Another example of how bureaucracy destroys America. The government should be ashamed but unfortunately it will probably never change. I always enjoy when Rice comes out and reminds us that she is worthless and just a drain on tax payers.
What\’s the \”reason\” why the U.S. turned down so much of the aid that was offered?? One of the biggest natural disasters in U.S. History (if not, THE BIGGEST) and we\’re turning down aid plus not using aid that was received??
Fistly, there are a ton of other countries with a lot less infrastructure than the U.S. who have been able to receive aid and use it wisely & timely. And all Rice can say is that \”the U.S. is not used to receiving aid from outside sources.\”?? What a load of incompetent B.S.
Secondly, will most countries who offered the aid, take it as a \”snub\” that what they offered was not accepted. So, next time there won\’t be any offer at all. How much worse can the whole Katrina disaster get….when the U.S. can\’t even accept the aid or use the aid that was given. Very sad, and very comical at the same time.
But, why would the U.S. turn down aid when so much was / and still is needed??
We sure know how to wave our flag around the world and point fingers at how other countries are corrupt, but those fingers should be turned around and pointed at ourselves! Appears we are not any different than the rest of the world. Love my country, afraid of my government!
I think this relates to insurance due to the fact that the MILLIONS of dollars offered by the other countries could have put those who were most severely affected by the storms back into permenant housing regardless of whether there was FLOOD insurance on their property or not – instead of suing everyone over symantics
It would have probably taken 7-10 days to get the cruise ships to the coast to provide housing instead of \”extra expense\” under an insurance policy – or having hundreds of modular homes sitting vacant so the government could spend money for storage
The thought of having businesses restored sooner to reduce LOBI claims escapes the mental midgets in the US government
The offer of oil would have stabalized our gasoline prices
The money would have gone to hire individuals from across the country to put up homes and clear debris and restore order to these areas – some of which are still dealing with the devistation
The government is a joke – God forbid if a hurricane hits the northeast – One can only imagine the social, economic and property damage that will result
Someone on the Hill needs to wake up and realize that we arent the deep pocket for the world when it comes to finanical aide –
Are we that arrogant that we support so many other countries – it would be beneath us to accept a helping hand from others?
I suppose Brownie may think he knows best. However, unless a person is IN office and (i.e., in the trenches), how can a lay-person person make any kind of judgment call on such a complex decision like accepting foreign aid? There are many economic and foreign-US relation issues to deal with when accepting aid from a Middle Eastern country, no matter how friendly any ally they might be! Wow, such negative talk is so easy to spout out. Playing a blame game will almost always amount to nothing. Why not question the circumstances surrounding the decision before snapping out an opinion smacking of partisan liberalism garbage? I\’m sure Bush and the US powers that be, including RICE didn\’t make this decision willy-nilly just to stir up some dumb partisan debate with the Democrats and Monday morning quarterbacks like Brownie! I wish more people would think carefully before rendering an opinion about our government these days. It seems it is so much easier for some to remain simple-minded and criticize. The finer points of foreign policy are so complex and convoluted. We see only a small ingredient or two of the whole US discretionary pie. Since there are so many factors and elements to consider before a decision like this is made I suppose the easy way out is to make fun, criticize, condemn and complain while forgetting about your own yard which may need attention. However, since mulching and cleaning a yard requires energy and some intuitive thinking, I guess playing a blame game is the non-productive activity of choice for some.
please keep in mind the amounts offered were less than 1% of what the government has paid themselves. It\’s easy to call names and throw stone, but sorry, the $50 mill of oil donation offer from Kuwait was going to do nothing to stabilize gas prices; get a grip on reality, please.
What the article does not explain is what happened to all offers. Some were routed to agencies better suited to handle. Some were unusable (greek cruiseliners). Some were dropped or refused, but your asking government to do something it\’s not accustomed to: accept donations. Let\’s face it, some were more suitable than others. In a perfect world, we couldn\’t collected every last cent and used it to provide assistance, but even the alleged aid would amount to less than 1 cent on the dollar compared to what has been expended.
Keep in mind government has never been the most efficient method of getting help to those in need. The charitable organizations were much more experienced and efficient in getting the food, goods, and housing help to those in need. Look no further than the rampant fraud in the government handouts.
Before anyone turns this into a pro-Bush opinion, it\’s just an obvservation that government is not an efficient mechanism for transferring wealth, nor assistance.
Thank you RI Attorney and Chad for the voices of reason.
This article sure brought out the loonies.
Yes we should have taken more money to \”keep\” the people who continue not to pick up responsibility for themselves. Especially the drug peddlers and users.
Bad enough we have such a sad system that generations live off of taxpayers\’, but now we need to get money from other governements to put them up.
The people that worked for a living and had insurance, called responsible by the way, have moved on. The non workers or freeloaders should have some money from Kuwait (HA!)along with the extended/eternal housing.
