Pulse of the Planet #2

Joan P. Mencher published an article, “The Human Right to Eat,” in CounterPunch this week. Mencher details the impact that political and economic policies in India have on agriculture. Food has become divorced from an idea of sustenance and nutrition, and engrained in profit-making endeavors that come at the expense of people’s health.

Mencher is the second panelist from the "Pulse of the Planet" session at AAA's 2008 annual meeting to turning her conference paper into an op-ed column for CounterPunch, an online news magazine that has agreed to publish papers from the “Pulse of the Planet” session. Panelists’ papers will be published between May and the middle of November. The articles aim to reshape public debate during the presidential race and draw attention to critical issues in human rights and environmental policy.

The first article, "Dam Legacies, Damned Futures," by Barabara Rose Johnston can be found here.

Democrats Push for Additional Food Aid

Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Robert Casey (D-PA) held a news conference Monday afternoon to call for an additional $200 million in emergency food aid on top of the $350 million in aid that Bush is requesting for the Iraq supplemental spending bill. However, Bush has threatened to veto the bill if it exceeds the $108 billion Iraq package he proposed. Durbin is hoping that Secretary of State Condolleeza Rice will be able to generate support for additional aid in the White House and among congressional Republicans. Although Rice has expressed support for the increased funding of food programs, she has stopped short of saying she would support an increase of $200 million.