Amen, may some justice finally come to the families. p

What to make of ‘only one comment’ responding to this posting? I am pleased and oh so sad. It is good to see a government take this action to rectify this failure. But it raises a myriad of emotions. In the Alabama soil there is so much blood. From today, from 40 years ago, from 1860′s, from Trail of Tears. This scratches the surface and begs for Jesus followers to live out a Gospel with the power to heal

When I read this story in the paper a few days ago, I was sadly reminded of an interview clip w/ Kurt Vonnegut that I saw around the time of his death. He was commenting on W’s claim to be taking democracy to Iraq (assuming as he does that they want it) and KV said something like: “Democracy’s a good thing, you don’t have to release your slaves for the first hundred years, and the women get to vote after 150 years…” Reading this post I can’t help but suggest that maybe the U.S. isn’t (yet?) that far removed from the days of its own Sunni/Shia divisions??

“What to make of ‘only one comment’ responding to this posting?” I’m a bit confused by what the post is saying. Has he confessed now that it wasn’t self-defense? The links don’t work for my computer. I think the way the post was written might be impacting the number of comments.

Adam, Thank you for providing this “take action” opportunity!>

Thanks to Mr. Taylor for his well-thought-out analysis. I notice that many liberals seem to be struggling to make this move by Bush, along with the recent Sudanese sanctions, seem bad in some way; thank you for managing to be critical while at the same time fair. Ben, you make a good point, but the question then becomes—how? How do those who wish to give charity make sure that it really goes to those it’s supposed to, and how do we deal with those who would abuse others’ good deeds? Anyone have any ideas? God bless.>

Why no mention of the UN? They are the world organization that has all the ability to deal with all gov’t and leaders. The US and other G8 countries do not have diplomatic relations with several of the countries of the world but the UN does. Why isn’t the UN putting together a program that could deal with the distribution of monies and medical supplies? Might it be that there is no money to be made in this area so no one wants to be bothered with it? (you tell me) Just as the US should not be the Police of the world according to some – if we can’t be the police then I don’t think we should be sending out health care workers when we can’t protect them. Have a great day – .>

Over the past five years, since the G-8 mtgs were held in my backyard here in Canada, I have been involved in several conferences featuring Stephen Lewis who has just completed a term as Kofi Annan’s special envoy to Africa for the AIDS crisis. I strongly recommend a visit to his website at http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org for some of the clearest and most informed commentary on what the UN is doing regarding the crisis and why the G-8 countries are NOT doing what they committed to doing years ago.>

canucklehead | 05.31.07 – 11:03 pm | # sorry – but I am suspect of anyone who is connected with Kofi after what has come to light about his time as SG of the UN. There are others that I listen to about the needs of Africa that I will consult before I would go to him. Kofi has a lot of blood-money on/in his hands and he will need to answer for that in the future. Have a great weekend! .>

ROTFL! Kofi Annon’s 10-year run as Secretary General of the UN ended only 5-6 months ago. That degree of skepticism pretty much rules out any details divulged by the UN about any ongoing AIDS programs. Would you like to know what the UN has been doing for the past six months?>

Mod-Lad: Keep your head buried right where it is!>

Ben Wheaton One thing that really does not help is submission to futility. The U.S. and Soviet Union fought proxy wars and supported petty dictators in the promotion of our ideologies. Having spent a considerable amount of time in Africa, I ve seen some of the results of the rewards that were doled out to these pawns Mobutu s Zaire and post-Dergue Ethiopia, for example. I don t deny that aid money is misused. Much has been written on that subject. See Graham Hancock s book The Lords of Poverty. Hancock points primarily to people within the aid agencies themselves who benefit from our well-intentioned donations. Yesterday I was in the medical school bookstore and saw Do no harm: how aid can support peace or war (Anderson, M. B., 1999 http://www.rienner.com/viewbook.cfm?BOOKID=88&search=do%20no%20harm) as the required text for an international health course that I m considering taking as an elective for my MPH. There is a lot of work to be done in Africa, and a lot of mistakes have been made along the way. Some of us are committed to doing that work, which implies we must also learn from the mistakes that have been made in the past as well as our own mistakes. Peace!>

Oh yes, speaking of dictators supported by the U.S. government, I also lived in Iran in 1978 under Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.>

canucklehead | 06.01.07 – 2:10 pm | # My head is not buried nor is it up something. I am just skeptical about anything the Kofi has to say because of what has come out about his handling of what I consider significant issues that the UN should have taken head on and did not. Also his making money on several issues that were ‘sanctioned’ by the UN. Hopefully the new guy will be better – that is not raising the bar much but we could hope. Have a great day – .>

Your understanding of how the UN operates seems to give the SG much more autocracy than he/she in fact has. Therefore, I repeat, I strongly recommend a visit to Stephen Lewis’s website at http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org for some of the clearest and most informed commentary on what the UN is doing regarding the crisis and why the G-8 countries are NOT doing what they committed to doing years ago.>

canucklehead | 06.05.07 – 12:24 am | # The G-8 has some catching up to do on some issues. But the UN is so far behind what it should be doing that they make the G-8 look very progressive. The UN – the tail is wagging the dog too much. They need to revisit their charter and get back to the basics. Have a great day! .>

Do you wanna wager some dough on what the G8 will do about Mr. Putin and his missile plans?>

not so concerned about Putin as I am about the nut in North Korea or that lamebrain in Iran. They will use their nukes when they finally get them. They will get them if we rely on the UN to keep the world safe. Blessings .>