TOP FILIPINO CO-OPS WIN NATIONAL AWARDS

This article, dated April 29th, is written by Nimfa Doroteo-Camua for the Sun-Star Davao, based in the Philippines.

Started four years ago, the Cooperative-LGU Partnership Awards (CLPA) recognizes Filipino cooperatives who work with local government to reduce poverty and unemployment. As noted by Camua, these cooperatives have, in turn, trained other co-ops to do similar services as they do.

One such co-op, the 15-year old Dingle Government Workers Credit Cooperative (DGWCC), has set up a produce center, a money transfer business and a health center. And this in addition to, among other things, financing scholarships for deserving students.

This is encouraging news. Nations like the Philippines are on the cutting edge in leading the Third World toward a Distributist future. When national governments keep their hands off local initiatives like what these co-ops are doing, that nations benefits in many ways. The poor and middle classes work together to improve their lot with their own resources and creativity. Local government is freed from socialist micro-management from the capitol.

It’s a win-win situation all around.

Congratulations to these award-winning co-ops. May you inspire others to reach similar heights.

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DISTRIBUTISM AND “BACK TO THE LAND”

Our colleague at Athanasius Contra Mundum has done it again. He’s written a fine essay about people’s misconceptions about Distributism.

A common mistake folks think about Distributism is that it wants everyone to go back to farming. That is not so. There is such a thing as “urban Distributism”. Athanasius’ essay covers ground as this and much more.

Enjoy!

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TIME TO STOP TWO STEALTH LAWS NOW!

The Review usually doesn’t post much of anything from WorldNetDaily, the neo-conservative news giant on the Web. But two issues they’ve covered have come up that must be taken care of NOW. Issues that threaten things we both agree on.

First, there is a bill under discussion THIS WEEK that if passed will make it illegal to criticize homosexuality in public. It is similar to laws passed in Sweden and Canada, among other places. That means Christian, Jewish and other clergy who oppose this faction of the Sexual Revolution will be facing fines and jail time…or worse.

The bill is H. R. 1592, and is scheduled for a vote this week. We urge our American readers to call your Congressmen and tell them to vote “no” on this bill. The link to the WorldNetDaily column on this matter is here.

The second item is a scheme by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to actually regulate certain foods, vitamins and supplements as “drugs”, requiring a prescription from a doctor.

Think this is a hoax? Not so, this is fact. An Evangelical Protestant group called Gentle Christian Mothers alerted their members to this under-the-radar tactic from the FDA. WorldNetDaily, in turn, got wind of this and made it the lead story for Tuesday, April 24th.

Opponents of this horrid set of regulations have until the end of this month, April 30th, to make their protests known. The FDA scheme is formally known as Docket No. 2006D-0480. The news website NewsTarget.com has the link to the FDA comment area on this docket here. We urge you to drop a line to the FDA and tell them to stop this NOW.

The Federal government is trying to further centralize power into it's hands with such "stealth laws". Along with it's partner in big business, lawmakers and regulators are making the country more like the European Union nations and Putin-led Russia. And that's what Distributism's co-founder Hilaire Belloc called "The Servile State", where we are all forever dependent on big government and big business - and on pain of death or destitution.

So we ask our American readers to act NOW and inform Congress and the FDA to stop these two proposals being made law. Do it this week, for time is not our ally.

And for our non-American readers, we urge you to start efforts to repeal similar laws like these in your home countries. Don't take "No" for an answer, but start today.

Thank you.

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POSTAL SERVICE THREATENS SMALL PRESS

This article, dated April 18th, is written by Stephen Lendman and posted on the controversial news and opinion website Rense.com.

The American postal service is raising it’s rates again for mail delivery, but along with that is a sinister rate change for small magazines.

Under the new plan, scheduled to start July 15th, Lendman reports that “small publications will pay postal rates as much as 20% higher than the largest ones”. Further, he reveals that the new policy “will adversely affect every small political journal in the nation including those providing the only print source of real news, information and analysis of vital world and national issues many readers rely on but may lose.”

Lendman also notes that there is evidence that the Time-Warner media conglomerate was the influence behind this new scheme. Furthermore, there was effectively NO national coverage of this matter until recently.

As usual, both big government and big business - Socialism and Capitalism - are at it again, centralizing the flow of information into fewer and fewer hands…theirs. This violates “subsidiarity”, which is a central tenet of Distributist Thought.

Time is short on this issue. The deadline for comments opposing this is MONDAY, APRIL 23. This weekend is critical in making your opposition to this behind-closed-doors scheme. Don’t let the Postal Service and Time-Warner deal a body-blow to the small press in this country.

The Review asks you to go to the website www.stoppostalratehikes.com. Follow the directions on the website and inform the Postal Board to stop this idiocy NOW! Then tell all you know to join in and stop this idiocy. Thank you for your prompt action.

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TEARS FOR VIRGINIA TECH

In light of the tragedy at Virginia Tech University, we'd like to link to an article by our collegue "Athanasius" from the weblog Athanasius Contra Mundum. It is about the problem of evil, and why a loving God would allow such horrors like the atrocity at the university.

As usual, he hits many important points in his writing. Please read them and ponder them in a spirit of prayer.