The only thing holding things up is the pathetic local politicies who cannot come up with a game plan to start rebuilding the infrastructure of New Orleans. They\’re too tied up into political partisianship. They want the welfare state returned because they vote almost solidly for the Democrats.
You can sign me disgusted with the handout mentality that continues to grow with each generation. Hildabeast Clinton will make them all happy if she is elected because she does believe in socialism.
Ok RI Attorney, so assuming we turn down the Kuwaiti oil and aid: How about the aid from the U.K., Canada, and Italy? Where is the harm in accepting aid from them? They\’re our allies and we\’ve helped them out in the past. (WWII comes to mind) Italy sent medical supplies that spoiled because we didn\’t use them. But I guess there was no need for medical supplies right? Everything was hunky dory.
Lets see- we are all armchair QB\’s with no insight about how gov\’t really works?
A war going onto the 5th year with no end in sight, offer of aid to American\’s in need by foreign countries that we helped in the past yet we don\’t understand that there is more to be understood.
How about being a bunch of registered voters & tax payers that get upset when we read an article that shows our so called elected leader(?) turned down help when our gov\’t didn\’t help.
As far as the cruise ship, it only takes about 4-6 days to get here from Greece. How long did the gov\’t pay for temp housing? I guess not everyone checked that fact out. I have taken over 10 cruises myself.
As insurance professional and tax payors we have every right to get upset when we hear that countries we have helped in the past offers US help and our great leaders just do not act to use such help.
Maybe I forgot but wan\’t it Kuait that Geo. Bush Sr. sent armed U.S. forces to protect their country from Sadaam? Opps I guess some other people who posted on this site forgot about that one too.
So to those who say that we are just armchair QB\’s and acted too fast to post our opinion just remember it is every American\’s right voice their opinion. Althoough you may feel that those opinions are not correct, there many who think YOUR opinion is wrong. The real question would be whose is actually correct and would have helped many American\’s that needed help, help from anywhere.
no one is challenging your right to your opinion; typical liberal dramadrivel when someone has a reasoned point in opposite of yours, it\’s because the \’bad guys\’ are trying to keep you from voicing your opinion…great point bringing up Kuwait and 1991…
your absolutely right…you have a right to your opinion, even a wrong opinion, but it\’s your right…sorry if the world doesn\’t please you, but it doesn\’t function perfectly…sometimes it rains when we don\’t want it to, sometimes the people we vote for lose, or worse yet, disappoint the people who supported them. But thru it all, we still retain the right to an opinion-I haven\’t seen anyone trying to take that from you. Why the defensive lashout? If you want to get mad, consider the brains who located a city, and later a large metro area, below sea level? Probably a master plan to drown Democrats, eh?
and yes…I defend your right to be wrong; heck, I even defend your right to open your eyes and note the color of the sky if you like. Good luck!
The orignal comment was geared more to RIAttorney than you. He did mistate the amount of aid that Kuwait did offer.
We do both agree that we have a right to our opinion but as some people did post we do not have the right to pass judgement on our elected officials as we are not in their chair.
It appears he or she forgot that we actually have one very loud and firm say. That say comes every election day. I hope he or she does not ever run for office for the voice of the people can be very thunderous on that Tuesday in November and it can shatter a policticians world when they get voted out of their job because the people did not like what they did while in that job.
So, what you\’re saying is there are \”strings\” attached whenever one country wants to render aid to another in need. OK – then if that\’s true, wouldn\’t this be payback to the U.S. from all the times we\’ve come to the aid for others?
Additionally, what you are saying is the U.S. chose not to help those in need down in New Orleans because it would interfere somehow in this massive web of foreign politics.
Sorry, I don\’t buy it. What I do buy, is the government has become so massively bogged down with beaurocratic red-tape that has created \”gross inefficiency\” to the point that it can\’t even accept foreign aid \”at all\”. It\’s not that difficult. Countries do it ALL THE TIME!! EVERY YEAR!! Send the money, send the supplies, send the people. It\’s SIMPLE!!
No surprise to see the Washington Compost running yet another liberal mouth-piece article to blame all the misfortunes in the aftermath of a NATURAL DISASTER on the government. Hopefully, most of those who read this article will realize that the topic has been sensationalized and based upon fragmented data and research by a liberal funded think tank. While on the surface of it, our government may have turned down foreign aid, accepting foreign aid and support is a diplomatic function. With only sound bites and clips of quotes from public officials, and maybe I am just reaching here, but I think there may be a little more to this story?
You guys missed the point & only keyed in on your own opinions in opposition to others. I saw nothing in your posts that really offered any insight to moving forward or working together to avert another disaster of this magnitude. Whatever happened to constructive comments? Or were they lost on you?
So, what was the \”reasoning\” for turning down foreign aid??
The \”article\’s reason\” is basically Rice stating that the U.S. was \”not used to accepting foreign aid\” as if there was no system in place. Which again, I question. You mean the U.S. has never in it\’s history ever accepted forign aid? Nothing from Sept. 11th? I don\’t know. It still seems like a very lame reason Rice gave….accoring to the article.
