Laura Bush urges Myanmar to accept US disaster team, aid

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

Source: AP/Yahoo News

WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Laura Bush on Monday said the United States stands ready to pump more aid into Myanmar to help its recovery from a cyclone so devastating the death toll could top 10,000. But that help is conditioned, she said, on a U.S. disaster response team being allowed into the country.

Mrs. Bush also rebuked Myanmar's ruling junta on other fronts in a rare appearance at the White House press briefing room. She faulted the junta for proceeding with a May 10 constitutional referendum that she described as a sham, and criticized government leaders for not warning citizens about the storm.

"We know already that they are very inept," she said.

Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hYnC27cj6edi7_XCELdXGBnVsejQD90FOD9G0

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Have at it. Extra points awarded to NOLA residents or former residents.

[foo_bar]

1. is that the epitome of projection or what?

criticized government leaders for not warning citizens about the storm.

"We know already that they are very inept," she said.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Who says Irony is dead?

n/t

[Mojorabbit]

27. Accept our disaster help

but first let us insult you a bit.

[yankeeinlouisiana]

3. NOLA resident here,

If they send our disaster response team (never knew we had one) over there, who's going to help out with the upcoming hurricane season?

PS: I have my hurricane tracker map up and my fingers are crossed.

:-)

[MadMaddie]

21. Unfortunately, if it happens in 2008 it will be your fellow

American citizens helping you out.

The * administration has no inclinination to help Americans and he has made that very clear.

[timtom]

34. Why, to be sure, ma'am

the National Gua....oops. Never mind.

[Cleita]

4. I can't really believe that she could be that out of touch with reality especially

with many NOLA residents still in crisis. I guess that's what prozac and burying your head in the sand does.

[Happyhippychick]

5. How do you suppose she is married to Bushie? D-E-N-I-A-L

[awoke_in_2003]

15. to paraphrase Rick James

"Zanax's a hell of a drug"

[bitchkitty]

26. LOL - perfect!

I love that bit.

[awoke_in_2003]

28. That was the best Chappelle episode ever. nt

[awoke_in_2003]

29. If you want to relive it

http://www.whoomp.com/articles/155/1/Dave-Chappelle-is-Rick-James,-Bitch

[Sanity Claws]

6. Was * too embarrassed to say this himself?

I'm wondering whether that was why Laura spoke instead of *

[Virginia Dare]

39. Chimpolini was already deep in his cups..

celebratin' Cinqo de Mayo yesterday.

[pinkpops]

7. She's preparing her resume for 2016

[goclark]

11. She will be a Senator in the next opening she can finc nt

[timtom]

35. Self-delete

(No, I didn't delete myself. I deleted this response that, on second thought, seemed too snarky for some downthread. I'm sorry.)

[acmavm]

17. GOOD ONE!

[aquart]

33. She is, and always has been, too lazy to work.

But thanks for getting a gratuitous Hillary insult in there.

[marshall]

40. Can she arrange for her and the twins to dodge sniper fire?

Maybe they can take a goodwill flight to Iraq with some B-list celebrities.

[Arctic Dave]

8. We will help you out, only if you give KBR the no bid contract to

rebuild afterwards. Yeah, I think I would tell pickles to fuck off too.

[Auggie]

9. Disaster Capitalists at work!

[Ian David]

10. "No one could have anticipated the breaching of the cyclone." n/t

[Ammonium]

12. The shock doctrine live and in living color

Anyone notice what's going on?

[primavera]

23. First thought to cross my mind as well

I can't imagine the Chicago school passing up an opportunity to exploit the suffering of others in order to enrich themselves. I'd be looking very carefully for the fine print in any "humanitarian aid" we offer: ten to one any such offer is contingent upon the recipients enacting policies designed to open up their economy to be plundered by multinationals.

[Olney Blue]

13. Oh? The government is supposed to help its citizens in a disaster?

Somebody forgot to tell the chimp.

[MadMaddie]

22. but the caveat is "Not American" citizens we can send all

our money to rebuild other countries, send them disaster relief immedietly but when it comes to our own citizens.....hmmmm not so much.

Don't get me wrong, if the US was in a good position to help that is fine but we aren't in good shape we have a National crisis now. He is trying to salvage his legacy.

[Nihil]

44. You haven't quite grasped the subtle nature of the "relief" ...

They will be sending very little money but loads of "advisors",
"helpers" and "guides" to help them to get over the shock ... at
very reasonable rates too ... (cf the "rebuilding" of Iraq,
the "assistance" at the Indonesian resorts and other such cases
of disaster entrepreneurism ...)

Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater, Accenture, JP Morgan and friends
will all get a lot of "relief"; the Burmese citizens? Not so much.

[pacalo]

14. Just when you thought you've heard everything...my, my.

The administration that keeps on giving...scripts to the "Daily Show" on a silver platter:

"We know already that they are very inept."

The first lady sharply criticized Myanmar's regime for its handling of the cyclone. She suggested it kept critical, live-saving information from its people.

The cherry on top could have been her offer to send Brownie & Fix Everything My Ass over to save the day.

[LiberalFighter]

16. How often has Laura Bushwipe been the face of the admin for disasters?

[KamaAina]

18. Former NOLA resident here

though my evacuation was retroactive to 1991. :-)

Check this out:

"I'm worried that they won't even accept U.S. aid," Mrs. Bush said. "And I urge the government to accept aid from the United States and from the entire international community right now while the needs of their people are so critical."

Did you know that many countries, notably France and several in the Middle East, offered us aid after Katrina? Probably not, since Bush**co gave them the back of their hand. Remember, Condi Rice was shoe-shopping when she could have been coordinating these efforts. :grr:

[NOLALady]

24. Even Cuba offered to send Doctors.

[KamaAina]

46. La, la, I can't hear you!

There's no country called Cuba. Hasn't been since 1959.

:sarcasm:

[hootinholler]

19. Accept FEMA or we will bring democracy to Myanmar!

Former resident of Pearlington, Ms.

-Hoot

[unkachuck]

20. "Laura Bush urges Myanmar to accept US disaster team"

....and a covey CIA black-ops people to pump manpower and money into a rebellion to over-throw your government....

"We know already that they are very inept," she said.

....you offer them aid, and then you bad-mouth them, why?....and by the way, how come your old-man ain't making that offer to Myanmar? Are you running for president too?

....they may be a 'junta', 'sham' and 'inept', but they're smart enough to reject your bushco bullshit....

[NOLALady]

25. How dare she?

The nerve of those people!

Outrageous!:mad:

[calimary]

30. What? They're not jumping at the idea of a bunch of opportunistic American prospectors

and profiteers disguised as relief people (you can BET there'll be "embeds" from Blackwater, KBR, and other private contractors going along for the ride) who've already displayed contempt for international law tromping through their country?

I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you.

[ruby slippers]

31. she wants the 30.00 gas savings to go to Unicef.....that's all...

[aquart]

32. She called them "inept"?

Thereby guaranteeing they won't accept aid from us? Wow, way to save a buck, Laura.

[DiverDave]

36. Geez, this is just surreal

slamming another country's disaster response?

Man, this junta is just so far out of touch with reality...

[madmom]

37. Just when you think they can't get any dumber....

[lumpy]

38. Good God this is as bad as Barbara Bush speaking for

the BUsh government. Georgie Boy will use any surrogate tool to spread his word.

[Javaman]

41. she's a classless piece of shit...

during that "press conference" for the poor people who are suffering in Burma (I refuse to give credit to a military dictatorship), she selfishly switches the topic to her moron daughters wedding arraignments all the while the news continued to show pictures of the devastation and the poor people struggling.

Could there ever be a better depiction of how moron* and pickles are just so fucking out of touch with reality?

I hate them both.

[nichomachus]

42. She's as big a shithead as her husband

Match made in hell. Good thing they married each other -- they only would have ruined two other people's lives.

[otherlander]

43. On the one hand

If you give money to a dictatorship like Myanmar's, who knows what they'll do with it? They probably wouldn't use it to help storm victims.

On the other hand, if you're going to give money for storm victims, making it conditional on accepting an "aid team" is fucking inhuman.

There appear to be no good guys in this situation. Just two teams of tyrants biting at each other while people die.

[JPZenger]

45. Why didn't her husband approve flights for New Orleans?

In the first days after the leevees broke in New Orleans, many people and hospitals were on their own. The main people doing rescues were the Coast Guard and the Lousiana Fish and Game agency. Most of the National Guard and their equipment was in Iraq.

Canada, Sweden and other countries offered immediate flights of medical aid and other assistance. Each country had a plane with emergency supplies - loaded on the runway and ready to take off. They never received clearance from the Cheney-Bush administration.

[xxqqqzme]

47. this woman is soooo f*cking pathetic!

Good thing she married wealth & power, otherwise she just another one of those 2 million, polyester pant suit clad mal-wart shoppers.

[marshall]

48. The junta doesn't want out help

We just make their misery worse by trying to force ourselves on them. They want to be left alone.