Publicizing two charities

Accountability Post Trump Year 0 Dec 1

Today I grabbed the chance to post about two charities on Whatever's Charity Thread. On the off chance that people would be interested I include them here:

Griffin Education Solutions uses songs to help grade school children learn basic facts about the world. They started with science and math but are now branching out. (Full disclosure: Griffin Ed has paid me royalties for the rights to record a few of my songs.).

The Jefferson Rural Clinic is a clinic for people in Jefferson and Granger counties (in Tennessee) that provides free medical and dental care for people too poor to qualify for the ACA (aka Obamacare.). (Full disclosure: I volunteer there two mornings a month.)

I waffled about whether to consider this an accountability post or not, but both education and health care strike me as things that will be under siege in a Trump America, so I decided to run with it.

Called Chair of House Science Committee

Accountability Post, Trump Year 0 Dec 1 (posted for Dec 3)

(This counts for Sunday's item, since these offices probably won't be open over the weekend.)

Peter Gast posted a news article about how the House Science Committee retweeted an article from Breitbart (of all places) that made the false claim that climate change is a hoax.

I looked up the membership of the House Science Committee (full name: Committee on Science, Space and Technology) to see if my Representative was on it. No such luck. So, I called Congressman Lamar Smith (202-225-4236) and told the staffer I was calling Congressman Smith in his capacity as Chair of the House Science Committee. I mentioned my science credentials (thinking that a Ph.D in Molecular Biology might help get their attention) and explained that climate change is settled science and that Breitbart is not a reliable source of science news. I expressed my hope that in the future Congressman Smith would get his climate science information from actual climate scientists and avoid fake news sites. The staffer was very polite and said he would relay my concerns to Congressman Smith.

If you feel moved to do likewise, you can look up the members of the House Science Committee on the page below--if you are an actual constituent of one of the Committee members, that is the person you should contact, as your words will carry more weight with them. Otherwise, call the chairman, as I did. Monday is probably okay for this; there is no time constraint that I know of