HOT LINKS

NRDC @ http://www.nrdc.org/ 

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE @ http://www.environmentaldefense.org/home.cfm 

VISIT EARTH ISLAND @ http://www.earthisland.org/getinvolved/events.html 

TSUNAMI RELIEF @ http://tsunamirelief.com/

UNICEF @ http://www.unicefusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=duLRI8O0H&b=25951

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL @ http://www.amnestyusa.org/

MOTHER JONES @ http://motherjones.com/ 

REACH OUT AND READ @ http://reachoutandread.org/

NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION @ http://www.nwf.org/ 

WORLD WILDLIFE FUND @ http://worldwildlife.org/ 

WILDLIFE LAND TRUST @ http://www.wlt.org/

MARIN AGRICULTURAL LAND TRUST @ http://malt.org/

THE NATIONAL ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION @ http://www.arborday.org/ 

COMMITTEE FOR GREEN FOOTHILLS @ http://www.greenfoothills.org/index.shtml 

THE JANE GOODALL INSTITUTE @ http://www.janegoodall.org/ 

THE OCEAN CONSERVANCY @
http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/PageServer 

THE MARINE MAMMAL INSTITUTE @
http://www.tmmc.org/ 

THE MARINE MAMMAL CENTER @
http://www.tmmc.org/ 

SEA TURTLE RESTORATION PROJECT @
http://www.seaturtles.org/index.cfm 

FARALLONES MARINE SANCTUARY ASSOCIATION @
http://www.farallones.org/default.asp 

CALIFORNIA LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS @
http://www.ecovote.org/ 

NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY @
http://www.audubon.org/ 

BAY NATURE @
 http://baynature.org/ 

COMMITTEE FOR GREEN FOOTHILLS @
 http://www.greenfoothills.org/index.shtml 

SAVE-THE-REDWOODS LEAGUE @
http://www.savetheredwoods.org/protecting/index.shtml 

SAN MATEO COUNTY PARKS AND RECREATION SOCIETY @
http://www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/smc/county/home/0,,1774_2126,00.html 

BAY AREA OPEN SPACE COUNCIL @
http://maps.openspacecouncil.org/Orgs/ 

WILD CARE BAY AREA @ http://wildcarebayarea.org/ 

SIERRA CLUB @ http://www.sierraclub.org/ 

NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION @ http://www.npca.org/ 

GLOBAL STEWARDS @ http://www.globalstewards.org/marin.htm 

HUMBOLDT REDWOODS STATE PARK @ http://www.humboldtredwoods.org/ 

CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS @ http://www.parks.ca.gov/ 

ANGEL ISLAND STATE PARK  @ http://www.angelisland.org/ 

BAY AREA RIDGE TRAIL @ http://ridgetrail.org/ 

SILICON VALLEY BICYCLE COALITION @ http://svbcbikes.org/

NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION SOCIETY @ http://npca.org/

THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE - ALCATRAZ ISLAND
GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL RECREATION AREA
http://www.nps.gov/alcatraz/ 

GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVANCY @ http://www.parksconservancy.org/index.php 

ASPCA - THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS @ http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer 

SAN FRANCISCO SPCA @ http://www.sfspca.org/help/index.shtml 

HUMANE SOCIETY SILICON VALLEY @ http://hssv.org/

WILDLIFE RESCUE IN PALO ALTO CALIFORNIA @ http://www.wildliferescue.ws/ 

SUPPORT WILDLIFE RESCUE IN PALO ALTO @
http://wildliferescue.ws/donate/

WILDLIFE RESCUE AND REHABILITATION, INC. IN TEXAS @ http://www.wildlife-rescue.org/ 

GOOD NEWS!!! –

A wild female mallard duck nested on a mulch pile near the main entrance to the Department of the Treasury on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington Friday, April 8, 2005. The Secret Service Uniformed Division set up metal guards to protect the mother duck and her nine eggs, and the duck was provided with a water bowl. (source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/)

RENEWABLE ENERGY!!!
CHECK OUT RENEWABLE ENERGY ACCESS @
http://renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/home

ODYSEN – THE RENEWABLE ENERGY PORTAL
http://www.odysen.com/location/Main.php?s=California 

CHECK OUT THE NUDE BEACHES DIRECTORY! @
http://sfbg.com/

WEIGHT LOSS BY HOODIA? who is hoodia? - check out these links:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/18/60minutes/main656458.shtml
http://www.thehoodiafactor.com/
http://www.cacti.co.il/hoodia.htm 

SEARCH HOODIA ON GOOGLE @ http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=HOODIA 

VISIT THE MYSTERY SPOT IN SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA!!! @ http://www.mysteryspot.com/ 

ALSO! CHECK OUT THE WEATHER IN SANTA CRUZ @ WEATHER UNDERGROUND - SANTA CRUZ - http://www.wunderground.com/US/CA/Santa_Cruz.html - and the SANTA CRUZ BEACHBOARDWALK FREE FRIDAY NIGHT CONCERT SCHEDULE @ http://www.beachboardwalk.com/concerts/ - see you at the beach!

