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Treacherous human trafficking condemned

21 Jun 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday's gospel describes a perilous journey by boat that threatens the lives of the disciples until Jesus intervenes. The U.S. State Department, which Tuesday released its Annual Trafficking in Persons Report, strongly urged affected nations to intervene in an underground industry that threatens the freedom and well-being of impoverished children and adults forcibly shipped to countries where they are sold into virtual slavery. The report cites International Labor Organization statistics that estimate that at least 12.3 million adults and children are victims of forced labor, bonded labor, and sex slavery each year. "This is modern slavery. A crime that spans the globe, providing ruthless employers with [an] endless supply of people to abuse for financial gain," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said as she announced the report. "With this report, we hope to shine the light brightly on the scope and scale of modern slavery, so all governments can see where progress has been made and where more is needed." The report said the global economic crisis is boosting the demand for human trafficking because of a growing demand for cheap goods and services. "A striking global demand for labor and a growing supply of workers willing to take ever-greater risks for economic opportunities seem a recipe for increased forced labor cases of migrant workers and women in prostitution," it said. This year the Justice Department also put out a report on U.S. efforts to combat trafficking at home. In 2008 the Federal Bureau of Investigation opened 132 trafficking investigations, made 139 arrests, and obtained 94 convictions. Source: An article by Elise Labott for CNN

hillary clinton state department annual trafficking in persons report human trafficking slavery international labor organization
Losses mount in troubled Afghanistan

26 Jul 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The Letter to the Ephesians encourages unity through the bond of peace. But war-torn Afghanistan has a long way to go toward that goal, and the death of four American soldiers Monday made July the deadliest month in the war's history for the U.S. as well as for all international troops. Meanwhile, a Taliban video aired over the internet showcased a U.S. soldier being held hostage. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Monday voiced concern and outrage over the hostage-taking and said everything possible is being done to free him. "I mean, it's just outrageous. It's a real sign of desperation and inappropriate criminal behavior on the parts of these terrorist groups," Clinton said. "So we are going to do everything we can to get him." Also on Monday, a British fighter jet crashed at NATO's largest base in southern Afghanistan. The jet is the fourth aircraft to crash in Afghanistan in three days and the sixth this month. Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker, a U.S. military spokeswoman in Kabul, said she had not heard anything to suggest a common thread tying the crashes together. "I don't think they're related," she said. "There really hasn't been a lot of similarity between the events except they all happen to be aircraft. In most cases it has not been the result of enemy activity; it has been mechanical problems or other issues." Last year there were only about 30,000 U.S. troops in the country at this time. Today there is double that number, and many more U.S. aircraft. An additional 11,000 U.S. forces are due in Afghanistan by the end of the year as part of 21,000 fresh troop reinforcements President Barack Obama has dispatched to the country. Source: Articles by Jason Straziuso for Associated Press and by Agence France Presse

afghanistan war afghanistan hillary clinton taliban christine sidenstricker
Iran no longer balks at talks

20 Sep 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In Sunday's reading from the Book of Wisdom the just one is put to the test through a trial of patience. World powers who believe Iran has been unjustly testing their patience through its refusal to talk about its nuclear program were pleased this week that the nation had agreed to sit down to negotiations next month, the first such discussions in more than a year. The United States for the first time will join the talks. European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said talks between world powers and Iran will "very likely" be held October 1 in Turkey. Turkey is seen as an ideal host, said Paul Ingram, co-executive director of the British-American Information Security Council, because not only is it a member of NATO but it has economic and energy ties to Iran. The U.S. State Department announced Monday that it would send its third-ranking diplomat, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns, to the gathering. Representatives of Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia would also be present for the talks. U.S. officials said the six nations would present a "united front" against Iran's alleged nuclear weapons ambitions. "We have made clear to the Iranians that any talks we participate in must address the nuclear issue head on," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. "Iran says it has a number of issues it wishes to discuss with us but what we are concerned about is discussing with them the questions surrounding their nuclear program and ambitions. We will wait to see how Iran responds in that face-to-face venue," Clinton said. While accepting the proposal for talks, Tehran insisted that it will not entertain the idea of stopping its nuclear enrichment program, which it contends is part of a civilian power program to which it is entitled under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Ingram said disputes over Iran's nuclear sovereignty should not dissuade hopes of progress between the two sides. "The fact that Iran resists direct talks over its nuclear program is to be regretted but nevertheless I think the timing is good," he said. "I think it is very positive that Iran is engaging in talks and that the West is treating seriously this desire for Iran to talk . . . ." Source: Articles by Jessica Desvarieux and David Gollust for VOANews.com, BBC NEWS, and Agence France Presse

united states william burns british-american information security council paul ingram turkey javier solana iran hillary clinton nuclear weapons nuclear non-proliferation treaty
U.S.–Pakistan relations packed with tension

