I am very interested in social justice kinds of issues, and political advocacy.  So, I will be including tips on legislation that I choose to support or to oppose. This symbol points to a link.  Just click on the underlined words that follow it, and you will go to another web site.
Shortcuts.   Click on one of these topics.

*The Harwood Group   *Racine Dominicans  * The Affluenza Project   *Independent Media Center  *Center on Wisconsin Strategy  *Children and Parenting  *Green  *Foreign Policy  *Global Affairs   *Welfare Reform  *Campaign Finance Reform   *Stakeholder's Alliance   *UW Milwaukee's
  Employment and Training Institute   *Contacting Your Elected Representatives   *Jubilee 2000   *HOSEA   *NETWORK*ENVIRONMENT *Way Cool Projects  *Prairie Days   *Quixote Center   *A Rising Tide           *Smart Growth

development in  infants  and a number of other interesting projects.  It advocates for children and families.  Also read about the Badger Baby Bus Tour. 

   In his comments at the  Great Beginnings Conference, Milwaukee, January 19, 1999
   Dr. Ramey, Dr. Craig Ramey,  director of the Civitan International Research Center emphasized:

   • Brain development is a complex interplay between genes & experience
   • Experience, particularly early experience, has a decisive impact on brain structure and
        adult competence
   • Secure caregiver relationships directly affect how the brain is “wired”
   • Seven essential transactions for caregivers with young children
        - encourage exploration -  mentor in basic skills  - celebrate developmental advances
        - rehearse & extend new skills  - protect from inappropriate disapproval, teasing,
         & punishment - communicate richly & responsively - guide & limit behavior
 

Doesn't this look like me?  No?  Well I did catch sap on my tongue though.   This was a picture taken on one of the trails at the Wehr Nature Center in Whitnall Park in Hales Corners, Wisconsin, during Maple Sugar Weekend.  I got to lead one of the hikes.  It's a great family event.  I learned everything I need or want to know about collecting maple sugar.  Better yet, I got to have some on pancakes.  With sausages!

Picture:  Emily Esser, 5, Whitefish Bay, sticks out her tongue to catch maple sap as it falls from a tap in a maple tree.
CNI Photo by Marny Malin
Son, John, works as a photographer for CNI, but this is not one of his pictures.  This is very good, but his pictures are awesome!  So Mom's biased.

Global March Against Child Labor

The mission of the Global March is:

to mobilize worldwide efforts to protect and promote the rights of all children, especially the right
to receive a free, meaningful education and to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be damaging to the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral
or social development.

Mission: The primary objectives and purposes of The Garden Foundation are to promote a greater awareness and understanding of the ecological importance of gardening in our culture, and to engage in  and promote sustainable instructional gardening. We will provide education and charitable assistance to the general public through facilitator, student and public awareness community training programs, classroom resource materials, a web site and grants.  http://www.thegardenfoundation.com/
 

This one's for John.  He'll know!

The Affluenza Project is founded and directed by Jessie H. O'Neill, MA, CET II, a licensed therapist
and author of The Golden Ghetto: The Psychology of Affluence.   Granddaughter of former president of General Motors and Secretary of  Defense, Charles E. Wilson.

What a neat site!  Don't go there without taking your blood pressure meds first!  A sample:

Indymedia is a collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage. Indymedia is a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, objective, and passionate tellings of truth.
 
 

Center on Wisconsin Strategy    Yes, COWS!

In 2001, our outreach will grow,  focused on issues about which folks want to know.

The Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS), based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a field  office in Milwaukee, is a research and policy center dedicated to improving economic performance and living standards in the State of Wisconsin. COWS conducts research on regional economic trends, generates ideas for alternative economic development, works with business, labor, and communities to implement those policies, and draws policy lessons from that experience for application.

