Re: Action
The Fundamental John Ashcroft
To review Attorney General John Ashcroft's speeches and testimony, as well as a detailed account of the government's response to terrorism, visit the Department of Justice Web site at www.usdoj.gov/ag/ or write 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20530 (202-514-2007).
Several organizations have set up Web sites to review Ashcroft's decisions and provide analysis, including People for the American Way, Issues 2001, and the Brookings Institution. The Safe and Free Project of the American Civil Liberties Union details Justice Department policy changes; contact the ACLU at (212) 549-2500 or 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10004.
The Clean Room's Dirty Secret
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition is a nonprofit group working to improve environmental health and safety practices in the electronics industry through research, organizing, and advocacy. Contact the group at (408) 287-6707, www.svtc.org, or 760 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95112.
Fostering Hope
Generations of Hope is a nonprofit child welfare agency established to provide stable homes and communities for foster children. Learn more by contacting Carolyn Casteel at (217) 893-4673 or writing the organization at 1530 Fairway Drive, Rantoul, IL 61866. For more information about Hope Meadows, visit www.generationsofhope.org.
Star-Spangled Lobbyists
Find out who's benefiting from corporate lobbying at the "Tracking the Payback" project of the Center for Responsive Politics, located online at www .opensecrets.org/payback, or contact the organization at (202) 857-0044 or 1101 14th Street NW, Suite 1030, Washington, DC 20005. TheScoop.org offers a guide to tracking federal lobbying, and Congress discloses lobbying information online here and here.
Cycles of Change
Bikes Not Bombs runs safety classes, vocational training programs, and Earn-A-Bike, a 10-week course that allows kids to keep a bicycle they recondition themselves. The organization also exports bikes to Latin America. Contact the group at (617) 442-0004, www.bikesnotbombs.org, or 59 Amory Street #103, Boston, MA 02119. To view a photo essay of the group's chapter in Austin, Texas, visit their Web site.
Losing the Cool
NASA's Global Change Master Directory serves as a clearinghouse of links to hundreds of Web sites about global warming. Climate Ark categorizes links, news, and discussion boards related to issues of climate change and renewable energy. Reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that summarize the latest research on global warming are available here and here. Contact the organization at the World Meteorological Organization, 7bis Avenue de la Paix, C.P. 2300, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland, or call (41) (22) 730-8111.
Hellraiser: Geoff Nyarota
In Zimbabwe, where most media operate under strict official control, Geoff Nyarota's Daily News is widely considered an indispensable news source. Read the paper online here.
Media Jones: Billy Collins
To learn more about Billy Collins' Poetry 180 program, in which students read aloud a poem of Collins' choosing each school day, visit this Web site. For more about his life and work, go to his Web site. To hear Collins read selected poems, search National Public Radio's "Fresh Air" site. '
