Thanksgiving
I'm going to be taking the next few days off to spend some quality time with loved ones.
Happy Thanksgiving.
We have much to be grateful for. Being able to eat, let alone feast, is a privilege in this world:
- 852 million people across the world are hungry, up from 842 million a year ago.
- Every day, more than 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes--one child every five seconds.
- In essence, hunger is the most extreme form of poverty, where individuals or families cannot afford to meet their most basic need for food.
- Hunger manifests itself in many ways other than starvation and famine. Most poor people who battle hunger deal with chronic undernourishment and vitamin or mineral deficiencies, which result in stunted growth, weakness and heightened susceptibility to illness.
- Countries in which a large portion of the population battles hunger daily are usually poor and often lack the social safety nets we enjoy, such as soup kitchens, food stamps, and job training programs. When a family that lives in a poor country cannot grow enough food or earn enough money to buy food, there is nowhere to turn for help.
- Today our world houses 6.55 billion people.
- The United States is a part of the developed or industrialized world, which consists of about 57 countries with a combined population of only 0.9 billion, less than one sixth of the world’s population.
- In contrast, approximately 5 billion people live in the developing world. This world is made up of about 125 low and middle-income countries in which people generally have a lower standard of living with access to fewer goods and services than people in high-income countries.
- The remaining 0.4 billion live in countries in transition, which include the Baltic states, eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
- Worldwide, more than 1 billion people currently live below the international poverty line, earning less than $1 per day.
- Among this group of poor people, many have problems obtaining adequate, nutritious food for themselves and their families. As a result, 815 million people in the developing world are undernourished. They consume less than the minimum amount of calories essential for sound health and growth.
- Undernourishment negatively affects people’s health, productivity, sense of hope and overall well-being. A lack of food can stunt growth, slow thinking, sap energy, hinder fetal development and contribute to mental retardation.
- Economically, the constant securing of food consumes valuable time and energy of poor people, allowing less time for work and earning income.
- Socially, the lack of food erodes relationships and feeds shame so that those most in need of support are often least able to call on it.
- Go to the World Food Programme website and click on either "Counting the Hungry" or "Interactive Hunger Map" for presentations on hunger and poverty around the world.
- Poor nutrition and calorie deficiencies cause nearly one in three people to die prematurely or have disabilities, according to the World Health Organization. 5
- Pregnant women, new mothers who breastfeed infants, and children are among the most at risk of undernourishment.
- Every year, nearly 11 million children die before they reach their fifth birthday. Almost all of these deaths occur in developing countries, 3/4 of them in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the two regions that also suffer from the highest rates of hunger and malnutrition.
- Most of these deaths are attributed, not to outright starvation, but to diseases that move in on vulnerable children whose bodies have been weakened by hunger. 6
- Every year, more than 20 million low-birth weight babies are born in developing countries. These babies risk dying in infancy, while those who survive often suffer lifelong physical and cognitive disabilities.
- The four most common childhood illnesses are diarrhea, acute respiratory illness, malaria and measles. Each of these illnesses is both preventable and treatable. Yet, again, poverty interferes in parents’ ability to access immunizations and medicines. Chronic undernourishment on top of insufficient treatment greatly increases a child’s risk of death.
- In the developing world, 27 percent of children under 5 are moderately to severely underweight. 10 percent are severely underweight. 10 percent of children under 5 are moderately to severely wasted, or seriously below weight for one’s height, and an overwhelming 31 percent are moderately to severely stunted, or seriously below normal height for one’s age.
- The spreading HIV/AIDS epidemic has quickly become a major obstacle in the fight against hunger and poverty in developing countries.
- Because the majority of those falling sick with AIDS are young adults who normally harvest crops, food production has dropped dramatically in countries with high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates.
- In half of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa, per capita economic growth is estimated to be falling by between 0.5 and 1.2 percent each year as a direct result of AIDS.
- Infected adults also leave behind children and elderly relatives, who have little means to provide for themselves. In 2003, 12 million children were newly orphaned in southern Africa, a number expected to rise to 18 million in 2010.