17 Jul 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

God’s tolerance and forgiveness are front and center in this week’s responsorial psalm and the reading from the Book of Wisdom. They are nowhere to be found, however, in the deteriorating relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan, at odds since the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil. On Monday the U.S. suspended about $800 million in military aid to Pakistan in a sign of the growing tensions between the erstwhile allies. “They’ve taken some steps that have given us reason to pause on some of the aid which we’re giving to the military, and we’re trying to work through that,” said White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley. “Until we get through these difficulties, we’ll hold back some of the money that the American taxpayers have committed to give.” Since the bin Laden raid by U.S. Navy commandos, American officials have questioned whether some in the Pakistani military were helping to hide the al-Qaeda leader and whether Pakistan’s investigation of the incident may be aimed more at those who might have helped the U.S. find him. The U.S. didn’t notify the Pakistani government before the raid out of fear that someone might tip off bin Laden. Complicating relations, it was revealed this week that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency recruited Pakistani health officials to stage a fake vaccine program to try to obtain a DNA sample from members of the bin Laden household. Dr. Shakil Afridi, enlisted by the CIA for the project, has been in the custody of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency since late May and may have been tortured. Pakistan is also furious that the CIA secretly engaged Pakistani citizens to spy on the al-Qaeda leader's house. Washington, for its part, has demanded an explanation of how bin Laden was able to live near military bases in Pakistan for five years without detection. “Obviously, there’s still a lot of pain . . . by virtue of the raid,” Daley said. He echoed U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s statement last month that U.S. interests give it no option but to work with Pakistan. “The Pakistani relationship is difficult, but it must be made to work over time,” Daley said. Sources: Articles by James Rupert and Susan Decker for Bloomberg.com, Issam Ahmedfor the Christian Science Monitor, and Saeed Shah for Guadrian.co.uk

cia united states hillary clinton pakistan osama bin laden bill daley
Syria heads toward civil war

17 Jun 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In this Sunday’s gospel Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a mustard seed, the smallest of seeds that springs up to become the largest of plants. The seeds of discontent planted in Syria during the “Arab spring” last year have grown into the largest and most protracted conflict in the Middle East. With heavy arms flowing to all sides, the troubled country appears headed toward full-fledged civil war.Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Tuesday that the United States believed that Russia was shipping attack helicopters to Syria that President Bashar al-Assad could use to escalate his government’s deadly crackdown on civilians and the militias battling his rule. Her comments reflected rising frustration with Russia, which has continued to supply weapons to its major Middle Eastern ally despite an international outcry over the government’s brutal crackdown.“We have confronted the Russians about stopping their continued arms shipments to Syria,” Clinton said at an appearance with President Shimon Peres of Israel. “They have, from time to time, said that we shouldn’t worry; everything they’re shipping is unrelated to their actions internally. That’s patently untrue.”Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Wednesday defended his country’s sale of arms to Syria and accused the United States of supplying rebels with weapons to fight against the government. “We are not violating any international law in performing these contracts,” said Lavrov, in response to a question about Clinton’s comments at a news conference during a visit of the Russian minister to Iran. Russia insists that it provides Damascus only with weapons that can be used in self-defense. Sources: Articles by Isabel Coles for Reuters and Mark Landler and Neil MacFarquhar for the New York Times

russia hillary clinton hillary rodham clinton syria arms sales sergei lavrov attack helicopters
Aid needed to stop AIDS

29 Jul 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The Lord “answers all our needs” and satisfies “the desire of every living thing,” the psalmist testifies this Sunday. Those gathered in Washington, D.C. this week at the world’s largest AIDS conference sounded the alarm that answering the needs of those living with HIV requires a sustained commitment from the world community. There is no cure or vaccine against HIV yet, but scientists say they have the tools to finally stem the spread of this intractable virus—largely by using treatment not only to save patients but to make them less infectious, too. The challenge, however, that more than 20,000 scientists, doctors, people living with HIV, and policy-makers grappled with this week at the International AIDS Conference is how to make this promising science a practical reality. With HIV increasingly an epidemic of the poor and the marginalized, they asked, will countries find the will to invest in the most vulnerable?Women in particular are at risk. Already they make up half the world's HIV infections, and adolescent girls are particularly vulnerable in the hardest-hit parts of the world. Protecting them requires addressing the poverty, violence, and discrimination that too many women experience around the world, said UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Geeta Rao Gupta."These adolescent girls and young women, our sisters and daughters, represent an unfinished agenda in the AIDS response," Gupta told the gathering, echoing what has become a recurring theme of the meeting since U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared Monday that gender equity is crucial to protecting women. "Women need and deserve a voice in the decisions that affect their lives," Clinton said.The AIDS conference hasn't been held in the U.S. since 1990 in protest of the longtime ban on people with the virus entering the country. The Obama administration lifted the travel restriction in 2010. Sources: Articles by Lauran Neergaard for the Associated Press, Voice of America, and Huffington Post

women hillary clinton aids hiv international aids conference geeta rao gupta
The politics of health and financial disclosures

