It Could Be That Some of the European Intellectuals Are Awakening

Then again, this may only be an aberration. It reflects what many of us have been warning Europe about, read the whole article, as it also pertains to the UN:

Little Respect for Europe
Fasten your seat belts, ladies and gentlemen! This comment from Jochen Buchsteiner in Germany's conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) hits European policy makers right between the eyes. Buchsteiner - while no friend of the Americans - critizes Europeans for being nice but not effective in helping tsunami victims.

Little Respect for Europe
By Jochen Buchsteiner
Europe is not projecting a positive image these days. There is no
lack of dismay and sympathy – that can be seen in the huge volume of donations
coming from private citizens and the generous pledges of financial aid coming
from the politicians. But this has so far has had very little effect along Asian
coastlines on the victims’ acute sufferings. The first help they are seeing
comes from others – from Australians, Indians and, above all, from Americans.
...
While American soldiers were delivering emergency supplies to isolated
disaster areas and Australian doctors were treating the injured, Europeans were
having meetings or, worse yet, trying to set dates for meetings. The French
Minister of Public Health, Douste-Blazy, posed a rhetorical question while
visiting Sri Lanka: was it "normal" that his colleagues in Brussels held their
first discussions on the subject a full ten days after the catastrophe? His
answer was devastating – Europe’s actions were "not concrete.". ...

Does the UN Really Believe That Criticising US Efforts Will Work?

Kind of makes one find quotes:

If the idiots hate you, it proves you're not one of them!
Ted Nugent

Any jackass can kick a barn down, but it takes a carpenter to build
it.
Sam Rayburn

Every Week I Wonder How the NYT Lets Him Go On

He just doesn't fit their style, Read it all:

January 8, 2005

OP-ED COLUMNIST
Let Congress Lead By DAVID BROOKS

Here are five observations about the politics of Social Security
reform:
First, many Republicans will be loathe to back a bill that has no Democratic support. They don't want to transform a big, popular program without
bipartisan cover.

Second, it will be hard to get Democratic votes for a bill
that includes personal accounts. Democrats oppose them for the same reason that
Republicans support them: because they think the accounts will create
Republicans. People who have them will start thinking like
investors.

Iraqi Poll-Seems Like Good News

Via Iraq the Model

This poll was published in Al-Sabah newspaper showing that “terrorists” have failed to to dissuade Iraqis from votin, many be willing to take on the risks necessary to wrench back control of their nation. Even in a dangerous, quasi democratic election.

The poll was of 4974 Iraqis living in and around Baghdad.

The following is the translation of the poll and the results:

Will the security problems cause you to?

Not come out and vote the day of elections = 18.3%
Come out and vote the day of elections = 78.3%
No opinion = 3.4%

Do you support the Iraqi Government having its own official newspaper?
Yes = 67.7%
No = 30.9%
Do Not know = 1.4%?

Do you support military action against the terrorists?
Yes = 87.7 %
No = 11.1%
Don’t Know = 1.2%

This Just So Goes With the Diplomad Post

First quiet Saturday in weeks, sitting here in my pajamas with coffee just reading some of my favorite blogs. Blackfive was one of the first and I found this great poem about the US; it just was such a great segue from the Diplomad warning prior to his main post topic on the turdworld.

Imagine Having to Deal With UN 'Officials' At Close Quarters

I read this and just thanked God that I work with children and semi-normal adults. Actually, reading his warning, I think I must also give thanks that there are so few deranged parents.

Thank you Diplomad for dealing with those most of us couldn't.

A Billion? Hmm

Via the Command Post. Can’t say that I believe money can solve everything, even being the capitalist that I am.

What Exactly Is It That Germany or Rather Europe Is Thinking?

It's pretty confusing for us forthright Americans, that's all I can say.

Captain Ed Is Calling Kerry To Task For the Right Reasons

In our system of government, we all have the right to speak out on whatever we think is worthwhile. Kerry's problem, in this case as in the 1970's for which the Swiftee's hit him, is criticizing when it hurts the national interest.

