Generosity by Comparison

I read somewhere earlier that more is being spent on the dub's inaugaration (40 million+) than is being offered for relief (35 million) to the 80,000+ victims of the recent earthquake/tsunami disaster.

It's amazing the value we place on life and the lengths we go to in order to protect it, yet when 80,000 people die, the dub's inauguration funding takes a higher priority. I know, 35 million is a lot of money, though by comparison to a number of other things we devote our resources to (400+Billion/year on military alone, at least 30 million every day in Iraq, and of course, dub's 4-day, historically valued, inauguration extravaganza), 35 million for nearly 100,000 people seems a little thin. Then again, what do I know -- after all, money doesn't just grow on trees. *wink *nod

If you're interested in helping out the earthquake/tsunami victims, go to one of these places:

Relief Web
American Red Cross
UNICEF
World Food Programmme
Tsunami help blog
Habitat for Humanity International

*update -- Tsunami death toll up to 117,000

*update -- Death toll surpassing 150,000, and suddenly, the U.S. has pledged 350 million in relief aid. I was curious; how did we go from 15million to 35million, to 350 million? Don't get me wrong, this is a good thing; in no way am I complaining, though it is quite the jump-- naturally, I ask "why such an increase?". Then I found out that Japan pledged 500 million. Is that what it takes, another country to trump our initial contributions? Just another move on the global game of chess.