OK, here we go: this is just one of the stomach churning stories I alluded to at the start of the last post. Terrance has the full story and links here and here. Briefly: Laurel Hester and her partner of six years, Stacie Andree, registered as domestic partners a year ago, when Hester was diagnosed with lung cancer. Hester now has months to live, and New Jersey law has a loophole of sorts that allows the five assholes pictured above, the Ocean County freeholders board, to decide whether Andree will get Hester's pension when she dies (it will mean the difference between keeping or losing the house they bought together). The board has said no. You can send them email; keep in mind that these scumbags have all the power here, since there's no way to change the law before Hester dies, so forgo the satisfaction of a vicious rant and try to get them to do the right thing. Here's what I sent:

Sirs --

I write to ask you to do the decent thing in respect of Lt Laurel Hester. She has earned that pension, and the right to say to whom it will pass when she dies, with almost a quarter of a century in service to her community. It is simply unjust to deny her that right.

The world is watching. Please show them that American justice has compassion at its core. Please do the right, the fair, the just, the American thing -- and grant Lt Hester's request.

Before I could write that, I had to get this out of my system:

You maggots. You self-righteous, self-satisfied, evil fucking bastards.

Laurel Hester worked her whole life in public service; she's earned that pension and the right to say to whom it will pass on her death, and you have no right to deny her that. You happen to have the opportunity -- the law has made an error, and handed you the opportunity to hurt someone -- and you're falling all over yourselves in your rush to take it.

You contemptible excuses for human beings. If there is a God of eternal torture, as the good Christians tell me, be assured that He is setting aside coals and pincers for you even as you read this.

The spousal unit tells me that Hester may be able to sidestep this whole thing by granting Andree power of attorney. I have the feeling that there's a reason that won't work, or they'd have simply done it and avoided the fuss. Any lawyers reading this? I didn't explain it properly -- spousal unit didn't realise it was an inheritance issue, for which power of attorney is no use.

Via Majikthise: Chris of Creek Running North proposes December 01 2005 as the inaugural Blog Against Racism Day. Quoth Chris:

Discussion of racism is often shot down by the nervous – conservatives and liberals alike - as "playing the race card," a close semantic kin to the "PC" gambit often used to squelch criticism of offensive language in the public sphere. Odd, then that objecting to the term is itself a form of political correctness: "don't say racist! That's offensive!" The thing is, if we discuss racism as a systemic ill, as a function of misinformation and reversible prejudice, if we describe racism in terms of effects rather than intent, then we do a couple things. First, we grant the possibility of redemption, the possibility that people raised in a racist society – me, you, everyone I know – can root out those prejudices. Second, we grant our opponents the freedom to think whatever they like: it's the effects that count.

Society needs to have this discussion. But the responsibility for discussing racism has long been relegated to those people most directly affected by it. In other words, people who aren't white. Us white folks have the luxury of not thinking about racism on a daily basis. As a result, most of us don't. I think it would be helpful if we started to do our share of that particular chore.

Which is all a very long-winded way of declaring December 1, 2005 - the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks' heroic act of civil disobedience on that Montgomery bus - "Blog Against Racism" day, in which people post something on the very broad and complex subject of racism. You don't need to have a political blog to participate. Race, after all, affects almost every aspect of life in one way or another. Your post might be literary in nature, or historical, or concern current issues in need of political attention. You might take the opportunity to debunk scientific racism, or write poetry or essays about personal experiences, uplifting or depressing.

With luck, the discussion engendered will endure past midnight on December 2.

I'm in, even if I do no more than collect links to better entries. If you're really unlucky, I'll get drunk and post about my redneck past. (And for the record, I think Chris is right -- the cartoon is racist -- but it's more subtle than KKK-style racism and an excellent illustration of the sort of conversations we need to have, and why we need to have them.)

Unless you've been living under a particularly isolated rock, you know what happened when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. If you have been reading any of the blogs on my list over on the right, you are probably about as well informed as anyone. If you want more information, I recommend the coverage at Making Light for basic what's-going-on (and more), and two posts from Rivka for a good starter on the sociopolitical background: why the aid wasn't there and depraved indifference.

