These are original drawings

We rarely discuss the fact that there are places in the world
that are actual U.S. colonies. Still less do we consider whether we
are complying with our international obligations to respect the right
of self-determination for colonized peoples, and if we are not, what
we could do to change that.

A small corrective is being offered as part of Asian Pacific Heritage
Month by PBS, which is webcasting Vanessa Warheit’s documentary, “The
Insular Empire: America in the Mariana Islands” until next Sunday,
June 20.

Cross posted from Border Jumpers, Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack.

A specific type of vegetable oil may not sound like a particularly interesting subject, but palm oil is no ordinary vegetable oil. It is one of the more destructive forces on our planet today. Or maybe I should say that the machine of people and corporations in place to grow and distribute palm oil is one of the more destructive forces on our planet. Either way, consuming this ingredient – which is in an unbelievable amount of foods and cosmetics and other things – is something which makes one responsible for encouraging this.

Conservatives expect our president to act like an “ugly American” to our nation’s detriment, even if no sane business person hoping for successful trade deals overseas would ever act that way.

Betcha dollars to doughnuts you won’t hear Dan “OMG EEEEK Obama was polite to an Asian dude” Riehl gumming Dick Cheney’s ankle over what his daughter just said.

The Organizers’ Forum delegation had two great meetings with organizers and the job before them was stunning and prodigious. We had the opportunity to meet for several hours with five union organizers working to organize industrial plants along the eastern shore of Thailand. We also got lucky and our trip coincided with a training session for young organizers from Korea, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines where we were able to spend several hours sharing discussions about the state of community organizations. These were gifts!