I’m beat.
Mentally, emotionally beat.

I found this quote at Michael Main’s blog and it made me smile.

“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves”- William E. Vaughan

I stayed up. I liked his post The book of Numbers.

Cre8d isn’t finding words either - for friends were lost last week.
And so, imagery says what words cannot.

The Internet Monk looks at the either/or thinking of science, creationists, evil and goodness. Quite the theological discussion is going on in his comment section.

In the Agora kind of decided comments from the UN about giving weren’t completely directed at the US and continues putting ‘Stingy’ America posts.
The posts aren’t drawing comment, I don’t think readers have the energy or the heart for political and economic debate at this point.

The Ayn Rand Institute thinks the US should not be giving aid.

The United States government, however, should not give any money to help the tsunami victims. Why? Because the money is not the government’s to give.

…This is why Americans–the wealthiest people on earth–are expected to sacrifice (voluntarily or by force) the wealth they have earned to provide for the needs of those who did not earn it. It is Americans’ acceptance of altruism that renders them morally impotent to protest against the confiscation and distribution of their wealth. It is past time to question–and to reject–such a vicious morality that demands that we sacrifice our values instead of holding on to them.

And what is Canada doing?
Mostly what other countries and their citizens are doing. Giving. Grieving.
Planes and choppers are the only way to get aid to thousands of people. They are currently grounded because of heavy rainfall and strong aftershocks are hampering efforts to get food to nearly a million people.
*The government will match individual aid up to January 11th.
Thats over 23 million and counting, and on top of the 40 million the federal government has released.
*provinces are also giving economic aid and focusing on long term rebuilding goals
*200 relatives waiting for visas will be fast tracked by Immigration so they may join their families in Canada.
*Agencies, churches and individuals who wish to sponsor anyone from the 11 countries devestated will be assisted by the government
*debt payments to Canada from the affected countries have been suspended for awhile
*Canadian forensic specialists are in Thailand helping their medical people with body identification
*A Canadian military assessment team is on the ground with US counterparts, looking at short term and long term involvement
*Paul Martin will return from vacation and say whatever a Prime Minister says
*Foreign Affairs acknowledges that about 150 citizens are missing

Other Musings

Ian’s Messy Desk has been hacked I think. Either that or there is something he isn’t telling us.:^) When you go to leave a comment you wind up at the FBI site.
Apparently there is a flaw in Word Press that was expoited over Christmas and a fix has been put out.

Religion News Blog is up again as rebuilding and redesign continues. Welcome back Anton and Janet.

This piece at The Blog Herald has blog predictions for 2005. Some good ones to, this one made me smile…

2. 2005 will be deemed “The Year of the Blog” After 2003 and 2004 were both deemed the “Year of the Blog” I’m going for third time lucky this year. At least 10 media outlets will make the announcement, and the word “blog” will be discovered by an additional old-world dictionary group, who will go on to make a lot of noise about listing the word in its paper pages.

And The Evangelical Outpost has been reading a blogging book. An enthusiastic and top-notch blogger himself, Joe is posting a series for readers about how to get into the blogging game. If trends continue, it may be the blogging biz by the end of this year of the next. Or not. I can’t find the tech quote, but if I remember it correctly, a new blog is coming online every few seconds.
There must be just as many abandoned by now.:^)

The Green Man looks pragmatically at the vulgarities of nature. Like I did December 23rd he mentions the Antartic quake in an unpopulated area, and explores why the boxing day quake is different.
Midwest Conservative Journal tackles the ‘why’ question with a poignant personal story.

The owner of a Buenos Aires nightclub has been arrested. 175 people died Thursday, over 700 were injured. Emergency exits were locked.

Christianity Today has an article by Ajith Fernando in Sri Lanka about what people need to do and focus on when helping others.