All of the designated money will go direct to community foundations throughout the Midwest, which are struggling to help displaced families and distressed farmers. To help, call the Foundation at 360-694-2550 on weekdays or visit its Web site: www.cfsww.org. Contributions should be made payable to the Emergency Flood Relief Fund.

It’s good to see a major local charity reaching beyond local lines to help people in great need. And this is not the first time that the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington has helped efforts far away. In 2005 the group sent about $50,000 to relief and recovery efforts along the Gulf Coast after hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the area.

Jeers: To the Washington state Democratic Party for using the theme song from “The Sopranos” TV show on a video ad criticizing Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi. The intent was obvious: to connect in a not-so-subtle way the candidate with the mobsters on the TV show.

The Italian Club of Seattle correctly complained that “attempting to associate Dino Rossi with criminal activity through the use of negative ethnic stereotyping is beyond offensive.”

Democratic leaders deployed the Oh-my-gosh,-we-had-no-idea defense — unconvincing, at best — then apologized and agreed to remove the music. But all of that came only after, of course, their insulting and supposedly inadvertent point already had been made.

Jeers: To Lakewood city councilman Walter Neary who took modern technology a little too far, choosing to post updates on his blog during a recent council meeting. As The News Tribune of Tacoma observed in an editorial, “The drive to be timely shouldn’t preclude common courtesy, even in this age of instantaneous information … Trying to carry on a conversation with someone who is banging away on a laptop is frustrating, especially when that person was elected to represent your interests.”

To his credit, Neary responded to the complaints by announcing that he would discontinue the practice of blogging during public meetings.

Cheers: To Gov. Chris Gregoire for recently forcing the Washington Lottery Commission to stop selling a series of scratch tickets with a candy theme. Lottery Commission officials must have forgotten the governor’s edict two years ago to avoid marketing to young adults. The state’s kids will have plenty of time to experience — and perhaps fall prey to the addictive allure of — gambling later, when they’re adults.

A related jeer to the commission for ignoring a complaint from a member of the public two weeks earlier. The objectionable promotion included lottery tickets that had players scratching the signs of various candies in search of a prize. Fortunately, the governor intervened and forced the lottery commission to abandon the misguided effort.