I think it just proves once again Rice\’s uselessness and incompetence. Even if there was no system in place, create one. Successful businesses come across instances like this all the time and they adapt. Only the government can throw up their hands and play stupid because the tax money will keep pouring in regardless if they have the mental ability to actually do what they are paid to do. Most of the people affected by Katrina were poor and probably pay such a small portion of the tax monies that the empty suits in washington could care less about an acceptable response time. Had rich republicans or liberals been affected and left roaming the streets for help I can guarantee suddenly a plan would have developed at a much more rapid pace. I voted for Bush but have grown a distaste for his ineffective and pathetic leadership. I blame a lot of that on the morons that he appoints as advisors and places in vital positions such as Rice\’s position. Although they are his choices so that makes him an unfortunate moron as well. Bureaucracy is at it\’s worse again here in this article. I can somewhat understand not accepting aid from arab nations which are basically always are enemies regardless if they have their sheep\’s costumes on. Although I think we can accept Kuwait\’s aid without really being concerned. The other non-arab nations that we turned is stupid and just makes us look to cocky to take help from smaller nations, when it would actually make a difference no matter how small it is.
My comment was intended to direct those of you who choose to criticize to conduct more research, consider the facts, and then comment intelligently.
It is important to realize that there is more to running a government than most of us understand. Of course, foreign aid usually entails strings. For example, study the IMF and World Bank. Even if we do not see the strings, they exist anyway.
Also, there may be other underlying issues. Delegation of any aid may not always be a poor choice. Doesn’t a settlor delegate a trustee to manage the corpus of a trust? Why didn’t Kuwait offer to give 100 million in cash and 400 million in oil to other organizations ready to handle accepting donations like the Red Cross or the private Katrina aid group mentioned?
Perhaps there may be appropriations considerations. Perhaps Kuwait had time considerations and withdrew offers if not used in a certain way by a time certain. We just don’t know. We could draw one tiny inference if the Kuwaiti ambassador to the US said something regarding “the fastest way to get money to the people that needed it” and speculate that speed and time was at issue. Was the US equipped to facilitate appropriations at a rapid pace or was the Red Cross better equipped? I don’t know.
Anyhow, my point is that none of us know all the little nuances and reasons why the US couldn’t accept all of this aid. Perhaps college professors may be better equipped to discuss this intelligently, not us insurance people.
I am just totally disgusted when I hear careless and reckless criticism feverishly tossed into the conversation like slop to a hog with no respect or care for fact, knowledge, research and truth. The saddest part is that we (most of us) run to partisan junk discussions just like hungry swine to a feeding trough.
As to my opinion on the article, I have none. I’m not qualified to make a judgment call either way. I’m to busy working on work and other things for my family to keep up with all of the affairs of the government. I guess I prefer to pay taxes and vote and have someone more qualified make these types of decisions as best they can for my benefit.
Sure, if the US doesn\’t have a system, just create one! Such fundamentalist thinking doesn\’t usually work. If the US doesnt\’ have a system, why didn\’t Kuwait simply give the money and oil aid to other organizations. Could it be because they wanted to help out or ask for special considerations? Think….was there a reason why they chose not to give aid to the US when we were slow to appropriate? Is it the US or is it the motivations of Kuwait? I don\’t have the answers. You apparently have ALL the answers. Maybe you should be Secretary of State…..(ha ha), NOT!!!!
Thank you, New Orleans. It\’s amazing how many simple minded critics come out of the woodwork jawing on articles absent fact yet loaded down with spin.
Get off of your high horse RI Attorney. I doubt anyone here is truly qualified to make ANY comment (including yourself). But this is a forum for DISCUSSION, correct?
Am I mad that medicine from Italy went to waste? Damn right I am. Am I mad that cruise ships weren\’t allowed to be used as alternative housing? Absolutely!
Do I understand why America would not accept aid from a country like Kuwait? YES!! (I\’m not one to dance with the devil, either.)
As usual, there is a middle ground here that no one can even dream of because people are sadly caught up in this political game of red rover, red rover.
I don\’t think any of the people commenting on their disgust deserve to be criticized nor ridiculed for their OPINIONS.
You mentioned that you can\’t comment because you are not qualified? Well then what makes you so qualified to tell people they are wrong about their OPINIONS????
Since you\’re so busy with life, please don\’t respond. I\’d hate to deter you from something of importance seeing how you have already managed to squeeze umpteen posts into your full day.
It is so nice to read intelligent reasoning, RI Attorney. It gets old reading partisan comments, knowing full well people haven\’t researched all sides and made an objective opinion on the matter. Most people go with what they already believe to be true (their bias) and then find anything to prove themselves to be correct.
Realist are you on crack? I could really care less about Kuwait\’s offerings of aid but if they have strings attached that we don\’t necessarily agree with then Rice should come out and state them instead of just reaffirming her stupidity by basically saying she was shocked and dumbfounded and had no idea what to do. In my opinion we should level the middle east with napalm leaving only Israel to stand. A nice beautiful sheet of glass.
