From The Back Pew: How you can aid disaster relief

In a world of perpetual connectivity, we were able to see almost instantly the awesome power of this week’s massive earthquake in Haiti. According to news reports released Wednesday, we should expect the death toll to be in the hundreds of thousands.

Twitter, Facebook and YouTube came alive almost instantly after the earthquake with people’s first-hand accounts of the hell that is now the all-but-destroyed Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. Twitter was filled with cries for help and requests for supplies. Pleas from family members outside the capital also filled the site with queries as to whether their kin were still alive. YouTube featured on its home page a gallery of videos shot by people living near the epicenter.

The Christian Science Monitor also reported in its Wednesday online edition that people interested in donating to aid the victims of this disaster, may send a text message HAITI to 90999. A donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your mobile phone bill, the website reported; or you may visit www.recross.org, call (800) 733-2767 or send donations to 2025 E Street NW Washington, D.C. 20006.

According to the Monitor, other charities you may donate to include: CARE, visit www.care.org or mail donations to PO Box 1871 Merrifield VA 22116; Direct Relief International, visit www.directrelief.org, call (805) 967-4767 or mail donations to 27 S. La Patera Lane, Santa Barbara CA 93117; Mercy Corps, visit www.mercycorps.org, call (888) 842-0842 or mail donations to Mercy Corps, Department W, PO BOX 2669, Portland OR 97208; Oxfam America, call (800) 776-9326, visit www.oxfamamerica.org or mail donations to 226 Causeway St. 5th Floor, Boston MA 02114; World Vision, call (888) 511-6550, visit www.worldvision.org or mail donations to 34834 Weyerhaeuser Way, Federal Way WA 98001.

This week we ask our In Theory writers their take on the U.S. government’s decision to add additional security scrutiny to people traveling from 14 countries, 13 of them Muslim countries considered “security risks” by the United States, including Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. These security protocols come on the heels of the attempted terrorist attack on Dec. 25.

But is this ethnic, racial and religious profiling? And will it achieve greater security in the long run for our country?

Here is what two of our In Theory writers had to say: Pastor Skip Lindeman writes, “... We need to be aware that racial and ethnic profiling isn’t necessarily going to save us from the next bombing attempt.”

The Rev. Amy Pringle writes, “Gone are the days when the enemies of public safety stayed neatly categorized by nationality, and our country fought nameable wars with self-identified opponents.”

GET IN TOUCH Michael J. Arvizu is a reporter for the La Cañada Valley Sun. Reach him at (818) 637-3263.