29,000 Children Dead in 90 days.

[WillyWump]

To really get an idea of the situation you have to see the pics...

http://www.pbase.com/lardershots/somaliabaidoa

I'm sure alot of you have heard about the disaster in Somalia, although maybe not since news agencies have devoted varying  degrees of attention to it most likely due to the fact that is is "just Somalia" in alot of peoples eyes. I just looked and CNN's front page shows nothing, Fox news has a small blurb buried in the second half of the page.

MSNBC has this buried in the page..

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44021514/ns/world_news-africa/


Apparently there is plenty of aid ready to be distributed to these people however a militant group Al-Shabab (Al Queada) is not allowing the aid into the country, or very little of it, for fear the aid workers are spies. Mothers are abandoning their dead and dying children along the roads of Somalia as they try to move from the area to find food, the mothers themselves are dying even as they nurse their infants. Clearly the situation is dire and heartwrenching.

 We as a species should be ashamed of ourselves, The strongest of us get together under the umbrella of a World organization for righteousness and good (The UN) and  have no problems directing our weapons of war against other nations in order to "protect the innocent" look at Libya, Iraq, etc...But yet we have zero interest in helping the weakest among us simply get some bread in their mouths, we would rather let them die and rot on dusty roads, simply because they live in an area of the world that we don't care about, or we would rather not think about.

If there was EVER a reason to use military force in a sovereign nation it is in Somalia. The food is there on the borders waiting to get in but are prevented from doing so due to these militants. Why are we not sending troops in to get this food to these human beings. It's a damn shame, and we ought to be losing sleep over it at night. This not about Obama, or Bush or any one person it is about Human Beings as a species, no one cares enough to send in force to feed these people.

I think Ghandi once said "A nations greatness is how it treats its weakest" The same could surely be said about a species couldn't it? a Species is only as great /civilized as it treats its weakest members? If so then we as humans are not as great as we think we are. We have progressed very little in 200, 000 years If we turn a blind eye to our fellow Human beings as they cry for food as they take their last breath.

Imagine an alien race looking in on us at disbelief as we turn our backs on our own people. We truly are not as civilized as we think.

It's a goddamned shame.

[GSOgymrat]

Just horrible. I was thinking the other day how much money and resources human beings spend on killing each other. Think of the combined military forces of the world, the numbers of people employed, not just soldiers but all the corporations that support the various militaries. All the handguns, rifles, tanks, planes, bombs, etc designed to kill other humans or deter one group of humans from killing a different group. Then we have situations like Somalia where rather than actively killing humans we make the choice to let them die. I think about the alien race you refer to and wonder if their species was inherently cooperative rather than competitive how insane we would look. If I were designing a species I think I would sacrifice some individualism for inherent collaboration.

[leatherman]

MSNBC has this buried in the page..

msnbc television has had pictures, live reports, and updates on this situation every hour in the last 3 hourly shows

sadly, Somalia has been a festering problem over-looked by the world for decades

[buginme2]

If you would like to donate to famine releif go to lastword.msnbc.com

[Jody]

Yes Will it is an awful situation and should leave us asking WHY is this allowed to happen in this day and age when collectively as a species we know better, where indeed has sanity gone to allow a militant group of thugs to allow these kindly, humble people to die like sick dogs in the street?  It is awful and I wish the charitable donations of the generous people around would do good instead of rotting or winding up on the black markets the militant murderers, warlords and other creatures control.

Sickening is too soft a word.

Jody

[emeraldize]

I have watched the stories on the national news for days now. It is gut wrenching and while donating money seems right and honorable in this instance the likelihood of food, without great risks taken, making it to those who need it is slim. It is a mess.

They are such a beautiful people. Many Somali live in my community. It pleases me every time I see the women in their fabulous multi-fabric outfits and their children en route to the bus or bank.

I wish all of them could enjoy their home country, their lands, livestock and kin. Will, you're right. It is a tragedy deserving of military aid. I hope those who can make the important decisions to affect change, do.