Paging George Clooney....

[Wagner]

More problems in Darfur...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa...lks/index.html

Quick question about this comment:

In Washington, U.S. President George W. Bush said on Monday he had ordered emergency food stockpiles to be sent to Sudan to help ease the crisis and urged Congress to approve $225 million in food aid.


We still have people starving in cities in the US, glad we can organize 225mill in food aid to foreign nations...

[Eric5273]

There is some angle on this. I'm not sure what it is, but trust me -- there is an angle.

My guess is that the $225 million is not charity, but is an actual profit-making purchase from some company, and that very little of that money will actually trickle down to the people of Darfur in the form of food. There is probably some service company like Haliburton or Bechtell that is going to be paid to do the distribution, and their contract is included in the $225 million figure.

Our government loves to do that. They love to take taxpayer dollars, and find ways to give it to corporations. For every dollar they spend, 30 cents goes into the pockets of some rich corporate stockholders.

The reason they do not use the money to help feed the starving in American cities is that we already have programs in place for that sort of thing, and they are structured so that nobody profits. They are run by social workers (who get paid very little) and charity volunteer workers. The current trend is that they continue to cut the budgets for these domestic programs, not increase their budgets.

If the Bush Administration could find a way to privatize these domestic programs, you would see them suddenly increase their budgets through the roof the same way they did 2 years ago when they figured out a way to privatize Medicaid and triple the amount of money being spent on it.

Charity is only good to them if someone can make a buck doing it. If it is non-profit, they see it as a waste of time and money.

[statdoc]

Who has actually seen someone in the USA that is starving? I hear people talk about them, but I have never seen one. I have been to some of the poorest places in the USA, and still seen fat people. On the other hand, I can take you to lots of places elsewhere in the world where people do literally starve to death.

I think it is rhetoric that we have starving children in the USA.

[Eric5273]

Originally Posted by statdoc

I think it is rhetoric that we have starving children in the USA.

Walk the streets in certain parts of Manhattan during the week and it is not uncommon to get approached by little kids in dirty ragedy clothing asking for money. It is also not uncommon to see people looking through the trash for food, or to see people sleeping in cardboard boxes.

[Wagner]

Originally Posted by statdoc

Who has actually seen someone in the USA that is starving? I hear people talk about them, but I have never seen one. I have been to some of the poorest places in the USA, and still seen fat people. On the other hand, I can take you to lots of places elsewhere in the world where people do literally starve to death.

I think it is rhetoric that we have starving children in the USA.

Take one stroll around B-more in Maryland...you'll see plenty of people that need help.

[Thunder22]

Originally Posted by statdoc

Who has actually seen someone in the USA that is starving? I hear people talk about them, but I have never seen one. I have been to some of the poorest places in the USA, and still seen fat people. On the other hand, I can take you to lots of places elsewhere in the world where people do literally starve to death.

I think it is rhetoric that we have starving children in the USA.

come to NYC, I'll show you a few. Seriously.

[LeMansX5]

Originally Posted by Eric5273

There is some angle on this. I'm not sure what it is, but trust me -- there is an angle.

My guess is that the $225 million is not charity, but is an actual profit-making purchase from some company, and that very little of that money will actually trickle down to the people of Darfur in the form of food. There is probably some service company like Haliburton or Bechtell that is going to be paid to do the distribution, and their contract is included in the $225 million figure.

Our government loves to do that. They love to take taxpayer dollars, and find ways to give it to corporations. For every dollar they spend, 30 cents goes into the pockets of some rich corporate stockholders.

The reason they do not use the money to help feed the starving in American cities is that we already have programs in place for that sort of thing, and they are structured so that nobody profits. They are run by social workers (who get paid very little) and charity volunteer workers. The current trend is that they continue to cut the budgets for these domestic programs, not increase their budgets.

If the Bush Administration could find a way to privatize these domestic programs, you would see them suddenly increase their budgets through the roof the same way they did 2 years ago when they figured out a way to privatize Medicaid and triple the amount of money being spent on it.

Charity is only good to them if someone can make a buck doing it. If it is non-profit, they see it as a waste of time and money.

There is always an angle. Expensive contracts were signed with contractors months before the war in Iraq had started. Its never as simple as it appears on the surface.

[Thunder22]

[JV]

Originally Posted by WagnerX5

We still have people starving in cities in the US, glad we can organize 225mill in food aid to foreign nations...

Anyone starving in the US is not starving as a result of genocide and murder and robbery like those in the Darfur region of Sudan are.

I agree with the statements that someone will profit from this, some buddy of the Prez, but have any of you who are chiming in here ever volunteered at a soup kitchen or a non-profit organization which feeds homeless and poor people?

I likely never would have if it wasn't for having a career in the media biz, but I have done it more than 20 times, both here in DC and in Houston, TX.

The problem with people digging in the trash for food isn't a shortage of places to be fed. There has been more than enough food to go around at every dinner/lunch/breakfast I've ever volunteered for, and plenty of people driving vans/buses to pick people up to eat.

It's mostly the mentally ill or drug/alcohol abusers who need a lot more than just food, who are digging through trash or sending their kids/cousins/neices & nephews out to beg for change.

I've been on a bus that went around to pick people up for an organization here called Bread For the City. Many people got on board, but some were yelling and cussing at us to get the hell away from them and leave them alone so they could dig through a dumpster. Some of those were obviously drug addicts with track marks all up and down their arms or with the crack pipe in their back pocket, some were seriously mentally ill, and talking nonsense to themselves or to an imaginary person.

JV

[fln8tive]

Originally Posted by Eric5273

Walk the streets in certain parts of Manhattan during the week and it is not uncommon to get approached by little kids in dirty ragedy clothing asking for money. It is also not uncommon to see people looking through the trash for food, or to see people sleeping in cardboard boxes.

What parts of Manhattan? Maybe you saw Kate Moss' boyfriend. Show me a child standing outside a D'Agostino's asking for a sandwich. You are pulling my panini--City Harvest is right there on 8th Ave.

Panhandling for drug money yes, but I've never had a panhandler of any age accept an offer of food, employment, or directions to a shelter. Everyone wants money or a smoke.

http://www.cityharvest.org/