International Debt Arbitration - 5/4/2012 7:00:00 AM

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are two of the largest sources of sovereign loans for low-income countries. While most of these loans are for poverty alleviation, the debt burdens they have created are themselves creating cycles of poverty. | Read More...

Standing Up for Health Care - 4/23/2012 7:00:00 AM

Late last month, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments about the constitutionality of the health care reform law, known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). On the first of three days of arguments, I stood with other faith-based advocates in front of the court as a public witness of our support for the law. | Read More...

Seek Justice, Pray and Act for Peace in Colombia - 4/6/2012 7:00:00 AM

In December 2011 the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) produced a report on the Colombian government’s efforts to protect and assist the more than 5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). The report looked specifically at the Santos administration’s lack of tangible action for improving the human rights conditions for IDPs. | Read More...

Poverty in Appalachia - 3/23/2012 7:00:00 AM

What struck me most living in Appalachia was not the poverty, which I expected, but the wealth that goes out of these counties. In 2010, a billion dollars worth of coal was sold out of the half dozen or so coal counties in southeastern Kentucky alone. Yet the poverty rate is the highest in the counties with coal. All of the poverty indicators—unemployment, disability rates, and people on food stamps—are some of the highest in the nation. | Read More...

Purchasing Power - 3/16/2012 7:00:00 AM

The U.S. military spends about $4 billion on recruitment each year. Reducing this amount by 10 percent would allow the U.S. to nearly double its funding for maternal and child health programs overseas. Currently U.S.-funded maternal and child health programs save the lives of an estimated 6 million children each year through immunizations and supplements to address malnutrition, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. | Read More...

February's Slammer - 3/9/2012 7:00:00 AM

There is an Arabic proverb that says February’s slamming, beating, and thunder will bring summer’s sweet smell. Outside the wind howls while rain mixed with sleet splatters against the small house in the small Bethlehem village of Al Masara, a village whose land is being confiscated to build the Israeli separation wall. Despite the previous day’s sun, the February khabat (slammer) is upon us. Although thunderous and uncertain weather looms outside, Umm Mohammad’s (mother of Mohammad’s) coffee and conversation warms whoever is sitting next to her. | Read More...

The Budget Debates Begin Again - 2/17/2012 7:00:00 AM

On February 13th, President Obama released his budget proposal for fiscal year 2013. The document is complex, technical and 256 pages. It includes funding levels for all government departments and programs from the Department of Defense to the Environmental Protection Agency. Obama’s budget is theoretically the basis for the House appropriation process but the Republican-controlled House of Representatives will likely propose a budget that is significantly different, much as was done last year. | Read More...

How Many Slaves Work for You? - 2/3/2012 7:00:00 AM