A very worthy cause
OK, I don’t get too serious all that often, but please bear with me.
I’m not sure if any of you have been following the news from Haiti recently, but it is decidedly not good. This article gives a good overview of what’s going on:
Subsidized US rice began flooding in 30 years ago, so cheap that Haitians began eatingit instead of the corn, sweet potatoes, cassava, and domestic rice that had sprouted from plains and mountainsides from the colonial era to the late 1980s.
“Miami rice,” as Haitians call the US import, drove rice farmers out of business and incited a rural exodus that swelled the slums of Port-au-Prince.
Today, more than 70 percent of Haitians live on less than $2 a day, and the US rice that is the staple of their diet has doubled in price in little more than a year. Hungry hordes rioted in the capital last month, leaving at least six dead by the time President Rene Preval restored calm by announcing that foreign aid and subsidies would lower the price of a 110-pound bag of rice to $43 from $51.
But importers and economists warn that those supports are unsustainable and predict further unrest in this poorest country in the Americas when the subsidies run out in late summer and, based on current price trends, the same sack will cost $70.
A good friend of mine has been doing relief work in Haiti for years now, and he says that this is the worst time he’s ever seen the country go through. Healing Art Missions, the non-profit aid group that he volunteers with, is encouraging Americans to donate some or even all of their economic stimulus checks to help them pay for food to bring to Haiti. From the press release they just sent to me:
We would like to ask Americans who can afford it to spend their “economic stimulus” checks on relief for these terribly hungry people. The government has offered Americans this $600 dollar handout in hopes that they will spend it on frills: wide-screen TVS and ipods, and thus prop up an economy that has fallen victim to the same administration’s economic policies.
Some Americans will need these checks just to get by. But for MOST of us, this is “free money,” and we are expected to spend on things we may WANT, but don’t NEED.” Sure, it costs us more in fuel to drive downtown to the restaurant for a hamburger and fries, and I’m sure this is inconvenient. But most of us receiving checks can count on having our basic needs met pretty easily. In Haiti, people struggle, every day, to keep their children alive for another 24 hours.
Here’s the point: if you spend your windfall handout on an ipod, you’ll have an ipod. The economy will not improve (at the very best, there will be a slight uptick in low-paying jobs in places like Wal-Mart and Best Buy).
But I can guarantee that if you turn this check over to Haitian food aid, you will save lives. Absolutely, certainly, unequivocably. AND you can use this as a tax deduction, so you’ll still gain something….
HEALING ART MISSIONS is an organization that has been involved in medical care, education, food, water and other projects in Haiti for well over a decade. EVERY PENNY donated to this organization goes directly to Haitians: we have no paid employees, we pay ALL expenses out of our own pockets. You can trust that this donation will turn directly into life-saving food for people in desperate trouble.
I know from personal experience that these are good people who do invaluable work. Any donations to them will be donations well-spent. Please consider sending them at least a portion of your stimulus check to help pay for food in Haiti; I know I will.
OK, that’s my soapbox. Feel free to get back to discussing foreskins if you want. But please, please, PLEASE consider donating. Their website should have a PayPal button on it very shortly; if you’d prefer to send them a check directly, mail it to:
Healing Art Missions,
311 N. Pearl St.
Granville, OH 43023.
Thanks, everyone.
Good for you, Brad! I won’t even snark at ya!
Thanks, Doodle. It’s rare that I’m actually motivated to help people rather than laugh at them 😉
You sold me.
I’d very much like to weigh in on this.
There is a balance.
When you have a condition where there are “hungry rural people” you have created an artificial problem. The reason for the very existence of “rural people” is that they produce their own food. They aren’t rich, and the challenge is helping them educate their children and leave a generation that isn’t a “subsistence farmer”. That said, you should only have hungry “subsistence farmers” in bad years. Given seed, water and work, they can at least feed themselves and their families.
The artificial creation of remote agriculture, of food that requires transportation and storage, that has to be harvested before it should, and then treated in grossly artificial ways to at least emulate ripeness has broken the system.
I’ll just give you my view. I’ve seen subsistence agriculture that worked, and I’ve seen farmers without recourse starving in the slums of the city, looking for work that doesn’t fucking exist. They are FARMERS, for fucks sake. That’s a GOOD thing.
