Major Earthquake in Haiti

[Reginus]

The president of Haiti recently said that the death toll due to this 7.0 magnitude earthquake may rise into the hundreds of thousands.

Article: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/13/haiti.earthquake/index.html

As many of you know, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, and has been struggling with poverty long before now.

I was going to post a link to what Pat Robertson had to say on the issue, but now that I think about it, I suppose that would be a bad idea.

A few aid organizations: http://www.globalgiving.org/haiti-earthquake/

[curiosityandthecat]

The aid effort on the social networks is just insane. I've never seen anything like it. It's really, really inspiring.

What's not inspiring, however, are the responses coming from Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh. Robertson said Haiti was hit with the earthquake (and has suffered other hardships) because they made a "pact to the devil" and Limbaugh went on his usual tirade about... well, I don't know. I don't actually hear words when either of them speak. I just kind of hear that sound that adults make in the Peanuts cartoons. Oh, and apparently O'Reilly, Hannity and Coulter(geist) completely agree. Surprise, huh?

Here's Pat's statement:

[youtube:2rd7snwd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5TE99sAbwM[/youtube:2rd7snwd]

And here's Keith Olbermann's response to Pat and Rush:

[youtube:2rd7snwd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPoWOw8Jm5w[/youtube:2rd7snwd]

[karadan]

Anger is an emotion i don't often feel but after watching that clip, my blood is fucking boiling... Why the hell does Pat Robertson even get any airtime?

 

[jrosebud]

If anyone is interested, the Center for Inquiry has a program that accepts donations for the secular group Doctors Without Borders.  One hundred percent of the procedes (none is kept for operating costs) will be used to help those in Haiti.

https://secure.ga1.org/05/share_earthquake_in_haiti

Admin edit:  if you are not sure if the above link is legit here is the link to it from the CFI site:  http://www.centerforinquiry.net/news/sh ... ke_relief/  It was pointed out to me by @_7654_ on twitter that the url looks fish and that the above domain is registered to "getactive software" so I went directly to the CFI site to make sure everything was okay and it is their project.

[AlP]

If anyone is interested, the Center for Inquiry has a program that accepts donations for the secular group Doctors Without Borders.  One hundred percent of the procedes (none is kept for operating costs) will be used to help those in Haiti.

https://secure.ga1.org/05/share_earthquake_in_haiti

Good find. I was going to donate through AHA. They have a 5% admin overhead for the Haiti fund and they don't yet seem to know what their going to do with it. Above link looks like a better option. Link anyway. Or there's the Red Cross.

[MariaEvri]

Robertson said Haiti was hit with the earthquake (and has suffered other hardships) because they made a "pact to the devil" and Limbaugh went on his usual tirade about... well, I don't know. I don't actually hear words when either of them speak. I just kind of hear that sound that adults make in the Peanuts cartoons. Oh, and apparently O'Reilly, Hannity and Coulter(geist) completely agree. Surprise, huh?

I REALLY try not to think of america as a place full with crazies... but you're just not making it easy for me

[curiosityandthecat]

Robertson said Haiti was hit with the earthquake (and has suffered other hardships) because they made a "pact to the devil" and Limbaugh went on his usual tirade about... well, I don't know. I don't actually hear words when either of them speak. I just kind of hear that sound that adults make in the Peanuts cartoons. Oh, and apparently O'Reilly, Hannity and Coulter(geist) completely agree. Surprise, huh?

I REALLY try not to think of america as a place full with crazies... but you're just not making it easy for me :crazy:  

(edit to combine posts)

The more I think about this (the Pat Robertson thing, not the earthquake thing), the more I kind of like it. Anything that pushes people away from institutionalized Christianity is, in my opinion, a good thing.

Keep it up, Pat. Your crazy just might save a few.

[AlP]

I went with the CFI donation. Thanks jrosebud!

Oh and don't donate through this charity.

[theTwiz]

Came here to post the Pat Robertson clip.  I've never been a fan of him for obvious reasons, but now he just got added to my "Do Not save in event of Zombie Apocalypse" list, right below Ted Haggard.

