FOXNews.com | Faux News points out the Bubba Logic (amidst its enraged French-bashing)

Seems that cold, hard numbers can come up on Fox sometimes, although you have to pull them out from the midst of a bashing screed.

The Faux editorial sets the tone early, with verbiage such as "boasting", "one-upping", "vaulting to the lead" with respect to France's communications about their aid to the distressed countries following the tsunami disaster. Typical Faux.

However, Faux then goes on to give considerable credit to French aid programs.

Citing the chief of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Andrew Natsios:

"The aid program in France is not that big," he said. "They do not tend to be dominant figures in the aid. The British are, the European Union is, the Japanese are, we are, the Canadians are."

Said in itself, we can understand "not that big" and "not dominant" as meaning lots of different things with no evident measure to stand by. It's bashing in its purest form.

However, to their credit, Faux goes on to do a little simple research:

"France allotted .41 percent of its gross national income to development aid in 2003, nearly triple the .15 percent from the United States, according to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (search)."

I tracked down a free OECD publication for 2004 containing these statistics (go to page 64 for the Development Aid section). The OECD shows that France, with 1/5th the population of the US and 1/7th the GDP of the US, devoted US$7.3bn to development aid while the US devoted US$15.8bn, so that France is somewhat less than half the US. In tems of GDP, the OECD shows the US at at 0.14% aid and France at 0.42%, or roughly 3 times the portion of GDP of the US. So France doesn't give as much in size, but makes three times the effort.

Looking at the other numbers in the OECD statistics, one notices that France is far from leader in the field: Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Luxembourg and the Netherlands all give more in GDP terms. But what is most noticeable is that the US is dead last in these statistics: the US gives the least in GDP terms of any OECD country. That statistic is lost on Faux news.

Faux reports that the "Natsioso" remark about France:

"They [France]do not tend to be dominant figures in the aid. The British are, the European Union is, the Japanese are, we are, the Canadians are."

Yet when you look at the OECD rankings in dollar terms (graphic on page 91) you see this order for individual countries:


USA
Japan
France
Germany
United Kingdom
Netherlands
Italy
Canada


So France is ahead of everyone except for the USA and Japan. Visibly, the Natsioso big hate machine confuses regions (the EU) for individual countries (UK, part of the EU, France, part of the EU). To that the EU is more dominant than France is like saying the Texas is not as big as the United States: it's comparing an apple to a crate of apples. As for Canada, with half the population of France, it provides one third the aid in dollar terms, 0.26% in GDP terms, so it's behind France on both counts. The UK is closer but still smaller than France in dollar and GDP terms.

In summary, Natsioso's "not dominant, Canada and the UK are bigger" is an outright lie, another amongst many.

What is surprising is to see the United Nations' emergency relief coordinator, Jan Egeland, back down on his cogent remarks. They were right on, but had to be retracted to save US face. The Big Lie must go on!


BTW: I think that France, the EU and most of the OECD countries could do a lot better for development aid. But this should not give credence to the lies about the relative efforts of individual states and should not be used to cover up the hollowness of the US Big Lie.

The New York Times | Editorial: Are We Stingy? Yes

"Fuming at the charge of stinginess, Mr. Powell pointed to disaster relief and said the United States 'has given more aid in the last four years than any other nation or combination of nations in the world.' But for development aid, America gave $16.2 billion in 2003; the European Union gave $37.1 billion. In 2002, those numbers were $13.2 billion for America, and $29.9 billion for Europe."

This NY Times editorial brings in a few cogent facts to support the stinginess claim. Nevertheless, it doesn't go for the kill, as in describing how Ted Turner contributed to the UN to fill-in for the US' large deficit.

The truth of the matter is that the US doesn't really care about the rest of the world because everyone is so busy buying SUVs, 6000 sq foot homes, swimming pools, and really "making it". The US has lost touch with the real world. Continuing on this trend, the US has voted back in (barely) their out-of-touch president. Reality will come down hard in the near term. The current plunging dollar is a precursor of the real plummet to come.

Christian Science Monitor: How Bubba Bush says "Merry Christmas" to the World

The CS Mon has some good cartoon editorials. Here's a nice example:




This one is particularly poignant, asking the question that the newspapers haven't asked about the guy who asked the question to Bubba Rumsfeld.