The nightmare is that it isn’t just Haiti. Brad’s right, and Haiti’s broken on a level that almost cannot be described. And believe it or not, there are places that are even worse.
The law of unintended consequences is a harsh mistress. Oil at a hundred fifty dollars a barrel does things to the economy at the regular john doe level that nobody ever talked about. That neither Friedman nor Krugman ever thought about. That cause changes to ripple violently through the fabric of society, and you. YOU! You with children, who plan on trying to live through this and come out the other side? You need to start trying to figure out how to do that.
I don’t know if bush CAUSED it, the initial conditions existed in the fifties, but by gawd he accelerated it by a few decades. Along with the global climate problem being real TODAY instead of in 2200, you guys are nine ways from fucked.
We need a real smart person to set us on a path. Then a whole bunch of us need to get on the bus and DRIVE.
The solutions are so far reaching, and so wrenching, I’m afraid that a true democracy cannot represent a solution. We need the most benign dictatorship in history times ten. And, unfortunately, I don’t think that’s gonna happen…
mikey
Let them eat cake!
Oh wait, I’m English now.
Anywho, I will support Brad’s efforts. At least it isn’t for the effin’ patriots.
P.S. Angry vagina/foreskin thread has been pwned a zillion times over.
Well…since I spent way too much money on a hair cut and highlights yesterday I think I can afford to donate money to a worthwhile charity.
One question…I realize why Haiti stopped growing crops but is there a reason the country can’t get its once flourishing agricultural industry going again? I realize the country’s been in the sewer for decades thanks to foreign intervention and local corruption, but am curious since you mention “corn, sweet potatoes, cassava, and domestic rice” grown in Haiti prior to the 90s.
Mostly, Lesley, you have to try and find farmers to move back into the rural regions after they’ve desperately migrated to the cities because their farms couldn’t make a living, and then, even MORE dificult, you need to find a way to give them some land to work.
If they’re just sharecropping they starve. If they stay in the city they BELIEVE they have a chance, no matter how artificial.
It’s another agricultural land/wealth redistribution crisis that ends badly for everyone. As they always do…
mikey
Ugh. And the need for food to subsist on will be in conflict with the need to make a living.
mikey, you’re a thoughtful dude, and I’m worried you’re right in the particulars of the difficulties that lie ahead.
Hey people.
Just wanted to add my two cents here. The person that sent this appeal to Brad is also a friend of mine. His organization is doing really good work and, unfortunately, the need for their services is currently greater than ever. The people down in Haiti are literally eating dirt to survive. It’s not often that you get the opportunity to literally save another person’s life. Yet that is just such an situation. Please be as generous as you can. Every bit helps. Thank you.
…the difficulties that lie ahead.
Oh yeah. The signs and portents.
Look in any direction and tell a young american family, parents in their late twenties, two or three kids in single digits. Tell them there is ANY hope. Explain to me where optimism lies.
‘Cause I can’t see anything that points to even a relatively “soft” landing. We’re going to take meaningful global action around climate change? The new industrial nations are going to stop burning coal? The demand for oil is going to decline? I remind you, you’re fucking idiot president said the solution the the high cost of energy is to allow drilling in ANWR!
Stupid is, as stupid does.
And still, nobody is allowed to talk about the REAL problems
Obama has to defend the worst thugs in Israel, even thought there are reasonable voices that could be engaged.
Nobody is allowed to point out that Iran, while no threat to anyone and a potentially desirable trading partner, is our most important contact in the mid east, and oh by the way, while deeply flawed, is a more functional democracy than our friends in Saudi.
Nobody is allowed to point out that while Iran is enriching uranium and has renounced nuclear weapons, Israel had three hundred warheads they built outside of the NPT. The nuclearization of the gulf is WHO’S responsibility?
Nobody points out that al Maliki is an iranian puppet, along with al Hakim, and al Sadr is an Iraqi nationalist who would be delighted to reduce Iran’s influence and would readily partner with saudi and egypt.
What kind of imaginary bullshit “don’t look at reality” kind of madness is this?
The game is REAL, people. We’re running out of free passes.
