December 30, 1999

E-feed the hungry

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As long as you’re wasting time idly surfing the Web, why not send some food to hungry people in a foreign country? You can do it for free at the Hunger Site, an independent service launched on June 1 by an Indiana software programmer disturbed by the fact that some 24,000 people worldwide starve to death every day. The site has since teamed up with the United Nations World Food Program, and has taken in the equivalent of millions of dollars in contributions. Just visit the site, click on the donation button under the map of the world, and a batch of rice, wheat, maize or other staple will be sent out, paid for by the sites corporate sponsors such as Blue Mountain Arts, Sprint and InfoSpace.

http://www.thehungersite.com

—VB

_
Oil giant kills domestic partners benefits

Dec. 29

Way back when, the oil companies were enormous monoliths of corporate greed, and gay employees dared not entertain the remotest fantasy that they might be accepted and treated equally by their employers.

Welcome back to the past. Now that Exxon and Mobil have the blessing of the Federal Trade Commssion to merge in an unholy union reminiscent of Standard Oil, the greasy guys in charge have decided to revoke domestic partners benefits from their gay employees, according to the BALTIMORE SUN. Mobil had provided such benefits before the merger; Exxon had not.

That makes ExxonMobil one of the last major oil companies not to provide domestic partners benefits. BP Amoco, Chevron, and Shell do offer such benefits.

http://www.sunspot.net…

—BSB

_
Another multimillion-dollar military mistake

Dec. 28

The US military goofed again. A $45 million unmanned spy plane was taking a test flight over the California desert last March when it received an “abort” signal from a Nevada Air Force base, according to the ASSOCIATED PRESS. The plane nose-dived to the desert floor.

The Air Force says the plane was flying so high that it lost its communications link to Edwards Air Force Base in California and instead responded to the next strongest signal. The Nevada base was apparently testing its flight cancellation signal at an inopportune moment. Your tax dollars at work.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/…

—BSB

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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