A friend recently commented that he'd already given to the Red Cross, and if somone wanted more of his money they should come up with something specific not just another link to the Red Cross. Unless you're a soulless empty-hearted meat puppet you too, dear reader, have already given to the Red Cross, so here are some specific, local, hands-on options:

Firstly, nearly all Katrina victims heading into Texas will pass through Orange, which is Rafe Colburn's home town. In comments to that entry, Rafe's mum, who is working with local relief efforts, provides some addresses to which you can send some money. These are churches and I'm an atheist, but ideological differences shouldn't matter when there are people hungry and cold:

Orange Christian Services
2518 W. Park Ave Orange, Texas 77632
(409) 886-0938

Salvation Army, Orange Chapter
1950 Martin Luther King Dr.
Orange, Texas
(409) 883-4232

Orange Red Cross
908 Pine Ave
Orange, Texas 77632
(409) 883-2322

(Karen Colburn says:) My church is committed to serve these people for however long it takes.
Our address is:
First Presbyterian Congregation of the Church in Orange
Rev. Sam Knight, Pastor
902 Green Ave.
Orange, Texas 77632
(409) 883-2097

Secondly, my pal Brad is organizing an underpants drive:

Who doesn't love underpants? I love underpants. You know who would really love underpants? People who don't have any underpants.

Here's the deal: Thousands of folks affected by Hurricane Katrina are being evacuated to shelters in Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois for who knows how long. Generous people have donated clothing and other supplies for them, but there's a serious shortage of clean undergarments for women, men and children.

Click here to donate cash via PayPal and DropCash. I'll be purchasing and drop-shipping as many clean, packaged undergarments as possible. They'll go directly to folks who fled the hurricane-affected areas and are currently being cared for at relief centers in St. Louis; Belleville, Illinois; and Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. [...]

I'm also taking care of the PayPal fees, so your entire gift will go directly to underpants. Cross my...er, heart.

If you don't have a paypal account, you can email me (sennomaATfastmailDOTfm) and we'll work something out.

Update: Me = dum. You can put money into Brad's undies with any charge card (you don't need to have your own paypal account in order to add money to someone else's). If you don't even have a charge card, then send me a carrier pigeon and we'll work something out.

Amazon's Nonprofit Innovation Award is down to the ten finalists, and now you can vote with your dollars. The idea is good (encouraging innovation in nonprofits), the list of finalists looks sound... and one of the judges is Henry Fucking Kissinger.

Oy, Bezos, what were you thinking?

For me, there's always this "yeah, but.." thing going on with Amazon. On the one hand, they're (in my experience) a pretty good company to deal with: better than adequate customer service, good range of products, even a pretty sweet deal on shipping if you shop there regularly. Their wishlist application is usable, if not perfect, and they are convenient. On the other hand, they're getting to be an 800-lb gorilla in bookselling terms, and I worry about the squashing of local bookstores, and then there are things like the 1-Click Patent Fiasco and Henry Fucking Kissinger. (On yet a third hand, even the famously intractable Stallman has apparently granted Amazon provisional forgiveness for the patent absurdity.)

So I dunno. I guess I'll just keep on with my present policy, which is to continue shopping at Amazon but also remember to share the love a bit (Powell's is right here in Portland... envy me, bibliophiles elsewhere!) when it comes to books.

(hat-tips for the Kissinger NSA link: Randy via Jeanne )

No theme or special project here, but Robert is blogging for The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust -- of which I am a life member. Sponsor Robert here.

Hmmm. *goes looking*

Bugger. I've been to Jersey, specifically to visit the DWCT, but all my photos are on a Mac disc that our PCs can't read. Oh well.

Also, I've just noticed that Robert takes requests and is getting veeeeerrryyy sleeeeepppyyy, so if you're reading this please take a moment to leave him a comment.

RandomBird is writing a memoir in books -- her life, as glimpsed through the books she was reading at the time. For instance, her love affair with modernism started (with Hemingway... I really should give him another try) at the same time she got her FIRST REAL BOYFRIEND. (I'd venture to guess the former outlasted the latter.) If you're any kind of a language/lit geek, it's good reading.

...on the topic of Little Women: As an eight-year-old I was most struck by a scene early on in the book where the March girls piled crap on their backs and walked around the house symbolically (or perhaps almost literally) "carrying their burdens." It was at this point that I first discovered the remarkable power of the way that words were attached to physical action. Prior to this, words were just words. Previously, books had simply created vivid stories in my mind that I would be left thinking about for days after I was finished. Little Women showed me that words were the cornerstones of the way in which we wrap our minds around the world, the only way in which we can wrap our minds around the world.

Just for something completely different, she's also watching the entire first season of 24. RandomBird is blogging for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and you can sponsor her here.

