U.S. Pseudo-Solidarity with Cuba
I read this in Yahoo! news online; the copyright for this information belongs to them.
' WASHINGTON, 13 (AFP) - In a rare display of amity toward communist Cuba, the United States offered its longtime foe 50,000 dollars in disaster assistance and urged US-based humanitarian groups to send aid to the island after it was badly hit by Hurricane Charley.
"The United States regrets the damage caused by Hurricane Charley and expresses its solidarity with the Cuban people," deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli.
"The Cuban people can count on America's support in these difficult times," he said in a statement. "We are working to assist the Cuban people with the humanitarian crisis they now face." '
Now let's look at some numbers. According to several sources, 215,000 people were evacuated from the Cuban areas hardest hit. at least 4 people were killed, 65 buildings in the Havana area collapsed, 500 others suffered some form of damage. Power lines were downed, palm trees were uprooted. But according to other sources - none of them the mainstream U.S. press - 200,000 Cubans remain homeless, 16,000 houses were destroyed in other parts of Cuba, and 500 electrical lines were downed. Sailing vessels, schools, and mainstay crop fields were also destroyed. Many remain without electricity and gas.
Estimates of the number of properties damaged or destroyed are not yet available for Florida. But from 1992's Hurricane Andrew, Florida's most expensive hurricane disaster to date, and one which Charley apparently fell short of, were 63,000 homes destroyed, 180,000 people left homeless. So let's take those numbers for Charley, even though the actual number from the current disaster will probably be less than that.
So, ok. One estimate of the damage cost in Florida - to insured homes alone - is $11bn. Other numbers which have floated around have been close to $15bn. What's the value of a Florida home compared to a Cuban home? Depends on who's asking, I suppose. Let's say that everything in Cuba is worth a tenth what it would be in the States. Is that reasonable? I dunno; I'm not an economist. Wanna say a hundredth? Ok, let's say a hundredth. So then if 63,000 homes destroyed and 180,000 homeless is worth 11 billion dollars in Florida, 16,000 homes destroyed and 180,000 homeless in Cuba is worth around, oh, say 30 million dollars.
So our guys in Washington are saying, "The United States... expresses its solidarity with the Cuban people." By sending 50,000 dollars. Fifty thousand dollars. That's about 29 million, 950 thousand short. Or just under two-tenths of a percent of the actual cost of the damage.
For years, there have been two assholes that have kept Cuba the walking disaster that it is, periodically joined by other assholes as their terms in office afforded them the opportunity to join this asshole brigade. The main two have been Fidel Castro, whose damnable pride keeps Cuba the impoverished (but proud!) country that it is. And Jesse Helms, the South Carolina Senator, now thankfully retired (possibly dead as well, but I can't be too sure) only several decades after his retirement was long overdue. Helms, for years the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, used his influence in that seat to maintain the embargo on Cuba which ensured that country's desperate poverty. Every appeal to common sense, kindness, dignity, compassion, charity, decency, forgiveness, fell on deaf ears with this man. And every attempt to challenge his leadership was met with doom to the challenger, because of Mr Helms' insidious presence in the money politics of the Senate. Why? Because he knew he was right, he knew that communism was evil, he knew that Castro was a communist, and so he knew we couldn't help those people. His thinking was crystal clear, and could not be clouded by any bleeding heart democrats' pleas.
So here we are. It's like yesterday after a barbeque we had with a bunch of friends of ours in a park nearby. When we were packing it all up to leave, we had to dump out the charcoals to transport the grill home. We couldn't leave the hot coals like that, so we needed to douse them with water. Someone walked all the way back to the car to get water, and returned with two half-drunk 12-ounce bottles of water. So that was maybe 10-12 ounces of water. What's that, like a cup and a half? Is that going to extinguish a grill full of charcoal? So that's kind of what we as a country have also done with Cuba.
Sure, we don't owe them a damned thing. It's a foreign country, and one with which we have serious political differences. But in contrast with, say the money we're spending on Iraq, it's mind boggling. How can we be so callous? And to throw them a nickel like this when at least millions and millions are needed, and then to talk about solidarity, amity, "[you] can count on America's support," well, that's just adding insult to injury, pouring salt into the wounds, any number of other euphemisms.
Call it what you will, it's really base and really ugly. And it's brought to you by the Bush Administration; remember that. Do you remember one woman quoted in the press after 9/11 saying, "Why would they do this to us; we didn't do anything to them!" Yes. That's the kind of thinking we maintain, even when we continue to do things like this Cuba business. Who do we think we are? Why do we think we can get away with it? Why do we think it's ok?
I can't imagine us ever learning from our mistakes, but it could happen, I suppose. Right? I mean, after a few more really terrible things happen here? We'll finally figure out that we can't continue to be the way we are, right? Right?
