Posted on 01/02/2005 4:00:27 PM PST by wagglebee
Columnist Charles Krauthammer blasted U.N. officials and other America-bashers Sunday morning for trying to paint the U.S.'s foreign aid contribution as "stingy" in the wake of the Asia tsunami disaster - especially since the facts prove exactly the opposite.
"We are six percent, or less, of the world's population," Krauthammer told his fellow "Fox News Sunday" panelists. "We give almost half [of the global foreign aid]. ... We give 60 percent of all the food aid on the planet."
And that's not all: "We maintain a military infrastructure that keeps the peace in the world," he noted. "We are the only people who do that."
"It's simply irresponsible to talk about the United States as anything other than the most generous nation in the world," Krauthammer said.
The conservative columnist was responding to "FNS" panelist Ceci Connolly, who suggested that U.S. aid contributions were stingy in comparison to the nearly $1 billion of federal relief that poured into the state of Florida during last year's hurricane epidemic, which killed a mere 100 Americans.
Using Connolly's math, a contribution proportionate to the 120,000 deaths reported so far in the tsunami crisis would compel the U.S. to donate $1.2 trillion in disaster relief to the affected countries.
At the risk of sounding callous, we should be spending more on aid for Americans than we do in foreign disasters.
How much UN aid or aid from any other countries made it to Florida? I'm betting it was $0.0.
Connolly should rethink her math.
I saw him do this today. It was sweeeeeeet! It's the second time in a week that he's slapped Ceci down with the facts. Of course, she had no idea what she was slapped with. Ceci has never seen a fact before.
I would just hope that some enterprising young journalist woult quote these facts to Jan Egeland and ask him for his opinion
You know what was best about that whole exchange. Even Juan Williams, the resident liberal whiner, ripped her on how generous the US is.
I'd be satisfied if we would just limit immigration such that all America-born Americans could actually find jobs. Why do we insist on artificially supporting land owners and multinational businessmen with depressed labor costs? That's not capitalism, it's anti-Americanism.
Sure we help the world. Why do we have to invite them here, too? I'm tired of this outmoded "give me your tired" business.
Still the same. $0.0
Exactly. It never occurs to Cici (or any other lib) that the US foots the entire bill for its own catastrophes. If the MSM had spent less time bitching about, politicizing and second-guessing the Bush administration's hurricane relief efforts they might have noticed the utter lack of even a polite offer of assistance from a single foreign government.
We are the world's Little Red Hen, except that after planting, growing and harvesting the wheat, grinding it into flour and baking the bread, we give the bread away and get blamed that it isn't enough, doesn't meet cultural expectations and there's no butter.
Bingo.
She works for the factual-challenged WPost!!
It's not her math, it's Carl's.
Sounds like common sense to me.
I would like to ask Conolly, Annan, and Egeland how much foreign aid the state of Florida received for its hurricane damage. Also, how much foreign aid does the U.S. receive for tornado damage? On second thought, don't bother asking them. The answer "none" will stick to the roof of their mouths like peanut butter.
We are the world's Little Red Hen, except that after planting, growing and harvesting the wheat, grinding it into flour and baking the bread, we give the bread away and get blamed that it isn't enough, doesn't meet cultural expectations and there's no butter. WestTexasWend
Brilliant and needs repeating.
And yet, I'm buying Meijer brand everything. Go figure.
Nothing callous, there. Nothing. We had better be taking care of our own first.
When Charles mentioned the ' US has 6% of the world population, but provides more than 60% of the world aid', Cici tried to quickly recover with, 'but we use most of the world's resources', which I thought was a typically liberal tactic of changing the topic to something that has no bearing on anything.
The US turned the OVERWORKED,AMAZINGLY HEROIC crew and the entire group of the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN around the instant it happened. Most don't know the ABE was forced to stay 8 months near Iraq (it was on the end of a 3 month tour, ready to go home), providing air support 24-7, during one of the worst duststorms in the Middle East. All other ship were forced to flee the storm. No other air or ground forces could help much. Visibility was down to something like 6 feet.
The LINCOLN was at FULL SPEED running ahead of the storm, requiring it's pilot's to chase down the ship, landing in low visibility, on a tossing ship, with the runway not oriented for landing. Every foray out, the ship got farther and farther away. The Captain was worried that the storm would overtake them. If it did, the pilots would be forced to ditch, and the ship couldn't go back for them in time, and finding them would have been a miracle, if it could.
This is why BUSH landed on the carrier. Anyone who thinks that landing a jet on an AC, in best conditions, with the AC oriented, and sitting completely still, is easy, has never landed one.
You hit the deck, hoping you snag the cable. Before you even know if you did, you must hit full throttle on the engine(s), in case you miss. When the cable snags, you are jerked to a stop with neck wrenching speed. President Bush showed respect for the crew of the Lincoln, by showing he understood exactly what they go through. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED was for the 8 months, SOLO, on a 3 month tour, supporting the removal of Saddam from Baghdad, while all other coalition forces were grounded.
TOO BAD the US public wasn't given this information by the media. SUPPORT OUR HEROES. There have been only one or two other cases in history where a US Carrier and group supported war operations SOLO, past schedule, due to external forces.
Now, the ABE LINCOLN has been asked to do it AGAIN. Turning back from a cruise home to speeding to the worst hit areas, the center of upswelling AQ terrorism (ACEH), using every person and craft available to aid the victims. Risking their own lives in a cholera infected cesspool of filthy stagnant water, filled with Blackening, bloated human corpses. All modes of transportation must be flown in, and dropped off. All is being done as quick as possible.
The cost of turning the LINCOLN around and providing this support? This cost is not even covered in the pledged and already contributed amounts by the UNITED STATES.
P.S. Add to that the US MARINE CORPS being the ones doing the groundwork, wading though those cesspools of bodies, burying or burning stinking, rotting corpes, giving off a smell almost unbearable.
Connolly should just think. The only thing shes good for is barking out daily DNC talking points. With both her and Juan together, its the meeting of the morons.
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