Sell the Vatican to Feed the Starving? Perhaps It's Time to Get Off Our High Horses

http://bit.ly/1nbHSc

My mind is food soup this morning. On the one hand, we’ve got Karl Lagerfeld reducing women’s BMI challenges to one of scarfing down too many potato chips, while Ralph Lauren fires Filippa Hamilton for being too fat on the global weight scale, where a BMI of 17.3 is looking hefty.

If these guys knew what they were doing, they would position the issue differently: some women are bloated while others starve. Is this not always the land of the haves and the have nots?

Lagerfeld and Lauren should appeal to our higher conscience, convincing us all that if some of us eat less, others can eat more — as long as Bill Gates is in charge of working out the food transfer details.

via WikipediaThree men dropped me notes or comments in the last 24 hours, saying that women should run the world. They don’t sound pussy-whipped to me, but rather thoughtful guys who think we have a massive testosterone-infused global disaster on our hands.

You got that right, gentlemen. Thanks for standing with me.

We always welcome out of the box thinking on Anne of Carversville, and so we’re posting Sarah Silverman’s video in which she presents the Vatican with a legitimate challenge of how they can end world hunger.

Silverman has stirred up a bit of controvery the last few days, suggesting that the Vatican get down on its knees from a high and mighty pedestal and cough up some serious dough for the starving. Knowing how to be controversial, Silverman has succeeded in calling out a lot of attention to tomorrow’s World Food Day.

I adore a smart woman who knows just what to do to focus the world’s attention where she wants it.

AP writes: On Thursday, a (Vatican) spokesman declined to comment. But the Catholic League, the U.S. Catholic civil rights organization, denounced Silverman and cable broadcaster HBO for her “obscene” and “filthy diatribe.”

I say the video is not “obscene”, unless you have a very short fuse regarding what’s “obscene” and “filthy”. The photo of this little girl is obscene in my playbook. Before you watch the video, Silverman does say the f-word, I think once. And at the end she says:

“On an ego level alone you will be the biggest hero in the history of ever! Sell the Vatican. Feed the world.” Silverman adds that the Vatican will also get all the p—— (think cat food) that they could every want in life.

Given the factual, historical record of the Catholic Church on sexual indiscretions, I think Silverman is entitled to a minor liberty here, with the goal of solving global hunger.

Rev. James Martin, culture editor of the Jesuit magazine America, says Silverman may be onto something. In an online article, Martin noted that Jesus himself told his followers to sell what they had and give it to the poor.

“Of course Pope Benedict XVI could not ‘sell’ any of the treasures of the Vatican, the same way that your local archbishop couldn’t sell off the cathedral at a whim; they are not his, they are the church’s,” Martin wrote. “And the church is not simply the hierarchy but the entire people of God.”

But he added: “Still, perhaps Ms. Silverman, in her postmodern, potty-mouthed way is on to something. Like Jesus was. Sell the Vatican? Well, maybe not everything but perhaps a statue or two?” via AP

Reverand Martin, sir, you are my kind of guy! Bravo.I’ll Google you next.

Sell the Vatican, Feed the World

My friends, Silverman is using humor and yes — her pouty mouth — to call out a deadly crisis. While America faces the health consequences of an obesity epidemic of eating too much food, one in six people is starving, unable to enjoy our good life.

The calorie consumption match says we should be able to do some global redistribution, in the interests of everybody eating and staying healthy, but the challenge is complex. Without two Gates and one Clinton in charge of food transfer, we don’t have a prayer.

No need to sell the Vatican. They’re dead, and it’s okay to polish the silver.

via Flickr’s Jamie_NYCIn fact, Bill Gates put his cards on the table in Des Moines, about an hour ago. Read Bill Gates Demands Action on Global Hunger  http://bit.ly/4gmeDI

Perhaps you don’t think this is your problem. Wrong. If another person’s life isn’t your concern, how about the guy next door? Or your child’s? Food security is defined globally, not only around the topic of safe food, but the escalation of terrorism and rioting around the world. 

When people are starving and desperate, discussions around democratic principles are laughable. Excuse me, they are too intellectually abstract, for dying stomachs to consider.

I’m starting to sound like Sarah Silverman. Sorry, we never lecture here, but …

Starvation is not only a matter of conscience, but also national security. Trust me, the miliary and state departments are represented in Iowa.

Combine the Bill Gates article with Tuesday’s Can Gates, Buffett, Obama, Clinton & Company Solve Global Hunger? It’s Not Looking Good  http://bit.ly/GIUXt and you’ve got a handle on top-line thinking around global starvation.

None other than Smart Pants guy Howard Buffett isn’t as confident as previously, that we will solve this challenge. And Howard Buffett’s a realist, not some New York City PR person.

If one-f-word and some cat jokes give us one more reason not to feed the hungry, well then we’re just living in the “like to hear ourselves talk world”. Religious zealots get like that on occasion.

Don’t worry. I’m going after those damn African dictators and food-pirates, too. In the name of advancing your religion, how do you starve people for money?

Spare us the rhetoric, guys. When you pirate ships with food and kill aid workers trying to distribute it in Pakistan, you’ve got the wrong god upstairs. The entire situation is incomprehensive — which is why women must rule the world. It’s our only hope.

These poor people just get smacked from every possible angle in life, and I’m not speaking of pirates, suicide bombers and dictators.  Anne