Is my callousness showing?

I do have sympathy for many of these people and yes I believe we should spend the money to bring them home. They are United States citizens and as such they should be protected by the United States. The United States rescues its citizens all the time. Consider local floods where people have to be pulled out of their cars because they drove across a flooded street. Consider the fisherman who has to be rescued by the coast guard because he ignored the weather warnings (etc). My point? We spend money every day in this country rescuing our fellow citizens who get themselves into trouble and those who just fall into trouble. These people should be no exception; indeed there is no exception. Now should they be billed for the service? Yes, they should be required to pay something just like you are required to pay for ambulance (etc) service. However as American citizens they are to be protected by the American government.

 

I agree with Martin, except I would argue that they should not be billed for what, as American Citizens, they have already paid through their taxes as well. Don't think for one minute that we are the only folks who pay taxes.

Joseph Botwinick

 

well, MK, I certainly understand your rant. I have felt it too. But if I were over there out of my own stupidity, I'd want Uncle Sam to come to my rescue too.

 

OK, what star is out of alignment? I actually agree with Martin and Joseph.

 

The truth is if the "drama" didnt sell they wouldnt spend time on it. (Except for Air America who will spend money on their rubbish even though no one is listening)

We live in a "Jerry Springer culture" Everyone loves dirt.

 

I didn't see where anyone wanted luxury accomodations. I think they just wanted to get out of there, period.

Maybe you are confusing Hamas with Hezbollah. Both are terrorist groups, but Hezbollah, to the best of my knowledge, was not voted into power, but merely has taken over southern Lebanon. Hamas, on the other hand, was voted into power in the Palestinian regions, such as Gaza.

 

RM, my guess is that if you were working in Lebanon, you would welcome an evacuation, drama or not.

 

MP you are absolutely right. I would welcome a rescue.
However that has nothing to do with what I said. The media is trying to spin sympathy for the purpose of demonizing Isreal. So they exagerate the situation and point out every little thing wrong. Its all about drama, sales, and left wing spin.

But I do hope that they all get out ok.

 

I have sympathy for them, but if they are there voluntarily, they should be billed, just as I was billed for my ambulance ride.

I also agree with Rev Mitchell about the way the media is spinning it. Hezbollah started this whole thing, Iranian soldiers are in Lebanon helping Hezbollah, but the only things mentioned in the article are "the assaults on Lebanon by Israel".

 

I liked what Tater said -- If I was there due to my own stupidity . . .

 

Interesting numbers on Lebanon evacuees from around the world

http://today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-07-20T131742Z_01_L19664425_RTRUKOT_0_TEXT0.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsArt-L1-RelatedNews-3

From Reuters

I hope it works -- that is one ugly url

 

Good grief, after looking at all those numbers, are there any people who live in Lebanon who don't have dual citizenships?

 

Oh, man, don't we ?
And those "reporters" will probably even get some kind of journalism award.

 

I have to confess that my callousness is showing, too.....
Whatever happened to personal responsibility?
If I went to Mt St Helens, knowing it is a volcano and knowing there were warnings and it blew up...

 

I've been waiting to say much because we had a mission team in Lebanon. Some of them were back last Sunday and one told me that she got back to the hotel and there was a message to pack and get to the airport NOW. Most of them got on the last commercial flight. There was some of the team that didn't get out. They were on one of the boats that left yesterday. Praise God!

Now, I don't think anyone should have been complaining about the slowness of any country to get it's citizens out of a foreign country. In this particular case, they all went to a country that's on the Do Not Travel list regardless of why they went. The US had 25,000 people to get out from all over Lebanon. Other countries, to which the complainers were comparing the US, had 2000, 177, etc. Very small numbers indeed AND they were closer.

Last night at dinner, Ron said that as it ended up, the US looked like they had cadallac service compared to other countries, but people were still complaining -- complaining about the fact they were having to go to Turkey instead of Cypress because Cypress halted taking anymore people.

I don't mind us helping, I just think the people being helped shouldn't be demanding.

 

Speaking os scary... I agree with MK on this one. At least on first glance!

I really don't know that the US government has a responsibility to follow it's citizens all over the world to make sure they are ok. THink about the implications if they HAD to rescue every single person that got into trouble overseas?

If it were me though...I would want to take help from anywhere I could.

I will have to think about it a bit more.