"It's like...hard, you know, ...there are flies and its hot."

Jesus once said, "The poor you will always have with you." I'm convinced that he would also add, "and dumb blondes...and ingrates."

I'm sure by now most have seen or heard about the ungrateful Americans rescued by our tax dollars from amidst the Lebanon-Israeli conflict. My favorite was the ditz on CNN who said, "Yeah, it's basically like a floating refugee camp. I mean, there are a lot of flies." And when asked if she was "surprised that the Swedes had gotten there before the Americans" replied, "Um, no. I mean, if, like, you look at Hurricane Katrina, I'm not surprised it's taken us a long time."

It's not just Americans that have a sense of entitlement and little gratitude when rescued from death on another person (or millions of people's) dime. The Danes are apparently dealing with their own ingrates.

Still, not all Scandinavians were happy with the evacuations. Some complained of inadequate sleeping and toilet facilities in the locations they were housed before being flown home to Denmark, Thuesen said.

"We also had a few people complaining about the fact that you could not buy tax-free on the planes which we had chartered to take them home," he said.

Why do these stories remind me of the Mastercard commercials:

1 summer semester in Beirut: $11,000
Emergency evacuation in a time of war: $150 million in tax payer money
Emergency crews fielding complaints about cuisine and facilities: priceless.

There are some things money can't buy.

Except that ours did (buy their safety).