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Thread: Now, this is a bit ironic...

  1. #1
    j2k4's Avatar en(un)lightened
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    I thought this was interesting; got it from a fellow I don't hear from too often, as he doesn't normally share my view on anything.

    For tha record, he is not American, nor is he from the U.K.

    There are over six billion people living on our planet. Of that six
    billion, almost two billion are Muslims. That's roughly a third of the
    total population of the earth.

    The earthquake that triggered the killer tsunami was centered just off the
    coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Indonesia is the world's most
    populous Muslim country. It was also the most severely devastated by the
    wave. Nearly 100,000 of the victims of the December 26 catastrophe were
    Indonesian Muslims.

    The vast majority of the victims were either Muslims, Buddhists or Hindu.
    Got all that? Good.

    Now, to the United Nations. The United Nations consists of 186 countries.
    The most powerful voting bloc is the fifty-seven Islamic countries that
    generally vote with one voice, especially when the United States or Israel
    are voting the other way.

    The United Nations' head of humanitarian relief, Jan Egeland, criticized
    the West for being stingy. He didn't specifically mention America, but he
    cited the exact percentage of the US GDP that is budgeted for foreign aid,
    so there is little doubt of who the 'stingy West' was, at least in
    Egeland's mind.

    Egeland slammed the United States for not raising taxes so that America
    could give a greater percentage of its GDP to the UN to distribute as part
    of the UN's foreign aid package.

    Editorials in the Washington Post, the New York Times and other liberal
    newspapers echoed Egeland's charge, with the New York Times calling
    America's $350 million in direct government aid 'miserly'.

    The United States makes up some six percent of the world's total
    population, but we pay a quarter of the United Nation's total budget. The
    United States pays forty percent of the world's total disaster relief aid,
    and sixty percent of the world's total food donations.

    The $2.4 billion (that's BILLION) dollars Washington spent in emergency
    aid in 2003 represented 40 percent of the total amount of emergency
    assistance from all bilateral donors provided that year. Evidently, that
    isn't enough.

    It didn't take long for these same liberal elitists to turn Mother Nature
    into an American right-wing hater of Islam.

    Not only had America's imperialistic self-enrichment policies created the
    natural disaster, but also cold-hearted Muslim hating President Bush
    wouldn't leave his ranch in Texas... which by the way, is his home -- not
    a vacation destination -- and only offered a 'stingy' initial monetary
    donation.

    While these elitist journalist were assailing President Bush and
    expounding the mantra that America should be giving more money to the
    devastated region in a token gesture that would 'show Islam that America
    didn't hate Muslims', UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was still on his
    vacation skiing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He returned to New York four
    days later.

    The wave struck on Sunday, and it took only until Monday before the US
    announced its $350 million in initial aid, sent the USS Abraham Lincoln
    into the region, including helicopters, and C-130 transport planes, sent
    hundreds of tons of pre-packaged emergency aid supplies, and deployed some
    14,000 American troops to help with the recovery and cleanup.

    In Indonesia, U.S. helicopters flew at least 30 sorties, delivering 60,000
    pounds of water and supplies, from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham
    Lincoln along a 120-mile stretch of Sumatra island's ravaged coastline.

    Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the richest nations in the Islamic world, donated
    a paltry $10 million each. The United Arab Emirates donated some $20
    million to relieve the suffering of their Islamic 'brothers'.

    Egypt's contribution at the time of this writing is $104,000.00. (Note:
    Egypt gets

    $2 BILLION in US foreign aid annually)

    And did anybody notice that the majority of the private donations came
    from those evil corporate types the left so loves to loathe?

    Pfizer donated $10 million in cash and $25 million in drugs. (That is more
    than oil-rich Saudi Arabia and Kuwait combined). General Motors pledged $2
    million in cash, agreed to match employee donations dollar for dollar, and
    is sending vehicles to transport food and medical supplies to the region.

    Other corporate donors include Nike Inc., American Express, General
    Electric, First Data Corp., Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Exxon-Mobil, Citigroup,
    Marriott International and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

    On the other hand, where are all the Hollywood liberals? Activist actors
    such as Ben Affleck, Susan Sarandon, Al Franken, Tim Robbins, Martin
    Sheen, and Barbra Streisand have not been heard from.

    And where is George Soros, the world richest left wing liberal?

