Because knowing you all as I do, and knowing how you work, I don’t think it’ll all fit in one box.

In comments tothe Richard Cohen post, leinie wrote:

MY CHILD is in Afghanistan right now. Thanks to the
previous administration’s amoral and illegal actions, not only do I
have to worry about him being killed in battle, I have to worry about
how he’d be treated were he to fall into enemy hands.

Which, to be honest, I’ve always had to worry about, but in the
past, my govt. operated from a higher moral ground and hadn’t given the
fucking green light to torture as acceptable. No reason for the Taliban
to be restrained in how they would treat him – all they have to do is
point to one of the MANY locations and instances where the US said, oh
this is ok. It’s not like we gave them the winning hand in the
propaganda battle by dropping to their level or anything.

And it just … I’m as disheartened as anyone that Obama seems set on escalating, rather than ending, the war in Afghanistan. I’m as disheartened as anyone that for many of us the world doesn’t seem significantly different than it did a year ago. But you know and I know that we can sit here and be disheartened or we can do something about it.

I e-mailed leinie and asked if there was something we on the blog could do, could send, could contribute. What her son and his friends might want. Good coffee, snackies, games and prepaid phone cards was the answer. A little food therapy, some fun, and a chance to call home. Not a tall order, really.

I think we can provide that. So here’s what the plan is:

1. I’ve set up anAmazon Wish List with games for the Wii and Xbox, which leinie tells us they have access to over there. You can click that, it will send it to me and I will send it on since Amazon in its wisdomwon’t ship games to military addresses.

2. Hit upthe tip jar above and put “care package” in the message field. If you have something specific you want me to buy, note that as well. Otherwise, in about a week or so, or whenever I think we’re done, I’ll take the cash available and a big shopping list and go get as many snacks, piles of coffee, phone cards and whatever else I can scare up to make life a little happier.

3. “What about sending X? The list should have Y!” If you have an idea, or want something on the Wish List what isn’t on it, or whatever, drop me an e-mail.

I’lltake the money and run to Mexico document the whole thing with photos and let you all know when it’s sent out.

You guys have always been willing to step up when the opportunity arises and do the things anyone else would only talk about. After months of discussion about the supposed newspaper crisis, you funded three underfunded schools’ student journalism efforts to actually MAKE better journalists.When we talked about the need to tell the stories that weren’t being told, you sent Scout to NOLA and me to Denver to do our own reporting. You keep this blog going with your donations and your contributions and your comments, and that generosity and courage has crossed state lines from New York to California to Wisconsin to Florida. I think it’s time we make it international.

Let’s send a big box of home to the family and friends of our own. The economy sucks, and no one should feel obligated to contribute funds if he or she can’t. If you can’t kick in a few bucks, send me a note you’d like included in the box and I’ll put those in, too. Let’s take care in a small way, even as we keep fighting to take care in a big one.

A.