Give the Gifts That Keep On Giving

Because our little 800 sq.ft. Venice bungalow is already stuffed to the rafters with furniture, cats, dogs, and various travel keepsakes (I swear that didgeridoo was smaller in Sidney) my husband and I have long since given up traditional gift exchanges this time of year.

Instead we ask our friends and relatives to give donations in our names as gifts, and ask them to name charities we can donate to as well. It's a win-win for everyone: our friends get a little tax deduction at the end of the year, the relatives have one less name to angst about on their lists, and we avoid carting cratefuls of scented soap, Hummel figurines, and Thomas "Painter Of Light Crap" Kinkade dioramas to the local Good Will.

So this year, with a tough economy squeezing the charities and causes that can least afford it, doesn't it make sense to consider gifts that keep on giving, not re-gifting?

The following are some of my favorite causes and charities. Don't see anything here you're interested in? Try the Charity Navitagor to find thousands of different charities! Charity Navigator works to guide intelligent giving. They rate charities by evaluating their financial health, their organizational efficiency and their organizational capacity.


EDUCATION

Donors Choose (Southern California)
DonorsChoose.org is dedicated to addressing the scarcity and inequitable distribution of learning materials and experiences in our public schools. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, like you, choose projects to fund. Their data base is searchable by state, county and city.


ENVIRONMENT

Marine Animal Rescue
As a scuba diver, this is an organization near and dear to my heart! For over 20 years, Marine Animal Rescue volunteers have come to the aid of entangled or beached whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions and sea birds along the California coast. Marine Animal Rescue volunteers have rescued thousands of marine animals.

Los Angeles League Of Conservation Voters
The Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters (LALCV), formed in 1976, is the only environmental Political Action Committee in Los Angeles County. The mission of LALCV is to participate in the electoral process throughout the County of Los Angeles from an environmental perspective.

Santa Monica Bay Keeper
Founded in 1993, the Santa Monica Baykeeper's mission is to protect and restore the Santa Monica Bay, San Pedro Bay and adjacent waters through enforcement, fieldwork, and community action. We work to achieve this goal through litigation and regulatory programs that ensure water quality protections in waterways throughout L.A. County

The Jane Goodall Institute
The Jane Goodall Institute advances the power of individuals to take informed and compassionate action to improve the environment for all living things. It's mission includes increasing primate habitat conservation, increasing awareness of, support for and training in issues related to our relationship with each other, the environment and other animals (leading to behavior change), expanding non-invasive research programs on chimpanzees and other primates, and promote activities that ensure the well-being of chimpanzees, other primates and animal welfare activities in general.


FOOD BANKS

Feeding America
Feeding America is the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity. Each year, the Feeding America network provides food assistance to more than 25 million low-income people facing hunger in the United States, including more than 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors.

Gleaners Community Food Bank
A distribution network which provides local non-profit agencies with a low cost, reliable source of food for hungry people in southeastern Michigan. The fastest growing segment of new "clients" come from the auto industry.


HOUSING

Habitat For Humanity
Habitat affliliates work locally in communities around the world to select and support homeowners, organize volunteers and coordinate house building.


INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE

Kiva.org
Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world. When you browse entrepreneurs' profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community.

Heifer International
Give the gift of goats! Heifer provides gifts of livestock and plants, as well as education in sustainable agriculture, to financially disadvantaged families around the world. Heifer works to ensure that the gift of each animal will eventually help an entire community to become self-sustaining.


AID TO MILITARY FAMILIES

Packages From Home
The mission of Packages From Home is to send care and comfort packages to deployed American military personnel who are stationed in active duty theaters around the world, as well as to facilitate activities that elevate morale of all veterans.

Pentagon Federal Credit Union Foundation
This nonprofit national charity works to meet unmet needs of the military personnel and their families in the areas of financial literacy, housing and support for the wounded.

The Wounded Warrior Project
The mission of the Wounded Warrior Project is to honor and empower wounded warriors, raise awareness and enlist the public's aid for the needs of severely injured service men and women, help them aid and assist each other, and provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs.

Fisher House Foundation
This program is a unique private-public partnership that supports America's military in their time of need. The program recognizes the special sacrifices of our men and women in uniform and the hardships of military service by meeting a humanitarian need beyond that normally provided by the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.


VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

If you want give the gift of time and service, check out these sites:

Food On Foot
Food on Foot began in March 1996 as one man's response to the hunger he witnessed among the poor and homeless of Hollywood. What initially began as the distribution of meals from the trunk of a car has grown through the dedication of its volunteers and now serves more than 500 meals each week to homeless, disabled, elderly and low-income adults and children.

