quote: "I am absolutely disgusted. After the tsunami our people, even the ones who lost everything, wanted to help the others who were suffering," said Sajeewa Chinthaka, 36, as he watched a cricket match in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
"Not a single tourist caught in the tsunami was mugged. Now with all this happening in the U.S. we can easily see where the civilized part of the world's population is."
[ September 02, 2005, 01:10 PM: Message edited by: Elizabeth ]
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quote:The child-trafficking threat is not limited to Indonesia, nor is it just professional smugglers who are kidnapping and selling these children. "We are getting reports of people trying to sell children or claim children that are not their own," said Geoffrey Keele, communications officer for UNICEF in Sri Lanka. "At this point, it appears to be more opportunistic than a widespread organized criminal activity campaign but, absolutely, it is something we are watching very, very closely."
In Sri Lanka, a 63-year-old man, A.H. Somadasa, was arrested for trying to sell his own grandchildren after their mother died in last month's tsunami. The girls, aged 7 and 9, were reunited with their father last week after authorities intervened.
Sri Lankan children also face the prospect of becoming the newest recruits of the bloody civil war. The New York-based international watchdog, Human Rights Watch, has already chronicled a half-dozen attempts by Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers to recruit pre-pubescent boys as soldiers in their guerilla army.
This, of course, does not make what's happening in NOLA acceptable. It just shows how stunningly stupid Chinthaka's comparison is.
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I would feel safer, in general, if we had less of a stark division between the wealthy and the poor in this country. It's one of the things about the US that makes me most strongly feel like I'm living in a powder keg, and I'd gladly pay more taxes to avoid that (and for other reasons, certainly, but security is one of them).
Edit: And absolutely, Dag. I think this is a human thing, not a matter of country.
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Then cut a check, Claudia, You can pay more if you want. The government isn't going to reject your money.
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I know Americans are often ignorant of other parts of the world, but I'm astonished just how idiotic other parts of the world are about Americans.
I was reading a British magazine the other day that said that in American cities, when the runoff from a rainstorm is too much, the cities routinely release raw sewage into the streets.
They'll believe what they want to believe.
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Edited to add: Rather, I don't take deductions which I am entitled to. I never have put a thank-you note in with it, though, but I will [this] year.
My philosophy students used to think I was crazy. *grin This subject routinely came up in discussions of rule v. act utilitarianism and Kantianism.
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Good point, Dag, there are thugs worldwide.
However, I am really thinking more about what CT said, how this whole thing is bringing some of our stinkiest poo to the surface for all the world to see.
Our good stuff as well, of course. I am not into faulting the relief effort, as I think it is a catastrophe, and, better prepared or not, it would still have been diastrous.
It is just a visual image of the poverty which exists in this country, and it just makes me feel sad, and guilty, and sad. So, off I go to a music festival, to drink and dance.
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From "Shame On America for Acting Poorly During A Natural Disaster (The rest of the world is much nicer!)" to "Boinking Makes Me Sleepy" And in just 12 posts!
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CT- just curious- why don't you take your deductions and just send a check to your favorite charitites? I personally don't much trust the gov to do with my money what i think should be done.
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I have to agree with Jacare on this one... I have seen nothing that tells me any government agency is effective at reducing the distance between the haves and have nots
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I set aside money to send to charities (both officially and in small ways through those I can help my own life) also. I live pretty frugally -- Dave and I have a two-bedroom apartment, and we make do.
When I was teaching college students about morality, I was learning from them, too. The upshot of one of our classroom discussions was that I came to feel pretty firmly that -- at least in this circumstance -- I should be the change I wished to see in the world. Sure, the small amount I don't withhold is likely to have very little difference in how the world works outside of me. However, it does make a difference in how I view myself.
For example, I have little fear about moving to Canada and paying higher income tax there. It really doesn't have to factor into my decision at all, as I haven't been focused on minimizing the tax I pay anyway, and I have become accustomed to living well within my means as it is.
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There is less difference in Canada. It is something that makes living there terribly appealing to me.
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Is there a larger difference in this country than Canada and countries in Europe because of race?
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quote:Originally posted by Megan: I think you only get sleepy if you're doing it right.
Not during, dear. But after, yeah. None of that sissy 'cuddling' for me, nosireee. Straight to sleepy-land.
Works better than Ambian, though it is at least as addictive.
Edit: I think I totally misread Megan's post. See note below.
Pixiest - I seem to have made a hobby of killing threads today, with my perversions. I think when Frisco said "headboard-banging fun" in the premarital sex thread, my brain melted. Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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And Pixiest, I think you were going for thread derailment by sniping at CT, but her gracious response got the thread right back on track.
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I dunno. This whole thing makes me think if you rely on goverment or even charities to save you, you're probably out of luck.
Plan for disaster. Save yourself. Otherwise your corpse will end up face down in front of the superdome while other refugees walk around you.
Elizabeth: Ya, what I said came out much more harshly than I meant it, but when people say "I would be willing to pay more taxes" the implication seems to be "and everyone else should be willing as well."
quote:[Pix to] Elizabeth: Ya, what I said came out much more harshly than I meant it, but when people say "I would be willing to pay more taxes" the implication seems to be "and everyone else should be willing as well."
*grin
I assure you, when I wrote it, what I meant was that "I would be willing to pay more taxes". And when you suggested I should, Pix, I took it as a serious, thoughtful suggestion.
It is only now, after rereading the thread in the context of later posts, that I realize it may have been more. Ah, well, we missed an opportunity to rip each other apart. (Now whatever will we do? )
Elizabeth, Canada is now more diverse by visible minority than the US is. It is even more a country of immigrants than we are. That being said, the "visible minority" of those of First Nations descent ("Native Americans," down here), is far far overrepresented in the lowest strata. Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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CT: I didn't WANT to rip you apart. Especially now that I see your comment was NOT a jab at those of us who want lower taxes.
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Wanna fight? Wanna fight?? [/Beaver Dick Leigh]
(Sweets, no problem. It's a touchy time right now, just like after 9/11. I understood (and understand) you to be responding like a friend knocking back with a hot cocoa in a cafe. You weren't attacking -- that's cool. You were putting forth a comment to a friend. )
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It's not my thread! It's Elizabeth's thread, and she's been terribly kind about all our meanderings.
(BTW, I, too, measure success as do you in the ways of a man with a maid. It is good that we have good men. )
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At the risk of further derailment, who is Beaver Dick Leigh and why does she have such a fascinatingly obscene name?
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Olivia, it's been four days already since you bathed. You're starting to stink up the thread. Would you consider covering the spot with a clear adhesive bandage, and washing the rest?
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Well, I'll stop teasing, then, Olivia, 'cause I don't want to do anything that would disrupt your sex life, since we all know how important that is to you. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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