I am not sure what question was asked that wasn’t answered.

As for Obama being a closet-Muslim, as far as I can tell you are asserting, all known evidence to the contrary, that in his heart Obama is a believer in Islam. While I can’t see into his heart, I don’t believe you can either.

And when you assert that he always will be, you are claiming to know the future as well. God may be able to see such things clearly, but I don’t believe that you can.

Obama claims to be Christian. He has been active in Christian organizations well before he was propelled to the national spotlight.

That doesn’t really matter to me though. Him being Muslim in and of itself is no better or worse then him being Christian or Atheist or Wiccan as far as I am concerned.

Bangledash is an very poor nation.

From the CIA factbook where you got the GDP growth numbers:

“Despite sustained domestic and international efforts to improve economic and demographic prospects, Bangladesh remains a poor, overpopulated, and inefficiently-governed nation. Although more than half of GDP is generated through the service sector, nearly two-thirds of Bangladeshis are employed in the agriculture sector, with rice as the single-most-important product. Major impediments to growth include frequent cyclones and floods, inefficient state-owned enterprises, inadequate port facilities, a rapidly growing labor force that cannot be absorbed by agriculture, delays in exploiting energy resources (natural gas), insufficient power supplies, and slow implementation of economic reforms. Reform is stalled in many instances by political infighting and corruption at all levels of government. Opposition from the bureaucracy, public sector unions, and other vested interest groups also have blocked progress. The BNP government, led by Prime Minister Khaleda ZIA, has the parliamentary strength to push through needed reforms, but the party’s political will to do so has been lacking in key areas. On an encouraging note, growth has been a steady 5-6% for the past several years.”

Sachs’ ‘program’ isn’t really anything new. It is the same program that has been tried, with little success, for a very long time. While he may claim charges of corruption are an excuse to do nothing, and that may at times be right, I think that often sending aid is a convenient rationalization for doing the hard work that it would take to actually help lift a nation out of poverty. A whole lot more then just ‘aid’ is needed for that to happen.

“Just throwing money at poor countries won’t solve any of their problems” is a straw man — Jeffrey Sachs’ program is anything but “throwing money.” He also points out in his book how charges of corruption are often a convenient rationalization for skimping on foreign aid. I agree with you that it should be addressed.

Greg, its no secret that Obama lived in Indonesia as a child and went to a Muslim school. This was when he was about 8 or something. So what? And I challenge you to find anything he said that is anti-Zionist or anti-Semitic. He has been resolutely pro-Israel. Even Martin Peretz supports him.

I certainly don’t know the in and outs of Bangledashian economy, I don’t know if the corruption has been increasing or decreasing and of course your two sources are from two different time periods, which is problematic.

The Forbes article you quote of course agrees with the basic premise that corruption is a horrible drain on economic growth.

I am not saying that we shouldn’t help countries because they are corrupt, what I am saying is that unless part of the program is to address that corruption and other anti-personal property and anti-entreprenuerial impulses our charity will be ineffective. Just throwing money at poor countries won’t solve any of their problems.

(This doesn’t necessarily apply to natural disaster type situations, which have a somewhat different purpose, although sometimes ‘natural disasters’ are in fact political disasters in disguise)