Killer Tsunami

[Emery]

>> >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

[bluegrass]

Emery, thank you for posting this...It is nice to see that someone out there shares my outrage and indignation at having this country slammed and raked over the coals for "not doing enough" to help out people that danced in the streets when we were attacked on Sept 11th. I'm not saying it is God's wrath on Muslims, but it is pretty ironic that it was Muslim nations that took the brunt of the damage from the tidal wave...I am sick and tired however of seeing the US blackmailed and ridiculed in the world for something we had no control over...Where are the concerts and fundraisers for the people in California that lost everything in the mudslides this past winter??? There are people right here in this country that need help and I don't see the vaunted UN doing a darn thing about it, not that I want their people over here telling us how to do things...The US is the most giving nation on earth and everyone knows it, even if they will not admit it. If we stopped paying our "dues" to the UN this year, there would be no UN next year...Tony