What a thoughtful and helpful post! Without thinking about it, I'd been accepting as inevitable the competitive attitudes of international and domestic poverty-fighters. Thanks for pointing out the ways in which they might instead be complementary.

Amen, sister! Perhaps we should give foundations a year to cough up more bucks or face legislative imposition of a higher minimum--but now is definitely the time to spend the money.

Phil, As you may realize (being a superb satirist yourself), Professor Mansfield--a noted scholar of Machiavelli--is writing satire. Just as Machiavelli gave "advice" to the Prince that revealed what a terrible world results from unchecked power and pure selfishness, Professor Mansfield is giving the rest of us "advice" making clear that our choice is between the Bush Administration and many things we hold dear, including the rule of law in general and the Constitution in particular. Satire is risky, as you know from your own experience, because the more subtle and profound it is the more easily it can be taken for straight-faced advocacy. But based on the rest of his output, it's impossible to imagine that Professor Mansfield is actually advocating tyranny; it would be a shame if anyone imagined that of him, who is by all accounts a gentleman and a scholar.

You may be interested in the argument of Mark Kleiman of the Reality-Based Community that Mansfield's argument is satirical and coded, like that of Machiavelli himself.

Great minds . . . check out the reflections in Monday's Nonprofiteer posting about the need for nonprofit access to loaned capital.

This is a terrific reminder that amidst all the hoopla about new paradigms--for-profit charities, social entrepreneurship, and the rest--nothing can equal old-fashioned political advocacy if you're serious about making change.

I rarely think anything is more important than fundraising; but unless every bit of his charity went to organizations serving women and people of color--that is, unless he was paying reparations--the evil Don Imus did in 10-plus years of calling other citizens "nigger" and "bitch" (and thereby keeping hatred respectable) must be considered to outstrip the good he did in raising money for charity.