- Since the epidemic began, 25 million people have died from AIDS, which has caused more than 15 million children to lose at least one parent. For its analysis, UNICEF uses a term that illustrates the gravity of the situation; child-headed households, or minors orphaned by HIV/AIDS who are raising their siblings.
- 1.1Â % (ages 15-49) of the world is HIV prevalent (2003 data).
- 1.3Â % (ages 15-49) of developing countries are HIV prevalent (2003 data).
- Approximately 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in the world. Of this figure, 60 percent live in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Each year, another 5 million people become infected with HIV and more than 3 million people die of AIDS.
November 23rd, 2006 at 9:00 am
Wow! If those figures are accurate (questionable), then I’m really thankful that I live in the United States where our system of rights and free enterprise make it possible for us to live in general prosperity rather than like in other countries that Marc described. Maybe we should help them to become more like us.
It’s too bad the Left in this country sees this information as a source for complaint rather than something to appreciate. Some Thanksgivng wish from Marc…. I bet he and others might even want to drop Christ from Christmas. What a sour bunch of people.
November 23rd, 2006 at 10:52 am
Think how many lives would be saved if everyone had access to fresh, clean water.
November 23rd, 2006 at 10:53 am
Woody’s post is so flippant, so bereft of elementary humanity and dignity that its hard to even respond. Is he a cartoom character? I think Cornel West refers to this mindset as Constantinian Christianity
November 23rd, 2006 at 10:57 am
Woody questions the figures Marc provides, no doubt based on his own in depth research into the issues of hunger and disease. I give thanks that I did not grow up as brainless as Woody and the role models he seems to emulate.
November 23rd, 2006 at 11:01 am
MB,
That’s why the call them reactionaries.
November 23rd, 2006 at 11:11 am
I’m happy to be a citizen of this great country (USA, of course). Today, i give thanks for owning-outright, no mortgage for me- a beautiful home, filled with wonderful furnishings, oodles and gobs of money in my banks, some very nice vehicles which i love and cherish, and all those kinds of things.
Naturally, at the first of the year (another thing i do every Jan01), i make myself a vow to strive for more wealth and possessions than i already have.
Its great to be an american.
November 23rd, 2006 at 12:29 pm
“I bet he and others might even want to drop Christ from Christmas.”
Uh…Woody, Marc’s a Jewish atheist. I’d bet he’s perfectly happy for the Christmas season to include any and everything the folks like me who celebrate it want to include – from the baby Jesus, to 3 Persian Astrologers, to Herod’s massacre of all male infants and todders residing in the little town of Bethlehem, all the way to the secular add-ons and borrowings from pagans like Christmas trees, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and maxing out credit cards. Like they say at Burger King, Have It Your Way !
November 23rd, 2006 at 12:35 pm
Woody: I’m not sour. I will be eating a huge Turkey Day feast and will be wearing no hair shirt. I can have a great time and still realize the horrible state of the world. Anyway, as an atheist, Ive always thought Christians had a leg up on me on this matter. Last time I looked, most Christians extolled the virtues of suffering and pain — as long as it was inflicted on others.
As to Xmas: You’ve got it all wrong.Im for putting Christ back into Xmas. Im for removing commerce from Xmas. That’s different. Poor Jesus.. he never thought he’d come gift-wrapped under a plastic tree.
November 23rd, 2006 at 1:09 pm
“It’s too bad the Left in this country sees this information (of Marc’s on world poverty and disease – ed.) as a source for complaint rather than something to appreciate.”
The history of “Constantinian Christianity”, referenced by Ahmed, certainly at least helps explain the notion that one’s first duty in contemplating world poverty – at least for the legions who defend the Baby Jesus from the ACLU – is to glory in the fact of one’s own luck living in the midst of a highly productive modern economy as opposed to having been dropped by God in one of those crummy poor countries where everything sucks. No “sour people” in that crowd…not so long as “I’ve got mine”.
Apparently Marc’s observation in this context that “We have much to be grateful for” is an inappropriate expression of Thanksgiving in Woody’s World.
No wonder Jesus said it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man, etc. etc.
