|
|
|
|
Useful and Informative LinksOn this page you can find links to the websites of progressive organizations, news sources and other resources, with brief descriptions of what may be found on those sites. New sites will be added from time to time and viewers are invited to suggest sites that should be added. Besides the general list that appears just below, other sites are presented in the following categories: mISCELLANEOUS pROGRESSIVE oRGANIZATIONS AND rESOURCES The Integrity of the Electoral Process Organizations focused on The Environment Faith Based Progressive Organizations MISCELLANEOUS PROGRESSIVE ORGANIZATIONS AND RESOURCES www.buzzflash.com : Unapologetically progressive news service with new stories two or three times a day, mostly drawn from mainstream sources. Cool cartoons. A forum for contributors. www.citizen.org : Founded by Ralph Nader, Public Citizen produces very reliable research on a variety of issues. Some news stories on tort reform in Maryland have actually quoted them, though always very briefly and of course at the end of the story. They are very good on globalization and healthcare issues and on the perils of corporate power in general. www.commoncause.org : Common Cause is one of our most venerable progressive advocacy organizations. Its success as a lobbying organization is evident in the long list that the site provides of measures that they have helped to pass, ranging from lowering the voting age to 18 to the Americans with Disabilities Act to the Campaign Reform Act. It is currently very active in lobbying for verified voting, and has posted several reports on that subject along with many others. www.commondreams.org : The Common Dreams News Center is among the most comprehensive sources of news and commentary we have. Very user friendly, it publishes its own stories as well as news and commentary from a wide variety of sources. Here you will find familiar progressive voices such as Thom Hartmann, Molly Ivins and Arianna Huffington as well as more Establishment types like Helen Thomas and Paul Krugman. Many, many links to progressive organizations and news sources, as well as to virtually every newspaper in the USA and to a long list of wire services. If you’re writing a book on the progressive movement in America, this the place to start. www.democracyforamerica.com : Founded by Democratic National Committee Chairman Dr. Howard Dean, Democracy for America is of course the parent organization of Salisbury DFA. It is focused on, among other things, electing progressive candidates at all levels. Besides providing information and action alerts on a very wide range of issues, it also offers materials and opportunities for training in political action. Its training manual is one of the best guides to grassroots organizing on the web, and it has a useful introduction to framing the issues a la George Lakoff. www.fair.org : the website of media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. It -- with its hardcopy magazine, Extra! -- is an endless source of examples showing that the media is hardly liberal. The site’s action alerts provide timely opportunities to contact both public officials and the media themselves about pressing issues of media coverage and media independence. FAIR also produces the radio program Counterspin , which can be heard locally on WESM (91.3) at 6:30 PM Fridays. www.greens.org/na.html : The Green Party is widely perceived as an environmental group, but it is a political party that embraces progressive values in general: Social justice, community-based economics, grassroots democracy, feminism, nonviolence, and ecological wisdom, among others. Generally seen in the United States as a fringe group, it is a serious political force in Europe and has run candidates, sometimes successfully, for offices in the United States. Its website is an excellent source of information and perspective on progressive issues worldwide, with links to local, state, national and international Green Parties. www.moveon.org : One of the largest, best-known and powerful organizations at present in the progressive movement. It provides reliable information, often presented in video, and numerous opportunities to join in petitions and other pressuring activities. Its sister organization, MoveonPAC.org, focuses on electing progressives to national office.
www.thomhartmann.com : Perhaps the most important thing you will find here is a link to Thom Hartmann’s nationally syndicated talk radio program. Our organizer, Shelton Lankford, calls Hartmann “my absolute favorite for a clear-headed, thoughtful, reasonable, and well-mannered liberal spokesman.” There are also links to a plethora of Thom’s thoroughly researched writings on a wide variety of progressive issues. www.truemajority.com : Founded by Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s, TrueMajority monitors what goes on in Washington and advocates for peace and justice. Often offers opportunities to join in petitions and other forms of pressure on politicians. Features some imaginative educational videos, including a well-known presentation using Oreo cookies to demonstrate the government’s distorted priorities. THE INTEGRITY OF THE ELECTORAL PROCESS www.blackboxvoting.org : A premier site on this issue. It was founded by Bev Harris, one of the earliest and most prominent activists in the field. The site is an indispensable source of news and information for the movement against faith-based voting, and includes a downloadable version of her book, Black Box Voting: Ballot Tampering in the 21 st Century . www.truevotemd.org : TrueVoteMD is E-voting Central for Maryland. Here you will find a great deal of information on troubles with Maryland’s Diebold machines and links to news stories and other sources. TrueVoteMD is also Maryland’s chief lobbying organization for verifiable voting. For the state level, this is the place to go both for information and for guidance on what to do about it, as well as help in organizing. www.verifiedvoting.org : Verifiedvoting.org is a lobbying organization and is probably the best source for understanding and keeping track of relevant laws and pending legislation at both state and national levels. Its non-lobbying, educational partner is the Verified Voting Foundation ( www.verifiedvotingfoundation.org ). Besides tracking news and legislation the Foundation provides important technical (but not too technical!) information vital to understanding election systems. www.votersunite.org : A national organization that works closely with Vote Trust USA (see below). A central source of information, including a list of voting machine mess-ups categorized both by