Is it just me or does that sound a little…ummmm…how shall i say…best i can come up with is ‘HUH!!!’. I realize that the US is trying to combat terrorism etc, but isn’t asking children to send in a dollar to the White House asking for trouble? How will the little Afghani children get their dollar? I understand that Afghanistan is a poor country and all, but if theyreally wanted to help them, shouldn’t they stop with the missiles and bombs??? I don’t know.
As well, if the FBI can find out that there will be more attacks, shouldn’t they know where and when it will happen? Why aren’t they preventing it? Should i be stocking up on non-perishables and water? Should i not go to the mall on the 31st of October??? I got an email saying that i should not.
Bush said the Red Cross would handle distribution. I have no idea how the RC will do this.
Incidentally, I found nary a word about this part of Bush’s conference in the NY Times this morning. If it was there at all, it was how prominent.
vivian, I can’t agree with you. I think the program GWB announced last night is a great idea, but not necessarily from the objective of raising a lot of money. I think the objective is more to get the entire family involved and educated. If kids are sending their pennies to relief efforts in Afghanistan, they’re going to ask their parents why. This almost forces the parents to explain the ‘war on terrorism’ to their kids when they otherwise might not have. This also allows the children to feel like they’re making a difference and that they’re actively helping someone. And heck, it’s more relief money than was seen BEFORE the inception of this program! So anything that generates more relief funds can’t be a bad idea.
As for the FBI warnings, I’d feel much better myself if we had concrete threats that we could be warned against. The problem is that right now there’s not a lot of concrete information to go on, and these (admittedly somewhat vague) warnings are more to keep our general awareness level up.
And your email warned you not to go to the mall on Halloween? Hell, if I believed everything I get in email, I would have won a thousand Internet contests and be swimming in porn by now! 
It came at the very end as a closing remark. While part of the intent is to provide comfort for Afghani children, there’s certainly a side benefit in practicing the expression of compassion by our kids. Call me a chump but I thought it was nice.
Yeah, I thought that was pretty stupid, even if the intention was good. Let me get this straight: people are being mailed letters laced with anthrax in this country, and the President is encouraging millions of letter to be sent to the White House. What the hell? I’m sure not going to be the one opening those letters!!!
Even though I’m a Democrat who thought (thinks) Bush is not what you call “brilliant”, I believe he has stepped up to the table and showed good leadership in this crisis. This was maybe not a good idea, however.
You don’t happen to have a cite for this do you?
I heard on CNN this morning that the idea was inspired by the original “March of Dimes” under president Roosevelt.
I think it is a good idea. First of all, as stated above, it will get children involved. Second, it is great PR stunt. Third, more business for the USPS (which I hear they need at the moment). Fourth, and most importantly, the money may well help those children in Afghanistan. None of this is their fault, and they are in need of food and medical care.
Maybe I’ll send a buck in the name of Spot the Wonderpup.
Is this what you’re talking about, Macro Man?
http://www.snopes2.com/toxins/klinger.htm
A cite for the mailing letters to the White House part can be found in Bush’s speech, as reprinted in the New York Times, page B5:
Protesilaus, I believe the cite Xploder was asking for was the “letters laced with anthrax” bit. And that I very much do want to see a cite for.
i think it’s a terrific idea. i guess it was the march of dimes that was already mentioned, but as a kid we used to get cards in sunday school that had slots for dimes. we were supposed to collect enough to fill the card and then turn it in. it’d be nice if maybe we could get cards like those at the grocery for this.
vivian: I just saw this bit of your post:
Shop, ye capitalist! It’s false. To learn more, go here:
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/mallrisk.htm
Also, send that link to whatever jackass emailed you that stupid rumor. Good God, the bullshit abounds.
A cite for letters laced with Anthrax?
Here’s what he was talking about, I’m usre:
That employee probably got it through mail.
OK. So for those opposed to this idea, just have the children sent a buck to the SPCA or the Violet Relief Fund. Maybe the point was to have kids somehow connect to the concept of how terrible life is for their counterparts in another country. It’s a good idea to teach empathy, IMHO.
I hardly think that our ground troups, special forces people, Red Cross representatives or anyone else for that matter are going to be walking around Afghanistan handing out American dollars to anyone they see under the age of 12. A piece of paper that in America is worth one dollar has absolutely no value to an Afghani child.
My eight year old son understood what President Bush was talking about when he said that one in three children in Afghanistan are orphans. And that most of them suffer from malnutrition. And that he had absolutely nothing to do with how it got that way for them. But he couldn’t understand how one dollar could help them…until we explained that adding up all the dollars from all the children in America would make millions and millions of dollars. We also explained that even “millions and millions” of dollars wasn’t going to be enough, so he’s decided to send more than just one dollar.
In wars. each side normally demonizes the other. E.g., in WWI, Americans and Brits called Germans, “The Hun’” i.e., barbarians. Certainly the Taliban demonize Americans. As a child during the Korean War, I never saved my milk money for North Korean and Chinese children, nor did they send me any gifts.
As far as I know, it’s entirely without precedent to be collecting charity for a nation while we’re fighting a war against its government. Bush’s plan dratizes his position that we’re fighting the Talban, not the Afghan people.
I would also think Bush’s actions would be shaming the rich Arab nations, such as Saudi Arabia. Americans, who have been attacked buy the Taliban, are sending food to prevent starvation; what are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc. doing?
“Hey George! Whats the age cutoff?”
kinda lame and sappy if you ask me. also, not very cost effective. its gonna cost these kiddies 34 cents to mail a dollar. (Hey, thats 34% for the math impared!) even if they had checking accounts, which kids do not, think of the transaction fees to cash a lousy $1 check. plus, think about the risk of sending cash in the mail. now, if the post office would agree to deliver mail to the specific address set up for this little stunt, that may help out.
just my observations.
It wasn’t meant to be cost-effective, of course.
My kid decided to send $6 and I’m very proud of him. That’s why this exists.
I don’t really have a response to “kinda lame and sappy,” except that on the one hand I recognize it’s sappy, and I’m usually the biggest cynic in the world, and I think it’s a good idea anyway.
Looks like there may be more to the antrhax in the mail thing after all…
Don’t quite know what in my last post was in question. Both Florida and New York have seen cases of anthrax most likely delivered by mail.
Whaddaya think, they go up to these people and say “Excuse me…sniff this.”?