http://www.usaservice.org/page/content/eventsearch
Usaservice.org is an Obama website apparently run under the auspices of the presidential inauguration committee designed to link volunteers to community service opportunities by zip code. There has been some controversy in various news media regarding the appropriateness of some of the service opportunities such as a “Throw a shoe at Bush” party which has been removed from the site following publicity.
Not one just to blindly follow, I decided to visit the website and check it out. I checked multiple locations (places I’ve lived, places friends and relatives live), that vary from rural through urban. I must report that the great overwhelming majority of opportunities presented are legitimate such as blood, clothing, and food drives, community cleanup efforts, tutoring, senior citizen assistance programs, etc.
Of questionable community service merit are advertisements for inauguration parties (excluding those whose ticket price is donated to charitable organizations), and something that was detailed as a “Native American and New Age approach to health and healing. The art of breathing "pranayama".
Predominately confined to urban areas, by my limited experience with the site, but of questionable community service value are those items that would most likely be characterized as political activism, such as First New Yorkers against Gas Drilling. I find apparent government sponsorship of political positions somewhat repugnant, even if they are only providing the opportunity for free advertisement. This would hold as true for an NRA rally as the above mentioned environmental cause.
Overall the website seems legitimate and fairly benign, I would venture that the occasional oddity found is more due to a weak vetting process than any specific political agenda
6 comments:
Join the NRA adn protect gun rights
Which organization would protect my right to blow your idiot brains out? I suppose, the NRA.
Anon #2: Can you provide just one example where the NRA has supported someone's right to blow another person's brains out?
You are obviously a city slicker liberal who piddles down your leg at the sight of a gun. You're probably the kind of person who actually thinks the government can protect you.
and yet, i bet at the first sign of trouble mr. anon would call "people with guns" (aka, the police).
Hey Russell! What's that old saying? When seconds count, the police are just minutes away.
My my my... have I threatened someone's narrow world view and pushed their button?
1. I am a conservative
2. I regret losing this election
3. I'm not going to lie to you just so you can feel good about yourself.
I visited upon my topic because I heard it mentioned both on FOX News Radio and Patriot Radio. I went there to see how bad it was. I was mildly (Note... not completely) surprised to find out conservative radio was blowing the issue out of proportion as the vast majority of 'events' on the site were legitimate.
I don't need to lie, to myself or others, in order to defend or advance my conservative principles. Oh, and I support the NRA,and more importantly, the second amendment. The point that you missed is that it was simply a conservative touchpoint, a counter to the liberal touchpoint of environmentalism, neither belong on a website for 'public service'.
While a political cause can be a 'public service' do you really want government deciding which causes are a public service and which are not.
Curiously, and something that upon recollection I failed to include in my article, is upon retrospection I didn't see any readily identifiable uniquely conservative events.
Lighten up, read a little, and get a grip on the anger. It doesn't help your cause blindly lashing out at the mere appearance of keywords. We can give credit where credit is due... I guarantee you, if Obama does something I consider wrong I will call him on it... contrawise if he does some good, I'm not averse to admit it. Not to insult you, but you're beginning to act like the opposition.
Cheers!
~Finntann~
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