rfs@loral.UUCP () (12/12/84)
I feel real bad about the starving people in Ethiopia. What about the starving people in the USA. I mean the street people and the bag ladies. The winos that sleep in gutters and under bridges. Don't you think we should help our own first. How about the farmers that are going bankrupt at a record rate and have to ask for food stamps just to feed their children. Lets face the fact and wake up and smell the coffee. This is one screwed up country. We'll break our asses to help others with billions of dollars and turn our back on our own people. Cliff Roberts and Charalton Heston seem to be the media spokesmen for the relief effort in Ethiopia. I'm sure each of them have cut big fat checks for the relief effort. Have each of them given a 'dime' to any needy people in their own country. I doubt it!. You see its politically fashonable to contribute to the starving people in Ethiopia. Hey!, I have a great idea. Fifty cents out of every dollar for the relief effort should be distributed to the farmers about ready to go bankrupt and the street people in all cities of this country. Now you say well thats welfare. No matter who we give relief to its still welfare. By the way the farmers being proud people that they are will pay it back some day. Just before you give away a check to the Ethiopia relief drive find out if there are any charity organizations for our street people or farmers relief funds. I say when every person in america is fat and healthy and we don't know what else to do with our money then send it over seas. LETS QUIT SHIT'NT ON OUR OWN PEOPLE for the sake of others!
riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) (12/14/84)
[Re: feeding people at home as well as those in Ethiopia.]
I don't know what it's like in other cities, but many of the holiday anti-
hunger campaigns in Austin have been doing essentially what you suggested --
they split what they raise between international relief agencies like Unicef
and Oxfam and local agencies like the Capital Area Food Bank. Often they do
this by sending cash to the former and canned goods to the latter.
By the way, the next time you're approached by someone from a food drive
asking for a donation of food, consider writing them a check instead.
Remember that every dollar you spend on pork and beans or macaroni and cheese
at supermarket prices could go a lot further if it were pooled with other
contributions to buy bulk goods at wholesale. I'm all for food drives and
have participated in them myself, but the biggest beneficiaries of your gift
of a can of Dinty Moore Beef Stew may be Dinty Moore and Safeway.
--- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.")
--- {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddlebarry@ames.UUCP (Kenn Barry) (12/15/84)
[] From loral!rfs: >I feel real bad about the starving people in Ethiopia. What about the starving >people in the USA. I mean the street people and the bag ladies. The winos >that sleep in gutters and under bridges. Don't you think we should help our >own first. I believe in helping both. As to what group has priority, there is more than one factor to consider. One factor is, indeed, proximity. If there are two people in equal need, I would give first priority to helping the one closest to me, yes. But if one person is in greater need than another, that is also a factor. The needs of those starving in Ethiopia is greater and more immediate than that of most poor people in the US. Few if any Americans are in danger of starving to death over the next few days. Many Ethiopians are. >Cliff Roberts and Charalton Heston seem to be the media spokesmen for the >relief effort in Ethiopia. I'm sure each of them have cut big fat checks >for the relief effort. Have each of them given a 'dime' to any needy people >in their own country. I doubt it!. You see its politically fashonable to >contribute to the starving people in Ethiopia. Your doubt is not convincing. If you have information on what these two gentlemen do or don't give to charity, fine, but your comment is idle speculation as it stands. >Just before you give away a check to the Ethiopia relief drive find out >if there are any charity organizations for our street people or farmers >relief funds. I say when every person in america is fat and healthy and >we don't know what else to do with our money then send it over seas. > >LETS QUIT SHIT'NT ON OUR OWN PEOPLE for the sake of others! I repeat: the immediate need in Ethiopia is far greater than the immediate need in this country. But let's help both, and not create false dichotomies between helping others and helping our own. Your message clearly shows that there are some in this country who really need help (with logic and the English language, if nothing else). - From the Crow's Nest - Kenn Barry NASA-Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- USENET: {ihnp4,vortex,dual,hao,menlo70,hplabs}!ames!barry SOURCE: ST7891
ashby@uiucdcsp.UUCP (12/16/84)
What a warm message of Christmas cheer rfs@loral has brought us! Screw the rest of the world, American lives are more important. Sure we have street people and struggling farmers, but I don't think their plight comes anywhere near that of the starving Ethiopians. So why don't we just help our fellow human beings, and ask their nationality later. By the way, how much have *you* given to the poor of our nation? Or do you believe paying your taxes relieves you of any further obligation? (And who says the US is all screwed up? Just be thankful Reagan won reelection. Had Mondale won, THEN we would have been screwed over!)
sofo@ihuxm.UUCP (Terry Bermes) (12/17/84)
Let's hear it for isolationism!! Why don't we just crawl into our little holes and forget about everyone else?