(From Kalani, who is blogging for Rock'n'Roll Camp for Girls; you can sponsor her here.)

Jacki and Robert Myers of Wisdom of the Illiterati are cooking for 24 hours, and Robert is reviewing 24 of his favourite LPs. They're doing it for Heifer International and you can sponsor them here.

Candice is blogging for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation; she has had Type I diabetes for 19 years. It's quite an eye-opener to see what she goes through every single day -- in fact, every time she eats. Sponsor Candice here.

Stephi is blogging for Book Aid, and you can sponsor her here. I'm not sure what her theme is, because her background has burned out my retinas. Jesus.

Manic is blogging for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, but I know you just want to look at boobies. You can even see mine, but I'm not telling which entry. (I think there's even a Name The Boobies competition; maybe you can win something if you can spot my cleavage.)

Sponsor here.

The 'thon team already has two mechanisms in place for surfing cool stuff: the hot spots page for special projects or themes, and the webcam portal.

Not everyone sends in their site for the hot spots page though, and the 'thon team cannot possibly read every blog and highlight stuff (although plans are afoot to build a way to do just that for future events). So I'm going to try to find stuff that's not linked from the 'thon site, but just to whet your appetite here's one from the hot spots.

Over at The Red Room, Cat (not the spousal unit, a different Cat) is updating The Descent of Inanna. Inanna was the chief deity of ancient Sumeria, and her mythology is among the oldest in writing. The Descent is the story of her journey to the underworld; you can read scholarly translations here and here. Cat is writing in modern language -- "hell goddesses and bling" as she puts it. Though she might make some technical errors ("no, that's not a "dagger", it was clearly once used to kill a pig and the ancient Sumerians had a different word for that, don't you know anything?") she's making (you should pardon the pun) a hell of a story out of it. To read it in order, go here and scroll to the bottom, then read up.

Cat is blogging for the Global Fund for Women, and you can sponsor her here. (Sponsorship is open throughout the event; how it works is explained here.)

It's Blogathon day (see here for history and explanation). Briefly, in 2000 the spousal unit posted an entry every 15 minutes for a full 24 hours, just for the hell of it. Next year she decided to make it a ~thon, inviting others to play along and get sponsors to donate to charity (like a walkathon, or spellathon, or whatever).

In 2001, 101 bloggers and their sponsors raised just over $20,000; in 2002, 212 bloggers and $58,000; in 2003, 401 bloggers and $102,000. As you might imagine, running this thing is a monumental undertaking. There was a hiatus in 2004, and this year Sheana of Seeworthy is running the show (with a little help from her friends).

It's an amazing event, and taking part is somewhat gruelling, but fun. People do some truly wonderful stuff -- themed series of posts, write-a-novel-in-48-entries, all kinds of things. We're staying home today, so periodically I'll post something cool from the 'thon.

It's quick and easy, and he asked nicely. No, get your mind out of the gutter. If you have a blog, please take ten minutes to help Cameron out.

The first place the spousal unit and I sent money after December's tsunami was the Red Cross, because they always have an appeal running within hours and relief workers on the ground almost as fast. Recently I got an email update saying that the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has announced that the $1.2 billion raised worldwide in the 30 days following the tsunami was sufficient to meet the costs of the entire Red Cross tsunami relief program projected at this time. You can read the plan and get updates from the ongoing effort online. (I stole the picture from the latter link.) Damn good.



The second place we sent money was the Architecture for Humanity/ Worldchanging Tsunami Reconstruction Appeal, to which we plan to donate regularly; these guys are there for as long as it takes, and you can be part of that. To date, the appeal has raised almost $150,000, with pledges of more on the way. Here's the email update I got from AfH a bit over a week ago:

Our work in Sri Lanka is moving along with the team currently working on a number of housing prototypes. Last week they had already developed a master plan for Kirinda and its surrounding villages, and efforts are underway to realize that plan. (I swiped the second picture from this link -- ed.)

AFH is also partnering with Relief International to rebuild a school in Pottuvil. We are aiming to have the school completed by late spring and Relief International will be introducing an interconnectivity project. We previously partnered with Relief International in the spring of 2004 to help rebuild in Bam, Iran.

Our projects in Tamil Nadu and Banda Aceh are still in their infancy and I'll update the site once they become active.

Damn good.

Yes, more, because it was borne in upon me -- I mean, I knew this, but I hadn't stopped to think about it -- that this isn't going away in a week or a month or a year. Long after the media have stopped looking for adorable toddlers in trees and wet supermodels, people in the affected areas will still be trying to patch their lives back together, particularly since so many of them are among the world's poorest.