LA Works
Our Volunteer Calendar offers over 60 team-oriented volunteer projects each month that impact the most pressing social issues in L.A. Projects include repairing wheelchairs, serving meals to the hungry, helping children with special needs, reading to kids, mentoring at-risk teens, providing companionship to seniors, landscaping parks and planting trees.

Volunteer Match
VolunteerMatch is a leader in the nonprofit world dedicated to helping everyone find a great place to volunteer. The organization offers a variety of online services to support a community of nonprofit, volunteer and business leaders committed to civic engagement. Our popular service welcomes millions of visitors a year and has become the preferred internet recruiting tool for more than 61,000 nonprofit organizations.

GOP Would Rather Break the UAW Than Save The Country

From Firedoglake.com:

Tonight Harry Reid called for cloture on the auto bill, knowing he didn't have the votes.

Chris Dodd spoke for working people, and expressed his disbelief that the Senate could let this happen right now (YouTube). Talk about your War on Christmas.

Corker of Tennesee then went on to make an impassioned speech about how close they came to a deal, the only sticking point was that the UAW wouldn't commit to a date to accept salary parity with what workers in foreign auto companies make. Mind you, the Republicans didn't ask for commitments from dealers or creditors or bond holders or suppliers, just blue collar workers. So that was really where the only problem was going to arise.

Funny, none of these bastards demanded wage and benefit cuts for Wall Street workers in the $700 billion bank bailout.

Before the vote, Reid said "I dread looking at Wall Street tomorrow" — with a smile.

When I suggested that Reid call their bluff and make the Republicans filibuster and watch as the stock market tanked in their wake, I never thought he'd do it. Gotta hand it to him -- for the time being any way, he's not letting the red state culture warriors railroad the unions.

Final vote: 52-35, with Tester and Lincoln defecting from the Dems.

Reid says the Senate is now in pro-forma session and they don't anticipate reconvening before next year.

We're now in a giant game of chicken. Will Bush and Paulson blink?

And this, from Digby:

So, the Republicans are saying that if the Democrats don't agree to destroy the unions, they will block any loans to Detroit, and allow the auto companies to fail. And even that might not be enough to stop them because this wrecking crew seems have decided that the country needs to understand that if they vote for Democrats the Republicans will make them pay by ushering in another great depression.

(snip)

Republicans spent the last eight years like drunken sailors on their first shore leave after years at sea. They wantonly drained the treasury of billions and billions of dollars on harebrained schemes to induce "birthpangs of democracy" around the world, chasing phantom enemies and enriching their defense contractor contributors. They created a lobbying culture so corrupt it finally collapsed of its own weight. They deregulated the financial industry so thoroughly that it created an elaborate ponzi scheme that has just about destroyed the world economy.

They have no standing to lecture anyone about responsibility, fiscal or otherwise, and no right to obstruct the cure for the problem they created.

It's true that Democrats have, over the years, enabled Republicans and helped their ideology to run amock. But right now they are all we've got and their intentions, quite clearly, are to keep the economy from tanking, if only out of self interest. The Republicans are blocking this bridge loan for both narrow parochial reasons and longterm partisan gain. There's no other way to interpret this otherwise inexplicable unwillingness of the Republicans to even grant a short term bridge loan. They want the economy to fail.

Obama Appoints General Eric Shinseki To Head Veterans Administration

Transcript of Obama video clip:

PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: Tomorrow, you had mentioned earlier, is when we commemorate Pearl Harbor, and so I'm going to be making announcement tomorrow about the head of our Veterans Administration, General Eric Shinseki, who was a commander and has fought in Vietnam, Bosnia, is somebody who has achieved the highest level of military service. He has agreed that he is willing to be part of this administration because both he and I share a reverence for those who serve. I grew up in Hawaii, as he did. My grandfather is in the Punch Bowl National Cemetery. When I reflect on the sacrifices that have been made by our veterans and, I think about how so many veterans around the country are struggling even more than those who have not served -- higher unemployment rates, higher homeless rates, higher substance abuse rates, medical care that is inadequate -- it breaks my heart, and I think that General Shinseki is exactly the right person who is going to be able to make sure that we honor our troops when they come home.

BROKAW: He's the man who lost his job in the Bush Administration because he said we will need more troops in Iraq than Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld thought we would need at that time.

PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: He was right.

