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[elmono311]

I was reading Time Magazine at work yesterday (slow day, I was bored) and something really irked me. So, the US initiallly gives $15 million towards the aid from the tsunami damage. The US is immediately called stingy for the low sum. So, the US sends $350 million towards the aid, but then it's pointed out that Japan sent $500 million and the US wasn't the biggest spender. Did Japan send an aircraft carrier, 11 other ships, and thousands of Marines to the affected areas? No, I don't think so. Did the US ever complain when it never received a lot of aid from the hurricanes that devastated Florida? No, I don't think so. The main reason why the US is in debt is because no country, except Finland, has repayed the US. This country does so much for this world and no one ever repays their debt, but the US keeps doing it out of good will (and sometimes politics of course). Heck, would any other country have even attempted to spend all that money to rebuild Germany and Japan after WWII? These other countries need to realize the US has its own problems to deal with and, yes, the tsunami was devastating, but so much money has been put towards the disaster relief. Just because a country puts a certain amount of money towards it does not mean that's the final number. The US should just leave the UN since this country never follows what the UN says anyway...

[Supermercado]

Damn right.

[Catfish]

I get so tired of all the bleeding hearts out there... I'm all about helping people, but when you start whining about expected help in certain ways, forgetting things like our military, political pull, or other things (not just money), you get very low on my list of people to care about.

Honestly, I feel for those people, but there was a point in time when this was an isolationist nation and I really freaking miss that.

[LostArtofRolando]

i bet that we eventually chip in over 500 million in aid though, just because we wont let ourselves be outdone by anybody else either....
     side note dealing wtih politics.  youd think that the single largest recipient of u.s. aid in the last twenty years would be a country in need of cash or development or at least be a decent sized nation either geographically or population-wise, right? 
     WRONG, its friggin Israel.  They're developing all sorts of high tech stuff over there in terms of computers and weapons, and blowing money by moving their army in and out of the gaza strip everytime theres a bombing.  Just think, if Palestine had the largest country in the world backing it up too, Israel wouldnt be such a punkass country to all the other Arab nations.  I don't want to say that i favor one country over the other, because i dont, but i think its dumb that the U.S. has favored one country so much over the others to the extent that it has.  I mean Israels like the size of one of the small New England states, and its population isnt that big, whos to decide that they should recieve so much of our money (especially considering Israel doesnt really have anything valuable to us, at least Iraq has oil, but dont even start me on that one)...

sorry guys gotta vent somewhere.   

[Catfish]

Weapons development outsourcing not subject to scrutiny or regulations the same way we are... That's Israel.

[LostArtofRolando]

we should get new aircraft developed over there, since we're only flying the same aircraft that were developed over 20 years ago, or in the case of the C-130 and B-52, almost 55-60 years ago.  I know the avionics and such are new, but seriously, no new plane designs in the last 20 years?  and the newest ones like that F-22, which has a smaller payload than anything in the past 30 years?  sigh.  What happened to the nice gasguzzling-carry=enough-missiles-to-blow-the-shit-out-of-anything-and-a-gun-big-enough-to- take-down-a-tank kinda plane go (F-4, A=10)?

[Catfish]

They're all sitting on a tarmac in Arizona covered with preservative wraps thanks to the Clinton Administrator... I've been there and seen the several thousand of those birds :|

[LostArtofRolando]

yeah, good ol Davis-Monthan.

[elmono311]

The US would probably not be hated as much in the Middle East if support of Israel went bye-bye

I'm pretty sure the reason why the US has no new planes is because there's nothing out there that can match them in the first place... I'm pretty sure fighter development would skyrocket should the US and China butt heads. So why fix something when it's not broken? At least they upgrade the planes

[LostArtofRolando]

for the same reason they make new Lamborghinis, theres not much competition, but they do put out new ones every once and a while.

[elmono311]

That's a little different. The military is not a democracy so the military says what their pilots can fly. Regular people, on the other hand, choose what they want to drive.

[Supermercado]

for the same reason they make new Lamborghinis, theres not much competition, but they do put out new ones every once and a while.

There's plenty of competition for Lamborghini. Ferrari, Aston Martin, Pagani, McLaren, so many cars that are better than Lamborghinis, in my opinion.

[disnut8]

Most of you guys are way too young to know about this but back in the late 60s or early 70s, there was a "record" - an actual 45 RPM vinyl record by a Canadian.  I believe his name was Gordon McCray or something like that.  It was all about how no one ever comes to America's aid but we're supposed to drop everything we are doing to help out all the other countries.  This record came at the height of the Vietnam War when every one was bitching about our involvement.