The price just gets higher. So, who’s willing to tell the truth?
mikey
If the rural land hasn’t been overrun by greedy landowners – though it likely has – and could be made available and subsidies for farmers were available (as they are in Canada and the US) and the local farmers could be financially supported to get crops going again, it would be doable. I’m not suggesting its up to the farmers because, as with everything, it takes a village to get something like this going. But it seems to me that if Haiti once had a viable farming community it probably could have one again. That would of course require a government invested in making it happen, feasible small business loans and subsidies, and support from the international community.
I’m not sure you’d have to find the original farmers, though it might not be that hard to do if a call was put out – as farming can be learned. And look, the US and Canada import thousands of migrant unskilled workers from Mexico, the Phillippines and the Carribean to work as harvesting labourers on our farms every year. Where ever people are unemployed there’s a potential labour force for work like this. It has to be done right but it could be done.
One thing I’ve realized about the local community problems in my own backyard is that many of them would be resolved if governments would just get off their asses and take a holistic approach. What I’ve learned over the years working in government and various outreach programs is that governments are largely unmotivated to solve problems – even when the answers and solutions are staring them in the face. They throw little pots of money here and there and avoid making a sincere effort to actually fix something that’s chronically wrong. They always come up with some excuse or other not to do shit. For example, the local community is desperately in need of social housing but the government continuously puts off building it or they ghettoize people in these little shitholes that rapidly disintegrate into slums because there’s no mix of market and social housing and the middle class and the poor are segregated. It makes me sick. Or, you know, with the drug problem they’ll fund one solution and exclude all of the other needed services. They’ll set up a harm reduction program (clean needles and a safe injection sites) but they won’t fund rehab programs, detox programs, health facilities, or drug courts. It’s always the bandaid approach. Nothing really ever gets solved because they won’t fully commit. You end up with more addicts, more problems and people throw up their hands and say nothing works when in truth, not much has been tried. I’m always incredulous when the government claims it needs to study a problem that’s been studied to death already – and all recommendations have been ignored. Recently a federal minister visited Portland to see how they’ve tackled homelessness. He arrived back and said “it’s a great program, first class, but it will never work here because…we have no way of knowing exactly how many homeless we have.” It blew my mind. He recommends the program, but won’t give it a try at the federal level because he claims there’s no way to determine numbers of homeless (which is just crap…) but you know, he’s not interested in solving the problem, really. He’s interested in making an appearance of interest. That’s it, and this is true for so many at all levels of government. *sigh*
Ah well, that was off track slightly but I think the same idea applies. If there’s a will there’s a way, and obviously destitute people need a hand up if they are ever to farm again. It could be done, it could easily be done, but there has to be an interest and a will to make it happen.
Thanks for saving me some googling by recommending a worthy group. Coincidentally, I took my son to the playground early tonight and got into a conversation with a Haitian woman there who was distraught about her family’s situation back home. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who was worried about her relatives starving to death before.
a.j. – I hope they get that paypal button up soon. As soon as it’s up, I’ll donate $100 Canadian (and it’s nice to be able to say that money is actually worth something now!)
The price just gets higher. So, who’s willing to tell the truth?
mikey
Somebody must have bought Tweety a weathervane. All of a sudden, he seems to know which way the wind blows.
The heart of the problem (fixable?)
Third World Farmers Hammered by Subsidized Imports and WTO
What mikey said, more on the give fish<teach fish model. Also, even though many organizations do hugely important work, we need to start expanding the ‘micro-loan’ system much more. From everything I’ve heard, it’s incredibly successful.
Brad: Hitting the PayPal button now.
And PLEASE, may I add that there are an infinite number of other needful causes out there, and I’ll remind the swell and good-hearted lie-bruls here of one that continues to need support, despite its disappearance from the nanosecond-attention span of the MSM:
http://www.savetibet.org/
This is what makes us LIBERALS, fellow Pantloadian-Fascists. We give liberally.
PS — Lesley, I just got back from my own $100 visit to the hair salon. You caught me at a vulnerable moment. You BITCH! 🙂
I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who was worried about her relatives starving to death before.
Kinda puts our own Maslovian hierarchy of concerns into perspective.