18 Sep 2016 - Preaching the News for the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Accountability for a steward accused of dishonesty is the theme of this Sunday’s gospel: The steward is ordered by his employer to “prepare a full account” of his stewardship. Voters are calling both presidential candidates to account this week on medical and financial issues as disclosure and trustworthiness emerge as a key theme of the presidential election. Health has suddenly vaulted to prominence in the race between the oldest pair of presidential nominees in history. And both reacted as they typically do, say commentators—Donald Trump with the misdirection, flair, and controversy of a reality-television reveal, and Hillary Clinton with a reluctant document release Wednesday following days of growing demands. Neither has circulated the type of detailed and extensive medical records that voters have come to expect in a modern campaign. A new letter from Clinton’s doctor, Lisa Bardack, explained the pneumonia diagnosis that prompted the candidate to pause campaigning this week and otherwise offered mostly the same information about Clinton’s health that Bardack shared in a letter more than a year ago. The new letter says the physician has evaluated Clinton several times since she nearly collapsed Sunday after becoming overheated, dehydrated, and dizzy during a Sept. 11 memorial event in New York City, and that her overall health is fine. Trump, 70, has been eager to raise questions about Clinton’s health, frequently questioning her strength and stamina on the campaign trail. But his disclosures have been even less specific. In December, he provided a much-ridiculed letter, drafted in just five minutes by his physician, Dr. Harold N. Bornstein. He declared that Trump, if he wins, would be the “healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.” After Clinton left the campaign trail to recuperate from pneumonia, Trump said he had taken a physical exam last week and planned to release the results this week. But the plan for releasing the results was chaotic. Trump scheduled a taping of The Dr. Oz Show for Wednesday, suggesting he would discuss the results there. Dr. Mehmet Oz, whose promotion of products and unfounded advice has made him controversial in the medical community, also promoted the show with that in mind, saying in a Fox radio interview that he planned to ask Trump pointed questions. But just before Wednesday’s taping, Trump’s staff tried to downplay expectations, saying that he would instead discuss broader health topics and that Trump’s exam results would be released later. On the financial front, a close examination by Newsweek of the Trump Organization, including confidential interviews with business executives and some of its international partners, reveals an enterprise with deep ties to global financiers, foreign politicians, and even criminals, although there is no evidence the Trump Organization has engaged in any illegal activities. It also reveals a web of contractual entanglements that could not be just canceled. If Trump moves into the White House and his family continues to receive any benefit from the company, during or even after his presidency, the report claims, almost every foreign policy decision he makes will raise serious conflicts of interest and ethical quagmires. The Trump Organization is not like the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, the charitable enterprise that has been the subject of intense scrutiny about possible conflicts for the Democratic presidential nominee. There are allegations that Hillary Clinton bestowed benefits on contributors to the foundation in some sort of “pay to play” scandal when she was secretary of state, but that makes no sense because there was no “pay.” Money contributed to the foundation was publicly disclosed and went to charitable efforts, such as fighting neglected tropical diseases that infect as many as a billion people. The financials audited by Price Waterhouse Coopers, the global independent accounting company, and the foundation’s tax filings show that about 90 percent of the money it raised went to its charitable programs. (Trump surrogates have falsely claimed that it was only 10 percent and that the rest was used as a Clinton “slush fund.”) No member of the Clinton family received any cash from the foundation, nor did it finance any political campaigns. In fact, like the Clintons, almost the entire board of directors works for free. On the other hand, the Trump family rakes in untold millions of dollars from the Trump Organization every year. Much of that comes from deals with international financiers and developers, many of whom have been tied to controversial and even illegal activities. None of Trump’s overseas contractual business relationships examined by Newsweek were revealed in his campaign’s financial filings with the Federal Election Commission, nor was the amount paid to him by his foreign partners. Trump’s financial filings also indicate he is a shareholder or beneficiary of several overseas entities, including Excel Venture LLC in the French West Indies and Caribusiness Investments SRL, based in the Dominican Republic, one of the world’s tax havens. Trump’s business conflicts with America’s national security interests cannot be resolved so long as he or any member of his family maintains a financial interest in the Trump Organization during a Trump administration, or even if they leave open the possibility of returning to the company later, says Newsweek. The Trump Organization cannot be placed into a blind trust, an arrangement used by many politicians to prevent them from knowing their financial interests; the Trump family is already aware of who their overseas partners are and could easily learn about any new ones. Lessons drawn from the readings Jesus drops some profoundly simple wisdom into this Sunday’s gospel story of the wily steward: “The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones.” It is incumbent upon voters to look closely at the record of candidates for high office. “The devil is in the details,” as the saying goes. Final thought in light of the news Great leadership demands great integrity. The key decisions any leader will face are grounded in moral and ethical questions: Is it right to go to war? To what budget should scarce dollars be allocated—education or defense? Who should get a tax break and who should pay more? Who do you trust to answer these questions with integrity—and why?

donald trump hillary clinton stewardship presidential candidates health medical records politics presidential election