This is an interesting investigation into the Gates foundation. It shows how much of it’s money is being used to invest in companies with questionable ethics. I wonder if this is that surprising based on how Gates and Buffet originally got their money. Is it all a farce?
How many people do you need to kill to be free.
I am tired of people killing in the name of freedom.
How does the murder of civilians help anyone be free.
Where is our Ghandi, or Martin Luther King or our Nelson Mandela??
The world needs strong voices of peace and heroes to rally behind. What good are hospitals when people are being slaughtered just for being in the wrong place?
We need that great dead man to wake up and come again.
TB is the biggest killer in Nelson Mandela Bay SA.
In other news a US company is trying to patent its antiretroviral drug in India. If successful it could mean death for many AIDS people, as it would cut off the supply of a cheap Indian generic version sold in developing countries. That’s what this greed leads to. Right now antiretroviral drugs are able to be accessed by a large number of poor people. If the cost of the drugs goes up the people who are depending on them may die much sooner. All because of international Intellectual Property.
What’s more based on my knowledge of drug resistance, once a patient stops it enables the virus to become resistant to them. Which is bad for everyone.
Another key thing is the antriretrovirals help to prevent mother to child HIV/AIDS infection. So more children could be infected with HIV/AIDS.
These drugs are important, they need to be affordable.
Damn depressing but a bloody good doco. The pictures were so good.
It made me want to hit people. But I couldn’t work out who I should hit. You can’t hit everyone can you?
The cycle of povery is horrible. It is sad to think of what will become of some of the kids. Yet there is joy because it looks like some at least will make it out of brothels.
We had a discusion about evangalism and social justice tonight at commy dinner. I was thinking about it walking home in the rain(I left home walking in the rain too).
The particular area I began thinking about was seeking God. I think one of God’s biggest concerns is justice. I think God cares more for the widows and orphans then we can imagine. From my reading of the Bible God spends so much time talking about social justice. The Old Testement has long passages denouncing injustices perpatrated by the people of the time. Jesus spent so much time on the fringes of the society when he was on Earth in physical form(Is that the theologically correct way of saying it Tom). Jesus said he came to save the lost. He healed the sick and reached out to the outcasts.
I wonder sometimes if we Christian’s in the West need to become outcasts if we need to lose our posesions. I think we could learn a lot if we were forced to depend on God.
When I look at the World the places I see God moving most strongly are not the affulent places. Not amoung the educated and rich. I see my God working on the fringes of society. I see God moving amoung the poor. Where their apears to be no hope there my God is.
This is the God who gave us parables about reckless abandon. The parable of the lost sheep tells of a shepard who risks the 99 safe sheep, all to find the one lost one. And when he finds them there is celebration.
What does this mean? For me I want to seek out my God and I think I have a pretty clear idea of where to look. The place which many try to avoid seeing, the fringes of society. The hopeless causes and the places of loss and suffering.
It reminds me of the “Seek Your Face” song from St John’s Darlinghurst about seeking God in the face of even domestic violence.
God truly is Merciful. He is love. He is God the great I AM.
I have been so cynical lately. About the whole Tsunami and the motivation for the giving. I think it’s horible but the attention it get depresses me. What if the other areas that needed money got the same kind of attention? But they don’t. People living on tiny wages, children fighting wars, children dying of preventable causes it doesn’t rate. 150,000 is a lot of people to die don’t get me wrong. But stacks of people die of preventable stuff every day. I just can’t engage with the Tsunami at the momment.
Same way I felt with 9/11.
I feel so sorry for many of the little girls here. Their families are poor with lots of children. Most families only want male children, who can support the parents. Parents will spend much more on their male childrens care then on the females. This leads to most female children not getting more then the cheapest care availible. Often the choice is made to let them die rather then spend a small amount on money.
Wives also get a pretty raw deal here. Their sole purpose is to have as many children as possible and raise them. Of course the man is NEVER infertile so if the woman fails to concieve she gets sent back to her parents. And no arguing with the husband. Apparently some women aren’t allowed to utter their husbands name even. Grrr.
Rural Northen India needs a few bus loads of feminists with semi-automatic weapons if you ask me. They’d need the guns to protect themselves, not to kill all the men.
Another thing I never imagined it would be possible to survive on a few US Dollars a day. Here it is possible if you don’t have 8 children. Though not a good life of course.