Well said Steve. Thanks. I've been watching the daily increase in the toll, and it never fails to deflate. Hardly seems worth the bother to get out of bed in the morning.

And very expected, George did not to miss an opportunity for personal gain out of all this, he assigned his brother Jeb to head up the American efforts.

I see big thinks in Jeb's future now that George has toped out and Jeb has room to grow.

I do not this it is possible for that administration to be charitable or anything else for charities or goodness sake.

In addtion my feeling on this is that the USA needs to lead this up with no limits, strings attached or underlying agenda for self-benefit. If the Islamic world that hates us is disarmed by not having any “see the bad Americans sticking it to us” information only then can we win the hearts and minds campaign that will ultimately lead to the success of peace in the middle east.

We need to act like Jesus not just talk it.

Steve: For Bush to do what you recommend would require vision and guts. When he's clearing brush in Crawford, he is pretending to be bold and indifferent to the winds that blow people this way and that. But it's all pretend. If he was a true Texan and a great man, he'd do the bold thing you suggest and cancel his inauguaration balls and galas and ask that the money be spent on those in need. You see it right, Steve

Indeed. I work p/t at Starbucks and I've noticed that not only has Starbucks made a contribution to disaster relief, they pulled Sumatra coffee from being their Coffee of the Day for this week.

I don't know...Bush & Friends seek bigger and better Gala Parties while our troops are under fire? While world suffers a great natural disaster? With 1331 Soldiers and Marines lying in their coffins? With the dollar crashing? With the budget hemoraging? With our trade deficet out of control. With 200 Reservist and National Guard families mourning the loss of a loved one? And all this guy can do, is think about is partying and using this great disaster to help his brother become the next President? Is the Bush family's bizare world of sycophants and nepotism so isolated that they don't know they look like jackasses to those who live under an unbiased press. What is wrong with this family?

This may well be the largest disaster of the millenium. Is there a larger disaster in the past millenium? I don't think so. I am disappointed that America is missing a great opportunity to demostrate leadership to the world. We could be winning millions of hearts and minds, but the small minds in power don't get it.

Steve, if it's not a check written to the Republican party Bush doesn't give a damn. Humans, of any color or religion or nationality, are merely pawns or cannon fodder. He'd send the twins to the frontline in Iraq if a Faustian bargain guaranteed Republican control of the Presidency and Congress for several election cycles. Dead Muslims and brown people half a world away? Ha! Let their rotten corpses swell and burst, we've got state redistricting plans to craft!

Steve, do you actually think George W. Bush, President and Lord of All He Surveys, cares one whit for what has happened to brown people halfway around the world? When Sumatra is a swing state in the next election, he will leap into action. He only emerged, grudgingly, from the pig farm in Crawford to make a few rote statements because his handlers dimly perceived that Bush's Olympian obliviousness was attracting criticism.

Bush is the conservative version of a Park Ave liberal. The only time his 'faith' is on display is during campaign season. Never seen going to church in four years in D.C. Everything about the man is a fraud. Bush can't even fake compassion for the poor people who's lives have been destroyed by this tragedy. But then again, the campaign is over.

Bakho,

I think the 1883 Krakatoa event, was worse, not as many deaths, some 40,000(fewer people on earth), but surely, a vastly bigger natural event. The eruption lowered the earth's temperature by a couple degress for five years, shock wave was felt at every recording station on earth, 120 foot waves. Krakatoa, what's left of it is located near the present day event. Preceding that, you have to go back to 1500 B.C. for the eruption of the Thera, or Saturini Island which destroyed the extremely advanced and florishing Minoan Culture.

Steve: There's something every member of Congress can do. Each senator, regardless of party, gets 400 tickets to distribute. House members get about 200 apiece. Right now, Republicans are begging Democrats to give them their spare tickets (not too many Democrats being interested in this particular love-fest). Why not sell the tickets? Too many of them are being peddled for influence anyway - it'd be better to make some money and send it to somebody who can use it.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-inaug29.html

Bakho,

I forgot about Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan which lost 140,000 souls (I hadn't remembered it as being anywhere near this number)in 1991, but again the Bush version of Christianity enters the picture.