CHECK OUT THE CONNECTION MAGAZINE'S WEB SITE @ http://theconnect.com/

CHECK OUT ORGANIC EXPRESS IN SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA!!!
http://www.organicexpress.com/main.lasso 

CHECK OUT FIRSTGOV.GOV
http://firstgov.gov/

and CONGRESS.ORG @
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/ 

COMMON CAUSE @
HTTP://WWW.COMMONCAUSE.ORG/

> HOLDING POWER ACCOUNTABLE <
 
Common Cause is a nonpartisan nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1970 by John Gardner as a vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest...Now with nearly 300,000 members and supporters and 38 state organizations, Common Cause remains committed to honest, open and accountable government, as well as encouraging citizen participation in democracy…

History / Our Issues / Staff and Volunteers / National Governing Board / Common Cause Education Fund / How We Are Funded / Mission / How We Do It / Accomplishments / Common Cause in the States

COMMON CAUSE HISTORY - John Gardner, a Republican, came to Washington, DC to serve as the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under President Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat. Gardner later became chair of the National Urban Coalition, a group advocating for poor, minority, and working-class residents in urban areas…During his time in the nation's capital, a city teeming with special interest groups, he observed "everybody's organized but the people." That thought formed the seed of Common Cause, which Gardner established in August 1970 to represent citizens' interests in Washington. Within six months, the organization had more than 100,000 members, many of them joining to oppose the Vietnam War...

Since that time, Common Cause has been involved in many of the most pressing issues of the day. The organization led fights for campaign finance reforms, ethics and accountability in government, and open government at the national, state and local levels. We joined with coalitions fighting for civil rights legislation, ending wasteful weapons programs and working for reforms to our nation's system of voting / Click here for a history of Common Cause issues.  This is an informal listing of nearly every issue Common Cause has worked for since its founding in 1970…
THE COMMON CAUSE MISSION: To strengthen public participation and faith in our institutions of self-government; to ensure that government and political processes serve the general interest, rather than special interests; to curb the excessive influence of money on government decisions and elections; to promote fair elections and high ethical standards for government officials; and to protect the civil rights and civil liberties of all Americans…

READ MORE ABOUT COMMON CAUSE @
http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=189955
We must bring about a renaissance in politics...Does that seem inordinately ambitous?  It is.  This is no time for small plans - John Gardner
> Common Cause / 1250 Connecticut Ave., NW / Suite 600 / Washington, DC 20036 / 202-833-1200

 
THE ACLU - AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION

The ACLU is our nation's guardian of liberty. They work daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Their job is to conserve America's original civic values - the Constitution and the Bill of Rights…The American system of government is founded on two counterbalancing principles: that the majority of the people governs, through democratically elected representatives; and that the power even of a democratic majority must be limited, to ensure individual rights…Majority power is limited by the Constitution's Bill of Rights, which consists of the original ten amendments ratified in 1791, plus the three post-Civil War amendments (the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth) and the Nineteenth Amendment (women's suffrage), adopted in 1920…
The mission of the ACLU is to preserve all of these protections and guarantees: 1) Your First Amendment rights-freedom of speech, association and assembly. Freedom of the press, and freedom of religion supported by the strict separation of church and state - 2) Your right to equal protection under the law - equal treatment regardless of race, sex, religion or national origin - 3) Your right to due process - fair treatment by the government whenever the loss of your liberty or property is at stake - 4) Your right to privacy - freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into your personal and private affairs…

The ACLU works also to extend rights to segments of our population that have traditionally been denied their rights, including Native Americans and other people of color; lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people; women; mental-health patients; prisoners; people with disabilities; and the poor…> If the rights of society's most vulnerable members are denied, everybody's rights are imperiled…