What brought this to mind was this post on WorldChanging, who by the way have put together such excellent coverage of this disaster that I'm inclined to say, if you're fed up with tsunami this and tsunami that, ignore everything but WorldChanging and you won't miss anything that matters. Over to Alex Steffen:

What if relief and reconstruction efforts aimed not just to save, but to improve the lives of the victims of this week's disaster?

This might not seem like the time to look ahead. The situation all around the Indian Ocean is grim: the bulldozers are digging mass-graves for as many as 100,000 bodies; at least a million people are homeless, hungry and utterly destitute; clean water and sanitation facilities don't exist; disease is beginning to break out; and relief is still far off for too, too many people. This is a full-blown global crisis.

But this is exactly the right time for foresight.

For one thing, history shows that the world tends to lose interest in disasters in developing world once people stop dying in large numbers. If we don't think now about our commitment to helping these communities recover and rebuild after the immediate crisis has passed, we never will.

And the ruined cities and villages lining the shores of the Indian Ocean are now home to some of the poorest of the world's poor. In many places, traumatized people, who had very little with which to earn their livelihoods to begin with, now have nothing left at all. Add to this the long-term challenges they face -- like decimated local economies, massive pollution (and some new industrial accidents), declining fisheries and forests, lack of capital and, perhaps most ominously, the rising seas and catastrophic storms they can expect from global warming -- and their fate may not be an enviable one.

But that fate is not written in stone. We can still change it. What if didn't just do something to help, but did the right things, and did them fully? What if we looked at this relief and reconstruction effort as a chance to not only save lives (and of course that must come first) but to truly rebuild coastal Southeast Asia along more sustainably prosperous lines? What if we made the commitment to take what are now some of the most ravaged, destitute areas on Earth, and worked with the people there to reimagine and rebuild their communities to be the cutting edge of sustainable development?

What if we made not just relief but rebirth the new measure of our success?

There's more, including concrete suggestions, and you should go read it all.

So what can we do? Here's a short list to be going on with:

• Donate to disaster relief funds, if you haven't already; donate more, if you have.
  
• Sign this petition urging the Bush administration to commit to a $1 billion contribution (I'm #291). I'm not going to get into what a despicable creature Bush's reaction to the tsunami shows him to be because it's bad for my blood pressure; T, from whom I found out about this petition, has been covering that if you're interested.
  
• Be part of a small good thing. WorldChanging and Architecture for Humanity have made a commitment to the recovery process. They're in it for the long haul and I'm asking you to consider joining them. Ten bucks, right now, and more later as you can afford it (I'll nagremind you).

You already know what happened:





Vichaar, Jay, Daily Kos and The Command Post are keeping lists of organisations accepting donations. Here are a few of them:

• American Red Cross in conjunction with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent (donate online here)
  
• Oxfam (donate online here)
  
• Save the Children (donate online here)
  
• CARE Australia (donate online here)
  
• UNICEF (donate via this page)
  

I know it's always something, and I'm always after you to put your hand in your pocket. But as Sisyphus Shrugged points out, our so-called leaders are full of hot air and pigshit when it comes time to step up and act like a human being. The rich will shrug, or flinch if their consciences are really acting up today, and politicians will get to preen for the cameras because they sent a few moldy tents and leftover cans of beans, and the poor don't have anything to give. But you reading this, very nearly all of you, you have disposable income or you wouldn't be online. You can spare ten bucks -- and yes, you can do it every time there's a crisis like this.

Listen: there are people suffering. People, not numbers, not brown anonymous faces on the TV: people just like you and me, only they just got their lives fucked by an earthquake and a billion tons of water. Be a mensch, give a little.

Update, from Stavros: map didn't bring it home? Found my words empty or insulting? Here's another way to look at what happened:

I wouldn't normally post a picture like that, but it's tearing at my guts. It's my hope that no one can look at that dead man's face, so calm there in that flick of a tourist's shutter, and not break open and spill a little money for the relief effort.

