Tsunamis and stingy Americans...

The horror of the Tsunamis seems almost biblical in its fury -- the sea rising and swallowing all. It makes ones realize how ephemeral life is , and how we are really wasting our lives sweating the small stuff.

On another note, I have been watching the coverage of the Tsunamis on the mainstream Television here , and it makes me cringe. I have always known that the US is a very self-involved society, but watching Tucker Carslon (yes, Jon Stewart was right - he is a dick) say "I hope you enjoyed the show" after having just seen ghastly images of lives, homes being ravaged was a bit much. Carlson was flippant through out the show, as if it were his usual crossfire type debate. NBC nightly news devoted all of 3 minutes to this "story" and CNBC had a 1 minute coverage of the story followed by a 3 minute debate on the UN spokesperson's comments about the rich countries being stingy with aid. All the 3 pundits who were on that program agreed that the remarks were outrageous, and that the US is very generous. Are you kidding me? Initially, the US had announced 15 million dollars in aid -- one town house in the neighborhood that I live in costs on average several million dollars. Other countries, like Germany and Japan have been even more stingy , and in comparison that makes the US look good - but 15 - now 30 million dollars is really pocket change for a disaster of this magnitude!

"Well, I felt like the person who made that statement was very misguided and ill-informed," Bush said from his Texas ranch. "We're a very generous, kindhearted nation, and, you know, what you're beginning to see is a typical response from America."

Asia tsunami relife - world vision

Sri lanka disaster relief fund

And there is Red Cross....