The UK public perceives poverty as a consequence of war, famine and natural disasters, and despite giving, see donation as a flawed response.

Poverty in poor countries arises from internal causes: war, famine,
natural disasters, over-population, and of course corruption - currently
the UK public's top cause of poverty, when asked in DfID surveys
<http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Documents/publications1/public-attitudes-april10
.pdf> .

And all we can do, they would say is to give money, which probably won't
reach the people for whom it is intended. This has been called the "Live
Aid <http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/live-aid> Legacy".

One respondent in research for Save the Children in 2009 said: "What's
happened since Live Aid
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/aid> ? I was at school
then. Now I'm 36 and nothing has really changed."

Source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/mar/28
/aid-public-perceptions

Woman used as 'slave' wins case against former hospital director

A former hospital director has been convicted of trafficking a woman from Tanzania to Britain and using her as a "slave", in the first case of its kind to come before a court.

Southwark crown court heard that Mwanahamisi Mruke, 47, was brought to the UK by Saeeda Khan with the promise of a domestic service visa and 120,000 Tanzanian shillings a month (£50). There was also £10 a month pocket money. Desperate to fund her daughter Zakia's college education, Mruke agreed.

But when she arrived in Britain in October 2006, Mruke was forced by Khan to work around the clock and sleep on the kitchen floor of her home in Harrow, London, for the next three years.

Mruke was fed just two slices of bread a day, and ordered around by a bell, which her captor kept in her bedroom.

Although the payment arrangements were initially honoured, Khan stopped paying Mruke after one year. She was also prohibited from leaving the house, her passport was taken away, and Khan made threats about Mruke's relatives in Tanzania.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/17/slave-wins-case-hospital-director

New Naomi Klein book in progress: Climate Change

AMY GOODMAN: And what does it say, you don't believe in climate change?

NAOMI KLEIN: Well, some people believe in climate change, but the main
thing is they don't believe that humans have anything to do with climate
change. And it isn't about the science, because when you delve deeper
into it and ask why people don't believe in it, they say that it's
because they think it's a socialist plot to redistribute wealth. It's
easy to make fun of, you know, and there's all this language, like
"watermelons," that they say the green groups are watermelons: they're
green on the outside, but they're red on the inside. Or George Will once
said it's a green tree with red roots. And the idea is that it's some
sort of a communist plot. And this is actually not at all true. And in
fact, most of the big green groups are loath to talk about economics and
often don't want to see themselves as being part of a left at all, see
climate change as an issue that transcends politics entirely.

Source: http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_62517.shtml

Pretty Girls Make Graves

The cause of human suffering, as explained in Buddhist terms, is greed, anger and ignorance. These negative traits and fundamental evils are called the Three Poisons, because they are dangerous toxins in our lives. Not only are they the source of our unquenchable thirst for possessions, and the root cause of all of our harmful illusions, but they are painful pollutants, which bring sickness, both physical and mental.

Greed’s companions are desire and lust, and these passions and attachments cause us to want to “get hold of” things, and to have more and more of them. Anger’s friends are hatred, animosity and aversion, which cause us to reject what displeases us or infringes upon our ego. Ignorance, which is “not knowing,” especially not knowing our true nature, paves the way for delusion or in our believing something that is false.

Interview with Ken Loach

"I think Naomi Klein's argument is very good: that the plan was 'the
shock doctrine', to traumatise and dislocate Iraq and the region so that
America can plant its big corporations there, dominate its economy, get
the resources - the oil - and have a strategic base in the country."

Source:
http://www.scotsman.com/features/Interview-Ken-Loach--director.6734439.j
p

Don't Panic

From the comments (actually by the author):

This is it. Really. The worst case scenario. A 9.0 earthquake, tsunami all hitting a forty year old plant, with one of the least intrinsically safe designs in operation.

It's not a popular thing to say now, but as bad as nuclear power is from an environmental POV, it's probably better than continuing to burn fossil fuels.

Details here

Update from Something Awful

This is what class war looks like

Source: DailyKos