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I voted "not sure" but, honestly probably not. I have the chance with this paycheck to have all my credit card debt paid and all my bills paid. My reasons for not doing so, have zero, nada, ziltch to do with politics or Obama.
I also am thinking this is a good reminder for me to update my own supplies, water, food, propane etc. so i may spend a few dollars on that. i realize that here in the SF bay area, we are much more prepared to deal with a quake, still, it never hurts to be ready.
Already have via Catholic Charities. They've been on the ground in Haiti for years, have a great network and infrastructure, are supported by the entire CC organization and with them I'm confident about where my money is going. With so much corruption in Haiti that last point is important.
I think that the type of aid that Haiti really needs is getting free birth control and counseling the people to have smaller families. Obviously that island can't support the existence of all those people, hence their permanent impoverished state.
And that said, imo the last group that should receive any donations is the Catholic Charities with their pro life agenda.
From what I've seen on tv, the Haitians are very religious people. And they are currently doing a lot of praying to god for help. They aren't thanking people in other countries for their help, just god. Which makes me not interested in helping them beyond what Obama is going to do with my tax dollars.
Wait. So if a person doesn't donate money to Haiti, he's selfish?
Try reading the posts that I responded to.
The amount of self-righteous justification was over the top.
And it was repeated throughout the thread, harassing people for doing what they wanted to do with their money.
The poster was basically calling people who donate fools.
Matt, get your house in order.
That's probably the best thing you can do.
I'm solvent so I gave to my favorite charities without causing me any stress.
I "donate" via my income taxes to our military - but if someone attacked us here, and it became necessary for me to pick up my arms against them, I would do it even though I've already "donated" to our military protection services. I am not sure why people make the argument that no further donations are needed to help the Haitians for the sole reason that they've already given via income taxes, but if that is as far a person wants to go, fine with me. One some issues, I may give small or I may give large; I may give once or I may give repeatedly; I may give in one form, and then later give again in another form. I try to be flexible about such things. I also believe that this is a very individual decision that each person makes in their own way and for their own reasons.
I cannot witness suffering or tragedy on this scale without emotion or feeling for their sudden plight. I believe that this is a random thing that life can dole out to anyone on the planet without notice, and that without humans helping humans, there is no humanity. I wasn't born or raised as someone who doesn't feel anything or isn't willing to do anything when faced with the knowledge that they might be able to alleviate of another being's suffering in some way.
I've been to Haiti. I visited an environmental program run by the U.S. gov't. I happened to drop in on a similar program being run by the Baptist church -- I was blown away by how well and efficiently it was run by comparison -- the productivity, the cleanliness, the low overhead. By contrast, the U.S. gov't's overhead was astounding, the aid workers lived in mansions! I'm making a private contribution willingly because I know my dollars will actually go a long way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by aqua0
I thought of it as I felt pretty sad watching the devastation on TV.
Then when Obama pledged $100 million, I know I won't have to. He's taking taxpayer $ to make donations on my behalf. So, no I'm not donating -- it's being done for me already.
A lot of people donate $ because they want to "DO SOMETHING". It's a natural reaction. I just hope all that $ is going to get used efficiently.
Do I feel guilty not donating? No. Do I wish I could do something? Of course, because I know more $ is not the solution to Haiti's problem.
Katie Couric just said that 45% of the population in Haiti are children. Wow. And I found statistics on a website that said in 2002, 39% of the Haitian population were inhabitants under the age of 15. Anyway, they HAVE to curtail their population rate drastically. And no, I don't think that we should be bringing their children over to the US to raise.
Haiti - Population, Health and Human Well-being - Country Profile (http://earthtrends.wri.org/text/population-health/country-profile-80.html - broken link)
Some argue that our "donation" is through our tax dollars. I lean toward agreeing with that view.
Gee. For once I agree with you. I was going to be a smart a_ _ and say, "No, because Obama has already pledged my support".
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