The ACLU was founded by Roger Baldwin, Crystal Eastman, Albert DeSilver and others in 1920. We are nonprofit and nonpartisan and have grown from a roomful of civil liberties activists to an organization of more than 400,000 members and supporters. They handle nearly 6,000 court cases annually from our offices in almost every state…The ACLU has maintained the position that civil liberties must be respected, even in times of national emergency. The ACLU is supported by annual dues and contributions from its members, plus grants from private foundations and individuals. They DO NOT do not receive any government funding.  ACLU - (SOURCE: ACLU @ http://www.aclu.org/)

HTTP://FREEPRESS.NET/ - FREE PRESS BASICS

Free Press is a national nonpartisan organization working to increase informed public participation in crucial media policy debates, and to generate policies that will produce a more competitive and public interest-oriented media system with a strong nonprofit and noncommercial sector…We believe that a more democratic US media system will lead to better public policies — at home and abroad. As our world becomes more and more interconnected, it is imperative that any kind of development takes into account basic environment, economic, and human rights, while defining corporate and personal responsibilities. Free Press considers information to be among the most important resources to any society. We strive to open up the media system to allow more diversity of opinion to be expressed, to present a broader perspective, and to increase the caliber of information available to everyday people. This, in turn, will lead to a more participatory and accountable government and to more sustainable policies and practices regarding national and global development  - CHECK OUT FREE PRESS @ http://freepress.net/   
 

GET FREE STUFF @
http://freestuff.com/
 

PEACE QUOTES 
@ http://www.forusa.org/quotes/default.html 

> War is obsolete…We are not here to fight something or tear something down; We are here to be the example of what is possible…Any sane individual will tell you that violence is...not the way - Buckminster Fuller

> Nonviolence is really tough…You don't practice nonviolence at conferences; you practice it on picket-lines - Cesar Chavez

> War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today - John F. Kennedy

> Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day - Theodore Roosevelt, April 19, 1906

> So instead of loving what you think is peace, love other [people] and love God above all. And instead of hating the people you think are warmakers, hate the appetites and the disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed - but hate these things in yourself, not in another - Thomas Merton, from "New Seeds of Contemplation"

> I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that the people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it - Dwight D. Eisenhower

> My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together - Archbishop Desmond Tutu

> We suffer from an incurable malady: Hope - Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet

> The best preparedness is the one that disarms the hostility of other nations and makes friends of them - Helen Keller

> If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person. If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house. If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world - Chinese Proverb

> Peace, in the sense of absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold. Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free - The 14th Dalai Lama

> Great ideas, it has been said, come into the world as gently as doves. Perhaps then, if we listen attentively, we shall hear amid the uproar of empires and nations, a faint flutter of wings, a gentle stirring of life and hope. Some will say that this hope lies in a nation; others in a person…

> I believe rather that it is awakened, revived, nourished by millions of solitary individuals whose deeds and works every day negate frontiers and the crudest implications of history. As a result, there shines forth fleetingly the ever-threatened truth that each and every person, on the foundation of his or her own sufferings and joys, builds for all - Albert Camus, The Artist and His Time

> In the hearts of people today there is a deep longing for peace. When the true spirit of peace is thoroughly dominant, it becomes an inner experience with unlimited possibilities. Only when this really happens-- when the spirit of peace awakens and takes possession of men's hearts, can humanity be saved from perishing - Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)

> "Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. It is right and it is duty - Oscar Romero

> Peace comes from being able to contribute the best that we have, and all that we are, toward creating a world that supports everyone. But it is also securing the space for others to contibute the best that they have and all that they are - Hafsat Abiola

> Why is it so easy for us to be willing to pick up arms and risk our lives, and so difficult to put down those same weapons and still risk our lives - in the cause of life? - Ramzi Kysia, a young Muslim-American peace activist

> The job of the peacemaker is to stop war, to purify the world, to get it saved from poverty and riches, to heal the sick, to comfort the sad, to wake up those who have not yet found God, to create joy and beauty wherever you go, to find God in everything and everyone - Muriel Lester

> One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible. It may or may not be possible to turn the US around through nonviolent revolution. But one thing favors such an attempt: the total inability of violence to change anything for the better - Daniel Berrigan

> The God of life summons us to life; more, to be lifegivers, especially toward those who lie under the heel of the powers - Daniel Berrigan

> Sometime in your life, hope that you might see one starved man, the look on his face when the bread finally arrives…Hope that you might have baked it or bought or even kneaded it yourself…For that look on his face, for your meeting his eyes across a piece of bread, you might be willing to lose a lot, or suffer a lot, or die a little, even - Daniel Berrigan