Children and Parenting Section

I want to welcome all my new E-buddies, the children I taught this summer.  Hi there all of you great kids and all of you wonderful teachers!   I have selected this site just for you.  Just click on the underlined words.  Visit as often as you like.
                                                                                          The Garden Lady

In

In the spring of 1999, one week after two students went on a deadly rampage at a high school in Colorado, a similar attack struck Taber, Alberta Canada.  A 14-year-old boy opened fire inside W.R. Myers High School. One student was killed, another was wounded.

Within hours after the shooting, stories began to emerge of the relentless bullying the accused had previously endured. www.bullying.org is our attempt to help young people help each other.

New!Action for Nature
is an organization that encourages young people to take personal action to make this world a better place for humans and nature.

Parenting Resources

Parenting Resources for the 21st Century links parents and other adults responsible for the care of a child with information on issues covering the full spectrum of parenting. This site, federally sponsored through the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, strives to help families meet the formidable challenges of raising a child today by addressing topics that include school violence, child development, home schooling, organized sports, child abuse, and the juvenile justice system.

Roots and Shoots

"Roots creep underground everywhere and make a firm foundation. Shoots seem very weak, but to reach the light they can break through brick walls. Imagine that the brick walls are all the problems we have inflicted on our planet. Hundreds and thousands of roots and shoots, hundreds and thousands of young people around the world, can break through these walls. You CAN change the world."    - Jane Goodall

Helping kids become problem-solvers

Dr. Myra Shure says, "Welcome to Raising A Thinking Preteen.  "I hope this will be a place for you to share your stories and raise new questions about you and your preteen, including problems you have with each other, or problems your preteen is having with brothers or sisters, or friends – or anyone."

 "You will see some parenting tips I have written for a newspaper in my column “Your Thinking Child.”  If you have ideas for topics for a parenting tip, or reactions to the tip on the screen, I’d love to hear them.  And if you try the problem-solving approach with your preteen, let me know how it works."

I am not so sure I want to keep the link to this site.  Please visit it and let me know what you think.  Lorrie

The Wolf Watershed Educational Project (WWEP)
Contact Linda Sturnot/MIC at: frankesturnot@email.msn.com for information about a No Crandon Mine Youth Speaking Tour and Rally.  The schools speakers tour is aimed at getting young people involved in the issue, culminating in an April 29, 2000 Wisconsin Youth Rally to STOP THE CRANDON MINE (tentatively proposed for Madison, WI).

***In 1995, the Midwest Treaty Network initiated the Wolf Watershed Educational Project.  (The goal of WWEP is to educate local communities on metallic sulfide mining (particularly Rio Algom's proposed Crandon mine), build local community organizing skills, and establish links between Indian and non-Indian communities in support of environmental protection).  For more info about WWEP's Mining Speakers for Schools, visit the Midwest Treaty Network's website.

Sustainable Communities Network:  This organization has some great ideas. Here is a sample:
 

Imagine what a safe, livable, healthy community might look like.  Around the country citizens are coming together to create a vision of what their community might be and to develop steps toward making these visions come true.

Alternatively called "healthy", " livable" or "sustainable communities", these efforts are integrative, inclusive and participatory. In many communities--large and small, rural and urban issues are being addressed in an interconnected manner.  They are demonstrating how innovative strategies can produce communities that are more environmentally sound, economically prosperous, and socially equitable.

SMART GROWTH:  Watch this space!

In communities across the nation, there is a growing concern that current development patterns--dominated by what some call "sprawl"--are no longer in the long-term interest of our cities, existing suburbs, small towns, rural communities, or wilderness areas. Though supportive of growth, communities are questioning the economic costs of abandoning infrastructure in the city, only to rebuild it further out. They are questioning the social costs of the mismatch between new employment locations in the suburbs and the available work-force in the city. They are questioning  the wisdom of abandoning "brownfields" in older communities, eating up the open space and prime agricultural lands at the suburban fringe, and polluting the air of an entire region by driving farther to get places. Spurring the smart growth movement are demographic shifts, a strong environmental
ethic, increased fiscal concerns, and more nuanced views of growth. The result is both a new demand and a new opportunity for smart growth.

