Indepundit came up with a very good idea for raising funds for Katrina survivors. Namely, you pick a vice, go without it for a month, and give that money to a Katrina charity. His suggestions were along the lines of giving up beer or Starbucks–two things that’d be tough for me to do. But I liked the creativity and it gave me the following idea.

Instead of giving something up I am going to do the opposite and the more of something I get the more that I’ll give. What’s my biggest vice? Independent Sources, of course!

The Independent Sources Challenge.

For the next week I will do the following:

For every link to this page of Independent Sources I will donate $5.
For every blog roll addition to Independent Sources I will donate $20.
For every comment to this posting I will donate $1.
For every comment that says something nice about Insider $2.

Leave comment below and make me pay. If you are linking let me know in the comment. Make me pay. Thank you for the support and making the donation fun and successful. Make me pay!

There you go. I have to cap it at $1,500.00 but I’ll see what I can do to get others to match it. Let’s see how quickly we can get to the maximum level. If others are inclined to do the same thing by all means do so. Separately from this I’m going through anything and everything that can be donated for the relief effort or sold on eBay so that more can be given. I think about 1/2 my DVD collection can be sold without me really noticing and that is money that can certainly go to a better use. Thanks Indepundit for the inspiration.

PS. I’ll be donating to the Red Cross unless someone suggests a better organization.

PSS. In terms of auditability, email contact at independentsources dot com and I’ll send you a copy of the donation receipt. I understand that the Internet is not the most trustworthy of places but looking at the pictures of New Orleans I’d say even the Nigerian Internet scammers are giving this one a pass. (Also, I’ve posted this where friends and family who know who I am are reading it).

PSSS. This effort is tiny compared to what others are doing. Malkin has a great summary, as does Captain’s Quarters. Also Wizbang has an auction going on.

Update: This is going great and I’m heartened by the comments. I have taken the time that I would normally be blogging to go through CDs/DVDs to cull what could be turned to cash. I was amazed how many crappy CDs I had bought over the years leading to a lot of “what was I thinking?” In my area there is a music store that pays cash for used CDs and I’ll be going there at lunch. Thanks again for all of the support for this and the efforts you are invidually doing for the folks in the affected areas. This is a story that just keeps getting worse.

Update: Thank you all. We are over 100 comments and numerous links and blogrolls. The cross-posts are doing the job and thank you especially to those who posted on Fark (and reposted), Craigslist, and then numerous message boards. A quick unofficial link count has it at 15 links and 5 blog rolls (but I think it is much more and will do a more careful count at the end of Monday). I’ll check Google, Technorati, and Truthlaidbear to catch anyone linking who didn’t mention it here. I’ll also make the first payment Monday night wherever we are since they need the money now. Let’s keep it up.

Update: The English Guy is compiling an unofficial list who has donated what (on a grand scale). Pretty cool.

Update: Three donations have been made so far; all to the Red Cross. You have all done well and the links, posts, comments, etc. all have been great. Since we are not yet at the maximum I’m going to keep it open as the recovery needs are long-term.

technorati: katrina hurricane red cross

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