Saturday, July 11, 2009

Charity and Christianity

As President Obama completes his visit to Ghana, I think back to George W. Bush, and his support for Africa.

Despite how much former President Bush's policies have screwed up much of the US and the world, you can't deny what George W. Bush tried to do for Africa. In probably one of his most charitable acts, Bush provided the most aid in Africa to fight poverty and disease, more than any other American President.
In the last year of Bill Clinton's presidency, America's direct bilateral assistance to Africa was only Pounds 700 million. Mr Bush has almost quadrupled this sum. Combating Aids once played virtually no part in America's development policies. Mr Bush has established the biggest fund ever devoted to fighting an epidemic. The President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, funded to the tune of Pounds 7.5 billion, is paying for hundreds of thousands of Africans to receive the life-saving drugs which hold Aids at bay.

Mr Bush has also made America the biggest single donor to the Global Fund for Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, contributing one third of its Pounds 5 billion. No other leader has given as much money to the World Food Programme as Mr Bush.

I've always thought that the root of all evil was essentially humanity's selfishness. It's our inability to care for others, and only think of our own selfish wants and needs, that bring out all kinds of crimes and horrible acts of violence. If one is a true Christian, you think of the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made, which is giving up of himself for all of mankind. His most important command to us was to "Love one another, as I have loved you".

That's why being charitable and showing mercy is the only way to really emulate Christ. Anyone who dismisses the suffering of others, and can still call themselves a Christian is simply delusional.
Sphere: Related Content

Friday, July 10, 2009

Laws and Stupidity

It's funny, a lot of the time, people will gripe about Washington, and "those no-good politicians", and how they have no common sense.

Sometimes it's also easy to forget, that politicians are people too, and people in general can be stupid.

Case in point - people who live in Florida and think that buying a Burmese Python for a pet is a great idea. Shockingly enough, the python market is an estimated $10 Million annual business.

While it may seem funny, the explosion of pythons in Florida is becoming a huge ecological nightmare. It seems too many idiots thought it would be "cool" to have a pet python. So instead of researching and studying up on the care of pythons, they just go out and buy one. When it becomes too difficult to handle, and they realize that it's a lot harder to take care of than say a dog, they end up dumping it in the swamps or by lakes.
Officials, for example, fear pythons may be on the brink of wiping out what remains of the endangered Key Largo wood rat and that other South Florida animals like the Key Deer could be next. The Everglades are estimated to contain as many as 150,000 pythons now, preying on rare bird and mammal wildlife. "If we don't get on top of this, they're going to eradicate the indigenous species of the Everglades," Rodney Barreto, Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission chairman, said during a visit this year by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. Or beyond: the pythons are believed to be moving northward into other parts of Florida and the U.S.
Recently it resulted in a terrible tragedy, when a 2 year old in Florida was strangled to death by a python. These tragic events occur, and we wonder why we need to have laws and regulations.

Pretty much to protect us from ourselves and our inner Homer Simpson.
Sphere: Related Content