I don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh. If you do, that’s fine.

But I have to take exception with his comments regarding Haiti in the wake of this week’s deadly earthquake.

The island, one of the poorest nations on Earth, has been devastated by yet another natural disaster. If you’ll recall in 2007 Haiti was slammed by several major hurricanes in the span of a few weeks. The people of Haiti were still rebuilding many of the basic services we take for granted when the earthquake hit.

Now they have to start all over. What they need now is help, and for most of us the best we can do to offer aide is by making monetary donations. So when Rush Limbaugh takes issue with calls to give monetarily, that’s not helping anyone.

Here’s a link to a clip of his radio show where Limbaugh says two things. First, he says “We’ve already donated to Haiti. It’s called the U.S. income tax.” The other statement is in response to a caller who take exception to President Barack Obama directing people to the WhiteHouse.gov site for donation information.

Limbaugh, and the caller, question whether the money would actually be going to Haiti and whether your name would end up on some mailing list. I’ll start with this point.

A big story yesterday was the appearance of fraudulent donation seekers, people who were using the situation in Haiti to procure money from people trying to help. If you are someone who wants to be sure your money is going to the right place, what you want is a trusted clearinghouse for that information. I would feel pretty good about getting a lead on where to donate from the White House.

If Limbaugh had bothered to go to the site, he would have seen a few things that make his argument moot. You click a big banner that says “Help for Haiti.” That brings you to a page with three options for donating: Instructions for texting your donation to the American Red Cross, a link to the Red Cross site and a link to the Center for International Disaster Information. Nowhere on the White House site does it give you the option to give money directly. If you can’t give directly, how then would your money be diverted elsewhere and how would you end up on a mailing list?

To the point of “already donating” through the income tax, that’s a tough position to take. At the risk of making an ad absurdum argument, here goes.

When 7-year-old Johnny from down the street stops by your house selling giftwrap to raise money for his school, do you tell him you already gave the school money through taxes? If a fire department is sponsoring a “Fill the Boot” campaign, do you roll down your window and tell them you’re sorry, but you already gave the department money through taxes? Should people avoid giving money to organizations like the USO and Wounded Warrior Project because we already pay taxes that support the troops?

No. If you feel the desire to give of your time or money to support a cause, you should do it. If you want to abstain, that’s fine. You have every right to do so. Sometimes it’s OK to open your heart, and your wallet, and give to people who quite frankly are having a really really crappy time.