Campaign for a Sustainable Milwaukee   This is the Milwaukee affiliate.  Here's a sample from     their website:  The Campaign for a Sustainable Milwaukee is a broad-based community effort to define and implement an alternative economic development plan for the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Unions, community organizations and political leaders are working together to create and retain family-supporting jobs, build healthy communities and restore natural environments. They have four task forces  to address major priorities: jobs and training, credit, transportation and the environment, and education.
 
 
 

Clean fuel vehicles are now finding their way to the nation's highways in increasing numbers. Fleets continue to be the leading edge of alternative fuel vehicle commercialization, but now several automakers are beginning to offer flexible fuel operation as a matter of course in some models, including the country's best-selling minivan.

Different fuels fit varying needs, thus the types of alternative fuel vehicle offerings continue to be quite diverse. Natural gas vehicles, electric vehicles, flexible-fuel models that operate on either gasoline or ethanol/methanol, and vehicles that run on propane and bio-diesel are all part of the mix. And, of course, reformulated gasoline continues to significantly decrease tailpipe emissions of conventionally powered vehicles in the areas where this fuel is used.
 

Better Basics    The "How-to" site for less toxic living.

Slow Food is an international  movement, active in 35 countries worldwide, with 60,000 members and about 400 convivia.  Slow Food is an international  response to the effect fast food  has on our society and life. It questions the validity of the fast food philosophy as an unconscious credo that erodes our culinary heritage in the guise of efficiency.

See the official Slow Food Manifesto, endorsed by delegates of 20 countries in 1989, and the International Statute, approved by the Extraordinary Congress in Turin on November 7 1998.
 

"At first sight Port-au-Prince looks fair enough to be worth travelling 5000 miles to see; once enter it, and your next impulse is to travel 5000 miles to get away again."---Hesketh Prichard, 1900
 

• With 81% of the population earning less than one dollar per day in Haiti, half of its children suffer from malnutrition.

• Subsidized imported food has eroded the profits of the Haitian farmers driving them out of business.

• Haiti has an external debt of one billion dollars and pays banks more than education for its children.

Let this be a tribute to MAUREEN NIELSEN.  We learned recently that a friend, Maureen Nielsen, a really beautiful human being.  Everyone who visited Norwich House met and loved her.  She was "Mom" to 70 girls in an orphanage in Haiti.  She was killed by a man who wanted her money, money she would have gladly given if she'd had it at that moment.

Also, I am planning for the Grand Unveiling of the picture I commissioned to be painted by a Haitian artist.  It is beautiful.  It was not done by an accomplished artist.  I wanted to give encourarement to someone who had some talent but who needed the income.  You know, to promote entrepreneurship and stimulate small economies.

If you are interested in commissioning a piece of art, let me know.  Here's the website for

Norwich MIssion House

Also, right now, Nassan Siede of the Casa Maria Catholic Worker Community is seeking funds to help his people in Haiti.  You can reach him at 342-1401.

This site has a brief history of Haiti.  From these brief facts you will see a history of a truly resilient people, who fought off slavery and survived civil wars, countless massacres and truly oppressive leadership. The Haitians proclaimed themselves the first black republic in the world in 1804, and have remained independent to this day.

Map of Haiti        Windows on Haiti:   Some beautiful Haitian art.  Check it out.

You can vote pro or con on the question:  Should America lift sanctions on the sale of food and medicine to Cuba? Vote.com
 

After you take a good look at this beautiful picture taken in Sierra Leone,  go to the website for Sierra Leone.  You will be so touched by what you see and read.

NISGUA (Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala
 
 

Our Mission Statement:

"To support the social movement in Guatemala for a democratic, multiethnic and multicultural society, based on socioeconomic justice and full respect for human rights and freedom of expression.  In addition, we work to educate and empower U.S. citizens in their efforts to influence U.S. policy towards Guatemala in support of the above goals, to build links between social justice initiatives in Guatemala and the U.S. and  to promote grassroots organizing efforts that forge ties of solidarity and understanding between the peoples of both countries."

