Still shopping for holiday gifts? Several food aid organizations are offering unique ways to give gifts that will help in the fight against hunger this holiday season. Check out these gift opportunities, and look through the organizations’ websites to learn more about their work and other ways you can help fight hunger throughout the year. […]
Ron Kirk, former Mayor of the City of Dallas and presently the Obama administration’s US Trade Representative filed suit against China with the World Trade Organization (WTO) this week, siding with the powerful United Steelworkers union, accusing Beijing of illegally subsidizing the production of wind power equipment which is an anti-competitive practice under WTO rules and harmful to American workers.
Using a elementary school as a backdrop, President Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act into law on Monday, capping a campaign led by the President and his wife, Michelle, to fight childhood obesity in the United States. The new law, which pledges 4.5 billion dollars over 10 years to child nutrition programs, will give […]
European court examines Ireland abortion policies The European Court of Human Rights blasted Ireland’s abortion policies in a judgment Thursday, saying they prevent women from receiving adequate care in life-threatening situations. Observers expect the ruling to increase pressure on Ireland to clarify and extend abortion rights to women facing pregnancies that pose a serious risk […]
I wrote about how a number of participants in Cancún felt that some sense of faith had been restored in the UN process. The reviews are still coming in, but it appears that progress was indeed made, that some highly useful, indeed critical mechanisms have been advanced, and that ongoing negotiations are going to take […]
A few months ago, over at the FPA Arms Control and Proliferation blog, William Sweet, Roger Scher, and I discussed the role Israel’s nuclear program plays in creating regional instability. In particular, Roger wrote, “the acquisition of nuclear weapons in the ME is not driven by Israel, but rather, by other factors…” Today, courtesy of […]
For decades, being tough on crime has been a go-to mantra for American politicians regardless of party affiliation. Frequently that means increasing prison terms and choosing retributive justice over rehabilitation in the treatment of prisoners. Over the weekend prisoners in Georgia staged a peaceful strike in protest of these conditions. It appears that the strike […]
Journey to the rooftop of the world and be bored out of your skull. This documentary is about as interesting as watching paint dry but feels like it takes even longer. It should be a fascinating look into an ancient culture virtually untouched by the modern world. Instead it tortures the viewer with scenes like […]
by Cordelia Rizzo It has become very difficult to articulate what is going on in the crime-laden cities of Mexico. President Felipe Calderon makes sure we are constantly aware of the efforts to prevail in the quintessentially unwinnable “war on drugs.” In the meantime, cities have become ghost towns, and society has gone from indignation […]
Here is a quick list to get your Slave Free and Fair Trade Holiday Shopping Started: Fair Trade the White House Holiday Gift Guide a full color catalog with gift ideas for everyone on your list! See the Give Fair Trade blog to see the daily featured Fair Trade gift and special offers, as well […]
Sunday’s Wall Street Journal reports on Japan’s predicated intention to revise its maritime defense posture to address threats in the oceans South and West of the nation: The shift will be the central theme of Tokyo’s new National Defense Program Guidelines, which will set the defense-policy framework for the next decade and replace ones adopted […]
This just in from my colleague at PRI’s The World – a series called “Rationing Health: Who Lives? Who Decides?”, airing on public radio and online starting tomorrow. The series takes a look at four countries where different approaches to the distribution of healthcare have led to ethical dilemmas, including: South Africa – Rationing by Committee […]
Congress is in session and they are rushing to get through all the debates and bills before the session closes. Washington, DC is buzzing the debate om tax cuts for the rich. However the real debate should be on funding for millions of vulnerable children. Every year some 1.45 million children who have an intellectual […]
The fact that government outrage continues to provide the international media with grist for its insatiable mill is one of the great ironies in this scenario: perturbed at the site’s revelation of embarrassing diplomatic discussions and fumblings–tales only mildly interesting to the average reader–government officials are now in the process of creating a better, and far more spectacular story over First Amendment rights and the ‘treasonable’ activities of a Dutch citizen accused of committing “sex by surprise” (in Sweden?).
Even worse, the official call from some quarters for draconian regulation of the internet has given Russia (which suggests nominating Assange for the Nobel Peace Prize) and China, a human-rights violator of mammoth proportion, opportunities to ‘prove’ to an already hostile world that when Washington suddenly finds itself looking out through wall-to-wall glass, this nation of stone-throwers is no better than anyplace else.
The Senate has recently passed a new bill, the Food Safety and Modernization Act, which gives the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) much greater power to protect the nation’s food supply. The bill was drafted because of the spate of problems the food industry has had in keeping its food clean in recent years; including […]