quote:

Originally posted by che tectonic sorry i'm a geologist

So it is! No offense taken--thanks for correcting me.



Reading this thread, it sounds like people indeed do want to make it a pissing contest about who's doing what. But in reading deeper, it's not an issue of who is actually doing more, rather it sounds like whose almighty government is doing more. This is sad. This is classic diffusion of responsibility. You want to help? Don't talk trash about what a government is or isn't doing. Make a difference yourself. Even if it's only $5 or just a prayer for those who are unfortunate victims in this natural disaster...the way to help is not by sitting idly by and criticizing the inaction or "stinginess" of others.

But seriously, folks

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IT'S ABOUT THE TRAGEDY - NOT MORE BUSH-BASHING By JOHN PODHORETZ Email Archives Print Reprint December 31, 2004 -- THE political and ideological exploitation of perhaps the worst natural disaster in all our lifetimes is almost beyond belief — were it not for the fact that nothing these days is beyond belief. Even as tears spring into the most hard-hearted person's eyes at both the unimaginable scope of the tragedy and at the wrenching individual stories of loss, opinion leaders just can't help themselves. They are using this cataclysm as little more than cheap debate fodder about the nature and character of the United States, its president and its citizens. Don't misunderstand. It is fine and proper to have a debate and discussion about the degree of generosity the United States could, should and must show in the wake of this literally earth-shaking event. But at this moment, the United States is not the issue. The foreign-aid budget of the United States is not the issue. Our government should not be the focal point of the discussion right now. Don't we owe the dead, dying and injured the minimal grace not to convert their suffering into a chat-show segment — the latest left-right clash over the Bush presidency? And couldn't the editorialists at The New York Times have forborne — even just for a week — making use of the tsunami to complain about U.S. government spending on "development aid"? Development aid is the blanket term for American grant money handed out to other countries, supposedly to help their economies grow. Development aid has nothing — nothing — to do with what has happened. The aid at issue now is disaster relief. Secretary of State Colin Powell found himself in the position of having to remind the world that over the past four years the United States has provided more such aid than all other nations on the planet combined. It is appalling that he had to mention this, and that President Bush was compelled to cite the same information on Wednesday, because you're not supposed to brag about how charitable you are. But once a United Nations official decried the American aid pledge as "stingy," the administration had little choice. Any rational person would have understood without having to be told what the president told the world on Wednesday morning, which is that the $35 million pledge "is only the beginning of our help." But maybe people are looking for a sideshow to distract them from the sickening pictures and the keening cries of the untold numbers of mothers whose babies were swept away.

its sucks how you have people politicizing the whole tragedy

heres some videos i found off a website of the disaster...some might not work cuz of bandwith overloading...

http://jlgolson.blogspot.com/2004/12/tsunami-video.html

Just to add to this pissing contest, CNN just reported that the US will increase its aid package from $35 million to $350 million. Check out their website for more details. (www.cnn.com)

Edit:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/31/us.aid/index.html

So now out of the $800 million currently pledged by the world to help the victims, the United States is footing roughly 45% of the bill. Can we stop bitching now?

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Originally posted by trancaholic Apparently you seem to be the western country with most citizens caught up in the disaster, too. I guess that has had an effect on making the reality of the catastrophe more apparent to Swedes, and consequently led to more donations? The same tendency can be seen in Norway, which also has a lot of citizens in the areas hit by the waves, and who also has drummed up a lot of money.

yes i know, thats probably why... but i still think its a good job by the swedish government (who has also been critized for doing too litle).

3500 swedes missing in thailand right now

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Originally posted by zig nit picks is a great phrase..now not to be nit picking..the us and isreal seem to take up an awful lot of news..bad news

The man who called out the US for being stingy is the one who created the bad news and this thread. If he never started the whole they are doing their part crap when he knew perfectly well that the US government, companies, and people give way more than their fair share then there would never be this discussion.

I think the whole point of this tit for tat is that no one want to be labeled as cheap, not caring, whatever when the entire country was labeled by that from some foreigner know knows it untrue and the people of the country who know it untrue.

