Money for Tsunami Aid

I think Bill O'Reilly's FOX News colleague, Sean Hannity is even worse than O'Reilly himself.

Bill O'Reilly has at least (a very few times though) admitted being wrong on certain issues and spotted failures of the Bush Administration, but Sean Hannity's ego is so huge that he'd rather get a bullet through his brain than admitting he was wrong.

Sonja wrote:

I see it from a completely different point of view actually...

First of all, I think it's great to see how all the countries are able to stick together in this case. It shows that there's still humanity on earth and that we ARE able to collaborate, although it's sad that it takes more than 150.000 deaths and mass destruction until this works...

I don't think that America is not giving enough money, but compared to other countries like Australia, England, Germany, etc they are giving relatively little money considering that America is supposed to be "the most powerful country in the world" and has a bigger population and more money than these other countries.

What annoys me more, is that America spends Millions or Billions on a stupid and useless war and when it comes to such a disaster they won't give more than 350 mio dollars.

It does look like a kind of competition between the countries... like...which country gives more, which country's the best and most helpful, etc...

But the money is needed urgently. What are these countries in South Asia supposed to do? They've lost everything. And all the money that's been given and promised so far won't be enough yet to build up the countries again.

Celebreties: they DO give away their own money. Of course that's a good opportunity to promote themselves, but why not if it helps?
I prefer to see them promoting themselves by asking people to donate money instead of making stupid advertising for drinks or cosmetics!

It sucks that we are looked upon as "the most powerful country in the world" when all we are trying to do is help everyone out since everyone expects it of us... When there is a disaster people instantly look to the U.S. to see what they gave and how they responded...funny enough, when America is faced with disaster the sympathy is usually very short lived. Perhaps America should have followed its early policy of not meddling with the rest of the world, esp. Europe..but then again if America hadn't come into WWII, for example, then where would you be?

I don't support the war in Iraq & didn't vote for Bush either, but I am very saddened with how the rest of the world perceives this country.

I have to say that both Mir@cle and Veronica58 have wrong or just slightly distorded views of the world and America.

- First of all Americans are not egoistical. Most of them have put their grain of sand into the tsunami aid relief. Some have given more than others of course, but what is important is that the whole country is aware of the issue and it has moved the majority of Americans to do something, just like in most countries in Europe and other industrialized and economically developed nations.

- Americans shouldn't really think of what the world thinks of them regarding the tsunami aid. Sure, perhaps the United States government would have donated a lot more money if there wasn't so much money being spent, and in many ways "wasted" into the Iraq war, but what is done is done. What is important is for the world to see that Americans and not just their government are doing something, and the victims along with the people working in Asia to provide relief are welcoming any help regardless of where it comes from.

The point is that the world is already to fuckin' divided to start dividing it more at a time like this. Regardless of who gives more or less, we all should put the difference asides and work united for this cause.

Also, as a reminder, America must have spent a fortune in Florida after those 4 hurricanes hit - plus all the freakish weather that is happening right now - mudslides and floods.

Mr. Jingles-
I don't understand what you mean by my view of America being wrong or distorted... In my opinion I have a more objective view than most people since I am both European and American.

And yes I do care about what other countries say about America not giving enough... There's no need, like you said, to point fingers at this time, but I feel it necessary to set some things straight about Americans since this site is quite international.

Well, maybe one day I will come over with my friend to teach the Americans how to play soccer. He offered me once, but I have a good job at the moment so I declined the offer. Only then I have the right to judge about the American citizens, now I don't.

It's the arrogance of Bush and his colleagues that created the worlds aversion towards the USA. Those men are representing your country, so it’s not weird that our opinions are formed by them.

The Mir@cle wrote:

It's the arrogance of Bush and his colleagues that created the worlds aversion towards the USA. Those men are representing your country, so it’s not weird that our opinions are formed by them.

Well, the world also needs to understand that one man and hundreds of politicians behind him don't speak for 295 million people of an entire nation, but they could perhaps speak for 59'000.000 of them, who voted for him.
Which I need to remind you is still 20% of the entire population.

I donated for the Tsunami Appeal Cricket Match this week. Good stuff, was it.

I was suprised to see Australia contribute $1 billion (not sure if that's AUS or USD). Still that's quite a bit o' dosh to be handing out to our closest neighbours. Interest free, too!

sorry, post by accident

The American people have always been compassionate and generous. There are numerous examples in the last two centuries. That the Bush administration is now not exactly leading the donation campaign cannot be blamed on the American people.

However, we should not forget that we are talking about pledges here and not actual money transfers and unfortunately, the spontaneous promises to help have not always been fulfilled by all countries in the past. We should closely watch how much money the Tsunami victims will finally get and who keeps their promises and who does not.