This is aid?: winter jackets for tropical Sri Lanka, stiletto heels…Viagra

[kskiska]

GALLE, Sri Lanka- At the main warehouse in Galle, mountains of cardboard boxes and suitcases ready to burst take up a quarter of the cavernous building.

Some are labeled ``Aid for Tsunami Victims,'' but their contents - winter jackets, expired cans of salmon, stiletto shoes, winter tents, thong panties and even Viagra - have left Sri Lankans scratching their heads.

Unprecedented aid poured in after the Dec. 26 tsunami, but some of those wanting to help were perhaps too eager, shipping items of no use in tropical Sri Lanka. And seven weeks after the disaster, no one knows what to do with some supplies piled up at government buildings, aid agencies and refugee camps.

``These items just cannot be used here,'' said storekeeper H. Wickremabandara, noting the average temperature is 82 degrees. ``There are all these old clothes and no one wants them.''

more…
http://news.bostonherald.com/international/view.bg?articleid=68133

[cthrumatrix]

1. NO -- this is called "corporate tax breaks" .... donations = less taxes

each of these companies should be made public and if CBS (or MSM) had any "balls"....they would report on each one.

[TahitiNut]

15. Well, we can't discriminate between corporations, can we?

After all, penalizing them and denying them the opportunity to get the tax credits just because their products (or excess inventory?) are useless would be discriminatory, right? Heaven forbid that any civil right be denied a corporation. After all, only human beings deserve to have their civil rights curtailed, right?

WelKome to Korporatist AmeriKa.

[NYC]

18. That's exactly what it is.

Tax deductions for donations and obsolete merchandise.

Imagine sending them expired cans of salmon. Will they become ill from it?

[Redstone]

2. Well, at least the Viagra

will let them forget their troubles for a little while.

Redstone

[KingoftheJungle]

9. should help repopulate the area too

[donco6]

11. They probably ship more Viagra than we do.

US price = $3.00 dose
Indian price = $1.00 dose.

Don't ask me why I know.

[benddem]

12. OK n/t

[IndianaGreen]

3. This is why one should always donate money to NGOs

that are assisting in the disaster relief, such as Oxfam.

During the relief effort to the victims of hurricane Mitch, the warehouses were full of stuff that could not be used or shipped to the victims.

Donate money!

[jdj]

4. this is why they ask for money, not donations of goods.

[CrispyQ]

5. And the people that sent this useless stuff are

patting themselves on their backs for their charity.

[burn the bush]

10. taking a tax deduction for the retail value of those items that they were

most likely going to throw out anyway?

[OneBlueSky]

6. maybe they can use the Viagra on their crops . . .

grow some bodacious cucumbers, no? . . .

[chieftain]

7. Another case of life imitating art

In the old tv show WKRP in Cincinnati , Johnny Fever explains to Venus Fly Trap how Mr. Carlson used the Nicaraguan earthquake as a dumping ground for thousands of Dolly Parton wigs left over from a failed promotion . The mendacity of some corporate types never ceases to amaze but this is pretty low but as noted utterly predictable .

[THUNDER HANDS]

8. winter jackets, stilleto's and viagra?

Well, at least we know Dick Cheney made a donation.

[pfitz59]

13. ROTFLMAO!

Ooooh, the imagery is frightening!

[arwalden]

14. Similar To Folks Who Donate Jalopy Cars, And Claim A Tax Credit ...

of the car's value if it had been in pristine mechanical condition with a factory-fresh paint job.

[Senior citizen]

16. I remember being in Afghanistan,

where all the Moslem men wore beards, and they got a shipment of U.S. aid full of shaving cream that they had no use for whatsoever.

[Stop_the_War]

17. How about FOOD as aid?

Did they ever think of that???

[NYC]

19. Yes, they thought of salmon beyond its expiration date.

Some are labeled ``Aid for Tsunami Victims,'' but their contents - winter jackets, expired cans of salmon, stiletto shoes, winter tents, thong panties and even Viagra - have left Sri Lankans scratching their heads.

Just what people in a weakened condition need, illness-causing food.