Stupid Is as Stupid Does

This is ripe: The United Nations Blog is whining that a single independent blogger is calling attention to its mismanagement and corruption (how's that new job going Kojo? Invest in any more soccer teams recently?). From their website: UN Dispatch:

20% of Roger L. Simon's blog entries during the month of April make reference to the Oil-for-Food controversy.

0% of Roger L. Simon's blog entries during April make reference to the following UN-related issues:

And the entry goes and lists 13 items that the U.N. is doing. Let's look at the first four -- I am not cherry picking, I am looking at the first four items: Tackling the threat of transnational organized crime This is a press release from a news agency IPS talking about another conference that the U.N. is involved with. They like conferences especially ones in nice places like Thailand. One excerpt -- Costa is Antonio Maria Costa, director-general of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC):

At the same time, Costa also called for more commitment to take on the scourges of corruption and human trafficking by strengthening the criminal justice systems in countries.

Countries need "proper legislation, honest courts, skilled and aggressive prosecutors and adequate detention facilities" to fight crime or oppose corruption, he said. "Whether we fight crime, or oppose corruption, or struggle against trafficking of people or protect innocent civilians against deadly terrorist attacks, one particular goal stands out: the need to strengthen criminal justice systems the world over."

Decent sentiments -- any teeth to your snarl? Nice try gummy. Shipping supplies to millions of Iraqi schoolchildren This is the shopping list of what the United Nations has shipped over to Iraq to take care of millions of schoolchildren.

The United Nations Children�s Fund (UNICEF) shipped 5,612,257 student kits, 201,416 cartons of chalk, and 5,106,885 school bags for primary and intermediate-level schoolchildren in Iraq from the start of the Iraq War in 2003 through November 2004

Great -- while you have been seeing to those critical issues of chalk, student kits and bags, the Coalition has been taking care of good food, clean water, textbooks, teachers, clothing, medical supplies, working electricity and sewage, building materials, telephones, radio and television, movie theaters, highway repair. Nice of you to chip in -- thanks for all of your efforts. Controlling the Marburg virus Here we start to fall into the Abyss -- this present outbreak of the Marburg virus SEEMS to be declining but which agency should take credit for this and which agency is issuing a P.R. statement sounding like it was the cure.

Medical teams trying to stamp out the worst recorded incidence of Marburg virus in Angola are beginning to get the deadly outbreak under control as cooperation from stricken communities improves, the U.N. health agency said Saturday.

The virus, closely related to the feared Ebola virus, has caused hemorrhagic fever in 266 people and killed 244 of them since March, when the outbreak first came to the attention of health authorities.

As communities began to understand the dangers of the virus, though, the number of new cases dropped from an average of 35 per week to 15, the World Health Organization reported.

"This is good news, but it doesn't mean the outbreak is over," said Dr. Fatoumata Diallo, the WHO representative in Angola.

"The chain of transmission is being broken as we speak. However, this is the most critical time now in the response," said Dr. Mike Ryan, the WHO's top outbreak specialist from the agency's headquarters in Geneva. "Continuing and intensifying the effort is what we need to do now, not relax."

The emphasis on the words The chain of transmission is mine. The chain of transmission could have been broken months ago if they had proper sanitation and medical supplies at the hospital. The current outbreak started in October 2004. Finally:

Building thousands of homes for tsunami victims Sounds great but let's follow the money: UNDP and UN-Habitat to Spend $36,1m to Build 9,000 Houses in Aceh
Banda Aceh, detikcom � UNDP in cooperation with UN-Habitat will spend $36,1 million to build 9,000 houses for Aceh tsunami survivors. UNDP will contribute $10 million to the joint fund. To start the program, UNDP has launched another program to sort out tsunami garbage, to find materials that can be used for the housing construction.

"We will provide up to Rp 30 juta ($3,200) for each family who no longer have any house. Currently we are in the process of selecting who will receive the fund," Imogen Wall of UNDP told reporters in Banda Aceh on Friday. And to provide additional material for the houses, UNDP has start the garbage recycling program.

The article continues to point out that they are recycling the "garbage" as they put it and making additional money off of it. And the monies for the housing: 9,000 houses at $3,200 each equals $28.8 Million. And we are talking about a cash input of $36.1 Million plus getting a revinue stream from the "garbage". Wonder where the $7.3 Million Plus is going -- administrative costs? Teenage hookers? Chalk? I am not dogpiling on the UN for no reason -- it has assumed the mantle of being a world governance organization and one of these is needed but as long as they continue to act like little kleptocratic children, their relevance will be gone. Physician, heal thyself!