THANK YOU to everyone who gave! you guys are the best! here’s the final tally of donations:

138 goats
166 ducks
107 chickens

PLUS: mango and olive trees, soccer and basket balls, pigs, sheep, alpaca, donkey, rabbits, sewing machine, mosquito nets, art & music instruction, shoes, and earthquake relief.

Go here to give a goat:
http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10375

Charity Navigator gives World Vision 4 stars (their highest rating), in case you’re wondering how effective your donations will be.

thank you so much! hooray for giving! hooray for generous people!
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thank you SO MUCH to Zoe Keating, Matt Payne, and Anton Patzner for your incredible playing! you guys are awesome!

Zoe Keating on cello!
http://www.zoekeating.com/

Anton Patzner on violin!
http://www.myspace.com/antonpatzner

Matt Payne on trombone!
http://www.allmyprettyones.net/

Andy Wilke on trumpet!

Always in the Season, by Pomplamoose

mistle toe and silver snow,
and ivy growing on the walls,
i wish i could erase these dreams, i do.

but all my days are running by
in shopping malls with endless lines
i don’t know how i got here, do you?

somewhere between the catalogs
of what to get for him
somewhere amidst the china dolls
my vision starts to spin

’cause i thought christmas was supposed to be
more than lighting up the christmas tree
more than filling up our socks with toys
more than all of this tremendous noise

so all i really mean to say
is let’s not throw this time away
i’d rather just sip chocolate with you

and if you’d like to treat me nice
don’t wait for snow don’t wait for ice
i’m always in the season, are you?

somewhere on santa’s list
my name’s been crossed off with a slash
somewhere i’m gonna find a better way
to spend my cash

’cause i thought christmas was supposed to be
more than lighting up the christmas tree
more than filling up our socks with toys
more than all of this tremendous noise

i’m always in the season, are you?

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Download to donate for Haiti – http://www.musicforrelief.org/
See also – http://mikeshinoda.com/2010/01/19/download-to-donate-for-haiti/
Lyrics:
I break down / fear is sinking in
The cold comes / racing through my skin
Searching for / a way to get to you
through the storm

you
go / giving up your home
go / leaving all youve known
You are not alone

With arms up / stretched into the sky
With eyes like / echoes in the night
Hiding from / the that youve been through
Silent one

you
go / giving up your home
go / leaving all youve known
you
go / giving up your home
go / leaving all youve known
You are not alone

you
go / giving up your home
go / leaving all youve known
you
go / giving up your home
go / you are not unknown
You are not alone
You are not unknown
You are not alone

DOWNLOAD. LISTEN. DONATE. SPREAD THE WORD. BRING HOPE.

01/10 – Download to Donate Haiti

Duration : 0:4:15

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Thanks!

You can call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 they might be able to help.
For the future you can try Uncle Tax: http://www.UncleTax.com you will be able to file all you late and current tax returns here and they will answer all questions you have. I use this online service to do my taxes and I can always go back to them for any questions, Good Luck

I read this in an article a few weeks ago and then talked to an econ professor who is an expert on China and a friend who has been to China several times and is a Chinese and Asian Studies major who agreed and put it in terms of American values that have deep roots often forgotten like the puritan work ethic in America. This is an excerpt from the article:

He explains, for example, that the Chinese tradition rejects the idea that human life has an intrinsic value. "Not everyone’s life is equal," he maintains. "[A]n uncivilized person — a barbarian — his life is less meaningful." It follows, Yan says, that a powerful China would see no strong argument for combating a global health crisis such as AIDS. Barbarians are not worth saving.

"Might a powerful China want to help barbarians attain a state of civility? Yan says no: In the Christian tradition, missionaries strive to make converts, but in the Confucian tradition, teachers are not supposed to recruit pupils. In the Chinese view, barbarians are welcome to learn from China’s example, but if they don’t, that’s their concern. China will do business with barbarians — think Zimbabwe, Burma or Sudan — but it will not try to change them."

– Sebastian Mallaby, "For Rising China, an Identity Crisis" The Washington Post March 26th 2010

http://tibet.net/en/index.php#
His Holiness the Dalai Lama is deeply concerned over the Tibetans affected by the earthquake in Kyigudo region in Tibet and expressing his hopes and wishes to visit the region.

