December 15 - Round up

As the holidays approach, the opportunities to share your time and resources with the organization's you value most are great ways to bring your family together.  A dear friend of mine in New Orleans is having twenty-five family members from all over the country celebrate the holidays with him.  They are spending a family day in service to others. I am so inspired by his commitment to his community.

Here are some goings on around the internet and town that might pique your interest:

• UnitedforPeace.org - Organizing against the FY2012 Defense Authorization Act, this organization is committed to advocating for peace, justice and diverting funding away from the military. The Senate votes on this bill today.  In terms of process, the legislative body has to authorize the amount of money and for which specific authorities that money will be used for every department of the federal government.  What's so controversial in this particular bill is the challenge to current civil liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.  It opens the possibility for indefinite detainment by the governing body.  Sign this PETITION to President Obama to VETO the Defense Authorization Act.
• Slowmoney.org - determined to reach 1 million supporters for investment in small food enterprises. This includes investment in: urban farming, markets, organic farms and cooperatives. Their goal is to get 1 million people investing 1% of their income for sustainable food access.
• In commemorating the official end to the war in Iraq, the White House is making it possible to write letters to the troops. The US lost 4500 soldiers in this war, the veterans are coming back to this country and will be reintegrating into our communities. It blows my mind to really try to wrap my mind around this. The White House has a wall available to post notes to troops.
•  PETITION: Declare Pompton Lakes a superfund site and make Dupont be accountable to the toxic problem they caused
• Opencongress.org - keeps current on all bills going through congress. The headline currently is about internet censorship legislation labeled as 'China-style' passing through committee.

Please send me what's piquing your interest in the activist world. I'm interested in highlighting local community efforts and national legislative efforts and am hoping others will share their activist networks.