After years down, a few seconds with a 2nd tier LLM has brought this monstrosity back to life. (now i can go back to neglecting it!)

I should create a vanity or "pride" topic. Anyway, It's hard to find a good, trustworthy charity to give to. At least, when you are as skeptical and untrusting as me. I.e. when one understands that, in the words of T.S. Elliott, [At least] "Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm -- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves" So I've decided to list a couple that I like. In ascending order: 1) American Refugee Committee. (though I get a lot of paper mail from them despite requests not to send). They have good ratings on the charity watch site and seem to be a good .org. 2) Water for People. I really like these guys. They take NO government money and have a very smart/reasonable approach to giving. (Standard "teach a man to fish" stuff, but also a basic understanding that people value things they have worked for more than things they are just given). give today:

TerrorBall and The politics of Cowardice. Nice. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704130904574644651587677752.html

Think privatizing the Jails is a good idea? How's this for an argument against: http://boingboing.net/2009/02/02/judges-jailed-for-ta.html

Is Boxer so stupid that she doesn't understand that these amendments are opposed to one another? Or is she owned (like the rest of the Senators pretending to be afraid of drugs reimported from Canada) by the pharmaceutical industry and just tyring to hide it? ("Hey, I voted for that amendment"!) http://www.capwiz.com/aarp/issues/votes/?votenum=378&chamber=S&congress=1111 http://www.capwiz.com/aarp/issues/votes/?votenum=377&chamber=S&congress=1111 Hey, 19 Billion in government savings and untold billions in U.S. Citizen savings, that's not important right, not compared to the terrible risk that comes from getting drugs made in.... oh wait, they are made here. Scumbags and Morons. They can't get the simplest, most obvious cases right, and yet you have hope for them fixing the entirety of health care. I'm afraid there is no hope on that front. -t

or legalization. Doesn't seem like a tough choice, but we will clearly not be picking correctly. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/04/16/mexico-drug-shootout.html

At least according to this study, which seems to have been well done: Rats that aren't in such bad environments actually don't like narcotics at all: http://www.metafilter.com/79100/Rat-Park-and-Other-Childrens-Stories