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I'm sure that the relief agencies would be happy to take a donation. I think these are correct, but double check for yourself. I apologize for not including everybody, please don't let that stop you from making a donation.

American Red Cross
British Red Cross
Canadian Red Cross
Australian Red Cross
New Zealand Red Cross
Irish Red Cross
Deutsches Rotes Kreuz
Croix-Rouge Francaise
Röda Korset
Røde Kors
Røde Kors
Rode Kruis
Schweizerisches Rotes Kreuz
Croce Rossa Italiana
Cruz Roja Española
Polski Czerwony Krzyz

Salvation Army donations

Oh, it has. The Salvation Army shows me that Christians think it's okay to spread hate about a specific group of God-created individuals (ie., gays [wikipedia.org] and women who would dare to make their own perfectly legal decisions regarding reproductive health [wikipedia.org]) if you help a group of homeless people who think similarly to you (or are at least willing to go through the motions for a hot meal).

The Salvation Army has nothing against helping gays. They just won't hire them. I know you would love nothing more than to force Christian organizations to hire people who they don't want to, but the fact is, they LEGALLY (since you brought it up) don't have to. I'm sure it would warm your heart to walk into a church office and see it filled with gays and transvestites who sit around all day and smirk at the doctrine being taught, and asking people who come in, "Do you really believe this crap?", but that's not going to happen.

As for life, from your own source:

"The Salvation Army believes in the sanctity of all human life and considers each person to be of infinite value and each life a gift from God to be cherished, nurtured and redeemed. Human life is sacred because it is made in the image of God and has an eternal destiny. (Genesis 1:27) Sacredness is not conferred, nor can it be taken away by human agreement."

Really? You're mad because the Salvation Army values human life? Seriously? That's your complaint? Do you think that human life has no value? I think that this speaks more ill of you than the Salvation Army.

Maybe you were going for abortion or something. Let me inform you that Christians consider unborn people to be people. People are human. So let's do the math here; People are human. Human life is sacred. Fetuses are human. The lives of fetuses are sacred. Why is that so hard to understand? I understand that you may not view an unborn human being as a human being, but Christians don't feel you are qualified to make that call. We are sorry you feel that way, but the second that people starting deeming other people as non-human or sub-human, bad things happen. Look it up if you don't believe me.

Oh, by the way, The Salvation Army is NOT against contraception. From their own site:

However, it is recognised that many married couples will find it necessary to limit the number of their children for reasons of health, economics and other factors; any such decision, including the contraceptive means to be used, should be taken responsibly and where necessary under medical advice.

... but something tells me you won't be hating them any less, even though you are wrong about some of your reasons for hating them.

Sorry, I'm pretty sure Jesus said "Love thy neighbor," not "Love thy neighbor unless he's a fag or uses contraceptives." I'll start taking it seriously when you do.

Christians don't hate "fags" (your word, not mine), at least they are not supposed to. I know there are some groups out there that would lead you to believe that. They are wrong. But assuming that a single church from Kansas can make you think that all Christians hate homosexuals, then wouldn't it be fair to assume that all white people hate homosexuals? I did see several white people in sheets speaking out against homosexuality. I've seen groups of black people speaking out against homosexuality as well. The nation of Islam is a fine example. It's made up of black, non-Christians. So, can I assume that all blacks are against homosexuality as well? Don't even get me started on Muslims. They tend to hang homosexuals, but you go ahead and hate on Christians.

But, yes, it's true that Christians are against homosexuality. No, it's NOT true that Christians are against homosexuals. Christianity is one of the most "gay-friendly" religions out there, but don't let that stop you from bashing them for being against the act.

I am a product of my society, and have no problem giving back some of my wealth to help my less fortunate fellow citizens.

You are free to do so, I also believe in that, may I recommend the organization I use do distribute my wealth?

I also give some of my money to a health insurance policy. Everyone who believes in having some security against unforeseen health problems are also free to do so. But I also believe in freedom of choice. I'm free to choose the exact level of protection I want. I don't want to be spoon-fed with a health insurance plan.

Did I make a wrong choice? Ooops! Perhaps I didn't have the health insurance I needed, perhaps I crossed the street at the wrong time, perhaps I ate the wrong mushroom. But at least it was *MY* choice, I'd rather die of a disease my health insurance didn't cover than from a disease the State Health Insurance Plan didn't provide for.

A good number of them are beginning to find offense in the attempts to remove the Christian aspects of Christmas.

No one is attempting to "remove the Christian aspects of Christmas". As stated previously, there are damn few of them anyway, few enough that many of the popular "mega-churches" are closing on Christmas. But those who want those elements are welcome to them and no one is trying to stop them from celebrating Christmas in their own way - in their own time and on their own property.

But a few loudmouth kooks in the theocratic right are attempting to get people to act as if Christmas is the only holiday that anyone is celebrating this time of year, to act as if anyone not celebrating Christmas is in the wrong.

I didn't shop at Target this year because they excluded the Salvation Army from collecting at there stores.

