With all this tsunami news we haven't been focusing on Iraq much. The Jawa Report gives us some rockin news on capturing key players in the bloody game of terrorism. This is just a snippet:

"Perhaps the greatest terrorist arrest in the past year was that of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, a computer and communications expert operating inside of Pakistan. Following the arrest of Khan, the CIA found and broke Al Qaida's code, arrested several other Al Qaida operatives, found out Al Qaida was contacting sleeper cells in the United States and England arrested more than eight connected to a plot inside of England. Clearly the arrest of only one terrorist led to a treasure trove of information."

Rumors are that we have caught Al-Zarqawi. Here are the links:
Sofia News Agency
BBC News
via Jawa Report

God, I hope it's true.

Hyscience gives us an e-mail from a follower of Osama who lives in Boston. And some related links.

Jihad Watch wonders if all the good we are doing with the mostly muslim countries affected by the tsunami is affecting our reputation with the muslims...The answer to that would be......No.

All I can say is Puke.

If you want to read something scary, read the article on the growing muslim population in Britain in this week's U.S. News and World Report. The government decided that it would allow religious classes for Muslims in their schools. The principal of one school asked to sit in on one class and was told no. ( Told no? Whose school is this??) Then she pretended to need to fix a window and went in and was appalled by the teaching to the girls to hang their heads and not look anyone in the eye and to remain quiet. They were told to understand that they are only important for being a wife and having children. Meanwhile, the boys were whooping it up.

But the article really wasn't about how this seems to be the start of brainwashing. "Boys, come here and let me show you how to strap a bomb on and kill infidels." (ok, I made that part up, but you know it happens) It was about how a mostly secular society such as Britain is handling this very religious growth of Islam. For some reason the article gave me the willies.

The Powell and Jeb Bush team to the Tusunmi disaster seems to be bringing speculations for '08. I could handle Bush/Powell, but I'm not sure about Powell/Bush.

I don't think it will happen anyway. But you just never know.

I was sitting here wondering how to express my nausea over the Barbara Boxer teary episode on the floor of Congress, but Beautiful Atrocities just hit it perfectly. Freakin funny too.

"Hi, I'm Barbara Boxer. It's not easy being a woman in a man's Congress. Usually I laugh off things like partial-birth abortion & White House blowjobs, but sometimes the pressures of imaginary election fraud are just too much.

That's why I take Turbo-femme®, the all-natural hormone replacement product to help women through challenging times.
Turbo-femme® is an ancient, 100% synergistic formula containing wild Mongolian dong quai, bear gallstone, Spanish Fly, tarantula venom, Ecstasy, Nutrasweet, placenta paste, bat guano, anabolic steroids, Oxycontin, homeopathic plutonium, industrial strength Prozac, & enough acid to smile through Armageddon.Turbo-femme®:

because I'm worth it"

In the wierd and it's a small world category, Julia Roberts has bought 32 acres of Taos, N.M., real estate from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, People magazine reports.

This is the woman who said that it was no coincidence that in the dictionary the word Republican came in between the words reptile and repugnant.

Guess when it come to buying what you want in Hollywood you don't care who you deal with. Principle be damned.

It seems some are not happy with Kid Rock performing at Bush's inauguration concert. I know Kid Rock was a big supporter of Bush and especially of our troops, but I don't like Kid Rock myself. I find him gross and crude. I don't listen to his music so I have no idea whether he is good or not, but I am assuming that he will sing something appropriate. But we shouldn't object. I will go with Jeff Blogworthy on this one. via Protein Wisdom

Regarding the overturning of the conviction of Andrea Yates, the mother who drowned her 5 children in her bathtub a few years ago. The debate surrounding her seems to bring about alot of emotion because of her mental state and the fact that she was not receiving the medication and treatment she needed. The bottom line for me is that she held her kids under water as they thrased about in terror, even chasing the oldest down to drown him. The horror of it is the stuff of nightmares. I don't care why, I don't care that she had a mental illness. She did it. She should be in prison for life. Period. She is receiving medication now and that is the most she deserves at this point. Don't try and change my mind. Many have tried. Sorry, but in this society I always come down on the side of the child.