Namaste
Mikey:
“The solutions are so far reaching, and so wrenching, I’m afraid that a true democracy cannot represent a solution. We need the most benign dictatorship in history times ten. And, unfortunately, I don’t think that’s gonna happen…”
I am very sorry to hear you say this. When a lot of people feel like this, you don’t get a benign dictator, you get Bush. Or worse. And even if we *do* get a ‘benign dictator’, human nature will out, and power will corrupt. As Churchill said, “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.”
Of course our chances of getting either a ‘true democracy’ or ‘the most benign dictatorship times ten’ are equally impossible. There is no simple solution to human nature. We just have to avoid the worst solutions and muddle on.
When a lot of people feel like this, you don’t get a benign dictator, you get Bush. Or worse.
It doesn’t get worse than Bush. The banality of evil, dontcha know?
Argonaut. You’re right.
But how to fix it?
How to force the unpleasant realities down the throats, not just of the the population, but the plutocracy?
mikey
There are actually several things compounding Haiti’s misery, besides just the subsidized rice there’s also a group of ultra-rich elite (also largely based in Miami) of Haitians who use their home country as essentially a sweatshop for cheap textiles and garment work.
Back when Bush was still getting much 9/11 love, he was following the old script of knocking over government. The one against Chavez failed. The one against Aristide “succeeded” (if I can use such an oxymoron term). And the continuation of turning Haiti into one giant colony continued.
If there’s ever a case that the U.S. empire is at fault for the misery of an entire people, Haiti has to be it. From the very beginning when independence wasn’t recognized to multiple and decades-long military occupations by American troops to Bush literally sending in mercenary troops Blackwater-style (actually Steele Corporation) to kidnap democracy so the right-wing industrial bigwigs could continue running the show to most definitely destroying domestic agriculture with heavily subsidized imports.
Since it starts back in Thomas Jefferson’s day I can only surmise that it has to be that evil specter of racism. It truly breaks my heart how Haiti and Haitians have been treated since the original population was literally brought over in chains and now today they’re chained to an island run as one big “company store” for the handful of elites propped up by the Bushies.
PS — Lesley, I just got back from my own $100 visit to the hair salon. You caught me at a vulnerable moment. You BITCH! 🙂
We liberal bitches are good bitches though, right MzNicky? (also, way better hair! I’d rather be dead or have permanent bedhead than look like Kaye Grogan.)
“If there’s a will there’s a way”
There’s no will. There’s your problem.
Mmm. I’ve just made an appointment at my hair salon. Highlights and a cut and blowdry.
Bitches!
Donated $500! Dare someone to out donate me!
mikey —
How much truth do we even want to force upon people? I mean, yeah – you need to be able to see what’s going on, but at the same time if you crush all hope, what’s left apart from getting the family into the minivan and then driving it at top speed into oncoming traffic? It’s a fine line, after all. Convince people that the future’s totally fscked, and, well… it will be.
Brad, can you keep us posted on when the PayPal button will be up? I keep checking but it’s not up yet (unless I’m not seeing it).
Also I encourage everyone to read the poignant and heartbreaking interviews with the children from Dumay.
Q: What do you feel about your country?
A: I like it. What I like most about it is the moon.
Q: What is your favorite (most important) possession?
A: Nothing.
Speaks volumes, doesn’t it?
Bravo Nutella. I can’t personally match that, but perhaps together we can outmatch your donation.
Just some more background to why the farmers just can’t move back on the land. I dunno if any of it has been mentioned earlier in this thread.
Apparently a lot of it has washed away. This happened because of the economic ass-rape that Haiti has suffered since its independence, when it was forced to pay France 1 million Mexican dollars (which was the most expensive currency in the early 19th century), as well as the relationship with the developed world alluded to earlier. This, coupled with the fact that Haiti is a tiny, hellaciously crowded country, forced a lot of people to burn trees for charcoal (cheapest fuel there is in Haiti). No more trees, after a while no more topsoil. The topsoil loss is so bad that apparently one can eyeball where the Domincan-Haitian border is from a low-flying airplane; the Dominican Republic is the greener, lusher part of Hispaniola. I’m getting all of this from Decline, which is a book written by the guy who wrote Guns, Germs and Steel.
P.S. The food situation is so rough in Haiti that the cheapest possible food is getting to be unaffordable
PPS The cheapest food mentioned earlier is mud pies.
PPPS I’m not making a racist joke here. A lot of people in Haiti used to eat cookies made out of semi-edible clay and vegetable shortening. Now they can’t even afford vegetable shortening.
Unfortunatly, JFK is dead, killed by the Masons.
Little late for you elitists to feel guilty.
A good friend of mine has been doing agricultural work in Cambodia for years. So What?
Look, here’s the problem, too many fucking people on the planet. Cyclone, earthquake, drought, people die, there’s too many of you. Figure it the fuck out. Rise up and eat the rich or die.
Wow, some hippie just started reading up, eh?
Oprah? Can I haz car?
Get off your fat ass and go there if you care so much, Pick up a fucking shovel.
http://www.habitat.org/intl/lac/89.aspx
The fact is, what the people of Haiti need is a hand up, not a handout. Here in the Heartland, we understand the value of hard work, even though coastal eleitists expect grants, subsidies and free government services that we here in the heartland pay for. Haitians need to work harder, not be so lazy, altough they may not be able to help the fact they are mostly black and therefore incapable of self-determination or anything besides stoop labor.
Who wants to wake up to fresh troll crap?
Damn.
Yup. Six steaming piles all in a row.
That’s what happens when you forget to let them out into the back yard before you go to bed.
Sorry, Gary, black people are actually the natural rulers of society, as you will find out when Obama enslaves the white race. Republicans are the ones who are lazy, greedy, dishonest, and prone to a herd mentality, and therefore not fit for anything but heavy labor. The last eight years should have made that obvious; but then again, you are a Republican.
The trouble afflicting many third world nations is a shortage of grunt labor, not a lack of leadership. Fortunately, Obama is nothing if not a humanitarian, so he will be sure to ship plenty of white slaves to Africa and Haiti to aid in the rebuilding..
Whoops, that’s what I get for playing God.
Say… I could start a church!
Its like a massive pile of liberal guilt, washed down with a giant swig of mocha frappocino, eh? Everyone all on about their hair and those poor haitians who need to be taught to fish and stuff. Hit that paypal button, you’ll feel better.
Is there a place that I can donate that’s more along the lines of “Help Rebuild Haiti’s Economy” rather than “Throw Bags of Food at Them So We Can Further Ruin Their Economy”?
The one against Aristide “succeeded” (if I can use such an oxymoron term).
It is just such a horrible situation all around. I have been trying to help a political activist from Haiti win asylum here. She started out leading a pro-Aristide party, but turned against him when she became convinced that he was becoming the next Mugabe. She also caught the murder of a journalist by a pro-Aristide band of thugs on film and was interviewed on a popular radio show, making her a target of the militias. She finally fled the country after being kidnapped and beaten (while six months pregnant) and hiding out in the countryside for a year, only to learn that her brother had been killed because she couldn’t be found.
None of that diminishes the crime of toppling Aristide, of course. The UN force there, MINUSTAH, is filled with rightwingers from Chile and other Latin American countries, many of them trained in the School of the Americas. They have been accused of massacring civilians in Cite Sole. I would tear my hair in frustration, but that isn’t much more effective than The Onion solution. So yeah, money. That should fix it.
coastal eleitists expect grants, subsidies and free government services that we here in the heartland pay for.
there arent’ many farm subsidies here in Santa Monica.
Hi Lesley,
The other factor working against the restoration of Haitian agriculture is deforestation, topsoil erosion and short-sighted agricultural practices — all of which have drastically reduced soil fertility.
Haiti is pretty damn hilly and a lot of the hillsides are completely unable to support any plant life, much less food crop plant life (which tends to be more demanding).
coastal eleitists expect grants, subsidies and free government services that we here in the heartland pay for.
Bitch, we subsidize YOUR lazy ass.
“Is there a place that I can donate that’s more along the lines of “Help Rebuild Haiti’s Economy” rather than “Throw Bags of Food at Them So We Can Further Ruin Their Economy”?”
Like you’re actually going to do either.
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You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.
Why are you SHOUTING? I HATE it when people shout!!! ITS SO ANNOYING!!!!
KEVIN, you know what you SOUND LIKE? YOU KNOW WHAT YOU SOUND LIKE, KEVIN? You sound like a LOUD OBNOXIOUS IGNORANT FRAT BOY!!!
GOD, I don’t know WHY anyone would want to LISTEN TO YOU!!!
“Is there a place that I can donate that’s more along the lines of “Help Rebuild Haiti’s Economy” rather than “Throw Bags of Food at Them So We Can Further Ruin Their Economy”?”
Well, we kinda haveta stop them from starving to death today, before we start the rebuilding tomorrow.
pedestrian: You are like a God to me.
FYI, when I went to hit the PayPal button at the web site there wasn’t one. I emailed them asking about it, and they emailed back to say they’re working on it and should have one soon. Check your local listings.
henry lewis jr.: bite me.
“Is there a place that I can donate that’s more along the lines of “Help Rebuild Haiti’s Economy” rather than “Throw Bags of Food at Them So We Can Further Ruin Their Economy”?”
People who have died of starvation rarely require economic rebuilding. Also, those “bags of food” you mention are pretty much rice and corn meal. You make it sound as though they’re going to purchase a Wine Country gift basket or two for every Haitian on the island.
None of this is to suggest that you shouldn’t donate to the organization of your choice for the purposes of economic development. Go right ahead. Hell, if you find a group you like, by all means let us know about them.
I won’t hold my breath on that.
I say let them rise up and slaughter their American overlords!
Its like a massive pile of liberal guilt, washed down with a giant swig of mocha frappocino, eh? Everyone all on about their hair and those poor haitians who need to be taught to fish and stuff. Hit that paypal button, you’ll feel better.
You’re really just a big ol’ douche, eh henry?
Um, just to point out, I think that ‘henry lewis jr’ is someone entirely different from ‘henry lewis’ who is a semi-regular commenter here (e.g. not a troll).
henry lewis jr.: bite me.
He’s not my son!
Just some name-stealing misanthrope who’s confused about how the world works.
Thanks, Simba.
The fact is, it is a worthy cause. As is donating to Feed the Children. And World Vision. And Mercy Corps. And Foodrelief.org. And Children’s Miracle Network. And Save the Children. And Oxfam. And Doctors Without Borders. And Project HOPE. And
I will send what I can come payday.
I have a question. Could a Democratic president and/or a functioning congess (assuming the political will) bring pressure to bear on the Haitian government and the UN to improve the situation?
henry – the best thing the American government can do for Haiti at this point is to stop actively working to screw it up.
I teach Introduction to World Politics in college and have incorporated the food insecurity crisis into my syllabus. This is a growing problem that political scientists and policy-makers alike haven’t given a lot of thought to. With respect to Haiti, for example, who would have gone before the public in 1980 and said, “I don’t think we should help these hungry people out, because in thirty years they may experience blowback?” It’s a great example of how the road to hell in International Relations is often paved with good intentions.
Up against the wall motherfuckers.
Jefferson: “what this country needs is a revolution every twenty years. (that’s from memory, I probably mangled it)
I’m donating my foreskin collection. And some $$$.
Not to start into the CA marriage ruling again, but this headline from Peter LaBarbera at Americans for Truth was just too good:
How Will California Homosexual Couples Consumate their Counterfeit Marriages?
Yes, Peter, let’s think about that. Let’s think about that long and hard.
That’s what happens when you forget to let them out into the back yard before you go to bed.
I let them out but they won’t go out. Or they go out, sniff around for awhile and then come right back.
Even when I’m holding the squirt bottle so they can see it!
[…mutter mutter fucking idiots moan mutter mutter mutter…]
How Will California Homosexual Couples Consumate their Counterfeit Marriages?
Nazily.
WE SHALL OVERCOME!
WE SHALL OVERCOME!
I smell a movie deal. White kid faces all the horrible odds that black people face, still ends up on top. It would be like 8 Miles meets The Bell Curve.
That said, he seems like a pretty cool kid.
The fact is, it is a worthy cause. As is donating to…
Not sure what your point is here, Rob. That because there are other worthy causes, this one is not? Spell it out for me, because it just reads like a justification for apathy in the face of a genuine crisis.