We at the Review pray for the souls murdered in this disaster, as well as for their families and all at the University.

May they rest in peace. Amen.

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GOOD BUDDIES - "FREE TRADE" AND MARXISM

Thanks to our colleage at The ChesterBelloc Mandate, we have an 2001 article from K. Bolton. She wrote for the New Zealand-based magazine Critical Review.

Her article goes into the background on why - of all people - Karl Marx and theoretical Marxism likes the libertarian ideology of so-called "free trade". It will surprise you.

It is another reason why Distributism supports "fair trade", flexible tariffs and continual negotiations between countries on trade matters. It also opposes schemes like the World Trade Organization (WTO), which would dictate what trade policies countries can and can't have.

The Review encourages all our readers worldwide to keep working to get their homelands out of the WTO for good, as well as fight any proposed "free trade" policies their governments propose.

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EAST TIMOR VOTERS HEAD TO POLLS

This weblog last reported on the former Portuguese colony in late August of 2004, when the tiny nation celebrated it’s fifth year of independence.

The country now begins voting for the ceremonial presidency. Hopes are high, as Timorians line up to cast their ballots. A run-off election is expected. Elections for prime minister and parliament will happen in June. Thousands of UN so-called “peacekeeping” troops, mostly from Australia and New Zealand, patrol the streets after ethnic and political violence claimed 37 lives back in 2006.

The nation still suffers from rampant poverty and a 50% unemployment rate, as reported by the globalist New York Times. Their major cash crops are rice and coffee. They have over a billion US dollars in oil revenue in an as-yet untapped special fund. That fund is a major issue in the current elections. Foreign investments are few. The manufacturing sector is anemic at best.

As was said before in 2004, Distributism can help to reduce the economic and political pressures in that tiny country. At the very least, their cash-crop production shouldn't be tied down to rice and coffee. It should be diversified to other crops, so as to cut down domestic hunger and increase independence from these two staples. Discover what indigenous manufacturing needs can be met using "intermediate technology" promoted by pro-Distributist groups like Practical Action.

East Timor is currently one of the poorest nations in Asia. But it can improve it's future by learning more about Distributism and then putting what they learn into practice. Pray for East Timor.

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REMEMBER GOOD FRIDAY - ALWAYS

On this saddest of days, we remember the anniversary of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

This Man, whom the human race still wrestles with to this hour, haunts many like a ghost or a nightmare, while cheering others like a spring morning.

This Man, who is at the same time the True and Only God, both angers and gladdens human hearts, unites and divides human minds.

This Man, who turned the world upside-down and inside-out in three brief years, puzzles and shatters spirits, some to ruin, some to glory.

No other figure in human history - in cosmic history - can set the teeth on edge or hearts a-flutter other than Him.

No other figure in human history - in cosmic history - can unleash bitter rage or penitent tears other than Him.

No other figure in human history - in cosmic history - can shake the foundations of all that we are and all that we can be other than Him.

On this day when the midday sky went black of it’s own accord for three hours…

On this day when the Earth shuddered witnessing the Crime of Crimes committed by Adam and Eve’s descendents…

On this day when Nature mourned for the death of it’s Maker on a cross of wood…

Let us all repent of our sins, big and small, open and secret. For those sins killed this Man Who did nothing wrong, Who did nothing but good all His life. He who is the God-Man.

As we honor the Crucifixion and Death of the True and Only Messiah, permit us to link here to G. K. Chesterton’s words on this day from his book The Everlasting Man. This book many consider his greatest work of all. (Our thanks to the Blog of the American Chesterton Society for putting this up.)

Read and ponder Gilbert’s words, as he ponders the Word made flesh dying to rescue us from damnation after death.

Then act on what you ponder.

Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us. Mary, Mother of Sorrows, pray for us.

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CO-OPS - THE BETTER BUSINESS MODEL FOR THE FUTURE

This unusual article, dated March 30th, is written by Sue Norris from the left-wing London Guardian. It was originally posted on the far left-wing blog BradSpangler.com.

In her report, Norris writes of four British companies that have been structured or re-structured as worker-owned worker-managed cooperatives. Each of these companies have had increase in revenue, decrease in employee turnover and increase in customer satisfaction over the years.

The major secret is in the bottom-up ownership and management that a co-op possesses. It retains flexibility in the uncertainties of a market economy. It inspires loyalty in the employees, confident they are appreciated more for their input. It generates better products and services for the local consumers, due to greater openness to their needs than the standard business model.

Distributism believes in and supports cooperative business ventures, along with small and medium-sized businesses. Government-controlled co-operatives, as set up by bloody dictatorships like Communist China, are a twisted mockery of the spirit of the cooperative ideal. Big government should get out of the way of the co-ops, along with it’s mirror image in big business. They should cut back on the over-regulation of them, much of it skewed in favor of conglomerates.

Congratulations to these four British companies for bucking the trend, proving in their own way that Distributism does work.

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FR. BOYD ON CHESTERTON’S FICTION

From our colleague at The ChesterBelloc Mandate, here is the transcription of a talk given by Fr. Ian Boyd, found of the influential quarterly The Chesterton Review. Here he is speaking before an Argentinean audience about Chesterton’s fictional works and how - in part - they relate to Distributism.

Enjoy!

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