Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.....

Sr Tertius says on Apr 18, 2005, 16:11:

So... The President of any University and heads of dozens of other non-for-profit and charitable organizations top those salaries... does that make them somehow "wrong"?

"self-righteous"?

What facts are you talking about?

Besides, this is probably the wrong forum.

"El que a hierro mata..."

"When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger" (Chinese proverb)

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Cerealkiller says on Apr 18, 2005, 16:19:

I think youre right...You should know the facts. Donations are 15% of what Amnesty gets, and 55% of that is spent on active campaigns...Amnesty isnt a charity, theyre a human rights organization, they have to hire top experts to publish reliable reports and they dont do their job for free because most of the times it means they have to put themselves at risk, traveling to countries in crisis, leaving their families etc etc...I wouldnt donate a thing if they werent doing their job properly but they have been successful in thousands of cases related to prisoners of conscience and a few other human right violations...You gotta know the facts.

Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives -John Stuart Mill

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Jack Smith says on Apr 18, 2005, 18:16:

It is wrong if you are not aware of it and you thhink your donation is going for some useful purpose other than enriching someone who is biased and politically polluted....all in the name of justice? Hypocrites! Save the Children, CARE, Catholic relief Services....same type of hypoocrites

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Jack Smith says on Apr 18, 2005, 18:18:

They are all enriching themselves off the poor and the opressed justas the hypocrite union leadeers do as well human greed has no limit and the poor (but happy? in places likee Colombia stay poor!

I thinkk AI and HRW stink!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

platano says on Apr 18, 2005, 18:28:

Jack, I need your help on something... What can I give my money to that I can trust and it won't be a rip-off?
I now have very clear what organizations you don't like.

Are there any others you do like that I can give my money to?

Plátano X

plátano

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Jack Smith says on Apr 18, 2005, 18:35:

Throw your donation away if you wish fools! AI and HRW point their fingers in countries like Colombia while just a few blocks from the US Embassy the desplazados live in shacks and shums. Where is the UN? DAS? A.I.D.? Human Rights Watch? Amnesty International? Catholic Church? et al et al. They are in a meeting in North Bogota staying at a $150 hotel eating steak and partying on the weekends? They will fly back to Miami in the first class section on Monday morning! You want to waste your money on some $200,000 finger pointer leader at Human Rights Watch? Give it to a street kid in Bogota and know where it goes! Have your taxi stop at the first poor barrio you see and quickly hand it to some elderly lady! The poor stay poor and the rich get richer! To hell with the too many of these hypocrite "not for profits"! The donated funds don't get to the poor! If you write these hypocrite groups ASKING for help for your wife's poor family in Colombia they WILL NOT write you back but offer them $10,000 and they will respond IMMEDIATELY! I know because I have done it! They are frauds and liars! Espccially those on TV such as World Vision! Don't kid yourselves!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

poco says on Apr 18, 2005, 18:47:

Whew !!! For a moment I thought AI stood for Artificial Intelligence.

"Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent" - Isaac Asimov

0 funny, 0 helpful.

kernow62 says on Apr 18, 2005, 19:00:

Platano you can bypass the middle-man and send your money (cash only please) directly to me. I will use it for only the most inspired purposes you can be assured.

In return I will send proof in the form of photographs documenting myself using the aforementioned cash in a variety of creative ways and in a variety of interesting poses (some in B&W for effect).

I also accept worldly goods from those seeking a higher spiritual plane, I will accept all the bad kharma associated with said goods and transfer the goods and kharma to the highest bidder on eBay. Jewelry, Mont Blanc pens, vintage tube audio gear, coin collections, art collections are particularly full of bad vibes and I am willing to take these off your hands thus freeing your spirit.

I hope to hear from all of you soon. PM me for details of where to send the goods.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

silviat says on Apr 18, 2005, 19:03:

do you expect this people to work for free? I think people does know that a part of their donation is going to pay those salaries.

Who do you expect to be behind such an organization? Its gotta be really well prepaired people that doesnt ignore the facts... and those well prepaired persons dont work for free... how can we expect them to?

0 funny, 0 helpful.

platano says on Apr 18, 2005, 19:05:

Kernow62, thank you for your generous offer... But Jack says these charitable people eat steak and party on the weekends.

Can you assure me that you don't engage in such profligate activities?

Plátano X,
Defensor de la libertad de la locomoción en Colombia (Constitución de 1991) ¡Libertad por Ingrid Betancourt y los demás secuestrados!
DISCLAIMER: I am not objective. I am madly in love with Colombia (and a bit mad, too!)

plátano

0 funny, 0 helpful.

kernow62 says on Apr 18, 2005, 19:13:

Yes, I had beans and rice and a piece of chicharon! I haven't partied since becoming a certified SCG (Spiritual Cleansing Guru) 5 years ago.

