–The world’s undernourished is now over one billion. The Head of the Food and Agriculture Organization says it’s time to eradicate hunger–Heads of organizations often have plans, that’s what they do, but when Jacques Diouf, the director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization, does so, his message is worth heeding. Concerned that the economic crisis is hitting the undernourished even more than in the past, seeing that the number of those chronically hungry has now topped one billion, he is proposing a solution. Let’s put behind the UN Millenium goals to halve the number of undernourished by 2015 and instead let’s work to eradicate hunger by 2025. He suggests we learn from past mistakes, particularly in the 1990’s when agriculture investment sharply fell, which he says paved the way for the surge in food prices over the last two and half years. To pursue his ideas he proposes a world leaders summit in Rome next November to tackle the issue of food insecurity. In 2008, thirty countries suffered food riots. Food insecurity is a political as well as human rights issue, and looking ahead is important on all levels. Let’s hope M. Diouf succeeds.
March 2009
-
Perhaps They’ll Get The Message
–Some are protesting the pope’s stand on condoms by sending them to him–While traveling in Africa recently, Pope Benedict XVI said that condoms were not the answer to AIDS, though the continent is ravaged by the disease and condoms have been hailed as an effective prevention. His remarks have sparked protest in many circles. One protest, however, deserves mention because it is rare that a protest can manage to make its point with humor. An Italian group on the social networking site, Facebook, is urging people to send condoms to the pope. The packaged product the group proposes is a white plastic packet with the pope’s picture and the caption, I said no. The organizers were expecting some 60,000 condoms to be delivered to the Vatican. Others in Europe and elsewhere have also joined the protest, and it is possible that more condoms would be sent. Some are also sending a picture of a condom via email. Although the Vatican has tried hard to engage in damage control, there’s still the question of what they will do with all these condoms!Perhaps they’ll get the message after all.
-
Who’s In the Wrong?
–If we want tough on crime policies we have to accept the responsibility of the price tag that goes with them–The saga of who shall control California’s inmates’ healthcare continues. Judge Thelton Henderson has refused the Governor and Attorney General’s motion to oversee inmates’ healthcare as well as construction plans for a medical facility. The state’s officials are objecting to he $8 billion cost and feel that since 2006 when the judge appointed a receiver to oversee the prison system’s healthcare, improvements have been made. The judge thinks that without further changes in place the improvements would stop if there was no receiver. The Attorney General, former governor and presidential candidate Jerry Brown, says that California spends $14,000 a year per inmate per year on medical care, far more than any other state.
Many people still want tough on crime policies, even more want people to serve prison time for a number of offenses and feel that prisons ought not to have gyms or recreation areas. There are even those who are ambivalent about money being spent on health care for inmates. Our attitudes as a whole may be tainted by revenge, however hidden, and the absence of compassion, however expressed. But even leaving the spiritual issues aside, there is something wrong with our attitudes. If we want prisons we need to pay for them. Whether we like it or not our attitudes involve a responsibility, and we need to accept it is a responsibility with a price tag. If not, we’re the ones in the wrong.