I just got this in my inbox from FPA:

"We have never asked for your support before, but today just 37% of America's youth can identify Iraq on a map despite the presence of U.S. troops there since 2003, and only 1 in 10 can locate Afghanistan. Your $25 donation can put the Great Decisions briefing book in the hands of a student.

"When I compare our high schools to what I see when I'm traveling abroad, I'm terrified for our workforce of tomorrow," says Bill Gates. You can do something TODAY to better prepare our leaders of TOMORROW.

Support the FPA's Great Decisions in the Classroom Drive to put educational materials on global affairs where they are needed most: In the classrooms of American schools."

Donate online by clicking here:
https://www.fpa.org/contribute

Thoughts?

"There's a little more resistance to it than I would have expected, and it doesn't come from the poor countries, it comes from the rich ones, which is kind of odd."

-- World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, defending his anti-corruption drive, which prompted him to suspend aid to countries such as Chad. Critics have said the push threatens to reduce aid to the needy. Wolfowitz's comments came at the end of a weeklong trip through Africa, during which he urged developed nations to increase aid or risk the continent turning into a 'breeding ground for terrorists." Wolfowitz's third trip to Sub-Saharan Africa since he took over as president of the lender in June 2005 was also a prelude to a yearlong campaign to raise at least USD 18 billion from rich countries that the World Bank will then use to build schools, roads and clinics in poor nations.

Indentured servitude. Illegal and still existing.

Today is International Women's Day.

On a day when we celebrate as global sisters, HRW points out how girls the world over are victimized on the basis of their gender, and confront an alarming array of threats to their safety, including physical and sexual violence in their schools, places of work, and in detention facilities. Governments have largely failed to implement key measures preventing and responding to these abuses. HRW recently released three background papers summarizing research on violence against girls: "Violence against Schoolgirls;" "Violence against Child Domestic Workers;" and "Violence against Girls in Conflict with the Law." These reports are based on HRW investigations in 15 countries, including: Afghanistan, Brazil, the Congo (DRC), Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Iraq, Malaysia, Morocco, Papua New Guinea; South Africa,; Togo; the US; and Zambia. For the reports, click here.