But Ahmed’s reference to “Constantinian Christianity” is on the mark – since Woody is into defending Baby Jesus from secular peril , here are some relevant thoughts from guy who was a hell of a lot better at it – Rheinhold Niebuhr, an inspiration to Martin Luther King as well as Prof. West:
The prophets never weary of warning both the powerful nations, and Israel, the righteous nation, of the judgment which waits on human pretension. The great nation, Babylon, is warned that its confidence in the security of its power will be refuted by history….(The prophets) regard nothing as absolutely secure in human life and history; and believe that every desperate effort to establish security will lead to heightened insecurity. The great nation is likened unto a cedar whose boughs are higher than all other trees. This eminence tempts it to forget “that the waters made it great and the deep set it on high,” which is to say that every human achievement avails itself of, but also obscures, forces of destiny beyond human contrivance. In consequence of this miscalculation Babylon will fall prey to “the terrible of the nations,” to remind all the trees in the garden that they are “marked unto death.” No human eminence can escape the limits of man’s mortality (Ezekiel 31).
The ironic aspect of power and security being involved in weakness and insecurity by reason of stretching beyond their limits is matched by the irony of virtue turning into vice. The Pharisee is condemned and the publican preferred because the former “thanks God” that he is “not like other men.” He seeks desperately but futilely to cover common human frailties by a meticulous legalism. Israel is undoubtedly a “good” nation as compared with the great nations surrounding it. But the pretensions of virtue are as offensive to God as the pretensions of power. One has the uneasy feeling that America as both a powerful nation and as a “virtuous” one is involved in ironic perils which compound the experiences of Babylon and Israel.
November 23rd, 2006 at 1:14 pm
Those references to “Israel” incidentally are to ancient Israel (Neibuhr wrote the quoted “Ironies of American History” in ’52), although they obviously also have contemporary relevance to any number of world or regional powers…
November 23rd, 2006 at 2:38 pm
There certainly is a lot of pain, suffering and death in the world which is why the original, somwhat mythical, American Thanksgiving took place. The Pilgrims had over come, for a year at least, the hardships that confronted them.
Those of you who criticize Woody’s remarks just remember that religious conservatives actually give more than secular liberals to help those less fortunate than themselves. Solid proof
here and here. Have fun engaging in your ad hominems but write a check to charity first.
November 23rd, 2006 at 2:52 pm
DADvocate,
They don’t mention religious liberals, of which I am one. As for writing checks, many of us do our part. My wife and I don’t exchange Christmas gifts; we donate to charities of our choosing isntead.
As for ad hominems, what the hell do you call this?:
I bet he and others might even want to drop Christ from Christmas. What a sour bunch of people.
Go back and reread Matthew Chapter 7 verse 3.
November 23rd, 2006 at 3:11 pm
To make his point forcefully, Brooks admits he cut out a lot of qualifying information.
Like what? Perhaps the fact that the churches they attaend are also acharities and that much of their donating went there?
Kind of hard to come to any intelligent conclusions without the data isn’t it?
BTW, this year the wife and I will probably include the ACLU, MercyCorps, Amnesty International and the Nationa Resources Defense Council as our targeted charities.
November 23rd, 2006 at 3:50 pm
Obviouslly, in the world of social science, things are rarely 100% black and white. But while it is abundantly evident that liberals like to call Republicans/conservatives greedy, the opposite is closer to the truth.
November 23rd, 2006 at 3:53 pm
That’s actually an opinion. The fact that your source chose to omit qualifying information makes his findings questionable.
November 23rd, 2006 at 5:46 pm
Of course.
And then there’s this.
Here’s an example of a liberal bending and twisting logic in order to insult conservative Christians. When contrasted to this list of agencies providing relief to Katrina victims which contains a multitude to Christian/conservative organizations, you can see just how bias she was.
By the way, does telling someone to read a Bible passage on being judgemental mean that you are being judgemental about them by judging them to be sinfully judgemental?
I’m sure you’re a fine person. Have a great Thanksgiving (what’s left of it). Consider donating to the Salvation Army. In college I took a sociology class on disasters and the text book identified the Salvation Army as the most effective relief orgainization.
