I realize what I say next is not a telecom topic; but ... I say it and
hope you will give it some thought as I have several times today.
That disturbance of the earth over around s.e. Asia on Sunday has
certainly taken its toll. AP Network news (in our td-extra section
on the web site) said as of Tuesday afternoon, USA time, the body
count was now over *fifty thousand* men, women and children, in
Sri Lanka and surrounding areas.
Government authorities are instructing the living people to 'carry the
bodies as you find them out to the curb and leave them; we will do
mass disposal of the remains.' It sort of reminds me of Monday
morning here in Independence, as the sanitary disposal trucks move
through the alleys collecting the garbage. I mean, can you even begin
to grasp or understand the horror of the whole scene in Sri Lanka?
Stacking the dead bodies at the curb where workers will take them away
over the next few days ....
Meanwhile, the United Nations called on Dubya to do more than the
stingy pittance he offered. He said he would 'think about it'. Trouble
is, Dubya has gotten so badly in debt on account of Iraq, he does not
have a lot of money left over for things like alleviating human misery.
Patrick Townson
TELECOM Digest Editor (