As IF Times

link U.N. chief warns of humanitarian disaster as Libya meeting opens – CNN.com.

To whom is this guy addressing his warning?  Banned From The Moon is essentially pleading for more money (what else?) to head off an ‘humanitarian disaster’ in Libya.   Since the U.S. is the largest contributor to the U.N., it logically means, he’s asking that Americans pony up more dough.  China and Russia are already helping by graciously agreeing to buy Libya’s oil.  The U.S., through NATO are only contributing bombs and bullets.

Someone may want to give the earnest head of the U.N. a map of the region.  He will note that immediately to the north and east of Libya are found the most moneyed states in the world today.  He may want to pass the collection plate around their tables.  While the U.S. has always come to the table in the past for almost any cause,  at the moment, their credit card balance is a bit high.  It can’t be that hard for some of the neighboring Arab states to toss a few hundred million into the aid pot to help a neighbour.    The Arab nations in the middle east have always existed on very fine balance.  Running most of the wealthy states are autocratic families who receive most of the oil wealth with the support of western countries and in return, support those western countries in order to keep hostile religious factions at bay.  Over the past half year, the yawning chasm of wealth between these rulers and their restive subjects has boiled over into mob insurrection.  Tunisia and Egypt were the first to go. 

If anyone can figure out which side of the combatants in Libya are worthy of support, it would be the immediate neighbors, since they’ll have to live with them later on.   It doesn’t really matter which side the Americans take, it will be the wrong side from someone’s perspective.  Factions and tribes have been battling each other over there for centuries and grudges and animosities persist.  It’s somewhat similar to 14 year old girls who are united against little Suzy, until she’s out of the picture and then they go back to hating each other.   There is the old Arab saying, ” the enemy of my enemy is my friend”.     Better off not giving anything, just stick with the artillery. 

There are humanitarian emergencies all over the world at any given time.  The calamity in Japan recently is a genuine emergency with no political root to the devastation.  Everyone was just minding their own business, when kaboom, the ground shook and the waves came.  If anyone deserves donations, it’s the Japanese.  They are living in peace.  They are contributing to the world.  The only jihad they spread is by technology advances and karaoke.  It makes more sense to help peaceful people than people who would behead you in your sleep.   The humanitarian crisis being warned of is man made.  Who’s to say there isn’t another one after this one?  I’d say they had better keep the collection plate in circulation.

link AOL and Huffington Post sued by unpaid bloggers | Reuters.

You knew this was coming, it was just a matter of time.  A few months back, America Online decided that the best way to spend their cash horde was to buy the far left wing graffiti, er I mean blog site, The Huffington Post for $315 million dollars.

Kudos to Arianna Huffington for being shrewd enough to create and promote her website as the repository for deranged ideologues.  The Post became the place to be seen for written opinions of the lefty persuasion and included scribblings from noted entertainment personalities which served to even more embellish the Post’s reputation.   For many bloggers who contributed to the opinions, having Huffington Post credentials conferred, to them at least, legitimacy, as if it were some kind of literary achievement.   In reality, most of the content could be found spray painted on the side of buildings as nonsensical diatribe.  The Post however gave voice and a stage to the raving ideologues.

Now that Arianna has gone mainstream, those same bloggers are clamoring for their share of the loot from AOL.  Good luck.  If their logic held any water, Hugh Hefner would have to share his profits with all the girls who had ever graced the pages of Playboy, since it can be argued it was their contributions that really drove the magazine.  These prototypical geeks writing pieces in their mother’s basement in their underwear may feel betrayed by Arianna, since they were supposed to be united against ‘the man’, ie the ‘establishment’.  Now it turns out, she is one of them.  So much for ideology and comrades in arms.

Bloggers write and pontificate on all sorts of things.  In general, nobody really cares unless you happen to have some previous notoriety from real life.  Then, you can spit out all kinds of flotsam and people will drink in your every word.  Think Charlie Sheen.  In America, it’s what sells, not what’s neccessarily good.  So the bottom line is, these shut out bloggers had better start writing something legitimate because their graffiti wall is gone.  Maybe it’s back to the spray can for most of them.