Recently in Social Justice Category

9/15/08 James Suroweicki, New Yorker, Equal Before Mammon - Pay inequality.

She was an ordinary middle-class mom who, despite fierce criticism, succeeded in a male-dominated profession. She challenged the local establishment and became a national figure, earning herself a spot as a featured speaker at her party's recent Convention. But she wasn't the governor of Alaska. She was a woman named Lilly Ledbetter, a former middle manager at a Goodyear plant in Alabama, who appeared at the Democratic Convention to give a human face to the slogan "Equal pay for equal work."

Whites Swim in Racial Preference. Tim Wise. Alternet. 2/20/2003.

In criticizing affirmative action at the University of Michigan, Bush made clear the inability of yet another white person to grasp the magnitude of white privilege.

The Food Crisis and Global Institutions. Emily Schwartz Gtrco. Foreign Policy in Focus. 8/05/2008.

The food crisis reflects a breakdown in our global food system that threatens to worsen poverty, hunger, climate change, and insecurity. Global institutions and governments are responding, yet their answers are vastly inadequate. For decades, trade and investment liberalization have undermined human rights and the environment. The food crisis should help us to understand that now it is time for a new vision of global cooperation, one that is democratic and accountable to people and the planet.

A Third Way: Globalization from the Bottom. Abbas Jaffer. Foreign Policy in Focus. 8/06/2008.

Just as many books have been written as there are individual viewpoints on the crises related to globalization. Mark Engler's new title How to Rule the World: the Coming Battle Over the Global Economy has some unique offerings. It offers insight about the different currents at play in globalization, along with some new analysis about the rise of a distinct globalization that promotes social and economic democracy. This new movement is people-powered, and its future is promising.

SOUTH PACIFIC: Climate Change Refugees Look to Australia, N.Z.. Stephen de Tarczynski. InterPress Services. 9/01/2008.

With the apparent effects of global warming already being felt among Pacific island nations, Australia and New Zealand are being urged to do more to prepare for 'climate change refugees'.

Should the internet game Muslim Massacre be banned?. Jenny Percival, Guardian. 9/11/2008.

Computer games in which players aim to kill as many people as possible are, sadly, pretty common. But what sets "Muslim Massacre - the game of modern religious genocide" - apart from the others is that an American soldier sets out to "wipe out" the entire Muslim race. Worse still, the game is available free on the internet, with no restrictions to prevent children and the vulnerable from accessing it.

Vietnamese women wed foreigners to help family. Ben Stocking. AP. 8/10/2008.

TAN LOC ISLAND, Vietnam (AP) -- Nearly 70 young Vietnamese women swept past in groups of five, twirling and posing like fashion models, all competing for the hand of a Taiwanese man who had paid a matchmaking service about $6,000 for the privilege of marrying one of them.

Comparison of the Reported Tax Liabilities of Foreign- and U.S.-Controlled Corporations, 1998-2005. General Accounting Office. GAO-08-957. 7/24/2008.

Highlights Page (PDF)   Full Report (PDF, 32 pages)   Accessible Text   

Concerns about transfer pricing abuse have led researchers to compare the tax liabilities of foreign- and U.S.-controlled corporations. (Transfer prices are the prices related companies charge on intercompany transactions.) However, such comparisons are complicated because other factors may explain the differences in reported tax liabilities. In three prior reports, GAO found differences in the percentages of foreign-controlled and U.S.-controlled corporations reporting no tax liability. GAO was asked to update the previous reports by comparing: (1) the tax liabilities of foreign-controlled domestic corporations (FCDC) and U.S.-controlled corporations (USCC)-including those reporting zero tax liabilities for 1998 through 2005 (the latest available data) and (2) characteristics of FCDCs and USCCs such as age, size, and industry. GAO analyzed data from the Internal Revenue Service's Statistics of Income samples of corporate tax returns. GAO does not make any recommendations in this report. In commenting on a draft of this report, IRS provided comments on technical issues, which we incorporated into this report where appropriate.

