Help Japan!

[Nickdfresh]

Links to various charities participating in Tsunami Relief for Japan below:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_newsro...mi-how-to-help

[Blaze]

Dear,

As Japan struggles to overcome a disastrous string of events -- including a possible nuclear catastrophe -- millions of us have sought to help, often by donating money to urgent relief efforts.

But if you donate via text message, your donations may take up to 90 days to reach aid organizations that need the money as soon as possible.

Even though they're getting large amounts of free media attention for their text-to-donate programs, companies like AT&T and Verizon have chosen not to release the donation money right away. Many customers assume that they're sending funds straight to disaster zones in the crucial days after the earthquake, but donations are transferred after the end of your next billing cycle, a process that can take up to three months.

Masaya Uchino, a law student in San Francisco with family in Japan, started a petition on Change.org to demand that AT&T, Verizon, and other major phone service providers stop delaying much needed donations from reaching organizations doing relief work in Japan. Please add your name to the petition now:

http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-delay-on-donations-to-japan-2?alert_id=QXeUWkuBQr_coHoGSyljp&me=aa

After the earthquake in Haiti, Change.org members and others asked phone companies to provide donations immediately -- and the phone companies came through. But so far they've refused to take the same step, and it's up to us to join Masaya in speaking out.

Thanks for taking action,

- Weldon and the Change.org team

P.S. If you want to donate immediately to relief efforts, join the Change.org staff in contributing to one or more of these great organizations:

Oxfam America: http://chn.ge/hd3n4C
International Medical Corps: http://chn.ge/hhkQhT
Habitat for Humanity: http://chn.ge/e8OX7r
UN Foundation: http://chn.ge/hVZ5uu
American Red Cross: http://chn.ge/eWtkti
UNICEF: http://chn.ge/hDASyY

[ELVIS]

Whatever...

I ate at a Japanese restaurant on sunday...

[Jesus Christ]

Compassionate and Me-like as always, eh Gregory?

[sadaist]

Aren't there people sick, starving, and homeless in our own cities? And we are to send our money to help people 8,000 miles away when we can't help the ones 2 blocks away?

Priorities seem skewed.

I don't remember a whole lot of Japanese aid coming in to New Orleans a few years back.

We do this all the time. Sean Penn will go to Haiti and all his friends will write a song about it, while Los Angeles has one of the highest populations of homeless people in the nation. Sean...you wanna help people that are bad off why not start with your own countrymen?

My prayers go out to the other side of the world, but my donations go to my neighbors. And this isn't me being racist as the homeless around me come in all colors & origins.

[Unchainme]

I don't remember a whole lot of Japanese aid coming in to New Orleans a few years back.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry said that it would provide $200,000 to the American Red Cross to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina. Japan also identified needs in affected regions via the U.S. government and provided up to $1,000,000 in emergency supplies such as tents, blankets and power generators if they receive requests from the U.S. for such assistance. Private and corporate donations totaled over $13,000,000.[33] One Japanese individual, Takashi Endo, donated USD $1,000,000 from his personal funds to Katrina relief efforts.[15]

They also are the 2nd biggest holder of the US's debt, and also employ a ton of workers in this country. My father happens to be employed by a japanese company in fact.

so, yeah...

[sadaist]

Yahoo users have donated more to Japan in the last 3 days than what you listed there from the Japanese govt. $1,843,257 as of this posting. It's near the top of the Yahoo home page.

Homelessness in Los Angeles County

http://www.laalmanac.com/social/so14.htm

20% to 43% are in families, typically headed by a single mother.
33% to 50% are female.
48% graduated from high school; 32% had a bachelor degree or higher
41% of adults were employed within last year.
About 25% are mentally ill.


Come on Sean. This is your backyard. Why go 8,000 miles away to help when you can take a stroll down the street. (outside your gated community of course) As he rides his limo to the airport to fly to Haiti, how many hungry people do you think he passes by?

[jhale667]

You say that as if you have some certitude that he doesn't in fact contribute to American charities?

[ashstralia]

my government gives away billions in aid all over the world every year. japan is one of our biggest trading partners. i feel secure in the knowledge that my tax dollars will be helping out asap.

[Seshmeister]

Aren't there people sick, starving, and homeless in our own cities? And we are to send our money to help people 8,000 miles away when we can't help the ones 2 blocks away?