“We want to save lives. They see this tragedy as an opportunity to make propaganda”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/world/asia/18quake.html?pagewanted=1&src=mv

A sensitive topic.
http://blogs.channel4.com/snowblog/2010/04/14/the-sensitivity-behind-the-latest-chinese-earthquake/

Please Donate through reliable source: http://www.TibetFund.org http://www.TibetReliefFund.co.uk http://www.TibetanVillageProject.org http://www.machik.org http://www.SaveTibet.org http://www.YushuEarthQuakeRelief.com

Tibetan monks & nuns who were responsible for the burial of quake victims told reporters from several Hong Kong papers and TV stations that at least 8,000 Qinghai residents had perished but the Official Death toll stands 2187, more than 12,000 injured & Hundreds missing.
Since Yushu, the county worst hit by the tremors, is a predominantly Tibetan area, monks & nuns from Qinghai and neighboring Tibet have been active in rescue work and particularly burial ceremonies. Senior Tibetan lama Angwen Danba Renqing told Hong Kong journalists that his monastery alone had by April 18, 2010 cremated 3,400 corpses.
The lama said he knew of several hundred bodies being stowed in other monasteries. Angwen Danba Renqing reckoned the death toll for Yushu alone was “in the region of 8,000 to 9,000.” Hong Kong’s mass circulation Ming Pao also quoted an official from the People’s Procuratorate as saying total casualties in Yushu could reach upwards of 10,000.

Monks being removed, pushed out of the Quake zone
Earthquake survivors say it was the Tibetan monks who helped first, bringing food, pitching tents and digging through rubble after a massive Earthquake that killed thousands.
Now the Buddhist monks who responded first are being removed, pushed out of the disaster area and off of state media – apparently sidelined by Beijing’s unease with their heroism and influence. Those who came from other parts of Tibet with Truck load of aid supplies have been told by the Chinese authorities to turn back.
Monasteries were given verbal orders the last two days to recall their monks. Amid hours of coverage for China’s national day of mourning on Wednesday, no monks were visible in the official proceedings.

A jarring omission in light of their contributions to the weeklong rescue and relief effort following the quake communicating with Tibetan survivors. Tibetan-speaking monks, many of whom live in high-altitude areas or frequently make pilgrimages to them, didn’t have problems.

They flooded into Yushu within hours, on motorbikes and packed in the back of trucks. On Saturday (April 17, 2010), they held a cremation ceremony, preparing hundreds of bodies, praying and burning the corpses in a massive trench outside of Yushu. Yet state-run broadcasters have given scant attention to their efforts, spotlighting instead the hard work of the military and the People’s Armed Police as they delivered tents, water and food, and lifted injured people from cracks of crumbled buildings.
Monks also live in the quake zone, though they were not shown in media coverage Wednesday. Robbie Barnett, director of the modern Tibetan studies program at Columbia University, said the monks’ contributions pose a dilemma for the communist leadership, which distrusts the Buddhist clergy because of their loyalty to the Dalai Lama. Beijing insists the Dalai Lama is fighting for independence for Tibet, a charge the exiled spiritual leader denies. He says he seeks only significant autonomy for Tibet under continued Chinese rule.

Monasteries are kept under tight control by Communist Party authorities who routinely order political re-education campaigns for the monks.
“China has never faced this situation before, where the monks it has demonized for 15 years as potential enemies of the state turn out to be energetic contributors to social construction and community-building – the same role that the party has always claimed for itself,”.”Perhaps that’s why the work of the monks has been featured very little, if at all,” on China Central Television.

Location:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-schrei/to-die-with-dignity-in-yo_b_538840.html

Interviews:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/2010/04/100415_china_quake2_hs.shtml

The area known in Tibetan as Kyegundo (སྐྱེ་རྒུ་མདོ། pronounced Jyekundo), considered by Tibetans to traditionally be part of Kham, eastern Tibet.

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This site lists over 35+ ways to give.

http://cnreviews.com/life/society-culture/china_earthquake_relief_and_donation_guide_-_will_update_20080514.html