Think Progress flashes back to Shinseki's Senate testimony:

In the run-up to war in Iraq in early 2003, General Eric Shinseki testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee that it would take "several hundred thousand soldiers" to secure Iraq:

"I would say that what's been mobilized to this point, something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers, are probably, you know, a figure that would be required. We're talking about post-hostilities control over a piece of geography that's fairly significant with the kinds of ethnic tensions that could lead to other problems."

Just two days later -- and exactly five years ago today -- then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, swiftly and infamously dismissed Shinseki's assessment.

Obama Lays Out Specific Ideas For Stimulus Plan

From his weekly YouTube address.......Key details of his plan include:

"Massive" effort to make public buildings more energy efficient. These efforts include (but are not limited to) "replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs." In addition to cost savings, this will create jobs.

Job creation (according to Obama, in the millions) by making "the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highways system in the 1950s." Obama plans to apply "a use it or lose it" rule to the allocation of this money.

"The most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen." This includes repairs, energy-efficient upgrades and technology investments. In essence, he wants to create "21st Century Schools," an idea novel to the current President's priorities.

He also wants to improve our "information superhighway" and references our abysmal ranking of 15th worldwide in broadband access. As Obama says, "here in the country that invented the internet, every child should have the chance to get online." In addition to connecting schools to the internet, he proposes connecting hospitals. And he talks about modernizing our hospitals with improved technology.

A Seat At The Table

In a memo released today, Obama-Biden Transition Project Co-chair John D. Podesta announced that all policy documents from official meetings with outside organizations will be publicly available for review and discussion on Change.gov.

This means we're inviting the American public to take a seat at the table and engage in a dialogue about these important issues and ideas -- at the same time members of our team review these documents themselves.

Director of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs Michael Strautmanis gave an overview of the program. Watch the video below:



Documents from meetings with these groups are available now. Check out the Seat at the Table feature   on Change.gov, and dig in.

Barack Obama's Grass Roots In Search Of New Turf

From the LA Times:

James Dillon, a onetime Republican activist who grew disgusted with politics, was so inspired by Barack Obama's candidacy that he joined the campaign's massive volunteer army, hosting house parties and recruiting supporters.

But beyond influencing the November election, Dillon thought he was joining a new political movement that would be mobilized for big goals -- to end poverty or help distressed homeowners, or maybe end the U.S. reliance on oil.

So Dillon, a Florida real estate developer, was discouraged by the suggestion that arrived by e-mail last week from Obama's campaign manager: "Excited about the much anticipated first dog?" it read, referring to the Obama daughters' quest for a new puppy. "Support your local animal shelter to give animals in your area a chance."

Amid Obama's transition to power, a spirited and often secretive debate has broken out among top campaign staff members over how to refashion the broad network of motivated volunteers into a force that can help Obama govern.

With 13 million e-mail addresses, hundreds of trained field organizers and tens of thousands of neighborhood coordinators and phone bank volunteers, the network has become one of the most valuable assets in politics, and Obama's team may choose to deploy it to elect other Democratic officials, or to lobby Congress for his toughest legislative goals, or even to apply pressure on local and state policymakers across the country.

This weekend, hundreds of field staffers and some key volunteers are planning a marathon closed-door summit at a Chicago hotel to begin negotiating details of what the network might look like when Obama takes office in January. A group of field organizers from battleground states has been enlisted to draw up a plan.

(snip)

Among the questions to be sorted out by Obama's aides: Who will lead the network, whether it will become part of the Democratic Party infrastructure, and whether it should focus on local service projects or more lofty national goals.

Some details have come into focus, according to sources familiar with the internal deliberations. The Obama camp is giving serious consideration to forming a not-for-profit or political-action organization to house the grass-roots machinery. Remaining separate from the Democratic Party might avoid alienating independents and Republicans who backed Obama.

It is not clear what form such an organization would take, how it would raise money and how direct a relationship it could have with the White House.

(snip)

Darlene Carter, a Tampa-area schoolteacher and Obama campaign volunteer who is hosting a house party this month, said the network should be nonpartisan. She intends to have Republicans attend the event at her home.

"We're looking for a change, and Obama himself has said that it's not about party," she said.

Several field organizers and others familiar with the deliberations said they were optimistic that, over time, the network would be successful.

"There is a lot of curiosity and even some anxiety around what's going to happen," said one organizer, who requested anonymity due to the campaign's restrictions on talking to the media. "But I think at least the organizers understand that this is going to take a little bit of time."

