Preparedness Challenge

Homeland Security campaign school kids in preparedness
- (USA Today – February 3, 2006)

“Preparedness is not just a government challenge,” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said during a visit to Andrew Jackson Language Academy, an elementary school in Chicago. “We all have to learn how to plan for the unexpected.”

The kid-friendly program features an adventurous mountain lion mascot named Rex, a website (www.ready.gov) and classroom teaching materials being sent to 135,000 Middle School Teachers in the nation’s 25 largest metropolitan areas.

An idea launched as part of the Homeland Security department’s $9.6 million Ready campaign, the effort is the latest by the nation’s security leaders to get parents and children thinking about emergency planning.

The program is geared to fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders because that’s when children begin to hear and understand the news and worry about how it will affect them.

President’s Challenge

Bush, Resetting Agenda, Says US Must Cut Reliance On Oil
- (New York Timesw – February 1, 2006)

“In a complex and challenging time, the road of isolationism and protectionism may seem broad and inviting, yet it ends in danger and decline,” said President Bush.

“The only way to protect our people, the only way to secure the peace, the only way to control our destiny is by our leadership, so the United States will continue to lead,” said the President.