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I received an interesting report this past week from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).Apparently, that organization has obtained some documents indicating that "the federal government had turned down millions of dollars in aid from foreign countries in the aftermath of Katrina."
According to CREW:
Incredibly, $854 million in aid was offered from countries across the world, yet only $40 million has been used so far for victims or reconstruction. In fact, offers to provide rescue equipment, cruise ships, medical teams and water were rejected, as victims went without basic necessities. Even assistance that was accepted, such as medical supplies from Italy, were unused, exposed to the elements and eventually discarded.Read more and see the documents.
Of course, this is the same country whose president fiddled while New Orleans drowned, and whose Secretary of State thought that the best use of her time was to go shoe shopping and catch a Broadway comedy in New York.
Can't let the tragic destruction of a major American city (and the poor people in it) interfere with their fun, I guess. And they apparently also had better things to do than to accept the financial contributions of the world and put them to good use to assist those whose lives had just been devastated.
I miss the days when I was proud to be an American.
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