November 23rd, 2006 at 6:33 pm
Conservatives, when slashing social programs, usually rationalize by saying that ‘throwing money’ at a problem is counterproductive, ‘creating dependance’.
So I can only conclude that all of the christian conservative donations spring from malevolent intentions.
Hey Everyone! Go to DADvocate’s Sept ’05 archive (re: Cindy Shehan) and you’ll find all you need to know about DAD’s sense of compassion.
“That vision of Christ that you see,
is my vision’s greatest enemy”
-Wm Blake
November 23rd, 2006 at 7:49 pm
The Southern Baptist Convention follows piously in Christ’s footsteps (June of 2003):
“WHEREAS, The 2002 Southern Baptist Convention called on the United States government to protect our people against rogue nations in their quest for weapons of mass destruction; and
WHEREAS, We believe Operation Iraqi Freedom was a warranted action based upon historic principles of just war; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, June 17–18, 2003, affirm President George W. Bush, the United States Congress, and our armed forces for their leadership in the successful execution of Operation Iraqi Freedom…”
This fundamentalist denomination, of course – the largest of the “religous right” sects – was founded as a splinter group solely on defense of slavery and racism in 1845 (in recent years, with the collapse of segregation, it focuses it’s extreme bigotry primarily on gays.
Pal, you can take the charity of your “religious conservatives” and shove it, insofar as it denotes “superior virtue” in those quarters. While charitable giving is admirable and I’m doing my part this season, I’d prefer to live in a society where people at the margins aren’t solely dependent on the “compassion” of the religious right for survival and a hand up in hard times…that hasn’t worked out too well in the past. The notion that donations passed through the coffers of the Big Hair Preachers is somehow more blessed than the guarantee of some basic social programs and elemental dignity for the least among us by our society at large is unfounded, politically motivated and, frankly, contemptible.
Incidentally and since shifting the subject has proven convenient for Dadvocate, “compassionate conservatism” was founded primarily on a debate over allocation of tax monies to private religious organizations because they would supposedly be more effective in enforcing a moral code on the poor. Using taxes to fund charitable efforts, for which “Dadvocate” presumably lambastes liberals, was at the very core of this “conservative” movement to empower fundamentalist sects in the social service sphere.
(Here’s another interesting, if off topic, bit on the superior virtue of conservative “Christians”.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_dira.htm)
November 23rd, 2006 at 7:58 pm
“By the way, does telling someone to read a Bible passage on being judgemental mean that you are being judgemental about them by judging them to be sinfully judgemental?”
Yeah…but it’s entirely forbiveable ‘cuz the first stone had already been cast….back when Woody started growling about the “sour people” who remind themselves of world poverty on Thanksgiving. Maybe you should take any further meditation on the degree of irony inherent in anyone quoting this scripture up with Jesus the next time you talk.
November 23rd, 2006 at 9:22 pm
Woody: “I bet he and others might even want to drop Christ from Christmas.”
Of course. The sooner we make Satanmas a National Holiday the better.
November 24th, 2006 at 2:44 am
So, Woody is at it again. Now using the plight of the hungry as a tool to attack the “left”, which is typical of conservatives of his caliber. On every level, it’s the same dumbass pattern from the National Review to averages like Woody. Blame Clinton, blame the left; “We” are perfect. If everyone were just like us, the world would be just perfect. Like goddamn juveniles who haven’t grown past adolescence.
But to counter your narrow point of view. To complain about a blatant injustice is highly legitimate. If a small margin of the world’s population enjoys a great prosperity while others literally die for the lack of even a fraction of the same, any decent human being would feel some form of anger or discomfort towards that injustice.
You’re sound like someone passing by somebody starving, but rather than helping the person out, you go home to celebrate the fact that you’re not starving.
This is why the rightwing should never lead on any social issue, whatsoever.
You join some rightwing “thinktank’, so that rather than feeling bad about the starving, you can spend your time disputing the statistics.
One freak from the AEI got completely upset when Bill Maher told her about the estimated number of dead Iraqi civilians of the war. She rose up from her chair and vigorously disputed the figures. It looked pshycho. The deaths didn’t matter, it was about the figures! These people are extremely bad role-models for the young.
