Friday, January 7, 2005
Varifrank beats down the EUropeans
Go read this right now.
Frank may have been "unprofessional", but the behavior exhibited by his colleagues was unbelievable, inexcusable, and inhumane. He reacted far more professionally and courteously than would have I in a similar situation, not to mention more coherent and collected.
My hat is off to him.
(Link courtesy of Citizen Smash.)
posted at 12:15 PM | 
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Stingy redux
(I originally posted this as an update to the original post, but I decided to post it as a separate entry due to the magnitude of the numbers involved.)
Chuck Simmins has compiled a list of private donations from the United States. As of Thursday, 6 January, it stood at $450 Million. This is not government-dispensed funding, it's all totally voluntary. The US contribution, government and private, not including the military efforts described above, is closing in on $1 Billion, and will probably pass that threshold shortly.
The PDF file is three pages long, and includes URL citations for every single one of the listed contributions. (Consequently, it probably understates the true total by a significant amount). It includes small donations from community groups, large cash and in-kind donations by corporate interests, and money raised by the American Red Cross and Catholic Relief Services, among many other charities.
(Link courtesy of Daily Pundit.)
posted at 10:39 AM | permalink | Comments (0)
Snow day?
I am experiencing something I have never before encountered in my 18 years in the military: a snow day (or at least a snow delay). Apparently conditions in the area are pretty bad (although it's currently raining outside my window); the decision was made to have us come in to work two hours late. This is something that I cannot ever recall doing before, although I have heard of it from others with whom I have worked. For some reason, the job I do (which is not all that critical) is always considered one of those essential jobs that cannot be put off.
I wonder if this is a result of last year's experience at this base. While I was in Germany, there was a six-inch snowfall here, but no decision was made on having people stay away until after work was supposed to begin, Consequently, there were monumental traffic jams when the decision was made to send everyone home, and everyone headed for the parking lots at the same time. My roommate tells me that it took about 90 minutes to move 300 feet through the parking lot, due to the traffic, the weather, and the accidents.
posted at 06:21 AM | permalink | Comments (0)
Thursday, January 6, 2005
Stingy, my ass
The US military is spending $6 million per day for tsunami relief in the Indian Ocean nations devastated by the December 26 earthquake. In other words, the armed forces alone have spent almost as much on disaster relief in 10 days than France or Spain have pledged in whole. If the military were a separate government, it would just miss the top 10 in total contributions, today. It will pass Italy and Sweden sometime next week, moving to seventh place, unless other nations step up their aid. Remember, this aid is totally separate from the $350 million pledged by the US, just as the military aid from Australia and India is in addition to their monetary contributions. Without the US Navy and Air Force, thousands would still have no access to medical care, fresh water, or food.
In other news, while the leftist brigades have excoriated Bush for not immediately appearing on television when the news hit (and for his spokesman's veiled swipe at Bill Clinton for doing so), there has been almost total silence regarding Kofi Annan's vacation in Jackson Hole. In fact, Kofi Annan's first step is hold a conference, TODAY, while Bush took the steps to set up a major aid program before running to the cameras. Annan's response should be used by Bush supporters whenever Bush is accused of inaction, because it's quite true:
First of all, there was action. It wasn't inaction. We live in a world where you can operate from wherever you are. You know the world we live in now. You don't have to be physically here to be dealing with the leaders and the governments I have been dealing with.
It's grammatically incoherent, but Bush is not known for his elequence.
(The link the to source appears to be broken; I got it—and the quote—from Ipse Dixit.)
And of course, the military's involvement brings out the tinfoil-hatters. AFP reports (via Yahoo! News) that conspiracy theorists are claiming that the earthquake was caused by a secret military super-weapon test, or that aliens are trying to correct the earth's rotation (which has a slight wobble). Why this would be important to them is not explained. The AFP article does a fairly good job dispelling the myths, although it notes that science and reason will not sway the minds of the aggressively stupid.
UPDATE: More moonbattery can be found here (link courtesy of Reflections in d minor) and here (link courtesy of Balloon Juice).
UPDATE: Chuck Simmins has compiled a list of private donations from the United States. As of Thursday, 6 January, it stood at $450 Million. This is not government-dispensed funding, it's all totally voluntary. The US contribution, government and private, not including the military efforts described above, is closing in on $1 Billion, and will probably pass that threshold shortly.
The PDF file is three pages long, and includes URL citations for every single one of the listed contributions. (Consequently, it probably understates the true total by a significant amount). It includes small donations from community groups, large cash and in-kind donations by corporate interests, and money raised by the American Red Cross and Catholic Relief Services, among many other charities.
(Link courtesy of Daily Pundit.)
posted at 01:20 PM | permalink | Comments (0)
