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This image—apparently photoshopped, or perhaps lifted from a Hollywood film—is circulating on the Net:
Morris points out a massive amount of American foreign aid that is overlooked by those who try to paint the U.S. as lacking in generosity. Sources of this aid include:
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation
We have catalyzed $150 billion in private investment overseas, largely in Third World nations, through the efforts of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a public agency whose board is appointed by the president.
The Trade Deficit
Our trade deficit with the rest of the world of $500 billion, a fifth of it with China, creates jobs and fights poverty throughout the world. By opening our markets to Third World trade more than any other nation, we create far, far more wealth in poor countries than all the governmental foreign aid in the world put together.
Debt Relief
And we have led the way in granting hundreds of billions of debt relief to the world’s poorest nations, much of it lent by American banks and the U.S. government.
And Morris points out the errors of those on the Left who decry the trade deficit:
Those supposedly compassionate liberals who advocate protectionism seem to think we should make a profit in our dealings with the other 96 percent of the world.
They’re wrong. ...But these private-sector, capitalist solutions to the problems of Third World poverty do little to get a liberal’s juices flowing. If the aid doesn’t come from the government, extracted by taxes from American families, it doesn’t count.
He’s got more. Read the whole thing.
IM’ing with a friend who lives in India, on his impressions of the tsunami devastation:
Via Wizbang, one of the most shocking tsunami videos I’ve seen yet:
Instapundit has additional tsunami links.
Political Cartoonist Ramirez Says the U.S. Supplies 40% of Total Worldwide Financial Aid. Plus, he’s funny.
A 10-year-old girl, Tilly Smith, recognized the warning signs of a tsunami, and saved her family and everybody else on her beach.
Tilly’s family, from Surrey, England, was enjoying a day at Maikhao Beach last Sunday when the sea rushed out and began to bubble.
The adults were curious, but Tilly froze in horror.
"Mummy, we must get off the beach now!" she told her mother. "I think there’s going to be a tsunami."
The adults didn’t understand until Tilly added the magic words: "A tidal wave."
Her warning spread like wildfire. Within seconds, the beach was deserted — and it turned out to be one of the only places along the shores of Phuket where no one was killed or seriously injured.
Last night, Tilly was being hailed as a savior.
"I think it’s phenomenal that Tilly’s parents and the others on the beach are alive because she studied hard at school," said Craig Smith, the American manager of the JW Marriott Hotel where Tilly’s family was staying.
He said a tsunami is not like you see in the movies, where a huge wave wells up on the horizon and can be seen for miles off shore.
"It is more like a sudden surge of water," he said. "There’s very little warning. She’s a hero."
Tilly shrugged off the attention and modestly said, "Last term, my geography teacher, Mr. Kearney, taught us about earthquakes and how they can cause tsunamis.
Her teacher deserves to be very proud today as well.
Kiev, Ukraine—A Massive New Year’s Rally at Independence Square (AP Photo/Andrei Lukatsky)
Kiev, Ukraine—New Year’s Day Celebration of the Election of Viktor Yushchenko (REUTERS/Anatoly Medzyk)
New Year’s Eve, Times Square, New York—A Moment of Silence Marks the Tragedy of the Asian Tsunami (REUTERS/Peter Morgan)
New Year’s Eve, London—An Image of Candles is Projected onto the Shell Building (left) as a Tribute to the Victims of the Asian Tsunami (REUTERS/Matt Dunham)
With the official count of the death toll from the Asian Tsunami currently at 120,000, and some estimates now climbing into the hundreds of thousands, this now appears to be one of the greatest natural disasters in world history.
Highest Death Toll From A Single Landslide
A single landslide of rock debris from Mt. Huascarn, Peru, killed over 18,000 people in the town of Yungay on May 31, 1970.
Highest Death Toll From A Volcanic Eruption
When the Tambora volcano in Sumbawa, Indonesia (then the Dutch East Indies) erupted from April 5-10, 1815, 92,000 people were killed.
Highest Death Toll From A Flood
An estimated 900,000 people were killed when the Huang He (Yellow River), Huayan Kou, China, burst its banks in October 1887.
Highest Death Toll From An Earthquake
An earthquake that struck the Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan Provinces of China on February 2, 1556, is believed to have killed approximately 830,000 people.
It looks like this is the worst tsunami disaster in world history, by a factor of almost four. The Guinness World Record Book cites what appears to have been the largest previous such event:
Highest Death Toll From A Tsunami
Following an earthquake off the coast of Sanriku, Japan, in 1896, approximately 27,000 people were drowned when a tsunami hit the coast. A wave that struck Shirahama had an amplitude of 38.2m (125ft).
Via Instapundit, information on donating to relief funds is here.
