Israeli High Court Finally Rules Against Using Palestinian Civilians as Human Shields

A lot of times in the news we see Palestinian bombings of Israeli structures and people. This is horrible, as are many of the actions taken by the Israelis.

Here is one example:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051006/ts_nm/mideast_shields_dc

Stop Torture and Denial of Lunch Breaks

Here are two quick online petitions you can sign. The first is to tell Bush not to veto a bill (as he has threatened to do in the past) in order to allow torture of prisoners of war and detainees.

http://action.truemajority.org/campaign/torture

The second is to tell Wal-Mart (big surprise that they're in court again) to stop denying lunch breaks to some of its workers or to compensate them accordingly.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/974105653.

White Farmer Feeds Black Live Man to Lions

it´s amazing that things like this happen in the world. this article is worth reading, as it hints at how much progress still needs to be made with racial relations in south africa. of course, we have a ton of progress to make in the US as well.

thanks to anagha for passing the article along.

¡En México! :)

I have arrived safe and sound in Guanajuato, México, a city of great history and culture. I am already enjoying exploring the winding maze of alleyways and a few of the beautiful plazas. I wrote in my journal for the first time since the night after my return from Antigua, Guatemala. The leisurely feeling of traveling is wonderful, and I felt it strongly as I sat and wrote in the Plaza de la Paz, surrounded by flowers, sunlight, and many people, locals and tourists alike. This weekend I will likely visit some museums, basilicas, and the Hidalgo market. Guanajuato City was the birth of the Mexican revolution with the ¨Cry for Independence,¨ and so I hope to check out some of the historical monuments and learn more of the stories soon.

Coke: What Would Jesus Do?

No no no...I'm not talking about our lord and saviour snorting white powder. I'm talking about the oh so tasty beverage. Believe me, the second sentence is sincere. I love the taste of Coke, that is, if I can manage to remove the foul taste of death and torture from my mouth while sloshing it down. With the recent murder of the lead organizer in Coke's subcontracted bottling factories in Colombia, Coca Cola's recent threat to suppress the free speech of an artist in India who has "painted the truth" about the company, and the present "morality"-driven political climate in the US, the call to investigate Coke and the free-market should sound even stronger than before.

Before you read on, please realize that I'm not claiming to be perfect. I support my unfair share of sweatshop and unethical products every day. Not only is it difficult not to support unethical products just by living in the US, I also sometimes compromise my values and go for the unnecessary chocolate bar that isn't fair trade, or what have you. However, what I am saying, is that we can do our best to minimize our support for such practices, support some fair trade businesses some of the time (and conservatives should love this market driven solution), and educate ourselves and take informed, appropriate, non-violent political action to change the world we live in, such as pressuring our politicians into regulating businesses only to the extent that they are acting ethically. I recognize the potential of market-based competition, the entrepreneurial spirit, and the global capitalist system in general. However, there are downsides. Businesses have simply proven over and over again that, while they are willing to act ethically in many regards, they are also willing to actively pursue large scale, unethical practices that hurt many people, particularly the poor and otherwise disadvantaged. So, we must show them how to act correctly, monitor them to the extent necessary, and take away the latitude they have consistently abused. It's been done many times successfully before; we can do it again.

Regardless of our religious, political, or economic views, we must face the moral cost of our Coca Cola and other unethical products. What are they worth to us? Will we help fund the sacrifice of children's, women's, and adult's rights so we can have a drink or shirt we like? Will we pay the price of labor organizers' lives for the caffeine kick or the latest trend? We have to ask ourselves these important questions, and then do something about it. These questions should be especially salient to Christians, who have faith in what they view as a "truth" or morally higher way of life. Yet, many of those same people will cast aside the immorality of supporting sweatshop labor, or almost as worse, refuse to read about issues that might cause them moral dilemmas and go on supporting them all the while.

Large groups of conservative Christians, although certainly not all Christians nor even all conservative Christians, brought great political power to the last presidential election. They strove to define morality in their terms, and over 20% of Bush's voters cited this version of "morality" as a main reason for voting for Bush. But the issue of Coke, or many other sweatshop products such as chocolate, clothes, and diamonds for that matter, are exactly the type of issues that should be especially important to anyone who claims to care about a higher morality, the sanctity of life, family values, and many other issues. A person who claims to be pro-life and pro-family, but then buys a Coke or another product and thus supports forced abortions in sweatshops, murder of protestors and organizers, the destruction of families from sweatshop labor, and a number of other atrocities, is a person who is compromising their values. Indeed, a largely unregulated economic system, strongly supported by Bush and many of his supporters, is a prime reason for the compromising of such values.