That's a misleading statement. Target doesn't allow anyone to engage in solicitation or petitioning at their stores regardless of the cause being represented. They used to not enforce this policy on the SA. They've just made their policy consistent and non-discriminatory. And they've still partnered with the SA for Katrina relief, and many stores have made grants to local SA chapters.

Just as I have heard that the Homosexual community is suggesting that it's members shouldn't buy cars from Ford because Ford doesn't advertise in Gay media outlets the Christian community is deciding that should do it's Christmas shopping at stores that support there life style choices. It is no different.

Legally, they're on equal footing, certainly we can all choose who we do business with. Ethically, they're completely different. Ford has slapped the gay community in the face (and shot itself in the wallet) by caving to homophobes and withdrawing ads from magazines serving the gay community. Message: we don't want gays as customers. Ok, Ford can do that, and gays and their friends can say, "Well, fuck you then Ford, I'm buying a Toyota."

Target is declining to slap non-Christians in the face, declining an exclusive "Merry X-mas" in favor of an inclusive "Happy Holidays". Message: whether you celebrate Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza, the Solstice, Festivus, Bodhi Day, Ramadan, New Year's Day, whatever holiday floats your boat, c'mon in and buy our stuff. It takes a twisted, bigoted mind to take offense at that.

(Though I'm still not shopping at Target until they stop allowing employees to deny women access to health care and guarantee access to prescriptions without discrimination or delay; medical care trumps holiday banners, Target.)

I can think of about a dozen organisations that could put that money to better use than the Red Cross. I have first hand experience dealing with them in a disaster like this in my own town and let me tell you, it was not a pleasant experience.

Maybe try the Salvation Army

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

Salvation Army Online Donation - Money goes directly to help with Katrina relief.

The Sally-Ann are there too ... and what would we ever do without them ...

http://satern.org/response.html/

Donate to them here:

http://www.salvationarmy.org/

How many of you have helped out at a Homeless shelter or soup kitchen? Donated clothes/etc to the Salvation Army? Helped the Big Brothers or Big Sisters? Helped out Habitat for Humanity? Or thousands of other things one can do to help their fellow humans? I have, and the look on peoples faces when I help them with no selfish intentions is worth 1,000's to me. I just recently helped a co-worker setup a new computer. I saved her a lot of money by building a new computer and using some of her old parts. I gave her a spare 20GB HDD and a video card. I refused payment. Why? Because I wanted to help. Not because I wanted money. She still thanked me and gave me 4 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. That meant more to me then her handing me an impersonal check.

I have a 2 1/2 year old girl, should I start to charge her for my time, since "time is money"? Of course not, I would not trade my time with my little angel for any amount of money.

Now, I can think of thousands of ways to make money in a world where the majority of software is free. I think a balance can be met between free software and pay software. What I do not want to accept is proprietary software. I am a developer for a fortune 500 that does a few billion a year in sales and non of it comes from selling software. This company and hundreds of thousands of other companies in the world need software developed in-house. That requires hiring programmers to build custom applications. Most purchased software are too generic for companies and those companies want to tweak those apps, build extensions or develop complimenting applications. Most companies do not want to fit their business to sofware and instead want software to fit their business. So there will always be a strong need for sofware developers. The only issue that could hurt software developers is not Open Source, but out sourcing.

One other point, why do closed minded people like Clemens Vasters still think that you cannot sell Open Source software? MySQL, JBoss, Red Hat, SuSE, Ximian and others are doing it. What is required for a company to make money with Open Source is a for that company to trully add value. In a world where most of the software is Open Source, companies will once again have to innovate and create value. And that scares a lot of people.

>Donate the computer to the terrorist cell of your choice, you dumb fuckers.

You maen like the american talaban?

The American Red Cross, American Rescue Team, the Salvation Army are only a few organizations among many others for which you can volunteer to help the poor and disadvantaged people in a foreign country called America. Hope it helps.

Most people I know who find *any* motive to give do so to better the world, not just to unload cash and a guilty conscience. Most, in fact, take pride in skillfully making the difference they do to the betterment of the environment around them.

On a small scale, we bathe, we place trash in the proper recepticals, we make our world a bit less intollerable, one action at a time. But a person with a Missionary Mindset has a larger vision of effectively improving some corner of the world.

I for one like the 'geekaid' idea... On the surface, it may not sound like it will help close a rift between the haves and have-nots. But deeper, it profoundly impacts the earth if hardworking freeware engineers are adequately funded to empower the moneyless with technology... far more impact than handing a twenty to some hobo who would blow it all on booze and cancersticks.

I'm a non-believer doing IT work for The Salvation Army. It's good to know that the purpose I serve has one of the world's lowest overheads in operating expenses, doing tons of underpublicized community work and Emergency Disaster Relief. Yet I think getting a credit card for LinuxFund is just as effective a contribution, because it helps people (not unlike myself) who pour their life's blood and sweat into helping those who have less.

"Back off, Romulan! I'm on a Mission From Kahless" --KwISt, the twistai guy }};-)