I know it was a bad hurricane. I know a lot of people messed up really bad, so it was a lot worse than it had to be. It's good so many people pitched in to help.

It's just that because this blog is what it is, I have to remind everyone that for kids in the Global South, every day of their lives is worse. Before posting this I asked the net to tell me how many kids die of hunger every day. Six different agencies that monitor these things said 24,000. I know it's too hard to think about but I do wish just once when I mention this, instead of the blank stares I get somebody would pull out a checkbook. Raising money for food relief is not a solution. But until the world finds a solution, we really need to keep sending food.  ¶ 5:12 PM

  Nothing has changed. The kids are still dying at the same rate. No one is still paying any attention to them. Many people believe hunger is something that will always be with us. Or say they believe it. Not true. All that's missing is the will. If we wanted to feed children just one tenth as much as we want to conquer the world, there'd be plenty for them to eat. While we're at it send them some vaccines and medicine and some doctors.   ¶ 4:07 PM

  We need to start taking better care of our children. they are not getting enough to eat, or clean water to drink, or health care. No these are not either intractable problems that nobody can do anything about. We could very easily deliver all these things to all the children in the world. If we wanted to. If we had enough integrity to take care of who needs it. The richest country in the world, the U.S., lavishes all its money on war, as we know too well. What's left over goes to the fabulously rich. Businessmen talk about free trade. What that means is deals that take from the poor countries to the advantage of rich countries. The flow of all the precious rsources of Africa and Asia and Latin America to the powerful capital empire of the westrn world.
And that's why our children starve. Beacuse it's profitable for those businessmen. It doesn't have to be that way. All that money can go the other way, from the rich countries to the poor countries. That's the way it should be.  ¶ 4:40 PM

  We need to start taking better care of our children. they are not getting enoough to eat, or clean water to drink, or health care. No these are not either intractable problems that nobody can do anything about. We could very easily deliver all these things to all the children in the world. If we wanted to. If we had enough integrity to take care of who needs it. The richest country in the world, the U.S., lavishes all its money on war, as we know too well. What's left over goes to the fabulously rich. Businessmen talk about free trade. What that means is deals that take from the poor countries to the advantage of rich countries. The flow of all the precious rsources of Africa and Asia and Latin America to the powerful capital empire of the westrn world.
And that's why our children starve. Beacuse it's profitable for those businessmen. It doesn't have to be that way. All that money can go the other way, from the rich countries to the poor countries. That's the way it should be.  ¶ 4:40 PM

  we don't want free trade cause it's not free. What it is is it means fabulously wealthy megacorporations from rich countries take over and control what people in poor countries can do. Or can't. when some country is flat broke, they need to borrow money, from where it is, in the very rich countries banks. With the loan come instructions what these countries need to do. They need to, privatize anything that isn't. That means money that country could be making from whatever it is will be handing over this profitable enterprise to a very rich multinational corporation. Does this help? it does not. It impoverishes poor people while enriching companies that have way too much money now. So money continues to flow backwards, from the poor to the rich. And it keeps getting worse. Africa, in case you didn't know has got a horrendous AIDS epdemic. They have figured out how to make the drugs they need. But they can't use them because they are patented by big pharma, and big pharma can't hear you talking when you say "Let's try to sve some lives" They can hear "profits", and "more more more money for us". But even when you show them pictures of those pitiful AIDS orphans, or a mom who is hopelessly dying, and can't get any drugs they don't care about them either.

Here's an easy way to remember what this is about. When they say "free trade" you need to translate that as what it is: "Imperial domination" Then at least you will understand why we are in revolt against it.  ¶ 6:58 PM

  we don't want free trade cause it's not free. What it is is it means fabulously wealthy megacorporations from rich countries take over and control what people in poor countries can do. Or can't. when some country is flat broke, they need to borrow money, from where it is, in the very rich countries banks. With the loan come instructions what these countries need to do. They need to, privatize anything that isn't. That means money that country could be making from whatever it is will be handing over this profitable enterprise to a very rich multinational corporation. Does this help? it does not. It impoverishes poor people while enriching companies that have way too much money now. So money continues to flow backwards, from the poor to the rich. And it keeps getting worse. Africa, in case you didn't know has got a horrendous AIDS epdemic. They have figured out how to make the drugs they need. But they can't use them because they are patented by big pharma, and big pharma can't hear you talking when you say "Let's try to sve some lives" They can hear "profits", and "more more more money for us". But even when you show them pictures of those pitiful AIDS orphans, or a mom who is hopelessly dying, and can't get any drugs they don't care about them either.

Here's an easy way to remember what this is about. When they say "free trade" you need to translate that as what it is: "Imperial domination" Then at least you will understand why we are in revolt against it.  ¶ 6:32 PM

  We need to start taking better care of our children. they are not getting enoough to eat, or clean water to drink, or health care. No these are not either intractable problems that nobody can do anything about. We could very easily deliver all these things to all the children in the world. If we wanted to. If we had enough integrity to take care of who needs it. The richest country in the world, the U.S., lavishes all its money on war, as we know too well. What's left over goes to the fabulously rich. Businessmen talk about free trade. What that means is deals that take from the poor countries to the advantage of rich countries. The flow of all the precious rsources of Africa and Asia and Latin America to the powerful capital empire of the westrn world.
And that's why our children starve. Beacuse it's profitable for those businessmen. It doesn't have to be that way. All that money can go the other way, from the rich countries to the poor countries. That's the way it should be.  ¶ 4:28 PM

  So anyway the pres called me up and said what do I think about 87 billion for more war in Iraq. I said Do you know how many kids you could feed and give clean water and vaccines for that much money? he said no I don't and besides I don't know how to feed kids. I know bombs, is all. So I said I noticed that. I already told you to quit with the bombs, the weapons, all of them. Send food to the kids. Just do it. How hard can it be? Also get this. You start handing out sandwitches instead of high explosives and everyone will really like you and you won't have to worry about all those angry "terrists" you keep trying to scare us about.  ¶ 6:56 PM

  In South Africa somebody got this bright idea to charge people for clean water. You put in your coins, hold out your bucket, get some clean water. Unless of course you don'rt have any coins. Then you scoop up water from puddles, creeks, anyplace you see water. It will give you cholera, or something awful, because it's too polluted to drink. But they drink it anyway. And get sick. And die.

Happens the same way in Uganda, India, Peru. Some fabulously rich multinational corporation buys the water rights, and sells it to who can pay. It's called privatization. The bankers love it. It's also called free trade, because the way free trade works is rich people are free to do anything they want to poor people. If you try tp stop them, they can take you to the World Trade Organization. The WTO then can force the poor countries to sell the people's water to rich corporations. So too many people don't get clean water. How can anyone think that's fair? well of course they know it ain't fair. The point is fair or not, it is profitable.
So the next time you see us out marching around and protesting at a WTO meeting, or the World Bank, or those G8 meetings, Maybe you will want to join us. Because we are right to want everyone to have clean water without some big corporation from some other country trying to make them pay for it.

  ¶ 5:29 PM