Letters to the Editor: Feb. 10, 2010

Editors note: This letter is in response to an article published in the Jan. 27 issue of The Guardsman titled “Aid to Haiti revives unity in Americans” by William Chamberlin.

I found the article to be quite one-sided. I’d like to take the time to look at the issue factually.

The article made the ridiculous claim that Obama is giving Haitians food and water, while former presidents Bush Sr. and Clinton denied them aid and refuge in the US because they are poor. What the article doesn’t say, is the United States has been contributing millions of dollars to Haiti every year for many years. In fact, last year we gave them more than $260 million dollars, accounting for 40 percent of Haiti’s national budget.

The claim that Obama is somehow treading new ground in providing aid to Haiti is patently false. Additionally, the idea that we would somehow withhold aid to a people because they are poor is ridiculous. Bush Jr. alone contributed over $40 Billion to African nations during his two terms as president.

The article goes on to compare the response time of the Haiti earthquake response, led by Obama, to the response time of the Bush administration after the Katrina disaster. Large amounts of aid arrived Sept. 2 with 58,000 National Guard troops and $69 Billion dollars in relief funds. It took approximately 3 days in that case to get aid to the masses. Looking at the numbers, I don’t see Obama doing any better then Bush did in terms of response time and aid available.

The final point the article missed ,was when it tried to miss-characterize statements made by radio host Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh stated “We’ve already donated to Haiti. It’s called the U.S. income tax”. This somehow offended some, but again a review of the facts will show Limbaugh has a point.

As I already said, $260 million dollars of OUR money goes to Haiti every year. The total contribution by the US to the Haiti relief effort now totals $400 million and counting, including the $100 million Obama promised in cash and all the food, tents, etc going to the survivors. This amounts to $1.25 per person of our money going to the country. It’s wonderful to make donations to charitable organizations if you wish, but regardless, all of us are contributing in our tax dollars.

Noah Moore
City College student

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Editor:

During the State of the Union Address we were told that,
among other things, if we understood health care reform, we would want
it.

That is the perfect example of AUDACITY.

Blatant disrespect for the average American that would allow The
President to speak down to us as though we were not as smart as he and
his colleagues.

Despite the countless hours of TV, radio and hundreds of written
publications we’ve been bombarded with, we are still not informed
enough to “get it”.  So they plan to try again, perhaps using smaller
words the next time.

It’s not ignorance that leads us to oppose this massive leap toward
socialism, it is our understanding of it and our love of freedom that
compels us to stand against it.  The longer it was discussed; the more
informed we became.  The more it was drawn out into the light; the
more we could see just how bad it really was.  So stop repeating the
message, it’s childish and insulting.

WE DON’T WANT IT.

Josh Steadman