Today’s POV blog

For the duration of humanity, there has been a battle for food — critical for our very existence — but not all cultures have advanced in their ability to provide for their population at the same rate. Some countries have been left behind and are yet to develop the necessary methods to sustain their population.

In these under-developed nations and third-world countries, food has become such a crucial commodity that starvation is a common cause for death. Food riots occur when large shipments of aid are brought in for distribution.

Climate is but one of the reasons for food shortages, although, during the American dustbowl, it was a combination of poor farming methods and rampant locust breeding. A drought this year has caused a food shortage for a large portion of East Africa, but Ethiopia is being hit hardest.

There are an estimated 35 million malnourished people in Ethiopia; about 46% of their population. The government of Ethiopia is pleading with the UN to provide aid, but this aid comes at a hefty pricetag. The UN predicts it will require $285 million for six months of food. The number of people suffering right now could also increase, requiring even more aid money. The last time Ethiopia suffered a great famine was 25 years ago, which, according to BBC, killed nearly a million people.

Is it the world’s responsibility to aid starving populations when providing this food tends to the symptom, but does not cure the disease? With so many of the prosperous nations feeling a debilitating economic sting, should their first concern remain with their own citizens? While the problems of a nation starving to death and a nation who can’t afford to drive to work are incomparable, does the average citizen fully understand how at a time they are facing foreclosure on their home, their country is sending millions to aid other countries?

In an effort to restrict tax credits used to pay for abortions, Senator Max Baucus (D, Montana) has penned a bill that has further delayed the progress of the health-care reform bill before congress. The abortion bill would allow exceptions only in the case of rape or incest or if the life of a pregnant woman were in danger.

Senator Orrin Hatch (R, Utah), proposed even stricter provisions that would deny any money provided under the legislation could be used to cover “any part of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion.” Hatch’s version allowed almost no exceptions.

The proposal has been rejected by the Senate Finance Committee according to NYTimes.com; the 13-10 vote followed party lines with descending votes coming only from Senator Conrad (D, North Dakota) and Senator Snowe (R, Maine).

The bill proposes that health plans and abortion coverage would differ, but that private insurance plans permitting the coverage of abortion would be required to segregate money — taken from private premiums — to cover the procedure. Insured individuals could opt for a separate supplemental policy that would cover abortions, but that individuals would be responsible for opting for and paying the supplemental insurance offering such coverage.

According to their corporate web site, ACORN is the nation’s largest grassroots community organization of low- and moderate-income people with over 400,000 member families organized into more than 1,200 neighborhood chapters in about 75 cities across the country.

In an sting operation that brings to mind your finest Saturday Night Live skit, ACORN employees were caught giving advice to persons they believed to be a pimp and prostitute on how to manipulate the system in order to receive funding for a house that they intended to use as a brothel and where they would employ underage girls from El Salvador.

According to New Jersey Voices blog, James O’Keefe, dressed as a pimp and accompanied by a scantily clad 20-year-old woman posing as a prostitute, visited ACORN offices. Employees in Brooklyn, Baltimore, Washington, and California were video taped counseling O’Keefe on starting his business and manipulating income reporting to minimize tax liabilities. One ACORN employee paged through guidelines and finally settled on freelance performing artist as the proper job description for the prostitute. Later the pimp was counseled to consider claiming the brothel employees as dependents.

FOX News reported that on Friday two more employees were fired after a second video surfaced, less than 24 hours after the firings of the two ACORN officials from the Baltimore office.

The tapes, found in multiple postings on YouTube, have ignited calls for investigations. The United States Census Director has sent a letter to the National Headquarters of ACORN notifying the group that it will no longer help work on the 2010 census.

The video is seen as a serious setback for Obama, who has previously worked for ACORN, when he helped represent the organization in a 1995 lawsuit against Illinois that forced enactment of the motor-voter law (making it easier to register to vote). ACORN’s political-action committee endorsed Obama for president and his campaign gave an ACORN subsidiary $832,000 for get-out-the-vote activities.

Quoting an article posted by the Associated Press this morning, “Republicans are using ACORN to portray Democrats as corrupt and distract Obama from his policy agenda, the same way Democrats used issues involving Halliburton, the giant government contractor and ex-employer of former Vice President Dick Cheney, against the GOP during the Bush years. Top Republicans from congressional leaders to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger want criminal probes of ACORN and conservative voters are pressuring news organizations for coverage.”

In response, and as reported by the Boston Globe, the House voted yesterday to deny federal funds for ACORN in a GOP-led strike just three days after the Senate voted 83 to 7 to deny housing and community grant funding to ACORN.

In the video, the ACORN staffer tells O’Keefe on how not to get caught by police. “Be careful. Train them to keep their mouths shut. Always keep your eyes in the back of your head.”

In a story posted at CNN.com, conservative parents are convinced that today’s back-to-school speech to be given by President Obama will be an attempt at spreading the partisan political word to school children.

With both sides upset, school administrators are left to make a tough call: whether or not to broadcast the President’s message. Many schools are leaving the decision to the individual teacher. Whether or not a teacher carries the message to the classroom, there’s little doubt that parents on both sides are likely to continue to be upset.

With all the hoopla, the White House yesterday posted the script on their web site  (read it here), which they assure all Americans is simply encouragement to stay in school and maintain focus.

According to FOXNews.com, this signals “again the stark divisions in the country both over politics and social issues.”

Several conservative organizations and pundits have accused the President of trying to indoctrinate impressionable youth with a socialist agenda. The White House denies the allegations.

The question for all of us: Where should our children learn about politics?

At a site such as Today’s POV, one can imagine the great importance of free speech. In the midst of our launch it seems as though our rights to free speech are perhaps more threatened than ever.

In spring 2009, the US Senate proposed a bill that would allow the White House to disconnect private-sector computers from the internet. Does that really mean that your and my computer would be disconnected in the event the president declares a cyber-security emergency? Yes.

Recently, CNET News obtained a copy of the draft bill. This document contains a revised, but very vague iteration of the initial draft.

In the CNET article, Larry Clinton, president of the Internet Security Alliance, is quoted saying, “I think the redraft, while improved, remains troubling due to its vagueness. It is unclear what authority Sen. Rockefeller thinks is necessary over the private sector. Unless this is clarified, we cannot properly analyze, let alone support the bill.”

The Internet Security Alliance has representatives of Verizon, Verisign, Nortel, and Carnegie Mellon University on its board — concern from such industry heavyweights should certainly raise caution amongst us, if not clear alarm.

On 5 August 2009, FOXNews.com reported on the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine running an ad campaign that compared what President Obama’s daughters eat at their private school to the lunches available at public schools.

The little girl featured in the ad is Jasmine Messiah, an 8-year-old vegetarian from a Florida public school. In addition to appearing in the ad, she wrote to Sasha and Malia Obama seeking their support in improved school menus.

In response, White House lawyers are said to have contacted the non-profit group’s president, Dr. Neal Barnard, seeking removal because the ad mentioned the names of the President’s daughters. Dr. Barnard reports that there was an implication made that legal action would be pursued.

On 28 August 2009, Computerworld magazine reported that a different physicians’ group and a social-policy think tank, are up for some legal action of their own as they sue for privacy and free-speech violations over a White House attempt to get people to email them with reports of health-care reform information they deem “fishy.”

The lawsuit, filed by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) and the Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education (CARE), is basically a cease and desist but goes one step further when it demands that collected information be destroyed.

The two organizations claim the White House has illegally used its power to collect information on political speech.

While the legal wrangling goes back and forth, those of us who value free speech should sit up and pay attention. Free vote follows closely on the heels of free speech.