Archive for June, 2007
“All of the people who design things in the world, spend all their time solving problems for the richest 10% of the world’s customers” Dr. Paul Polak, CEO International Development Enterprises (IDE)
This month the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum opens an exhibit showcasing inventors, entrepenuers, and innovators designing new and cost-effective solutions to problems facing the world’s poor. Titled “Design For The Other 90%” it highlights inventions that not only ensure people’s basic survival but gives them tools they can use to gain their own prosperity, for the long term benefit of their families and local communities. The New York Times Online has video about the exhibit and the Cooper-Hewitt website has a great interactive map that lets you discover technologies in use around the globe today.
The exhibit has six main areas of focus, shelter, health, water, education, energy, and transport, and the website features photos and descriptions of over 40 inventions. My favorite? The Q Drum. Why? In its execution, it underlines the main theme of this exhibition. A simple invention, yes, but if someone hadn’t taken the time to examine the problem and actually do something, design something, this “simple invention” would not be available for use today.
So, what’s your favorite invention? Take a look at the inventions online, comeback here, and post your favorite in the comments. And if you are in New York City and plan to go to the exhibit, let Virginia, who manages this blog, know; maybe we’ll ask you to write the next post.
Yesterday, our Marine ONE, Michael Castaldo and his family did a “double banding” of both Sen. Dodd and Rep. Shea-Porter in Rochester, NH.
Michael had previously banded two candidates in one day when he banded Sen. Obama and Mayor Giuliani at different events, but this was the first time he spoke with two elected officials at one event.
Michael thanked Sen. Dodd for his work in the Senate and thanked Rep. Shea-Porter for joining in a bi-partisan effort to defeat an amendment last week that would have severely cut life-saving and poverty-reducing funds for the developing world. He also thanked her for voting for HR2764 which passed the House and included more than a 2 billion dollar increase in US efforts to combat global poverty and global disease – something that the ONE Campaign was urging members to call their representatives on last week.
Good people on both sides of the aisle in DC are making real, and concrete efforts, to fight global hunger and extreme poverty. By recognizing their efforts on behalf of all Americans, we can encourage them to do even more and ultimately make poverty history.
Presidential hopeful Sen. Chris Dodd came to Nashua, NH, today to hold a rally about national service. A group of ONE members came out to make sure that the Senator saw, and heard from ONE Vote ’08 while on the campaign trail.
After the speech, ONE members – both Republican and Democrat – were able to talk with Sen. Dodd about fighting AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa, and let him know that it is an important issue to Americans.
ONE member, and staunch conservative, Kevin Keefe was able to give Sen. Dodd a ONE band and thank him for the Global Child Survival Act that he introduced in the Senate with Sen. Smith (R). Sen. Dodd said that he was very familiar with the ONE Campaign noticed the ONE shirts and bands in the crowd.
By organizing, and coming together as ONE, we are making sure that the poorest people on Earth are not forgotten here in the Granite State. Saving lives in the developing world is an issue that is uniting all Americans and through ONE Vote ’08, we will make sure that all candidates from both sides of the political aisle know that our generation can and will make extreme poverty history.
Stars aligned for me to join a group of fellow Western Washington RESULTS members, 24 strong this year, to the International Conference in Washington DC for training, networking, and lobbying. I take the issue important to ONE, to Bread for the World, to Jubilee USA, and to RESULTS with me when I meet with or write to my representative and others in our nation’s leadership. Not all at once, but all are in pursuit of the same bottom line, giving the least of the earth their rightful place at the conference tables of the world. Until they are strong enough to sit there, we all can help find and hold them a seat.
The lobby day for Bread and RESULTS this year fell on Tuesday, June 12th, and it was an immensely busy day on the floor of congress with the voting lasting late into the evening, bumping a banquet reservation out from many we invited, including my Congressman Rick Larsen. But he took 30 minutes out of his busy day to spend with three of us his constituents.
My topic of presentation was a request for cosigning onto HR 2266, The Child Survival Act. I shared how I lost my newborn son to an infection discovered too late for lack of an antibiotic I could have attained at my local chemist for less than 25p. My second son, same infection, simple antibiotic, and he’s 16 now. Annually two million little ones, under five years old, are losing their lives due to lack of medicines that are available at our local chemists, local pharmacies. Even tho we no longer have our child we never stop being their mom, their birthday rolls around every year. and mothers in highly-indebted poor countries miss their’s as much as I miss mine. Just when we think we’re over it, someone’s infant or child-sized funeral brings it all back, all too often. These moms in these countries experience this all too often as a regular fabric of their lives.