Update the second: He didn't die! Hedidn'tdiehedidn'tdiehedidn'tdie!!! WOOOO-HOOOOOO!!!! Someone yanked him out of there moments after the photo was taken. (via Stav again, also in comments) (also, photo: Hellmut Issels)

In lieu of having anything worthwhile to say, here are the HIV links I've collected since I started using del.icio.us:

BBC NEWS | Programmes | This World | New York's HIV experiment

2004-11-30 19:52

holy shit

French vaccine fuels hope in AIDS treatment

2004-11-30 06:38

extract uninfected dendritic cells and virus, mix cells and heat-killed virus, reinject into patient

New HIV co-factor found

2004-11-17 07:01

annexin2 and a host-derived factor important in membrane fusion

Science Blog - Scientists discover enzyme crucial to HIV replication

2004-11-02 06:39

Jeang has a point: a cellular enzyme can't mutate

BBC NEWS Aids warning over bushmeat trade

2004-10-28 15:50

possibility of new human retroviruses arising the same way HIV did

Entrez PubMed: Wofe, SIV infections in hunters

2004-10-28 15:49

relates to BBC bushmeat story

The Lancet : Simian retroviral infections in human beings

2004-10-28 15:48

comment on Wolfe paper; submit to PLoSB as unsolved mystery?

Potential For Developing A New Cream Or Gel To Block AIDS Transmission During Heterosexual Sex

2004-10-21 17:56

this would save millions of African lives, just for starters, and put real power to fight HIV into the hands of women who currently have little or no defense

BBC NEWS | Health | HIV in monkeys 'blocked by drug'

2004-10-18 07:42

Update 041201: Gov Perry has granted a stay of execution. He had this to say:

After a lengthy review of the trial transcript, appellate court rulings and clemency proceedings, I see no evidence of innocence.

Y'know, I thought there was supposed to be a presumption of innocence, with the burden of proof being on the prosecution.

-------------------original post:

Frances Newton is scheduled to be killed today by the State of Texas. After 17 years and despite incompetent state-appointed counsel at her original trial, questionable forensics, new testing methods which could shed light on key evidence and expanded evidence from a key witness, the state looks set to deny her request for a 120-day delay of execution. Atrios and Norbizness have details and Amnesty International has a one-click message you can send to the Governor and the Presiding Officer of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Below is the letter I sent. (I stole the image from here.)

Dear Gov Perry/ PO Owens:

I am writing you to ask you to do everything in your power to commute the sentence of Frances Newton, prisoner number 922, and honor the 120-day minimum reprieve petition which would allow Ms. Newton’s claims to be properly investigated.

What is 120 days to Texas? To Frances Newton, it's life or death. A key witness' testimony has been expanded in support of her innocence, the prosecution is relying on the work of a crime lab which has failed at least one quality assurance audit (1), new testing methods exist which could shed light on key evidence regarding possible gunpowder residue (2) and there have been serious questions raised about the quality of cousel provided (2). In light of these issues, it is unthinkable that Texas should execute Ms Newton without allowing her an adequate opportunity to defend herself.

Ms Newton stands convicted of the 1987 murder of her husband and two children. The key witness at Ms. Newton’s trial, Sondra Nelms, has signed an affidavit expanding on her trial testimony to the effect that Ms Newton's distresss upon finding the bodies of her family convinced Ms Nelms that "there is absolutely no way she had any involvement in their deaths.”

Furthermore, there are serious concerns regarding the forensic evidence presented at the trial. The ballistics evidence that was found at the crime scene was analyzed by the Houston Police Department’s Harris County crime lab, a March 2003 audit of which exposed serious mistakes in the lab’s analysis and interpretation of DNA evidence, poor staff training, inadequate facilities and outdated scientific techniques. Ms Newton's attorneys have recently questioned the ballistics tests on the suspected murder weapon. Moreover, forensic experts stated at the trial that the nitrites found on Ms Newton’s skirt and which were initially suspected of coming from a gun could have come from fertilizer. On the day of the murder, Ms Newton had stayed with her uncle, whose large garden might well explain the nitrites found on her skirt. After all, court records show that tests conducted on Ms Newton's hands on that same night found no evidence that she had fired a gun. The 120-day reprieve could be used to conduct further forensic tests using new methods which can distinguish between gunpowder and fertilizer.

Finally, Ms Newton was represented throughout her trial by state-appointed attorney Ron Mock, who has been barred from accepting court-appointed capital cases since passage of the Fair Defense Act in 2001. His co-counsel has signed an affidavit stating that she and Mock provided ineffective legal assistance to Ms Newton.

Ms. Newton’s execution is scheduled for December 1, 2004. Please live up to the standards of your office: show a decent respect for human life, and for justice: grant clemency to Frances Elaine Newton and honor the 120-day reprieve of execution to allow for a proper investigation of her claim of innocence.