Even those who disagreed [Hilary] understood why Rudi turned down $10 mil from the Saudi\’s after Sept 11. But do we have that kind of clarity here??? FEMA was \”enhanced\” in the wake of Hurricane Andrew to avoid exactly this kind debacle, again, and look what we got. Between cronie-ism and PC fear, all of our leaders are failing our heritage miserably.
I\’ve noticed the main argument for anyone who disagrees with RI attorney and others is that they are being partison liberals. Isn\’t is possible to disagree with choices your governemnt has made and it not be a partison issue? Not every person who disagrees with the Bush administration is a partison liberal and I\’m sure not every person who disagreed with the Clinton administration was a neo-con conservative partison. I find that those who tend to instantly accuses others of partisonship when they state their opinion are the most partison themselves. It\’s ok RI Attorney. You don\’t have to love or hate everything about our government and neither does anyone else.
What have we learned from this disaster and what provisions have been changed to anticipate the next disaster? If we failed to accept aide from countries that wanted to help (no matter how small)shame on us. The displaced folks from New Orleans and surrounding areas are Americans and deserve the support of all of us Americans. Is there a social change going on in that region? Last fall St. Bernard Parish (formerly 90% white) passed an ordinance that if you own a single family home you can only rent it to immediate family members… excuse me but how does government dictate who a homeowner can rent too if they are not a convicted child molester? If you recall, right after the disaster the US Gov\’t website for people to donate listed Pat Robertson\’s charity at the top of the list, ahead of the Red Cross. It was removed after two weeks, many donations and much dispute! How will we cope in the future? Will we respond to our neighbors or turn a deaf ear because we can take care of ourselves??? What have we learned??
Obviously they didnt want aid because the US govt already had a plan. They knew that by slowing down aid, that blacks and other poor people would be forced to relacate. Even now there is money that is not being spent.
This is because they want to remake New Orleans completely as a tourist city. They want the blacks out. The proof is in the pudding. The money will be spent on corprate projects.
Greg Palast: It’s unbelievably ugly. You will see in the film mile after mile of destroyed houses. The 9th Ward looks worse than Berlin after the war because there’s hardly a building standing. And this was just filmed a couple months ago! This was filmed one year after the flood. In Indonesia, they have rebuilt after the tsunami. The only thing they are rebuilding here is a Disneyland on the Mississippi to recreate a new, white, conservative city.
And don’t forget, keeping African-Americans from coming back into New Orleans is amazing political gerrymandering. This is going to be crucial to keeping Louisiana in the Republican column in 2008. That’s really part of the story.A lot of the poor black areas are still underwater and the money that is available isnt being spent.
The black people (and white as well) that had no job, no money, no transportation to get out and who were transported out on buses to other states will probably not be coming back. Why, because they still have no job, no money and no transportation. Rest assured though, the government is sending their welfare checks to their new address. They are doing just fine.
Kind of like your own comments and opinions except yours are correct because they are yours. You are hypocrisy in action and you are too dim to realize it.
So will the Republicans be pushing the \”dreaded\” African-Americans that came from Louisiana (after the hurricane) out of Houston/Texas so that this state is not over run with Democrats?
Seriously? These are the arguments of today\’s society? And we wonder why everything is going into the toilet.
Question for you- if you think these people are not doing so well, are you located here in Houston? Have you seen the hurricane survivors? Have you been to the job fairs? What kind of research have you done personally? Or are you getting your information from the media? That\’s what I thought.
When you turned down foreign aid it allows our government to pick and choose \”their\” contractor connections to spend our tax dollars. OUR government should get organized and be prepared to accept any aid offered. We cannot afford to continue to use \”our money\” to support the world. It will run out one day.
How about this? If you live in a flood zone, you plan for what you need as an individual, as parish, as county, as a state. What would happen if you forgot you ever heard about charity and did some
planning yourself?
And how is this related to insurance?
Rosie, you should love this article bashing the U.S.A.
Way to go Brownie-heckeva job!
Another example of how bureaucracy destroys America. The government should be ashamed but unfortunately it will probably never change. I always enjoy when Rice comes out and reminds us that she is worthless and just a drain on tax payers.
What\’s the \”reason\” why the U.S. turned down so much of the aid that was offered?? One of the biggest natural disasters in U.S. History (if not, THE BIGGEST) and we\’re turning down aid plus not using aid that was received??
Fistly, there are a ton of other countries with a lot less infrastructure than the U.S. who have been able to receive aid and use it wisely & timely. And all Rice can say is that \”the U.S. is not used to receiving aid from outside sources.\”?? What a load of incompetent B.S.
Secondly, will most countries who offered the aid, take it as a \”snub\” that what they offered was not accepted. So, next time there won\’t be any offer at all. How much worse can the whole Katrina disaster get….when the U.S. can\’t even accept the aid or use the aid that was given. Very sad, and very comical at the same time.
