I watched with incredulity as the head of FEMA, on CNN, said that he didn’t know about the plight of the people at the superdome and convention centre. Everyone around the world was aware of their plight for DAYS and, unlike FEMA, we are not the FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ADMINISTRATION.
In the face of this obviously uncaring (at best) attitude of those that are supposedly in charge that I felt an almost overwhelming need to help - to donate something to help the tens of thousands of people who had lost everything. I donated to the Tsunami relief effort and I was prepared to donate to this as well.
What changed my mind? Well, the news is reporting that a fair number of Canadians are not planning on donating. Reasons expressed range from softwood lumber disputes to saying the US is rich and doesn’t need any help. None of those reasons would have stopped me from donating.
Trade disputes are important in their own way but rank very, very low compared to human life and human suffering. No, while I am angry at the US for their dishonest trade practices, that would not stop me from helping, not even for a moment.
The US is indeed a rich country, but so is Canada. By donating I could help offset some of the economic chaos that this disaster is sure to precipitate on the American people. In a way, that would also be helping myself as economic trouble in the USA also spells economic trouble for Canada. No, being a rich country doesn’t mean that donating would be of no benefit.
When the USA destroyed Fallujah, murdering thousands of innocent civilians and leaving tens of thousands homeless, they also bombed occupied hospitals, shot and killed ambulance drivers, and imprisoned hundreds without charge, where was the sympathy? Where were the donation drives to help those people that USA had murdered, maimed, left homeless and without any basic necessities like water, food, and medical care? Where was the outrage from the American people that its troops were killing doctors? Where is the outrage against the Bush administration for its crimes against humanity in using imprisonment without charge, torture and carrying out assaults on civilian populations? Where is the outrage against the US government over the targeting and murder of reporters?
Why, when they had the chance to NOT elect Bush, did only ¼ of the eligible voters of America vote against Bush? That means that ¾ of the eligible voters in the United States either actively or passively gave permission to Bush to keep on invading countries in order to steal their resources. It legitimized the use of murder, torture, and terror by the America government. Some people may not donate because the people of the USA don’t deserve help. That is still not my reason for not donating.
Yes, Bush is a monster, on par with Mussolini and Pinochet, but the American people are just people, identical to you and I. They do not deserve to suffer for the past actions of their elected leaders.
My reason is what the Bush administration will be able to do because of the money I donate. Every dollar I send would be money the US government does not have to spend to help its own people. The money they save will be used to murder more Iraqis. It will be used to attack Iran. It will be used to fund the manipulation of our very atmosphere under HAARP. It will be used to put nuclear weapons in space in order to blackmail the rest of the world into following its orders.
I feel horrible for the people affected by the hurricane and I wish I could help, I will not donate because every dime I save the US government will be used to kill, murder, torture, terrorize, and blackmail, and I will not have that on my conscience.
Note: https://www.paypaq.com/...
Why I Will Not Donate To Katrina Relief
Posted on Tuesday, September 06 at 11:51 by PatmContributed By
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Here Castro and his people are wanting to do the work of Christ and Bush the evil dooer the work of the devil.
Castro offered an olive branch to the American people,even though they abused ever single Cuban , by placing sanctions against them for many years. So how christian is a christian?
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Good government is not a party government
I'm sick of our pathetic political representation being in a position to make themselves look compassionate and power play at the same time at our expense when doing the right things in the first place wouldn't require we give and give so they can score political points. Screw that!
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"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." Friedrich Nietzsche
Those planes have 8 engines, their hourly flying time must cost thousands of Dollars, while they use incredible amounts of fuel and for what ? Bombers are not defensive weapons.
Are they still planning attack yet another unfortunate country, while their home infrastructure is falling apart through cutbacks and neglect ? We call them the "idiot planes", referring both to the people who send them and who fly them. I've dug out far too many bodies and pieces of flesh after bombing raids to be very sympathetic for their cause.
I have no problem with our military and other rescuers going to N.O. to do humanitarian work and at the same time use their skills for the real thing. But, as far donations are concerned, the lines at Canadian foodbanks are growing by the day, thanks to the neoclassical market theory forced on us by............ while also killing their own people, so every penny I can spare will go our local charities.
Ed Deak, Big Lake, BC.