NISGUA is a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC with individual and group activists across the U.S.  We regularly mobilize our activists on various initiatives ranging from issues like hurricane advocacy to advocacy on the part of victims of human rights abuses.

Urgent Action: Support the PDPMM:  The COLOMBIA SUPPORT NETWORK, through its members and its chapters across the United States, calls upon the United States Senate to reject Plan Colombia as presently constituted. We are totally opposed to the providing of assistance to the Colombian military and police so that they may continue their war upon a great part of the Colombian people. Instead we urge the Senate to act consistently with the principles set forth in a June 16, 2000 statement by the Program For Peace And Development in the Middle Magdelena, (PDPMM) a program with which CSN has had the privilege of working with for the past few years. More...

Global ExchangeWhy drink Fair Trade Coffee?

Fair Trade Coffee Campaign
A new wave of coffee is emerging to cater to our cravings for justice as  much as it does our cravings for caffeine. The Fair Trade certification mark has been developed to assure consumers that the coffee we drink was purchased nder Fair Trade conditions. To become Fair Trade certified, an importer must meet stringent international criteria; paying a minimum price per pound of $1.26, providing much needed credit to farmers, and providing technical assistance such as help transitioning to organic farming. Fair Trade for coffee farmers means community development, health, education, and environmental stewardship.

       Global Exchange is embarking on a new campaign build a coalition of grassroots activists, church groups, educators, coffee drinkers, and anyone who cares about social justice to be part of an education for action team to increase consumer demand for Fair Trade coffee in our own neighborhoods.

STOP SWEATSHOP ABUSES IN NICARAGUA!!!
Have you seen the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel articles "Global Thread" on New Year's Eve?  It gave several points of view.

Recently, I joined a peaceful demonstration in front of the Sheraton Hotel on Howell Avenue across from the Milwaukee Country Airport.  Kohls (department stores) was conducting a board of directors meeting there. We were protesting the sweatshop conditions of workers who sew the jeans we buy in Nicaragua.  Let me quickly add that it isn't just Kohls Department Stores, it's all of the major retailers, folks.

It's not easy to know what to do, but I suspect it has something to do with what we were fighting for in Seattle.  We must change the way we do international business.  We must insist on having a voice for workers and for the environment.  Who are these organizations to take onto themselves these powers without our say--so?

 For now, check out the Global Exchange site by clicking on this picture!
They have excellent campaigns to fight sweatshops and promote fair trade practices.

Survivaltackles the massacres, land thefts and genocide of Brazil's Indians
                                  Click on "English" when you get to the web page.

Survival is the only worldwide organisation supporting tribal peoples through public campaigns. It was founded in 1969 after an article by Norman Lewis in the UK's Sunday Times highlighted the massacres, land thefts and genocide taking place in Brazilian Amazonia. Like many modern atrocities, the racist oppression of Brazil's Indians took place in the name of 'economic growth'.

Pledge of Resistance FOREIGN POLICY WATCHDOG   We'll have to see if this newsletter continues.  Jim Barrett, the editor, died earlier this fall.  The entire Peace Community in this area misses Jim.

Save Tibet  A very intriguing web site.  I know I have more to learn about granting China permanent favorable trade status and how that will affect human rights issues associated with China, especially Tibet.
 

If you care about children, this website is outstanding!
UNICEFclaims that it makes a real difference to the lives of children everywhere.

Gregory Stanford's column  Milw. J/S 5/28/2000  Welfare may have vanished, but poverty stubbornly lingers
 

It's like they say . . .A Rising Tide

CALL TO RENEWAL People of Faith Overcoming Poverty
A Million Signers, A Single Goal

Do you believe that “The persistence of widespread poverty in our midst is morally unacceptable?” Then sign our Covenant today. If a million more like you do so, we’ll be able to place poverty on the national agenda. If a million of us start to live the Covenant’s six commitments, we’ll make a difference.

In February, 60 church leaders from across the political spectrum endorsed the Covenant at the time they launched our Campaign.  Join them today. Our members are from diverse theological backgrounds, including Evangelical, Catholic, Mainline Protestant, Black Church, and Pentecostal.

