How is it that a country so close to the boats we cruise on, and the beaches we enjoy, can be a place of such absolute poverty in such never-ending social chaos?

The post earthquake devastation one way for the world to see the failure (some would say disproof of existence) of Pat Robertson’s god.

There are plenty of legitimate ways to donate, 5 bucks to Wycleff .

Or You can text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief for Haiti.

Mercy Corp

Do what you can. Like a prayer but better.

peace

Wonderland or Not.

The famous “Just Wow” link for the day is, Walter Reed Officials Asked: Was Hasan Psychotic?. They asked this some time ago, long enough ago to have prevented this. There is something very strange, very wrong, and completely messed up here. We live in a country where you can get kicked out of high school, or at least expelled for the term, for carrying Motrin or Tylenol, but they won’t kick you out of the military, or even do a proper investigation if you are possibly psychotic and antagonistic toward the country you are serving?

The highly regarded “I’m loving it” link goes to The Hiking Artist.

The dreaded “you should vote” link goes to The World Challenge 09 finalists. There are 12 chosen finalist all innovative and awesome in their own right. My four choices use sun, shit, refuse, and disaster for the greater good. My top picks are Fuel Cell Kenya, Solar Sisters India, The Love in Haiti Project which many of you have probably already heard plenty about, and Old School Thai. Go find your favorites.

The rare “I’m sad I no longer live in N.Y. because I can’t go to this” link belongs to 33rd Annual Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival .

The coveted link, “My favorite non fiction blogelle” (a short piece posted to a blog), for this week is Get a Wife from the travel series Nowhere Slow at the Bygone Bureau.

The final and usually ignored must read link, Over 2,200 veterans died in 2008 due to lack of health insurance.

A research team at Harvard Medical School ( yea, yea, probably socialist), estimates 2,266 U.S. military veterans under the age of 65 died last year because they lacked health insurance and thus had reduced access to care. That figure is more than 14 times the number of deaths (155) suffered by U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2008, and more than twice as many as have died (911 as of Oct. 31) since the war began in 2001.

The researchers, who released their analysis today [Tuesday], pointedly say the health reform legislation pending in the House and Senate will not significantly affect this grim picture.

Peace

Wonderland or Not.

Domestic Violence is endemic in the United States, enough to have caused the label “pre-existing condition” to be placed on it by the insurance industries operating in some states.

Society, more specifically American Society, has been slow to recognize domestic violence as an ubiquitous societal problem. Viewing domestic violence as a personal problem makes this ribbon an unlikely cash cow, leaving the ribbon unsought by corporate giants, the cause largely ignored by the coorporate world. We still view Domestic Violence much in the same way we used to see AIDS (often still view AIDS), as a lifestyle issue, something that can’t happen to anyone. Breast cancer we view as something that can happen to anyone, even to people who make stellar lifestyle choices.

Domestic Violence can happen to anyone.

Domestic Violence occurs across all demographic groups. Official (reported) rates of nonlethal, intimate violence are highest among women aged sixteen to twenty-four, women in households in the lowest income categories, and women residing in urban areas. However, the current information is insufficient to determine, but significant enough to suggest that’s because middle and upper class women have more access to care, an easier road to moving on and out, or are less likely to report the violence, than women who are less educated and less financially secure.

The aforementioned attitude is the reason the purple ribbon is not nearly as popular on Yogurt, mid-level to upscale department store logos, high end cosmetics, or blogs. And this despite the estimated 4 to 5 million women, in the United States alone, affected by this societal scourge every year.

Some would propose — including Oate’s main protagonist Skyler, (channeling Geertz), in her less than lauded My Sister my Love — that human nature, but for human culture, is virtually non-existent. As a society we must begrudgingly, with sadness, and with feigned disbelief if necessary, admit this to be the case. It is not the nature of the beast causing continued violence, it is not a lifestyle issue, it is the culture, the social construction, that allowed it to begin, and permits it’s to continue. We have no choice but that of changing the culture.

Take some time this month to educate yourself on the domestic violence endemic in your country.

Links:

Sources: National Domestic Violence Hotline, National Center for Victims of Crime, and WomensLaw.org.

The Domestic Violence Awareness Project

United States Department of Justice Office of Violence Against Women

National Domestic Violence Hotline

NRCDV

NCADV

WOMEN LAW.ORG

Women’s Health Dot Gov — State Resources

Recent News:
Democrats vow to ban domestic violence as ‘pre-existing condition

Books:

No Visible Wounds: Identifying Non-Physical Abuse of Women by Their Men

The Verbally Abusive Relationship: How to Recognize it and How to Respond

Domestic Violence at the Margins: Readings on Race, Class, Gender, and Culture

Peace

Wonderland or Not.