Cookies to help east-africa's drought-famine problem

Omicron

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Jul 28, 2010
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I was listening to CBC, and I heard a relay-report from a field-operator managing refugee movement in the Sudanese say (semi-paraphrased):

"We are organized in spite of the volume, but are lacking key resources. This famine, caused by lack of rain, is uniquely severe, such that we are forced down to the most basic requirements.

"In particular, we are short of high-energy biscuits for kids under five."

I thought... high-energy biscuits? HIGH ENERGY BISCUITS?!?

You mean COOKIES?!?

So... how are the national grain reserves doing?

I suspect we should be conservative given the bad prairie weather this year, but... are the grain reserves sufficient to take a hit from us telling homemakers and bakers to bake a box of cookies and give it to the USC?

Do you have any idea how many "high energy biscuits" could be generated by this nation if the call were to go out as a humanitarian gesture for every homemaker and baker to bake a box of cookies to save starving five year-olds?

By delivered it via the USC, there's a really good chance most of it will reach the target.
 
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jjaycee98

Electoral Member
Jan 27, 2006
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Better yet, IMO. Temporarily ship the Ingredients, help residents to set up home based businesses to bake the cookies. In the future help farmers to produce as many of the ingredients as possible. In otherwords help those people to become as self sufficient as possible, over a span of years.
 

karrie

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Jan 6, 2007
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I doubt 'high energy biscuits' refers simply to cookies. Most people in starving nations would chuck their guts after eating a super sugary, super fatty, chocolate chip cookie the way our kids eat them. The closest thing my kids eat to a 'high energy biscuit', is a rice cracker with sesame seeds and flax. I've seen them with nuts too. Not very salty, almost zero sugar, but tons of complex carbs and proteins.
 

Corduroy

Senate Member
Feb 9, 2011
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They're not cookies. It's a special recipe with more protein and vitamins than your average cookie meant as a temporary meal replacement.

Better yet, IMO. Temporarily ship the Ingredients, help residents to set up home based businesses to bake the cookies. In the future help farmers to produce as many of the ingredients as possible. In otherwords help those people to become as self sufficient as possible, over a span of years.

It's a drought, not a lack of self-sufficiency.
 

Omicron

Privy Council
Jul 28, 2010
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Better yet, IMO. Temporarily ship the Ingredients, help residents to set up home based businesses to bake the cookies. In the future help farmers to produce as many of the ingredients as possible. In otherwords help those people to become as self sufficient as possible, over a span of years.

They know to make "high energy biscuits" already, so theoretically all they'd need is the ingredients, but they're living in refugee camps, so they don't have the facilities to do the baking.
 

dumpthemonarchy

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Jan 18, 2005
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Another African famine. Pardon me while I yawn. These are people who practice subsistence agriculture, therefore, when the rains don't come, they suffer. They suffer because they grow just enough food to eke out a living.

In Canada, and other modern western countries, when there is drought, like Australia had and constantly has, it is no problem. Why? Because we practice industrial agricutlure, we grow much more food than we need. So when drought, flood, hail, or some other regularly scheduled disaster strikes, we are ready. Children don't die and suffer as a result.

If you don't want to adequately feed yourself, I'm not gonna blame the capitalist imperialists, sorry.
 

dumpthemonarchy

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Other countries that cannot produce enough food to feed themselves: the United Kingdom, the birthplace of industrialism.

But the British have the money to buy the food they need, and don't require handouts. South Korea is the same as Britain. We keep getting regular bad news from 3rd world countries because they keep doing regular bad and dumb things. Like aboriginals in Canada, they want to keep their traditions and traditional way of life as long as someone else keeps paying for it.

Are you saying Africa does not have enough land to feed itself?
 