To learn how you can be part of the Call to Renewal Covenant and Campaign to Overcome Poverty,   Contact the organization by calling 1-800-523-2773.  In Milwaukee, the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee acts to bring the churches together in various ways and cooperates with the work of Call to Renewal.  Marcus White's the person to talk to.  Ask to be on their mailing list for starters.
 

AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE-MARStar NEWSLETTER online.

If you are at all interested in social justice, this is the site for you.“To discover a truth involves the apostolic task of going out and doing it."                                      —Rufus M. Jones

             Almost 5,000 Mid-Atlantic region individuals and 200 clubs, schools,
                churches and other organizations  responded with material and financial
                assistance to AFSC’s calls for help to the victims of war ravaged Kosovo.

"Well, you say, surely our government inspects this food. You wish. At the same time the imports have surged, Congress has whacked the budget for inspectors, so less than two percent of the shipments get inspected."  Want to visit Jim Hightower?   He sure knows
how to run his mouth!
 

Jim Hightower's website at: www.jimhightower.com
 
 

Defense Monitor  The nation's foremost independent military research organization.
 

Also, watch "Defense Monitor"  Sunday evening: 5:00 - 5:30 p.m. Channel 36.  Excellent presentations on topics such as our military-industrial complex, "Star Wars", the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, Land Mines,  Child Soldiers, etc.
 

North American Coalition on Religion and Ecology
This site gives you a Five Step Process for Caring about Creation.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
                          Check out their report on child poverty (12/23/99).

Are you interested in what's going on with Social Security?

United For a Fair Economy   is a national, independent, nonpartisan organization that puts a  spotlight on the dangers of growing income, wage and wealth inequality in the United States and coordinates action to reduce the gap.  They provide popular education resources, work with grassroots organizations, conduct research, and support creative and legislative action to reduce inequality.

Their report: Divided Decade: Economic Disparity at the Century’s Turn (12/15/99)  More billionaires, more bankruptcies shows the record-breaking economic boom of the 1990s has left Americans more polarized and debt-ridden.

INTERNATIONAL  FORGIVENESS  INSTITUTE

"Many people have contacted us in an effort to personally learn more about forgiveness. We offer information on the concept of forgiveness and steps of forgiving.

The professional study and application of forgiveness is interdisciplinary. Therefore, scholars or practitioners in one field may not have the opportunity to review work in related but distant fields of endeavor. The International  Forgiveness Institute is a forum for introducing scholars and practitioners to each other via our periodical the "World of Forgiveness," professional workshops and conferences.

"The World of Forgiveness," our periodical, is a major project of the institute. Leaders in the forgiveness
 movement are regular contributors. Various clinicians have been invited to contribute articles on forgiveness in his/her specialty. Contemporary national and international news items on forgiveness are reviewed and offered for discussion. Periodical readers are encouraged to respond to the articles with new ideas or questions. Thus, we learn from one another both personally and professionally."

One Hundred Best Spiritual Books of the Century

Here's an e-mail from classmate, Betty, a good friend--

The Hunger Site at the U.N.  is a really admirable website.  All you do is click a button and somewhere in the world some hungry person gets a meal to eat at no cost to you.  The food is paid for by corporate sponsors whose logos you get to look at afterwards.  You're  allowed one only  click per day so spread the word to others.  Visit the site and pass the word.   ulcf1 http://www.thehungersite.com
 
 
 
 

    Want to have some fun?  Try this link to Cybercivic.  You can vote on issues that are currently submitted to the site by other citizens or organizations.  You can also submit your own, and other citizens from all over the state can vote on it.  You can see the response on maps and bar graphs.

Stakeholder Alliance  What does an organization owe to those whose lives it affects?  The Stakeholder Alliance is an association of organizations and individuals that promotes the interests of corporate stakeholders - the employees, customers, communities, stockholders, suppliers, and the greater society, all of which contribute significantly to the success of the corporation or are affected significantly by corporate actions.

