I was very disappointed that Jordin sounded so bad on à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“American Prayerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ . It was a contrast to the others who did such a nice job. I knew she was TCO and at first I was excited. As I learn more and more about this young lady, it makes me want Melinda to win.

Grammie Karl, I agree. It was glaring. Go Team Humble!

A cup of white tea in New York costs $35. The white tea growers live in a remote area of China & they’re thrilled if they get $1 for a bag of the same tea.

Simon Cowell Storms British Rich List 4/21/07

Despite his prosperous year, Cowell still can’t compete with the highest earning entertainer – former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney whose colossal #725 million ($1.4 billion) fortune places him 102nd in the list.

I still can’t figure out why Celine wore black unless it had something to do with a contrast in color. She did such a nice job. For me, (other than the poverty clips) it was the highlight of the evening! The song was a PERFECT choice with such memorable verses. Elvis remains the World’s Greatest Idol!

It was great seeing Bono on the show. He has gone to Africa I don’t know how many times and met with politicians the world over and done a lot more of the nitty gritty that actually makes things happen.
He is quite the class act and really needed to be on this show. Such a sincere man…

I was very disappointed that Jordin sounded so bad on “American Prayer”. It was a contrast to the others who did such a nice job. I knew she was TCO and at first I was excited. As I learn more and more about this young lady, it makes me want Melinda to win.

Shar, I never said that education, food and medicine aren’t vital. Of course they are. But it’s just one factor, of course.

I guess what I get tired of is this guilt that we are supposed to feel for being a wealthy nation. The fact that the United States is wealthy does not make another nation poor. (Not to mention which Americans are the among the most generous people–not our government, necessarily, but our people)….There is more and more wealth to create all around. Africa is one of the most blessed places on Earth in terms of natural resources. But do they use those resources wisely or creatively?

On another subject, I’d forgotten about this until the “Popwatch” article mentioned it, but did anyone else think that Teri Hatcher was trying WAY too hard to be sexy during that song (who’s name I currently forget)? WAY too hard. :kiss_tb:

Oprah is helping build a school, Madonna is building a health clinic, the money raised on Idol will go towards education,food and medicine. These are all important.

The key is to have some accountability and a plan in regards to hpw and on what the money will be spent. Accountability, which is obviously something this right wing administration knows nothing about. Where is all of the money gifted to Katrina victims? We know that $70 Million is literally in the garbage due to FEMA stocking too much food and then being improperly stored. Who has been fired for that one?

A plan,accountability and the MONEY will and can make a huge difference. The problems did not happen over night and won’t be solved over night but what Idol is doing is terrific and will help tremendously.

If you put that many people in that small of a space, without proper health care, education and sanitation, there are bound to be massive problems.

IF you could make EVERY child in Africa healthy, that ultimately would lead to further over-population and the cycle would begin again.

Education and population control are as valuable as food and medicine in these areas for long term control of these problems.

Personally, as a decendant of Appalachia, I too wish to “fix” America first….and send my charitable dollars locally.

Inner cities, Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta areas and Native American Reservations are third world areas right here at home.

Personally, I’d let the EU & China play a larger role in Africa….they NEED to do something besides just bitch about us.

One thing DH brought up though re Malaria, though, is that some environmentalist campaigned for African nations to stop using DEET to kill the mosquitoes because it was also killing the cranes. So, apparantly, they all stopped using the DEET; as a result, the cranes survived, the mosquitoes flourished, and the children started dying. (Donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t know how accurate that story isà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦.) The mosquito nets are great, and God knows we should be giving those kids the medicine they need, but I kept thinking, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Good Heavens, canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t we send them some Deep-Woods Offà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ?

LisaB posted a link to an interesting article in the daily thread about DDT and mosquito nets. I posted a link in the daily thread to a World Health Organization (WHO) press release. Even the environmentalists are changing their views on the use of DDT to help with malaria in Africa. Your DH might be interested in reading it.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2006/pr50/en/index.html

I agree about celebrities oversimplifying the problems in Africa. Money isn’t the answer to the problems in Darfur. Children in Uganda are forced to go into hiding at night so they won’t be abducted by the rebel army and forced to become child soldiers. However, money can help some of the problems.

if people think like you, no wonder africa is still poor

Africa is still poor because of AFRICA, and not because of the United States.

A whole host of other reasons of course. But we could throw 10 times the money at Africa that we do and there would still be poverty, starvation, disease. You have to fix Africa to fix the problem. One of the Northern African nations (forget which one) greatly lowered the spread of AIDS by teaching abstinance, but got lambasted for teaching moral responsibility instead of just distributing more condoms.

I also think it’s crazy for the celebs to say, just give more money and the problems will go away. Money is not the problem. It is where the moeny is going to It’s just like Mexico–if you want to stop the immigration, then you have to fix Mexico and make it a place where its citizens WANT to live.

I know I am going to get lambasted for this, but geez!

One thing DH brought up though re Malaria, though, is that some environmentalist campaigned for African nations to stop using DEET to kill the mosquitoes because it was also killing the cranes. So, apparantly, they all stopped using the DEET; as a result, the cranes survived, the mosquitoes flourished, and the children started dying. (Don’t know how accurate that story is….) The mosquito nets are great, and God knows we should be giving those kids the medicine they need, but I kept thinking, “Good Heavens, can’t we send them some Deep-Woods Off”?

I agree that whatever the motive, it is always wonderful to raise awareness and funds. It is not the kids’ fault that there is govenrmental corruption, ineptitude, etc. It’s not their fault what they are born into. And if we are going to improve the future, we have to change the situation for the future generation. But, it is only bandaging the wound and not curing the disease, so to speak.

What an interesting connection you point out – makes me feel better after-the-fact and I wasn’t feeling bad in the first place!

bamatt - I’ll say this as gently as I can – the only way to ensure money does NOT get to those who need it is NOT to give it. If you scroll upthread, you’ll see I linked http://www.give.org. You can carefully check charities using this site and make informed decisions about where to send your money (if you choose to send it). And not for nothing (and I’m seriously not trying to be mean) – which do you think is harder – looking at the pictures of poor, desperate children, or BEING a poor, desperate child?

I hear you. But there’s a difference between making informed decisions about charitable giving and throwing all charities under the bus. Habitat for Humanity is actively building and re-building in NOLA with virtually no assistance from government. They’re just doing it. I got a notice today to consider a volunteering vacation down to NOLA to add hands to their invaluable work. America’s Second Harvest continues to feed those who remain displaced and are living in FEMA trailer parks. I dare say they are doing a better job than if I loaded my car with groceries and drove down there. Yet at the same time, it was important to me and my family and our musician friends to have a direct impact with respect to Katrina. Immediately following the disaster we KNEW it would be chaos. We did a benefit (about eight bands) locally and then coordinated with the musician’s union to identify families that needed the money from the benefit and then we sent it to them. Another great organization has been the Tipitina foundation, which is matching musicians who lost everything with people who have instruments and equipment they can spare.

I guess my point is this: those kids on the show last night still need help. So then the onus runs to each of us to find a way to provide that help in a fashion that we find palatable. If your preference is to help those in the US, there are plenty of opportunities to do so – you just have to do the research so that you’re comfortable with whatever gift you provide.

But that event last night raised consciousness, bamatt. Many people don’t spare a thought for those in need – not because they’re mean or selfish, but because they’re attending to their OWN needs. It’s hard to ignore something that’s right in front of you, and regardless of its execution and the relative level of perceived sincerity of various participants, those kids and people were right in front of many who don’t have time to think about it otherwise.

For me, it’s all good.