And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

theriver · Dec 29, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

KaGee, I respectfully submit that you are incorrect. Muslim populations are as follows: India: 12% Sri Lanka: 7% Thailand: 3.8% Indonesia: 88% Malaysia: too minute a percentage to measure Granted a large number of people killed in Indonesia were and will be Muslim, as the west coast of Sumatra was hit very hard, they need assistance now. Its a country made up of 240 million people with 6000 inhabited islands, when you have a disaster there, its not the equivalent of driving a convoy of trucks from Texas to Florida.

Elmer Fudge · Dec 29, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

The last time that i checked, planet earth still looked like a beautiful ball of some kind floating thru the vast vacuum of space. When natural disasters occurs it is the responsiblity of each and every human being to contribute whatever they can afford, it does'nt matter how small that contribution happens to be. As far as Jan Egeland's comment goes,i take it to mean that "Western nations" includes all of Europe and North America. I am of the belief that Russia and China needs to get off of their backsides and share in some of responsibilites that it takes to run a peaceful and prosperous world, if not they both ought to relinquish their permanent membership seats in the United Nations.

theriver · Dec 29, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

Agreed EF, He should have said "Westernized".

Mark42 · Dec 29, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

from chris meyers:

Remember as well that 4% of Americans pay 50% of the tax

I'd like to know where that statistic came from. What is your source? Its sad that so many people had to die. What is sadder, is they want us to make it all better. Even worse are the people that think it's our job to fix every problem in the world. Hello! It's NOT.

theriver · Dec 29, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

Mark, I think if you observe whats actually happening you will see that there is an international response happening.

ob · Dec 29, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

I'm surprised that in such a geologically active region that a warning system was not in place to detect the catastrophy before it happened.Sort of like driving around with no insurance.The technology has been there.It was just overlooked for whatever reason.

chuckz · Dec 29, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

A warning system may have helped in Thailand but not in most other places. The problem is there is no way to quickly communicate with a lot of these places. As far as the US doing it's fair share, the United States is always at the top of the list when measured in dollars provided. The US slips to near the bottom of the list when ranked by percentage of GNP. When you need help and you get it, who cares about the what percentage of the givers income was given. It's an arbitrary and bogus measurement as far as I'm concerned.

cmyers_uk · Dec 29, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

Mark, Nobody has asked just the US to make it better. The whole of the developed and financially stable world have been asked to help and are helping note UK contributions are $30 million. The point of this thread was that the UN had criticized America for being stingy. The fact that he had said Western nations which means all of Europe as well was ignored and the posts that followed were in general expressing the feelings, dont we do enough, woe is me , **** em there Muslims. Why I singled your thread out was your belief that it was this aid that was causing your high taxation. All you have to do is to look at how much you spent last year per head on the war in Iraq and you can see where a huge proportion of your tax goes, then theres schools etc. The 5 cents (now 10) going to help millions of people is insignificant. The reason that so few people pay 50% of the tax is because the poor dont pay and you sure have a lot of them in the US 35.9 million of them living in poverty (2003) and increasing year on year(http://www.whitehouse.gov/fsbr/income.html). I am at home so cant get the source of the 4% that I used but if you look at this web site http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~elias/inequality.htm it shows the income relationships between the top earner e.g (In other words, the 2.7 million Americans with the highest incomes will have as much after-tax income as the 100 million Americans with the lowest incomes.) Have fun, I suspect we will have to agree to disagree on whether to help these people or not. Chris

Link · Dec 29, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

Well thank G*d for civilian organizations that mobilized on the day it happened. But you just don't hear anything much about them in the news. About them or the disaster! Im just amazed at the lack of coverage in the news. I can learn more on the Ham bands in 30 minutes than all day on TV in Western Washington. BTW I dont have cable so that might be why.

ob · Dec 29, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

That is why Link.Trust me.It's on cable news networks all day. Maybe the big three don't want to leave the impression that the current administration is on a humanitarian crusade as much.Then there's all them soap operas and whatnot.

