Comments for AIDemocracy.org

Comment on Federal Budget 2013: What it means for us by Emily

Emily — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 04:01:07 +0000

There are definitely some ways that the United States can cut the budget without significantly impacting the country’s security. I think Leon Panetta over-exaggerated the detrimental effects of the automatic budget cuts that will take effect early next year. I agree that Obama should focus on the United States, but the U.S. can cut domestic and military funding without making outrageous cuts on the international relations budget. For example, the U.S. could cut spending on nuclear weapons systems and the nuclear arsenal and reduce troops in Europe and Asia.

Comment on Upcoming Iranian Elections Pose New Questions about Country’s Press Freedoms Part 1 by Emily

Emily — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 02:37:42 +0000

Hey Ana,

I completely agree with you. In my next blog, I will expand upon the importance of foreign intervention to change the political dynamic of Iran. Many of the reformist politicians like Mousavi and Karroubi have been imprisoned for taking more direct action than simply blogging or writing. I think that the West, and particularly the United States, need to take a more direct action to support these reformist politicians and actively support human rights and press freedom reforms.

Comment on Upcoming Iranian Elections Pose New Questions about Country’s Press Freedoms Part 1 by Ana

Ana — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:16:48 +0000

I agree that freedom of the press is needed, but in former communist countries journalists openly write about problems, yet many times no change is seen. Though a great step towards transparency, if people are powerless or benefit from some of the corrupt practices, hardly anything will change after a critical article is published.

Comment on War against Iran: an ambitious attempt by Ron

Ron — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:03:16 +0000

This is a great summary of what’s going on with Iran. I agree that the U.S. is almost certainly not going to take any military action against Iran. It would cost far too much political capital. That’s not to say, however, that we wouldn’t support an Israeli strike, even passively. With Iran moving its program underground, Israel may be more and more likely to strike soon (Panetta claims sometime in the early Spring). But, with Iran’s president calling for immediate talks, they may be pursuing more of a North Korean style program, where they milk every concession they can out of the West.

Comment on Upcoming Iranian Elections Pose New Questions about Country’s Press Freedoms Part 1 by emma

emma — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:55:36 +0000

This situation is an extremely difficult one because Iran is not allowing foreign journalists into the country, and their own newspapers are forced to recite the opinion of the government. Like Ron mentioned above, freedom of the press is essential to gaining awareness in other nations. It is good your pointed out that there is a problem with our own media, I was shocked to see that we dropped from 20th to 47th just in the last year. But Iran is ranked 175th, almost dead last, and until we can gain some reliable knowledge about what is going on inside the country, we can’t know exactly what we should focus on fixing.

Comment on Upcoming Iranian Elections Pose New Questions about Country’s Press Freedoms Part 1 by Ron

Ron — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:35:21 +0000

Great piece. I love the connection between the US and Iranian press freedoms. You are absolutely correct that having a free press is essential to changing Iranian society. It’s one thing for everyone to “know” that the government is corrupt and that they abuse their citizens, but when there is a competent, independent press who reports on the government, the situation changes rapidly. Thats when people get fed up, thats when Western countries can’t avoid noticing what’s going on, and thats when change happens.

Comment on Discrimination and stigma in healthcare for gay and bisexual men in parts of Africa by emma

emma — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:27:27 +0000

Great Post! Despite the various non-profit, non-governmental, and African organizations working all over the continent to fight aids, it is sad to see that en entire group of people are being turned away. We were associating AIDS with the LGBT community ourselves just a few decades ago, so this problem is nothing new. In this country, gay men still cannot give blood because of laws associating HIV/AIDS with the gay community. But we have learned better, and we need to help educate Africa on the truth about HIV to help get everyone the healthcare they need. It sounds like we need a civil rights movement in Africa, because the gay community cannot live in fear of losing their house, their job, or their lives.

Comment on Transformative Reform Needed for Healthcare Education: The HIFA2015 Campaign May Be an Answer by emma

emma — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:37:10 +0000

I found this post really interesting. While there are plenty of Non-profit and NGO organizations working in sub-Saharan Africa, the better and longer lasting solution would be to educate people in the region to take over as the main healthcare providers for countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This seems like it would be a very costly, but necessary project for the international community to take on. Possibly by offering scholarships to students in Africa to attend medical schools in other countries in Europe or in the United States, we could use the resources already available in the world to educate a new generation on doctors and nurses.

Comment on Biofuels are killing climate efforts by Bioblogger

Bioblogger — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:51:44 +0000

I agree with your 8th grade girls. This is the “Catch 22″ of carbon footprint accounting. Of course alternative fuels have a higher footprint than we would like it to. That’s because there are not alternative fuels! When we start seeing biodiesel in quantity being used for planting, harvesting, delivery, and distribution, the footprint of all biofuels will drop dramatically – particularly biodiesel.

Comment on Transformative Reform Needed for Healthcare Education: The HIFA2015 Campaign May Be an Answer by Neil Pakenham-Walsh

Neil Pakenham-Walsh — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:43:09 +0000

Thanks Sofia for a great article. You ask: “How can we, as young, knowledgeable global citizens, mobilize our efforts and thoughts to increase awareness about such an important issue?”

My answer: By joining HIFA2015! Go to http://www.hifa2015.org and click on Join.

I would like to invite everyone to join this global email discussion forum of 4500 health professionals, policymakers, publishers, researchers and others, from 160 countries. “HIFA2015 achieves an extraordinary level of activity on minimal resources from which many people around the world benefit…” External Evaluation, funded by Rockefeller Foundation, 2011.

Neil Pakenham-Walsh
Coordinator, HIFA2015, Oxford UK