Sweet Papa Crimbo Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Spark...not everything is a conspiracy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sparky speaks Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Well, it appears they have shut him down. His film shined too much light on the imperialist land grab. The film backfired on them and now they have to retreat back into the shadows or be exposed for what they truly are. Most actions in life are a result of conspiracies be they evil or good. These guys conspired to make a film with the backing of those who support imperialism in Africa. They have served their purpose and now will be silenced. It happens all the time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sparky speaks Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 It's not exploitation when we sanction it. Maybe they can make a new film about these kids? White House Says Child Soldiers Are Ok, if They Fight Terrorists By Michelle Chen | ColorLines | November 15, 2010 The phenomenon of child soldiers, like genocide, slavery and torture, seems like one of those crimes that no nation could legitimately defend. Yet the Obama administration just decided to leave countless kids stranded on some of the world’s bloodiest battlegrounds.The administration stunned human rights groups last month by sidestepping a commitment to help countries curb the military exploitation of children. Josh Rogin at Foreign Policy reported that President Obama issued a presidential memorandum granting waivers from the Child Soldiers Prevention Act to four countries: Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Yemen. The memo instructed Secretary of State Hilary Clinton that it is in our “national interest” to continue extending military aid to those countries, despite their failure to comply with the rules Congress passed and George W. Bush signed in 2008.A thumbs-up for child soldiers from the pen of President Obama? Whitehouse spokesperson P.J. Crowley explained it was a strategic decision to ease the 2008 law. The rationale is that on balance, it’s more effective for the U.S. to keep providing military assistance that will help countries gradually evolve out of the practice of marshaling kids to the battlefield, rather than isolating them.According to the Christian Science Monitor, Crowley argued, “These countries have put the right policies in place… but are struggling to correctly implement them.” The New York Times reported that administration spokespeople also cited the countries’ crucial role in global counter-terrorism efforts.Strategically granting certain countries a pass on child rights reflects Washington’s warped attitude toward the global human rights regime. The U.S. has failed to ratify, or simply ignored, numerous human rights protocols, and our ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child has languished. Human Rights Watch points out, “Only the United States and Somalia, which has no functioning national government, have failed to ratify the treaty.” (Although we did ratify two optional protocols in 2002, relating to child soldiers and other forms of exploitation.)Somalia, by the way, is one of just two countries that the White House allowed to be sanctioned under the 2008 law; the second was Burma. Presumably this is because Somalia is not receiving direct military funding, reports the Monitor. Yet the U.S. continues to support Somali government forces as they fight Islamic insurgents—with the help of a large force of child soldiers. (To their credit, Somalia has at least promised the U.N. they”ll stop arming kids eventually, according to the Washington Post).Maybe you could argue that the U.S. is so “advanced” it needn’t bother with rules about children’s rights to education and whatnot. Obama’s waivers might be seen as realpolitik in areas like Yemen, whose military we support as part of our sprawling counter-terrorism operations. But the bottom line is that the administration has carved out an exception to a law intended to ethically guide the flow of U.S. aid money around the world. Link:http://alethonews.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/white-house-says-child-soldiers-are-ok-if-they-fight-terrorists/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
IRememberDBoon Posted March 18, 2012 Author Share Posted March 18, 2012 Sparky do you mind if I ask? Do you work for a living? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sparky speaks Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 Sparky do you mind if I ask? Do you work for a living? I figure you are asking that question because it might appear this is all I do. Well, you are partially correct.I am a US History, Civics and a Global Economics teacher. I do this stuff for a living. Bullshitting with you guys provides me with a forum to try out new shit. I am currently covering neocolonialism in my global class and some of the kids fell for the Kony video and donated money. I've tried to give them some info to help them make better decisions on how to spend their money so I had all these articles and videos stashed away for class use. I figured I'd use them here to get some feedback. But most of you are like my students. They don't dig deeper to find out more information before making decisions and forming opinions that withstand scrutiny. I find out new things all the time. I used to be a socialist. Then just a liberal Democrat. Now I am playing around with libertarianism and free market capitalism. Next year, who knows? But I think I've got a lot more to learn and figure out yet with this libertarian stuff. It is actually pretty freeing when you start to view things through that prism. What do you do? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
IRememberDBoon Posted March 18, 2012 Author Share Posted March 18, 2012 i test software during the day and am building a website that im gonna launch in a few months hopefully you know its funny. i was thinking about the kony video the other night. I would guess that the 30 minutes i spent watching that is as long as almost any peripheral subject that ive looked into and taken a position on. i see pieces on 60 minutes that are 15 minutes long or less and get an idea of what i think about something. so the idea that someone is a sucker for wanting to support that cause because they quickly bought into something is 100 percent complete horseshit. let the kids be happy to be civic and be involved in something. dont piss on their parade man. let them have at it I say! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sparky speaks Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 You want me to keep quiet and let kids be ripped off? While you were watching that video, did it ever cross your mind that maybe he wasn't presenting all the facts to you? You fell for it hook line and sinker? You didn't check to see if Kony was still in the country or maybe already dead? You didn't check to see if the money actually goes to help any of those kids or if it went right into the filmmakers pockets? You should have spent another 30 minutes doing some simple research. That's what I did. That's my responsibility to my students. It is not being civic when you are being manipulated to be so. None of the money donated is going to any of those kids. It appears it will be going to lawyer and court fees for a crazy man's naked drugged up rampage through the streets of San Diego. All that film did was call for an American invasion of a country rich in mineral deposits. I've been pretty civil with you in my discussions here and elsewhere. Asking me if I understand English in the elections thread and accusing me of pissing on my students parade is starting to go way beyond a civil discussion of politics. I can give it with the best of them but I don't think the moderators would like that very much. When you have nothing to say on the actual subject and you attack me personally, that sort of says it all don't you think? So relax and enjoy the discussion without the attacks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
IRememberDBoon Posted March 19, 2012 Author Share Posted March 19, 2012 typical right wing claptrap. call everyone a traitor a blind sheeple and ignorant morons being lead to the slaughter hell bent on the destruction of the constitution and all of mankind and someone calls you a c*nt and you start crying. i started in this thread asking simple questions and you would never answer me. sorry for being uncivil. I did look further into the KONY video. 1. He said in the video that Kony had left the country.2. We sent in 100 advisors (noone said anything about an invasion)3. The organizations numbers were looked at and found to be more than 40 percent going directly to the kids and the rest in logistics (which according to what i read is a high number)4. Again. Dont piss on someones parade when youre taking monetary policy advice from gold salesmen. never personal with me though sparky. always in fun. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kidsmoke Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 I know you both feel passionately about your positions on this issue. Passion is fine, but please keep it civil or else go to pm's. Thanks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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