CNN says US sending $6 Million to Niger to fight famine...

[skooooo]

$6 million dollars!!! Wow, we really care about human life, don't we?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

1. Are you sure this isn't a front for purchasing some yellow cake? n/t

[ElsewheresDaughter]

2. i am ashamed

[bdot]

3. Why not stop funding?

Maybe then they wouldn't be having so many kids that end up running around starving to death. Humans do love living way out of their own means and then end up left begging for someone else to fix things.

[ClintonTyree]

7. There's a "sarcasm" emoticon...............

I hope that was just an innocent omission in not using it.

[bdot]

8. I wasn't being sarcastic.

[ClintonTyree]

10. Then I think you're being..........

a tad heartless and cold. Maybe we should just sterilize them all, would that make you happy?

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. Sounds like something a republican would say. nt

[mccoyn]

12. I agree that feeding solves nothing.

These people live in an area that is becoming less and less livable every year. Paying to keep them alive in the area is only increasing the cost of keeping them alive. I would rather see money spent at reducing the problem instead of sustaining it while it grows. Relocation to an area that has natural resources to support life is a good idea. There are political problems with that. Another idea is to try and develop a labor industry in the area so that the people themselves are a resource. I'm not sure if this is viable.

I have no problem with helping temporary famine, but this is a long-term growing problem.

[skooooo]

14. Feeding solves nothing?

Perhaps some longer-term solutions are in order, but $6 million won't do much for that either. However, the idea of letting people 'starve it out' (or as you put it, "paying to keep them alive") is repugnant.

[mccoyn]

16. Can we stop the famine with food?

We can help some people, but not all. There just isn't enough money going to the problem. We can get by doing as best we can. Some wil starve, many will be saved. What about the next drought? There will be more people and another big drive to feed them. More will starve because the demand will be higher and the supply won't grow much. The problem is unsustainable. People will either starve now or starve later if all we do is feed them. If we instead focus on finding long term solutions we can reduce the problem.

I'll agree 'starve it out' (your words, not mine) is horrible. The way I see things it will happen no matter how much money we throw at the problem if that money is only used to feed an unsustainable population.

[Crankie Avalon]

4. $6 million to save lives in Niger...

...$200 billion to take lives in Iraq.

I wonder how the scales will balance for those good, Dubya-supportin' Christians on their "day of judgment"?

[skooooo]

9. Heh, never thought of it that way..

...an apt observation.

[ClintonTyree]

5. WOW........

:wow: Helliburton steals that much from the Treasury during a coffee beak. Last of the big spenders, georgie bush.
Yes, the "culture of life" is what the Republicans are all about, isn't it? :eyes:

[Bozita]

6. Yesterday's Nightline documented the famine with BBC video

Very powerful stuff.

Here's Nightline's email on the topic:




Nightline Tonight

July 26, 2005


We had a different program planned tonight. An excellent program. But then our London producers flagged a stunning report on the BBC about the devastating famine in the African nation of Niger. They fed us the tape. We watched it. And we are compelled to put it on the air tonight.


And so the other program we had planned for tonight -- Bob Woodruff's excellent report about third grade students' letters to soldiers in Iraq and a 30-year-old mystery -- will air soon.

But this evening, you need to see this. It was 20 years ago that famine in Ethiopia caught the world's attention and launched a world relief effort that culminated in the Live Aid concert fund raiser. Just a few weeks ago, the organizers of that concert again tried to focus world leaders' attention on poverty in Africa with the Live 8 concerts.

The pictures out of Niger that you will see tonight will remind you of nothing but Ethiopia. It is happening again. Millions in Niger are facing devastating food shortages due to draught and then heavy rains that have flooded farmland. Aid workers in Niger have accused donors of failing to respond early to calls for help that began in November. Others have accused Niger's president of not acting quickly or urgently enough for fear of embarrassing his government. What is the world doing to help?

Tonight, after we show you the BBC's Hillary Anderson's stunning reports from Niger, Ted Koppel will talk with Mark Malloch Brown, of the United Nations Development group. He played a key role in the historically swift response to the tsunami in the Indian Ocean just eight months ago. Can the same help possibly be brought to the starving children of Niger?

We hope you'll join us.

Sara Just and the "Nightline" Staff
Senior Producer
ABC News Washington Bureau

[Squatch]

13. Throwing more money at Africa won't help at all.

[Deja Q]

15. How about $6 million to give Americans halth care or famine? This act is

phony; I doubt one cent will go to their famine. Not when * won't help our own famished people.