allah and jehovah among the strange phone calls i get to field here in the office are questions from lucid people who want to know if there are organizations we know of who will make sure their donated money goes to tsunami victims who aren't anti-semite.

after making the various calculations in my head stop for a moment - like, of course there will be anti-semitism involved in this charade; indonesia, sri lanka, thailand, india and the maldives aren't predominantly christian or jewish after all - i suggested she send money to the red cross or other bigger organizations who you can trust will use the money to help victims no matter what.

"no," she said, "because we don't have control over who gets the money. we don't want our money helping anti-semite victims. my husband saw this over the internet and on t.v. now some of us are upset. so you don't know anything about this, then?"

escape route, thank you, but wish i was quick and brave enough to ask her why does this matter. "i'm sorry."

"thank you," she said, resigned, and we hung up.

right now it doesn't matter where aid comes from - it will be a drop in the bucket required to even get clean water running in these poor areas again. her family is doing the right thing by being conscious of the disaster - too conscious, i think, paying attention to minutiae such as this. chances are, with the extent of damage, her help might not even leave the shores of the u.s. - it might go the red cross' administration costs.

as sure as the sun sets this afternoon, allah and jehovah aren't very happy.   ¶ 12/31/2004 03:23:00 PM