UN, US call for steps to ensure food security
September 28, 2009 1 min. read

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and U.S.  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hosted a meeting in New York on global food security and strategies to combat ongoing food shortages in the wake of the global financial crisis. Speaking at UN headquarters on Monday, Mr. Ban called the global food crisis “an issue that affects all […]

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Emerging Markets Change & Tame U.S. Exchanges
September 28, 2009 1 min. read

As European & Canadian companies retreat from NYSE listings, Emerging Market companies change complexion of U.S. stock markets, and thereby drive performance of U.S. market performance.

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I Have Never Forgotten You (2007)
September 28, 2009 2 min. read

Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal is lionized – and rightfully so –in this documentary. The film follows him from his life in a German concentration camp until his death in 2005. It shows how relentless he was in tracking down war criminals and how scrupulous he was. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Z8pW6dr_Fy4″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] While many jumped […]

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Romas and social exclusion
September 28, 2009 2 min. read

They are some of the most discriminated and marginalized people in Europe.  Facing rampant racism and social exclusion, some European country policies are intentionally segregating Roma children in schools.  Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic all place Roma children in separate classrooms.  In these conditions, the quality of education afforded to Roma children is […]

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Krugman on Climate Change
September 28, 2009 3 min. read

Paul Krugman had a couple of columns, today and Friday, with some complementary posts at his blog, “The Conscience of a Liberal,” on the economics of cap-and-trade as well as the dire situation in which we find ourselves relative to warming and its impacts.  To refute some of the nonsensical – and false – claims […]

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Off Peak
September 28, 2009 3 min. read

For decades now, speculators in oil have justified their bidding up oil futures with the concept of peak oil: to wit, we have discovered all the major fields that there are and soon there will be no new oil, and this will lead to wars and exorbitantly high prices, and so although not now, but […]

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Yaz Birth Control Controversy: Pharmaceutical Profits, Unnecessary Risks, and the Gendered Distribution of Family Planning
September 27, 2009 8 min. read

  The current Yaz birth control controversy illustrates the continued tension between what pharmaceutical companies and the doctors that they pay claim is safe for consumption, and contrary scientific evidence. Natasha Singer of the New York Times is reporting that Yaz, a birth control pill manufactured and marketed by Bayer, is under fire as an […]

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World Leadership Forum 2009
September 26, 2009 4 min. read

This year’s annual World Leadership Forum from the Foreign Policy Association was keynoted by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.  He gave a fascinating speech calling on the US to resume its leadership in the world and to be supported in this by “…a new ‘driving centre’ of global politics and the global economy – a […]

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"An Idea Whose Time Has Come"
September 25, 2009 3 min. read

Scrapping fossil fuel subsidies is the idea here.  The caption is from today’s lead editorial in the “Financial Times.”  Among its many felicitous effects, is the fact that “If effective in promoting efficient consumption, elimination would reduce the risk of runaway global warming.”  The Third Assessment Report (2001) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change […]

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Sweden – children of undocumented migrants; marginalized
September 25, 2009 2 min. read

Throughout all of Europe, undocumented workers, migrants, refugees and others attempt to carve out a life.  Many make the treacherous journey to seek a job to send money back home. But if you get sick…hope for the best. So can it be true?  Sweden?  That wonderful Scandinavian country where everyone is healthy, wealthy, and attractive? […]

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Taking it to the streets to fight child trafficking
September 25, 2009 4 min. read

Now is the time for action to end human trafficking in our nation’s capital, said DC Council MemberPhil Mendelson, chair of the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary. While I am working within the DC Council to advance legislation, outreach efforts and community awareness about trafficking are imperative to end this brutal crime. Mendelson […]

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Mighty Bank Lobby Aims to Kill Consumer Protection Agency
September 25, 2009 4 min. read

The bank and financial lobby’s top legislative priority is to kill an Obama administration proposed new consumer protection agency with generous help from Congressional Republicans that would be dedicated solely to protecting consumers’ financial interests from unfair and unethical business practices.

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