holiday not-giving guide

Yesterday I wrote about good causes to which you could donate time or money. Now that we've covered the good groups, I thought I'd mention some groups that I do NOT recommend that you donate money, time, or support to:

• First up is the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute. Despite the fact that they produce a lovely calendar (thank-you for the lovely "gift," Kate.) of "Great American Conservative Women" (Phyllis Schlafly is Miss June. I'm not kidding.), this group works to train young women to be good conservatives and to "promote school choice opportunities for all K-12 children in America."
• Speaking of good old Phyllis, the Eagle Forum is another group you'll want to avoid. I can't even discuss the things on their website. It's too upsetting.
• The Richard Land Empire. Whether through For Faith and Family, or Dr. Land's latest book, Imagine! A God-Blessed America. If you donate to his cause(s), you are supporting someone who claims that O'Connor's retirement from the Supreme Court leaves an opportunity "to make it a solidly original-intent court that will interpret the Constitution, not view it as an ‘evolving’ document to be rewritten according to the personal views of the justices with allusions to international law." Now here's a question: why does Richard Land Live! (What's the conservative thing with exclamation marks? Like Lamar!) feature a Texas flag? And more importantly, what does it mean to be an American who embraces "faith saturated values"?
• The Jesse Helms Center in Wingate, North Carolina. Unless you believe it's a good thing to support a former senator who became a Republican due to the Civil Rights Movement. Or you're really into free market summer camp. (I will say, though, that I'm pleased by his efforts to do more to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa. I just wish he'd come around to that position about ten years earlier.)
• The Liberty Counsel (Isn't that clever? See how it's "counsel" like a lawyer instead of "council" like a meeting around a ring of fire? Those wacky fundamentalists.), Jerry Falwell's legal wing whose all-capitalized mission is "Restoring The Culture One Case At A Time By Advancing Religious Freedom, The Sanctity of Human Life, And The Traditional Family." The thing is, I'm not offended by 2/3 of that. Problem is, they say they want "religious freedom," but they don't, really. They want a theocracy, and they only want religious liberty for themselves. And they define "Sanctity of Human Life" very narrow terms.