THANKS FOR THE EMAILS AND MESSAGES...I AM STIL L HERE

Glad you're safe. Some good news out of an otherwise incalculable diasaster.

This is an historic opportunity for the current US Administration to changes its' image in Asia. This humanitarian disaster is a human tragedy of epic proportions to be sure and help is BADLY needed, but one wonders: will the Bush crew understand this and take the proper steps to save lives, make lives better and in so doing secure GOOD feelings for America overseas by doing the right thing?

Will they have the wit to see it and carpe diem?

One wonders.

According to AP news, the US detected the sunami and tried "frantically" to alert the authorities, but evidently the governments in the area did not have an appropriate method to alert their people...

jason,

are you a US citizen or did you change citizenships? if you did change citizenships how'd you go about doing it? I've always been curious becuase I am very interested in living abroad after college. thanks and God bless.

A piece of advice....Do Not Name the Aid Program Hearts and Minds,Rolling Thunder or The Westmoreland Plan!

History Beckons wrote:

This is an historic opportunity for the current US Administration to changes its' image in Asia.

Will they have the wit to see it and carpe diem?*

One wonders.

*correct spelling is Ngo Dinh Diem, Carpe was his wife.:-)

Wrong Diem!

Nice effort, though.

Change citizenship? HELL NO. I WILL DIE AN *AMERICAN*

I love my country very deeply, but I am deeply disturbed about the political situation in my country at this time.

Jason

Don't worry about the political situation here. I'd say things are firmly in control. Thanks for your concern though.

Since Bush was re-elected, I felf secure enough to buy an SUV (my first). I was afraid Kerry would outlaw them if elected so I did't take that chance before the election. Life is good.

Hello, I speak Latin.....Carpe Diem = Seize the day in Latin.

You never had it so good. Dems have no clue.

MAYEROFF wrote:

Change citizenship? HELL NO. I WILL DIE AN *AMERICAN*

I love my country very deeply, but I am deeply disturbed about the political situation in my country at this time.

Jason

Red Cross 1-800-HELPNOW set up to collect aid both for General Fund and this event.

don't you guys understand........

JASON DOESN'T DIE!

Jason, I'm glad you're safe.

Hey f*** giving cash to the Red Cross. We all gave tons of money after 9/11 then the greedy bastards decided they shouldl hold some of that money back for a "rainy day."

If you want to donate to them, give them materials whether it's water, shovels, batteries, whatever. I'll never give them another damn dollar after the way the f***ed up that 9/11 deal.

Clara Barton wrote:

Hey f*** giving cash to the Red Cross. We all gave tons of money after 9/11 then the greedy bastards decided they shouldl hold some of that money back for a "rainy day."

If you want to donate to them, give them materials whether it's water, shovels, batteries, whatever. I'll never give them another damn dollar after the way the f***ed up that 9/11 deal.

i'm not sure what you are complaining about. post 9/11 many people, Americans and others, gave millions of dollars to relief organizations such as the Red Cross. additionally, congress set up a fund to provide the families of victims with an average of over a million dollars each. i believe that was unprecedented, and at the least the families of the OK city bombing got nothing from congress.

i suppose i can understand how, from your perspective, you wanted to feel like you were helping in some way by giving money after 9/11. but there is no doubt that the surviving victims and the families of the deceased in 9/11 got far more, on average, in the form of donations and government aid than victims of similar terrorist attacks or natural disasters.

thus, from an organizational perspective, in made a ton of sense for the red cross to hold back some of the money in order to provide for victims of less publicized disasters - both natural and manmade.

think about it - let's say that from all sources a victim of 9/11 received $2 million prior to the red cross distributing the funds it held back (did it actually even hold them back in the end, or was it just proposed?). and that a family whose breadwinner died during one of the many strong hurricanes this past fall would receive $100,000 in aid from the same sources without the red cross using some of the 9/11 donations it received. wouldn't it make sense for the red cross to give some of that money to the family who lost its breadwinner in a hurricane?

or do you think that the family who lost someone in 9/11 is more deserving? what about the families from oklahoma city? if you disagree with my example above, is there any amount of money for which you would agree? what if the red cross received so many post 9/11 donations that each family could have received $1 billion? would the red cross be justified in holding back some of the money then?