The New York Times | Bush Asks Americans to Reach Out

"'Christmastime reminds each of us that we have a duty to our fellow citizens, that we are called to love our neighbor just as we would like to be loved ourselves,' Mr. Bush added. 'By volunteering our time and talents where they are needed most, we help heal the sick, comfort those who suffer and bring hope to those who despair, one heart and one soul at a time.'"

Some interesting quotes from the Spinmeister-in-chief.

First off, the paraphrased bible quotation, sort of a confused cross between the Golden Rule and the line "Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself" from Matthew, Leviticus (10 commandments) and James. They are not quite the same: one says "act as you want others to act towards you", but "love thy neighbor" is much deeper, much more important because you aren't just "acting" but you are also showing humanity, sympathy, compassion, understanding, love literally. Can Bubba Bush say that he loves France and French people? On the contrary, Bubba Bush is putting France to the "big hate" treatment on a regular basis. And this is probably how Bubba Bush wants France to treat him because he wants to continue hating France. However, this is so far from "love thy neighbor" as to be laughable. Could just be that Bubba doesn't consider France to be his neighbor. (Gee, would he consider returning the Statue of Liberty in that case?)

Secondly, the whole "volunteering" schtick is simply a Bush ploy to absolve himself of his sins, because they are many. Far from healing the sick, Bush is setting things up so that the sick will pay through the nose for healthcare. Far from comforting those in a state of dispair, he is keeping soldiers on endless duty and sending them over to Iraq to be killed and psychologically damaged, without so much as a hand-signed letter of condolences to the families of the dead. The wounded soldiers have to pay for their meals while they are laid up in military hospitals.

The whole Christian Conservative thing is such a joke! Bush is far from Christian and anything but Conservative -- being a Carpetbagger and an influence monger doesn't grant you Conservative status.

Paul Krugman on Social Security, the Decline of the Dollar and Healthcare

AMY GOODMAN: ... [O]n the issue of health insurance, but how often in the media it is talked about as a complete failure, and what do you think of that?

PAUL KRUGMAN: [T]the U.S. probably has somewhat better health care for you than you would get in Canada, although I actually probably don't want to say this, but the system that seems to be terrific on all dimensions is France. ... There's the myth about the efficiency of the private sector, which is true in some things, but it isn't when it comes to health insurance. In fact, the U.S. system is about twice as expensive per person as anyone else's, and we get worse results because we have basically insurance companies spending a lot of money, going to great efforts, in an effort not to cover people. All of which is wasted effort from the view of society. When you have a single-payer system, like in Canada, that doesn't happen.

AMY GOODMAN: We only have a minute, and I want to go to this issue of France, if you would dare to take it on.

PAUL KRUGMAN: Just so to say that the French have a single-payer health care system. A lot of the details are different, but basically it's national health insurance. The difference between them and most other advanced countries is they actually fund it better. I mean, they -- the complaints that people have about -- the British system is the one that people say provides poor care, and apparently it largely does because the British don't spend enough money on it. The French do spend enough money on national health care and it's excellent. Infant mortality is much higher in the U.S. than it is in other advanced countries. Life expectancy is lower than it is in other advanced countries. And here we are claiming, saying, “Yes, we have the best system in the world and look at how bad those other guys are.” Let me tell you, when it comes to life and death, we don't do very well.

AMY GOODMAN: ... Do you think that President Bush understands this to the point where -- this is why [Bush] vilifies France?

PAUL KRUGMAN: I don't think so -- I think they have no idea. No. I doubt it. I think they -- he just has the -- I think our leadership is very insular. They just believe everything American must be best because they don't know what goes on elsewhere.

OK, Krugman gives W the benefit of the doubt -- at least to say that he probably doesn't know that the French health system is way better than the US health system for the vast majority of the population. But even if W doesn't know that, I think that he suspects it, fears it, and that this is the root of the French "big hate" in the Republican party.

All I want for Christmas is ...

A home-use heart defibrilator! Should be a great way to get a jump-start in the morning!

FT.com / World / Americas - US accused of undermining Kyoto principles on emissions

"The US tried yesterday to ensure that future additions to the Kyoto protocol on climate change should avoid committing nations to reducing their carbon dioxide emissions, a move that other countries see as an attempt to undermine the principles of the environmental treaty."

Pretty amazing stuff. The Bubba administration seems to think that global warming will go away with "good intentions".

BBC NEWS | Have Your Say | How can climate treaty be strengthened?

"Environmentalists have attacked US claims that America is doing as much to curb global warming as nations that have signed the Kyoto Treaty.

The US refuses to join the Kyoto Protocol because, they say, it is politically-motivated and would threaten economic growth."

Well, almost. It's not the US as a people that refuse Kyoto but rather the current Bubba administration and its cronies. Nonetheless, it's not a good image for the US to project in the world -- that of being a Bubba nation!

BBC NEWS | France shows off world's tallest bridge

"The Millau bridge over the River Tarn in the Massif Central mountains is more than 300m (984ft) high - taller even than the country's Eiffel Tower.

The bridge, which opens to traffic on Thursday, was built to clear summer traffic jams around the town.

The BBC's Paris correspondent, Caroline Wyatt, says the bridge is one of the most breathtaking ever built."

Dunno if the US news carried this much, but the footage I've seen of this bridge is pretty spectacular. Another incredible Franco-British project.

The New York Times | Kerry Asks to View Ballots

"Senator John Kerry is asking county elections officials to allow his witnesses to inspect the 92,000 ballots cast in Ohio in which no vote for president was recorded, a lawyer for Mr. Kerry said Sunday night.

The request is one of 11 the Kerry campaign made in a letter sent over the weekend to Ohio's 88 county boards of election, which will begin recounting ballots this week."

What does the Ukraine have in common with the US? How about a shaky electoral process? On the bright side, Kerry was simply character-assassinated and not physically poisoned.

Democracy Now! | Intel Agent Strapped to Gurney and Flown Out of Iraq by U.S. Army After Reporting Torture of Detainees

"Sure. Well, according to the account, or the stories that I found, there were, according to a very senior army psychiatrist, there -- he treated in Landstuhl, Germany at least three or four soldiers from Iraq that had been sent to him under very similar circumstance, namely, that they had made allegations of abuse or mistreatment in Iraq against their fellow soldiers and had been shipped to Landstuhl from Iraq in order to receive psychological evaluation. There was another report I came across at, I believe, Fort Campbell, Kentucky last year where a decorated officer from the first Persian Gulf War had made some allegations of -- of wrongdoing against the army. He was also put into a locked mental ward on an army base here in the United States for a long period of time, and I believe is still trying to fight that issue right now."

This is straight out of the "things are worse than I thought" department. Very scary to see true Americans, patriots and humanitarians being treated as "mental" patients. "How many fingers, Sarge?"

The New York Times | Frank Rich: The Plot Against Sex in America

"Elsewhere in 'Kinsey,' we watch desperate students pepper their professor with a series of uninformed questions: 'Can too much sex cause cancer? Does suppressing sex lead to stuttering? Does too much masturbation cause premature ejaculation?' Though that sequence takes place in 1939, you can turn on CNN in December 2004 and watch Genevieve Wood of the Family Research Council repeatedly refuse - five times, according to the transcript - to disown the idea that masturbation can cause pregnancy."

The Family Disinformation Council -- a leading institution in Bubba Logic.

Boston.com | Bush victory in Ohio closer than thought

"The Kerry campaign and two third-party candidates are seeking a recount in Ohio. The Green and Libertarian parties said they have raised enough money to cover the cost. The Kerry campaign said it is not disputing the outcome of the presidential race but wants to make sure any recount is ''done accurately and completely.'

A hearing on the recount request began in federal court in Columbus yesterday.

The narrowing of Bush's margin only increases the possibility that the election results could be changed, the Green Party said. ''Who knows what else will turn up when we examine the discarded ballots?' Green spokesman Blair Bobier asked. "

Gee, now what if ...?

The New York Times | Rulings in Texas Capital Cases Try Supreme Court's Patience

"[I]n recent years the [Supreme Court] has often found itself fixing problems in specific Texas death penalty cases. Over the last decade, it has ruled against prosecutors in all six appeals brought by inmates on death row in Texas.

The cases all involved challenges to the fairness of the procedures used to convict and sentence the defendants rather than arguments about their innocence."

So much for when Bubba Bush claims that there is no "judicial error" in Texas.