| NY Mag. | 0 | |
| Wash Wire | 0 | |
| NYT | 0 | |
| WaPo | Calif. insurer’s rate increases draw attention of federal government |
0 |
| Red State | 0 |
Audacity of Truth
Spinsational:
"We were so busy just getting stuff done and dealing with the immediate crises that were in front of us that I think we lost some of that sense of speaking directly to the American people about what their core values are and why we have to make sure those institutions are matching up with those values."
-Obama, explaining recent Democrat losses, 1/20/10
Velvet Lair- The sexiness of winning the battle of good versus evil January 26, 2010
- Ever wonder why? January 12, 2010
- The decision to bench Peyton Manning: Right or wrong? December 28, 2009
- Is my dad turning into a metrosexual? November 24, 2009
- My “Things To Do For Christmas” list November 23, 2009
More than 50 countries offer aid to the US
On Wednesday, I posted a message discussing international aid and the implications in, ahem, certain circles (you know which ones) that we shouldn’t fault other countries for not offering assistance to us, considering how we ‘bad mouthed’ them in the run up to (and after) the war in Iraq. Well, it looks like many many countries are on board in the international aid effort to give the US some disaster relief assistance in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which as we all know has devastated the Gulf Coast.
The offers blur political lines. Cuba and Venezuela, for instance, have offered to help despite differences with Washington. Oil giant Saudi Arabia and tiny countries like Dominica are among the nations making pledges.
Australia announced a donation of $8 million to the American Red Cross. "The United States is so often at the forefront of international aid efforts to help less fortunate nations," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said.
"So it is only fitting that Australia should contribute to the daunting task of helping the thousands of American citizens whose lives have been thrown into turmoil by this unprecedented disaster," Downer said.
France, "determined to show its solidarity with the United States," offered a range of aircraft and two ships, with helicopters and planes capable of airlifting tons of supplies, a disaster unit with 20 soldiers, a civil defense detachment of 35 people and an airborne emergency unit, the French Embassy said.
Japan said it would contribute $200,000 to the American Red Cross for its relief operations. Upon request, Japan is prepared to provide up to $300,000 worth of tents, blankets, power generators, portable water tanks and other equipment, the Japanese Embassy said.
The countries include:
Russia, Japan, Canada, France, Honduras, Germany, Venezuela, Jamaica, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, China, South Korea, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Guatemala, Paraguay, Belgium, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Italy, Guyana, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Austria, Lithuania, Spain, Dominica, Norway, Cuba, Bahamas, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ecuador, Iceland, India, Jordan, Luxembourg, the Philippines, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey.
(Hat tip: Little Green Footballs)
I’m impressed. And thankful. For a number of reasons. The main one being of course that the Gulf Coast is going to need all the help it can get, and not just from our own government, but through the kind generosity of other nations as well. The rebuilding effort is obviously going to take years (although some have questioned whether or not the city of New Orleans should even be rebuilt). I’ve no doubt that our gov’t will decline some of the aid (after assessing what they need and don’t need) but declined or not, the offers are sincerely appreciated and mean a great deal with respect to healing rifts. The second reason I’m thankful is becuase it shows that despite the differences we’ve had with other countries in the past, the leaders of those countries (and the people who live there) have put those grudges aside and have asked "how can we help?" They didn’t say, "Well, you said this about my country. You moved forward on this plan without our input. So forget it!" They did what decent people do in times of national tragedies. Oh and one more thing: they haven’t blamed Bush for this disaster en masse, either (well, some of the op/ed writers overseas have, but that’s not terribly surprising).
Some of the Democrats in this country – who are having a field day blaming Bush (and some even refusing to contribute to the relief efforts because La. and Miss. are considered red states! – Matt linked up earlier to a Patrick Ruffini post that detailed some of this absurdity) for what happened in New Orleans in ways that can only be described as despicable – could take a lesson from the international community when it comes to putting their grudges to the side for five minutes.
And before anyone gets outraged, no, I’m not saying Democrats aren’t helping in the relief effort. I know they are, in terms offering money, housing, food, clothing, etc .. just like so many others are of all political stripes. What doesn’t help, however, is blaming the President for the levees breaking. For global warming. Etc etc. The list goes on. It hasn’t even been a week yet and many on the left are using this tragedy to score political points. It goes way beyond the pale and borderlines on obscene.
As a side note, I remember during the presidential campaign season last year how Democrats like John Kerry denigrated the coalition of the willing in Iraq, calling it, "some trumped-up, so-called coalition of the bribed, the coerced, the bought and the extorted" and not a "genuine coalition." Mr. Kerry seemed to have an issue with some of the smaller countries on the list, but insulted every single country (including our biggest ally Britain) with those less than tactful comments (and he had the nerve to accuse the President of lacking the appropriate diplomatic skills necessary to handle international relations? But I digress …)
Something tells me that Senator Kerry won’t be saying that now about the international relief effort coaltion, no matter how small some of the countries are who are offering that assistance.