Some individuals did not have enough information to know they were compromising their values by voting for Bush, and indeed, some people may be forming counter arguments as they read this. After all, I'm not presenting any facts here, just opinion. It's fine to argue, but I've talked to so many people who can't tell me the first thing about sweatshops, or even know that they exist, and they claim to be moderate, rational, and fair in their arguments. How can you be any of those with such massively incomplete information? I recognize I still have much to learn about economic systems, but I have learned enough to see their impacts on people and can make a moderate, fair, and rational argument for why they should be regulated to the extent necessary to insure basic human rights. Many inviduals ignored moral inconsistencies and willingly compromised their values to vote for Bush. Many others were given introductory information about the ramifications of Bush's free market ideology, weak support for an argument of a "just" Iraq war, and views on the environment, but based on assumptions or an unwillingness to learn more, avoided information that would let them know they were compromising their values. These individuals are just as guilty as those who willingly compromised them.

What Bush-voters should have done, if they were really anti-abortion, for example, would have been to write in a candidate who was both pro-life and who woudl actively pursue business regulations to stop sweatshop factories from forcing young girls into abortions (or from being required to take birth control for that matter). That would have been sticking to values. A person who compromised their values and voted for Bush based on religious reasons, but ignored Bush's numerous contributions to the degredation of "God's people and Earth," have no moral or even logical religious ground for their vote in my eyes.

Could you imagine Jesus justifying a vote for Bush like so many other people did?

"I'll vote for Bush because he is against abortion. Even though his preferred economic and political systems will let businesses sacrifice the rights and lives of many people, those links are more indirect than abortion so it's ok to let them slide."

And if you can imagine that, which must be pretty difficult, could you further imagine that Jesus would not say anything about Bush's practices and policies after the election was over? How many people who voted for Bush are willing to stand up and oppose sweatshops and fight for the rights of those who are most exploited in our world? Jesus supposedly gave his life for the sins of all humankind, but how many people in your church are willing to do something as simple as buying fair trade, boycotting a sweatshop company, writing a letter to those companies or our government officials, or put the time and effort into reading about these issues so they can take other appropriate action to stand up for what is so obviously right?

Finally, could you imagine Jesus saying this?:
"Eh...I'm only one person. I don't really think my actions will make much of a difference. I know it's wrong, but I'll just buy the Coke."

If you have questions about things you can do, please ask me and I'll do my best to share my limited knowledge with you, or to point you in a direction that will be able to help you more. Thanks for reading. Comments welcome.

Coke is in the Unethical Spotlight Yet Again

In addition to its numerous unethical behavior around the world, including depletion of water sources in India, the provision of toxic soil to India's farmers and toxic beverages to their people, buying sugar from child sweatshop sugar cane farms, and its implication in multiple assassinations, torture, and false imprisonment of labor unionizers in its Colombia bottling plants, Coca Cola has added another black mark to the list.

Coke is now threatening an artist with a lawsuit in order to suppress his free speech over an all too truthful picture he painted recently (see image at right). See the full story here.

Also, the leader of the union that has been fighting for rights in Coca Cola's subcontracted bottling sweatshops in Colombia has recently been assassinated. I heard a member of this union speak about the pain and suffering that these workers are going through on a daily basis, and how all of their rights, freedom, and lives are at put at risk just by asking for decent working conditions. The Colombian government and Coca Cola are the main beneficiaries of the crimes and murders of these organizers. Time will bring the truth.

For a brief look at Coke, check out the 2-page Coke Fact Sheet here.

You can take action quickly and easily by sending a free fax to Coca Cola here.

Grandma accused of looting makes her case

I wouldn't be surprised if this was a case of racism, or if more cases like this are happening.

Tyco two get up to 25 years' jail

Rich Tyco execs are finally sentenced to prison...

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BBC Story
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Two former bosses of US manufacturer Tyco have been sentenced to up to 25 years in jail for stealing more than $150m (£82m) from the company.

Former Tyco chief executive Dennis Kozlowski and finance chief Mark Swartz were taken from the court in handcuffs.

They were also ordered to repay most of the money, which they spent on expensive jewellery, luxury apartments and giant $2m Mediterranean parties.

The pair, who denied the charges, were convicted in June at their retrial.

