snapped shot

World Food Program (WFP) internal documents show that the major oil producing nations of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) gives almost nothing to the food organization, even as skyrocketing oil prices and swollen oil revenues contribute to the very crisis that the U.N. claims could soon add 100 million more people to the world’s starving masses.

The overwhelming bulk of the burden in feeding the world’s starving poor remains with the United States and a small group of other predominately Western nations, a situation that the WFP has done little so far to change, even as it has asked for another $775 million in donations to ease the crisis.

Donor listings on WFP’s website show that this year, as in every year since 1999, the U.S. is far and away the biggest aid provider to WFP. Since 2001, U.S. donations to the food agency have averaged more than $1.16 billion annually — or more than five times as much as the next biggest donor, the European Commission.

The U.S. gives more than five times that of the European Commission? How can that be when everyone knows the United States is the "Great Satan" and the biggest terrorist nation on earth?

Click on over to Aish.com to view this video and others about Israel.

Syed chimed in on our initial news thread about the current unrest in Lebanon. His topic of discussion was a tad bit off, though it's probably not much of a surprise:

User IP-address: 202.125.143.68 [Lahore, Pakistan]
User Name: Syed
User E-mail Address: bashir_1984@hotmail.com
User Your Website: Pakistan

Comments:
Israel the illegal state is cowrd Insha Allah Israel will be Crushed soon

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your deep and insightful thoughts with us, Sy. It must be hard to find time to post Death to Israel commentary on blogs, what with all of your helpdesk duties and all.

CHICAGO — Chicago police say a man died as he tried to shield his four-year-old daughter from an auto allegedly driven by a man under the influence of a controlled substance.

Joseph Richardson was walking his daughter Kaniyah to a McDonald's for burgers late Monday when a car jumped the curb. Police say the 39-year-old Richardson grabbed his daughter just before the car slammed the two into a fence.

Richardson was pronounced dead at the scene. Kaniyah was taken to Comer Children's Hospital in serious condition.

Illinois Father Dies After Shielding Daughter When Car Jumps Curb

I was wondering if I'd ever get anything juicy for posting this video. Maybe that means it's time for me to make it sticky again? Reader chingatumadre sends in his educated opinion, from the Islamic stronghold of Austin, Texas:

User IP-address: 66.68.146.159
User Name: chingatumadre
User E-mail Address: alhaztizi@hotmail.com
User Your Website:

May God burn the man in hell just like he burned the Quran.

your useless gestures will not stop Islam or the Muslims from rightfully taking their place in the world. Europe was in the dark ages and living like animals when Muslims where advancing in every technological field. now the West is on top but the sun will set on the West and the East will rise again as the beacon of knowledge and leadership of the world.

As an aside, when the heck did Muslims take to posting insults in Spanish? Can't I go anywhere without hearing that confounded language?

An English architect takes the battle against bureaucracy back to the horse's mouth:

Mr Jessop said he launched his attack on planning red tape after the planning and amenities department of Mendip District Council in Somerset sent him a lengthy form with what he saw as a serious of “silly” questions.

The document was to enable them to assess the impact the shed would have on the surrounding area.

Under “scale, appearance and landscaping”, Mr Jessop wrote: “The building is a single storey with the central section raised to allow for higher equipment.

“It can not be lower because nothing could be stored in it. It is not made any higher because that would be silly.

“It looks like a typical modern agricultural shed in a green profiled metal sheeting because that is what it is, and a great architect once said 'Buildings should look like what they are’.

“The applicant and previous occupants have spent a long time, probably more than a thousand years, making the countryside around the house look like farmland so that everyone can enjoy the pretty English countryside.”

How does the bureaucracy respond? As you would probably have expected:

Mendip District Council Development Services confirmed they received the application on March 18 and said the matter had yet to be determined.

A spokesman said: “There was no problem registering the statement because, believe it or not, it covered all the relevant criteria.

“As long as the architect answers all the relevant headings then it doesn’t really matter what the tone of the application is.”

If nothing else, this should help to underscore the utter ridiculousness that makes up the whole "management via checkboxes" culture that we've bred in our society for these past few decades. There is absolutely no way to account for every possible outcome and action of a given task well enough that anyone with a pen and a form can do it, and the notion that adding one document to your process can make up for basic lack of communication is equally silly. Continue reading »

TNOYF gets the best fan mail. I won't spoil it for you—you have to go over and read it for yourself—but he had me in stitches when he pointed out that:

Thanks for the heads up. You heard it here first everyone. Only 9,855 shopping days left until the Armageddon War Day.

I'd better hurry up and get to the store!

Oh, and to all of you Ethnic Northerners out there? You're always welcome to write to us, too. Heck, maybe I'll even throw something in to motivate you: