I think it was nice of us to give 35M to the victims. I also know our government said this was a start. I also know that the money we send comes from the taxpayers where as most of the 30m Bush will spend in January does not. Patrick's anger was leveled at the UN for calling us stingy when they are the organization charged with taking xcarte of this kind of disaster. They are also the ones who received BILLIONS of dollars in money illegally!!!
Perhaps they should be digging down in their pockets and ponuing up some money.
BTW, the US has given more money than all other countries combined. France, Russia, and Germany have billions from the oil for food scam but they have donated little. Where is the UN spokesman chiding them?
When you add it up, the money, the supplies, and the people (not to mention private donations) there will be a great deal of American money over there.
Patrick had a right to be angry. The UN has no right, nor moral standing, to call us stingy and say we need more taxes. Also, the UN spokesperson who called us stingy is from NOrway. How much have they given?
Perhaps John Kerry could send the excess money he has left over from the election. His wife could write a check. Hell, her company probably lost a big labor pool considering 75% of her business is done outside the US.
Finally, we should stop all the senseless recounts and send the millions of dollars being wasted on them over. that should do it...

PS. It would appear that you and I are the only ones who read and comment on each other's sites. Don't leave or I will lose my only reader.....

You might try this link to see where inauguration money will come from.
Private donations, like all the private donations going to victims of the tsunami....
WHat people do with their money is their business. What gets done with our tax money is everyone who pays taxes business.

I do not know if your comments allows tags so here is the link. You will have to paste it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A48775-2001Jan25

Thanks Big Dog. I'm not leaving anytime soon. Even if I hated you I'd stick around just to argue. This page does support link tags as far as I know. You can preview the comments for now to see if if everything works. In January I'm changing up my website though. It won't have a preview option. I know it will support links though. Anyway...

Private donation is private donation, and taxes are taxes, for sure. You know we can give more though and so does the UN. I do know there will be a great deal of private donation though and I am glad.

I feel like the Oil For Food scandal is just another excuse to look down on the United Nations. I feel like they have done a lot of good in the world. Every organization has it's darkside though. It darkens what the UN has done already. I don't know if I'm gonna unleash a Jackson style backlash from you about the UN now or not. Tell me what you hate about them though.

Man, I just saw that the deaths are up to 76,700. When I first saw 7000 died I thought it was aweful. I never though it would reach this high. You know that I'm a Christian, right? I still think you were kidding about the left and their Bibles.

Adam, I was making a joke about the Bibles. It had to do with all the hatred after the election because the Jesus contingent voted for Bush. There are plenty of good Christian lefties...

The UN has not done its job. They are suppose to provide relief for disasters and they cause more problems. Look at the mess they caused in Somolia. It is because they ran that many people died and food was stolen.

Look at how impotent they were toward Hussein. They gave him 14 years of "one more chance". They did not make him comply with resolution and thousands of people died in Iraq while the UN and several countries got rich.

It is over 100,000. Keep in mind that they kill that many people through insurgency in that part of the world each year. It does not make it any better, but nature did all at once what they do over a 365 day period.

BTW, the US gives more to the problems of the world than most other countries combined. We even give to the ones who crap on us.

As of Wednesday American citizens have donated 18 million to the American Red Cross.

This is not counting all the other relief efforts where donations have been made.

The government has asserted that the initial relief money is just that: initial. The situation has to be accessed to know the best action to take.

I'm sure we'll end up spending billions, which still won't be enough for the UN and the rest of the world, and the money the private citizens donate will never be counted.