Tales from the front

While people argue back and forth about the (relatively paltry) $40 Million Bush "blew" on the Presidential Inauguration (I mean, it's not like it's the Super Bowl or anything- in which Fox is making $ 139 MILLION in ad Revenu) - the UN is hard at work in tsunami ravaged Sumatra. And when I say "hard at work", I mean, they are spending their time being flown around by our navy to tisk tisk the sights. This piece is a MUST read. A tidbit below, of an officer describing the scene as his ship. the USS Abraham Lincoln, has become the Westin Hotel for the "crises" workers:

As I went through the breakfast line, I overheard one of the U.N. strap-hangers, a longhaired guy with a beard, make a sarcastic comment to one of our food servers.  He said something along the lines of “Nice china, really makes me feel special,” in reference to the fact that we were eating off of paper plates that day. It was all I could do to keep from jerking him off his feet and choking him, because I knew that the reason we were eating off paper plates was to save dishwashing water so that we would have more water to send ashore and save lives. That plus the fact that he had no business being there in the first place.

So, we send our Carriers over there, and they work day and night to help, but are burdened by 1) the aid workers who have forced themselves upon the staff for both food and lodging and 2) by the Indonesian government which is refusing to allow them to performing training while there.

h/t:Diplomad