Their first trial collapsed in April 2004 after a juror received a threatening phone call and letter. Both were heard in New York.

Appeals planned

Judge Michael Obus sentenced the pair to between 8 1/3 years and 25 years.

The judge ordered them to pay $134m in restitution. In addition, Kozlowski was fined $70m and Swartz $35m.

Kozlowski, 58, and Swartz, 44, have said they will appeal against the verdicts.

During the trial, the court heard that the former bosses took the money through secret loans that were then simply forgotten, as well as unauthorised bonuses.

Examples of their lavish lifestyle quoted in court included a $2m toga party on a Mediterranean island for Kozlowski's wife's birthday and an $18m apartment in Manhattan.

Tyco employs 250,000 people in 2,000 locations around the world and sells electronic, healthcare, and plastics supplies.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/4261836.stm

Published: 2005/09/19 17:03:44 GMT

© BBC MMV

Cash for Your Old Cell Phone

Go to the Cell for Cash site and find out how to quickly and easily get rid of your old cell phone, and get some cash in the process. This saves the cell phone from being thrown away and contaminating our planet.

You can also donate your old cell phone to a number of women's shelters and other places that use them for emergency phones. A simple search of "donate your cell phone" on the net will turn up a number of alternatives.

A Tool to Write a Letter to Your Newspapers

First read Governor Dean's comments on Supreme Court Justice nonimee John Roberts, then use this simple online tool to send a quick letter to a bunch of newspapers.

Clinton Speaks Great Words

While I don't agree with everything that Bill Clinton did as president, he certainly is a well informed and well spoken voice of reason and compassion in times of crisis. Check out a ten minute video clip of his interview with BBC news on their site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/.

Oppose Arctic Drilling as a Narrowminded Solution

In the wake of Katrina, there have been increased calls for drilling for more oil (presumably in Alaska but perhaps also elsewhere). Instead of looking to destroy more of the precious resources on the planet, why not use the technology that we already have? We have effective hybrid cars, solar power, wind power, and so many other alternatives. Certainly, we can increase production and sales of all of these things as fast as we could produce oil from arctic drilling.

Here is a link that will automatically send letters to President Bush and your state reps. The letter was written by a group of faith, but if you are not a person of faith, you can simply change the opening line and the line in the third paragraph that mention god.

Here is the link.

Also, when you have sent the letter elctronically, they will offer to give you the letters in print format. Simply click the ok button and print them out...they're already preaddressed and formatted. Just sign, address the envelope, and mail away. In about 5 minutes you will have taken action. Please do so.

Timeline: Surge of Iraq violence

To experience this violence as a civilian must be horrific. I can't imagine living in such fear. I think it's horrible that the "insurgents" are killing innocent civilians. Although our unjust and pre-emptive war in no way justifies such killing, perhaps the effects are illustrating what can happen when you try to forcefully impose a government system on another country. I don't support Saddam's repressive leadership, but I also don't support our "war" against Iraq. As much as we tried negotiating with him, we could have tried more. Additionally, perhaps if the US stopped demonstrating to the world how undemocratic it can be, we would be an inspiration for others to not only start their own movements for democracy, but also to garner worldwide support when we actually take democratic approaches to solving social problems.

-----BBC Article (Intro-----

Insurgents in Iraq have been launching almost hourly attacks on Iraqi and US military targets as well as civilians in a relentless wave of violence.

The BBC News website shows where and when the attacks have been reported (all times given are Iraqi local time, which is four hours ahead of GMT). (full story)

Free socially conscious clothing gift certificate! :)

Read below for a chance to win a $300 gift certificate to all sorts of socially conscious clothes and products...it's very simple and doesn't require you signing up for an email list serv if you don't want.

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Co-op America
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What can you do to end corporate abuse of workers, communities, and the environment? Support Green Businesses. Everyday, they're changing the marketplace to benefit people and the planet.

Co-op America brings together consumers and businesses to grow a just and environmentally sustainable economy. Our first ever People's Choice Award for Green Business of the Year aims to get the word out about these fabulous green businesses and challenge corporate America to follow their positive examples.

Vote & Win Prizes!
Vote now for your favorite Green Business and get entered into a raffle to win $300 worth of gift certificates for sweatshop-free clothing, yoga gear, Fair Trade coffee and crafts, organic bedding and bath items and much more!

Tell a friend! Tell all of your friends! Help make this award a national celebration for a green economy and brighter future!

'Stiff upper lip' hampers memory

'Stiff upper lip' hampers memory

Keeping a stiff upper lip during an emotional event can impair your memory, research suggests.

Those who battled to hide their emotions paid a cognitive price and were less able to recall the upsetting episode than others, a study found.

The work described in New Scientist involved more than 200 volunteers.

James Gross, Stanford University, and Jane Richards, the University of Texas at Austin, published their study in the Journal of Research and Personality. (full story)

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To me, this is just another small piece to a much larger case for raising more gender-androgenous children, and I don't mean in the biological sense. We should all be able to access our emotions with relative ease, but many boys are still raised to shut them off. On the other end, sometimes being to put your emtions aside temporarily can help to function in a given situation in life, such as work or school. If someone is overly affected by emotion, they might not be able to function when they need to. I think there is a healthy balance somewhere in the middle.

The extra cost to oil, and one of the reasons it's going up.

We should all remember that when we fill up our gas tanks or use gas-powered energy in our homes, we aren't just paying for gas, we are paying for the murder of innocent people and destruction of the environment. Whenever possible, carpool, take public transportation, use rechargeable batteries, buy a hybrid car, and use alternative forms of energy with appliances and in the home to save resources and to lessen your support for these horrors.

This story, about a man named Ken Saro-Wiwa, is just one of many in a long list of complaints of oil companies. Saro-Wiwa was a famous novelist and nonviolent environmental activist in Nigeria. After speaking out strongly against the Shell oil company, which makes up about 80% of the country's economy, Ken was executed along with other nonviolent activists by the military government, probably with the support of Shell.

I heard Saro-Wiwa's son speak at the Northeast Regional Amnesty International Annual Conference a few years back. He also mentioned that, after his father's murder, Shell put up a page about social responsibility on their website, where they mentioned about 50 writers that have helped shape Nigeria. Despite Saro-Wiwa's success, fame, and awards, he was suspiciously left off the list.

You can read a bit more about this issue at: www.thepriceofoil.com.

You can also read another article about Shell's environmental crimes in Nigeria, which have an impact on the people who reside near the spills and plants.

Finally, you can read a perspective from a long time consumer advocate, that is, a person who is looking out for the general public's best interests when for-profit companies seek to ignore or override them. This is the work that Ralph Nader did for a long time that made him so famous and respected. In any case, this article provides some evidence that at oil companies have been wanting to shrink their supply of gas in the US for awhile so as to increase profits, while at the same time publicly blaming environmental activists for pressuring them into reducing their gas supply. There is probably more on the net about these issues to see how legitimate the article is, but it's definitely worth reading. Check it out here.

To me, it is highly believable that the oil companies have tried to spin responsibility onto activists. The same thing happened in the apparel industry. Activists would try to pressure companies into reforming their labor practices and pay a living wage (e.g. stop raping little girls in the workplace, forcing workers to have abortions, not letting girls go to school and work, makign workers work three 24-hour shifts in a week, and paying them so little their families couldn't afford food and basic necessities, etc. etc. etc.). Once the exploitative production factories were exposed, the retail companies, such as Nike or the Limited Company, wouldn't fix their problems and allow people to have a decent job. Instead, they'd often "cut and run," meaning they'd cut their losses, stop doing business with the subcontracted company, and move somewhere else so benefit from a newly exploitable labor force. Then they would publicly blame activists for making them have to shut down.

From everything I have read on sweatshops, let me tell you this honestly. Companies can afford to pay enough to their workers and still remain competitive in the global economy. They wouldn't even have to pass the entire cost onto the consumer, it could most likely be split. Sure, they would lose profit margins, and perhaps wouldn't be the number 1, 2, or 3 company in the world, but they would still make a ton of money on markup. One of the biggest drains on company expenses is corporate executives' salaries and the huge amounts of money spent on advertising throughout the false "seasons" they've created to make everyone feel like they always have to have the newest and trendiest clothes. If the execs would take paycuts, and the companies would pay more to the workers (still less than it would cost to employ people in the US, even with benefits), things could be changed for the lives of many. However, we all know this won't happen under market forces alone; hence, this is another example where government, and in this case, strong international regulations, must be put in place to keep for-profit companies from abusing people in their quest for greater profit margins.

For now, US residents will continue to face the pleasure of slightly cheaper products, but at the cost of atrocities so sickening that all pleasure should be taken away for anyone who knows about them and remains conscious of them. Please search online for fair trade and otherwise socially and environmentally friendly products. There are plenty of links on this blog and can be turned up fairly easily with internet searches as well. If a shirt costs you an extra 5 dollars, avoid drinking Coke and eating chocolate (two more products that are extremely exploitative) for a few days, and you'll have the money in no time.

