Every now and then I feel compelled to piss and moan about how tough things are for me. Then I see the reports from Haiti, and my life doesn’t seem so bad after all. They’ve run out of room for mass burials in places, and have had to resort to burning the dead. And the dead might be the lucky ones, compared to the thousands who are injured and dehydrated in the sweltering heat without clean water. There are few (if any) doctors on the ground so far – volunteers and donations are pouring in, but getting everything to where it’s needed is a logistical nightmare. I saw an Army medical corpsman who was with just one of many of them. He’s spent hours stitching up this man’s face and pulling the maggots from his head injury, but the man’s arm was totally crushed from the shoulder down, and without a surgeon to take the arm off, he won’t last long. On the bright side, the Haitian disaster coverage ratings are in, and Fox wins! They easily beat out both CNN and MSNBC. I’m so glad somebody’s keeping track of what’s really important in all this. NBC is fighting back by sending Lester Holt down there this morning. I guess maybe they think he’ll fit in a little better with the natives. Jon Stewart chided Rachel Maddow for pointing out that bolstering USAID has been a major part of the Obama Administration’s agenda – in contrast to the Bush years.

“Not the right time!” Stewart shouted. “Congratulations MSNBC viewers, you’re on the right side… of this terrible, terrible tragedy.”

Personally, I don’t think it’s in any way wrong to point out that Bush and Cheney sat around with their thumbs up each others’ asses for eight years, responding to crises grudgingly (if at all), with their main concern being how somebody could make a profit off it. We all remember the pitiful Katrina response in New Orleans, of course, and you may recall that, after the Christmas Tsunami, Bush announced a ridiculously embarrassing $35 million in aid for the area before being shamed into doing more (to be fair, there’s weren’t a whole lotta white folks involved in either of those – and, as Bush’s mommy noted, the whole Katrina thing worked out really well for all those little picaninnies from The Big Easy). But congratulations, Jon and you Daily Show viewers, you’re above all that. Truly, you’re the ones on the “right side” of this.

Speaking of being shamed into doing the right thing, Visa, American Express, PayPal, and others have decided to waive their customary fees on donations to the relief fund at places like Save the Children. I sure as hell hope the money is actually getting to the people who need it.

Oh well, time to go and play with my Bench Cookies.