To those of you out there in the international community taking part in the Hurricane Katrina disaster relief effort, saying "thank you" doesn’t seem to be quite enough to show appreciation for how you’ve responded to the devastation brought to the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina. But I’ll offer the thanks anyway 
I know the US and some of the countries we’ve had issues with in the past likely won’t ever be found sitting around the campfire singing Kumbaya (at least I hope not!) but you’ve shown once again that when the chips are down on the table, you can and will do the right thing. Sincerest thanks to you all.
(Cross-posted at BlogsForBush)
Related: Michelle Malkin blogs about the massive amounts of assistance the great state of Texas is offering to Hurricane Katrina victims. God Bless Texas!
UPDATE 10PM: Aid Offers Will Be Accepted From Countries
Linking up with OTB’s Traffic Jam
—
Don’t forget you can still contribute to the American Red Cross Hurricane 2005 Relief Fund or any one (or more!) of a number of other great organizations out there mobilizing to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. If you do contribute, please log it here at the TTLB contribution page as he is tracking the amount of money raised from each blog. Logging it is totally anonymous – in other words, you don’t have to give a name. Just an amount, the charity you donated to, and the blog that encouraged you to do so.
Technorati Tags: Flood aid, Hurricane Katrina
RSS feed for comments on this post.
14 Responses to “More than 50 countries offer aid to the US”
Comments
Blogads
Disclaimer: The views expressed on this blog do not necessarily reflect those of ST's advertisers, nor do their opinions necessarily reflect ST's. Stats
We have to roll up our own sleeves and do what we can, individually, not sit on our butts and wait for someone else to do things for us. It’s great that others are trying to help, and I will e-mail or write every nation’s embassy to thank them, but we’ve got to care for each other during terrible crises.
Just for the record, is the Sen. Kerry you refer to the “Vietnam war hero?”
It is encouraging to see the other countries that have offered help come on board, althouth there seems to be a reticence on the part of certain US cabinet heads to accept it. I actually can understand the logistics of coordinating that tupe of aide.
I have to say I don’t think the storm was Bushes fault. Thats specious nonsense. The point is Bush didn’t do his job. Maybe it wouldn’t have made all that much difference, no one will ever know. But He didn’t even try. So this is one time I’m not going to defend him against the oppotunistic yammering of the left. The politics do not matter. Lives are what matter. Human lives were, and still are at stake.
From the very begining no one in Washington, and apparently even the state leadership itself, had the right sense of urgency. That was plain in just watching whats been going on for 5 days. Bush had a chance to get on top of the situation and make a win out of it, as much as you can ever make, or want to make, a win out of a tragic event. But he did not. He made a speech.
As a matter of practicality, I wonder how many levies the billions that congress approved last night for the cleanup, would buy. Are we forever as a people doomed to make these kinds of mistakes in common sense and judgement.
Right or left, whatever your politics, a lot of people out there have to be wondering if there’s anyone in Washington that knows how to run a country.
I noticed, too, the international aid that has been pledged since your post on Wednesday (where I snidely commented, “don’t hold your breath” and I will now gladly eat those words). It’s a little humbling, also, to see countries like Guatamala and Sri Lanka on the list. Sri Lanka, for heaven’s sake. Bless their hearts.
Bach: Totally agree! Good idea on sending the messages to the different nations. I might do that.
Bang: I disagree with about 85% of what you wrote but don’t feel like arguing about it tonight
Mo: Yep … bless ‘em all
From the very begining no one in Washington, and apparently even the state leadership itself, had the right sense of urgency. That was plain in just watching whats been going on for 5 days. Bush had a chance to get on top of the situation and make a win out of it, as much as you can ever make, or want to make, a win out of a tragic event. But he did not. He made a speech.
My opinion: the blame in the ineptitude of the New Orleans relief effort can be apportioned in a bipartisan manner – there’s enough to go around for everyone, Democrat or Republican.
- Yes Rob… you’re absolutely right. This how tragic mess is are far from a partisan situation as you can get. That wasn’t My point. Like another famous President once said: “The buck stops here”. Bush is our leader, not anyone else, and certainly not the Dems who have shown beyond question they’re more interested in party than people.
- ST… its not a matter of opinion or argument. The situation speaks for itself and there will be reverberations from this for years to come. I’m a staunch, dyed in the wool conservative, as clearly supportive of our President as they come. But sadly I know a 24 carat royal CF when I see one.