Sincerely, etc.

links:
1. New York Times
2. Houston Chronicle

P.S. signing up for action alerts from Amnesty might allow me to take more timely action in future. Please consider doing this also.

Via Baghdad Burning: Raed and Khalid (of Raed in the Middle and Secrets in Baghdad, respectively) are trying to step in to the gap left by the withdrawal from Iraq of a great many NGOs and aid agencies:

“The Jarrars” (i.e. me and my family), decided to start a small individual humanitarian campaign for a month (maybe we’ll extend it) for buying basic things like some medical stuff, food, blankets, and other necessities and send them directly to hospitals in the most affected cities and towns. We will try our best to work under the supervision of one of the few functioning NGOs in Iraq (e.g. Occupation Watch, or others) to give more transparency to this small campaign, but over all the working plan is as follows:
*Money will be donated through PAYPAL to my account, (Jarrar_raed@hotmail.com), and will be reported on my blog frequently.
*My brother Majid will collect the money from Victoria in Canada and wire it to me in Jordan through my bank account.
*I will buy everything from Jordan, and publish the receipts on my blog.
*Then I will send things to my family in Baghdad, where they will send it in turn to hospitals depending on the priority and accessibility of the towns and cities.
*We will get official papers from the hospitals to insure they received the certain amount of supplements; we will publish them on our blogs too.
*We’ll publish a financial break down at the end of the month (end of Nov.)

You can send money from your credit cards too; even small amounts of money can do much in Iraq.

(Raed's post is here.) This appeals to me because:

• it's transparent: they plan to publish all the information you could want about where the money went
  
• it's direct: between Khalid right there in Baghdad and the NGO/s with whom they liaise, I feel confident that the help will go where it's needed.

Please consider making a donation.

(For those who, for whatever reason, are uncomfortable supporting the Jarrars, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq maintains a web portal for UN agencies and NGOs working in Iraq. In conjunction with the Humanitarian Information Center for Iraq (an initiative of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), they maintain databases of who is doing what where and contact details for humanitarian interventions in Iraq.)

Our friend Mollie is president of the Ozarks Literacy Council, who just had a large and costly window broken by small and worthless scumbags. The intricate iniquities of insurance companies and landlords have conspired to land the council with the full cost of replacement, which they need to raise by Tuesday so as not to conflict with the annual United Way blackout period (whatever that is -- I have no idea, go ask Brad).

So, if you have five bucks (or five hundred; hey, you don't know for certain Steve Jobs doesn't read this) to spare, please consider helping out a friend of mine and her worthy cause.

Iraq's top-level domain, .iq, was deactivated before the 2003 invasion and is still unavailable. Understandably, they'd like it back. The Dialogue Channel has a petition you can sign (more info here). It might seem like a little thing, but my feeling is that it could mean a lot to a people trying to get back to the business of being a real nation again. (via PaleoJudaica)

Jew. Jew jew jew jew jew jew jew jew .

Why.

Update: Ralf points out in comments that if you're going to googlebomb a pack of assholes, you might as well go nuclear (viz, wipe them off the page rather than just out of the top slot):

jew

jew

jew

jew

jew

jew

jew

jew

jew

Oh, this is wonderful. The Playpump uses a children's playground toy to pump water to a holding tank, dramatically reducing the workload of poor women in South Africa. Advertising on two sides of the tank pays for installation and upkeep, and the other two sides are reserved for public health messages like the one in the picture at right. Via Rivka, who provides lots more detail; go read about it, it will cheer you up no end.

Joi Ito, in one of his thinking-out-loud style posts, wondered about what it is that makes people care:

What is really striking to me and something that I'm trying understand is the process that people go through to reach a higher level of caring for human beings outside of their immediate circle. I think that this process holds the key for some of the important contributions that technologies can make.

This struck me as being a fundamental question. It seems utterly -- viscerally -- obvious to me that human need on the other side of the world, or down the block, matters to me; that it affects me, that I must respond to it. By way of rational explanation, I offer two observations. One, I've been up and down a bit through my life, and it's not hard for me to see myself in pretty much any lousy situation; and I know that it's all too easy to end up in the shite through no fault of your own, and fault doesn't matter much anyway when you just need a hand. Two, I am always better off if those around me, whether next door or across the world, are better off: it means they are more able and more likely to lend me a hand if I should need one, and less likely to try to elevate their situation by climbing over me. In the long term, over many generations, sharing is the only real security. In the short term, over one lifetime say, that doesn't really hold. There are plenty of assholes living well on other people's sweat, and since I don't believe in any form of life after death I don't believe they will ever pay any material price for that. The price they pay, though, is in quality of life. I don't believe you can be happy without awareness, and once aware you cannot escape empathy. Or to put it another way: like Honest Abe, I feel good when I do good things, and that's my religion; and I don't see how anyone can be really happy any other way. Money and power and all the trappings thereof are no substitute; not even close.

