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ArchivesOh please...
in reply to a message by Merriment MacNotInMyName
"And if the US would pay the money it owes to the UN, this might actually be feasible. "
Oh, please. If the deadbeat UN diplomats and their deadbeat nations would only pay the money they owe to the people of the City of New York, I'd be amazed:
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/WABC_020101_deadbeatdiplomats.html
"I hear that the US have decreed that only US companies will get to rebuild Iraq after the war (let us not even mention oil) - is this a 'just war' or a exercise in propping up the US economy?"
Where the heck did you hear that? I tell you, this war in Iraq and the aid to Iraq which will certainly follow is going to COST the taxpayers of the United States in the long run. As it is, there were no provisions in the U.S. budget to pay for this war, and now Dumbass Dubya is proposing tax breaks for U.S. citizens to boost his own sagging popularity, with nary a thought as to how this war is going to be paid for. As for Iraq "propping up" the U.S. economy… The U.S. spends more money and expends more resources in propping up nations which, btw, continue to collectively owe the United States BILLIONS of dollars in unpaid debts. Debts which the U.S. frequently writes off in exchange for various agreements such as The Tropical Forest Conservation Act (PL-105-214), signed into legislation by President Clinton, which forgave 325 million dollars in debt owed by Brazil, Indonesia, Peru, and the Congo provided they put matching amounts of money into their own forest protection trust funds.
"Nor in any previous US intervention have they succeeded in putting in place subsequently a democratic government. Not in fifty years of 'intervention' in more than thirty countries."
I will absolutely agree with you on that. I quite frankly don't care to see my tax dollars used to feed or clothe or defend people who don't have the incentive or wherewithal to set up and maintain their own democratic governments. Enough is enough, already.
-- Nanaea
Oh, please. If the deadbeat UN diplomats and their deadbeat nations would only pay the money they owe to the people of the City of New York, I'd be amazed:
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/WABC_020101_deadbeatdiplomats.html
"I hear that the US have decreed that only US companies will get to rebuild Iraq after the war (let us not even mention oil) - is this a 'just war' or a exercise in propping up the US economy?"
Where the heck did you hear that? I tell you, this war in Iraq and the aid to Iraq which will certainly follow is going to COST the taxpayers of the United States in the long run. As it is, there were no provisions in the U.S. budget to pay for this war, and now Dumbass Dubya is proposing tax breaks for U.S. citizens to boost his own sagging popularity, with nary a thought as to how this war is going to be paid for. As for Iraq "propping up" the U.S. economy… The U.S. spends more money and expends more resources in propping up nations which, btw, continue to collectively owe the United States BILLIONS of dollars in unpaid debts. Debts which the U.S. frequently writes off in exchange for various agreements such as The Tropical Forest Conservation Act (PL-105-214), signed into legislation by President Clinton, which forgave 325 million dollars in debt owed by Brazil, Indonesia, Peru, and the Congo provided they put matching amounts of money into their own forest protection trust funds.
"Nor in any previous US intervention have they succeeded in putting in place subsequently a democratic government. Not in fifty years of 'intervention' in more than thirty countries."
I will absolutely agree with you on that. I quite frankly don't care to see my tax dollars used to feed or clothe or defend people who don't have the incentive or wherewithal to set up and maintain their own democratic governments. Enough is enough, already.
-- Nanaea
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Replies
A couple of million per country, vs. over a billion owed by the US to the UN?
http://www.clw.org/pub/clw/un/pkdebt.html
Not exactly the same thing. Unpaid embassy debts are fairly standard everywhere.
The US has the highest GDP of any country. As a proportion of GDP it gives the lowest 'catch free' aid of any country in the west. It doesn't even make the top twenty. (The UK doesn't make the top ten. We have nothing to boast about either).
http://www.garretwilson.com/books/p...ationalaid.html
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/USAid.asp
And the question of debt is an interesting one. Given that the US consumes so much more of the world's resources; given that the US fuel 'habit' is entirely dependent on large parts of the world being underdeveloped and using lesser technologies (imagine the impact on the world if India and China consumed resources at the level that the US does) it can be argued that the US (and other western countries) pays only what it owes, and usually barely that.
Read these articles for further information:
http://www.jubilee2000uk.org/ecological_debt/Articles/paradise020502.htm
http://www.jubilee2000uk.org/ecological_debt/Articles/Ecologist_climate_debt.htm
It's all a matter of perspective.
Incidentally, something like fifty percent of US international aid goes to Israel and Egypt - countries with very healthy economies and democracies of their own...
'I will absolutely agree with you on that. I quite frankly don't care to see my tax dollars used to feed or clothe or defend people who don't have the incentive or wherewithal to set up and maintain their own democratic governments. Enough is enough, already.'
http://www.clw.org/pub/clw/un/pkdebt.html
Not exactly the same thing. Unpaid embassy debts are fairly standard everywhere.
The US has the highest GDP of any country. As a proportion of GDP it gives the lowest 'catch free' aid of any country in the west. It doesn't even make the top twenty. (The UK doesn't make the top ten. We have nothing to boast about either).
http://www.garretwilson.com/books/p...ationalaid.html
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/USAid.asp
And the question of debt is an interesting one. Given that the US consumes so much more of the world's resources; given that the US fuel 'habit' is entirely dependent on large parts of the world being underdeveloped and using lesser technologies (imagine the impact on the world if India and China consumed resources at the level that the US does) it can be argued that the US (and other western countries) pays only what it owes, and usually barely that.
Read these articles for further information:
http://www.jubilee2000uk.org/ecological_debt/Articles/paradise020502.htm
http://www.jubilee2000uk.org/ecological_debt/Articles/Ecologist_climate_debt.htm
It's all a matter of perspective.
Incidentally, something like fifty percent of US international aid goes to Israel and Egypt - countries with very healthy economies and democracies of their own...
'I will absolutely agree with you on that. I quite frankly don't care to see my tax dollars used to feed or clothe or defend people who don't have the incentive or wherewithal to set up and maintain their own democratic governments. Enough is enough, already.'
1
And on the lighter side of debate...
This was e-mailed to me by my bro'-in-law in England...
Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?
George Bush's Answer:
We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road or not. The chicken is either with us or it is against us. There is no middle ground here.
Al Gore's Answer:
I invented the chicken. I invented the road. Therefore, the chicken crossing the road represented the application of these two different functions of government in a new, reinvented way designed to bring greater services to the American people.
Jacques Chirac's Answer:
I need more proof. I dont think the chicken has actually cossed the road - give the chicken 2 more months.
Tony Blairs's Answer:
Whatever Bush said...
CNN's Answer:
We will get back to the chicken soon.
Turkey's Answer:
We will support the chicken..no, we dont...yes, we will...no, we dont...yes, we will...no, we dont...we will assign a corridor.
Pat Buchanan's Answer:
To steal a job from a decent, hard-working American.
John Lennon's Answer:
Just imagine all the chickens crossing roads in peace.
Saddam Hussein's Answer:
This was an unprovoked act of a zionistic rebellion and we were quite justified in cutting the head off of the little idiotic chicken. May the mother of all thunders hit all imperialistic chickens sooner or later.
Israel's Answer:
We retaliated by sending more tanks to the Gaza strip.
Captain Kirk's Answer:
To boldly go where no chicken has gone before.
Albert Einstein's Answer:
Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
L.A.P.D.'s Answer:
Give us just ten minutes with the chicken and we'll find out.
This was e-mailed to me by my bro'-in-law in England...
Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?
George Bush's Answer:
We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road or not. The chicken is either with us or it is against us. There is no middle ground here.
Al Gore's Answer:
I invented the chicken. I invented the road. Therefore, the chicken crossing the road represented the application of these two different functions of government in a new, reinvented way designed to bring greater services to the American people.
Jacques Chirac's Answer:
I need more proof. I dont think the chicken has actually cossed the road - give the chicken 2 more months.
Tony Blairs's Answer:
Whatever Bush said...
CNN's Answer:
We will get back to the chicken soon.
Turkey's Answer:
We will support the chicken..no, we dont...yes, we will...no, we dont...yes, we will...no, we dont...we will assign a corridor.
Pat Buchanan's Answer:
To steal a job from a decent, hard-working American.
John Lennon's Answer:
Just imagine all the chickens crossing roads in peace.
Saddam Hussein's Answer:
This was an unprovoked act of a zionistic rebellion and we were quite justified in cutting the head off of the little idiotic chicken. May the mother of all thunders hit all imperialistic chickens sooner or later.
Israel's Answer:
We retaliated by sending more tanks to the Gaza strip.
Captain Kirk's Answer:
To boldly go where no chicken has gone before.
Albert Einstein's Answer:
Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
L.A.P.D.'s Answer:
Give us just ten minutes with the chicken and we'll find out.
1
My family:
Because we accidently left a two-inch square hole in the pen...Here, chick-chick-chick! Come're Curiosity! Houdini! Get over here! Chicky-chick..............................;P
Y :)
Because we accidently left a two-inch square hole in the pen...Here, chick-chick-chick! Come're Curiosity! Houdini! Get over here! Chicky-chick..............................;P
Y :)
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Ha! This made my day :)
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Would that be Alfonso Portillo? The guy who agreed last year to stop executions because the Pope asked him nicely? You know, it's always interesting to observe the type of people over whom religious leaders seem to have the most influence.
Anyway, my commiseration to you. Although, you may be better off than we are here in the U.S. Portillo listens to god, but G.W. Bush thinks he *is* god.
-- Nanaea
Anyway, my commiseration to you. Although, you may be better off than we are here in the U.S. Portillo listens to god, but G.W. Bush thinks he *is* god.
-- Nanaea
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You mean Bush isnt God really God lol someone had better tell Blair
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And to think i supported him?
Not that i can vote, curses! this is last election, but it's Blair over IDS every time.
Not that i can vote, curses! this is last election, but it's Blair over IDS every time.
1
Yep, that would be the one...
President Portillo. But do not forget that this is primly Catholic country and the vote of every Catholic does make a difference. He is not better than Bush, they are just "different".
President Portillo. But do not forget that this is primly Catholic country and the vote of every Catholic does make a difference. He is not better than Bush, they are just "different".
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