Israel’s shame

Go here to register your complaint against the Jewish state.

H/T Bolta

Meanwhile, gay Spaniards prefer terrorists over homosexuals.

UPDATE

And it looks like hardly any aid was on that flotilla to Gaza to begin with, and none was on the Mavi Mamara. Conspicuously absent was medical aid – what Gaza really needs.

H/T Aussie Dave

*cross-posted

Is foreign aid killing Africa?

Well, anecdotally, I heard this argument years ago. That being, say you have a bloke in Africa making T-shirts. He employs a bunch of folks who in turn support a whole bunch of other folks. But then the West, in the guise of aid, sends over a whole bunch of T-shirts thus putting the local guy out of business. A little while down the track, more T-shirts are needed but the local business is no more and thus Africa has to beg for more aid – a vicious cycle thus ensues.

Well now a top African economist, Dambisa Moyo, has come out basically blasting the West for its 50 years or so of ‘help’. It’s all in her new book, Dead Aid.

…Moyo illuminates the way in which overreliance on aid has trapped developing nations in a vicious circle of aid dependency, corruption, market distortion, and further poverty, leaving them with nothing but the “need” for more aid.

And it had Bono flying off the handle recently. Not at Moyo, but at a Ugandan journalist called Andrew Mwenda who was also arguing a similar case.

The good thing is that Moyo does offer solutions to Africa’s troubled plight. Having not read the book, Bing hopes part of that solution includes industrialising the African continent; something, as highlighted in The Great Global Warming Swindle, many Western environmentalists have been critical of.

H/T Fark

“How to Help” – Animal Edition – Australian Bushfires 2009

Bushfire victim Sam the koala's burns are treated by Colleen Wood at a shelter in Rawson. Picture: Rebecca Michael

As an adjunct to Bingbing’s “How You Can Help” resource page for those wishing to support the victims of the recent Victorian Bushfires here in Australia, and because the now-famous photos and videos of Sam the Koala who was rescued from the bushfire by CFA volunteer David Tree have also brought out people wishing to know how to assist the animal victims of the bushfires, I am passing on this facebook/email message I received from our friend and contributor  Gramfan:

Saving Pets and Wildlife Injured by Bushfires

Event Info

Host: Tanya Lumley
Type: Causes – Fundraiser
Network: Global

Time and Place
Start Time: Monday, February 9, 2009 at 11:00pm
End Time: Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 2:00am
Location:
Contact Info
Phone: 0406165335
Email: bushfire2009@gmail.com

Description:
The recent devastating bushfires have injured so many Animals, and the existing clinics close to the fires are working overtime to save them.

Some animals were saved by their owners, though sustained a burn or injury, some were left behind by their families as they fled, others belong to families that have perished.

Pets are being bought into the clinics faster than they can be seen, and supplies are running extremely low.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

1- See your local veterinarian and plead for donations of medical supplies. Particularly-

• Fluids
• Antibiotics
• Anti-Inflamatories
• Silvazine
• Bandages

2- See your local pet store/vet/supermarket and purchase or plead them to supply you with-

• Cages
• Leads
• Collars and tags
• Cat food
• Dog food
• Kitty Litter
• Bird seed – wild and caged
• Chook pellets

3- Invite as many people as you can to this event.  Cut and paste this text and email it to everyone you know.

4- Email bushfire2009@gmail.com or phone 0406 165 335 and advise of your astounding work, and what you can supply.

Otherwise just drop them in to the ever wonderful Richmond Veterinary Clinic who have offered to be our drop off point for all animal products.

you can find them at:

259 Church Street
Richmond, VIC 3121
(just a little way from the Bridge Rd/Church St intersection)
Parking is available at the rear of clinic

Please mark all donations clearly with contents.

FOR THOSE NOT IN VICTORIA, OR WHO WISH TO MAKE CASH DONATIONS:
I am reluctant to take cash from anyone, since I am not a registered charity, but the following links provide information on the best place to donate to in order to help the bushfire animals.

