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Grassroots News September 2005



September 2005
Volume 2, Issue 9

in this issue
--Donations for Hurricane Katrina
--Social Issues Research
--NPR Podcasts
--LearnThat.com
--Petition
--Nonprofit Technology Jobs
--Autism Today
--Distributed Computing Projects
--Featured Client: Samaritan Women
--Schwab Learning Center
--Volunteers
--Help Grassroots.org By Selling on E-Bay
--Grassroots.org Shirts, Mugs and More
--Donation Exchange
--Citizen Action Letter
--Free Services
--News and Views
--Discussion Forums
--Your Feedback
--Administration
--About Grassroots.org





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Welcome to Grassroots News!

This monthly newsletter offers information and tools that can help you to make a difference in the world. Daily updates of news and tips are available on the Grassroots.org blog.We also publish a newsletter for our clients called Grassroots Client News with information for nonprofit organizations. You can sign up for Grassroots Client News here.

Donations for Hurricane Katrina



On August 29 Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in the Southeastern US cause large amounts of causing
property and infrastructure damage as well as loss of life. (At the time of this publication, these numbers are still growing.) All online donations to Grassroots.org in the month of September will go towards relief for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. To donate go to http://www.grassroots.org/do/Donate.

Social Issues Research



This web page includes links to information on various issues was originally developed to meet the needs of middle and high school students in Multnomah County, Oregon. But the site is useful to anyone looking to learn more about various issues, including Affirmative Action, Binge Drinking, Civil Rights, and many others.


NPR Podcasts



Several National Public Radio shows and stations make their content available for free through podcasts See this listing on their web site for more information.


Petition



Today, US pharmaceutical companies fund more than two-thirds of the medical research performed at US universities and colleges. More than two decades ago, this was not the case as the US government was the primary provider of medical research funding. Many suggest that because pharmaceutical companies fund the research, the reported findings about the research and drugs are biased. As citizens we need to be concerned especially since we rely primarily on these experts to fully disclose everything they know about a particular drug - both good and bad. Just how much influence do drug companies have and how does this jeopardize our safety? This petition is to ask our regulators to ensure that public healthy and safety are first and foremost before drugs and medicines are approved for sale to the general public.

This petition will be sent to the FDA Commissioner Lester M Crawford and to the US Congress. Sign this petition.


LearnThat.com



LearnThat.com is an online service that offers free tutorials in a variety of areas including business, computers, and personal finance as well as free training for certification, including CompTIA A+ Certification. The tutorials can be can take online and vary in format from text-only pages to graphic web pages.


Nonprofit Technology Jobs



If you are looking for a job at a charity or foundation administering or using computers as a primary too, the Nonprofit Tech Jobs list averages about 40 job postings a month. You can subscribe to the list and receive postings by e-mail or visit the group's web site.


Autism Today



Autism Today is an online magazine dealing with the latest news and resources for autism and autism-related issues. Included on the site are articles, a service directory, and a calendar of autism-related events around the world.


Distributed Computing Projects



You probably have heard of the SETI@Home project (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence at Home) or you may have seen the famous blue and red screensaver on somebody else's computer. SETI at Home is one distributed computing project that allows computers around the world to solve mathematical problems during their downtime. The combined computing power of these computers is larger than mainframe and supercomputers and allows computers that otherwise would be doing nothing to contribute to solving some of the world's technical and scientific problems.

If you would like to enlist your computer (or computers) in a cause various projects are listed at the Distributed Computing web site. Each link will take you to the project's home page which will give you more information as well as instructions on how to participate. (Projects typically require downloading and installing special software to run.)


Featured Client: Samaritan Women



Samaritan Women, Inc. is a new nonprofit organization in Rochester, NY and a new Grassroots.org hosting client. The organization was established to address the needs of women and youth in the Rochester area. The mission of the organization is to improve the life opportunities of at-risk youth and women through a comprehensive approach aimed at developing their overall capabilities. One of their programs, Keeping Kids Connected is a community based support group for children ages 11-17 years old with a parent who is incarcerated. Spirit of Success is a world exploration program which exposes youth to numerous ethnic and cultural differences, arts and music events, as well as employment training, academic support, and career development workshops.

Their web site was developed by Virginia Ramirez, a Grassroots.org web design volunteer.


Schwab Learning Center



Schwab Learning is a nonprofit program of the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation and is a “parent’s guide to helping kids with learning difficulties be successful in school and life” and provides useful information and practical strategies for parents of children in kindergarten through high school.


Volunteers



If you are interested in giving back to the world community, consider volunteering your time and skills to Grassroots.org. We especially need web designers to develop and enhance web sites for our free web hosting clients. All Grassroots.org volunteer opportunities are now listed on VolunteerMatch and we were recently profiled on JustVolunteers.

Review our listings to see if any of our opportunities match your skills, experience, and interest. (You can submit your information to us through the appropriate "I like this opportunity!" link on the page that describes the particular opportunity.)


Help Grassroots.org by Selling on EBay



If you sell items on EBay, you can designate Grassroots.org as a beneficiary of a percentage of the sale. (There is a $10 minimum per item. More information here.) This contribution will help provide funding for our operations. Thank you for your support!

Grassroots.org Shirts, Mugs, and More!



