Globally, food prices have almost doubled over the last three years, and the futures for basic commodities – wheat, corn, and soybeans – have jumped up by two-thirds in the last 12 months. Since poor people in developing countries spend the bulk of their income on basic commodities, world hunger has increased significantly. High food prices have incited riots and other social unrest in about thirty countries.

This makes the issue of solving the world’s hunger crisis not just vital for those in need but also important for the political stability of the world. However, measuring the role that subsidies for corn-based ethanol play in increasing domestic hunger is more nuanced and requires a more thoughtful discussion...

How much of the run-up in food prices is attributable to [corn ethanol] fuel mandates is a question on which reasonable people disagree. Modeling done by the International Food Policy Research Institute puts the effect at between 25 and 30 percent. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization puts the impact at 10 to 15 percent, while the Bush administration reported at a May 1 press briefing that the impact of increased ethanol on global food prices is only 2 to 3 percent. - David Beckmann, President, Bread for the World, May 7, 2008

A couple of days ago, Ally wrote a blog at EverydayCitizen.com about the corn-ethanol's role in (or the lack of its role in) inflating the cost of food. Her blog attracted a record number of comments.

In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the "Servicemen's Readjustment Act" - the original G.I. Bill - which ultimately allowed more than eight million combat veterans returning from the battlefields of World War II to receive full college tuition, low-cost mortgages, and living costs. In the 60 years since, veterans benefits have been reduced so much that current war veterans now receive hardly anything in comparison.

Last February, Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), along with a bipartisan Senate coalition, re-introduced a "21st Century GI Bill." The bill aims to dramatically expand educational benefits for returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, mirroring the original GI Bill set up after World War II. The bill essentially guarantees "a full scholarship at any in-state public university, along with a monthly housing stipend, for people who serve in the military for at least three years" at the cost of $52 billion over 10 years. Last week, it passed in the House 256 to 166 votes. In order to garner support for the measure from so-called "Blue Dog" Democrats, the measure also includes a surtax (pay as you go provision, or PAYGO) to offset the GI Bill's costs.

Evidently, Rep. Jerry Moran (KS-01) from my district in Kansas disagrees with Rep. Webb that our veterans have earned the right to improved benefits. Both Congressmen Todd Tiahrt (KS-04) and Moran voted against updating educational benefits for returning Iraq war veterans. Sadly, this is not at all the first time that Moran has voted against our veterans. Does he think we don't notice? Does he imagine we don't care?

This week, I have read two really good and insightful blog posts here, both about racism and reverse racism as it relates to Barack Obama. A wonderful blogger here wrote this thoughtful blog about Rev. Jeremiah Wright. She did an excellent job of helping us to understand that we have not really seen Wright in context or fullness. Her blog shows us to see that Rev. Wright is much more compassionate than his sound bites may have previously made him appear. I liked her post as well as the comments that followed.

Earlier this week we also read a good post from another blogger here who expresses her dissatisfaction with Obama for attending a church that is not inclusive of all races in its mission or definition of itself. She made a few good points too about reconciliation and the destructive nature of reversing racism. I think her point was that "two wrongs don't make a right."

What did Obama have to say about all this?

Both Democrats and Republicans have put her through the wringer in recent months. Yet, she stood firm. Not willing to back down, but always willing to explain, discuss and even compromise to some degree, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius demonstrated that she cares about our health, our future and the earth that our grandchildren will inherit. She didn't take the easy way out. For her wisdom, her consistency and her backbone, she deserves our gratitude and praise.

For the first time ever, a government agency rejected the construction of a huge coal plant on the grounds that carbon dioxide is a pollutant regulated under the Clean Air Act. Last fall, the Secretary of the Kansas Dept. of Health and Environment (KDHE), Rod Bremby, turned down permits for the building of two new mega-huge coal-fired power plants in southwest Kansas. Bremby cited the plants' potential CO2 emissions of up to 11 million tons a year and said the state of Kansas couldn't ignore the dangers of global warming, which many scientists link to man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

Explaining then that she was encouraged by Bremby's decision, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius asked, "Why should Kansans get one hundred percent of the pollution and threats to our health while only getting 15 percent of the energy?"

Immediately following the permit denial, Gov. Sebelius offered a compromise to state lawmakers who have, for several months since, sought to overturn her decision...

Prices have risen 9.2 percent since 2006 for the groceries, gasoline, health care and other basics that a middle-income American family has little choice but to consume. That would cost such a family, which made $45,000 on average in 2006, an extra $972 per year, assuming it did not buy less of such items because of higher prices. For a broad range of goods on which it is easier to scrimp -- such as restaurant meals, alcoholic beverages, new cars, furniture, and clothing -- prices have risen 2.4 percent. (Inflation Hits the Poor Hardest, Washington Post)

To most of us, ordinary everyday Americans, this is no surprise. Remember us? We are the very large struggling middle class. We're the ones that work every day to make things, grow things, fix things, build things and operate machinery, computers, cash registers and businesses.

