a candid world

No Justice in Genocide

Today I Learned…

…that a Canadian diplomat proposed that we refer to a weapon that causes unnecessary suffering or has indiscriminate effects by the acronym CUSHIE. Weapons that cause unnecessary suffering are prohibited by Art. 35 of Additional Protocol I. Weapons that have indiscriminate effects are prohibited by Art. 51. As I understand it, Canada hoped to refer to the awkwardly titled Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects as the CUSHIE Convention. 

Canadians have a terrible sense of humor. 

Pizza is a Vegetable

Every so often, certain congresspeople take a position so abhorrent that I decide I need to call them out by name. I won’t get into the idiocy of Congress’s plans for intellectual property today. No, this problem is slightly more serious. The Republicans in Congress have decided that killing American children, defrauding the American people, and destroying military readiness are acceptable costs to keep their corporate campaign funds flowing. 

Mary Clare Jalonick of the Associated Press brings us the story: 

… Congress wants pizza and french fries to stay on school lunch lines and is fighting the Obama administration’s efforts to take unhealthy foods out of schools. The final version of a spending bill released late Monday would unravel school lunch standards the Agriculture Department proposed earlier this year. These include limiting the use of potatoes on the lunch line, putting new restrictions on sodium and boosting the use of whole grains. The legislation would block or delay all of those efforts…

The school lunch proposal is based on 2009 recommendations by the Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said they are necessary to reduce childhood obesity and future health care costs. USDA spokeswoman Courtney Rowe said Tuesday that the department will continue its efforts to make lunches healthier. ”While it’s unfortunate that some members of Congress continue to put special interests ahead of the health of America’s children, USDA remains committed to practical, science-based standards for school meals,” she said in a statement.

Speaking on behalf of more than 100 retired generals and admirals, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Hugh Shelton urged Congress “to reject any language…that would weaken the proposed guidelines for school meals or derail the implementation process.” When obesity is the leading reason young Americans are medically disqualified from military service and when kids get forty percent of their daily calories during the school day, the nutritional impact of school lunches raises national security concerns. 

Margo Wootan, director of Nutrition Policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, rightly declared, “It’s a shame that Congress seems more interested in protecting industry than protecting children’s health.”

Chairman Jack Kingston (R-GA) and the rest of the Republicans on his House Appropriations agriculture subcommittee — Tom Latham (R-IA), Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), Robert B. Aderholt (R-AL), Cynthia M. Lummis, (R-WY), Alan Nunnelee (R-MS), and Tom Graves (R-GA) — shame on you! You owe American children more than to sacrifice their health for your campaign coffers. 

Potpourri for $1000, Alex

The following tidbits are courtesy of Wired’s Danger Room blog:

• What is awesome? The Sand Flea jumping robot. 
• How does Vladimir Putin GOTV? Sex. 
• What is the next installment in the Global War on Terror? AFRICOM goes to Nigeria.