FEMA Coloring book includes 9/11 attacks???

[ElMondoHummus]

What. The. F:talk034:?


APRIL 29--The Federal Emergency Management Agency has removed a children's coloring book from its web site following criticism over its inclusion of drawings of the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The coloring book, titled "A Scary Thing Happened," is geared towards helping kids "cope with disasters,"...

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0429091fema1.html (My bolding above)

Is this a joke? This has got to be a joke. Someone please tell me this is not for real, and TheSmokingGun.com got taken in by it. Please.

[ozeco41]

What. The. F:talk034:?


http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0429091fema1.html (My bolding above)

Is this a joke? This has got to be a joke. Someone please tell me this is not for real, and TheSmokingGun.com got taken in by it. Please.

PC rules...

....now kiddies real disasters don't hurt anyone..

.......all those nasty things get better quickly

..........yes the Road Runner doesnt let Wile really get hurt.

[fromdownunder]

This could be inspiring to troofers to start their own kiddykrap. I have this idea for no planers who could do a "Where's Wally" thingy with 9/11.

It would be a picture of the twin towers, with a "find the secret plane". Little Billy could spend hours looking for it, and then:


"Waaaahhhh! Daddy - I can't find the plane"
"Son, there was no plane"

Offered for free.

Norm

[boloboffin]

More information from the link:

The coloring book was created in 2003 for the Freeborn County Crisis Response Team and was illustrated by Marlys Jentoft, a 68-year-old grandmother of 10. In an interview, Jentoft, pictured above, told TSG she was unaware of the recent criticism of the coloring book, but would redo the drawings if asked. Jentoft, who volunteers for the Red Cross and church and crime victims groups, said that she did not give much thought to including the 9/11 images since, "I feel like it was happening in the world and kids saw it. It is life."

[greyleonard]

Was created during the Bush administration, surprise, surprise.

In response to a call from The Daily News, a FEMA spokesman said they were preparing an explanation.

The coloring book was dreamed up by the emergency response team in largely rural Freeborn County, Minn. - after it was ravaged by a tornado, said Rose Olmsted, a county official.

"It was developed to help children make some sense after a disaster," said Olmsted. "I have a letter from FEMA in 2003 applauding us for the coloring book."

At the time, the agency was run by Michael Brown, who became infamous when former President Bush praised him for doing a "heckuva job" even as New Orleans was drowning.

Olmsted said the coloring book was handed out to thousands of kids over the years - in the U.S. and as far away as Australia - to help them cope...
Link (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/04/29/2009-04-29_fema_pulls_a_scary_thing_happened_kids_coloring _book_which_depicts_911_scene_of_.html)


On kind of the same topic, I have a cigarette lighter that looks like a little cell phone with a depiction of the Twin Towers where the screen would be. When you push down on the clicker, a tiny siren goes off. Made in China, 2003.

[ImaginalDisc]

Wait, this outrage took six years to surface?

YAWN

[Brainster]

I remember in my third grade class we made a big montage of photos that the kids all brought in from the papers and magazines of the Kennedy assassination, and ironically Oswald getting shot was probably the most common image.

I suspect that those who grew up in the 1980s have similar memories of the Challenger Disaster. It's a way of coping, and I certainly don't blame the teacher who did it in 2003.

It's weird to think that the kids entering high school next fall probably only have vague memories of 9-11.

[Sword_Of_Truth]

Maybe my skin is thicker than the average joe, but I really don't see the big issue here.

A federal agency devoted to disaster relief produced a teaching aid to help children understand and cope with major disasters that included an image of a famous disaster?

I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you!

[JoeyDonuts]

I echo the Sword.

So *********** what?

[Sir Robin Goodfellow]

I think the idea of the book is actually a good one. I don't think denying anything bad happened is going to help children traumatised by disaster.

[WildCat]

I don't get the outrage either.