Omicron

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Another African famine. Pardon me while I yawn. These are people who practice subsistence agriculture, therefore, when the rains don't come, they suffer. They suffer because they grow just enough food to eke out a living.
Ahh... so you think when times are good they are so lazy they grow only enough food to feed themselves, and then sit around, such that they're not ready for the famine years.
In Canada, and other modern western countries, when there is drought, like Australia had and constantly has, it is no problem. Why? Because we practice industrial agricutlure,
Actually it's because we have state-regulated management of surpluses to make sure there's a stockpile.
we grow much more food than we need.
Not always. You evidently forget how pinched the national grain reserves got back in the late 80's early 90's.
So when drought, flood, hail, or some other regularly scheduled disaster strikes, we are ready. Children don't die and suffer as a result.
Yeah... because we have state-mandated national grain reserves.
If you don't want to adequately feed yourself, I'm not gonna blame the capitalist imperialists, sorry.
If capitalists were in charge of the food supply, they'd stockpile it, and then charge you a fortune in the bad years.

We keep getting regular bad news from 3rd world countries because they keep doing regular bad and dumb things.
Like what? Happen to live in a place prone to drought?

They're used to drought. They used to expect one about every ten years.

Then the climate started changing and it because a drought every five years.

Then every two.

And now it's non-stop drought... at which point they had no choice but to move into the camps.

Welcome to climate change.
Like aboriginals in Canada, they want to keep their traditions and traditional way of life as long as someone else keeps paying for it.

?!? Where the frik did you get the idea that starving Somalians in refugee camps are standing there in determination, demanding to be fed while they preserve their Somalian heritage???

Are you saying Africa does not have enough land to feed itself?

Criminy... you're one of the mouth-pieces of the food-corps quietly buying up land in Africa in order to have a backup for food production after the climate changes. Interesting how corps will say outside one side of the mouth that the climate is not changing, or if it is they're not responsible for it, while on the other they read climate-change maps and buy up places that are no good for food production now, but will be after the climate changes.

In any case, how do you think Africa works?

Some starving Somalis will send an ambassador to Nigeria and say, "Hey, give us some food" ???
 

damngrumpy

Executive Branch Member
Mar 16, 2005
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Pardon me while I yawn great humanitarian words. We as a society should be reaching
out to the rest of the world, especially to regions where they can make a difference.
If we feed and help people feed themselves, if we assist in the ability to create an economy
and we develop a society of leaders that can lead the country to some prosperity, the
fact is they would have something to live for and would not fall prey to terrorists and their
recruiters.
I don't yawn when child starvation is going on in front of the world. Kids did not create
the problems they live in spite of them. It is time we recognized just how lucky we are.
As for the UK, there was a time when Mr. Hitler was bombing the hell out of them that they
were damn glad to get food and anything else we could spare. It matters not the wealth of
a nation, it is how we treat the homeless and the helpless, that is what determines what
kind of people we are. As a world citizen, we have not done a very good job. This is not
about money or the ability to pay, its about hunger, its about education and progress.
I sorry but the world needs to give it collective head a shake and start to ease some of these
problems before we are engulfed in misery for decades more.
 

Corduroy

Senate Member
Feb 9, 2011
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But the British have the money to buy the food they need, and don't require handouts.

Britain's development and wealth is a legacy of its empire, which included Sudan. Sudan has been fighting a brutal civil war on and off since its independence from Britain. Decades of war disrupts economies. The initial causes of the conflicts in Sudan are directly related to British imperialism.

Sounds to me like Sudan is the perfect example of a country ruined by capitalist imperialism.

And whose fault is it that Sudan is in the state it's in today? The government of Sudan is a corrupt, thieving, genocidal Islamo-fascist dictatorship. They don't suffer from famine conditions. It's the people who do. And so when you yawn at the Sudanese for their starvation, you are mocking them not for their failures, as you try to twist it, but for being the victims of imperial exploitation, decades of civil war, genocide, terror rape, burned fields and destroyed livelihoods.
 

Omicron

Privy Council
Jul 28, 2010
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Pardon me while I yawn great humanitarian words. We as a society should be reaching
out to the rest of the world, especially to regions where they can make a difference.
If we feed and help people feed themselves, if we assist in the ability to create an economy
and we develop a society of leaders that can lead the country to some prosperity, the
fact is they would have something to live for and would not fall prey to terrorists and their
recruiters.
Yeah right... as if that would happen when corporations take control of government.

