None of the crises we face today -- whether it is the food crisis, the water crisis, the financial crisis or the crisis of climate change -- can be managed unless greater attention is paid to population issues. World Population Day is the right time to put the issue of population back on the radar screen. And it is not a moment too soon. By 2050 our current global population of 6.8 billion could grow to the United Nation's median projection of 9 billion, or even soar to 11 billion people. But what is not widely appreciated is that the projection of a 9 billion global population is premised on a substantial reduction in fertility in the least developed countries and this requires a dramatic expansion in access to voluntary family planning. . . .

"You've come a long way, baby," was a 1970s advertising slogan for Virginia Slims cigarettes, at least one of which featured a Black woman with an afro, African print tunic top and bell-bottom jeans. Considering, however, that Blacks were at one time forced, as slaves, to pick tobacco and bring great wealth to Caucasian-owned companies, some disagree that Blacks have come a long way when they are the group most devastated by the tobacco industry today. . . .

Nowhere is Oregon's amazing diversity more in evidence than in our schools, where children of all colors and cultures, rich and poor, learn and play and grow up together. Unfortunately, schools in the U.S. — and Oregon is no exception — are struggling with an "achievement gap" that divides our children by race and ethnicity, by language, and by income. As a society, we must come together to close the achievement gap, and not just for the sake of those children who find themselves on the wrong side of that gap, but for our nation's future, as well. . . .

I recently read an article about Bisphenol-A (BPA) that eerily reminded me of the movie, "Thank You for Smoking." In the movie, the "merchants of death" or MOD Squad, as they call themselves, are lobbyists for the alcohol, gun, and tobacco industries and meet for lunch while plotting to keep vital information about the harmful health effects of their products out of the hands of the public. And they do so with great success, not to mention, great profit. . . .

While there's a good chance that Congress will enact some type of health care reform this year, all will be for naught if the new system leaves the cost of care out of reach for many Americans. If affordability is not adequately addressed, the prognosis for the nation will be poor. There's no great medical mystery as to why millions of Americans today lack health coverage. They can't afford it. . . .

When you get right down to it, you can call it just plain psychological warfare.
It is pretty much what the maniacal propaganda minister for Adolph Hitler, Joseph Goebbels would say, "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, then people will begin to believe it"...

Sixty years ago, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson left Washington to pursue what he later called "the most important, enduring, and constructive work of [his] life": prosecuting international war crimes committed during WWII. Justice Jackson helped usher in a new international regime that promised to help deter human rights abuses...

Health care reform, especially with the rising number of Americans losing their jobs and health benefits, is one of the more pressing public policy issues of the day. Yet, to borrow a phrase from Attorney General Eric Holder, too many Democrats and Republicans are cowards when it comes to taking on the powerful insurance and health care lobby...

In a recent survey prepared for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), roughly seven percent of the adult population, or about 16 million people, reported that they did not know how much they spend on food, housing, and entertainment.  Twenty-six percent, or 58 million people, admitted to not paying all of their bills on time...

The following is an open letter to the Secretary of U.S Department of Transportation and the Secretary of the US Department of Labor: On behalf of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, Inc., and with the encouragement of Johnny Ford, general secretary of the World Conference of Mayors, and Calvin Smyre, president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, I write this letter to protest the festering and damaging state of affairs at the Federal Highway Administration in regards to Executive Order 11246 and Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. . . .