I didn't always see the world that way, though, and it got me to wondering how I came to have the Weltanschauung I now do. About then, kevin of bastish.net joined the conversation with a careful exposition of his own journey into caring. It neatly describes my own, and so I reproduce it here with his permission:

1. Ignorance
----Blissfully unaware of problems and plights of both neighbors and those thousands of miles away.

2. Awareness
----Heard something on the news. Know it's not good. Think "Someone should do something about that."

3. Superficial action
----Start making easy changes, that don't affect my lifestyle. Requesting paper bags instead of plastic. Recycle bottles. "Adopt" a poor kid in Columbia. Begin to feel "I am good", yet continue with my own irresponsible patterns of consumption, make decisions based on my own wants, rather than how they will affect other people.

My Tipping Point
3.5 Relatively satisfied with own economic / social condition
----Realize that I don't need to be rich, that my "quality of life" is not based on how much money I have, that I don't need to own what TV, movies, and blogs tell me I do. Begin to have less-quantitative values. Spend less time trying to get richer, begin to have more time to read about both local and global issues.

4. Deeper awareness
----Aware of how my life-style decisions are effecting other people in a negative way. Begin to seriously think about global / local inequalities and what it really means.

4.5 Dissatisfied with own condition as an irresponsible-consumer.
----Realize that my superficial actions are worthless, no matter how many times I re-use a plastic bag, it doesn't help if I am using it buy sweat-shop goods at Wal-Mart. In order to make change, I have to change my lifestyle first, because it is my lifestyle that promotes global inequality.

5. Despair
----Overwhelmed with the enormity of the situation, and the impossibility of changing my behavior, yet remaining a member of a society that doesn't share my values, and puts enormous pressure to put myself first.

6. Find examples / community
----Begin reading, searching, eventually find a community and examples of people who share my values.

7. Resolution / Search for answers
----If they can do it, I can do it too. Resolve that I will make consumer decisions based on a "first, do no harm" approach.
Research, research, research. What are the effects of my decisions? How much do I need to consume? What should I avoid? What can I cut out? What can I use as a substitute?

8. Implementation on a personal level
----Live own life according to the information I am finding. Strive to make good decisions. This is a semi-active approach. While I am actively changing my own lifestyle, placing my wallet vote, I am not doing anything to actively influence others to make large scale changes.

9. Despair
----Plagued with increased awareness, filled with despair that for every good choice or sacrifice I make, there are hundreds of thousands of individuals who don't care, who are working against a sustainable, equitable earth, who can nullify a years worth of my sacrifices, with a single trip to the mall.

10. Implementation on a local level
----Activism on a local level. First, setting an example to those around you by living in a way that promotes your ideals. Devoting time and money to help local institutions influence local policy.

11. Implementation on a global level
While I am not there yet, I have recently applied to a couple graduate programs regarding policy making for sustainability and global equity, in the hopes that I can use what I learn there to implement more wide-spread changes and influence more than my friends and family.

I'm just starting on #10. On a global scale I'm not sure what I can do, besides supporting worldwide charities and being politically active here in the US (Anyone But Bush '04!); but that's a start, and perhaps other opportunities will present themselves.

So to return to the point of this post, I'd like to hear from anyone reading this: do you care? If so, why; if not, why not? Answers on a postcard in Joi's comment thread, of course.

(via BoingBoing) I don't think this quite qualifies as a blog, but Jimmy Carter will be sending regular reports to be posted at the Carter Center as he travels through West Africa as part of a program aimed at eradicating Guinea worm and in order to launch the Development and Cooperation Initiative in Mali. In any case, I am always glad to hear from the best ex-President the US has ever had, and that down there is just about my favourite combination of categories.

Update: There were complaints ("Bastard, I nearly hurled!"), so I moved the pictures of Guinea worm infection below the fold.

