The Opinionated Diner

My god.... I'm unable to put in words the horror that I feel looking at the death and devastation after the Tsunami in South Asia. It makes a person, sitting in a comfortable and secure living room in central Auckland, with satellite news, feel so absolutely impotent, helpless and insignificant. It puts everything in perspective, it really does... And the west's reaction to date has been nothing less than appalling...the US's initial offer of US$35 million sits next to its hourly expenditure (excluding Iraq)of over $50 million on its military.

Hundreds of millions of dollars would need to be delivered by international governments within days to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe, a spokesman said. The United Nations said that US$80m (£41.5m) had been pledged, although donors would need to raise more than four times that amount to cope.

says The Independent today The US government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars in recent times causing great misery and death in its strategic maneuvering around the world but seems unable to find the money to alleviate pain, money that wouldn't cause a blip on it's military economy. And Bush is on holiday again. Then there is this... Obscene and inexcusable.