They have enough trouble covering up the corporate intrigue of banging secretaries in a broom closet.

I don't yawn when child starvation is going on in front of the world. Kids did not create
the problems they live in spite of them. It is time we recognized just how lucky we are.
It's time to recognize that climate change is happening.

As for the UK, there was a time when Mr. Hitler was bombing the hell out of them that they
were damn glad to get food and anything else we could spare. It matters not the wealth of
a nation, it is how we treat the homeless and the helpless, that is what determines what
kind of people we are. As a world citizen, we have not done a very good job. This is not
about money or the ability to pay, its about hunger, its about education and progress.
I sorry but the world needs to give it collective head a shake and start to ease some of these
problems before we are engulfed in misery for decades more.
Okay, so we tie it to a deal where they get Canadian cookies if they also be allowed to go to schools, and we provide both?

It's not that expensive, and only the psycho-MBA puppets of Satanic corporate greed will object.
 
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dumpthemonarchy

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Jan 18, 2005
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Ahh... so you think when times are good they are so lazy they grow only enough food to feed themselves, and then sit around, such that they're not ready for the famine years.
Actually it's because we have state-regulated management of surpluses to make sure there's a stockpile.

Not always. You evidently forget how pinched the national grain reserves got back in the late 80's early 90's.
Yeah... because we have state-mandated national grain reserves.

If capitalists were in charge of the food supply, they'd stockpile it, and then charge you a fortune in the bad years.
Like what? Happen to live in a place prone to drought?

They're used to drought. They used to expect one about every ten years.
Then the climate started changing and it because a drought every five years.
Then every two.

And now it's non-stop drought... at which point they had no choice but to move into the camps.
Welcome to climate change.
?!? Where the frik did you get the idea that starving Somalians in refugee camps are standing there in determination, demanding to be fed while they preserve their Somalian heritage???

Criminy... you're one of the mouth-pieces of the food-corps quietly buying up land in Africa in order to have a backup for food production after the climate changes. Interesting how corps will say outside one side of the mouth that the climate is not changing, or if it is they're not responsible for it, while on the other they read climate-change maps and buy up places that are no good for food production now, but will be after the climate changes.

In any case, how do you think Africa works?

Some starving Somalis will send an ambassador to Nigeria and say, "Hey, give us some food" ???

You smokin' some awesome BC bud, who's your supplier? I like him.

State mandated surpluses? What a howler! Does Jean Chretien, Steven Harper, George Bush, Barrack Obama, or "the system" tell us what to do? I could injure myself laughing.

You skipped over Australia, which has had a drought for most of this decade, and where's the crisis there? Oz is called the driest continent.

Subsistence peasants, in Canada, Africa, or Asia, don't like to work much. They are indolent, indolent means lazy. When you only do just enough work as necessary, you lack a surplus to hedge against disaster. Thus, when disaster strikes, the weakest and most vulnerable die first, which means children and women.

This is not racism, this is observing the behaviour of people. And these people don't like to work any more than they absolutely have to. The lazy white people in Canada like to go on EI as much as possible, along with many Indians.

Britain's development and wealth is a legacy of its empire, which included Sudan. Sudan has been fighting a brutal civil war on and off since its independence from Britain. Decades of war disrupts economies. The initial causes of the conflicts in Sudan are directly related to British imperialism.

Sounds to me like Sudan is the perfect example of a country ruined by capitalist imperialism.

And whose fault is it that Sudan is in the state it's in today? The government of Sudan is a corrupt, thieving, genocidal Islamo-fascist dictatorship. They don't suffer from famine conditions. It's the people who do. And so when you yawn at the Sudanese for their starvation, you are mocking them not for their failures, as you try to twist it, but for being the victims of imperial exploitation, decades of civil war, genocide, terror rape, burned fields and destroyed livelihoods.

