Posted on 12/29/2004 3:18:36 PM PST by CHARLITE
As the sun rose over Tel Aviv this morning I again woke to the grumbling noise coming from the television about the tsunami disaster. The top stories every quarter hour this morning was no longer the death toll or that America is stingy, all that changed yesterday when the UN backed down from that idiotic remark. No the issue today is that President Bush is spending time on his ranch and that is insensitive to the victims of the disaster.
Presumably the BBC, and the other news stations took former President Bill Clintons comment, It is really important that somebody takes the lead in this, as criticism of President Bush for staying in Crawford, Texas instead of rushing back to Washington, D.C. to handle the situation. Bill Clinton, of all people, knows that multi-tasking is a skill that comes over time to every President.
While every death is a tragedy, (well, not every death since the BBC, other news outlets and even the United Nations have completely ignored the death of at least 17 Iraqis after an explosion left them dead in their country today) only eleven Americans died (so far) in the tsunamis in Asia.
It stands to reason that Britain and other European countries would be looking for aid for Asia because it is their citizens, not ours, who choose the Indian Ocean islands and the adjoining coastlines for their Christmas vacations. Americans tend to stay closer to home and vacationing in third world countries doesnt appeal to Americans as much as eating turkey and watching football with family.
There has been non-stop coverage of all the British dead, but no mention yet about American victims at least not from the BBC. The best they could do today is bring on a panel to talk about Clintons remark and replay it every 15 minutes so that the world could once again hear from the man that Europe loved and that America impeached.
America has pledged $35 million in aid, the European Union has pledged $40.5 million (by the way the UK has only given $773,000 and Prime Minister Tony Blair has yet to leave with jeans and a t-shirt to help clean up the beaches), Japan is giving $30 million, China $2.6 million, Australia $7.8 million and Singapore $1.2 million.
Taking population and affected people into account and the United States is again on top when it comes to giving aid to a needy people half way across the globe. Japan which is not far from the epicenter is 2nd. There are about 456 million people in the European Union and only 295 million people in America do the math and America is giving more and our people dont spend much time vacationing in poverty stricken enclaves just blocks from abject poverty we find that unseemly, but Europe loves it.
I thought that Europe (especially France and Germany) wanted to start taking a leadership role in the world and wanted America to acquiesce to their superior inclinations? Well Europe here is your chance!
If Europe cannot handle a relatively simple operation like getting aid to where their citizens spend their holidays playing in the sea why should America?
What happened to the old Europe we saw during the lead up to the war in Iraq that said that America was arrogant and should be resisted at every opportunity? Pride should dictate that France and Germany ought to try out how well this tremendous experiment called the European Union can handle a disaster since theyve had to deal with very little America handles war let them handle a flood or two.
Interestingly enough though is as I searched for the amount of aid that was sent to Florida after four hurricanes in six weeks by the European Union and other nations, I cant seem to find any.
Surely the Europeans must have sent something to Florida after the storms badly damaged her shores and left her people without homes, water, electricity or the coveted frois gras, but I just cannot find how much they sent.
There are about $30 million in outstanding parking tickets owed to the City of New York by diplomats stationed at the United Nations. Maybe they could pay a few of those off to help the struggling people of Clintons beloved Harlem to bring back midnight basketball to keep kids off the streets.
The most powerful man in the world can coordinate the government from anywhere in the world whether he is in Texas or Washington or Moscow or flying over Japan. The White House is not the center of power in the United States that power rests with the man holding the office and all the resources of the nation are at his disposal regardless of where he happens to be.
The government doesnt shut down when President Bush leaves the White House.
First came the criticism that America wasnt spending enough to help a region Americans dont visit, but Europeans do; then came the condemnation by talking heads on the BBC and some in the American press that Bush was insensitive because he didnt immediately pick up a shovel and start digging as if the money to help the region was not enough. Whats next?
Ive got it, France will find out that President Bush intends to ring in the New Year not with French champagne, but with good old American alcohol free sparkling wine from California! That will make the news Im sure of it.
The gall of those greedy Americans: they give more than any other nation on the planet, provide the impetus for freedom to those whove never had the opportunity (in blood, tears and treasure) and our President isnt in Asia, shovel in hand, to dig out the European tourists who got trapped in a third world country vacationing in places that nobody from any of those countries could ever afford!
