I was listening to an MP3 of George Carlin's "Kickin' it in NY" show. In one part he talks about homelessness (which he re-casts as "houselessness" since a "home" is an abstract idea). He laments that if the "greedy cocksuckers" businessmen (his term, not mine) could find a way to make a buck off the so-called "war" then we'd see the streets clear up "pretty goddamn quick."

You may have heard of "Good Samaritan Laws." In short, these refer to a type of statute (found in the U.S., Canada, etc.) that does two things; compel people to give aid to those in need and proect people who give that aid from lawsuits (within reason).

Today I was reading about the 1,000-2,000+ dead in Haiti after Tropical Storm Jeanne. Local infrastructre has been utterly overwhelmed. Thousands have swamped the only aid center but only one doctor is on duty. The police are crippled because their only vehicle was not working and they've resorted to placing barbed wire around the station so they don't get killed by the twenty inmates that escaped during the storm.

Isn't this solvable if someone wanted to, really? What would it take? Five million? Eight million?

Why are there no such laws that govern the actions of countries in such situations, similarly compelling them to do what is in their power to help those in critical danger?

Just a thought.