At the Vote ’08 launch the previous day, Senator Frist shared something that effected me deeply. He spoke of a trip to Kenya, of how the local children come out to greet the visitors, and of how a boy had a toddler brother by his side. After introductions, when asked who the little one was, the brother said his name was America. Interesting name, said the senator. Yes sir, my mom named him America because he is alive thanx to America.
Bono had shared that when discussing what eventually became PEPFAR with President Bush. He shared what good advertisement these pills could be America, and to paint the pills red, white, and blue if we wished. I think that is what happened here. I secretly wondered why homeland security dollars weren’t considered for this.
I later checked the bills on Thomas.gov website for a weekly report to our Seattle group leader on cosigners, and in the busy-ness of the day, my congressman paused to co-signed onto the issues we asked him. And I’m extremely grateful, I wrote and told him so. We won’t always bat 1000, Babe Ruth didn’t either. But our congressmen and women are more than often parents, have parents, all really have good hearts that want the best for us and the for the world. Often they just need to be reminded in the tyranny of the urgent of the things that are important, and have expressed appreciation for those of us who do remind them of these important matters.
Overall I met with three local congressmen, two congressional aides, my Senator Patty Murray, and Senator Cantwell’s aide, not necessarily for the first time but first time in DC. A congressional breakfast. Dinner with Stephen Lewis as a speaker. Joint session with Bread for the World at American University. If I can do this, anyone can . . . . with some correspondence and planning, your congressmen’s doors are open and we are welcome there, in your district or in DC. It comes with our citizenship, our unique form of government, yes, “we the people.” I’d rather sit on the couch near them and interact honestly and graciously than carry a placard or complain of how it is, we can individually and corporately effect change, especially to be a voice for the voiceless. In our obscene comfort of the west, it’s at most a mild inconvenience to partake in these processes. Many of us have been inspired to pursue these issues. But now, I’ve had a taste of how good it is and how good it can become, of how we’re being heard and taken seriously, and I’m more than inspired, I just can’t NOT do this stuff. I’m no longer inspired, I’m infected.
Stay close, Sammi in Seattle =)
Presidential candidates often talk about faith. This campaign season is no different, except that the candidates often mention the fight against poverty in the same breath.
Most recently, while speaking at the 50th anniversary convention of the United Church of Christ, Barack Obama brought up the role that people of faith are playing in movements like the ONE Campaign. From the New York Times:
“…Mr. Obama said that religion has a rightful role to play in American politics, and he praised people of faith who he said are now using their influence to try to unite Americans against problems like poverty, AIDS, the health care crisis and the violence in Darfur.
While not all ONE members are motivated by faith, this reference shows that we are getting our message through to the candidates, and that they are increasingly aware of our efforts to make extreme poverty and global disease a central issue in the race to the White House.
Updated: Fixed omission.
Yesterday marked a milestone for the ONE Campaign and should show volunteers and members everywhere the impact of your heroic efforts.With the passage yesterday of the (fiscal year 2008) State and Foreign Operations Appropriation bill, the House committed more than $2 billion in additional funding to poverty-fighting development assistance.
There are a lot of hurdles to pass before the bill becomes law. Next week it will be debated in the US Senate, where fortunately, ONE Campaign efforts are already being noticed. For example, in a recent Senate hearing, the ONE Campaign was specifically identified by name to Senator Lugar when he asked how to create a constituency for development in America.
The process of addressing the emergency of disease and extreme poverty requires both electoral victory and legislative accountability. Yesterday’s legislative milestone is a credit to the hard work conducted by members of The ONE Campaign everywhere.
This is a great chance for us to thank the thousands of ONE Campaign members who called and wrote Congress in support of this monumental legislation. When the Senate takes up the bill next week, your voice can be heard yet again.
See below the fold for the ONE Campaign press release heralding yesterday’s historic vote.
ONE Praises House for Historic Poverty-Fighting Effort
$2+ billion more in poverty-fighting assistance is historic bi-partisan commitment in fight
Washington, DC – ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History praised the House of Representatives today for their bi-partisan support of a historic increase of over $2 billion in poverty-fighting development assistance over last year. The funds were included in the FY2008 State-Foreign Operations spending bill, which passed the House early this morning.
“The United States House of Representatives became a global leader today in the fight against treatable, preventable disease and extreme poverty and as a result bolstered America’s security,” said Kimberly Cadena, spokesperson for the ONE Campaign. “The increase the House supported will allow for the continued funding of responsible and effective solutions such as child and maternal health programs and the Global Fund, which have a proven track record of saving lives. The goodwill these programs create for America around the world strengthens our friendships with other nations and makes our nation and world healthier and more secure. Every member of the House of Representatives that supported this bill today should feel incredibly proud of what they’ve worked to accomplish.”
