Arbor Update

Might I suggest checking out Teeter Talk for more info on the Food Sculpture Event?

Thanks Chuck for being a voice of conscience (and conscientiousness) on this blog.

As for helping people, see my Arblogger post today on the Raoul Wallenberg award going to Sister Luise Radlmeier for her work in Sudan, tonight at 7:30, Rackham Auditorium.

A City Soup Kitchen, 365 days a year, would be a lot more dignified than your eternal, and very phony, charity parade.

“Crop Walk” my butt.

I believe ICPJ does The Walk purely to pat itself on the back, and purely to avoid the hard issues:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The hard issues:

Hunger Caused by U.S. Aerial Bombardment.
Hunger Caused by U.S.-supported tyrannies.

Hunger and genocide caused by U.S. coups, from the Congo to Guatemala.

And yes, that includes U.S.-supported hunger and genocide against Palestine, right now.

It is easily within your power to get the hungry fed, every day of the year.

In Ann Arbor… and worldwide.

Just for starters, tell your 100% Democratic city council, tell your so-called allies and friends, this:

Install that City Soup Kitchen, instead of your Crop Prance.

Or…
stick with your eternal charity charade.

But know that it’s a charade.

“A City Soup Kitchen, 365 days a year”

I’m going to ignore your pathetic juvenile rant at people who are doing charity work, and write that
this is the first intelligent idea you’ve had in years of posting endless blather on Arbor Update, Blaine.

Why don’t you get off your high horse, and make this happen? Stop telling the rest of us what we need to do, and start working on what you need to do. Register as a non-prof, and you can count on me as the first donor.

Put your money and effort where your non-stop mouth is.

Re: City Soup Kitchen 365 Days a Year

I thought the Food Gatherers Community Kitchen, operated in the Delonis Center, served dinner everyday, and lunch on weekdays.

That doesn’t matter, HD. We (the rational among us) are well aware of how much hard work these groups do, and what and when they serve.

What were focusing on is what is Blaine going to do to fix these problems.

Palestine is occupied, and his “solution” is to harass Ann Arborites non-stop and call us racists.

Affirmative action is being threatened, and his “solution” is to harass Ann Arborites non-stop and call us racists.

People are going hungry, and Blaine’s “solution” to this problem is to harass Ann Arborites non-stop and call us phonies.

My question is when is going to stop criticizing what everyone else is doing, and get off of his ass and fix these problems?

I wouldn’t have bothered posting this, but for crying out loud, these charities work their asses off to make the world a better place, and here comes Blaine filling the world with his hate, telling everyone else what they need to do.

Congrats, Blaine.

I’m sending in a $100 check in your name to the Food Gatherers with a note that reads:

“Sent on behalf of Blaine Coleman, who has 1,000 lame excuses as to why he won’t get off his lazy ass to help the less fortunate, and who choses to blame everyone but himself for the state of the world”.

Maybe you can send the Food Gatherers an empty envelope with a note on the back that reads “Charity, because it is historically a sign of wealth, is stupid, therefore I’ve decided not to help you twits”.

HD is right – the Community Kitchen serves dinner at the Delonis Center on W. Huron St. 365 days a year to anyone who needs a meal – no questions asked. And yes, lunch on weekdays. Volunteers are always needed to help cook & serve, especially around the holidays when the students are not here. Call Food Gathereers at 761-2796 for information on training and schedules.

I fully agree that “charity” alone isn’t enough to end poverty. If the CROP Walk were only about charity, it wouldn’t be part of the ICPJ mission.

But CROP Walk is also about Justice.

That’s why the CROP Walk works to “In partnership, CWS [the CROP organizer] supports self-help development, meets emergency needs, and helps address the root causes of poverty and powerlessness.” CROP funds do go into “building jobs, schools, housing, transportation, hospitals, dignity, etc., that the poor can have ready access to.”

In 2005, most of those funds went to disaster relief, such as emergency relief and reconstruction assistance after the South Asia Earthquake.

The principal national organizer of the walk, Church World Service, puts most of its money into Disaster Relief and Recovery, Refugee Resettlement and Assistance, and Self-Help Development Assistance, but it also has a strong peace and justice program. This program addresses justice issues in places like Colombia, Burma, and the West Bank.

Likewise, CROP donors can designate their gift to the Unitarian Universalist Services Committee, which has a campaign to call for living wages; Mazon, which has a hunger advocacy program, or the American Friends Service Committee has many active justice programs.

CROP Walk is a great program for bringing people together to address a common concern, while letting donors designate their gift to go to agencies in line with their values.

Hey JWP&F person,

You seem to have much in common with the DeVos campaign.
From reading your posts here, I get the impression that you’re not much more than a one trick (issue) pony who likes to bellow about that issue with alot of rhetoric, but never seems to have any concrete plans for how to fix said issue (especially if it involves compromising with others).

I know this probably isn’t the case, but i’d like to hear some solutions instead of attacks for once.

As a city council member, exactly how would end hunger in Ann Arbor?
What kind of program would you set up to deal with the issue of hunger?
Which other section of the budget would you cut to finance said hunger program?
What strategy would you pursue to convince the people of the town that this program would be necessary?

Why can’t we ever have a direct discussion with you? Many of us here fall on the same side of issues as you, but are driven away from discussions because you have a tendency to kill them with your constant generalizations, stereotyping, and attacks.

I for one would love to have a discussion with you, but you hardly ever take the time to acknowledge the context of the discussion into which you enter before turning it into some kind of attack on the people of ArborUpdate, the people of Ann Arbor, the people of southeastern Michigan, and whomever else you perceive as opposing your viewpoint.

Have you ever tried talking to or with people instead of at them? Using the disruption of organizational functions as your primary method of communication doesn’t seem to really be getting your cause anywhere.

Believe it or not, most of the people who staff the organizations you constantly defame really are trying to do the best job possible with the limited amount of resources they have. Most of them would probably be willing to help you work toward solutions if you’d try to actually listen to and respect their views too.

Things aren’t always quite as black-and-white as you posts seem to imply…