What else can you say, when someone gets mad at somebody for mentioning starvation, or war victims? They actually believe that any remarks against human tragedy are sinister. It just tells a lot about character.
Clinically, it’s probably called “pseudo-sociopathy”, if there’s such thing.
Or, is it immaturity? If somebody whines about Christmas trees in the light of large-scale starvation, is it just plain immaturity? Or sociopathy, or both? There’s got to be a diagnosis. To be sure, there are sociopathic traits involved there.
November 24th, 2006 at 7:41 am
UpTheAnte:
“These people are extremely bad role-models for the young”.
Great point! Too bad the neocons and the ‘herd of independant minds’ that provide them intellectual support can’t be as frank as former NBA star Charles Barkley and declare:
“I’m no role-model”.
November 24th, 2006 at 8:37 am
My Thanksgiving was enjoyable and guilt-free despite problems still existing in the world. You don’t have to put your life on hold until everyone else catches up.
What does Marc mean by a “no hair shirt?”
November 24th, 2006 at 8:39 am
bet he and others might even want to drop Christ from Christmas. What a sour bunch of people.
November 24th, 2006 at 9:31 am
How much do you want to bet, Megan? The odds might be better than trying to win one of your backgammon games.
November 24th, 2006 at 11:17 am
I see, we’re getting spammed. Blog spam, that’s a new one.
November 24th, 2006 at 11:55 am
hair shirt:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07113b.htm
November 24th, 2006 at 3:56 pm
Woody, it’s not about putting your “life on hold”.
But you don’ t seem to care at all.
To reflect on something, or to simply be aware of things, is not the same as putting your “life on hold”. Your sense of reason seems in need of repair, eh.
But what you really meant was, ‘who cares?, Hey, will you stop whining about starvation? My Christmas is at “stake”!’.
And there’s an entire movement of these.
November 24th, 2006 at 4:32 pm
Marc, hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving.
Mine was fine, but will start being too busy to join you and the other Bush-bashers here — I’ll keep appreciating your own more even handed Dem bashing (when you think they deserve it).
Poverty exists in the world primarily where the gov’t doesn’t protect private property, especially property of the poor people. Americans are blessed with a gov’t that has produced the most productive economy the world has ever known.
Unfortunately, Aid teaches corruption. The failure of most gov’t to gov’t aid is due to the inability of the recepient gov’t leaders to give most of the aid to the weakest & poorest.
The Grameen Bank, recent Nobel Peace Prize winners (VERY deservedly), push loans instead of aid. Small ones, directly to poor people. That’s what the World Bank, the UN / UNDP, and Bono should be pushing. Not aid, loans. For peaceful, voluntary, production and trade — wealth creation.
I’m Thankful for my fine life in Slovakia, where the vast majority of folk are moving towards more decent lives pretty rapidly. By becoming more Western/ more capitalistic.
But those not succeeding are not so happy being left behind. They should be helped — some Leftists should offer more poor people better jobs. Oops, I forgot. Leftists hate those who offer poor people jobs … they’re too rich.
November 24th, 2006 at 8:29 pm
“The Grameen Bank, recent Nobel Peace Prize winners (VERY deservedly), push loans instead of aid.”
Microcredit is a great idea, Tom, but it’s also aid. There’s an amazing amount of confusion on this subject. Many people think that microcredit is profitable. It’s not. It’s a way to develop business skills for the very poor. I applaud it. But if it were some magic, profitable solution, the financial world would be all over it. As it is, capital is circling the globe trying to find investment opportunities and not succeeding very well these days.
“That’s what the World Bank, the UN / UNDP, and Bono should be pushing.”
Actually, they are.
Bono:
http://defeatpoverty.com/2005/09/bono-is-not-skeptic.html
UNDP:
http://www.uncdf.org/english/microfinance/
World Bank:
[More microfinance initiatives than you can shake a stick at--do your own Google search, dammit!]
“Not aid, loans. For peaceful, voluntary, production and trade — wealth creation.”
