MUSICAL RAMBLINGS ENDORSES NEW CHARITY OF CHOICE

After some thought, I've decided to drop the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation as this blog's official charity. It came down to a personal decision. Lately the JDRF has become a little more political than I'd like, and they've been lobbying for the passage of H.R. 810, the House resolution involving embryonic stem cell research that was recently vetoed by President Bush. I wanted to do my best to support the JDRF, but I couldn't in good conscience go along with them on this issue. I have a moral opposition to ESCR, and I don't wish for a human embryo to have to be destroyed to find a cure for my illness.

I don't want to get involved in any discussions about it here, so if you want to argue with me about stem cell research, please don't, because that's not what this blog is about. I know that others will feel differently about this, and I respect that, and I hope you will all respect my feelings about it, as well as our respective rights to support whichever organizations we choose.

In lieu of support of JDRF, I have decided to adopt the National Exchange Club Foundation as this blog's official charity of choice. In all honesty, I should have picked them before, as I'm intimately familiar with their operations. I was a domestic violence and anger management instructor in one of their centers. The work that the Exchange Club does with abused children and abuse prevention is quite good. When I worked with the court mandated anger management courses, I know that we made a difference.

Child abuse is a problem that happens every day. The victims have very little voice. The crimes so often go unprosecuted. And the victims often don't get the help they need. Please consider donating to them, and check out their site to see if there are any centers near you that could use volunteers.

Thanks for your understanding, and I hope you'll continue to support the Exchange Club as well as other charities of your choice.