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I'm sure you'd ignore the Red Cross and other charities that had religious origins

Solaris is now free for the taking, and it beats OpenBSD on every front, hands down! If you're going to pay for "free" software why don't you consider instead downloading the ISOs from Open Solaris (iso availability one more thing Open Solaris beats Open BSD at!) and instead send your donations to a Worthwhile charity!

The ICRC keeps its findings confidential.

After surveying a prison, the ICRC's findings always remain confidential, Gordon-Bates said. If a country holding detainees were to fear that the ICRC would degrade it before the world, the organization could lose its credibility as a neutral party. "We want to ensure we have access to people in prisons around the world," Gordon-Bates said.

Sera

The reports that I have heard from people who claimed to have been on the scene were fairly clear the FEMA was blocking aid provided by others. ... Perhaps that wasn't FEMA, I wasn't there. It was certainly some group that appeared to be acting as an official group.

It was the Louisiana Department of Homeland Security. See here.

but FEMA was claiming to be in charge, so I believe then, and attribute the evil to them. If you want to think of them of as merely malfeasant, that's ok. It's still a felony.

Huh? FEMA wasn't there for a few days, they're not first responders. They don't have the authority or manpower to override the state and local agencies. LDHS was managing first response. What felony are you going on about?

I wanted to be a voice of encouragement for you and your group. I have participated in numerous mission trips. One such trip my church makes regularly is with a group called the Appalachia Service Project. Often these trips for us involve groups up to 50 people and end up costing as much as $10,000.

I've often been asked if it would have been smarter to just send a check for the $10K to the local department of social services, or some in-place mission group (someone here used the term "professionals"). The money might be more efficiently used that way; you might get more for your money--a "better deal." My reply to that way of thinking is, simply, what's a good price on changing someone's heart? In my way of thinking, while you go on the trip ostensibly to meet some physical needs of the people there, you end up meeting much more than that in the way of built relationships, emotional and spiritual needs. And you'll come away feeling like YOU were the one receiving the gifts, not giving them.

Now, the point is not that we go for our own benefit, please don't misread. We go truly out of a sense of responsibility to help our neighbors--for Christians, this is a duty. We don't go to convert anyone to Christianity (so, forget about that stereotype if you can). But I can tell you first hand that the people who go on trips like this--even if they go reluctantly--come back changed. And these people are more likely to do similar things in the future, or even make generous donations to the Red Cross when that is the best option.

My most practical advice for you is to bring everything you need to be 100% self-sufficient. Bring tents, sleeping bags, Colemen stoves and food. Bring tools (especially cordless drills, tape measures and circular saws), a generator if you can, and anything you would use to clean your apartment after a world class frat party :-) (seriously). Bring rubber gloves, boots and clothes you don't mind not ever wearing again. Good luck, go with God.

Bullshit. It sounds good at first but it breaks down when you think about it. As long as they bring food and shelter for themselves everything they do is appreciated and useful. Training is better, co-ordinated trained people are best but no one is useless. Turning people away for lack of paper work "certs" is one of the worst things that happened. All help is appreciated by decent people and there are plenty of them in New Orleans, Slidel and on the Gulf Coast.

Contact The Red Cross.

The Red Cross know what it's doing, unlike FEMA or that horrible woman who did not know she was in command of the National Guard and delayed aid for days without reason. Contact Them and join an organized response. They might even tell you what to fill your truck with.

Now, let's see what people in New Orleans are saying. "Please open a Wal Mart"! Family members report that the one grocery store open smells like the fridges they taped shut and put on the curb. I think they can use almost ANYTHING but beer is in short supply.

Your backs will also be useful. There's plenty of cleaning up you can offer people who are unable to do such things on their own. They will be happy to see you.

Of course, there are some real jerks there too. I've heard plenty of stories about people who not only expected heroism on their behalf, they expressed anger to those helping them. I have it first hand that, as in other urban dissasters, police and firemen were shot at while putting out fires. Some people have such a strong sense of entitlement they are angry they were not rescued earlier and have been asking questions like, "Where's my appartment?" for weeks. Don't let them deter you.

Good luck, you are going to need it.

