Views on Donald Rumsfeld are doubtless strongly held, but only in certain quarters are they fully settled. The BBC presents a round up of bad news for Donald with one of those emotionalised and opportunistic items basically whining that, at the end of the day, he ‘just doesn’t care’. It is, I suppose, Christmas- so a present was in order for the Secretary, which should sink in by about Christmas day on the present schedule.
No place is found to mention this story of anti-Rummy coordination as they wax lyrical about disgruntled troops and roll out old favourite and Michael Moore cheerleader, ‘To me it’s an insult’Ivan Medina. I may be heartless but I feel that just because a man has lost his brother does not mean that I should be made to listen to his every complaint. The Beeb considers otherwise when the target is Rummy.
Meanwhile, regarding that story about the unarmoured vehicles, this from Powerline was interesting.
The BBC is biased because it can only question points of view from a left wing perspective.
Has anyone ever found a uncontested BBC article questioning tax rises? Mentioning the Laffer curve? Austrian School?
I haven’t. I’ve found loads of uncontested tripe from groups like the rowntree foundation though.
PD
Yes, there are lies, damn lies and statistics.
But any listing of S aid should, for example, include the very large sums spent in Afghanistan, the $15 billion commited to AIDS especially in Africa, the costs of the US fleets keeping the sea lanes open much as the Brits did in the past, sustaining ALL world trade). And above all, the HUGE private genrosity of US citizens, from ordinary folk to billionaires, which is reckoned to QUADRUPLE official US aid. It is little wonder people in the US are pissed off at some N free-loader calling them stingy !
The UN guy wasn’t referring to individual people’s generosity. He was talking about % of GDP and how much of it governments will commit. The generosity of the general public cannot always be relied upon.
As I said the guy was making a fair point at a bad time. But of course now it gets turned into another case of the US being attacked by the rest of the world. And so all the right wing media/blog writers etc. start fuming and more abuse is thrown back at the UN. I’m sure there are some out there who are pleased by this reaction.
And if I were into conspiracy theories I would say that the US responding to the UN guy’s remark ensured that it was forever linked to the US when it was actually a general comment on Western nations aid contributions. The government should have kept their mouths shut, been the bigger man as it were and put a bigger figure out there. After all it’s almost certain to go up or will the british public really cough up more than the US government?
PD:
That percentage of GDP stuff is meaningless. It’s rigged up to make nations with small GDPs feel warm inside, and gives the public a vehicle to feign indignation.
Here in the US, individual donation can be relied upon, even when the economy was poor, people gave generously. They just do. They don’t dwell on morally vane nonsense as much as European leftist like to think.
I made about $900 on my stocks this year. I figured that I should give at least half of that gain to Tsunami relief. I went ot the bank on Monday and did a direct transfer to 3 charities (which have relief materiel staged in warehouses, thus getting there quickly) to make sure they get the funds faster than if I wrote a check.
It’s still not as much as I could do, and I only mention it in the hope of disabusing some nutter of her or his illusions.
All of this nattering grew out of a reflexive finger wagging on the part of Euro-lefties. They are effectively people who can’t seem to free themse
cont’d..
All of this nattering grew out of a reflexive finger wagging on the part of Euro-lefties. They are effectively people who can’t seem to free themselves from an indulgant dream in the back of their minds. It is the worst man-made humanitarian disaster ever conceived of – Che-like revolutions which resemble a kind of death cult.
We do this kind of stuff on our own. Quietly, and anonymously. We always have. It’s not a bad habit to take up.
just saw laura trevelyan on news 24 – talking about the USA’s increased donation to the tsunami aid effort from $35m to $350m. she couldnt praise the america for totally dwarfing every other country’s donation – oh no. according to her, what this is really about the states trying to repair itself on the world stage after the iraq war. get real bitch.
You see, we can’t win – so why even try I ask? As the Indians used to say: ‘His words are unimportant and we do not hear them’.
Of course there is a chance that someday, somebody in the outside world will have an opinion worth hearing – but I’m afraid we’ll be so used to ignoring criticism and abuse by then we won’t be listening.
An acquaintance on another list made a point I hadn’t thought of. The President is not a dictator, under our consitution it is congress who decides how the People’s money is to be spent and at the moment we’re between congresses. I wonder if Bush has gotten some kind of informal assurances from congressional leaders to up the pledged amount.
PD – Right, we don’t ask, because we are fortunate, BUT… just because we’re where we are today doesn’t mean an OFFER of assistance isn’t appreciated. And we’ve also known extreme hardship in our 200 plus years, check your history books. Please by all means, keep your precious money, thankfully we don’t need or want it, and God and all His economists know full well the EU Europe will need every Euro it has to fund it’s ever expanding welfare state. But just once, it might be nice to hear a voice of support. There are more ways to show solidarity than money, PD. And if that’s too much to ask, at least occasionally put a sock in the endless bitching, complaining and criticizing. You can do that for free. We’ll continue to pick up the tab, never fear.