The increase applies to child and maternal health programs, basic education, global health programs to fight HIV/AIDS and the expansion of clean water programs, among others.
Cadena continued, “The bi-partisan support this historic increase received demonstrates that the fight against extreme poverty and global disease is not a Republican or Democrat issue – it’s a human issue. The urge to do the right thing resonates with all Americans and our elected leaders are responding to the overwhelming support their constituent members of the ONE Campaign have for these issues. It is imperative that the next President of the United States continue to do more, because America’s security depends on our action. Programs like these build goodwill for America abroad and a legacy of generosity and compassion here at home.”
Last fiscal year, Congress supported a $1.45 billion increase in poverty-fighting development assistance over the previous year after hundreds of thousands of ONE members wrote letters to their Congressional representatives. This year’s historic increase builds on that momentum.
ONE: THE CAMPAIGN TO MAKE POVERTY HISTORY is a new effort by Americans to rally Americans — ONE by ONE — to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. ONE is a coalition of millions of people and more than 100 of the nation’s leading relief, humanitarian and advocacy organizations.
For more information, please visit: http://www.one.org/.
The House of Representatives passed its version of the FY 2008 State & Foreign Operations 241-178. Since the Republican leadership urged their caucus to oppose final passage it was more or less a party line vote. Yeas – 210 Ds and 31 Rs. Noes 164 Rs and 14 Ds. The bill represents a 10% increase in funding over last year’s enacted levels. Poverty-focused development assistance received a 2+ billion dollar increase.
The bill highlights remain largely unchanged, see below.
*A major increase for the Development Assistance account for a total of $1.734 billion, which is $692 million above the President’s request. This will fund an initiative on basic education for developing countries as well as an expansion of safe water and environmental programs.
*$750 million for basic education
$300 million for improving access to clean water
Amendments:
*Amendment offered by Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ), the bill adds $50 million for addressing the spread of tuberculosis (TB), bringing to the total for TB up to $313 million.
*Amendment offered by Rep. Tierney (D-MA) — to redirect $75 million in funding for the Economic Support Fund for Pakistan to fund basic education programs in Pakistan passed by voice vote.
*Jackson-Lee amendment to redirect $5m with respect to Child Survival Health funding to build health care capacity – hospital training medical staff was agreed by voice vote.
*Amendment offered by Mr. Blumenauer to shift $50 million from Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Pakistan to the Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Mr. Obey raised a point of order against the Blumenauer amendment. Mr. Obey stated that the provisions of the Blumenauer amendment violated the Budget Act. EMRA is an emergency account which has ceiling for the amount of funding that can be allocated to this account. This amendment would have exceeded the $100m cap and therefore Obey issued a point of order.
Policy Amendments: There were a few heated ideological debates last night on family planning. The bill faces a veto threat due to the adoption of Rep. Lowey’s amendment to allow family planning organizations which have been denied USAID funding due to the Global Gag Rule to receive contraceptives from USAID. However, it may never get to that point since the bill needs to pass the Senate and the language could be stripped in conference. This made the NYTs: House Reverses Contraceptive-Aid Ban.
* Family planning: Lowey amendment to provide that no contract or grant for the exclusive purpose of providing donated contraceptives in developing countries shall be denied to any NGO solely on the basis of the Mexico City Policy, with respect to providing contraceptives in developing countries, or any comparable administration policy regarding the provision of contraceptives was adopted 223 to 20l.
* Smith/Stupak amendment to strike the Lowey language regarding the Mexico City policy on family planning assistance was defeated 205 to 218.
* HIV/AIDS: Pitts amendment to restore the President’s emergency plan for AIDS relief authorization provision requiring 33% of HIV/AIDS prevention funding to be spent on abstinence and fidelity promotion programs was defeated 200 to 206. (the underlying bill makes the 33% set aside discretionary).
Cutting Amendments:
There were three amendments to substantially cut funding from the SFOPS bill. GOP leadership urged their caucus to support these cutting amendments.
1. Rep. Jeff Jordan (R-OH) attempted to cut the entire $3 billion increase. The failed by a vote of 152-268 .
2. Rep. Musgrave (R-CO) attempted to reduce overall funding for foreign assistance programs through an across the board cut of .5 percent which failed by a vote of 179-241. She offered the same amendment to the Energy and Water Appropriations bill.
3. Rep. Tom Price attempted to reduce the overall appropriations in the bill by $342,430,000 across-the-board – failed 168 – 252
LEG NEWS:
*House Appropriators Find Different Ways to Spread Earmarks Around.
*New UN/WHO Plan Commits $2.5 Billion to Fight Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis
*Drive to curb drug-resistant TB
