Posted on 01/05/2005 4:53:00 PM PST by Congressman Billybob
John / Billybob
Our efforts truly deserve more good news like this. Thank you.
"no President should call the French “ungrateful, arrogant, unwashed b*stards.”
I agree. So please allow me.
The French are ungrateful, arrogant, unwashed bastards.
As of today, the UN is in charge of relief efforts.
The story behind that should be fascinating.
I will wait for another book like Patrick Moynihan's A dangerous Place.
Ditto!
I respectfully have to disagree here, Congressman.
The UN Oil For Fraud program is a perfect example you can negotiate with a mass murderer if you have something he wants and are willing to be bought off for it.
You and a mass murderer (under the right circumstances) can scratch each others' backs and mutually get something out of it.
Try that approach with a tsunami wave!
The President does not hold the nation's purse strings, Congress does. The President cannot simply unilateraly allocate funds to this disaster. In fact, I understand the $350 million he did pledge was the entire amount previously appropriated by Congress in the budget for all emergency relief (including domestic tornados, hurricanes and earthquakes.) His initial pledge of $35,000 must have been an allocation they originally found that could be unsed for foreign relief purposes. I understand that the President's pledge has now been approved by the newly covened Congress.
Detractors of the President's actions lack a fundamental understanding of how our governmental system works.
I haven't seen the details. Maybe it's just a cosmetic sop. All the people DELIVERING the aid should be Americans, wearing American uniforms. The people who are getting help should know where that aid is coming from
Billybob
It is unconstitutional to take our tax money and give it to foreigners. That is left to the states and the people.
Altho I'm sure the tsunami tragedy is severe, and not wanting to sound like a sceptic, just how in the world are they coming up with these 140,000 dead figures? Is the world getting scammed? Is there really any way to come up with these incredible figures? Is it remotely possible that, especially since the UN wants to be the distributor of the largess (viz. Oil for Food), maybe this is a big-time money grab by the 3rd world, and that perhaps many people are going to get incredibly rich from this? Is there a major redistribution of wealth occurring right now? Am I being sinful with my doubting mind?
Yes, this tragedy is real. It will only turn into a giant scam if the UN gets its hands on the money.
Billybob
A few additional notes:
* The US, with our solid traditions of independent, individual, private, tax deductable giving, naturally has a low *government aid* figure vis a vis this disaster than the Euro nanny states. I read that we are over 200M in terms of non governmental giving, *thus far* in the US!
* How much are our military efforts to render aid costing? That's no chump change. Gee, how many German, French, Swedish and Norwegian ships, choppers and planes are down there right now? Hmmmmmm ......
* Now for the non PC. A number of the governments besides Indonesia both knew about the high probability of a tsunami strike and did nothing. In the case of Thailand, there was apparently fear that a false alarm would be bad for tourism. Not sure what the deal was with India and Sri Lanka. In any case, if *I* had been sitting there, knowing there had been a subduction zone earthquake off of Sumatra, I would have issued a warning. People in high places in every affected country knew about the earthquake minutes after it happened, what with all the seismo stuff on the web these days. Hmmmmm ....
* Well, the images of our real, substantial, hands on aid cannot be stopped. I heard Mr. Coffee stayed on the ski slopes for a few days after the disaster. Hmmmmmmm ....
When did this meeting take place? I thought it was before the election. Was it more recent than that?
"Am I being sinful with my doubting mind?"
No. You have every reason to believe an ample portion of any given funds will be misappropriated.
You are sane. Praise the Lord and give thanks for it.
I dunno, congersman, them demmycrats got away with rape, adultery, watching Rwanda tear itself to bits, and selling secret military technology to our enemies. It's not a fur stretch to expect them to believe that they think they can extend the same longevity to ol' Kofi.
How many vietnamese people were bombed, shot and killed by US army?
Please tell us more about natural disasters more important that the last tsunami in south asia. Which ones?
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