Campaign Finance Reform In Wisconsin:   Compares various reform plans.  I am working to develop a mailing for Congregation Action Network which compares the various state proposals, so we can all decide for ourselves which plan we like.

                                                                * * * * * * *

Wisconsin Citizen Action  Is an impressive organization.  I attended their convention in March, 2000.  I attended primarily to get up-to-date information and strategy on the Impartial Justice Bill which would give public funding to Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates.   But they had much more!  There were about 300-350 attendees.  They had a big representation from Labor; they had seniors on their way to Canada to purchase the prescription drugs that they couldn't afford here in the US; they had farmers on their way to Washington, DC, to protest milk price inequities and corporate farms taking over, and the loss of family farms.  They had a lot of fine workshops.  I attended one workshop that trained organizers, and one which told us how to have a press conference and how to compose your message.

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign is also working on Campaign Finance Reform.  Take a look at what they have to say.  [Click on the flag.  Isn't it cool?]

Voices for Justice   is a legislative network of the Milwaukee Archdiocesan Office of Social Concerns.  I use their action alerts and legislative updates.  This is a link to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.  Click on "Departments," and find the Office of Social Concerns, and then Voices for Justice, Marjorie Morgan.  Margie is a terrific lobbyist.  Here is some helpful info she supplied.

Use the Legislative Hotline to:
*  Contact your state legislator by calling the toll-free hotline (shown below.)
*  Leave messages for your legislators
*  Find out who your State Representative or Senator is.

You can always call a legislator's office directly to leave a message with staff or ask for the legislator's position on a specific issue.

LEGISLATIVE  HOTLINE:               1-800-362-9472
TDD  LEGISLATIVE  HOTLINE:      1-800-228-2115
LEGISLATIVE  FAX:                         1-608-266-7038
 

DEPARTMENT  OF  HEALTH  AND FAMILY  SERVICES:  Secretary Joe Leean, P.O. Box 7850, Madison, WI 53707  *   1- 608-266-9622  *  FAX:  1-608-266-7882

MEMBERS OF THE JOINT FINANCE COMMITTEE:  (I'll let you know.)

Milwaukee Co.  Board of Supervisors   E-mail list of your county supervisors.

Wisconsin's Congressional Delegation   This will give you contact information for all of the U.S. Senators and Representatives from Wisconsin.

See Lorrie's Place NETWORK

HOSEA  is the name of a prophet, but it is also an acronym for Hope Offered through Shared Ecumenical Action.   All the member churches work together on projects which promote social justice.
I am working on the W-2 Campaiagn Committee.  We have been trying to get in to see Governor Thompson so that he will terminate the contract with Maximus and put in place an agency that will be conscientious about providing W-2 services to their participants.  Also, our annual public meeting attracted about 300 people.  It was held at our church.  It was very exciting, because several legislators agreed to come up to the front to pledge their cooperation on these W-2 issues.

LINKS I LIKE:

US Catholic Conference, Dept. of Social Development and World PeaceMy favorite people in the whole church probably work in this department.  Check out all the statements they make.  There are also some good Jubilee events and other resources.

USA's Middle East Policy   Lots to think about here.  I should probably find a web site that gives the other side(s). Let me know if you find a good one.  You have my e-mail address above.

The Costs of Sprawl, (urban sprawl, that is)  published by the Sierra Club.

Maryknoll  Besides being a very interesting web site, my cousin, Mary Ann, is a social psychologist serving on the staff of the Center for Mission Research and Study at Maryknoll.

The Institute for Wisconsin's Future  Just completed a study which show that the number of Wisconsin families in "extreme poverty" has soared despite the booming economy.  In September, they completed another study, "Domestic Violence Victims in Transition from Welfare to Work: Barriers to Self-Sufficiency and the W-2 Response"

Families USA reports that one of the unintended Consequences of Welfare Reform is losing health insurance.

Children's Defense Fund  site gives information about health insurance for children of families who live in poverty.

