Angry At Politics

And another thing. The US has pledged about $30 million for emergency relief for South Asia in the wake of the devastating tsunami that struck the region a few days ago. That's about a dime for every person living in the US today. I guess that means that residents of the stricken region can finally escape their predicament by traveling in time back to 1983, where they can use that dime to make a phonecall to themselves, warning themselves of the tsunami that will strike in 2004.

Honestly, here's what I don't understand: we spent $87 billion dollars this year alone to wage war in Iraq, but we only have $30 million for disaster relief in Indonesia and India? Only $30 million for Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world, and a critical locus of the war on terror? Only $30 million for India, the most populous democracy in the world, and also the only country in which hundreds of millions of Muslims live under democratic rule? When the rest of the world doesn't share our bright-eyed enthusiasm for America, is unwilling to give us the benefit of the doubt, and is distrustful of our representation that we're the good guys, it will serve us well to understand that they remember this equation. $87 billion for occupying Iraq, but not even one thounsandth of that amount for disaster relief in South Asia.