I have helped many people rid themselves the burden of worldly goods. I would provide E-mail addresses so that you could get testimony from these grateful people, but I have unloaded their PCs on eBay. Take it from me they are better off.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

platano says on Apr 18, 2005, 19:46:

Kernow62, Look I'll give it to you straight.... Right now it is a toss up whether I send my money to Amnesty International or to you.
If you or Jack can send me some hard proof, some independent documentation of $200,000 salaries or $150 a night hotels, the money goes to you, with the provision that you also provide some documentation that you are an authentic "spiritual cleansing guru" because let's face it, there are a lot of New Age charlatans out there looking to rip off your money and they don't get prisoners of conscience freed from prison like Amnesty International does.

I need some reassurance.

Plátano X, whose capital assets are in the balance

P.D. Chicharron? That's getting damn close to steak! (or more accurately, pork chops)

plátano

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Sr Tertius says on Apr 18, 2005, 21:41:

No steak for you! Now that I think of it, maybe Jack is right: if you work for a good cause you should work for free. I've been at several scientific meetings, and those bastards, whose salaries are mostly paid by taxpayers, stay in hotels and eat steak! The nerve of these people! If they want a decent salary, they should sell their soul to pharma and other corporations, let THEM pay for the steak. The same goes for politicians: every national government should be sponsored by a local slave-work employer, like Nike or whatever.

And what about those MDs in public hospitals! They live like kings! No steak for them! Let's send their salaries straight to the patients, that way we know where it goes. And don't get me started with the armed forces... the only thing they do is complain, complain, complain. No steak for them either! I'm not only not donating anymore to AI or HRW: I'm going to stop paying taxes until this whole mess is straighten up.

No more hypocrisy: the only people that deserve good salaries have to work for private corporations and for profit. After all, only low-salary morons should work for the greater good.

Oh, by the way, try thinking before typing: Sarcasm is my only resource when, in a battle of wits, I confront an unarmed person.

"When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger" (Chinese proverb)

0 funny, 0 helpful.

platano says on Apr 18, 2005, 21:52:

Sr. Tertius, I applaud your thinking. A host of mutinationals are already hard at work in Colombia paying very efficient wages to Colombians and those ingrates only complain about low salaries. On top of that these extremely charitable multinationals have to either pay protection money to FARC and/or then they have to pay sicarios to do in the labor organizing communists that infiltrate their factories talking about such nonsense as health care and pensions and bathroom breaks and other communist propaganda instead of being thankful they have a job at all because of the generosity of the multinationals.

Plátano X, Defensor de la Colombianidad
Defensor de la libertad de la locomoción en Colombia (Constitución de 1991) ¡Libertad por Ingrid Betancourt!
DISCLAIMER: I am not objective. I am madly in love with Colombia (and a bit mad)

plátano

0 funny, 0 helpful.

poco says on Apr 18, 2005, 22:00:

Un-armed but their fingers work Sarcasm in print is easier when directed toward such a huge variety of worthy topics.

"Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent" - Isaac Asimov

0 funny, 0 helpful.

platano says on Apr 18, 2005, 22:02:

Poco, I am here to entertain you with Colombian commentary.

A la orden!

Plátano X

plátano

0 funny, 0 helpful.

poco says on Apr 18, 2005, 22:09:

Confused ? Platano: Try not to get confused about which identity you use to place your posts or forget to paste in the type.

Suggest running two computers, easier that way.

"Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent" - Isaac Asimov

0 funny, 0 helpful.

ARMacleod says on Apr 18, 2005, 22:56:

And again I post this.
I have just posted the following reply to another comment. It fits equally well here.

(On the other hand I have taken some steps to rectify an imbalance in some personal donations to World Vision after finding that less than 5% of my monthly donation was actually going to the intended recipients, I posted it direct).

This is unbelievable. Some people are going to help someone else and all they get is flak? Does it really matter why they are helping? Ask the person that is the recipient of the aid if they mind and then take note.

Many people from all over the world give unselfish aid to others, also all over the world. They do not ask for thanks, it is done from the heart, why do others question it, a raw nerve as to their own inadequacy perhaps?

We should all be collectively grateful for the charity that is in the soul of others, without them we would be left staring at the poverty and helplessness of those unfortunates, and pondering at and with the guilt of our own inactivity.

Pax vobiscum.

