Now we are at $350 million. Guess the US doesn’t want to behind France in donations.

Pictures from my Thailand trip at http://bradheld.smugmug.com.

i got a couple of items on my amazon.com wishlist for Xmas, so it has been updated. Take a look and get me something for my birthday on January 4

The disaster in Asia is astounding….125,000 dead.

Yet the US as of now has only contributed $35 million to the relief effort. Here is a quote from an MSNBC blog on the subject:

The United States government is the wealthiest on the planet. At this time of worldwide horror and grief for the more than [117,000] people killed by the tsunami, and the millions of others who are now homeless, why not start with a billion dollar pledge? Compared to 35 million dollars, a billion would generate worldwide headlines and amazement… and it would immediately give people across this earth a reason to be thankful for the United States. And given recent polls showing that hatred for the U.S. is at an all-time high, we could certainly use a better image.

Besides, to put the 35 million dollars in context, consider this: To “help” the citizens of Iraq, our government is spending 5.8 BILLION dollars each MONTH. That translates to more than 8 million dollars an hour. Or put another way, the $35 million we have pledged in disaster aid for Southeast Asia is less than the amount the U.S. military spent during the six hours it took on Sunday for the tsunami to cross the Indian Ocean.

Check out the before and after images on this website of Banda Echa.

I urge all of you to DONATE.

Secondly, the guy that mugged me has now been sentenced to 8 years. It happened while i was on vacation. Glad that is out of the way