I just got a $130 speeding ticket. If I can pay that to the city I live in, I can donate that much to help out the Haitians.
Not sure what your point is here, Rob.
I think Rob just wants us to give more money, which sounds fine to me.
History is picking up speed.
Will this lead to harder drugs?
I love that there are trolls ragging on us for giving money to charity….
wtf?
I picked up a couple eightballs of the harsh brown biker crank, but I’ve still got some of the crunchy white crystal if you wanna pay the price…
Why quibble about price, when you’re bargaining with History?
wow, is the history thread already up to the stamp act?
Up to it?
Why, I’ve been repealed already!
The annoying part is how much of that “Miami rice” is going to feeding the damn stupid pigs America sold the Haitians after we slaughtered the native black pigs (no symbolism there, I’m sure), which are so delicate from years of American feeding that they have to buy shit from us just to keep the pigs alive long enough to slaughter.
Fucking pigs eat better than most of the population.
Yay! Star Parker has fucking lost it:
http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=PARKER-05-16-08
ROAAAAR! STAR PARKER SMASH!!!!!
Pathetic bigot.
OT but here’s another fine upstanding family values Republican criminal for the books.
What is it with these guys?
it’s irrelevant that only one combination can produce children
Well yes. Once Star’s eggs are gone I am generous enough to think that she can marry or divorce anyone she pleases.
Mr. Parker has a point. The Biblical purpose of marriage is to provide women with a sinless way of making babies, so that they don’t have to burn in hell for eternity. That is why women are subjected to mandatory fertility tests before being issued marriage licenses, so that virile men aren’t wasted on broken sperm banks. (I assume that “Star Parker” is a man, because otherwise he would have no place writing anything.)
In her piece, Dixon challenged equating gays to blacks (“I cannot wake up tomorrow morning and not be a Black woman”)
But she might just wake up tommorrow and be a lesbian.
Mr Medved has a theory as to why american black people < american white people
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/05/michael_medved_says_something.php
Is that a threat?
Does anyone still use the phrase “liberal guilt?” What the hell.
I thought everyone had agreed charity was a good thing, but I guess Teh Invizbull Hand means that global poverty will eventually produce awesomeness and Blu-Rays for all.
How Will California Homosexual Couples Consumate their Counterfeit Marriages?
With more creativity, imagination, affection and playfulness than they could ever dream of.
Oh, oh! My turn!
White Americans are mostly descended from people who, despite millenia of trying, never had the genetic fortitude to rise above starvation-level poverty. They were therefore forced to exile themselves to another continent, where they continue to demonstrate their mindnumbing ignorance to the great amusement of their distant cousins across the pond. That is why Europeans have universal health care, ample vacation time, and job security, while Americans have emergency room care, a foreclosure crisis, and an evangelical bucket-head for a president.
(that was a response to the Medved column gbear linked to)
The notion that words have meaning, that there is truth, and that we can approach that truth through investigation and integrity of thought is becoming passi in the United States of Fantasyland.
I suppose it would be rude to point out that Star Parker is one of the contributors to that state of affairs, and that if it wasn’t for projection, she might have to realize she’s a halfwit that’s helped destroy American language and turned our media and politicians into fucking Humpty-Dumpty.
Also, she has no fucking business quoting Groucho Marx.
Why not quote Harpo. Honking a horn and letting others put words in your mouth seems about the pundit-level of communication anyway.
Passi? Is that Italiian for passé?
It’s Arabic for verboten.
I would love to donate some of my ‘stimulus’ check to any of these people that need that money much more than I do. However, because I come from a working poor family, I didn’t have a trust fund to pay my way through college, so when I graduated and joined the working poor I had the choice of either paying my crushing student loans or paying my rent. So my student loans are in default, and my ‘economic stimulus’ package is going to stimulate some of the gigantic financial institutions that form the backbone of the burgeoning student loan industry.
Hooray Bush!
The fact is, the Heartland jibbity jibbity boo.
NO
Morejello: May I once again make reference to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Maslow
Morejello:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Maslow
fuck WordPress.
Morejello: May I once again invoke Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. I’d put a link but WordPress sucks donkey dix. Look it up.
I was listening to the Tavis Smiley show on the radio this evening and he has an interview with Raj Patel. Patel has a book/media campaign out called Stuffed and Starved where he places the blame for Hati etc. on global capitalism, trade, etc. He does a very engaging interview, and I’d recommend checking it out. I went to his stuffed and starved blog and to my shock and horror there’s a video of Patel debating a GIANT ELF. I didn’t watch but I’m sure it’s good.
My take-away from the interview is that we (American taxpayers, at least) are paying millions of dollars to make Haitians eat dirt.
The Tavis Smiley show is only available as a podcast.
Raj Patel’s Stuffed and Starved site is here, and his blog & debate with Jane Galt is here.
Oh yeah? I thought Ms. Giant Elf Atlantic monthly blog lady was all rich and stuff. So why can’t she get her teeth fixed? And why does she have to dress in a nightgown? Huh?
Yeah sure, stryx can link like away like a wildman, but my good friend Daniel Shays is being oppressed in 1786 on the history thread.
Which is going to fcuk up the timing of everybody’s posts, dammit!
WordPress. It’s just like George III.
Thanks for the link, when check arrives (on top of being oppressed white people, spouse and I ALSO have high last 2 digits of SS… will the hurdles never come to an end?) I will earmark some for this cause.
Frankly, I’ve given up being fiscally responsible. Spouse’s chronic illness means the only way we can stay out of debt is to live in a parent’s garage. Only, our parents are either taking care of people worse off than us, or they don’t have a garage. To do so also means moving somewhere else, thus me finding a job there, and good luck with that one.
At one point we were keeping up with the credit cards. Then the Republicans made vigorish legal. Now all I can do is roll them around to keep the interest rates lower than 33%.
Love that Bush economy!
Is there a place that I can donate that’s more along the lines of “Help Rebuild Haiti’s Economy” rather than “Throw Bags of Food at Them So We Can Further Ruin Their Economy”?
Yeah, I know you.
One of the extra jobs I took to try to be a responsible citizen was as a hostess in a restaurant that had a lot of European customers. So they put the tip on the bill so the Europeans wouldn’t inadvertently stiff the wait staff. And put a notice on the bill, in big letters.
You were the person who would come up to me in a red-faced rage and tell me you always tip, tip BIG, but you are so offended by this practice that you aren’t going to tip now, and when you get your adjusted bill, you won’t leave anything.
I know you. And it’s not nice to see you again.
Glad to help – and can we worry about Help Rebuild Haiti’s Economy until after they’ve had something to eat?
“Give a man a fish and he has food for one day. Teach a man to fish but he dies of starvation during your lesson, and you’re just a self-absorbed prick” -Jesus H. Christ
Give a man a fish and he has food for a day. Give that same man some dynamite or C4 and he’ll have fish floating all over the damn place –mikey
Give a man a fish and he has food for one day. Flay a fish and give a man the skin and he can restore his foreskin.
Don’t forget the cyanide, Mikey
Untersturmbannfuhrer Ruppert has a point there.
Having had my own brief stint in Malnutrition County some years back, I can tell you first-hand: a mere 6 or 8 days without one solid meal, & you begin to get VERY “lazy” indeed. A mere 5-10 km hike turns into the Boston Marathon. Also you can look forward to being very constipated & more than a little depressed, if not downright dehumanized. I can hardly imagine how incredibly “shiftless” those Haitian people are by now.
Hey, Gary, give it a try … just for one week. No cheating. One little handful of food today, same tomorrow, same the next day, & the next, & the next … you’ll be thoroughly educated as to 3rd-World reality, up-close & personal, in a way you’ll NEVER forget.
THEN you can come back & tell us how easy it was.
Go for it!
My treat.
Hey, a couple two t’ree foreskins, fiveskins…whatever it takes – ya know what I’m sayin?!? Pretty soon, you got no time for fish.
Give a man a fish and he has food for one day. Teach a man to fish but he dies of starvation during your lesson, and you’re just a self-absorbed prick” -Jesus H. Christ
Calming Influence: Is this available in a bumper-sticker and/or t-shirt?
BTW, the PayPal button is now up at the Haiti Hunger Appeal site.
http://www.healingartmissions.org/Donate.htm
It will be interesting to see how much this blog alone generated.
I’m still winning, slackers.