"...US President George Bush triumphantly told the world following the defeat of Iraq that a New World Order based on "freedom", "humanity" was dawning. However, when he faced the opportunity to prove that the new order would be different from the old, such fine sentiments evaporated.

In response to the desperate plea of the Bangladesh government for US$1.8 billion in urgent aid, Western nations pledged paltry sums: the EEC found $15 million; the US promised $20 million in cash and medicines; Britain managed only $5 million, Japan $2.5 million, France just $65,000. Australia at first announced a piddling $250,000 but this was later increased to $2 million after a widespread outcry." - By Norm Dixon

Just as his son required shame to prod him into pretense, so too father Bush.
The apple does not fall too far from the tree.

The apple does not fall too far from the tree.
Posted by S Brennan

Actually, in the case of the Bushies, it can be said that the turd doesn't fall far from the asshole.

Forget about the inaugural and the inept intial commitment, I want to know how much W donated out of HIS POCKET to the relief fund. Does being President exempt you from making donation? I am not saying he has not done so, I just wonder...

By the way, check out The Blogger's Tsunami Challenge. http://loadedmouth.com/node/136

S Brennan - what about the 1815 Tambora eruption? It exceeded Krakatoa in strength, although I don't know about fatalities...but it created the year without summer in the US...

Maybe it's time to start calling him president Nero.

What is it with that damn Crawford brush, anyway? Bush repeated this same behavior after he received his daily CIA brief in Aug 01 announcing that bin Laden was intent in launching an attack against the US.

What will future psycho-historians call this- the Bush Brush Removal Syndrome?

Nero had his fiddle, W. his chainsaw.

In response to NJG from NYC's comment, how does not selling Sumatra coffee help the victims of the tsunami disaster?

I got an email about "Not One Damn Dime Day" The idea is for all of us of the loyal opposition to refrain from spendig any money on Inaugeral day as a protest against the Bush Admin. No gas, no lunch, nothing. See if we can made a blip in those Wall Street line charts.
I'm going to modify the day and whatever I would have spent will go to the Red Cross istead.

Hey Jon E,

You might be right, more people died in Tambora, but I believe Krakatoa was more powerful. USGS uses a scale with the acronymm of VEI and asigns 6 to Krakatoa, I can not find a similar number for Tambora, so I don't know yet. If you can find a VEI # for Tambora please post.

Upon hearing, on Christmas night, of the massive earthquake off the coast of Muslim separitist Aech province in Indonesia, the President was stunned that another sign from God, his true father, presented itself to him, the annointed one. On a high holy day of Christiandom, the one true God saw fit to uplift the spirit of his elect and destroy militant Muslims, the enemy of His flock, as a further sign that the end is nigh at hand. Christians are in awe of the power of their God and they are convinced as never before of the coming Last Days. President Bush's seemingly late response to this disaster is understandable, for he had to meditate on the great calamity that his God had visited upon the Earth; he had to absorb its meaning and gather himself once again to the task God has given him as set down in the Book of Revelations: he had to re-dedicate himself to the Lord spending time alone in the wilderness clearing brush and praying for guidance. These were rightly the first things on his mind when confronted with the news of catastrophe. It was for Christiandom and its leader that God displayed his awesome power. It is written that these things shall come to pass before Christ's glorious return to Earth. Bush needed some private time with his God so that he could fully understand what he was to do next to fulfill prophecy. Only after understanding these portents of God's grand design and his role could he address the mundane task of providing aid to those in need in far off lands who are his people's enemy.

Nice post, Steve. Canceling the bloated fatcat
inauguration festivities would be a grand gesture.

But to continue with your theme of "What would
Jesus do", I'd say that there is more chance that
a camel could squeeze through the eye of a
needle as there is of these fine Christian
Republicans canceling their "victory" party.

By the way, I read in the New York Times this
morning that attendence at these festivities
costs well over $10,000 per couple (Note to
Andrew Sullivan: gay couples don't count at
Republican events).

