I'll see your $350 million...

And raise you $150.

Sure, that U.N. guy who criticized developed nations -- meaning the U.S. -- for not initially giving a blank check to the tsunami countries was sort of an ass. But he was also sort of right. And his criticism seems to have sparked some kind of relief bidding war. This is good, I suppose, but also strikes me as somehow unseemly. Or perhaps it's just in the way the media is reporting it ("Japan tops U.S. tsunami aid pledge.")

Mark Binker points out that the value of the aid that really only the good 'ol U.S. of A. is capable of providing -- like parking an aircraft carrier full of food and helicopters off the coast of your wrecked third-world nation -- is pretty much incalculable. (Or at least "not quickly calculated," as I've seen the caveat described by some reporters.)