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Brazil turned down American aid because Bush attached the conditions that abstinance be the only birth control and disease control taught and that prostitutes, whom the brazilian authorities are dealing directly with to combat the spread of aids, be turned back into criminals.<br />
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Countries hit by the Tsumani that are receiving American "aid" had to sell off public infrastructure, such as water and power systems, for a pittance to companies specified by Bush. Extortion, not aid. What aid money does find its way into the affected countries is funneled to the priviledged instead of the affected population. Governments only get dribs and drabs of "aid" money when they agree to hire American "consultants" and engineering firms such as Bechtel and Haliburtan, and then only enough to pay their exhorbitant fees.<br />
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The Nation did a piece called "The Rise of Disaster Capitalism", for anyone that thinks the USA actually "helps" during disasters, this should disabuse you of that notion.<br />
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<a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050502/klein/2">http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050502/klein/2</a><br />
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Forgive me if I don't view "aid" from the United States as a good thing these days.<br />
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I say waste does not feed the hungry or cloth the poor.
No, I give my change to the local citizen who needs help and I will place those funds right in his or her hand, to hell with a tax receipt..
You not donating will not hurt the government in any way, shape, or form. All it does is serve the government that you hate by giving them the easy way to make you look bad. All the government has to do is say; "Look at how mean & greedy these people are! They will not help there fellow man!"
If you do not like the media for how it is portraying something, inform them that they just lost another market share. If you do not like how your government is dealing with the USA, then work to root out the problem on your side on the fence. I have voted in the last two elections against Bush. He has done nothing good for this country. The USA has become a target of more hate and ill feeling since that man became President.
He has used 9/11 and other incidents to shove his heavy hand government down peoples throats. An additional example of this is the Janet Jackson incident at the Super bowl. His administration used that to give the censorship committee a strong arm to beat even the most innocent of jokes into a large finable offence.
I agree that the current administration has screwed up in NOLA. Because of it’s tactics since 9/11, they have destroyed FEMA and folded it in to The Department of Homeland Security. What a joke, they took something that was finally working well with experienced people, cut it up, out sourced it, and made it so bad to work for that the people that cared about the job, ran away!
In the end, do not hurt the people in need in an attempt to hurt a government that you dislike. Find a way to help, give money to one of the many organizations that are helping. Then use the example of political idiocy to change how the government you support works with the government that you dislike.
Thanks
The biggest reason there is a crisis in New Orleans is because the people who have become refugees couldn't even afford a bus ticket out of town. They even showed a family that couldn't afford gas so they had to stay behind and sleep in a stadium. You say Americans have a big heart? Then why do they care so little about there own people. Americans are some of the most selfish people on earth. Any other city in the world would come together and help each other out. In New Orleans people are stealing from stores(and I'm not talking about food and water) and there shooting at people trying to rescue them. The mentality in America is every man, woman and child for themselves.
It's not hard to figure out why the city fell apart after the hurricane it's because americans don't care much about each other.
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"A person who walks in someone elses footprints leaves no footprints." Chinese Proverb
I am an American who happened to fall in love with a Canadian and moved here after we got married. I've been in Canada almost four years now and the level of hatred towards Americans is plain and simple racism. Would you slander Jews or Blacks this way? No, it's not socially acceptable. Don Cherry says something slight against the French and the press is all over him and he's censored. The whole country slams the US and you all applaud.
You claim to take care of your own yet there are people in New Foundland that can't afford a bus ticket. They're scavaging just to get by because of the over-fishing of the waters. You have Natives that live far below the poverty level and have to travel hundreds of miles for medical care. The homeless get beat to death by your military. You have ranchers letting cattle die in the pastures because they can't afford to have hay hauled in because of the fuel prices. You have cancer patients that die waiting for treatment. The list of Canadians who are poor and need better goes on! Your poor aren't any better off than the American poor.
Do your research and stop letting your own media sway you. Have you heard that Katrina was supposed to hit in a totally different area? That many emergency services were prepared in those areas where she was expected to hit?? No, I don't imagine you have or you'd be angry at the meteorologists instead of Bush.
By the way, the race against Bush and Gore was very close in actual votes. That means about half of all Americans hate Bush too. And many of those Americans need help!
Do you think the US would help Canada if a natural disaster hit here? I know they would.
At least you will be helping whether you like it or not as our government is sending relief and your taxes are paying for it! I guess there is some justice in that!