Causes
Introduction
On this page you will find links and some background information about various causes which I feel are important to promote and support. The information provided on this page was copied from the various organizations’ websites. While I agree in general ways with the goals of each organization listed here, I am not a member of most of these organizations, nor do I necessarily agree with their particular philosophies, actions, or methods of bringing about change. However, I do feel sympathy toward the underlying goals of each organization.
I only support peaceful, legal, and ethical methods of activism. I do not list Greenpeace, because—despite my love and concern for the environment—some members of Greenpeace work outside the law to bring about change, and the organization seems to turn a fairly blind eye to these actions.. While the outcome may be beneficial, I don’t feel that the law should be broken to bring about positive actions; instead, the laws should be amended. (I won’t get into the sticky issue of whether man’s laws, natural laws, or divine laws are the highest authority.)
Quick links to the causes:
- Politics
- Technology
- Environment and Animals
- Civil and Human Rights
- Health and Wellness
- Local Charities
Politics and Candidates
View all my blog articles relating to Politics, Ethics, and Legislation or Opinions.
U.S. President
Please see my Political Scorecard for a better view of my political decision making process.
There is no candidate who holds exactly the same opinions that I do, but of the front-runner candidates in the 2008 Presidential election, Barack Obama (D) and Hillary Clinton (D) seem to be the closest match and most acceptable candidates to me. Early on, I wondered if either an intelligent, liberal, African American senator from Illinois or a strong-willed, politically polarized, dynamic woman do well enough in the primaries (especially in the South, and to a lesser degree in other Red States). Now we know that they were able to beat out all the other candidates for the Democrat delegate nominations. Based on the delegate numbers, it appears that Obama will receive the nomination. If only Clinton would then agree to run as Vice President (and Obama agree to have her as his running mate), then I think they are the best hope this country has for recovering strongly from the Bush Regime aftermath.
While Obama is a liberal, he’s fairly centered. His pro-people plans are not anti-business. He’s one of the few candidates who actually states an opinion on issues rather than giving vague comments that could mean anything.
U.S. Congressional Senator
Neither of our senators are up for reelection until 2010. I am happy with both Barbara Boxer (D) and Diane Feinstein (D).
U.S. Congressional Representative, 3rd District
I do not care for the views held by Daniel Lundgren (R), but he is generally doing an okay job in Congress. I will likely vote for someone else, though, who is a closer match to my own opinions. I’ll let you know who after the candidates are declared.
Other offices and issues
I’ll let you know who I support after the candidates and issues are announced.
Technology Causes
View all my blog articles relating to Computers and the Internet or Science and Technology.
Defective By Design: Eliminate DRM
DefectiveByDesign.org is a broad-based anti-DRM campaign that is targeting Big Media, unhelpful manufacturers and DRM distributors. The campaign aims to make all manufacturers wary about bringing their DRM-enabled products to market. DRM products have features built-in that restrict what jobs they can do. These products have been intentionally crippled from the users’ perspective, and are therefore “defective by design”. This campaign will identify these “defective” products, and target them for elimination. Our aim is the abolition of DRM as a social practice.
Big Media describe DRM as Digital Rights Management. However, since its purpose is to restrict you the user, it is more accurate to describe DRM as Digital Restrictions Management. DRM Technology can restricts users’ access to movies, music, literature and software, indeed all forms of digital data. Unfree software implementing DRM technology is simply a prison in which users can be put to deprive them of the rights that the law would otherwise allow them.
Who should your computer take its orders from? Most people think their computers should obey them. With a plan they call “Trusted Computing”, the Big Media corporations, together with computer companies such as Microsoft, Apple and Intel, have decided that your computer should obey them instead of you. Treacherous Computing is now inside most new computers and devices, and is the bedrock upon which DRM is being built.
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
From the Internet to the iPod, technologies are transforming our society and empowering us as speakers, citizens, creators, and consumers. When our freedoms in the networked world come under attack, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is the first line of defense. EFF broke new ground when it was founded in 1990 — well before the Internet was on most people’s radar — and continues to confront cutting-edge issues defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights today. From the beginning, EFF has championed the public interest in every critical battle affecting digital rights.
Blending the expertise of lawyers, policy analysts, activists, and technologists, EFF achieves significant victories on behalf of consumers and the general public. EFF fights for freedom primarily in the courts, bringing and defending lawsuits even when that means taking on the US government or large corporations. By mobilizing more than 50,000 concerned citizens through our Action Center, EFF beats back bad legislation. In addition to advising policymakers, EFF educates the press and public. Sometimes just defending technologies isn’t enough, so EFF also supports the development of freedom-enhancing inventions.
EFF is a donor-funded nonprofit and depends on your support to continue successfully defending your digital rights. Litigation is particularly expensive; because two-thirds of our budget comes from individual donors, every contribution is critical to helping EFF fight —and win—more cases.