Wildlife Victoria – http://www.wildlifevictoria.org.au/
RSPCA Victoria – http://www.rspcavic.org/

or directly to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal: http://www.redcross.org.au/default.asp

5- Go home and hug your own pets, and be grateful that you have them.

Everybody loves their pets, and would hate for them to suffer burns and injuries. Hopefully, with your help, all animals will recover and find good homes.

You are doing a wonderful, wonderful thing.

xx

Editor’s note:  Just a standard caveat, this is a forwarded message,and I can’t personally vouch directly at the moment for the organiser of this event or for the email address or phone numbers given.

What I absolutely do know at the moment though is that Wildlife Victoria and the RSPCA in Victoria do great work all year round, and are doing stellar work with both the injured wildlife and the injured/abandoned/orphaned pets from the bushfire regions at the moment.  And of course there’s the official Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009.

Thank you for reading this and passing it on.

UPDATE: G’day to our friends visiting from the LA Times and Eye On The World

UPDATE #2: The Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter, which is looking after our now-famous Sam the Koala, has set up a special “Sam the Koala” website featuring updates and new pictures and hopes to raise funds for the care of Sam and the other koalas that were burnt on 7 February, 2009.  http://www.samthekoala.com.au/

.
Stumble It!

Update on Sam the Koala, Bushfire Survivor [with video]

CFA volunteer David Tree helps a distressed koala in burnt-out forest at Mirboo North. Pic: Russell Vickery

UPDATE on yesterday’s post, “Here you go, Mate” — Hope from the Ashes

*New pictures, updates and new video below the fold to save loading time…

Photo & Video: “Here you go, Mate” — Hope From the Ashes

From the Melbourne Herald Sun:

CFA volunteer David Tree helps a distressed koala in burnt-out forest at Mirboo North. Pic: Russell Vickery

UPDATE : Please send your message of support to the fire crews battling the bushfires here – at the moment there are 2108 messages – please add yours!  And go here or here to find out how you can help.

UPDATE #2: The Australian Bushfires: An Ongoing News & Comment Round-Up

UPDATE: #3:   By popular request,  “How You Can Help – Animal Edition” – what you can do to help those like Sam the Koala!

UPDATE #4:  See here for Update on Sam the Koala, Bushfire Survivor with more photos and video, and indepth follow-up story.  Sam is in good hands now and doing well.

UPDATE #5: The Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter which is now caring for Sam and other koalas that were burnt on 7 February 2009 now have a website with more great photos of and information about Sam the Koala, and they’ll be keeping it updated.  They are also, of course, looking for help in caring for her and the many other animals they’ve taken in.   http://www.samthekoala.com.au/

Pictures below the fold to save loading time:

The Australian Bushfires: An Ongoing News & Comment Round-Up [Updated]

Yesterday Nilk wrote an excellent post here at Tizona on the recent (ongoing) bushfire disaster here in Australia, and because of the number of hits it’s attracted and because of the still ongoing nature of the disaster, I thought I’d put together a collection of links in chronological order to the many updated reports both the Sydney Daily Telegraph’s Tim Blair and the Melbourne Herald Sun’s Andrew Bolt have been posting on this.

I’ll start with the first piece I saw, which was Andrew Bolt’s from Saturday night (Feb 7th) and continue in chronological order with his subsequent posts, then I’ll move on to Tim Blair’s from Sunday morning (Feb 8th) and similarly continue in chronological order with his subsequent posts.

Please please please, feel free to add via comments any other links you want added, and I’ll check back in the morning and add them in, and generally try to keep this updated as a general resource clearing-house, especially for our friends overseas who are touchingly concerned but are some of them having trouble finding very much news coverage or commentary on the issue.

All of the pieces linked below  have multiple updates, links to other news sources, and vivid if heartbreaking pictures, as well as Tim’s and Andrew’s commentary on many of the issues this disaster has brought up.

**List of links below the fold: