With the devastating floods in Thailand, and the earthquake in Turkey, I got to wondering...how exactly does the Canadian government determine who should receive our foreign aid money and who shouldn't? What causes the government to decide what it will match donations for and what it won't? I had doubts about the decision over the summer to send aid to Somalia, which is essentially a lawless failed state, and has recently overtaken Iraq in the prestigious race for "Least Secure Country In The World." The average citizen suffers greatly under the weight of political and religious posturing and guerilla violence. Aid pours in from around the world but is merely a trickle by the time it reaches those who truly need it, hijacked and quartered to fill the pockets of those doing the oppressing in the first place. It would be really interesting to see what the final actual humanitarian impact of these donations really is, and what responsibility the government and foreign affairs are taking to ensure it's effective dispensation. Meanwhile, hundreds have died, and hundreds more are missing in Thailand and Turkey, and there's been not a peep from the government about either. No appeals for donations, no promises to match funds raised, nothing. When the flooding in Bangkok recedes, it will not be infrastructure that will be most affected. It will be public health hit by rampant disease and overwhelmed health care services. This actually makes the provision of aid in this situation much easier and more straightforward. And it's on a comparitively smaller scale. There just seems to be no rhyme or reason to the selection process. And if there is, foreign affairs should be explaining it to the people paying for it (I'm really not a John Baird fan and even less so in the wake of this.)
Does anyone else watch the Big Bang Theory? Has anyone else noticed what an absolutely heroic amount of take-out these people consume? Has that kitchen ever been used to make anything but toast? None of them seem to work almost ever, where does this massive food budget come from???
Also, these McDonald's commercials, where one guy buys a cheeseburger for his roommate, and then tries to hide the flyer on the fridge that shows that said cheeseburger is $1.39.....ummmm....what's up with this? Is it trying to state that there are people out there who are unaware that McDonald's is cheap crap? Like the roommate thought he was eating a $7 burger instead? Doesn't McDonald's theoretically probably have the biggest advertising budge in the whole wide world? And this is what they came up with?
The Best of Chris Farley SNL special was on this morning and I turned it on to the Chippendales sketch he did with Patrick Swayze, and it was actually just kind of sad. It was still funny, but the whole time it's in the back of your head that they're both dead now. They also threw a Matt Foley sketch in, and David Spade giggles throughout. I have to say, I love the live TV giggle. Horatio Sanz, Jimmy Fallon, David Spade and Adam Sandler were all terrible for this and I love it. I miss Will Forte. If he's not going to do anything else with himself, why doesn't he just go back to SNL??
Aside from Breaking Dawn (which everyone who knows me knows I'm excited for. Yep. I said it. Deal with it.), I'm crazy excited to see the beginning of the Hunger Games trilogy. It's always tricky when movies are made from books you love, but I'm optimistic. Still not totally thrilled with casting, especially Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, but it might be fine. Better her than...I dunno....Miley Cyrus or some nonsense like that. I still think Saorsie Ronan or Hailee Steinfeld might have been the way to go, but no one asks me about these things. Neither of the guy characters seem particularly good either, given they're both supposed to be fairly strapping and rugged. I wasn't thrilled about Robert Pattinson as Edward the in Twilight series either, but I seem to have made do lol. The book series was amazing. I made it through each one in about 2 days apiece. I definitely recommend them if you're looking for something engaging to read.
Have a fantastic week everyone :)
"I'm not a hairstylist, I just put new lids on a couple of trash cans." - Homer Simpson
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