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  •  Excellent Point (4.00 / 2)

    I read that his coronation was going to cost us $35-40 MILLION (!) dollars.  We are, so far, anteing up about $15 to aid victims.  What a travesty.

    I have said it before and I will say it again: the thing I find most intolerable about junior and his asshole compadres (and it's a tough competition) is their absolute lack of intellect and compassion.  When will these bastards understand that only when there is justice (the distributive kind) will the threat of terrorism be controlled?  They don't "hate us for our freedoms"; they hate us because we are sucking up most of the pie and leaving none for them--or worse, taking it right out of their mouths.

    Aiding these people now, looking at what can be done to predict and warn, and developing the rapid response infrastructure for a disaster of this scope helps everyone.  Maybe it's just my ethical viewpoint.  I think we have an obligation to help anyone and everyone to the best of our ability.  I hardly think that $15 million is our best when the Chimperor is going to spend that much on crowd control for the inauguration (Jeez, it's hard to type that word).

    "It's been headed this way since the World began, when a vicious creature made the jump from Monkey to Man."--Elvis Costello

    by BigOkie on Tue Dec 28, 2004 at 08:35:28 AM PDT

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    •  Minor quibble (none / 0)

      with an otherwise great comment.

      I'm one of those that believes the pie is not a finite number. It is an impression that we are taking it all, or most of it, up.

      However, the rest of your post is dead on. We have been taking it right out of their mouths, as have so many other greedy and scummy people. And if we were to help other peoples with infrastructure and the like the whole world would be a much better and safer place.

      by Mike S on Tue Dec 28, 2004 at 09:11:51 AM PDT

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      •  I do agree with you (none / 1)

        The "pie", as it were, is not necessarily a finite number.  Our actions, or lack thereof, make the number smaller than it has to be.

        Thanks for the great feedback!

        "It's been headed this way since the World began, when a vicious creature made the jump from Monkey to Man."--Elvis Costello

        by BigOkie on Tue Dec 28, 2004 at 03:54:49 PM PDT

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    •  Yes, a travesty... (none / 1)

      I would have thought that they would have talked about billions, not millions.

      Over here in Italy, all the main TV networks (the 3 State networks + Berlusconi's 3 -- OK, it's about the same thing these days, considering he's in control, but it's the thought that counts) have gotten together with the 4 mobile phone carriers to organize a charity drive: anyone who sends an SMS to a certain number will have donated 1 euro. They figure that with 50 million mobile phone users, they should be able to get up a good amount. Just in the first few hours they had collected over 4 million euro.

      So what on earth are $15 million (or even 30 or 40, for that matter) for the almighty, God-guided, "Christian" United States? And Shrub's going to be spending $40 million or more for inaugural partying???

      It's a total lack of a sense of dimension, reality, humanity, and decency.

      "Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." - Mark Twain

      by Donna in Rome on Tue Dec 28, 2004 at 03:46:41 PM PDT

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      •  They don't care (4.00 / 2)

        I posted this info on 3 of my birth clubs and the lack of response was pathetic.  Especially since most of these women are self-described Christian Rep.  Wanna know what they did instead?  On one board, we have 2 moms in that area, I'm the only the only person who seems concerned for them.  On another board, out of 40 women, only one woman had a response.  The last board, they're doing a posting challenge.  This means, they post stupid questions like "Do you curl your hair?" or "Does your baby get a bath every night?".  The information on aid that I posted this afternoon was a couple of hundred posts down.

        I spent last night and this afternoon with friends shopping for and packing up clothes, shoes and toiletries to send and we're trying to get on a flight out to help.  Know what one mom posted:  "I've never felt more helpless.  If I didn't have a DH or kids, I think I'd devote my life to disaster relief."  This from a woman who runs a ministry.   I mean, I have a DH and a kid, and I have no problem doing this.  

        My biggest peeve on this matter is, I'm positive that if these people were white and/or largely Christian, it would be a different tune.  These "people" who spent so much valuable time over Scott Peterson, can't be bothered with a larger human tragedy.

        Outta here, I don't deal well with sites that condone racism.

        by fabooj on Tue Dec 28, 2004 at 07:53:12 PM PDT

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    •  how about this comparison (none / 0)

      $200 billion to kill 100,000 Iraqi's vs. 15 million, no wait, 35 million in tsunami aid.  Aid needed to save hundreds of thousands from succumbing to disease and death from the after effects of this tragedy.  There's a real disconnect here with the "culture of life"

      I am looking hopefully for my company to issue a matching plan.  I work for Time Warner and they ususally only match education and arts organization donations (it's a generous 3 to 1 match).  But for occaisional other drives that are done through the company they also match, not always to that proportion.

      Unfortunately this occured when most are out on vacation and when our normal charity drives have just ended for the year.  But I'm hoping, and I've emailed them to ask what is being done, that they will still issue a match for donations.  (I'm going to donate anyway, I just want to do it most effectively I'll wait a little while if they will match it)

      My company, and many others, did it for 9/11 and that was 3,000 people.  It would be hypocritical to consider that tragedy as more worthy because the victims are largely not Americans.

      by Greenfuzz on Tue Dec 28, 2004 at 10:50:03 PM PDT

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