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--- On Mon, 6/28/10, Change.org Weekly wrote:
From: Change.org Weekly
Subject: A Giant Heart; Ignoring False Imprisonment; World's Dirtiest Oil
To: mrs
Date: Monday, June 28, 2010, 8:48 AM
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  | June 21 - June 27 |
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| TOP ACTIONS THIS WEEK |
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by Tifanei Moyer |
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by Lois Brooks |
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by CREDO Action |
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THIS WEEK on CHANGE.ORG A Giant HeartDear Kathy, At 7 feet 7 inches tall, there's no denying that former NBA basketball player Manute Bol was a giant on the court. He led the NBA in blocked shots for several seasons, while always drawing a crowd as one of the tallest people to ever to play the game. As millions of Sudanese lived through a seemingly endless war between the North and South, Bol took the fortune he earned as a basketball player and gave it all back to the people of his country. And when genocide broke out in the Darfur region in Sudan, he offered his prominent voice to advocate for an end to the violence. In his native language, the word "Manute" means "special blessing." There's no doubt that for millions of Sudanese - and the tens of millions inspired by his story - Manute Bol was nothing short of a blessing. Sadly, Bol died last week at the age of 47, from kidney failure related to a rare skin disease. It was too short a life for a sports icon who became more famous for his activities off the basketball court than on it. But Bol's hope for peace in Sudan lives on. His dream was to end the cycle of violence in Sudan by building schools where Christians from the South would study alongside Muslims from the North. This year could mark the opening of the first of these schools, and you can help achieve Bol's dream by donating to Sudan Sunrise, the charity building each school. You can also honor Bol by joining Save Darfur in calling on President Obama to make ending the violence in Sudan, which continues to this day, a priority. Ultimately, the legacy Bol leaves is as important as his lifetime accomplishments. Too many of us are tempted to view the world in terms of all that we don't have. But Bol's life helped to teach us that we're much more successful when we look at the world in terms of all that we do have - namely, our voice, and our capacity to give to a cause greater than ourselves. For more news and commentary from this week in change, see the summaries of your favorite causes below. |
For the past 35 years, William Macumber has been locked in an Arizona prison for a crime he didn't commit. The state's clemency board calls him innocent, declaring that his conviction was based on false accusations from his ex-wife, and another convicted man has already confessed to the crime. So why is Arizona Governor Jan Brewer ignoring the board's recommendation and refusing to pardon him? It seems that Brewer, who is running for election this year, doesn't want to look weak on "crime" and is putting her political future above justice. This is disgraceful; join Criminal Justice blogger Elizabeth Renter in demanding the Governor to set Macumber free. Read more » |
The Deepwater Horizon disaster is emblematic of a new era of "extreme" fossil fuels: larger risks and more destructive practices are needed to feed our oil addiction. Exhibit A is the Canadian tar sands mines, where American demand fuels the dirtiest extraction practices on Earth. Now, the State Department is considering approval of a 2,000-mile pipeline to transport huge quantities of this truly crude oil to the Gulf. Kenny Bruno of the No Tar Sands Oil campaign tells us how 50 members of Congress wrote to oppose the plan. You can too. Read more » |
While consumers worry about pesticide residues left over on produce, farm workers are practically marinating in the chemicals. Sustainable Food blogger Kristen Ridley examines how farm workers from Florida to North Carolina suffer from diabetes, birth defects, miscarriages, arthritis, and other health problems as a result of pesticide exposure. Right now, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) is poised to approve methyl iodide, a substance used in pesticides that is so toxic it's used to grow cancer cells in lab settings. The public has until June 29th to tell CDPR to deny approval of this dangerous chemical. Read more » |
An egg farm that keeps millions of birds crammed in battery cages has branded its facility "safe-hen cage farming." The birds are "safe" because they never see predators. Of course, this is because they never see the light of day, and are forced to live alongside the dead carcasses of other birds that perish in the unhealthy environment. But the farm is able to get away with saying - and doing - whatever they want since there are so few regulations. To fight back against this "humanewashing," Animals blogger Stephanie Feldstein writes that this past week the Humane Society of the United States filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against the egg farm's false advertising. Read more » |
So much for post-racial politics. Barack Obama might have broken the presidential color barrier, but as Race in America blogger Chris Santiago writes, in Congress, the number of black representatives is languishing. By 2011, not only is the Senate likely to lack a single black member - but it's quite possible that the Grand Old Party won't have any black representatives sitting in the House or Senate, either. Read more » |
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