April Fools

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America:

I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 2007 as National Child Abuse Prevention Month. I encourage all citizens to help protect our children and work to create strong, healthy communities.

My Administration is committed to supporting children and promoting safe and stable families across America.

Childhood is a formative time, and abuse can have devastating long-term effects on young lives. In order to provide a safe environment for our young people, parents must work to protect their children from the dangers that threaten them. Family members, educators, public officials, and faith-based and community organizations all play important roles in helping to ensure that children are safe and can grow surrounded by love and stability.

As we observe National Child Abuse Prevention Month, we underscore our commitment to building an America that cuts federal funding for Medicaid, TANF, Head Start, CHIP, Child Support Enforcement, CPS Workforce Training, Children With Disabilites, the Social Services Block Grant (e.g. child abuse prevention, foster care and adoption assistance, child protection, alternatives to institutionalization and residential services for children and youth), freezes the Child Care and Development Fund, Children of Incarcerated Parents fund, the Abandoned Infants Program, the Children’s Mental Health Services Program, the Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant, and eliminates the Office of Juvenile Justice in keeping with commensurate failures to make long-overdue new investments in proven health and social programs so that all children can thrive, develop character, and learn to be responsible citizens in an environment of security and love.

Eliot:

Go, said the bird, for the leaves were full of children,
Hidden excitedly, containing laughter.
Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.

Is it just a coincidence that April is also National Poetry Month? Seriously, one of these remedies is not like the other.