"Idol" gives back to Goshen

By Gail Marshall on April 11, 2008 11:43 AM


Did you notice that part of this week's "Idol Gives Back" show was filmed in Goshen? In case you missed it, The Bee's Lew Griswold wrote about it last month: Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson visited Goshen Elementary School to meet students and shoot video "Idol Gives Back" fundraiser show. "American Idol" chose Save The Children as one of the charities for the second annual fundraiser, which is trying to raise $100 million. Save The Children is one of the charities that benefits from the show and it chose Goshen Elementary, where it sponsors an after-school literacy, nutrition and physical activity program, to feature on the show.

Abdul and Jackson spent more than two hours on campus then took a car tour of Goshen, a poor community along Highway 99, while the cameras rolled. It was a very touching piece.

Before you give to charity, you might want to check it out on charitynavigator.com.

By the way, if you want some interesting insights into the charitable habits of the Democrats running for office, take a look at this editorial from The Dallas Morning News:

Hillary Clinton likes to say she’s been working for change
all her life. She sure has. That’s some pile of change she and husband
Bill have collected since 2000. According to tax returns released the
other day, the Clintons have grossed $109 million since leaving the
White House.
To their credit, they were unusually philanthropic, giving
about 10 percent to charity during this period — far more than Barack
and Michelle Obama. The Obamas gave away about 6 percent of their
million-dollar 2006 income to charity, above the national average. But
prior to his 2005 book deal, the Obamas gave significantly less. The
Chicago Tribune’s examination of tax records found that in 2002, before
Obama ran for the Senate, the couple’s six-figure income put them in
the top 2 percent of U.S. households — but they gave a measly 0.4
percent to charity.
Lest you think of Clinton as Lady Bountiful, read the fine
print: Between 2001 and 2006, the former first couple directed most of
their philanthropy to the Clinton Family Foundation. They gave $6
million to the foundation, which has disbursed less than half of it.
Could there be political quid pro quos at play here?
Clinton’s personal charity to her chief political strategist,
Mark Penn, ran out this week when he could not reconcile his divided
loyalties. Despite Clinton’s opposition to a free-trade accord with
Colombia, Penn refused to give up the contract his public relations
company, Burson-Marsteller, has with Colombia to promote a U.S.
free-trade agreement.
Obama has failed to take action regarding an equally serious
conflict of interest with his senior foreign policy adviser, Gregory
Craig.
In the Senate, Obama faces a vote on two free-trade accords,
one involving Colombia and another involving Panama. Craig, a lawyer,
represents Pedro Miguel Gonzalez, the president of Panama’s
legislature, who is wanted by the United States for the 1992 murder of
an American soldier.
The disposition of Gonzalez’s murder case directly affects
the Panama accord’s outcome.
Because those interests directly conflict with Obama’s Senate
duties, it is time for Obama to draw the line.
His failure to do so undermines his credibility and presents
an easy target for his opponents.

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