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Foreign Aid

Foreign Aid is one way the US can improve its standing in the world. Please add your Foreign Aid Solution and/or Vote for any/all of these offered below:

Constituent Services Portion of President Bush's January 10 Proposal

These bullets courtesy of BBC's At-a-glance: New strategy for Iraq: Completion of an oil law that will lead to revenues being shared among various groups and regions. Set a date for provincial elections. Ease de-Baathification policies. The president will ask Congress for an extra $6.8bn to cover the costs of the plan. Of the $6.8bn sum, $5.6bn will be needed to cover the new deployment. The remaining $1.2bn is for rebuilding and development, with an emphasis on job creation.
1/15/2007 10:34:00 AM

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AIDS IN AFRICA

The US needs to change its policy (and bullying) in regards to fighting AIDS in Africa. It is clear that abstinence education has grievously prejudiced Africans and their governments in the fight against AIDS. In removing US conditions to its aid programs would allow for local governments and NGOs on the ground to use the funds as their local knowledge and expertise would deem the most compelling to curb the AIDS pandemic. Such action would garner immediate good will capital across the African continent and in the medium term would provide Africa its best resource in engaging the world in the 21st century: its people.
1/15/2007 10:34:59 AM	Z Costello, Washington, DC

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Diplomacy through Education is the Best Foreign Aid

Education is the best form of foreign aid, and the one for which we are most respected. There are many forms for many problems: Skills training for boosting agriculture and manufacturing, Education of women is the best way to lower population growth rates. Most of all, providing secular educational alternatives to madrassas would deal a severe blow to the recruitment of jihadi radicals. It's cheap, and it works.
1/25/2007 4:47:54 PM	Hawley Rising San Jose

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Commit To The Millenium Challenge Goal of 0.7% of GDP

While the US gives more in foreign aid in gross dollars than any other nation, its spending per capita and as a percentage of GDP is one of the lowest of any nation with indoor plumbing. We need to reduce our percentage of foreign aid as military aid to Israel and Egypt, and instead meet the Millenium Challenge Goal of 0.7% of GDP directed to the common vision of helping people everywhere live richer, freer, and longer lives.
1/25/2007 3:39:26 PM	Dr. Todd Huffman, Eugene, Oregon

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Impeach George "I'm really a freakin isolationist" Bush & Dick "kill 'em all now & lie & laugh about it later" Chaney.

Afterwords all the Billions that now go to oil & killing can now go to soil and tilling.
1/25/2007 2:24:41 PM	Garrison Hale - Arlington VA

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Bring our money home.

No matter what we do, give, talk, military action ect the world is still against us. So pull everything and bring it home to spend here. We have plenty of places to use it at home. Also send the UN to europe and let them pay the big bill all we get is grief from the members.
1/25/2007 11:26:53 AM	Judy Karlberg Lewiston, Id.

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Financially support and work for the �Millennium Development Goals� of the UN

Giving economic aids to needy nations is a very good way to conduct foreign policy. E.g., China is seriously engaging itself into huge donations especially to the African countries and is fast emerging as the �second� world leader in a primarily unipolarized world today. The US should not be too complacent with its current �leadership� position in global politics and should follow China�s footsteps and work for sustainable economic development of those parts of the world which are torn by rampant civil wars, ethnic cleansing and abysmal level of backwardness. The best way to go ahead with this noble cause for the US would be to financially support and work for the �Millennium Development Goals� of the UN!
1/29/2007 1:16:40 AM	Anju Chandel, New Delhi, India.

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Stop using foreign aid to benefit our own corporations

The US could make make its aid money more useful and more palatable to the receiving countries by eliminating conditions that require those countries to "buy American" when they use that aid. Many times this doubles or triples the cost of food, medicines, supplies. Frequently we even require they use US shipping to deliver. On the other hand, we should also be more willing to give aid to reputable NGOs rather than corrupt governments so that the money will have a bigger impact. Buying corrupt officials has never gotten us anywhere in the long term; we need to be using our money to buy favor with their people.
1/25/2007 2:03:59 PM	Christine Mt. Rainier MD

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Our overall aid needs to be: (1) Increased enormously--we can afford it easily--just moving from subsidizing our rich farmers to providing appropriate education to much of the world will reduce the interests of unemployed youth in the developing world from terrorism (while giving better price/market cues for agriculture in this country); (2) Targetted for sustainable development--this means education and health care in the social sector; protection of biodiversity and climate change mitigation and adaptation in the environmental sphere; capital investment in roads and infrastructure which does not damage the environment; and strong support for good governance, especially anti-corruption processes.


1/25/2007 4:06:43 PM	L Hirsch, Washington DC

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Road Removal Projects

Instead of wasting taxpayers money building roads, it is preferable to remove roads. While America is not strong enough to build a rail and cycle transportation network to rival Germany's, America can help in road removal abroad as part of its aid packages. These roads would be replaced with electric rail, auto-free and bicycle throughways as is the practice in all European and other civilized countries.
1/25/2007 12:05:29 PM	Andy, Fort Meade, MD

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Do good things. Remove the global safe-haven that terrorists enjoy today. Make friends and only fight when absolutely necessary.

Terrorists cannot survive without public support. If we rebuild global public support, we will win the war on terror. Where will the food, gas, medicine, training camps, weapons, explosives...etc. come from if the general public won't help the terrorists? Attempting to kill terrorists with invading armies is like throwing gas on a fire. Violence begets violence. Military action in the absence of diplomacy and acts of good-will only feed the terrorists. I believe Osama Bin Laden is overjoyed with the way that we've executed this war. He is laughing himself to his comfortable bed every night. Our government has even given up trying to catch him. We have shown him and the world that we are prepared to throw away our Democracy and stoop to his level to fight him. We are now pounding away at his Ju Jitsu, his "rope-a-dope" and we're the dope. Now, he and his legions of wanna-bes find safe-haven everywhere. Why? Because, not only have we proven our fallibility on the world-stage, but we've also failed to do all the peaceful things that we should have done from the start. Look at the drug-lords in Columbia or the Russian Mafia, or the IRA in Northern Ireland. Fighting these groups failed resoundingly. These groups won the hearts of the people, by being benevolent dictators and successfully portraying the "authorities" as uncaring. They gave back to the poor, provided healthcare, power, food, finance, protection. In the end, their systems fail because of the indomitable human yearning to be part of an honest, fair and structured system, not because enough people were killed by the �good guys�. We can fight terrorism successfully, but not by "fighting". When we are seen by the world marshalling troops to save lives after tsunamis, relocating people in famine-zones, delivering life-saving drugs in Africa, rebuilding Afghanistan (like we promised)...etc., the terrorists will have no safe-haven. The people will not allow terrorism. But instead, we ravage Afghanistan, then abandon it, just like we did after Bin Laden and the Afghan rebels pushed the Russian Army out of Afghanistan in the 1980�s. We supported them, gave them weapons and training, then once we got what we wanted, we abandoned them to rebuild on their own. Thus the Taliban was born. Why is Japan such a productive and safe ally after we butchered 140,000 innocent citizens in WWII in Nagasaki and Hiroshima? Because we stayed and helped them rebuild. Now they love us and are not a safe-haven for Terrorists. Why didn't we learn from this lesson? Build, help, support, care and the world will care back. Bomb, torture, ignore basic human rights, storm-troop through sovereign nations, and the world will abandon us.
2/17/2007 3:07:39 PM	John - Orange, CT

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Stop all foreign aid of any kind immediately.

We have never received much appreciation or satisfaction from providing foreign aid. It has proved to be a stick with two sharp ends, one of which seems always to be poked in our eye. Let those nations now receiving our money and supplies learn to adjust and live without these things.
1/25/2007 9:32:06 PM	Joe. Fountain Hills, AZ

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Short Term Dedication and Renewed domestic Agenda

American have to love their country again. we have had about 30 years of me-me-me Reaganism to GW Bush, and meanwhile our country has done nothing for itself but grow fatter in debt. american do not know about government job programs, renewal initiatives, college grant programs, etc. that were staples in the 70's that helped people. yes some waste and abuse, but got Americans had job skills not bogus illegal immigration like a flood. AIDS in the world, pay the companies a set amount and get the cocktail pills available for everyone in the world. if the G7 countries cannot do that for the sake of life we don't deserve to live.
1/25/2007 4:48:00 PM	RobGreg, Washington, DC

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Foreign trade= Trade Ann Colter for the 5 Bulgarian RN's to Kadafi's son, Kadafi sings to many show tunes.


3/5/2007 6:45:34 PM	Bill, LA., Ca.

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