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Iain J Coleman has a good post up on Fistful of Euros highlighting this paper by UCDavis economist Peter Lindert (that Carlos mentioned in this Electrolite comment thread about this NYT article about the working poor in America). See what I mean about conversations? Anyway, the paper describes why a high-spending welfare state doesn't depress GDP (viz., "looks like a free lunch" but isn't). Here's Iain's summary, emphasis mine:

... social spending is good for personal productivity, and democracy is effective in ensuring that real-world governments avoid the costly mistakes that anti-welfare theorists assume. Apart from illustrating the dangers of hand-waving economic arguments, this tells us that the choice between a European-style high-welfare state, and a US-style low-welfare state, has nothing to do with promoting economic growth and is simply a matter of which kind of society we find more pleasant to live in.

I'd better confess that I haven't read the paper yet and will likely be out of my depth if I do, the dismal science being mostly Martian (or worse, mathematics) to me; but that's why I read blogs, and the excerpt makes intuitive sense to me. I certainly know which kind of society I prefer; besides, "growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell"¹. I keep hearing that modern economic theory is predicated on infinite growth, but that can't be right: it's too crazy. Nonetheless, Economic Growth does seem to have become some kind of modern deity, Mammon's offsider, and it's not obvious to me that economic growth is intrinsically good, or that the opposite of growth is shrinkage (or stagnation). Why is it bad if we don't make more, build more, spend more, own more crap this year than we did last year? What has happened to the concept of "enough", as in, "I have enough, I don't need more possessions or security, I can afford to pay into a pool of common good from which those in need can draw"? For what kind of person is a bigger television more important than that the hungry should have food?

But as I said, I'm probably just out of my depth.

¹Edward Abbey

Update: fixed the link to the Electrolite thread.

It occurred to me that there might be some confusion as to who I was calling parasites in the last entry; then, after some conversation with the spousal unit, it emerged that I am somewhat confused myself. By "parasites" and "thieving bastards", I meant those panhandlers who are not motivated by genuine need, who have other options but find it easier or more profitable to prey on the goodwill intended for the genuinely down-on-their-luck among whom they hide. (As it happens, the unpleasant lifestyle of the False Cleaner Wrasse might offer a better model than parasitism.) But who are these human Mimic Blennies? Do drug addicts count, or the mentally ill? I was not thinking of them, as they seem to me to be cases of genuine need. In any case, I am not trying to judge who deserves my help, but rather to figure out who most needs it and how best to give it. Among the people asking for money on the streets, who has pretty much nowhere else to turn and who is just lying to me for fun and profit? I have caught a few liars out just by remembering what they told me last time, and have learned to spot hard-luck stories that are carefully designed and rehearsed -- but in all but one of those cases, even I could spot telltale signs of serious drug addiction. It's often apparent that the person telling me that they "just need a dollar for the bus" is lying, but it's not clear what they really need or want and it is quite often clear that they are not playing with a full deck.

So it's not clear who the "parasites" really are, since I don't actually know who any of the people are who keep turning up on the street and asking me for money. I don't even know what questions to ask to begin to clarify this issue. Spouse and I have decided to try to cure our ignorance with some volunteer work.

*tap* *tap* Is this thing
Unaccustomed as I am

Screw it, I'm just going to start talking. That's what blogs are for, right? The rest of the site, including bio and list o' links, is on its way, honest.

Mitch Wagner has a post about Jon Carroll's "Untied Way" that has generated some light (and a little heat) in the comments (see also the followup posts) and touched on some issues of concern to me. I find it difficult to say no to a direct request for help, and usually give a dollar or whatever change I happen to have to anyone who asks. I never really thought about con artists in Australia, where begging is far less common, but here in Portland OR I started running into the same faces, telling the same damn lies to wheedle money out of the marks. I decided that I was going to have to deal properly with begging (and associated chicanery) if I were going to live here, plus it really chafes my scrote to get had like that, so I started talking to people who work with the homeless -- Central City Concern, a colleague who does outreach work with his church, and so on. The consensus was that vouchers, where available, are better than dollars, and that (as Gary Farber said in Mitch's comments) most of the need in the US today is invisible to most of us who might be in a position to lend a hand. I don't know what proportion of panhandlers are thieving bastards, but I suspect it's not trivial, and with a large proportion of need not being represented by panhandlers and the chance of handing money to a parasite¹, giving on the street simply does not represent an efficient use of my limited philanthropic funds. If it's wrong not to help, it seems also (if somewhat less) wrong not to help as much as possible (within your means), especially if you do so just because an inefficient means of delivering superficial help is ready to hand, and even more especially if that inefficient means happens to have a pretty high feel-good factor.

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