Take It As Red

Guess how much the Chimperor has pledged to the aid effort following the tsunami? 20 million dollars. Yes, that's all.

Half of what his coronation will cost.


From the Idaho Mountain Express -

A coronation or inauguration?

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For a "wartime" commander-in-chief, George W. Bush shows scant inclination to be a model of sacrifice and self-denial, even as killed-in-action reports trickle into the Pentagon from Iraq and U.S. soldiers' next-of-kin are notified.

Most unseemly of all is the splendor that Republican planners have arranged for the president's inaugural festivities—including cozy upclose get-togethers with George Bush for moneyed supporters doling out $250,000 each for the privilege of getting the presidential ear over an intimate lunch.

The goal is to raise $40 million. Is this, heaven forbid, what this regal fete will cost? Or is this merely the selling of the president, another dodge to raise funds for some future political operation?

How many armored Humvees would $40 million buy?

One wonders if the Republican elites with expensive tastes in ceremonial majesty have the good sense to invite—at no cost, mind you—a few soldiers grievously wounded in Iraq to rub elbows with the president and his elegant friends over lunch and get an earful of what sort of camaraderie goes on between this president and his flush backers. After all, GIs gave their limbs, which amounts to far more than dollars peeled off by millionaires.

Republicans are creating what appears to be a monarch's coronation, not the inauguration of Everyman's president.

This trend had been shared by Democrats, too—staging opulent lunches, dinners and dazzling presidential balls that price ordinary folks out of attending.

For common folks, inauguration means enduring freezing temperatures or rain to see the presidential oath on the Capitol steps through binoculars, maybe a curbside view of a parade later in the day.

Simplicity once reigned over inaugurations. There was the simple oath taking and, in early days of the nation, Americans strolled over to the White House to shake the president's hand and hobnob with political leaders.

Those bucolic yesteryears can't be revived. The president is doomed by modern circumstances to living in a bubble of security that isolates him from the public and, sadly, from realities that Americans face and endure every day.

At a very minimum, however, decency should compel political parties to collect only enough donations to cover actual costs of a few inaugural festivities, then limit the celebration to more modest parties within reach of more people.

A little sacrifice by political parties is not much to ask while other Americans and their families are sacrificing far more in a war that President Bush started.

40 million? 40 bloody million? Bugger the Humvees, think what 40 million could do for Bandar Aceh.

This is the Chimperor's reaction to the tsunami:

CRAWFORD, Texas Dec 27, 2004 — President Bush spent part of Monday at his Texas ranch monitoring devastation from a deadly earthquake in Southeast Asia a replay of his post-Christmas vacation last year when he was monitoring damage from an earthquake in Iran.

Bush sent letters of condolence to Bangladesh, Thailand, Sri Landa, Indonesia, India, Maldives and Malaysia all countries affected by the Sunday earthquake and tidal waves that have killed more than 22,000 people.

"He's been monitoring it very closely," White House spokesman Trent Duffy told reporters at a briefing here. "He's seen some of the images on television."

Well, whoop-de-fucking-doo. I'm sure we all feel comforted. The mere existence of George Bush is an obscenity and a blight on the name of humanity. If only Yellowstone would blow and wipe this travesty of a president of the face of the earth. Jan Egelund, the UN's Undersecretary General for Humanitarian
Affairs, said "We were more generous when we were less rich, many of the rich countries, and it is beyond me, why are we so stingy, really. ... Even Christmas time should remind many Western countries at least how rich we have become."



An interesting sidebar: the linked article above from the Seattle Post Intelligencer gives a list of organisations, supplied by the State Department, that individuals can donate to. Oddly enough, there's no mention of Oxfam, Save the Children, Unesco, Medecins Sans Frontieres or any of the other secular aid agencies: however, the agencies given are predominantly Christian.

For example Northwest Medical Teams: "We endeavor to help desperate people of all faiths while upholding Christian values. Our Mission is our statement of this commitment."

WorldVision: "World Vision helps transform the lives of children and families in need in the name of Christ."

MercyCorps: "Mercy Corps envisions a world in which acts of mercy, justice, and compassion overcome hate, violence, poverty, and despair - a world where children experience a caring family, a nurturing community, a sacred environment, love, and the opportunity to fulfill their God-given potential."

WorldConcern: We are committed to encouraging the Christian church in communities where we have projects, as well as strengthening local institutions. By combining our efforts with a whole network of international and local organizations, government agencies, volunteers and donors we’re able to do so much more. Our partnership with U.S. churches also helps Christians here at home put their faith into action as they reach out through World Concern to families a world away.

Is there nothing these fundies won't stoop to? Fine, be Christian if you want to, your beliefs are your own. But using a disaster of this magnitude to proselytise for a faith which has caused more suffering than any other disgusts me, and the fact that it's being done in such an underhand way, undermining the real efforts of the UN and secular agencies, well, I'm running out of words.

Obscene is not good enough any more.

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