Nahhhh. Forget I said anything.
' WASHINGTON, 13 (AFP) - In a rare display of amity toward communist Cuba, the United States offered its longtime foe 50,000 dollars in disaster assistance and urged US-based humanitarian groups to send aid to the island after it was badly hit by Hurricane Charley.
"The United States regrets the damage caused by Hurricane Charley and expresses its solidarity with the Cuban people," deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli.
"The Cuban people can count on America's support in these difficult times," he said in a statement. "We are working to assist the Cuban people with the humanitarian crisis they now face." '
Now let's look at some numbers. According to several sources, 215,000 people were evacuated from the Cuban areas hardest hit. at least 4 people were killed, 65 buildings in the Havana area collapsed, 500 others suffered some form of damage. Power lines were downed, palm trees were uprooted. But according to other sources - none of them the mainstream U.S. press - 200,000 Cubans remain homeless, 16,000 houses were destroyed in other parts of Cuba, and 500 electrical lines were downed. Sailing vessels, schools, and mainstay crop fields were also destroyed. Many remain without electricity and gas.
Estimates of the number of properties damaged or destroyed are not yet available for Florida. But from 1992's Hurricane Andrew, Florida's most expensive hurricane disaster to date, and one which Charley apparently fell short of, were 63,000 homes destroyed, 180,000 people left homeless. So let's take those numbers for Charley, even though the actual number from the current disaster will probably be less than that.
So, ok. One estimate of the damage cost in Florida - to insured homes alone - is $11bn. Other numbers which have floated around have been close to $15bn. What's the value of a Florida home compared to a Cuban home? Depends on who's asking, I suppose. Let's say that everything in Cuba is worth a tenth what it would be in the States. Is that reasonable? I dunno; I'm not an economist. Wanna say a hundredth? Ok, let's say a hundredth. So then if 63,000 homes destroyed and 180,000 homeless is worth 11 billion dollars in Florida, 16,000 homes destroyed and 180,000 homeless in Cuba is worth around, oh, say 30 million dollars.
So our guys in Washington are saying, "The United States... expresses its solidarity with the Cuban people." By sending 50,000 dollars. Fifty thousand dollars. That's about 29 million, 950 thousand short. Or just under two-tenths of a percent of the actual cost of the damage.
For years, there have been two assholes that have kept Cuba the walking disaster that it is, periodically joined by other assholes as their terms in office afforded them the opportunity to join this asshole brigade. The main two have been Fidel Castro, whose damnable pride keeps Cuba the impoverished (but proud!) country that it is. And Jesse Helms, the South Carolina Senator, now thankfully retired (possibly dead as well, but I can't be too sure) only several decades after his retirement was long overdue. Helms, for years the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, used his influence in that seat to maintain the embargo on Cuba which ensured that country's desperate poverty. Every appeal to common sense, kindness, dignity, compassion, charity, decency, forgiveness, fell on deaf ears with this man. And every attempt to challenge his leadership was met with doom to the challenger, because of Mr Helms' insidious presence in the money politics of the Senate. Why? Because he knew he was right, he knew that communism was evil, he knew that Castro was a communist, and so he knew we couldn't help those people. His thinking was crystal clear, and could not be clouded by any bleeding heart democrats' pleas.
So here we are. It's like yesterday after a barbeque we had with a bunch of friends of ours in a park nearby. When we were packing it all up to leave, we had to dump out the charcoals to transport the grill home. We couldn't leave the hot coals like that, so we needed to douse them with water. Someone walked all the way back to the car to get water, and returned with two half-drunk 12-ounce bottles of water. So that was maybe 10-12 ounces of water. What's that, like a cup and a half? Is that going to extinguish a grill full of charcoal? So that's kind of what we as a country have also done with Cuba.
Sure, we don't owe them a damned thing. It's a foreign country, and one with which we have serious political differences. But in contrast with, say the money we're spending on Iraq, it's mind boggling. How can we be so callous? And to throw them a nickel like this when at least millions and millions are needed, and then to talk about solidarity, amity, "[you] can count on America's support," well, that's just adding insult to injury, pouring salt into the wounds, any number of other euphemisms.
Call it what you will, it's really base and really ugly. And it's brought to you by the Bush Administration; remember that. Do you remember one woman quoted in the press after 9/11 saying, "Why would they do this to us; we didn't do anything to them!" Yes. That's the kind of thinking we maintain, even when we continue to do things like this Cuba business. Who do we think we are? Why do we think we can get away with it? Why do we think it's ok?
I can't imagine us ever learning from our mistakes, but it could happen, I suppose. Right? I mean, after a few more really terrible things happen here? We'll finally figure out that we can't continue to be the way we are, right? Right?
Nahhhh. Forget I said anything.
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