Just a quick post to highlight a documentary that I downloaded over the weekend. The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard is an excellent and quick study on consumerism, which she describes as a system in crisis. Her description of a linear system being unsustainable is very interesting, quote: “you cannot run a linear system […]
Those of us in the human rights field often talk as though what we call human rights are clear, obvious, and of course never up to interpretation. This is certainly the case with some rights. It is never acceptable, for example, to imprison an innocent person for political reasons or commit violence for the purposes […]
*U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton argues that achieving women’s equality is central to global security in an op-ed for The Times of London: Women are still the majority of the world’s poor, uneducated, unhealthy and unfed. They are the majority of the world’s farmers, but are often forbidden to own the land they cultivate […]
Here’s another story like the one below on mountaintop removal mining in which a key environmental regulatory agency steps up to the plate and hits one out of the park. It’s not a walk off, but we’re coming to the bottom of the ninth now and Indian Point is down one run with, I daresay, […]
As a writer on children’s rights, the subject of abuse is commonplace, however the types of abuse are as varied as they are haunting. Most often I write about the horrors physical abuse, child labor, sex trafficking, etc. Though we often forget to bring much needed attention and awareness to the issues of verbal abuse. […]
Where should global health dollars go? The good news is that more funders are investing energy into devising ever-more-sophisticated ways to allocate health spending. When priorities are aligned, such as the international commitment to reducing maternal and child mortality rates through the Millennium Development Goals, these sophisticated allocation methods can assist in deploying scarce resources to greatest […]
Here’s a quick little item of good news from Europe, courtesy of the AP and BusinessWeek: “Greenhouse gas emissions from major European polluters fell 11 percent last year as the economic downturn reduced demand for energy and manufactured goods, according to a report released Thursday.” Okay, okay, this is largely a consequence of the economic […]
The below email is from Manzar Mian, former co-director at the Depilex Smile Again. Place read my post about Depilex Smile Again for background. And here. ————— Depilex Smileagain Foundation (DSF) has sent a legal notice to its main donor and supporter, Clarice Felli, President Smileagain Italia, accusing her of defaming DSF. Smileagain Italia lent its name […]
Uncovered 1963 letter warned pope of “problem” priests In a letter to Pope Paul VI written five decades ago, a senior U.S. Catholic priest outlined the “problem of the problem priest” — a letter unearthed at a time when critics are seizing upon Vatican officials for negligence. In the letter, the Rev. Gerald Fitzgerald recommended […]
On Vladimir Putin’s first visit to Venezuela, the Russian Prime Minister has offered to help Venezuela set up its own space industry infrastructure and capabilities — including, importantly, a satellite launch site – for the South American nation, thus threatening US Western hemisphere hegemony.
Fellow FPBer Sarah Repucci has another perspective on the Google-China breakup from a government accountability angle.
Social networking makes for really, really targeted marketing possibilities. A bunch of advocacy groups dealing with Sudan are putting up Facebook ads aimed at people who work in Congress. Your employer is part of your Facebook profile. So if it happens to be Congress, bing! (erm, not that Bing™) there you go. They can also key […]
Things that are important or interesting that I haven’t written about: WikiLeaks is drumming up some hype before releasing video of a drone strike that claimed civilian lives. That’s not going to improve their relationship with the gummint. Viral social networking is transforming the ability to get groups together and make change happen. Yes yes, […]
That a tsunami of anger over healthcare reform today is illogical, given that what the right calls “Obamacare” is less provocative than either the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or healthcare benefits in other wealthy industrial nations. But the explanation is plain: the health care bill is not the main source of this anger and never has been. It’s merely a handy excuse.
Last month Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations published an excellent summary of the ongoing investigations in Turkey and how they continue to roil the politics of that country. “The Weakening of Turkey’s Military” is available here. Those interested in the topic should also take a look at Soli Ozel’s blog at World […]