The Gray Monk

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August 30, 2005

Hurricane threats

The news of the damage caused by the category 5 hurricane which has hit the Mississippi Delta area and New Orleans is bad enough, but I do find it strange that the UK Media is not reporting the fact that there have been an increased number of these devastating storms in recent years. Given that they usually have lots to say from the Doom and Gloom merchants of Friends of the Earth (Enemies of Humanity) and Greenpeace (Ecoterrorists Inc), this seems to me to be a missed opportunity - or, perhaps it has to do with the fact that it hasn't devastated an area in a "Thud Wurld" nation? Could it be that the US and its citizens are not seen as being in need of sympathy or assistance?

If one considers the devastation that arises from flooding of "protected" low lying areas when the dykes are breached (Levees in the US parlance!) and the storm surge produces rises in water levels of three to four metres in populated areas, you do have to acknowledge that the US economy takes a huge hit every time one of these storms strikes. That raises the question; if we are prepared to pour billions of pounds in aid into third world areas where most of the money is misappropriated and seldom results in anything which will prevent the next disaster, why are we not being encouraged to offer the same aid to the affected States in the US? Surely the annual damage to their economy must eventually hit the rest of us, restricting our natural and laudable impulse and ability to offer real improvement and aid to everyone else?

One normally hears a great deal about how we are all one "global family" and "owe it to the world's poor struck by disaster" to pour our hardearned Pounds, Euros, and any other currency into "aid". But, evidently, not for the US. Yet, the US is not universally flush with money, everyone is not "rich" and many of those worst hit in the Gulf States and further inland as the storm blows out across the Mississippi valley, will be people who are poor, struggle to make ends meet and who will not be covered by adequate insurance or even by any form of aid programme. The National infrastructure in the US should also cause us all concern, as it cannot continually absorb damage without degradation and massive investment is needed to put it right. That hits at the funding available for Foreign Aid, for renewal and for growth.

The US is not the "enemy" of the rest of the world, it is the powerhouse and the engine of the world economy, whenever it falters or takes a serious hit, the world catches cold! That is something we all do very well to remember, and it is something that the Liberal Left of the EU and the UK would do very well to learn. The funds they are so generous in handing out to every tinpot dictator of every really deprived and oppressed nation they love to patronise will dry up very rapidly if we do not recognise the damage being absorbed by the US at present affects us all. One look at the oil prices in the last 72 hours will tell you that!

My prayers are with all my friends and acquaintances in the Gulf States as they begin the mammoth task of clearing up, restoring and repairing the damage this latest hurricane has done to them. Their great strength lies in their resilience and their ability as a nation to do what we in the socialist-dominated "rest of the West" have lost the ability to do, to pull together, to muck in, and get on with rebuilding without the whinging, whining, and demands for help from the "state" that accompany any disaster in this country. We need to acknowledge that, and we need to at the very least offer all the assistance we can as their need is every bit as great as that of South East Asia, Africa, or anywhere else. And before anyone attacks me for that sentiment, remember that Third World Aid receives probably its biggest single shot in the arm from US government funding.

We are all one family, and our American cousins, self sufficient and resilient though they are, need our aid and support as much as anyone at this time. The indications from the weather data for the last ten years suggests that they will suffer increasing storm damage over the next few decades and beyond. That poses the very real threat of eventual serious economic damage to what is possibly the most important single economy in the world - we need to acknowledge that, put aside the pernicious prejudice pumped out by our left wing media circus and the Liberal Left and look seriously at what can be done to help.

If not, we will all catch a serious cold in the not too distant future - and we all face being labelled hypocrites for our attitude to those in need just because they happen to belong to a nation our leaders envy!

Posted by The Gray Monk at August 30, 2005 09:40 AM

Comments

Posted by: Lisa at August 30, 2005 08:17 PM

Posted by: Bob at August 31, 2005 04:29 AM

Posted by: The Gray Monk at August 31, 2005 09:48 AM