But, why would the U.S. turn down aid when so much was / and still is needed??
Our tax dollars at work, refusing aid?
Are we too proud to take a handout when we need it the most?
This is total BS
We sure know how to wave our flag around the world and point fingers at how other countries are corrupt, but those fingers should be turned around and pointed at ourselves! Appears we are not any different than the rest of the world. Love my country, afraid of my government!
I have got to agree with ACE. What a load of crap.
I think this relates to insurance due to the fact that the MILLIONS of dollars offered by the other countries could have put those who were most severely affected by the storms back into permenant housing regardless of whether there was FLOOD insurance on their property or not – instead of suing everyone over symantics
It would have probably taken 7-10 days to get the cruise ships to the coast to provide housing instead of \”extra expense\” under an insurance policy – or having hundreds of modular homes sitting vacant so the government could spend money for storage
The thought of having businesses restored sooner to reduce LOBI claims escapes the mental midgets in the US government
The offer of oil would have stabalized our gasoline prices
The money would have gone to hire individuals from across the country to put up homes and clear debris and restore order to these areas – some of which are still dealing with the devistation
The government is a joke – God forbid if a hurricane hits the northeast – One can only imagine the social, economic and property damage that will result
Someone on the Hill needs to wake up and realize that we arent the deep pocket for the world when it comes to finanical aide –
Are we that arrogant that we support so many other countries – it would be beneath us to accept a helping hand from others?
Nepotism, Incompetence combined with Ignorance and Complete Stupidity on a scale that dwarfs the imagination.
I suppose Brownie may think he knows best. However, unless a person is IN office and (i.e., in the trenches), how can a lay-person person make any kind of judgment call on such a complex decision like accepting foreign aid? There are many economic and foreign-US relation issues to deal with when accepting aid from a Middle Eastern country, no matter how friendly any ally they might be! Wow, such negative talk is so easy to spout out. Playing a blame game will almost always amount to nothing. Why not question the circumstances surrounding the decision before snapping out an opinion smacking of partisan liberalism garbage? I\’m sure Bush and the US powers that be, including RICE didn\’t make this decision willy-nilly just to stir up some dumb partisan debate with the Democrats and Monday morning quarterbacks like Brownie! I wish more people would think carefully before rendering an opinion about our government these days. It seems it is so much easier for some to remain simple-minded and criticize. The finer points of foreign policy are so complex and convoluted. We see only a small ingredient or two of the whole US discretionary pie. Since there are so many factors and elements to consider before a decision like this is made I suppose the easy way out is to make fun, criticize, condemn and complain while forgetting about your own yard which may need attention. However, since mulching and cleaning a yard requires energy and some intuitive thinking, I guess playing a blame game is the non-productive activity of choice for some.
please keep in mind the amounts offered were less than 1% of what the government has paid themselves. It\’s easy to call names and throw stone, but sorry, the $50 mill of oil donation offer from Kuwait was going to do nothing to stabilize gas prices; get a grip on reality, please.
What the article does not explain is what happened to all offers. Some were routed to agencies better suited to handle. Some were unusable (greek cruiseliners). Some were dropped or refused, but your asking government to do something it\’s not accustomed to: accept donations. Let\’s face it, some were more suitable than others. In a perfect world, we couldn\’t collected every last cent and used it to provide assistance, but even the alleged aid would amount to less than 1 cent on the dollar compared to what has been expended.
Keep in mind government has never been the most efficient method of getting help to those in need. The charitable organizations were much more experienced and efficient in getting the food, goods, and housing help to those in need. Look no further than the rampant fraud in the government handouts.
Before anyone turns this into a pro-Bush opinion, it\’s just an obvservation that government is not an efficient mechanism for transferring wealth, nor assistance.
Thank you RI Attorney and Chad for the voices of reason.
This article sure brought out the loonies.
Yes we should have taken more money to \”keep\” the people who continue not to pick up responsibility for themselves. Especially the drug peddlers and users.
Bad enough we have such a sad system that generations live off of taxpayers\’, but now we need to get money from other governements to put them up.
The people that worked for a living and had insurance, called responsible by the way, have moved on. The non workers or freeloaders should have some money from Kuwait (HA!)along with the extended/eternal housing.
The only thing holding things up is the pathetic local politicies who cannot come up with a game plan to start rebuilding the infrastructure of New Orleans. They\’re too tied up into political partisianship. They want the welfare state returned because they vote almost solidly for the Democrats.
You can sign me disgusted with the handout mentality that continues to grow with each generation. Hildabeast Clinton will make them all happy if she is elected because she does believe in socialism.
Ok RI Attorney, so assuming we turn down the Kuwaiti oil and aid: How about the aid from the U.K., Canada, and Italy? Where is the harm in accepting aid from them? They\’re our allies and we\’ve helped them out in the past. (WWII comes to mind) Italy sent medical supplies that spoiled because we didn\’t use them. But I guess there was no need for medical supplies right? Everything was hunky dory.
Lets see- we are all armchair QB\’s with no insight about how gov\’t really works?
A war going onto the 5th year with no end in sight, offer of aid to American\’s in need by foreign countries that we helped in the past yet we don\’t understand that there is more to be understood.
How about being a bunch of registered voters & tax payers that get upset when we read an article that shows our so called elected leader(?) turned down help when our gov\’t didn\’t help.
As far as the cruise ship, it only takes about 4-6 days to get here from Greece. How long did the gov\’t pay for temp housing? I guess not everyone checked that fact out. I have taken over 10 cruises myself.
As insurance professional and tax payors we have every right to get upset when we hear that countries we have helped in the past offers US help and our great leaders just do not act to use such help.
Maybe I forgot but wan\’t it Kuait that Geo. Bush Sr. sent armed U.S. forces to protect their country from Sadaam? Opps I guess some other people who posted on this site forgot about that one too.
So to those who say that we are just armchair QB\’s and acted too fast to post our opinion just remember it is every American\’s right voice their opinion. Althoough you may feel that those opinions are not correct, there many who think YOUR opinion is wrong. The real question would be whose is actually correct and would have helped many American\’s that needed help, help from anywhere.
no one is challenging your right to your opinion; typical liberal dramadrivel when someone has a reasoned point in opposite of yours, it\’s because the \’bad guys\’ are trying to keep you from voicing your opinion…great point bringing up Kuwait and 1991…
your absolutely right…you have a right to your opinion, even a wrong opinion, but it\’s your right…sorry if the world doesn\’t please you, but it doesn\’t function perfectly…sometimes it rains when we don\’t want it to, sometimes the people we vote for lose, or worse yet, disappoint the people who supported them. But thru it all, we still retain the right to an opinion-I haven\’t seen anyone trying to take that from you. Why the defensive lashout? If you want to get mad, consider the brains who located a city, and later a large metro area, below sea level? Probably a master plan to drown Democrats, eh?
and yes…I defend your right to be wrong; heck, I even defend your right to open your eyes and note the color of the sky if you like. Good luck!
Thank God Chad and RI Attorney are not running this country and hopefully will not run for office.
The orignal comment was geared more to RIAttorney than you. He did mistate the amount of aid that Kuwait did offer.
We do both agree that we have a right to our opinion but as some people did post we do not have the right to pass judgement on our elected officials as we are not in their chair.
It appears he or she forgot that we actually have one very loud and firm say. That say comes every election day. I hope he or she does not ever run for office for the voice of the people can be very thunderous on that Tuesday in November and it can shatter a policticians world when they get voted out of their job because the people did not like what they did while in that job.
Now taht can be a rude awakening.
So, what you\’re saying is there are \”strings\” attached whenever one country wants to render aid to another in need. OK – then if that\’s true, wouldn\’t this be payback to the U.S. from all the times we\’ve come to the aid for others?
Additionally, what you are saying is the U.S. chose not to help those in need down in New Orleans because it would interfere somehow in this massive web of foreign politics.
Sorry, I don\’t buy it. What I do buy, is the government has become so massively bogged down with beaurocratic red-tape that has created \”gross inefficiency\” to the point that it can\’t even accept foreign aid \”at all\”. It\’s not that difficult. Countries do it ALL THE TIME!! EVERY YEAR!! Send the money, send the supplies, send the people. It\’s SIMPLE!!
No surprise to see the Washington Compost running yet another liberal mouth-piece article to blame all the misfortunes in the aftermath of a NATURAL DISASTER on the government. Hopefully, most of those who read this article will realize that the topic has been sensationalized and based upon fragmented data and research by a liberal funded think tank. While on the surface of it, our government may have turned down foreign aid, accepting foreign aid and support is a diplomatic function. With only sound bites and clips of quotes from public officials, and maybe I am just reaching here, but I think there may be a little more to this story?
You guys missed the point & only keyed in on your own opinions in opposition to others. I saw nothing in your posts that really offered any insight to moving forward or working together to avert another disaster of this magnitude. Whatever happened to constructive comments? Or were they lost on you?
So, what was the \”reasoning\” for turning down foreign aid??
The \”article\’s reason\” is basically Rice stating that the U.S. was \”not used to accepting foreign aid\” as if there was no system in place. Which again, I question. You mean the U.S. has never in it\’s history ever accepted forign aid? Nothing from Sept. 11th? I don\’t know. It still seems like a very lame reason Rice gave….accoring to the article.
