As ebnelson pointed out, that is a generous contribution from a country the size of France. Before this is over, the aid from all sources will probably need to be over a billion dollars. Right now, they're still trying to help the survivors and to prevent a massive disease outbreak that could kill even more people than the tsunami.

This morning, someone asked Bush about a European proposal to forgive the foreign debts of the affected nations. I agree with Bush's answer that we need to concentrate on immediate emergency aid right now, but I think forgiving the debt bruden is a good idea for the long-term rebuilding effort to come.

As for non-governmental charitable giving, the Amazon total is over $2.1 million. Considering that the site has only been open for donations for a little over 24 hours, that's an impressive number. It crossed the $1 millon dollar level before 7 AM EST this morning and the $2 million level about 7 hours later with the average donation being $56. Not too shabby for a bunch of stingy people.