Thanks to Anagha for passing some of the links along.

Comments welcome.

A Letter to All Who Voted for George W. Bush from Michael Moore

I don't always agree with Michael Moore, but I would say this letter is mostly fair. For those of you who voted for Bush, I think you have an extra responsibility to keep him in line when he is doing things to hurt the public, like appointing people without adequate experience to positions of enormous responsibility for public safety. If you simply vote for Bush, and then let him do harm without trying to stop him, you are even more responsible than a person who voted against Bush and does nothing.

Anyhow, for those of you who voted for Bush, I'm sure you have a response to me and the below letter. Please feel free to post it here and debate, and for those on all sides, please keep it clean and truthful. Thanks.

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Letter
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Sunday, September 11th, 2005
A Letter to All Who Voted for George W. Bush from Michael Moore

To All My Fellow Americans Who Voted for George W. Bush:

On this, the fourth anniversary of 9/11, I'm just curious, how does it feel?

How does it feel to know that the man you elected to lead us after we were attacked went ahead and put a guy in charge of FEMA whose main qualification was that he ran horse shows?

That's right. Horse shows.

I really want to know -- and I ask you this in all sincerity and with all due respect -- how do you feel about the utter contempt Mr. Bush has shown for your safety? C'mon, give me just a moment of honesty. Don't start ranting on about how this disaster in New Orleans was the fault of one of the poorest cities in America. Put aside your hatred of Democrats and liberals and anyone with the last name of Clinton. Just look me in the eye and tell me our President did the right thing after 9/11 by naming a horse show runner as the top man to protect us in case of an emergency or catastrophe.

I want you to put aside your self-affixed label of Republican/conservative/born-again/capitalist/ditto-head/right-winger and just talk to me as an American, on the common ground we both call America.

Are we safer now than before 9/11? When you learn that behind the horse show runner, the #2 and #3 men in charge of emergency preparedness have zero experience in emergency preparedness, do you think we are safer?

When you look at Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, a man with little experience in national security, do you feel secure?

When men who never served in the military and have never seen young men die in battle send our young people off to war, do you think they know how to conduct a war? Do they know what it means to have your legs blown off for a threat that was never there?

Do you really believe that turning over important government services to private corporations has resulted in better services for the people?

Why do you hate our federal government so much? You have voted for politicians for the past 25 years whose main goal has been to de-fund the federal government. Do you think that cutting federal programs like FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers has been good or bad for America? GOOD OR BAD?

With the nation's debt at an all-time high, do you think tax cuts for the rich are still a good idea? Will you give yours back so hundreds of thousands of homeless in New Orleans can have a home?

Do you believe in Jesus? Really? Didn't he say that we would be judged by how we treat the least among us? Hurricane Katrina came in and blew off the facade that we were a nation with liberty and justice for all. The wind howled and the water rose and what was revealed was that the poor in America shall be left to suffer and die while the President of the United States fiddles and tells them to eat cake.

That's not a joke. The day the hurricane hit and the levees broke, Mr. Bush, John McCain and their rich pals were stuffing themselves with cake. A full day after the levees broke (the same levees whose repair funding he had cut), Mr. Bush was playing a guitar some country singer gave him. All this while New Orleans sank under water.

It would take ANOTHER day before the President would do a flyover in his jumbo jet, peeking out the window at the misery 2500 feet below him as he flew back to his second home in DC. It would then be TWO MORE DAYS before a trickle of federal aid and troops would arrive. This was no seven minutes in a sitting trance while children read "My Pet Goat" to him. This was FOUR DAYS of doing nothing other than saying "Brownie (FEMA director Michael Brown), you're doing a heck of a job!"

My Republican friends, does it bother you that we are the laughing stock of the world?

And on this sacred day of remembrance, do you think we honor or shame those who died on 9/11/01? If we learned nothing and find ourselves today every bit as vulnerable and unprepared as we were on that bright sunny morning, then did the 3,000 die in vain?

Our vulnerability is not just about dealing with terrorists or natural disasters. We are vulnerable and unsafe because we allow one in eight Americans to live in horrible poverty. We accept an education system where one in six children never graduate and most of those who do can't string a coherent sentence together. The middle class can't pay the mortgage or the hospital bills and 45 million have no health coverage whatsoever.

