Cause celebre?

[megotelek]

So, the whole 'blog' thing has gotten me thinking lately. Most people who are characterized as bloggers have an overall theme to what they write; they're trying to get the word out about something. Me, I just blather about whatever happens to be going on in my life at the time. When I've had time (and energy) I review movies and the like, but I think I want to start having this blog be 'about' something more than that.

cleolinda has links on her blog to a few sites, among them the Hunger Site and the Literacy Site. The way these sites work is, you go and click on the button and each 'click' donates x amount of books, food, etc. The site counts all the clicks, and the information is given to the companies who sponsor them who then donate the required amount based on the number of clicks. It's completely free, you can click once on each site every day. The three I have links to here are the three I feel most passionate about. The Literacy Site donates free books to children, the Animal Rescue Site helps find homes for shelter animals, and the Hunger Site, well, feeds the hungry. I did a little bit of looking into the company sponsors, just so you and I would know exactly where our clicks are going, and here's what I found:

The Literacy Site sponsor:
First Book
"First Book is a nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. We provide an ongoing supply of new books to children participating in community-based mentoring, tutoring, and family literacy programs."

The Animal Rescue Site sponsors:
The Fund for Animals
"The Fund for Animals was founded in 1967 by bestselling author Cleveland Amory, who served unpaid as the organization's president until his death in 1998. Dedicated "to speak for those who can't," The Fund uses education, litigation, legislation, and hands-on care to work for the protection of wildlife and domestic animals.

The Fund operates four world-famous animal care facilities, including the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch sanctuary for abused and rescued animals, the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center for the medical treatment of injured wildlife, the Rabbit Sanctuary for abandoned "pet" rabbits, and the Have-A-Heart Spay and Neuter Clinic for dogs and cats in low-income families.

In the last 35 years, The Fund has achieved numerous victories for animals, including landmark lawsuits to protect hundreds of endangered and threatened species. The Fund is currently working to halt the sport hunting and commercial trapping of wildlife, and to help residents solve urban wildlife problems humanely."

PetFinder.com Foundation
"Petfinder.com Foundation, a public charity, was created to further assist adoption partners through problem solving, fundraising, and providing relief in times of stress or disaster. In 2005, Petfinder.com Foundation provided financial assistance to hurricane-affected adoption programs, thanks to the generous contributions of Petfinder.com visitors."

North Shore Animal League
"Founded in 1944, North Shore Animal League America is a non-profit humane organization supported 100% by voluntary donations. The League is dedicated to finding the best possible home for each pet in its care, even if the pet is blind, deaf or otherwise disabled. Through programs such as Pet Adoptathon, Tour For Life, Sponsor A Dog and the Animal Poison Hotline, the League has saved over 800,000 lives worldwide. Special programs, such as Sponsor A Dog, Sponsor A Cat, and Help Me Heal bring attention to animals with special needs. The League's adoption center, veterinary hospital, emergency medical service, training center and other facilities are open 365 days a year."

The Hunger Site sponsors:
Mercy Corps
"Mercy Corps stands by families in the worldwide fight against hunger by delivering lifesaving food shipments during global emergencies and helping communities find lasting solutions to poverty and oppression. Every year, the agency helps more than six million people in Africa, Asia, the Balkans, Central America and the Middle East.

Mercy Corps provides over 91% of incoming resources directly to people in need and is known and respected internationally for its quick response to crisis.

In addition to critical emergency aid, Mercy Corps partners with local organizations and communities through innovative programs that ensure long-term food security. In particular, Mercy Corps' micro-credit programs enable poor families to start or expand small businesses, increasing their household income so they can afford more nutritious food and better health care."

America's Second Harvest
"America's Second Harvest is the largest domestic hunger relief organization in the United States. Annually, they distribute more than one billion pounds of donated food and grocery product, supporting approximately 50,000 local charitable agencies and the operation of over 94,000 food programs that provide food assistance to more than 26 million hungry Americans, including eight million children and four million seniors each year. 99.3% of all donations received by America's Second Harvest go directly towards feeding hungry people."

Save Darfur Coalition [because the UN sure isn't doing anything about it...]
"The Save Darfur Coalition is an alliance of over 100 faith-based, humanitarian and human rights organizations. Their mission is to raise public awareness and to mobilize an effective unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of two million people in the Darfur region of Sudan."

The ONE Campaign
"The ONE Campaign is an effort by Americans to rally Americans – one by one – to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. ONE is students and ministers, punk rockers and NASCAR moms, Americans of all beliefs and every walk of life, united to help make poverty history.

The ONE Campaign derives its name from the belief that allocating an additional one percent of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, clean water and food would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the world's poorest countries. We also call for debt cancellation, trade reform and anti–corruption measures in a comprehensive package to help Africa and the poorest nations beat AIDS and extreme poverty."

Setting aside the fact that AIDS in Africa is a completely made-up pandemic, (there are three links there) this is a good idea. A lot of people get caught up in the very specific 'fight AIDS' mentality without realizing that a lot of the sickness and health issues in Africa can be fought with very simple means, i.e. clean water, food, health, education (as listed above). That's why I'm in support of this one.

That last link? The WHO report from 1985? Look at the last page. You tally scores based on symptoms, and if the score is 12 or more, the patient has AIDS. They don't even have to test for the presence of HIV! Plus, the ELISA test they're so keen on? Has about 70 factors that can cause a 'false positive', including pregnancy. A lot of the testing was done at prenatal centers.

Note: I'm not saying there is no AIDS in Africa. I'm saying the catastrophic 'pandemic' that has been threatened and used as an excuse to raise funding does not exist. And is seriously hindering actual research on the subject as well as overshadowing other, more immediate needs that Africans have. How about malaria? How about bringing back DDT? Ah, but that's another entry...

So, while I ponder what I will be 'about', I will leave you with these links and information. Enjoy!

Comments

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Thanks for promoting those sites, Meg. I've been aware of all of those for years, and I keep forgetting to go. I should make it part of my daily routine: TWoP, Gmail, LJ, and Hunger site etc.