Priorities seem skewed.

I don't remember a whole lot of Japanese aid coming in to New Orleans a few years back.

We do this all the time. Sean Penn will go to Haiti and all his friends will write a song about it, while Los Angeles has one of the highest populations of homeless people in the nation. Sean...you wanna help people that are bad off why not start with your own countrymen?

My prayers go out to the other side of the world, but my donations go to my neighbors. And this isn't me being racist as the homeless around me come in all colors & origins.

Talking to an imaginary friend isn't going to help anyone. If the cloud daddy was prone to intervene in such things then it's pretty fucking presumptious of you that he was waiting for you to call before he leapt into action. And he didn't.

I guess most of us are small minded and selfish otherwise we couldn't bare to live in such comfort whilst hundreds of thousands starve each year but what does get pretty fucking tiresome is when people try to justify it with shit like this. And what fucking difference does distance make anyway. What if the disaster was in Hawaii would you not give to that but give to one in Ecuador because it was closer? I don't think so. It's an artificial distinction.

And anyway it all ignores the fact that charity isn't meant to be about 'Well what do I get?'

Your post is also specifically wrong about Katrina.

From a US government website.

http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2005/September/20050915165123ajesrom9.768313e-02.html

15 September 2005

Japan Proves Truly "A Friend Indeed" After Hurricane Katrina
Japanese government, companies, individuals send assistance to victims


By Jane Morse
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- If the saying "a friend in need is a friend indeed" is true, Japan is one of the best friends the United States ever could have to provide support while so many Americans are suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Japanese private citizens and the government alike have sent a virtual tsunami of assistance to the victims of Katrina, which devastated 90,000 square miles along the U.S. Gulf Coast in August. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes and hundreds lost their lives.

Japan has pledged more than $1.5 million in private donations. The government of Japan has donated $200,000 in cash to the American Red Cross and some $800,000 in relief supplies -- from blankets to generators -- already are arriving to aid the most needy. Japanese firms with operations in the United States have donated some $12 million in total, including Honda Motor Corporation ($5 million), Hitachi ($1 million) and Nissan (more than $750,000).

The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo was overwhelmed by the generosity of one Japanese individual -- Takashi Endo -- who donated $1 million from his personal funds to Katrina relief efforts. Endo said he was moved when, during a business trip to London, he saw a televised report about a mother separated from her children in the chaos of the flooding in New Orleans. The story so disturbed him he could not sleep that night; the next morning he resolved to do something to help.

Yuji Takahashi, president and chief executive officer of the Japan Petroleum Exploration Company Ltd., which has operations off the coast of Louisiana, donated $100,000 to U.S. federal government hurricane relief efforts. Takahashi said that when he learned of the destruction caused by the hurricane, he felt as if his own family had been affected.

In a note accompanying the donation, Takahashi said: "I have no doubt that your people will stand in the face of difficulties and rebuild their lives in the near future."

Private citizens have sent the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo more than $2,000, and the embassy's Web site and telephone operators have directed hundreds of inquirers to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund Web site as well as the American Red Cross, the Japanese Red Cross Society and Peace Winds donation sites.

Mayors from cities all over Japan have donated tens of thousands of dollars. Governor Hirohiko Izumida of Niigata Prefecture, for example, provided a donation of roughly $9,000 while stressing the ties of mutual friendship and gratitude that link the people of Niigata and the United States. Niigata suffered a devastating earthquake in December 2004 and received substantial U.S. aid, including logistical and material assistance from the American military.

The Korean Residents' Union in Japan, known as Mindan, donated more than $50,000. Mindan's president, Jae Sook Kim, said upon presenting the check to Ambassador Thomas Schieffer that Koreans felt a deep sense of appreciation to the United States, which "has fought by Korea's side for 60 years of freedom and democracy."

Kim noted that the United States has accepted millions of Korean immigrants. When America hurts, Kim said, "Koreans feel the same pain."

The Youth for Understanding Japan Foundation has pledged $45,000, and the Chiba Lotte Marines professional baseball team has started what will be an ongoing campaign to raise funds from fans to help victims of Katrina as well as the recent Typhoon No. 14 in Japan.