Conservative commentator Armstrong Williams accepted a contract for almost a quarter-of-a-million dollars from the Education Department to promote the No Child Left Behind Act. via MSNBC

It seems no laws were broken, but I am bothered by this. Only because he didn't make it clear that he was doing paid advertising. He says he did it because it is a cause he believes in, which is fine. But he still needed to disclose that he was being paid. I know he probably thought that people would question whether he really believed in No Child Left or if he was doing it just for the money.

I am also bothered by the notion that any Dept. of the government can pay a commentator to promote a certain agenda. I can see doing PSA's, but this seems sneaky and I don't like it. I know Williams is not a journalist, but he should still be above board regarding accepting any money in order to promote something on his show. I did watch his interview on CNN and he seemed contrite and said that he would always make sure the public knew he was being paid in a commercial way next time.

As Conservatives we need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

UPDATE: I just saw Williams on O'Reilly and there is a little more to the story. The Dept of Education (Rod Paige being the head) hired a PR firm that hired Williams to promote the No Child Left Behind Act. The White House had no knowledge of it, yet USA Today seemed determine to make that leap. Once again Williams was very contrite and agrees that it was not a smart move. He seems to be handling it very well, not being defensive, but accepting blame. Like I wrote, it doesn't seem right to me, but I would like to know if this has occurred in other administrations as well. Is this a one time thing or a common practice? Mark my words though, the liberals and the media will beat this horse well past death.

Punish the past. Praise the Present.

(CNN) -- Edgar Ray Killen, an 80-year-old Mississippi man, was arrested Thursday in the 1964 killings of three civil rights workers whose bodies were buried in an earthen dam outside the town of Philadelphia.

The article goes on to describe the way in which law enforcement officers were always involved in covering up murders of black men. This is the kind of thing I grew up with. This is what so many leftist don't understand when they moan and groan about how there is such injustice for people of color. I just want to scream. You want to see injustice?? Go back to Mississippi in 1964 buddy, THAT is injustice.

What is truly astonishing to me is how much changed and how quickly it changed. In less than a generation we turned around everything. My children cannot even imagine not having someone of color as a friend. My daughter went to homecoming with a good friend of hers, a nice young black boy who also happened to be the homecoming Duke. That would have been UNTHINKABLE when I was 15. If I had even tried to do that it would have been headline news in Jackson Mississippi and we probably would have been threatened and I shudder to think what would have happened to the boy. I mentioned that to my daughter and she looked at me with unbelief. She asked me if I was kidding. It was something she just couldn't wrap her mind around. And this all changed. 25 years later that kind of thing cannot even be believed.

So when Jesse Jackson rants about nothing changing and blacks still having to suffer under 'voter disenfranchisement' or racial profiling ect. I know that Jesse Jacskon is just in it for the fame. He was there in the '60's. I met him in Mississippi. He knows how bad it was. Now, not only does the law protect people of color, but our children's generation see each other for who they are, not their skin color. Is there still racism? Sure. As long as there are stupid people there will be racism. But today is so different. Every opportunity is out there for people of color, just as it is for white people. It is those people who make their living stirring up conspiracy theories and perpetuating a false overblown belief in overt racism like Jackson and Sharpton that continue to make us view each other by the color of our skin instead content of our character.

Have you ever noticed that it is always conservatives that use that quote from Dr. Marin Luther King, not the liberals?

1. "He did it! He pulled my finger! I can't believe he fell for it."

8. "Hey, George, I see you had the interior of the Presidential Limo completely re-upholstered after my term." "Yeah, Bill, the CDC thought it would be best."

From the always hilarious Writ of Wisdom

Do you look like your dog? Check it out. It is too cute and funny. Via Biomes blog.

If there was any doubt in your mind that Michael Jackson might not be guilty, this will put them to rest. Especially when you see what the police found in his bedroom.



Update on Gonzales hearings today. via Reuters. Democrats continue to act like jerks, case in point: (Leahy referring to the Abu Ghraib scandal)

"Those abuses serve as recruiting posters for the terrorists," said Sen. Patrick Leahy.

Yeah, the local barber in Iran saw those photos and ran to sign up with Osama. Please Mr. Leahy, most of the magazines in your home offend these guys. Your wife showing her face and hair offends these guys. Our movies make these guys NUTS! We are evil to them, do you get that? The prison photos made everyone sick, except the terrorists, whose idea of going easy on their prisoners is what happened at Abu Ghriab.
By the way, the ghosts of the horrors perpetuated at Abu Ghraib under Saddam laugh at our scandal that looks to them a day at the park comparing what they went through.

Besides, the Abu Ghriab scandal had nothing to do with Gonzales. The much talked about memo didn't either. Geeze.

But the ever blowhard Leahy continues:

"America's troops and citizens are at greater risk because of those actions," said Leahy, the Judiciary Committee's top Democrat. "The searing photographs from Abu Ghraib (prison in Iraq) have made it harder to create and maintain the alliances we need to prevail."

You mean the searing photos where the soldiers involved were already being taken care of by the military when the media decided to have a heyday with them and show them every five minutes??? Or Maybe it was the left's need to give the impression that this was widespread instead of an isolated incident involving a tiny tiny portion of the military. Maybe that had more to do with any problems we might have because of this with allies.

The Dems are trying their best to make it seem as if Gonzales somehow condoned the torture at Abu Ghraib, not because they think he won't be confirmed to AG or even because they believe that, but to have it be out there in case Gonzales is ever to be confirmed to the Supreme Court. This dog and pony show is all about that my friends, make no mistake about it.

So this left Gonzales having to state THE OBVIOUS:

"At the packed hearing, Gonzales denounced torture and vowed, if confirmed, to abide by international treaties."

"Let me say, Senator, that as a human being I am sickened and outraged by those photos," Gonzales said.

This was the main 'concern' of Leahy and other democrats:

"Many of the questions focused on Gonzales' January 2002 memo on how the Geneva Conventions should not apply to Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners captured during the Afghanistan conflict."

Leave it to a Texan to state the obvious:

"Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, introduced Gonzales, a former Texas Supreme Court Justice, at the hearing, saying: "Now, I hate to ruin a good story for the president's political opponents. But there is one important problem with this criticism: Judge Gonzales is right."

And leave it to Leahy the jerk to take a final cheap shot:

"After several hours of questioning, Leahy asked Gonzales if he had made any mistakes in the war on terror?
"I'll be the first to admit I'm not perfect and I make mistakes," Gonzales said.
"Glory hallelujah," Leahy said. "You're the first one in the administration that said that."

Wonder how long it's been since Leahy uttered those words, "Glory hallelujah."........Probably a first.

1)What Satan looks like after horn removal.

2)Al Gore auditions for the role of The Joker in the next 'Batman' movie.

h/t to Wonderduck

Diane Sawyer gives us a surprisingly beautiful and haunting account of her journey through the ravages of the tsunami.

A small group of Democrats agreed Thursday to force House and Senate debates on Election Day problems in Ohio before letting Congress certify President Bush's win over Sen. John Kerry in November.

Bush won an Ohio recount by more than 118,000 votes, and won nationally by more than 3 million. But that won't stop them, because this really isn't about who won. They know who won. Fair and Square. This is about having the notion put out there that there was some kind of fraud going on by the Republicans. Democrats want the vast uniformed to just hear that they are "fighting for each and every vote to count." So that they can sound like they are the ones who care about the "disenfranchised." They want it put in the American people's mind that the national election was somehow rigged. I hear from my 28 yr old black friend from harlem online that their community already believes that. This is just another sick way for the democrats to try and assure that the black community stay in their camp.

It truly makes me want to puke.


Alberto Gonzales faces Congress today to become the nation's first Hispanic attorney general. The liberals are having fits, I am sure. How can they demean and degrade this man when he is Hispanic? 44% of Hispanics went for Bush this time around, the democrats know they have to tread lightly. Hispanics are not going to be listening intently on the spin of the democrats on why this well qualified man should not be attorney general. They will especially not see that treating terror suspects badly (although within the law) as a bad thing. As opposed to cutting off heads, like the terrorists do, we look like Mary Poppins no matter how they spin it. Hispanics will only see that the democrats went against him.

This is kind of fun to watch.

My oldest son thinks this is the best site on the internet....oh boy. Be warned, this guy is a funny Howard Stern type. Here's an excerpt from his "11 worst songs of 2004" post, *edited by me* but still funny:

"4. Love And Peace Or Else by U2

If there was a list of things a pacifist should never say, "or else" would probably top it. Everything about this song is stupid. Love and peace or else? Or else what, you pu**ies? What are you going to do about it? Sing another crybaby song for your crybaby fans? Tough sh*t b*tches, war kicks ass."

