Equality

Alarming Al

- Vanessa King

good-ol-al.jpgMr Al Gore has been called an ‘alarmist’ by critics who don’t really believe the facts he is teaching about global warming. He’s not letting these negative comments hold him back! He has recently mobilized thousands of volunteers to spread the word and take action against letting the planet melt into oblivion. Sometimes being ‘alerted’ isn’t such a bad thing!

The goal had been to train 1,000 “presenters” to show slides of melting glaciers and charts of climbing temperatures, but many more have wanted in. Those selected to gather at the Hilton Nashville Downtown last week included teachers, doctors, a meteorologist, ministers, Wal-Mart employees, actress Cameron Diaz, architects, retirees, veterans and financiers.

Each volunteer is required to give at least 10 presentations within a year of the training. This is great proof that people are catching onto the importance of the global weather situation, and networking to try and help! Thats a whole lot of good!

Greetings From America!

- Vanessa King

As I ring in the holidays with my family down in southern California, the warmth of my sunny Christmas tan is not all that has given me warm fuzzies today. I learned that this is also the greatest season of giving to great global causes by many individuals like you and me! So Christmas is not just a season of capitalism and extravagant frivolous spending after all. People all over North America are also giving back and giving more each year to good causes. 

Here are some factoids I found from here in the US……

christmas-money.gif• $260 billion: Charitable giving in the U.S. in 2005, up 2.7 percent.

• 50 percent: Of the charitable giving of individuals is done between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve.

• 77 percent: Charitable giving in the U.S. by individuals, (or $199 billion).

So if you haven’t thought about it already, maybe this is a season where you too can give back in some way! Help spread a little love around the World!

Happy holidays everyone!!

Things Are Getting Better

- Adam Clare

Kathryn has written in to tell us about an article in the Toronto Star about how things around the world are improving.

“How dare a conservative American economist tell us things are getting a whole lot better as if global warming wasn’t happening, as if Africa wasn’t being ravaged by AIDS, and if what’s happening in Iraq wasn’t an utter catastrophe.

Goklany, though, has assembled persuasive evidence that the state of the world is indeed, “improving.””

The Grinch Strikes Hollywood

- Agasel 2 Comments

Gift baskets at the Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards will become a thing of the past, according to recent news reports.   Ceremony reps for both shows confirmed that, starting in 2007, presenters will not be given extravagant grab bags, which have totaled up to $100,000 (US).

A Golden Globes rep alleged that all attendees (even in the audience) would receive gifts “valued at less than $600.”  A rep for the Oscars stated that “the Academy would like to thank presenters in a way that doesn’t carry a tax burden.”

Taxes are one reason why gift baskets are being nixed.  Under U.S. income tax law, the baskets are seen as income, not gifts, and are subject to heavy taxes.  The IRS reached an agreement with the Academy for previous extravagant gifts, including sending tax forms to 2006 Oscar presenters.

Another reason why celebrities will take home less next year: Edward Norton.  The actor criticized the practise, describing it as a waste.  He is quoted in a future edition of New York magazine as saying: “I’m sick of this. It’s not who we are – it makes us look ridiculous and out of touch. If these evenings are going to be a celebration of our craft and what we express about what’s going on in the world, then picking through $35,000 gift baskets is disgusting and shameful.”

Milblog Project

- Adam Clare

Voice-Activated Laptops for Our Injured Troops, known as Valour IT, tries to help wounded American soldiers psychologically recover from battle by blogging. Regardless (or irregardless if you’re Dubya Bush), of what you think of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and Terror, humans who are injured still need support to heal their wounds. You can read about the success the program has had at the MediaShift blog at PBS.

“It started last year when Army Captain Chuck Ziegenfuss injured both his hands and wanted to get back to blogging. His blog readers pitched in for Dragon Naturally Speaking software, and he and another blogger, FbL, put together Valour-IT and have raised more than $330,000 with two online Veteran’s Day fundraisers fueled by milbloggers.”

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