It's a little hard to believe that people in the world were taking cruel advantage of each other long before Anglo-Ameriican imperialism began. Strange but true! Turks and Arabs have not always been so kind throughout their histories, especially the latter in Africa-even in Sudan.

These countries have considerable political problems. What tires me out is the media constantly shouting HELP HELP HELP when these predictable cirises occur. Don't you get tired of the same old same old bad news? You're considered on the crazy side if you keep doing the same thing and expect a different outcome.

These people are always victims, they are never the cause of their problems, they are always "good" and require our help. But to our lame media, their political problems are so complex, that if we just drop some food on them, we hope they'll go away. Or we'll give as many as we can political asylum so they can continue their proxy wars from Canada.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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The #1 cause of famine is war.

Millet aka buckwheat will grow in droughts and is high protein IF you can survive the snipers, mine fields and death squads.

If it wasn't for buckwheat the1920's droughts in US/Canada would have killed millions.
 

Omicron

Privy Council
Jul 28, 2010
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State mandated surpluses? What a howler! Does Jean Chretien, Steven Harper, George Bush, Barrack Obama, or "the system" tell us what to do? I could injure myself laughing.

Go ahead an injure yourself then, but in fact Canada and the US maintain government regulated grain stockpiles in case of serious crop-failures.

Their target is a two year surplus, although back in the late 80's early 90's it got scary because at one point it went down to six weeks.

You skipped over Australia, which has had a drought for most of this decade, and where's the crisis there? Oz is called the driest continent.
Actually Antarctica is the driest continent in terms of precipitation, and in any case, not all of Australia is feeling the drought, and they can move food around, and they can buy whatever else they need from New Zealand which runs a surplus and has been having trouble finding markets that pay the cost of production ever since they lost England as their primary customer when the UK changed its food policy to harmonize with that of the EU.

And if Sudanese had money like Australians, they'd do the same thing... buy the food from somewhere else.

Subsistence peasants, in Canada, Africa, or Asia, don't like to work much. They are indolent, indolent means lazy. When you only do just enough work as necessary, you lack a surplus to hedge against disaster. Thus, when disaster strikes, the weakest and most vulnerable die first, which means children and women.
You'd probably die in a month if you had to work as hard as Sudanese. Come to think of it I doubt you'd survive the barefoot trek under African sun to get to one of the camps in Kenya.

As for "subsistence peasants" in Canada... I presume you're talking abut Inuit and on-reserve natives.

I've spent a lot of time on reserves, and I'd really like to see *you* live on one for awhile and see what you could make of it given the resources available.

Haven't you noticed that Inuit and Amerindians were *not* complaining until Europeans moved in and took away their land and their means of survival?
 

Corduroy

Senate Member
Feb 9, 2011
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These countries have considerable political problems. What tires me out is the media constantly shouting HELP HELP HELP when these predictable cirises occur. Don't you get tired of the same old same old bad news?

Oh what a tragedy for you. You have listen to the media report on the horrible things that happen to other people all the time. What a terrible life. Can't those people just stop having horrible things happen to them? Can't the media just report on something else? I don't see how you can keep from killing yourself.
 

dumpthemonarchy

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Oh what a tragedy for you. You have listen to the media report on the horrible things that happen to other people all the time. What a terrible life. Can't those people just stop having horrible things happen to them? Can't the media just report on something else? I don't see how you can keep from killing yourself.

Lately, whenever I see the disaster/famine/war news I try to turn the channel if the reporting is repeatedly hysterical. There is only so much we can do. The UN said we could boot out the Taliban, it was done in three months, yet we stayed for a decade. Yeah, call me very bored of nation building in a nation that can't stand us.

But yeah, these people are really crowding my perfectly organized space by having so many problems. A comedy of errors that goes on and on. Fatigue sets in.

But famine is different in the media, the recent one burst on the scene. Like it came out of nowhere. Time to instantly mobilize. I wonder if Haiti is mproving. I think it's not, still a basketcase.