For this reason, I take issue with the New York Times choice of this headline for Peter Goodman's recent column: Slump Moves From Wall Street to Main Street. Headlines like that show how mainline media is simply out of touch with reality...

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has repeatedly told audiences that that the "first thing we gotta do is pass the stimulus package through the Senate" and promised to vote for the measure. Yesterday, however, he decided to skip the vote, even though his plane landed in Washington, DC in time. McCain, excusing himself for having not participated in the debate or vote simply said he had been too busy.

Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) returned from their campaign trails for the Senate debate and vote.

Senate conservatives were able to block the economic stimulus package that included "$600-$1,200 rebate checks for more than 100 million Americans," as well as "$44 billion in help for the elderly, disabled veterans, the unemployed and businesses." The bi-partisan plan "attracted the votes of all 51 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, as well as of eight Republicans," but the measure still fell one vote short of the 60 needed under Senate rules to move forward.

Thanks a lot, John McCain.

Fortunately, today, the other Democrats and Republicans in the Senate rolled up their sleeves and passed a bill, even though McCain was mostly MIA for the debate and almost caused the whole package to fail. The House is scheduled to vote on the bill tonight.

I want to be as clear as possible about the "two Americas" that John Edwards has always described. The differences between our two Americans could not be any more glaring than in the two different perspectives on our opposing understandings of what's wrong with our economy.

For months, even years now, many of us have been talking about how the majority of Americans are enduring loss of job benefits, lowering of wages and increasing living expenses. The income gap between the "haves" and the "have nots" has been steadily widening in recent decades, and quite rapidly under George W. Bush's era of increasing debt, rapid outsourcing of jobs, and deep tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.

We normal Americans have been hurting for several years. However - and this is important - it's not a problem for Bush and the "economists" unless it effects the stock market. If the stock market is fine, then, those folks don't care that we are sliding into poverty bit by bit. It's only when the wealthy individuals experience a downturn in their investments that suddenly they want to act.

So, it should come as no surprise to us that the solutions they offer will benefit only the wealthy or the Wall Street investors - and will do nothing for the middle class or the poor. Let's examine how this happened.

To increase their profit margins, American manufacturing and importing companies have been eager to move their operations overseas even though their imported products frequently expose everyday Americans to great harm.

We now know that our own federal government actually inspects less than 1% of all the goods imported by American companies.

While millions of tainted, adulterated, dangerous and toxic imported products have been discovered, we have no way of knowing about the toxicity or safety of the 99% of imports that have never been inspected.

All kinds of imports are substandard, dangerous or deadly - tires, fake drugs and auto parts, contaminated food, pet food and toothpaste, and lead-laden baby bibs.

What should we do about this? How can we protect ourselves from this growing threat?

The unemployment rate has now risen enough to send a reliable signal of a coming recession.

The nation's labor market worsened in December to the weakest level since the shock that followed Hurricane Katrina, as the problems in housing and mortgages took a bite out of job opportunities. Employers added far fewer jobs in the month than had been forecast, while the unemployment rate shot up to 5 percent, which was a two-year high, according to a government report Friday.

7.4 million Americans are counted as currently unemployed. However, keep in mind that this figure does not include the millions of Americans that lost their jobs in early periods and have had to give up trying to find new jobs.

The actual number of people who want jobs but are currently not working is estimated to be closer to 10 million. The report found a 49,000 seasonally adjusted drop in construction jobs. In addition, manufacturing jobs fell by 31,000.

Like you, I'm absolutely disgusted with George Bush's veto of the children's healthcare legislation. He keeps saying that SCHIP was supposed to be for kids in poverty. But, that's a lie! It's not true. Medicaid is the program for the poor kids. SCHIP is for the "working poor" - that is, the disadvantaged uninsured children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but, not enough to afford insurance.

The truth is that the number of "working poor" in the U.S. has grown tremendously in the ten years since SCHIP was first implemented. That's why we need to grow SCHIP now. So, that SCHIP can do what it was intended to do - provide health insurance to the children whose families make too much to qualify for Medicaid but don't make enough money to afford insurance. There are millions of uninsured children that are currently not helped by SCHIP because SCHIP is out of money. And, SCHIP would have the money, if Bush hadn't vetoed the SCHIP legislation. I couldn't be more angry or more fed up. I'm heartbroken.

The wrongs in our nation live with me every day. Sometimes I'm so absorbed by the grave problems facing my neighbors, I often miss the beauty that surrounds me daily. We need both. The beauty gives us strength to face the horrors. To build up my energy to fight for the rights of my less fortunate friends, this week, I'm taking a brief hiatus to turn my attention to the color green. It's just a little vacation to renew my energies. Come with me!