Give Until It Hurts

So, did you watch “Idol Gives Back” last night? My beloved and I sat down in front of the set with our healthy and nutritious small portions (yeah, we’re dieting. Grrrrrr.). He asked if I thought the show was going to be good, or if it was going to be treacly.

I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt.

“Please,” I said. “What do YOU think?”

Hunger makes me bitchier. Hard to believe, I know.

We both agreed that we were in for a long night, but that the alternative (actually getting up from the couch) would only make us hungrier, so we settled in.

I have to say, I was quite pleasantly surprised by the show. The live bits weren’t so bad (Fergie singing with the Wilson sisters! Who knew she could rock like that?) but it was the pre-taped bits with Bono, Annie Lennox and Forrest Whitaker that really drove the message home.

They were talking about how little it costs to prevent malaria (a $10 mosquito net or a couple of bucks for a pill) and how limited HIV/AIDS medications were in Africa and how far even a little bit of money goes. Then the British PM announced that Britain was donating $200 million dollars for mosquito netting. And it seemed like such an enormous impact would be felt from that amount of money. A literal world of good.

They talked about helping poor children in our country. They talked about rebuilding New Orleans. They talked about all the good that could be done with the MILLIONS they would raise.

As I fought back the manipulated tears, I suddenly started to get really angry. I don’t know what the current tally is in HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of dollars we’ve spent on securing our access to oil reserves in Iraq (surely no one buys that “democracy” bullshit anymore. That region will NEVER be stable by our definition). But is that really more important than the HUGE FUCKING IMPACT that money could have had on the quality of life for millions of people around the globe?

Money is a finite thing. When we spend it on one thing, we don’t spend it on another. And while I know I’m preaching to the choir here, this administration is FUCKED UP. I think it is truly criminal what has been done. And I hope that Presidents Bush and Cheney will end up tried for crimes against humanity.

All that talk of toppling a despot. (des)Pot? Ketttle.

So much hope on display last night. So much opportunity to do good and make a difference. And it drew such a sharp contrast between doing something good for the world and lining the pockets of your friends at ExxonMobil.

Yes, I realize that ExxonMobil was a key sponsor last night. They even trotted out an INCREDIBLY uncomfortable looking white executive and what was obviously the highest-ranking African American in the company. Well, motherfuckers, enjoy the company you keep, because you’re all going to the same hell, where George can drink and Laura can smoke and Cheney can shoot anybody he likes.

You should have given BILLIONS. Greedy motherfuckers.

And the greatest irony of all is that this administration rode to the White House on the coattails of people who identify as “Christians.” So, why aren’t they behaving that way?