I'm gonna say this carefully, because it could be a touchy subject...
Don't get me wrong, sending aid to disaster effected areas is a fantastic thing to do and the people that were effected by Katrina need every bit of help they can get... but...
Why is it nessicary at all for this to happen? America is the richest and most powerful country in the world at the moment, it should be able to take care of itself. On Australian TV here I've heard that the US government is giving the victims of the disaster something around $2000 per person... sure thats great... but for someone that has just lost everything and when New Orleans won't be cleaned out for another month or so (so I've heard), that isn't much.
Unfortunately, for the time being, I can't find the clip that this quote belongs to... but it comes from a documentary about the first Iran/Iraq war with G. Bush the first. One of the analysist said something along the lines of:
"America has the choice of being number 1 in the world in military strength, technology and over all power.... or number 1 in health care and quality of life for its citizens... and right now, thats not happening"
Once again, nothing against sending donations because I know those people need alot of help right now... but George really needs to start getting his priorities in order.
(And one more thought, there's something wrong again when the Australian News Teams (Channel 7 and then Channel 9) in America rescued almost all of the Australian citizens before the Australian government was even allowed to send in embassadors to the area)
