I have been a lot of places in the world, but I
have never even been close to Burma, or Myanmar,
or whatever this place recently in the news is called.
I was apalled though, when yesterday the Right
Reverend Fat Al tried to sweep the horrible events of
the weekend into his global warming tent. Yes,
according to the Right Reverend Fat Al, the cyclone
that wreaked havoc and killed over 100,000 people was
caused by global warming.
Apparently the earth has no history of cyclones,
tornadoes, and hurricanes that he can't fit under his
evangelical tent.
Here in this country we have Katrina to look back at,
and there is no doubt W and his lefftenants mishandled
that event. But sitting in my office its very hard to imagine
over 100,000 dead.
(And I suspect that number is going to keep rising.)
Burma is governed by a gang of military thugs, and
no aid is getting through. The U.S. would like to help,
but the thugs haven't been responsive.
There are no more charitable people on earth than
right here in this country. Time and time again, as
misfortune strikes around the globe, the American
people respond. We send billions of dollars in relief
to almost anyone in trouble.
The trouble is that most of the money doesn't get to
where it should. We learned that lesson after 9/11 right here.
In NYC for instance, fireman still don't have all the
protective gear they need to fight large scale disasters.
They are getting some of what they need from
actor/director/commediene Denis Leary's fund, in which
95 cents of every dollar contributed goes directly to buy
what the firemen need. In most other organizations the
reverse is true. 5 cents out of every dollar contributed
actually makes it to the victim.
The is a tragedy too.
Charities need to be held accountable for the money
they take in and supposedly distribute, and this includes
the Red Cross, which has a terrible record of delivering the goods.
We can never stop natural disasters, in spite of what the Right Reverend Fat Al thinks.
But we can fix the way aid is collected and distributed.
From the big saddle,
Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board
P.S. I'm thinking about selling billboard space on
Fat Al's back. If you're interested, contact us at:
thejamesrwhelanagency.com, or call 206 407 3124.
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