Damn, Peggy Noonan Is Advising the Dems

The comfort of course is they will not listen. ~Thank you, God. ~

The Groups--all the left-wing outfits from the abortion people to the enviros--didn't deliver in the last election, and not because they didn't try. They worked their hearts out. But they had no one to deliver. They had only money. The secret: Nobody likes them. Nobody! No matter how you feel about abortion, no one likes pro-abortion fanatics; no one likes mad scientists who cook environmental data. Or rather only rich and creepy people like them. Stand up to the Groups--make your policies more moderate, more nuanced, less knee-jerk.

Cox and Forkum

No donation, no matter how small, mine couldn't be smaller, is worthy. These people need it. $1.00 will help.

UPDATE:
COMMENTS:
Tsunami-Relief Art Auction
We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason.

$100.00Posted by Chris at January 4, 2005 10:45 PM

$200.00Posted by Mark at January 5, 2005 12:48 AM

$250Posted by Ari at January 5, 2005 04:20 AM

$350.00Posted by Justin at January 5, 2005 08:21 AM

$500Posted by PJ at January 5, 2005 01:32 PM

Guys, I can't bid (lost job and going to school) but I wanted to say THANK YOU for all you do and especially for this! God Bless you all!Posted by Smoke Eater at January 5, 2005 03:07 PM

OK, I'm in. $750. Posted by David M at January 5, 2005 04:23 PM

I was going to bid, but not as high as $750. Good luck though. Posted by Amir at January 5, 2005 04:49 PM

Good work guys, too expensive for my tastes...Posted by Jordan Golson at January 5, 2005 05:52 PM

Hey guys, The bidding has become to expensive for me but I would like to make a suggestion. I was going to bid $250 and it went past that pretty fast. I am going to give the $250 that I was going to bid to the LDS Church humanitarian fund because they are sending huge quantities of goods over to the affected areas. My suggestion is that everyone who has bid (and been outbid) should give the amount of their bid to a charity that is providing aid to the area, if they don't know of one they should donate to DRI. Thank you so much for putting this artwork up to help generate funds to ease the suffering of those poor people. Posted by David G at January 5, 2005 08:19 PM

John, Allen - you're incredibly good people.

But we knew that. :-DPosted by Barbara Skolaut at January 6, 2005 09:30 AM

850 $Posted by Bontzay at January 6, 2005 12:33 PM

Stranger Than Fiction

James Taranto's, (believe it or not, an editor for WSJ), blog is always more than worth reading, (a very rare exception in the world of the MSM, of which the WSJ is a major player in). From the title site, you can read his archives, just scroll to the bottom, if you are new to him FYI, if you want to understand much of the jargon of the blogosphere, read some of them. . .

May the Farce Be With You In an apparent effort to impress porcine propagandist Michael Moore, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California joined Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio in objecting to the counting of Ohio's 20 electoral votes for President Bush. The result? The joint session of Congress that certifies the presidential election adjourned for two hours, and the House and Senate each convened separately to debate, then reject, the objection. The tally in the Senate was 74-1, with only batty Boxer voting to sustain it, and as we write, the House vote stands at 263-32, with 135 members not voting.

This didn't happen even in 2000, when senators sensibly decided not to join various far-left House members in objecting to the counting of Florida's votes. Today, it's clear, the Democrats are in such desperate shape that they are resorting to crying that American democracy is illegitimate--a sure sign that they don't expect to win anytime soon.

John Kerry, typically, is trying to have it both ways. He's traveling overseas and so isn't in attendance (what else is new?), but yesterday he sent an e-mail to supporters saying:

Despite widespread reports of irregularities, questionable practices by some election officials and instances of lawful voters being denied the right to vote, our legal teams on the ground have found no evidence that would change the outcome of the election.

But, that does not mean we should abandon our commitment to addressing those problems that happened in Ohio. We must act today to make sure they never happen again. So according to Kerry, Bush won fair and square, but it was an illegitimate election anyway. This is the "moderate" Democratic position. The extreme position is that Bush "stole" the election by getting three million more votes than Kerry. An outfit called United for Peace and Justice is actually planning an Inauguration Day protest. And if you can't make it to Washington, you can still join in:

UFPJ also encourages everyone to wear a white ribbon on January 20, no matter where you are or what you are doing. In many cultures, white is the traditional color of mourning. Of course, the joke is on these losers, who apparently are unaware that in our culture, white is the traditional color of surrender.

