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These charities aiding victims of Katrina have been rated 4 Stars by the website Charity Navigator. Click the link to learn more about them. And remember, never give out credit card information to a "charity" that approaches you on the phone.

4 Star-rated Charities Assisting in the Relief Effort

    * American Red Cross
    * AmeriCares
    * Brother's Brother Foundation
    * Christian Relief Fund
    * Convoy of Hope
    * Desire Street Ministries
    * Direct Relief International
    * Feed the Children
    * Food for the Poor
    * Islamic Relief
    * Mercy Corps
    * Northwest Medical Teams International
    * Operation Blessing International

[Update 9-8-05: Just found out from the above article (click the link) that Operation Blessing is Pat Robertson's organization.]

    * PETsMART Charities
    * Samaritan's Purse
    * United Way of Miami-Dade
    * World Emergency Relief

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"Ideology And Real Life"

by Chad Thompson on Tue 06 Sep 2005 12:15 PM CDT

"Ideology And Real Life"

The aftermath of Katrina continues, as it should with all of the images we've been exposed to over the past week. Kevin Drum wrote an excellent post about the rather fundamental disconnect we suffer when looking at situations like this.

IDEOLOGY AND REAL LIFE....One of the things that Hurricane Katrina has done is shine a very bright light on the different worldviews of liberals and conservatives.

Conservatives fundamentally believe in a limited role for the federal government. They believe in downsizing, privatizing, and placing greater reliance on state and local government to provide essential services. It's easy — too easy — to blame George Bush in hindsight for specific things like cutting the Corps of Engineers budget for the New Orleans district, but the reason this criticism is legitimate is because this wasn't merely a specific incident. As even some conservatives tacitly admit, it was a direct result of George Bush's governing ideology.

FEMA was downsized and partially privatized because modern Republican leaders think that's the right thing to do with federal agencies. Budgets were limited for levee construction and first responder training because Republicans have other priorities. The federal government was slow to respond to Katrina because conservatives believe states should take the lead in looking out for their own needs. George Bush talks endlessly to the cameras about the private sector helping to rebuild the Gulf Coast because that's the kind thing conservatives believe in.

Liberals, by contrast, believe in a robust role for the federal government. We believe in sharing risk nationwide for local disasters. We believe that only the federal government is big enough to coordinate relief on the scale needed by an event like Katrina, and that strong, well managed agencies like FEMA should take the lead role in making this happen.

Both of these governing philosophies are defensible, but too often they seem like nothing more than opposing sides in an intellectual game. Katrina demonstrates otherwise. It's what happens when a drowning city runs smack into a conservative movement that believes in drowning the federal government in a bathtub.

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Reminder: DFA/DFIA Statewide Meeting This Saturday, September 10

by Linda Thieman on Tue 06 Sep 2005 09:36 AM CDT

Reminder: DFA/DFIA Statewide Meeting This Saturday, September 10

September 10
Iowa Room, Iowa Memorial Union
Iowa City Iowa
9 a.m.-4 p.m.

This will be the first such statewide DFA meeting for Iowa. At this meeting we will:

- Have direct communication between DFIA grassroots and national leaders of DFA

- Provide opportunity for members of local groups to meet each other and share ideas

- Plan specific coordinated actions for the next several months

- Develop communications for sharing practices, coordinating campaigns, and working on issues

- Decide what goals and state-wide structure DFIA will have

There is a $15 registration fee
(includes lunch)

For further information contact Dennis Roseman
roseman@math.uiowa.edu
(319)-337-4925

Click here to see the agenda.

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