 |
"As
democracy is perfected,
the office of President
represents, more and more closely,
the inner soul of the people.
On
some great and glorious day
the plain folks of the land
will reach their heart's desire at last
and the White House will be adorned
by
a downright moron."
-
H. L. Mencken
|
|
DIEGO
VELÁZQUEZ
El Bufón Calabacillas
(the Buffoon 'Calabacillas') |
VACATION
PRESIDENT
MAN OF INACTION
4 minutes
delayed reaction to 9/11
5 days to TSUNAMI
(grudgingly)
JAPAN
$500,000,000
|
EDITORIAL
Are We Stingy? Yes
Published: December 30, 2004
President
Bush finally roused himself yesterday from his vacation in
Crawford, Tex., to telephone his sympathy to the leaders of
India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia, and to speak publicly
about the devastation of Sunday's tsunamis in Asia. He also
hurried to put as much distance as possible between himself
and America's initial measly aid offer of $15 million, and
he took issue with an earlier statement by the United Nations'
emergency relief coordinator, Jan Egeland, who had called
the overall aid efforts by rich Western nations "stingy."
"The person who made that statement was very misguided
and ill informed," the president said.
We beg to differ. Mr. Egeland was right on target. We hope
Secretary of State Colin Powell was privately embarrassed
when, two days into a catastrophic disaster that hit 12 of
the world's poorer countries and will cost billions of dollars
to meliorate, he held a press conference to say that America,
the world's richest nation, would contribute $15 million.
That's less than half of what Republicans plan to spend on
the Bush inaugural festivities.
The American aid figure for the current disaster is now $35
million, and we applaud Mr. Bush's turnaround. But $35 million
remains a miserly drop in the bucket, and is in keeping with
the pitiful amount of the United States budget that we allocate
for nonmilitary foreign aid. According to a poll, most Americans
believe the United States spends 24 percent of its budget
on aid to poor countries; it actually spends well under a
quarter of 1 percent.
Bush administration officials help create that perception
gap. Fuming at the charge of stinginess, Mr. Powell pointed
to disaster relief and said the United States "has given
more aid in the last four years than any other nation or combination
of nations in the world." But for development aid, America
gave $16.2 billion in 2003; the European Union gave $37.1
billion. In 2002, those numbers were $13.2 billion for America,
and $29.9 billion for Europe.
Making things worse, we often pledge more money than we actually
deliver. Victims of the earthquake in Bam, Iran, a year ago
are still living in tents because aid, including ours, has
not materialized in the amounts pledged. And back in 2002,
Mr. Bush announced his Millennium Challenge account to give
African countries development assistance of up to $5 billion
a year, but the account has yet to disburse a single dollar.
Mr. Bush said yesterday that the $35 million we've now pledged
"is only the beginning" of the United States' recovery
effort. Let's hope that is true, and that this time, our actions
will match our promises.
|
I
REFUSE TO BE LIED TO - I REFUSE TO BE DECEIVED!
Todays
Safer World
brought
to you courtesy of
Bush,
Cheney & Associates, Inc.
|
U.S.
& Coalition
Casualties
Names
- Faces
Ages - Hometowns
Details |
Colateral
Damage
a.k.a.
Iraqi Civilians |
| |
| Alternative
services and information resources |
|
|
TO
ART
Click to ENTER
|
|
ROBERT
COANE 2002 - 2004 © All rights reserved
|
