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Natural Disasters? Blame America!
Omega Letter Daily Intelligence Digest, Volume:7, Issue:4 ^ | Thursday, January 06, 2005 | Jack Kinsella - Omega Letter Editor

Posted on 1/9/2005, 2:44:57 AM by dvan

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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: aide; blameamericafirst; indonesia; tsunamiwot; un; us
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1 posted on 1/9/2005, 2:44:58 AM by dvan
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To: dvan

Every time I think about this, it pisses me off.

And then I am thankful that we have a just God. One day there will be an unbiased accounting :)


2 posted on 1/9/2005, 2:48:35 AM by AndyStevenson
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To: dvan

Good article. I'd also like to know how many countries gave aid to the US when the hurricanes struck, or when several towns in Nebraska were almost wiped out by tornados this summer . . .

. . . and I'd like to know how much Kofi gave personally.


3 posted on 1/9/2005, 2:50:23 AM by homemom
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To: AndyStevenson

It's sad that most of the people killed in the tsunami did not go to meet God, as they don't believe in Him.


4 posted on 1/9/2005, 2:51:24 AM by homemom
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To: dvan

And your point is?


5 posted on 1/9/2005, 2:52:06 AM by Cornpone ((Aging Warrior))
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To: dvan

We are stupid if we dont use the tsunami to our advantage. It did in one afternoon what it would take months for our military to do.


6 posted on 1/9/2005, 2:53:14 AM by CaptainAwesome2
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To: homemom

I'd be willing to bet that for just the number of countries that helped and not any monetary value, you would not exceed the fingers of a double hand amputee.


7 posted on 1/9/2005, 2:53:31 AM by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: dvan

I am so sick of Bush telling us to pony up. If he wants to throw his own multi-millions down a rathole, then do so and shut up, but get your hands off our tax dollars, especially when we have a huge deficit and are sending tens of thousands of jobs over to India and Indonesia every single year. would we expect India (or anyone else) to pony up $350 million if a Tsunami hit next door in Mexico? Of course not. what a stupid, phony-guily shakedown this is. ENOUGH ALREADY BUSH.


8 posted on 1/9/2005, 2:55:34 AM by montag813
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To: homemom
<>....I'd also like to know how many countries gave aid to the US when the hurricanes struck, or when several towns in Nebraska were almost wiped out by tornados this summer . . ....

That's easy to answer.

None.
Zilch.
Zip.
Nada.
Zero.

9 posted on 1/9/2005, 2:58:15 AM by Fiddlstix (This Tagline for sale. (Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: fastattacksailor

pissed at the un ping


10 posted on 1/9/2005, 3:00:29 AM by fastattacksailor (The US without the UN is like not having your mother-in-law with you on your honeymoon)
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To: SandRat; Fiddlstix

That's my point . . . and there were people in the tornados and hurricanes and other disasters in AMERICA who were left homeless, etc. and had no resources (savings accounts) also. It just wans't on the huge scale as happened in Asia and of course "rich Americans" all HAVE enough money (except me--haha!)


11 posted on 1/9/2005, 3:01:13 AM by homemom
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To: dvan
This whole scenario is the best chance we will ever have of pulling out of the UN and letting them fall by the wayside...

The phoniness of the media trying to depict Bush as not doing anything for four days - of still getting away with claiming he's "on vacation" when in Crawford (like Clinton in Martha's Vineyard or Palm Beach) when we all know that the ranch is his Western White House - where he can get things done without the spying eyes and ears of the enemy within - where, in this case, he set things in motion immediately, and had ships, military, water, food, etc, already in the area while Kofi was still skiing in Wyoming - and indeed while the UN hasn't yet done anything but denigrate the US - etc...well,

Were it not for Bush and the US, there would be a lot more dead people, dead from lack of water, lack of food, and the rise of water born diseases would be on the rampage, if things had been left to the UN.

This proves, in loud and clear terms, just how irrelevant the UN is. Time for them to go.

But where is the media pointing out that the UN has not yet done ANYthing - It's been the US, UNESCO, Australia, etc... come on, Rush, Hannity, Snow, Fox - SHOUT IT OUT!

The UN never made it there in time to save lives, to provide water, food, and help curb the outbreak of widespread disease. The UN fiddled and sputtered and pointed fingers while we all got the work done.

NOW is the time to declare the UN totally irrelevant...They have to go

12 posted on 1/9/2005, 3:29:07 AM by maine-iac7 (...but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." Lincoln)
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To: dvan

It amazes me how "Blame" has been elevated to sport these days. Whatever happened to "Sh*t Happens?"


13 posted on 1/9/2005, 3:33:31 AM by msnimje
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To: dvan

"Of that six billion, almost two billion are Muslims. That's roughly a third of the total population of the earth. "

====

I should have known this, but I didn't. It's scary.


14 posted on 1/9/2005, 3:36:18 AM by FairOpinion
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To: dvan
"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. "

These are powerful facts, which put things in context, that the America haters want to ignore. We are the most generous nation on earth.

15 posted on 1/9/2005, 3:39:07 AM by FairOpinion
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To: dvan


Face it, were the world's whipping boy.BTW I didn't know Sandra Bullock wasn't a liberal.Is she a republican? I thought being a leftie was a prerequisite in movie land.


16 posted on 1/9/2005, 3:56:10 AM by thombo
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To: thombo

"Sandra Bullock donated one million dollars"

I do not know if she is left, right or center. I do know she is a good person.


17 posted on 1/9/2005, 4:07:09 AM by cpdiii (Oil Field Trash, Pilot, Pharmacist. (Oil Field Trash was the most fun.))
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To: cpdiii

It's nice to know that "Bullock is neither an activist nor a liberal".


18 posted on 1/9/2005, 4:10:28 AM by Frank_2001
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To: dvan

An earlier post today, told of a Christian's plan to build an orphanage --- until the Muslims objected. Are there any cartoonist out there in FreeperLand that can draw a cartoon of a Muslim orphanage that would be built in the area? Something with burka covered girls being sold to Sheiks on one side and a terrorist training camp for the boys on the other side.


19 posted on 1/9/2005, 5:08:11 AM by eccentric (aka baldwidow)
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To: dvan
Of that six billion, almost two billion are Muslims.

Probably not. Estimates vary, but we're probably talking somewhere in the vicinity of 1.2 to 1.4 billion.

OTOH, there are about 2 billion Christians...

20 posted on 1/9/2005, 5:35:57 AM by Restorer
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