45 years to deliver a letter

In 1963, William L Moore wrote a letter to Mississippi Gov.Ross Barnett opposing segregation
and planned to walk his message from Chattanooga, Tn to Jackson, Ms, on April 23, 1963 he was shot in the head twice and killed. Several attempts to deliver this letter has resulted in nearly 700 people being arrested and beaten, some prisoned and fed crushed glass in their food and hit with electric cattle prods... the letter never made it to it's destination.
On April 23, 2008 Ellen Johnson and myself walked the original letter ( given to us by Bill's widow) from Attalla, Alabama to Jackson, Mississippi, 320 miles in order to bring recognition to William Moore and all the Freedom walkers of 1963.

I would like to thank the very nice people and Police in Alabama and Mississippi, your concern for our safety was greatly appreciated. We have come a long way since 1963.

Help Fund Science

Lets see if we can go for 3 in a row! Help fund Science here

Learning about science can be great but experiencing science is a lesson remembered for a lifetime.

I teach 6th grade science and my biggest battle is getting my students to understand concepts that can't be ordinarily observed. For many or my students English is a second language and they struggle with concepts that they cannot observe in action.

The teaching tanks are tools that will enable my students to see and observe processes or concepts that are not ordinarily observable. They are great for teaching students about groundwater, the actions of volcanoes, and density among a number of countless other concepts.

Help make a difference by making science come alive for my students. Help me to create opportunities to not only learn science but experience science.

My students need 6 teaching tanks. The cost of this proposal is $359, which includes shipping for any materials requested and fulfillment.

Evolution Gets Funded!

Another project has been funded!! view here.

Thank you to all of you who helped fund the teaching of Evolution.

Rich

One Atheist making a difference - Bill Gates' World of Possibility

Philanthropist's Vision, Energy and Capital Could Force Global Change

By Yuki Noguchi

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 21, 2006; Page D01

Melinda Moree met plenty of naysayers who dismissed the prospects of a malaria vaccine. Then she encountered Bill Gates.

No one had developed a human vaccine against a parasite like malaria before, and the monetary incentives simply did not exist for pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs targeted at poor children. Development would require cooperation among scientists, drug companies, health groups and international governments -- an alliance so large it didn't seem possible, she recalled someone telling Gates.

"Of course it is," Gates countered, according to Moree, now director of the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative in Seattle, which along with other groups has received nearly $500 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop, test, manufacture and eventually distribute a malarial vaccine. "There's something about vision and belief that these things are possible," Moree said.

People in the nonprofit world say Gates, 50, could fundamentally alter the methodology of philanthropy with his announcement last week that he will quit his day-to-day role at Microsoft Corp. in two years to spend more time on his foundation. He will take the same energy he once directed toward software technology to global health, education and other intractable issues, they say.

Even as Microsoft is grappling with a changing competitive environment in which the software that Gates championed is losing ground to Internet-based services, the foundation is facing hurdles that observers say only Gates may be able to clear.

The co-founder of Microsoft has given $25.9 billion of his personal wealth to the foundation and has pledged to give billions of dollars more to devote to several dozen specific programs, such as minority scholarships, clean water initiatives, updated computer systems in libraries and the development of a variety of vaccines. (His wife, Melinda Gates, is on the board of The Washington Post Co.)

The foundation has not been able to carry many of its projects through to completion because of the enormous logistical, political and commercial barriers inherent in distributing malarial vaccine to Africa, for example, and developing a vaccine against HIV and AIDS. Finishing those tasks requires political diplomacy, organizational efficiency, and monetary and human resources -- challenges that Gates may be uniquely positioned to take on as one of the most successful and driven businessmen of the era.

"A lot of the corporate foundations were born in the corporate style," but few have had someone of Gates's stature get involved personally in the execution of their programs, said Sharon Oster, director of the Program on Social Enterprise at Yale University. Logistics -- getting vaccines into places such as Rwanda quickly, for example -- will be a large part of what the foundation will need to do, and Gates will probably have to make hard decisions about which worthy causes are more deserving of his money, such as medicines, infrastructure or education, she said.

Decisions about operational controls and investment are not new to Gates, Oster said, adding, "There are also more complicated governmental issues, and certainly Microsoft has dealt with those." But this time Gates's enemy isn't another company -- it's disease, mosquitoes, ignorance, political unrest. And vanquishing those requires a different approach to partnership, she said. It will require working with a disparate group of governments, other nonprofit groups and companies that do not answer to him.

Vaccines have to be tested in human populations in large numbers. Collecting that data in the impoverished, remote villages where many diseases are common requires manpower, organization and funding. Once a drug is ready for production, it has to be mass produced in a way that allows it to withstand transportation, high temperatures and other environmental factors that can be tough on vaccines. Some countries charge tariffs or are in states of civil unrest that makes it hard to deliver services.