Read the story here.

"The People's Inauguration"

From The Washington Post:

It was billed as the biggest, most eye-popping of the inauguration hotel packages: the JW Marriott's $1 million "build-your-own-ball" offer. You get 300 rooms, four suites, $200,000 worth of food and drink, and a primo site overlooking the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route.

This morning, the Marriott is scheduled to announce that the buyer is a Virginia businessman who wants to bring to the inauguration disadvantaged people, terminally ill patients, wounded soldiers and others down on their luck.

Earl W. Stafford, 60, of Fairfax County, the founder of a Centreville technology company who grew up as one of 12 children of a Baptist minister, said he will provide his guests lodging, food and special access, as well as beauticians, gowns and tuxedos, if necessary.

Stafford has paid the $1 million, a spokesman said, and is prepared to spend $600,000 more for a breakfast, a luncheon and two balls at the hotel. Stafford said he hopes to recoup some of the $600,000 from other sponsors, yet to be recruited.

Stafford said his guests, yet to be chosen, will come from across the country. They can watch the parade from a heated tent atop the Marriott's terrace, with terrific views and every comfort available.

"We're not charging a dime," Stafford said.

Read the rest here.

Writing The Book On The Obama Camapaign

The AP reports that David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, will have a book coming out in 2009:

Barack Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, is writing a book about the historic election victory and has retained Washington attorney Robert Barnett, Obama's literary representative, to shop the proposal to publishers.

The book has been tentatively titled, "The Audacity To Win," a reference to Obama's million-selling "The Audacity of Hope." Having helped manage one of the most sophisticated and highly praised campaigns ever, Plouffe plans not only an inside look at the Obama run but also advice for how to manage a large organization.

"Hopefully, there will be some lessons on how to put together a three-quarters of a billion dollar operation," Plouffe said Wednesday, adding that the book would be high on tactics, and low on gossip, with an inevitable critique of the rival campaigns.

"I don't have a huge interest in scoring points, but there was a difference in strategy and approach," he said of the organization of Republican John McCain.....

Plouffe, whose wife recently gave birth to a girl, said he remains in touch with his former colleagues and that Obama is aware of and approves of the book.

"His only advice to me was `Don't damage your reputation by writing a bad book,'" said Plouffe, who besides writing his book, plans on working as a consultant and spending time with his family.

Georgia Senate Race, Preview Of 2010?

Some interesting post-mortem in the blogasphere today:

From FiveThirtyEight.com

I tend to think that we should not be too dismissive of Saxby Chambliss's win in Georgia tonight. Although the outcome was expected, and although runoffs and special elections sometimes behave in idiosyncratic ways, moving from a 3-point margin of victory on November 4 to a 15-point margin of victory a month later is a significant accomplishment..........

(snip)

While proportionately lower black turnout tells part of the story, Chambliss also appeared to gain with white voters. In certain ways, this is an awkward time for a Democrat to be running for office. On the one hand, with the imminent end of George W. Bush's term in office, and the fact that Barack Obama has effectively been serving as shadow present -- Obama is generating between two and three times as much news coverage as Bush according to Google traffic metrics -- it has already become harder for Democrats to pin our country's problems on the Republicans. Yes, Bush did damage to the Republican brand that will last for years to come, but it's the Obama brand that's strong more so than the generic Democratic one. On the other hand, because Obama hasn't actually been in office, the Democrats do not yet have any accomplishments to point to. The Democratic message in 2010 will essentially be one of two things...

1. Obama's accomplished X, Y and Z and showed the country the way forward, let's give him leaders in Congress who can continue to deliver for the middle class, or,

2. Obama accomplished X, but he couldn't accomplish Y and Z because the Republicans obstructed those measures to protect the special interests ... let's put partisanship behind us and elect leaders in Congress who can represent the common good.

And a contrarian view from D-Day:

It's a little funny to see Republicans claiming momentum in the country after an incumbent Senator wins a low-turnout runoff election in Georgia. Lots of us were hopeful that Jim Martin could steal the race, but let's face it, he was running uphill the whole time. Especially because Chambliss ran almost entirely on the concept of "divided government" and obstructing Barack Obama's agenda, which works among Republicans in a red state. They had to have this race and they spent millions to keep it. In Georgia.

I'm supposed to be upset? What's notable is that the race was close enough to go to a runoff at all.

