Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader, aside from the feelings of compassion for the victims and survivors of the Asian Tsunami, has some other comments to make on this disaster.
Some of the science concerning what has happened is fascinating. The Earth’s rotation itself may have been affected. And islands around the earthquake area may have actually moved.
Scientists also are reporting that while there will be aftershocks, they do . One hopes this is a minor blessing.
And, outside the science of the tsunami there is the politics. Much hay has been made concerning the “stingy” comment from Jan Eegeland of the United Nations. At the time the comment was made the US had contributed $15 million to disaster relief. At the time the comment was made, that $15 million represented the largest donation from a western nation to date. The US has now donated $35 million to relief. President Bush pledges more money and other aid.
Your Maximum Leader was stung by the “stingy” comment. As were many others. That comment showed a number of things. First off it showed the insularity of the world in which so many UN officals live. They don’t understand anything outside their organization, and they only see the UN as an altruistic world-government-in-waiting that only needs more money from rich countries to solve the world’s problems. The second thing it showed was a stupendous ignorance of how the US appropriates money. In case you didn’t know, the President or Secretary of State don’t just take money out of the Treasury and spend it. It is appropriated by Congress. It can only be appropriated by Congress. Every year the Congress appropriates money for the USAID (United States Agency for International Development) for disaster relief. Money is also appropriated for other departments to be spend for disaster relief. It is this previously appropriated money that is being spent now. Additional funds will need to be voted on and approved by Congress. And in case commentators didn’t know it, Congress is not in session right now. Our nations law-makers (and money appropriators) are on holiday and will not be back until around January 10. This limits the amount of money the United States has to allocate to relief at this point.
Do not fear, we will donate more. We will be the leader in this effort. Just as we always are. In 2004 nearly a quarter of all money given in relief for natural disasters came from the US. We are the largest donor in these situations. We may have been a little slow to act, but we are in it for the long haul.
And all this talk of relief by governments doesn’t even begin to count the millions that will come from normal Americans donating their own money from their own pockets to help those people around the world they’ve never met, seen, or in some cases heard of before. We are the most generous people in the world, and we rarely get credit for it.
Now your Maximum Leader mentioned that we may have been a little slow on the uptake. Well, your Maximum Leader feels that President Bush was too slow in making some sort of statement of compassion. He doesn’t feel that the President doesn’t feel compassion for the suffering (as was implied by Matt Lauer on the Today Show this morning). The President and his staff probably wanted to wait and get more information before speaking publically about what the US response would be. While that may be a smart move tactically, it was not a smart move from the perspective of image-building. The President should have made some brief remarks sooner and said that details of the US response would be forthcoming.
Your Maximum Leader does not doubt that the role of the US will be great in this relief effort. He only hopes that the full role of the US will be appreciated when all is said and done. Unlikely, but he still hopes.
Carry on.
