Common Dreams
New ‘Nuns on the Bus’ tour aims to tackle issue of big money influence on politics
![The Nuns on the Bus in 2012. (Photo: [ https://www.flickr.com/photos/tvnewsbadge/7483558980/ ]tvnewsbadge)](https://sndden.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/usa.jpg)
Like Robin Hood, the “Nuns on the Bus” show up when you need them.
First it was the social safety net-slashing House budget proposal in 2012 that brought out the sisters calling for justice in cities across the U.S. Then, in 2013, it was the need for comprehensive immigration reform. Continue reading In Face of Super-Rich, Corporate Influence on Elections, ‘Nuns on the Bus’ Rides Again
Common Dreams
Weakening ISIS requires eroding the support it relies on from tribal leaders, military figures, and ordinary Iraqi Sunnis. Here’s how to do it without bombs.
Phyllis Bennis
President Obama is right: There is no military solution.
Military actions will not set the stage for political solutions; they will prevent those solutions from taking hold.
Escalating military actions against this violent extremist organization is not going to work.
The bottom line is there is no immediate action that will make ISIS disappear, even if U.S. airstrikes manage to get the right target somewhere and take out an APC or a truckload of guys with RPGs or whatever. Continue reading Six Steps Short of War to Beat ISIS
BBC
By Ruth Costas BBC Brazil, Sao Paulo
It is not the kind of economic background Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff must have hoped for in her run for re-election.
Just five weeks before the voting that will take place on 5 October, it was announced that Brazil had fallen into a recession earlier this year.
The economy of South America’s largest country shrank by 0.6% in the second quarter of this year and by 0.2% in the first.
Analysts are projecting Brazil’s growth to be less than 1% in 2014 while inflation is at the higher end of the central bank’s target. Continue reading Brazil election: Economy at heart of battle
United States and Ten Other Countries Vote Against Super Majority
Washington, DC – The UN General Assembly passed a historic resolution to begin treaty negotiations to enact a global bankruptcy process and stop predatory hedge funds. The resolution passed by a super-majority vote of 124-11 with 41 abstentions. The US voted no along with 10 other countries. The bankruptcy process could make it more difficult for hold-out investors to block countries from debt restructuring and could limit future defaults.
“The strong majority vote shows how powerful the global consensus is to stop predatory financial behavior,” noted Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious debt relief organization, Jubilee USA. “If we are going to solve what global leaders believe is the root cause of inequality, we need a bankruptcy system in place.” LeCompte serves on UN expert groups working to create an international bankruptcy process. Continue reading UN Votes for Process to Enact Bankruptcy Treaty and Stop Vulture Funds
Think Progress
by Joe Romm
Decadal index of two-day precipitation totals that are exceeded on average only once in a 5-year period. Changes are compared to the period 1901-1960. As data show, such once-in-five-year events have become much more common (via NCA.)
One of the most robust scientific findings is the direct connection between global warming and more extreme deluges. Scientists have observed a sharp jump in monster one- and two-day rainstorms in this country. Continue reading Here’s How Global Warming Is Already Worsening Extreme Deluges In The U.S.
WASHINGTON (CNS) — The conflict in which Islamic State fighters are driving out Christians and other minorities must not be seen as a war between Islam and Christianity, said the head of the Vatican Congregation for Eastern Churches. “I do not share this position and I ask, on the contrary, that it never prevail,” Cardinal Leonardo Sandri told participants in the inaugural In Defense of Christians summit Sept. 9. Continue reading Follow the money: Cardinal says ISIS conflict is not about religion
The rate of destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has increased for a second year running.
Brazilian government figures show deforestation was up by 29% in the 12 months up to the end of July 2013.
Satellite data showed that almost 6,000 sq km (2,315 sq miles) of forest were cleared during that period.
Continue reading Amazon rainforest destruction in Brazil rises again
Global Sisters Report
By Eucharia Madueke, SNDdeN
Equality
Among people of traditional culture in southeastern Nigeria where I am from, and in other traditional African cultures, gender is not a fundamental organizing principle. Nor is human anatomy a major defining factor in gender relations.
People here believe that being a man or a woman is generally irrelevant to individuals’ social roles and relationships. Rather, they perceive the individuals’ social power, as well as social role, as dependent mostly on age and seniority, position at birth, and their contributions to family and community development. The community recognizes anatomic female and male categories, but they are not a defining factor for social roles. Continue reading Equality or complementarity: Gender relations seen through African eyes
Illegal logging in the Amazon rainforest has pushed many indigenous people out of their ancestral land.
Four Peruvian tribal leaders have been killed on their way to a meeting to discuss ways to stop illegal logging.
The men from the Ashaninka community were attempting to travel to Brazil when they were murdered,
Continue reading Four Peruvian anti-logging activists murdered
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation 