I find it odd that the victims (with enough on their hands, God bless them) are keeping track that it took the President of the United States 4 whole days to speak in public...I wonder if the victims can further tell me how long it took the Presidents of France, Germany, Mata, Ireland, Sweden, Russia, Ethiopia, etc. to speak as well? Perhaps, they can give us updates on the Rockets? Those poor victims must have been clinging to their HDTV's in feverent anticipation of the moment our great President would speak...The minute by minute agony of watching the T.V. till he spoke must have been like waiting for 4 more years! God bless them!
Do all of those countries have an image problem WRT to the Muslim world? And although you might think they all live in huts and have no electricity or media of their own, you would be incorrect. Indonesia has a population of about 240,000,000, and the majority who were unaffected directly by the tsunami can still watch their TVs and read their newspapers. Moot sarcasm, TJ minor.
Okay,....letsee You posted that you never said the President or the U.S. is stingy and reading previous posts would demonstrate your belief otherwise...I logically take the "otherwise" in taciturn towards the U.S. or President being stingy part... So,...I read your previous posts with tepid, optimistic anticipation that there might be merit to what seems so far as a series of simple, yet blatant, gripe-filled posts based on poor subjective, and pre-judgemental speculation... Unfortunately, I see in a prior post that your belief is stanced in disbelief of the U.S. or the President giving as much or more than anyone else until objective proof positive is presented to you... In other words, you don't believe cited numbers which clearly indicate we give more to the worldwide community, tragedy or not, year in and year out to other nations, international communities, and other noteworthy organizations than any other country...This stance in no part demonstrates the otherwise...If you feel disbelief as such, this coincides with how "stinginess" is inferred...
Let's try to f o c u s ... Here's what I said: Then and only then will I be convinced that we don't give as much or more than anyone else. Please reread until you comprehend it.
I see where I had a tad of selective reading, because the issue at hand was "US & Bush Embarrassing on Tsunami aid"...and it is clear your gripe is not the fact we give...You even say in crystal clear indication you believe we give as much or more than anyone else...Your gripe is on the timing of public empathy by the President....You state a public address would serve as a concrete foundation of outreach to the international community. I would like to think actions speak louder than words, and if you profess to believe what you say, then you realize we reach out and help better than anyone...In today's world, words mean spit. Your word means spit. Your actions say it all..., and if it is evident in history, Is it not apparent past performance is indicative of future results? In other words, the help, the outreach is a foregone conclusion for us to demonstrate, and execute to others in need...I would have appreciated a same day, or one day public address, but realistically was the magnitute, and full assessment determined in the same day, one day, or even two days? I think not...Sure, President Bush should have made it a tad quicker on a public address than 4 days, but this is not anywhere near an embarassment, especially when the public address was made to the international community with sincere empathy...I'm sorry, but I fail to see the screw-up??? I'm sure help was already on the way even before the speech was dry... Furthermore, why should we "guarantee our support", when every past performing indication is that such support will be forthcoming? Our reaction was in accordance with the complete assessment...
BTW, I'm sure a lot of Indonesian T.V. watchers over there have proclaimed a relief and absolute joy to hear that President Bush spoke with sincere, heartfelt sympathy...and that their happiness of him/us granting so much funds was overwhelming,...but we won't hear any such leading questions from CNN will we? No, no we won't... Meanwhile, keep thinking we've done nothing to gain in the international world!...It will be easier to spot the disillusioned among us...
Must be tough. It took you several rereads to get it, and now that you finally understand that your claim of 'masquerading your anti-Bush political agenda' was shown baseless, you cannot even muster a simple retraction. Weak.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1274907.htm Humanitarian response hampers aid efforts An Indonesian child stands in a makeshift camp for displaced survivors of the earthquake and tsunami in Banda Aceh. Reuters By Anne Barker in Jakarta and wires The massive humanitarian response to the tsunami disaster in the Indonesian province of Aceh is apparently being held back by the sheer number of relief agencies arriving in the country. The inflow of aid workers and emergency supplies is creating huge bottlenecks in Northern Sumatra. In recent days many hundreds of aid workers have flown in from all over the world from the United Nations right down to the smallest agencies. Mountains of aid are also piling up in Jakarta and Medan in northern Sumatra. A Red Cross official says its Jakarta office has been swamped by thousands and thousands of boxes of food. He says the sheer number of aid personnel coming in is slowing down the entire relief operation creating unnecessary bottlenecks in Medan and Banda Aceh city. Aid authorities in Aceh face other more serious problems in moving aid from the airport to the thousands of victims in desperate need.
We should be ignoring Glynch's threads. Their like broken records repeating the same anti-establishment themes.
I'm no fan of the current Admin. and they certainly could do more. Now isn't the time IMO to start criticising them but to focus on getting as much private and public aid.
just curious...why do u think the administration could do more? what else do u want them to do? they are encouraging public donations and they are prepared to spend up to a billion as it stands now. plus we are sending over a ton of supplies...so what else could we do in your eyes? remember there are more countries in the world and they have just as much of a responsibility to help as we do.
To call any country which pays for the majority of the operating costs of the useless UN and accounts for about 60% of the aid given to the world stingy is just stupid. Oh wait it's because it's a smaller portion of our income. So for those of you that believe this garbage I pose a scenario: I pass a homeless person on the street and even though i only have 200 dollars in my bank account I give them $100 dollars. Bill Gates passes the same homeless person and gives them $10,000 dollars. If what you guys say is true, it's better for the homeless person to receive my $100 because it's a bigger sacrifice for me. Bull crap. People are forgetting that what really matters is the amount of money donated. Sure it's nice and easy to call the US stingy because of our smaller percentage of GDP (which isn't that much different from other countries) but let's realize that total dollar amount is what really matters. And more than half of that total dollar amount is given by the US. ... happy hunting
I normally do not post in the D&D section with all the poo flinging, but I do hope that this disaster in Asia at the very least brings the topic of international aid to the forefront of people's minds. While I would like all countries, not just the US, to contribute as much as possible to international relief efforts (and not just in immediate crisis situations such as this one but in Sudan and other places), it is nice just to have a dialogue be opened up. In fact, this has really opened my eyes to charitable contributions in general. I make very little right now, but with the recent events I realize how fortunate I am compared to others around the world who are in so much need. With the internet, it is quite easy to donate to your favorite charitable organizations, and I hope people take the opportunity to see whether they as individuals can contribute. One thing (and not the only thing mind you) that America has always been good at is in private charitable contributions to both national and international organizations. Ok I am going to duck out of all of the poo flinging now.
The number of casualties have increased on a daily basis and our contributions have increased as the situation has unfolded. Is $350 million enough? I`m not sure since I dont know how its going to be dispersed and what % is going for direct aid and what % is going for rebulilding the infrastructure. Its a good start