Bullshit. It sounds good at first but it breaks down when you think about it. As long as they bring food and shelter for themselves everything they do is appreciated and useful. Training is better, co-ordinated trained people are best but no one is useless. Turning people away for lack of paper work "certs" is one of the worst things that happened. All help is appreciated by decent people and there are plenty of them in New Orleans, Slidel and on the Gulf Coast.

Contact The Red Cross.

The Red Cross know what it's doing, unlike FEMA or that horrible woman who did not know she was in command of the National Guard and delayed aid for days without reason. Contact Them and join an organized response. They might even tell you what to fill your truck with.

Now, let's see what people in New Orleans are saying. "Please open a Wal Mart"! Family members report that the one grocery store open smells like the fridges they taped shut and put on the curb. I think they can use almost ANYTHING but beer is in short supply.

Your backs will also be useful. There's plenty of cleaning up you can offer people who are unable to do such things on their own. They will be happy to see you.

Of course, there are some real jerks there too. I've heard plenty of stories about people who not only expected heroism on their behalf, they expressed anger to those helping them. I have it first hand that, as in other urban dissasters, police and firemen were shot at while putting out fires. Some people have such a strong sense of entitlement they are angry they were not rescued earlier and have been asking questions like, "Where's my appartment?" for weeks. Don't let them deter you.

Good luck, you are going to need it.

I hope the people of Texas are prepared! http://www.redcross.org/services/prepare/0,1082,0_ 253_,00.html Hurricane Rita http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT18/refres h/AL1805W+gif/084857W_sm.gif is sporting 140 mph winds as of today!

Newt-dog

I think fresh water, food and a place to sleep are way more important. You'd better donate something more usefull

Surely you're aware that it was the Louisiana Homeland Security Department that kept the Red Cross out, right?
 
The Feds are certainly not blameless in this affair, but let's give credit and blame where it is actually due.

The above is irony. Please donate to people who actually need your help.

Actually I believe your dates are a little off with regards to the evac. Bush suggested a evac order be issued on the Saturday (possibly even as early as Friday)prior to the storm, an order that Blanco agreed with and requested Mayor Nagins to initiate (it's actually part of both the LA and NO emergency plans but for some reason neither the Mayor or Governor seemed to be following those). The problem was the Mayor waited for 24 hours before issueing the order and then neither the Mayor or the Governor provided adequate services to accomplish the evac (witness the unused buses (specifically mentioned in the emergency plans), failure to mobilize the National Guard or State Police).

As for the military issue, from one of the people responding to your post, while the CiC can authorize the use of the US Military (which Bush did) he/she does not actually fully control their actions once mobilized. From the moment they reach the disaster zone their actions within that zone are directed by local authorities and ultimately the states Governor, as are all other formal relief efforts (look at the the Red Cross page for insight on this).

The President of the United States, while a convienent target, under the Constitution has very little actual authority in a disaster situation, except to allow the local government to use federal resources. To be part of the US, individual states surrender certain rights and freedoms, which are clearly spelt out, but all others, including disaster handling, remain solely their domain. That being said, there is a process for a Governor to hand over control to the Federal government, but as of today, despite a request from the President, Governor Blanco has refused to do that.

The pettiness regarding this entire non-issue sickens me. I encourage my fellow Slashdotters to use any browser and donate to redcross.org.

Just to add to this point, here is a blurb from a private company set up for something other than profit:

The American Red Cross is not a government agency and all Red Cross disaster assistance is free thanks to the generosity of people like you. The value of your donation is increased by the fact that the ratio of volunteer Red Cross workers to paid staff is almost 36 to one. Contributions to the American Red Cross, a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, are deductible for computing income and estate taxes.

Yeah, I know. Now I have to turn in my "liberal" card...

BTW, in case you're wondering why they aren't in New Orleans...

Just to add to this point, here is a blurb from a private company set up for something other than profit:

The American Red Cross is not a government agency and all Red Cross disaster assistance is free thanks to the generosity of people like you. The value of your donation is increased by the fact that the ratio of volunteer Red Cross workers to paid staff is almost 36 to one. Contributions to the American Red Cross, a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, are deductible for computing income and estate taxes.

Yeah, I know. Now I have to turn in my "liberal" card...

