Posted 3 years, 1 month ago around lunchtime by oso
A shame what’s happening in New Orleans. But let’s be honest, at least all the white people got out right? David Brooks says it pretty well. And while we’re all being honest here, let’s have a listen to what former CIA official Reuel Marc Gerecht had to say on Meet The Press about women and democracy:
In 1900, [American] women did not have the right to vote. If Iraqis could develop a democracy that resembled America in the 1900s, I think we’d all be thrilled. I mean, women’s social rights are not critical to the evolution of democracy.
That’s what I’m talking about. On your knees.
Anyway, I keep coming across “criticism of the blogging community” because we’re not covering Katrina like we covered the 2004 Tsunami. Hmmm, couple thousand dead versus more than 150,000 dead. So weird.
I’m happy to brag, however, that I did donate money. Not to Katrina victims, but to the World Food Program in Niger. Remember them? The ones without food?
WFP has urged the international community not to turn its back on the continuing suffering in Niger, as food distributions continue across the worst affected parts of the country, but financial support for WFP’s emergency operation shows worrying signs of tailing off.11
Yes it’s true, rains have started to finally fall there, but crops haven’t harvested yet and the famine is starting to overflow into Mali. So far I haven’t read of anyone starving in New Orleans.
It took literally 3 and a half minutes to donate last night’s tips to the program. Supposedly you can even donate a couple bucks via text message.
As anyone who’s traveled in the developing world knows, 2 bucks is half a latte once you get back home, but it can be a whole week’s worth of food elsewhere.
Update:
I forgot to mention - there is one wesbite that has popped up that seems to be a more than worthy way of helping out here in the states besides donating to the Red Cross and that is Hurricane Housing (which doubles as a publicity page for MoveOn, but whatever) If you live near New Orleans, this would be a mighty swell gesture:
Update II:
I just got home to a lovely assortment of emails telling me to stop hating Americans and recommending I leave the country. Patience, patience, I’m sure I will soon, but for now, let me clarify. What I was trying to say above is that the poor people of New Orleans will eventually get help, aid and compassion because Americans are such super duper poopers and the resources are there. Meanwhile, the hungry people in Niger will not. But fo real now, this isn’t me making fun of anyone for helping anyone else out in the world. Just the opposite. I’m saying let’s keep the love going all around.
Here’s another way to help out from the Digital Divide Network mailing list:
Go to the Post Office an get a Priority box - flat fee (choice of two shapes), the cost of postage is $7.70 no matter what you put in the box (weight doesn’t matter).
Fill the box and mail to the address below.
I will contact more sites and post them soon.They desperately need:
- tolietries (anything you use to start your day) toothpaste, deodorant, shampoos, sunscreen, liquid soaps (small bottles esp good)
-anti-inflammatories (over the counter medicines) including ibuprofen, aspirin,aleve
- baby wipes, feminine hygiene products,
- imagine what you would need and send it.
Send to:
Marksville Baptist Church
PO Box 442
Marksville, LA
71351
Update III:
OK, so I recommend spreading the love to just about everyone. But you have my permission to abstain from giving to “operation blessings.” Again from DDN:
The Red Cross maybe slow… But Operation Blessings? Some readers may wish
to know about the following: FEMA is directing Katrina donations to none
other than the televangelist Rev. Pat Robertson (who recently called for
the assassination of Venezuela President Hugo Chavez on his nationwide
televangelist network).
FEMA has released to the media and on its Web site a list of Suggested
charities to help the storm’s hundreds of thousands of victims. The Red
Cross is first on the list. The Rev. Pat Robertson’s “Operation Blessing”
is FOURTH on the list. Operation Blessing’s board of directors is dominated
by the televanglist and his family. The chairman, “MG Robertson,” is none
other than the Rev. Pat - Marion Gordon Robertson is his real name - while
Pat’s wife DeDe is vice president and son Gordon Robertson is also on the
board.
Update IV:
Maybe there’s neither starvation in Niger nor New Orleans. Maybe I should find something more productive to do with my time than this.
right on homie… the folks at GNN have some excellent articles up right now regarding Katrina. Check em’ out.
Man, it has been a while since I checked out GNN - they’ve got a lot of good stuff coming in from all over. It’s serious media saturation these days. But with quality content. Sometimes I wonder how much it’s actually sinking in though.
the honesty in your first few paragraphs makes a lot of sense. i agree with you, there are others in trouble and we can’t forget about ‘em now. i find that sometimes closeminded people lash out because well they’re closeminded and maybe self-centered and don’t care to listen to some common sense. and its such an all american and patriotic trait to get defensive when someone questions anything american.
i thought i would share with you the following quote by james balwin, “i love america more than any other country in the world, and exactly for this reason, i insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”
I agree with you too. We shouldn’t forget that just because something like this occurs on our shores, it’s “tragic.” There have been far worse things occur in other countries–the the heck happened in Baghdad last week and no one covered it?!
People are dying, people are hungry, people are poor, people are uneducated and it’s not just in New Orleans but all over the world. I think what is occuring right now is that the United States is being forced to look at itself in the mirror and let me tell you, she doesn’t like what she sees. She looks haggard, tired, old, and somehow still quite vain.
However, with that said, we shouldn’t forget how incredibly unprepared we were for mother nature. It took Her to show us the have and have nots of this country and whether that’s black, white, hispanic, yellow, green, or blue–people died because they underestimated the a hurricane.
Yes, these people–majority are black–are poor and lived in poor conditions. It makes me worry about all the colonias that span throughout the entire Southwest. I brought this up to HP when we met up and he said, “Huh? What’s that?”
“Uh, people that live in third world conditions in our own country,” I said.
But I think HP’s reaction was much like many American’s reactions–they just don’t know. Maybe it’s time we do know. We gotta start from within to help outward. Perhaps this hurricane, forcing our country to look at it’s blemishes will start a landslide in our Her ego.
Hey, liberals don’t get reactionary, conservatives do! Atleast that is what my liberal friend at work keeps saying when I tell him that I am a ‘radical conservative’. He always responds, ‘liberals are radicals, conservatives are reactionary’.
About donating to other causes, well there is still an argument to be made to still donating to New Orleans even though other countries may have it worse off, and it’s the same argument related to foreign aid; since many of those countries governments are so damn corrupt, they will never see the money anyway, or all the money will go to the government instead of the people, thereby increasing the corruption and power of an already corrupt government.
In other words, you still get more bang for your buck in New Orleans than some of these other third world countries.
Oh yeah, btw, it was New York Times columnist John Tierney’s article that was the more poignant one, a definite must read.
Apparently everyone wants to help the rich and powerful
” Nations Offer Help to Katrina Victims
By MATT MOORE, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 39 minutes ago
LONDON - Impoverished Bangladesh, where millions live on a monsoon- and flood-prone delta, pledged $1 million and offered rescuers. Thailand, recalling U.S. aid after last year’s tsunami, offered to send 60 doctors and nurses as well as rice as a “gesture from the heart.”
They are among more than 90 countries, rich and poor, proposing assistance to victims of Hurricane Katrina, with Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates contributing “very large cash” donations, the State Department said Tuesday…”