From BBC:

2004: Asian quake disaster - more than 122,000 dead
2003: Earthquake in Bam, Iran, officially kills 26,271
1976: Earthquake in Tangshan, China, kills 242,000
1970: Cyclone in Bangladesh kills 500,000
1923: Tokyo earthquake kills 140,000
1887: China's Yellow River breaks its banks in Huayan Kou killing 900,000
1826: Tsunami kills 27,000 in Japan
1815: Volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora on Indonesia's Sumbawa Island kills 90,000
1556: Earthquake in China's Shanxi and Henan provinces kills 830,000

Nowhere in thia post or the resulting comments did I notice any hint anyone in the world other than GWB or Republicans should do anything about tsunami relief, or any hint that praise might be forthcoming if such works were done. Here it's all griping, all the time. If GWB is fer it, you're agin it, no matter what "it" is.

I am vastly more impressed by individual donors spending their own money to help others than by some elected official or bureaucrat spending other peoples' money.

Individuals have now donated over $9.1 million at www.amazon.com to tsunami relief through the American Red Cross. That's the real American story here, not what your political enemies did or didn't do.

If you ever want to win votes from centrists like me, you need to whine less and help more, and with your own money, not by telling other people how to spend theirs.

One of the most common canards of Republican voters is to begin by calling themselves former democrats, undecideds, leaning, centrists, middle of the road...then, they repeat Republican talking points verbatum and end by saying if you want my vote you must repeat the same said talking points. Example:

"...If GWB is fer it, you're agin it, no matter what "it" is.

....That's the real American story here.

....If you ever want to win votes from centrists like me, you need to whine less and help more, and with your own money, not by telling other people how to spend theirs."

The last line is priceless...coming as it does from a party that controls all the branches of goverment, all the while coniving to impose their unpopular policices desguised as anything but the truth.

Now will the "man in the middle" attack Bush for "telling other people how to spend their...money". Or still insist that "Individuals have now donated over $9.1 million" is enough. Apparently, Bush was finally told that the views of "the man in the middle" doesn't represent voters.

"Man in the middle" look below for your new Republican talking points.

"Washington, stung by criticism that its aid pledges were small and slow to materialize, scrambled to take the lead. Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) was to visit the region and assess what more is needed."

The United States upped its tsunami relief aid tenfold to $350 million Friday as the world's ships and planes converged on devastated shores. Bottlenecks of supplies built up, fears of epidemics grew, and in an echo of 9/11's aftermath, people at a Thai resort scoured a bulletin board of 4,000 photos in search of the dead and missing."

-http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=1&u=/ap/20041231/ap_on_re_as/tsunami

Man in the Middle,

If Americans have given 9.1 million so far, let's hope they give a whole lot more, otherwise it isn't a very good story.

I work as a city planner for a small suburb in the Oklahoma City area. We're a "hot" building area right now. We've got a couple of plats for new subdivision where the builders hope to eventually put in over 200 houses. The average cost of a new house in these subdivisions would be roughly $150,000 (for those of you on the East and West coasts,that figure is correct. Multiply that by 8 for a comparable house in your area). Anyway,if I did my math right 200 x 150,000 comes out to about $30 million. Now that is for one subdivision in one small suburb in one of the poorest states in the US. Mind you, that is more than the US government initially offered to cover the reconstruction costs for a disater covering multiple countries and affecting millions of people.

I'd note that Burma was also hit by the tsunami, but the government has declined aid. I suspect the reason for that is they don't want the international community to find out how badly they were actually hit. The death total is only 90 so far, but usually things turn out much worse than official figures.

But I digress. The point is, $9.1 million, while a good start, is merely a drop in the bucket. And in this case we don't need to wonder what Jesus would do since he is pretty explicit on this point. Last time I checked, the US was one of the most powerful, economically blessed countries. That being the case, here's what Jesus said in Luke 12:48 "...From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded..".

"If you ever want to win votes from centrists like me, you need to whine less and help more, and with your own money, not by telling other people how to spend theirs."

"Man" in the Middle: We are not telling "people," but telling our supposedly representative government that we are appalled at the official face that America is showing to the world. When the richest country on earth, currently spending more than the initial aid pledge every few hours we dick around in Iraq, is officially so aloof and unconcerned, it shames us all, including you.