I think it just proves once again Rice\’s uselessness and incompetence. Even if there was no system in place, create one. Successful businesses come across instances like this all the time and they adapt. Only the government can throw up their hands and play stupid because the tax money will keep pouring in regardless if they have the mental ability to actually do what they are paid to do. Most of the people affected by Katrina were poor and probably pay such a small portion of the tax monies that the empty suits in washington could care less about an acceptable response time. Had rich republicans or liberals been affected and left roaming the streets for help I can guarantee suddenly a plan would have developed at a much more rapid pace. I voted for Bush but have grown a distaste for his ineffective and pathetic leadership. I blame a lot of that on the morons that he appoints as advisors and places in vital positions such as Rice\’s position. Although they are his choices so that makes him an unfortunate moron as well. Bureaucracy is at it\’s worse again here in this article. I can somewhat understand not accepting aid from arab nations which are basically always are enemies regardless if they have their sheep\’s costumes on. Although I think we can accept Kuwait\’s aid without really being concerned. The other non-arab nations that we turned is stupid and just makes us look to cocky to take help from smaller nations, when it would actually make a difference no matter how small it is.
My comment was intended to direct those of you who choose to criticize to conduct more research, consider the facts, and then comment intelligently.
It is important to realize that there is more to running a government than most of us understand. Of course, foreign aid usually entails strings. For example, study the IMF and World Bank. Even if we do not see the strings, they exist anyway.
Also, there may be other underlying issues. Delegation of any aid may not always be a poor choice. Doesn’t a settlor delegate a trustee to manage the corpus of a trust? Why didn’t Kuwait offer to give 100 million in cash and 400 million in oil to other organizations ready to handle accepting donations like the Red Cross or the private Katrina aid group mentioned?
Perhaps there may be appropriations considerations. Perhaps Kuwait had time considerations and withdrew offers if not used in a certain way by a time certain. We just don’t know. We could draw one tiny inference if the Kuwaiti ambassador to the US said something regarding “the fastest way to get money to the people that needed it” and speculate that speed and time was at issue. Was the US equipped to facilitate appropriations at a rapid pace or was the Red Cross better equipped? I don’t know.
Anyhow, my point is that none of us know all the little nuances and reasons why the US couldn’t accept all of this aid. Perhaps college professors may be better equipped to discuss this intelligently, not us insurance people.
I am just totally disgusted when I hear careless and reckless criticism feverishly tossed into the conversation like slop to a hog with no respect or care for fact, knowledge, research and truth. The saddest part is that we (most of us) run to partisan junk discussions just like hungry swine to a feeding trough.
As to my opinion on the article, I have none. I’m not qualified to make a judgment call either way. I’m to busy working on work and other things for my family to keep up with all of the affairs of the government. I guess I prefer to pay taxes and vote and have someone more qualified make these types of decisions as best they can for my benefit.
Sure, if the US doesn\’t have a system, just create one! Such fundamentalist thinking doesn\’t usually work. If the US doesnt\’ have a system, why didn\’t Kuwait simply give the money and oil aid to other organizations. Could it be because they wanted to help out or ask for special considerations? Think….was there a reason why they chose not to give aid to the US when we were slow to appropriate? Is it the US or is it the motivations of Kuwait? I don\’t have the answers. You apparently have ALL the answers. Maybe you should be Secretary of State…..(ha ha), NOT!!!!
Realist seems to be on the same page as those of us who choose not to be critical before examining all the facts.
GOOD FOR YOU!!!!
We dont need aid from foreigners, thank you very much.
Thank you, New Orleans. It\’s amazing how many simple minded critics come out of the woodwork jawing on articles absent fact yet loaded down with spin.
Get off of your high horse RI Attorney. I doubt anyone here is truly qualified to make ANY comment (including yourself). But this is a forum for DISCUSSION, correct?
Am I mad that medicine from Italy went to waste? Damn right I am. Am I mad that cruise ships weren\’t allowed to be used as alternative housing? Absolutely!
Do I understand why America would not accept aid from a country like Kuwait? YES!! (I\’m not one to dance with the devil, either.)
As usual, there is a middle ground here that no one can even dream of because people are sadly caught up in this political game of red rover, red rover.
I don\’t think any of the people commenting on their disgust deserve to be criticized nor ridiculed for their OPINIONS.
You mentioned that you can\’t comment because you are not qualified? Well then what makes you so qualified to tell people they are wrong about their OPINIONS????
Since you\’re so busy with life, please don\’t respond. I\’d hate to deter you from something of importance seeing how you have already managed to squeeze umpteen posts into your full day.
It is so nice to read intelligent reasoning, RI Attorney. It gets old reading partisan comments, knowing full well people haven\’t researched all sides and made an objective opinion on the matter. Most people go with what they already believe to be true (their bias) and then find anything to prove themselves to be correct.
Realist are you on crack? I could really care less about Kuwait\’s offerings of aid but if they have strings attached that we don\’t necessarily agree with then Rice should come out and state them instead of just reaffirming her stupidity by basically saying she was shocked and dumbfounded and had no idea what to do. In my opinion we should level the middle east with napalm leaving only Israel to stand. A nice beautiful sheet of glass.
Right on Courtney!