    Actress Sandra Bullock donated one million dollars, but Bullock is neither
    an activist nor a liberal. (She also donated one million following
    September 11.) Super-rich liberals like Bono and Bruce Springsteen are
    promising to hold another 'aid concert' to collect money (not theirs) for
    the victims.

    America, as noted at the outset, represents six percent of the global
    population. But in any catastrophe, it gets one hundred percent of the
    blame. The UN's nose is out of joint because the Bush administration
    refuses to funnel its aid through the UN's various aid agencies.

    Kofi Annan wants to use the catastrophe to shore up the UN's sagging image
    in the wake of the Oil-For-Food thefts from Iraq. The United States wants
    to ensure the aid doesn't end up lining the pockets of UN officials. So
    the US is 'too stingy' and gets another black eye.

    Where is the rest of the Islamic world? There are fifty-seven Islamic
    nations, and the world's biggest Islamic nation is the one that took the
    hardest hit. But it is the United States -- the world's largest donor
    nation -- that is grabbing all the headlines for being 'stingy'.

    To put things in perspective, I saw a news photo yesterday of one of the
    Indonesian victims.

    He was wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the face of Osama bin Laden.

    Excerpted from the Omega Letter Daily Intelligence Digest, Volume:7, Issue:4
    "Researchers have already cast much darkness on the subject, and if they continue their investigations, we shall soon know nothing at all about it."

    -Mark Twain

  2. The Drawing Room   -   #2
    J2,

    Illegal nuclear experiments for the purpose of supporting Israel were the cause of the tsunami.

    We killed everyone and we should rebuild everything. It just makes sense.

    Aren't we in the trust tree, thingey?

  3. The Drawing Room   -   #3
    Rat Faced's Avatar Broken
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    How much aid does the United States give?

    Less than 1 percent of the U.S. budget goes to foreign aid. President Bush’s 2003 budget proposes about $11.4 billion in economic assistance and about $4.3 billion for peacekeeping operations and to finance, train, and educate foreign armed forces.



    How do U.S. aid levels compare with those of other countries?

    The U.S. foreign-aid budget as a percentage of gross national product (GNP) ranks last among the world’s wealthiest countries (at about 0.1 percent). In raw dollars, however, the United States is now the world’s top donor of economic aid, although for more than a decade it was second to Japan, which is far smaller and has been beset by economic woes. In 2001, the United States gave $10.9 billion, Japan $9.7 billion, Germany $4.9 billion, the United Kingdom $4.7 billion, and France $4.3 billion. As a percentage of GNP, however, the top donors were Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Sweden. The tiny Netherlands (pop. 16.3 million) gave $3.2 billion in 2001—almost a third of what America contributed.


    Lets look at that in perspective though huh?

    Actually, lets look at it per head of population even...

    USA has 6x the population of the UK, therefore to hit the same level per head as the UK you should have contributed $28+Billion (nearly 3x as much as the $10 Billion contributed).. more, if you take the size of the relative economies into account

    And, I doubt very much that the UK is anywhere near the top of the league with either method of measuring aid
    Last edited by RPerry; 01-23-2005 at 10:21 PM.

    An It Harm None, Do What You Will

  4. The Drawing Room   -   #4
    ahctlucabbuS's Avatar <
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    Editorials in the Washington Post, the New York Times and other liberal
    newspapers echoed Egeland's charge, with the New York Times calling
    America's $350 million in direct government aid 'miserly'.
    It's good to know the sensible suggestion had its effect then.

  5. The Drawing Room   -   #5
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    But we Americans feel okay about all of this because... ... ... we are the recipients of much UN/world aid/fundraising when we have such disasters as three hurricanes hitting our State of Florida in a row.

    And who minds paying (or not being able to pay) $3.00 a pill to Pfizer for a three-a-day life saving prescription when our money is going to help others who must need that help more than ourselves?


    And who cares that when this is figured per capita, it doesn't really reflect the total population correctly because the per capita figures include a large amount of people who are so elderly and/or poor they cannot put food on their table or a roof over their own heads let alone pay taxes...


  6. The Drawing Room   -   #6
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    Everose..

    You think we're all young and earn enough to pay taxes?

    As to the Drugs thing... well you're government pays a LOT more per head for healthcare (twice the UK does in terms of GDP, I make that about 6x at least in terms $$ per head) and YOU STILL PAY FOR IT PRIVATELY TOO...

    If you keep electing politicians that wont fight the Drugs Companies and Insurance Companies though...



    In the UK, we'd say someone (about 300,000,000 of them in fact) was getting ripped off big time

    An It Harm None, Do What You Will

  7. The Drawing Room   -   #7
    Biggles's Avatar Looking for loopholes
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    There are a couple of fair points in the piece but much of it is factually wrong.

    Egeland made his comments when the US donation was $30m not when it was $350. To be fair to Egeland he had people on the ground and knew how bad things were I think he was really worried at that point that it was going to be overlooked. He did express both his joy and gratitude at the eventual response - but I don't know when this was written and such comments would not sit well in it anyway if it were available at time of writing.

    The 40% figure for donations includes monies for Israel and Iraq. Now to be fair, this is tax payers money being given away so it does count but some would argue that it does not deliver quite as much as other aspects of US and World aid. Notwithstanding the 40% figure for 2003 (given the cost of Iraq, 2004 may well be higher) Up until this point the US figure was around 20% or pretty much directly in line with the US share of global GDP. This would suggest to me that the US is neither stingy or generous.

    Source OECD

    The piece ignores the fact that global donations for the disaster are currently well over $2b. Also, the ME countries raised a lot more than what is being shown here. I understand a TV telethon in Saudi alone raised $57m.

    Nevertheless, as I said above, the US does pull its weight and as it is a big lad that is important. It is disappointing that politics are played around such a desperate situation. I have seen a little regarding some of the fuss over this but by and large in Europe the focus was on raising as much as possible and helping the victims. In particular a lot of Europeans came back and spoke up on the behalf of the Thais and Sri Lankans saying that the locals were fantastic and shared everything they had with the tourists. This warmed sentiment towards them enormously which may in part explain the very large amounts of money from Europe; both from public and private purses.

    Yet despite these picky points the piece does highlight an ongoing problem - there are those in the US that feel they are constantly on the defensive whether it be foreign policy or charitible aid. This is unfortunate and in my view needs to be addressed not just abroad but at home. There are those that spread the Great Satan myth (OBL in particular) but equally there are those domestically that use the same propaganda to spread dismay and distrust at home. Neither are healthy.

    Hobbes, I though it was caused by a discarded burger from a US cruise ship - you know how you guys like to go supersize.
    Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum


  8. The Drawing Room   -   #8
    RPerry's Avatar Synergy BT Rep: Bad Rep
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    I swear I just posted something here that is no longer there..... but lets try it a second time..

    Paul, those figures you posted are a budget, right ? what about money contributed outside the budget such as from private individuals ?
    And as I put in my missing post, and as everose stated, we had 4 major hurricanes hit my home state of Florida this past hurricane season (not 3) and hundreds of homes are still not rebuilt. I saw some of this firsthand today, as Dawn and I drove out to Bok Tower gardens, in Lake Wales. Lake Wales seemed to have gotten crossed by 3 of the hurricanes that hit. Where is the aid for those people ? I have had no problem in the past with giving money, I always leave a very large tip when I go out to dinner, usually 50% of the bill. I do however grow sick and tired of the nit-picking.
    my conclusion, what I give is my business, and I could care less for whatever the rest of the world thinks of it

  9. The Drawing Room   -   #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by RPerry

    Paul, Is that a budget you have figured there ? how about private donations, and money contributed outside the budget ?

    and by the way... incase people have forgotten, we had several hurricanes hit here during the season, its fresh in my mind, cause dawn and I just drove out to Bok Tower gardens in Lake Wales Florida, and there are still hundreds of homes that have not been repaired... I wonder how may foreign countries helped out those people ?

    Actually Rob, it was just using the figures shown in the post, which were taken from the Council of Foreign Relations site

    How do you tell what has been included and excluded from official figures? (which is why i used someone elses )

    Ask Biggles


    As to your hurricanes... well, there was also a Hurricane @ Brazil last year (1st one on record) and the number of Tornado's almost doubled in the USA..

    These were predicted as a consequence of Global Warming years ago (but ask Bush, Global Warming isnt happening)...

    The Aid was there if asked for... however the wealthy countries never ask for it (as should be the case)

    An It Harm None, Do What You Will

  10. The Drawing Room   -   #10
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    You did post it Rob... as an edit to my post earlier, instead of a reply

    just cant get the staff

    An It Harm None, Do What You Will

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