NHK-TV, Japan's leading national broadcaster, has partnered with the Japanese Red Cross for a nationwide fundraising drive. NHK is running regular public service announcements instructing viewers how to donate via bank transfer or in person at any NHK or Red Cross office throughout the country. The campaign will run for one month, from September 6 to October 6. Fuji TV network is running a similar campaign.

A number of Japanese jazz greats and other leaders of the music and entertainment industries have banded together for a major "Hurricane Aid Japan" campaign running through December. Donations will be solicited at numerous concerts nationwide. Record companies and others will put banners on their Web sites and individual artists will collect donations. There is already a Japanese-language Web site up and running, with an English version to follow soon.

One of Japan's leading nationwide retailers, the AEON group, has started to collect donations for the victims of Hurricane Katrina at some 700 stores throughout Japan. The campaign will run September 3-20. During this same period, the chain also will donate 1 percent of all sales proceeds for customers using the popular members' discount cards.

The Japanese Red Cross Society, in addition to acting as a major conduit for individual and corporate donations to Katrina relief, announced it would donate $200,000 of its own funds to support hurricane relief activities of its sister organization, the American Red Cross.

All three Japanese international air carriers (ANA, JAL, NCA) have offered free use of empty cargo capacity to transport relief supplies to the United States.

J. Thomas Schieffer, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, has been kept very busy acknowledging all of Japan's generous donors; many have and will receive his personal thanks.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed her "heartfelt thanks" September 2 for the "warm and passionate response" from the international community. (See related article.)

And President Bush, in a September 14 address to more than 160 leaders attending the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York, observed that the "awesome power of nature" has unleashed "the greater power of human compassion." (See related article.)

Addressing Japan and the more than 115 countries that have come to the aid of Hurricane Katrina's victims, Bush said: "I offer the thanks of my nation…. (T)he world is more compassionate and hopeful when we act together."

For more information on the storm and its aftermath, see Hurricane Katrina.

See also the Web sites for the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund (English language), the American Red Cross (English language), the Japanese Red Cross Society (Japanese language), Peace Winds (Japanese language) and Hurricane Aid Japan (Japanese language).

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)



Read more: http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-e...#ixzz1Giz9HRXu

[Nitro Express]

I got this e-mail from Japan.

Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to
have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is even
more worthy of that name, I am now staying at a friend's home. We share
supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful.

During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes. People sit in their cars, looking at news on their navigation screens, or line up to get drinking water when a source is open. If someone has water running in their home, they put out sign so people can come to fill up their jugs
and buckets.

Utterly amazingly where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in
lines. People leave their front door open, as it is safer when an
earthquake strikes. People keep saying, "Oh, this is how it used to be in the old days when everyone helped one another."

People working together is the greatest resource. Nations wipe themselves out when the citizens fight each other, nations become stronger when adversity pulls the people together. You either sink or swim and Japan is choosing to swim.

[ashstralia]

nations become stronger when adversity pulls the people together. You either sink or swim and Japan is choosing to swim.

great post mate. after the summer we've just had, i'm a bit 'disastered' out. but this is it. when the shit goes down, you just pitch in with whatever you can. pragmatism rules the day.

[Blaze]

Talking to an imaginary friend isn't going to help anyone. If the cloud daddy was prone to intervene in such things then it's pretty fucking presumptious of you that he was waiting for you to call before he leapt into action. And he didn't.

I guess most of us are small minded and selfish otherwise we couldn't bare to live in such comfort whilst hundreds of thousands starve each year but what does get pretty fucking tiresome is when people try to justify it with shit like this. And what fucking difference does distance make anyway. What if the disaster was in Hawaii would you not give to that but give to one in Ecuador because it was closer? I don't think so. It's an artificial distinction.

And anyway it all ignores the fact that charity isn't meant to be about 'Well what do I get?'

Your post is also specifically wrong about Katrina.

From a US government website.

http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-e...68313e-02.html

True this. And needed to be heard. ~`~ Thank you Sesh.

[Nitro Express]

I guess all the religious charities that help during disasters should just stop helping then. The atheists have it all under control.

[Nitro Express]

great post mate. after the summer we've just had, i'm a bit 'disastered' out. but this is it. when the shit goes down, you just pitch in with whatever you can. pragmatism rules the day.

The government can't help you when the shit goes down. It's you, your family, and community.