FCDCs reported lower tax liabilities than USCCs by most measures shown in this report. A greater percentage of large FCDCs reported no tax liability in a given year from 1998 through 2005. For all corporations, a higher percentage of FCDCs reported no tax liabilities than USCCs through 2001 but differences after 2001 were not statistically significant. Most large FCDCs and USCCs that reported no tax liability in 2005 also reported that they had no current-year income. A smaller proportion of these corporations had losses from prior years and tax credits that eliminated any tax liability. By another measure, large FCDCs were more likely to report no tax liability over multiple years than large USCCs. In 2005, comparisons of FCDCs and USCCs based on ratios of reported tax liabilities to gross receipts or total assets showed that FCDCs reported less tax than USCCs. FCDCs and USCCs differed in age, size, and industry. FCDCs were younger than USCCs in that a greater percentage had been incorporated for 3 years or less from 1998 through 2005. In 2005, FCDCs were larger on average than USCCs in that they reported higher average gross receipts and assets than USCCs. A comparison by industry in 2005 showed that large FCDCs were relatively more concentrated in manufacturing and wholesale trade, while large USCCs were more evenly distributed across industries. GAO did not attempt to determine the extent to which these factors and others, such as transfer pricing abuse, explain differences in tax liabilities.

Amazon Rainforest Threatened By New Wave of Oil and Gas Exploration. Iam Sample. Guardian/UK. 8/13/2008.

With over 35 multinational companies racing to tap into oil and gas reserves situated in peak biodiversity spots, conservationists urge an environmental impact assessment

Minorities expected to be majority in 2050. CNN. 8/13/2008.

By 2050, minorities will be the majority in America, and the number of residents older than 65 will more than double, according to projections released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Struggling with India's gender bias. Steve Bradshaw. BBC. 8/19/2008.

The number of female foetuses being aborted in India is rising, as ultrasound is increasingly used to predict the sex of babies.

Unequal America: Causes and consequences of the wide--and growing--gap between rich and poor. Elizabeth Gudrais. Harvard Magazine. July/August 2008.

When Majid Ezzati thinks about declining life expectancy, he says, "I think of an epidemic like HIV, or I think of the collapse of a social system, like in the former Soviet Union." But such a decline is happening right now in some parts of the United States. Between 1983 and 1999, men's life expectancy decreased in more than 50 U.S. counties, according to a recent study by Ezzati, associate professor of international health at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), and colleagues. For women, the news was even worse: life expectancy decreased in more than 900 counties--more than a quarter of the total. This means 4 percent of American men and 19 percent of American women can expect their lives to be shorter than or, at best, the same length as those of people in their home counties two decades ago.

KENYA: Water Studies - But Where Are the Water Supplies?. Rosalia Omungo. Inter Press Services. 6/02/2008.

The road leading to the informal settlement of Korogocho is narrow and winding. Here, in Nairobi's third largest slum, up to 150,000 people are crammed into an area of just over one square kilometre, their shanties made of cardboard, wood or metal.

More Women May Retire Poor. Candice Choi. ABC News. 7/09/2008.

Women may not earn as much as men or fly up the corporate ladder as quickly, but they get the last laugh since they live longer. Right?

The Great Immigration Panic. NY Times Editorial. 6/03/2008.

Someday, the country will recognize the true cost of its war on illegal immigration. We don't mean dollars, though those are being squandered by the billions. The true cost is to the national identity: the sense of who we are and what we value. It will hit us once the enforcement fever breaks, when we look at what has been done and no longer recognize the country that did it.

Survey: Risky acts more likely for Hispanic teens. CNN. 6/04/2008.

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- Hispanic high school students use drugs and attempt suicide at higher rates than their black or white classmates, according to a new federal survey that shows a continuation of a disturbing trend.

Poison Pill Slipped Into Indian Health Bill. Michelle Chen. In These Times. 7/09/2008.

Pro-life amendment used to derail legislation.

When it comes to their health, American Indian women face extraordinary barriers -- from high disease risks to increased incidents of sexual violence. They now face another obstacle, rooted in the political battleground of abortion.

INDIA: Public Hearings Grant Justice to Rural Women. Nitin Jugran. Inter Press Services. 6/02/2008.

SAWAI MADHOPUR, Rajasthan, Jun 2 (IPS) - The Indian state of Rajasthan is historically known for its cultural traditions and the epic tales of valour of its womenfolk are legendary. But sadly, today, this state fails to present a vibrant picture with regard to the status of its women who lead a backward existence.

Borrow a Muslim? A 'living library' to prick stereotypes. Mark Rice-Oxley. Christian Science Monitor. Mark Rice-Oxley. Christian Science Monitor. 6/ 04/2008.

In 12 countries, people check out people for a 30-minute conversation to challenge their own prejudices.

