BlogWood: MT Archives

Catchalling

A lot of catching up to do around here, so I’m just gonna post this super-long link-filled extravaganza, glossing over details, ignoring important points, completely missing many newsworthy events, and adding absolutely nothing of value to the conversation. In other words, pretty much business as usual, but with just one big post. Enjoy.

We care.

Despite Secretary of State Colin Powell’s insistence that the U.S. is not a "stingy" nation-a charge leveled Monday by a frustrated U.N. relief coordinator, then taken back Tuesday-American contributions to the tsunami recovery effort seem modest by any standard. Relief workers need to get help to 10 nations, where more than a million people are believed to be homeless, where whole villages were swallowed by the earthquake-induced tidal wave last weekend, and where the death toll has crossed 50,000 and is still climbing.

So far, the U.S. is sending $4 million to the International Red Cross and perhaps $40 million in other aid funds, along with a handful of planes, some bearing supplies and some to be used for patrols. The Japanese are sending $30 million for starters, and the EU $40 million.

Miffed at the U.N. official’s comment, Trent Duffy, White House deputy press secretary, said, the U.S. is “the largest contributor to international relief and aid efforts, not only through the government but through charitable organizations.” He added, “The American people are very giving.”

The money being put up by the U.S. is nothing when compared to what’s going on in the corridors of Wall Street, where year-end bonuses for the securities industry are the big story in New York. Readers of The New York Times were greeted Tuesday morning with above-the-fold images of destruction in Asia and below-the-fold accountings of personal riches.

The money’s also a little less than W will spend on his upcoming coronation, but I digress. Also in the NY Times that day: Family farmers in Central America - just another group of brown people in need of exploitation by wall street types:

Supermarket Giants Crush Central American Farmers By CELIA W. DUGGER

Published: December 28, 2004

PALENCIA, Guatemala - Mario Chinchilla, his face shaded by a battered straw hat, worriedly surveyed his field of sickly tomatoes. His hands and jeans were caked with dirt, but no amount of labor would ever turn his puny crop into the plump, unblemished produce the country's main supermarket chain displays in its big stores.

But we really do care about brown people. Really.

We were surprised to see on ABC's Good Morning America a segment about the children who have been victims of the tsunami. Total casualties are (currently) estimated to be 60,000. One third are children, or 20,000. The ABC report began with the usual talking head.

It was followed by four stories about affected children. Excepting a quick pan shot of native kids amongst general destruction, they were all white Europeans.

Well, white European tourists can be victims too! And besides, we’re sending lots of money, right?

That brings to a whopping 10 cents per capita, our contribution to alleviating one of the great human tragedies of all time. How inspiring. I just wrote a check to Doctors Without Borders (How to donate) for 1000 times that amount, so I guess that makes me Albert Fucking Schweitzer. Yet I somehow still feel strangely unvirtuous.

Speaking of virtuous, Saint Theresa LaPore’s retirement is about to get a littel more cushy, thanks to a little job swapping in Palm Beach.

Outgoing Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore is mulling a $2,500-a-month clerical job in State Attorney Barry Krischer's office so she can qualify for a 30-year pension.

LePore said she's also considering two other government posts at similar pay but wouldn't name them. She said she'll decide on a job next week.

LePore leaves the $121,490 supervisor's position next week after losing an Aug. 31 reelection bid. She needs to work about three or four more months to qualify for optimum pension benefits.

LaPore has been sucking the government teat for almost as long as this innocent man has been on Florida’s death row.

Now DNA evidence offers Zeigler the hope of a very different future Christmas. DNA evidence has played a significant role in 14 of the 117 exonerations from U.S. Death Rows. Such evidence is vital, especially in Florida, which -- according to the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C. -- has had 21 people found innocent on its Death Row, more than any other state.

Prosecutors are refusing to back down, even in the face of irrefutable evidence of Zeigler’s innocence. Who knows, maybe they just want his pension benefits to increase.

Another group looking for increased benefits are the striking Florida Crystal sugar workers, who are fighting newish owners who really really really have to cut costs if they’re gonna be able to afford those new Ferrari’s that are all the rage this year.

Standing among hundreds of picketers outside Florida Crystals Corp.'s Okeelanta plant Tuesday morning, Debra Jones didn't know when she'd go back to her job of 23 years at the sugar mill.

Jones and about 700 of her co-workers walked off their jobs Monday to protest the Palm Beach County sugar grower's plans to outsource jobs and cut benefits.

Striking Okeelanta mill workers argue with a Palm Beach County sheriff's deputy Tuesday who had asked them to leave the median of U.S. 27. Protesters ran to the median after a truck driver was pulled over for honking his horn in support of the strikers.

"When we left, we knew we may not go back," said Jones, a 50-year-old single mother from Clewiston. "But we can't live with what they have to offer."

And that’s all I have to offer for now. Oh, except for this. (via Suburban Guerrilla)

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