Tis the season to give . . .

A cow. Or a goat. Or bees. Via Lileks, this is the coolest charity idea I've seen in a while: Heifer International. You make a money donation, they give live animals to folks who need them. Mostly for income (wool, milk, honey & wax), there is an interesting note about the Trio of Rabbits:

And since rabbits have up to 40 offspring a year, they provide families with steady sources of protein and income.

That's right. Eatin' and skinnin'. Any place that encourages folks to eat baby rabbits can't have drunk to deeply from the font of Earth Mother Kool Aid. Carnivorous philanthropy. What a concept.

If I had $1500 lying around somewhere, I'd probably give the Joy To The World package: two sheep, four goats, a heifer and two llamas (I kid you not, no pun intended). But I don't, so we may get the boys to pick out an animal from the site and give a "share" of a small beastie, which are about $10 each.

Of course, there's also Compassion International, the perennial Evangelical favorite. We forgot our tinfoil hats and obeyed the Dobsonian Brainwave Transmitter this past year. Compassion pays for school, food, and medical care for one child, and it's one of the best things we've done with our money in years. Jonah prays for Eka every night, and that's worth it in my book.