As G-8 meets, free trade under fire. Mark Trumbull. Christian Science Monitor. 7/07/2008.

Recent economic woes are raising new doubts about the benefits of globalization.

Hippie town's homeless attack portends trend. Evelyn Nieves. AP. 7/17/08. BOLINAS, Calif. (AP) -- Ricky Green wandered into this town some months ago, a stranger just a bit stranger than most. He had shed his middle-class respectability - a job as a graphic artist in the 'burbs - strapped a guitar over his shoulder and landed here on what he told people was "a spiritual journey."

ECONOMY: Global Woes Hit Developing Countries. Abid Aslam. Inter Press Service. 6/10/2008.

WASHINGTON, Jun 10 (IPS) - The global credit crunch unleashed in the United States is combining with runaway food and fuel prices to put the squeeze on developing countries, according to the World Bank.

New Criminal Record: 7.2 Million. Darryl Fear. Washington Post. 6/12/2008.

The number of people under supervision in the nation's criminal justice system rose to 7.2 million in 2006, the highest ever, costing states tens of billions of dollars to house and monitor offenders as they go in and out of jails and prisons.

Plutocracy Reborn. The Nation. 6/11/2008.

Chart One: Re-creating the Gap that Gave Us the Great Depression

The most precise data on the income of America's most affluent have come, in recent years, from the work of economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty. Their most recently updated figures for income inequality in the United States, available online from the Emmanuel Saez home page, cover the years 1913 (the first year of the modern federal income tax) through 2006.

Race and Extreme Inequality. Dedrick Muhammad. The Nation. 6/11/2008.

The current presidential campaign has sparked a lot of conversation about race, but it has primarily been at the symbolic and interpersonal level. It has failed to probe the underlying substance of racial economic disparities and the slow rate of progress toward equity in wealth and wages. Too many Americans naïvely see the strong presidential candidacy of Illinois Senator Barack Obama as evidence of the resolution of the racial divide.

The Rich and the Rest of Us. John Cavanagh & Chuck Collins. The Nation. 6/11/2008.

Over the past three decades, market-worshiping politicians and their corporate backers have engineered the most colossal redistribution of wealth in modern world history, a redistribution from the bottom up, from working people to a tiny global elite.

We won't be Berlusconi's scapegoats, say Gypsies. Tom Kington. Guardian/UK. 6/15/2008.

Tom Kington in Rome meets families evicted by the city's new right-wing mayor at their isolated camp and hears them demand 'a few rights'

.Inside the RUF: at last the child soldiers of Sierra Leone have their say. Hannah Strange. Times Online/UK. 6/16/2008.

The trial of the rebel leaders behind a devastating civil war is soon to come to a close. The child soldiers who knew them tell their stories

Study: Language barrier can keep children from getting healthcare. Patrick McGee. Huston Star-Telegram. 6/16/2008.

Children from homes where English is not the primary language have far more health problems than other kids in the U.S. and have less access to health insurance.

The impact goes beyond those youngsters and their families, said study author Dr. Glenn Flores, director of general pediatrics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

Illegal dumping plagues some Los Angeles neighborhoods. Robert J. Lopez. LA Times. 6/16/2008.

For Alex Rodriguez, the rats and stench are the worst things about the rubbish routinely dumped on the street and alley in his South Los Angeles neighborhood.

Human cost of Brazil's biofuels boom. Patrick J. McDonnell. LA Times. 6/16/2008.

The country is a key producer of ethanol. Many of those cutting the sugar cane used to make the fuel are said to endure primitive conditions.

Price rises hit Indonesia parents. Lucy Williamson. BBC. 6/04/2008.

Financial pressures in Indonesia are driving more families to give up their children, a report says.

Chinese illegal immigrants discovered in Texas border town. CNN. 6/06/2008.

LA JOYA, Texas (AP) -- Local police are accustomed to dealing with illegal border crossings but were astounded by the video of 15 Chinese immigrants unfolding themselves from the back of a sport-utility vehicle near this small border town.

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Children in the Path of the (AIDS) Pandemic. Kathryn Strachan. Inter Press Service. 6/06/2008.

JOHANNESBURG, Jun 6 (IPS) - There is barely a path leading down the steep incline and through the dense bush to the Mabuyakhulu homestead. It would be easy to pass by without finding 13 year old Zanele* and her eight year old sister Andiswa who stay there on their own.

