Am I Heartless?..........or What? - (Fed up with the world's ingratitude!)

You know, the disaster in Asia is a terrible thing but I ask you, other than the number of dead, didn't we have several major disasters hit us in the very recent history? We had hurricanes go through our Southern States and wipe out a lot of structures? We lost Billions of dollars worth of just about everything, including crops. Oil rigs were shut down in the Gulf of Mexico, pushing the price of crude oil to Americans higher.

The reason we didn't suffer the great loss of life is because we have developed the technology along with the rest of our innovation that put in place a warning system to alert us of coming disasters and we react in a way that loss of life is help to a minimum.

The reasons behind many of these Asian countries having such a great loss of life is that even though the warnings were given, that a great event had occurred in the Pacific Ocean and that danger was imminent, some of these Asian Countries failed to warn their people for fear of loosing the tourist dollar. They had no system of their own in place to detect such a problem. They would rather build new beaches for tourists to visit. They would rather line their Monarchy’s pockets with green-backs than to build systems to protect them selves.

The U.N. gets on OUR national television networks and claims the U.S. is stingy when it came to acting upon this disaster by not sending more MONEY.... Note, they didn't say anything about supplies just MONEY. Bush is bashed for riding his dirt bike on his ranch and not jumping off and doing something right then and there but, Kofi Annan extends his skiing vacation in Colorado and nothing is said about and he say nothing about it for several days after the fact.

The U.S. pledged some $35 million for starters of OUR tax dollars to aid in the relief program, then France steps in and makes it sound like an auction to whom the spoils of the rebuilding contracts will be given. They brought in a new bid of $52 million and then boasted about it. Did someone forget to tell them that something like $80 million of private American money was also added to the pot bring our total (for starters) to roughly $115 million. The EU has made a pledge of something like $7 million and that includes, I think, 17 countries. Hell Australia did better than that by them selves as did Japan. Kofi Annan should take some of that money skimmed off the "Oil for Food" program and do all the rebuilding. What the hell good is the U.N. anyway?

Where is China in this mess? They have openly claimed they will be the largest world economy and military. Russia is right in there with them helping them to pull this off. Where are these people,s support? I'll tell you where, it's right there in their own countries taking care of their own local welfare. That's how the U.S. better start dealing with the rest of the world. The only time we are a good country is when we are handing out money to others who are too damn lazy or to greedy lining their own pockets with cash to set up the necessary systems to protect their citizens.

How many world dollars came to America after the 9/11 attacks? How many world dollars came to Amerce when the hurricanes hit our shores? Who came to our rescue to search the rubble for bodies? That takes care of the East Coast tragedies now let's look at the fires we've had recently. Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and California, hundreds of thousands of acres charred black, homes and lives lost, where was the outside support? The lumber that could have been harvested was turned into nothing but burnt match sticks; you can thank the environmentalists for that. NOPE, no outside money came in for that.

We were attacked by Japan and they turned Pearl Harbor into an underwater grave yard, did they help rebuild that after the war? NO!! But what did we do, we built Japan back better than they would ever have done. How about Europe, after the war we rebuilt them, now we are doing the same thing in Iraq and Afghanistan. We send billions of TAX dollars to Africa to fight AIDS but do they care enough for their own people to do anything? The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan if from West Africa, Kumasi, Ghana to be exact, how much money has he or the U.N. applied to the fight of AIDS on HIS own continent?

I feel it's high time that we tell the rest of the world to go to hell. If they are unwilling to protect and support themselves, well it's just too damn bad. Their people will have to take up those issues with their Governments. It's time to tell the U.N. and the E.U. we will not compete with them as we know we are better at everything we set our minds to do. It's funny, we are the youngest of the nations of the world and yet we are the strongest and most innovative, but that won't last much longer at the rate we are letting the rest of the world walk (STOMP) all over us. You can't tell me that only the brightest minds left their home lands to come to America

We have cars, planes, and electricity from thinkers and tinkerers, all Americans. These people weren't rocket scientists; we didn't have rockets back then. We invented the steam engine and the gas engine and then went on to invent computers.