state and by machine vending company. Here you can also download an indispensable primer, Myth Breakers: Facts about Electronic Elections . www.votetrustusa.org : Vote Trust USA is a national organization put together to support and to help coordinate the activities of the many state and local organizations around the country. They organized a national leadership conference in DC in June 2005 which was attended by Salisbury DFA leaders. There were more than twenty organizations representing at least seventeen states. The site provides a great deal of vital information, much of it submitted by members of local organizations. This site is perhaps the best channel to all the activities going on throughout the nation. ORGANIZATIONS FOCUSED ON THE ENVIRONMENT www.bushgreenwatch.org : The stated mission of Bush Greenwatch is “tracking the Bush administration’s environmental misdeeds,” and it does that in great detail. Supported by Moveon.org, it reports on administration misinformation and systematic erosion of environmental protections, from grazing on federal lands to global warming. An essential resource for those who want to change the government’s current dangerous outlook on the environment. www.cbf.org : Founded in 1967, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation is the largest and probably best known (as well as best funded) conservation organization devoted solely to saving and restoring the 64,000 square mile Chesapeake Bay watershed. It is unquestionably the leading educational and lobbying organization for the Bay. A premier source both of information and of opportunities for activism. www.nanticokeriver.org : The Nanticoke Watershed Alliance is an umbrella group with a Board of Directors that includes business organizations and government agencies across state lines as well as members of the general public. It works to bring together all elements of the community to find common ground and “provide stewardship to the river and its watershed.” Although not an activist organization in the familiar sense, it carries out valuable conservation and public education projects. It also has a long bibliography and a list of web resources make it a very good place to find the kind of information that local activists need.
www.nrdc.org : The National Resources Defense Council claims, with at least some credibility, to be “the nation's most effective environmental action organization. We use law, science and the support of more than 1 million members and online activists to protect the planet's wildlife and wild places and to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things.” Besides offering in depth research on all aspects of the environment, it tracks legislative and legal developments in readable language and helps activists to know where to focus their efforts on any particular issue. www.repamerica.org : Yes there really is a very active and sincere organization called Republicans for the Environment. A conservation group that frames its arguments for a conservative audience, its reporting on environmental issues is nonetheless useful for progressive activists, not only in helping them reach swing voters but also in its reportage. Its existence reminds us that on the environment, the majority of Americans are liberals, and its work helps give that majority voice and support. www.wicomicoenvironment.org : The Wicomico Environmental Trust is dedicated to the incorporation of a “green infrastructure” plan into the county’s Comprehensive Plan and to getting zoning and other regulations to enforce it. Though focused locally, it provides a very clear explanation of the notion of green infrastructure and how it can be maintained. It also conducts studies of such things as water quality and public opinion on environmental issues. Those who want to fight urban sprawl on the Eastern Shore should probably start here. FAITH BASED PROGRESSIVE ORGANIZATIONS www.afsc.org : The American Friends Service Committee began in 1917 to help young Quakers who were Conscientious Objectors. Over the years it has expanded its scope to work for peace and social justice. An international organization, it has helped with disaster relief and aid to refugees as well as working politically against militarism, poverty, racism, the death penalty, and social injustice in general. The site offers useful information and tips on activism and organizing. Those interested in direct political action will want to look at the website of AFSC’s sister organization, the Friends Committee on National Legislation ( www.fcnl.org ) for even more resources. www.esa-online.org : Evangelicals for Social Action demonstrates that not all evangelicals are represented by Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. ESA has been around since the seventies working for peace, economic justice, and the environment. They may be best known for inventing the bumper sticker: WWD – What Would Jesus Drive? www.interfaithalliance.org : The 150,000 members of the Interfaith Alliance “are from more than 70 faith traditions and people of good will united to: Promote democratic values, Defend religious liberty, Challenge hatred and religious bigotry, and Reinvigorate informed civic participation.” An information clearing house for local, grassroots meetups, the site is a good source of progressive news, especially on issues of tolerance and the separation of church and state.
www.progressivechristiansuniting.org : “The Progressive Christians Uniting program has consisted of conferences, study groups, and seminars for people of faith of all denominations concerned about social justice. It has published papers, books, and study guides. Often in cooperation with public interest groups, both religious and secular, it has played an advocacy role in such areas as economic justice, drug policy reform, human rights, and peacemaking.” The site includes position papers on these areas as well as news items and other resources. One of its most useful features is a list of links to 25-30 other faith based progressive groups.
www.sojo.net : “ Sojourners is a Christian ministry whose mission is to proclaim and practice the biblical call to integrate spiritual renewal and social justice.” This is one of the oldest, largest and most progressive faith based sites. There can be found here an abundance of material, including books and streaming video, especially regarding peace and the struggle against poverty. In articles, forums, meetups, etc., Sojourners takes on the religious as well as the political right in unusually thorough and uncompromising ways.
|
|
Send mail to
dfasalisbury@comcast.net with questions or comments about this site. |