Environment and Animals
View all my blog articles relating to Environment and Animals.
Defenders of Wildlife
Defenders of Wildlife is dedicated to the protection of all native wild animals and plants in their natural communities. We focus our programs on what scientists consider two of the most serious environmental threats to the planet: the accelerating rate of extinction of species and the associated loss of biological diversity, and habitat alteration and destruction. Long known for our leadership on endangered species issues, Defenders of Wildlife also advocates new approaches to wildlife conservation that will help keep species from becoming endangered. Our programs encourage protection of entire ecosystems and interconnected habitats while protecting predators that serve as indicator species for ecosystem health.
Endangered Species Chocolate
Endangered Species Chocolate is fully committed to providing customers with delicious, high-quality, all-natural ethically traded, naturally shade-grown, and kosher products, as well as products that are certified organic. To honor our core value “Reverence for Life” we confirm that all beans used in our products are purchased from family-owned properties where the income benefits the community. We also donate 10 percent of net profits to help support species, habitat and humanity. The number one best selling brand of natural chocolate in the natural food category, Endangered Species Chocolate offers nearly 30 products.
Our cocoa is 100% ethically traded. Philosophically, ethical trade and fair trade are one in the very same. Our all-natural cocoa grows in Nigeria, where farmers determine a fair price for their own crops. We buy our cocoa from small family-owned properties, helping sustain the habitats and communities they are in. This cocoa is grown in the natural shade of rich, diverse forests. Choosing our chocolate is one way you can help support sustainable forest farmland and the species that flourish there. Since our cocoa is ethically traded, farmers are ensured humane working conditions and a fair price for their cocoa or a fair wage.
Rainforest Action Network (RAN)
Rainforest Action Network (RAN) is made up of 36 staff members in San Francisco, CA and in Tokyo, Japan, plus thousands of volunteer scientists, teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens around the world. We believe that a sustainable world can be created in our lifetime, and that aggressive action must be taken immediately to leave a safe and secure world for our children.
Dubbed “the most savvy environmental agitators in the business” by the Wall Street Journal, RAN uses hard-hitting markets campaigns to align the policies of multinational corporations with widespread public support for environmental protection. We believe that logging ancient forests for copy paper or destroying an endangered ecosystem for a week’s worth of oil is not just destructive, but outdated and unnecessary.
World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
Known worldwide by its panda logo, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) leads international efforts to protect endangered species and their habitats. Now in its fifth decade, WWF works in more than 100 countries around the globe to conserve the diversity of life on earth. With nearly 1.2 million members in the U.S. and another 4 million worldwide, WWF is the world’s largest privately financed conservation organization.
WWF directs its conservation efforts toward three global goals: saving endangered species, protecting endangered habitats and addressing global threats such as toxic pollution, over-fishing and climate change. From working to save the giant panda and bringing back the Asian rhino to establishing and helping to manage parks and reserves worldwide, WWF has been a conservation leader for more than 40 years.
Civil and Human Rights
View all my blog articles relating to Civil and Human Rights.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
The mission of the ACLU is to preserve all of the protections and guarantees found in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights, including:
- Your First Amendment rights-freedom of speech, association and assembly. Freedom of the press, and freedom of religion supported by the strict separation of church and state.
- Your right to equal protection under the law – equal treatment regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin.
- Your right to due process – fair treatment by the government whenever the loss of your liberty or property is at stake.
- Your right to privacy – freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into your personal and private affairs.
We work also to extend rights to segments of our population that have traditionally been denied their rights, including Native Americans and other people of color; lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people; women; mental-health patients; prisoners; people with disabilities; and the poor.
Amnesty International
Founded in London in 1961, Amnesty International is a Nobel Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with over 1.8 million members worldwide. Amnesty International undertakes research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to promote all human rights. Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) is the U.S. Section of Amnesty International.
Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against GLBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
HRC seeks to improve the lives of GLBT Americans by advocating for equal rights and benefits in the workplace, ensuring families are treated equally under the law and increasing public support among all Americans through innovative advocacy, education and outreach programs. HRC works to secure equal rights for GLBT individuals and families at the federal and state levels by lobbying elected officials, mobilizing grassroots supporters, educating Americans, investing strategically to elect fair-minded officials and partnering with other GLBT organizations.
Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Human Rights Watch is the largest human rights organization based in the United States. Human Rights Watch researchers conduct fact-finding investigations into human rights abuses in all regions of the world. Human Rights Watch then publishes those findings in dozens of books and reports every year, generating extensive coverage in local and international media. This publicity helps to embarrass abusive governments in the eyes of their citizens and the world. Human Rights Watch then meets with government officials to urge changes in policy and practice — at the United Nations, the European Union, in Washington and in capitals around the world. In extreme circumstances, Human Rights Watch presses for the withdrawal of military and economic support from governments that egregiously violate the rights of their people. In moments of crisis, Human Rights Watch provides up-to-the-minute information about conflicts while they are underway.