This is not an new development and our country always gets kicked in the teeth for anything we attempt to do.  Right or wrong.

I'm tired of people saying our country should be spending money to help feed people in Africa.  What about all the people who are going hungry right here?  What about our homeless who are that way because our jobs are being taken by other countries because we feel sorry for them?

I live in this country because its the greatest one in the world.  If I didn't like it here, I wouldn't live here.  And I challenge anyone in any country not to live here for two months and not feel a complete freedom every single day.

I give my hard earned money to where I see fit.  To see my family.  And if I have anything left over, to help out beings in this country that are less fortunte than me.  How about all the abandoned animals right here in the US?  That's why we have five cats.  How about Toys for Tots or canned food drives to help out people here?

Yes, I feel sorry for the people who had to go through the tsunami.  But where were they on September 12, 2001?  And where will anyone be when the next disaster strikes the United States?  We'll be left to bail ourselves out yet again.

[elmono311]

Other countries must not think we have problems to deal with ourselves. It's gimme, gimme, gimme.

And that's also the reason why there's 6 cats here...

[coffeecup]

Other countries must not think we have problems to deal with ourselves. It's gimme, gimme, gimme.

And that's also the reason why there's 6 cats here...

you love those cats

[elmono311]

Seems like Jack can't live without me anymore...

[coffeecup]

Seems like Jack can't live without me anymore...

either can the others

[elmono311]

I'm renaming him to Jack Bauer while you're away... and there's nothing you can do about it! MWA HA HA HA!!!

[Vengeance]

Most of you guys are way too young to know about this but back in the late 60s or early 70s, there was a "record" - an actual 45 RPM vinyl record by a Canadian.? I believe his name was Gordon McCray or something like that.? It was all about how no one ever comes to America's aid but we're supposed to drop everything we are doing to help out all the other countries.? This record came at the height of the Vietnam War when every one was bitching about our involvement.

It was Gordon Sinclair and here's the transcript of his broadcast. :-)

"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.

When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.

When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped.

The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans.

I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American Planes?

Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles.

You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon-not once, but several times-and safely home again. You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at.

Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke.

I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around.

They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those."

Stand proud, America!"

[elmono311]

True dat yo

[LostArtofRolando]

america the beautiful, and slightly dysfunctional, best place to live on earth... i love her so or else i wouldnt be joining the military, but im sure as hell gonna do so for our ideals and not the bumblers who run it, haha.  I just mean, we're all human, we're all flawed, i just want to do my part while i can and still have the right to bitch about it. 
   and to hell with the rest of the world while we're doin it.  we help you, we help ourselves (should worry more bout that too), nuff said.

[Catfish]

I guess we're contributing an awful lot now if people are afraid of us pulling out... guess everyone whining about our money support sees now how valuable or personnel support is...  Though sadly, now we seem to be attempting to become overly isolationist overnight


http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/01/21/asia.tsunami.us.ap/index.html


Aid groups warn on U.S. pullout
Friday, January 21, 2005 Posted: 6:34 AM EST (1134 GMT)


BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) -- Aid groups have warned it might be too soon for the U.S. military to scale back its emergency operations for Asia's tsunami victims.

  <snipple>

But some aid groups expressed concern that the move came too quickly, as tens of thousands of survivors from the Dec. 26 tsunami that struck a dozen nations were still in need of food aid and shelter.

"My gut feeling is that no, the civilian side isn't ready to take over," said Aine Fay, Indonesia director for the Irish aid group Concern. "The American military, the military hardware has been so useful."

"I'm a bit taken aback that they're thinking of withdrawing it already," she said.

Speaking in Bangkok, Thailand, the U.N. special coordinator for tsunami relief, Margareta Wahlstrom, said she hoped the military would not leave immediately because the relief operations depend on its "resources and machinery."

[elmono311]

The US wouldn't be withdrawing if the people over there weren't so distrustful of us

[Vengeance]

The US wouldn't be withdrawing if the people over there weren't so distrustful of us

Very true, but I think that it's important to note why they are distrustful. Who knows what their media and the propaganda over there is telling them. Based on what they know of us they have every right to be terrified of our presence over there. I'm not saying that they're right or that they have the correct info. I'm just saying based on what info they have, they're being logical in their distrust.

[LostArtofRolando]

ha.  i can think of a few nations across the world (and U.S.) who have a right to be distrustful.