So I decided to put advertisements on my blog, even though I haven't really been keen on the idea. The reason I did it was to help raise money for the South Asia Tsunami relief efforts. I will be giving my advertisement revenue to Northwest Medical Teams as part of the BlogAid project. So if you see a good product advertised on the right, simply click through and a couple more cents will go to the Northwest Medical Teams.
I have already given money to Doctors Without Borders, so I am trying to spread the wealth a bit. I'm not sure how long I will leave the ad up, but even if I don't earn the $100 minimum required for Google to cut me a check, I will still donate a check equal to the amount I earn.
Why did I decide to do this now and not for one of the many other humanitarian crises that we hear about all the time? Well, my aunt lives in Bali, Indonesia and I just went there with on my honeymoon this fall. Thankfully my Aunt is OK and the island of Bali wasn't severely affected by the tsunami, Indonesia was among the hardest hit countries. It is possible that I will keep donating money to Northwest Medical Teams or another charity to support their humanitarian efforts after the crisis in South Asia subsides. Also, the BlogAid project gave me a good way to earn some money for relief efforts.
I haven't seen it mentioned around the ORBlog scene yet, but I thought it was interesting to see Willamette Week's cover story this morning, "Meet the OUTLAWS". It is a really good series of stories talking about the same-sex marriage controversy, but unfortunately, the paper likely went to press just before the story broke. So you have a well written feature on same-sex marriage, with no mention of today's big news. Whoops!
When the war started my girlfriend and I decided that we wouldn't watch any coverage of the war and would simply pick up what news we happened upon. During the conversation I called the coverage "War Porn". I have mentioned it to a few friends and they all seem to think it is pretty funny and a good description of the coverage. Luckily I have had little trouble avoiding the coverage since I don't get any 24 hour cable news stations and I don't watch much in the way of news.
Earlier I mentioned "Where is Raed?", IndyMedia and Google News as alternative sources for war news. Here are two more:
The Agonist - minute to minute coverage of media reporting. Only the most important and interesting stuff.
BBC Reporter's Log - the war will be bloggerized.
These are the first indications that the invasion of Iraq will be the first internet war. Where as the Spanish-American War was the height of newspaper coverage, WWII was the height of radio coverage, Vietnam was the height of TV coverage, and the Gulf War was the height of Cable TV coverage.
I went to KATU's website a bit ago to see local media's coverage of the protests. I found the story located here and was upset to see a link at the bottom to a "pro-troops" rally website, but no link to peace/anti-war rallies. While this upset me, it definately didn't suprise me. The media seems to be very biased on this issue. Last night while watching Fox News Channel (rebrocast on KPTV) one of the anchors said, "The liberation of Iraq has begun". Yuck!
That might be saying a bit much, but I am really fascinated by the coverage provided by "Where is Raed?". I am trying to shun traditional news sources when I want information on "the war", and this blog from an Iraqi in Baghdad. I am also surfing Portland's IndyMedia site and Google News.
Although I am very concerned with the possible war in Iraq, here are four stories that you probably won't hear about this weekend because of terror scare stories and Iraq War mongering:
Uneasy calm returns to Bolivia
Zimbabwe 'love marches' broken up
US denies 'prison torture' charges
Have a great weekend.
That is the last paragraph of a BBC Interactive story called "No fast track at Guantanamo Bay". This story has not recieved wide notice by the US media, but the US government is holding around 650 afghani, pakistani, british and australian citizens at a camp at the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba. These prisoners have not recieved any legal representation, and they are being held in violation of international law. They are kept in isolation for all but 30 minutes a day. They are regularly questioned by the US government, but according to the article, there is not torture. The most important part of this story is the fact that by the admission of senior defense officials as many as 10% of the prisoners may be innocent. In October three Afghans were sent home. They were farmers at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Guess I have to be carefull about what I write. Free Speech -- Virtually; Legal Constraints on Web Journals Surprise Many 'Bloggers' - Washington Post
Well, they don't suprise me. Although I did find this quote from Pam Farr (president of a human resources consulting company) particularly troubling:
"With the advent of cyberspace, we've had to evolve these policies," Farr said. "Somewhere between First Amendment rights and total repression there is a practical middle ground."Well, it sure is nice to know that I don't have to deal with total repression of my constitutionally granted right to free speech.
"What would Jesus drive?" - a CNN exclusive
"N.Y. considers putting homeless on old cruise ships" - another CNN exclusive
OK, I mean, I like that people are thinking about alternatives to SUVs and trying to house the homeless. But, I mean, is this really the best they could come up with. Is this the solution? I have an idea: "What would Jesus do about the homeless in N.Y.?" A new joint effort by N.Y. Mayor Michael Bluemberg and the White House Office of Giving Federal Funds to Religious Charities* We all know Jesus wouldn't drive an SUV, but did you know that he wants to put homeless people on cruise ships? You bet ya! He sure is a keen guy. Heck, lets send them on a nice one way cruise to somewhere else. I mean it works for N.Y.'s trash, why not the homeless? Remember, not agreeing with this is both sacreligious and unpatriotic.**
*note 1: Without knowing it I got this one pretty close. The real name is the "White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives". The "White House Office of Smashing the Separtion of Church and State to all Crap" was my other thought, but it seems a little harsh.
**note 2: The preceding was satire. I don't actually know what Jesus would do. But if I did . . .