BTW, in case you're wondering why they aren't in New Orleans...

Yes I have seen the private sector take responsibility in times of crisis. But what is needed in time of crisis is the private and public sectors, as well as individual charity to actually get things done, not finger pointing and buck passing.

Lockheed Martin Katrina Response

As a weekend help desk guy, I personally have had 3 calls from people out there: 2 of them were living out of hotels. Any time one of them calls up, my coworkers and I give them priority: we couldn't imagine being in their shoes right now. They're still trying to figure out where everyone's gone. Employees from other states are going there to help out their relatives & bring them back with them. They know the "ET" is important. But right now, many don't even have homes.

American Red Cross

You may even want to find out if anyone in your area is matching donations. I heard Albertsons was.

so you are saying that if you tried to click on this link: http://www.redcross.org/ there would be no way for you to make a donation?

Ah, so you are saying that if you tried to click on this link: http://www.redcross.org/ there would be no way for you to make a donation? So how exactly does the red-cross get any donations if you pretty much can't link to them unless you say in the link 'do not donate to the read cross by clicking here'?

The Freenet Project is working towards the next major release of the Freenet software, hopefully this side of Christmas. Among the major new features will be:

• Trusted links, so that only your friends will know that you are part of the network
• Switch from TCP to UDP to support seamless firewall traversal
• Complete code rewrite and simplification
• Support for live broadcast of information, in addition to storage and retrieval (allowing everything from IRC over Freenet to "instant RSS")

The Freenet project requires $2,300 per month to pay for its full time developer, Matthew Toseland, but currently the project's reserves are very low, so if you can spare it (especially given the more immediate drains on people's generosity), your donation would be much appreciated.

Donating to the hurricane effort is a commendable act, but it could have been accomplished through Red Cross link rather than Paypal. The reason why Lowtax had set up a paypal account was because he wanted to gather the money and write a check from SomethingAwful LLC, thus writing off that huge chunk of donations from his taxes. It had very little to do with "giving out free merchandize," as he claims so in the article.

Greed was the motive, and he's paying as a result. Way to piss away the goodwill of the SA community by looking for yet another way to profit off of people's good deeds. It's sickening to me how some people try to look at ways to profit even in the most desperate of situations.

As for Paypal, it has always sucked as a service, and Lowtax is no stranger to their dealings. It's not like he is using it for the first time. The entire forum registration system was tied to Paypal for years until he realized that he could make more money through direct credit card transactions.

Canada, and specifically my province of alberta is willing to send staff and write a cheque for aid, however there is no organization directing this aid yet.

Have you heard of this organization called the Red Cross.

There's plenty of blame to go around. You wanna keep score? That's one against the mayor, 5 against the Federal government. Your turn.

https://give.redcross.org/?HomePageDonateButton

BTW, one of the reasons that shit has hit the fan as it did is that the Red Cross was NOT ALLOWED into New Orleans this whole time. It may sound like a tin-foil type thing, but it's right there on their website: http://www.redcross.org/faq/0,1096,0_682_4524,00.h tml

Beside this, many countries and National Guard units were ready to go in and help but were unable to because of FEMA and Homeland Security.

Resources for Sharing Information and Offering Help

Katrina housing offers

Red Cross (a bit obvious, but just in case)

Next of Kin registry/a>

American Red Cross

Provides a full spectrum of services to disaster victims, including shelter, medical care, food, clean water and assisting with cleanup efforts.

http://www.redcross.org/

https://www2.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp

Salvation Army:

Providing hot meals to displaced disaster victims and emergency personnel working to aid those devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/USNSAHome.htm

https://secure5.salvationarmy.org/donations.nsf/do nate?openform&projectid=USN-hurricane05

United Way

Identifying serious needs of devastated communities and helping not only with front-line disaster relief but with long-term recovery.

http://national.unitedway.org/

https://volunteer.united-e-way.org/hurricane-katri na/donate/

America's Second Harvest

Transports food to victims and secures additional warehouse space to assist member food banks in resuming and maintaining operations.

http://www.secondharvest.org/default.asp

https://www.kintera.org/AutoGen/Simple/Donor.asp?i event=67898

Feed the Children

Mobilizing and distributing supplies in hurricane devastated areas.

