Two causes that I am donating money to

1. After yesterday's chilling interview with Chris Matthews (I wrote about and linked to it), I decided to read up about Congresswoman Bachmann. She's quite a piece of work. I feel very strongly about the political tone recently, with people vilifying Muslims, liberals, socialism and all this inflammatory talk about "Anti-Americans in our midst", and she has basically made a political career of stoking flames of hatred and bigotry amongst people.

This. Has. To. Stop. We can either stand by and watch as words like "Muslim" and "Arab" and "liberal" become synonymous with evil, or we can throw these people out of power. You can help by donating money to Tinklenberg, Bachmann's opponent. (When you're at it, do watch Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama on Meet The Press today. What a statesman.)

2. Speaking of hatred and bigotry, you should read up about CA-prop 8. California Constitutional Amendment Proposition 8, if passed, will allow a state constitutional amendment that will take away the right for same-sex couples to get married in the state of California. This IS a big deal. Of course, there is the first point that all people should have basic rights and be treated equally, no exceptions. Buy also, this is (for the first time in this country, I believe) a constitutional amendment whose sole purpose is to take AWAY a basic right from a section of society. The implications of the legal precedent that this vote will set are deeply disturbing.

(I am not going to get into a detailed treatise on sexuality because other people have written eloquently and forcefully on the subject; google it up)

If you feel that this fight is worth supporting (and I certainly hope you do), donate money here, and help defeat the proposition.