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[i'm stealing this from my friend Charlie. more than worth taking a gander at. also more than worth reflecting on.]

The Haiti thing sucks, I agree. I'm glad that Americans were able to band together in a common cause of helping people. It restores a little of my faith in humanity.

The same thing happened when Katrina hit the gulf coast. (New Orleans is not yet rebuilt, btw.)

So what I don't understand is how the media and Hollywood types choose which disasters to make famous, and which ones to ignore.

Two weeks ago, an ice storm hit the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, which is in the poorest county in the entire U.S. It has left 14,000 people without electricity and clean water. The wind chill is -45 degrees. The only way some residents can get around is by horseback.

They've been completely overwhelmed, like any other sovereign nation or sovereign state or even like what's happening in Haiti right now, they've been devastated that their communication, transportation, power, water, they've all been shut down. 

The needs here outstrip the resources. Without power or water, some tribal residents are boiling snow in wood stoves to get drinking water. Areas where water is restored are seeing frozen pipes and indoor flooding.

I want to know why this isn't on the news every day and every night. I want to know why I can't donate $10 to help these people by sending a text message. I want to know why famous Hollywood actors aren't holding a telethon to raise money for these people. I consider myself fairly up to speed in terms of current events, but this report on NPR Friday evening was the first I'd even heard of this. 

Are South Dakotans less deserving of our aid than Hatians? Is this natural disaster not sexy enough for the country to give a crap about?

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