From my early childhood, I have been captivated by animals. My favorite outings as a kid were going to the zoo and even more exciting; the circus.

I would visit my cousins as often as possible because they had a dog. A dog! How cool is that! When my parents came to take me home, it would inevitably end in tears.

My solace would come by way of dreams, vivid dreams, where me and my dog would run through a field and fall in a joyful tumble where my dog would bark with excitement and smother me with licks all over my face.

While getting a dog of my own was always on my wish list come my birthday, my parents were not animal lovers and to them dogs equaled mess and responsibilities they were not prepared to take on.

This did not stop my love for animals and that only increased once I would go on the aforementioned trips to the zoo and watch in awe the majesty of the big cats and the towering matriarch of an elephant troop.

As I grew up, my love of animals never left me, it just got distracted by my being a typical teenager and young adult when the opposite sex and my education took precedence over most of everything else. To be continued…

I have always wondered if there was a grading system for charities as their is for banking , insurance, and Fortune 500 companies. Today I found the answer.

AIP. Or the American Institute of Philanthropy.

They have a unique grading system from A+ through to F.

On its website AIP states that high rated charities typically spend 75% or more on their budgets on charitable programs, do not hold excessive assets in reserve and  receive “open-book” status for disclosure of basic financial information and documents to AIP.

AIP then goes on to list a lot of different categories of charitable organizations, with the best of the bunch shown with an A+ to B+ rating

I will now bookmark this page and use it as a point of reference when promoting different charities.

In an article today by Joan Walsh, editor in chief at Salon.Com, she wrote a piece praising President Obama’s “the buck stops with me” address to the Press yesterday.

She contrasted Obama’s humble self assessment to the swagger and default blame absolution of the Bush administration. (more…)

Since I began my quest this year to hi-lite the excellent work carried out on a daily basis by so many charitable organizations, a lot of the research I have been conducting has lead me to some very somber conclusions.

It is quite easy to despair at the hatred and animosity perpetrated thousands of miles away. Innocent men women and children being killed in the name of God, or in the name of ancient rights to ancient lands. (more…)

Scrooge's Clothing Provided by H&M

An article in the New York Times today told a story that beggars belief.  On the back street of H&M’s flagship store on 35th Street, bags of unsold clothing are dumped into trash bags to await pickup by trash haulers.

One curious person, who noticed two people rifling through the clothes on a bitter Monday evening 4th January decided to take a look for herself. She was astounded to find that someone had slashed nearly every item of clothing; ensuring that no-one would ever be able to wear them. (more…)