Oh, but a "centrist" like you probably takes the Darwinian viewpoint. Perhaps the next time a red state suffers from a hurricane, or an inundation from the Mississippi, or a Mount St. Helens eruption, you can count on the kindness of strangers to help your sorry ass and forget about FEMA.

Max,

Not that I disagree with the thrust of your point, but Mt. St. Helens is in a blue state, Oreagon voted for Kerry, but it is time the Red(welfare)states got a little of what they are dishing out.

I started reading Steve's posts a couple of months before the election. I think I'm done reading. There is little more than bitterness here. I hope you do take the high road Steve, but I haven't seen it in you recently.

B thomas,

Bitterness, High Road?

Three words - Swift Boat lies.

High Road = Capitulate to War Criminals and their accomplices in the electorate. Never!

Dear B Thomas -- Sorry to hear that you might not be reading this next year. I have valued your earlier posts and hope you'll reconsider. I have just taken another glance at what I posted last night and perhaps it does make me sound more bitter than I intend. The earthquake and tsunami disaster have occupied most of my attention these last few days. That said, you and I may have a genuine disagreement about what a better 2005 might look like. Even if I had been a Bush supporter, which I nearly was in 2000 (as I was somewhat indifferent then to Gore), I'd be very disappointed in this President. I think Tom DeLay is the epitome of structural corruption in this era -- though he doesn't seem to self-deal. And I think that this war in Iraq has punctured the mystique of American power. I think we need some better choices -- and I was using this New Year's moment to indicate that I would be focused on a new road map to attempt to reverse some of the trends that concern me. I don't think that is bitterness. I think it's a pretty constructive response to a political situation I don't like.

You mentioned once that you are in the Army infantry -- and I appreciate very much that you are on the front line of a lot of what is going on -- and also appreciate that you are reading blogs and thinking about these issues.

Whether you remain a reader of this blog or not, I do think that you are a serious thinker and am glad you stopped in here from time to time.

Happy new year,

Steve Clemons

Good comment just above, by Steve Clemmons.
There may be hope for you yet.

I too thought your New Years Eve post made you sound bitter, and found myself agreeing with B Thomas that there may be no further reason to check this blog.

Clue for your equally-bitter commenting friends:
Disagreeing with you doesn't make me a Republican,
and calling me one, as though that's all you need to know, is not an argument.

I've seen excesses by both parties, and found good people to support in both.

At present, Republicans are reaching out toward centrists, as Democrats did under Bill Clinton.

Try and remember how little good all their shrill screeching about Clinton did the Republicans, and learn from their mistakes.

If you don't know what a centrist is, here's a Web site that might help: www.radicalmiddle.com

Dear Man in the Middle -- Thanks for your note. Glad to see that you see some hope here. I'm really not the bitter sort, but I am fairly motivated by the foreign policy problems at hand. I value debate and principled discussion on these important matters and think your voice is very important.

Blogs are interesting enterprises -- and readers come and go. I think I have written about a very diverse set of issues, not only on foreign policy, and I think if you look back at some of the topics I have explored, you will find me in the radical middle/center more often than not.

However, on foreign policy, I think that most of the centrists I know -- and those from traditional realist and liberal internationalist parts of the spectrum -- have been made to appear "liberal" as the neoconservative agenda has redefined the political right's foreign policy character.

I can't promise that there won't be days in 2005 where my frustration with the policy course of this administration won't manifest itself on this blog -- but in general, I tend to be a solutions-oriented pragmatist.

In any case, thanks for the nudge -- and hope to see you back often in 2005.

Steve Clemons

"Try and remember how little good all their shrill screeching about Clinton did the Republicans ........."

Yeah, I remember. Years of Clinton hatred culminated in the selection of a boob for President who in short order became a War Criminal after listening to evil advice crafted to flatter his illusions of grandeur.

And "shrill screeching" by the Swift Boat Liars scuttled Kerry in favour of the criminals.

Man in Middle, if you can't recognize evil when you see it, you belong with them. Get!

Republicans reaching out to centrists is only an effort to compromise their consciences. They laugh at you as only a devil could.

Liberals must forgive and forget.

Bend over for another round of the hard truth comin' your way.