Tom: imagine that your precious Slovakia had leaders that took on huge loans from the World Bank and the IMF, absconded with a lot of it, frittered a lot of the rest away on projects that only feathered the nests of their friends, and left Slovak voters saddled with debt payments in perpetuity. How fair would that be?
Development is not simple, Tom. Microcredit works for some things. Loans work for some things. Initiatives to provide the poor with title to the land they’ve occupied (sometimes for generations) work for some things. Direct grants work for some things. But there is no silver bullet. There probably never will be.
November 24th, 2006 at 10:51 pm
Robert Samuelson on de Soto’s Single Bullet Theory: simply make land title easier to acquire for the poor.
http://tinyurl.com/y7cmzc
November 25th, 2006 at 11:08 am
I hope everyone had a good Thanksgivinbg and I will give thanks by refraining from getting into a useless discussion with people like Woody and Liberty Daddy about aid and American Right-wing Generosity – that’s my contribution to the season.
Only those ignorant of our recent history would argue that aid doesn’t work. Sometime when I’m more in the mood I’ll explain how the Great Society was libeled. But for now let us just note that the poverty rate was cut in half and didn’t rise again till Reagan. That the food stamp program of George McGovern and Bob Dole virtually eliminated hunger in this country until conservatives started “reforming” it in the 80′s and now we have hunger again (excuse me “Food Insecurity”).
And as to measurements of national well-being we are so far down the list of advanced natiuons that the idea we’re the greatest is a sick joke. I notice that JCummings hasn’t put in his two cents. Thats probably because, as a Canadian, he’s laughing his ass off at the pretensions of his Southern Neighbors.
f course I’m sure I’ll be told I’m wrong and all those UN stats are Commie Propaganda. But then I shill for more than the Dems you see.
November 25th, 2006 at 11:43 am
Ah yes, here on display: the very un-Christian-like spirit of “Christians”! A perfect example of this can also be found in the Christian Coalition:
“The Rev. Joel Hunter, of Northland, A Church Distributed, in Longwood, Fla., said he quit as president-elect of the group founded by evangelist Pat Robertson because he realized he would be unable to broaden the organization’s agenda beyond opposing abortion and same-sex marriage.
He hoped to include issues such as easing poverty and saving the environment.
“These are issues that Jesus would want us to care about,” Hunter said.
The resignation took place Tuesday during an organization board meeting. Hunter said he was not asked to leave.
“They pretty much said, “These issues are fine, but they’re not our issues; that’s not our base,’ ” Hunter said.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Simply put, there is Christianity, there are Christians, and then there exists that large base of pseudo-Christians, the hypocrites, Jesus’ favorite target:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”
–Matthew 23:23
November 25th, 2006 at 6:40 pm
I’m grateful for the unique strategy of bringing more democracy to the world courtesy the strategy of sending more US troops to Iraq…
and the draft to boot!
November 25th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
RLC:
“(The US) so far down the list of advanced nations…”
I’ve had so many conversations with people from Canada, the UK, Europe who, when thier frank, convey that the US is regarded as the laughing stock of the world.
I remember a conversation with a Haitian taxi driver in New York. Describing the circumstances of his emigration to the US, he had wanted to come to the US since the 40s – he had family in Miami and Georgia inviting him, but he waited until the late sixties.
I asked him why he waited so long?
“I’m not crazy. I waited until I was certain that the lynching of black people had ceased”.
Thank God for writers like Zinn and Chomsky who give us acces to an un-sanitized account of our history…
November 26th, 2006 at 9:54 am
Well, all of you had your chance to say how you used Thanksgiving to fight hunger and disease, but you didn’t. Instead you used Thanksgiving to attack a conservative who wanted to use that day for the purpose that it was intended. Other than that, what did you do?
Most of you are all talk and no action. You like philosophical discussions, and it stops there. Your solutions to world problems are to postulate questionable cures and expect everyone to buy in and pay for them with money other than yours. You quote scripture but really don’t accept it personally or believe that it has any validity except to twist it in attacks against those who respect it. Smply put, you’re hypocrites who feel self-important in your talk but do little to make the world better.
I hope that your Thanksgiving was better than those whom you didn’t help over the last few days.