http://www.feedthechildren.org/site/PageServer?pag ename=usw_hurricane_katrina

https://secure2.convio.net/ftc/site/Donation?ACTIO N=SHOW_DONATION_OPTIONS&CAMPAIGN_ID=2661

Habitat for Humanity

Helping disaster victims rebuild piece by piece and house by house.

http://www.habitat.org/

https://www.habitat.org/donation/generaldonation/d efault.aspx?media=habitat&lander=MP&sourcecode=10w 39&tg=katrina&keyword=homepage_08302005

American Red Cross

Provides a full spectrum of services to disaster victims, including shelter, medical care, food, clean water and assisting with cleanup efforts.

http://www.redcross.org/

https://www2.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp

Salvation Army:

Providing hot meals to displaced disaster victims and emergency personnel working to aid those devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/USNSAHome.htm

https://secure5.salvationarmy.org/donations.nsf/do nate?openform&projectid=USN-hurricane05

United Way

Identifying serious needs of devastated communities and helping not only with front-line disaster relief but with long-term recovery.

http://national.unitedway.org/

https://volunteer.united-e-way.org/hurricane-katri na/donate/

America's Second Harvest

Transports food to victims and secures additional warehouse space to assist member food banks in resuming and maintaining operations.

http://www.secondharvest.org/default.asp

https://www.kintera.org/AutoGen/Simple/Donor.asp?i event=67898

Feed the Children

Mobilizing and distributing supplies in hurricane devastated areas.

http://www.feedthechildren.org/site/PageServer?pag ename=usw_hurricane_katrina

https://secure2.convio.net/ftc/site/Donation?ACTIO N=SHOW_DONATION_OPTIONS&CAMPAIGN_ID=2661

Habitat for Humanity

Helping disaster victims rebuild piece by piece and house by house.

http://www.habitat.org/

https://www.habitat.org/donation/generaldonation/d efault.aspx?media=habitat&lander=MP&sourcecode=10w 39&tg=katrina&keyword=homepage_08302005

Here's how to donate:

RED CROSS
Online:
https://give.redcross.org/?hurricanemasthead

Phone:
Call
1-800-HELP-NOW
(1-800-435-7669)
English speaking

Call
1-800-257-7575
Spanish Speaking

Call
1-800-220-4095
For TDD Operator

SALVATION ARMY
Online:
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/USNSAHome.htm

Phone:
1-800-SAL-ARMY

In Person:
Visit your local Wal-Mart or Sam's Club to donate to The Salvation Army's Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

I'm posting anonymously. I don't want your mod points. I don't care about your politics. I don't even care if you live in the US. I want this MODDED UP because these people desprately need your help! I want us to slashdot the funds to help these people. Katrina's damage in money is estimated at over $100 billion. The toll in lives is so much higher. Let's save as many as we can. HELP NOW, PLEASE!

If you can actually transport people or supplies, I beg you to offer to drive your bus, semi, or even pickup truck for one of these organizations. If you have supplies to donate, any and everything you can offer is appreciated. They need water, food, clothes, medicine, and sanitary items. If you want to help with money, give money, don't buy supplies. These organizations can bypass many of the local consumer markups. If you have a business, allow your customers to donate somehow at the checkout. Ask your employer if they can donate anything.

Please re-post this information to your friends, e-mail lists, companies you work with, and websites your frequent. Put the donation links in this post in your signatures.

There is also something else you can give that is very precious right now. Give them hope. If you have any contact with those affected, such as a member of the press or a telephone, let them know:

YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN!

1-800-HELP-NOW

https://www2.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp

There is a program already in place. It managed by the Red Cross: see here. It's been successfully in use for decades. I can confirm the value it adds because we have used this service before.

