Fishing for Sustainable Practices to Conserve Fisheries
Region: District of Columbia
Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet. Global fish production has reached an all-time high, according to Nourishing the Planet’s latest research for the Worldwatch Institute’s Vital Signs Online publication. Aquaculture, or fish farming—once a minor contributor to total fish harvest—increased 50-fold between the 1950s and 2008 and now contribut... more
Views: 1187Getting “More Crop Per Drop” to Strengthen Global Food Security
Region: District of Columbia
Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet. Increasing demand for water continues to put a strain on available water sources, threatening the livelihood of millions of small-scale farmers who depend on water for their crops. At a time when one in eight people lack access to safe water, Nourishing the Planet points to low-cost, small-scale innovations to better manage this vital reso... more
Views: 1397As Mideast Lashes Out Against Corruption, Chamber of Commerce Lobbies to Weaken Anti-Corruption Law
Region: District of Columbia
Even as anger over governmental corruption has exploded into protests across the Middle East, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been working to weaken the law that bans companies from bribing foreign officials. That effort, which has been going on for months, recently got ratcheted up when the Chamber hired former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey to lobby specifically on “possible amendments to the Foreign C... more
Views: 1325English Language Unity Act 2011
Region: District of Columbia
The English Language Unity Act of 2011 that has been tabled in the Congress and Senate by Steve King and Jim Inhofe respectively is another example of short-sightedness. In the face of it, the proposed legislation appears to be sensible and the grounds appear to be logical. But the purpose, as espoused and justified by King, "A common language is the most powerful unifying force known throughout history," a... more
Views: 2678CIA bamboozled by computer software expert
Region: District of ColumbiaOfficials from the Central Intelligence Agency were bamboozled into using a phony software program that its creator claimed could help intelligence, military and law enforcement personnel in detecting terrorist plots. Besides the CIA, the U.S. Air Force was also a victim of the same scheme. An intelligence source told the Law Enforcement Examiner that federal agency personn... more
Views: 1504Opposition to Obama Health Care Law Still Fierce
Region: District of ColumbiaWASHINGTON-- United States is the only industrialized nation without universal health care for its citizens. Virtually, every other country around the globe provides its citizens with some form of government subsidized health coverage. In this country, the only form of universal health care is that which is available to the elderly and to those receiving social assistance. Passage of a universal health care legis... more
Views: 1902State of the World 2011 Symposium in Washington DC and Live Streaming Online
Region: District of ColumbiaToday is the Worldwatch Institute’s 15th Annual State of the World Symposium, hosted at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC. It is being live streamed on the Nourishing the Planet blog at 1:15PM (EST) for those unable to join the event in person. Bringing together leading thinkers in agricultural development, hunger, and poverty alleviation, the symposium takes place following the rel... more
Views: 1226A Lone Liberal, Barking in the Dark
Region: District of ColumbiaI'll start with the specific issue and then spend a bit being a grand pontificator. First, the thing that tripped this switch in my political consciousness was quite specific: the tax cut/unemployment compromise that the President struck last night with Republicans was not bad. It was certainly shocking to me, and it did contain bad elements, but it is at worst a neutral deal and at best a good deal, at least fro... more
Views: 1299Are Obama's Stimulus Claims True? ProPublica and Politifact Investigate
Region: District of Columbia
This story was co-published with PolitiFact. "One of the interesting things about the Recovery Act was most of the projects came in under budget, faster than expected, because there's just not a lot of work there." -- Barack Obama on Sunday, Nov. 7, 2010 in a "60 Minutes" interview President Barack Obama says the time is ripe for immediate investment in infrastructure projects such as highways and bridges. Wit... more
Views: 1455Meet the Likely House Committee Chairs—Who Promise to Roll Back ‘Job-Killing’ Regs
Region: District of Columbia
by Marian Wang, ProPublica, Nov. 4, 2010, 10:11 a.m. Earlier this week, we highlighted a few ways that midterm elections could affect some of the issues we’ve dogged in the past few months—the foreclosure scandal, financial reform, healthcare reform, among others. Impending Republican control of the House means there will be new leaders on powerful House committees. Those committees oversee a... more
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