Check out Lorrie's Place, NETWORK.  It gives another report about what is happening to  folks who have left welfare.file:///C|/My Documents/Lorrie's Page 3.html

Quixote Center - "Not One More Execution"  Solid info about the Death Penalty.
 

Lorrie's Place,  ENVIRONMENT  Frankly, I haven't updated it for awhile! 

UW Milwaukee's Employment and Training Institute  addresses the employment and education needs of low-income and unemployed workers in Wisconsin through applied research, policy development and technical assistance.  Researchers work with local and state governments, community organizations and national agencies to study interrelationships between employment training programs, labor market trends, educational programs and welfare policies.

The Milwaukee Coalition to Normalize Relations with Cuba provides leadership in assisting the Pastors for Peace Caravan.  Pastors for Peace is a project of IFCO, Interreligious Foundation for Community Organizations.  It was founded by Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr. in 1988 after he was wounded in a contra ambush while leading a relgious delegation in Nicaragua.  Pastors for Peace has organized over 30 humanitarian aid caravans, delivering thousands of tons of urgently needed aid directly to grassroots organizations churches and hospitals.

Bread for the World   Click on "Bread for the World's Guide to Congress."   You will get congressional voting records and up-to-the-minute legislative updates.  You can also send e-mail messages to your members of congress directly from the BFW web site.

GLOBAL AFFAIRS

Defense Monitor  is on t.v. every Sunday afternoon, at 5:30 on Channel 36, (16 on Warner Cable).  It is helpful for understanding defense and military issues from a social justice point of view.  It's almost one-stop shopping for me.  If you are interested in Cuba,  try the Defense Monitor link (above), click on ISSUE AREAS and then on CUBA.

                      - David Beckmann, Bread for the World
 

 The Center of Concern's thoughtful, provocative analysis and visionary economic and social alternatives have helped grassroots leaders, academics, and decision-makers worldwide gain clarity on what is needed to create a more just future."

                      - David Beckmann, Bread for the World

Peace Action-Milwaukee  (Working for Social Justice and Peace Since 1977) needs significantly more members. Goals:  Abolish nuclear weapons and power, end military intervention, stop the international arms trade, meet human needs. Tools:  Education * Legislative lobbying * Public witness.  Call and ask them for a copy of their latest newsletter, and consider becoming a member.  (414) 964-5158, or e-mail them at pamilw@execpc.com.
 

Witness for Peace  was founded in 1983, by clergy and lay people outraged by the Reagan Administration's policy of "low intensity warfare" directed toward Nicaragua's civilian population. Witness for Peace has fifteen years of history as a leader in the Central America movement.

      Dead Sea Scrolls  This is a fascinating presentation based on an exhibit of 12 fragments from the scrolls which I viewed on a recent trip to Chicago.  Enjoy!

Precision Mouthpiece
Does your mouthpiece need attention?  Here's the guy!  A good friend, Emil Anello.

With a passion for truth, St. Dominic de Guzman, St. Catherine of Siena and Mother Maria Benedicta Bauer probed the implications of God's Word in times of profound social and ecclesiastical change.  What they learned in prayer, study and experience, they lived and proclaimed.

This charism has drawn us into community and formed us in the present critical age.  It remains the touchstone of our spirituality and mission, in which we are committed to truth, compelled to justice.

Commitment to truth in the light of the Gospel compels me to consecrate whatever power I have, personally and as a member of this community [ and other communities to which I belong]  to sustain the fundamental right of every person to pursue the fullness of life and to share in the common good.

Today, such a stance demands an explicit solidarity in prayer, struggle, suffering and hope with those who are oppressed by systems designed to serve the interests of the wealthy and advantaged.  This perspective governs my ministry, whether that ministry is among the economically advantaged or among the economically poor.

Racine Dominican Justice Issues Page

Thank you for visiting Lorrie's Place.  The truth is I get a lot of ideas and encouragement from all of you who visit and from those of you who e-mail me.   Keep p the good work, stay in touch and visit often.
  Lorrie