The brain is like a parachute, it only functions correctly when it is open. Pax vobiscum.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

arturo says on Apr 19, 2005, 00:01:

indecently low for most executives hey,

do you know how much capable executives use to be paid?

so, HRW's are really underpaid.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

kernow62 says on Apr 19, 2005, 05:44:

Platano, I might add that the piece of chicarron fed two people and cost a lot less than a piece of steak! Actually it fed me twice because I had a bit stuck between my teeth until the next day. So how's that for economy? Those execs with those other charities would have probably brushed their teeth using the free toothpaste provided by the swanky hotels they stayed in, not me, wast not want not is my mantra. They probably even received a free toothbrush on the plane! When will their perks stop.

The only way for me to provide proof that I am indeed a SCG is for some of you who are burdened by the guilt of worldly goods, those who feel that they would like to travel through life's journey unencumbered by such chattels, to send me those posessions and let me know if they feel a new found freedom.

Right now I feel someone out there is burdened by a 56cm titanium Merlin bicycle, I hear your cry for help, I am here for you. Look no further, I will rid you of this burden.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

miamimike says on Apr 19, 2005, 05:57:

Thats not bad in today's dollars.. a $200,000 salary. Remeber several years back when the Red cross was being many times that so adjusted for inflation this is not outrageous. You want decent unbiased help you have to pay. NOW if this Guy's name was Tom Delay(aka-" Tommy Hot Tub") of Texas, I would be very concerned, no matter what the salary was.And I would have my hand on my wallet pocket.

"Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gas? That's interesting. I hadn't heard that." -- Feb. 28, 2008 --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

crispeta says on Apr 19, 2005, 09:28:

Why is anybody listening to this Jack Smith's comments about how bad these organizations are. His other comments about Kerry where locked ot because was calling Democrtes SS nazis! He sure likes to critique others without looking at who he supports. They are are politicans Right and Left! and the all love power and $$$$$$$$$$$ you would earn the same same $$$$$$$$$$ if you where in the same situation, if your ansewer in no then why not go Volunteer to create a positve energy not negativity!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Mr. Hollywood says on Apr 19, 2005, 13:27:

Okay, you've convinced me I'm willing to give up both steak and 1st class plane tickets if Jack Smith will pay me $200,000 a year. For $300,000 I'm even willing to give up wine.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Cerealkiller says on Apr 19, 2005, 18:07:

I dont think anything Jack says will keep me from donating my 5 pounds a month...someone who says hed rather give money to a street kid cant be taken seriously. Thats only promoting structural poverty, youre not doing anyone a favor, on the contrary...

Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives -John Stuart Mill

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Jack Smith says on Apr 19, 2005, 18:26:

www.give.org and click on the name of the organization to see the six figure salaries or go to www.guidestar.org Many of them will not post the salary at www.give.org because they don't want YOU to know what they do with your donation.

WORLD VISION Federal Way WA? In 2000 the paid their NEW director a salary of almost $400,000 There was a footnote that $193,000 of that went to this guy as a "one time moving expense" WV also runs ads on COLOMBIAN television looking for handouts.....you see..it becomes a business not an organization designed to HELP those truely in need.

Write World Vision and ask them for help foor your poor family in Colombia and see if they respond and how? Then write them and suggest that you want to give them $10,000 and see how they respond?

The best fraud I knew of had to do with a fellow named Harris who was the $130,000 director of Latin operations for New York based Covenant House. This fraud used donated funds to run an office in COSTA RICA where the group had NO SHELTER for street kids in a country where there are few street kids to beegin with. They do have homes for youth in Honduras, MEX, Hond and Guate which is fine but why would you live in Costa Rica on a salary of $130,000 if you really want to help poor street kids? Beecaue CR is perhaps the beest country in all of LA? This guy was fired last year cause HE paid a young man, once in his care in Honduras, for sexual services. The group fired him and thank God shut the CR office down! Covenant House New York BTW has a Catholic nun director making $160,000 a year and a second director making about the same. I donate no money to any off these big name groups for I think they are frauds! Doctors without borders and Salvation Army are about the only two I trust! People should think before they donate! Charity is run by the rich and controlled by the rich and the poor stay poor!

POWER=WEALTH=POWER=WEALTH

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Jack Smith says on Apr 19, 2005, 18:42:

Jack Smith was a volunteer at an orphanage in Honduras about 15 years ago....I did my part but ran out of funds......FYI.....There are qualified people out there willing to run these organizations for much less than 200,000 + a year but it is all about power.....the wealth does not get to the poor! Giving 5 pounds to World Vision solves nothing yes it is better to give it to a street kid!.....2 years after Hurricane Mitch hit Central America
the European Union had not sent ONE cent to Central Ameerica although millions were promised. Then we have the oil for food program scandal in Iraq with a bunch of corrupted six figure a year UN officials?