I sent out what was supposed to be a joke, not long ago. I had to do with a class reunion or something like that where one of the young people was trying to mock the elder. The youngster chided, "We have computers, rockets, planes... etc, it went on, and the youngster asked what they did back in the old days, since they didn't have these devices. The elder replied, "Nope! We didn't have all of those things so WE invented them, what was his generation going to give to the Country?" Now I ask what are these other countries doing to improve themselves? Not a damn thing because they know that the good old U.S. of A. will come to their rescue if something happens. Maybe it's time we stop and make them stand on their own 2 feet. If Africa doesn't give a damn about their AIDS problem, why should we?

"We have cars, planes, and electricity from thinkers and tinkerers, all Americans. These people weren't rocket scientists; we didn't have rockets back then. We invented the steam engine and the gas engine and then went on to invent computers."

Well, not exactly. Nobody is a more fervent fan of American invention and ingenuity, BUT...

Of all the inventions you list, "planes" are the only really American innovation. The term "electricity" was first coined by Gilbert, a 17th century Englishman, and the first electric motor built by Faraday, another Brit. Benz, a German, is generally credited with building the first gasoline-powered car, and Brown (British) the first gasoline engine. The steam engine was invented by Watt, a Scotsman, and the first real "computer" by Turing, another Brit. Rockets were developed by the Chinese, and a Russian, Tsiolkovsky, is considered the "Father of Modern Aeronautics", predating Goddard.

Americans have made critical developments in making all of these things more practical, efficient, and useful, but to say they wouldn't exist without us is a huge stretch.

To a certain extent I agree.
However I would like like to know why the so super humanitarian UN hasn't done something earlier to at least help mitigate something of this nature. They pull in billions of dollars but what good comes out except expensive meals and meetings around the world to discuss what to do about the US and so called global warming.
IT appears that they missed completely. They have been going after the peaceful giant because they feel inadequate but have proven their inadequacy by ingoring the people who need them most.
Rwanda comes to mind. Wasn't the toll over 800,000?
Why didn't the great UN at least try to devise some sort of tsunami plan or warning system for countries too poor.
What about placing huge concrete pilings under water outside beaches to slow down tsunami waves.
Do something. Just don't sit around and complain that the US is stingy when they have done nothing except demand more money.

The more things change the more they stay the same. The following is an editorial given by Canadian Gordon Sinclair
in 1973

"The Americans" The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany.

It has declined there by 41% since 1971 and this Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least-appreciated people in all the earth.

As long as sixty years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtse. Who rushed in with men and money to help?

The Americans did.

They have helped control floods on the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges and the Niger. Today, the rich bottom land of the Misssissippi is under water and no foreign land has sent a dollar to help.

Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy, were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of those countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.

When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.

When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States that hurries into help... Managua Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples. So far this spring, 59 American communities have been flattened by tornadoes. Nobody has helped. The Marshall Plan .. the Truman Policy .. all pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now, newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent war-mongering Americans. I'd like to see one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplanes. Come on... let's hear it!

Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tristar or the Douglas 107? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all international lines except Russia fly American planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or women on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy and you find men on the moon, not once, but several times ... and safely home again. You talk about scandals and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everyone to look at. Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, most of them ... unless they are breaking Canadian laws..are getting American dollars from Ma and Pa at home to spend here. When the Americans get out of this bind ... as they will... who could blame them if they said 'the hell with the rest of the world'. Let someone else buy the Israel bonds, Let someone else build or repair foreign dams or design foreign buildings that won't shake apart in earthquakes.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke. I can name to you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble?

I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake. Our neighbours have faced it alone and I am one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of these. But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians.

And finally, the American Red Cross was told at its 48th Annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke. This year's disasters .. with the year less than half-over… has taken it all and nobody...but nobody... has helped.

ORIGINAL SCRIPT AND AUDIO COURTESY STANDARD BROADCASTING CORPORATION LTD. (c) 1973 BY GORDON SINCLAIR

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.