That is pretty funny. When will people realize that things CAN be funny without using cuss words. He quotes Bono and gives his take on the quote:

"This quote epitomizes U2's pious, holier-than-thou attitude:"

"I don't know why, but we always had this belief that there was something sacred about our music, that it was almost holy."
-Bono, pompous assh*le and lead singer of U2"

Heh.

I like his "Tribute To Real Men." Read it.

mASS BACKWARDS thinks maybe the Thai government has it's priorities mixed up. I agree.

La Shawn Barber offers us Social Security Reforms as Reparations for blacks. How could the liberals refuse that one??????

This post went from the bad to the good, didn't it?

Crouching Tiger, Flying Conservative

Protein Wisdom brings us this excerpt from comedian Margaret Cho's blog:


"How could I hope to be myself, with my uncomplicated child’s face and funny monkey mind when I could never live in the dream world presented to me on the screen? Nobody understands this, when I express it, because there are sci- fi and fantasy films all over the place, and most people don’t come away from “Battlefield Earth” thinking, “Am I here?”
We don’t see Asians in film unless they have super powers, and I certainly don’t have them, so where does that leave this erstwhile actor? Even with all the digital effects, it still wouldn’t work. I am clumsy with a death wish. Yesterday, I was in the backyard and I fell from a height of approximately one inch and I am practically bleeding internally. I see Asians flying with their daggers and I feel as if I am hurtling toward extinction at the speed of light. With the growing death toll of the fearsome Asian tsunami and the popularity of films like [House of the Flying Daggers], I feel as if Asia, not only the continent, but the global community of Asia is on the verge of collapse. There is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, nowhere to fly."

Makes you just want to weep, doesn't it? All Asians are protrayed with super powers. Try looking for conservatives onscreen Ms. Cho. When they are there they are protrayed as rich hypocritical homophobic sexual perverts.

I'll take the super powers any day.

Nancy Pelosi the day after the NBC interview with her and her husband. 

Ok, this is a less harsh pic of me since it is not a black and white newspaper photo, from the 80's. The only other one I could find. No big hair, but then I am in paradise and who needs hairspray there.
No more pics! I'm starting to get like Jeff at Protein Wisdom.

Remember when I said I thought the animals in SE Asia had a 6th sense about the coming tsunami. Well, here is why.


Here is an excerpt from an interview with democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi and her husband Paul on the Today show with Jamie Gangel interviewing. I think she caught Nancy's husband off guard here. What do you think?

Gangel: What's it like being married to the minority leader?

Paul Pelosi: What's it like?

Pelosi: I'm interested in hearing this answer myself. (In other words.."watch it buddy......and you get to live to see another day.")

Paul Pelosi: It's an extremely demanding job. So it hasn't been a lot of laughs.

Gangel: Honest. An honest man.

When a political spouse is caught off guard in an interview, you can bet it is honest. They are not as used to making political spin.
I can't imagine what the poor man's life is like. I can only stand about 2 minutes of her exaggerated spin before I have to turn off the TV or radio. She doesn't just spin, she blows spin out of the water.

So I figure this is what a day in the life Mr. Pelosi is like.

*Nancy enters the house and notices a shirt on the floor. She walks in the kitchen and a coffee cup and plate sit used on the counter. Her husband Paul sits reading the paper.*

Nancy-Oh My God!! What the hell happened here???!!!

Paul-What? What?

Nancy- The living room looks like a damn redneck lives here!!! There are clothes strewn all over the floor!!!!

Paul- I hardly think one shirt....

Nancy- DON'T YOU DARE INTERRUPT ME ,YOU PIG!!! ... AND I THINK I saw some dirt by the front door, possibly from shoes because SOMEONE didn't care enough to take them off at the front door as instructed! This is what causes deficits!!...I mean.... difficulty in keeping things clean!! CLEAN!! DO YOU HEAR ME??? NO ONE LISTENS TO ME!! Look at this mess in the kitchen!! It looks like a Frat house party went on here!!!!!

Paul- It's one cup and plate, for heaven's sa......

Nancy- SHUTUP!!!!! I think I know what a mess is! I am the leader of the Democrats in Congress. I KNOW WHAT A MESS IS!!!!!!!!!!!

Paul- Nancy, calm down....your face might split. Remember the day after the election? It almost happened and Dr. Pullcheeks said to never get that upset again...

*Nancy's hands fly to her face*

Nancy- Your right, of course. Are my eyes still open wide like a startled clown? Youthful and Surprised. That was the name of the look I chose from Dr. Pull cheeks, you know.

Paul- Yes dear, you look fine. I'll go get the shirt and pick up the plate and cup. You go take your meds and lie down, ok?

Nancy- alright...alright. If Howard Dean calls come and get me. We are trying to figure out how to rule the world and distribute everyone's wealth but our own of course.....uhh...I mean get the democrats back in power.

Paule- Yes dear.

*Paul hangs his head in utter dispair as he trudges out of the room*

Here is her future dream:


Gangel: If you could have one political wish come true for your career, what would it be?

Pelosi: I'd want the Democrats in the House of Representatives to be the majority. And then my colleagues would elect me speaker of the House. I would become the first woman speaker. That certainly would be very exciting.

God forbid.

This from socaltech.com: news

Tuesday, January 4, 2005
Blog Readership Surges in 2004

The Pew Internet & American Life Project released a study this week that showed that blog readership in 2004 increased by 58%, with 6 million Americans getting news and information fed to them through RSS aggregators. The same study shows that there are over 8 million people creating web-based logs or diaries. However, the same study shows that 62% of online Americans do not know what a blog is. Blogs are online diaries or where Internet users posts their opinions, thoughts, observations, or whatever else they like to the world. The Pew Internet & American Life Project is a non-profit that studies the social impact of the Internet.
posted on Tuesday, January 4, 2005

I'm wondering how we can get those 62% of online Americans to become aware of blogs. Any ideas?
I am amazed there are 8 million plus of us. It will be interesting to see how we evolve.

"The militant group of Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al-Qaida in Iraq, claimed responsibility for killing Gov. Ali al-Haidari and his bodyguards." via ABC News

A website carrying claims of the killing also said this:
"We tell every traitor and supporter of the Jews and Christians that this is your fate."


I realize that America is tiring of these attacks. Who is not sick of the death and destruction these terrorists leave behind? But it is for this very reason that we must prevail. We can not only let these people win in any way, but we also cannot send a message to anyone that this is the way to intimidate people. It is more important now more than ever that the election in Iraq go forward as planned. I know there is a concern from the Sunni's about they being able to vote. I don't care if we have to go to them and let them vote in their home, it needs to be done.

Luckily, Fareed Ayar, a spokesman for Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission, seems adamant that there be no delay.

I found this on the picture disc I didn't know was there. The Oh so young me. The 80's big hair. Don't you love it? This was from a newspaper pic. 

Blacks and the ghetto and gay issue

Comedian Bill Cosby continued his one-man crusade to improve the futures of young African-Americans talking to America's black community like this and this.

Earlier in the year Cosby fired away at low-income blacks for spending $500 on their children's shoes but not spending $250 on educational tools such as "Hooked on Phonics."
Criticizing African-Americans for wearing saggy pants, speaking improper English and giving children names like "Shaniqua, Shaligua, Mohammed and all that crap," he said, "I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange [prison] suit," he said in May. "Where were you when he was 2? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18, and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol? And where is the father? ... You can't keep saying that God will find a way. God is tired of you."

Cosby received a lot of heat for those words. People were telling him he sounded like rightwing white people. Well, yeah...that's right. That is what we have been saying for a long time because it is true. If it takes a respected black man to get people to listen then more power to him. Cosby was quoted as saying, "I don't care what rightwing white people say." Good. I don't want him to care about what anyone says as long as he is spreading the message of discipline, education, and values to young black Americans in the inner city who so need it.

In his remarks around the country Cosby had this to say:

Cosby asked: "Do you see in that yard any drug dealers? Do you see any teenage pregnant girls? Take a look at them, and put the future on them. Without love, education and care, they begin to look like the statistics. ... You cannot tell me it's impossible to put your children in first place and raise your child strong."

