So Mad Right Now (Somewhat Political)

Partly because what eventually happens in Syria and who is in control in Syria has a huge impact to the rest of the world. Like or not what happens in one corner often has significant ripple effects in other parts of the world.

Not to mention the plight of the millions of people in that country....

When an American loses his job he may have to go on unemployment or welfare. He may have to buy a cheaper brand of cereal, take public transportation, cut back on cable, and even buy second hand clothing. When Syrian rebels don't receive foreign aid they die.

I'm with you. I've never understood why this country is the first to hand out aid/support dollars REGARDLESS of the 'situation'.... I really don't get it.

ETA: I don't care what the aid is for or it's intended purpose. PERIOD. This country has undeveloped areas, we have kids with no clothes, we have kids that don't eat, we have areas with no running water, we have people with no health coverage, we have adults that can't read or write. grrrrrrr......

Assad is killing his own people. Seventy thousand so far. How can we be ok with that. We did nothing in Rwanda and Sudan, virtually nothing in Bosnia and stayed out of WWII until Japan bombed us. The hardship children in these countries cope with is a completely different scale than the 'hardships' we endure here. The amount of money in foreign aid is trivial compared to the rest of the budget.

We are funding the rebels because it is preferable to us putting American boots on the ground in another Muslim nation. (eta, not to mention $60 mil to aid rebels is a speck of what it would cost to put troops on the ground--costing Billions a day).

Iraq didn't earn us much international goodwill, and I think we have learned our lesson. Sometimes people in the Muslim world would prefer being at the mercy of evil murderous dictators, rather than accept American troops in their nation. That's just the way it is.

I have a laundry list of serious criticisms about President Obama, but I applaud him for taking this more conservative approach to deal with Assad. President Bush's war in Iraq, although I think he was well-intentioned, was a disaster for the Iraqi people, especially Christians (my husband is a Christian from Iraq--his family has really suffered, and the last family members are still trying to get out.)

I am curious... does Congress take a 5% sequestration cut like the rest of the federal government employees?

---------------------
Oh, and another interesting angle to the whole thing: These "cuts".... aren't they really just a reduction in the amount of increased spending? In other words, we will still be spending MORE (not less), just a lesser amount of "more". Funny that you don't hear that part much....
I have mentioned this before... personally, I have split opinion on the sequestration. On the one hand, I am ticked. It is the JOB of those elected to figure this out... and they are failing to do their jobs. Period. The deal was made to implement tax increases and then come back and cut spending... but now, suddenly, that wasn't the deal they made to avoid the fiscal cliff after all. So, I am kind of happy in a weird way, to see the sequestration. Everything will get "cut" in it's budget increase at least. It's better than doing nothing.
The flip side is that my husband will be furloughed. So yeah... not happy there.
There are tons of smart ways they can cut the budget (budget increases), but they can't agree... like little children arguing over who gets the bigger piece of cake. What if, instead of the way they are doing it, we flipped it and did the reverse? Instead of arguing about what got cut, we cut it ALL and then they had to agree to apply money to a budget for something? You know... wipe the slate clean... and let them bicker out where they can agree to spend. Then... anything else, just doesn't exist. How about that?
I know... I know....

we don't help nearly enough nations in need. so no complaints here about any, if any, aid is being sent to syria.

One and Done pretty much said it. And I understand what you're saying because I used to feel the same way until I began thinking about it a little differently. I try to look at foreign aid like this - take a look at the Holocaust. I'm not a historian, so I'm assuming what I've heard is true - that we didn't really know the extent of what was going on until after the fact, when we began freeing all the people left in the camps. So, let's say we DID know about what was going on over there, but chose not to send money/troops/aid, etc. because "we're in our own crisis and we just don't have the money to help you out too." I don't know much about what's going on in Syria and I'm not trying to equate it to the Holocaust. But I'll bet there are a lot of people in Syria that are hurting worse than the people in the US who are "just" losing their jobs or making less money. We aren't losing our lives.

When we start assigning value to human lives and which ones are worth more and which ones should get help in regard to basic human needs based on which ones are "ours" or not ... then those are people I don't want to be associated with. What the hell is wrong with people who think this way?

I suppose you don't feed your children until your household budget is balanced?

Ditto Suz --and I'm a progressive independent--- but what doesn't make sense doesn't make sense. Yawp yawp yawp. (don't even get me started on all the emails I get asking for donations for campaigns-- how many billion were spent domestically in the last election on advertising? Kinda makes me ill.)

Truly amazing how the sequester is supposed to bring it all crashing down and yet we have money to throw elsewhere.

You'll drive yourself nuts picking one of the ten trillion things being spent or cut. Without a full understanding of the entire landscape, which none of us have, it's impossible to pinpoint any single villain since everyone in all the compartments has different priorities and different people they're accountable to.

This particular expenditure sounds military. We have no idea why each and every military expenditure is needed or not in the big picture. What would happen if we ignore the the Syrian rebels? I'm not an expert on the middle east so I don't know. I'm going to assume that if it was absolutely unnecessary and there was absolutely no consequence for not sending it, that no Republican or Democrat would want it sent. Not that our government has it's act together, but really, almost any expenditure we pick out, half the population would be against and the other half wouldn't. Likewise, if it was as easy as "quit spending and balance the budget" it would be done. Neither party wants us to crash and burn as much as each party accuses the other of such.

