clipped from www.scotusblog.com

Reports on Judge Sotomayor’s Record

In anticipation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings, which begin Monday, July 13 at 10 a.m., we’ve organized by subject matter the dozens of published reports and substantive blog posts about her judicial record. (Links are below the jump; PDFs of longer, more formal reports are noted with an asterisk.) If we’ve left out other significant pieces that analyze her written decisions or provide data–rather than opine on her nomination generally–please e-mail us the link.

clipped from takeaction.oceana.org

Help Bring Arctic Protections Across the Finish Line!

Together we achieved a huge victory for the Arctic in February when the North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted unanimously to close the Arctic to any new industrial fishing until it can be shown that such activities would not impact the health of the ecosystem or opportunities for the subsistence way of life practiced by Arctic peoples.

Now it’s time to bring this incredible protection across the finish line. The Secretary of Commerce needs to approve the proposed Arctic Fishery Management Plan, and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has concurrently released a “proposed rule” with regulations to implement this Arctic fishing plan. They are asking for public comment on whether or not to approve this measure and implement final, in-the-water regulations early next year.

clipped from www.ipsnews.net

A Stormy Time for Indigenous Wisdom

VIENNA, Jul 6 (Tierramérica) - Indigenous peoples risk losing control over their traditional knowledge if the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) insists on strict standards for managing access to information.

Patents and other forms of restricting access to knowledge are very worrisome in a time of climate change, says a new report by the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

Ideas, seeds and life forms cannot be privatised and access to them must remain non-exclusive and benefits widely shared, he said.

The Quechua communities in the Cuzco region of southern Peru have used their customary laws to manage more than 2,000 varieties of potatoes in what is considered the centre of origin of this important food crop, Argumedo told Tierramérica.

clipped from www.irinnews.org

AFGHANISTAN: Call for tougher laws on rape

Photo: Darmani/IRIN

Maryam was raped by a stranger in August and her mother and brother used razor blades to cut her open to take out the foetus

KABUL, 8 July 2009 (IRIN) - Rapists in Afghanistan too often get away with their crime, whilst rape victims lack access to justice and experience stigma and shame, according to a report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Maryam was raped by a stranger in August and her mother and brother used razor blades to cut her open to take out the foetus

“In some areas, alleged or convicted rapists are, or have links to, powerful commanders, members of illegal armed groups, or criminal gangs, as well as powerful individuals whose influence protects them from arrest and prosecution,” said the report entitled Silence is Violence, launched in Kabul on 8 July.

“Women and girls are at risk of rape in their homes, their communities and in detention facilities,” it said.

clipped from www.commondreams.org

America's military chief has flagged the possibility of sending more US troops to Afghanistan on top of 68,000 approved by the Obama Administration, warning that Americans should brace for more US casualties.

No Cap on Troops for Afghanistan

An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier frisks pedestrians on a temporary check point on a road in the mountains of Wardak province, Afghanistan, July 7, 2009. America's military chief has flagged the possibility of sending more US troops to Afghanistan on top of 68,000 approved by the Obama Administration, warning that Americans should brace for more US casualties. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov

Over the past fortnight there has been speculation that there is an unofficial ceiling on the US commitment of troops to Afghanistan, after National Security Adviser General Jim Jones was reported as telling commanders in Afghanistan that President Barack Obama was likely to react badly to a troop request.

clipped from www.jpost.com

Mullen: Iran is very focused on developing nuclear capability

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen spoke Tuesday about Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon in rare comments by a US official, acknowledging the possibility that Iran will succeed in acquiring a capability America has long termed unacceptable.

"I believe Iran is very focused on developing this capability, and I think when they get it, or should they get it, it will be very destabilizing," Mullen told the Center for Strategic and International Studies Tuesday, in an address on military challenges in the Middle East, sponsored in connection with the embassy of the United Arab Emirates.

