From: evleth@wanadoo.fr   
      
   On 30/06/03 21:50, in article 20030630155023.24627.00001326@mb-m04.aol.com,   
   "JIGSAW1695"  wrote:   
      
   > Well said, Lex. Earl allows his personal bias to interfere with his   
   judgement.   
   >   
   > It looks like his goal is convince the US that we should weaken ourselves so   
   > that all countries will be on "a level playing field".   
   >   
   > Then of course France would intervene and save the day.   
   >   
   > The man has some definite problems with reality. I guess his befuddlement   
   > comes   
   > from being exposed to the French, poor chap.   
      
      
   Jiggy, you first asked the questions on this posting series, I gave detailed   
   answers to which you yourself have not yet commented on.   
      
   I don`t think you have the back ground to discuss any of these issues   
   deeply. You don`t do enough back ground reading to have even an "off the top   
   of your head" comment.  My personal "bias" is built on a framework of hard   
   work at informing myself as to the facts.   
      
   And the issue is not France, but Europe.  In the foreign aid area, ALL OF   
   EUROPE contributes more, in reference to GNP or totally, to this aid than   
   the USA. Euro provided a OECD sources to examining the data itself. Did you   
   go and look that reference?  I doubt it.  If so, what did it tell you?   
      
   What that data does not indicated is the progressive decrease in foreign aid   
   by the USA over the years and the concentration of what is given to a few   
   countries who are receiving aid as political pay offs.   
      
   Why should Egypt receive most of the African aid, for instance?   Because it   
   part of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty instigated years ago.   All our   
   big aid has that kind of strings attached.  We just tried to give billions   
   to Turkey and they refused.  The leaders of their new government just   
   had not been paid off yet.   
      
   Strangely, our foreign aid policy matches the moral corruption present   
   in political donation system in the USA.  Bush is out collecting   
   multi-millions for his reelection.  That nation is effectively controlled   
   in this fashion by a plutocratic minority of the rich, who are rewarded with   
   tax reductions which furnished the money going into political payoffs.   
      
   Earl   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)