AmeriCares:americares.org

Baton Rouge Area Foundation(BRAF): 877.387.6126 or braf.org

Episcopal Relief & Development: 1-800-334-7626 or www.er-d.org

United Methodist Committee on Relief: 1-800-554-8583 or gbgm-umc.org/umcor/emergency/hurricanes/2005

Salvation Army: 1-800-SAL-ARMY or www.salvationarmyusa.org

Catholic Charities: 1-800-919-9338 or www.catholiccharitiesusa.org

FEMA Charity tips: www.fema.gov/rrr/help2.shtm

National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster: www.nvoad.org

Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: www.la-spca.org

Operation Blessing: 1-800-436-6348 or www.ob.org

America's Second Harvest: 1-800-344-8070 or www.secondharvest.org

Adventist Community Services: 1-800-381-7171 or www.adventist.communityservices.org

Christian Disaster Response: 1-941-956-5183 or 1-941-551-9554 or www.cdresponse.org/cdrhome.html

Christian Reformed World Relief Committee: 1-800-848-5818 or www.crwrc.org

Church World Service: 1-800-297-1516 or www.churchworldservice.org

Convoy of Hope: 1-417-823-8998 or www.convoyofhope.org

Lutheran Disaster Response: 1-800-638-3522 or www.elca.org/disaster

Mennonite Disaster Service: 1-717-859-2210 or www.mds.mennonite.net

Nazarene Disaster Response: 1-888-256-5886 or www.nazarenedisasterresponse.org

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance: 1-800-872-3283 or www.pcusa.org/pda

Southern Baptist Convention - Disaster Relief: 1-800-462-8657, ext. 6440 or www.namb.net

While giving to money to help ease the Katrina-related suffering is eminently laudible, please do not do so through the Salvation Army.

The Salvation Army is an rather strident anti-gay evangelical Christian organization. For example, they lobbied the Bush administration to add anti-gay provisions into the faith-based initiative legislation.

Please give by some alternate means, such as the Red Cross.

There are over 8,000 National Guard members already in southern Louisiana with other states pitching in help. Not to mention the assets from the Navy and the Coast Guard that are already on the scene. Instead of focusing in on a political angle to hang your hat on, take some of the self absorbed, righteous indignation and channel to something that can actually help those affected by this natural disaster by contributing to the Red Cross or show us all how much of a wonderful, caring human being and go to Louisiana or Mississippi to pitch in.

https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp

1-800-HELP-NOW

It used to be limited to 6 months in Europe, but now it's actually 5 years (still 3 months for the UK though). I know this because for a while I wasn't allowed to donate blood having lived in Germany for 2 years, but I recently noticed a change in policy on the Red Cross website. The questionaires and everything are even changed and I had no problem donating blood a couple weeks ago.

More info at the Red Cross website on blood donation eligibility.

The poster is wrong in stating that anyone who has lived 6 months or more in Europe cannot give blood. It's not actually that strict. The full details are here: RC Donor Eligibility.

Pittsburg is also the home of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, which is what the Safar Centre for Resuscitation Research is part of.

The man the center is named after developed CPR.

I think he needed more random links.

True.

Compare the original and the fake. Fake is missing the navigation bar. Fake's VeriSign verifying thingie leads to validating www.redcross.org instead of american-redcross.org. Notable thing is also that they load images from www.redcross.org to save bandwidth.

american-redcross.org is a SCAM SITE masquerading as the American Red Cross (real site: www.redcross.org. Different IP block, registered to "lovelele25@yahoo.com", registered JUST TODAY at 15-Jan-2005 21:17:18 UTC. Front page is a credit card donation form. (Compare and contrast: the REAL American Red Cross site.

Let's take these fuckers down before they can steal thousands of dollars from innocent people and steal their credit card data.

Note that the Verisign link goes to the verification for WWW.REDCROSS.ORG, the real site (not for www.AMERICAN-redcross.org, the scammers).

american-redcross.org is a SCAM SITE masquerading as the American Red Cross (real site: www.redcross.org. Different IP block, registered to "lovelele25@yahoo.com", registered JUST TODAY at 15-Jan-2005 21:17:18 UTC. Front page is a credit card donation form. (Compare and contrast: the REAL American Red Cross site.

Let's take these fuckers down before they can steal thousands of dollars from innocent people and steal their credit card data.

Note that the Verisign link goes to the verification for WWW.REDCROSS.ORG, the real site (not for www.AMERICAN-redcross.org, the scammers).

I would suggest that people split their donations among two or more charities. That way, it is less likely that their money will be stuck due to logistics.

Personally, I usually go with Red Cross & Catholic Relief Services.. And please, no argument about donating to a religious charity, it's my choice.