Mullen said that an attack on Iran would be similarly destabilizing, as in both cases, "there are unintended consequences that are very difficult to predict in a very volatile, highly volatile part of the world."

clipped from imagine2050.newcomm.org

The John Tanton Network and the Anti-Immigrant Movement in America

One man is at the heart of the most influential anti-immigrant network in the country. This man, John Tanton, has created an empire of organizations consisting of lobbyists, lawyers, legislators, and “experts” that have permeated the very depths of social and political debate.

The Tanton Network’s message is clear - immigrants are not welcome here.

clipped from rethinkafghanistan.com

Collateral damage means dead civilians. These casualties are the direct result of U.S. foreign policy and military operations funded by our tax dollars. We must speak out against civilian casualties in Afghanistan.

Become a Peacemaker and receive up-to-the-minute mobile text alerts on Afghan civilian casualties with info on how to take immediate action by calling Congress. Help our government see the need for a more humanitarian foreign policy.

clipped from news.newamericamedia.org

The feds’ action has fallowed farms in “one of the richest agricultural regions in the world,” said Carol Whiteside, president emeritus of the Great Valley Center, a non-profit that was set up to promote the economic, environmental and social wellbeing of the Central Valley.

“No water, no jobs,” is the dismal mantra you hear everywhere around Huron these days, as a combination of a long-standing drought and a federally enforced diminished supply of water from nearby lakes has turned this once bustling city half way between the giant metropolises of San Francisco and Los Angeles into a land of the hungry.

Water Woes Imperil California City

clipped from www.jpost.com

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday strongly denied that the United States had given Israel an approval to strike Iran's nuclear facilities.

Asked by CNN whether Washington had given Israel a green light for such an attack, Obama answered: "Absolutely not."

"What is also true is, it is the policy of the United States to try to resolve the issue of Iran's nuclear capabilities," Obama said.

This would be achieved "through diplomatic channels," he added.

clipped from livinginbarbados.blogspot.com

Some commentators are arguing that the current government has little to offer in these recessionary times and have drawn water at the well of populist sentiment and pulled out 'the race card'. It's a card played strategically and frequently by politicians and has the great effect of neutralising its opponents, who immediately seem 'unpatriotic' and 'the ones who got us into this mess'. Any counter arguments from other countries naturally sound like 'their' voices telling 'us' what to do. But the card played is really 'the jack of spades' (and for those who do not know how to read Tarot cards, it could be time to learn): it's a card that creates conflict and division, while holding unexpressed deception; it's sometimes seen as a 'golden apple' but is a true 'apple of discord'.

clipped from www.nytimes.com

Tanveer Ahmad, it turns out, was a longtime New York City cabdriver who had paid thousands of dollars in taxes and immigration application fees. Whether out of love, loneliness or the quest for a green card, he had twice married American women after entering the country on a visitor’s visa in 1993. His only trouble with the law was a $200 fine for disorderly conduct in 1997: While working at a Houston gas station, he had displayed the business’s unlicensed gun to stop a robbery.

When the 43-year-old man died in a New Jersey immigration jail in 2005, the very fact seemed to fall into a black hole. Although a fellow inmate scrawled a note telling immigrant advocates that the detainee’s symptoms of a heart attack had long gone unheeded, government officials would not even confirm that the dead man had existed.

clipped from www.commondreams.org

KABUL, Afghanistan
- Through two decades of war, Abdul Ahad never contemplated leaving
Afghanistan. But as his country started to deteriorate rapidly in 2007,
so did his life. He was laid off from his full-time driving job and
forced to take the only work he could find: a once-a-week driving gig
through Taliban territory.

Weary of War, Young Afghans Pay for an Exit

Abdul Ahad driving through Taliban territory with a bodyguard. Frustrated by his perilous job, he has begun scouting potential smugglers to take him to Europe. (Eros Hoagland for The New York Times)

clipped from veggieoption.blogspot.com

Food Inc. Documentary opens July 10 at The Esquire

If you missed out on U.C.'s screening of the new Robert Kenner/Eric Schlosser documentary Food, Inc. back in May, there's still time to catch a local screening. The film opens at The Esquire Theatre on July 10. Whole Foods Market will be on hand on opening night with free, organic food samples and coupon books for organic and natural products.