HEALTH-CUBA: Free Sex Change Operations Approved. Dalia Acosta. Inter Press Service. 6/06/2008.

HAVANA, Jun 6 (IPS) - New horizons opened up for transsexuals in Cuba with the approval of a Public Health Ministry resolution that establishes guidelines for their health care, including free gender reassignment operations.

World hunger's urban edge. Stephanie Holmes. BBC. 6/05/2008,

The global food price crisis has revealed not only the new face of hunger but also its voice.

Former nun helps Mexico 'femicide' victims recover. Sara Miller Llana. Christian Science Monitor. 6/05/2008.

Linabel Sarlat runs a support center to help bring economic and spiritual renewal to the women of Anapra, Mexico.

Americans $1.7 trillion poorer. Tami Luhby. CNN. 6/05/2008.

Americans' net worth falls for the second straight quarter as home and stock prices decline, but it may not hurt consumer spending, experts say.

DEVELOPMENT: Food Summit Agrees Greater Liberalisation. Sabina Zaccaro. Inter Press Service. 6/05/2008.

ROME, Jun 5 (IPS) - The three-day world summit called by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation to respond to the food crisis ended with plans and pledges - and a new push to liberalisation.

Solving the global food crisis starts with women's rights. Yifat Susskind. The Progressive. 6/03/2008.

Solving the food crisis means empowering women.

James Byrd, Jr.:10 Years Later, 'Horrific Death' in Jasper Won't Fade From Memory. Bill Hanna. Star-Telegram - TX. 6/08/2008.

Ten years after the brutal dragging death of James Byrd Jr., his family is unwilling to let his memory quietly fade away.

U.S.-born children feel effects of immigration raids. Anna Gorman. 6/08/2008.

Federal agents say they try to act humanely when a parent is arrested, but advocates charge that youngsters are often traumatized and are sometimes left without supervision.

In Burma (Myanmar), how many cyclone orphans?. Christian Science Monitor. 6/09/08.

Aid groups are trying to curb child labor and reconnect families - without the help of surnames.

Japan's Ainu hope new identity leads to more rights. Takehiko Kambayashi. Christian Science Monitor. 6/09/2008.

URAKAWA, JAPAN - While Friday's parliamentary decision to recognize the ethnic Ainu as Japan's indigenous people is a major step for a country long proud of being ethnically homogeneous, for many members of the long-discriminated-against minority it's not enough.

FRANCE: Noble Ignorance Fails the Minorities. Hilaire Avril. IPS. 6/04/2008.

PARIS, Jun 4 (IPS) - According to the French constitution, France has no minorities. French law makes it illegal to record citizens' ethnic origin or religion. But in the face of mounting discrimination, France recently introduced corrective institutions. However, the system is still in its infancy.

Sex trade traffickers get busy among cyclone orphans. Anne-Claire Duffay. The First Post/UK. 5/14/2008.

Sex trade traffickers are preying on child survivors of Burma's devastating Cyclone Nargis, writes Edward Loxton for The First Post. At least two suspected traffickers have been arrested in Rangoon since the cyclone hit, according to UNICEF's child protection officer in Burma, "A broker came to a shelter and tried to recruit children," she told the French news agency AFP. "The police intervened and made arrests."

How do Muslims view women's rights?. Christian Science Monitor. 5/16/2008.

Many Muslims believe that women should have the right to vote and to hold any job outside the home that they qualify for.

Some rural communities pushed to the edge by high cost of fuel. Tom Kizzia & Tom Hopkins. Anchorage Daily News. 5/16/2008.

Last winter, old people in Emmonak sometimes brought six-gallon plastic jugs to the tank farm at 20 below. They would pull the jug home on a sled, carrying enough stove oil to heat their house for the rest of the week.

Racial Shift in a Progressive City (Portland) Spurs Talks. William Yardley. NY Times. 5/29/2008.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Not every neighborhood in this city is one of those Northwest destinations where passion for espresso, the environment and plenty of exercise define the cultural common ground. A few places are still described as frontiers, where pioneers move because prices are relatively reasonable, the location is convenient and, they say, they "want the diversity."

Trade boss criticises financial mess. Steve Schifferes. BBC. 5/30/2008.

The boss of one of the world's most important economic organisations has said the lack of regulation in world markets was the root cause of the financial crisis which has hit world economic growth.

Hungry for Justice. Sameer Dossani. Foreign Policy In Focus. 5/30/2008.

When Paul Konar left his native India for the United States in 2006, he could never have imagined that less than two years later, he and several of his co-workers would be giving a lesson in Indian-style change making. Yet Konar, joined by his supporters and fellow fasters, has been on a vigil in Washington, DC for 17 days. He hasn't eaten anything since May 14.

By Rowan Wolf. 5/01/2004. Published at Portland Indy Media; Correspondences; Panopticon

Comments from Abuzaid in Iraq, Bush, and the Pentagon, all express disgust over the abuse (I'd call it torture) of prisoners being held at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. We are told it is "under investigation." Actually, it has been "under investigation" since January. The US public is being led to believe that this is an isolated incident by some rogue US soldiers. The story emerging paints a very different picture.

PERU: Indigenous Groups Challenge Private Investment Decree. Milagros Salazar. IPS. 5/29/2008.

LIMA, May 29 (IPS) - More than 5,000 indigenous and peasant communities in Peru launched a petition drive this week with the aim of getting President Alan García's decree promoting private investment in communally owned land declared unconstitutional.

HEALTH-AFRICA: UNICEF Reports Five Million Child Deaths Every Year. Steffanie Nieuwoudt. IPS. 5/30/2008. (Report)

CAPE TOWN, May 30 (IPS) - When four-year-old Alice Were suddenly developed a fever, her mother Miriam took her to the local medicine woman close to her house in Kangemi, a poor, cramped settlement on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Two days later, Alice was unconscious. Her frantic mother rushed to hospital with the child in her arms. But it was too late. Alice died of malaria.

Undocumented immigrants face Juan Crow. Roberto Lovato. The Progressive. 5/19/2008.

Immigrants held in immigration detention facilities are not just dying because of bad management, callous guards and understaffing.

Food stamp recipients pinched by high food prices. Dawn Babwin. Associated Press. 5/16/2008.

CHICAGO (AP) -- Danielle Brown stands outside a South Side market at midnight, braving the spring chill for her first chance to buy groceries since her food stamps ran out nearly two weeks ago.

The Other Karen Tribe Antonio Graceffo. Boxun News. 5/22/2008.

The Long neck Karen (Karen-Padaung) are not actually Karen at all, but they are also refugees, escaping the genocidal madness in Burma. They have become a symbol of tourism in Thailand's Mae Hong Son province. On the Burmese side of the border, agents of the junta gather the Karen, Akha, Lihsu, Lahu and other tribal people into human zoos.

Trail of Tears was trail of betrayal. Mark Anthony Rolo. The Progressive. 5/25/2008.

The Trail of Tears began 170 years ago this week. We should recall it not as an aberration but as a logical outgrowth of an inhumane policy. And we should insist, in its memory, that Indian treaties and Indian sovereignty be honored.

BIODIVERSITY: Indigenous Peoples Fight Theft. Julio Godoy. Inter Press Service. 5/24/2008.

BONN, May 24 (IPS) - Amongst the suits in the luxurious hotel hall, Sebastian Haji immediately catches the eye. He is small, dark-skinned, and wears a crown of feathers on his head.

Fair Trade: Spreading The Wealth. Sharon Cullars. One World Net. 5/28/2008.

CHICAGO - Before the advent of the Fair Trade system some 60 years ago, an average farmer in Ecuador could expect to receive only a few cents per pound for his crops -- barely enough to sustain himself, his family, and his farm.

Native American health suffers due to inequality. Donald Wame. The Progressive. 5/20/2008.

How long you live should not depend on how rich you are.

But recent studies show that richer you are, the longer you live.

For American Indians, this is not news.

Gross National Happiness. Rajni Bakshi. 2004.

The tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is an unlikely place for the birth of an international trend. Yet Bhutan is emerging as a global leader in the promotion of  'Gross National Happiness', a concept it first embraced three decades ago and which is now being fleshed out by a wide range of professionals and agencies across the world.

Mom forced to live in car with dogs. Thelma Gutierrez & Wayne Drash. CNN. 5/20/2008.

SANTA BARBARA, California (CNN) -- Barbara Harvey climbs into the back of her small Honda sport utility vehicle and snuggles with her two golden retrievers, her head nestled on a pillow propped against the driver's seat.

More than 2 million U.S. youths depressed: study. Reuters. 5/13/2008.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 2 million U.S. teenagers have suffered a serious bout of depression in the past year, including nearly 13 percent of girls, according to a federal government survey released on Tuesday.

African Women Making Change. Ann Jones. Mother Jones. 5/13/2008.

It's like the old days of the women's movement in the U.S. and the informal consciousness-raising get-togethers that blew the collective mind of my generation.

G7 loses grip on global policy to O5. Barry Herman. Asia Times. 5/09/2008.

A distinct set of global institutions governs the international economic system: the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank. Each has its specialty, and they are complemented by a number of even more specialized institutions with more restricted membership, such as the Bank for International Settlements and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Utah Mine Disaster Was Preventable, Report Says. Ian Urbina. NY Times. 5/09/2008.

The general manager and possibly other senior staff at the Crandall Canyon Mine near Huntington, Utah, where 9 miners died in August 2007, hid information from federal mining officials that could have prevented the disaster and should face criminal charges, according to a Congressional investigation whose results were released Thursday.

DEVELOPMENT: Food Crisis Linked to Doha Deal. Aileen Kwa. Inter Press Service. 5/08/2008.

GENEVA, May 8 (IPS) - The issue of rising food prices was raised at the WTO's General Council meeting Wednesday, and for the first time, discussed in some detail. But there remains, as one African delegate put it, "a lot of confusion about the rising prices of commodities and the Doha Round. Somebody needs to demystify the links. The D-G (Director-General) is using this as a bait to catch us on concluding the Round as soon as possible."

ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Controversy Over Indigenous Land and Biofuels. Mario Osava. Inter Press Service. 5/08/2008.

BRASILIA, May 8 (IPS) - The legal status of an indigenous territory in the far north of Brazil, and biofuels, are two hot potatoes at the Third National Conference on the Environment being held in the capital city, which is focusing on climate change.

Child Labor Rings Reach China's Distant Villages. David Barboza. NY Times. 5/10/2008.

LIANGSHAN, China -- The mud and brick schoolhouses in the lush mountain villages of this remote part of southwestern China are dark and barebones in the best of times. These days, they also lack students.

System of Neglect - Immigrant Detention. Dana Priest & Amy Goldstein. Wa. Post. 5/11/2008.

As Tighter Immigration Policies Strain Federal Agencies, The Detainees in Their Care Often Pay a Heavy Cost

Punjab reaps a poisoned harvest. David Loyn. BBC. 4/26/2008.

The governments of many poor nations are alarmed at the rise in food prices. There are even problems in the Indian region of Punjab, where science once seemed to have found answers for a hungry world.

Where Every Meal Is a Sacrifice. Anthony Faiola. Wa. Post. 4/28/2008.

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania Even before he took a butcher knife to the she-goat's throat, Likbir Ould Mohamed Mahmoud knew it would only make things worse.

Emptying the Breadbasket. Dan Morgan. Wa. Post. 4/29/2008.

For decades, wheat was king on the Great Plains and prices were low everywhere. Those days are over.

Warming 'affecting poor children'. BBC. 4/29/2008.

Climate change is already affecting the prospects for children in the world's poorer countries, according to Unicef.

New Look at Death Sentences and Race. Adam Liptak. NY Times. 4/29/2008.

About 1,100 people have been executed in the United States in the last three decades. Harris County, Tex., which includes Houston, accounts for more than 100 of those executions. Indeed, Harris County has sent more people to the death chamber than any state but Texas itself.

RIGHTS: Native People Warn U.N. of Biofuels Disaster. Haider Rizvi. Inter Press Service. 4/30/2008.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 30 (IPS) - Growing demand for biofuels by the world's rich nations is propelling attacks on indigenous people and destroying their lands and forests, according to native leaders attending a three-week international meeting here.

UN: Biofuel Production 'Criminal Path' to Global Food Crisis. Environmental News Service. 4/29/2008.

GENEVA, Switzerland - The United States and the European Union have taken a "criminal path" by contributing to an explosive rise in global food prices through using food crops to produce biofuels, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food said today.At a press conference in Geneva, Jean Ziegler of Switzerland said that fuel policies pursued by the U.S. and the EU were one of the main causes of the current worldwide food crisis.

Chevron Complicit in Abuses in Burma - Rights Lobby. Marwaan Macan-Markar. Inter Press Services. 4/20/2008.

BANGKOK - An environmental group is warning U.S. energy giant Chevron to clean up its act in Burma or face legal proceedings where the multinational's links to gross human rights violations in the military-ruled country could be exposed.