All Entries Tagged With: "development"
Doctor Tells Obama Supporters to Find Medical Aid Elsewhere
Recently, Dr. Jack Cassell decided to combine his political life with his professional one when he posted a sign in front of his Orlando office that reads, “If you voted for Obama… seek urological care elsewhere. Changes to your health care begin right now, not in four years.”
Inside Dr. Cassell’s waiting room is yet another sign that reads, “This is what the morons in Washington have done to your health care. Take one, read it and vote out anyone who voted for it.” Placed below the sign is a stack of pamphlets opposing the the recently signed health care bill.
Of his action, Dr. Cassell, a Mount Dora urologist and registered Republican said, “I’m not turning anybody away – that would be unethical… But if they read the sign and turn the other way, so be it.” In an interview with Fox, Dr. Cassell also said, “I’m not here to alter my care according to political affiliation — this is about patient education.”
William Allen, a bioethics, law, and medical professionalism professor at the University of Florida’s College of Medicine said Dr. Cassell’s actions were “pushing the limit.”
Mr. Allen said that patients cannot be refused on the basis of their race, gender, religion, sexual orientation or disability. However, political view is not a category that specifically protected in civil rights laws. Mr. Allen says that the only thing keeping Dr. Cassell’s actions from being unethical is the fact that he doesn’t quiz his patients about their political preference.
Dr. Cassell’s action has caused some reproach such as U.S. Representative Alan Grayson, an Orlando Democrat, saying: “I’m disgusted. Maybe he thinks the Hippocratic Oath says, ‘Do no good.’ If this is the face of the right wing in America, it’s the face of cruelty.” But according to Dr. Cassell’s wife, Leslie Campione, few patients have complained and have been “overwhelmingly supportive.”
Do you think this is an effective way of educating and creating discussion about the new Health Care Bill?
Unshaken: Water for Haiti
On World Water Day, March 22, Charity: Water launched Unshaken, a new campaign to help develop long term water solutions for Haiti.
Before the devastating earthquake hit Haiti, a third of the population lacked access to clean water. A study conducted by the World Health Organization revealed that the second leading cause of death in country was from infectious diarrhea caused by contaminated water, having its greatest effects on children. In the the aftermath of the earthquake with millions of people fleeing their homes to rural communities, the situation has gotten even worse. As the rural communities continue to grow in size, more and more people have no choice but to drink dirty contaminated water.
The Unshaken campaign is committed to raising funds for 11 large scale water projects in various parts of Haiti that will give 40,000 people access to clean water. Charity: Water’s goal is to raise $1.3 million or more to fund these projects in which 100% of the donations will go directly to the projects. You can check out specifically where the sites for the water projects are in Haiti and also the story behind each project at the Unshaken website.
See how you can participate in this project here. So far, Invisible Children and Publishers with a Cause have signed up to help.
Watch Unshaken’s promotional video here.
Detroit – The Incredible Shrinking City
Recently, Detroit’s leaders announced a unique plan to save the dying city. The plan calls for almost a quarter of the city to be demolished and returned to fields and grassland. Detroit is a big city, roughly 139 square miles (think of it as an equivalent to six Manhattans) and it can no longer support itself. One of the biggest problems is the amount of police, firemen, and ambulance drivers it takes to cover the large city.
The idea would be to pump resources into neighborhoods that are thriving and to take them away from neighborhoods that are all but abandoned. It is not unheard of to have one house occupied on a city block and the others vacant, garbage filled and crumbling, bringing about scavengers and often crime.
Nothing like this has ever been attempted before. Up until now it’s been a rule. American cities grow, they do not shrink. But if Detroit wants to survive, this will most likely be its future. James W. Hughes, dean of the School of Public Planning at Rutgers University says. “There is now a realization that past glories are never going to be recaptured. Some people probably don’t accept that, but that is the reality.”
So, how is the city going to facilitate their shrinkage? By buying out homeowners that live in less populated areas of the city, and relocating to more prosperous areas. If the homeowners don’t agree, they can be forced to move with imminent domain laws. Of course there are a lot of abandoned properties that no one has paid taxes on in years. Those would be seized by the city. How will it be decided which neighborhoods get razed and which ones are prosperous enough to be allowed to stick around? It isn’t clear yet and whoever has to make those decisions is probably going to be pretty unpopular.
Detroit was a vibrant, beautiful city for most of the 20th century. But after a mass exodus following race riots in the late 1960’s and automakers moving factories overseas, what was formally a bustling city full of amazing architecture is now a ghost of itself.
One of my favorite daily pits stops on the internet is a blog written by Detroit based, artist, writer and photographer James Griffioen (pronounced Griffin). I’ve written about his blog before but I thought that it would be interesting to include some links to his pictures. He’s an amazing photographer and the way he depicts the city’s crumbling beauty is heartbreaking lovely, sometimes achingly sad and always amazing.
Check out his Flickr stream, especially the Brush Park series, Life on the Urban Prairie and Michigan Central Station.
Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act: The Shape of Things to Come?
AIDS knows no race, religion or creed.
It’s a day many thought would never come in the modern world: facing the death penalty for being a homosexual person living with AIDS.
The Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2009 is a bill Ugandan politicians have introduced into the parliament that would enforce capital punishment for active homosexuals, persons convicted of same-sex rape and gay individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Citing the rising numbers of Africa’s afflicted, the bill is being seen by supporters as an end to the “brainwashing” of impressionable Ugandan school children to homosexuality and a countermeasure to ongoing AIDS infection.
But gay rights activists disagree, and rightly so. It’s important to realize not every individual with AIDS in Uganda is gay, and not every homosexual in Uganda has AIDS. David Cato, an Ugandan activist, told the Associated Press that the bill is the result of continent-wide backlash because Africa’s gay community is becoming more vocal in their push for equal rights, calling it a “question of visibility.”
The homophobia-fueled AIDS backlash isn’t a new one. In America, the disease now known as AIDS was originally called “the gay plague” or “the gay cancer” because of its initial discovery in five gay men in the San Francisco area. But as the Center for Diseases Control and the medical community began to take notice, AIDS showed itself to be non-prejudicial in the opportunistic infection of men, women and children of all races, creeds and sexual orientations. Infection wasn’t limited to gay sex or intravenous drug use, but blood transfusions and heterosexual intercourse, too.
But as a result of those early days, there has been an ongoing association between the stigma of AIDS and that of homosexuality that has never been completely defeated. The early 90’s saw dozens of lawsuits against school districts who refused to let HIV-positive children attend their schools, or worse, ignore the threat of violence posed for disclosing the HIV-status of their pupils. Eventually, individuals with AIDS received legal protection against the discrimination (though the legislation is toothless; the kind of AIDS discrimination depicted in “Philadelphia” is still going on) but homophobia has seen little relief.
Madonna starts school construction in Malawi, High Heels
Madonna broke ground in Malawi yesterday, planting a tree on the site where a $15m girls school — funded by the music superstar — is to be built in the coming months. Events like these beg the question: What is the most efficient use of money for poverty alleviation? Wouldn’t it have been better to divert the money used on Madonna’s (and her entourage’s) flight to build a better, or even other schools? And why would you wear stilettos to a construction site?
The Ever Changing Landscape of China
Toilet Seat Waterfall
I want to be honest here. All that I don’t know about China could fill warehouses. Although that’s true and something I’m trying to change, modern China is still fascinating to me, especially from a Californian perspective. In California, we have very little history. Most people that settle here came to either chase a dream or run from a harsh reality. Invention and transformation are encouraged, holding on to tradition, not as much.
China is still the fastest growing country in the world with new cities cropping up monthly. Okay, not quite monthly, but there is still more growth going on there on a grand scale, than anywhere else. China hit its own economic bump in 2008, but after a generous bank and domestic loan, it seems to be leading the world in terms of economic recovery.
Finally, the death of the McMansion.
McMansion Collage by Jeremy Wolffe
A recent article in the L.A. Times pointed out what should be fairly obvious at this point in time. In the sagging housing market, no one wants to buy a giant, tacky house for 10 million dollars. Apparently, there are entire ghost town luxury neighborhoods around Southern California. Most people buying homes right now are looking for long term investments and to not incur the expense of caring for a postmodern manor house.
The McMansion market is pretty different than the regular housing market. For one, the sellers can afford to wait years to find a buyer willing to pay asking price.
Tall Buildings Get Taller
World's tallest buildings
September 11th was, of course, a national day of mourning and remembrance. For the past couple of years around the anniversary there have been articles discussing the changes in our world since 2001. One arena where this conversation has unfolded is in the construction of the new Freedom Tower. According to many sources, its production hasn’t been going that well. There has been much disagreement regarding the plans for the new building, arguments which took several years to settle. About a year ago, plans were finally made and cement began to pour at last. I was happy to see that the environmental impact of the skyscraper was somewhat addressed in its design. There are plans for windmills to provide 20% of the building’s power.
As a total outsider to this project, I don’t think it’s terrible that this endeavor has taken so long to get off the ground. It would have seemed strange and inappropriate if the building was easily built, furnished, staffed with the lights on in a short period of time. Ground Zero has looked like a construction site for years and the vacant land has given us the time to grieve our loss, time to adjust to an emptier, scarred landscape.
British Global Poverty ministry spends £6,000,000 on First-Class Travel
In a particularly tragic irony, officials from the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) spent nearly £6m ($9.9m) on First-Class air and rail travel. The Department, whose 2600 employees monitor international disasters and emergencies, and carry out fieldwork in its support for the United Nations’ eight Millennium Development Goals. With nearly half of its employees stationed abroad (outside the UK), you can imagine that their travel budget is already quite significant; add an additional 9 business-class flights per day (with an average of cost of £1,664) and £162,000 in first-class rail costs, and you have a PR disaster.
With British Taxpayers footing this enormous bill, and a tanked economy, the DfID is receiving more than its share of negative press. ‘‘Taxpayers will struggle to understand why officials need to take first-class flights at their expense” says Tory (the opposing, more conservative political party) international development spokesman Andrew Mitchell. But you know who should be more outraged? The recipients of DfID assistance. Sure, one could cite the (old) argument that any help is good; unfortunately, this reaffirms structures of power and economy that have caused so much ineffective international development in the past.
