The fact that I’m now making some money and the current embarrassment that is the presidency have made me decide to donate some money to charitable causes. See? Bush isn’t all bad if he can get people to take interest in our society despite the fact that he wants to attack America, can’t beat a box of tic-tacs in a poll, and mangles the English language worse than any president in history. If you start taking his lying, policies favoring the wealthy, disregard for the environment, and utter lack of diplomacy into account it’s a different story, but that’s a different story.
I decided on four worthy organizations to donate money to. Two of these I would recommend that everyone join, the Sierra Club and the American Civil Liberties Union, one that every rock climber should become a member of, the Access Fund, and one that any internet user should support in addition to the ACLU, the Electronic Freedom Foundation.
The greatest benefit of donating to these organization has not been just some warm fuzzy feeling, rather it has been the wealth of information that they provide me. I initially donated money to these organizations with a very elementary understanding of their causes, but through newsletters, e-mail, and meetings I feel that I am very well informed on issues that affect my day to day life and freedom. You might think that the news would educate people about such important issues as our civil rights and the environment, but this is becoming increasingly untrue as the media becomes more homogenized, sensationalized and corporate censored.
The cost of joining most of these organizations is around $20 and is well worth it for the info, plus that warm fuzzy feeling. So inform yourself and donate to a good cause while you’re at it.
I know no safe depositary of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education.
Thomas Jefferson Primary author of the Declcaration of Independence, 3rd President
Did you see the Sierra Club W-Watch? http://www.sierraclub.org/wwatch/
Comment by Brian Alexander — August 24, 2004 @ 10:40 am
I hadn’t seen the W watch, but that’s a good page to keep tabs on the guy. The Sierra Club also has a good voter education site at http://www.sierraclubvotes.org/ I know somewhere they also show you the environmental voting record of your state representatives, I forget where, but our senators vote for the environment just about every time. Also, the Sierra Club endorsed Kerry. I wonder if they endorsed him because he’s really good on environmental issues, or if it’s just to get ol’ W out of the office.
Comment by Matt — August 24, 2004 @ 9:32 pm