Here's the thing, I hate the Make-a-Wish foundation. Granted they make kids happy, I'm not saying they don't, but they waste money and are naive, classist, jingoists at best and downright evil racists at worst. Here's the thing, if you had a kid with a terrible disease (it doesn't actually have to be terminal) I'm sure you're very grateful that the Make-a-Wish foundation exists, because you're selfish. Don't get me wrong, we're all selfish. I care more about my family than I do about yours and I care more about what happens to Portland than I do New Orleans. But that doesn't make it ok.

If the recipients weren't selfish maybe they'd encourage their kid to wish some Palestinian kids weren't going through a genocide. Hell, that costs negative billions of dollars since we're (the U.S.) funding it. Or maybe get a few hundred African kids vaccinated so they don't die of preventable diseases. But they don't, they're selfish so they go to Disneyland at an average cost of over 6,000$ per wish. And that's fine. You can't ask a sick kid or the parents of a sick kid to be rational, I don't expect it and I'm not terribly offended by their selfishness.

Who I am offended by is the foundation itself and more importantly the self congratulatory assholes who donate money to the organization. Disney isn't giving kids free trips because they care, the Mouse is the face of evil. It's a cheap way to build good will in the community, essentially it's advertisement. And even that's ok, in a way. Disney's an evil corporation, that's what they do, I expect it.

The people that really bug me are the people who work for the Foundation and average folks who donate a few bucks here and there. Luckily Make-a-Wish foundation supplies a list of large donors, in pdf form, so I know who to avoid. Et tu, Paul Newman?

I'm sure people like Deanna Favre or Michael J. Fox love this foundation, they're all about self-serving causes. As bad as those two are at least they're looking for a cure, even if it's a cure for themselves. Yes, their causes show how truly egocentric they are but at least they're not asking for vacation money.

The Make-a-Wish Foundation wastes Millions of dollars not helping anyone to actually live. They had 180.1 million in 2006 and what did they do with it? They wasted it.

Want to help somebody? Help Unicef. Donate money to vaccinate children in Africa, dig wells, provide prenatal vitamins to the impoverished. We have 10 million children dying each year from preventable diseases. Granted, these aren't white American children and you may not get to so see a commercial with them thanking you, but they actually can be saved. You can save a life with your money. For less money than one weekend trip for a sick kid You can save a life. There are kids without potable water, without food, without antibiotics and we're sending American kids to space camp? Seriously.

That being said; Make-a-Wish Foundation, I appreciate the return address labels and personalized stationary you sent me yesterday.