I’ve been away for a few days and did not have Internet access. One of the first things I read upon logging on to my favorite English blost was Clare Short’s absolutely mind-bogglingly mean-spirited attack on the US coalition to aid the tsunami victims.
The last I heard, some 20,000 US Marines were on the way to the affected areas, to do fun jobs like burying bloated corpses and digging wells for clean drinking water, while this piece of shit excuse for a human being– sorry for my language, but this “person” is simply worthless as a human being — loafs on her extremely ample posterior in Western comfort and whines because our aid money isn’t going through proper (leftie-approved) channels.
Yes, you ugly cow, we bloody Yanks and our (few) remaining friends like Oz and Japan prefer to give our money directly to the victims, not funnel it through the Koffee Jr. Slush Fund to Provide Top-Of-The-Line Ferraris for Fat-Assed Corrupt UN Bureaucrats. The bloody nerve of us Yanks!
That should be “English blogs” above, of course. And may I offer congratulations to all English/British friends for stepping up to the plate and giving so much money, both privately and through your government, to the aid efforts.
So I’m not terribly OT, check it out, for your amusement, some of the obedient sheeple who comment on “(Don’t) Have Your Say” have already picked up on and started to bleat the Clare Short meme:
“I wish there is still a way to get rid of Bush in 2005. What he is doing now with this “American coalition” for the tsunami victims is so unhelpful.What we need now is to gather behind the UN.The man is a disgrace; the world deserves and requires better, especially under the current circumstances.
Pieter Visser, Cambridge, UK”
How predictable are the bleating sheeple of the BBC stable of true believers! Ba-a-h, ba-a-h, ba-a-h. You would think that people would be embarassed to trot along this mindlessly to the bark of the BBC she
St. Koffee of the Slush Fund tries to explain why he spent three days skiing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming while 125,000 people were perishing in the worst natural disaster of the 21st Century:
http://www.un.org/apps/sg/offthecuff.asp?nid=660
Yes, let’s all give our unqualified support to St. Koffee of the Slush Fund, Johnny-on-the-Spot with aid and comfort for the afflicted!
Susan
It is NOT the job of the UN to actually do anything. It is US Marines who will be burying bodies, US Navy ships and helicopters ferrying fresh water, US Navy and Marine medical teams on shore.
No No No. The arduous work of the UN consists of having review meetings, of making “plans”, of consulting all and sundry. (While turning a blind eye to scams and immorality among its personnel.)
We can’t have any preciptitate UN action ! So it was entirely in order for St Kofi to carry on skiing for three days, enjoying the food and wine at Jackson Hole. It took all that time to set up his first meeting back in New York.
You really must pay more attention to the Europeans on all this diplomacy and world-affairs stuff. Far too complicted for the juvenile US.
(By the way – what is France’s contribution so far, cash-wise and logistically ? )
I believe the froggies have now upped their contribution to 57 million from the $177,000 they initially pledged. Perhaps as a further gesture of charity, they have pledged to NOT send their hihgly dysfunctional aircraft carrier the Charles de Gaulle?
Did you notice that in the Beeb’s report on documents released under the 30 year rule today, they report, together with previously unreported items such as Princess Anne fighting off a kidnapper in 1974, on the Israeli cockup in Lilliehammer, Norway; undoubtedly a low point for the Israeli security services (and the Moroccan waiter they killed in error), but why bring iy up again – this was extensively reported at the time, and the Beeb have uncovered no new facts in the papers released today. Could it be just another effort to stir up anti-Israel feeling? What, from the BBC, that model of impartiality? Never!
John: So far it’s less than the Netherlands (not sure if that means much). Word has it that a french Coast Guard vessel and half a dozen helicopters are underway, which means that they’ll be on station-keeping by monday evening local time. They are flying aircraft out there.
A blogger who goes by the name of “The Diplomad” is working in an effective area (he doesn’t say where because he writes anonymously)
http://diplomadic.blogspot.com/
The BBC Online treatment of the “New Year messages” by the main party leaders has been interesting, if typical.
Charles Kennedy’s message (Liberal Democrat) gets a report
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4137701.stm
with quotes, but no complete text for examination. The piece contains no responses from opponents.
Tony Blair’s message (Labour) gets a report
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4133157.stm
with a link to a separate page with the complete text for examination. The piece contains no responses from opponents.
Michael Howard’s message (Conservative) gets a report
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4135257.stm
with a link to separate page with the complete text for examination. The piece contains (and ends with) a response from an opponent.
.
Joe
The writer of the excellent blog
diplomad.blogspot.com
is based in Indonesia, I believe.