Wednesday morning roundup

In my humble opinion, what the Red Cross is doing is unacceptable and also potentially counterproductive--there will be backlash once people realize what's going on. I urge you not to donate money for earthquake relief for Japan, at least not until it's clear where that money will go. If you want to help people in need, donate to the slew of organizations saving lives in the world and not exploiting a high-profile tragedy to fund-raise for everything else they do. I'd recommend International Rescue Committee, Oxfam, or Women for Women International. I repeat what I said when the earthquake hit Haiti--except this is even more true for Japan, where money is not of the essence right now: people are still dying needlessly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the best thing you can do is to make up for the donations they're not getting, because everyone else is donating to earthquake relief (or think they are). This suggestion is not borne of a lack of compassion for earthquake victims; it's based on pragmatism.

On a related note: how to improve foreign aid (continuous aid, not disaster assistance).

When society accepts animal cruelty.

You know, I've complained about Virginia's attorney general (assault on gay rights, climate change denial, etc.), but Dana Milbank's column on some of the antics going on in other states makes us look pretty good.

Check out the Times' cooking handbook.