I have to think on this some.

But on a personal level, many years ago now, I took a couple trips to Nepal and really connected with people there...then fell out of touch, which is easy to do with Nepal. But now there has been all this crap going on between a screwed up government and a screwed up insurgency, and its chaos there. And I'm worried about my friends well-being. So I resolve to find out what's up and see if I can do anything to help...

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia

Support Amnsty International's campaign for the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (RCFS)

Well, I did purchase my holiday cards from Amnesty International...  Call me cold war old-fashioned, but I'm always afraid that if I have some record of getting involved in any form of activism in Russia I'll be summarily denied entry upon any future attempt to visit.  I'm sure they'll open their doors to any old American these days, but once you've been detained at the airport by very large gun-toting militsiia, you just don't take any chances.

Too bad.  Wonderful idea.  Someone please send one of those letters for me.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. -Voltaire

For what little one can do beyond the all important function of getting the word out, I'm partial to the NGO,
Emergency. Where ever there is ongoing war and civilian victims you'll find them in the midst helping survival victims. They're the only organization that won't pull out in extreme cases, probably thanks to their organizational strategy. Unlike the Red Cross or Medecins sans frontiers, they do not set up touch-and-go refugee camps or participate in refugee camp contracting.

Their hospitals and other initiatives are always set up within the social and economic reality of the crisis area. They train local paramedical staff, employ local construction workers, set up medical supplies networks, and make prosthesis for the most part locally. They endeavour to leave behind a fully functioning medical reality.

I helped Tony Blair get re-elected, does that count? :)

... over at dailyKos, someone posted a similar diary, basically saying "stop hitting 'refresh' on your browser,  and get out there and do something."

She used the word "posturbating" to describe people who spend all their time posting on blogs and not getting out and doing something.

Perfect word.

Anyway, moving to the Netherlands has kept me really busy, but at least I've had time to write about environmental issues.  Hopefully that's a little more than "posturbation"... especially this piece.