Worthy cause

You may have noticed the "Blog Red" logo which I recently added to the right column of the blog. I figured I'd take a moment to point it out in case you missed it. Blog Red was formed by a conglomeration of various companies to raise money to eliminate AIDS in Africa. The way it works is that if you buy their stuff, they give some money to charity. So you get cool stuff like iPods, cell phones and sneakers, the charity gets money, people get help, and everyone wins. I don't get anything, of course. :)

Blog Red also ties in with American Idol. Yes, I watch American Idol (go, Blake & Jordan!) and this week they've been airing the America Gives Back shows. Watching the show was both informative and heartbreaking. Since I was a kid, I've heard about the starving kids in Africa, but seeing the utter squalor and despair that so many of the people of Africa live in makes it "real". It's just incredible that in this day in age, with all of our technology and riches, that people are still dying from things like starvation and malaria.

America is the "world's policeman", so why can't we take some of the money spent taking lives and save some instead? $20 buys enough medicine to treat 40 cases of malaria. The same $20 can feed 15 starving children for a week. Think about what our government could really do for the world if they just made the effort. Heck, make everyone pay a $20 per year tax with all of the money going to save these lives. Millions of lives could be saved and who really couldn't afford to lose $20 a year to save the lives of their fellow human beings?

"American Idol" has raised over 30 million dollars so far. If you want to donate through "America Gives Back", you can simply click this link.