David,
With respect did you ever stop to think that perhaps it is you who is in error in this matter. The Rev Tim Costello has worked hard and long for his cause and a little respect is appropriate.

gw,
Sorry. I did not explain that point very well. I was referring to people on low nutrition. Womwn on low nutrition do not ovulate as much as women on high nutrition. There was a belief that women who breast fed babies would not get prgnant while doing so. That belief went by the board when our nutrition improved.

Ask any cattle breeder and he will tell you that if he wants a cow to produce and rear a calf per year, then she has to be well fed. Humans are not that much different to other animals in this aspect.

So basicly what I said is correct when talking about people on low nutrition. Better feeding only compounds the issue when over population is the problem.

No poverty relief program will succeed unless we also deal with our own imminent poverty. The world marketplace is about to be shattered by peak oil. Watch SBS this Tuesday night at 8:30, they are screening a documentary called "Crude Impact" which will be in 2 parts before and after their evening news.

Following this at about 10:30 will be a French documentary/drama called "2013: Oil no more".

Basically, I have been studying this for nearly 3 years now, have corresponded with and met some of the leading geologists and writers in this field, and am convinced that we are about to see worldwide oil production plummet after about 2010.

That will set of a very nasty chain of events that will eventually plunge us into the Greater Depression. And it all starts when the stock-market wakes up to the fact that we cannot get the remaining oil out fast enough to meet daily demand, and we head into a bidding war for the remaining oil.

Stock-market crash does not really describe the event that could kick in some time in the next few years.

That the efforts of welfare agencies and charities will be thwarted on the way will just be one nasty side effect of the unimaginable decade coming our way.

Gee, I wish I could earn $178,287 p.a. plus $15,817 in superannuation for telling one lot of people how another lot of people are starving.

Institutionalized "charities" these days are businesses, employing managers and staff - 400 of them, in Tim Costello's case.

They all have their marketing departments, dedicated to finding smarter ways to separate the punter from his cash. Almost all of them use some form of universal guilt as their means of coercion. Their targets are the lower and middle classes, who have a "personal" guilt that however relatively poor they are here, they are rich relative to the poor elsewhere.

The rich simply set up a charitable trust, and pay someone to run it.

I am not suggesting that Mr Costello does not "earn" his $200,000 package, at least in the conventional sense of going into work every day and putting in some hards yards at the word processor. But it does leave a sour taste that an organization that rails at the iniquities of capitalism at the drop of a hat, turns out to be an utterly standard capitalist operation itself.

It is sometimes necessary to ask again the main two questions: why is it my problem, and what actions will resolve it?

Let's assume that we bypass logic on the first one, and simply accept the emotional response that yes, I am my brother's keeper.

That leaves what, exactly, can be done?

Money, unless it is earned, is the single most corrupting influence available. The only solution, unpalatable as it is to Mr Costello (Tim, that is) is to find ways to increase the volume and ease of trade between rich and poor countries. This exercise is far more challenging, but far more effective, than telling ordinary people that their concerns are as naught compared to those of some guy in Africa.

And certainly a more worthy occupation for a business with $200m revenues.

Perpetuating the cargo-cult of hand-outs may provide wonderful feel-good balm to the guilty middle-class soul, but it hides or defers the need for solid trade-based solutions.

"The only solution, unpalatable as it is to Mr Costello (Tim, that is) is to find ways to increase the volume and ease of trade between rich and poor countries. This exercise is far more challenging, but far more effective, than telling ordinary people that their concerns are as naught compared to those of some guy in Africa."

Yeah, that's going to happen in a world with less transport fuel!
Watch "Crude Impact" SBS Tuesday night 8:30 Pericles.

As a matter of fact, record it, and then watch the chapter on "peak oil" about 5 times so that you know the statistics. Then when you are up to date, we can have a real discussion.

Pericles, great points! I once heard what the CEO of the Red Cross
in Aus earned. Thats the last time I gave them a cent.

Fact is, its the poorest who have the most starving babies.
The more boatloads of food that are sent, the more vaccines,
the more starving babies we have. If we are going to send
help, its time to send them good old family planning.