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In post 46 you said it WAS about fireworks and that those things were more important than providing humanitarian assistance
Ok here is post 46:
"But yet Obamas $7 billion plan to power Africa is Ok with you?"
Off your meds again?
You brought up the issue in a thread about fireworks
Are you really that shallow that you question humanitarian aid so that you can have fireworks?
Also, just in case anyone cares, George and Laura Bush joined the Obamas in Africa. Annnnd guess whose paying for them to be there?
Except for any secret service who went along, I believe it was the Bush Family's own privately funded Institute that is financing that trip unless they are paying for it out of pocket which is quite likely. They are hosting a summit recognizing African first ladies--Michelle Obama accepted an invitation for an appearance at the summit just as President Bush accepted an invitation to join President Obama in laying the wreath. George and Laura spent most of his presidency involved and have worked tirelessly since in hands on projects in Africa, AIDS research and treatment, and other benevolent efforsts.
I can't imagine they would pay for it themselves when the US government pays for the travel of former presidents and 1st ladies. Especially since they joined the Obamas.
Also, I posted earlier in the thread about how amazing the Bush's have been to Africa. I can see Bush's presidency being known for his tireless efforts in Africa.
It is not about the Fireworks, It is about doing the right thing and taking care of Americans first.
There has to be priorities especially when cash is tight. The first priority should always be America First.
If and when the US does not have to borrow any money to give out in foreign aid then maybe we should consider it.
I will give up Fireworks to help Africans.
I know what Laura Bush was doing to help Africans when she joined President Bush in those trips and she has been hands on during this last one. She wasn't there just to have fun and look pretty. I know what was accomplished. And the Bush legacy is that millions have been saved in the fight against AIDS and malaria was halved in at least 15 different African nations as well as reduction in violence in many areas. Even some of his most vocal critics have to recognize the remarkable efforts expended there. What are Michelle Obama and the girls doing to help Africans other than an opportunity the Bush's gave her to do so at their summit?
I hope the people of Africa fully appreciate just how much President Bush has done and continues to do for them. He spent over 15 billion to fight AIDS in Africa while POTUS and he and Laura continue to make Africa a priority even in his retirement.
I agree. I think Chinas involvement in Africa is something we as a nation should be closely watching, and I think we need to be investing in the region at least as much as they are, and Im not just referring to money.
However, I think it's pretty indisputable that Bush was the best friend Africa ever had. He tripled spending for Africa and passed the largest AIDS relief bill ever. He didn't just spend either, he was very involved in the process, ensuring that money was spent smartly and between Bush and Laura they managed to visit the continent 7 times while he was POTUS. He and Laura are even meeting Obama in Africa this year. His passion for the region hasn't stopped simply because his term ended. His legancy is Africa.
Fox will find fault in that.
My question is how much more money would have been spent to protect half the Obama family at home, while Obama was in Africa. Would it be cheaper to have them in the same country?
It might not be, but something to look at.
Fox will find fault in that.
My question is how much more money would have been spent to protect half the Obama family at home, while Obama was in Africa. Would it be cheaper to have them in the same country?
It might not be, but something to look at.
Why Only Fox? This is from the Washington Examiner
Michelle Obama: Being First Lady is like living in a really nice prison
First Lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday described living in the White House as like being in a really nice prison.
Obamas comment came during her discussion with former First Lady Laura Bush at the African First Ladies Summit in Tanzania during an interview moderated by journalist Cokie Roberts.
Michelle Obama: Being First Lady is like living in a ?really nice prison? | WashingtonExaminer.com
Fox will find fault in that.
My question is how much more money would have been spent to protect half the Obama family at home, while Obama was in Africa. Would it be cheaper to have them in the same country?
It might not be, but something to look at.
Why Only Fox? This is from the Washington Examiner
Michelle Obama: Being First Lady is like living in a really nice prison
First Lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday described living in the White House as like being in a really nice prison.
Obamas comment came during her discussion with former First Lady Laura Bush at the African First Ladies Summit in Tanzania during an interview moderated by journalist Cokie Roberts.