As Ive written this piece a few more quarter hours news cycles have gone by and nary a word about the people killed in Iraq: only criticisms about President Bush, praise for former impeached President Clinton and the same video of the same tsunami that has been playing for the last three days with descriptions of all the Europeans who died in the tragedy.
Now theyve added the airport welcome homes of the British and German folks who made it out of those ruined resorts.
My question to the survivors and the BBC: why are your people coming home? They love to vacation there, but if it is the responsibility of President Bush to dig the people out, shouldnt Jacques, Gerhard and Tony be there right along side of him with your citizens handing them the shovels?
If only Bill Clinton were still in office he would have been on the ground crying with survivors, biting his lip NO WAIT, Clinton would have stopped the tsunami in the first place.
Cheers, mate.
Steve Yuhas is a columnist and radio talk show host on KOGO AM 600 in San Diego. He can be reached at steve@steveyuhas.com or http://www.steveyuhas.com
It's just the chattering classes talking to themselves...ignore them..
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Although I am a fan of stem winding speeches, when did slick not talk a tsunami?
Everyone is runing around asking why did this happen? The answer was posted earlier on FR.
you kidding me:
Go to Bill Clinton's blog
http://billclintondailydiary.blogspot.com
He has more nice words! ;)
I read some misguided persons comments about this disaster in the opinion section of the paper today. Effectively she was blaming the US and of course Bush for this widespread destruction. Here reasoning was that she thought a tsunami warning system would cost as much as a stealth bomber and it is the US fault for not giving them that technology, instead spending it on our military equipment that is used for destruction around the world. I saw red, to put it lightly.
I have resigned myself that the people who hate our president are indeed very misguided people. They hate the fact that he will stand up for his faith. They hate the fact that he has morals and values. They just plain hate.
Charles Krauthammer said it just right .. HE STUCK IT TO CLINTON FOR RWANDA .. AND THEN SAID .. "TALK IS CHEAP - BUSH WAS DOING THINGS".
And .. in case people didn't see it on the news .. some leader of one of the countries who was hardest hit - made the statement that it was President Bush who called FIRST - WHILE HE WAS ON VACACTION.
OH MY EYES!!!!
here's what that rat bast*rd had to say:
"It's a horrible thing to say, but I know my conservatives in the Republican party and they won't commit any resources to help in this effort if it doesn't directly benefit America. To them I would like to say that helping now will earn our country a lot of goodwill in Asia and amongst the biggest muslim country in the world Indonesia.
I also support the use of the military in this effort. First of all, it gives our troops a lot of chances to excercise and learn just in case something like that ever happens on our soil (which is possible geologically speaking) and build contacts locally. Which will benefit us in the war on terror."
I was blissfully ignorant of that web site - now I might have to creep over to it daily to see if it quivers...
The Presidents job is to Do Things. Thats what he is doing!
Besides - if the President had made an immediate appearance regarding the Tsunami is SE Asia....he would have been accused of taking advantage of a tradegy for Political purposes!
Put a sock in it liberals!
Absolutel correct..but to 99% of the Smerican people..it's a non-issue..
I have three words for Bubba: Oil For Food.
Why can't billyboy shut the hell up. I get really
sick of his garbage.
Between him and Hillary, you can't even find 1/2
a conscience.
He was one the the worst presidents we even have.
Hillary doesn't deserve to lick the manure from Bush's Presidential Cowboy boots.
She is a disgrace (no model for me or any women I know). Just look at her fair weather attitude towards her loyatly to New York.
If I was a New Yorker, I would be ashamed to have her as a Senator.
Bill is a skirt-chasing pig. No shame. Rotten to the core.
No, wait it must be Zionists who created tsumani
Can someone tell me where's a good place to give money to disaster aid?
Still trying to convience us that the Universe revolves around him!!!
This guy has got more BS than a busted Sewer Line!!
Again, this is one of the Clintons political tricks. They pulled this junk all of the time. They just can't let well enough alone. They are trying to erode bit by bit.
Is that Clinton Blogspot for real? If so, it's totally entertaining. The guy is still delusional. If not, it's an amazing scam.
And it's very telling that like only 2-3 people actually answer him each day, LOL! I thought he was beloved by MILLIONS! (The highest number of comments I saw in a single day was 18!) You'd think that blog would be the busiest on the net, the way some still worship that impeached POS. Criminey.
Set me straight, would ya?
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