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Aid Should Begin at Home
We're "broke" & can't help our own Seniors, Homeless, Veterans, Orphans, etc. ?????
This so pathetically true...in the last months we have provided aid to Haiti, Chile, and Turkey, not to mention the countless other countries where we provide billions and billions of dollars of foreign aid annually.
Our retired seniors living on a fixed income receive no aid while our government and religious organizations pour hundreds of millions of dollars and tons of food to foreign countries.
We have hundreds of adoptable children who are shoved aside to make room for the adoption of foreign orphans, mostly because of red tape.
Why are so many American citizens, and the American government, so star struck they won't provide for our own?
The USA is a country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating, elderly going without needed meds, and mentally ill without treatment - yet we have celebrity benefits for the people of Haiti on 20 TV stations, ships and planes lining up with food, water, tents, clothes, bedding, doctors and medical supplies.
Imagine if we gave ourselves the same support that we give all other countries.
I feel bad for them but I also care about our citizens in the U.S.A. We are the most giving, caring and loving people in the world when it comes to other countries needs. Why can't we take care of our own?
Sad isn't it?
This so pathetically true...in the last months we have provided aid to Haiti, Chile, and Turkey, not to mention the countless other countries where we provide billions and billions of dollars of foreign aid annually.
Our retired seniors living on a fixed income receive no aid while our government and religious organizations pour hundreds of millions of dollars and tons of food to foreign countries.
We have hundreds of adoptable children who are shoved aside to make room for the adoption of foreign orphans, mostly because of red tape.
Why are so many American citizens, and the American government, so star struck they won't provide for our own?
The USA is a country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating, elderly going without needed meds, and mentally ill without treatment - yet we have celebrity benefits for the people of Haiti on 20 TV stations, ships and planes lining up with food, water, tents, clothes, bedding, doctors and medical supplies.
Imagine if we gave ourselves the same support that we give all other countries.
I feel bad for them but I also care about our citizens in the U.S.A. We are the most giving, caring and loving people in the world when it comes to other countries needs. Why can't we take care of our own?
Sad isn't it?
posted by Brian J Perks at
8:09 AM
12 Comments:
I could not have said it better, it's appalling and pathetic
You've got your facts wrong- the US is far from the "most giving, caring and loving" country when it comes to foreign aid. We rank far below the rest of the developed world in per capita aid to foreign countries.
More importantly, where do you get off criticizing people who are trying to help others who are less fortunate? It's fine to advocate charitable giving aimed at people in our own communities, but to criticize those who help people in places like Haiti who have lost everything is reprehensible- you and your publisher should be ashamed of yourselves.
What is it about you wingnuts that you have to find fault with even the most charitable, Christian behavior if it involves someone who disagrees with you, or benefits someone who doesn't look like you?
Wow, where to begin...
"You've got your facts wrong- the US is far from the "most giving, caring and loving" country when it comes to foreign aid. We rank far below the rest of the developed world in per capita aid to foreign countries."
- This is demonstrably untrue. The only way the US is not number one is if you only use percentage of budget sent overseas by the government. In total dollars given by the government in foreign aid we are by far number one, and that doesn't include spending on the Navy, which is our primary means of delivering aid to disaster areas. If you include private giving no one comes close. Even if you still wish to argue who's number one, when you said "far below the rest of the developed world" you lost all credibility.
"More importantly, where do you get off criticizing people who are trying to help others who are less fortunate? It's fine to advocate charitable giving aimed at people in our own communities, but to criticize those who help people in places like Haiti who have lost everything is reprehensible- you and your publisher should be ashamed of yourselves."
-What? Did you even read this? No where in his post did Brian criticize anyone or advocate lessening of foreign aid. He merely expressed the opinion that more could be done in this country. Your apparent belief that increasing one would decrease the other shows a horrible misunderstanding of the budgeting process and neither Brian nor "his publisher" have anything to be ashamed of. Your past teachers, on the other hand, have plenty to be ashamed of. Reading comprehension is your friend, don't be afraid of it.
"What is it about you wingnuts that you have to find fault with even the most charitable, Christian behavior if it involves someone who disagrees with you, or benefits someone who doesn't look like you?"
-Once again, wow. You are a real piece of work. Sticking to your claim that Brian advocated cutting aid when he quite clearly did not, and then just for kicks, the trademark behavior of a guy who is just in way over his head intellectually...alleging racism where none exists. Bravo, you are indeed an impressive specimen. I'm guessing you're the knucklehead who posts in the OP.com as "Sean".
