Concert for Sandy Relief, '12-12-12,' Being Planned by Same People Behind Historic 9/11 Benefit

Yeah, let them go ahead and do it. It'll probably raise a shit-ton of money. But does anybody think that scheduling something like this more than a month from now when people are suffering and possibly dying in the Rockaways and Staten Island right now is more than a token gesture?

If the performers really care, let them go out and start climbing 23 flights of stairs in the dark to knock on the doors of little old Russian-Jewish ladies to find out if they're still alive. After they've paid their dues doing that, they'll have the right to get up on a stage and ask for cash.

$35 Million (the last time, probably more 10 years later) is nothing to sneeze at and I'm sure will help a lot of people.
I hear your frustration, but I think this is a grand idea, and I imagine it will take some time to put something of this magnitude together.

And it would be all very well if natural disasters were simply acts of God that took an extra infusion of cash to put right.

But it's becoming increasingly obvious that the real problem on a global level is with our political systems -- systems that perpetuate poverty, that allow poor people to live in unsafe and often unsustainable conditions, that in some places are riddled with corruption so they wink at substandard construction in hurricane or earthquake zones, and that rely when things go wrong on charitable organizations and NGOs that if anything make the disasters worse and are themselves susceptible to corruption and exploitation . . .

I'm tired of putting bandaids on problems that allow a few rich performers and donors to feel good about themselves. I want the problems fixed. I want everyone on the planet to have a decent life. I want the actual, unavoidable disasters to be met with relief that is prompt, honest, targeted at those who need it most, and dedicated to protecting the victims against the inroads of disaster capitalism.

And I'm at a point where I can't really endorse any charitable effort that merely perpetuates a corrupt and failing system.

"Barack Obama doesn't care about white people" LOL

Dec. 12, 2000 - I still wince when thinking of that day.