Rooted in Peace: A Documentary

A documentary based on the principle that all truths lead to peace:

The Global Future...What is at stake

The U.S. State Department and Matt Damon team up to raise awareness about global hunger at this year's closing session of the Clinton Global Initiative:

10 Questions for Muhammad Yunus

TIME Magazine lets Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus answer questions from readers about the state of microfinance around the world:

Do you think it is ethical to charge the poor interest and make a profit out of it? —Hasan Iqbal, Sundsvall, Sweden
In Bangladesh, Grameen Bank charges the lowest rate among all microcredit programs, and yes, we make a profit. But Grameen Bank is owned by the borrowers, so when we make a profit it goes back to the borrowers as dividends.


Are microloans taking a hit due to the recession? Katie Malone, Point Marion, Pa.
We use very local money that is going to the local poor, so there is no way the hit taken by the financial centers of the world could be transmitted to us. We don't see fluctuations in repayment rates or anything like that. We are O.K.
(Read "People Who Mattered: Muhammad Yunus.")

How would you help the world out of recession? Azmath Shamrad, Newcastle, England
The system failed us. There's no reason why we should resuscitate it. We have to make absolutely sure that we don't go back to the same old normalcy. We should be creating a new normalcy. That opportunity has to be taken.

Microfinancing empowers Bangladeshi women. Is it driving cultural change? Lucas Torrin, Ottawa
The most dramatic thing that has happened in Bangladesh in the last 25 years is the total change in the status of women. Microcredit has played a very important role in that, particularly with poor women.

Has technology like cell-phone payment changed the microlending environment? Daniel Weldon, Portland, Ore.
Not yet, but it opens up the door for all kinds of cell-phone-based banking facilities, health-care facilities, marketing facilities. Now you can think of lots of possibilities. The cell-phone [network in Bangladesh] has been laid out, so now it's a question of bringing the programs and content to those things.

Have you ever found an incident of corruption involving a Grameen Bank loan? Rudi Toruan, Samarinda, Indonesia
We have cases of corruption, but Grameen Bank now has 28,000 staff, 8 million borrowers and 2,600 branches. We lend out over $100 million each month and have a similar amount coming back each month, handling this physically in the villages. It's very easy to put money in your pocket. But the amazing thing is that cases of corruption are so rare.

Do you think the same model of microlending so successful in Bangladesh can be applied elsewhere? Sadruddin Salman, Dhaka
Today, Grameen programs are everywhere. We even have a program in New York City, and it works beautifully. We brought the same system as we do in the villages of Bangladesh. We do it in Latin American countries — in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica — in exactly the same way.

Why has it been difficult to implement microcredit schemes in Africa? Obi Iwuagwu, Lagos, Nigeria
We have a program in Zambia and we have absolutely no problem. If somebody says microcredit doesn't work in Africa, I will not agree because I see it working.

Population growth contributes greatly to global poverty. What are your thoughts about the problem? Bob O'Connor, Oslo
Thirty years back, Bangladeshi mothers had an average of 6.2 children. Today the average is 3.1. The population growth rate has drastically come down and among many explanations is the empowerment of women. They became aware of their ability to handle their lives and make decisions about how many children they will have. Microcredit is not a population program, but it has helped women to see how they can live their own lives.

As individuals what's the best thing we can do to consign poverty to museums? Louise Holly, London
Make people believe that we can send poverty to museums. When I talk about it, people laugh and say, "It's impossible." But when you don't believe something, you can't achieve it. You have to imagine, and make that imagination achievable.

Click Here to read the article: 10 Questions for Muhammad Yunus

Poem from Rooftop in Iran

As Iran transitions into a new uneasy phase between peace and revolution, the heartbreaking poem in this video reminds us that justice is something that dies hard in the hearts of the faithful.

A montage of Iran's protest photos along with Michael Jackson's "Beat It".

As the world remembers Michael Jackson, one Iranian pays his homage to him by reminding us of the ongoing struggle for Iranian democracy via "Beat It"

The Loyal Opposition

Well, you have to give FOX credit for trying their best (from Day 1) to make people believe that Obama is as evil as they think he is. With a approval rating near 70% for Obama, thankfully most Americans aren't listening.

Now only 21% of Americans identify themselves as Republican. Keep firing up that conservative base FOX! At this rate, your rhetoric will inspire the Republican party to implode by 2010.

100 Days

Congratulations President Obama on a great 100 days in office!

The ideologues behind so-called populist tea parties

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With God on Our Side

I recently watched the documentary "Constantine's Sword", which looks at the history of anti-Semitism in the Catholic Church (as exposed in James Carroll's controversial book Constantine's Sword) and the link between the U.S. military and the Christian right. From Constantine's reign in the fourth century to today's evangelical base at Colorado Springs' Air Force Academy, the film offers a provocative look at the roots of holy wars past and present.


It closes with a Bob Dylan song. The lyrics are below with links to YouTube where you can listen to the song:

"With God On Our Side"

Oh my name it means nothing, and my age it means less.
For the country I come from, is called the Midwest.
I was taught and brought up, to the laws to abide.
That the land that I live in,has God on its side.

Oh the history books tell it,they tell it so well.
The Calvaries charged,and the Indians fell.
The calvaries charged,and the Indians died.
Oh The Country was young then, with God on its side.

The Spanish-American, War had its day.
And the civil war to us, was soon laid away.
And the names of the heroes, I was made to memorize.
With guns in their hands, and God on their side.

The First World War,it came and it went.
And the reason for fighting,I never did get.
But I learned to accept it, accept it with pride.
For you don't count the dead, when God's on your side.

In the nineteen-sixties,came the Vietnam war.
Can someone tell me, what we were fighting for?
So many young men died, so many mothers cried.
No I ask the question, was God on our side?

I learned to hate the Russians, all through my whole life.
If another war comes, it's them must fight.
And to hate them and fear, to run and to hide.
And accept it all bravely, with God on my side.

Through many dark hours, I've been thinkin' bout' this.
That Jesus Christ was betrayed by a kiss.
But I can't think for you, you'll have to decide.
Whether Judas Iscariot had God on his side.

Now that I'm leaving, I'm weary as hell.
The confusion I'm feeling, ain't no tongue can tell.
The words fill my head, and they fall to the floor.
That if God's on our side, he'll stop the next war.
Jesus loves me, this I know.

Listen to the song by selecting the title or clicking here.

Thanks for 16 Years Conan! See you in L.A.!

President Obama's First Official Act

NATIONAL DAY OF RENEWAL AND RECONCILIATION, 2009

- - - - - - -

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

As I take the sacred oath of the highest office in the land, I am humbled by the responsibility placed upon my shoulders, renewed by the courage and decency of the American people, and fortified by my faith in an awesome God.

We are in the midst of a season of trial. Our Nation is being tested, and our people know great uncertainty. Yet the story of America is one of renewal in the face of adversity, reconciliation in a time of discord, and we know that there is a purpose for everything under heaven.

On this Inauguration Day, we are reminded that we are heirs to over two centuries of American democracy, and that this legacy is not simply a birthright -- it is a glorious burden. Now it falls to us to come together as a people to carry it forward once more.

So in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, let us remember that: "The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 20, 2009, a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation, and call upon all of our citizens to serve one another and the common purpose of remaking this Nation for our new century.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

Hope and History Rhyme

On Inauguration night, Joe Biden, reflecting on the millions he saw gathered that afternoon watching Barack Obama becoming the 44th U.S. President, quoted from the poem The Cure at Troy by Nobel Prize winner Irishman, Seamus Heaney:

History says, Don't hope
on this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
the longed for tidal wave
of justice can rise up,
and hope and history rhyme.