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Originally posted by NeoPhono Just to add to this pissing contest, CNN just reported that the US will increase its aid package from $35 million to $350 million. Check out their website for more details. (www.cnn.com) Edit: http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/31/us.aid/index.html So now out of the $800 million currently pledged by the world to help the victims, the United States is footing roughly 45% of the bill. Can we stop bitching now?

nice keep up the good work

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Originally posted by Mensa I'm so amazed...do you know how much $35 million will help all those millions affected by the tsunamis!!!! Why each one can get a slice of bread!!!

dude, wtf are you talking about? slice of bread?

... loser.

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Funny how most nations condemned 9-11 RIGHT AWAY...

funny? what's so funny? little brain of yours can't reason to see the difference between a terrorist act and a natural disaster.

condemn this bitch:

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What baffles me is...the American government proclaims it is the moral leader of the world. Bush boasts that he "liberated" and helped mitigate the suffering of the Iraqi people Iraq. The US government was adamant in putting up BILLIONS for war, yet when it is time to truly shine and back up their words we get measly 35 million and a few planes.

you must be one of those bitter ones who voted for Kerry


your arguments are shit son, and shame on you for using this natural disaster as a base of your attack on President Bush.

>JM<

quote:

Originally posted by policerobots its sucks how you have people politicizing the whole tragedy heres some videos i found off a website of the disaster...some might not work cuz of bandwith overloading... http://jlgolson.blogspot.com/2004/12/tsunami-video.html

cool

Awesome ... Japan is upping its aid to $500 million.

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/a...edge/index.html

Also the US is talking about upping its aid once Jeb Bush and his team survey the disaster area. I have to say that if anyone has the influence and the expertise in dealing with disaster areas it would be Jeb Bush. Also I guess the carrier group is within distance of Indonesia because there are a bunch of news clips of helicopters touching down in remote/unvisited areas of indonesia and dropping off what aid they can carry. It was awesome to see. I'm glad to see that the world, in its entirety, is actually responding to this crisis. Now if it could only give two shits about what happens in africa ...

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Retro ...

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Originally posted by occrider Awesome ... Japan is upping its aid to $500 million.

why did they do that? obviously it was counter move to the US making such a large increase. the total donations from the world is now up to 1.5 billion and climbing. do they really need all that money? i know this is a horrible event and so many people died its terrible, but thats a lot of money. how is it going to be divided up? some of these countries werent even hit very hard and i wouldnt be surprised if before this event you'd call the governments of some countries rather corrupt. i wouldnt be surprised if they used the money for things not remotely related to the tsunami. wasn't sri lanka in the middle of a civil war

FOX News exposing UN hypocrisy. Nice job.

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Irked Kofi Grilled on Vacation Saturday, Jan. 1, 2005 12:19 p.m. EST http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/.../1/122440.shtml The press is still complaining that President Bush was missing-in-action for the first two days after South Asia's devastating tsunami disaster, but only one reporter has challenged U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan on why he was out of commission for even longer. When he finally returned from his skiing holiday, Annan was questioned by Fox Newsman Jonathan Hunt about why he continued his vacation well into the week as the staggering death toll mounted. "I think a lot of people are asking exactly why you waited three days on vacation in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, before you decided to fly back to New York in the face of this extraordinary crisis," Hunt asked during a Thursday press conference in New York. "Could you give us a full explanation of your thinking on that?" Hunt continued. "Secondly, what kind of signal does that 72-hour delay send to the nations to which you are now appealing for greater help?" Obviously irked by the inquiry, Annan replied: "First of all, there was action. It wasn't inaction. We live in a world where you can operate from wherever you are . . . You don't have to be physically here to be dealing with the leaders and the governments I have been dealing with. You don't have to be physically here to be discussing with some of the agencies that we have done." The angry Secretary General then barked, "I don't have to be sitting in my office to take action. I think the same goes for you in your profession."

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FLUSHED THE JOHNS!