Correction to my previous post:
When I made my per capita argument I was including all things that are considered foreign aid, including reserves our government keeps for future disasters, not just regularly scheduled and agreed to shipments.
I guess you guys figure just repeating the same lies somehow makes them true. If you measure generosity by total dollars contributed per country, the US comes out on top. That's hardly surprising, since we still have the world's biggest economy. But that makes as much sense as comparing California and Wyoming.
The true comparison is the percentage of a country's wealth that it contributes- and by that measurement, we rank far below most other developed countries. You can also make a comparison based on per capita spending with the same results.
"No where in his post did Brian criticize anyone or advocate lessening of foreign aid."
What? Did you even read this? I suppose this quote isn't meant to "criticize anyone": "The USA is a country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating, elderly going without needed meds, and mentally ill without treatment - yet we have celebrity benefits for the people of Haiti on 20 TV stations, ships and planes lining up with food, water, tents, clothes, bedding, doctors and medical supplies."
Doesn't sound like Brian is too supportive of those undeserving Haitians, does it?
And how about this: "We have hundreds of adoptable children who are shoved aside to make room for the adoption of foreign orphans".
Where do you come up with drivel like that? And how can you say that disgusting attacks like that aren't "meant to criticize"?
Is English your first language? You don't seem to have a very good grasp of the meanings of words.
All I can say is WOW!
Thanks William for your comments. It is not worth even responding to guys like Anonymous because of his complete lack of a spine and courage to sign his name. Not even worthy of a reply.
Oui, je parle français et anglais et un peu allemand! Vous?
Pretty much what we've come to expect from the wingnut fringe- just keep repeating the lies, and when someone confronts you with facts, refuse to respond. It's disgusting, but then again, it worked for Hitler, so maybe you're on to something!
Hey- almost forgot- just wanted to congratulate you for removing your stupid rant against the post office after the errors were pointed out in another "Anonymous" comment!
Of course, if a real newspaper published something that blatantly false, they would ordinarily apologize for the error, but hey- it's a start!
Oh- and don't forget to ridicule that other "spineless" Anonymous commenter- the one that said "I could not have said it better, it's appalling and pathetic"- WOW! Talk about lack of courage! Truly unworthy of a response, n'est-ce pas?
Mr. Perks,
Wow :) What happened? There was only one comment on here yesterday morning. Your blog is one of the blogs that I read but I've only commented once before a few months ago. I have a couple of things to say.
I think that people should be able to say whatever they want to say, but comments that are meant to be insulting and disruptive and contribute nothing to the debate should be deleted.
This Anonymous person is a good example of this. This person is being rude and hurtful for no reason. Differences of opinion should be a part of this forum, but rude, disruptive nonsense should be deleted.
I don't like to see people attacking each other, but I admit it, I laughed out loud at the reading comprehension comment.
I agree with William, I don't think that you said anywhere in your blog post that we should cut aid to anyone and I don't see anywhere that you mention race or religion.
Anonymous admitted to harassing you in other posts that you've made, and I think it's worth noting that he posted here within 3 minutes of William's comment. If we have votes, I vote to delete Anonymous.
I agree with Thom that rude and hurtful remarks should be deleted. Of course, the problem with that is that many of Mr. Perks's blog entries would have to be removed as well, but I suppose it's the price you pay for maintaining order and avoiding disruptive nonsense.
William and Thom, you know now that Anonymouse (sp) will probably be calling you names soon.
Brian,
LOL. Anonymouse, that's good. As far as being attacked goes, I couldn't possibly care any less. My Kung-Fu is better. Seriously, I get attacked everyday by my friends on Facebook and they're a hell of a lot sharper than this nitwit, even when they're being friendly. You saw his weak response, he probably got so hot and bothered by the fact that someone questioned his brilliance that he had to take his bicycle helmet off before he attacked the keyboard attached to his 386. He may have even spit up a little bit on his 28/8 and then trashed his 20X20 "studio" hovel (that's assuming he doesn't live with his mother, which may be a bit of a stretch on my part).
I know that you don't like to address these losers, but I think part of the reason this country is in the jam it's in right now is because we haven't smacked these mental deficients down. An opinion backed by fact and reason does mean more than an opinion backed by the "feelings" of some dude who has no idea why Ed Schultz believes what he believes, but repeats it anyway.
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