All joking aside,this was truly a horrfic tragedy and I hope that the people ,especially Sri Lanka will be able to put the pieces back of their lives.Almost unimaginable situation.And that's just a breath of what nature can impose in an instant.Inevitibly,the human race is all doomed anyway.Just a matter of time.And the universe aint got nothing but time.That and space.

62_Kiwi · Dec 29, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

I just saw the president's comments in our local paper, they seem to back up my comments earlier on -the devil is in the detail...

Bush promised to stand with the affected countries as they provide relief to victims and rebuild. He added that he had spoken by phone to the leaders of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia. "I assured those leaders that this is just only the beginning of our help," he said at a briefing with reporters at an airport hangar near the ranch. He showed pique at a comment by a United Nations official that rich countries had generally been "stingy" in aid to poor nations. "I felt like the person who made that statement was very misguided and ill-informed," he said. "In the year 2004, our government provided US$2.4 billion in food and cash and humanitarian relief. ... That's 40 per cent of all the relief aid given in the world last year," he said. The UN has for decades pushed for rich nations to give away 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) every year in development aid. The US gives 0.13 per cent of its GDP.  But this amount excludes aid to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as food aid, where the US is the biggest donor but does not attach a monetary value to its contributions. 

KaGee · Dec 29, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

Originally posted by Link: Well thank G*d for civilian organizations that mobilized on the day it happened. But you just don't hear anything much about them in the news. About them or the disaster! Im just amazed at the lack of coverage in the news. I can learn more on the Ham bands in 30 minutes than all day on TV in Western Washington. BTW I dont have cable so that might be why.

Too bad Link.. Fox News has really picked up the pace on the coverage with some on the ground reporting and some home video that is just incredible to see.

DJ · Dec 30, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

"In the year 2004, our government provided US$2.4 billion in food and cash and humanitarian relief. ... That's 40 per cent of all the relief aid given in the world last year," he said.

I think that pretty much sums it up.

Mark42 · Dec 30, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

Total up what we gave in the last 10 years and it will be a staggering amount. We do give our fair share and much much more. How much do we spend in aid for flood, hurricane and tornado disasters in the US? The Sunami disaster is in need of our help, I don't deny that. Nonetheless, I believe the US needs to be more selective in the amount and who receives our aid in the future.

KaGee · Dec 30, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

Originally posted by DJ: 

"In the year 2004, our government provided US$2.4 billion in food and cash and humanitarian relief. ... That's 40 per cent of all the relief aid given in the world last year," he said. 

Click to expand...

I think that pretty much sums it up.

Yes it does. EDITED the rest...

DJ · Dec 30, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

KaGee, Check your figures. .7 is more than .13 and much more than .07

KaGee · Dec 30, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

Originally posted by DJ: KaGee, Check your figures. .7 is more than .13 and much more than .07

You are right DJ. I misread. Went back and read the various articles. I edited my earlier post. My bad.

cmyers_uk · Dec 30, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

Keith I for one hate maths, You did have a very good point which you also edited though about how much of the money actually becomes aid but I guess thats a whole new thread.

POINTER94 · Dec 30, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

The US will of course be the largest and most involved nation in this rescue. The UN cannot be trusted to manage the funds, or provide leadership. They are a den of theives and liars. Funny how 10 times the number of people were brutally killed by Sadam but the world didn't see a problem. Just a thought. If anyone really thought that our sole contribution was going to be 15 million they are living in a box. But that of course won't count the private sector donations from American Citizens, red cross funded by Americans, catholic charities with contributions from Americans, and the like. It is the height of arrogance to make such a statement. But it is a world full of the self rightous who think their line of reasoning is superior to everyone else's. How exactly can anyone from the UN tell anyone else how to spend their money. But it is now in vogue to bash the United States, our president, and now even our tax structures. What a sad state when the underachievers tell the over-achievers how to run their shop..

cmyers_uk · Dec 30, 2004

Re: And you wonder why I despise the U.N.

KEY AID PLEDGES World Bank $250m UK $96m EU $44m US: $35m Canada: $33m Japan: $30m Australia: $27m France: $20.4m Denmark: $15.6m Saudi Arabia: $10m

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