Actually, there's an even more extreme position than "Bush stole the election": A group called Patriots for Gore is still trying to overturn the 2000 election, as it outlines in a press release
dated Jan. 3, 2005:

As the rightful President of 2000, Al Gore should have been allowed to serve the term the people and electorate of America elected him to serve for them. We then also have been workng to investigate if there is a legal and constitutional way to restore that term to Vice President Gore, and a petition to that effect is on our site. The petition will remain there as long as it takes to see justice, if that day ever comes.We were thinking about starting a group called Patriots for Dewey--hey, the Chicago Tribune couldn't have been wrong--until the New York Sun reminded us that the Truman administration is over.

Does Anyone Know If the Military Contributions Is NOT Counted in the $350 Million?

This morning I heard that the helicopters, aircraft carriers, and cargo planes were not part of the $350 million cited as US contributions to the tsunami aid. Does anyone know if this is true? Seems that this would be an expensive undertaking, which I agree with the idea that 'the left hand shouldn't know what the right hand is doing', yet lord knows we are being bashed right and left by those want us to be handless.

If the reports I heard are true, what about what is being dropped? Is this part of the 'total'? I guess I'm wondering if the $350 is only that which is brought under charity or UN sponsorship. Is this the case?

Hey, No Snow Day

It's hard to believe. We had over 10 inches of snow, but the powers that be determined the streets were clear enough for the buses to get through. My only solace was that the jr. high kids did not bring mittens/gloves/boots to school, so there was no praying for outside time. The little kids were nutso, they wanted to be doing the snow fort, snowman, snowangel things.

VodkaPundit Is Coming Back-I Think

He claims an itch that isn’t scratched, and sites Dave Barry as a writer who has suffered from burnout. One must assume the honeymoon is still rockin’, which I'm sure it is. Stephen has been missed for his insight, but the link to Barry is all the more justification that Steve must come back, as soon as he can.

My link to Barry is not from his own site, but the column of his that I like best, which is not an easy task, as he has written scores of columns that rate their own post, each of them. For me though, this is the frosting.

On Darfur, Must Read

Anyone who’s been reading my drivel for any time knows that Eddie and I are good friends. Early this morning he wrote me a preview of a Weekly Standard article, looking like he was being published. He was! (see headline link).

I know of no one who has worried or written more about the genocide being committed there. He cares passionately and he really pulls it together in this article.

Glenn Reynolds noticed.

Interesting isn’t it? Those that have chosen to protect our country seem willing to serve not only where they are already being sent, but want to help others in need also. We owe all of them so much.
Check out Eddie’s site, which he doesn’t update often enough, (ahem!) I think part of the problem is he thinks he has not much to say, except about movies and music. He’s wrong, but I’ll work on that!

Well It's Started Snowing, So My Fingers Are Crossed

Maybe, just maybe I'll get a snow day tomorrow. In the meantime, Yahoo has just posted an article about private American donations being above $200 million. I bet it's more! http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050105/ap_on_re_us/tsunami_americans_respond

More On the Reason To Leave the UN

The justifications are too many to link to or expound upon. Here is a great summation.

Linky Goodness from David's Medienkritik

I haven't been here in the past few weeks, too many health and family matters to attend to. One visit and there is no one post to link to. Visit this site, you will learn so much about the Eurovision, ~sigh~.

For Those Who've Forgotten or Didn't KNOW About American Stinginess

Look, read and weep.

Steyn On American 'Stinginess'

Enough said.

Another Reason the UN Has Outlived Its Usefulness

While it’s difficult to comprehend the hubris of those that think they can meet in secret without any legitimate authority to discuss democracy and its outcome, this goes a long way towards explaining the failure of the UN. It’s hopeless.

This Shouldn't Be Necessary

Arthur Chrenkoff has the latest on Tsunami donors, for some weird reason the US doesn’t look half bad:

Tsunami aid: Who's giving what
Donations of money and assistance have been pouring in to international aid agencies from governments and individuals in the wake of the tsunami disaster in Asia.
Here is a breakdown of more than $2bn in aid pledged so far:

Japan $500m (£264m) in government donations, 120 civilian emergency workers sent to tsunami-hit countries.

