[Vision2020] Bush gives $5 B in aid to Asian Children

[Donovan Arnold]

Pat, Dan, Saint Hansen, and all,

I would like to address each of your individual posts regarding your 
responses to my previous post, but first a few things to address to all 
three of you that 90% of the world understands but you three seemed to have 
missed.

The US has a moral obligation to commit significant resources to Asia to 
help with relief efforts.

The United States has 25% of the world's total wealth and we are only about 
4 percent of the population. We consume almost 40% of the world's resources. 
Two out of three American adults is obese. The United States only gives 
.014% of its' wealth to the rest of the world. Most nations give at least 4 
times that amount. The United States is giving only 1/5 of what it promised 
to give in world charity. The United States ranks last in the amount of 
money it gives in proportion of it's GNP than any other industrialized 
nation in the world.  The United States has spent $147,500,000,000 so far 
just to rid of imaginary weapons of mass destruction. That is about $525 per 
person in the US. It has only dedicated $35 million in aid to half a dozen 
countries.

Let me put it to you this way: The US is spending $525 a person in a country 
to remove imaginary weapons of mass destruction; yet it is only spending 12 
1/2 cents per person in the US to help millions of dying little children 
that are not imaginary.

Now, you are saying that we should be happy with that? I don't think so. 
First off, the United States has a great deal of its wealth because of many 
of those little Asian children were working 12 hours a day for 10 cents an 
hour stitching together your sneakers.
Second, the United States is supposed to be a Christian Nation; a nation 
that is about giving, about love, and about compassion. Spending 4200% more 
on war and destruction than it is on helping people is not a peace loving 
nation, it is the opposite.
Third, even if you don't believe that the US should care about other people, 
or say as Pat Kraut says, that they didn't send rice our way when hurricanes 
hit the wealthy neighborhoods of Florida, even if you are a greedy selfish 
bastard, you should at least want to help them so that the economy 
stabilizes and you can afford the new lease on your next BMW.

I believe, as a Christian, that Jesus said to love your neighbor, to help 
your neighbor. I believe that it is our duty, as a community, as a society, 
as the world's only superpower, to provide what we can. I believe that we 
should feed the hungry, cloth the naked, heal the sick, and protect those 
that are weak and innocent.

$35 million is not praise, it is an insult. It is like Bill Gates writing a 
check for ten cents. If the US can dump $147 billion on war, it can donate 
$1 billion for a hot bowl of rice for sick parentless children.


I think it is all fine and dandy that you donate money to charities, but 
keep in mind, 90% of charities keep 75% of the money you give for 
administrative costs. I do not disclose how much I give and what I give to 
charity in money, time, and resources, it is my business and nobody else’s. 
If you wish to believe that I give nothing, that is your right to do so. I 
think only the self righteous proclaim that they give and only do so to feel 
better about themselves. The old poor women that gives the penny gives more 
than the millionaire who gives a dollar, as I was taught, and only God truly 
knows who gives what, when and why.

First, let me take Dan's comments.

". . .Andrew Natsios, the administrator for the U.S. Agency for 
International Development, says that foreign assistance for development and 
emergency relief rose from $10 billion in President Clinton’s last year to 
$24 billion under President Bush in 2003."

Now,  I for some reason doubt that an employee of the Bush Administration 
would be unbiased in their assessment of what is and is not considered 
charity. Second, the US has never given $24 billion in aid unless you count 
aid we spend to rebuild stuff we knocked down in the first place. Which is 
like me robbing your house and then giving you your stuff back and writting 
it off as charity.

Pat,

Ms. Kraut, what does your precious Bible say about lying? Just curious, 
because the US pledged to give .07% of it's total GNP to charities. Yet it 
has only given .014%. Is thjis not a form of lying?

You also ask: "And while I am on my rant where were all these people when 
Florida was hit with all those storms?"

Probably filling de-icer cans for 5 cents an hour so you can be lazy and not 
have to scrape the ice off your van windows in the morning, or busy building 
their straw topped huts supported with cow manure and broken shell bits. Oh, 
of course half of them were in school since they are under the age of 16.

You also stated, " We didn't hear how much any of the 'Muslim nations' 
gave...all that oil money." Yes, we did. They gave it to US families like 
the staving Bush Family, and the materially denied Rockefellers, oh, must we 
not forget all the Palestinians and poor families in Afghanistan they fed 
too.

Saint Thomas Hansen,

You wrote, " We should all support those willing to provide such aid, 
whether it comes from our favorite side of the aisle or not...”

St. Hansen, may I point out that it is not aid coming from the right side or 
left side of the aisle. It is money coming from all taxpayers. The $35 
million is not Republican money, it is money taxed on all people with 
personal income and other federal taxes. In fact, because of the huge 
national deficit it is actually coming from people not yet born.

Your holiness continues with your self righteousness "match my $80.00 
contribution to UNICEF".

How do you want me to match that St. Hansen? Is my dollar amount to match my 
IQ as you have done? In which case I will send in 138 dollars, or do I do it 
based on income and send in only $20?

I will make a deal with you Mr. Hansen, since I grew out of telling the 
world when I do good deeds when I was in grade school, and thus don't 
disclose how much money or what aid I give to anyone,
I will write a check made out to any charity of your choice. The amount on 
the check will be decided accordingly: If you don't write another post all 
week, it will be made out for $83.5. I will add twenty five cents (twice the 
amount per person Bush is giving) for every day you go without posting to 
V2020 until the date December 30th 2005. That means you can have $80+ 
(365x.25) = $171.25 (if I had more I would offer it for such a worthy cause) 
if you don't post on V2020 until that time. All you have to do is not post 
on here. You also cannot have others on here post for you.

I believe that would be the best $171.25 I ever spend for humanity. It would 
also reduce the number of posts on V2020 by about 1/2. It might also make 
people feel better about themselves since they don’t have you ragging on 
their character 24/7. What do you say St. Hansen, is it possible for you to 
deflate your ego enough to feed the hungry? Or are you too self-obsessed 
and/or self righteous to think we cannot go another day without 25 of your 
postings of which are designed to blast the personal character of someone in 
our community?

You conclude with “Tom ‘whose glass remains half full’ Hansen”. Correction, 
it is completely full, St. Tom “I like to be childish and use middle names 
to smash the character of people because I don’t have a life or respect for 
anyone that doesn’t share my world view” Hansen, and I bet nobody on here 
needs me to spell out what is contained in your glass.

Take care,

Donovan J Arnold