infection"? Or is it just a symptom of untreated "HIV infection? Maybe some of our more astute paradigm defenders can help us with this one.

I have to say, if there's one image that will take cement this thing in, it's a picture of somebody with dark skin who's lying in a hospital bed and/or wasting away.

If wasting is a common symptom of untreated "HIV infection", then it seems that would be the easiest way to find all those folk in the U.S. that are "positive", but don't know it. Look for the emaciated person. My bets are on Maria Shriver.

By: Martin Kessler

Martin Kessler — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 16:17:23 +0000

Mr. Obama took an HIV test as an act of political opportunism – that’s what politicians do – why hadn’t he taken it before if he believed it was important to take? Maybe he has realized (only to himself) that the real non-risky behavior groups which he is a member would probably come out clean as a whistle anyway. Again Obama couldn’t get elected by taking a stand against the AIDS establishment.