This weekend I had the distinct pleasure of discussing tsunami aid with two Canadians and a socialist. The conversation went something like this:
[all paraphrased]
me: Did you know private individuals have given over $12 Million dollars at Amazon.com?
them: Yeah well, the US started out with less money than the inauguration will cost.
me: WTF does that have to do with it? Monetary aid from the US has increased tenfold, and we immediately sent a carrier battle group and a secondary ship group with urgent supplies, personell, and aircraft to deliver them to the hardest hit areas.
them: The US is stingy, after all - they give far less per GDP than other countries. Japan is giving $500 Million
me: You have to be kidding me, right? Japan has the modern luxury of having it's seas patrolled by the US, while avoiding the cost of a military. Tell me, how much of that $500 Million has already been given? Has Japan actually delivered anything?
Basically - you get the idea. The rest of the conversation was "inauguration this", "bush on vacation that", rinse, repeat. When confronted with the idea that the US - including public and private money will be the largest monetary giver, and already is the largest military-aid rending giver, they still repeated anti-Bush vitriol.
How have people, no - sheeple (thanks to Michael Savage), become soo blind to the truth. Leftists would rather believe something bad about President Bush than do something good for the relief efforts. Of the three people I had this conversation with, two have brand new cars purchased in the last year. I have an 11 year old car purchased from my family. I had already made my first donation to the relief efforts, and will give more if it looks like it is needed. They had given nothing, but were happy to spew forth silly quotes from the lefties about the US being bad.
Back to the start of the conversation. I didn't mention the US, USA, citizenry, etc. I mentioned how cool it was that one of the online retailers made most of it's front-page a donation button, and had collected soo much money in such a short period of time. That's it - nothing political, just wow - cool, people are giving and companies are trying to do the right thing. For leftist, this is not a good thing. People giving to charity undermines the socialist agenda of a government controlling everything. People giving to charity when needed, and focused on a specific need undermines the idea of giving 100% of the fruit of your labor to someone else to decide what to do with. The socialists have lost - human beings can decide for themselves when to keep and when to give.
Monday, January 03, 2005
US Stingy? I don't think so. UN useless? Yup.
As an American, and as a human being, I am outraged at the audacity of the UN secretary who labelled the US "stingy" in terms of aid to the tsunami relief efforts.
Reading news sites, UN press releases, and blogs such as the excellent: http://belmontclub.blogspot.com/, the picture is clear: The US is very generous, effective, and immediate in rendering aid - anywhere in the world. The UN is burocratic, ineffective, and useless when it comes to providing aid - emergency or otherwise.
Simple facts / ideas that summarize my opinion:
1. The UN has failed, now a week after the tsunami, to provide aid in serious quantity beyond the scope of it's already existing 'developmental' projects in the region.
2. The UN has attempted to stop aid from flowing freely from the US, India, Japan, and Australia - with the purpose of making itself look useful as a 'coordinator'.
3. The United States of America has sent a carrier battle group, along with other ship groups to provide upwards of 65,000 gallons of fresh water daily, along with supplies, medics, hospital-ships, engineers, and US enlisted men ready to volunteer for the task of providing aid to the tsunami victims.
4. Private US individuals and corporations are making generous donations. The company I work for has already pleged $1,000,000 of money for relief. I have donated $100 of my own money - a per-capita rate 50 times the US-Government's monetary aid to date. Amazon.com - an online store based in the US has collected $13,574,660.56 in just a few short days - and I would be most of that money is from US contributors. I would bet that in the end, contributions from US citizens and corporations will top 1 Billion USD.
Ok, I think it's clear that the US is providing aid more effectively, rapidly, and clearly than any other body. It's also clear that the UN is attempting a power-grab - flailing about, even at the risk of delaying aid in order to look useful. Read about it, think about it, and if you can spare a few bucks - donate to a charity. It's not hard to find one either.
And about charity & giving:
Nearly every major website I've seen, along with the two different chains of grocery stores I've visited in the last week, each have ways to donate right at the front-page, or checkout-line. That's the American way - and I think it's the way of humanity. Most likely, the same thing is going on throughout the much of rest of the world.
Reading news sites, UN press releases, and blogs such as the excellent: http://belmontclub.blogspot.com/, the picture is clear: The US is very generous, effective, and immediate in rendering aid - anywhere in the world. The UN is burocratic, ineffective, and useless when it comes to providing aid - emergency or otherwise.
Simple facts / ideas that summarize my opinion:
1. The UN has failed, now a week after the tsunami, to provide aid in serious quantity beyond the scope of it's already existing 'developmental' projects in the region.
2. The UN has attempted to stop aid from flowing freely from the US, India, Japan, and Australia - with the purpose of making itself look useful as a 'coordinator'.
3. The United States of America has sent a carrier battle group, along with other ship groups to provide upwards of 65,000 gallons of fresh water daily, along with supplies, medics, hospital-ships, engineers, and US enlisted men ready to volunteer for the task of providing aid to the tsunami victims.
4. Private US individuals and corporations are making generous donations. The company I work for has already pleged $1,000,000 of money for relief. I have donated $100 of my own money - a per-capita rate 50 times the US-Government's monetary aid to date. Amazon.com - an online store based in the US has collected $13,574,660.56 in just a few short days - and I would be most of that money is from US contributors. I would bet that in the end, contributions from US citizens and corporations will top 1 Billion USD.
Ok, I think it's clear that the US is providing aid more effectively, rapidly, and clearly than any other body. It's also clear that the UN is attempting a power-grab - flailing about, even at the risk of delaying aid in order to look useful. Read about it, think about it, and if you can spare a few bucks - donate to a charity. It's not hard to find one either.
And about charity & giving:
Nearly every major website I've seen, along with the two different chains of grocery stores I've visited in the last week, each have ways to donate right at the front-page, or checkout-line. That's the American way - and I think it's the way of humanity. Most likely, the same thing is going on throughout the much of rest of the world.
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