***oooh thanks one and done I'm going to read that!

This is the explanation du jour. When the Rebels take over a town they don't have funding to place in their own government. So a fraction of al Qaeda breaks off the Rebels, takes up residence and makes their own government in that town. We are giving aid to Rebels for non military expenditures to free up money for others to set up governments.

Who in the world knows if that will work to our advantage or if we should just flush that down the toilet with all our other foreign money expenditures like money for Egypt.

As for our government, ugh. They need a frugal mama up there to clean that place out and I am am starting with the p---poor guy at the top that can only whine.

Wild Woman couldn't have said it better myself! 1,000 flowers to you!

Ditto Dana K.

Well put!

This is not really a response to your question but more of a response to some of your answers.

If we are the "richest" country in the world, why does China own so much of "our" land? Why are we so indebt to China? I do not think we are the "richest" country in the world. We are so behind in our debt, how can we be rich?

Becuase the government is generally in efficient in any thing they do and our current president sympathizes with the Muslim governments in the middle east. Don't get me started.

the situation in our government is completely selfish. Politicians have created need out of want when it wasn't the time. On a smaller scale say you have this family O. (mom, dad, son, daughter) that are doing ok but things are tight. They have a plan for dinner (cooking at home in their budget) but dad decides they want to have a fun night and takes the family out for pizza. Mom wants in on the action and takes everyone for ice cream and maybe bowling after. (funny thing is ice cream is in the freezer but it is only one flavor). So an extra $100 is taken out of the budget for the hell of it. Even though the kids know things are tight they see this behavior and just don't get it. So the son wants new jeans. Mom says they don't have money and he will have to wait. So the son "goes skateboarding" and rips up his jeans and they are not wearable or repairable. So because he wanted something he created the need. lets say the daughter wants new shoes. cant get them its not in the budget. So she "looses" them at school. hey they are just in her locker. like she would loose them on purpose. they are just hiding so she can get new stuff. And then it continues on. All of the politicians are pushing their own agenda and making deals even if it is stuff they remotely care about. Ever see the movie legally blonde 2? while there are multiple themes it addresses the issue of politicians voting on one another's laws and regulations as a trade. You scratch my back I will yours. There is no way to survive washington without doing so. YOu either loose it and don't go back or you join the devils. Politicians sign off on things that are not good because they have the solution hovering in the background. they wont be associated with creating the problem ("I fell off my skateboard and wrecked my jeans" but its not my fault) but will be part of the solution when it comes time to fix it. And I agree with others. it is not one of them it is all of them. I generally don't like the "other" side as well but all of the politicians are cutting these deals on both sides. There is less going on between the sides now though.

I consider myself an independent... and can sway to either left , right or middle depending upon the topic.. This is one that I sway in the direction of........ haven't we spent enough money on violence......... I think we need to do this.. We state very clearly how much money we need to collect in order that we dissolve our debt.. and it goes like this. All parties can have their programs but each party MUST cut something...

Dems.. of the programs you voted in... which ones take the cut.. then we say this to Republicans and otherwise.. but everyone MUST put in their fair share... regardless .... so it might mean... defense spending cut.. YEP... Entitlements cut YEP...... and whatever else.. .basically, we cut across the board fair and square... we all cut the same amount.. no excuses..

Oh and we can balance our own budget, they have just chosen not to.. there is a big difference..

I have OFTEN wondered why we continue to send money or other relief to other places when there is so much relief that is needed here. Heck, our local police departments could use some additional money. If the feds ave $60 million, they should help the local authorities.

Likewise, I don't think we should be feeding children in other countries until EVERY child in America has at least two meals per day.

So, why do we do it? Who the hell knows!

you're not wrong. it's also not that simple. is it ever?

What Jennifer D said.

What do you expect from a president whose own political party went into debt with the soiree they threw aka DNC 2012 by the one act of simply announcing him as their candidate???? I think at last count the DNC owed the State of South Carolina $14 million?

I agree....our policies don't just stop at the water's edge, and to believe any aid to the middle east is simply in the name of "love thy neighbor" is a bit dramatic. And I don't care for the apathy of how little this aid is compared to our entire national budget. Less than 1% of our budget affects every single American in some way so we should take every single penny very seriously BECAUSE OUR NATION IS IN DEBT RIGHT NOW. Apparently some of this administration's supporters have no idea how serious our debt is. How sad and typical.

There are major economic repercussions should Syria "fall" and as always, our military is being used as a pawn.

Like a rich kid who refuses to accept when they get broke, so does America who has a reputation to maintain for the rest of the world. If the country was humble to recognize that they don't have it all, then the 3rd world would not expect a certain standard. So, unfortunately, some habits and mindsets are hard to change. So while the country continue to assume places like China need them, they will eventually sneak in the back to take over...From the perspective of a non-political citizen.