Believe it or not, the US State Department's mission statement actually says the following:
"Advance freedom for the benefit of the American people and the international community by helping to build and sustain a more democratic, secure, and prosperous world composed of well-governed states that respond to the needs of their people, reduce widespread poverty, and act responsibly within the international system."
US Department of Imperial Expansion
Why employee pensions aren't bankrupting states
From state legislatures to Congress to tea party rallies, a vocal backlash is rising against what are perceived as too-generous retirement benefits for state and local government workers. However, that widespread perception doesn't match reality.
A close look at state and local pension plans across the nation, and a comparison of them to those in the private sector, reveals a more complicated story. However, the short answer is that there's simply no evidence that state pensions are the current burden to public finances that their critics claim.
Heart devices not tested enough in women, study finds
On top of criticism that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves medical devices with too little oversight comes another troubling finding: Many heart-related devices win FDA approval without being adequately tested on women, despite an agency directive to do so.
This means that heart valves, pacemakers, defibrillators and stents get implanted in women without evidence that they benefit this population, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco say.
Karzai rejects U.S. apology over killing of 9 Afghan boys
Afghanistan’s president on Sunday rejected a U.S. apology for the mistaken killing of nine Afghan boys in a NATO air attack and said civilian casualties are no longer acceptable.
According to a statement from his office, President Hamid Karzai told U.S. ArmyGen. David H. Petraeus, the top commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, that expressing regret was not sufficient in last week’s killing of the boys, ages 12 and under, by coalition helicopters.
Study: Mom's blood test can reveal Down syndrome
Scientists in Europe report they were able to diagnose Down syndrome prenatally by giving a simple blood test to pregnant women, an approach that might one day help them avoid the more extensive procedure used now to detect the condition.
The preliminary report published online Sunday in the journal Nature Medicine is the latest of several recent studies that suggest scientists can spot Down syndrome through fetal DNA that has been shed into the mother's bloodstream.
Bradley Manning's jailers accused of ritual humiliation
The lawyer for Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of having leaked a massive trove of US state secrets to WikiLeaks, has accused his military jailers at the marine base in Quantico, Virginia, of ritually humiliating his client by stripping him naked in his cell every night.
David Coombs, who is representing Manning in his court martial procedure, criticised the commanders of the Quantico brig for punishing the prisoner for a sarcastic comment he made in protest at his treatment. Coombs said Manning quipped that if he wanted to harm himself he could do so with the elastic waistband in his underpants or with his flip-flops.
NYC rally planned against hearing on US Muslims
A coalition of over 100 interfaith, nonprofit and governmental organizations plans to rally in New York City against a planned congressional hearing on Muslims' role in homegrown terrorism.
The coalition says Thursday's hearing will send the wrong message to U.S. Muslims by "demonizing" them. The Rev. Al Sharpton, entertainment promoter Russell Simmons and the imam who was an initial key supporter of plans to develop a mosque near ground zero are expected to speak at Sunday's rally in Times Square.
Monsanto's "Unlikely" New Business Partner -- A Name You Know Well...
The Close Alliance Between Gates Foundation and Monsanto
As I discussed last month, Wikileaks has revealed just how deeply entrenched the US government has become with Monsanto. It's long been known that the government was being unduly influenced, but the leaked cables revealed the reality is far worse than expected; the US Department of State is actively promoting the private interests of Monsanto across the world.
Good news! The nations where women are on the march
To mark International Women's Day, an IoS survey shows progress is being made. Women are capturing an increasing number of seats in parliaments around the world, an Independent on Sunday survey to mark International Women's Day has found. In places such as South Africa and Iceland, they are approaching parity with men, and in one country, Rwanda, they are actually in the majority.
While much remains to be done, not least in the UK where barely one in four MPs are women, governance experts this weekend hailed the advances that many countries have made, including some of the world's least developed nations.
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