The better men have won. Better said, the real men have won.

Happy New Year, bitches!

All this "War Criminal" talk is counter-productive. We can't very well engage the other side in discussion by first addressing them as War Criminals. We need to tone down our rhetoric if we are to work effectively with the other side for the good of the nation. Perhaps, on some level, they are war criminals, but for now we must let bygones be bygones if we are to have any influence over what is to come this new year. If we are reduced to merely throwing invective in their faces, they will only march lockstep over us without listening to and considering our heartfelt concerns. They've got us "over a barrel" right now, as John Wayne, above, indelicately describes our situation. We have to take what we can get and you get more with honey than vinegar. In the end the people will rightly see who acted nobly when treating with the other side; whether those in the strong position dealt fairly with the weaker, or whether the weaker gave proper deference to the stronger. This is just the way of the world, and regrettably we now find ourselves in the inferior position.

Heal thyself, know thy place.

"At present, Republicans are reaching out toward centrists." - Under the name of "Man in the Middle"

"Liberals must...Bend over for another round of the hard truth comin' your way....The better men have won. Better said, the real men have won...Happy New Year, bitches!" - False Name - "John Wayne"

Steve,

Lies and insults, describe the Republican of today, if you watched Mclaughlin last night, you'll have notice even Mclaughlin is tired of Bush-Rove/Delay lies & larceny.

Let me see if I got this right Sylvia? Some guy is slapping you around calling you bitch in public and think you you ought to try to be nicer to the guy in order to see "whether those in the strong position dealt fairly with the weaker".

I think you should call a domestic abuse hotline and find out if they agree with your tactics, I know I don't. If you want to think of yourself as weaker be my guest, but few Republicans I meet could be described as my better, physically, mentally, or emotionally. I've been through a lot, served my country, bettered myself and always come through, not by meakly bending over, but by striving.

If you really are Democrat, which I doubt, you ought to keep your "proper deference to the stronger" advice to yourself and let those who are "your betters" carry the "Five Freedoms" fight for you with out having you wave a white flag as cower in the background.

Note:

I have never met any Democrat that talks the way you do, although all of Republicans I know agree with your views 100% in fact I called couple a couple today to wish a happy new year and described your comments, they just laughed when I said those comments came from a Democrat. Checking Democratic contributions under Barton New York turns nothing up either, but Republican Barton New York gets 9,860 hit in .23 sec. Go figure.

Republicans, Know thy lies

S_Brennan, if that's true, it's brilliant. These guys don't miss a trick. It must be excruciating for the wolves to don sheep's clothing and talk "reasonably."

Steve is unfailingly polite, kind and diplomatic. While that is good for his soul, it is wasted on those who will try to turn his strengths to weakness and throw a few apples of discord into the discussion.

I believe Democrats have only one course to save ourselves from oblivion: Compromise, bipartisanship, moderation, reaching out across the aisle--all these words must go the way of the dodo for us. It already has for the Thugs. Let us state clearly, for once, that we are opposed to this president, his war, his foreign policy, his domestic policies, his political values, his party and his supporters.

I don't apologize for my opposition nor do I find value in courting rogues and knaves for their favor. If the "middle" does not find shame and dismay in what our government is doing under Bush, it is not any "middle" with which I am acquainted, but crypto-Thuggery.

The only stance worth Democratic support is full-throated opposition to Bush and his works, at every opportunity, at all costs, and with all our strength.

Steve, I tend to agree with comments from Man in the Middle, Sylvia, and B Thomas, although it is good to see your heartfelt responses. The bitterness makes it hard to read these and I imagine this pushes many away from your site, but of course you have little control over these messages.

Debate is stifled when name calling goes unchallenged and indeed becomes the central part of debate. I guess that the desire to see earnest debate and tone down rhetoric means that I am Republican. Steve, I wish you luck!

Max writes:
'I believe Democrats have only one course to save ourselves from oblivion: Compromise, bipartisanship, moderation, reaching out across the aisle--all these words must go the way of the dodo for us. It already has for the Thugs. Let us state clearly, for once, that we are opposed to this president, his war, his foreign policy, his domestic policies, his political values, his party and his supporters.'

And this would impress me why? So far as I can tell, this is the policy many Democrats have _already_ followed regarding every one of those matters, for over four years. And look where it has gotten them...

It's ever so much easier to be against things than for them. But I'm unimpressed by complaints, only by better alternative ideas.

Example: Don't like what's happening in Iraq? Who cares until you offer a credible alternative that amounts to more than surrender to people who cannot be satisfied while America remains a free country?

Sean & Others -- Thanks for your counsel on what I have posted. Sean has known me for more than 20 years, and we'll always be friends I think despite clear political differences. But blogs are interesting efforts, and mine is not designed to make any portion of the public "happy" with its contents. I try to keep things fair -- and I have some days where I think I hit a home run, and others where I thing I strike out. This is an R&D place for my thinking and work. My readership has steadily and quickly grown from a handful of people to about 20,000 unique readers a day.

I really do appreciate the feedback because I do consider it when I post things that I know have hopefully substantive as well as symbolic impacts.

I very much hope that you remain in the readership and debate the issues, rather than the people. If I'm bitter, it's fine to say that I sound bitter or that you disagree with my view or direction. But to send a message that you will stop reading would be akin to me saying that I would censor or edit comments made here by others -- which I don't.

I really do respect diverse views, and views that are not in line with my own. I let people rant at me on here -- which they have on occasion.

It's all part of a decent debate and politics as I see it. I do want a portion of my views to prevail over what I see as some mammoth foreign policy mistakes being made by Bush's foreign policy team. But I know that some of you will push back.

It's 2005, and I look forward to a full and active year of this with those of you who stick around.

And to my friend Sean - Happy New Year to you and your family. Come hang out in D.C. soon (stay at my place) so that we can debate all of this around the fireplace.

Best,

Steve

Sean,

What's annoying to me, is in order to gain the readers trust Republicans have made a hourly habit of lying about who they are, what they support and what other people have said. If you get caught doing that in person, you're asked to step outside and settle it in the parking lot, here, you are verbally chastised for your fraud, allowed to continue with the full support of Republicans, who innocently claim that lies and deceit that leads to peoples deaths and impoverishment is no cause for anger.

Here's an Example from the post next to yours by a man who does use his real, but instead falsely pretends to be "man in the middle"

"Don't like what's happening in Iraq? Who cares until you offer a credible alternative that amounts to more than surrender to people who cannot be satisfied while America remains a free country?"

Yep, that's an impartial view, agree with my view or surrender to terrorist who want to destroy America... another day, another Republican fraud..ho...hum.

But the Republican fraud has got you on the run, because the American people buy into it. Republicans are laughing; they can fool enough of the people enough of the time. It is great mischeivous fun to be a Republican gaming the minds of most of America, and you ain't seen nothin' yet! Should we feel guilty? We feel just awful, bwahahahaha. You all are going to be under our thumbs for a good long while because nothing matters but power, and their are no bounds in what we'll say to secure power. You all still have too much sense of "fairplay," to which we say "all's fair .... in war," and this is war, a war against evil.

Steve,
one of these days I will make it back to D.C. - really.

To all others above, I would prefer to say something witty, but the debate is wearing me out. Most politicians lie, both right and left. Most politicians have trouble controlling spending (our money). Most Americans get the politicians we deserve perhaps.

But the election is long over.

So in summery Sean,

You'd say there was no significant difference between say...Churchill & Hitler...after all..."Most politicians lie, both right and left. Most politicians have trouble...(insert something)...Most...get the politicians we deserve perhaps."

Yep, you're right most politicians are the same...so wise, so even handed. You forget one detail Sean, the German people voted for Hitler, but the people of the world suffered under his rule. Politics is not internal to the powerful state.

No election is ever over until the next election.

Steve & Others -- I give credit to you for an open ear to those who comment on your blog. I would blast those who blasted me; it's your blog after all. But I have to admit that your decent behavior combined with a 'pull no punches' style in your writing and policy proposals is the sort we would benefit from greatly if others modeled themselves on your style.

Happy New Year Steve -- and thanks very much for a truly fascinating blog, both in the substance you provide and your comments section.