Will Perry Be A No-Show? UN Running Out Of Food As Somalian Famine Spreads

Joe Nocera
Mike Lofgren

"I read Dick Cheney's book. I don’t want to ruin it for anybody, but in the final chapter he kills Harry Potter. If you want the book, in the bookstore go past the self-help section. It’s in the self-serving section." – Jay Leno

"Michele Bachmann is publishing her memoir. Why can't we pray that away?" – David Letterman

"The CIA is hoping Moammar Gadhafi's weapons don't fall into the wrong hands. Weren't they already in the wrong hands?" – David Letterman

If you do nothing else, read the link at the top to Mike Lofgren's article in truthout.org. Mike is a 26 year veteran, writing on national security issues from the GOP's perspective. He got sooooo tired of the cynical way that politics is manipulated from the conservative side, that he retired and penned this article. If you have read my blog over the past couple of years, none of his revelations will come as a surprise to you. From my perspective, it's always nice to have my opinions validated by others...

Tomorrow is the Republican candidates debate from California. It's the one that Obama was forced to postpone his speech to Congress on jobs policy. Fox News probably will not air it because it's sponsored by MSNBC. It will be the first time that Rick Perry has participated in a candidate's forum and debate, so we will see if he can hack it on the national level, and if his fellow poseurs turn and attack him like the weasels they are. They might draw straws, rigging it so that just Michele Bachmann gets to rip into Mr Perry. A good drinking game would be that everyone has to take a shot whenever something mean and derogatory is said during the debate, but that might leave you staggering and incoherent after the first 10 minutes... I'm checking my schedule to make sure there isn't a re-run of Hawaii 5-0 or Storage Wars...

There is nothing more heart-wrenching than watching a country starving to death from famine conditions. It's usually black or dark-skinned countries that suffer the most, because of lack of a sufficient amount of food and aid. The UN is having a hard time keeping food in reserve for the coming monsoon season, which previously affected Pakistan, India, and China. The cost of basic food staples has tripled this year alone. Today, the UN announced that the famine that has affected Somalia is spreading across the country, and about half of the population cannot get enough to eat, most of them children: "... officials warning that 750,000 people could die in the next few months unless aid efforts were scaled up. A combination of drought, war, restrictions on aid groups and years of chaos have pushed four million Somalis — more than half the population — into “crisis,” according to the United Nations. Agricultural production is just a quarter of what it normally is, and food prices continue to soar."

“We can’t give an exact figure, but we can say tens of thousands of people have died over the last three to four months, over half of whom are children. That translates into hundreds a day.”

Somalia hasn't had a functioning government for over 30 years, and is among the poorest. what little resources are ripped off, and then we have pirates, not to mention radical Islamic extremist rebels who have taken over half of the country. The rebels weren't letting the UN or Red Cross distribute food in their areas; now they let them in and take most of the foodstuff. That the UN sees this as an acceptable way to do business tells a lot.

Another sad fact is that you never hear about the Red Crescent or Islamic nations coming to the rescue of their darker brothers in religion. Look at the plight of Palestinian refugees, who were forced out of Israel and into camps in Lebanon and Syria 60 and 30 years ago. Many of those camps are still there. without plumbing, running water, or electricity. Both Lebanon and syria have refused to give citizenship or the same rights that their citizens enjoy to the refugees, nor has any economic help been given to the elderly and infirm. The refugees are also a sticking point in Israeli - Palestinian negotiations, with Israel not wanting to let them return to Israel, especially after all this time... No matter what results from Palestine being recognized by the UN, or the Arab Spring turns out in Syria and Lebanon, these poor refugees will get the short end of the stick. Allah may be compassionate, but his believers may not...