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people, and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work. Lambda Legal carries out its legal work principally through test cases selected for the likelihood of their success in establishing positive legal precedents.
Lambda Legal pursues litigation in all parts of the country, in every area of the law that affects communities we represent, such as discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and the military; HIV-related discrimination and public policy issues; parenting and relationship issues; equal marriage rights; equal employment and domestic partnership benefits; “sodomy” law challenges; immigration issues; antigay initiatives; and free speech and equal protection rights.
Lambda Legal’s work ultimately benefits all people, for it helps to fashion a society that is truly diverse and tolerant. Our overall mission to combat sexual orientation discrimination in this country has become an intrinsic part of the struggle for civil rights.
Health and Wellness
View all my blog articles relating to Health and Fitness.
American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is the nationwide community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and service.
The aim of the Society’s research program is to determine the causes of cancer and to support efforts to prevent and cure the disease. The American Cancer Society is the largest source of private, nonprofit cancer research funds in the United States, second only to the federal government in total dollars spent.
American Stroke Association
The American Stroke Association is the division of the American Heart Association that’s solely focused on reducing disability and death from stroke through research, education, fundraising and advocacy. We envision a world where stroke is minimized and ultimately eliminated as a major health problem. We look forward to a world where risk factors are reduced and rapid treatment is obtained. We strive to change the landscape of healthcare delivery so that optimal care and maximum recovery are achieved for those who do suffer a stroke. The American Stroke Association offers a wide array of programs, products and services, from patient education materials to scientific statements.
Breaking Barriers
Breaking Barriers Community Services Center is a volunteer supported, service oriented non-profit organization. We have been serving clients in the Greater Sacramento Area since 1995. We established ourselves as an independent agency in January 2001. Our programs are volunteer supported and provide a wide range of services from transportation to and from appointments, food delivery and household help, to educational outreach, workshops, and case finding. Our clients come from all walks of life, from the homeless living on the streets to people who are housed but in need.
The mission of Breaking Barriers is to coordinate a community response to assist in the early diagnosis and prevention of and provide care for people living with catastrophic illnesses. We coordinate four primary areas of services and education:
- Direct Services to provide transit, household help, food delivery, and vital services to clients
- Homeless Outreach and case finding to locate and connect people with services, including medical treatment and housing referrals
- Community Development to raise awareness, identify resources, recruit more volunteers, and raise community support
- Education & Prevention to provide interactive education, workshops, and HIV testing for people at risk
Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
For more than 20 years, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation has been a global leader in the fight against breast cancer through its support of innovative research and community-based outreach programs. Working through a network of U.S. and international Affiliates and events like the Komen Race for the Cure®, the Komen Foundation is fighting to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease by funding research grants and supporting education, screening and treatment projects in communities around the world.
Local Charities
View all my blog articles relating to Volunteering.
The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army, “the Army of Compassion”, shoulders one of the biggest responsibilities in the world today—to offer assistance to those in need and to provide people of all ages with the opportunity to grow, learn and become self-sufficient individuals in a challenging society. The task is overwhelming, but the rewards are tremendous.
Everyday this Army of Compassion battles hunger and homelessness in Sacramento—whether it’s at our Emergency Shelter in downtown Sacramento where many clients come with mental health issues, physical challenges, and almost all have lost their connection with God. Or the Ray Robinson Oak Park Community Center where children come seeking a refuge from the daily abuses of the street and their homes: here they find friendship with others, after school programs to help with their schoolwork, and an opportunity to play in the gym. There’s also the Little Lambs Growing Place Child Development Center where 45 children find a warm, caring, and nurturing environment where they are readied for Kindergarten and provided warm meals and a safe place to play.
The battle rages on in Sacramento, and The Salvation Army is on the front lines fighting for you and our community. The Salvation Army will always be there, forging steadfastly ahead to support our mission and goals – and ultimately continue Saving Lives.
Women Escaping A Violent Environment (WEAVE)
WEAVE Inc. is the largest provider of comprehensive services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault within Sacramento County. WEAVE Inc. was established in 1978 as a private 501(c)3 nonprofit organization to serve domestic violence victims and their families in Sacramento County. In 1988, WEAVE added services to help victims of sexual assault.
WEAVE Inc. has grown from a small, grassroots organization in 1978 to a large, nationally recognized $4.5 million per year agency with 80 paid staff members and many active volunteers. The organization has been honored for its efforts by many organizations, including the U.S. Department of Justice, the Governor, the Human Rights Fair Housing Commission, the Attorney General and the President of the United States.
WEAVE serves women, men, and children who are survivors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. WEAVE services are available to anyone who needs them, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, or income level. 24 Hour Crisis Line: (916) 920-2952
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