Even those who disagreed [Hilary] understood why Rudi turned down $10 mil from the Saudi\’s after Sept 11. But do we have that kind of clarity here??? FEMA was \”enhanced\” in the wake of Hurricane Andrew to avoid exactly this kind debacle, again, and look what we got. Between cronie-ism and PC fear, all of our leaders are failing our heritage miserably.
I\’ve noticed the main argument for anyone who disagrees with RI attorney and others is that they are being partison liberals. Isn\’t is possible to disagree with choices your governemnt has made and it not be a partison issue? Not every person who disagrees with the Bush administration is a partison liberal and I\’m sure not every person who disagreed with the Clinton administration was a neo-con conservative partison. I find that those who tend to instantly accuses others of partisonship when they state their opinion are the most partison themselves. It\’s ok RI Attorney. You don\’t have to love or hate everything about our government and neither does anyone else.
Agreed. The majority of the population is within the group described in your post, including myself.
Houston deserves all those poor transplanted people.
Come on down, we have room for you.
What have we learned from this disaster and what provisions have been changed to anticipate the next disaster? If we failed to accept aide from countries that wanted to help (no matter how small)shame on us. The displaced folks from New Orleans and surrounding areas are Americans and deserve the support of all of us Americans. Is there a social change going on in that region? Last fall St. Bernard Parish (formerly 90% white) passed an ordinance that if you own a single family home you can only rent it to immediate family members… excuse me but how does government dictate who a homeowner can rent too if they are not a convicted child molester? If you recall, right after the disaster the US Gov\’t website for people to donate listed Pat Robertson\’s charity at the top of the list, ahead of the Red Cross. It was removed after two weeks, many donations and much dispute! How will we cope in the future? Will we respond to our neighbors or turn a deaf ear because we can take care of ourselves??? What have we learned??
Obviously they didnt want aid because the US govt already had a plan. They knew that by slowing down aid, that blacks and other poor people would be forced to relacate. Even now there is money that is not being spent.
This is because they want to remake New Orleans completely as a tourist city. They want the blacks out. The proof is in the pudding. The money will be spent on corprate projects.
Um……Sorry to ask, but….are you being serious? It\’s hard to tell sometimes without being able to hear the tone it\’s said in.
Very courageous of you to ask that B. I think I am afraid of the answer. In any case, it\’s nice to see you again.
Do you think this situation is the fault of the Democrats or Republicans? Just kidding… I wonder what else will unfold regarding this aid.
I\’ve been enjoying the posts.
Typical Attorney – RI ……lots of yada, yada, yada & doesn\’t say anything in the final analysis.
Hey Jewel, nice to see you. I\’ve been wondering where you were. I thought you would enjoy this one.
Personally I think everything that is wrong with the world is the fault of the green party. World movers and shackers they are. :-)
Greg Palast: It’s unbelievably ugly. You will see in the film mile after mile of destroyed houses. The 9th Ward looks worse than Berlin after the war because there’s hardly a building standing. And this was just filmed a couple months ago! This was filmed one year after the flood. In Indonesia, they have rebuilt after the tsunami. The only thing they are rebuilding here is a Disneyland on the Mississippi to recreate a new, white, conservative city.
And don’t forget, keeping African-Americans from coming back into New Orleans is amazing political gerrymandering. This is going to be crucial to keeping Louisiana in the Republican column in 2008. That’s really part of the story.A lot of the poor black areas are still underwater and the money that is available isnt being spent.
They dont want the black people to come back.
The 9th Ward looked almost as bad before the storm. Trust me on this one.
The black people (and white as well) that had no job, no money, no transportation to get out and who were transported out on buses to other states will probably not be coming back. Why, because they still have no job, no money and no transportation. Rest assured though, the government is sending their welfare checks to their new address. They are doing just fine.
Chad — you can replace Liberal/Democrat with Neocon/Republican and your post would still be correct and make sense.
Kind of like your own comments and opinions except yours are correct because they are yours. You are hypocrisy in action and you are too dim to realize it.
My dad always says \”When I want your opinion, I\’ll give it to you.\”
Of course, he is joking when he says it…
Fact is fact (and true) and opinion is opinion (neither true nor false because it can not be proven).
I love when the race card is pulled on issues.
So will the Republicans be pushing the \”dreaded\” African-Americans that came from Louisiana (after the hurricane) out of Houston/Texas so that this state is not over run with Democrats?
Seriously? These are the arguments of today\’s society? And we wonder why everything is going into the toilet.
Question for you- if you think these people are not doing so well, are you located here in Houston? Have you seen the hurricane survivors? Have you been to the job fairs? What kind of research have you done personally? Or are you getting your information from the media? That\’s what I thought.
When you turned down foreign aid it allows our government to pick and choose \”their\” contractor connections to spend our tax dollars. OUR government should get organized and be prepared to accept any aid offered. We cannot afford to continue to use \”our money\” to support the world. It will run out one day.
How about this? If you live in a flood zone, you plan for what you need as an individual, as parish, as county, as a state. What would happen if you forgot you ever heard about charity and did some
planning yourself?