(Now, get ready for the “liars club” to talk about their good works–along with personal attacks to deflect their guilt.)
November 26th, 2006 at 9:58 am
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
November 26th, 2006 at 10:38 am
Oh, Randy. What a typical and pathetic response from you. It’s funny that you’re so insecure that you keep making posts on your site to attack me. Talk about psycho.
November 26th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
Woody I’m sure you go over and above the duty of Christians to look after those less fortunate but I am intrigrigued by the fact that the recently appointed head of the Christian Coalition left that post because he wanted that organization to spend some time on issues of the poor and the leaders of the movement said that, no, railing against abortion and gay marriage were more important. But I’m sure their megachurchs get a lot for their faith based initiatives.
Oh, and ever hear of the sin of pride?
November 26th, 2006 at 3:42 pm
Hope everyone had a good and love-filled Thanksgiving.
In terms of Christianity and all that, I’m down for what Saint Francis is said to have said. (And if, by chance, the quote is apocryphal, I feel really sure St. Francis *meant* to say it.):
“Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary use words.â€
November 26th, 2006 at 4:23 pm
I’m thankful for Marc Cooper calling Bob Brenner ‘dogmatic’…
A sign of high level of political and civil discourse in liberal blogland..
November 26th, 2006 at 4:43 pm
Woody,
That’s really all your hate-filled comment merited. Keep on decompensating.
Dadvocate,
With regard to the Salvation Army, their financial controls are piss poor. An embezzlement here, an embezzlement there.
No thanks. By the way the second link is to a blog that updates on the nonprofit world. Definitely worth checking out.
November 26th, 2006 at 5:05 pm
hey, at least Woody’s not ‘dogmatic’ as Bob Brenner is [if Marc Cooper is to be believed in that long ago deleted blog contribution...]
November 26th, 2006 at 5:55 pm
Poor Steve Philion. Posting now under someone else’s name. And to think this guy teaches college!
November 26th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
hang on here, you really think the name of the guy I was posting under was ‘bob breener’s star china scholar’? THat’s not even a name!
Marc, you missed my great class last week, we had a hand holding peace pipe ceremony in which we honored Amy Goodman and Kim Song Il and engaged in mass self-criticism for our past fish murder deeds. Truly self-cleansing.
November 27th, 2006 at 8:39 am
Just curious…. I think that “Bob Brenner’s scholar” is the “steve,” who used to be a regular commenter here from something like a year ago. Am I correct? (This may be the first time that anyone might say that I’m correct on this site.)
If so, hello, steve!
November 27th, 2006 at 8:43 am
Never mind. I knew that I was guessing right when I saw this article by him:
“The Myth of the Spat Upon Vets”
http://counterpunch.org/philion10132006.html
steve, remember, do not use the word “spit” here.
November 28th, 2006 at 12:50 pm
[...] Every day, more than 16000 children die from hunger-related causes–one child … They consume less than the minimum amount of calories essential for sound … 10 percent are severely underweight. 10 percent of children under 5 are …Read more: here [...]
December 27th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
hi
December 27th, 2006 at 4:48 pm
I hope everyone had a good Thanksgivinbg and I will give thanks by refraining from getting into a useless discussion with people like Woody and Liberty Daddy about aid and American Right-wing Generosity – that’s my contribution to the season.
Only those ignorant of our recent history would argue that aid doesn’t work. Sometime when I’m more in the mood I’ll explain how the Great Society was libeled. But for now let us just note that the poverty rate was cut in half and didn’t rise again till Reagan. That the food stamp program of George McGovern and Bob Dole virtually eliminated hunger in this country until conservatives started “reforming†it in the 80’s and now we have hunger again (excuse me “Food Insecurityâ€).
And as to measurements of national well-being we are so far down the list of advanced natiuons that the idea we’re the greatest is a sick joke. I notice that JCummings hasn’t put in his two cents. Thats probably because, as a Canadian, he’s laughing his ass off at the pretensions of his Southern Neighbors.
f course I’m sure I’ll be told I’m wrong and all those UN stats are Commie Propaganda. But then I shill for more than the Dems you see.
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I wanted to comment and thank the author, good stuff