In the back of my mind there is always the fear that some self-righteous warlord will object to US charities helping those he considers his people, so I sometimes lean to charities not directly associated with the US.

There is too much politics in the world... witness the "US is stingy, not giving enough" followed by the "US is giving too much, they want to buy friends in the area" soap operas. No matter what you do, you can never win with some idiots. I understand that people are frustrated, but some people should just shut the f*ck up and tend to the tragedy instead of playing politics!

And what the hell is with Kofi Annan and all these idiots (yes, US too) who must "tour" the devastated areas. What the hell can they contribute?

It makes me sick... Middle-eastern countries, rich in oil, are contributing crap, and they are supposed to look out for their "muslim brothers". Saudi Arabia, $30 mil? The royal family has this much change in their couch cushions!

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/159/story_15913_1 .h tml

Quotes:

"In her January 1 op-ed in Jordan's Addustour, Ayida al-Najjar wonders whether the tsunami left an opening for America to "wash its face and appear cleaner, more sincere, and beautiful" to the Islamic world. The U.S. may see its aid to the Indian Ocean nations as a remedy for the political ruptures its foreign policies have created in the Islamic world"

"Tapping into some of the wild rumors that are circulating around the Internet, in English and Arabic, Mahmud al-Busayfi wondered in Libya's al-Jamahiria on January 4 whether the tsunami was "a reactionary result of the terrible American bombing in Afghanistan and Iraq?" "

http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/review/article_ fu ll_story.asp?service_ID=6486

Yes, whining about Bush taking 3 days to work the logistics, but not a word about Mr. Annan continuing his vacation for three days after the tsunami hit..

Not exactly. The RedCross responds to ALL disasters and many more places where relief is needed. The only error was that many people expected their donations to go directly to 9/11 only.

In response the Red Cross changed their donation policies and guidelines to better reflect what actually happens with the money.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/redcross_06-05 -02.html
http://www.redcross.org/press/disaster/ds_pr/02060 5dsfunds.html

Basically now, if you give to the "Disaster Relief Fund" they use it wherever they see fit, and if you give to the "International Response Fund" if you want the funds to go exclusively to the tsunami relief efforts.

In addition they have all sorts of other areas you can "designate" such as Military efforts, Local chapters, Vaccination efforts, etc etc.

When it comes to charities - the Red Cross and Red Crescent(American and International) are about as real and helpful as you get. They help everyone everywhere.

The Canadian one, at least, is a fast online credit-card donation. You can print out your tax receipt right away. (hey, before midnight gets it in for this tax year, right?)

Or, there are plenty of other organizations that would be happy to receive a donation.

The Canadian one, at least, is a fast online credit-card donation. You can print out your tax receipt right away. (hey, before midnight gets it in for this tax year, right?)

Or, there are plenty of other organizations that would be happy to receive a donation.

While it's all well and good to look to the future, and try to learn from the mistakes of the past, people need help now. The death toll (according to the new york times 12/29/2004 11:36PST) is 70,000.

Please consider packing a lunch next monday and donating $10 to the Red Cross.

If you want to help, donate cash. That is the best way to do it. Donate it to something like the international response fund of the American Red Cross (if you're in the US), or some other very well-known charity group. They can use cash to leverage very cheap buys of massive numbers of goods. And, more importantly, donating goods is great, but while doing so, perhaps you could also donate some free technology to teleport it over there. Getting the supplies to where they're needed is a significant part of the cost of relief. If a government like that of India is requested donations of goods and not cash, then let the Red Cross do the conversion in the most effecient way possible -- it's not like they're taking your cash and driving it around in trucks on the islands. In fact, the Red Cross doesn't even take donations of goods. http://www.redcross.org/article/0,1072,0_312_3877, 00.html

Umm, why exactly should the US Givernment be required to give cash aid when the American people themselves are more than capable of contributing directly to relief organization(s) of their choice? Yes, there are some things that only a government or military can assist on, but when it comes to cash, why would you automatically presume that it is the government's responsibility and not instead encourage giving by private citizens? Please at least go and make a personal contribution (American Red Cross - Credit Card Contribution) before complaining further that the government is not giving enough cash...