The DEMOCRATIC PARTY talks the talk about the poor and HUMAN RIGHTS RIGHTS then they support abortion murder. A baby can't have human rights if it is dead and this is why I equate Kerry and the DEM Party to the SS! If your Mama would have chosen like that you would not be reading this now would you? The new German pope supports Human Rights NOT abortion! All of these so called Human Rights Groups like AI and Human Rights Watch fall into these catagories as well in my opinion and people should wake up to the reality of many of these organizations! Sometimes the truth hurts!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Jack Smith says on Apr 19, 2005, 18:54:

Things are not as they seem? My point is this......the leaders of these so called not for profits are enriching themselves off of the backs of the poor of the third world. WRITE THEM AND SEE IF THEY WANT TO HELP YOUR POOR FAMILY IN COLOMBIA AND THEN ASK THEM IF THEY WANT YOUR $10,000 DONATION? What director of any non profit working in the third world should be making more than $100,000 in DONATED FUNDS when 3 year old MARIA is looking for food in a Guatemala City dump? If you want to waste your funds on these groups go for it but I will not! The only groups I respect are the medical teams and those that can be "poor but happy" on $100,000 or less while helping the destitute of the third world!

YOUR MONEY AND YOUR CHOICE!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Jack Smith says on Apr 19, 2005, 19:00:

Democrats and Republicans! A Democratic Politician in the US will promisee you the perfect society. Full employment, no poverty, peace, no pollution, love, no racism. Soon as you shake his or her hand and turn your back to them
they will stab you hard right in the back. The Republican will just walk up to you and sick it to you right away with no promises or no questions!
I will take the Republican cause I at least know what is coming!

What is the diference tween a DEM and a REP? The DEM has not been mugged yet!

I put my faith in God!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Mr. Hollywood says on Apr 19, 2005, 19:06:

Frothing Jack, man, get a grip. You're frothing.

The real issue when judging charities/ngos is not what they pay their CEO or President. It's this: Do you agree with their work and what percentage of their fundraising is actually delivered to the front lines.

If, say, a charity working with Colombian displaced people pays its NYC-based president a half a million a year but he is successful at raising $10 million per year, that's much better than one which pays its Kansas City based President $40,000 a year but he only raises $60,000 in contributions. In the end the "expensive" President delivers a LOT more value to both the group and the recipients of aid. Presidents of NGOs are paid for their ability to attract fundraising and their abilities to manage large, complex organizations. Those skills don't come cheap.

I agree with you, Jack, that there are a lot of bad apples in the NGO world, but I think you're barking up the wrong tree about executive salaries.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

miamimike says on Apr 19, 2005, 20:23:

Now these are Obscene Salaries...... Comments...

The AFL-CIO has just released the 2005 version of the Executive PayWatch website and database—and you’ve got to see what these guys are getting paid!


Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott presides over a company that just settled legal cases involving child labor violations (for $135,540) and hiring undocumented immigrants as janitors (for $11 million). Scott’s company still faces a massive sex discrimination class action suit and numerous legal actions accusing the company of forcing hundreds of thousands of Wal-Mart employees to work “off the clock.�

Wal-Mart’s in the hot seat for closing down a Canadian store rather than bargain with workers who voted to form a union. A former executive is accused of cheating on expense reimbursements to fund secret union-busting projects, according to The Wall Street Journal. Wal-Mart pays employees too little to keep a family of four out of poverty—and because of low wages, high costs and corporate manipulation, fewer than half of Wal-Mart workers have company health care coverage. But did Lee Scott get in trouble? No—he got a 2004 pay package worth almost $23 million!


An average Joe or Jane like us would work 901 years to match Lee Scott’s take for 2004 alone.

Scott is just one example of runaway CEO pay—and he’s not even at the top of the list of overpaid corporate execs. That spot is taken by Yahoo CEO Terry Semel, who raked in an unbelievable $109,301,385 (that’s million) in total compensation last year. In 2004, the average CEO of a major company received $9.84 million in total compensation—a 12 percent increase over 2003, compared with the inflation-ravaged 3.6 percent raise the average worker got.


Every dollar these CEOs are overpaid is a dollar that could be going to shareholders—including working folks saving for their retirement or to put a child through college. That’s why union pension funds are taking on runaway CEO pay right in the boardroom with shareholder proposals to limit stock options and tie CEO compensation to performance.