USA $350m in government donations, plus military assistance involving 12,600 personnel, 21 ships, 14 cargo planes and 48 helicopters. Private donations are also pouring in, with $120m donated to the US branches of the Red Cross, Oxfam and Save the Children, and to Catholic Relief Services.

World Bank $250m diverted from existing programmes to cover emergency needs while longer-term reconstruction needs are assessed.

Norway $182m in government donations, plus $30m raised in private donations.

Asian Development Bank $175m has been diverted from existing programmes in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The bank says up to $150m more could be made available in new loans.

FROM THE WORLD'S POOREST
Russian town of Beslan - scene of a bloody school siege last year - pledged 1m roubles ($36,000) from the fund set up after the mass hostage-taking

Mozambique - one of the world's poorest nations - has donated $100,000
Nepal and East Timor have also pledged donations

Britain $96m in government donations, plus $146m in private donations which the government has pledged to match. Two RAF planes, a C-17 and a Tristar, are helping to deliver aid to the region. Chancellor Gordon Brown is pushing a proposal for the debts of the affected nations to be frozen.

Italy $95m in government aid. Six to eight police forensics specialists have been sent to Thailand to help to identify bodies. Public donations totalling $20m had been collected by New Year's Day.

Sweden $80m in government donations, plus $60m in private donations including money raised during two telethons.

Denmark $75m in government aid. Copenhagen has sent a field hospital, transport vehicles and a ship to the UN aid effort, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said.

Spain $68m in government donations, and a medical team has been sent to Sri Lanka.

France $66m in government donations, plus an estimated $49m raised in private donations. A medical team has been sent to Sri Lanka.

Canada $66m in government donations, plus at least $29m raised in private donations with a government commitment to match every dollar donated by the public. Ottawa has already placed a moratorium on debt from the affected countries. It is also deploying its highly-specialised Disaster Assistance Response Team to Sri Lanka.

China $60m in government donations, plus $1.8m donated to the Chinese Red Cross.
South Korea $50m in government aid. The prime minister's office said the funds would be spend for rehabilitation of the devastated areas over the next three years. Private donations have reached nearly $13m, the South Korean foreign ministry says.

Australia $46m has been donated in government aid, and donations from the public total $58m. About 350 military staff, four military helicopters, a troop transport ship, a military health support team and a water purification plant are being sent to Indonesia, as well as a team of volunteer medical professionals.

Netherlands $34m has been donated by the government and aid groups say a further $35m has been raised in private donations. A Dutch police identification team has been sent to Thailand.
European Union $31m in aid, although EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner has said this may be increased by tens of millions of euros.

Germany $27m in government aid. Berlin is planning to increase this to $680m, according to a government source. Germany is also sending a mobile hospital to Aceh and a military ship with two helicopters, aid supplies, water treatment equipment and an operating theatre on board. The public have donated an estimated $130m.

Qatar $25m in government aid. Qatar is also sending food, medical and logistical supplies to affected countries.

Countries in the region

India The Indian military is staging its biggest relief operation ever in Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia. This involves at least 16,000 troops, 32 navy ships, 41 aircraft including at least 16 helicopters, several medical teams and a mobile hospital. The air force has so far lifted 10,000 tonnes of relief supplies.

Bangladesh Bangladesh has dispatched 111 soldiers to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, with a further 46 expected to join them. Two planes and two helicopters will carry the troops together with aid supplies.

Pakistan Pakistan plans to send 500 military staff in medical and engineering teams to Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4145259.stmPublished: 2005/01/04 19:30:46 GMT© BBC MMV

Some Days Are Like This

What a day! First off I’ve been following the possible capture of al Zaqwari, which is denied by the US.

Secondly, the kids are squirrelly at school, especially my most troubled students.

Weather reports are showing promise of a snow day tomorrow. Anyone want to take bets that I’ll have an awful drive tomorrow, school will cease around 10:30, though we’ll have to wait for parents to pick up their kids. I’ll get out at the height of the storm, around noon.

On UN Inadequacy

I can't bother expanding on. Enuf said.