Cosby concluded: "It's a movement now that needs to happen. ... It's time for people to just stop seeing themselves so much as victims, so much in poverty, and realize what education does and fight for it like you're fighting for your life – and you are because that's what our children are."


Arlene Ackerman, the San Francisco's first black superintendent of schools, told the Chronicle she was glad Cosby had aired his frustrations, even if they were not politically correct.
"We haven't figured out a way to talk about it as African-Americans. ... At least now we're talking about it," she said. "The truth is, many of the things he said are reality for those of us who work in urban public schools."

On a related note, eleven percent of African American voters supported President Bush in the election, up from nine percent in 2000. That is a promising increase for Republicans. I hope that it is wall that we have broken through and will continue to see increases in African American support. Many were saying that the evangelical black church's came out for Bush. I wondered about that.

My black friends are upper middle class and supported Bush. I wanted the opinion of someone in the lower income bracket. I had an opportunity the other day. I was having my car worked on at the dealership and they sent a car to come get me. The black man driving had a black gospel station on the radio. We had about a 20 minute ride, so being the shy person I am, I asked him if he attended a black church regularly and thought of himself as a devout Christian. He said yes. I asked him how the black gospel stations handled the election. Did they endorse anyone? He said he thought they had been pretty fair in presenting both sides. I asked him if he minded if I inquired how he voted. He said he had voted for Bush and it was the first time he had ever voted Republican. I asked him why. He said it really came down to the gay marriage issue and believing that Bush was a man of God. He said the whole gay thing was like Sodom and Gomorah. It was just wrong and he didn't believe that Kerry was really against it. I asked him if he thought abortion was wrong as well. He said yes. I asked, "So, if the gay marriage thing is immoral and that is why you felt you had to vote for Bush, why hasn't the abortion issue bothered you enough to vote Republican before?" He answered, "I don't know really." I apologized for quizzing him and he said no problem, he was enjoying it. So I said. "Doesn't your pastor ever address the abortion issue?" and he said "No. Not that I have ever noticed. I think that is something we just don't want to talk about."

I found that very interesting. I still don't understand why gay marriage, which is a between 2 adults and does not actually hurt anyone, bothers him more than the destruction of innocent life. I am not defending gay marriage, I am just saying that in my view, weighing the the right and wrong of it, the killing of an unborn child just seems worst to me. Yet that is not the issue that concerned most Christian black voters. It was the gay issue. That does spell trouble for the democratic party because that issue is not going away and more and more blacks will be bothered by the democratic embrace of it.

Consider this... In Ohio 61 percent of African-Americans supported a ban on gay marriage and Bush won 16 percent of the African-American vote in Ohio and 13 percent in Florida -- significant showings for a Republican.

What do yall think?

The children are fighting.

That would be the democrats. What will be the future of the democratic party? the MoveOn.org types or the Joe Lieberman types? The article is interesting to me in 2 ways. One is that no social issues are mentioned. The democrats are going to have the face the fact that they are too extreme on most social issues. Second, the article had this to say about Bill Clinton quoting David Sirota, an aggressive young party operative, writing in the American Prospect and the Nation.

"...Sirota also criticized Bill Clinton, whose "New Democrat" agenda was heavily influenced by the council's thinking. Clinton's "embrace of a big-business agenda arguably did as much long-term damage to the Democratic Party's moral platform as any of [his] … sex scandals or the battles over social issues," Sirota wrote."

The article also says this:

"During the 1990s, many liberals felt that Clinton abandoned class-conscious themes by supporting the North American Free Trade Agreement and a balanced federal budget."

So the question I have to ask is this, why is Bill and Hillary Clinton still the stars of the democratic party? No one can bring in more of a crowd or more money than these two. If the democrats feel that the Clinton team was not liberal enough then, my Republican friends, we have no worries. The democratic party is completely lost.

More Tsunami News.

Some villagers are complaining that the rich tourists are getting unfair advantage in recovery and medical treatment.

This is a neat interactive map of the disaster areas where you can click on each affected area and get the information on each one, including death toll and pictures.

Web to the Rescue.

Here's some chilling first hand accounts of the coming Tsunami, warnings, and aftermath. It is a really good article.

Government pledges of assistance have reached nearly $2 billion.
I can't find a total amount of private donations. Anyone have that?
Amazon alone has now reached a unbelievable $12,224,629.09