Michelle Obama: Being First Lady is like living in a ?really nice prison? | WashingtonExaminer.com
I will give up Fireworks to help Africans.
I know what Laura Bush was doing to help Africans when she joined President Bush in those trips and she has been hands on during this last one. She wasn't there just to have fun and look pretty. I know what was accomplished. And the Bush legacy is that millions have been saved in the fight against AIDS and malaria was halved in at least 15 different African nations as well as reduction in violence in many areas. Even some of his most vocal critics have to recognize the remarkable efforts expended there. What are Michelle Obama and the girls doing to help Africans other than an opportunity the Bush's gave her to do so at their summit?
She was helping fight AIDS when she took her two daughters on a Safari?
And they are promoting education.
The First Lady's 2013 Africa Trip | The White House
I am glad Michelle Obama is following in Laura's foot steps. Why try to put a negative spin on it due to your political beliefs?
Laura is a great woman, her own daughter spent some time working on the AIDS problem. I wonder if Barbara was inspired by her trips to Africa with her mother? Maybe one day Michelle's daughters will do the same.
DAVID GREEN reporting:
Laura Bush's first stop in Africa was a safari lodge on the South Africa-Botswana border. It was to be an exotic weekend alone for her and her twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara. On the other hand, the first lady explained, they were not totally alone.
Mrs. LAURA BUSH: We saw elephants and rhino and hippopotamus and lion and zebra and...
GREEN: After her weekend as a wildlife tourist, the first lady set off on a journey to some of Africa's most troubled spots. It began in a district of Cape Town, South Africa, called Hialeecha(ph). People live in shacks with dilapidated tin roofs. Tiny homes pile up against each other and most don't have running water.
At a clinic amid all this poverty, excitement over Mrs. Bush's visit was running high. Here, HIV-positive mothers teach other women how to avoid passing the virus to their children.
Mrs. BUSH: Thanks, everybody. Thank you all and lots of love to everyone. And thank you so much for coming. Really appreciate it.
(Soundbite of flashbulbs; people singing in foreign language)
Ms. BABOWA EMBONO: My baby is two years now, five months, and she's negative. She's out of the danger.
GREEN: Babowa Embono(ph) is one of the moms who mentors in the program. It receives funding from the United States, but Embono said it never seems like enough.
Ms. EMBONO: One thing for me I'd like her to do for us, to support the mothers program financially so that we can go over to the places where people need us mostly because with the hope and the spirit reach of God and the experience reach of God from the mothers program, we'll be able to help other people around the world.
GREEN: When it comes to help from the United States, some critics complain that President Bush complicates the fight against AIDS. They say he focuses American dollars on programs that only mention condoms while stressing abstinence as a more reliable way to stop spreading the virus. It's a policy debate Mrs. Bush didn't hesitate to join.
Mrs. BUSH: A,B,C stands for abstinence, be faithful and correct and consistent use of condoms. When women are respected and have legal protection in their community, they have more control over their own sexual lives. They have more options to adhere to the A,B,C model and more power to convince their partners to adhere to it, too.
The first lady then flew to Tanzania and the spice island of Zanzibar. She flew west past the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro towering through the clouds, and she landed in Rwanda. The capital, Kilgali, still has its red dirt streets. Police officers holding guns dangle their feet off the backs of Jeeps, eerily recalling the machete-toting killers who rode in similar vehicles during the tribal genocide in 1994.
(Soundbite of people singing in foreign language, drum beating, clapping)
GREEN: Mrs. Bush came to a church-run AIDS center to hear the sad stories of young, orphaned children raising their even younger siblings. But part of the scene was almost festive.
(Soundbite of people speaking in foreign language, drum beating)
Unidentified Man: Here we have some mushrooms...
GREEN: She toured a genocide museum that hides none of the horrors of 1994 when perhaps a million ethnic Tutsis and targeted Hutus were slaughtered. Pictures of children who were killed are on display, some with their last words. And thousands of victims are buried outside the museum.
Mrs. BUSH: Some would call the tragedy in Rwanda unspeakable. But that is precisely the problem. Too few people around the world spoke out about what was happening here. Too few people recognized the scale of suffering.
GREEN: And too few countries follow through on promises to help this continent, Mrs. Bush told reporters on her flight home. She said she wants to keep the focus on Africa and wants G8 nations to keep their promise of more help. In a sign of how tough her effort may be, the first lady's tour of Africa received little media attention back home. David Green, NPR News.
HANSEN: It's 18 minutes past the hour.
Laura Bush Surveys Suffering in Africa : NPR
I know what Laura Bush was doing to help Africans when she joined President Bush in those trips and she has been hands on during this last one. She wasn't there just to have fun and look pretty. I know what was accomplished. And the Bush legacy is that millions have been saved in the fight against AIDS and malaria was halved in at least 15 different African nations as well as reduction in violence in many areas. Even some of his most vocal critics have to recognize the remarkable efforts expended there. What are Michelle Obama and the girls doing to help Africans other than an opportunity the Bush's gave her to do so at their summit?
She was helping fight AIDS when she took her two daughters on a Safari?
And they are promoting education.
The First Lady's 2013 Africa Trip | The White House
I am glad Michelle Obama is following in Laura's foot steps. Why try to put a negative spin on it due to your political beliefs?
Laura is a great woman, her own daughter spent some time working on the AIDS problem. I wonder if Barbara was inspired by her trips to Africa with her mother? Maybe one day Michelle's daughters will do the same.
My political beliefs have nothing to do with it other than I believe a leader should lead by example. I have not protested Michelle or the girls accompanying Obama on the trip nor have I suggested she has no official purpose in being there. I thought I was pretty specific about that earlier.
And I am glad to be informed that Michelle will have opportunity to promote education on her trip to Africa.
As for Laura and the twins' 'safari':
Transcript of NPR's David Green radio cast:
DAVID GREEN reporting:
Laura Bush's first stop in Africa was a safari lodge on the South Africa-Botswana border. It was to be an exotic weekend alone for her and her twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara. On the other hand, the first lady explained, they were not totally alone.
Mrs. LAURA BUSH: We saw elephants and rhino and hippopotamus and lion and zebra and...
GREEN: After her weekend as a wildlife tourist, the first lady set off on a journey to some of Africa's most troubled spots. It began in a district of Cape Town, South Africa, called Hialeecha(ph). People live in shacks with dilapidated tin roofs. Tiny homes pile up against each other and most don't have running water.
At a clinic amid all this poverty, excitement over Mrs. Bush's visit was running high. Here, HIV-positive mothers teach other women how to avoid passing the virus to their children.
Mrs. BUSH: Thanks, everybody. Thank you all and lots of love to everyone. And thank you so much for coming. Really appreciate it.
(Soundbite of flashbulbs; people singing in foreign language)
Ms. BABOWA EMBONO: My baby is two years now, five months, and she's negative. She's out of the danger.
GREEN: Babowa Embono(ph) is one of the moms who mentors in the program. It receives funding from the United States, but Embono said it never seems like enough.
Ms. EMBONO: One thing for me I'd like her to do for us, to support the mothers program financially so that we can go over to the places where people need us mostly because with the hope and the spirit reach of God and the experience reach of God from the mothers program, we'll be able to help other people around the world.
GREEN: When it comes to help from the United States, some critics complain that President Bush complicates the fight against AIDS. They say he focuses American dollars on programs that only mention condoms while stressing abstinence as a more reliable way to stop spreading the virus. It's a policy debate Mrs. Bush didn't hesitate to join.
Mrs. BUSH: A,B,C stands for abstinence, be faithful and correct and consistent use of condoms. When women are respected and have legal protection in their community, they have more control over their own sexual lives. They have more options to adhere to the A,B,C model and more power to convince their partners to adhere to it, too.
The first lady then flew to Tanzania and the spice island of Zanzibar. She flew west past the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro towering through the clouds, and she landed in Rwanda. The capital, Kilgali, still has its red dirt streets. Police officers holding guns dangle their feet off the backs of Jeeps, eerily recalling the machete-toting killers who rode in similar vehicles during the tribal genocide in 1994.
(Soundbite of people singing in foreign language, drum beating, clapping)
GREEN: Mrs. Bush came to a church-run AIDS center to hear the sad stories of young, orphaned children raising their even younger siblings. But part of the scene was almost festive.
(Soundbite of people speaking in foreign language, drum beating)
Unidentified Man: Here we have some mushrooms...
GREEN: She toured a genocide museum that hides none of the horrors of 1994 when perhaps a million ethnic Tutsis and targeted Hutus were slaughtered. Pictures of children who were killed are on display, some with their last words. And thousands of victims are buried outside the museum.
Mrs. BUSH: Some would call the tragedy in Rwanda unspeakable. But that is precisely the problem. Too few people around the world spoke out about what was happening here. Too few people recognized the scale of suffering.
GREEN: And too few countries follow through on promises to help this continent, Mrs. Bush told reporters on her flight home. She said she wants to keep the focus on Africa and wants G8 nations to keep their promise of more help. In a sign of how tough her effort may be, the first lady's tour of Africa received little media attention back home. David Green, NPR News.
HANSEN: It's 18 minutes past the hour.
Laura Bush Surveys Suffering in Africa : NPR
Ok here is post 46:
"But yet Obamas $7 billion plan to power Africa is Ok with you?"
Off your meds again?
You brought up the issue in a thread about fireworks
Are you really that shallow that you question humanitarian aid so that you can have fireworks?
Lots of things I question, but most of all I believe in fixing things here at home first.
Unless you are talking about aid for a natural disaster like a earthquake or tsunami
then I think we should concentrate our efforts here at home first. Especially with the track record Africa has for corruption and the squandering of the $50 billion of international assistance that Africa already gets each year.
That 7 billion would go a long ways in his own country that needs help too.
Oh wait, maybe that's what he's doing! My bad!
Obama is doing it because it is the Christian thing to do
Also, just in case anyone cares, George and Laura Bush joined the Obamas in Africa. Annnnd guess whose paying for them to be there?
Except for any secret service who went along, I believe it was the Bush Family's own privately funded Institute that is financing that trip unless they are paying for it out of pocket which is quite likely. They are hosting a summit recognizing African first ladies--Michelle Obama accepted an invitation for an appearance at the summit just as President Bush accepted an invitation to join President Obama in laying the wreath. George and Laura spent most of his presidency involved and have worked tirelessly since in hands on projects in Africa, AIDS research and treatment, and other benevolent efforsts.
That 7 billion would go a long ways in his own country that needs help too.
Oh wait, maybe that's what he's doing! My bad!
Obama is doing it because it is the Christian thing to do
Using the starving children of Africa as a tourist attraction is the 'Christian thing' to do?
You brought up the issue in a thread about fireworks
Are you really that shallow that you question humanitarian aid so that you can have fireworks?
Lots of things I question, but most of all I believe in fixing things here at home first.
Unless you are talking about aid for a natural disaster like a earthquake or tsunami
then I think we should concentrate our efforts here at home first. Especially with the track record Africa has for corruption and the squandering of the $50 billion of international assistance that Africa already gets each year.
Fixing things like fireworks on military bases?
How dare you equate fucking fireworks to humanitarian aid that will save lives and help millions
Lots of things I question, but most of all I believe in fixing things here at home first.
Unless you are talking about aid for a natural disaster like a earthquake or tsunami
then I think we should concentrate our efforts here at home first. Especially with the track record Africa has for corruption and the squandering of the $50 billion of international assistance that Africa already gets each year.
Fixing things like fireworks on military bases?
How dare you equate fucking fireworks to humanitarian aid that will save lives and help millions
Like you better when you are on your meds.
Let's be serious here, "Fixing things like fireworks on military bases"
Have no idea where your mind came up with that one but let's try fixing the
infrastructure here at home first, Our own electrical grid need updating,
our roads and bridges need to be maintained.
Show me exactly where I equated "fucking fireworks to humanitarian aid"?
