"We saw people beginning to pick up the pieces of their lives and that tells us something about the resilience of the human spirit," Annan said.

They found another 7,000 dead today...over 150,000...Jesus.

So did the Canadian Government drop the ball on Tsunami relief? The more I hear these jackasses (mainly critics and the press) talk about how our contribution was "slow in coming" or the fact that DART wasn't deployed fast enough, blah, blah, blah...I just want to bitch slap them.

I personally think that any aid effort would be ripe with mistakes and problems. I just wish they'd stop bitching and moaning about how the government screwed up. Should Martin have come back from his holiday early? No, I don't think so, isn't that why he has ministers?
When this crisis happened everybody underestimated the impact. Could Canada have done more? Of course. But so could the media...they underestimated this event just like governments did. I am glad the Feds took the time they needed to assess the situation and organize the aid so it would go where it was supposed to and be effective.

I don't really understand what the media or the military critics expected. A bloody miracle? Should Martin have pulled out his crystal ball and predicted the massive death toll and humanitarian crisis? Who could have predicted this? Whatever the case, I am tired of it and sad that the Feds had to spend time on defending themselves rather than organizing the aid and such to the countries who needed it. It served more as a distraction than anything else. Kudos the Feds for putting out the moratorium on debt, I wish they would just forgive that debt but that's another matter. So let's see...$80 Million from the feds, $5 million from Alberta, and even city council pumped funds into the aid effort. I donated $10 to the Red cross at the Roadrunners game. Will it be enough?