Take a minute to visit AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch. See what CEOs are taking home, how your pay compares—and what you can do to stop runaway CEO pay. Click here:


www.paywatch.org


Thanks for all you do for working families.





































































































































In solidarity,


Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO


April 13, 2005

"Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gas? That's interesting. I hadn't heard that." -- Feb. 28, 2008 --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

platano says on Apr 19, 2005, 20:44:

Miamimike, thanks for the reality check! I have always had the idea that there should be both a minimum wage and a maximum wage and the ratio should be something like 1:20. So if the executives wanted higher salaries they would have to give the lowest paid a raise, too.

Plátano X,
Platano,
Plátano
DISCLAIMER: I suffer dissociative personality disorder. ¡Tenga piedad!

plátano

0 funny, 0 helpful.

miamimike says on Apr 19, 2005, 22:59:

De Nada...A la orden Makes that $200,000 look pretty paltry doesn't it. How about that CEO of Yahoo's Salary-$109,301,385 Dollars-Yes Dollars not colombian Pesos.How in God's name can ANYONE be worth this kind of money? I mean when Lee Iacocca saved Chrysler back in the late 70s-and when he left several years later-people bitched about him because he exercised $23 Million worth of stock options(he got 1000s of shares at $3 and when he sold they were like $32 per share BUT he saved Thosands of workingmen's Jobs(and good one at that-they had pensions,healthcare,ect). He added Value to the company and when he left it was in WAY much better shape then when he took over. As this was a government bailout deal, a lot of people thougt the Federal Government would never get payed back but WRONG they were-Lee payed the loan back 10 years early and he handed then President Reagen a Check for the loan amount.

"Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gas? That's interesting. I hadn't heard that." -- Feb. 28, 2008 --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

kernow62 says on Apr 20, 2005, 17:09:

Yup, he has bashed everyone else. ja ja

0 funny, 0 helpful.

caslug says on Apr 20, 2005, 17:35:

Yeah, Jack let's round'em(Illegals) up and .. DEPORT their illegal asses. BTW, it won't just be Mexican/Latinos, but whole lots of european, asians, Candanians and such. But, let's concentrate Hispanics(illegals), so now US got rid of all of them. Now what?

US Companies now have to raise their prices for everything, housing, restaurants, groceries, etc., WHY? Because now they have to paid higher wages(good right?), BUT our cost of living is going to go up a lot more. Plus, lots of businesses will just shut down or MOVE overseas(if they haven't already). Economy will probably tank, stock market takes a dive, because company like Tyson Foods cost skyrocketed or loss major revenue due to higher prices.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

platano says on Apr 20, 2005, 21:23:

I'm still waiting for Jack to tell us what tribe he is from.... Apache, Cherokee, Sioux, etc.

With a name like Smith he must be an immigrant to the USA, unless there was a native American tribe giving out names like Smith.

Plátano

plátano

0 funny, 0 helpful.

elmodefoque says on Apr 21, 2005, 11:26:

A day with out illegal Mexicans in NYC. All restaurant will be closed immediately, all Korean groceries will also be closed and many, many, too many to mention will come to a halt. Forget Colombians, they think they’re too good for those jobs. If by some miracle you find a restaurant that’s open, you will have to take your lazy ass downstairs and pick up your food yourself. No welfare, crack head USA citizen is going to do that job for that kind of money. Irish and Italian union guys accustomed at making $37 dollars an hour will not come up and deliver your food for 5 bucks plus tips. It takes 5 of them to screw in a light bulb. One guy to supervise, the shop steward to make sure the supervisor is not over working his union members. Two guys to hold the ladder and one to screw the light bulb at a cost of nearly 500 dollars an hour between all of them.

over 5 million colombianos in USA and only 27 barranquilleros, i'm one.Curramba, el mejor vividero del mundo!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Tinto (Moderator) says on Apr 21, 2005, 11:36:

The movie has already been made ;-) Interesting topic and the movie is at Blockbuster, "una dia sin mexicanos"...mostly in English. Unfortunately, the movie sucks.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

kernow62 says on Apr 21, 2005, 11:45:

Can't be as bad as the Costa Rican film I saw last night!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

cali373 says on Apr 24, 2005, 08:29:

Democrats and Republicans! My friend Democrats and Republicans in the US are in the same bed together. Their God is the almight Greenback.

Tinto is correct. Let's try to keep individual U.S. politicians and parties out of the mix unless it's actually pertinent to a Colombia-related issue.

Smile if you are a thinker!

0 funny, 0 helpful.