by bgetch.

Somewhere in the Ethiopian hinterland, a donkey loaded with a lending library in Amharic and other local languages is making its way from one rural village to another, delivering books for a program called Ethiopia Reads.

The Donkey Mobile Library, as it’s called, may not look like a typically Jewish initiative, but it’s among 224 programs that were recently awarded grants by the American Jewish World Service, a New York-based group that funds grassroots programs in developing and conflict-ridden countries in accordance with the principles of tikkun olam and tzedaka. Jerusalem Post, Feb. 29. Read the rest of this entry »

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by bgetch.

NORFOLK, Va — Animal rights group PETA sent a letter to the National Football League Wednesday asking that convicted dogfighter Michael Vick be subjected to a psychological test as well as an MRI brain scan like the one now in use at the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in order to look for evidence of clinical psychopathy or anti-social personality disorder.

“Based on the fact that Vick funded and participated in a massive dogfighting operation (playing a direct role in hanging, drowning, or shooting countless dogs—and even slamming dogs to the ground to break their backs), it might seem obvious that there’s something wrong with the guy,” PETA’s Dan Shannon wrote in his blog post. “But whether or not Vick is indeed a clinical psychopath is an important piece of a bigger puzzle.” Read the rest of this entry »

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by bgetch.

WSJ goes inside charity and non-profit rankings and explains why the process is complex.  Ratings agencies include Charity Navigator, American Institute of Philanthropy, and the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance, which uses 20 different criteria. Read the rest of this entry »

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by bgetch.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, a number of journalists operating in Russia have been killed and assaulted with little response from the government. Suppressing a free and open media reeks of the old Soviet empire and suspicions about Vladimir Putin, now prime minister, and his successor as president, Dmitry Medvedev, looking the other way (or worse) when dissenting journalists are harmed are widely held in the international community. A number of Russian and international Mafia and/or KGB-style hits are being met with outrage from Glasnost Defense Foundation, Reporters Without Borders, Center for Political Technologies and other groups focused on violence against journalists, Assaulted journalist Mikhail Beketov and murdered investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya are two better known cases. What makes this effort powerful is the combination of the violence of the assaults; the specificity of the cause; the visual power of people protesting in Putin’s Russia; and the coalition of NGOs focused on very specific, finite events: the government’s investigation of these assaults.  Wall Street Journal story follows. Read the rest of this entry »

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