> We have assumed the name of peacemakers, but we have been, by and large, unwilling to pay any significant price…And because we want the peace with half a heart and half a life and will, the war, of course, continues, because the waging of war, by its nature, is total—but the waging of peace, by our own cowardice, is partial…So a whole will and a whole heart and a whole national life bent toward war prevail over the mere desire for peace…

> There is no peace because the making of peace is at least as costly as the making of war—at least as exigent, at least as disruptive, at least as liable to bring disgrace and prison and death in its wake - Daniel Berrigan

> Peace begins when the hungry are fed - Anonymous

> Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it stands than to anything on which it is poured - Anonymous
Peace is the work of justice indirectly, in so far as justice removes the obstacles to peace; but it is the work of charity (love) directly, since charity, according to its very notion, causes peace - Thomas Aquinas

> When evil is allowed to compete with good, evil has an emotional populist appeal that wins out unless good men and women stand as a vanguard against abuse - Hannah Arendt, 20th-century German political philosopher and author

> The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil - Hannah Arendt

> Peace is not the product of a victory or a command…It has no finishing line, no final deadline, no fixed definition of achievement…Peace is a never-ending process, the work of many decisions - Oscar Arias

> That's all nonviolence is - organized love - Joan Baez

> The only thing that's been a worse flop than the organization of nonviolence has been the organization of violence - Joan Baez

> If it's natural to kill, how come men have to go into training to learn how? - Joan Baez

> The point of nonviolence is to build a floor, a strong new floor, beneath which we can no longer sink…A platform which stands a few feet above napalm, torture, exploitation, poison gas, A and H bombs, the works…Give man a decent place to stand - Joan Baez

> There have been periods of history in which episodes of terrible violence occurred but for which the word violence was never used...Violence is shrouded in justifying myths that lend it moral legitimacy, and these myths for the most part kept people from recognizing the violence for what it was…

> The people who burned witches at the stake never for one moment thought of their act as violence; rather they though of it as an act of divinely mandated righteousness…The same can be said of most of the violence we humans have ever committed - Gil Bailie

> The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed - Steve Biko

> When you're finally up on the moon, looking back at the earth, all these differences and nationalistic traits are pretty well going to blend and you're going to get a concept that maybe this is really one world and why the hell can't we learn to live together like decent people? - Frank Borman

> There is no time left for anything but to make peace work a dimension of our every waking activity - Elise Boulding

> We do not inherit the earth from our fathers…We borrow it from our children – David Bower

> Violence in the voice is often only the death rattle of reason in the throat - John Boyes

> We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount…Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants…We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing that we know about living - General Omar Bradley

> When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint…When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist - Archbishop Helder Camara, Brazilian liberation theologist

> It is the job of thinking people, not to be on the side of the executioners - Albert Camus

> We used to wonder where war lived, what it was that made it so vile…And now we realize that we know where it lives, that it is inside ourselves - Albert Camus

> Until we have the courage to recognize cruelty for what it is--whether its victim is human or animal--we cannot expect things to be much better in this world...We cannot have peace among men whose hearts delight in killing any living creature. By every act that glorifies or even tolerates such moronic delight in killing we set back the progress of humanity - Rachel Carson

> The love of one's country is a splendid thing…But why should love stop at the border? - Pablo Casals

> Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness…If he listens to it and acts on it, he is giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most…It is not complicated but it takes courage…It takes courage for a person to listen to his own goodness and act on it - Pablo Casals

  
READ MORE PEACE QUOTES –

http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/issues/peace-&-war/start/peace-quotes/ -http://www.indianchild.com/Peace_Quotations.htm -http://members.aol.com/pforpeace/quote8.htmhttp://www.inspirational-quotations.com/peace-quotes.html - http://www.forusa.org/quotes/default.html - http://www.salsa.net/peace/quotes.html - http://home.att.net/~quotations/peace.html - http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_peace.html 

OR GO TO GOOGLE.COM AND SEARCH ‘PEACE QUOTES’ - http://www.google.com/ 

 THE FIRST PRINCIPLE OF NON-VIOLENT ACTION IS THE NON-COOPERATION WITH ANYTHING HUMILIATING" – GANDHI  
tolerance plus compassion minus hatred and violence equals peace – lik roper
one divided by infinity equals zero - mayan logic
  

updated 14 jan 2006