Yes. Democratic prospects in 2010 will rise on fall on them delivering for the American people or calling out the obstruction. Martin had no access to these messages, and was making them, again, in GEORGIA. While Chambliss' "I'll obstruct everything" message is operative. This is what you can take out of this race - the plain fact that Republicans aren't ready to make nice, that they will block whatever they can block, and that Democrats had better start strategizing ways to get things done.

Georgia Senate Race Called For Saxby Chambliss

As I write this, with 92% of precincts reporting, incumbent Republican Senator, Saxby Chambliss is leading the Democratic challenger, Jim Martin, 1,113,017  to 809,974.

From MSNBC.com

Turnout was light throughout the state Tuesday. A spokesman for Secretary of State Karen Handel predicted between 18 and 20 percent of the state's 5.75 million registered voters would cast ballots — far less than the 65 percent who voted in last month's general election.

Martin made the economy the centerpiece of his bid, casting himself as a champion for the neglected middle class. He also linked himself at every opportunity to Barack Obama and his message of change. The Democratic president elect was a no-show on the campaign trail in Georgia but did record a radio ad and automated phone calls for Martin.

In the end, Martin, a 63-year-old former state lawmaker from Atlanta, wasn't able to get Obama voters back to the polls in large enough numbers to overcome the Republican advantage in Georgia, which has become an increasingly a reliable red state since 2002.

Chambliss' argument that he's needed as a firewall to Democratic dominance in Washington resonated with some voters.

Murray Gottlieb, 54, a caterer in Savannah, said he voted for Chambliss because he doesn't want complete Democratic control of the Senate.

"I support Barack Obama now. I hope he's the best president we've ever had and we get out of the funk we're in, but I don't want to give him that much power," Gottlieb said after casting his ballot at a church in Savannah.

The race is already being picked apart and analyzed as Republicans and Democrats look towards 2010

From FiveThirtyEight.com:

A disappointing night for Democrats. On November 4th, Democrats became the de facto ruling party ... circa 2006 or so, the Dems got very good at figuring out what sort of messaging works when you're in the minority, but that's very different from the sort of messaging you have to do when you're in the majority. There's going to be a temptation in some circles to write this one off to poor African-American turnout or whatever, and that certainly is a large portion of the story. But I think the Democrats need to think carefully about what went wrong here as they begin to gear up for 2010.

Obama X-Files

From Politico.com:

A "million fax on Washington" directed by the head of the Extraterrestrial Phenomena Political Action Committee (X-PPAC) to demand that Obama "demand 

a full briefing from your military services and intelligence agencies regarding what they know and what they are doing about extraterrestrial related phenomena" and "formally acknowledge the extraterrestrial presence and finally end the truth embargo after 61 years."

X-PPA

C's executive director, Stephen Bassett, writes in his own open letter that he believes that the transition chief is a secret ally in this:

If you are in need of counsel to assist you in these matters, you have but to turn to your transition co-chair, John Podesta. His efforts to end the truth embargo and release all relevant government documents date back to at least 1993 and the Rockefeller Initiative. PRG believes he is fully aware of the extraterrestrial presence and is committed to creating more open, transparent governance. In this he is in sync with the chief financial backer of his Center for American Progress think tank, George Soros.

So, I do a google search with "Obama/ Extraterrestial", hoping to find some goofy photo of a space alien with Obama's face, and I run into this instead:

Sean Hannity had on his show Prof Gunderson, who has done research on Obama's blood chemistry and its extra-terrestrial origins. Dr Michael Savage has had on his show TWO bio-chemists who have made similar enquiry, and determined that Obama has three chromosones of non-human origin. And then, on Coast To Coast we have learned of the stunning evidence that Obama actually admitted in private conversation, years ago in Chicago, that he is "not of this Earth". He has even admitted it! He must be impeached!! We must continue to amass evidence that not only was he not born in the US -- he wasn't even born on this planet.

Seizing our guns is only the beginning. He will soon be going after our time crystals, our ray guns, and our special shelters. This is only the beginning of his Infamy.

Sean Hannity is right. There is no limit to what Obama will do to this planet. Why? BECAUSE HE WAS BORN ON ANOTHER PLANET.

You can't write this stuff.

Obama Healthcare Team Responds To Public Comments

Last Friday I posted that Obama's transition team had started a "conversation" on it's Change.gov site about the state of healthcare in this county, by asking for the public to answer this question,

"What worries you most about the healthcare system in our county?"

Nearly 4,000 responses later, members of healthcare transition team, including former Senator, Tom Daschle reviewed the comments over the long weekend, then posted a YouTube video today with their reactions: