Re: Help families in Asia

I see governments donating a half a million and a couple of million dollars.

Yet I know there are PEOPLE who have billions, and would not miss a million or two.

Funny.

Jan

Has anyone heard from Alvin??? Is he still in Singapore??

Neil

I haven't heard from Alvin for a while.. his email is bouncing and I lost his phone number.... (Alvin! write me if you read this!!)

Although another friend there said Singapore was not touched at all, just shaken slightly.

-- Howard Rose

Yeah,.........I know, But I'm too cheap to buy a good computer,.............let alone give to the waterlogged..............

I suppose there's a huge amount of damage to all of the coastline,................ It's a huge bunch of area to cover no doubt.................And I'll bet those pesky French have more than twice my annual income to spend too............... Since they were dealing with Iraq for oil.............along with a few other countries in the oil for food program.....................

I know, I should have left this alone huh............

Remove "YOURPANTIES" to reply

MUADIB®

On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 01:21:54 GMT, MUADIB® scribbled this interesting note:

Always got to stir the pot, doncha'?

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

I have 6 years of military medic experience, but I don't know where to go to volunteer.

Basically, you'd be in the way. At this point the challenges are logistics - getting water, fuel, food to where it's needed. Tourism is getting back to normal though:

There might be some problems with minefields that got shifted in some of the affected areas in Sri Lanka.

I'm trained to clear minefields. (as well as create them... ).

Let's hope such skills aren't needed.

On top of that there's plenty of need for cleaning up and building simple structures like shelters and fix waterlines and sewage drains. Stuff most people could do if supervised by a pro.

I'm only good at breaking stuff though. :)

Jan

I just thought of something unpleasant and decided to post a warning.

I fear that there may be false humanitary aid collections spawning here and there to collect money for the tsunami struck areas in Asia. Unfortunately there are always people with questionable morals who will try to take advantage of the situation and trick people to give them money. And likewise there will always be gullible, well-meaning people who fall for it.

I would advise you to only trust well known reputable organizations with your donations, such as the Red Cross. Watch your news channels and pick up account numbers and other details from there, and be very sceptical about any and all Internet and email collections. There's plenty to choose from if you just watch the news on TV or go to just CNN.com for the details. Everyone will basically list the same big name organizations and their account numbers.

Same warning applies to heart breaking chain letters asking for help which are sure to follow. Keep an eye on

I even thought it would be a lucrative opportunity to increase credibility of these false collections to say it's a church of some kind who's organizing it. Whip up a nice religious sounding name and very few people would bother to check if it's real. You know how nothing is holy for the criminal mind.

Hmmm... the fact that I came to think of something like this suggests that I may have a criminal mind myself... Or maybe I've just seen too much of that crap. ;)

Jan

I thought it as also a good time to donate blood. I think we should call a time out with the war and send our troops some place they would really help.

Mario

Now *that* is a terrifying thought!!!

K. John C's proof:

Our troops are working their asses off in Iraq and Afghanistan so quit disparaging the work they're doing. There's a war going on; quit trying to demoralize the people in the services and their families. You guys did that during Vietnam and you can't help doing it again. If you want to help the tsunami victims, do it without politicizing the issue. If you want to be critical, look to your precious UN and what they're doing - basically nothing except talk, ski in the alps and bash the US. They're useless and corrupt. The US is doing the heavy lifting - again. And getting criticized - again.

Seriously, though unless you are part of an organized group with current training and are self sufficient, it would be more hazardous and less helpful. For example, if there were an accident, you'd be unable to help yourself and would be using medical resources. It's like the Canadians at the start of the war in Afghanistan. It was a nice gesture to try and help but they were basically in the way because their military was not able to fly and work at night which was mandatory in that area.

"K5" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com...

And f*ck you too!

J.

Agreed, no use for those skills if it was just one man. I'd have to at least have a team to supervise. Alone, I could clear a place for myself to sit in. :D

Jan

You don't support the troops by telling them their sacrifices are a waste and offering encouragement to the enemy. A lot of people in both of those countries do appreciate what our military has done for them but if you have no connections to those people or to our military and you only listen to the bias you get from the evening news and bbc, you would never know that.

I know several people serving or who have served in Iraq and not one of them want to be there. All they and their buddies, like most soldiers throughout history, want to do is survive the experience and get home and live a normal life. If you cannot seperate government policy from true concern for the troops more's the pity for you. To say Americans should shut up and blindly follow their "leaders" is about the most un-American statement I can think of.

--Dan E

Gosh you mean it's not a tropical paradise? Of course this is the way it is. Most servicemen are still proud of their service however. Wanting to be home and serving your country are not mutally exclusive.

That's not the issue and never was. Defeating the morale of our troops and their families by telling them their lives and efforts are wasted and encouraging the enemy *is* un-American. The people serving today are going to be our next greatest generation.

News you'll never see on cbs or bbc because it doesn't support the terrorists: