RIGHTWINGSPARKLE

Arthur Chrenkoff rounds up 2 weeks of good news from Iraq. From the elections to greater rights and freedoms for women to the rebuilding of roads and buildings. The article is CHOCK full of stuff, but I love to read about the humantarian aid. The news can focus on sucide bombings and such, but these stories can give us hope and a feeling of knowing that we are making a difference of giving and changing things for good for the world. Here are a few examples:

"More than eight tons of donated medical supplies will leave Detroit next week bound for a storage depot in Baghdad, Iraq, to help the interim government there resupply war-torn civilian hospitals. . . . The materials were donated by doctors and hospitals. The shipment was organized by local Iraqis.
"Wally Jadan, president and chief executive of the Southfield-based Arabic content radio and television network Radio and TV Orient, hopes to organize more shipments in the coming months along with a mission by Iraqi physicians living in Metro Detroit."

"Six boxes of nursing manuals and medical reference materials collected by Jackson State University and the Mississippi Consortium for International Development (JSU/MCID) were recently delivered to faculty members of the medical, dental and nursing colleges at three northern Iraqi universities." The Near East Foundation, meanwhile, is making its fourth shipment of medical supplies, valued at $890,000."

"On a more personal scale, a 14-month old Iraqi girl, Fatemah Hassan, is returning home from Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where for the past six months she has been receiving treatment for a large hemangioma, a tumor-like dense group of blood vessels that sometimes can restrict the airways. The transport back was courtesy of the U.S. Army."

"Army Captain Erik Archer realized his stations' lacked supplies such as computers, paper and pens. The 25-year-old Mundelein native sent e-mails to Chicago area police departments to ask for help. Mundelein Police Chief Ray Rose responded and told Archer he had 39 old bulletproof vests--valued at 500-dollars each--in storage. The Mundelein police department then started collecting old bulletproof vests from several other departments including the Chicago Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The first of the vests are now on the way to Iraq."

"Firefighters from Portsmouth, N.H., are sending gift packages for American soldiers to give out to Iraqi children. "The idea of sending toys to Iraq came from a letter that firefighter Peter Rice received from former resident Tarren Windham, who is stationed in Fallujah with the First Marine Division."

"Many teenage girls have plenty of shoes, and Niki Streussnig is no different. The 14-year-old from Gastonia has hundreds of pairs.
But they are not for her. "What we basically are doing is collecting shoes, or any other stuff, to help the Iraqi children," she said Friday.
Niki's Little Feet Society is now in full swing, but she needs your help with shipping. And in Muscatine, Iowa, students from Muscatine High School were inspired by the visit of two soldiers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Rock Island District to collect more than 100 backpacks full of supplies to send to Iraqi children."

There are many more examples, but you get the idea. We are not just sitting back here and hoping for the best. Blessings to all those who find time to give.


Beautiful Atrocities, a very funny naughty blog (But many times serious) I have just recently discovered has some quotes from that oh so great leader Colonel Gaddafi of Libya:

"AIDS, AIDS, AIDS! We do not understand anything other. It is terrorism. It is psychological warfare. The AIDS is a peaceful virus. If you remain clean, there does not have a problem." Again: "If you are straight, you have nothing to fear from AIDS."

He not only speaks like a 1st grader, his knowledge of this disease goes back to when he actually was a 1st grader.
In his medical wisdom he continues:

He told leaders of African Union they should not 'worry about tsetse flies and mosquitoes' [carriers of malaria & sleeping sickness], saying they were 'God's armies' protecting Africa from its enemies, ie, foreigners: "If they come here, they will get malaria & sleeping sickness."

Which also shows great understanding of God as well. Who knew flies and mosquitoes were a part of "God's armies?"
I kinda prefer the thought of Angels and Saints, but that's just me.

What a loon.

Beautiful Atrocities also looked at Choose Blue, the site I mentioned earlier that tells you which companies are Red or Blue in their giving. He went further and made a list. Interestingly enough I shop at all the red ones, and none of the blue ones and I didn't know a thing about who they gave to.
It must be the aura.