american conervative news opinion politics the land of the fre

U.S. Government Links	Info on the FairTax	Historic Quotes	Right Wing Thoughts	Book Store	Truth Alerts	Conservative News & Opinion Archive
Read: American Conservative Daily Blog Contact Information

Rich and Stingy? Patty Bankson (02/07/05)

Books of Interest

Once again, George Bush had committed the most horrible crime. Oh, my gosh! He waited two – count them! – two days before talking about the Asian tsunami. Then he compounded his sin by putting out an unacceptable, inadequate amount the U.S. would give in aid to the affected countries.

Yeah, he could have said something sooner, but really, the poor guy can’t win for losing when it comes to his many critics. If he’d called the press corps to the Rose Garden within the first five minutes after the wave hit, there’s no doubt he’d have been accused of making a rash, not-well-thought-out decision. They would’ve said he hadn’t waited for all the facts to come in before opening his mouth. I keep hearing that his delay was a missed (political) opportunity to “reach the hearts of the muslim people”. Like that’s going to happen.

Maybe one of the reasons the Democrats lost the election is because they obviously don’t take time to find out what people are all about. If they did, they’d have learned long ago that George Bush doesn’t give a flip about political opportunities, missed or otherwise. Another thing they’d have learned is that he’s not a person given to knee-jerk reactions. Considering the President has his hand on the button that could blow up the world, figuratively speaking, I like that. I prefer a man who takes the necessary time to gather the facts, verify them and think things through before making his decisions.

Putting that aside, I’ve heard some things that are just too ridiculous to ignore. One: a UN representative called us (rich, western countries) “stingy”. Guess he left school after readin’ and writin’ and before ‘rithmetic, or he’d have been able to add all U.S. giving - government, military and private – and realize that the figures show no one’s more generous than Americans, whether giving here at home, or elsewhere in the world.

The most ridiculous thing that happened was that Sri Lanka, one of the countries hardest hit by the tsunami, refused an offer from Israel to deploy 150 military medics and support personnel to set up field hospitals, including internal medicine and pediatric clinics.

Speaking of opportunities missed, political or apolitical, I’d say that’s a biggie on the part of that government. For those who need the medical care, it could be a life or death biggie.

Odd isn’t it, how the people who don’t need something find it so easy to turn it down when it’s offered for others? And isn’t it odd that it always seems to happen in the most needy parts of the world, where everyone lives in such abject poverty? Oh, did I say “everyone”? Sorry, I meant to say everyone except the leaders of those countries. Maybe “odd” isn’t the word. Maybe the word is “criminal”. And maybe some need to re-think whom they call rich and stingy.