Are we safe? Do you really feel safe? You can only move so far out and build so many gated communities before the fruit of what you've sown will be crashing through your walls and demanding retribution. Do you really want to wait until that happens? Or is it your hope that if they are left alone long enough to soil themselves and shoot themselves and drown in the filth that fills the street that maybe the problem will somehow go away?

I know you know better. You gave the country and the world a man who wasn't up for the job and all he does is hire people who aren't up for the job. You did this to us, to the world, to the people of New Orleans. Please fix it. Bush is yours. And you know, for our peace and safety and security, this has to be fixed. What do you propose?

I have an idea, and it isn't a horse show.

Yours,

Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com
mmflint@aol.com

Bush (finally) takes storm responsibility

US President George W Bush has said he takes responsibility for government failures in dealing with the effects of Hurricane Katrina. (full story)

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Commentary
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It's the respectable thing to do. He doesn't have to take all of the responsibility, but he should take a large portion of it. He missed the letter of request for emergency relief from Governor Blanco because he was on vacation, and then blamed the states for a slow reaction. He appointed a person with no disaster relief experience to one of the highest disaster relief positions in the government. He has slashed funding for disaster relief in the affected area despite government warnings that it was the 3rd largest disaster threat to the US. He has slashed social services in all sorts of ways during his entire presidency to make climbing out of poverty an even more difficult challenge for countless people. Finally, he was playing golf during the storm instead of preparing to help save lives afterwards.

Despite all of this, it is plausable to think Bush never would have accepted responsibility without all of the news groups that have actually sought the truth and political pressure from activist groups and individuals. Once again, these are the groups responsible for bringing out the truth.

Eleven kids found in cages in home

The Associated Press

Updated: 12:39 a.m. ET Sept. 13, 2005

WAKEMAN, Ohio - Sheriff’s deputies found 11 children locked in cages less than 3½ feet high inside a home, but a couple denied they had abused or neglected the children.

A judge on Monday put the children — who range in age from 1 to 14 and who have various disabilities, including autism — in foster homes.

The children were found in nine cages built into the walls of the house near this small city in northern Ohio, according to the Huron County Sheriff’s Office. They had no blankets or pillows, and the cages were rigged with alarms that sounded if opened, Lt. Randy Sommers said.

The children told authorities they slept in the cages — 40 inches high and 40 inches deep — at night. Doors to some of the cages were blocked with heavy furniture. (full story)

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Commentary
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Just so you know, adoption isn't the savior that it is seemingly always purported to be. Many children who are adopted live very happy lives. However, many others find themselves abused, neglected, or even given away. Yes, given away.

Somewhere between 10 and 25% of all children who are adopted are "returned" to the adoption agency either before the paperwork is finalized (disrupted adoption) or afterwards (dissolved adoption). Older children and children with more abusive histories are the most likely to be returned. Most of these children end up in foster homes. While foster homes can be a wonderful alternative to an abusive home, abuse has been well documented in foster homes for a long time as well. For more about disrupted adoption, check out a short discussion in Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia.

This gets me to thinking about abortion. I wonder if, when a fetus is aborted, it has a soul. If it has a soul, what is to say that the soul is not recycled to another fetus? If that is the case, then it would seem that a "life" has not really been killed because it will be allowed to live on. If the soul is not allowed to continue, then of course it is unfair that that soul didn't get to continue in life. But I guess all of that is speculation. Anyhow, if the soul is recycled to another fetus, then I would much rather have it recycled than to have to live through an unwanted childhood if that was going to be the case.

Katrina's Fund Raising Frenzy: Too Much and Not Enough

This article emphasizes a point that is largely ignored by those who give money to disaster relief causes. Sure, giving money is beneficial to an extent. But when all is said and done, if we don't alleviate the more widespread poverty and racism in the US, the people who don't have the means to escape disaster will continue to exist en masse.

Give your energy, your compassion, and your support for demanding justice, not just the contents of your wallet or purse. You can do this by learning about poverty and racism in the US and all over the world for that matter. Take it slow...pick an issue that you don't know much about, and read an article or two from different sources each day. Be wary of sources that come from those with vested interests in retaining a poor labor force or those whose commentary is tainted, overtly or covertly, of stereotypes and prejudice.

If we choose not to expend the energy or make the commitment, our financial donations will stand more as a way for us to avoid responsibility than to actually help people in need. We need to do the right thing--continue to educate ourselves and challenge our public and private leaders when they lead people to disaster.