[joeactor]

In case you missed it, there's a group sending Solar Powered Bibles (ya know, instead of food, water or money):
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010 ... 796032.htm

They are apparently audio bibles, solar powered, with speakers so that large groups can hear.

FTA: "The Proclaimer is self-powered and can play the Bible in the jungle, desert or ... even on the moon!"

Here's their web site if you're so inclined:
http://www.faithcomesbyhearing.com/audi ... hope-haiti

Going to the moon to listen to god's word,
JoeActor

[LoneMateria]

I saw the solar powered bibles on Reddit along with a link to an article which linked to this:

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/atheists_love_you._they_just_dont_know_why/


I haven't been this angry at Christians ever.  They are spitting on the secular relief efforts because they are secular and talk shit about the groups that run the charities.  After thoroughly pissing on everyone for giving money to the Haitians they end the article with

But we’re glad for the help anyway. Thanks.

I can't type straight right now i'm so angry.  What kind of scumbags do this shit .... well obviously the Catholics ...

[Reginus]

I saw the solar powered bibles on Reddit along with a link to an article which linked to this:

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/atheists_love_you._they_just_dont_know_why/


I haven't been this angry at Christians ever.  They are spitting on the secular relief efforts because they are secular and talk shit about the groups that run the charities.  After thoroughly pissing on everyone for giving money to the Haitians they end the article with

But we’re glad for the help anyway. Thanks.

I can't type straight right now i'm so angry.  What kind of scumbags do this shit .... well obviously the Catholics ...

I agree that the tone of the article is very inappropriate in the wake of this disaster.
 
I'm sorry that you're so angry, and we're here for ya.

[pinkocommie]

I saw the solar powered bibles on Reddit along with a link to an article which linked to this:

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/atheists_love_you._they_just_dont_know_why/


I haven't been this angry at Christians ever.  They are spitting on the secular relief efforts because they are secular and talk shit about the groups that run the charities.  After thoroughly pissing on everyone for giving money to the Haitians they end the article with

But we’re glad for the help anyway. Thanks.

I can't type straight right now i'm so angry.  What kind of scumbags do this shit .... well obviously the Catholics ...

What a difficult article to read.  I think the most annoying part of the article for me was the second to the last paragraph -

I almost hate to inform Mr. Dawkins that his little plot is actually helpful to believers as we believe that no matter what you espouse verbally each man has written on his soul the ability to tell right from wrong. And while Dawkins denies it, his actions indicate otherwise. There is a moral sense which you can ignore but your choosing to ignore or embrace it has no effect on its existence, much like God Himself.

The author of this article is very snarky and ironically prideful of his religiousness, and I think it's these qualities that cloud the author's logic throughout the article.  I don't know specifically if Dawkins has ever wholly rejected the idea of inherent morality, to my knowledge he's only rejected the idea that morality is somehow connected to and dependent on the divine.  Also, the terms the author uses are vague - moral sense?  Is this something different than morality?

I feel like this is another catch 22 situation for atheists.  We are told we have cold hearts, we don't do anything for others, etc. when in fact a lot of us have been involved with outreach programs, community programs, charity and other socially conscious activities for years, we just don't make it a point to make sure people know we're atheists as well as caring individuals.  With the recent influx of atheist groups and organization (in the US at least) people are starting to get together with their atheist groups and reach out but when we do that we're 'just trying to look better'.  Damned if you do, damned if you don't so you just gotta do what you think is right and ignore people like this author - they're speaking out of fear and insecurity, not reason.

[AlP]

It looks like the American Humanist Association came through. I was reluctant to donate through them early on because they didn't know at that time what they were going to do with donations. They delivered supplies to Jacmel and were apparently the first aid to arrive in that city. I think they're still accepting donations, still with a 5% admin overhead though.

http://www.humanistcharities.org/haiti_quake.php

[Whitney]

still with a 5% admin overhead though.

That bothers me....why would it take 5% to basically move money to those who are actually going to use it to do some good?  Of course, maybe they are just more upfront with what they keep for themselves (for offsetting costs and whatever admin overhead is) while other orgs hide it.