The most frustrating problem with vaccine delivery is the lack of political will and social infrastructure in some countries whose people need the medicines, said Adel Mahmoud, incoming chief executive of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, another group sponsored by the Gates Foundation.

The pharmaceutical industry also needs a business case to justify such work. By helping to fund drug development and trials for diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and acute diarrheal disease, which usually affect poorer populations, the Gates Foundation has essentially created a new market for drug companies.

GlaxoSmithKline PLC conducted malaria vaccine trials on 2,000 children, and "that trial wouldn't have taken place without the Gates Foundation," said Nils Daulaire, president and chief executive of the Global Health Council, a Gates Foundation grantee and a membership group that advocates for worldwide health-care access. "As lead investors, they're almost like a country in themselves, with their own world aid programs."

Now, the challenge will be developing an easy way to manufacture and distribute the vaccines, Daulaire said. "Mr. Gates is someone who has built his entire career and business and world view on the application of technology -- and having the right technology and application of that technology in user-friendly ways," he said.

Moree, the director of the Malaria Vaccine Initiative, said that the foundation is impatient for results and that this drives a "private-sector mind-set."

Moree meets with officials from the foundation to lay out timelines and goals for the group. The group is focused on speed because 1 million people, mostly children, die every year from malaria. The foundation's money has allowed Moree's group to invest in a number of projects simultaneously, as if planning for further trials even before a first one has finished, she said. "You can do multiple shots on goal" without fear of making mistakes, she said, because the foundation wants an aggressive approach that could allow more products to move through the pipeline. "We're constantly innovating -- better, faster, cheaper is our mantra."

As an ambassador for projects, Gates is likely to draw more funding and interest from other corporations, Moree said.

"The Gates Foundation is a quality brand. It's something they want to be associated with," she said. "People want to be associated with success."

Help Ayaan Hirsi Ali - Buy the AAI DVD today!

All proceeds go to Ayaan Hirsi Ali's security.

AAI 2007 2-DVD Set by RDFRS: $20

The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science presents a DVD collection of 9 speakers from the Atheist Alliance International 2007 Convention (AtheistAlliance.org) held in Washington, D.C. Hear from some of the world’s leading rationalists on a variety of subjects including suicide terrorism (Thomson), the Intelligent Deisgn movement (Scott), Islam (Hirsi Ali), church/state separation (Tabash), “The OUT Campaign” and the labeling of children (Dawkins), atheism, religion and much more. Q&A sessions follow most of the talks.

Enjoy this landmark gathering of intellectuals, totalling over 9 hours of
video.




Click here to buy:
http://richarddawkins.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3&products_id=12

Disc 1
- Richard Dawkins
- Sam Harris
- Dan Dennett
- Andy Thomson (exclusive to our DVD set)

Disc 2
- Christopher Hitchens
- Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- Eugenie Scott
- Matthew Chapman
- Eddie Tabash

Did you know?

• Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day.
• The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the poorest 48 nations (i.e. a quarter of the world’s countries) is less than the wealth of the world’s three richest people combined.
• Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
• Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.
• 1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, 270 million have no access to health services. 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day).

Sponsor a Child Today! Just $24 a month.

There's no greater reward.

You are a click away from doing something extraordinary.

Think of it: For less than a dollar a day — the cost of a soft drink, or a small candy bar — you can help change the life of a girl or boy in a poor country, forever.

There is no greater gift, and no greater reward
Imagine you are a child — like the child you are about to meet, the girl or boy you could be sponsoring.

Imagine knowing nothing but poverty all your life. . . .

Hard poverty. Hunger. Dirty water to drink. Horribly inadequate sanitation. You have so much potential! But opportunities for the future are few.

Then one day . . .
Then one day you learn you have a Plan USA sponsor. Someone far away you may never meet.

And what an impact this “someone” is starting to have on your life!

Just $24 a month, less than a dollar a day
Plan is an international organization. That means sponsors from around the world have a sponsored child in your child’s community. In fact, we work so that every eligible child — only one per family — is enrolled in the program.

This combination of funds is why your sponsored child eventually can enjoy clean drinking water from a water system costing as much as $12,000, a roof for their home costing $200, a new school, a health clinic. . . .

There’s no greater reward than to know you have changed a child’s life forever
As soon as you sponsor, we’ll send you by mail a Welcome Kit, including information on your child, a recent photo, information about Plan worldwide and all you need to know about sponsorship.

Sponsor a child today and:

• Exchange post cards, letters and drawings with your sponsored child.
• Watch your child grow as you receive a new picture every year.
• Read about the difference you’re helping to make in the child’s annual progress report.
• We encourage every sponsor who is able to visit their sponsored child and family. There’s nothing like seeing it all for yourself.
• Receive important news about your child or the program.

More information
Use the links on the left to learn more about Plan USA.

If you would like specific information about sponsoring a child with us, or if you prefer to receive an information packet by mail, please call us toll free at 1-800-556-7918 toll free, or email us at donorrelations@planusa.org.