I Love It

[filkertom]

Recently the Bush Administration made an extraordinary request of the American people: donate privately to pay for the reconstruction of Iraq. (Because, you know, all that money for Iraq which BushCo refuses to make part of the budget doesn't count.)

So far, they have collected... six hundred dollars.

As the man says, they can barely buy two iPods.

Comments

[jabberwokky.livejournal.com]

That sounds incorrect, since I know one company in California (owned by a family of first generation Iraqi immigrants) that donated $1,000.

I don't defend their choice, but the fact that they did so makes this story sound very very misreported.

Maybe Pat Robertson has it...

[bobmage.livejournal.com]

Considering te record of this administration, maybe they are just handing over donations to their friends for efficiency reasons. Maybe the $600 represents what is actually going to reconstruction, no what has been donated.

Re: Maybe Pat Robertson has it...

[jabberwokky.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what is going on, nor do I have much opinion on the matter. I think the idea of a fund isn't terrible, although I'd rather see it done by Iraqis or via a non-political aid group. That said, those feelings are both lukewarm and ill-thought out, so I'm loathe to even state them as I don't feel comfortable defending an opinion I haven't given sufficient thought or research to.

All I really have is a simple fact that contradicts what the article states.

Re: Maybe Pat Robertson has it...

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

Facts that contradict what you want reality to be don't count, going by the example set by Dubya himself.

Re: Maybe Pat Robertson has it...

[jabberwokky.livejournal.com]

I'd hardly take a man who thinks you can take over and reshape an entire country in a few months as an example. I prefer to live in a world of competency and reality, thank you.

Re: Maybe Pat Robertson has it...

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

Well, that was kinda my point. :)

Re: Maybe Pat Robertson has it...

[jabberwokky.livejournal.com]

Well, reality is that this article is (based on what I know) incorrect. To disregard that is equally abandoning reality.

To gleefully disregard the facts to demonize an administration is to become part of the problem. It obscures facts and puts emotion ahead of the rational thought that is necessary to find capable representatives of the people. In an emotionally divided democratic environment the team with the best uniforms on their cheerleaders wins.

Re: Maybe Pat Robertson has it...

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

In an emotionally divided democratic environment the team with the best uniforms on their cheerleaders wins.

This goes in the .sig folder.

[lapislaz.livejournal.com]

Well, Mom always said "Figures don't lie...but liars sure can figure." Who knows when they donated, when the articles were actually written, etc.

I am not surprised that fundraising is going so badly. However, it's possible that I am just cynical enough to think that these articles were planted to make folks feel a bit guilty and perhaps donate something just so those poor Iraqis don't think us Americans are unfeeling bastards.

Yep - just cynical enough.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I'd think that myself... if not for the primary source being the Guardian in Britain. Some US papers have picked it up, no doubt; but I suspect that, even if it makes TV news, the overall tone, whether intended or not, is gonna be "news of the weird".

Now, if it shows up on the Sunday Morning Talking Heads line-up, then, yeah, they're pushing.

Payment.

[sifractusfortis.livejournal.com]

I'd donate the plane fare if we could send Bush and Dick over there to help with the rebuilding themselves. Six months of dodging car bombs while working at a Baghdad hospital might be good for 'em.