You can now buy Grassroots.org merchandise at our new online store. The store currently features shirts, mugs, prints, and more. You can visit the store and any purchases you make from our online store are tax deductible


Donation Exchange



This forum on Grassroots.org was created to facilitate the exchange of donated items. Organizations or individuals looking to donate items or those in search of obtaining donated goods should join in the discussion.


Citizen Action



Citizen action letters are a tremendous way to speak out and let your voice be heard. In Grassroots News we are now including citizen action letters which you can personalize and send to your government representatives. If you forward this newsletter to your friends and colleagues and have them submit the action letter to their own representatives, the effect will be even greater!

The action letter below addresses the need to give more policing to the distribution of obscene, corruptive and offensive pornography. Americans spend over $10 billion each year on pornography. In the US, one rape occurs every two and a half minutes. Sex pedophiles have gone on record admitting that they use pornography to lower the child’s inhibitions, before committing their crimes. Please enter your first name, email address and zip code as these are mandatory for your citizen letter to reach your elected representative and FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.

First Name Zip Code/Postal Code

Dear FCC Chairman Kevin Martin,

Americans spend $10 billion on pornography every year. Today, big corporations actively participate in the distribution of pornographic material. AT&T used the Hot Network, General Motors did it through its subsidiary Direct TV. Although the word pornography encompasses a wide spectrum of material, we urge you to focus on the type of content that is obscene, repulsive, patently offensive, and corruptive, that which degrades and dehumanizes and that which depicts violence, especially against women and children. The effects of pornography are numerous:

  • Men become callous towards women, desensitizing themselves towards sexual violence and trivializing rape to the point that they think it is no longer a crime.
  • Men start to distort their perception of sexuality.
  • Normal sex becomes insufficient as they start to develop an appetite for deviant, bizarre and more violent types of pornography.
  • Monogamy becomes unimportant and men become unsure of their marriages and relationships. Men start viewing non-monogamous relationships as normal and natural behavior.
  • Partners of those addicted to Internet pornography end up feeling abandoned, betrayed, ignored, devalued and deceived as they are unable to compete with their addicted partner's sexual fantasy.

In 2002-2003, there was an average of 223,000 annual victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault in the US. This translates into one rape every two and a half minutes. Dial-up-Porn telephone services, adult programming on cable television, pornographic magazines and movies have been known to lead children to copycat sexual acts which can result in unwanted pregnancies, sexual assaults/violence and injuries. Sex pedophiles have gone on record admitting that they use pornography to lower the child?s inhibitions, before committing their crimes. Extensive interviews with sex offenders have revealed that many of them use pornography to arouse themselves prior to and during their assaults. Ted Bundy, stated in a videotaped interview hours before his execution that pornography fueled his violent thoughts towards women. Arthur Gary Bishop, the homosexual pedophile who murdered 5 boys in Salt Lake City Utah, admitted that pornography played a large role in his downfall.

Although federal law prohibits obscene programming on broadcast and cable networks at any time, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) needs to strictly enforce the laws against obscene and indecent programming. We ask you, as the current FCC chairman, to continue with aggressive monitoring and decisive punishment of broadcasters who violate obscenity laws. Please continue to levy fines decisively and consistently against broadcasters who insist on showing obscene programming over public venues. Continue to collect these fines, up to the last penny, so that the message is delivered loud and clear. Revoke broadcasting licenses if need be to deter repeat offending. This provides integrity and authority to the FCC and the federal laws that protect us against pornography and obscenity. Make the repercussions fearsome so that these laws become effective deterrents.

Although some argue that there are benefits to a more open, honest discussion of sex and sexuality in our society, pornography raises more pressing issues about child protection, how obscenity influences our behavior and freedom of speech and how it leads to the breakdown of moral, ethical and family values. The amount of money that is spent on pornography is shocking. Enforce the federal laws on obscenity across all medium of pornographic distribution and this will help curb the demand for pornography.

Sincerely,


cc. Elected Representative

References and other informational sources:

American Porn: The Mainstream Corporations Profiting from Pornorgraphy
Facts About Rape
FCC Hires Conservative Indecency Critic
How to Lodge a TV or Radio Indecency Complaint
Porn in the USA
Pornography’s Effect on Adults and Children
The Pornography Plague


Free Services



Grassroots.org offers several free services to individuals around the world and nonprofit organizations in the US and Canada:


News and Views



Keep up to date with the latest information from Grassroots.org on our blog, News and Views. In addition to reading our blog on the web, you can read posts from ours and other blogs using a RSS Reader.


Discussion Forums



Exercise your freedom of speech!!!

Our discussion forums are a great way for you to help and encourage others, to allow others to learn more about you and your organization, and to build relationships with others in the same field of interest. You can access all of the Grassroots.org discussion forums here. We encourage you to visit the forums, register, and participate.

Let your voice be heard!


Your Feedback



Drop us a line and let us know what you want to see in future issues. E-mail your comments to newsletter@grassroots.org

To get a text version of this newsletter to be sent to you in the future, send an email to address@grassroots.org
.


Administration



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About Grassroots.org



Grassroots.org is a nonprofit organization that is looking to change the world slowly but surely via the Internet at local, national, and international levels. This is done is through the development of sites dedicated to specific issues and by offering free services to other nonprofit organizations.

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