The footage on the evening news tonight really saddened me.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... tidal_wave

Finally, something I can care about- how much this shit is going to cost us. 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, make it 900 billion thousand, I don't care. Just stamp a dollar value on it already so we can show our disdain in a check.

Has anyone seen a map of the affected areas and information detailing the impact? This would help me to understand the situation much better.

go to yahoo.com and check out the slideshow, they have a pretty good map.

it occurred in the indian ocean between sri lanka and thailand, about 100 miles northwest of indonesia. does that help?

Go here for a map and info

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/4126019.stm

I just read that the US (initially) has pledged $15 million to this cause. Baseball player Alex Rodriguez makes more than that in one year. Also considering the $225 billion for the Iraq war, I don't think that disdain check shows much disdain at all.

or maybe it does

Jesus.

Death toll is at 44,000! And STILL rising.

I really hope the US does more to help because if they don't Bush is going to be looked at with even more disdain by the rest of the world then he already is.

Another place for making donations -- www.networkforgood.org

Is there an over/under for us to wager?

Petra Nemacova injured in tsunami.

OH GOD! I didn't care before, but now I do!!!!

This is the biggest natural disaster of our lifetime. This is when the US should step up to it's "lone world power" status and offer a huge amount of relief. $15 million is just plain sad. Someone will win that in the lottery this week.

Colin and Tania, thanks for the links. I just donated $100 to Americares.

It's all Bush's fault.

Why? Let France and Germany, and the rest of the UN do it. The world wants to shit on us left and right, but when disaster strikes, we should foot the bill? Bail 'em out in francs and marks.

People around the world want to demonstrate and rant and rave about how rotten this country is? Fine, free speech and all that. But don't expect us to shower money on you when you suffer misfortune.

Is this because we enjoy talking the moral high ground but rarely taking it?

Billzebub, I find your musical tastes admirable, but your humanitarian instincts seem to be nearly fully atrophied. I guess it leaves more room for the music?

This type of attitude is partly why our foriegn policy is a disaster. Also, I believe both France and Germany use the euro.

This kind of attitude sickens me.

All's I'm sayin' is that many many many nations (governments and populace alike) think nothing of castigating the USA. But when the shit hits the fan, they all look to this rotten land of fundamentalists for help.

Personally, I'm all for whatever private charities want to raise money for and provide relief to the victims. This is what the Red Cross is for, this is to a lesser extent what The Peace Corps is for. I don't believe it's what government is for.

If one were to feel so strongly for these peoples' plight, let them hop on the next plane and hand out food, or at least open a checkbook. It's wrong, however, to force every working person in this country to pony up by spending public money.

Did you write a check?

Horrible, horrible news.... I will vouch for the network for good site Tania linked. I've donated through that organization before.

You know what's sad? When I first heard this news, the one thing that popped into my head was that LUDICROUS thread 4030 started over on CMJ about selling bottled water at inflated prices to hurricane victims in Florida. Do you guys remember that? And he tried to pass it off as being an "American entrepreneur." I'm surprised we haven't done something similar in SE Asia yet.

As for the 40,000+ people dying vs. 3000 in WTC-- a co-worker came in and complained about the US getting slagged for not donating enough relief. I didn't even want to go there with her because she's an idiot anyway, but every fiber in my being was like, "Do you not REMEMBER the outpouring of support when 3000 people died in the WTC? We're talking 40,000 PEOPLE HERE!!! We SHOULD be supporting them!!!"

You shoud read "Rising Tide" its about the Mississippi flood of 1927, and how The REd Cross and private loan corporations didn't work. Also, Hoover pretty much based his response to The Depression on his experience leading the aid organizations, and screwed the pooch.

This is EXACTLY the type of thing that could help America around the world. By showing that we are truly compassionate and care about more than just blowing shit up. I think it was noted peacenik/boohoo presidential candidate George McGovern that said we can do more top dry up the rivers of despair with our economic, agricultural and technological help than we ever can with military might. Sometimes it helps to take the high road.

Smug prick. Whether I write a check or not is none of your concern. I don't recall anybody asking you to send money, Bill, but you could at least be a bit more sympathetic.

Funny, because you were the first one to jump in and turn this thread into a public policy/slam the Bush administration thread.

My "humanitarian instincts" are just fine, but I administer them myself, privately. I have no wish for government to do it on my behalf. I also find it repugnant that the people around the world can mouth off like they do, but still expect, nay, take for granted, that we'll remain magnanimous and bail them out of their troubles.

Where's France with their euros? Can you name a single former French colony that isn't a basket case? Why aren't they cleaning up the messes they've made? Why does it always have to be shouldered by the US taxpayer?

Is it callous to argue such in the face of such misfortune? Yeah, but you went there first.

If you didn't write a check, then you're no better or worse than I am, and you have absolutely no grounds whatsover to look down upon my attitude. What you're really saying is that you can't be bothered to send help yourself, you prefer to let others do it, and then sign your name to it. Again, if you really feel so strongly about it, write a check to the Red Cross, donate through the link someone already posted.

BTW, if public money is being sent, you're correct, no one asked me, they just took it. Many consider "taking without permission" to be theft.

Believe it or not we're more fortunate than say 99% of the world. When you assume the role of leader of the free world you should act like it. Second, at most, it's 20 cents out of the working Americans paycheck. If your getting pissed about the government taking 20 cents for foreign aid then you're truly devoid of all compassion. French colonies being a basket case is a totally irrelevant point. We're talking about Asia.