- “…this whole tragic mess is as far…”
Sorry for the typo’s -
“its not a matter of opinion or argument.”
Oh yes it is. I took issue with your criticism of how the President reacted to Hurricane Katrina. I’m not quite sure why your ire hasn’t been directed towards the local officials there in La., who had a emergency plan in place and failed to act on it. The fact of the matter is that natural disasters like hurricanes are handled on a state level first, then a national level as assessments of the level of damage start to roll in.
“The situation speaks for itself and there will be reverberations from this for years to come. I’m a staunch, dyed in the wool conservative, as clearly supportive of our President as they come.”
That’s fine, and I’m not questioning that. I’m a staunch supporter of the President too but have also had issues with him in the past.
“But sadly I know a 24 carat royal CF when I see one.”
Well then (IMO) you should see where the biggest 24 carat royal CF began, and it was right there in La. between the governor herself down to the mayor. If the President didn’t have a sense of urgency about this situation, then why did he himself call officials in La. on Saturday and personally request a mandatory evacuation? When it comes to natural disasters, National Guard troops are stationed and moved at the request of state offices first, federal second. The incompetency of the state officials there in La. cannot be understated. Yes, the feds do have a role to play in this, but it starts locally with the state and the state royally f’d up the response to this big time. The more time that goes on, and the more news that trickles out about the lack of preparation on a state level, the more that becomes painfully obvious.
- ST – Agree with everything you posted. Without question the State and local authorities totally jumped the shark, are without doubt the root cause of the escalation from a tragedy to chaos and anarchy. All of that said Bush could have immediately called an emergency seesion of congress to grant Him Marshall law powers. Not the wimpy, ineffectual faux Marshall law that the Governor called for. Federal intervention “so the troops would be legally able to act in a law and order capacity“. The same as was done in the south during the worst days of the civil rights movement, when the beligerent State leaders refused to act or obstructed. The only difference here was incompetance, not obstruction. Bush could have acted decisively, but he did not. I’m not impressed with words about him “begging over the phone”. The state did not have the leadership or resources, and were in any event, failing in leadership even worse than Bush. I think we are agreeing more than disagreeing.
In any event all of that will be sorted out in good time. Thank G_d that things seem to be turning around at last with the arrival of the troops on the ground. Just too bad it didn’t start 5 days ago.
You know it’s one thing to talk and entirely another thing to walk.
So it’s one thing to call for people to evacuate and it’s another to evacuate the people.
For whatever reason the people who are mostly poor and mostly African American were left stranded.
Those are the facts. During a disaster like this it is the job of the president to oversee emergency relief efforts. And it was the job of Louisiana to protect its citizens. Did Nagin or Blanco call in the National Guard to evacuate the area? If they did not, then they screwed up. If they did and were rebuffed than the President holds the blame.
Someone with greater awareness as to the capabilties of our military recently said
” There literally is no other force in the world capable of responding as quickly as ours is doing now, nor with such flexibility or resolve to save lives and help get the Gulf Coast states back on their feet.”
So later in about a month we will probably find out if the guard was called in or not to evacuate the poor. Because of the size of the Katrina they were not even able to walk out on there own. It was too dangerous.
- ST – Steve Harvey on FOX – “Witnesses say some loose grain barges were the cause of the levies being damaged”… be interesting to see if this is true….
Bang: “The state did not have the leadership or resources, and were in any event, failing in leadership even worse than Bush.”
And he was supposed to know this in advance of the hurricane?
ST – I understand you’d rather focus on recovery and cleaning things up so people can get their lives back in order instead of playing the blame game. I feel totally the same. But this was no “opps”, and I know you know that in your heart. I said not a thing about “before” the storm, although its painfully obvious that we have next to zero disaster planning, but I didn’t go there. 5 days ST. Maybe the first day before the levies broke down, ok. But after that all he had to do was turn on the TV like the rest of America. So yes he could have seen for himself, the death, anarchy, and human suffering very clearly. In fact I’m sure he had better access than the rest of us. So the question I kept asking day after day is why. Wheres he at. Why isn’t he taking control of things. Maybe it comes down to the unfortunate fact that New Orleans didn’t have a Guilliani at the helm, and I don’t care whether the leader was white or black or tangerene. Anyway, I won’t go on about this. As a die hard, staunch defender of GW, I’m just very very dissapointed.
Great to be Monday morning quarterback.
Or as Hugh Hewitt calls these people. Armchair First Repsonders. HA. I love that one.
I’d call anyone until an investigation is done an Amrchair First Responder who puts up quotes like the ones ABOVE.
You guys are great. Way to go.